So, I was looking around for some manga (nowadays I don’t watch too much anime) blogs, but I find a lot of them focus on

a) the US DVD anime industry and release schedule
b) the US manga industry, release schedule, and related gossip
c) conventions

All of which, while worthy topics, are not really of much interest to me personally.

I’m more interested in hearing about

a) the Japanese manga (or anime) industry
b) untranslated manga

Does anyone have any recommendations for non-LJ interesting blogs focused on things that I’m interested in? (all/any of them) I’m not that interested in blogs that are purely recapping or commenting on the latest anime, because in case you haven’t noticed, I don’t spend much time watching anime anymore.

I decided to take a one-week vacation from LJ just for the hell of it. Not reading it, not making comments. Why? Not because I have any illusion that my absence will influence LJ in any way. Some people are planning a one day boycott, which to my mind is a rather ineffective solution. People have complained about LJ a lot, and LJ has corrected some of the inadvertent errors they’ve made, but very rarely rescinded policy decisions. In any event, in the future, it is clear, there will be more of the same. People should just ask themselves whether they can deal with more of that or not.

What it comes down to, is that most of the things that really annoy people about LJ are not about the most vital things. If LJ fucks up in certain areas, people will not have to organize a boycott or denounce LJ with cat macros or whatever: people will just leave immediately because the terms are no longer acceptable to them. The fact that people are complaining while not leaving shows that they have simply not gotten uncomfortable enough. LJ knows this full well. In fact, it would make much more sense if the people complaining stopped protesting to LJ (because LJ doesn’t listen) and started to lobby their friends to at least read them on other sites. If one’s friends leave LJ, it doesn’t matter what LJ does, because you’re not there anymore, in other words. Also, it is more effective to lobby one’s friends because there is much more of a chance that one will persuade them, really.

My reason is more personal; I want to just be without LJ a week, and see what it’s like. I doubt my absence will be really noted by the people on my flist, because it’s not exactly unusual for someone to go a week without posting if they’re busy.

In other news, I did finish doing most of the translation of Otogibanashi no Hajimari, but I need to revise those parts that I had trouble with by finding people online who can help me. If by any chance there is someone who is well-versed in the Japanese language out there reading this blog, I’d welcome any help.

Otherwise, I’ve been watching more anime, Code Geass, and Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni. Of the two, I think I’d recommend Higurashi, because while CG has its moments, I still am dubious about whether they will pull through in the end and resolve everything. I think there are too many characters and too many subplots, and it would work better if they reduced things and focused on a few main themes.

Higurashi, on the other hand, I strongly endorse if you like horror. It looks like generic moe, but that’s just a trap. It’s some awesome mindbending horror/action/mystery/supernatural/conspiracy stuff. XD It’s like every arc they decide to start on a new genre. I’m just about to start on the last arc, and am looking forward to it.

Have also been reading Pluto, a Naoki Urasawa (who is awesome, same guy who did Monster and 20th Century Boys) manga, which I also highly recommend, especially if you love talking robots.

Am also plotting a reread of Ravages of Time, and perhaps even finally getting a page on it together! We in the English RoT fandom are so few… I feel a need to publicize it more. Indeed, if you’re interested in checking it out, look here. It’s a manhua (Chinese comic) based on the story of the Three Kingdoms, but puts a decidedly different twist on the story from the famous novel, Romance of the Three Kingdoms. The art is extremely awesome, as are the action scenes, and even better, it’s filled with plotting and strategy.

Right now I have about seven scenes of Saiunkoku that I need to edit before I can put on the blog, and I have two translations in progress. >_>

There are a few more scenes I want to translate, but I’ve gotten most of the ones I want to do out of the way.

The next Saiunkoku novel is coming out in May, so there’s a long time to wait.

I think after this I’ll translate some scenes from Legend of the Galactic Heroes, and maybe try my hand at some manga. LoGH would be mostly a self-indulgent project for me, because so few people watch the anime these days. I should try reading something more substantial than light novels or space opera, but oh well. I’m also thinking of reading the Irresponsible Captain Taylor novels, or maybe Crest of the Stars, speaking of space opera.

I just wish I knew more about Japanese fantasy novels other than Twelve Kingdoms.

I originally started this blog because I was dissatisfied with the features at LJ: I was tired of not having access to statistics, and of the insularity of Livejournal in general. In general, in terms of features, this blog more than meets my expectations. I have all of the features I desire. Unfortunately, everyone I know still mostly uses LJ or a clone, so I miss blogging as conversation. So, I think if I update more frequently, I’ll get more hits.

So my new plan is to start importing old content from my livejournal, namely my old book blogs. Since most people didn’t really comment on them, not much is lost by only importing the body of the review, and not the comments. I need to go seek out a blogosphere, really; actually, all the hype about strikethrough or fans leaving in a huff aside, LJ really is losing traffic, probably because of Myspace et al, so I am kind of wondering about the future of the English-speaking portion of the site.

