Eyemaze

Checking my friends's blogs, I found something interesting. It's a site with puzzles (Eyemaze). Interesting Flash puzzles. I stayed for hours trying some without finishing yet... I'm not giving up yet, though.

This link will lead to one of them, but you're free to try any other. Definitively worth a look... and a try.

Portuguese != Spanish

while searching some YouTube videos, I remembered that many people ahve asked me in Japan how close are Portuguese and Spanish (or Italian, or French). One comment really amused me that was if one could undrestand all those languages knowing only one of them...

LOL

His point was that "if that was possible, it would be nice to know one of those languages, since it would grant comprehension of many languages at once".

LOL again.

Well, I'd dare say that it is possible to understand a little of Spanish, Italian and French from Portuguese. But I wouldn't trust those similarities for anything more than an informal chat or some "smart guessing" when there's no other way. Spanish and Portuguese really "look alike", even for some who know one of those languages. But some caution is needed.

One reason is because of false cognates. One example is the English word actually. It looks like the Portuguese word atualmente, which means nowadays. Some years ago, a Spanish language school released very clever ads using false cognates between Portuguese and Spanish to create embarrassing situations due to the "misunderstanding".

I found one of those ads after some YouTube searching.



And for those not familiar with either Portuguese or Spanish, the words that cause the misunderstanding are:

* la (a)buela
The player says that his nickname "Matador" comes after his ability to control and kick the ball. For "to control", he uses the verb "to kill", which is said reasonably often in soccer. But the word for "ball" in Portuguese is "bola" (I believe it's "pelota" in Spanish), and the player says "the ball" as "la buela"...(because many words have that sort of change from Portuguese to Spanish) and "la abuela" means "the grandmother" in Spanish.
So, "control the ball" turns into "kill the grandmother"...

* zurdo y fresco
The reporter says that the player will enter because the team needs a lefty and "rested" player. So, he uses the words "zurdo" ("canhoto" in Portuguese) and "fresco" ("descansado"). But the word "zurdo" sounds like the Portuguese word "surdo", which means "deaf", and "fresco", although it also exists in Portuguese, isn't likely to be used in that kind of situation. It looks like the reporter called the player... uhhmmm... I can't give the exact meaning but it is something like someone who's always complaining, or that doesn't like to do physical effort, or who likes things only as he/she says, or some kind of gay person (that word is used with that meaning only as slang).

Actually I'm not so sure if the second word is really "fresco", and even my "translation" of how that word was interpreted by the player is not exactly correct... If someone could confirm or correct the information, I'd appreciate it.

-----
Added on December 21st

I found a word that matches well with Portuguese "fresco". Think that "picky" is a good one.

Year-End Events

Well... this was surely a busy week... But one of the best of this year.


Tuesday night

Time to play futsal! But this time, a friend that comes to Londrina only occasionally was interested in joining. So, I invited him to participate the carnage. Fortunately, I was defending kinda well that day (I play as goalkeeper, just as a reminder)...

He even found some long lost friends there (that friend is from Londrina, but he studies somewhere else)... But, hey! Next time stay longer here, clone! I'll tell if we're going to play again!


Wednesday night

I was invited for another friend's (William) graduation ceremony (and party!). Since it was a high school ceremony and party it wasn't so wild as some may think, but it was very good. An oportunity to see my friend wearing a formal suit (LOL) and meet another friend (Juliano) who was invited as well (and whom I haven't met since I returned from Japan).

And also some memories of my high school times... As I was way shyer back then, guess I enjoyed more that party than my own... Well, at that time I was among friends, and that was all that mattered.

Ah... of course. And be scared with the amount of food that those two friends can eat! They've almost vacuumed the food...

Bed at around 4 a.m.


Thursday

At noon, a lunch at a mall with the two same friends from Wednesday. That was a better chance to chat and stroll around with them (... stroll around remembers me of Jon... I still miss those weekends around Himeji).

Evening. Time for my former Japanese school's year-end party! And at a restaurant that I like, too! Grilled meat, chicken and fish!! Yummy! Some new faces and some old classmates. And what a small world...

About midnight. Marco and me joined William and Juliano to play games at a LAN house. Also, during the previous dinner, I called more friends (Gorda, Ku and Ratu). Not exactly a "full house" (maximum number of players in a game), but a good number nevertheless. So we played DotA until... uhmm, 3:30 a.m.?


Friday

Since Juliano would return (and leave us) at noon, we decided to gather again Friday morning to play some PS2 games and table tennis. And eat cheese bread, of course! (Well, that's kinda traditional when they gather at home...) And, surprise! My mother managed to stuff our two "vacuum cleaners" with food to the point they were (finally) full. That's a first.

Even after noon, it went on (with members leaving when their time was due) until late afternoon. After that, the only thing I remember was waking up at 9 a.m.... Saturday.


Sunday

Lately it's damn hot here. Hot hot hot! So, what about a little water fight to refresh? That was the idea of the parkour group. So, instead of a normal training, we had some balloon (filled with water) throwing... Yay!


Also, I received a violin as a "graduation gift" from my parents. Yipeeee! I still suck at playing it though...

More "Japanese Tradition"

Like the post teaching "How to Eat Sushi", these videos (it's divided in 2 parts) teach "Japanese social rules" for men to socialize with women, a.k.a. "how to 'get' a girl".

This one is also very funny... and from the video description:

*warning*
Don't believe everything in this movie!!!

LOL... After reading this, can't help but think what if someone thought this was all true...

Part 1


Part 2

Violin and Japanese Test

This time I'll open with a embedded video. "Kiss me Goodbye" (Angela Aki), Final Fantasy XII theme song. I want to play it! Looks so cool!



I've been thinking about learning a musical instrument for a while. Last week, finally I went one step forward and started taking violin lessons.

Why violin? Well, I can't say there's a true reason. But instruments like guitar, drums or piano never attracted me enough... and dunno why I chose violin... Perhaps because of some presentations I watched... really nice.

Ok, but there's a problem. I have absolutely no notion of music except from listening things I like (also not knowing exactly why) without worring with things like notes. So I'll have to start from the basics... and I mean it.

The class showed me how much I don't know. And that's good. So that means I'm at the second stage of learning ("don't know that you don't know" - "know that you don't know" - "know that you know" - "don't know that you know")... more a less.

First problem, I have no musical accuracy. Can't distinguish any note from any other. I'd realized that already during my audio classes. It's hard to equalize without it... not impossible, though (you just listen to the musician's comments and you're probably safe). But it becomes a bigger problem when the second one showed up. To play the violin, some accuracy with your fingers is needed. More than most guitars, for example. Even my ear could notice that missing the point where your finger should be produces "unpleasant-to-hear" results.

Also, I'm left-handed, but there doesn't seem to exist some sort of "reverse grip" for playing violin (guitars have it... the references to guitar / bass are because my sister plays them, so I know a little about them... not how to play, though)...

Guess there'll be lots of work here...


Changing the subject, the Japanese Language Proficiency Test was held this Sunday. I tried level 2, but couldn't study properly (actually, almost didn't study at all) and my Japanese is pretty rusty (guess I'd have better chances if the test was right after I returned from Japan). What can I say? I couldn't finish the first part (characters and vocabulary) in time and "guessed" a lot at the third (reading and interpretation... BTW, the texts for that part were HUGE, especially comparing to the previous level).

The expected but unusual part was thinking that the second part (listening) was the easiest one. For the previous levels I've taken, listening was always the part that I scored less. This time will probably be the opposite.

If I think I'll pass?

Only with divine intervention.

-------
Added at 11h40min

I forgot to mention that one good thing about the JLPT was that I met a friend that I haven't met for a while. He was trying level 3, so I lent some notes that I used when trying that level.

Well, when I tried level 3 two years ago, and at that time I was under pressure to pass, because it was a condition (kinda informal one, though...) to get my scholarship to Japan. That why I have much info about that level.

But we also used the opportunity to talk about our life in Japan. He also went to Japan for 5 months to work (as a dekassegui). Different experiences, but we both learned something... and want to return someday. Our next idea is wait for our friend that's in Japan now as an exchange student by the same program I went last year (but he's at a different campus) and have that same talk.

Devil Bride and Jackie Street Fighter

Well, as a last attempt to improve a little my Japanese for the Japanese Proficiency Test I decided to watch some J-Drama without subtitles. Not that I have much hope for that test, but at least it's a "fun" way to practice...

Well, last week I talked to Silvia about Japanese series, dramas, etc., and the name "Oniyome Nikki" (鬼嫁日記) appeared. It's a J-Drama that I've mentioned here some time ago and I watched sometimes when I was in Japan. It's funny, but has some serious moments... And it's a little unusual considering what some people think about Japanese society (about women's role in it). I won't enter that discussion... at least not today.

Anyway, as I was watching, my mother's arrived and I decided to show her. She also liked it, but a comment she said just floored me...

"You shouldn't marry an 'oniyome'... you're also too kind..."

........ WTF!?


Changing the subject, what happens when you mix Jackie Chan and Street Fighter?

