What is Double-Beta Anyway?
Written by Jeshii on 2008.12.19 – 01:19 -
If you follow my blog at all, you know I love me some ニコニコ動画 (NicoNicoDouga). People in the English speaking Intartubes seem to call it the “Japanese YouTube.” I can’t disagree more. The Japanese YouTube is the rest of the world’s YouTube; Japanese people use YouTube as much as anyone else.
BUT ニコ動 (NicoDou) is different. It is a special sort of community of otaku sharing videos with each other. On YouTube, people post videos of themselves for Internet fame. On ニコ動, they put masks on so you specifically never know who they are.
The comments on YouTube are labeled with your name and lazily put at the bottom of the video. ニコ動 has the comments streaming accross the video. It really captures the Anime Convention mentality. Basically, you are with a lot of other people enjoying a video. If you’ve never been to an Anime Convention, you might not get how different it is to watch something with other like minded people. Think of a movie theater, but more personal.
Well, ニコ動 has grown into version (ββ) (say “double-beta”). What is new about (ββ)? Well, they have recognized that it really is the community that makes the site so special. While the regular videos give you the feeling that you are simultaneously watching it with others, the new features will take this to the next level and make it so you ARE watching it with others in REAL TIME!
First off, they have a new feature they have announced called 「ニコニコ広場」 (“NicoNicoHiroba“):
【ニコニコ大会議2008冬】ニコニコ広場デモ動画
The idea? Gather in a place and talk using the ニコニコ動画 system. And it will hold thousands of people! I can’t wait. It will open sometime this month.
The other feature is something called ユーザー生放送 (Yuuzaa NamaHousou):
【ニコニコ大会議2008冬】ユーザー生放送デモ動画
This is basically making your own live program to be shown on ニコ動. Sounds like fun! This feature is open now in case you want to go see what people are putting on. I personally have never been able to get a seat since I’m not a premium member… yet!
Anyway, this looks like it might be the dawn of a new era. But I can’t help but wonder if these will have any real effect on my ニコニコ動画 usage. The 広場 sounds like fun, so I can’t wait to try that out. I will report back on how it is.
Tags: ユーザー, 生放送, double beta, hiroba, Internet, ββ, live, NicoNicoDouga, NicoNicoHiroba, nicovideo, plaza, user, version update, websites, 広場
Posted in Internet | No Comments »
Hotrix Reloaded
Written by Jeshii on 2008.12.17 – 19:52 -
【ニコニコ動画】[修造]ホットリックス リローデッド[MAD]
Okay, don’t ask me why former tennis pro 松岡修造 (Matsuoka Shuzo) is nicknamed “Hot” on ニコニコ動画 (NicoNicoDouga). I don’t get it. BUT, his comments telling people to never give up overlaid on a scene from the Matrix… I dunno if I really get it, but hell if it ain’t funny.
「今日からおまえは富士山だ！」
Tags: Hot, lol, MAD, Matrix, Matsuoka Shuzo, nicovideo, Tennis, video, 松岡修造
Posted in Internet | 1 Comment »
Hikenai Mono Naitsu
Written by Jeshii on 2008.12.16 – 18:28 -
Imagine a world where everything you picked up could make music. Then watch the above video and realize we live in that world!!!
This is a rendition of ナイト・オブ・ナイツ (“Night of Knights”) from the 東方 Project played on flat objects. Yes, the guy did cheat by speeding it up 2x, BUT he was open and up front about it (there is a clock with a second hand right in the middle of the frame!!). And it is still amazing.
You may remember this song from the ソフト・オブ・バンク entry. This song is quick becoming the new U.N.オーエンは彼女なのか？
Tags: ひけないもの, ナイト・オブ・ナイツ, music, Night of Knights, Night of Nights, performance, project shrine maiden, touhou, Unplayable, 東方, 演奏
Posted in music | No Comments »
Cutest Imperial March Ever
Written by Jeshii on 2008.12.16 – 15:23 -
栗コーダーカルテット (“Kuricorder Quartet”) plays their version of the 帝国のマーチ (Teikoku no Maachi, “Imperial March”) on recorders and ukuleles. You can find this song on the Ukulele Force compilation (I can’t believe this compilation even exits).
If this song was playing as Darth Vader came by, you’d just want to give him a big hug.
(No, I don’t get why there is food in this YouTube video, it is just the song. Please see the embedding disabled live performance here. Don’t miss Highway Star either.)
Tags: @BGM, cute, Darth Vader, Imperial March, music, nicovideo, recorder, Star Wars, ukulele, 帝国のマーチ
Posted in music | 1 Comment »
Nico Dou!! A Hatsune Miku Song
Written by Jeshii on 2008.12.15 – 20:50 -
Man, sometimes being a ニコ厨 (NicoChuu) isn’t such a bad thing after all. Occasionally there are gems like this song that totally reward you proportionally to how much of a ニコニコ動画 geek you really are.
ニコどー！！(Nico Dou!!) really delivers on the ニコ動 inside jokes with mention of 悪霊退散, ｳﾏｳﾏダンス, IKZO, amongst other things.
Have a nice Nico!
