Press Review (2012-10-29)

After over seven years and a little more than five-hundred posts (as well as nearly forty-thousands pageviews), I am still blogging (or doing my best to). I also keep reading the news online as often as I can. In the last couple of weeks, the story that dominated the tech news (and was of a particular interest for me) was Apple announcing many new products (the new iPad mini, of course, but mostly the new iMac -- I'll finally be able to replace my dead desktop, sometime in November, and I just can't wait to pre-order it). In the local news, everyone is still talking mostly about corruption (The Gazette, La Presse) and in the U.S. all minds are on the beginning of the last stretch of the electoral campaign for the presidential election (The Gazette, La Presse). And, of course, everyone is anxiously looking at the incoming super-storm Sandy (The Gazette, La Presse). So, again, I am sharing nearly a hundred more links with you after the jump:

Bref commentaire syndical

D'abord, je rappel à tous que l'équipe du 109 au 409 (L'alternative syndicale pour les fonctionnaires municipaux de Montréal, c'est-à-dire “l'opposition officieuse” de notre très “démocratique” syndicat) tiendra demain une première conférence sur l'histoire syndicale au Québec (histoire sans doute de nous rappeler quelles devraient être les fonctions d'un véritable syndicat qui se respecte). La conférence aura lieu à partir de 19:00 au Centre St-Pierre (près du métro Beaudry, au 1212 rue Panet – salle 105). J'espère que quelqu'un m'en fera un compte rendu parce que je ne pourrai pas y être (je travaille loin et ne pourrais m'y rendre à temps).

[Mise à jour: voir le Compte rendu de la conférence du 17 octobre 2012 sur l'histoire du syndicalisme au Québec sur le site du 109 au 409]

La suite après le saut de page:

Press Review (2012-10-16)

I slowly succeed to catch up on my work around the house and in blogging. The three big news of the last couple of weeks are the rumors (again) of Apple updating its iMac line (possibly announced next week along the smaller iPad, a 13 Inch Retina MacBook Pro an even a possible new Mac Mini -- I hope I'll finally be able to replace my broken iMac), the 4.5-magnitude earthquake that I felt very early last wednesday (it didn't really shake but felt more like one big jolt), and Felix Baumgartner's parachute jump from the edge of space (I watched him live on YouTube as he broke several records and no bones). As usual I've gathered the links to the most interesting news and I am sharing them with you after the jump:

“Unshelved” marathon

I just finished catching up on a few months worth of my favourite web comics: Unshelved. This year they're celebrating their tenth anniversary and there's already eight annual compilations available. Oh, did I mentioned that it is the story of a dysfunctional library and its staff ? I just feel at home. (See previous reviews).

See my latest favourites strips after the jump:

Mangafy your life!

Thanks to Cult of Mac and Gizmodo, I've just discovered one of the cutest iOS apps I've seen in a long time: Manga Camera!

This app by Supersoftware allows you to take a picture (but only with an iPhone 3GS+, iPod Touch 5 or iPad 3) and convert it into a manga style image! You can select thirty-two different background styles (some with Japanese captions, “sound effects” or speed lines) and share your pictures on Twitter or Facebook. If you're not satisfied with the background, you can change it even after having taken the picture.

It doesn't always work well (sometimes shadows or darker subject gets converted into backgrounds effects), but when it does the result is quite impressive. A picture is instantly turned into a realistic manga panel (with all its characteristics: b&w, inked line, textured with zipatone). It's really amazing.

My only complaints is that it doesn't save the pictures automatically (you have to save manually each pics before taking another one, if not it will disappear), you cannot use the front-facing camera to take a picture of yourself (use a mirror instead) and you cannot use an existing picture to apply the manga effects (that would be quite cool).

Nevertheless, it can provides hours of fun! It could be a cool way to make a photo-manga (for those manga lovers with less drawing talent)...