This... LOL

How to Eat Sushi

Interesting video about the "Japanese etiquette" when ordering and eating sushi... Very funny indeed!

(Just for the note, it's comedy!)

Murphy Strikes Back

"Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong"
- Murphy's Law

"Anything that can go wrong, will - at the worst possible moment"
- Fingale's Corollary

After another long absence, I'm back again. Well, after finally finishing my dissertation, Tuesday (November 21st) was the day to defend it. I've decided to avoid Power Point, since many times I've seen (or experienced myself) some problems when loading a presentation: figures that don't load, fonts that change style unexpectedly and some other problems that I really didn't want to happen this time.

So, I've prepared a presentation in LaTeX. Since the presentation file would be in .pdf format directly from LaTeX, nothing could go wrong, right?

Wrong.

First, I brought the presentation within a floppy disk (aka diskette) and a USB flash drive. I didn't use CDs because I ran out of them, but the other two would suffice, right?

No.

The computer to be used for the presentation had a Windows 98 as OS (Operating System). That alone discarded the flash drive (Windows 98 doesn't have plug-and-play feature, and install the drive was out of question). But there's still the floppy! It'd save the day...

Nope.

Mysteriously, the floppy couldn't be read. A problem that I also have seen many times before, but didn't take into consideration (actually, I was confident about the flash drive...)... Ok, now there's trouble. No fear yet! A friend that was watching suggested that I use a laptop that she'd brought (wasn't hers actually, but that's out of the subject). Nice! So now things are settled...

Soooo wrong...

Remember when I said that my presentation was in .pdf format? So, although that laptop was prepared for her presentation (she'd presented just before me), it was a Power Point presentation... and there wasn't an Acrobat Reader or anything that could read pdf files installed on that laptop!!

Fortunately, one of the examiners also had a laptop, this one able to run my presentation. The only problem is that I got (more) nervous because of all those problems, so that I made some slips...

Although I think that my presentation wasn't good, guess I redeemed myself answering questions from the examiners (and some from other professors that happened to be watching...). My monograph was accepted.

Whew... So, I'll enjoy it a little. Over and out.

No dancing

This week I found strange news at Japan Times... (Usually I'd put a link, but since registration will be required after one week the news are published...)

-----
Tuesday, Oct. 31, 2006

THE ZEIT GIST
Lights Out
Police use outdated dancing law to stub out nightlife

By SPENCER HAZEL
Special to The Japan Times

It's a lively Saturday night in the heart of Hiroshima's Nagarekawa district, and some 100 police officers, riot police, immigration officials and U.S. agents gather for a joint operation to bring an end to a licensing infringement of the Public Morals Law.

At a time when Japan has been under fire for its record on human trafficking and organized prostitution, this might be a welcome action in this, Chugoku's largest nightlife area. Amid the 4,500 bars that are jammed into this one small area, pink salons, fashion clubs, soaplands and hostess bars have always been thick on the ground.

Tonight, however, the morality in question has little to do with the erotic industry. The bar the authorities have set their sights on, El Barco, is well known only for its dancing.

From watching the CCTV footage now posted on YouTube, the operation resembles a minor invasion. Scores of officials cram themselves into the small stairwell in anticipation of the assault on a bar that is one of the very few in the International City of Peace and Culture TM whose staff and clientele is made up of members from all resident nationalities.

"The way the police entered my bar reminded me of some of the darkest days of Latin-American history," says El Barco owner Richard Nishiyama, a Peruvian. "They came in, in an abusive way, screaming, yelling and pushing our customers into the bar so that no one could leave -- as if they were animals or hostages of the police."

All foreign customers were penned into the corner at the back of the club, while the Japanese customers were separated and allowed to leave. "They checked all of them, one by one, and only when they were sure that there were no problems with their documents did they lead them to the street and let them go -- like they were letting animals out of their cages," says one eyewitness.

Hiroshima's Prefectural Police have since stated that "in no way was this action based on ethnic discrimination because the persons involved are from Peru." The fact that the raid happened the day before the trial was due to start of convicted Peruvian child-murderer Jose Manuel Torres Yagi, didn't escape the notice of Hiroshima residents.

For Amnesty International's Shinji Noma, this and consecutive raids are violations of the U.N. International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination that Japan signed in 1995. Currently circulating a petition to ask the authorities to put a stop to such actions, he is one of a number of members from various NPOs who have taken an active interest in the actions.

Nishiyama moved to Japan from Peru 16 years ago. Initially working in the car industry, he and his sisters, Hideko and Yuriko, went on to open a restaurant and several bar-nightclubs, each one a success story of the type of entrepreneurial spirit that has characterized Hiroshima's turnaround these past few years.

Paul Walsh, the editor of events Web site GetHiroshima.com says: "People like the Nishiyamas have worked incredibly hard over the years in an effort to increase the range of entertainment on offer in our town."

The Nishiyamas are now part and parcel of life here, with even Mayor Akiba turning out for their restaurant's anniversary party last year.

On the night of May 14, however, Richard and Hideko Nishiyama were arrested.

The police wouldn't say why such a logistically demanding multidepartment operation was needed to deal with a licensing infringement. They do, however, say that such raids are carried out on the basis of information gathered from undercover reconnaissance work beforehand and that they must prepare for the worst-case scenario.

In the event, only one of the customers was taken into custody. After having his apartment searched by the police, a French customer who had left his alien registration card at home was found to have two passports. He was released once the officials had established his dual-nationality.

For the Nishiyamas, however, the trouble was only beginning.

"They took me, along with my sister and two of our employees, into custody at a police station where, using threats, they tried to force me to sign a Japanese document written by the investigator." Interrogated until 3 p.m. that afternoon and on subsequent days, Richard held his ground, refusing to sign the pre-prepared statement until someone could translate it for him. "They would use threats like, 'What will happen to your baby boy if we arrest your wife also? Who will look after him with you both in jail?' "

Nishiyama's apartment was meticulously searched, his computer and personal documents confiscated, his life history investigated.

Elsewhere, outrage at the actions quickly took root. Support for the Nishiyamas gathered at an unprecedented pace. By the time they were released 10 days later, some 1200 testimonial letters of support had been submitted from people from all over Japan. Though the case involved foreign residents, the bulk of the campaign was organized through the salsa-dancing Japanese community in Hiroshima. Nishiyama was surprised. "I couldn't believe it," he smiles. "But I was in prison, not for anything bad. But for 'making' people dance."

The Nagarekawa district is one of 11 nationwide that last year were designated by the government as in a need of "cleaning up." The authorities are using a 1948 law to do this. Hiroshima City says it wants "to create a wholesome and charming area where a woman can even feel safe enough to enjoy going out alone." Dancing is part of the "fuuzoku eigyou" -- or entertainment law -- and is only allowed to take place until midnight, or 1 a.m. in certain special areas.

Having been drawn up five decades ago, it still groups dancing with various erotic forms of entertainment. A City Hall official adds, "It's not dancing that's illegal. You can dance on the street if you want. Anytime. Just not in a club."

GetHiroshima's Paul Walsh is concerned. "Hiroshima was chosen by Lonely Planet (which 10 years ago said that there would be no reason to visit Hiroshima were it not for the A-bomb) as one of their top 200 cities because of its vibrant nightlife.

"The mayor expressed his delight at this in print and online. This vibrant nightlife was built by individuals investing their limited resources in something they are passionate about. In the past month, the prefectural police have effectively stopped that vibrant nightlife and these people are on the verge of bankruptcy."

One such example is the club Cover. In early September, it and the venue above it, Twisters, were raided by the police, immigration and U.S. officials. Again, Japanese customers were asked to leave while, through a megaphone, "gaijin" were told to stand to one side for questioning. The owners were arrested. Again, these were clubs frequented by the foreign community, and though Cover hosted DJs many nights of the week, it was the foreign run quarterly event "Dirty" that enjoyed the authorities' attention.

"I'm most angry about one undercover officer. She was dancing for an hour before the raid," says organizer Mike Waugh. "She seemed really into it."

"Police policy is definitely racist. A Japanese friend who asked the undercover dancer about what was happening, was told that the only reason the police came was to find illegal aliens. The foreign inspectors who came in informed me that it was primarily an immigration issue, but really wouldn't give any other information."

Hiroshima's city office maintains it is not in a position to comment on prefectural police policy or criminal investigations, though an official admits, "It is very unfortunate if Hiroshima is indeed gaining a reputation as being intolerant."

The police counter that they are not doing anything unlawful or that is not normal police procedure. Procedure dictates that they have to check the ID and status of all foreigners present at such operations, and as long as the campaign to clean up the nighttime entertainment is under way, foreign visitors and residents are advised that they will continue to face such procedures.

The city today is a very different place than the one described by Lonely Planet just six months ago.

* * * * *

It's October, and what should be a lively Saturday night in Hiroshima. A DJ is playing his set at the normally crowded Sacred Spirits. The dance floor is empty, save for a dozen vacant tables. Posters line the walls with the "No Dancing" message that is visible at regular dance venues all across town. At the bar a few solitary customers sip at their drinks. It's the heart of the weekend, but lights out for the dance community in Hiroshima.

