Animefangirl!

Blah blah youtube blah blah

I can never resist a good Terry Pratchett, so I’m cheating a little this week. I’ve been getting into some Japanese novels (一般小説) and light novels but nothing comes close to the power of a good Discworld novel. I’m not too fond of the Watch stories though, give me a good Rincewind book any day. Or Small Gods. I could read that book 10000 times.

Studying is going well this week, cheating aside. I hit upon the idea of reading online Japanese reviews of my favorite games. There’s nothing I love more in the world than a well-written bad review, especially of games I love, so I’m in good company there. I was hoping for more trollsome posts, but we’ll take what we can get. So anyway I’ve been getting loads and loads of sentences out of those reviews, sentences written by and for ordinary Japanese.

Re: Youtube project, I’ve dled tons and tons of videos but I haven’t watched a single one yet. Watching stuff is WORK! Here’s a long list of the stuff I’ve gotten so far. I don’t know what link corresponds to what file though. I wasn’t being very discriminatory in my downloads, I just grabbed anything that looked like an interview or a 記者会見 and downloaded it. And geez but there are a lot of Gackt files in there. He’s not a bad musician – not good either – but he’s a BORING interview. Tries too hard to look “cool” and “mysterious” and stuff. Be yourself, man! Yah, whatever. Here goes. (Warning: long list is long!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjZ_-Vbp6lk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wlES8gJxB0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_WYI-Ep8xko
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NhocyPK-PEs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QD-ckg79uxg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F39X2s2e_-0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjyLuYOe4h4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tg4lRxXeDOg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGFC1jlR4FQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X19VErLFo4M
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPvd1in_pyQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHvrfgMHIA0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5SPoWHfO2E
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hx8sCjpdCv4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vh9BLNWqoxc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=helr2rsoJHk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIVQUV_ercI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jc_MDvlz0dU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5yLeD3NCQc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdSmHpprbDs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=foheQkYGGWM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3MOaT_PJJ8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjUqq4U0c24
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1HSWBe2kgs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=deTN0B_-eDs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8Y69laCq-0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJwwaiwf26o
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5K4IOkaWcCk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gicV7jfO9Zw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJ37bv_6gaU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIow0tf7-H0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1IVkAZFtRA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tu5Uvbeexb8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0KFX4O-PLM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFeRX9x2aoQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1CpSGBUoVM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwlGXXuulaE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QD-ckg79uxg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9Q6w3Dmats
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3yIuaLhoDkE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-GwSHUlG0w
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEfGlT96b-w
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drwe_Ro17Tw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8aU8GwUqpBs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3ppik8bxcM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3XzTChH824
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rFwPywSW_c
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jw_eiLpnRwY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQpn_CEsJrs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DeaDpWKlEKc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FgfvLOWwII
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fvYlqFrHQ0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAnQc9yBt5g
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJ7hi_YWphA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5VK_e5Eqj0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3C_S4M2SQJU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ml-mm615HKQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iNQmB6EIB8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtTLjJaoQqI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=klZcTpm714M
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3tVMGQ2iF8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfboaX5-Fjs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7oBbXFGew8Q
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mV2oxZJLXZw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJMEgcSS-4A
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=quifJAZhoVE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqXgSTCYpfA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hucwiIoIj8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pK6r1M8420I

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2PEpWvxTMA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-eyigVpAUM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T55d0jQG2uk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qiQ2jAyXpNc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QL7ndDcKKs0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_U1bbziUpA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXIDQu_ICtc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ie-PKLvkzV0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gv1ggzsPAC0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4-qzJs0zTI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfDWTIVdeRc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfDWTIVdeRc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rcue0yLYTCc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YB5TYo9be8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4eTXLq07_bE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMHZpZSKuaI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_qT3sPoJkU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLEEvNoJPHY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2-MGdsF8sc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d15f_4zDz0o
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cuvAhtH5cX0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gln3iqZXYPQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UF0hdkQz93o
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5Kk2FzY3Vc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uja220oJZuU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQEACpvFtS4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Z5B1wBAB-E
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJWv04-G0Hk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_raZzpvxw3E
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5CVE2tJd78
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DLxOEiCOuw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbclhyZbHMs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pb-e4ZUB6AY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MyEZSWH_TE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUvpiSFK5C0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUcqG78-NII

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUkCJVEiYK0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urUD0h8EQLo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LqZFXgFF8a0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWSHBbHAu7k
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4GhYhLehUA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MvutXMj2lg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qevoCLvvw9Y
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLvio_KsT4o
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ErDdlOCSJoU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBTLwQIa8Ak
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a11a5W2u5KY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZm9hW_qA6A
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NInJZJT7NYE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEGfgDU8vaU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1v2Rfa0C4KU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qe6qA32dR2c
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFyGpl_nuEs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBWnCQ0LFrY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LpfHoDNwULc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKTdm7GUK6o

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7naLtYlXbRw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xi-haKKIS70

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYeinrjNrcE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WciK8AqduVo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbQP3mbICJM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwQOSDEAsus
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jstj6Y0hXo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=262XQZehvpo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmKtJFVDmaI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJMN6IxBdlw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRSxkSbhtuI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjT2KElC6DA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4WaCkXeDew
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jcrf5D5X4JU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYgJP1GZ7LA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VuvjvvJs4Hc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNHLgacuKYo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0A7sw-Xwd0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbWW3CFAzqg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0RBxuyBrmw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yobdbZe4k0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FYHmIEpR_A
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNi_lttteKw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BauGp7I-Mc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AP9GgquB9bk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ktoe1pzAvc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ea3lFTC-QuE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLUD5OAATzo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFLxyrxPs10
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LtowHUg_ZTY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlIvXiECoNg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvtdQAyN1Wg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nM8QaWrQEJU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ch7ppUxcbpE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8l5VGOOjUI0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scKPGMiXAAM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_Gc4bLBrTo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TumEhzGRGf4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7daKMnSh_0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qs22ydQLb-o

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eG5XE8t7auM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7GNCtrAUEw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z00LOBFur_I

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEiHlXp9oYQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNbAKQiKvYY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdl4yYi7THo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIyVn2N3Vhs

I don’t know when I’ll get the time to watch all this stuff, but I’ll get round to it someday. And that’s all for today!