Version 1.0 of Manga Camera was released on September 10th 2012 and weighs 14.7 Mb. Available in english and japanese. Rated 4+

See a few examples after the jump:

Misère subite

Certains pays sont plus sujet que d'autres à la misère subite. Par exemple, en Asie du sud-est, suite à une mousson plus forte qu'à l'habitude certaines régions peuvent se retrouver, du jour au lendemain, bang! dans la dèche!

[ Intraduisible! ]

Merlin sighting

I mentioned earlier this summer that my wife had seen a fox in a nearby park. Well, it seems it is not the only wildlife that we have in the neighborhood (Montreal's St-Michel borough). We've just seen a Merlin this afternoon (aka Falco Colombarius in Latin or Faucon émerillon in French). And here's the video to prove it:

Merlin from clodjee on Vimeo.

The video is also available on Youtube (but I don't know for how long since it seems that when you use the copyright-free music included with iMovie, Youtube flags the video as a copyright infringement! So I'll probably avoid uploading video there in the future.)

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Press Review (September)

Another tiring, busy month. However, on the news side it was quite eventful. Here's the proof, after the jump:

Retro-blogging

Ce week-end j'ai introduit un nouveau concept dans mon blog: le rétro-blogging. C'est-à-dire que ces derniers mois je n'ai pas eu le temps, ni l'énergie de blogger régulièrement mais je prenais tout de même des notes dans mon petit carnet. Et là je les introduit dans le blogue aux dates où ces notes on été prises. Ce week-end j'ai donc fait du ratrappage pour les mois de mai et de juin...

Autre nouvelle: mon blogue peut maintenant être rejoins à l'addresse clodjee.com!

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Oniisama E... on Viki

Just a quick note to let you know that I just realized that the superb classic anime Oniisama E... a.k.a. Dear Brother [info: ANN / Wikipedia] is currently streaming on Viki.com! Based on a manga by Riyoko Ikeda serialized in Margaret in 1975, the 39-episode anime series, directed by Osamu Dezaki, aired on NHK in 1991-92.

I never really had the chance to watch it so here is the best opportunity to do it legally (I just need to find some time!). I highly recommend you to take a look too.

By the way, Viki has an excellent app in the iTunes store for both iPhones and iPads. Check that too!

So far, Viki's anime line-up offers mostly stuff from Tezuka (strangely enough, Oniisama E... was animated by Tezuka Productions!) but I am sure more great titles will eventually be added (Lady Oscar / The Rose of Versailles is coming in December anyway).

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Press Release: Right Stuf, Inc. Acquires The Rose of Versailles

Nozomi Ent. to release classic anime as limited-edition DVD sets in 2013 and to conduct fan Q&A with creator Riyoko Ikeda; Viki to begin streaming series in December 2012.

GRIMES, Iowa, Sept. 12, 2012 – Anime producer and distributor Right Stuf, Inc. is pleased to announce the acquisition of The Rose of Versailles anime series from TMS Entertainment.

Also known as “Berusaiyu no Bara” and “Lady Oscar,” The Rose of Versailles will be released via Right Stuf's Nozomi Entertainment as two limited-edition DVD box sets in 2013. The series will also be streamed, beginning in December 2012, and made available exclusively to fans in the United States and Canada on Viki (Viki.com), as part of the site's growing anime lineup. This will be the first time the entire anime series will be available to English-speaking audiences in North America.

Goldorak enfin en dvd!

Après la sortie dvd avortée en France et un long litige devant les tribunaux tant français que japonais entre le créateur Gô Nagai et la firme de production Tôei Animation (apparemment Tôei avait vendu les droits en France et produit la version française sans l'accord de Gô Nagai), le magazine français Animeland nous apprend que “Les 74 épisodes de la série culte Goldorak [info Animeland / ANN] vont enfin ressortir officiellement en français en DVD (...)... au Canada !” La nouvelle a par la suite été confirmée par Le Soleil et un communiqué de presse d'Imavision, qui en sera le distributeur.