Elsewhere, U.N. officials from various parts of the world enjoy a drink in the renamed Barcos, and Hiroshima City is preparing for the arrival of the Dalai Lama and Desmond Tutu.

The mayor, so vocal in proclaiming the Spirit of Hiroshima around the world, remains silent on the concerns in his own backyard.

Meanwhile, Richard Nishiyama is getting ready for a trip to the Salsa Congress in Tokyo. "They're giving me an award," he laughs, "for going to prison for promoting dance."
-----

Ok, the "special treatment" when it comes to foreigners is nothing new, but this is fishy...

"The authorities are using a 1948 law to do this. Hiroshima City says it wants 'to create a wholesome and charming area where a woman can even feel safe enough to enjoy going out alone.' Dancing (...) is only allowed to take place until midnight, or 1 a.m. in certain special areas.
(...)
A City Hall official adds, 'It's not dancing that's illegal. You can dance on the street if you want. Anytime. Just not in a club.'"

Now, THAT'S a strange declaration... "Just not in a club"... Thus, the reason for that law is completely senseless nowadays. Or is it just me? Someone please explain to me how restrict dancing may cause women to feel any safer.

That's one of the reasons why, besides my descendence, I'll never understand Japan completely...

Ah, just in case someone wants to check the original article, it's here.

AGE 2006

More YouTube videos. This time from a Pump it Up championship in Brazil during the Arena Gamer Experience (AGE) 2006.

Wow... that's really another level. I mean, I play this game a little, too. And also some friends, but none like that... (check the last link...) Guess they may have good chances in the WPF (World Pump Festival) if they manage to get to Korea... it is not easy from here.

Freestyle champion: Minoru - Storm

Freestyle 2nd place: Legal - Fiesta

Freestyle 3rd place: Elias - Turn Around

Although it wasn't among the top 3, I liked this one. Leomar - Enter the Dragon



And... the tourneament champion: Bigode. He managed to get an "A" in Dignity (Nightmare mode)... I was wondering if that was humanly possible until now...

That's mankind...

After a while without any news, here's something again. Well, I have no news except for two. The first one is: a preliminary version of my monography is under analysis now. I hope it'll do, although I'm also working on a upgrade.

Second, there was another dance presentation last Saturday, but this one was totally informal. During an event at a retirement house, perform the choreography and dance with people there. Interesting how actions have different weights for different people... some were so into it (one of the lady's I danced with was holding a little too tight... ^^;) and seemed so happy... That made us feel better too. Guess that "the most one man can do is trying to save another man"... (yep, that's a saying... Can't remember from where...)

Some helping, some not. Reading some Slashdot articles I found an interesting experiment using one of morern plagues: toolbars. The experiment was trying to install as many toolbars as possible and then restore the IE window. The picture of an IE window full of toolbars is worth seeing...

Another interesting article was about how the planet could heal if humans simply disappeared from Earth. Interesting. Sometimes I also think that humans are a kind of virus. Multiplicating without control, draining it's "host"'s resources... Ironic that mankind thinks of itself as some kind of "superior being"... Well, some anyway...

Worry no more!

Are you tired of losing time folding your T-shirts? Do you never manage to fold them right? Do you envy those who can fold like it's just out of a store? Worry no more! Check this video and learn how to make a cheap folding machine!



And for those too lazy even to make one of those, this video shows a fast way to fold. It works, but you gotta be a little careful...

Humm... I was thinking about writing the next part in Portuguese, but it wouldn't make much sense to change the language all of a sudden, so it'll stay in English. Although it'll make much more sense to Brazilians.

Here is a link to a (comedy) video about "what would happen if the US decides to attack Brazil".
Actually, it criticizes a little how Bush started Iraq war... but it's main point is about some of Brazil's problems (some a little exaggerated, but anyway... guess the point is "they couldn't stand our problems"). Maybe a little "The Awful Truth"-like... Well, not exactly. Also, some other topics that are quickly mentioned, like how some (north-)Americans think about "what countries own the Amazon". Very funny if you understand the situations between the lines. Dubbed in Portuguese.

There's an old joke (Brazilian, maybe...) in the end, but I can't give hints or else I'll spoil it.

Month's Report

Wow... that was a long absence... Ok, main reason: the deadline for the preliminary version of my monograph is getting closer. I still have to write many parts of it, and am thinking about improving it a little, what would mean more time in the lab. And probably I won't be able to post in a regular basis until mid-november, so be warned.

What happened since my last post? Not so much. And people usually forget things as time goes by, so I remember even less about those things now.

First, there was a Japanese Culture Festival last month (Sep 15th to 17th). But because of the rain I was able to check it only on the last day, when it was crowded (because many others had the same idea). Plus I had a farewell party (a friend who got a job in another town) that day and could arrive at the festival only by the end of the day. Add to that digital cameras suck to take pictures at night and with movement. Why movement? Because the main event was the "Matsuri Dance". Some kind of Bon-odori-like dance, but with "modern" music (for example, "Runner" (Kiroro) and "Rhapsody in Blue" (Da Pump)). I just dunno if that's something that started in Japan (like the Bon odori itself) or if it's something created by the Nikkei community in Brazil...

Back to the point... since I was there, I just had to dance, right? Especially after I've met some friends that were going to dance. So, I can't take pictures and dance at the same time. Sorry folks. But the festival's name is Londrina Matsuri, and some pictures can be seen at their website. Entirely in Portuguese, though. Well, for pics, look for the word "Fotos".

Now for the gastronomic part of the post. There was one thing that I was still missing since I've returned to Brazil. Soup. Weird? Maybe. But the soup from a restaurant here. And since we're supposed to eat (or drink??) that when it's cold... well... winter this year wasn't very cold. But one day, when it finally was cold... Yummy!! Chicken, cheese and can't remember the rest. All inside a big bread... For this one I have a pic to share.

Looking for new activities, I've joined a Parkour group by a friend's invitation. I'm still very bad at it (bruises and aches... not yet. I've been careful about what I try to do... perhaps too careful), but trying to make progress.

Also, I've been taking some audio lessons. You know, learn how you make that strange thing with lots of buttons and switches work properly... But there's a feature that I still have to improve a lot... Listening. I have ptoblems to distinguish when the sound is good or not, when some instruments that play in frequencies close to each other are both audible... Guess I'll have to train my ear.

What better way to do that than learn how to play a musical instrument? I was thinking about learning to play the violin for a while. Maybe I'll give it a shot...

Think that's the gist of what happened while I was away... not so much, wasn't it? Last, the clip below is Weird Al Yankovic's new music video, "White and Nerdy".



Now back to work...

Samba de Gafieira

Last week I was invited by my former dance teacher to perform a number in some presentations. Those were last Saturday.

Before that, before going to Japan, I used to attend ballroom dancing classes. Mostly Brazilian rhythms, but I can dance others like waltz as well... maybe not that well... ah, whatever. And sometimes there were some dance presentations (NOT competitions... I'm not that good)...

But it's been a while since the last time I danced, so it was more than natural to be a little rusty. Fortunately, after some practice we managed to do it. Some mistakes, but the overall was ok I guess...

The rhythm was "Samba de Gafieira". Similar to the "common definition" of samba (sometimes they can be mixed), but danced in pairs (couples). Well, I'm not posting any picture or movie... I have none of that presentation anyway. I'll link some You Tube vids just in case. But these are pros.

One of the presentations was to a group of Okinawan students as part of an exchange program between my university in Brazil and another university in Okinawa (Meio University). Two of them will stay as exchange students (or have been staying as I've heard) until next year. It was fun when we invited them to join the dance. Some learned pretty quickly. And there were their presentations of Okinawan dance (forgot the name now...) and other events.

But, as that was my first time in a while to have a chance to talk to Japanese people (actually living in Japan) in a while, I was planning to practice Japanese with one of the exchange students. As we start to talk, I realized that, although I was trying my best to talk in Japanese (yeah... my Japanese level is worse than before, even though it's not worse as ever), he was always answering in Portuguese.

Simple words, sometimes with gestures, but in Portuguese...

Then I remembered when I was in Japan. That time, I wanted to talk in Japanese as much as possible. But, not rarely, some people insisted on talking to me in English... Maybe because I was a foreigner, maybe because they wanted to practice their English, maybe because they knew/thought that my Japanese level wouldn't do... whatever. But sometimes it was frustrating.

I don't look so much like a foreigner (foreigner-looking people suffer more with this I suppose), and English is not even my first language...

Now I was at the other side of the story... and doing the same things!? Hell, no. This time I give up. They deserve more to practice Portuguese than I to practice Japanese in this kind of situation...

More You Tube fun

To keep the blog rolling, some links to You Tube videos. They're all interesting and worth watching.

First, an interesting choreography on treadmills by "Ok Go".

Then, a parody of RPG video-games like Final Fantasy VIII and Chrono Cross, done with real-life "actors".

