First website I opened was Opentrolley, but when I typed in "Metro 2033" I was stupefied by the sole result of the search.
The price was the first thing that shocked me. A 92-page novel translated from Russian priced at S$83?? Was it the wrong book of the same title?
No, it was on the right "Metro 2033" because it said "Action game, video game, survival horror..." which were all the right terms for describing the game.
So I checked the authors, and saw that they had written a lot of books with very similar covers. Seeing nothing very wrong with the authors, I checked the publisher, Alphascript Publishing.
That was when I found out it was some bullshit company publishing articles ripped off from Wikipedia, just like what the circular green label says on the lower right corner of the cover. This publisher only copies the articles and does not even proofread them. Worse, all the books from this publisher are overpriced beyond belief.
S$83 for a collection of free articles on a game? I pity anyone who buys it. And obviously they had to be bought... by Opentrolley. I think they have to buy some copies before they can say they have them in stock.
As it turns out, the covers of the actual novel are nowhere close to that kid with the controller. According to Amazon,
So it's not just Chinese mainlanders. Greed has no boundaries.
So one of the questions in an assignment was to discuss the differences in language usage between Westerners and the Chinese when they meet and part, using 2 examples. I'm going to paste my answer here just so that I can look back 5 years from now and know that my Chinese was never good.
Behold the shittiness of my Chinese grammar.
西方人见面时常会谈起天气或时间，如 “Lovely weather, isn’t it?” 和 “Good morning,” 但中国人通常会说：“你吃饭了吗?” 这句话可有 “有福同享，有难同当” 的含义，也能表达一种很亲切的关心。这也跟中国历史有关系，因为从古至今对中国人来说，能吃饱是件最幸福的事，以食为天，但在发达的西方国家从很久以前能吃饱是件很正常的事。
当西方人见面时，除了 “你好吗?”之外其实都没什么好说的，所以就谈起天气来。当他们问起：“How are you?” 时，含义缺乏 “你吃饭了吗?” 的亲切感，而只表达出一点关心而已。
中国人分别时常常会说：“慢走。” 或 “请留步。” 而西方习俗绝对不会用到这些话，并连对应的说法也没有，若译为 “Please walk slowly,” 或 “ You have had a hard time,” 都是不贴切的，反而还会造成误会。
西方人分别时多数会说：“Goodbye,”、“Bye-bye,” 或 “See you later”。 “Bye”本来就没有意思，所以其实西方人分别时，除了 “See you later,” 之外，用的语言都是没意思的，只有表示开心的含义。从这可以看得出，西方人自我心极重，但相反的，中国人的 “请慢步”就跟 “ 你吃饭没?”一样表示关心对方。
I know this isn't going to get full marks, but I'm like half an hour away from the deadline, so screw it. Also, I'm aware that I'm using more than 2 examples, but it's kinda hard to explain the differences with that few. Furthermore, it's not like I'm going get my score reduced for being overzealous in giving examples.
And "shittiness" is not a word.
Oh Europe. All PS3 consoles being imported into Europe are currently being confiscated due to copyright issue between LG and Sony. It used to be that the PS3 had no games. Now, Sony has no consoles. What's next?
Saying that child porn cases in Japan is rising is misleading. It's implying that there are more and more child porn actors there, which I don't think is true. From what I've seen in various JAV and hentai sites, it's like real-life child porn does not exist in Japan. Seriously, I've never seen real children in any JAV before.
In contrast, too frickin much of the hentai (whether anime or manga) produced today depict kids or characters of questionable ages. In fact there was once when I thought to myself: why is it so hard to find decent hentai these days?
Come to think of it, "decent hentai" is such an oxymoron.
Which leads to this disclaimer: I specifically avoid many types of hentai and porn, including child porn, BDSM and yaoi. I'm not neutral to these genres; I'd prefer if they're completely gone from the world.
But that's just me. I can't stop other people from liking them, just like I can't stop people from hating durians.
