29 October 2009

Japanaphile


The above photo is cropped from the controversial photo of Hanna Montana doing that slanty eyes thing people used to do to me when I was in elementary school.

For those not in the know, the word "weeaboo" was the replacement word for "wapanese" after the world "wapanese" was used so often to insult other users on various online message boards, a filter was set up to block it. The word "weeaboo" itself is a reference to a fairly funny web comic "Perry Bible Fellowship".

I'm not entirely sure, but there seems to be a fairly large taboo with folks who are not Japanese (by ethnicity or nationality) who are highly interested in Japanese people and things. This "anti-weeaboo" sentiment is so strong it creeps in to mainstream media pretty often. The following video is from the new DLC of GTAIV, and although it is a satire of the Japanese animation industry, I feel that it strongly looks down upon the audience of the people interested in such media.



This video seems to be able to be insulting on two fronts.

First, it makes an extremely unfair generalization of Japanese animation as only poorly produced, over sexualized marketing tools. Almost in turn insulting the Japanese as a people as strange others who live weird lives and have weird interests. Reinforcing the long standing tradition of creating the Japanese as the exotic other.

Secondly, it insults the various people who are have an interests in Japanese animation. That surely we can't control what those strange Japanese people make, but why would red blooded Americans want to watch such things unless they were weird too.

This cuts across all facets of life from academic research (Why is that white woman studying geisha?) , political interests (What does that white guy think he's doing in the Japanese Embassy?), dating preferences (Rice Queens), travel (Another trip to Tokyo?) , and consumption ($500 dollars for a sword?) . It seems that there is constantly a strong rejection of people who are interested in Japanese related subjects. (or even just Asia as a whole.) So its a strange line to walk along, would people be more or less forgiving if Miley Cyrus was doing that slanty eyed thing because she wanted to be more Asian. Is it equally racist to love another people's lifestyle?

18 October 2009

RFID chips


The use of RFID chips are hardly a new or incredible issue, but it is interesting to see this potentially dangerous technology being used to such a high degree without really knowing how it really works. Several tests at DefCon have shown that it is possible to make a long range reader that extends as far as 2 to 3 feet, and Mythbusters were barred from ever haveing a show on how to hack an RFID chip by several major corporations in cooperations with government agencies. At the same time, more and more companies are using RFID chips, even dermal implantation for clubs.

The video below from the blog Gizmodo shows a very interesting way of studying the range of an RFID chip.

Immaterials: the ghost in the field from timo on Vimeo.



I used to use a Metro Smart card to get around Washington DC and it felt really cool to wave the card to get through the toll gates. There is something very cool about RFID technology that appeals to our generation. Perhaps it's part of the current technological trend of wireless fetishism. We seem to love the idea of having something connect to something else without the need of cables. Perhaps there is a psychological relationship of cables as tethering our technology, when now we attribute "freedom" with having no strings attached to anything. The idea of being bound to anything by physical cords feels trapping, and wireless connections feel free. This relationship of freedom with physical bindings is obviously problematic. This is perhaps from a rejection of an obsolete idea of bondage. The traditional idea of bondage is to be subservient to a particular location. I believe in our desire to escape from any form of locational bondage, we have in turn created a new form of bondage. When I first got my mobile phone, I didn't realize that I was beginning a relationship of bondage. We tend to equate mobile phones with freedom, but for me it meant that no matter where I was, I was on call and reachable. Having a wireless connection didn't free me from physical bondage, it made the chain longer. At least when we were operating in the traditional idea, one could know when they had escaped bondage. Now when our responsibilities can contact us from very far away, we never really are free from their control and really only are "free" at their courtesy for our privacy and personal time.

This is not only a theoretical idea of post-post-modern terms of bondage, but has relevant questions for our age. Say if I a government contractor is assigned a government run blackberry. Do I bill my office for the time I have the devise on? Must I set up a schedule of when I'm on call? Am I beholden to answer my blackberry at any time? Are there different charges if it's an emergency? Can I refuse to carry a blackberry without worry of being replaced?

Back to RFID chips, how much personal choice will there be on implantation? Will there be laws prohibiting covert readers? Would wearing an RFID shield be a violation of federal laws like covering license plates or refusal to show ID? I admit that I think RFID chips have great potential and I enjoy it as a technology, but I wonder if we are moving too fast in its use before we really understand the where this is all going.