Next, a cosplay presentation that happened during an anime convention (Animecon) in Brazil in 2002. A fight between Chin Gentsai (from KOF series) and Dr. Boskonovitch (from Tekken series).

Also, a comedy number telling a fictional story of "Joseph Climber". A man who suffers several disasters, but never let himself down, looking for another things to work with. Well, this one is in Portuguese and, although the guy who plays Climber is funny, it might not be as funny as if you really understand what's being said...

And the movie I'll try to do an embedding in my blog is "Matrix Ping Pong". It's not recent, but it's very funny. Enjoy.

Ilarie Reborn!?

An interesting thing I saw on a friend's blog. There's a "classic" song in my generation childhood called "Ilarie", from a television actress called Xuxa. Well, this friend's found an "chinese remake" of that song. As I don't know Chinese, I have no idea of the lyrics (although it's written) or even the title, but some people may find it worth watching.

Here is the link to the "new version".

For those unfamiliar with the classic version, there's a video here.

Slashdot, graduation and acceptation

Lately, I've turned into an occasional reader of Slashdot articles. (Let's say that it happened because of an indirect recommendation from a friend.) Although I can't be classified exactly as a techie, many of the articles are interesting... from different points of view (I'll avoid becoming technical here).

One that surely has also figured in many other news sites was about the International Astronomical Union redefining the concept of what's a planet, and the possibility of adding 3 more planets to the Solar System. Ok, ok... it probably won't change most people's lives for the next decades, except for nullifying all of those "set sentences" created in roder to memorize the order of the planets (I don't know any in English, and would appreciate some version, but I still remember one in Portuguese that was shown in the Portuguese dubbed version of "Beakman's World" TV show)... But it's interesting nevertheless.

The second one is about an act "which makes it a criminal act to refuse to decrypt files on a computer". Wonder if that's so inportant... still quoting the article, "the bugaboos of child pornography and terrorism, while unquestionably heinous, are being used to justify a law which does little to protect against either". Or should I believe more in the hypothesis shown in many games/movies/etc that the government is becoming concerned about the information available on the net... Talking about that I've remembered an interesting "faq" about the Metal Gear Solid 2 game available at Gamefaqs. It will make more sense to people familiar with the game and the anime "Ghost in the Shell", but it's probably understandable even without it. In short, it talks a little about how genes and information received may change one's life.

Another article is about talent and effort. Personally, I think that both can make a difference, although success isn't determined by only them. Talent is nothing if you don't direct it. For example, sometimes some "whiz kids" are shown on TV that have excellent memorization capacities. It's something amazing, but I expect that parents and people around them will direct better the kids gifts. Usually I hear they saying capitals of many (almost unknown) countries, their currency and so forth... Interesting, but I wonder if it wouldn't be better used in language learning, for example. Well, I may be wrong since I've no knowledge about it. On the other hand, effort without talent makes things harder. But still not impossible. A Rurouni Kenshin quote may show that... Going to Kyoto, Sano meets Anji who shows the technique "Futae no Kiwami". As Sano wants to learn that technique, even risking his own life, Anji gives him one week to become able to destroy a rock using the technique, or else he would kill him. As Anji realises that Sano managed to learn the technique, follows the dialogue (note: free translation):

Anji: "... What a great talent..."
Sano:"Hey! I almost died in the process, you know? Talent!? Don't you dare to give all the credits to that."

Last one is about the video-game console war. Who will prevail: X-Box 360, Wii or PS3? I might be overestimating, but I believe that Microsoft's X-Box 360 has no hope of winning anywhere else outside the US... Nintendo has been showing an interest about new forms of gameplay. Its last consoles (Nintendo DS and Wii) have innovative features related to "player interface". I really like the Wii controller, and I'm waiting to try some games with it. Sony, on the other hand, places its bets in a multi-function device (since PS2, going through PSP to the PS3, the consoles can do many things, like play PS1 games, DVD player feature, internet access...) and hardware capacity (this time... it was interesting how the PS1 overcame other "better" consoles). My bets were on the PS3, but I'm seriously reconsidering shifting to Wii... Perhaps Sony's hope is the same of the PS1 age, when the amount of games was a decisive factor for its success...

Whew... for those brave enough to read to this point, a little of what's happening lately...

Last week there was my sister's graduation ceremony. So, she's got a Pharmacy (is that it?!) degree... Man, I'm getting old. But I went only to the ceremony... I guess there was a party, but as they have two graduations (well, I don't get it either...), the first one is a simple one... and as my sister gave up on going and I wasn't so excited myself about it...

But it's interesting when you talk to colleagues and notice that they already have a plan for their lives... some of my classmates are employed/being employed/working as part of a... Junior Company (not sure of the translation)...

Finally, this one is a little old, but I've received the acceptance letter from a Japanese University. Next step is being approved by the Japanese Ministry of Education... And finishing my monography here!!!

So, back to work!

Ghibli AMV

Still about You Tube videos. A friend's found an AMV (Anime Music Video) featuring many Ghibli movies, like My Neighbor Totoro (となりのトトロ), Kiki's Delivery Service (魔女の宅急便) and Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (風の谷のナウシカ). An interesting feature is how certain aspects common to many of those productions were put together. One can even recognize a pattern (well... probably Ghibli fans have done that even without the AMV...).

Here is the link to the video. Over and out.

Sentai Music Video

Recently I found a music video that I've been looking for a long time. It does a homage to the Super Sentai series, from Goranger to Abaranger, showing Dekaranger in the end. I saw this video in an anime convention in Brazil, as it was made to participate in an music video contest. Since the contest was held in 2004, that explains why the last series covered is Dekaranger (in Japan, the current series being broadcasted is another one).

It's pretty well made, and the music, although it's not from any sentai series, surely resembles that kind of song. As Changeman and Flashman were the series with greater impact in Brazil, they have more scenes in the video, but not so much. For Brazilians that used to watch those series (like me), the selected scenes brings memories back...

Note: Sentai series were broadcasted during the early 90's I guess. After an interruption, the rights of those series in the Western part of the globe were aquired by a company that adapted it into the Power Rangers series.

The video is available here. There're some things written in Portuguese, but I guess that people that don't understand it won't lose much... except maybe the joke at the beginning...

Social network services

Talking about those "social network services"... Well, here it all started with Orkut. Although developed by an North-american company, it reached a huge popularity among Brazilian users. My guess is because it was the first one of its kind that many Brazilians discovered.

Many Brazilians have some kind of "group feeling", but different than, for example, the well-known Japanese group sense. Let's just say that once one recieves an invitation, it won't be long before he invites almost every single friend he has an e-mail address. And as Orkut was the first one (I suppose) it may explain why there're so many Brazilians there.

I won't say it wasn't a good experience in the beggining. I've found some friends from kindergarden to university. Some that I really haven't met for a long time, and it was good to be in touch with those people again.

But of course it wouldn't last. Spammers, hate groups, crackers also have discovered opportunities in such services. The Portuguese version of the Wikipedia article about Orkut shows some. Spam (lately, around 80% of the scraps I've been receiving) about events, job opportunities or whatsoever. A recent one that's a little weird was from a... humm... "candidate for member of the (state) house of representatives ". Note that he's candidate from the state of Sao Paulo, while I don't live in that state... Annoying to say the least.

Out of that, and some profile viewing (not a problem... one shouldn't put something one wouldn't like other people to know) there're also virus (until some months ago I was flooded with scraps that asked me to "check some pictures of the party" or something of the kind, with a lovely link to an .exe file), hoaxes, unauthorized profile editing and posting (like hacking into a woman's profile and changing her info and posting in communities as if she's a... you know what I mean)... But a recent problem is surely scary... Criminals look at your info for kidnapping purposes... or to simulate a kidnapping.

How? Choose a teenager or young person and call their parents or grandparents in a time that usually young people go out to tell that that person was kidnapped or suffered an accident and needs some cash. Keep the line and the person's cellphone busy to avoid a call to check if that's true and use the info about preferences, etc. to "confirm" it really is the person. Of course it's not only that. Sometimes they know some things that aren't written (by observing in real life maybe) in details that are... disturbing.

No, I haven't been in this situation, but have friends that almost fell for it.

Recently, another of those network services has been through its share of problems from what I've read. Myspace. I'm not part of this one (was invited, but too many of those things are hard to manage...) and don't know much about the problems.

Then comes mixi. If Orkut is Brazilian and Myspace is North-american, mixi is Japanese. Given the Japanese nettiquete, most people use nicks (although usually real name is also visible) and it's not unusual to find someone who put another picture instead of one's photo (it also happens in other services too... but perhaps the percentage of "no-bogus profiles" without a person photo is bigger... not sure though). So far, no signs of spams, virus or whatever. Maybe because I'm still a minor user and don't (can't) go too deep into it. I wonder if it will suffer the same problems of its Western counterparts or it will be saved by Japanese online behavior (being entirely in Japanese keeps most Westerns out of it...)

My last hope that such services aren't doomed...

Japanese Japanese... Brazilian Japanese...

