Tsurune The Movie: The First Shot (劇場版ツルネ -始まりの一射-)

Tsurune The Movie: The First Shot (劇場版ツルネ -始まりの一射-) opens in cinemas in Japan today, and being the Kyoto Animation supporter that I am, I decided to catch it. As part of the opening, the first two screenings will include a live stream of a cast event being held in Tokyo. Although it also meant that I can use my pre-sale tickets, since the movie + live stream was priced differently.

After the movie, the voice actors of the main characters (Minato, Masaki, Seiya, Nanao, Ryohei, Kaito) came on stage to talk about the movie.

They also announced that season 2 of the anime series will air in January 2023! I wonder if it will be the Wednesday night slot on Tokyo MX, like most other KyoAni shows? Or will it be on NHK? Since I think season 1 was shown on NHK. 🤔

Okay, now for my thoughts about the movie.

The movie is not a continuation of the TV series. It is basically a compilation of season 1, although not the entire season. The story revolves around the prefectural competition, and includes several new cuts (but most of the movie came from season 1). They did, however, do a new voice recording for the movie. It wasn't really that obvious but if you have watched season 1 a few times, you may feel that it feels somewhat different here and there.

The start was actually a scene from the past, bringing Minato's mother back into the picture. Which brought tears to my eyes... much like how bringing Ann's story back to the start of Violet Evergarden The Movie made me cry. Minato's mother appeared several more times in the movie and each time, recounting her past brought tears to my eyes.

I think they also did a bit of work to the music, which is always nice since the music pieces are by Yokoyama Masaru.

All in, the movie is more like a director's cut of season 1, selecting the pieces to tell the core story, with a few additions that felt like they were left out from season 1 (but probably added in instead of something that was previously taken out; most of them were about the past of Minato, Masaki, Seiya, and Ryohei).

Some of the cast (voice actors for Minato, Masaki, and Seiya) will be coming to Yokohama next Friday for a cast event (which will not be streamed live) so maybe I will go catch it again...

Update August 20, 2022: Report about the cast event on animate Times (in Japanese)

Upgrading to Ubuntu 22.04.1 LTS

After upgrading to Linux Mint 21, I thought it was time to upgrade the media server (running Ubuntu MATE 20.04) and service server (running Ubuntu Server 20.04) to Ubuntu 22.04 now that 22.04.1 is out.

 

But before that, I made a snapshot of both VMs, since they reside on my Dell Poweredge R720 server.

 

Then, I followed this guide here, which has the commands for upgrading to 22.04 via the command line (which I need for Ubuntu Server) and GUI.

The entire process is really quite straightforward.

And the end result...

 

Service server now on Ubuntu 22.04.1 LTS

Media server also now on Ubuntu 22.04.1 LTS

Oh, I also followed the instructions here to uninstall the snap version of Firefox and install it via apt.

TrueNAS Scale on Proxmox: Replace disk

Recently, when I logged into the TrueNAS web portal, I saw that my pool was degraded. Apparently, one of the disks has faults, and I decided to replace it (even though the disk is actually quite new, less than a year old).

I basically followed the steps here from the official TrueNAS Scale docs.

However, as the disks are being passed through from Proxmox to a virtual machine, I had to find some way to "remove" the disk being replaced and "install" the new disk.

Luckily, the Proxmox official docs has a guide on how to do this.

In summary:

1. Go to pool status from the TrueNAS GUI, and select "Offline" for the disk being removed.

2. Shut down the TrueNAS VM.

3. In the Proxmox GUI, "detach" the disk from the Hardware list.

4. Use the following command as root in Proxmox to add the new disk to the VM (assuming VM number is 592 and you are adding it as scsi2)

qm set 592 -scsi2 /dev/disk/by-id/ata-ST3000DM001-1CH166_Z1F41BLC

5. Start up the TrueNAS VM.

6. Go to pool status from the TrueNAS GUI, and select "Replace" for the disk being removed/replaced, then choose the newly added disk. Remember to use the "Force" option to force the deletion of all existing data on the new disk.

7. The resilvering process should now start, which can take several days depending on what RAID you are using and the size of the disk.

