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Oh my beloved chamomiles, how you make me remember love~

As much as I hate to admit it, my reaction to watching Kimi ni Todoke is nothing out of the ordinary. I bet you guys have seen it coming, “Oh she’s a shoujo fangirl, and she likes Kimi ni Todoke. So? Isn’t that what fangirls do?” But much like the series itself, which (I’m sure people could ‘objectively’ agree with this, take away those rose-colored glasses first) isn’t anything groundbreaking, I thought, well, I’m not exactly here to exceed whatever expectations or do anything groundbreaking [in blogging/fangirling over this], right?

Something need not be groundbreaking for you to appreciate it, enjoy it, and love it. And no don’t give me that “I already know what’s going to happen from the start till the end of this series” bullsh*t because you obviously don’t know what you’re talking about. Search deeper, and you will find out what makes this a cut above the rest. Who would be so willing to dive in and actually get on with this quest: that is the question.

The moment you start labeling things as generic (in the negative sense of the word) and grow weary at the sight of scenes which you have “already seen a million times before”, it can only mean either (1) you’ve realized how much it sucks compared to how you’ve seen it before, now that you’ve become more knowledgeable about your taste, or (2) you’ve become numb and/or jaded that you no longer see the beauty that it once had.

In Kimi ni Todoke, we have a terribly misunderstood girl, who longs for nothing else but to break the walls-of-misunderstanding that’s keeping her from opening up to people and allow them to see her in a true light. We follow her throughout this Naritai Jibun Quest; she gains friends in the process — her support group — and somewhere along the way she realizes that her feelings of respect and admiration for the guy she looks up to is… something more. And they fall in love~ Not exactly the kind of premise that would instantly grab your attention once you hear it (except if you’re a shoujo fan of course), and yes, you’ve probably heard this story elsewhere, and you already know how it’s going to end etc etc.

But if you’d only take the time to dive in and discover this series for yourself, you’ll realize that there’s more to this than how I so uninspiredly described it. Not groundbreaking, but special; not the kind that would WOW you (I’d disagree with this because I was WOW-ed, but I’m afraid I’m biased, so…), but would thug your heartstrings nonetheless. Unless of course you’re like a certain grumpy blogger with a heart of stone (in the words of Author).

The true beauty of Kimi ni Todoke lies within, in the subtle moments which makes this series shine above others. moritheil also said something along these lines before:

“…if you’re talking about love, sometimes it’s the little things that make us realize we love someone or something.”

“Enjoy. Small. Things.”, as Ryan says.

In the end, I wasn’t able to pinpoint exactly what sets Kimi ni Todoke a cut above the rest. But rather than unsettling, I find this exciting. I’m drawn to this series far more than the rest of the Fall offerings, and up until now I’m still trying to find out exactly why. Perhaps it’s because of those special moments, or perhaps, something more. Either way, I’m just gonna have to continue watching, continue to be touched, until I find the answers. Yay for more excuses to continue watching this gem~

At one point, you’ve got to stop comparing what you’re watching with other animes (especially for purposes of proclaiming one to be better than the other) and simply appreciate it and love it for what it is, savor all its moments for what they’re worth. The same goes for love and relationships isn’t it? You can’t just benchmark and go on scrutinizing how the guy in your current relationship is better or worse than the guys from your past. It could very well be a sign that you still haven’t gotten over the past and have yet to completely let go. You might fall into the trap of using guys for rebound purposes if that’s the case, missing out on the bigger and more beautiful picture of it all.

Aaaand let’s end this post before we stray off any further from the topic. Here’s to hoping Kimi ni Todoke will be able to reach a whole lot more people

Related posts:

1. Kimi ni Todoke Reached My Soul: Sawako-chan is so SawayaKYAA~
2. A Koushien-esque Cross Game Blogging Ambition Once Forgotten

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I doubt I can churn out any coherent posts for Kimi ni Todoke until I get this out so before anything else, let me just say…

Sawako-chan is so moeeeee~!! SawayaKYAA~

*ahem* Now where were we?

refreshing drink in your refreshing anime. *ba dum psh*

Sawako is one of the most refreshing shoujo protagonists I’ve seen in a long time (literally and figuratively), alongside Kyoko-sama of Skip Beat. She shares a bit of that Kyoko-ptimism, made lite-r and less exaggerated, which can either be seen as (1) not as comedic and lulzy, or (2) more realistic, down to earth, and just overall moe~~ (and can appeal to a more diverse group of audience)

issa-sa’s pretty much covered what makes Sawako awesome compared to other shoujo heroines *cough*Kotoko*cough* and why she ROCKS. I mean, where in the world of shoujo manga have you seen a girl who doesn’t let her world revolve around one guy, whose actions are driven by the noble desire to become a better person each day of her life? Not an ordinary sight, I should say.

After hearing the sentiments of eternal and Kiri, however, I feel the need to further elaborate on this refreshingness feeling, which I owe mostly to the pile of shoujo dung crap I’ve exposed myself to throughout the years. I guess I’ll deal with that in another post, and back to the topic we go.

It’s a rarity, to see a character with this balance of gentleness and strength in her, after which I didn’t want to barf at how inauthentic or unreal it seems. And if we were to argue on the realism vs. unrealism aspects of this series, I’d say the emotional realism is definitely there. As if crying as I watch each episode isn’t enough proof. Feel free to disagree if you must you apathetic orcs!

Belldandy and ota-Haruka might come to mind with the mention of “gentle but strong characters”, but these two girls strike me off as a little too idealistic, bordering on being nothing else but wish-fulfillment characters. And in the department of pathos, they fail hard, especially the latter. Yes I know, I wrote a worship-post dedicated to Haruka-chan before, also how she touched the otaku in me, but that’s mostly me filling the emotional gaps in the show, or feeling empathy despite the cheap emotional plot devices (scenes thrown simply to make you go ‘awww’, for a brief period of time, because what follows is a chock-full of pantsu). Sawako, on the other hand, touches my soul like no other, and when she gets to you, she really gets to you. Rose-colored glasses out, Sawako’s in, and she WINS. Feels like I’m comparing apples and oranges here, so uhh whatever.

In any case, I’m definitely on the same boat as Yoshida with regards to Sawako:

this sums up how I feel with every episode

Gotta wonder how Sawako grew up to be that pure and innocent despite her environment. How to raise up such a child, teach me~! It’s highly possible if one has a good upbringing, I guess, growing up with a warm & loving family and community. Because otherwise, it’ll be very very difficult, especially with all the negative influences right around the corner. Either way, having managed to ROW ROW FIGHT THE JUDGMENTAL SOCIETY (while retaining one’s goodness, humility, integrity, etc.) is certainly admirable.

Edit: Looks like animewriter’s got the answer to this one.

