Mirror website with wget and httrack

There are some open source tools to mirror websites, but personally, I think the easiest to use are wget and httrack.

 

wget has the mirror option, and it is simply a matter of using that option with the website to mirror.

wget -m http://mysite.net

If you want to ignore the robots.txt file, use the ‐‐execute robots=off option.

wget -m ‐‐execute robots=off http://mysite.net

 

httrack is another great tool which runs from the command line. Just executing httrack with the URL is enough.

httrack http://mysite.net

If you want to save the site at a specific path, use the -O option

httrack http://mysite.net -O /home/user/mysite_mirror

Similarly, you can ignore robots.txt using the -s0 option.

httrack http://mysite.net -s0

Ignoring robots.txt helps to retrieve files which would otherwise not be allowed by these web crawling programs. However, this may result in high network traffic, so use at your own discretion.

By the way, httrack also has a GUI called webhttrack. On Ubuntu systems, you can install the entire package by

sudo apt install webhttrack

which will install both httrack and the GUI.

Are we troubled by our emotions?

皆、自分の感情で自分に振り回されて、眠れぬ夜を過ごしますか？

すがるように、愛している人の記憶を思い出しますか？

過去を思い出し、してきた罪や恥を数えて、呆然としますか？

自分で、自分を、攻撃しますか？

(Excerpt from Violet Evergarden "Ever After" [Book 4])

Does everyone spend sleepless nights thrown around by their own feelings?

Search for memories of their loved ones, as if clinging onto a thread?

Remember the past, only to count their sins and embarrassments, and be dumbfounded?

Does everyone attack themselves?

Voice actress Kayano Ai in trouble over visit to Yasukuni Shrine

Japanese anime star Ai Kayano sparks anger on China’s social media after visit to controversial Yasukuni Shrine

A few days ago, Kayano Ai mentioned in her YouTube video (on a channel that she posts video daily in preparation for her upcoming book) that she went to Yasukuni Shrine. She had previously mentioned that she had a recording job at a studio near the shrine. In her video, she mentioned that there was still time, so she wanted to relax a bit.

Here is an excerpt found on this article.

「まだ時間までもうちょっとあるので、のんびりしています。鳥居をくぐって、ここホントに気持ちがいい場所ですよねえ」「今はコロナの影響で、お清めもあまりちゃんとできなくなっていますが、少しだけ清めさせていただきました。はあ、気持ちいい。空気が澄んでいる感じがします。一緒に会釈しましょう。ん？会釈じゃないね。しっかりお辞儀しましょう」

"There is still a bit of time, so let's relax a bit. Passing under the torii gate, this place is really refreshing." "I haven't been able to cleanse myself properly due to the impact of COVID-19. So let me do just that. Ah, it is so relaxing. The air is so fresh. Let's offer a greeting. Hmm? No, not just a greeting, let's bow properly."

Personally, I think she didn't mean any ill. Yes, it is a famous (infamous) shrine, but its significance is not something that is taught in schools. And Japanese media doesn't give extensive media coverage to the controversial visits by Japanese politicians to the shrine. So the younger generation may not really understand the significance of visiting Yasukuni Shrine. To Kayano, she might have thought of the visit as nothing more than "Oh, there is a big shrine near where I work, let's go take a stroll" just like what she would do if she was working at a studio in another part of town with some other big shrine nearby.

The bigger issue is that the significance of the shrine is lost to younger Japanese. Some may know that it is controversial, but I don't think many really understand the reason behind the controversy. Hopefully, this incident will make the younger generation want to find out more about the controversy around this shrine, and dig deeper into Japan's history.

Update 18 February 2021: Kayano Ai has made an official statement, saying:

 「私どもの認識不足によりファンの皆様にご迷惑をお掛けしたことをお詫びいたします」

"I apologize for the trouble caused to fans due to my lack of awareness."

声優の茅野愛衣、一部動画公開やめ謝罪「認識不足」

2月11日に公開いたしました「茅野愛衣のむすんでひらいて」第152回につきまして、関係者で検討を重ねた結果、該当の動画を非公開とさせていただきました。
私どもの認識不足によりファンの皆様にご迷惑をお掛けしたことをお詫びいたします。

— 茅野愛衣　10周年オフィシャル (@kayanoai_10th) February 17, 2021

Episode 152, which was the episode when she talked about visiting Yasukuni Shrine, has been taken down from the channel.

Violet Evergarden The Movie wins Best Film for Anime of the Year in TAAF2021

Tokyo Anime Award Festival 2021 (TAAF2021) announced its winners last week. Violet Evergarden The Movie was selected as the Best Film for Anime of the Year.