Note: To get the /dev/disk/by-id/ata-ST3000DM001-1CH166_Z1F41BLC, the last part (Z1F41BLC) is usually the serial number printed on the disk itself (at least it was for mine). All that I needed to do was

ls /dev/disk/by-id

and look for the corresponding ata-XXXXXXXXXXXX device id.

 

While Proxmox supports the hotplugging of disks, I am not sure if this applies to passed through disks. This is why I shut down the VM before removing and adding the disks.

Now to wait for the resilvering process to complete...

Update 19 August 2022: Got this message eventually with zpool status -v
resilvered 4.73T in 3 days 05:43:58

😊

Upgrading to Linux Mint 21

Linux Mint 21 was recently released, and there is also an official upgrade tool to allow people to upgrade from Linux Mint 20.3. Between Ubuntu and Linux Mint, I really prefer Linux Mint, and actually run it on three systems: my desktop, the VM which I use for most of my daily stuff, and the thin client that I use to access that VM.

The thin client is most "stock" in terms of software, since I only really use it for Nomachine to access VMs. So I started my upgrade path there. I then moved on to upgrade my desktop and VM.

The process can be a bit time consuming, but it is best to be meticulous.

First, install the upgrade tool.

sudo apt install mintupgrade

Then, make sure everything is updated by running

sudo apt update

sudo apt upgrade

As my thin client runs mostly "stock", there aren't many foreign packages or PPAs. But for my desktop and VM, there are some of them. The thing to do before upgrading is to downgrade foreign packages to official versions. This is done by running the Software Sources application, choosing "Maintenance", and choosing "Downgrade foreign packages". After this, it is also a good idea to look through installed PPAs and additional repositories, and disabling those that you no longer need. (The downgrading of foreign packages is actually part of the upgrade process, but I find it easier to control what to downgrade and what to keep using the Software Sources application.)

 

For my VM, there is the next step of creating a snapshot backup. This makes it easy to roll back to Linux Mint 20.3 should the upgrade fail.

Then, run the upgrade tool.

sudo mintupgrade

 

The first part of the upgrade process involves using Timeshift to create a snapshot. This is a very good idea; do it. For my VM, I had already made a separate backup, so I skipped this step by going into "Preferences" and disabling "Recent Timeshift snapshot". For my desktop, though, I did the snapshot. (For the thin client, I skipped the snapshot too...) When you disable the preferences during the upgrade process, click on "Check again" to allow the disabled preferences to be skipped; clicking on "Fix" will, for example, run Timeshift even if you disabled that option.

Next is the upgrade process itself. Follow the prompts, but if you have a lot of non-official packages (like me), you can choose to disable "Orphan packages" in the Preferences. This allowed me to keep my installed versions of Nomachine and rpi-imager, for example.

When the entire process is completed, you will be prompted to reboot the computer. Do so, and you should boot back into Linux Mint 21.

apt-key will become deprecated, so when you next run

sudo apt update

there will be some warning about this. The way to address this is to use the steps detailed here.

Changing Bluetooth headset profiles on Linux

I run Linux Mint XFCE on my HP T630 thin client, and when I pair it with a Bluetooth headset, Pulseaudio always defaults to A2DP profile. This does not allow the use of the headset's microphone, which means I have to manually switch to HSP profile each time I want to use the microphone.

So I started looking around for a way to toggle between A2DP and HSP profiles. After reading this and this, I came up with this switch, which I bind to my keyboard as Ctrl + Shift + F10.

#!/bin/bash

a2dpsink=`pactl list | grep Active | grep a2dp`
cardname=$(pactl list | grep bluez_card | awk '{print $NF}')

if [ -n "$a2dpsink" ]; then
    echo "Switching $card to headset..."
    pactl set-card-profile $cardname headset_head_unit
    devicename=$(pacmd list-sinks | grep -o '<bluez_sink[^>]*' | cut -d\< -f2)
    pacmd set-default-sink "$devicename"
    echo "...done"
else
    echo "Switching $card to a2dp..."
    pactl set-card-profile $cardname a2dp_sink
    devicename=$(pacmd list-sinks | grep -o '<bluez_sink[^>]*' | cut -d\< -f2)
    pacmd set-default-sink "$devicename"
    echo "...done"
fi

And... I then found out a simpler method. Newer versions of Pulseaudio actually allows automatic switching between A2DP and HSP. Basically, the default is A2DP, and when the microphone is needed by an application, Pulseaudio will automatically switch to HSP. This feature, however, requires auto_switch=2 to be placed in /etc/pulse/default.pa file. In this file, find the line

load-module module-bluetooth-policy

and change it to

load-module module-bluetooth-policy auto_switch=2

and tada! Thanks to this post!