Recording Youtube vids

As I said earlier, I’ve been experimenting with programs to save Youtube streams to my computer for future watching. Most of the websites I went to looked rather fishy and/or buggy, so eventually I just went to download.com and got the first sensible-looking program there, the appropriately-titled Youtube Downloader 2.1.6. Works like a charm, it does. And interface is as bland and simple as anything, just the way I like it. You end up with .flv files (Flash Video) which Windows Media Player can play with the right codecs. I don’t remember installing any codecs specifically for flash video, but I guess CCCP comes with them because they play just fine.
For my first experiment I got part 1 and part 2 of The Rock’s anti-Toronto promo, his very best promo in my opinion. He always was better as a heel, anyway. Some things need to be preserved for posterity and not left to the whims of Youtube’s capricious operators. Now I can watch it whenever I want. Like, right now.

More relevant to my Japanese-learning ambitions: interviews with J-pop and J-rock stars. Youtube has a lot of clips from morning programs, Music Station and Hey! Hey! Hey! Music Champ, so I’m getting lots of those for now. T. M. Revolution~~~~~~~!

And that’s all for today.

Anki

It’s Saturday! And a very important day in my life. Which is why I’m sitting behind my computer blogging about Japanese. …Okay, now I feel silly. Back to the Wii to finish some games.

About Anki though, it’s an SRS system that, unlike Khatzumemo, allows you to upload pictures, sound and other files, not just text. Based on the experiments in this AJATT post, I managed to obtain (ahem) a text-to-speech program called NeoSpeech, and I’ve been using it to convert some of my sentences to spoken Japanese. The results, as might be expected, are extremely wooden in all but a few cases. That doesn’t matter though, because I’m not using the sentences for listening practice. I’m using them for writing practice. I put the sentence – picked out of my usual reps – in Neospeech, put the result in the question portion of Anki, and put the written sentence in the answer portion. My task is to accurately reproduce all the kanji and other portions of the sentence correctly just by listening to the spoken word. It’s pretty challenging, though. I’ll have to try it for a few more days before giving a better verdict, but it has potential as a drilling method.

And that’s all for today.

Changes to SRS

Previously I used to add sentences after I’d done all my reps. Going through the articles one by one, whenever I came across an interesting sentence I would stop, copy it into the SRS, look up any unknown words, add them as the answer, press Add. And then and only then would I get back to the article. As you can see, this frequently hampered my speed of reading and my enjoyment of the articles. Plus I felt some sort of pressure, looking at the number of sentences added and thinking “I need to add 23 more to make up my quota for the day!” which further lessened my enjoyment.

So for the past couple of days I’ve switched up my way of doing things. I created a new Word document that I leave open all day. When I find a good sentence, I copy and paste it into the document and then just keep moving. No need to analyze, no need to look things up. If there’s a kanji I don’t understand I leave it for the next day, unless it gets in the way of my understanding. When all that’s done, when I open up my SRS the next day, before I do my reps – not after, because sometimes reps take forever and then I tend to get lazy – I add all the sentences one by one, looking up the words as I go. This has the added advantage of giving me an “extra” repetition since I’m seeing the sentence again after the previous day. It’s been working pretty great so far.

The hunt for good radio programs continues! And I haven’t been able to make myself watch any of the j-dramas I downloaded, because I really don’t like j-dramas! But I can watch them alright when I’m super-duper bored. I just haven’t had any of those days in quite a while, so I just keep stockpiling and stockpiling. And that’s all for today.

Japanese puts me to sleep

I mentioned the other day about having difficulty finding interesting articles to read in Japanese. It gets worse than that: just an hour ago around 2:00pm, I was listening to Web JOQR Internet Radio (WMP9 can get it for you) and there was this Katou Emiri girl hosting a show… aaah, she’s trying so hard but it was so dull, dull, dull! I’ve never really liked radio that much and she wasn’t really talking about anything relevant to my interests. Within a few minutes my head dropped off to the side and zzzzzzzzzz…. until 3:39pm. AT WORK! My image is ruined~!… is what I want to say but nobody really cares. Except me. I gotta find more interesting things to listen to, and soon.

Same with articles, I’ve gotten really tired of Mainichi Daily. They never have any delicious news running or anything, it’s always the same old, same old. I’m used to my news being “juicier” and full of casual gossip and opinions. The boring, professional (yeah, I admit it’s professional) A did this and B did this and C went there is just not working for me. Even their game reviews and stuff are almost overwhelmingly positive, no matter how good or bad the game is. Yomiuri Daily is even worse. For today I’m trying Yahoo Japan and Famitsu‘s website. YJ is a bit of a failure. But Famitsu has some potential, at least for a day or two, until I find a more opinionated site. There’s a new game coming out for the DS, Steel Princess. I’ll keep an eye out for it.

That’s all for today.