Yoshida Reiko, who wrote the screenplay for Violet Evergarden, received the individual award in the Writers category, while Watanabe Mikiko (from KyoAni, deceased) who led the art team for Violet Evergarden won the individual award in the Visual Artists category. (Kajiura Yuki won the award in the Sound Artists/Performers category. She is known for her works in Fate/stay night Heaven's Feel and Sword Art Online.)

By the way, Violet Evergarden The Movie was also nominated for Animation of the Year for the 44th Japan Academy Film Prize. The movie also won the top spot in Filmarks' 2020 movie satisfaction ranking.

Ranking of movies that showed in Japan in 2020 based on earnings; Violet Evergarden The Movie is 9th as three of the movies in the ranking were released in 2021.

My overall thoughts on Violet Evergarden The Movie

Some other posts on the Violet Evergarden series:

First cast greeting event for Violet Evergarden the Movie

Violet Evergarden the Movie: Cast greeting event to thank fans

Production staff event at screening of Violet Evergarden the Movie

Decoding the Violet Evergarden postcard

Last line of Violet's final letter to Gilbert

Was Ekarte Island based on Folegandros?

Touching scenes in Violet Evergarden the Movie

Violet Evergarden the Movie is a story about guilt

Article about story consistency/inconsistency in Violet Evergarden the Movie

Violet Evergarden TV anime series

My Python script for translating to and from Tellsis language (Nunkish)

All posts related to Violet Evergarden.

 

Update 19 March 2021: Violet Evergarden the Movie did not manage to win the Best Animation award at the 44th Japan Academy Film Prize (it was given to the Demon Slayer movie). While the results was more or less expected, it was still disappointing to hear the actual announcement. In my heart, Violet Evergarden the Movie will always be that one movie which drew me back to the theatres time and again.

New season of Demon Slayer announced in 2021

A new season for Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba (鬼滅の刃) was just announced last night with this trailer.

The series was a major hit in Japan in 2020, with the movie Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba the Movie: Mugen Train (劇場版「鬼滅の刃」 無限列車編) becoming the top selling movie in Japan and still reaping in sales today as it continues to show in cinemas. The new season will air on TV in 2021, though the exact date has yet to be announced. But I think it will probably be summer, since the spring anime has more or less been announced.

The first season (two cours) covered books 1 to 6, while the movie covered books 7 to 8. This new season, which will air in 2021, is named 遊郭編, which means it will cover the story set in the red light district of Yoshiwara. This part of the story is covered in books 8 to 11, so this may be a one cour season that covers the source manga up to book 11.

 

Which leaves the following arcs to be covered:

Sword smith village

Hashira training

vs Kaigaku

vs Akaza

vs Doma

vs Kokushibo

vs Muzan (finale)

 

Given the overwhelming success of the movie and the popularity of the source manga in Japan and overseas, I think we can expect the remaining arcs to be adapted into anime. As the finale is likely to be a movie, I think the remaining arcs may get adapted into 3 cours, with the story in the sword smith village and Hashira training forming 1 cour, and the battles against the remaining Upper Moons in 2 cours (two Upper Moons per cour). Keeping my fingers crossed! 🤞

Ending the Year of the Rat with Violet Evergarden the Movie (12th viewing)

Today is Chinese New Year Eve, the last day of the Year of the Rat. So I thought, how about closing the year with Violet Evergarden the Movie?

The local Dolby Cinema is the only cinema in the entire prefecture now still airing the movie, but when I booked the tickets, the cinema was less than half full. I would say, probably a third? However, when I reached the cinema and went in, the place was almost full. Wow! There were even people sitting in the first few rows, which must be quite an experience since it is a Dolby Cinema.

They are still holding out gifts for viewers. No more postcards, only the file this time.

This is the 12th time I am watching the movie, so most of my thoughts have already been captured in past posts (linked at the end of this post). This time, I want to touch on the final part of the movie, where Hodgins and his staff were watching the fireworks. There was a part when Hodgins turned to his left looking for Violet, only to realize that she wasn't there. It is like Director Ishidate looking to find the person next to him, only to realize that he or she is no longer around (due to the arson at KyoAni). Benedict comes along to tease Hodgins, a reminder for him to move on, just like it is a reminder for the people left at KyoAni to move on.