Haters gonna hate.
So let me hate that stuff and I'll let you hate your stuff in peace.
This news led me to think about what I've said long ago.
Is drawn CP really bad? According to the stats in a previous rant, there isn't a correlation between the type of porn that's popular in a country with the sex crime rate of the same place. Having lots of closet paedophiles does not lead to lots of child rapists, as far as I can tell.
And if it isn't that bad, then it leads to an interesting conclusion.
It is an outdated and illogical taboo that was passed down from our ancestors who lived in an age when sex usually meant having children.
In fact in ancient Greece they used to practise pederasty, in which sex between the adult male and the boy was possible if both sides are willing. I can't say if it's true though, since obviously most of the books were written by the adult men. Anyway that's paedophilia and homosexuality combined, and yet Greece turned out pretty well, didn't it? Their language and culture even managed to overwhelm those of the Romans when they were conquered by the latter, although I think pederasty kinda stopped then.
Furthermore, if it's an outdated and illogical taboo invented by people from a time when sex = babies, then can't the same be said of another taboo?
Like incest?
It surprised me too when I thought of it.
But there is a point to it. What is the proportion of sexual intercourses that are meant to produce kids these days? I'd say pretty tiny. Just check out the number of brands and types of condoms there are to have an idea of how well condoms are selling these days. Also, there is the pill for the women.
Which means that sex today is no longer having conception as its primary function, hence the low birth rate in developed countries.
And if an incestuous couple never produces children, what is wrong with the relationship?
Fortunately for us, we're born with this natural instinct to avoid incest. Well, that's what I'd like to believe anyway. I cannot tell if this feeling of disgust towards incest is caused by my upbringing or by instinct.
In contrast, too frickin much of the hentai (whether anime or manga) produced today depict kids or characters of questionable ages. In fact there was once when I thought to myself: why is it so hard to find decent hentai these days?
Come to think of it, "decent hentai" is such an oxymoron.
Which leads to this disclaimer: I specifically avoid many types of hentai and porn, including child porn, BDSM and yaoi. I'm not neutral to these genres; I'd prefer if they're completely gone from the world.
But that's just me. I can't stop other people from liking them, just like I can't stop people from hating durians.
Haters gonna hate.
So let me hate that stuff and I'll let you hate your stuff in peace.
This news led me to think about what I've said long ago.
Is drawn CP really bad? According to the stats in a previous rant, there isn't a correlation between the type of porn that's popular in a country with the sex crime rate of the same place. Having lots of closet paedophiles does not lead to lots of child rapists, as far as I can tell.
And if it isn't that bad, then it leads to an interesting conclusion.
It is an outdated and illogical taboo that was passed down from our ancestors who lived in an age when sex usually meant having children.
In fact in ancient Greece they used to practise pederasty, in which sex between the adult male and the boy was possible if both sides are willing. I can't say if it's true though, since obviously most of the books were written by the adult men. Anyway that's paedophilia and homosexuality combined, and yet Greece turned out pretty well, didn't it? Their language and culture even managed to overwhelm those of the Romans when they were conquered by the latter, although I think pederasty kinda stopped then.
Furthermore, if it's an outdated and illogical taboo invented by people from a time when sex = babies, then can't the same be said of another taboo?
Like incest?
It surprised me too when I thought of it.
But there is a point to it. What is the proportion of sexual intercourses that are meant to produce kids these days? I'd say pretty tiny. Just check out the number of brands and types of condoms there are to have an idea of how well condoms are selling these days. Also, there is the pill for the women.
Which means that sex today is no longer having conception as its primary function, hence the low birth rate in developed countries.
And if an incestuous couple never produces children, what is wrong with the relationship?
Fortunately for us, we're born with this natural instinct to avoid incest. Well, that's what I'd like to believe anyway. I cannot tell if this feeling of disgust towards incest is caused by my upbringing or by instinct.
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