Cette nouvelle est plutôt surprenante, puisque je n'avait pas entendu dire que le litige avait été règlé et qu'on s'attendrait plutôt à voir une sortie dvd d'abord en France et non au Québec. Espérons que cette sortie dvd ne sera pas troublée par les mêmes problèmes qu'avait eut Déclic Images en 2005. Quoiqu'il en soit, Imavision a annoncé la sortie du coffet dvd, en collaboration avec DEP, pour la période des Fêtes 2012. Une distribution sur “diverses plateformes” sera par ailleurs annoncée ultérieurement.

UFO Robo Grendizer / Goldorak © Go Nagai / Dynamic Planning Inc., Toei Animation Co., Ltd. All Rights Reserved.

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Gloires passagères

Notre collègue aide-bibliothécaire Louis Fortier, un sculpteur de talent (dont j'avais déjà mentionné l'exposition Métamorphose en mars), exposera à nouveau ses oeuvres en octobre.

Le grand écorché, 2010-2011, cire colorée sur polystyrène expansé (152 x 213 x 304 cm)

L'exposition, intitulée “Gloires passagères”, se tiendra du 4 au 28 octobre 2012 à la Galerie d'art d'Outremont (adjacente à la bibliothèque Robert-Bourassa). Situé au 41 avenue Saint-Just à Outremont, la galerie est ouverte du mardi au vendredi de 13h à 18h, et les samedi et dimanche de 13h à 17h. (Renseignements: 514 495-7419).

Louis Fortier travaille à partir de techniques de moulage qui lui permettent d’effectuer des variations dans la série. Depuis une quinzaine d’années, il revisite son anatomie — et plus particulièrement son visage — à la manière d’un journal. En cherchant des équivalences entre la nature fugitive des émotions et le caractère imprévisible de matériaux tels que la cire et le plâtre, la démarche de cet artiste déjoue la fixité habituelle propre au genre de l’autoportrait. Ainsi, les morceaux d’anatomie qu’il nous livre sont assujettis à des programmes qui génèrent des dérives et des distorsions. Du coup, le résultat de ses explorations artistiques pourraient s’entendre comme des tentatives de traduire les accidents de la vie courante et la fugacité de l’existence.

Mise à jour: article dans l'Express d'Outremont.

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Translation

The problem with multilingual blogs is that you cannot always post in a way to be understood by every readership at the same time. Sometimes I will post a comment both in French and English, but most of the time I post in either languages depending on the nature of the subject. For example, if I read a book in French I will most likely comment it in the same language and I will comment in English if I watch a movie in English. And, of course, the blog is not accessible to people speaking any other languages (like my ancient roman fans or my Japanese friends or some accidental Aafrikaner or Hindi readers). I've always found this particularly annoying.

I recently stumbled upon a Facebook page that was offering a link to translate the post into another language (in this case either Japanese or English). I found that such option was quite practical and wondered if it was possible to do something similar with Blogger. I couldn't find a cool and easy way like I saw for Facebook, but I found a couple of ways to reach my goal. (It would be nice though to have Blogger to add a “Translate” option at the bottom of each post).

From now on, you will find in the right side column (between the “links” and the “Search this blog”) a “Translate this blog” section with a “Select Language” pull down menu. It includes over sixty different languages but, since it assumes this blog is in English only, the list doesn't offer an English option, which would be quite useful for my French posts. Instead, for this particular case, I will try to always add at the end of my French posts a “[ Translate ]” link that will bring you to an English translation (by default, but it can be changed to any language you want).

Unfortunately, the translation option often mess up the layout of the post (mostly paragraph jump -- strangely the individual links for the French to English translation fare much better layout-wise) and the resulting translation is generally far from perfect (although sometimes quite funny). But that's the best it can do for now. However, to avoid formatting problems I might simply add a “[ Translate ]” link even for the posts in English...

I hope this solution will help widden the readership of this blog. In any case, let me know what you think. Do you like this new option or not (or it doesn't make any difference for you)?

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Press Review (August)

Not much change this month as I was still too busy and tired to do much. But I always have enough energy to gather scraplinks and share them with you after the jump:

Humour pas éthique en [six] huit catas strophes

AVERTISSEMENT: Peut contenir des traces de mauvais humour! Toutes personnes allergiques à l'humour salace, grivois, sexiste, anticlérical ou raciste, voir: au calambour obscure, sont fortement conseillé(e) de prendre les précautions nécessaires pour leur sécurité et devraient s'abstenir de lire plus loin! (On vous aura averti!)

