Areishi | あれ石 | 알에잇히

#28 - Plans

2013-11-24T03:14:00.005+02:00

Finally, a #Stuff post ^^

So, firstly:

Seagate Expansion (Black) 1 Tb External Hard Drive
Asus 06D2X-U DVD/Blu Ray (-RW) External Drive

And Secondly:

Code Geass: Boukoku no Akito (Light Novel/Part 1 & Part 2)
5 Centimeters Per Second (Light Novel/Part 1 & Part 2)
5 Centimeters Per Second (Manga/Part 1 & Part 2)
Kakumeiki Valvrave (Part 2)
ARK IX + Blu Ray [With OVA and Interview] (Light Novel/Part 2)
Half&Half [By Seo Kouji] (Light Novel/Part 1)
Space Battleship Yamato (Blu Ray)
Hisshiken Torisashi/Sword of Desperation (Blu-Ray)

And then maybe:

Code Geass - Heroines Tribute [Overview/Download] (Artbook)
Code Geass - Critical Zero (Artbook)

#27 - OCR, or image to text

2013-11-24T02:53:00.000+02:00

Optical Character Recognition, or OCR can convert printed symbols from scans or photos to digital text, so that you can save it as a .docx file, or just paste into Google Translate. But with Asian languages it's a bit different: due to thousands of characters there's a really big chance of a mistake.

Eventually, there's no way to get rid of mistakes, but there's a way to reduce them.

You'll need:

gImageReader (Click on the green box)
Tesseract (Select "Windows Installer" and "Japanese language data" for 3.02)

Part 0

Before we start, I want you to know that you can use this method for many languages (You can find the list by clicking on "Tesseract" link), not only for Japanese. Good alternative is Adobe FineReader, but it doesn't support asian languages.

Part 1

Install both programs
Launch gImageReader from your "Start" menu
Enter the directory address where you have installed Tesseract (It's usually either C:\Program Files\Tesseract-OCR or C:\Program Files (x86)\Tesseract-OCR)
And now, in "Directory, containing Tesseract languages" box enter the same address, but add \tessdata at the end.

Part 2

A test

Click "Open" and select a file
Now change the language from English to Japanese/日本語 and select ja_JP
Hit the "Recognize all button" or just select the area you need and click "Recognize selection"

Example

It seems to have detected all the selected character correctly, except this one:

And it is ok. Just select the character (but, firstly, zoom in the image) manually. I actually have never seen software that can work with Furigana.

Then click on "Save as" and that's it.

Have a good day :)

#26 - Code Geass: Red Tracks / Red Miracle (Part 2)

2013-11-17T15:05:00.001+02:00

And, yeah, the second part is ready. Scans Page.

P.S. I've added the torrent too.
P.P.S. Maybe today or tomorrow I'll make the how-to I have promised.
P.P.P.S. And the post about my future plans and orders.

#26 - Code Geass: Red Tracks / Red Miracle (Part 1)

2013-11-17T12:50:00.001+02:00

Finally, I'm back. I've already scanned the first chapter (of two) of the "Code Geass: Red Tracks" novel (In Japanese). You can find it here.

I hope to finish the second chapter today and to write a small article on "How to OCR Japanese texts?".

P.S. Kallen is so cuuuute <3

#25 - [Scans] Code Geass: Stage 4

2013-11-03T16:09:00.000+02:00

Sup. Finally, "Stage 4" of "Code Geass" novel series in English. Next on turn are "Code Geass: Red Miracle" and "Code Geass: Turn 1-4" series in Japanese. As usual.

#24 - [Scans] Code Geass: Stage 0-3 [v2]

2013-11-03T13:38:00.001+02:00

Re-scanned images and edited text in PS.
Samples are included, as usual. [Click on "+"]

P.S. Hope to finish "Code Geass: Stage 4" today.