While Onani Master Kurosawa shows us how it’s like to get trapped inside your own narrow stall of introversion — introverts gone bad — Kimi ni Todoke shows us the ideal side of things. What happens when, despite everything around you — judgmental bitches and assholes who talk about you behind [and in front of] your back and form their own perception of you based simply on unfounded rumors, not the least bit compelled to even question if the said rumors are true — you remain brave and optimistic, level-headed at all cost, able to understand where people are coming from when they treat you the way they do (both positive and negative), and continue to persist in breaking down all those walls that distances you from the rest of the people? You get the feel-good and refreshing Kimi ni Todoke (or simply Sawako) as a resullt.

Sawako is, without doubt, as bluemist says: a genuinely angelic human being. She’s such a brave & pure-hearted innocent girl, and I can’t help but cheer her in her Naritai Jibun quest. Her greatest dream is, let’s just say, a lot like OMK’s Magister (in fact she is a Magister in the making, or more like Magister is her Naritai Jibun)…

People have built walls around them to shun the very existence of Sawako, but here she is, striving to bring down those goddamn walls. Sawako just wants to open up her heart and make friends with everybody, even with freaking bitches and fags who badmouth her. Truth be told, those stupid judgmental people don’t deserve whatever Sawako’s trying to do for their sake, like “No Sawako, you shouldn’t care about these lowlifes because they don’t know how to appreciate beauty (inside and out) even if it’s right in front of them!” Pearls before swine, so to speak. But Sawako is Sawako, and she won’t stop at nothing until she’s able to reach out to just about everyone.

I’m so glad P.I.G. is working on this, viva la Production I.G.!! So happy to see a shoujo adaptation get this treatment.

ghostlightning has already given us a glimpse of that P.I.G. magic at work, and the rest, you’re gonna have to see for yourself. To see is to believe and all that jazz.

But enough talk… Kimi ni Todoke is awesome. Highly recommended. I can only hope it’ll Reach You too.

P.S. I will do everything I can to blog this regularly, or semi-regularly. I failed at Cross Game, must not fail this time around. 絶対！ *shakes fist* Will find a way to balance watching/blogging this, and studying for JLPT1, on top of work.

No related posts.

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So I watched Miracle Train and something about it has been bugging me ever since.

The whole premise (or the lack thereof) of this show basically revolves around these train station bishies whose motto in life is: Bring back one lost girl into the light each day (or week, from our POV), so quick to assume that just because a girl is down and depressed, she NEEDS help. And not just any normal help, but that from a harem of bishies to aide her in her helpless state, like some stupid damsel in distress. FYI, I don’t need your help, inasmuch as I don’t need your protection.

FEAR MY ROD

And let’s get real here, if I were a girl who suddenly comes across this Legendary Miracle Train, on board are no one else but 5 guys who claim to be train stations (oh brother *facepalm*), one mysterious masked man and a loli, only two thoughts that can come to mind: (1) Holy Shi– Am I gonna get RAEPED (not to mention there are no security people around, or any other people outside this ‘mob’ who can help me!)?! or (2) They’re kind souls who were sent by the heavens to help a poor girl like me, my prayers have been answered! — more likely the first one.

While yes, statistics shows that acquaintance raep is more likely than stranger raep, this is a freaking special train we’re talking about, a train that could lead you just about anywhere, nowhere. And worse, there can be no way out of this train!

Yes, I know.

Remember kids, just because a guy is bishielicious and/or smexy and “kind” to you doesn’t mean he really is a kind soul. You’ll never know what runs in his mind. Be very cautious.

But hey, this is some crazy anime we’re talking about, which requires us to strap our Suspension of Disbelief gear in full throttle, so for the sake of “fun” and all that jazz, let’s just accept the fact that these bishies were sent by the heavens for ye poor weak girls.

Feel free to use me, but don’t fall ever in love with me.

Here comes another issue, though. After the problem’s solved, you’d think the guys (ok train stations, I stand corrected) will empower the girls such that they’d be able to solve their future problems by themselves and not depend on them, right? Like teaching a man how to fish for himself instead of just feeding him. Well, think again. Once they’ve solved the problem [of the week], they “bid goodbye” to the troubled lady with a “Come back if you’re feeling down *smile*”, as though they want these girls to forever use them as a crotch– I mean crutch. Shouldn’t they be saying, “We hope we won’t see you again here, woman!!1!!”?!

Shinjuku: Oi, stop blushing Shotadome, our cover will be blown!

So yeah, WTF, NO YOU, Miracle Train. Thank you for making me feel just how weak I am because I’m a girl. See, this is exactly why only girls are accepted in the Miracle Train, not because they’re special, but because they’re weak. Ugh. Or probably to cover up the real identity of these train station guys as homotrainsexuals *gasp* The troubled lady of the week is nothing else but a mere BL cover-up?! Or wait, is any cover up even necessary for that? Anyways. Damn series is getting into my feminist nerves.

P.S. Shinjuku and Roppongo are hawt. KYAA~ Even Shinn thinks so. From what I’ve heard, looks like Hinano and Aroduc’s got the hots for Shinjuku too, eh? zOMG we’ve got competition!

P.P.S. Looking forward to the day Kamen Conductor finally gets unmasked lol.

Related posts:

1. I Would So Ride The Miracle Train, If You Know What I Mean

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I’d advise you to stay away from this post if you haven’t read Onani Master Kurosawa, since this is quite spoilerish, the images especially! You can turn off/disable the images if you like, but then you’ll be reading a BLOCK OF TEXT that way www

Of Afterglows and Afterglooms

The week-long camp is over, and right now I’m feeling both the afterglow and the aftergloom of the said experience.

It was great, a clear sign that I am officially back on track with my life, back from being a lost little backslider sheep. During that short span of time I got close to a number of people, and felt my whole world expand in the process. Meeting people from all over the country who shares your belief was a joy; meeting people who are also friends and acquaintances of my baka aniki#2 made it even more rewarding, as it bridged the gap between us siblings (and no it’s not simply because he shouldered my camp fee). Not completely just yet, but getting there. Not to mention my brother was like my cheat sheet into getting acquainted with some of the delegates since I could be so conveniently introduced as “baka aniki #2’s sister” (since my brother is quite active in this nationwide event, being one of the coordinators for the past years or so), and they would go “Oh! you’re [baka aniki#2]’s sister!” yep, that’s me! *flash smile* But I digress.

With all the activities in the camp — the games, messages from our guest speakers, devotional study time and all that — I was once again reminded of how it feels like to be part of something BIG (the aniblogging community made me feel this too), grandeur but humbling at the same time.

The afterglow of the event was, in short, THIS.

After more than a decade of dormancy, my Murasaki kokoro no tamago (or should I say, Magister kokoro no tamago?) has become alive again (like omg I can strike a conversation with people? Make them laugh? Steer my way into conversations so as to not feel out of place?), and it’s apparent in my bubbly genki self. Some people would probably find it hard to believe that I was once a very aloof girl. Or so that’s what this one guy — who laughed at me when I told him I’m actually shy and aloof and not really good at socializing — thought. Well, that’s a good sign I guess, though I’d say remarks like this shows how that person doesn’t know me down to the core [of my inferior self].

