chocobean's recent activity

  1. Comment on Offbeat Fridays – The thread where offbeat headlines become front page news in ~news

    chocobean
    Link Parent
    That's because the render was done by some poor intern-waged staff who's not only never seen one of these in real life, but would be the last in corporate chain to be able to get their hands on a...

    That's because the render was done by some poor intern intern-waged staff who's not only never seen one of these in real life, but would be the last in corporate chain to be able to get their hands on a physical one. They were probably tasked with doing this for an internal presentation when the idea was pitched and then the image never updated again.

    In the old days, a product is pitched, approved, made, and then an advertising firm hired to do pictures in preparation for launch using an existing real item. Now everything is done in parallel at best

  2. Comment on Offbeat Fridays – The thread where offbeat headlines become front page news in ~news

    chocobean
    Link
    Woman uproots 20-year-old cherry blossom tree while posing for photo at Shanghai park Sunny Lam's parody (Cantonese language) song has a copy of the video. Ultimately this is a small silly mistake...

    Woman uproots 20-year-old cherry blossom tree while posing for photo at Shanghai park

    A woman in China uprooted a 20-year-old cherry blossom tree while climbing it, in an incident captured on video which went viral online.

    As the culprit stabilised herself on the branches, the tree appears to tilt before crashing to the ground, seemingly unable to bear her weight. [...]

    Following the incident, park staff were dispatched to take emergency measures, such as installing supports and attempting to straighten the tree.

    However, due to the uprooting, the tree's chances of survival are low.

    It was reported that the woman involved has admitted to her mistake and offered to compensate for the damage.

    Sunny Lam's parody (Cantonese language) song has a copy of the video.

    Ultimately this is a small silly mistake and although it's sad for the young tree, hopefully a teachable moment for visitors, and good job on the woman for taking responsibility.

    5 votes

  3. Comment on The greatest documentary you've never heard of - Tie Xi Qu (铁西区) by Wang Bing in ~movies

    chocobean
    Link Parent
    Oh Cfabbro you triggered one of my (not well) hidden likes: super verbose translations!! More more more especially moreJapanese channels like that since I'm trying to learn!! I can't wait to be...

    Oh Cfabbro you triggered one of my (not well) hidden likes: super verbose translations!! More more more especially moreJapanese channels like that since I'm trying to learn!! I can't wait to be able to watch this later!!

    1 vote

  4. Comment on The greatest documentary you've never heard of - Tie Xi Qu (铁西区) by Wang Bing in ~movies

    chocobean
    (edited )
    Link Parent
    The Lyricist Wannabe is my favourite of the two. It's semi-autobiographical, where the protagonist is based on the life story of the director, screen writer, and the author of original book the...

    The Lyricist Wannabe is my favourite of the two. It's semi-autobiographical, where the protagonist is based on the life story of the director, screen writer, and the author of original book the screen play was adapted from, who wrote the lyrics for all the insert songs in the movie. Let me try again. A young lady wanted to write song lyrics so badly that she spent her whole life working jobs parallel/adjacent to music/media, until she has enough money to self fund this movie to make her dream come true. It's at once youthful and nostalgic, both cutely hopeful and cruelly realistic, without ever being bitter or cynical.

    Another thing I should point out is that the Lyricist specifically wants to write Cantonese lyrics. This poses several additional challenges: (1) there are only ~80 mil Cantonese speakers out of 8 billion people's world wide market (2) the 7m HK Canto pop market is all but disappearing being adjacent to a Mandarin superpower of 1.3 billion (3) the cost of living in Hong Kong is notoriously high, and (4) Cantonese is a tonal language.

    Think of tones in every pair of words as musical intervals: every noun phrase or expression is therefore locked into a specific relative interval. How do you attach a melody to a lyrical sentence that already has its own melody baked in? The opening song provides a hilarious and silly example where the tones of the poorly written lyrics of a Catholic school hymn turned it completely sacrilege:

    求天主能夠
    kau4 tin1 zyu2 nang4 gau3
    Pray that the Lord may grant

    Change the tone to
    kau4 tin1 zyu2 nang4 gau2:
    pray that the Lord may dog

    Or, if you're a teenager, more likely this is what you're on high alert to hear:

    kau4 tin1 zyu2 nan2 gau1:
    Pray that the Lord may [verb explitive] [noun explitive that rhymes with dog]

    The language also has a lot of homonyms one has to use carefully. The title of the same "hymn":

    聖愛的海洋
    The ocean of Holy Love

    Sounds exactly like "The ocean of sexual love" because of context.

    If there's a way I can get more people to watch this film I would be quite happy.

    4 votes

  5. Comment on The greatest documentary you've never heard of - Tie Xi Qu (铁西区) by Wang Bing in ~movies

    chocobean
    Link Parent
    Yeah, I'd have to spend the time to watch the whole thing for the dialect to sink in, I think. I'm always fascinated by changes or missed bits in subtitles. It's a hard job! I would imagine that...
    • Exemplary

    Yeah, I'd have to spend the time to watch the whole thing for the dialect to sink in, I think. I'm always fascinated by changes or missed bits in subtitles. It's a hard job!