It's been a while. No, I'm not dead. No, I haven't given up writing. Just a mix of laziness and lack of things to write about.

The cold is gone, finally. I really stayed at home during most part of recovery... Just can't imagine playing futsal or other usual activities coughing every 5 seconds. The problem is even staying at home the virus will still be spread... among my family. My sisters and mother've got a cold too. Although mine was worse, this time there're 3 people sick. My mother seems to be the most "unlucky". Hers is quite strong too...

And winter vacation is over. But I have no class in this semester... Only a monography (a.k.a. TCC) and... uhh... I'm not really sure of the word in English. I'm supposed to have some kind of experience as a "trainee engineer". I'm looking for the English word for "estágio", but there's some difference between "estagiário" and "trainee" in Brazil that I can't explain correctly. Anyway, no success so far looking for a company to do that. And those two things are more than enough to keep me busy during most of the period...

I've got a reading recommendation from a friend. So, although vacation is over, I'll try to read that "Steppenwolf" book. And also the Japanese book that I recieved before returning to Brazil. About the latter book, I've tried sometimes, but I guess I'm forgetting Japanese little by little. It's harder to read every time I try it. それでも、まだ諦めない！

Silly news that probably won't make any sense to those who read my blog. A new Pump it Up arcade has arrived. One of the most recent versions: Zero. For a long time "Pumpers" have complained about the versions and the pads of the arcades here. this time, one game center finally changed its version and fixed the pads. From now on, the new point for Pump it Up is "Royal Plaza Shopping".

Nothing like a birthday to meet relatives you haven't seen for ages, right? Well, during an uncle's (I wonder... I am really not sure of relations with that side of the family...) birthday. And, naturally, because I've returned from Japan people make comments and try to talk in Japanese to me, especially the elders. So far, I haven't disappointed them (my Japanese is getting worse, but still bearable), but one thing is interesting.

How they mix Japanese and Portuguese words naturally, like if they're speaking Japanese. One explanation is that Portuguese words took place over many "new words" (usually in katakana) like table, computer... But even for words not so new, sometimes the changing is natural, to the point they don't understand if you say the word in Japanese (well... the way I've heard in Japan). That may be an example of how languages envolve, and may envolve in different ways.

Even so, I can't put a Portuguese word in the middle of a Japanese sentence. I stop the sentence, but don't use the Portuguese equivalent. But it's not uncommon for me to say a Japanese word in the middle of a Portuguese sentence. Why, I wonder...

Vacation... but there's a problem...

Winter vacation. But it's unusually warm (maybe even hot), even for Brazilian winter. As it hasn't been raining lately (what's also kinda unusual), perfect weather for vacation, right? Well, yes, it is. With so many things to do and the weather helping...

Why did I catch a cold!?!?!?

And a very strong one, with fever, feeling lazy and all that. And in that pace, vacation will be over before I'm healed... Ok that I haven't halped much. Even in this condition I still have played futsal, gone out with friends and all that... I have to enjoy a little after all. But I wonder if that's not delaying my recovery and spreading the virus...

Anyway, I can't keep doing that. Guess I'll have to play dead for a while... Damn.

Bookworm

Finally, winter vacation. The result of the last tests were published, and thankfully I was approved without the final exams (one should get an average of 70 points in exams or 50 points after the final exam to be approved. But that one is more difficult than regular exams... and it has a weight equal to all the other exams together.).

So, it's time to decide what to do during winter vacation. Not much, since it's not that long and my research starts in the next semester. For now, just resuming the ordinary "go with friends to..." that I skipped for the last weeks because of all the exams, reports and presentations. Like going to the arcades and play futsal.

But I usually read at least one book during every summer or winter vacation. This time I still couldn't find one. I've been searching for Asimov's Foundation Series, but the complete collection is nowhere to be found. Other books that I'd like to read, like Rainbow Six, I can't find also... Well, I have one book in queue. A Japanese book that I was presented with (thanks again Kyoko!). I'll use the time to read it, but I'd need some other book as my Japanese reading is way too slow.

So, I'm open to reading suggestions...

Blue battle

So, another World Cup comes to an end. In the final match, a blue battle. Italy's "Azurra" against France's "Les Bleus".... with the deserved victory of the former. A good game I watched in a pub with some friends and former classmates (until I went to Japan). It's interesting to meet the group after (almost) everyone has graduated (well... I still haven't...) and check the path each one chose (or were chosen...) Master's course, job, unemployment... And each has different points of view now.

Back to the original subject, after some time Italy's got another title. And that was deserved. The players might not be so strong individually, but they showed a good performance as a team... plus some luck, but that's part of the equation anyway.

The bad highlight is due to Zidane... that lost his temper near the end of the game. Let's hope he doesn't become the martyr... in any meaning.

Well, the tourneament wasn't amazing. Good games, but not astonishing ones. Games usually decided by tactic rather than individual talent (but that surely showed up sometimes). Highlights to the return of the German patriotism, and the return of Italy to the top, after erasing the bad mark of being the only team that lost a World Cup final match in PKs...

Katamari Soul

One day, when I was in Japan, one guy of the same lab as me was showing a video he'd found on the internet. It was about a video-game. I couldn't find out the title at that time, but it surely was interesting. You are a tiny little... thing? Anyway, a tiny little thing that pushes around some kind of ball that is highly adhesive, capable of grabbing anything smaller than itself. That ball is called katamari (in Japanese it means something like lump, chunk or block). Grabbing objects, the ball gets bigger and can capture bigger objects.

Simple gameplay, a storyboard that is not amazing, but with some interesting lines. A game that can make one play for hours... and it's funny! That's "We ♥ Katamari" ("みんな大好き塊魂"). A completely nonsense game, one of the kind "turn your brain off and relax".

The most interesting thing so far? A stage where the katamari gets so big, that it grabs mountains, ground (yes... you've read that right), going through buildings, monuments (like the Eiffel Tower, White House and Osaka Castle), Godzilla, clouds, satellites and UFOs. Let's take over the world!!!

Well, I found that game this week at a game corner here and bought it because I remembered the video I saw in Japan. But the fun will have to wait until exams are over...

Munich: The Real Assassins

Recently, I watched the documentary "Munich: The Real Assassins" in Discovery Channel. I wanted to watch Spielberg's "Munich", but couldn't manage to do it. But the documentary was even better.

Shortly, it shows a "black op" of the Mossad (Israeli secret service) to get revenge on the ones who organized and planned the Olympics massacre of 1972, killing them in a way to intimidate other terrorists. How some operations were executed and how it turned into a new killing, having as targets "anyone who could be a threat to Israel" (more a less). Until they killed a wrong target... an innocent. And were caught.

Initial payback feeling turning into paranoic rage... doesn't it sound familiar with another conflict? Pakistan? Iraq?

And it shows that there's no "right side" or "wrong side" in conflicts like those...

It's surely fascinating. One I recommend.

Defeat... but not only that

So, Brazil was defeated by France... again. Well, the defeat was well-deserved. France surely played well (probably their best match in the competition so far) and Zidane was awesome. But a good part of the defeat was because of Brazil itself.

The apathy of the players was astonishing. Weak marking, no movimentation to pass the ball (note that when a Brazilian player had the ball, most times NO ONE would get close to him and allow a pass)... Those problems didn't happen only during the match against France. Probably, the only match when it didn't show up much was against Japan... even so, maybe because of the goal the Japanese did. Against Ghana it was more evident than ever. But at that time, Allowing Ghana to have the ball and working on counter-attacks unconsciously neutralized the oppponent main feature: fast counter-attacks. But France simply doesn't work the same way.

Even after the goal, the Brazilian team was like dead. Apathetic. Even the coach and the bench. Like if nothing's changed. Only Robinho seemed to be a little in the mood. That's what bothered me the most.

Why? Well, just look at other matches. Even when losing, even when there was little or no hope left, other teams would do their best until the very end, sometimes even turning the tables. Examples: Brazil vs. Japan. Japan had almost no hope of qualifying, but even so did probably one of their best matches in the World Cup, even scoring the first goal. Italy vs. Ukraine. Even losing by 3, Ukraine was trying hard until the end. England vs. Portugal. A good game until the PK's. Then Portugal goalkeeper turned into a hero, but England's defeat was just by an inch... fought to the very end. Germany vs. Argentina. Argentina's coach did a very good strategy, breaking Germany completely to the point they didn't have space to attack. And Argentina scored. Then Germany showed guts and managed to tie and keep the result until the PK's, where Argentina was defeated.

(One point of being back to Brazil: where else there could be an experimental class during the Germany vs. Argentina match and listen to the game on the radio that someone brought - or took at the lab - while doing the experiment? Even the teacher was listening...)

The problem wasn't about Brazil losing to France, but how it was... The first (and probably the only) shoot that could actually reach the goal was done only at around 40'... of the 2nd half!

I just hope that it has teached a lesson. Players' ability saved Brazil until the point that it really wasn't enough. Excellent players, but not behaving like a team... simply doesn't work. Individually, Brazilian players were better than the French, but almost any team (at least all that had a match against Brazil) was better as a team...