Yamamoto Isoroku

“Japan, summer 1939. Pressure is building for Japan to sign a pact with Germany and Italy, but admiral Yamamoto is reluctant to go to war with the US, whom he considers too powerful.” (2012 Montreal World Film Festival schedule book)

WARNING: May contains trace of spoilers! People allergic to the discussion of any plot's elements before seeing a movie are strongly advised to take the necessary precautions for their safety and should avoid reading further.

The full Japanese title of the movie is 聯合艦隊司令長官 山本五十六 (Rengô kantai shirei chôkan: Yamamoto Isoroku / Isoroku Yamamoto, the Commander-in-Chief of the Combined Fleet).

Yamamoto Isoroku (山本 五十六) was a great thinker and strategist (he's often depicted in the movie playing shogi, a chess-like military strategy game). He told his superiors (and I am paraphrasing here) “Don't make a tripartite alliance with Germany and Italy. If you do, the Americans will cut us from the essential supplies we need.” But eventually, they did make an alliance with Hitler. He also told them “Don't attack the U.S., because they're stronger than us. If we do, we'll lose and Japan will be utterly destroyed.” But eventually, they did attack the Americans and, having no choice, Yamamoto planned the attack himself. However, he warned his superiors to “make sure to declare war before attacking the Americans, because if not it will certainly make things worse.” Of course, the Japanese embassy screwed up and the declaration of war was given one hour after the attack, angering the Americans. There is no mention in the movie of his famous quote: “we have awaken a sleeping giant,” probably because it is now considered apocryphal. Finally, he insisted that, if they had to go to war with the Americans, it would be better to hit them hard and fast in the hope to crush their morale and be able to quickly sue for peace, because he considered that if Japan had to engage in a long war of attrition with them they would definitely lose since the Americans were far superior in force and resources.

Unfortunately, his superiors took no heed of his warnings and the Pacific war quickly became a messy affair as the Japanese kept making wrong decisions after another, leading toward an ugly end. The culprit was an enormous national pride that made people believe they could win despite the odds. Even if Pearl Harbor was a strategic failure (they gambled they could destroy the American Pacific Fleet, but its most important elements, the carriers, were nowhere to be seen), it was portrayed at home as a great victory. The “success” of Midway was a failure as well (Yamamoto's subordinates did not follow his instruction to “load half the airplanes with torpedoes in order to strike and sink the carriers that our attack will definitely draw”), but the huge lost sustained by the Navy ultimately sealed the fate of Japan. In Guadalcanal, a retreat became a “transfer of troops” in the national newspapers! Fortunately, Yamamoto died in an enemy attack in the Solomon Islands (he wanted to inspect the troops and boost their morale by his presence, but someone had stupidly broadcast his traveling plans), and therefore never witnessed the miserable end of the war.

Yamamoto Isoroku is a “biographical” drama that focuses solely on Yamamoto's role in the Pacific War and his conviction that war against the Americans was a mistake and that, if it was indeed inevitable, the best chances of success for Japan was to aim at a quick peace after hitting them hard and fast. Not much is said on his personal life: once in a while we glimpse of his family just to remind the viewers that he is human and has a wife and children. The movie is essentially an history lesson but, thanks to an excellent storytelling, it never feels like a lecture. The director achieves this by introducing the viewers to two groups of people -- a couple of newspaper reporters and the customers of a small izakaya bar -- which he cleverly use to communicate to the viewers the essential historical and chronological information about the progress of the war, its historical context, what's the public opinion at the time and who thinks what about the current strategy or geo-political situation.

