yeah, why can't it be as simple as doing that irritating finger thing?

I'm such an idiot sometimes. I got a new skincare type thing and was like where should I patch test this? Hmmm, how about this spot right in the freaking middle of my cheek? Turns out my skin absolutely hates the stuff, and now I have a weird toonie-sized patch of red, scaley skin on my cheek. I can't even cover it with makeup because it's a different texture than the rest of my skin, and it's so itchy. :(

—

I'm still trying to work out the exchange program, and I'm getting more and more convinced that the woman in charge of this stuff isn't even reading my emails. I sent her something yesterday saying basically, “The price is fine. Do I submit X form?” and got a reply “I think there may be some discounts. I'll let you know!”

The plus side of the whole thing is that apparently university is ridiculously cheap in Russia. I ended up emailing the school myself to get more information regarding that and literally laughed out loud when they responded with the cost.

—

skullbiewrote:
My dad has been doing mom's laundry since she works a lot. I mistakenly left my laundry basket out and he did all of it. Ruined three shirts. ._. I know he was trying to be nice but goddamn it you dont put rayon in the dryer. Now I have to think of some way to tell him not to do my laundry without it being totally awkward ungrateful daughter tier.

I find that just about everything I buy these days has to be hand washed and air dried. It sucks, and I hate doing laundry so whenever I get around to it (basically when I run out of the important stuff) just about every surface in the house has wet laundry on it.

I tried watching D. Gray man but it seemed too… well it just wasn't my thing. The three episodes I watched weren't pervy, they were just in that spiritual/confused christain/demonic genre… I just wasn't feeling it. I wanted a Seikon No Kwaser!!!
I can't find Ange Cross or whatever it is in English T_T

So I'm watching Mushi-Shi. That's a weird one. It seems to be about these mindless spiritual creatures called “Mushi” who mess with people in various ways, usually parasitically, and this guy called a Mushi Master goes around working what's wrong with the people they're infesting and cures them. He's like a doctor who tries to find out what's causing mysterious diseases, only in this case they're caused by a type of fungual faery called the “Mushi”.
It's not bad, the only thing I don't like is that everyone seems to be wearing traditional Japanese robes all the time, even though it's set in the present day. And even if it WAS set in the past Japanese people did not wear those robes all the time in every situation anyway.
It just seems ridiculous for all characters to be dressed like that. Like depicting all German people in Lederhosen and dirndles.

——————

About clothing and respect:
Ties have moved down a rung. In the part of the city where I work there are a lot of mining company offices, legal firms, plastic surgeons and other high-end firms- basically a lot of highly paid people. They just don't wear ties. The men will wear suits with a long sleave button up shirt underneath with the top two buttons undone.
Ties seem to be relegated to junior employees, sales staff, and real estate agents. Unless you're going to a funeral or graduation or something formal/traditional like that.

So your level of respect will go down a bit if you have a tie with your suit. A pocket hanky or “square” is still a great touch though.

Ironscarf wrote:
Quotes here definitely have their own cruel logic. You've got to make sure you get it right first time too - or else take a flask and say goodbye to your loved ones. You could be gone for some considerable time.

Or you have to know some HTML… which can be a headache to use…

HippieVan wrote:
I'm such an idiot sometimes. I got a new skincare type thing and was like where should I patch test this? Hmmm, how about this spot right in the freaking middle of my cheek? Turns out my skin absolutely hates the stuff, and now I have a weird toonie-sized patch of red, scaley skin on my cheek. I can't even cover it with makeup because it's a different texture than the rest of my skin, and it's so itchy. :(

—

I sometimes worry about my niece (she's about your age BTW) as she's also in to skincare products and such. (Un)fortunately it comes from her mom. And she's got one of her preteen cousins into it too… O_O

ozoneocean wrote:
I tried watching D. Gray man but it seemed too… well it just wasn't my thing. The three episodes I watched weren't pervy, they were just in that spiritual/confused christain/demonic genre… I just wasn't feeling it. I wanted a Seikon No Kwaser!!!
I can't find Ange Cross or whatever it is in English T_T

So I'm watching Mushi-Shi. That's a weird one. It seems to be about these mindless spiritual creatures called “Mushi” who mess with people in various ways, usually parasitically, and this guy called a Mushi Master goes around working what's wrong with the people they're infesting and cures them. He's like a doctor who tries to find out what's causing mysterious diseases, only in this case they're caused by a type of fungual faery called the “Mushi”.
It's not bad, the only thing I don't like is that everyone seems to be wearing traditional Japanese robes all the time, even though it's set in the present day. And even if it WAS set in the past Japanese people did not wear those robes all the time in every situation anyway.
It just seems ridiculous for all characters to be dressed like that. Like depicting all German people in Lederhosen and dirndles.