The defeat also has other good points. Braking the overconfidence and the exaggerated World Cup atmosphere (cheering isn't a bad thing in itself... but people sometimes simply overdo it... But I guess that only Brazilians and people who were here diring a World Cup will really understand the sentence...) and returning to our normal lives.

Result and World Cup

Ok! Breaking news first. I was approved in the interview. That means the selection in Brazil is over, now it's up to us to contact a Japanese university and a Professor. If everything goes right, I'll probably be back in Japan next year then!

I just don't know... I was pretty bad during the interview, saying some things I shouldn't and forgetting some I should say. Besides, my research involves many subjects I haven't studied during the Engineering course. I studied a little by myself, but even so, my knowledge about those is far from ideal... There were also qualified people with good study plans, so I thought I wouldn't be chosen because of the average level... Guess I guessed wrong in the end...

Now the omnipresent topic: World Cup. It's been pretty nice until now, with good games and balanced matchs (usually...). Germany showing it will be all out at home, Trinidad with guts getting a tie against Sweden with one man less, the "Death Group" matches (Argentina vs. Ivory Coast and Servia vs. Holland), Italy's "Azurra", Czech goals agains US, Spain unexpected great victory...

I wasn't expecting Japan's defeat against Australia, though. I watched the first half and it seemed that Japan would be able to hold Aussie's attacks. During the second half I had a class, and what was my surprise to hear that Japan lost the game... at the last minutes.

About Brazil's game, it was a nice game with an amazing goal. Since Croatia isn't a weak team (as, theorically, any team in the World Cup), at least Brazil won. Will have to do better, though. Let's say that as a team, Croatia was better. Brazilian players ability was the point that helped the victory this time. But the defenders were better than the forwards in general.

Next game is against Australia. Let's see what happens...

To the interview

Humm... Update!

As I said previously, I'm applying for this year's Monbukagakusho scholarship. Japanese and English tests were last Friday, and somehow I managed to be approved for the interview. It will be held this Friday.

Well, I know that's the most decisive part. I've heard that Japanese level might not be so important for those going as researchers if a good study plan is presented. Also, for anything from a job to a scholarship, the interview is the part when they know the "real you" (or the parts that are relevant to what you're applying... That's the idea at least). So, that's the part when I really can't mess things up.

Although I know that, and I'm working on things, like trying to improve my study plan a little (a 2.0 version would be appreciated), I realized that I'm more nervous about university stuff, like tests, reports and presentations (not to mention the monography), than that interview... Although the latter may be much more important to my life (with the possibility of changing at least the next two years of my life... or more probably it as a whole) than the former. And I don't even know why that...

Now, is that a good or bad sign?

ハウルの動く城

Using the weekend to relax, I decided to watch the movie "ハウルの動く城" (Howl's Moving Castle) for the second time.

I recieved that movie as a present from a friend (thanks Meg) before returning to Brazil. I tried first to watch it with no subtitles, and of course it's in Japanese. I could get the general idea, but not all of it.

I'm still resisting to put English subtitles, since I have to practice Japanese. And I know that I'll look only to the subtitles if I do that. So, this time I selected Japanese subtitles. There are things I still don't understand. But at least being able to listen and read was a good help.

I don't think I should write a review, since my comprehenshion isn't complete, but it's a good movie, following Miyazaki's style. Anti-war message and fantasy are standards, but it's interesting putting an elder lady as the main character, even though she has a young soul...

What happened to the witch that cursed her is also a little strange (not telling to avoid spoilers)... and so is how Sofie (the main character) changes from old to young and vice-versa, especially at the end of the movie... Well, this one I may have lost some explanation. (But I do understand why she changes for good at the end.)

But I still refuse to watch with English subtitles...

An English review is here. Although I haven't read it to check its contents (because of possible spoilers of parts I didn't understand).

At the hospital and scholarship

For those who were worried because of the title, I'm not sick or anything like. Wednesday, I went to the university hospital with classmates and professors as part of the Biomedical Engineering subject. So, that was a chance to see the equipments we usually only see in books, although most of them weren't operating at the time... especially those at the maintenance sector.

Also, some parts were interesting, like the laundry and the kitchen, which use vapour for some of their functions... And the amount of clothing to do laundry and food to cook is absurdly huge! One of the things that most people don't notice...

But the promised highlight was a visit to the Surgery Center. The opportunity to see the instruments working and, more than that, some "real action". Unfortunetely, when our group entered the place, there were few surgeries happening, and most of them about to finish... The only one that was going to take longer involved radiation. In other words, not recommended for spectators...

The only thing I regret was forgetting the camera at home. A group of Electric Engineering students wearing those surgeon clothings surely deserved a picture...

But the day wasn't over yet. But before continuing, a briefing is needed...

I decided to apply for the Monbusho (for people in Brazil, the Asebex link would be a better choice...) scholarship for my Master's degree. But because of tests, reports, etc. etc. I was overloaded with paperwork to send for the application last week (last week to send them). Well... it wouldn't have been a big deal if I haven't forgot about the study plan... I managed to "scratch" one, although it surely deserves heavy improvement (working on it...), losing some hours of sleep (and looking like a zombie during Wednesday's classes).

Back to this week's Wednesday...

My forms for the Monbusho scholarship were approved. And the language test is this Friday... Well... I must admit I haven't been studying neither English nor Japanese lately, so I'm a little worried. Writing on my blog and mailing friends surely help me not becoming too rusty, but I dunno if it's enough for a test... especially a Japanese test.

Anyway, I'll study what I can today and see the results tomorrow. There's not much else to do, and stressing over it will only make things worse. At least that will give me a real measure of my language ability for tests...

X-Men 3 and shooting madness

Weekend. Reports and tests ahead, but that can wait a walk at a shopping mall...

There I found a group of friends who were going to watch "X-Men 3", and I decided to join them. Like "The DaVinci Code" movie, lines all the way... Maybe even more, although there were less people inside when the movie started.

Humm... I haven't been reading X-Men comics for the last... 8 years? I dunno events like those happened in the comics too, but it WAS an overturn with some key characters dying among other drastical changes. Sometimes you really ask yourself what's the "right" side in the conflict... And behind that all were those philosophical questions like the right to change what's different and all that...

But... First, there were too much information for a less than 2 hours long movie. Maybe it would do better as a series. So, events happened too fast, without time to really digest what was happening. Add to that some questions about the destiny of some characters.

Spoiler below. It'll be written in white.
For example, WHAT happened to Madrox??? And did he volunteer to "sacrifice" himself as decoy that simply?

After the movie, we met another group. And among them, one strong TC3 player: CID. So, the group decided to watch us play (we've never played together before). Before that, another player appears: LED. CID, LED and ITS... all together for the first time.

Some explanations: TC3, or Time Crisis 3 is a shooting game. And in Londrina, as far as I know, the 3 top players are CID, LED and ITS (me). The top records are ours. They play together in link mode, while I usually play alone, in solo or link mode.

I've played with LED once before... We did the high score in link mode, but a little after, CID and LED overcame that score (again... it's hard to achieve a better score than a good team alone in link mode). LED's play style is without many resources, taking few hits, almost not using special weapons and with a high accuracy.

With CID, things are completely different... and I understood why their partnership works. His play style is shooting wild and fast, killing as much and as fast as possible by any means necessary. As a result, he usually is hit many times, but his time and points are very good.

Me? I'm somewhere in between. Some kind of all-round player. I can play in either side (player 1 or 2) in a balanced way, although the other two are better in their characteristics. But I'm a little influenced by the style of the player I'm playing with.

So, playing with CID, we achieved top score (being hit more than my usual) of about 3009000 points in around 23' 30''. Yeah!

The DaVinci Code

This weekend I went with some friends to watch the movie "The DaVinci Code". I almost gave up, though... There were soooooo many people lined up to watch it. At least we managed to get good seats.

I've read the book before, and it's interesting. The author Dan Brown writes in a way that you can't stop reading, always anxious to know what happens next. The movie kept most of the storyline, but as any movie based on a book, some informations were given in a partial way or simply ommited. I remember that well in the most recent Harry Potter movie ("The Goblet of Fire", I think), when I asked myself if someone that has never read the book before could understand the movie... Although "The DaVinci Code" seems understandable, I still miss some explanations and situations.

But the stranger of all is the acting. Some situations just look... wrong. The way they speak some lines don't seem natural...

I can't say I wasted my time, but that's not a movie I'd go watch twice.

Then comes the question: why are some sectors of the Church were complaining about that movie (and the book) so much? Like when there was the polemic about violent games like GTA. In my opinion, that HELPED the sales of that game. The same situation might be occuring.

That also reminds me of another situation: those cartoons about Mohammed that enraged many muslims. I'm not the only one to associate the two cases...

Civil war??

I always got myself in some trouble when explaining about violence in Brazil when I has in Japan. Either to Japanese or foreigners, only those who live a similar reality, like Argentineans, seemed to really understand the whole picture.