Strangely, it doesn't feel at all like an anti-war movie and is not even apologetic of Japan's role in the war. It simply tells the viewers that, if Yamamoto's vision would have prevailed, the Pacific War might have been avoided or at least delayed and, in case of war, an early peace would have been pursued, avoiding all the horrors that ultimately deprived Japan of its honor. It tells us (and I totally agree with that assessment) that the war was essentially caused by the stupidity of the “hawks,” the warmonger amongst the media and the political bureaucracy. Unfortunately, in order to pass his message, the director is raising Yamamoto to a status of demi-god and the movie is endlessly chanting is coolness and greatness to the point of being annoying.

I am not sure exactly what this movie is telling us about the ideology of today's Japan. We've certainly seen an increase in war movies being produced lately and it seems to coincide with an hardening of the right wing parties seeking more aggressive politics. Many want to re-arm Japan or defend more aggressively Japanese territory against the claim of other countries in order to secure future resources. However, I don't think that this movie is part of this trend. In contrary, it seems to warn us against repeating the pitfall of history (but this time the sleeping giant would probably be China).

All in all, despite its ideological aspects, it is quite an interesting movie that offers a beautiful photography where, surprisingly, the special effects are minimally obtrusive (I cannot say they are barely noticeable, but at least they are negligibly obvious). A movie well worth watching.

Yamamoto Isoroku (Admiral Yamamoto): Japan, 2011, 140 min.; Dir.: Izuru Narushima; Scr.: Yasuo Hasegawa, Kenzaburo Iida; Phot.: Takahide Shibanushi, Hiroshi Futsuta; Ed.: Hirohide Abe; Mus.: Tarô Iwashiro; Prod.: Shohei Kotaki; Cast: Koji Yakusho, Hiroshi Tamaki, Akira Emoto, Toshiro Yanagiba, Hiroshi Abe, Eisaku Yoshida, Kippei Shiina, Takeo Nakahara, Ikuji Nakamura, Mitsugoro Bando, Mieko Harada, Asaka Seto, Rena Tanaka, Toru Masuoka, Yoshihiko Hakamada, Shunji Igarashi, Asaka Seto, Rena Tanaka, Toru Masuoka, Yoshihiko Hakamada, Shunji Igarashi. Screened, in presence of one of the producers, as part of the “World Great” segment (Out of competition) at the Montreal World Film Festival 2012, on August 26th, 18:40 in Cinéma Quartier Latin 9 (a theatre with a 350-seat capacity which was a little less than 3/4 full).
Other comments or reviews:

• Japan Today
• Film Business Asia

One last point, not related to the movie itself: The primary duty of a film festival and of a movie theatre is to preserve the integrity of the artistic works it is presenting. I didn't appreciate at all that the sound was cut off for almost the entire end credits of the movie. A soundtrack is an integral part of a movie. It's bad enough that the movie started late (because of the Q&A of the previous movie, I think) but it is not the first year that I witness unforgivable technical screw ups at the festival and particularly at the Quartier Latin. Of course, the people of the festival say it's the mistake of the projectionist who cannot see or ear what's happening inside the theatre, and the acting theatre manager I spoke to said all complaints should be directed to the festival staff since they are the one in charge during the festival (even of the projectionist). This lack of respect for the movie industry craftsmen who created this film and for the viewers is quite annoying. It is a small detail, I admit, but it should never happen. The frustration I feel when this happens distract me from the enjoyment of the movie.

Update: Here's a video of the very quick presentation made by one of the producers before the screening of "Yamamoto Isoroku" at the 2012 Montreal World Film Festival.


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Autotune & other songs

I am sure you remember this amazing song someone made using Autotune and some clips from Carl Sagan's tv series “Cosmos” and this other video it led me to.

Well, I discovered more autotune marvels. A funny Jeanne Moos' report on CNN brought to my attention a tribute autotune video clip that PBS made for the 100th anniversary of Julia Child. Quite funny. When I as looking for it, another article made me discover more autotune tributes by PBS, one for Mr. Rogers amongst others! Here they are:

On another note (not related to Autotune), someone made a parody / tribute video about NASA and the Curiosity Mars landing that has been quite popular lately:

Fantasia 2012

Malheureusement les circonstances de la vie m'ont empêché encore une fois de bloguer sur les films de Fantasia de cette année. Mais voici quelques liens forts utiles pour compenser cette lacune.