    I would imagine that the director himself communicated thoroughly with his chosen translators, and I would 100% choose his translator's choices over my understanding.

    For example, the title of Part One in English is Rust, but in Chinese, Wang has chosen 工厂 (Factory). This is not a mistranslation, this is an artistic choice.

    Likewise, part 2 English title is Remnants, but the Chinese is 艳粉街, the name of the main living / shopping quarters, which is ironically literally "vibrant powders street".

    Part 3, Rails, is more specifically 铁路 (iron road) rail road in original Chinese. I note also that it is not 鐵轨 （iron tracks / railway tracks), so the parallel irons was probably not the focus. The translator / Wang himself chose three Rs for each part of the English.

    I don't know why these deliberate choices were made. It would be fascinating to give my lay person speculations if I sit down and watch the whole thing. A friend who subs for fun mentioned that it's always an artistic struggle between the extremes of (1) wanting to provide ALL the literary accuracy and nuances, and (2) making sure subs are short and fit on the screen legibly and flows for speakers of an entirely different language system.

    6 votes

  6. Comment on So it turns out I was cheated on in ~health.mental

    chocobean
    Link Parent
    You've demonstrated amazing perseverance, you're showing a lot of resilience under these tumultuous circumstances, and you love your son fiercely. You're gonna be okay, and your boy is lucky to...

    You've demonstrated amazing perseverance, you're showing a lot of resilience under these tumultuous circumstances, and you love your son fiercely. You're gonna be okay, and your boy is lucky to have you in these times.

    2 votes

  7. Comment on US to Canada package forwarding service? in ~talk

    chocobean
    Link Parent
    Thanks for the recommendation. Info for others: the site has a quote estimate form. It'll cost about $50 USD to ship 1kg of goods from California to Canada. They also ship from China and Japan

    Thanks for the recommendation.

    Info for others: the site has a quote estimate form. It'll cost about $50 USD to ship 1kg of goods from California to Canada. They also ship from China and Japan

    3 votes

  8. Comment on Industry initiative launches Euro-Office as true sovereign office suite in ~tech

    chocobean
    Link Parent
    I'm not even in Europe but hope Canada will also adopt this. I survived Win95 Word, I'll take buggy and fewer features over whatever Windows has become.

    I'm not even in Europe but hope Canada will also adopt this. I survived Win95 Word, I'll take buggy and fewer features over whatever Windows has become.

    4 votes

  9. Comment on The greatest documentary you've never heard of - Tie Xi Qu (铁西区) by Wang Bing in ~movies

    chocobean
    Link Parent
    9 hours is incredible. I randomly skipped to the 2:10 mark, where some workers are chatting, and it's interesting to me that I can't understand them at all. But I think if I sat down and watched...

    9 hours is incredible. I randomly skipped to the 2:10 mark, where some workers are chatting, and it's interesting to me that I can't understand them at all. But I think if I sat down and watched all of it, or lived among them for a week or two, I'll be able to understand their regional dialect. Or alternatively, nowadays I'm sure Baidu or whatever has instant translation we could use

    2 votes

  10. Comment on The greatest documentary you've never heard of - Tie Xi Qu (铁西区) by Wang Bing in ~movies

    chocobean
    (edited )
    Link Parent
    The problem with sharing Chinese language cinema, aside from language, is also accessibility. Recently, I watched 今天看我怎麼說 - The Way We Talk (2024) (yt trailer) and the incredible 填詞撚 - The...

    The problem with sharing Chinese language cinema, aside from language, is also accessibility.

    Recently, I watched 今天看我怎麼說 - The Way We Talk (2024) (yt trailer) and the incredible 填詞撚 - The Lyricist Wannabe (2023) (yt trailer), about the diginity of sign language as an actual real language, and about the ambition of becoming a lyricist when there is no career possible with that dream, respectively. There's not really a way for me to share it with the Tildes crowd without a readily available stream. (I mean....there are streams, arrr yohoho etc, but no English subs). Very Indie off the beaten path stuff I wish was more widely known too.

    Edit: Akir, after some more thought, I would highly recommend this Cantonese language, ocassiaonlly human English subbed documentary channel, @mm.millmilk, which has many short docs about life in Hong Kong and how HKers see the world.

    Here's a human English subbed one, about an Australian designer who fell in love with paper crafted offerings we some HKers who are of that faith system burn for the dead and the artistic culture that create these.

    4 votes

  11. Comment on Industry initiative launches Euro-Office as true sovereign office suite in ~tech

    chocobean
    Link Parent
    Thanks for the funny mental image of a canine sitting there musing while two felines converse with each other

    Thanks for the funny mental image of a canine sitting there musing while two felines converse with each other

    7 votes

  12. Comment on US to Canada package forwarding service? in ~talk

    chocobean
    Link Parent
    Thanks for the review Aww, they only ship to BC ON QC AB

    Thanks for the review

    Aww, they only ship to BC ON QC AB

  13. US to Canada package forwarding service?

    ~talk Ask (advice)
    Hey Tildes, There's a product that is sold in US Costco, where the Kirkland brand is a fraction of the price of the Canadian Costco brand name version. Without knowing anything about tarrifs or...