Tags: ニコニコ動画, ニコ厨, 音楽, Hatsune Miku, ｳﾏｳﾏ, music, NicoNicoDouga, nicovideo, UmaUma, 初音ミク, 悪霊退散
Posted in music | No Comments »
PUFFY + Shiina Ringo = Swoon
Written by Jeshii on 2008.12.15 – 17:54 -
Starting January 15th, a new TV anime 『源氏物語千年紀 Genji』 (Genji Monogatari Sennenki Genji) will be starting. I am, first off, a huge fan of 紫式部 (Murasaki Shikibu)’s Tale of Genji for a lot of reasons. First off, it is some major art. There is a blank chapter called 雲隠れ (Kumogakure) signifying Genji’s death. Second off, I love how all the men of her era were off trying to learn Chinese, letting her master her native Japanese and become the first novelist EVER. Japanese women FTW.
Anyway, so the theme song for the anime is going to be done by PUFFY! Oh wait, Puffy AmiYumi in the English media. I forgot. Anyway, they are fantastic. But, they are also pop and have other people write songs for them. That being said, in the past, awesome people like 奥田民生 (Okuta Tamio) gave them songs like アジアの純真 (Ajia no Junshin).
This time around… my all time favorite Japanese female artist (well, maybe tied for first place…), 椎名林檎 (Shiina Ringo) will be writing the song. This is great news. 椎名林檎 is an amazing song writer, writing songs for her friend ともさかりえ (Tomosaka Rie) like 少女ロボット (“Shojo Robot”) and カプチーノ (“Cappuccino”). More recently, she wrote a song for TOKIO called 雨傘 (Amagasa) which is used in the Drama ヤスコとケンジ (Yasuko to Kenji). It totally captures the 椎名林檎 feel, so I am really looking forward to this collaboration!
Anyway, single, 日和姫 (Hiyorihime) goes on sale in Feb. 25th, but expect me to post YouTube/ニコ動’s of it the second it hits the ‘nets. XD
[Via Barks]
Tags: 紫式部, 雲隠れ, Genji Monogatari Sennenki Genji, Hiyori Hime, Hiyorihime, Japanese girls, Japanese literature, literature, Murasaki Shikibu, music, novels, PUFFY, Puffy AmiYumi, Shiina Ringo, Tale of Genji, TOKIO, Tokyo Jihen, Tomosaka Rie, Yasuko to Kenji, 日和姫, 東京事変, 椎名林檎, 源氏物語, 源氏物語千年紀 Genji
Posted in music | No Comments »
Drifting Ojisan Truck
Written by Jeshii on 2008.12.13 – 06:46 -I don’t care if I have a cold and should be in a bed resting. It wasn’t the release of ニコニコ動画’s ββ (double beta) that got me out of bed to blog, it was this:
This was always my dream when I would go race around the 峠 (touge) of 榛名山 (Haruna-san)… that someday, an ojisan in a 軽トラック (kei torakku) would come drifting around the corner.
And it wolud look just like this:
[via Japan Probe]
Tags: ドリフト, cars, drift, 軽トラ, gunma, IKZO, Initial D, music, NicoNicoDouga, nicovideo, ojisan truck, racing, trucks
Posted in cars | 2 Comments »
1930s Japan in Color
Written by Jeshii on 2008.12.07 – 16:17 -
Here is a brief review of the 1935 and 1937 documentaries, Modern Tokyo and Floral Japan. These videos show a Japan that is so distant from the アキバ candy pop we love so today.
I have a feeling the clip shown was probably from some NHK special. I wish I could find the whole thing. I wonder what future generations will think after watching some of the videos people are taking today. How long until it is hardly recognizable any more?
Tags: 1930s, 1935, 1937, color film, documentary, floral japan, modern tokyo, NHK, nicovideo, old japan, Traveltalk, video
Posted in society | 2 Comments »
NicoNicoDouga FUYU!
Written by Jeshii on 2008.12.05 – 00:50 -
ニコニコ動画 (NicoNicoDouga) is currently under maintenance. Why?
The new version is here. 冬 (fuyu)! But, apparently, rather soonish, ββ (double beta) will be up. The theme of the new versions is community or gathering or THE MOB (as in a group of people who spontaneously act as one, as opposed to organized crime). There is going to be a live news channel, not to mention like a NicoNicoNetwork where there will be over 100 channels of programming. I hate to say a lot of that stuff doesn’t really tickle my fancy really… ><; We’ll see though.
The only thing that I’m actually looking forward to is the new version of NicoNicoMovieMaker. When they show it though, they say that it goes on sale soon. Sale?! Dammit. Now that it actually does something, they are going to be charging for it. But, if it has excellent features, it might just be worth it. Most video editing software is amazingly expensive.
Anyway, the maintenance is over at 12:00 JST or so (3:00 GMT, 19:00 PST). Log in then to try out some of the new stuff!
Tags: ニコニコ動画, fuyu, Internet, maintenance, NicoNicoDouga, NicoNicoMovieMaker, software, version update, winter, 冬
Posted in Internet | No Comments »
Soft of Bank
Written by Jeshii on 2008.12.04 – 15:17 -
The talking dog from the Softbank commercials has finally been mixed into this awesome video. The song is ナイト・オブ・ナイツ (naito obu naitsu) from 東方 Project, of course. There’s also a little bit of 信仰風化曲 ～ Native Faith in there, not to mention other ニコ動 inside jokes.
I can’t stop watching it. So here it is for all of you too. The person who put this together said it took 2 months! Geez!
I’ve said it once, I’ll say it again, I love the Internet.
Tags: aya ueto, かわいい, ナイト・オブ・ナイツ, cute, 犬, dog, MAD, music, Native Faith, nicovideo, Night of Knights, Night of Nights, project shrine maiden, remix, softbank, video, 東方, 上戸彩, 信仰風化曲
Posted in music | 4 Comments »