Note: It seems that using auto_switch=2 may interfere with Steam Remote Play, so if you are using Steam Link or the Steam client for Remote Play, the first option of a keyboard binding to a script should work better.

If you have handsfree_head_unit instead of headset_head_unit, you may need to make a change to the /etc/pulse/default.pa file. Find the line

load-module module-bluetooth-discover

and change it to

load-module module-bluetooth-discover enable_msbc=false

or

load-module module-bluetooth-discover enable_msbc=false headset=auto

(try around, see which one works) to get the HFP profile working. Change headset_head_unit in the script to handsfree_head_unit so that it will work.

Short trip home

I recently took a short trip home. The main reason for the trip was that my grandmother passed away at the end of last year, and I couldn't go pay my last respects due to travel restrictions due to COVID-19. With restrictions slowly being lifted, I finally managed to get a ticket for a really short trip home.

Well, as a freelance translator, I can work anywhere with a stable Internet connection, so this wasn't really a holiday for me. A part of the time was spent working. Still, I managed to spend some time with the family, met the latest addition (my nephew was born a few days prior to my trip), and caught up with a few friends.

Plus eat.

And eat.

And bought a box of stuff.

Due to the fuel shortage driving up prices, the fuel surcharge for this air ticket was really high, making it an expensive trip back home. Hopefully, things get better and it will become cheap to travel back during off-peak seasons.

77th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima

Woke up this morning, turned on the morning news, and while making coffee, I was greeted with the live broadcast of the memorial service at Hiroshima in memory of the atomic bombing.

77 years.

Third anniversary of Kyoto Animation arson attack

Today is the third anniversary of the horrible arson attack at Kyoto Animation (KyoAni), which resulted in 36 fatalities and 32 injured.

At 10:30 Japan time, Kyoto Animation streamed a video in memory of the victims.

(Note: This video will only be available on July 18, 2022.)

I have translated the contents below since I don't want to reproduce the video here without permission.

 

<prior to video's premiere>

Kyoto Animation Co., Ltd.

Third Anniversary Memorial Ceremony

Streaming is scheduled to start at 10:30 on July 18

 

<start of video's premiere>

Kyoto Animation Co., Ltd.

Third Anniversary Memorial Ceremony

The video will start at 10:34. Please wait a while more.

<start of memorial video at 10:34 local time>

Kyoto Animation Co., Ltd.

Third Anniversary Memorial Ceremony

Today marks three years since July 18, 2019.

We are streaming this video for everyone who have been showing us your support.

We will now observe a minute of silence.

<Observe a minute of silence>

<End of a minute of silence>

Thank you

For three years, we continued to pray in hope of seeing you again. It was a blink of an eye, but it also felt like eternity.

In times when it felt like sadness will overcome us, we were supported and guided by the days spent with our comrades and our shared passion for animation.

We wish to express our deepest prayers for our beloved comrades.

For this memorial service on the third anniversary, we have received messages from family members as well as affiliates who create animation together with us. There are also messages received from our staff. Please allow us to introduce some of these messages without the names of their authors.

 

 

From a family member:

Greeting your picture with a smile and "Good morning!", placing the same food for you during meals, and going to bed at the end of the day after saying "Good night"... this has been our daily routine since three years ago.

 

At one time, you had hit a wall. "I want to further improve my skills! I'm going to start from what I can do." Just when you were walking toward a ray of hope, an unimaginable event, both for you and me, happened.

Three years have gone by... time has stopped for you. At times, my heart would be overwhelmed by thoughts of you and my eyes will overflow with tears. I want to see you! I want to hold you!

