Due-East.org » video http://www.due-east.org Musings on Things Asian Tue, 08 Jun 2010 18:12:10 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.5 en hourly 1 Increase your exposure to Chinese with PPStream http://www.due-east.org/2010/02/09/increase-your-exposure-to-chinese-with-ppstream/ http://www.due-east.org/2010/02/09/increase-your-exposure-to-chinese-with-ppstream/#comments Tue, 09 Feb 2010 16:42:41 +0000 孙智谦 http://www.due-east.org/?p=238   PPStream   To learn a language effectively, nothing beats total immersion. The problem is that many learners of Chinese don’t live in an area where total immersion is practical or even possible, so a lot of learners help themselves along by watching Chinese TV shows. But in many countries, very few markets have Chinese TV channels available. That’s where PPStream comes in. It’s basically a streaming video service that allows users to watch all kinds of video content from China on their computers for free. The interface is all in Chinese, and this can’t be changed, but Tokyobit has posted a nice tutorial on how to set up and use PPStream. Check it out here.   Please note: Much of the content on PPStream runs afoul of copyright laws and is thus illegal. I do not endorse watching this kind of content; howver, PPStream also features content that is broadcast freely over the airwaves in China and that is virtually impossible to find in other countries.   ]]> http://www.due-east.org/2010/02/09/increase-your-exposure-to-chinese-with-ppstream/feed/ 0 Chinese video sites: an obnoxiously long list http://www.due-east.org/2008/04/25/chinese-video-sites-an-obnoxiously-long-list/ http://www.due-east.org/2008/04/25/chinese-video-sites-an-obnoxiously-long-list/#comments Fri, 25 Apr 2008 14:20:44 +0000 孙智谦 http://www.due-east.org/2008/04/25/chinese-video-sites-an-obnoxiously-long-list/ a great post on Danwei.org with an overly-lengthy-in-a-good-way list of them. Careful not to overdose, Chinese junkies. And if you’re interested in seeing a good comparison of the sites, check [...]]]>   Chinese Video Sites   I was looking up Chinese video sharing sites after my buddy teople introduced me to a few, and I came across a great post on Danwei.org with an overly-lengthy-in-a-good-way list of them. Careful not to overdose, Chinese junkies. And if you’re interested in seeing a good comparison of the sites, check out this post on China Web2.0 Review.   ]]> http://www.due-east.org/2008/04/25/chinese-video-sites-an-obnoxiously-long-list/feed/ 6 Magibon explains why she makes Youtube videos http://www.due-east.org/2008/04/23/magibon-explains-why-she-makes-youtube-videos/ http://www.due-east.org/2008/04/23/magibon-explains-why-she-makes-youtube-videos/#comments Wed, 23 Apr 2008 19:01:23 +0000 孙智谦 http://www.due-east.org/2008/04/23/magibon-explains-why-she-makes-youtube-videos/   I swear I need to start a Magibon category. This is the third or fourth post about her. I really didn’t plan on making any more posts about her, but in the interests of answering the biggest question about Magibon (WHY?!?!), and because I’m way too busy lately to look for anything else interesting to post about, I’m posting these two videos. They’re the entire interview from her debut on Japanese TV, complete with awesome Engrish subtitles.   She she talks more in this short appearance on Japanese TV than she does in all of her Youtube videos combined, I think. And that’s great! And she finally explains why she started Youtubing in the first place: just to see what she looked like on her new web cam. Things just kind of took off from there. Here it straight from her. Two vids below:   [There is a video that cannot be displayed in this feed. Visit the blog entry to see the video.]   [There is a video that cannot be displayed in this feed. Visit the blog entry to see the video.]   My heart goes out to her for being so worried about showing her teeth on camera. She’s a very pretty girl otherwise. Hopefully she’ll get some braces out of this whole thing at the very least so that she’ll feel better about herself. Although I suspect there’s a lot more to her lack of self esteem than just her teeth. Poor girl…Here’s the link to the GyaO news page about Magibon that’s referenced in the second video.   ]]> http://www.due-east.org/2008/04/23/magibon-explains-why-she-makes-youtube-videos/feed/ 4 Magibon’s evil cuteness http://www.due-east.org/2008/01/20/magibon-youtubes-bastion-of-pointlessness/ http://www.due-east.org/2008/01/20/magibon-youtubes-bastion-of-pointlessness/#comments Mon, 21 Jan 2008 00:22:12 +0000 孙智谦 http://www.due-east.org/2008/01/20/magibon-youtubes-bastion-of-pointlessness/   Would somebody explain to me what in the world this girl “Magibon” is all about? I was on Youtube the other day and clicked on a few of the “Videos being watched right now” and came across her videos. It was absolutely pointless, just 40-or-so seconds of her staring into the camera and saying a few things in Japanese before “making the V” (the universal pose every Asian girl makes in every photo) and turning off the camera. So I checked out several other videos of hers thinking I’d eventually find something with some sort of substance to it…the only thing I could find that could be confused for something interesting was one video where she was complaining in Japanese about how she doesn’t like America and wants to move to Japan. And that was the exception…Pretty much all of her dozens of videos are equally pointless. She just kind of stares at herself on her computer monitor, moves her head, makes a pouty/smirky face, says something seemingly pointless in Japanese, and makes a pouty/smirky face again. Here’s just one example, sans any actual talking:   [There is a video that cannot be displayed in this feed. Visit the blog entry to see the video.]   Was that not thirty-four seconds of the most pointless video ever recorded? I can forgive a lot of the pointless videos on Youtube because a lot of videos have that “you just had to be there or know the people involved” quality. But hers don’t qualify; they’re just dumb. She says in her profile that she’s 21 years old, but I’ve seen some speculation on the web that she’s actually around 14, which I tend to believe based on my hope that an adult would be able to come up with something a little more productive/interesting/relevant/useful. Or maybe she is 21 and just bored.   But as obnoxiously pointless as her videos are, she’s incredibly cute, which makes her videos like train wrecks…It’s really hard to look away. Her big cartoon eyes have some kind of evil power over people. I LOL’ed at what one guy on Youtube said about her:
What is SHE SAYING?!?!?! Translation? I don’t get or understand any of her videos, some of them she doesn’t even talk, she just stares into your soul, and you leave thinking something inside of you is gone…=(

Well put. Her videos get tons of “You’re retarded. Do something worth watching in your videos” comments, so apparently lots of other people also hate but can’t stop watching her videos. Hmmm…maybe I’ve got her all wrong. She does get people talking about her, and the more people talk about her, the more people will want to see her videos. And the more people see her videos, the greater her chances are of catching the attention of someone in the entertainment business in Japan, which could lead to her fulfilling her dream of going to live there. So, yes, she could just be a really strange person. Or she could be an extremely smart individual using free tools to market herself in a way that will give her a good chance of actually realizing her dream of living in Japan. Either way, I’m hooked, and I’m sure you are too, so here’s the link to her Youtube profile so you can get your fix. And here’s her blog where, if you’re lucky enough to be able to read Japanese, you can read her “deepest thoughts.” If you can’t read Japanese, you can still see pictures of her doing more of what she does best, stare into a lens with an “I know something you don’t know” stare.   ***Update*** – Frank (in the comments on this post) has the distinction of being her first seriously demented but incredibly talented stalker. Congratulations, Frank! You need therapy!   ***Update #2*** – There are 2 newer posts about Magibon that shed a lot more light on her here and here. ]]> http://www.due-east.org/2008/01/20/magibon-youtubes-bastion-of-pointlessness/feed/ 103