It's a fact that each country has it's problems, but how I'm gonna explain this:

(Both articles from "The Washington Post")
Drug Gangs Bring Chaos To Streets Of Sao Paulo
Police Strike Back in Sao Paulo

And one site from "Folha Online" (in Portuguese)

The only thing I can say now is that it's not like the entire country was like that, and we were surprised by that, too... Things are likely to return to normality now...

Serial Buffer

Walking around uni, there was something unusual...



So, what's that? Some strange kind of corridor, was one answer when talking with friends about it.

And... what is that for? A little hard to imagine.

To create a line for something? ... Wrong.

To hold on people who go down running? ... Worng.

Just (another) useless construction? ...Close, maybe.

...

No more guesses?

...

The answer is "to block access to bicycles, motorcycles and alike".

Don't ask me...

So, using Engineering vocabulary, that is a serial data buffer!

How a prejudice is born

My inbox had one of those "half-spam" texts that exist on the net today. I remember I've recieved this one before, and is quite interesting. Worth posting.

----

Start with a cage containing five monkeys. Inside the cage, hangs a banana on a string and placed beneath it, a set of stairs.

Before long, a lone monkey will go to the stairs and start to climb towards the banana . As soon as he touches the stairs, spray all of the other monkeys with cold water .
After a while, another monkey makes an attempt with the same result - all the other monkeys are sprayed with cold water. Pretty soon, when another monkey tries to climb the stairs, the other monkeys will try to prevent it.

Now, put away the cold water. Remove one monkey from the cage and replace it with a new one. The new monkey sees the banana and wants to climb the stairs. To his surprise and horror, all of the other monkeys attack him. After another attempt and attack, he knows that if he tries to climb the stairs, he will be assaulted.

Next, remove another of the original five monkeys and replace it with a new one. The newcomer goes to the stairs and is attacked. The previous newcomer takes part in the punishment with enthusiasm!

Likewise, replace a third original monkey with a new one, then a fourth, and then the fifth. Every time the newest monkey takes to the stairs, he is attacked. Most of the monkeys that are beating him have no idea why they were not permitted to climb the stairs or why they are participating in the beating of the newest monkey.

After replacing all the original monkeys, none of the remaining monkeys have ever been sprayed with cold water. Nevertheless, no monkey ever again approaches the stairs to try for the banana.

Why not? Because as far as they know that's the way it's always been done around here.


"It is easier to desintegrate an atom than a prejudice"
- Albert Einstein

-----

Anyone beating without thinking?

Things one learns in Japan

Tuesday. Lunch. My mother cooked some noodles with soup (she calls "misoshiru", although it's not like the Japanese "miso"... her's is more like udon... perhaps). So, while eating, I hear from my sister:

"Don't slurp while eating. That's rude!"

Eh...?? Well, in Japan slurping while eating noodles, for example, is accepted. It's even said that some may get offended if you don't, like if the soup isn't hot enough (although I haven't noticed that while I was there...). Another point of view is that's necessary. I can't imagine another way of eating at the speed Japanese do using chopsticks.

But in Brazil (and some other wertern countries), that's considered rudeness in table manners. One should do no noises while eating. After almost one year in Japan, I got the Japanese habit of slurping when eating hot noodles... and I haven't got rid of it aven after returning. Guess I'll have to be a little more careful when eating soups or noodles for a while...

Birthday... not mine.

May 2nd was my sister's birthday, so a group decided to gather at "Taqueria" (or something like that). It's some sort of Mexican restaurant that some of my sister's friends would like to know (I have never been there before myself...).

After a sudden chance of mind, she almost cancels everything after a call from a friend that wouldn't go... then changed her mind again after a call from my other sister... Guess I'll never understand what happened...

Anyway, nice place, chatting and a chance to eat a burrito and watch my sister drink almost 3 tequila glasses (guess that she inherited the drinking capacity that I lack... not that I miss it much). As it was her birthday, my sister managed to borrow one of those Mexican hats (sombrero) and use it during the whole party. They're heavier than I thought!

The only problem was that I had a test the next day... That's life.

Where are you pointing at?

Women only... in Brazil

I was watching the news today during lunch when I saw something that reminded me of Japan. Many people know about the "women only" cars that exist in many railways, especially in big cities such as Osaka and Tokyo. I was even asked about those cars after returning to Brazil ("Have you entered one?", "Are they 'women only' all day long?" and so on...). But I didn't know that such cars also existed here.

So, according to this article (link in Portuguese) this system is being implemented in some trains and subways in Rio de Janeiro (double surprise... are trains used so much there? If someone in the known could answer me I'd appreciate it) and, as the system is new, some problems and misunderstandings are happening. The worst of them was when a group of students entered the car without knowing it was "women only". Security forced them out, almost pushing one to the rails. According to one of the students, the request to leave was made only five stations after they entered the car.

Also, the article mentions a similar attempt made some years before in Sao Paulo, where some cars were reserved to women, elderly, children and handicapped. But since it wasn't respected, those cars disappeared in two years.

... Well, out the part that it wasn't respected in Sao Paulo (I'm not impressed...), I was surprised that such thing existed also in Brazil. In Japan, the main reason for the "women only" cars are the problems with gropers. I wonder if it's the same case here... I'm not sure... Just don't think it's likely... The article doesn't give the reasons.

And do other big cities around the world use that system too? I wonder...

移民として

Okay. I'd promised a friend that I'd post in Japanese someday. Even the subject was decided, but that is still under way. And I probably won't be able to finish that for the next weeks because of my exams. But as I was (still) cleaning some things from Japan I found a file I used for a presentation about Brazil, focused on the Japanese emigration to Brazil because of the Drama "Haru to Natsu" that was released the same year and had that emigration as part of the background.

So, I'll post part of that file here. It's about the emigration, some problems and realizations that came from it, and comparing to the emigration of Brazilian workers to Japan nowadays. Some topics are incomplete and superficial because of my limitation with the language, my intention wasn't going too deep about it during the presentation and I lack some details about the subject, too. That's just an introductory text. If some interest grows from it, I recommend to look for other sources of information to know the whole picture. I can help on that.

日本からブラジルへの移民は、両国の利益にもとづいて始まりました。日本では人口過密の問題がありましたので、明治時代から移住政策が取られました。ブラジルではコーヒー農園で働くために、労働人口を必要としました。

そして、日本移民は1908年4月28日に笠戸丸船に乗って神戸港からブラジルに向けて出発しました。1908年6月18日にサントス港に到着しました。

第１次世界大戦の後で、日本の経済状況は良くではありませんでした。それに、１番最初移住した国アメリカでは1924年に日本移民の数を制限する法が制定されました。ですから、1928年から、1935年までブラジルへの日本移民はすごく増えました。

ところが、移民たちは多くの困難な状況の中で生活しました。たとえば、悪い衛生状況で働かされました。多くの移民たちは、お金を儲けて、日本に戻りたいだけでした。それに、ブラジル政府は、アジア人より、ヨーロッパ人が来て欲しかったのです。というのは、奴隷制度が廃止された後で、人口の「漂白」（白人）が促進されました。ですから、移住した日本人とブラジル人はあまり融合しませんでした。

それでも、だんだん、自活と権益を守るために、日系移民は協同組合を創設して、小区画地を買いました。

第２次世界大戦の時には、ブラジルは連合軍と同盟国でしたので、日本からの移民は禁止されました。その上、枢軸国の国語を教えたり、その言語で話したり、新聞を発表するのは禁止されていました。ポルトガル語とブラジル文化がほとんど分からない日系人には、そのような政策は情報を与えないことを意味しました。日系人とブラジル人の関係は悪くなりました。

大戦の後で日系ブラジル人は２つの派に分かれました。日本が大戦に勝ったと信じる人々は「勝ち組」と呼ばれ、日本が負けたと信じるのは「負け組」と呼ばれました。（「勝ち組」は約75％でした。）情報が得られない欠けない日系人は、どちらが本当に勝ったか知ることが難しかったのです。日本のラジオ放送局は禁止でしたから、情報はよくポルトガル語を知る日系やブラジル人からだけでした。でも、その情報源を信じない人々がいました。

そらに、「神道連盟」（しんどうれんめい）と言うグループがありました。そのグループは「勝ち組」の出身であった人々によってつくられました。1944年設立した「神道連盟」は、初めは日本文化と天皇のイメージを守る目標がありましたけど、大戦の後で、より急進的になって、日本が大戦に勝ってそうたように見せかけるために雑誌を捏造しました。そして、日本が大戦に負けたと思っていた日系人を暗殺しようとしました。

しかし、ついに、そのグループは解体されました。そして、時間がたって、日系人とブラジル人の関係はよりよくなりました。1960年代から日系人の家族は零細企業を始めました。1970年代にはブラジルと日系の文化が調和するのはもうめずらしいことではありませんでした。そして、現在では昔の偏見はなくなりました。日系人の社会的地位は向上しました。

1980年代に日本の経済は絶頂にありました。工業が八達し肉体労働者は外国に求められました。その外国人は「出稼ぎ」と呼ばれました。1990年代に変化した日本の出入国管理法は日系ブラジル人に有利でした。その法は日系人を優遇しました。ブラジルの日系人の数は世界一でした。それに、ブラジルはその時に経済情勢が悪化していました。

でも、日本人がブラジルへ移住した場合のように日本に移住したブラジル人には、困ることがありました。日本では、言語と文化が違いますから、日本人に似ているけれども、外国人扱いです。それに、日本語を習得する人はほとんどいない。そして、読み書きのできない人はわずかしかいない日本では偏見をもたれてしまいます。

ブラジルに戻っても、困ることがあるかもしれません。日本同じ給料をもらうことはできません。その上、経営の経験がないので、自分の会社を興しても、よく破産させてしまいました。これらのケースでは、その人々はもう一度日本に帰って、お金をもらって、またそのお金はブラジルでなくなって…というふうに、彼らがもうブラジルに戻らないことを決意するまで、その悪循環は続きます。

SdRA meeting and War (game...)