There seems to be no end to this sadness... it is really okay for me to try to get over this? As I think about you and cry when I want to, I imagine you creating animation with your comrades. I feel you are always beside me, watching over us.

Thank you to everyone who has been giving us your support.

 

From an affiliate:

I wish to express my deepest condolences.

 

Three years have passed since the event that cannot be put into words.

 

You continue to be with us, no matter how many days have gone by. 

Our work is an amazing work that allows us to create something treasured by somebody out there. Even today, the animation that you have meticulously created is bringing smiles to someone, touching their hearts, and pushing them forward.

This is the same for works that will be created. Bringing people together as they inspire each other to do better, these works that carry on your aspirations will likely also be something deeply treasured by somebody out there tomorrow.

Even today, everyone remains together as fellow comrades. There is nothing more heartening. Your aspirations light our path like bright, shining stars. And we will continue to walk right down this path.

 

 

From a staff:

You always gave me courage when I had problems.

 

Looking at you go about work without wavering has encouraged me so many times in the past.

Although a quiet person, when it comes to animation, you would talk passionately about the interesting points of a work or the kind of works you want to make. I was surprised by this gap, and the time spent talking with you was really interesting.

I am here today because of the days spent with you.

I will never forget you. I hope you will let me continue to consult you when I am troubled.

Please watch over us.

<end of messages>

We wish to express our deepest gratitude for your continued support.

We believe in the power of animation and will continue to create works together with everyone.

We look forward to your support.

 

July 18, 2022, Kyoto Animation

 

Kyoto Animation Co., Ltd.

Third Anniversary Memorial Ceremony

The video has ended.

Thank you.

 

<end of video> 

List of 36 victims who appeared in credit roll of Violet Evergarden the Movie

 

News article of memorial service:

36 Kyoto Animation workers killed in 2019 arson attack remembered

Kyodo News video of the memorial service that took place at the site of Studio No. 1.

Violet Evergarden Piano Concert 2022

Back in April, there was an announcement of an event "Though Seasons Change ~Violet Evergarden Piano Memories~ Piano Concert" to commemorate the launch of the piano album "Though Seasons Change - Violet Evergarden Piano Memories". I had tried and failed to get a ticket during the first round of balloting, but got lucky and managed to get a ticket when it was opened for general sales.

The concert itself was held on July 16 and 17, 2022 at Kawaguchiko Enkei Hall, which can house up to 100 people. There are two sessions each day, with Sato Koichi (who performed the pieces in the piano album) playing at the afternoon session of each day, and Morioka Shiho playing at the evening session each day. Since I already have the piano album, I thought I would listen to Morioka's performance instead, so I got the ticket for the evening session on July 16.

Well, it turned out to be... wet. It was raining when I attended the orchestra concert in 2021. This time, there was a storm. It was a miracle I made it to and fro in one piece, especially with the heavy storm during the return at night on poorly lit expressways.

The hall itself is in Yamanashi Prefecture, which is also the setting for Yuru Camp. In fact, there was a Yuru Camp: Movie event on the very same day, and during a break during the drive there, I stopped by a store which was selling Yuru Camp snacks.

On the way, I also visited Asama Shrine, which was about 10 minutes by car from the concert hall. Except that it wasn't any fun visiting a shrine in the rain.

There were some really really huge Japanese cypress tress at the shrine.

The concert venue itself was a small and cozy place.

Made of wood and concrete, it has a dome roof.

This was the piano used for the performance.

The performance itself took place in three broad parts. First were mainly pieces from the anime series and Gaiden movie. This was followed by a 15-minute break, and the second part which was pieces from the 2020 movie. Finally, music producer Saito Shigeru came out to talk a bit about this event and showed an video of an interview with composer Evan Call.