Feels like I’ve been picking up shards of my lost confidence in the recent years, allowing me to step out of my overly self-conscious shell, slowly but surely. But time and again, my gloomy self creeps in, and I revert back to the irresolute aloof nerdy wallflower I used to be — confidence crushed, sense of existence shrunk, unable to assert myself and show my true face. That, or I turn into a snot-nosed elitist brat who trash talks people in her mind, soiling them in the confines of her skewed head (and to think I only have one *ahem*). Needless to say, I found myself in this situation (or these situations) in the camp — the aftergloom of the whole experience, which happens as my inferior introvert shadow kicks in and gets the better of me.

The Inferior Introvert Shadow Lurking Within, and Without

Introverts have a knack for observing — observing people, observing their surroundings — and at times, this becomes a double-edged sword. On one hand we’re able to think wisely and reflect before any decision, and, on the other, we end up overthinking that it hampers our actions. In my case I ended up prejudiced against some people who I thought weren’t exactly in the camp for the right reasons — guys who seem to be hitting on the beautiful single ladies (because, y’know, this camp is like the perfect opportunity to find a mate, since it’s a [Filipino-]Chinese Christian Camp and all), people texting/SMS-ing in the middle of a solemn message from the pastor, people shouting/”singing” during the singspiration which makes me uncertain as to whether they’re really feeling the songs and want you to LISTEN TO THEIR SONG, or they’re just doing it for the lulz, to attract attention, “singing” the song without their soul — and it clouded my perception of them.

There are also those who I judged based on their answers in one Ice Breaker Q&A session, some of whom made me question their faith, and others who generally made me doubt the sincerity of their answers.

No matter what excuses I give, no matter how much I try concealing these vile thoughts trapped in my mind, what’s done is done. I judged them, I soiled them. Even when I’m not supposed to have the right to judge anyone just like that. The least I can do is to not let this consume me and be open to the possibility that I’ll be proven wrong once I’ve gotten to know these people better. If I turn out to be right, then I owe it to them to show my true face and not be a hypocrite, tell them what I want to say, and not pretend to like them when I really don’t. Unless I admit to my mistakes and take responsibility for my actions, there’s no way I can be redeemed from my sins. As Harold Sala says, responsibility and redemption are two sides of the same coin.

2DT said in his comment that “the tightrope walk between feeling superior and feeling soul-crushingly lonely is something all us geeks deal with.” True that, though in my case, it’s more of the tightrope between feeling superior and inferior, as opposed to just loneliness. I have walked the said tightrope, and I still do, stumbling every now and then. This isn’t anything surprising, considering I haven’t even reached Magister-level metamorphosis, which, pardon me for generalizing, makes me even more prone to lapses compared to the more evolved version of myself. Operation: Rebuild Self-confident Naritai Jibun is still in progress, and it helps to know that I am (not) alone. But I digress yet again.

Back in the camp, there were activities which required us to work as a team. In an ideal scenario, teamwork would flourish; each of the members are united in one goal, working together hand-in-hand, tralalala happy desu~ But sadly, this was not the case. We had a competent leader, but with the pressure, the time constraint especially, it’s easy to fall into the trap of taking the spirit of teamwork and fun for granted, favoring competitiveness, stressfulness, or what have you. The assertive ones contribute their ideas, which can either be overpowered by the opinion of even more assertive members, or accepted by the team. Some voices end up drowned in the sea of ideas, and are left with no choice but to conform despite their silent protests.

The activity turned out to be fun, for the most part. Some of my teammates were such a joy to work with; despite the whole tension present as we were practicing for the cheer-dance “competition”, they remained cool, calm and composed, cracking jokes every now and then. We learned to poke fun at our very own situation, following each complaint we’d make with “submit to authority, people~” (since this was one of the main topics tackled in our devotional study). In the end, though, I can’t help but feel alienated from the team. The kind of feeling where all of us would want to hug each other after the performance, win or lose, was just… not there. I could’ve hugged some of my teammates who made me feel I was really part of the team, but in a holistic Team Spirit Hug sense, not quite.

I can’t really blame anyone else but myself for not being assertive enough to instill a change within the team, to turn the tide of pressure into a wave of positive change, for the real deal epic teamwork. Actually, I thought I already was capable of this, or so that’s how it seemed like at work where I’ve grown to be competent and able to work well in a team. But now I realize that I owe this mostly to my colleagues who are great team players, with leaders humble enough to listen to what the other members have to say, and members who are willing to lend a hand for the achievement of the team’s goals — No one left behind, members supporting other members — teamwork and love abounds.

Exposed to a different environment, and I become a fish out the water, crippled more than ever. And this isn’t the only time it happened in the camp.

Based from my experience, or recent developments in my life, I can safely say that I can talk to just about anyone, EXCEPT, those who have this hostile aura around them that I can’t seem to break; the kind of people who put up some sort of wall, leaves you wondering if they just want you to care enough to knock it down, or because they don’t really like you (and no they don’t want you to convince themselves otherwise either). More often than not, when I sense that these people are unwelcoming of my presence (which I come to conclude after several failed attempts at having a conversation), I get intimidated. No matter how much I want to break the ice and have a friendly conversation, I end up unable to do so. Instead I freeze, chicken out, and realize just how powerless I am. I want to chat up, but it feels like they want me to chut up instead, so what am I to do?

Perhaps I’m just not used to dealing with this kind of situation, trying to strike a conversation with someone and it doesn’t quite flow because he/she doesn’t seem the least bit interested in talking to me. At one point I’d wonder if there’s anything I did wrong, or anything I did that didn’t sit well with this person, why I’m being ignored; but after a while — to save me from any more agony — I just tell myself, “well, if this person is not interested in talking to me, then fine. Whatever. And nothing of value was lost.” But the whole tension — the barrier of ice that I still want to break — remains. And before I knew it, I’ve become my old overly self-conscious and inferior self again.

Up until now I still wonder, what’s the best thing to do in situations like this? Do I simply respect these people’s personal space by refraining myself from talking to them? Should I not be affected? Should I not care? Should I not go the extra mile of befriending them, attempt to break the wall, despite the possibility of being rejected over and over? And what if the said person is actually friendly and close to other people, including my own friends, but not to me?

I’m no Magister; I’m no Nagaoka either. I don’t have the charisma that these people have; I’m not able to make friends with just about anyone, irregardless of who they are (in the genuinely-befriending people sense, not the one wrapped in hypocrisy). I’m judgmental, and I’m also a coward.

But the thing is, people like Magister and Nagaoka weren’t born overnight. I’m not sure about Nagaoka since we didn’t see much of his back story, but Magister… we see her evolve from her gloomy self to this wonderful woman brimming with confidence and cheerfulness. And if she could do it, then so can I, right? Yeah yeah, feel free to laugh at me for looking up to a 2D character as my role model.