13 October 2009

Otaku Politics

source photo from MSN

Danny Choo a man I'm extremely jealous of posted a short article concerning THE GREATEST PM THAT EVER EXISTED! (I know I know, he's sexist, a nationalist, friends with "W", and won't recognize his son Yoshinaga Miyamoto, but somehow all is forgiven)

In this article on Koizumi's involvement with the production of the new Ultraman movie, Danny had this to say about the issue of adult interests in anime.

Its things like this which many folks who are not into Japanese culture don't understand and I get asked a lot in interviews by reporters - things like:-
Why do grown Japanese men still watch anime - I used to watch cartoons as a kid but only until I was 12.

Well for a start, folks like this interpret the world on what they consider to be standards that they set themselves. Just because they "don't", they expect others "to not" and anybody who "does" is strange by their definition. What surprises me is that some reporters who should have open minds (to enable them to convey an unbiased message) have the most narrowest minds one can possibly imagine.

Being the type of person that I am, I am often questioned on my abnormal behavior and tastes. I am often quietly offended at other people's concept of what is standard. I once saw a presentation by one of my favorite comicbook writers Marjane Satrapi who commented up until a few years ago she thought that comics were only for children and addled minded adults. It wasn't until she discovered the French "New Wave" comic style in which she realized that this was a uniquely powerful form of literature. For me that is how I normalize my love of comics and cartoons. If being a nerd was a counter culture movement, my call to arms would be "medium not genre". In my experience many who are not fans seems to think that all comics and cartoons have the same themes and any selection of such are representative of the whole. As if you could judge all animation on loonytoons, or all comics on Batman. Not to say that either are bad, but they do not account for all there is to be had in the world. I have experienced too many great works using this medium to make any generalizations on it's credibility. There are plenty of bad stuff out there in all things. Much like there are bad country songs and good country songs, bad vampire novels and good vampire novels, bad landscape oil paintings and good landscape oil paintings. We tend to be very quick to judge others on their interests based on our limited experience of that interests. Perhaps there is nothing unique to nerds about this, but it is interesting to note the social stigma commonly associated with it.

01 October 2009

Nerd Tech


When I was in highschool I read the opening to a book on Tombraider. I don't remember what kind of book it was, but I seem to recall it was more than just a strategy guide. The introduction posed the idea that much of what we have gained now in technological innovations are often inspired by fantastic dreams of their creators. For instance the desire to build robots are a certain type is not ever purely out of functional or pragmatic reasons, but from literature the inventor read as a child which sparked a personal obsession. In short, childhood dreams, often turn into adult innovation.

I'm a huge fan of Josh Whedon's Firefly. Many of the commentary on the social world throughout the show speaks to me. It was the type of Sci-Fi I like, I could spend hours discussing ideas of the whole 'verse from the hierarchy of companion guilds, Alliance politics, or core world/outer rim distinctions. That was the beauty of it, it was a large enough world in which we geeks can wallow in its richness and opened the door to greater inquiries.

So Google just released a new bit of software which they call "Google Wave". I am a shameless fan of Google products. I think they're often well designed and is seriously breaking the traditional use of technology by companies. Obviously anyone who is also a fan of Firefly knows the insignificant mention of the core planet technology they also called waves.



I think this was the only mention of how a "wave" worked. I still think in the Firefly 'verse, computer technology was returning to a "mainframe" model. Basically the tablet which young Simon was using is just a device which communicates to a local mainframe for computing power. From the conversation this could be one that serves the entire district. The bulk of the technology that accesses the mainframe gains a sort of timeshare on the processing power. I can imagine Simon's wave was particularly large and taxed the mainframe so much that it "shorted out" anything else that was tapping into the mainframe, like Mr. Tam's office computer. I can only guess that a "dedicated sourebox" would be a dedicated source of processing power to the mainframe just for Simon. Perhaps even switching over to other mainframes throughout the city if the local one didn't allow enough power. Like the difference between buying a condo and buying a timeshare. This would allow Simon greater processing power and an always on connection which with Simon's skills also allow him access to other mainframes throughout the city.

ok enough geeking. (seriously get me started on talking about AR and you'll be here for hours.)

With the popularity of light computers such as netbooks, pocket computers, and cloud computing this may be where we are going towards. I can't wait to be sending waves on my netbook accessing the school WiFi on the campus courtyard.