Darker than Black anime review

I watched a few episodes of Darker than Black just now, but it’s really not my thing. Firstly I’m not into series that take themselves very seriously, especially when they’re so slow and take forever to build up. Secondly the main character’s dullard act is a little too convincing. Just watching him bored the crap out of me. Thirdly the two arcs I watched weren’t very interesting, simply because there was no reason for me to care. Certainly it’s all building up to some grand storyline that will help figure out what Hell’s Gate is, etc etc, but at this point in time it’s just a bunch of whiners and vicious psychopaths beating the crap out of each other.

I asked myself “Give me one good reason why I’m watching this crap” and came up with zilch, so th.at’s was the end of Darker than Black for me. I won’t go so far as to call it completely horrible, though, since a lot of people enjoyed it. If you like conspiracies and mysteries and that sort of thing, you’ll probably get something out of this.

I think I need something either more light-hearted or more straightforward next time

WTF, no fair!

I’ve been doing my SRS reps and all, but I didn’t listen to any Cantonese radio or TV for two or three days. All of sudden I barely understand anything any more! It’s only been a few days, why is the effect so sudden?! I’m sure if I listen to it again for a day or two I’ll be okay, but this is a lesson to me that I’m nowhere near full comprehension. I can’t afford to slack off at all.

I’m thinking of picking up a drama, since I always tune in to ATV when they’re showing either Putonghua news or some drama that doesn’t come with Mandarin subtitles. Also it sucks. There’s this guy who keeps screaming this girl’s name non-stop. It sounds like Gu-long, Gu-long. 30 minutes of Gu-long, Gu-long, Gu-long, Gu-long, Gu-long, Gu-long every single episode made me sick, which is probably why I rebelled. Right now I’m listening to a morning radio show on RTHK2 (no, I don’t think it’s 晨光第一線) while working on some papers.

And on, on we go.

All going well

I’ve been meaning to post for a while, but I always find some reason not to. As planned, I finished Teach Yourself Cantonese at the end of February, and I’ve been working on Colloquial Cantonese while listening to Cantonese radio and watching Canto TV, i.e. the ATV live stream. I guess part of the reason I haven’t posted in a while is that I felt I had to write a review of both books, but nobody reads this blog anyway so I don’t know what I was worried about.

Teach Yourself Cantonese was a pretty decent book, it taught me a lot of high-level vocabulary by the end, and it used hanzi all the way through so I could enter things into my SRS. Colloquial Cantonese is a near-total waste of money. It barely teaches anything over 15 worthless lessons, and barely teaches any characters at all. The one great thing I learned from the whole book is how to understand weather reports. And those Hong Kongers love their weather reports, they’re always going on about it. Now I can understand when they’re talking about clear skies, or relative humidity, or advising people to wear more clothing because it will be cold.

I was just listening to an announcer going on about it on RTHK 2 just now, and I was so chuffed when I understood every single word that I came over here to post about it. 😀 Up next I’m going to mine the Lonely Planet Cantonese guide for more sentences while continuing to grab vocabulary from Cantonese news broadcasts. I learn about 20 new compounds from each news broadcast, just by following the Mandarin subs closely while listening to their words. It’s hard to explain, but if you’ve studied Japanese and a bit of Mandarin before, it shouldn’t be too hard. I get the gist of each news item mainly because of that prior background. Here’s what I’ve learned today:

接力  zip3 lik6 –  relay
走勢  zau2 sai3  –  tendency
出現  ceot1 jin6  –  to appear; to emerge; to arise
動作  dung6 zok3  –  action; movement
表明  biu2 ming4  –  to clarify
要求  jiu1 kau4  –  request
估計  gu2 gai3  –  to estimate
投資者  tau4 zi1 ze2  –  investor
完全  jyun4 cyun4 –  completely
薪金  san1 gam1 –  salary; wage; pay
討論  tou2 leon6 –  to discuss; to talk over; to debate; discussion; talk; debate
休息  jau1 sik1 –  to rest; to take a break; recess; a rest; a break
答案  daap3 on3 –  [n] answer
出發  ceot1 faat3 –  to set off (on a journey)
海水  hoi2 seoi2 –  [n] seawater
質疑  zat1 ji4 –  call into question (truth or validity)
功能  gung1 nang4  –  function
重開  cung4 hoi1 –  to reopen
範圍  faan6 wai4 –  range, scope, limit
輻射  fuk1 se6 –  radiation, irradiation
反擊  faan2 gik1 –  to hit back

Campaign promises

It was election time, again. So, a politician decided to go out to the local reservation to gather support from the Native Americans. They were all assembled in the Council Hall to hear the speech. The politician had worked up to his finale, and the crowd was getting more and more excited. “I promise better education opportunities for Native Americans!”

The crowd went wild, shouting “Hoya! Hoya!”

The politician was a bit puzzled by the native word, but was encouraged by their enthusiasm. “I promise gambling reforms to allow a Casino on the Reservation!”

“Hoya! Hoya!” cried the crowd, stomping their feet.

“I promise more social reforms and job opportunities for Native Americans!”

The crowd reached a frenzied pitch shouting “Hoya! Hoya! Hoya!”

After the speech, the politician was touring the Reservation, and saw a tremendous herd of cattle. Since he was raised on a ranch, and knew a bit about cattle, he asked the Chief if he could get closer to take a look at the cattle. “Sure,” the Chief said, “but be careful not to step in the hoya.”