Magister is not perfect, neither is Nagaoka, Kurosawa and Kitahara, and neither is every single person on the face of this earth. There’s no such thing as a perfect human being, and 100% evolution is not effin’ possible either. We were born as flawed human beings, each with his/her own strengths and weaknesses; We go through this cycle called life, we learn to overcome some of these weaknesses and develop even more strengths. Consequently, we also develop even more weaknesses and lose some of the strengths we used to have throughout this course. But that’s the great thing about it. We were designed to be weak so we’d learn to not simply rely on ourselves, so that we may be humbled in everything that we do.

Trials and challenges in life never ends, but so does our ability to evolve. We might regress, but for sure, we can always progress, for as long as we choose to.

“Like courage, confidence is not the absence of fear, but rather, taking action or moving forward in spite of it.” There’s a whole slew of factors affecting one’s development of self-confidence, not to mention different personalities each person is born with or acquire as he/she gets older. But in the end, it all boils down to having courage — taking little steps of courage in each and everything that we do. Many times, the answer to problems in life is but simple, but as we run away from our fears and choose not to deal with it head-on, we make things seem more complicated than it really is. Why though? The workings of the human mind is complex indeed, complex yet simple at the same time.

The Answer Lies Within

Through the course of writing this post, I think I’ve found the answers to the questions I posed (doesn’t mean I need your insights less, so please don’t hesitate to share your thoughts!). Try as I might, I can’t expect all people to like me. That’s wishful thinking; a delusion that’ll only make me a people-pleaser hypocrite. I don’t want to be hated, no one wants to be hated. But that doesn’t mean I should let this fear hold me back from doing what I want, from showing who I really am. I should never ever let fear be the basis of any of my decisions. I owe it to myself to show my true face; whether people end up hating or disliking me is another thing, but in the end, that won’t change my worth as a person, for as long as I’m confident and secure with who I am.

More than wanting to be liked by people, what I should strive for is to get the real me out of its shell, no fears, no doubts. Moments of awkward silence in talking to people — especially with those I barely know — is inevitable. I’d also have to keep in mind that each and everyone has his/her own unique personality; just because I am able to talk to some people so easily doesn’t mean it’ll be the same for others, and just because a certain person responds differently compared to the rest of the people I’ve interacted with doesn’t mean I’m hated or that there’s anything wrong with me.

Some might seem naturally gifted with the ability to effortlessly talk to people (a people-magnet), but in the end it’s all about confidence, and having a genuine interest to connect to people (if that’s what I really want). And it can be developed. Those who are so secure with their identity (and have that right balance of confidence and humility) will have little or no problems in dealing with other people because they’ve got far less concerns than those who aren’t; they’re not afraid of making blunders, they couldn’t care less what people think about them, and with less things to worry about, they’re able to enjoy just about every moment of they’re life — may it be in the company of friends, strangers, or even the lack of company. They’re able to show their unmasked selves without worrying about anything.

And this has digressed into a How to Win Friends and Influence People ripoff of a post, hoo boy. So much for being carried away. Anyways.

Despite whatever I say here, I’m sure to experience stumbling blocks along the way — stumble and fall, eat my own words, etc. — but with every stumbling block comes the opportunity to rise up again, and become a stronger and better individual in the process. Forever in pursuit of the lost shards of my confidence I shall be, all for the sake of rebuilding my True Blue Naritai Jibun. And who knows, I might just be able to become a Catcher in the Rye in the process

Brief Afterword

Writing posts for Onani Master Kurosawa as though squirting my juice all over it, not wiping a single trace of my cum shots for people to see the magnificent stage of my performance(s). This is my justice. FEELS SO GOOD.

Related posts:

1. The Cumming-of-age of Onani Master Kurosawa. And I Came Buckets.

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Commercial break!

Inspired by some recent turn of events in the house.

Oniichan no b-b-baka!

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So I’ve been away for a few days, had this one s-s-silly post scheduled, looking forward to what people have to say about it upon my return, if readers were actually compelled to respond. So imagine my shock, surprise, and overall frustration when I realized that the comments were disallowed in the post, like, 4-5 days after the post was published, with the post’s sizzle now gone or what. As it turns, the post was also incomplete, so is the version reflected in the feeds. The earlier revision was the complete one orz

I’d still say this is not due to my dojikko tendencies though, but rather, a glitch when updating posts. This happened with a number of my posts now, first was with Skip Beat, also one of my Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 posts, then this. This most likely happened during one unsuccessful auto-saves update. Sigh. It’s frustrating, not knowing whether people didn’t comment because it’s been disallowed, or because the post really sucks -_-

There’s no way I will turn off commenting in my posts because I’m a comment whore. I. Love. Comments. Sigh. Oh well, so much for that. Will make sure this won’t happen again. Ever. Hope the other chefs can actually check the posts in my behalf to prevent glitches like this.

Feel free to drop off yer comments in that post, if you still feel like it. Though you probably lost that will to comment now, or you didn’t really have it in the first place. Sigh again.

Now that this is out of my system, I guess I can proceed to better things, like writing more posts and/or sampling the Fall offerings.

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Credits to ササガミ百 for the image above

Related posts:

1. In an Effort to Bring Back Old Posts from the ‘Grave’
2. Stabbing Bloggers Behind Their Backs, the Google Notes Way
3. White Album: Realistic? Unrealistic? You Tell Me.

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aka The Crazy Things You Do For Nihongo

Just added the English version of this as I write this post, with other additional side-comments. So yeah, be forewarned that this is not an exact 1:1 Japanese-english translation.

もうご存知かもしれませんが、私はアニメと漫画が大好きです。
…というわけで、日本語を学びました。
でも、最初はそうではない。
By now, I think you already know that I love anime and manga.
In fact, this is what drove me to study the Japanese language, though it wasn’t exactly my motivation at first.

子供の頃から、アニメが大好きです。私が見た物は「アニメ」だということはそのときまだ分かりません。CediとかRemiとかトラップ・一家物語とかセーラームーン。。。
I’ve loved animes ever since I was a kid, back when I didn’t know that they were actually called as such. There’s Cedi, Remi, Princess Sarah, Trapp Ikka Monogatari (Trapp Family Singers), Sailor Moon, among others.

テレビでタガログ語に吹き替えたアニメを見たから日本語を学ぶ必要ないと思った。
All the animes I watched then were dubbed in Tagalog so I never found the need to study Nihongo.

小学生の頃、Star Mandarinという中国語のチャンネルのおかげで、もっとたくさんのアニメを見ました。Ranma1/2やSaint Seiyaや Musashi no Ken や CaptainTsubasa　やてっかまんブレイド　や　エフ。。。
I was able to watch even more animes during my elementary years thanks to the Star Mandarin chinese channel — Ranma 1/2, Saint Seiya (may I suggest Pegasus Fantasy in our next AniOke, pretty please??), Musashi no Ken (Soldier Boy!), Captain Tsubasa, Tekkaman Blade (all I can recall in this anime is D-Boy), F (epic F1 racing), etc.

