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Monthly Log: 2024-08

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Original language: Chinese . AI translations: English , Japanese .

August is over. The 2024 progress bar has already passed 2/3.

Post Structure

  1. Input
    Learning: books/novels/good articles, videos/podcasts, any format, anything that feels rewarding after finishing
    Anime: new shows / old shows, TV season / movies, notes on what I watched
    Others: movies, TV series, etc., put here

  2. Random Thoughts
    Maybe I will write down whatever I’m thinking

  3. Output
    Maybe a blog, but I’m not good enough, so maybe I have no output for a whole month (lol)

  4. Travel
    If I went somewhere, I’ll jot it down. If not, then whatever

  5. Misc
    Small things that don’t fit in the categories above

Input

Learning

Eloquent JavaScript

This month I was a bit lazy. I only read about 20%, so my progress is only up to chapter 14, The Document Object Model.

Even though I didn’t read much, it’s still because I can’t understand it (
Chapter 9: regex is too abstract. I feel like I learn it a few times and forget it a few times. Asking AI directly might be faster.
Chapter 11: async programming: callback, Promise, async/await… also confusing.
Chapter 12: creating a simple programming language in JavaScript. It’s kind of beyond scope. Right now I just want to roughly understand what it’s talking about.
After that, Part 2 (Browser) gets easier. Recently I’m reading the DOM model chapter mentioned above.

I originally wanted to post my JavaScript notes this month… never mind. I can’t even understand it myself.

Anime

  • Watching

  • Paused for now

    • 恶魔的破坏 (DEAD DEAD DEMON’S DEDEDEDE DESTRUCTION)
      Abbreviated as デデデデ. The TV version is CR exclusive, started airing in May, and I almost forgot about it.
      Abbreviated as デデデデ. The TV version is CR exclusive, started airing in May, and I almost forgot about it.
      I’ve already watched the movies, so I don’t really want to follow the TV version, even if it has quite a bit of new content (
      I’ll catch up after the TV plot surpasses the movies (catch-up list +1

      I saw comments on bgm saying the ending of the movie’s second part is original, and the TV version might follow the original manga plot.
      No wonder I felt the movie’s ending was so warm… If I’m not satisfied with the TV ending, I’ll just treat the movies as the true ending

    • 义妹生活
      An art film. It seems to be getting better reviews.

    • 魔法少女与恶曾是敌人
      Not good to consume too much. Getting a bit tired of it.

  • Dropped

    • 鹿乃子大摇大摆虎视眈眈
      No motivation to continue.

    • 靠废柴技能【状态异常】成为最强的我将蹂躏一切
      I’ve read the novel. Not that interested in the anime.

    • 這是妳與我的最後戰場，或是開創世界的聖戰 第二季
      万策尽。

    • 學姊是男孩
      Watched two or three episodes. The freshness is gone (

    • 杖与剑的魔剑谭
      The plot is too dumb. Is this really by the same author as Danmachi?

    • 我要【招架】一切～反误解的世界最强想成为冒险家
      Not interesting.

  • Added to catch-up list, maybe I’ll watch later (copium

    • 物语系列
      Too many previous works.

    • 小市民系列
      Same author as Hyouka. Heard it’s pretty quiet.

    • 擅長逃跑的殿下
      Heard Umehara team production is strong.

  • Dropped after 1 episode

    • 疑似后宫
      No plot. Boring.

    • 不时用俄语说真心话的邻桌艾莉同学
      Well-made industrial sugar. The OP visuals are carefully produced, the ED is half-assed, and the plot is too boring. Can’t keep watching.

      Turns out the ED isn’t half-assed: it changes each episode. Still boring though, not watching.

    • 异世界自杀小队​​
      Cheesy. Dropped after 1 episode.

By this calculation, the only show I’m watching weekly is 败犬女主 (am I quitting otaku life?

Others

Recent TV/movies. I try not to spoil.

ツイスターズ (Twisters)

Live-action movie. The heroine is so cool.
At the end, the heroine fights the final boss alone, while the two men can only cling to the door and watch. The “pitiful and helpless” shot is hilarious.
The heroine is smart and brave, with a bit of slyness. She teases the male lead a few times. In the final battle, the whole group can only pray she succeeds. Plus the missing-father role in her family. These all seem like interesting points.