Heh… I really need to get back into anime. Maybe I'll go watch the entire Sister Princess DVD set that I have stored somewhere. Still can't believe I bought the whole thing. Still, watching it with my young nieces makes having bought the thing worth it.
I also have a Galaxy Angels DVD set. The one set I REALLY should watch though is called “Comic Party”. It follows the life of one young man trying to get into amateur manga (thanks to his “otaku” friend).

ozoneocean wrote:
About clothing and respect:
Ties have moved down a rung. In the part of the city where I work there are a lot of mining company offices, legal firms, plastic surgeons and other high-end firms- basically a lot of highly paid people. They just don't wear ties. The men will wear suits with a long sleave button up shirt underneath with the top two buttons undone.
Ties seem to be relegated to junior employees, sales staff, and real estate agents. Unless you're going to a funeral or graduation or something formal/traditional like that.

So your level of respect will go down a bit if you have a tie with your suit. A pocket hanky or “square” is still a great touch though.

Makes me wonder… what did “high end” businessmen wear during the times of old? Let's say… the so called “Middle Age”. I doubt very much that they were hulking men wearing very heavy armor, complete with huge shoulderpads and giant swords… Sorry… that last comment is influenced by “fantasy” MMORPGs like World of Warcraft… :)

Only aristocrats wore fancy armor in the middle ages… and maybe crossover businessmen like the Medici who became wealthy enough and well connected enough to become aristocrats.
Actually the Medici are a great guide to go by for what wealthy businessmen wore in the midle ages: robes, velvet, fine fabrics nicely embroidered with big sleaves and a floppy hat of some sort.
Also tights made out of stretchy wool and pointy leather shoes!

—————

So some cockmonkey got tried of fucking sheep and decided to report my account for having an unusual name so Facebook in all its shittiness fored my personal profile to become a “page”, so now I've lost all my messages, all my firneds, all photos, likes, and basically all content and I have no wy to talk to or interact with any one of my FB friends unless they comment on my page.
How very useful.
So, if it stays that way and FB doesn't fix it I won't use FB anymore for personal stuff, only to manage the Pinky TA and Drunk Duck pages. Because it's basically useles to me and I can't be bothered starting again.

ozoneocean wrote:
Only aristocrats wore fancy armor in the middle ages… and maybe crossover businessmen like the Medici who became wealthy enough and well connected enough to become aristocrats.

Don't forget sumptuary laws. You could only wear certain types of cloth and fur if you were of a certain rank. So the non-noble no matter how wealthy was limited to coarse velvet and rat fur. But if you could afford the nice fur you could certainly pay the fines or just give money to those poor artistocats so they look the other way.

Suits of full armor and a nice warhorse were the Medieval equivilent of the extremely expensive sports car for weekends and extremely over-priced luxury car for weekdays. We're talking top of the line here. But even kings had to borrow lots and lots of money to afford to live accroding to their station. Who had money? Businessmen. Come on down to your local branch of the d'Medici bank and open an account today!

The shows The Tudors and Red Queen has some great costuming for late Medieval fashion (15th C.) For the fashion of the High Middle Ages (12-13 Centuries) there is the miniseries The Pillars of Heaven. There's also the famous old BBC shows from the 1970's like Six Wives of Henry VIII or Elizabeth R. One thing the BBC could always be counted on was for it extensive wardrobe of pre-modern fashions.

—————
So some cockmonkey got tried of fucking sheep and decided to report my account for having an unusual name so Facebook in all its shittiness fored my personal profile to become a “page”

It's that “real name” movement FB started. Got to use a real name! Like what is a real name these days? There are kids named Moxie Crimefighter and Moonunit. Why would it be so unusual for an Aussie to be named ozoneocean?

ozoneocean wrote:
So some cockmonkey got tried of fucking sheep and decided to report my account for having an unusual name so Facebook in all its shittiness fored my personal profile to become a “page”, so now I've lost all my messages, all my firneds, all photos, likes, and basically all content and I have no wy to talk to or interact with any one of my FB friends unless they comment on my page.
How very useful.
So, if it stays that way and FB doesn't fix it I won't use FB anymore for personal stuff, only to manage the Pinky TA and Drunk Duck pages. Because it's basically useles to me and I can't be bothered starting again.