そのとき、だんだんアニメで聞こえた曲が好きになりました。「この曲を歌いたいなあ！」と思いましたが、残念ながら、私は日本語を読むことができない。AnimeのOpening曲とEnding曲で歌詞があっても、意味ない。
Eventually, I grew fond of the theme songs in the animes I watched, and even wanted to sing along with them (most of the classics have lyrics after all). Unfortunately, I can’t read Nihongo, so even if the opening and ending sequences had lyrics, it’s all for naught.

小学四年生の頃、あるクラスメートが日本語の本を持ち込みました。どうしてその本をもってたのかは覚えられません。
One time during elementary 4th grade, a classmate of mine brought a “Study Japanese” book to school. I couldn’t exactly recall why he brought it with him.

これは日本語を学ぶ機会だと思ったがそれより、これは「好きな人に好印象を与えるチャンス！」だと思いました。
Instead of seeing this as the golden opportunity to study Nihongo however, I thought of it as a chance to show off and make a good impression on my crush.

だって、その本を持ってきたかれは私の好きな人でした。ライバルがあるから好印象を与えるために、彼が持ってきた本を借りて、ひらがなとカタカナを暗記しておきました。若いから、記憶力がいい、今より、ずっと。簡単に言えば、日本語を学んだ理由は最初不純でした。
Why, you ask? Because the guy who brought that book to school was my crush. I had a rival, so in the quest to win his heart (or just get his attention), I borrowed his book and memorized hiragana and katakana. And I did. It was a breeze because I was still young, memory works like a charm and all that jazz. Long story short, my initial motivation to study Nihongo was impure.

言語が利用しなければ簡単に忘れてしまう。だからカタカナをはっきり覚えているために、特別な日記を作りました。日記の記載事項はカタカナで書かれているが実はTaglishですタガログ・English.
It’s easy to forget what you learn from another language if you don’t practice it (katakana in particular for Nihongo, which I don’t often see compared to hiraganas I often see in song lyrics). It’s for this reason that I thought of making a “special diary” where I would write all my entries in katakana (though the idea only came to me during my 1st year high school summer vacation). The syntax is in katakana, but the semantics is in Taglish (Tagalog-English).

たとえば、”Pumunta ako sa Manila”, or “I went to Manila”を書きたいなら、カタカナで、「プムンタ アコ サ マニラ」や「アイ ウエント ツ マニラ」を書いてます。
Say for example I want to say, “Pumunta ako sa Manila” (or “I went to Manila”), I will write “プムンタ アコ サ マニラ” (read as PUMUNTA AKO SA MANIRA) or “アイ ウエント ツ マニラ” (read as AI UENTO TSU MANIRA).

この話をある同僚に話したら、「わ、すごい暗号化アルゴリズムじゃない！」と言いました。日本人が私が書いたものを読めても意味がわからない。外国語みたい。と、Filipino人が私を書いたものは日本語で書いたから、日本語だと思って、いみがわかっても読めないから、結局私のかいたものはわかってない。ま、日本語とTagalogを理解出来る人なら、別の話です。
I shared this katakana diary story to my one colleagues, who gave me the reply “Wow, that’s some awesome encryption algorithm!” Even if a Japanese gets to read my diary, he/she won’t be able to understand a thing. Whatever a wrote will seem foreign. On the other hand, if a Filipino sees what I wrote, he/she will immediately think that it’s Japanese, and will immediately think he can’t read and understand it. Of course it’s a totally different story if the said person knows Japanese and Tagalog.

それは私の日本語の冒険の始まり。もちろん、アニメもね。機会があったら、アニメの話をします。
ありがとうございます。
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how I met Nihongo (how my Nihongo adventure started). You can also say it’s the start of my anime journey. Will talk about anime next time, if I get the chance.

Thank you (for reading)!

Oh, and just to show you a living proof of the said katakana diary (kana memo? *ba dm psh*):

pardon the sucky handwriting

See I didn’t know how to Japanize ‘ed’ lol. This was written back in 2000 btw, during my vacation in Manila, where I was also able to watch a few episodes of Daa! Daa! Daa!, Card Captor Sakura, Boys Be and Gate Keepers live on TV (thank you BS2 and wowow)

In case you’re curious about what’s written in those entries…

Show ▼

I showed this diary to my fellow chef Seleria and she told me I’m a freak orz

Now, to get some discussion going, let me ask, what’s the most crazy/freaky/innovative Nihongo (or any other language)-studying idea you’ve had? Just curious, and who knows, other people could benefit from it too!

Related posts:

1. Nihongo Speech Files #1: On ‘Lettting Go’
2. Learning Nihongo, One Sense at a Time
3. The Best Thing About Being an Otaku?

Go to Source

aka The Crazy Things You Do For Nihongo

Just added the English version of this as I write this post, with other additional side-comments. So yeah, be forewarned that this is not an exact 1:1 Japanese-english translation.

and in case you’re wondering, this is a scheduled post

もうご存知かもしれませんが、私はアニメと漫画が大好きです。
…というわけで、日本語を学びました。
でも、最初はそうではない。
By now, I think you already know that I love anime and manga.
In fact, this is what drove me to study the Japanese language, though it wasn’t exactly my motivation at first.

子供の頃から、アニメが大好きです。私が見た物は「アニメ」だということはそのときまだ分かりません。CediとかRemiとかトラップ・一家物語とかセーラームーン。。。
I’ve loved animes ever since I was a kid, back when I didn’t know that they were actually called as such. There’s Cedi, Remi, Princess Sarah, Trapp Ikka Monogatari (Trapp Family Singers), Sailor Moon, among others.

テレビでタガログ語に吹き替えたアニメを見たから日本語を学ぶ必要ないと思った。
All the animes I watched then were dubbed in Tagalog so I never found the need to study Nihongo.

小学生の頃、Star Mandarinという中国語のチャンネルのおかげで、もっとたくさんのアニメを見ました。Ranma1/2やSaint Seiyaや Musashi no Ken や CaptainTsubasa　やてっかまんブレイド　や　エフ。。。
I was able to watch even more animes during my elementary years thanks to the Star Mandarin chinese channel — Ranma 1/2, Saint Seiya (may I suggest Pegasus Fantasy in our next AniOke, pretty please??), Musashi no Ken (Soldier Boy!), Captain Tsubasa, Tekkaman Blade (all I can recall in this anime is D-Boy), F (epic F1 racing), etc.

そのとき、だんだんアニメで聞こえた曲が好きになりました。「この曲を歌いたいなあ！」と思いましたが、残念ながら、私は日本語を読むことができない。AnimeのOpening曲とEnding曲で歌詞があっても、意味ない。
Eventually, I grew fond of the theme songs in the animes I watched, and even wanted to sing along with them (most of the classics have lyrics after all). Unfortunately, I can’t read Nihongo, so even if the opening and ending sequences had lyrics, it’s all for naught.

