いつもアナタに夢中になるの

The Joy of Sex? Uh, no.

secretstratosphere@yahoo.com — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 14:44:09 GMT

My translating plans for this weekend were derailed by the arrival of ZeroSum. I think of it like my period. It comes every month, you suffer for a short time, then you're off the hook for another four weeks.

Despite the interruption, I'm five pages away from finishing Revision 01 of Mouse! Considering it's a sixty page chapter, I'm making good progress. I may even have time to revise it again before the editor is free. I'd like it to sound as natural as possible. And, ideally, I'd like confirmation that I made acceptable choices in some places. But just having something more or less usable makes me feel more at ease.

The last five pages are a sex scene, though, and I really dislike translating sex scenes. I particularly dislike sound effects. Pages like this:

(sfx: slip)
(sfx: slide)
(sfx: push)
Koyuichi: Ah...
(sfx: push)
(sfx: slide)
Kyouichi: Ah.
(sfx: push)
(sfx: thrust)
Kyouichi: Ah...
(sfx: push)

...are just boring to translate. I have no motivation to do it. After 30 min of searching dictionaries and the internet (my poor eyes have seen some terrible things in the name of "research") for the meaning of one, silly sound, the scene becomes far more tedious than sexy. I don't how it appears to readers, but I just groan with mental anguish when I see all the sfx. The only thing worse than translating sfx might be editing sfx. I wish I could just skip those pages and add a note saying, "And then they do it. Lots of moaning and wet, sloppy sounds. You get the picture, right? Now, back to the story..."

If I did that, someone would send a computer virus my way, I'm sure. Haha! ^__^

In addition to ZeroSum and Mouse, PD released Pandora's Elevator this weekend. And BAA released Scratches 10.

Vacation in August

secretstratosphere@yahoo.com — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 18:45:07 GMT

Well, I was really nervous to ask, but I did it! And my boss said, "yes!" I know I'm entitled to paid vacation, but I feel selfish asking for time off. There are so many people who depend on me. I know it will be inconvenient for them, so I tried to pick a slow week and arrange for "replacements" who can step in and cover emergencies. I may have to train one of them, but I don't mind. It will be worth it for a week of relaxation.

So, that means I can take on another project! Hee, hee. I told myself "no more" until I complete some of what I already have, but whenever I have some time off, I like to try something new. I consider it a present to myself. ^__^ So, I think I'm going to translate a chapter from Yamamoto Kotetsuko's Tsumaranai Otoko. At the moment, I can't commit to more than a oneshot, but I may do more from the manga eventually, depending on how difficult it is. I've already read it, but "translating" and "reading" are two entirely different things. Even when I understand the Japanese, finding the right words in English can be like trying to grab a fistful of water.

Old news?

For those of you who don't follow the yaoi manga scene, it has recently come to light that a manga artist, Youka Nitta, has been tracing photographs from fashion ads. I'm somewhat surprised by the reaction to this news. Personally, I don't have a problem with tracing photographs. When I studied design a million years ago, we often used photos from magazines (or album covers, etc.) in our projects. I do have a problem with a professional (someone getting paid to produce something original, not a student in a class) using this kind of material and not receiving permission or giving credit to the photographers. If she had gone about it honestly, I don't think this would be an issue. Readers and publishers could then decide whether they wanted to spend money on traced artwork or not.

That said, I read her apology, and I think she is doing the right thing by taking a voluntary leave of absence. I do believe that she is sorry and I don't think she will do it again. (She'd have to be an idiot if she did!) Even though I think what she did is wrong, I find this situation quite sad, and I feel more sorry for her than angry. Some of the harsh reactions I've read have been surprising to me. I don't know Youka Nitta personally. I don't know what kind of person she is. But, if I were to do something like that, the only reason I can think of is, I was under a lot of pressure to produce something of quality on short notice. My suspicion is, she didn't want to disappoint her editors, publishers, fans, etc. and stupidly figured this was nothing more than a "white lie." I suspect manga artists use photographs for "inspiration" fairly often. I don't know whether she didn't know where to draw the line, or whether she thought "a few steps over the line" wouldn't really matter, but I don't believe she did it maliciously. More than likely, she took the easy way out because she didn't want to let people down. She solved her immediate crises without seriously considering the consequences. I think she was foolish (and, maybe, lazy) but not intentionally deceitful. I mean, she didn't set out to hurt people or take advantage of them.

The fact that she confessed and apologized shows good faith to me. Even if it's the work of a good PR firm, she's at least willing to listen to other people and accept the appropriate punishment. At this point, I think it's time to forgive and move on. I don't understand what heaping insults on her will accomplish. She'll "serve time" and then, hopefully, start her life as an artist again, honestly. What more can we ask from her?

Journal Reorganization

secretstratosphere@yahoo.com — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 16:38:29 GMT

Hi everyone,

I want to alert you to some changes in my journals. As you may have noticed, this journal has been ostensibly inactive for a while now. It used to be my fan fiction journal, but since I started translating manga, I haven't had much time for writing. Although I still read your posts on my friends list every day, I haven't posted anything myself in almost two years. It's unlikely that I will ever write fan fiction again, and I don't want to see this journal fade away, so I've decided to revive this journal for personal use. Considering my main preoccupation these days is translating, this journal will probably contain a lot about scanlating, manga, yaoi, translation, etc. I hope you all will stay with me, but I understand if you have no interest in these things and want to leave.

If you still want to read my old fan fiction, I've moved everything to presencedear_fc.

For your reference, here's a list of all my journals and their content:

angelea This is my personal "friends locked" journal. I write a lot of private and filtered posts here, as well.
presencedear Also a personal journal, primarily a place to focus my thoughts on my current obsession (translating.)
presencedear_fc All of my fan fiction (mostly Loveless.)
yourpresence Backup for my scanlation website, PresenceDear. Mediafire links for all scanlations will be provided if my website ever goes down. (God forbid!)

So I hope this is clear. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask me. ^__^