What, we all have to start using tumblr now? D:
tbh (that's tumblr talk) I'm so used to your username I didn't even register you were using it facebook. And how does this guy get away with calling himself Cockmonkey? It's them and us I tells ya.

Well I for one think facebook will be a sad and lonely place without teh Zonemeister. If these damn forums worked properly we wouldn't even need their antisocial network. >=(

ozoneocean wrote:
I tried watching D. Gray man but it seemed too… well it just wasn't my thing. The three episodes I watched weren't pervy, they were just in that spiritual/confused christain/demonic genre… I just wasn't feeling it. I wanted a Seikon No Kwaser!!!
I can't find Ange Cross or whatever it is in English T_T

It's sub only, it's actually a brand new show and subs are out every sunday. You can find it on animetake for download or animeseason for streams. It will fill up that gratuitious lesbian fanservice quota for sure.
————
I quit my job for another one with more pay but less hours. At least I don't work with retards now…worth the weight in gold. I'm gonna have to pick up some schlep job for extra hours though.

D. Grey Man is wonderful because there is absoltuely no perversion or even any fan service. A few short skirts but that's it! After Kwasar it was a wonderful change. Still is, I'm on episode 60 of 103. And Allen is a much better character than Sasha. Lulubelle and Camelot make up for Katje without all the S-)

I prefer dubs to subs… easier to draw when I'm not reading. I did make an exception for Siekon No Kwaser though. So maybe…
- Finished the first 2 seasons of Queen's blade ages ago (love that bottomless snake lady), but couldn't get into that wierd 3rd season with the flying pirate ship. It was just way too different.

——

So now Facebook has broken me in half. On one side I am the page called Ozoneocean MJM and on the other I am the personal profile called Michael John Morris. WTF?
So Ozoneocean is my drag queen name… I will have to start swanning around in big fluffy blue dresses and painting fake eyebrows halfway up my forehead.

ozoneocean wrote:
- Finished the first 2 seasons of Queen's blade ages ago (love that bottomless snake lady), but couldn't get into that wierd 3rd season with the flying pirate ship. It was just way too different.

The third season was the old hide the main character and turn the happy ending on its head. The OVAs supposedly explained what happened in between and why everyone changed so much. But the ending was totally unbelieveable. Like she really was pretending to be the gnome all that time? Uh-huh. The sub for season 1 and 2 called her a dwarf and sub for season three had her as a gnome. Just like in D. Grey Man the leaders of the Dark Order are called generals in one sub and marshalls in another.

The first three episodes of D. Grey Man were slow and I was also ready to give up on it. I figured not to give up on a 103 episode run after only 3 episodes because animes have a tendency to change everythng from season to season (and not just the opening and closing credits)

ozoneocean wrote:
So some cockmonkey got tried of fucking sheep and decided to report my account for having an unusual name so Facebook in all its shittiness forced my personal profile to become a “page”, so now I've lost all my messages, all my friends, all photos, likes, and basically all content and I have no way to talk to or interact with any one of my FB friends unless they comment on my page.

I bet that cockmonkey had a sheep under its desk WHILE it was disabling your account. Thankfully your profile was able to be restored to an earlier point, which shows they have a system of backing things up. I like how they left the name of your “high school” and the place where you “studied” in tact. I tried to reinvite you to the DD page, but I received a strange message. It said you “used to be a member (of the group), but doesn't want to be readded.”

@bravo1102:

The latest Brad Pitt movie, Fury, features a team of tankers from WWII. Is it a screen it, stream it, or skip it?

HippieVan wrote:
Russia Study Abroad Program

When you mentioned study abroad a few a pages back, I did not know you were thinking about going to the Red North! Wow, that is super adventurous of you. You are certainly making the most of your college experience. I bet Russia has similar weather as Canada, but with more Vodka.