Scans

#23 - New books and new discoveries

2013-11-01T14:03:00.001+02:00

Now I can congratulate myself, 'cause the parcel with 7 books is now in my hands ^^ I've taken it from my post office about 30 mins ago.

And, lol, I now understand why they are called "Light" novels - they are actually small and thin, compared to usual US and Canada books.

By the way, I do not what the paper is made of, but its' quality is like a premium one.

Nya ^_^

#21 - [Scans] Code Geass: Stage 3 (Part 2)

2013-10-31T22:45:00.001+02:00

Second Part which includes:

Stage 3
Promise (From Mamoru Iwasa)
Afterword
Commentary (And Translator's notes, as usual)

Now only "Code Geass: Stage 4" left to be scanned.

By the way, I have two news: bad one and good one.

Good one - My parcel has arrived to the post office in just two days (magic, really).

Bad one - My Twitter has been suspended due to unknown reasons. Waiting for answer from the Support Center.

As always.

#22 - Audiobooks, Light Novels and Manga

2013-10-27T20:38:00.000+02:00

It's been a while since I've wrote something casual here. I've just finished a collection of Audiobooks (But only those which I listen to, lol),Light Novels (Japanese and English) and Manga (For now only English).
You can find it in "Useful Links" section with many other good things ^^

Read, enjoy and share, as always.

#21 - [Scans] Code Geass: Stage 3 (Part 1)

2013-10-27T02:30:00.000+03:00

And another one's ready. Only the third chapter is left, plus "Code Geass: Stage 4".
"Turn 1-4" and others will arrive in two weeks, thus maybe I will scan YenPress' "Haganai" or "BTOOOM". Not sure if it is worth it, cause they are available on the Internet as fan translations.

#20 - [Scans] Code Geass: Stage 2 (Part 2)

2013-10-23T01:16:00.000+03:00

Finished this one. And I promise to myself not to do one book-per-day, cause now I'm falling asleep. As always, yeah.

I'll make a torrent tomorrow evening, oyasumi for now.

#20 - [Scans] Code Geass: Stage 2 (Part 1)

2013-10-23T00:47:00.001+03:00

"Stage 1" and "Stage 2". Now finishing "Stage 3". As always.

P.S. I've ordered these books (they all are in Japanese and they all are light novels):

Code Geass: Turn 1-4
Code Geass: Red Tracks
Valvrave the Liberator Vol. 1
Ark IX Vol. 1

#19 - [Scans] Code Geass: Stage 1 (Part 2)

2013-10-16T18:13:00.000+03:00

Here you go, the second part of Code Geass Stage 1: Knight. ^__^

P.S. I hope to get Code Geass R2 Turn 1-4 novels (in Japanese) till the end of November.

#19 - [Scans] Code Geass: Stage 1 (Part 1)

2013-10-13T01:37:00.000+03:00

First part of Code Geass Stage 1: Knight is ready. There'll three parts, so just await. As usual, you can download it here

#18 - [Scans] Code Geass: Stage 0 (Part 2)

2013-10-09T13:07:00.001+03:00

This one is complete now. Added Stage 2 and Promise&Afterword. As usual, you can find the links here

#18 - [Scans] Code Geass: Stage 0 (Part 1)

2013-10-07T22:50:00.005+03:00

Hey ^^

The first part of "Code Geass: Stage 0" book (~~without chapter #4, will add it tomorrow~~ + chapter #4 now) is ready. Samples of scans are in the end of this post. You can download it here. I will try to add new scans of different books as soon as I can.

#17 - Japanese Book Library

2013-09-30T22:58:00.001+03:00

I've just got Japanese book library collection with more than 500 titles, most of which can hardly be found on the Internet.
But for now the most important thing for me is that it has Ryunosuke Akutagawa's several novels in English. Although it's a shame that less than 10 of his titles have been translated yet, out of more than 100. It is really a shame, cause he really write great things.

