Touching base

Just thought I might roll around some notions of what might happen post MBT.

I have a sea-story idea rattling about in my head, but want so much to stretch out and explore beyond the Soutlands. Perhaps I might try doing a full tale and pop out a few short stories in the process...

As for leers, Sara Charlotta Johansson, well there is one front and centre in the up-and-coming The Corsers' Hinge, we even get to see from his point of view... but I shall not reveal any more.

Also, there is a discussion over at the Cult regarding the changing of the series title of the US/Canadian edition, new name, new cover, re-launch of first two books, all rather intriguing. Let us discuss...

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A new year, a new... thing...

Well, just to be different I have not begun the year with a January first wow-wee blog post; I have waited instead until the day before I move house for the 6th time in 10 years. Was it just me, or did the entry into this new year seem a tad low key?

Well, here we are, 2010 - the year of Factotum, of The Corser's Hinge, of me thinking about and beginning a new tale: I have a few notions kicking around about what could be told next, certainly it will be set in the Half-Continent (I do not think I have much to say beyond it...)

I think maybe some manner of adventure (a nice, contained middle-class kind of adventure, of course) might be in order, something to revive a soul rung a bit thin after 6 years on Rossamund's story.

What are you folks thinking might be good for the new annum?

BTW: in a fit of ego, whilst checking the spelling of "annum" at The Free Dictionary, I found that they had an entry on me (I couldn't resist!) A little buzz for the ego...

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Good Characters, Inc. (oh, the irony) has launched a new application for Apple iPhones called "Chinese Alphabet".


http://goodcharacters.com/blog/blog.php?id=110

The application uses a set of random Chinese characters to correspond with 26 letters in English alphabet. The company claims this will "add mystery to your writing".

At least they are smart enough to put up this disclaimer at bottom of the page:

"The translation provided by Chinese Alphabet is intended for personal use and entertainment only. Not recommended for tattoo artists to use this to tattoo their clients, iPhone app developers to localize Chinese apps, CIA agents to communicate national secrets, or security professionals to encrypt passwords."

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MERRY JESUS-BIRTHDAY! to all of you, my patient fellow Sundergirdians*, or, as a soul might say in the Half-Continent, "Hale Thisgivingday!"

Time is inexorably moving on and not too soon we will be in the actual year of Book 3's publication (if not the month yet).

I want to thank you all for a year of great (though, I confess slow) blogging, of the ever excellent exchange between us. My hope is to regain some much needed energy over this festive (festy?) break to stride off in the new year with slightly more constant bloggingness (+ thoughts on a whole new story to embark, Lord willing). As always, we shall see.

May this be an excellent time for you all,

D.M.Cornish

*a citizen of the Half-Continent.

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http://www.bme.com/tattoo/A91210/high/jyc7-tribals-natural.jpg

At firs, it looks like pure gibberish - mixed Japanese and Chinese characters:

厉 カ ネ 羊

But looking more carefully, perhaps the idiot started with these characters:

励祥

But then he decided to switch from horizontal to vertical writing, and then split up the characters at the wrong places, making two characters into four.

Hopeless!

By the way, what does 励祥 mean anyway?

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from: Herouth M.
to: tiangotlost@gmail.com
date: Mon, Nov 30, 2009 at 1:43 AM
subject: [Fwd: Emailing: P1230294.JPG]

Hi. I'm from Israel. Love your blog.

The story goes like this: I study Japanese for several years now, and I can read about 1400 kanji more or less. One day, my co-worker approaches me with his cellphone. "Can you tell me what this says?" he asks me, showing me a photo of a piece of fabric carrying the kanji 私変態. I take a look, and reply "It's not grammatical, but it basically says "I'm a pervert".

"What?!"

"'I'm a pervert'. The first character means 'I', the other two mean 'pervert'", where did you get that from, anyway?

"It's on my 1.5 years old daughter's shirt!"

After LOLing for about 15 minutes straight, I kind of demanded that he get me a photo of the complete shirt so I can send it to Hanzi Smatter. And here is the shirt, complete with the cute, luckless 1.5 years old "hentai" herself.

I mean, yes, I have seen intentionally-made "hentai" shirts around the web (and on Hanzi Smatter). Adults buy them and wear them for the laughs. But who in his right mind would put this on a toddler's shirt, and sell it in a children's clothing store rather than a joke shop? I can't imagine.

Yes, I suppose it *could* mean "metamorphosis", but really, outside scientific contexts, it's almost always means "pervert". Or am I wrong?

Cheers,
Herouth



Cute kid, though. The "bunny" or whatever kind of cute animal that is also on the shirt is a nice touch. We have obviously uncovered a diabolical plot to "pervert" innocent youth with inappropriate hanzi!

By the way, the T-shirt would be cuter and better if it was grammatically correct, like:

私、変態なんです。[I ... am a pervert.]

私、変態かも…[I might be a pervert...]

As it is, it sounds more like Tarzan-speak: "me - pervert." You kind of expect "you - Jane" next.

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Remember Kinoki, the detox footpad, turned out to be a ripoff?

Alan and I present you, Osuke nutritional supplement:



For those who are interested, the product's laughable claims are detailed at its website.

However, we would like to point the readers to the five characters below OSUKE:

行迎友先天

The phrase has virtually no meaning in either Chinese or Japanese. But, using our handy-dandy Decoder Card for Gibberish English-Chinese Tattoo font, guess what 行迎友先天 corresponds?

OSUKE

After reading the product's name is complete gibberish, would anyone pay US$37.95 for a bottle of this supplement?

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