小学四年生の頃、あるクラスメートが日本語の本を持ち込みました。どうしてその本をもってたのかは覚えられません。
One time during elementary 4th grade, a classmate of mine brought a “Study Japanese” book to school. I couldn’t exactly recall why he brought it with him.

これは日本語を学ぶ機会だと思ったがそれより、これは「好きな人に好印象を与えるチャンス！」だと思いました。
Instead of seeing this as the golden opportunity to study Nihongo however, I thought of it as a chance to show off and make a good impression on my crush.

だって、その本を持ってきたかれは私の好きな人でした。ライバルがあるから好印象を与えるために、彼が持ってきた本を借りて、ひらがなとカタカナを暗記しておきました。若いから、記憶力がいい、今より、ずっと。簡単に言えば、日本語を学んだ理由は最初不純でした。
Why, you ask? Because the guy who brought that book to school was my crush. I had a rival, so in the quest to win his heart (or just get his attention), I borrowed his book and memorized hiragana and katakana. And I did. It was a breeze because I was still young, memory works like a charm and all that jazz. Long story short, my initial motivation to study Nihongo was impure.

言語が利用しなければ簡単に忘れてしまう。だからカタカナをはっきり覚えているために、特別な日記を作りました。日記の記載事項はカタカナで書かれているが実はTaglishですタガログ・English.
It’s easy to forget what you learn from another language if you don’t practice it (katakana in particular for Nihongo, which I don’t often see compared to hiraganas I often see in song lyrics). It’s for this reason that I thought of making a “special diary” where I would write all my entries in katakana (though the idea only came to me during my 1st year high school summer vacation). The syntax is in katakana, but the semantics is in Taglish (Tagalog-English).

たとえば、”Pumunta ako sa Manila”, or “I went to Manila”を書きたいなら、カタカナで、「プムンタ アコ サ マニラ」や「アイ ウエント ツ マニラ」を書いてます。
Say for example I want to say, “Pumunta ako sa Manila” (or “I went to Manila”), I will write “プムンタ アコ サ マニラ” (read as PUMUNTA AKO SA MANIRA) or “アイ ウエント ツ マニラ” (read as AI UENTO TSU MANIRA).

この話をある同僚に話したら、「わ、すごい暗号化アルゴリズムじゃない！」と言いました。日本人が私が書いたものを読めても意味がわからない。外国語みたい。と、Filipino人が私を書いたものは日本語で書いたから、日本語だと思って、いみがわかっても読めないから、結局私のかいたものはわかってない。ま、日本語とTagalogを理解出来る人なら、別の話です。
I shared this katakana diary story to my one colleagues, who gave me the reply “Wow, that’s some awesome encryption algorithm!” Even if a Japanese gets to read my diary, he/she won’t be able to understand a thing. Whatever a wrote will seem foreign. On the other hand, if a Filipino sees what I wrote, he/she will immediately think that it’s Japanese, and will immediately think he can’t read and understand it. Of course it’s a totally different story if the said person knows Japanese and Tagalog.

それは私の日本語の冒険の始まり。もちろん、アニメもね。機会があったら、アニメの話をします。
ありがとうございます。
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how I met Nihongo (how my Nihongo adventure started). You can also say it’s the start of my anime journey. Will talk about anime next time, if I get the chance.
Thank you (for reading)!

Oh, and just to show you a living proof of the said katakana diary (kana memo? *ba dm psh*):

pardon the sucky handwriting

See I didn’t know how to Japanize ‘ed’ lol. This was written back in 2000 btw, during my vacation in Manila, where I was also able to watch a few episodes of Daa! Daa! Daa!, Card Captor Sakura, Boys Be and Gate Keepers live on TV (thank you BS2 and wowow)

In case you’re curious about what’s written in those entries…

[spoiler]

1. Finished “Street Fighter II V”. Ganda pero di na pinakita ano nangyari kay ChunLi [Great, but gotta wonder whatever happened to ChunLi]
   (lololol)
2. Nanood “Koko wa Greenwood”, di pa natapos… bukas nlang… + Clamp Gakuen Tanteidan (So KAWAII! & KAKKOI!~ SUPAA!)
   Watched “Here is Greenwood”, not yet done… gonna continue tomorrow, also Clamp Campus Detectives (WEEABOO ALERT)
   from what I can remember I was watching these in VHS…
3. Finished “Please Save My Earth” (chikyuu)

   Related posts:

   1. Nihongo Speech Files #1: On ‘Lettting Go’
   2. Learning Nihongo, One Sense at a Time
   3. The Best Thing About Being an Otaku?
   

   
   Go to Source

Those are True Tears btw.

woah, the resemblance between Kurosawa and Hei didn’t occur to me until I saw this fanart, looks-wise and otherwise.

I’ve been putting off reading Onani Master Kurosawa for the longest time now (as with the rest of my backlogs), and a rather unexpected turn of events finally got me to stop bumming around and actually read it. I’m not done yet (about 10 more chapters to go! hurray slowness!) and won’t get to until after I get back from the camp I’ll be attending for the whole of next week, but right now I can say I AM LOVING IT.

Who would’ve thought that this would turn out to be a coming-of-age story. Or more like, cumming-of-age. Feel free to quote me on that. For a manga whose premise runs around a guy with a fetish for cumming in the girls’ bathroom, I sure didn’t see that coming. Disregarding all the tweets and posts about it of course. I remember when Shinn introduced this way back when, and my impression could be summed up in three letters: W.T.F. with a “wow Japan, you never cease to amaze me with your creativity” snarky side-comment. “Disgusting” was enough for me to describe it. And boy was I so wrong.

There seems to be an unspoken rule when it comes to animes and mangas, that when you see the protagonist deep in his thoughts, with delicious stream-of-consciousness all over the place, expect that something magical is going happen sooner or later. Stream-of-consciousness with potent thoughts, of course, not simply of fappery and whim. It’s like a surefire sign that this character will grow up from being someone trapped in his own world, his own skewed narrow thoughts, to someone who gets to discover the vast world outside the confines of his mind — a Bildungsroman in the making.

Owen mentioned before that “guys reading [Onani Master Kurosawa] > girls reading this simply because girls would never be able to understand what it feels like”, and while I do agree with that to some extent (yes I have never fapped in my life, and will never understand how guys are hardwired with the said ‘function’), I’d say OMK holds within it a power that transcends gender. You think the OMK catharsis can only happen to guys? Think again.

OMK was, for me, an Ode to Introverts, a drug or remedy to those who, at some point, confined themselves to their own introverted shell. People who once regarded themselves as different from anyone else, set apart, either placing themselves on a pedestal so high they end up thinking “Hmph, I don’t need to mingle with you stupid commoners!”, or a burrow so low all they see are shadows of self-pity, “I’m a pathetic weak coward; I can’t mingle with people, I’ll never be good enough” — unable to embrace the simple truth that they’re lonely, that they’re thirsty for the company of people just like any normal person, and that all they need to do is to step out of that dark and dreary burrow also known as the stall in the girls’ bathroom in the semi-deserted 1st building.

