Fuhen

When I was in America a few months back I was able to watch TV once or twice. It seems UK TV has taken a lot of inspiration from there. We get ad breaks scheduled every 10-15 minutes now, we have graphics pop-up moments after a show has begun telling us what's next, as well as before and after the ad break and then again when the credits roll. We also get the credits shifted to a small screen in the corner or cut to get more ads and spam for shows about to be broadcasted.

Basically it's a mass of things which just detract. I know what's coming next and if not I'll quickly bring up teletext. I also don't need an ad break every 10 minutes, especially if your show is being sponsored, surely that should mean you can ease up on the breaks.


There is one thing that I would like TV companies to take note of; the treatment of anime.

I'm sure there will be those who disagree and will say the US get a bum deal in regard to anime, however it is none existant on terrestrial TV aside from stuff like Pokemon and our choice on satellite/cable is not much better.

Once upon a time we had shows like Cowboy Bebop, Outlaw Star, Gundam Wing, Tenchi, Nadesico and Evangelion. Now we have Bedamon, Ultimate Muscle and some other random lame stuff.

The channel CNX was one of the best around, it introduced me to Cowboy Bebop (which was uncut/uncensored) and Outlaw Star as well as showing Asian cinema. Sci-Fi had Saiko Exciting, which was wacky and odd but ultimately cool as well as the late night showings of Nadesico and Eva. It showed a random old anime flick each week as well (which they increasingly relied upon).

Then the rot set in. CNX was slowly shunted by Toonami. With nothing new really being shown, Toonami slowly got more and more airtime to the point that the channel was relaunched as Toonami in the Kids section of the TV channel listings. Sci-Fi dropped their anime nights and moved good anime shows into stupid hours each day (5 or 6am).

I haven't seen any anime on the Sci-Fi listings for an age now and I've stopped checking. Toonami isn't any better, despite how it started, just happy to perpetuate the idea of anime being for kids.

If you look at the US and the equivalent, well it's quite shameful. The time slot reserved for Adult Swim shows Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo and other good shows. Shows that would go a long way to catch new fans to the anime scene.

It is some consolation that Rapture is being relaunched in the coming months and they have anime on the schedule in amongst everything else. A channel that may be able the successor to CNX with more variety in shows to keep a constant audience so that it can grow and have a proper chance. Either way, I hope it goes a long way to represent the great anime that is being released and the fanbase as well as making other channels sit up and take note.

Sleepy Head

I'm not a huge fan of the Grand Theft Auto series of games but after the recent brouhaha, it does raise some important issues. Hilary Clinton waded into the whole debate by asking the FTC to look at the rating given to the game (GTA: San Andreas) by the Entertainment Software Rating Board. I think that amongst other things Clinton said this is probably the only thing that had any sort of credibility.

The concern was all down to a recent mod released for the game called "Hot Coffee". Now why is it that this mod caused questioning of the rating given to the game?

In the UK, the game was given an 18 certificate by the British Board of Film Classification. The guidelines set out by the BBFC is quite certain and unambigious. Even without the guidelines, I'm sure most would agree that this is a game for adults and should be given ratings that match that assumption. This also matches the age of majority here in the UK (the age at which one is given the rights and responsibilities of an adult).

Now let's look over at the US, where this storm has raged.

Firstly, I'll concede the age of majority differs from state to state. This could make things more complex than it should be however it should not be a big thing, as I'll explain later.

The rating system for gaming is handled with the ESRB ratings which seems to be based on the MPAA ratings. It seems ambigious as to which section a game would belong. The difference between an M-rating (which the game received) and an AO-rating (Adults Only) doesn't seem as clear cut. The only difference seems to be the period of time an action lasts for.

Now the way it seems, is that regardless of age of majority, the game should have received an AO, due to the content that can be accessed using "Hot Coffee". So that would have meant an AO-rating that states that only persons of 18 or older should be allowed play as opposed to the M-rating which states persons of 17 or older should be allowed to play.

Whilst I'm not going to advocate Rockstar leaving in content that they should have removed, the whole problem could have been avoided had the US rating system been a good one or not one that tends to be a little to relaxed. Merge the ratings for M and AO, make it closer to what an 18-rating is like in the UK. That avoids most of your problems even if a little surprise comes out later on. Or move the M-rating to one that more resembles a 15 but gives enough room for AO to be used more frequently for questionable games.

Either way, the ESRB system needs to be re-evaluated. If we continue to have these types of problems, then it's only going to make the stigma attached to gaming worse. It's bad enough already with politicians and newspapers harping on about it ruining our society or turning people into mindless thugs, we don't need to compound it by making mistakes to give more ammo to the cannon.

Three days later...

I'm going to make a post similar to my last.

Hiroshima has had lots of press but let us not forget Nagasaki either.

Nagasaki suffered an equally tragic fate and we should take a moment to remember again.

Let us forget the controvesy and blame, we cannot change that. Instead let us focus on the lessons we should learn.

Lest we forget

As I begin to write this piece it is a little past the time of one of the gravest moments in our history.

At 08:15 on the 6th August 1945, Hiroshima witnessed a destructive power the likes of which had never been seen before. Three days later Nagasaki would be witness to the horror.
President Truman wrote about the atomic bomb in his diary:

"We have discovered the most terrible bomb in the history of the world. It may be the fire destruction prophesied in the Euphrates Valley Era, after Noah and his fabulous Ark." (1)

Many things have been written concerning whose fault it was, the necessity of dropping the bombs and criticism aimed at various parties for not trying harder with other methods and it'll be a debate that will rage on.

My concern is did we actually learn lessons from the events? And if so, do we still remember?

With all the advances in technology we have had, our destructive power has grown, the world is compact yet there is conflict around. Reading the accounts of the Hibakusha (survivors of the bombings) and then seeing the reality, the difference is astounding. They have seen the effects, they lived through what went on and see the futility yet day in and day out we have some sort of war ongoing.

In school we are taught about the events but I'm not sure the actual impact of it is conveyed. It was not until I decided to read more about the events leading upto the marking of the 60th anniversary of the end of WWII that I learnt about the harrowing events and the extent of damage. More should be made to record the experiences and show them to people that this is what happened. In Japan, survivors go out and talk in schools and speak of what it was like (2). This is not something that should be confined to Japan, every person in every nation should be educated in this manner, so that they can learn and build towards a better future for all.

At the start I had a quote from Truman and his comparison of the bombs to biblical proportions and we have hibakusha talk of it being like a living hell.

The lessons we should learn/have learnt from Hiroshima and Nagasaki is not that we should never use atomic bombs again, it's that we should not take any arms up against others. As long as we do, then we've not learnt anything.


1 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/4724793.stm
2 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/4735163.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/4729407.stm