Morioka Shiho performed these pieces during the first part:

1. Theme of Violet Evergarden
2. Sincerely
3. A Doll's Beginning
4. A Simple Mission
5. Another Sunny Day 
6. Back in Business
7. The Voice in My Heart
8. Across the Violet Sky
9. Always Watching Over You
10. Letters From Heaven
11. Wherever You Are, Wherever You May Be
12. Fractured Heart
13. What It Means To Love
14. One Last Message
15. Violet's Letter
16. Michishirube
17. Violet and Isabella
18. Amy

 

After the break, she played these pieces during the second part:

1. Discovering the Past
2. The Legacy of Violet Evergarden
3. A New Era Begins
4. A Young Boy's Last Wish
5. The Hardships of Gilbert Bougainvillea
6. Tears in the Rain
7. Violet's Final Letter
8. Echo Through Eternity
9. Her Spirit Lives On
10. WILL
11. Violet Snow

"Sincerely", "Michishirube", "Amy", "WILL", and "Violet Snow" are not in the piano album, so it was nice to be able to hear the piano versions. I like how the first part played out with "Sincerely" and "Michishirube" being used at the start and end, just like their places as the opening and ending themes for the anime series. As well as "Amy" being used to close the first part, since it was also the theme song for the Gaiden movie. And just like the 2020 movie, "WILL" came in at the credit roll, and "Violet Snow" was used to round of the entire performance, just like the orchestra concert.

When the concert ended, the rain had let up a bit.

Or so I thought. Because the moment I reached the expressway, it poured like a waterfall. The two-hour drive back in the storm with poor visibility, poorly lit expressways, and trucks that sped past me was... harrowing.

Personally, I think Morioka Shiho's rendition of the pieces was not as good as the pieces you hear in the piano album (played by Sato Koichi). I think this could be due to her age (being in her early 20s), which means she lacks a bit of the life experiences to be able to fully convey all those emotions in these pieces. Also, her slender arms also meant that some of the parts, which required a bit more power, were somewhat lacking. But I also tell myself that I have my own copies of the piano album (yes... don't ask me how many I bought 😅) and can always listen to the rendition by Sato Koichi (which I really like).

Looking forward to the next event!

Concert-related posts:

Violet Evergarden Orchestra Concert 2021

Violet Evergarden Piano Concert 2022

Violet Evergarden orchestra concert in Beijing, China on 8 June 2024

Violet Evergarden orchestra concert in Thailand on 17 and 18 January 2025

Violet Evergarden concert at AniMagic 2025 in Germany from 1 to 3 August 2025

Violet Evergarden orchestra concert in Taiwan on 11 January 2026 

Violet Evergarden Live in Concert USA Tour (2026)

Violet Evergarden Chamber Concert in Osaka (2026) 

Sumire Philharmonic Orchestra's Violet Evergarden (unofficial) orchestra concert

Translating the message card from Violet Evergarden Orchestra Concert 2021

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

Post on Sumire Philharmonic Orchestra's Violet Evergarden (unofficial) orchestra concert

 

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)
Laura and the Auto-Memories Doll (unofficial translation of ローラと自動手記人形)

Flowers and the Auto-Memories Doll (unofficial translation of 花と自動手記人形)

 

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

Audio commentary notes for TV series

 

Violet Evergarden TV anime series

 

All posts related to Violet Evergarden.

Laid-Back Camp: Movie (映画 ゆるキャン△)

Laid-Back Camp: Movie (映画 ゆるキャン△; also Yuru Camp: Movie) opened in Japan on July 1, 2022, and I duly made my way to catch it on opening day. In fact, the first show at the local theatre, because they were handing out a special volume 13.5 of the manga.

Wait, why is this post on July 12 if I really went to catch the movie on July 1? Well, I was thinking of waiting till I watched the movie for a second time before writing about it. But since my first viewing of the movie on July 1, almost two weeks have gone by without a second chance to watch it, so I thought I better get down to writing something and update it later when I watch the movie a second time. And yes, I will be watching it again, since I still haven't used my pre-sale ticket.

The story is actually an original one based on the characters in the Laid-Back Camp manga/anime series, one that takes place when they have grown up and are went their separate ways, pursuing different jobs. Rin is now working at a publisher in Nagoya, while Nadeshiko has moved to Tokyo and works at an outdoor goods store. Chiaki used to work in Tokyo but quit her job and moved back to Yamanashi, where she works for the local tourism promotion board. Aoi is still in Yamanashi, working as an elementary school teacher, and Saito has moved to Yokohama, where she works at a pet salon.

