WELCOME to the personal home page/blog of Matthew La France. Please enjoy your stay.

12/29/2004

I had a very nice Christmas. I got some nice things like some clothes and a phone and the DVD box set of the old Buck Rogers show from the late 70's-early 80's. I used to watch that as a young child. It is really cool. It has aged well, unlike other things I used to watch (Knight Rider, Battlestar Galactica, the Incredible Hulk, etc...)

I was listening to this person at work bragging about their brother or nephew or something and how they made 40,000 last year at their job. While I don't have much money right now and that makes me a little jealous, it also made me realize that my standards of success are very different from other people's. I think I've noticed this before, but I've never understood quite how. I think it's just that I have personal standards to which I hold myself, and they aren't like the ones that other people keep. Working (and keeping for that matter) a job, having a family, having a nice car or owning a house. Some people are just really happy to be going out and making their living, trying to advance their salaries and having children and doing other things that they feel raises their status among their peers. I see this around me in the people I work with and even my friends. I think realizing that helps me to live my life alongside people who have different goals and values and just accept that we are different. I know that giving up on my dreams will never make me happy. My dreams are my own, they are not measured by other people's standards. And only working towards them will make me happy.
0 comments

12/24/2004

Just so that I don't seem too surly this holiday season, merry Christmas everyone. ^_^
0 comments

12/22/2004

Another pillar of freedom has been toppled by corporate fucktards with lawyers. www.suprnova.org, one of the largest repositories of bittorrent links has closed it's doors after Hollywood decided to take legal action agains 100 or more various filesharing oriented websites. I want to take comfort in the futility of this effort, but it seems like a bad omen of things to come. I'm imagining an future (that is already functioning in the present) where police, federal agencies, and corporate lawyers scour the net for any possible infringment of various "laws", or rules of self protection put in place by a government that is in the pocket of big business.

It's so fucking hypocritical, hearing how artists are screwed over all the time by these companies. And then who gets protected, those very companies, because they have the money and the lawyers. It's not that the companies are losing money in sales, it's that they don't want any distribution networks in place from which they get no profit. They just want to get paid for doing nothing. I think it's sick. I hope that the internet stays the way it is. I hope these companies aren't allowed to take advantage of the total control they have had in the past and use it to disempower artists and consumers in the future. I hope that artists continue to find ways to profit directly from their work and fans continue to find ways of enjoying it without relenquishing more money to these greedy bastards. Screw'em.
0 comments

12/17/2004

Well my two days were semi-envigorating. I got a lot of re-organization of stuff on CDs to stuff on DVDs. I did a little work on my current translation projects Ace of Spades and Energy Breaker. I spent a fair amount of time playing the newest Naruto fighting game on the Game Cube and dong a little Christmas shopping too. I'm glad it will be Christmas soon, one, because it will be fun to give presents and have some time to spend with family, and two because it will stop being quite so busy at work and I won't have to hear any more Christmas music. :P
0 comments

12/13/2004

I'm a little grumpy this evening. I don't like that I have to go to bed in about 1 1/2 hours and work again tomorrow. I am just feeling run down. I need some time to recooperate. Thankfully I have two days off after tomorrow. :P

I sorted out the various Ojamajo Doremi games on the Playstation last night. There seem to be 7 games, two versions each of three games, Ojamajo Doremi Mahodou English Festival, More! Ojamajo Doremi Mahodou Smile Party, and Ojamajo Doremi Mahodou Dance Carnival!, one with the Kid's Station controller and one without. There is also a game called Ojamajo Doremi Rainbow Colored Paradise which is not listed on playstation.jp that I can tell.



I am psyched to see "House of Flying Daggers" as it has Kaneshiro Takeshi, playing a role that has him looking like he just stepped out of Onimusha, and that chick from Croutching Tiger Hidden Dragon. It will hopefulling be hitting an art theater near me soon. I'm also interested in Closer, but mostly because Natalie Portman will be playing a stripper, and I was getting scared that she was becoming "too good" to take on a sexy role.