And it's pity that I don't know Japanese (well, just a little bit maybe) and can't read him in original =_=

The Library in English | Ryunosuke Akutagawa in Japanese

#16 - Audible to MP3 and free audiobooks

2013-09-29T18:12:00.000+03:00

If you have never used Audible, but you love audiobooks, then you must used at least one. Why? It has a library of more than 150 000 titles in audio, most of which you will not be able to find at torrents or file-sharing services. Thus, sometimes it is really worth to buy and to download, but not just to download.

The only problem is the extension and the type of Audible files (.aa) which is supported only by Audible Manager and iTunes.

But, lol, everything is solvable.

So, a little how-to:

Part #1

Download and install VirtualCD without active Internet connection (turn the Internet off before the install process starts)
Download and install Audible Manager and iTunes.
Purchase a book-you-want (by the way, Audible offers one free book and a 30-day trial subscription for free). For example, click here to start a free trial with "All you need is Kill" by Hiroshi Sakurazaka. Recommended ^^
Before the purchase note that you should have active Amazon.com account and an active Debit/Card linked with it.

Part #2

After the purchase go to "Purchases" and download the chapter of the book (They should automatically open in Audible Manager). Now wait till all downloads finish.
Now go to the Audible directory you used before downloading your book and copy all the .aa files to the music folder connected with iTunes
Open iTunes - wait a couple of seconds - Choose My Library/Books/Audiobooks and here they are.

Part #3

Start "VirtualCD v10" and click "Manage Images in the new window".
In the opened window right click on "Virtual Burner" - "Create a blank virtual medium" - "CD-R(W)" - "CD-RW".
Now return to iTunes and create a new playlist that contains all the chapters of the audiobook. Then go to Music/Playlists - Choose your newly created playlist - click on the gear icon (you can found in the bottom left corner of iTunes window) - Burn Playlist to Disk - Choose the drive with virtual CD-RW in it that you created before.
1 CD will not be enough and therefore just create a new CD-RW in the same drive each time iTunes asks you to insert a blank CD.

Part #4

When iTunes is done, insert double-click on the first CD iTunes burned.
Now return to iTunes and select the CD-disk from "My Library" option list.
"Import to iTunes" and wait till iTunes converts the CD tracks to .mp3 files.
Repeat the action with each CD left.

That's all.

わたしわあなったお助けてうれしい。

#15 - Music Library

2013-09-16T22:48:00.003+03:00

Hey, what's up? It's been 3 weeks since my last post already. And, well, these 3 weeks were.. I dunno, they were kinda unusual for me. But, anyway, I ain't gonna write about what has happened in these 3 weeks - I'm here for another thing.

I've decided to upload all of my music and photos to Google Drive (at the same time I keep my documents and e-books on SkyDrive) and to make a public access to my music library. It's not too big, only 10 GB (+Unsorted 8 GB, but I do not share them, cause I haven't listened to them still), but it's rather good, imo.

You can simply click here. And if you want to read about contents of my library, you can read this post.

The question with music has been sorted now for now. And now we come to scans: I will get the scanner in the late Sept - early Oct. Not Nov, fortunately.

And the first scan will be "Code Geass - Stage 0", yup.

#14 - Spoilers

2013-08-31T21:18:00.001+03:00

"Code Geass" Turn 1/2/3/4 in Japanese, Haganai Vol. 4, BTOOOM Vol. 3 will arrive in November with the scanner. Looking for rare published manga and light novels that are not fully available on the Internet.

Will also scan Irwin Shaw's "Nightwork", cause there is no normal ed. can be found online.

Note: All scans will be in JPEG and zipped. No PDF for manga, might be for books and light novels.

#13 - Heaven's Door

2013-08-28T22:10:00.000+03:00

"Knock-knock-knockin' on heaven's door..."

As usual, have just finished watching another title. Now it's the live-action full screen movie "Heaven's Door" released in 2009 by Aniplex (JP) and Miramax (US).