—

Oh the world is so odd. Last week, the overly cautious quarantine of the Ebola virus was centralized in my Northeastern Ohio birthplace. I do think it was overkill to close all the schools. Yesterday, a shooter was running rampant inside Canada's Parliament, which was less than two blocks away from where I lived all last year. Canada is one of the safest countries I have ever lived. They handle crime with a fine tooth comb that to think something like this happened in the Capital is a bit unsettling. I tend to narrowly avoid bad events when I move to different places. When I watch the news coverage, I see a lot of familiar scenes, but it is so surreal to me I think it is just a movie set.

Oh, and this season's harvest of jalapeños are not spicy at all. They taste more like green bell peppers or capsicums. I moved my heat tolerance up a notch and started eating raw habanero peppers instead. The oil from the habanero seeds burn so much, and it is even worse when it gets in my eye.

kawaiidaigakusei wrote:
Oh the world is so odd. Last week, the overly cautious quarantine of the Ebola virus was centralized in my Northeastern Ohio birthplace. I do think it was overkill to close all the schools. Yesterday, a shooter was running rampant inside Canada's Parliament, which was less than two blocks away from where I lived all last year. Canada is one of the safest countries I have ever lived. They handle crime with a fine tooth comb that to think something like this happened in the Capital is a bit unsettling. I tend to narrowly avoid bad events when I move to different places. When I watch the news coverage, I see a lot of familiar scenes, but it is so surreal to me I think it is just a movie set.

Oh, and this season's harvest of jalapeos are not spicy at all. They taste more like green bell peppers or capsicums. I moved my heat tolerance up a notch and started eating raw habanero peppers instead. The oil from the habanero seeds burn so much, and it is even worse when it gets in my eye.

The world is a crazy place. I'm starting to doubt that I'm safe here on this island. The fact that a certain top half of a certain oriental country apparently has the goal of hitting this place with a nuke isn't helping me feel any safer…

Heh… My father would've loved eating those. He liked spicy food. Me? Not so much. At least not without a glass of milk nearby and access to a nearby porcelain throne… :)

Yes, kawaii, go see Fury.

The forums I usually frequent are going on and on about what model of tank Pitt is riding and how one guy with a 50 caliber machine gun couldn't hold off 200 Germans. But then some of them worship the Germans who are military giants of excellence (drooling panzer freaks in one man's parlence)

And one American did hold off 200 Germans with a 50 caliber machine gun on the back of a burning tankand call in artillery on his own position. But that was Audie Murphy and he has his own movie. (To Hell and Back)

@kawaii: What happened is definitely unsettling. I think all Canadians are feeling troubled, although the love from other countries around the world has been somewhat comforting. But I think we would do better to attribute it to the failure of our own social services than some shadowy terrorist organization. I don't know if that's better or worse, but I just hope this doesn't become a reason to get more involved in the middle east. From what I've read so far, the guy sounds like he was just crazy. And from experience, even if someone acknowledges that they need psychiatric help they'll probably have to wait 2+ years just to see a shrink, never mind finding someone who's right for them, figuring out medication if necessary, etc.

@ Kwaii- Facebook seems to have kicked me out of all the groups I was part off, I didn't notice that! I've joined the closed Drunk Duck one again myself, though I'm not an admin of that anymore, which I don't really mind I suppose.
I don't know what other groups I've rsigned from…

@Bravo - Well I might try more D Gray man. If you reckon it does get better.
Fury looks like a good film. I've never liked Sherman tanks aesthetically though. They're like short, fat little pyramid tanks. It's such retro 1930s design in terms of tank tech. I mean they DID keep on improving it all through the war and they even had company representatives in the wilds of Russia talking to Russian crews about what they needed to fix to make their tanks better, so they were dedicated to making good tanks… but they're more like “hard workers” not “stars” of the 1940s tank world, so to speak.

Ugh… I hate blood tests. Especially when the nurse misses the vein, then has to dig all around in my arm to find it. And then having to wear a tight gauze bandage thing for a couple hours afterwards.

Now somehow one of the tests got botched so I have to come back next week for ANOTHER blood draw session. Which I'm now dreading thanks to the one I had yesterday…

And I thought insulin injections were bad enough… x_x

ozoneocean wrote:
@Bravo - Well I might try more D Gray man. If you reckon it does get better.
Fury looks like a good film. I've never liked Sherman tanks aesthetically though. They're like short, fat little pyramid tanks. It's such retro 1930s design in terms of tank tech.