Edit: BTW I edited my home page a bit this evening including some general rearranging, addition of a short profile, and rewritting my "Why I work on translation projects". Check it out.
0 comments

12/08/2004

Aside from getting some groceries and getting my oil changed, I had a nice day at home today for the most part. I did a lot of work on Energy Breaker actually. I finished proofreading the text I was working on, which was quite a substantial amount. The rom hacker I am working with surprised me by re-inserting my text right away so I've been able to play a little this evening. It's really cool being able to play a game that I've just been working so hard on translating. It's a little disapointing because my translation is not perfect so I have to go "Oh, I see now...", and "Man I didn't get that quite right..." on occasion, but it's still a really good feeling. The battle system is a little wierd and I didn't get it at first. I've died a few times, so I decided to take a break.



I have a good project for the rest of the evening though. I'm hoping to get my hands on a few more anime based PSX games soon. I would like to have that page finished up, but I'm really only around half-way done. It is time consuming and a little tedius at this point, but I still think it's a really cool idea, and am excited about seeing it finished. I may try to work on it again some soon.
0 comments

12/05/2004

OMG. I am wiped out. Work is really tiring, but a little over-time is good of course. I wanted to post something a little less morbid than my last post. I finally did get Utada Hikaru's album "Exodus". It's not bad. That's about all I can say about it, other than I enjoy listening to it. I guess I just find it interesting to hear what someone speaking English as a second language sings about. Like listening to Tatu and Bjork, I guess I like hearing foreign chicks sing.
0 comments

12/01/2004

One of my friends told me that Jhon Balance of the band Coil died earlier this month. It hard for me to listen to music by someone who has died since the time that I began listening to their music. I didn't listen to Nirvana for years after Kurt Cobain took his own life. It's easy to blow off the early deaths of rock stars as the inevitable product of a decadent lifestyle, or the selfish act of a selfish person. But I am sombered by the thought of anyone's death because it seems like a very real thing to me. I don't know the details because I don't think they are being disclosed, it's not really my business, but apparently he died from a fall. All I can think of is the Coil song "Who'll Fall?" which consists of an answering machine message seemingly left for (I assume) Peter Christopherson, about his friend committing suicide by throwing himself off a cliff. I've just listened to the song and written the lyrics down here because I think maybe it's a small way to deal with the grief of the death of someone I didn't really know, but who influenced my life anyway.

"Peter, a friend of mine has just committed suicide...he's a great friend of mine, and it's, I've come back...and I heard that, and it shocked me a bit, and I want to tell you because, um, not that you know him, that's not the point...and he planned it out, he left...he left his boyfriend, I mean, he left notes and...things, he, he threw himself off a cliff Peter...I just wondered what you think that feeling is like...what happens, what goes through your head...between throwing yourself off, and actually dying I...wondered what you thought...perhaps you could call me and tell me because it would help me, because I have a terrible fear of heights...and for me just the idea of falling...so far...and being alive...and I just wondered if...things go through your head you know...people that you love and that, or things that you feel you should have done...flash before you...but you can't do anything about it...I just wondered what you thought...you're the only person I can call right now...and I'd like to see you, because I think in a funny way were doing that...just...don't really connect...

...one day, you know, you're going to fall, and I'm going to fall...something's going to happen and...anyway, I'm very sad...you have my number...I hope you're both well...lot's of love, bye."
0 comments

Site Archives:

June 2003 July 2003 August 2003 September 2003 October 2003 November 2003 December 2003 January 2004 February 2004 March 2004 April 2004 May 2004 June 2004 July 2004 August 2004 September 2004 October 2004 November 2004 December 2004 January 2005 February 2005 March 2005 April 2005 May 2005 June 2005 July 2005 August 2005 September 2005 October 2005 November 2005 December 2005 January 2006 February 2006 March 2006 April 2006 May 2006 June 2006 July 2006 August 2006 September 2006 October 2006 November 2006 December 2006 January 2007 February 2007 March 2007 April 2007 May 2007 June 2007 July 2007 August 2007 September 2007 October 2007 November 2007 December 2007 January 2008 February 2008 March 2008 April 2008 May 2008 June 2008 July 2008 August 2008 September 2008 October 2008 November 2008 December 2008 January 2009 February 2009 March 2009 April 2009 May 2009 June 2009 July 2009 September 2009 October 2009 November 2009 December 2009 January 2010

homepage

Valid CSS!