Rocking in Hakata

I know, I know. You’re moaning in agony at the continuing theme here. But I couldn’t resist. Why? Well, unlike lolcats, which require some creative thinking - situational explanation, implying context, and preferably a knowledge of goofy Japanese (which, let’s face it, I just do not possess) - “fail dogs” are EASY. I just have to translate the word “FAIL.” I’ve chosen 2 variations to work with. 失敗 (shippai) and 惜しい (oshii). (I guess 残念 [zannnen] would also work, though. For most of these.) I’m not really good at nuance, but still. See how much easier that is? Now tell me, how could I resist? It was there…I had to. Blame the internet.

So there you have it, folks. Fail Dogs in Japanese.

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Indoctrinate U is a documentary put together by Evan Coyne Maloney, of On the Fence Films. The basic premise of the film is that universities all over the United States have become ideologically and demographically skewed in a way that threatens the campus free speech movement that arose during the 1960s. In the interest of full disclosure, I am partial to this message because I myself experienced some discomfort due to my world view in college. That’s not to say that I felt persecuted or attacked (usually) for my conservative philosophy, but I definitely felt like I was in the minority and learned when to keep my mouth shut, or when I needed to parrot a professor in order to pass a class. So the film reflects my beliefs. In any event, I think that the film has a good, strong message that will be more than merely palatable to anyone who is interested in education reform. Especially in the area of ideological conformity.

Far from functioning as bastions of serious thought and reasoned debate, Maloney found, campuses today operate as mental processing plants, doing more to tell students what to say and think than to teach them to think for themselves.

Some of you may have read my thoughts on diversity earlier. It may have come across that I also dislike the victimhood mentality that is so prevalent in America today. I feel like the emphasis on diversity (meaning certain different belief systems, nationalities, and skin colors) on today’s college campuses has created a bizarre counterintuitive atmosphere where classes and study programs nurture and further the idea of victimhood, and simultaneously act as segregationist havens. This documentary nails that point on the head and hammers it home. Read on for a quick review.

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I was stunned to come across the scene of a crime involving a celebrity while jogging. This is a small fishing island. We don’t usually get such big stars around here. We certainly don’t usually get them dead on the rocky shores of a hard to access beach. I’m thinking professional hit job, my fellow island ALT Will, or a rough encounter with a devious pastry-like baked femme fatale. Any other speculation? My high school kids are going to be distraught when they see this on the news (or I tell them). Then again, maybe they’ll just laugh. You never know. Grief is sometimes expressed in strange ways.

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Interesting! I was hit with this banner image while I was replying in Japanese to a message that former college professor and good friend of mine sent me (also in Japanese). Looks as though the American-started social site, Facebook, is reaching out to speakers of Japanese. The whole site is still in English, and considering the vast majority of the Facebook community is English speaking, I imagine it’s really only helpful to exchange students and former exchange students at the moment.

You may have also noticed that I added a script to the bottom of the left sidebar. Feel free to friend me on Facebook - but please note that I reserve the right to not accept friend offers arbitrarily and won’t feel bad about it. The odds of me accepting are far greater if I know you as a commenter on the blog. I think that’s rational. Ha ha.

I used to have an account with a very popular Japanese social site called Mixi. I started it when I was still attending classes at Waseda, but have no idea how to access it now. It’s fallen by the wayside. (By the way, if anyone wants to take pity on me and send me an invite to create a new Mixi profile, you can hit deas at rocking in hakata dot com. I’d appreciate it.)

UPDATE: Found it! You can search for me. デイズ・リチャードソン! Feel free to add me!

Recently, Koichi over at Tofugu submitted an article to JapanSoc, and I followed it to the site. The post is about improving your Japanese and making new friends by using Mixi. He outlines the differences between Mixi and sites like Facebook in the post. I thought one of the more interesting points he had was about the “communities” versus “groups” on Facebook. Apparently, communities tend to be actually active, whereas many groups are started with the sole intent to leave a funny group name on your profile or see how many people you can get to join. Interesting.

Anyway, just thought I’d drop that for your amused perusal. Do with the knowledge what you will. And have a nice day. Later!

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Hooooly cow. Can you spot the StumbleUpon traffic? I can. Over the last few days I’ve seen my counters shoot up. Approximately 16,000 unique visitors hit that second round of lolcats that I posted 2 weeks ago. What gets me is that out of that number, 35 people “liked” it and a few disliked it. 9 people (so far) have written reviews. I think 5 are positive (including my own…) and 4 are negative. And by negative I mean filled with an incredible vitriolic hatred similar to that found in YouTube comments. Why bother putting extra effort into announcing that you deplore a site you randomly came upon? Got me. But it sure is classy. It’s nice to get a head check once in a while, when I start feeling the urge to try and court the likes and dislikes of the internet. I’m glad I remembered that I don’t blog for popularity. Ha ha. There are just waaay too many people out there with whom I disagree. And it’s absurd to fight that flow. Ha ha. In case you haven’t seen it, this comic frame encapsulates it.

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