    Hey Tildes,

    There's a product that is sold in US Costco, where the Kirkland brand is a fraction of the price of the Canadian Costco brand name version. Without knowing anything about tarrifs or customs clearing, do you guys know of a service that I can ship to in US, that will forward my package to a Canadian address? Or is that all kinds of illegal or was possible but not anymore? Brief search on Reddit turned up AI and astroturfed results sadly

    15 votes

  14. Comment on Donald Trump posted on Truth Social this morning that "a whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again" as his threatened attacks on Iranian infrastructure loom ahead of deadline in ~society

    chocobean
    Link Parent
    I don't want to get used to this, but I suppose that's all we could do. Get our sea legs kinda thing eh? Maybe not worry about it because if buttons are pushed buttons are pushed, just aim to...

    I don't want to get used to this, but I suppose that's all we could do. Get our sea legs kinda thing eh? Maybe not worry about it because if buttons are pushed buttons are pushed, just aim to continue loving people and continue to try and be slightly helpful regardless of what the threat level of the day is

    4 votes

  15. Comment on Donald Trump posted on Truth Social this morning that "a whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again" as his threatened attacks on Iranian infrastructure loom ahead of deadline in ~society

    chocobean
    Link Parent
    Hey good morning, nice to see an atmosphere not on fire. Love ya too snowgoon

    Hey good morning, nice to see an atmosphere not on fire. Love ya too snowgoon

    5 votes

  16. Comment on Donald Trump posted on Truth Social this morning that "a whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again" as his threatened attacks on Iranian infrastructure loom ahead of deadline in ~society

    chocobean
    Link
    Update: Iran cuts all diplomatic channels with US ahead of Trump’s Strait of Hormuz deadline FP News Desk April 7, 2026, 20:15:35 IST It doesn't matter if he TACOs out now.

    Update:

    Iran cuts all diplomatic channels with US ahead of Trump’s Strait of Hormuz deadline
    FP News Desk
    April 7, 2026, 20:15:35 IST

    According to Iranian media outlet Tehran Times, Iran has suspended all diplomatic and indirect lines of communication with the United States.

    “Iran has closed all diplomatic and indirect channels of communication with the United States. Any and all message exchanges have also been suspended,” the outlet reported.

    It doesn't matter if he TACOs out now.

    10 votes

  17. Comment on Donald Trump posted on Truth Social this morning that "a whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again" as his threatened attacks on Iranian infrastructure loom ahead of deadline in ~society

  18. Comment on Donald Trump posted on Truth Social this morning that "a whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again" as his threatened attacks on Iranian infrastructure loom ahead of deadline in ~society

    chocobean
    Link Parent
    If you knew that you could simply overwhelm an all you can eat buffet and rob them of food without paying, why would you care about their 2 hour seat limit? Greed here isn't going past 2 hours,...

    If you knew that you could simply overwhelm an all you can eat buffet and rob them of food without paying, why would you care about their 2 hour seat limit? Greed here isn't going past 2 hours, it's making the entire restaurant yours forever and having the enslaved staff pay its costs.

    3 votes

  19. Comment on Donald Trump posted on Truth Social this morning that "a whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again" as his threatened attacks on Iranian infrastructure loom ahead of deadline in ~society

    chocobean
    Link Parent
    I'm not sure people could even be mobilized if he announced genocide against the entire California state. It's been many decades of combination of keeping the population uninformed, illiterate,...

    I'm not sure people could even be mobilized if he announced genocide against the entire California state. It's been many decades of combination of keeping the population uninformed, illiterate, wage insecure and housing insecure.

    11 votes

  20. Comment on Donald Trump posted on Truth Social this morning that "a whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again" as his threatened attacks on Iranian infrastructure loom ahead of deadline in ~society

    chocobean
    Link Parent
    As with any tyrant, I'm sure there's constantly schemes to replace Dear Leader. But as with all tyrants, those waiting in the wings are constantly gauging their own popularity, as well as trying...

    As with any tyrant, I'm sure there's constantly schemes to replace Dear Leader. But as with all tyrants, those waiting in the wings are constantly gauging their own popularity, as well as trying to sniff out disloyalty among the others. We saw MTG pull away but didn't attract critical MAGA following -- JD is unlikely to be anywhere near popular enough to make his move / for others to 25th DTJ in support of JD. These are cults, they're not looking for good, sustainable ideas like backing off Iran or governing with sanity. In fact, their entire focus right now is on making sure there is NO midterms, let alone re-election. They're past trying to put together a popular democratic platform.

    In fact, my guess on why DTJ made this weeks' series of bait threats (aside from the usual dementia) is to prompt Iran to do a devastating attack on American soil or use their nukes somehow, so his admin can justify full scale mobilization and suspend all elections. So, again, his people aren't going to 25th him because they NEED DTJ to survive past the midterms or make them impossible first. If they get no election and full war, they can then off him any which way and JD will automatically be president anyway.

    8 votes