Also, her camera strap is really nice. Looks cool. No idea how practical it is.

Digimon 25th Anniversary

They combined デジモンアドベンチャー ぼくらのウォーゲーム！ and デジモンアドベンチャー０２ 前編 デジモンハリケーン上陸！！／後編 超絶進化！！黄金のデジメンタル into one. A stitched movie to cash in.
The first one is more interesting. I didn’t understand the second one at all.

They played the opening of デジモンアドベンチャー ぼくらのウォーゲーム！ at the end. When 監督　細田守 showed up, I was surprised.
Because last month I had just watched Summer Wars (and even praised it in Monthly Log: 2024-07), and it turned out to be Hosoda again here in Digimon. What a coincidence.
While watching, I noticed many similarities between the two movies, for example:

  • The antagonist is bad Digimon / bad AI. Exactly the same.
  • The final crisis is ICBM / satellite weapon. Almost identical.
  • In the final battle, the protagonists are at a disadvantage, then they gather the power of strangers around the world to defeat the boss.
  • The art style of the virtual world is also similar. The virtual world in Summer Wars already had a prototype 10 years ago.

劇場版カードキャプターさくら

Consider it paying the ticket after the fact: childhood memories (though I didn’t watch much back then either).
I stayed up late the previous day. I was sleepy during the movie (
One-sentence plot summary: if you won’t marry, don’t flirt

化け猫あんずちゃん

Very Japanese vibe (positive). Calm and warm, facing life and death frankly.
The ghost cat has the personality of a greasy uncle. The heroine is cute and completely controls the village brats.
Overall very interesting. A recent movie surprise. Recommended.

きみの色

Watched it because it’s directed by Naoko Yamada, a famous director from Kyoto Animation. But the animation production is Science SARU.
After watching, the story feels headless and tailless. Just feel it.
The heroine being able to see people’s colors is an interesting setting.
Overall good. Recommendable.

Random Thoughts

Time

Recently I feel my mindset has changed a bit, especially toward time: more “selfish”. I want to protect time that belongs to myself.
I was lost for a while, struggled for a while, and squeezed out some clichés. I originally wanted to write them here, but unfortunately the space is too small, can’t fit it.
New pit: tentative title What kind of life do I want to live (at 2024) (a neta of Miyazaki’s film title).

Output

Honored to have a blank output month.

Travel

Shinobazu Pond, Ueno

Didn’t go to the sea this summer. I’ll use a pond of lotus flowers to replace it (


This one is suitable to be made into an old people meme (


Carrying a camera to shoot lotus flowers: entered old-age life early.


Nice weather.


A whole pond of lotus.


The lotus are growing vigorously, almost as tall as a person.


Caught the Skytree in the distance.


A wild group friend taking off

Sanno Festival

It’s the annual Sanno Festival again.


This is the official promo poster.

Last year was my first time. It felt fresh and fun. But at night, phone photography was really not enough, everything turned into mush.
At the time I thought: if only I had a camera. Then Sony A7C2 was released, and I endured the pain (on my wallet) and bought it.

Didn’t expect that in August this year, Sony raised prices across the board. TVs, cameras, game consoles, all +10%.
After using the camera for a year, it actually got more expensive and out of stock. Speechless…

This year I had a camera. I shot a lot.


Friday afternoon. The festival hadn’t started yet, so I walked around casually.


A plain torii gate. The food stalls weren’t open yet.


At night the festival officially starts. Food stalls line the street. Even more lively than anime.


People people people. So many.


Festival browsing requires some stamina. With this crowd, it’s easy to get separated from friends.


Last year I was shocked seeing this charcoal-grilled fish stall for the first time. This year, same spot, same charcoal-grilled fish.


A big lantern with 山王祭.


The last program on Sunday is carrying mikoshi. Huge spectacle.
I got tired just standing beside them watching.

Second time this year, it wasn’t as fresh.
And somehow, this year’s program also felt less than last year. Last year’s unicycle team performance was so cool and left a deep impression.

But I was still very happy, because this time I met a few internet friends offline 😆

Meeting Internet Friends

Before coming to Japan last year, when packing, I searched online for what to bring, and found 元吉’s article: 赴日的准备工作 | Yuanji’s Blog. I browsed his blog and felt he was an interesting person.
After coming to Japan, when I took the Fundamental Information Technology Engineer exam, I also bought the reference book Yuanji recommended in 日本软考之基本情报技术者 | Yuanji’s Blog.