Most of these people consider themselves different from all the lowlifes (in a condescending way), when the truth is, they wouldn’t want to be hated by these very people either.

This one scene in chapter 25 resonated with me so much I cried buckets of tears while I was reading it… catharsis through and through. “One little act of kindness could be enough to save a life” — that’s what I saw at work here. Responsibility and redemption are said to be two sides of the same coin, and Kurosawa stands as a testament to that.

I might be spoiling things a little bit too much here, so I’d just say: READ IT. More so if you’re a guy, which can make this both a really painful and even more powerful reading. I’m also pressed for time here since I have to head to the airport in less than an hour (by the time of this writing, which is the 27th of September), so as much as I want to babble about this a bit more, talk about this in an Diary of an Anime/Manga Lived style, I’m afraid I don’t have the time to do so. I’ll make sure to write about this once I come back. If you have suggestions as to how you want me to blog Onani Master Kurosawa, please do so

Ja mata! Off to discover how much more vast the world is with this week-long Christian youth camp I’m attending, gonna meet people from all over the country and all that jazz. I might not be a Magister just yet, though I want to follow her footsteps (not in the ‘giving someone false hopes and breaking his heart’ sense obviously), change for the better, till my Hontou no Jibun is finally one with my Naritai Jibun. Oh and yes I can see Shugo Chara in Onani Master Kurosawa.

Kurosawa’s pimp, signing off!

---

Credits to べあん・しどぅ for the Kurosawa fanart

No related posts.

Go to Source

Reporting for the recently concluded WordCamp Philippines 2009 last Saturday o>

I totally failed at giving the heads up about this early on in the blog, unlike last year. It was already too late by the time I realized I wasn’t able to inform hazy and Zeroblade about this, the two blogger friends I went with last year OTL

I ended up going to the event by myself, broke out of my anti-social shell, met new people and chatted up a bit with them during lunch and during the afternoon sessions. As an anime blogger (gotta wonder if I was the only anime blogger there) who’s still not in the know about the Filipino blogosphere, I was surprised to know that the girl I was seated to next during the lunch buffet was a prominent travel blogger. Nina Fuentes of Just Wandering. It was an honor

The Talks

The event itself was great, a learning experience for me yet again. Danny Arao’s talk, especially, was awe-inspiring. He zoomed in on responsible blogging, juxtaposing blogging with journalism, just like last year, with a focus on the upcoming 2010 national elections this time around. Even those who are apathetic to politics could leave the talk inspired and filled with insights.

Mr. Arao told us of the power we have as bloggers to shape public opinions, “a minority (considering bloggers only comprise about 2.5% of the population), but a force to reckon with”. “Blogs wield considerable power and influence”, he says, measured in terms of PageRank, Alexa, technorati authority, feed readers (or readership in general), linkage, among others. With this sphere of influence, bloggers could said to intervene by providing breaking news (one tweet is all it takes!), social commentary, mainstream media monitoring (bloggers as watchdogs of watchdogs, promoting responsible journalism), and fact checking, and in turn, be able to promote social change.

*in before Blogging is SRS BSNS comments*

Journalism, politics and social change talk aside, this also applies to small-fry anime bloggers like you and me. For as long as you have readers, you already are being an influence — you make your readers laugh, make them think, make them cry, or make them rage. “Responsible Blogging” sounds like a heavy word, since responsibility tends to be equated with burdensome or Serious Business, but in the end, it all boils down to being accountable to whatever we write or say on the internets.

Drawing the line between responsible and irresponsible blogging in the anime community is tricky because we can always give the excuse that “we’re only talking about 2D stuff”, “this is the internets and it’s got nothing to do with real life”, “this is my blog and I can do whatever I want with it”, so we shouldn’t be subjected to whatever standards. We can also get so bogged down by so-called blogging conventions and end up treating blogging as a chore. But all that said, having standards is good, for you and your readers. “Because people (readers) deserve no less”, as Mr. Arao said.

It’s a constant battle, having to fight your inner blogging standards demons to avoid blogging burnout, but for as long as we’re flexible, understand that taste and blogging style can change through time (while keeping standards in mind), evolve, all’s good. Realizing that taking a break from time to time, to actually consume anime and mangas than write about them, is good too.

Responsible blogging in the anime ’sphere can be as simple as “Don’t be pretentious, don’t pretend to know what you’re talking about when you really don’t”, you owe it both to your readers and to yourself.

If you’re trying to build credibility and authority, setting standards and practicing responsible blogging is a MUST. As Mr. Arao told us, “Don’t be irresponsible for the sake of having readers”. You can’t just say, “sorry readers, whatever I’ve been doing in the past is just a shtick to attract your attention, time for the real show ” and expect people to listen to you without questioning your credibility. Your name and blogging identity is what you make it.

Impz mentioned in a comment one time that the problem with writing on the internet is the lack of gatekeeper. “Anything can go out without restrictions” — a very tempting sorry excuse to be lazy and be irresponsible. But please please please, don’t say you are lazy datte hontou wa crazy. Having a blog is not enough. Don’t just blog, blog with a sense of purpose, that’ll be more fulfilling in the long run too.

WordPress In The Wild

have a break, have a piccie

For the WordPress geeks, this one’s for you. Then again if you’re a WP geek you most likely know this now.

Marku Seguerra’s WordPress in the Wild was a talk full of tips — tips on deployment, performance, optimization, and security, in particular. Here goes my summary:

Deployment
- should be simple, fast and secure
- only download from wordpress.org, for security purposes (no hacked codes)
- ssh/sftp is the way to go. Make ftp the last option, since it’s vulnerable to sniffing.

Performance
- use Super Cache!
- offload content to other sites, e.g. flickr or photobucket for photos, youtube for videos
- use 3rd party comment platform, Disqus, Intense Debate, etc. (kinda hesitant to try this)

Optimization
“WordPress takes care of 80-90% of [the mechanics] of Search Engine Optimization”, says Matt Cutts of google

- Highlight Your Content (plugins etc):

• All in One SEO Pack (for your SEO needs)
• permalinks – including %postname% at the end of the permalink is recommended
• Analytics 360, Google Analyticator (offloading site traffic info to Google Analytics instead of relying on other plugins which could possibly make your database bloat)
• Google XML Sitemaps (Create an XML sitemap for your site and submit to search engines. Help google’s tentacles caress your site, in the words of Kabitzin)
• FD feedburner (feedburner is <3, feed subscribers even more <3)
• Broken Link Checker for checking broken links in your posts (I have to go get this)

Security
- Using RSS footer plugin to fight content theft
- Removing the default ‘admin’ username
- Hide WP version
- Securing /wp-admin/ with server passcode, through .htaccess (More on making wordpress hack-proof [->])
- WP Security Scan (scans your WP installation for security vulnerabilities)
- Don’t forget yer backups! Use WP-DB-Backup for scheduled regular backup, download backups to PC, burn to DVD.