Though it is a remake of 1997 German movie "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" (which is a criminal comedy), I can't say there is much of comedy in the Japanese one - it's much of a drama, not even criminal. But it's a good one.

And, you know, after watching this one I think: Jeez, it's rather much better to die from an accident than to die from an illness you can't even cure. Even if your life is a trash, you are a trash, you have nothing, you will still want to live.
Say whatever you want, but if a human commits a suicide, then he's not a human, he's a piece of dumbness and stupidity that has never wanted to evolve and to know. People who do not have a goal in their life are the same: stupid socially-dependent pigs who hope that a magician will come and change their fucking life. That's it.

You have only that one life - Remember it.

Nice music and screenshots are included, as always.

#12 - Languages, again

2013-08-27T16:39:00.003+03:00

I'm back to Moscow (<3 Turkish Airlines) and all the photos (Part 1, Part 2) and Videos are now uploaded and available.

But that's not all, of course - I will soon add reviews on "Kimi no Iru Machi", "Shingeki no Kyoujin", "InuHasa", "Blood Lad" and "WataMote" anime series (even though there still ongoing, lol).

And moreover I've decided to make myself a challenge:

I've finally agreed to take Italian as the second language.
I will learn four languages during the first year
These languages are: Turkish (Practically vocabulary), Italian, Japanese and English (A bit of grammar, idioms and a lot of phrases and words). A harsh one, lmao. But, guess, after several years I will know five languages. Not great, of course, but I will at least be able to handle an easy conversation in Japanese and Italian.
Rosetta Stone software will help me with it.

Also, I recommend to watch a "Dragon Zakura" J-Drama: It's about how can 5 students from the worst school of Japan prepare for the entrance exam of the Best University of Tokyo.

And a good song for you in the end.

#11 - Welcome to the N.H.K.

2013-08-21T20:31:00.002+03:00

You have only that one life

One more Anime series is finished and another summer is coming to it's end.

"Welcome to the N.H.K", Welcome to the unfairness of the life.

I really enjoyed this anime and seems like it will end my August anime to-watch list. The rest will be continued in September, I want to have a little break before my first lessons in the University :)

Summary

Aired in 2006, at the same time as the 1st season of "Code Geass", but doesn't have that high-level art as the "Geass" has. The light novel was published in 2004 and the manga series of the same name was published from 2004 to 2007.

Story

A 22-years old hikikomori, NEET and college dropout Tatsuhiro Takimoto has absolutely no life, but he believes that all of this happened to him because of the "N.H.K", "Nihon Hikikomori Kyoukai" - "Japanese Hikikomori Assotiation" - A secret organisation which aims to turn certain people into hikikomori just to get rid of them. Of course, he is one of these "certain" people. His life's been the same for three years and it would have been the same if the girl, Misaki Nakahara, the ex-hikikomori, hadn't offered him her help in psychology. What will this lead to? The answer is in the anime.

P.S. The strangest thing is that I still think Tatsuhiro and Me are alike at least in out behavior. But, fortunately, I have never been socially isolated like he had been.

What's also included?

Different story-lines and fates: an otaku and an unsuccessful businessman, a financial pyramid participant and a drug-dependent public servant, an orphan and a hikikomori.

Eroges, aka "Gal-games" and a lot of anime otaku stuff.

Like in OreImo, many hilarious scenes as well as many dramatic scenes.

Bittersweet story.

In the end?

A dramatic death just isn't fitting for us

It really is a bittersweet story and the best feeling of it you can get in episodes 23 and 24. The story shows that even though every life is worthless, you shouldn't just throw it off a cliff, you shouldn't let circumstances break you. The story shows that everything is possible and Kami-sama just isn't the one who has the right to decide your own fate.

Also I hate to admit it, but love can do great things. Sometimes.

P.S. Sorry for the language and some mistakes in the text - it just seems like I'm not in a mood today :(

--
If you die, I'll die too.

