Evolution of a Meme April 12, 2012
Posted by stuffilikenet in Awesome, Hello Kitty, Photography.add a comment
It has been said that a good meme will propagate itself and evolve to fit any available niche. In the ecology of graphics this is most certainly true when propagated for humor:
This can be seen around the bay area, where Mad Dog is located.
This I spotted in front of NoiseBridge, our local hackerspace. I swear I was only there to get dinner from the taqueria down the street.
Your Cat Doesn’t Want To Dress Up, Either March 8, 2012
Posted by stuffilikenet in Hello Kitty, Uncategorizable.add a comment
Hello, Kitty.
Nice kitty.
Korean Hello Kitty Cafe November 10, 2011
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In Seoul.
Ouch.
Oh, gods.
Hello Kitty Bus October 24, 2011
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I have nothing to add to this, obviously. Some things are good just as they are.
From an article about busses in Japan.
A Logical Extension February 6, 2011
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Sorry, but I forget where I found this. It does look Photoshopped, which is a pretty high compliment, really.
“Asagohan” Means “Breakfast” September 27, 2010
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A family discusses breakfast options in the ebullient style for which Japan is justly famed–right up until lunchtime.
I Should Have Found This Sooner July 29, 2010
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My apologies. To make up for it, I will share the results of my latest researches in Google Image. With the SafeSearch turned off!
This might be another case where my mother shouldn’t read further.
Hello Kitty Heads on a Plate June 29, 2010
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It’s pizza. Honest.
Hello Kitty Modifications June 16, 2010
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Not all Hello Kitty-themed items are Sanrio approved. Especially the Halloween-themed ones. I suspect serial killer modifications would be frowned on by Sanrio (if they knew). Especially as the creator hasn’t registered with them.
MotherTongue May 24, 2010
Posted by stuffilikenet in Awesome, Brilliant words, Hello Kitty, Japan, Publishing Tools, Toys.add a comment
I’m weirdly proud of this application because it was my idea, although my friend Mark
programmed it (does this make it pirate software?). It just takes random hiragana or katakana characters and reads them aloud while highlighting them, equivalent to a mother reading to her child. I like to think that this would help someone learn Japanese kana a little faster than flashcards.
Next I would like to port it to WinCE 5, so I could put it on my phone. Hey, it could happen.
This is an application that works well for two reasons: one, Japanese is a monotonal language, so the syllables mostly sound the same no matter what order they are spoken in (not entirely true, but largely) and two, it’s a syllabic language in the first place (each symbol represents an entire syllable. It’s hard to misspell in Japanese).
This program (MotherTongue.exe) can be used with other languages for this reason. Just put .png files of the syllables of your new language with .mp3 files with the corresponding names in the same directory as MotherTongue.exe and start it up. Purists might wish to use a silent syllable between words, but I haven’t bothered. It will also work with other sound and picture files, but I haven’t tested it with them, since my needs are already met. I have toyed with the idea of using it to read Japanese aloud, but parsing random English-transliterated Japanese is liable to be too tricky to ask my boss to code up over beer. I would have to move up to better bribes.
Leave comments about this if you would like. I would appreciate it.