I actually really like wordpress. I like the interface, I like the themes, and I love the customizability. I’m just not really sure, though, how to promote my blog, because currently it seems more like a collection of random things. I can’t really remember how I used to do it in the old days; when I joined, people had extensive blogrolls and such. So there was a visible audience.

Also, someone was suggesting that some people perhaps get together a group blog and post  their greatest hits, but why not instead just post excerpts and link back to their respective blogs? That seems to be a much more efficient way to build a hub of readership.

There’s a book going around now that alleges that Web 2.0 is socially destructive because blogs undermine traditional media and Wikipedia is oft inaccurate and prone to abuse. Some parts of this argument, as regards news and information, do have some validity, I think, although generally the book is not being embraced, unsurprisingly, by the blogosphere. (more…)

Amazingly, there is much controversy about the permanent account sale and the continual lack of clarification of what is acceptable on LJ, which is interesting as in the past there never was any clarification of what was allowed or not anyhow. If you look at LJ’s TOS, doesn’t it seem like they give, and have always given themselves, a wide ability to remove content on extremely vague grounds, without obligating themselves to do it? It has never been, to my mind, a question of “free speech,” because LJ has already implied in the TOS that they are willing to boot content above and beyond what is legally unacceptable in the US; that is, in the US, unlike in many European countries, IIRC, racially and ethnically “objectionable” and “offensive” content is legal. So it seems that LJ has always operated by some vague measure of community standard. IANAL, but having looked at other TOSs, it seems to me that you can say that content that is not illegal in the US is prohibited on one’s webservice, even if it is free speech in the US without jeopardizing one’s common carrier status. For example, I have seen many webhosts ban pornographic material, even though it is legal in the US to have an adult site, and to sell pr0n. The problem is that what’s allowed and what’s not is just vague, as are the mechanisms of enforcement. (For example, I’d say a large proportion of fandom is in violation of TOS for copyrighted material in their icons/mp3 sharing/whatever, but LJ isn’t going to do anything about it unless they receive a legit DMCA complaint.

Well, I’m not getting a permanent account because a) I don’t really have much use for the features, and b) I don’t really know whether LJ will be around that long and c) I’d rather spend the money on my own website. On the other hand, I wouldn’t really say that people who buy permanent accounts lose all leverage over LJ: people who buy perm. accounts tend to be heavy LJ users, and thus providers of content/social interaction. Since they’re not paying to use the LJ software, but to use the LJ server, content and social interaction are a major draw of the site, and these are provided by other users, not by LJ itself. So, I think by commenting and posting, you’re providing value to LJ, which encourages others to keep using the service. How many people have said that they’ll stop using LJ if their friends (you) go elsewhere?

Should any Content that you have authored be reported to LiveJournal as being offensive or inappropriate, LiveJournal might call upon you to retract, modify, or protect (by means of private and friends only settings) the Content in question within a reasonable amount of time, as determined by the LiveJournal staff.

IANAL (I am not a lawyer), but it seems to me that LJ is clearly saying that  it reserves for itself the right not only to police illegal content, but “offensive” and “inappropriate” content. Do these terms have a clear legal definition?

LiveJournal and its designates shall have the right, but not the obligation, to remove any content that violates the TOS or is otherwise objectionable, or that infringes or is alleged to infringe intellectual property rights.

So, LJ is not saying that what it allows itself to remove is limited to what is specified as verboten in the TOS, but what is “otherwise objectionable.” Again, not a lawyer, but doesn’t this mean that the TOS says that LJ can remove whatever it finds offensive/objectionable/inappropriate, and that this is not limited to what’s in the TOS? So, therefore, LJ did not violate its TOS by suspending people who did not have technically illegal content.

The user agrees not to:  Upload, post or otherwise transmit any Content that is unlawful, harmful, threatening, abusive, harassing, tortious, defamatory, vulgar, obscene, libelous, invasive to another’s privacy (up to, but not excluding any address, email, phone number, or any other contact information without the written consent of the owner of such information), hateful, or racially, ethnically or otherwise objectionable;

So, “abusive,” “vulgar,” “obscene,” “hateful,” and “racially, ethnically or otherwise objectionable” content are banned. Regardless of whether obscenity is against the law or not, it seems clear that LJ has taken a position on it. Also, “otherwise objectionable” seems to be quite broad.

I am again not saying that LJ is unreasonable, evil, or out of line to have such a TOS. I’m just pointing out that LJ reserves the right to boot people on grounds broader than illegality. Heck, I’m pretty sure it’s legal for me in the US to have a banner advertising my business, or participate in an affiliate program. Yet, this form of commercial speech is banned by LJ.