La 16e édition de Fantasia nous offrait cette année plus de 160 films dont près d'une quarantaine en provenance du Japon. Je veux tout particulièrement attirer votre attention sur deux catégories parmis ces films Japonais.

En premier lieu, on y retrouve huit films d'animation qui offrent tous, d'une façon ou d'une autre, un grand intérêt:

• Asura, dirigé par Keiichi Sato et basé sur le manga de George Akiyama
• Les aventures de Chatran (Koneko monogatari), dirigé par Masanori Hata
• Berserk Golden Age Arc I: The Egg of the King (Ougon jidaihen I - Haou no tamago), dirigé par Toshiyuki Kubooka
• Blood-C: The Last Dark, dirigé par Naoyoshi Shiotani
• Children Who Chase Lost Voices From Deep Below, dirigé par Makoto Shinkai
• Gyo: Tokyo Fish Attack, dirigé par Takayuki Hirao et basé sur le manga de Junji Ito
• A Letter to Momo, dirigé par Hiroyuki Okiura
• Modern No 2, dirigé par Mirai Mizue

Aussi, pour marquer le centenaire du plus ancien studio de cinéma Japonais, Fantasia organise -- en collaboration avec le Festival du Nouveau Cinéma -- une rétrospective de la Nikkatsu en présentant cinq œuvres clés:

• Massacre Gun (1967), by Yasuharu Hasebe
• Postman Blues (1997), by Sabu
• The Profound Desires of the Gods (1968), by Shohei Imamura
• Stray Cat Rock: Sex Hunter (1970), by Yasuharu Hasebe
• Tokyo Drifter (1966), Seijun Suzuki

Cette 16e édition de Fantasia s'est révélé un retentissant succès, entre autre grâce à un record d’affluence (Le Devoir). Le festival a également récompensé plusieurs des films Japonais:

• 11/25 The day Mishima chose his own fate by Koji Wakamatsu a reçu le Prix AQCC
• Henge de Hajime Ohata a reçu une mention spéciale
• Blood-C: The Last Dark de Naoyoshi Shiotani a reçu le Prix l’Écran Fantastique
• Le Prix du public du Meilleur film asiatique est allé à Ace Attorney de Takashi Miike (or) et à Robo-G de Shinobu Yaguchi (Bronze, ex æquo)
• Asura de Keiichi Sato et A Letter to Momo d’Hiroyuki Okiura ont tous deux reçu (ex æquo) le prix du Meilleur film d’animation

Finalement, en attendant que je trouve le temps de commenter quelques un de ces films, vous pouvez consulter les sites suivants:

• un article dans l'édition de juillet de Coco Montreal
• “Après Fukushima : Fantasia 2012” par le réputé Claude Blouin et publié dans shomingekiblog, le blog d'un magazine allemand sur le cinéma Japonais

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Scène attendrissante

Avant hier matin j'ai été le témoin d'une scène des plus attendrissantes. Une chatte avait établie domicile dans la cour de mes voisins avec ses quatre chatons. La mère étant partie chasser, les chatons, laissé à eux-même, jouaient ensemble. La cour étant envahie par les Gloires du matin, c'était vraiment merveilleux de voir les chatons se poursuivrent dans ce lit de fleurs mauves.


Cependant quand je suis revenu de travailler hier soir, les voisins avaient fait le ménage et disparu étaient les Gloires du matin et les petits chatons courant dans la cour. C'est bien dommage. L'idée de petits chatons perdus dans la ruelle me rend très triste...

Malheureusement j'en ai déjà plein les bras avec mes deux chats et avec mes précédentes mauvaises expériences à essayer sans succès de trouver preneurs pour des chatons abandonnés, je dois me rendre à l'évidence que je ne peux rien y faire.

Toutefois, n'ayez crainte, on a entendu et entr'appercu la chatte et ses chatons chez un autre voisin dont la cour est, elle, encore en friche.

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