Actually they were the height of 1940's tech and automoblie aesthetics. Look at a Chevy then look at a Sherman. Hull built in the same plant: Fisher Body Works. Big clunky square and functional. About asking crews for thei input? Read Death Traps which is all about American tank design and usage in WWII. What the crews asked for and the Armor Force wanted, Ordnance and Ground Forces wouldn't deliver. “Win the war with the Sherman” they said and tank units suffered some the highest casualty rates of units in the Second World War.

German tanks were pretty and beautiful piecesw of engineering but were shit to maintain and actually operate. The US produced tanks like cars for the masses, the German made theirs like trains; highly engineered and in small numbers and requiring lots of maintenance. Watch the end of Kelly's Heroes for the Moriority's verdit on the Tiger.

The uniforms I can see, but to buy this tank? It's a piece of junk!

bravo1102 wrote:
German tanks were pretty and beautiful pieces of engineering but were shit to maintain and actually operate. The US produced tanks like cars for the masses, the German made theirs like trains; highly engineered and in small numbers and requiring lots of maintenance.

The German practice of manufacturing is not exclusive to tanks as it extends to German cars as well. Each piece is made specifically to the vehicle that when an Audi gets totaled in the USA, it is cheaper to sell it for parts than try and repair it with the cost of importing and finding each individual part.

I heard the Driver's Exam in Germany goes far beyond the basic test of driving the vehicle. It is also a requirement to know how the engineering of the car works.

Wow… watched an episode of the new Family Feud (well… new to me anyway). Finally the show is entertaining again. I don't know what Steve Harvey has (then again he's a comedian so that's probably the large part of it), but I found myself laughing at the show. Such as one of the questions… something about what fantasy job you'd have at a western. One of the answers was “a prostitute”. Answered by a guy. Everyone was laughing for about a minute or two before the answer was called on the board. Looks like I'll be watching a gameshow again.

I still miss those years with Richard Dawson (I think he died sometime back)…
Um… try not to laugh to death. :)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArQQWAFkcQ0

kawaiidaigakusei wrote:

bravo1102 wrote:
German tanks were pretty and beautiful pieces of engineering but were shit to maintain and actually operate. The US produced tanks like cars for the masses, the German made theirs like trains; highly engineered and in small numbers and requiring lots of maintenance.

The German practice of manufacturing is not exclusive to tanks as it extends to German cars as well. Each piece is made specifically to the vehicle that when an Audi gets totaled in the USA, it is cheaper to sell it for parts than try and repair it with the cost of importing and finding each individual part.

Audi is partner or Porsche. (Remember two syllables Porsch-ah) The founder fo Porsche Ferdinanad Porsche was a major designer of wartime German tanks, the Volkswagen Beetle and best buddy of Adolf Hitler.

Most nations of NATO use modern German tanks which are made more utilitarian (like Volkswagens) You see a NATO tank chances are it's a member of the Leopard family. However one reason Australia recently chose the M1A1 over the Leopard II was because it's easier to maintain. (According to papers of Australian DoD and interviews wtih Tankies (tank crew) and “spanners” the maintenance teams in the Aussie military. There was a recent thread about this on Missing Lynx and even a former member of the Australian DoD purchasing board chimed in! Amazing who builds models.)

—————————
And my employer put in last week's payroll for this week's direct deposit. It affects every employee because it's all computerized and only one file is submitted to the payroll company. But they'll be adjusting it on Monday. Wondering how many people will see money vanish out of their account because they worked less hours this past week over the week before.

Stuff like this used to happen all the time when payroll was done by hand and not computer files but at least then it affected one or two employees and corrected by the issue of a new check. Now it effects everybody and menas changing a whole system of stuff. Then there's working for the dwindling group of small businesses who'll pay you with a check they personally signed and make up any difference out of their pocket when you're in the office with them.

@Bravo- Re tanks:
I meant aesthetics in terms of tanks, not cars. But even then the Sherman is close to the rounded 1930s car look with that little mushroom turret (car body design stunted after the ‘30s because of the war and stayed the much same into the ’40s).
But what I meant was that the Sherman's were very much like the type of interwar 1930s medium tank designes from all over the world, from Russia, to France, to Japan… Little tanks with small turrets and high hulls.