The opening and closing reminded me of the fire too. The opening showed a poorly lit path as the camera panned forward. After the fire, things looked bleak for KyoAni. The road ahead could not be see. But the move ended with that same path, only this time, Violet was walking along that path, one step at a time. Just like KyoAni, moving forward into the future even though what lies beyond cannot be seen. When I linked this scene to the fire and situation at KyoAni, it brought tears to my eyes. Which must have felt weird for the person sitting beside me, since this is not a "touching" scene. And as usual, the credits brought tears again, since those who lost their lives were listed in the credits.

I wonder how long more will the movie be airing at the Dolby Cinema? Given the turnout today, it seems to be still drawing quite a crowd, so maybe it will be around for a while.

My overall thoughts on Violet Evergarden The Movie.

Events:

First cast greeting event for Violet Evergarden the Movie

Violet Evergarden the Movie: Cast greeting event to thank fans

Production staff event at screening of Violet Evergarden the Movie

Letter of appreciation from Violet Evergarden's author Akatsuki Kana

Post on Violet Evergarden Orchestra Concert 2021

 

Translations of short stories:

Gilbert Bougainvillea and the Fleeting Dream (unofficial translation of "ギルベルト・ブーゲンビリアと儚い夢")

Violet Evergarden short stories: "Logbook entry" and "Diary entry" (unofficial translation)

The Starry Night and the Lonely Two (unofficial translation of 星降りの夜とさみしいふたり)

Diethard Bougainvillea's If (unofficial translation of ディートフリート・ブーゲンビリアIf) 

The Tailor and the Auto-Memories Doll (unofficial translation of 仕立て屋と自動手記人形)
 

Tellsis (Nunkish) translation:

Decoding the Violet Evergarden postcard

Translating the message card from Violet Evergarden Orchestra Concert 2021

Last line of Violet's final letter to Gilbert

My Tellsis language translator in Flutter that runs on Windows, Linux, and Android

My (old) Python script for translating to and from Tellsis language (Nunkish)

 

Insights on the movie:

Was Ekarte Island based on Folegandros?

Touching scenes in Violet Evergarden the Movie

Violet Evergarden the Movie is a story about guilt

Article about story consistency/inconsistency in Violet Evergarden the Movie

 

Audio commentary notes:

Production staff

Voice actors

Music staff

Violet Evergarden TV anime series

 

All posts related to Violet Evergarden.

 

Update 23 Feb 2021: Still can't beat the person who has watched the movie 74 times in 23 weeks.

 

Update 3 March 2021: Still can't beat the person who has watched the movie 75 times in 24 weeks. Also, it seems the nearby Dolby Cinema will only be showing the movie till 7 March 2021.

#T・ジョイ横浜 の「劇場版 #ヴァイオレット・エヴァーガーデン 」の上映も3/7で終了となります。
9/18の公開から約5ヶ月半のロングラン上映、本当にありがとうございました。 pic.twitter.com/9F4MA6qAI3

— Klose🦅 (@Klose_Rinz_) March 2, 2021

Update 24 April 2021: The champion... 83 times in 32 weeks.

今日3本目はEJアニメシアターで「劇場版 #ヴァイオレット・エヴァーガーデン 」を観ます。公開32週連続、通算83回目。
9/18の公開から毎週欠かさず観続けてきた記録も今週の32週間連続で途切れそうです。正直悔しい。
最後と思って心して観てきます。
(ﾁﾊﾞﾊﾀﾞｲｼﾞｮｳﾌﾞｶﾅｧ） pic.twitter.com/aW0oiSyFEq

— Klose🕊 (@Klose_Rinz_) April 24, 2021

Executing Python script directly within virtual environment from command line

Recently, I made a GUI for Google Translate's text-to-speech service. On my setup, I run it without a virtual environment. But this is actually a great tool, so I wanted to find a way to run it from the command line without having to install the required packages outside a virtual environment.

It turns out that it is actually very easy to directly run a Python script within a virtual environment from the command line. Just use the full path to the Python interpreter of the virtual environment to run the script.

For example, let's say my virtual environment is located at /home/user/venv and the script I want to run is at /home/user/gtts-gui/gtts-gui.py. To run this script, all I need to do is execute from the command line:

/home/user/venv/bin/python3 /home/user/gtts-gui/gtts-gui.py

You can even create a bash script with a name like gtts-gui and putting it somewhere in PATH.

#!/usr/bin/bash

/home/user/venv/bin/python3 /home/user/gtts-gui/gtts-gui.py

Use

chmod a+x gtts-gui

to make the script executable.

(Of course, /home/user can be replaced by the usual ~ tilde too.)