Sugar n’ Spice and Everything That’s Not So Nice

As per Mr. Arao’s talk (pardon me for using this in a different context), we bloggers are supposed to be watchdogs, so yes, this post won’t be complete without both positive and negative comments about the talks.

On WordPress as the Ultimate Content Management System (CMS)

From the looks of the title, one would expect a discussion about content management system, how WordPress is considered the Ultimate CMS compared to the likes of Joomla, Drupal, or Textpattern, but there was a sore lack of CMS discussion.

What comprised the majority of the talk was Karla Redor’s demo of 3 premium WooThemes themes — how to tweak them to suit your CMS needs — not so much about CMS. Perhaps it was assumed that the audience already knows what a content management system is?

In the end, though, with the lack of comparison with other CMS platforms to show what the edge of WordPress is, it’s like it was assumed that since WordPress is the recommended CMS for non-php coders and/or html/css beginners (and since this is WordCamp, and it’s all about WordPress), we just have to embrace the fact that WordPress is the Ultimate CMS.

On Editorial Voice and Taste in Writing Tech

Jeff Villafranca gave the talk on Editorial Voice and Taste in Writing Tech, and even those who are not into tech blogging could actually relate to and learn from it. The talk was great (even if he doesn’t think so), it just so happens that all throughout the session, our speaker would give remarks as to how the audience doesn’t seem to be interested with his talk, that they’re all giving him blank stares (mainly due to the lack of oxygen in people’s brains after the Scrumptious lunch), that he’s going to finish the talk much sooner than he thought because the people were despondent. Ugh, it was horribly distracting.

His talk was meaty (something so self-explanatory that we tend to take it for granted), he had much blogging wisdom to share, but it was sad seeing him not believing in the audience who believes in him. There’s Murphy’s Law, “anything that can go wrong will go wrong”, and there’s also “when you feel like something will go badly (or get any worse than the situation you’re in atm), it tends to do just that.”

All that said, gonna share a bit of what I learned.

The need to create expectations for readers

While expectations is most often associated with pressure, it’s actually good. Why the heck would people want to read/visit/subscribe to your blog if they don’t expect anything out of it? And you, dear blogger (yes you), without expectations (reader expectations and your own expectations), what the heck are you living up to? Why even blog when you don’t expect anything out of blogging?

This scene from Cross Game episode 16 comes to mind with the mention of expectations:

Expectation drives action, also evolution. It gives you the drive to improve, to become better than you were yesterday. And, it allows your readers to have something to look forward to.

The way to create expectations [in blogging], according to Mr. Villafranca, is by writing with a consistent voice, by sticking to your guns. Also by maintaining the quality of your posts. By really getting into the bones of things and not f*cking it up. You build up credibility that way.

With digiboy’s Don’t F This Up series (born out of this hilarious meme c/o ghostlightning), he has managed to create the said expectation(s). Now people are looking forward to the series of posts he’ll be writing, all the while thinking, “Will he or will he not f*ck it up?”

Do keep in mind, however, that you should be setting reasonable expectations. I, for one, can’t expect that I’d be able to write in an intellectual masturbatory level like that of, say, Wabisabi, gaguri, kritik, Owen, ghostlightning, IKnight, the Superfani guys, 2DT too. Each of us have our own strengths, and we should learn to capitalize on that.

I just wonder though, what exactly do the readers of Scrumptious look forward to? Fangirl posts (I’ve been failing in fangirling as of late)? Posts of valuable insights (if there’s such a thing)? Nihongo stuff? Emo posts? Feminist rage? Lulz? Whatever the answer might be, I’ll just keep on writing…

The Inverted Pyramid

As the above slide states, the Inverted Pyramid is a style of writing in which the chunk of the post is presented first, followed by less important details. From what I understood, this is supposed to give the readers a clear idea of what you’re talking about early on. Adapting this style, however, will depend from blogger to blogger and the effect he/she wants to achieve. Each of us have our own blogging style after all.

From the looks of it, though, the invented pyramid technique is frowned upon, as it is said to be “less efficient when it comes to more elaborate web news”. It could also potentially lead to loss of readership, since readers can just stop reading at any point and no value of worth will be lost. Bashing it further, it is also said to be “an uninspired and artless form of journalism”, designed specifically for the print media to allow flexibility in omitting portions of the article when space becomes an issue.

The suggested style is either that of the tumbled pyramid or the hourglass. Or so that’s what they say. I’m pretty much clueless about this since I don’t really pay attention to the style and structure of my posts, heck I don’t even make outlines for my post before writing, hence the lack of coherence and organization in what I write heh.

Sourcing, Attribution, Linking and In-text Story Tagging

Crediting / linking to your sources, giving credit where its due — that’s basically it. In-text story tagging refers to linking to your own post/s, in case the readers are interested to read similar posts, or posts with the same subject matter.

Best case in point of this in the anime blogosphere? ghostlightning’s posts.

Matters of Taste

• The need for flexibility, understanding that taste evolves. (Just remember to stick to a stand despite the said changes in taste, having a set of principles you abide in.)
• Don’t do something just because someone else does it, don’t just mimic other people’s style. “Give it your own spin.”

The wise words of Ira Glass that the speaker shared with us:

“Do lots of work, put yourself on a deadline. Put yourself through a volume of work and close the gap between where you are and where you want it to be. Keep at it.”

“It takes a long time to get good.”

Great bloggers are not born overnight. It takes skill perhaps, but more importantly, it takes practice. If your writing sucks, keep on writing, find ways to improve and evolve. Humble yourself, be open to criticism. If blogging becomes a chore, then find ways to make it fun again. Don’t whine that this is easier said than done, just do it.

See: tips on storytelling from Ira Glass. It’s about storytelling, but applicable to blogging too.

There are two other tips on that list which I like:

“Just talk like yourself, be yourself. Don’t try to be someone else. Don’t imitate someone else, some famous personality. Talk like yourself.”

“Be interested in the world and the people around you. You are a part of the story, but don’t be the main part of the story.”

Be yourself, but also remember that it’s not all about you. Whether you like it or not, blogging is social, and the community that blogging fosters makes it a whole lot more fun and worthwhile. Don’t let the social aspect get to you so much, but don’t take it for granted either. Cherish your readership and comments, s-s-silly snob bloggers (snobloggers?)!

…and that’s it, this post has been long enough as it is. A big thanks to Mindanao Bloggers who once again made this WordCamp possible. Looking forward to next year!

Thanks for reading!

P.S. If there’s going to be a battle for the most tl;dr WordCamp Philippines entry, I’m likely to win. That might not really be a bad thing, isn’t it?

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Credits to danbooru, しらこむぎさん and chry for the piccies. Can’t find the artist for the other ones

Related posts:

1. RSS, How Do I Love Thee? Let Me Count the Ways…
2. In an Effort to Bring Back Old Posts from the ‘Grave’
3. Beyond the Blogging Crossroad Part 2: Why I Blog

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