And what I meant by talking to crews was from memoirs of a Russian tank Commander who commanded 2 columns of Sherman tanks against the Germans in the latter half of the war. He said they sent a company rep out and were surprised that he not only wanted to know about improvements and complaints, but that they also got equipment shipped over from the factory to instigate those changes.
All in all he reckoned the Sherman's were great tanks, better than the T-35s (much safer and more comfortable), and he could take out Tigers and Panzer IVs quite easily with the right tactics. The main issue with the Shermans according to him were the stupid rubber blocks on the tracks would freeze hard and make the tanks handle like “a drunk cow” on the icey roads, also the engine fan was under the driver (or one of the crew), which would be OK in the heat but in the cold you had a an dicey windstorm blowing up your arse at all times so had to have heavy blankets down there.
Also the Tommy guns they came with were rubbish and crews used to duel with them because the heavy winter gear stopped the bullets… Must have been at long range?
He also mentioned that they would use captured German tanks but regulations were that they had to abandon them when they broke down… But they'd fix them as best they could anyway. From memory I think they usually repainted them in Russian colours but would sometimes leave them in German markings for clever ambushes… Though sometimes that'd lead to being attacked by your own side.

I think I remember reading about a German tank called “The Mouse”. Extremely armored tank which proved impractical to field. The thing was too heavy to go onto mud and probably cracked the pavement whenerever it rolled.

ozoneocean wrote:
@Bravo- Re tanks:
I meant aesthetics in terms of tanks, not cars. But even then the Sherman is close to the rounded 1930s car look with that little mushroom turret (car body design stunted after the ‘30s because of the war and stayed the much same into the ’40s).
But what I meant was that the Sherman's were very much like the type of interwar 1930s medium tank designes from all over the world, from Russia, to France, to Japan… Little tanks with small turrets and high hulls.

Since the Sherman was designed to be bult by auto manufactuers it was designed like a car. The USA was already an automotive nation with Americans very familar with cars and engines so American tanks have been disgned to capitalize on that. Fisher body works built it. The same maker as GM cars. It was desgined to be made like a car and to run like a car. It was all about the US Automobile industry as part of the US war mobilzation plans going back into the 1930s. You're basing everything on the memoir of one tank commander whose experience in many ways was exceptional. Even the offical Russian evaluation of the Sherman says differently. (they were pretty honest in WWII, it was only after they got silly) I'm deriving my BS from an entire body of research.
Though it is a 1930's aesthetic. There really was no 1940's car aesthetic because of World War II. (From Auto Files a series of essays on car design.)


Other than French tanks what other tanks are you talking about? That mushroom turret goes back to the first tank with a turret the FT-17 of 1917. Every other tank after copied the layout of that tank. Even the Sherman showed it's lineage from the M1917 light tank (the US copy of the FT-17) to the T1 medium and through the M2, and M3 mediums. Read Sherman design history of the US medium tank and Stuart Design history of the US light tank by Hunnicut.It's all well documented and researched and a couple of Masters and PH.d dissertatins have been written on it.

The experience of the Russian tank commander is similar to US experience. Lafyewtte Poole and Creighton Abrams would agree with him. It was all about tactics. The Russians had had since 1941 to learn them. The US hit the ground in 1943 with a whole different mindset and had to learn the hard way. Even though the British had been fighting German armor since 1940 they still hadn't learned! And the learning curve was often pretty steep and the casualties so high that it was difficult to pass on. For maintenance and use the Sherman was more agreed to be more homey than nearly every other tank in the world. British, French crews agreed with their Russian counter-parts about that.

Bravo-
You're not disagreeing with me in that post.
I will clarify some points for you though:
-I was likening the rounded turret to the rounded aesthetics of US car design in the 1930s. That might seem a bit fatuous, but the aesthetics of the time do seem to be a mjor infleince on seemingly totally functional designs: look at aircraft design and art from the 1930s and the early versions of the B-17 before it changed to its more tankish appearence.
-I was likening the short, high hulled, and small turreted apearence of the Sherman to 1930s tanks from France, Itally, and Japan.