The broad story brings these five girls back together to work on a project: turn an abandoned site into a campsite using their camping knowledge. Rin, being the most knowledgeable about camping, is the leader of this group, although it is officially a project of the local tourism promotion board where Chiaki works. Of course, no story is complete without a bit of challenges and setbacks for the team, and we see that here too, when a surprise find at the campsite derailed the project. But the girls eventually found a way to get back on track.

I really like how the producers of this movie managed to come up with an original "X years later" movie that brings back the familiar characters, but in an older, more mature way, yet still very much themselves. Saito's dog Chikuwa is now a lot older and it is hinted that it won't have much longer to go, and it is heartwarming (and a bit sad) to see how Saito handles this. I guess a large part of this movie is about moving on. Well, they are no longer teenage high-school girls now; they are working adults, each having to fend for themselves. Rin no longer rides her cute Vino scooter; she has moved to her grandfather's bigger motorcycle. But... spoiler! The cute Vino does make a special appearance in the movie.

In the end, I think Laid-Back Camp: Movie shows how it is possible to have a sequel "years later" story for all those anime/manga series based on high-school kids. I really hope to see HTT from K-On! make a come back as a band for a final gig in such a sequel.

Seiko's Violet Evergarden watch

Seiko is making a Violet Evergarden watch. Or rather, two. One with a metal band, and another with a leather band.

(Picture source: IEI)

Official announcement on Violet Evergarden website (in Japanese)

There will only be 1,000 made for each design, and customers are limited to buying one watch (I think it is one watch per design). Each watch costs 39,800 yen (43,780 yen with taxes) and shipping is scheduled to take place in early September 2022 for the first batch of orders.

(Picture source: IEI)

 

The compass rose in the centre symbolises that Violet will go anywhere her customers desire. The second hand's design is based on her parasol. The knob is based on her brooch, and there are violet flowers at the 6 o'clock position.

 

You can place orders here: https://iei.jp/violet-evergarden/

While not stated, I think shipping is within Japan only, so those living outside Japan will need to use a forwarding service.

 

It is nice to see that such collaborations with the Violet Evergarden franchise are still taking place after the end of Violet's story in the 2020 movie. Looking forward to more collaborations!

 

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

Post on Sumire Philharmonic Orchestra's Violet Evergarden (unofficial) orchestra concert

 

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

Audio commentary notes for TV series

 

Violet Evergarden TV anime series

 

All posts related to Violet Evergarden.

Kyoto Animation to hold memorial service on July 18, 2022

Like last year, Kyoto Animation will be holding a memorial service from 10:30 to 10:40 for those who passed away in the fire of July 18, 2019.

Official press release from Kyoto Animation

 

As usual, the public is being asked to refrain from visiting the site of the fire on the anniversary itself as well as the days prior and after the anniversary.

 

The memorial service will be broadcast live on KyoAni's YouTube channel, and the video will also be available for the rest of the day.

Let's observe the request from KyoAni and honour the deceased together online.

Steam Link as remote desktop interface instead of NoMachine

Even before I start running virtual machines on my own homelab, I have been looking and trying different remote desktop software that allows me to control the desktop of one computer from another. The most common ones are based on VNC and RDP (Microsoft...). While VNC is easy to use and free, I found the responsiveness to be quite laggy. RDP can be used to access Windows desktops from Linux but you need the Professional edition of Windows to allows the Windows desktop to be shared.

I also came upon TeamViewer, which provided a more responsive experience and can even be used when outside the home network. However, you need to create an account with the company that offers TeamViewer. This proved to be a deterrent for me.

With more searching, I eventually came upon NoMachine, which provides a remote desktop experience so good that I can even place games through it. You do not need to register any account, and it even allows you to access your home network from outside if you know the external IP of your home network. Needless to say, NoMachine is now my staple for remote access to the desktops of other computers and virtual machines in my homelab.

But recently, Steam Link has become available as a standalone app on desktop computers too. It allows you to access any computer on your network that has the Steam app running on it. Given that I already have a Steam account for my games, the need for an account was not really a deterrent. The host itself can be anything that has Steam app running (bare metal or VM). The Steam Link app itself can be used as a standalone client. Hardware acceleration is supported as long as it is supported by Steam.