Today is Easter. That means Friday is holiday, too. Now, to prove that there's an universal conspiracy against my studies: friday I had just had dinner and was about to start a report I still had to finish. At the second I sit in front of the computer, the phone rings. A former university classmate calls saying that a group is having dinner at a pizza parlor and asking me to show up.

"Former" because when I went to Japan I kinda "lost" one year at my university. As I'm in the last year now, all the others in the group have graduated already. And the group was a part of the SdRA ("Sociedade da Régua Amarela". The name is just one we gave to the group. If someone who doesn't know Portuguese is curious about the meaning just run it through a online translator. Even Goggle will do).

So, the meeting. I didn't eat anything since I had just had dinner, but the conversations were nice. Meet old classmates, know how they are doing now (studying, employed, unemployed...) and lots of small talk. Remember old times and exchange info.

That was funny by itself, but some decided to extend it by going play some game at someone's house after. The game was War 2 (Link in Portuguese. Couldn't find any link in English. I wonder if it's a Brazilian game, or it has a different name in English... I saw a Risk that is similar, but not the same). Whoever have ever played the game know a little of what happened later.

It's almost impossible to finish it soon. It's a board game with a world map. So, you have to move your troops around territories trying to fulfill your objective, fighting other player's troops when needed. Fights are solved by dice up to 3 vs. 3 troops each time. Greater number wins.

I won't explain all the rules here...

Anyway, just some highlights:

• I started in the middle of Asia with Middle East, China and everything in between. As having majority of territories in Asia grants many extra troops at the next round, I was attacked by almost all the other players (as I could be attacked from almost any other continent except South America). Smashed, I had to hide and hope no one would kill me for good... And the balance of power was always oscillating like that. When one player ws becoming too powerful, he was smashed by the others...
  
  
• A friend was able to resist an air raid with about 8 planes, beating all of them before his troops were wiped out, but then he was raided by ground attacks... (in Vietnam) what I believe was the most unlikely thing to happen... Like an attacker rolling 3, 2 and 2 and the defender losing all by rolling 2, 1 and 1...
  
  
• Some Portuguese jokes like "taking Peru from another player" (hummm... I'm not telling the meaning of this one... just that Peru could be translated as "turkey"...)...
  
  
• There was a hot fight for Brazil for some rounds... I wasn't in that one. And another player was telling jokes about me not attacking and conquering Japan right beside China (there was no meaning according to my objective), like that I was not Japanese (well... I'm not) and was ignoring Japan...
  
  
• My objective was "destroy all yellow troops" (Dalai), and I was really close of accomplishing it. The problem is that I must destroy the last troop, but as that player was wiped from Europe (thanks to Wilson) and was cornered in Oceania another player was also attacking him to take Australia... AND HE GAVE THE LAST BLOW! Damn... The problem is that my objective was changed to "conquer any 24 territories"... and I almost sacrificed all my troops to destroy all yellow troops...
  
  
• Almost 5 am. Most players were tired and wanting to finish the game, except one (Osni). In that player's turn, he could complete his objective if he made some moves and was really fortunate. All players were hoping he'd finish the game, so it was pretty funny when a defending player was happy for being beaten in a territory... In the end he won. The same player who killed the last yellow troop...

また会う日まで！

During my last days in Japan, there were farewell parties. At that time, I had a lot in my head and couldn't write about them. But it's something that I really couldn't skip. I had planned to post this the day I left to Japan. As it wasn't possible, plans changed to the day I arrived (considering the time passed, not local time)

So, first there was a exchange students farewell party on Feb 9th. More especifilally, the students at the Shosha campus that are staying for one year (Silvia, Win - from Thailand, a Korean whose name I forgot... sorry, and me). Simple and basically only us and our Japanese teachers (volunteer teachers that gave classes at the university), but even so nice. That's the point where we started seeing persons from Himeji for the last time. That time, some teachers and students.

Next, there was the Himeji Gang surprise party on Feb 11th. I commented that one previously.

On 13th, Vinny (Australian), Ou (or O... don't know how to write the name in romaji... Chinese), Silvia and me did a farewell party on our own. We were the regular Japanese class (at the university... by regular I mean included and registered as one of our classes) students and decided to meet one more time before going back (only the Chinese girl wasn't a one-year student). That one was funny... western style I could say. We had planned karaoke, but it was crowded, so we went bowling at a place Vinny knew... plus some games (there was finally a DDR there... but I was just too rusty...). After that, a sushi restaurant nearby (something we would miss back to our countires).

14th. This time the ESS (a.k.a. English club) farewell party. Impressing the capacity most Japanese have to be responsible and organize things... As far as I know, one girl from the club organized it all... with some help from other members. A small dinner at the kinenkan (something like memorial/commemorative building. I know it as a second restaurant at the university...) followed by bowling and karaoke (you might think "it's always the same!" Well... it IS! those are the two main forms of having fun in group in Japan). There was even a plaque (humm... is this right?) with messages... in English (note it is an English club... and Portuguese was out of question). It was also Valentine's, so some chocolates (giri or friendship, before any strange thought arises...).

(Time to say sorry to the aikido club for not going training that day... but I really had that scheduled a long time before...)

Then 18th. Vinny's farewell party at Roxy club. Seeing farewells from another perspective (it was HIS farewell party and I stayed silent). Also, some laughs with some situations (for those who know, I'm talking about the crazy twins...)

19th. USJ with Fabio and Claus. I might consider that "farewell from Brazilian students" since it was the last time I met one (except silvia, of course). Well... it was my 5th time there... but with different company is always interesting (plus the combination Fabio and Claus is surely entertaining...)

22nd. Lunch with my Egret volunteer teacher. Since the end of 2005 we couldn't have classes with her, but all of us wanted a last meeting at least. Think I can say she was probably our best Japanese teacher, although the one that gave us classes for the shortest time... Too bad I lost contact completely now... and she isn't even in Himeji anymore.

24th. My last day at the lab. As all the students there (except me) were busy with their presentations (for their graduate projects) no parties... I didn't announced anything before it was too late, too, because of their presentations... Even so, I got some farewells and a last-minute thought present... already eaten. Later, a last meeting with some people from the Himeji gang at Tiger Pub... I wasn't in the mood for smokey places, but it turned good in the end.

Finally 25th. Last day and the busiest one. Meeting the frisbee group for the last time, then a "former members meeting" (OB会) with the aikido club. These meeting are usually a training followed by dinner when members that are already past the 3rd year (when they usually "retire") participate together with regular members. I couldn't go to the training, but I managed to go to the dinner... I know that's bad (take only the light part), but I had no choice really... I couldn't go earlier and I wanted to meet them one last time.

I just didn't expect a homage during the dinner... and a T-shirt with messages from all (or almost). I'm not emotional, but they almost made me cry with that... After all, I was just for one year with the club and that was an occasion with former members, some they usually don't see too (what means there're a lot of senpais to think about... more a less...).

After the dinner, some decided to challenge me on KOF one last time... Some matches later (the year changed again... and again to one I'm not really good... KOF 2001. Even so... オレの勝ちだ！ Well... most times I should say...) I had to meet some people from the Himeji Gang... but it was raining and I had to go by bike... So I sent a message (using a friend's phone since mine was cancelled already) and... some people that were there decided to go to karaoke too! But another one. Thinking about it, I should have asked to go to the same place where the gang was... at the time that didn't come to my mind... Sorry.

Also, there were other occasions. Karaoke, Starbucks meetings ans dinners with the gang; meetings with people from the university (from professors to secreteries and employees)... All that made me happy. During this year, I met lots of people. Some I may meet again someday, some only through the Internet and some I may never hear about ever again. Even so, all of them contributed someway... for me to learn something... for fun... for helping me... From my closest friends to the lady at the cafeteria, all who recognized me while I was there, thank you.

Hope I was also able to make some difference into your lifes as you did in mine. Then one of my objectives will be complete... I wrote on the paper about the "reasons for going to Japan" for the scolarship examination: "(...) As I believe that knowledge is not a one-sided, I hope people there can learn something from me, even if it’d be only about Brazilian culture (but I expect more than that)."