I don't know how the expereince of the Russian comander is at variance from the rest of the world… In that he said they had decent support from the company rep? If no one else did then his guys just happened to get lucky then I suppose. Maybe the company was trying harder with them because they wanted to sell more tanks to the Russians in future? They already had a rock solid thing in place with the US army so not as much motivation to try and accomodate US army requests I suppose?

————-

Monday… ugh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I watched lots more D. Gray man. It gets a lot better, more comical, more fun as it goes. So Bravo, thanks for that, it was worth sticking with it.

I wonder why a lot of Japanese anime takes place in a school. Doesn't matter what the setting/genre might be. If it's a fighting anime, it takes place in a high school that teaches fighting techniques. If it's a war anime, it takes place in a military academy. If it's a fantasy anime, it takes place at some school that teaches magic/sword/rogue techniques. If it's an anime about trading cards, it takes place in a school that teaches you how to PLAY with those cards…

Must be a youth thing or something or maybe the average person who watches such anime come from high school.

Still kinda weirded out by their version of Transformers Animated as well. In the U.S. we understand that they're alien beings and that transforming is a natural thing for them. In Japan they always have to shout the word “TRANSFORM!” or a version of that word in order to change modes. Nevermind that there's not a lot of time to say the word as they do…

Japanese school anime… I hate that convention.
ANime seems to be layered out of mulitple, standard conventions or tropes… I suppose western TV shows are as well but we just don't realise it as much all the time?

The school thing sux hard though, my theory is that in Japan most anime must be specificaly targeted towards school age kids, hence the setting: so it can more easily apeal to that demographic.
Other anime will do the school thing simply because it's such a popular, established convention because of that targeting.
And still others use it because they're spoofing that popular convention.

I try extra hard to find anime that doesn't star school kids in a school seting, but it's very hard. GTO is set in a school but at least the main character is the teahcer and not the usual 15 year old.

——–

Speaking of school kids, apparently they're far less technically adept than their teachers when it comes to digital tech these days. The typical idea is that kids now grow up with computers and tablets and things so they must be pretty savy with that stuff, but it turns out that's not true. They're less able to use devices for media creation and less able to fix, repair or troubleshoot tech stuff than older people.
That's a massive generalisation based on a study in the US, but it's interesting!

I Would speculate the the trouble would lie in stuff like Apple IOS devices, Android, and games consoles. ALl those devices are mainly centred around media consumption and they're made in such a userfriendly, simple way, as well as being disposable (when it breaks you buy a replacemnt), that it discourages tinkering. The games consoles just funnel content right to you easier than ever before because it's all downloads now.
With games consoles previously you had to go out and buy media, which people still do now, but a lot of serious gaming was only done on computers and that could be a fricken NIGHTMARE to set up at times.
Trying to get games to function correctly taught me a HELL of a lot about how computers worked, reluctantly. But without that type of goad I wouldn't have a fraction of knowledge about them that I do today.

Lonnehart, I imagine tou had a similar expereince?

ozoneocean wrote:I try extra hard to find anime that doesn't star school kids in a school seting, but it's very hard.
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I was having this conversation with my bf a few days ago, how it seems that practically every Anime or Japanese film always seems to take place in school. This is more than likely attributed to how much time is spent in school in Japan and pretty much most parts of East Asia. I actually kind of enjoy Japanese movies that take place in schools though, especially the horror flicks! xD

Pretty much, though my gaming experience is mostly from computers. If you want to play a game on the PC you have to make sure your machine matches the minimum specs at least (to run the game at its very lowest settings). And if machine doesn't meet the requirements you will have to modify it or build a new machine if you want to play your game. I learned how computers worked from having to build them myself (and destroying a few along the way).

And I guess the school is a popular setting for anime. It's as if the people producing the stuff are always looking for an excuse to make the setting a school. So is it a giant robot anime where evil aliens are invading the Earth? You go to a high school where you learn to pilot giant robots. So you want to produce webcomics? Then you can expect to see an anime where you go to a high school setting to learn how to make them. And that includes classes where you can learn special martial arts techniques with the tools of the trade (pen, ruler, brush, the super ultra special finger keyboard martial arts techinque to mesmerize your audience with words, etc)…

And now the forum got wierd… modifying my font size without my permission…

I got called racist today, apparently telling a scottish person you cannot understand what they are saying because they have a thick accent and speak quickly is racist. Followed by accustions of calling him racist. Some people are fucking idiots.