Most importantly, it solves the issue of mouse glitching for me. When I use NoMachine for gaming, sometimes, the mouse reaches a virtual limit and I cannot turn beyond a certain angle. I have tried various ways to solve this, but sometimes it works, sometimes not. Steam Link, however, does not have this problem. The mouse is responsive and no glitches! Passing through the client's microphone to the host is also great. When I used NoMachine, I was told that there is an echo to my voice. But with Steam Link, my voice goes through without any problems.

Still, Steam Link is not perfect. For example, certain keys on my Japanese keyboard (JP106) is not passed through to the remote host. This is not really significant during gaming, since I can map another key. But for day to day use in work, it can be a nuisance (for example, one of the key is underscore, and not being able to use it for work when typing can be... frustrating). This is why I still use NoMachine mainly for my remote desktop interface, switching only to Steam Link when want to game on my VM. For those who use a standard English keyboard though, Steam Link may well be the best remote desktop software.

AI and the allocation of goods

AI is making rapid advances and we will see more and more work being replaced by machines in the future. This is supposed to be a good thing. By using machines to replace humans, humans can move up the value chain to do work that is at a higher level.

Of course, this assumes that the humans who are replaced by machines are capable of working at that higher level. While this may be the case in the past, when machines replaced human in repetitive or laborious work, with the advances made by AI, we are starting to see machines being used in those higher-level work too.

This means that, eventually, we may reach a point when machines are capable of doing everything that humans can do. This is supposed to be a good thing, since it means humans are free from having to work to survive. Instead, we can rely on machines to produce the things we need and live off the work of machines.

There is one problem, though. Our society has been based on work, compensation for work in the form of money (our income), and using that money to allocate the products of work (whether necessities or luxuries). If humans do not work, there is no income, and we will lose this traditional means of goods allocation.

How then will we determine who gets what? There will still be limited resources in the world. The products that machines make on our behalf will still be limited. How do we then allocate these limited products among the billions of people on Earth? How will we decide who gets what necessities, and who gets to enjoy luxuries? What will happen to our meritocratic and capitalist society, if there is no merit to achieve and no capital to earn?

Will we end up with a social structure that is rigid, where the owners of AI sit at the top, enjoying all the luxuries, while those who were replaced early by machines sit at the bottom, being allocated on necessities but with no way to enjoy life nor any means to move up the social ladder?

Will our goal of developing AI so that no one has to work eventually mean a stop to human evolution? And if we stop evolving, if we stop adding value to this world... will we eventually go extinct? After all, resources are limited, and if we bring no value, why should machines continue to provide for us, when they can use those resources for themselves?

Teasing Master Takagi-san: The Movie (劇場版 からかい上手の高木さん)

Teasing Master Takagi-san: The Movie (劇場版 からかい上手の高木さん) opened in theatres in Japan today, and there were handing out a nice manga booklet so I made my trip to the local cinema.

The story itself is very simple, which may explain why this movie is so short. Nishikata and Takagi-san found a kitten, and took care of it while trying to find a home for it. The movie ended with the two of them making a certain (and same) promise to each other. But otherwise, nothing really interesting. Do stay until after the credit roll, since there is one final cut after that.

Frankly, I am not sure if this can be classified as a movie though, since it is only 73 minutes and includes a lot of flashbacks which, to me, looks like the production team trying to find stuff to exceed that 60-minute mark to call this a movie. Some parts of the "movie" felt like a slideshow. It looked more like a marketing gimmick than anything. If they had released this as an OVA instead, with a limited in-theatre airing, reception might have been better. But as it is, on its opening day, I could count the number of people in the theatre with me...

 

There is a saving grace: the booklet.

It includes two manga episodes drawn by the creator of the Takagi-san series, Yamamoto Soichiro: "The Eraser" and "From Tomorrow". The former is one of the episodes from the TV series. The latter is based on a scene from this movie. I guess I will return again if they hand out any more interesting stuff.

By the way, I am not saying this isn't a good movie. I am saying it is not enough, I need more of this good stuff! 😅