--
The penalty of breaking this agreement is sen man yen / 線万いぇん

#10 - Greedy eBay

2013-08-21T00:43:00.001+03:00

I've been international shopping for not much time - about a half year, I think, but this time was enough for me to gain a lot of experience. And, of course, to get screwed up :)

Shortly it was in April when I received a defective Nokia Lumia 920 from eBay. Guess what? After opening the disput and waiting for 7 days I got a message that I lost it and that the seller was legit (With 2 feedbacks as a buyer, not a seller, lol). Anyway, It was mine fault, but even though eBay didn't do anything to help me.

And guess what? eBay wants tax of 10% every sale. I've sold my old laptop to a guy from Russia this year for (appx) 125 GBP. Well, I paid a 6$ tax for a PayPal transication and now they want additional ~21$. For the 300$ I lost in April, yup, for "eBay Buyer Protection", yup. 21$ is not a big deal, but I just do not want to give MY money for nothing. So fuck you eBay, I would better abandon this account with 20 feedbacks and sign up a new one.

#9 - Languages

2013-08-18T23:55:00.003+03:00

Geez. Since I've been enrolled into the MGIMO-University, I have to decide which language I will learn for the next 4 (3?) years. And the prettiest fact is that no one knows which fucking languages will be available this year, just because there are three major languages: English, French, German. Only three, even though there are 52 languages available. But the other 49 depend on student choices, lol.

If there are at least 6-9 students who want to learn, for example, Urdu and they study without state scholarship (In other words, their parents pay for their education) , they at least have a chance to get Urdu as second language. The might get it, but no one guarantees it. Anyway, those who get scholarship have much less chances to get language they want and in one way I mustn't complain, just because I have this single advantage.

But I'm complaining, because I want to take Turkish as my second lang'. And I really hope it'll be so. But if that doesn't happen (And it's rate is at least fifty percent) then I will have to choose another language.

Which? How the fuck do I know?

Let's take Spanish for example, the one my parents want me to learn: it's a good one and seems to be simple and not too hard in pronunciation. Guess what? Yup, I've met Spanish texts for less than ten times. In the Internet, of course. Okay, internet in Spain might be not so popular. Then it comes to business opportunities and the only one is Oil and Gas Industry. Well, okay, we all know that such countries as Venezuela, Mexico, Columbia and Peru that really make Oil and it may be a good chance to work there. But there's one problem: why do International companies in these countries even need Spanish for work (of course if you're not a low-level worker in an oil producing area)? Of course a basic knowledge is required, because you will have to live in the country you work. Otherwise Spanish in only needed for local markets and in such countries as Argentina. Please correct me if I'm not right.

Then it comes to, eww, I really don't want to say this, French. I'm fed up with this piece of bullshit since I tried to learn it in my middle school. Opportunities are much better, but this is one that listed in my "Hate list". To the next language.

Next is German. I just do not find anything good in German, maybe because I just don't like the rotten EU.

Now it comes to Japanese. It's a good language with very big opportunities. Oh, it was, sorry. It was good for engineers, managers and seniors after 1970th and till 1990th. I do not mention those who work in Healthcare industry, just because the have always been needed in countries as U.S. and Japan. Returning to the topic, I can't say It's easy to find a job in Japan. Now popular careers are: I.T. (system administrators and programmers), Healthcare (as always) and Business (executives, seniors, managers). Finance industry is high-paid too, but It's much harder to find a work there. But I doubt that it's harder that to find a work in Business, just because there will be thousands of people who will want the job you want. Or hundreds at least.

For now English is the best choice for future, but I still need a second language, even after writing this post for and hour, approximately.

If I get Turkish, it will be very good because being a citizen of two countries may really be profitable. But if not, then.. If it would go the worst way, I will have to take Japanese. And I would better kill myself rather then take French. Spanish is still available though it might be useful mostly in the U.S.

And the very best part of Turkish is that I know the basics of this language at least. =\

Geez again, thanks for reading.