As a introvert / lurker, I basically only read blogs, never comment, never DM.
Yuanji mentioned on his blog that he moved to Kawasaki. This festival was also in Kawasaki.
The timing felt perfect, so I tried inviting Yuanji to visit the festival together. I didn’t expect it to work immediately.
We also invited a friend who had just arrived in Japan, and formed a small group of 5 people to visit the festival together. Very happy.

Afterward we went to eat as usual. Five people pulled out five Pixel phones, spanning generations 6/7/8. A magnificent sight. In Japan where iPhones are everywhere, it’s even more precious.

We had a traitor who dual-wields Pixel and iPhone

We chatted and found that everyone is a daily Linux user (I, a Manjaro noob, don’t dare to shake hands with proper Arch users).
Magic.

Jingu Gaien Fireworks Festival

Those without tickets are not allowed in 🐶
So ruthless. You can’t stop on the roads, and all open spaces are blocked by police tape. I walked around this huge park and couldn’t find a single spot to watch fireworks. The world is going downhill
In the city center there are too many tall buildings; after two intersections you can only hear sounds.

Just when I was about to give up, the road in the middle suddenly opened.

The organizer still left a way for poor people to live.


At meals, the phone eats first. When watching fireworks, the phone watches first too (

Too many people, I couldn’t take out a tripod.
Tried handheld long exposure a few shots; all trash, so I won’t post them.
I’ll wait for the Kawasaki fireworks in October.

Misc

Dentist

Saw an image online:

Too real. Recently I just finished a dental check. The dentist took an X-ray, did a bunch of checking, and told me I have 歯槽膿漏.
I didn’t know what it was, so I searched online: 歯槽膿漏とは. It seems to be late-stage periodontitis, where the gums are already eroded. No救.
The doctor said gums can’t recover, can only maintain status quo and try to prevent it from worsening.
Regret. I should have paid attention earlier.

Telegram

At the end of August, a piece of news suddenly came out:

Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov was arrested on the evening of the 24th at Le Bourget Airport in the suburbs of Paris, France.

Durov wasn’t arrested in Russia, but was arrested by France instead. A bit shocking, and a bit sad…

Telegram’s history

Telegram is a piece of software I like very much, especially after reading 霍炬’s article and learning about Telegram’s anti-authoritarian origin story and the idealist founder behind it.
If you’re also somewhat interested in this topic, here are two versions:

Why I like using Telegram

When mentioning Telegram, many people’s first impression is: only gray/black market and illegal-crime people would use it.
But it’s just a tool: a relatively secure chat app. It’s not that only criminals can use it (the fact that criminals like it just happens to show Telegram’s security is high).

I started using Telegram because I valued its security: the big brother can’t know what I chat with others.
Even if I’m just chatting about new anime, not talking politics, not publishing so-called “dangerous speech”.
I just don’t like being monitored.

In mainland China, using Telegram takes a lot of work: you need a stable VPN, people around you only use WeChat, and no one chats with you on tg.
But after sticking with it, you start feeling it’s more and more comfortable: lightweight and fast, rich features, full-platform chat history sync, excellent custom sticker packs, and a good balance between security and convenience (in comparison, WeChat is a pile of garbage).
After years, Telegram has become my main IM app and an important information channel.
Although Telegram is blocked in mainland China, tg’s Chinese content is still very rich: news, tech, anime, memes, etc.

Besides big channels like that, what I like most are all kinds of small channels, strange in every way.
These channels are like personal Twitter: daily life, tech sharing, fresh interesting viewpoints/angles.
Seeing what others think and what they do, seeing different lives in all kinds of ways: that’s one big joy of scrolling Telegram.

Maybe I should keep a backup option

This arrest made me realize that even if the Telegram team stays true to its original intention, it may still be forced by all kinds of force majeure (which Chinese people know) to downgrade/stop Telegram services.
Of course I’ll continue supporting Telegram (by subscribing to tg premium), but I also can’t rely too much on a single platform.
I don’t have a concrete plan for how to do that yet. Just a reminder to myself.

Closing

Recently I increasingly feel time passes too fast. Is this what getting older feels like? (

My JavaScript learning progress fell behind this month. I’ll try to finish Eloquent JavaScript next month.