9 ms·
My Cat Mii
- ixtli 2y agoThis is a fabulous example of Japanese storytelling and the translation is rather good, too :)
- gyomu 2y agoYes, it’s interesting how different cultures have such different ways of telling stories (although sometimes that gets a bit muddied with the massive cross pollination between global media). I once encountered this diagram comparing cultural thought patterns in a Japanese textbook, it comes to my mind regularly https://jellypictu.re/p/8dd73d2c https://jellypictu.re/p/8dd73d2c
- anigbrowl 2y agoI would greatly appreciate if you could share the name of the textbook in question. I found the work it cites and am interested to know how others perceive it. https://www.colby.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Kaplan_CR_1965.pdf https://www.colby.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Kaplan_CR_1...
- gyomu 2y agoOh nice find! I took this picture of the textbook over a decade ago when a friend showed it to me, so I really can't help you with that though.
- anigbrowl 2y agoThanks anyhow!
- kjellsbells 2y agoIts possible that the Japanese text book is a translation of Purves (see below) or just an excerpt. FYI For other readers...on researchgate I found the same picture, and the paper that embedded the pic cited it as: Kaplan, R. B. (1972). Contrastive rhetoric and second language learning: Notes toward a theory of contrastive rhetoric. In A. C. Purves (Ed.), Writing across languages and cultures: Issues in contrastive rhetoric (pp. 257-304). Newbury Park, CA: Sage The paper on Researchgate was at this URL: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/354859830_Involving_Self-_Peer-_and_Teacher-Assessment_in_a_Writing_Course_A_Cross_Comparison_and_Reflection_of_Students'_Perceptions https://www.researchgate.net/publication/354859830_Involving... (I found it by googling for some of the words in the pictureand adding "1970s", since I had a feeling that the terms used were rather old fashioned, even if strictly accurate in a dictionary sense (like "Oriental"). And modern academia doesnt pay as much attention to Russia as it once did, but the author called it out.) And of course, if you Google for, say, 文化的思考パターン kaplan (Cultural thought patterns kaplan) Youll get a lot of japanese language books and articles that use this picture. I didnt check to see if any were the one whose photo was posted.
- anigbrowl 2y agoThanks. I went down an interesting rabbithole of contrasting rhetoric yesterday evening.
- SamBam 2y agoIs the suggestion that an English story is told from Point A to Point B, while the other cultures meander in various ways? This seems confusing to me, as a regular reader of short stories and personal histories and other things in English that, actually, sound very much like this personal history here.
- ixtli 2y agoits interesting to me that that is the way the discussion turned but its not what i originally meant. there were just qualities to this story that are hallmarks of great modern japanese short and long form lit. for example: - referring to characters by single letters (c.f.: K in Kokoro) - romantic descriptions of nature as the meat of the work that ties the actual plot together (... basically all japanese lit since ooku no hosomichi in the 9th century) - anthropomorphism of nature like the wind talking (c.f.: the sound of the mountain) - a pervasive sense of nostalgia, especially when telling a story by way of the places one has lived in their early adulthood ( again basically all "slice of life" lit and tv )
- SamBam 2y agoThank you, that makes a lot of sense.
- delusional 2y agoWhat a beautiful story. Thanks for bringing me out of the High Tech/AI anxiety loop with just a nice human story of beauty and a cat :)
- qmarchi 2y agoThis is an pre-publishing excerpt from "Mornings Without Mii", coming out on the 25th. https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374614782/morningswithoutmii/ https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374614782/morningswithout...
- layer8 2y agoAnd that book is a translation of the 1999 Japanese ミーのいない朝.
- telesilla 2y agoLovely lovely story. I'll look for the book, and as delusional says, an unexpected charmer to break up a day of tech think.
- sho_hn 2y agoHa, I know just the nerdy factoid to trot out to legitimize the frontpage placement. Brace: These little cat-human conversation pieces embedded within remind me enormously of the telepathic conversations in Alfred Bester's mighty genre classic The Demolished Man and their special typesetting. https://speculativerhetoric.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/party.jpg?w=584&h=662 https://speculativerhetoric.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads... https://universesofthemind.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/wp-1477097207836.jpg https://universesofthemind.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/wp...
- anigbrowl 2y agoAlso employed in The Stars My Destination. Criminally underappreciated writer.
- 4sak3n 2y agoIs he really criminally underrated if My Stars the Destination features in just about every "best scifi books" list I've ever read? Maybe not as high up as it deserves on those lists but that's hardly criminal underappreciation
- carabiner 2y agolil baby
- codr7 2y agoAnimals are amazing, something to hold onto and keep us sane in the coming storm.
- picafrost 2y agoReads like a warm breeze. The bonds we forge with other animals can bring another source of durable meaning to our lives. Even a brief show of trust from an animal while present in their environment can create a memory that lasts forever. One of the more pleasant aspects of being human.
- jeffrallen 2y agoI talk with my cat, and the conversation is so fluid that my 5 year old son asked, "Dad, when did you learn to speak cat?" He is multilingual, so I guess he was wondering when he would have "Cat speak" at school or whatever. I told him I pretend what I think the cat is saying, which seemed a bit if a let down to both of us. But ever since, I realize it's not so much pretending, we really do converse, and it's a pleasure.
- Cthulhu_ 2y agolmao I think this is cat/human interactions for sure; that said, it's easy to assume cats only talk in simple terms, like food or complaining about food.
- mavamaarten 2y agoMy first cat (who just magically arrived in our garden) is only 5 years with us. But it's so cool how you learn to read their body language and noises/sounds so quickly and so well. I remember, before I had a cat, that cats could be so unpredictable. A good friend of mine had a cat that loved to be pet, but could claw you a millisecond later. Now, after owning one, I can read their faces, ears, tail and other cues. I'm sure I could have read that cat better now. I converse with mine too. He replies with a positive prrr or yell if he agrees. If he's not interested in what I'm offering, he will look disinterested. I love him to bits.
- yapyap 2y agoNot gonna lie, when I clicked the link I was expecting a tutorial on how to make a cat Mii on the Wii. Can’t say I was disappointed after I reset my expectations though.
- locao 2y ago"What can possibly be said about Miis these days?". Turns out I was pleasantly wrong.
- frmfrm 2y agoThe full book is a fantastic read, yet beware that it takes some quite dark turns describing the author's depression at length and it includes some scatological depictions of animal suffering. It's ultimately a tale about grief and so it's peculiar that the cover design gives the impression it's a cute, feel-good story.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- Dansvidania 2y agomy ex girlfriend found a similarly 'lost kitten' 4 years ago, she gave him a similarly silly name "Pufu". I am allergic to cats, so I was not into it. we did not work out and she took him with her when she left. I miss that little bastard so much.
- bentobean 2y agoMy wife and I brought two kittens into our lives 16 years ago. The bonds that we forged with those animals were deep. We had to walk one out of our lives in November due to advanced kidney disease. A couple weeks after that, the other one decided that her time had also arrived. I’m not ashamed to say that I miss them dearly. I weep from time to time. It’s like losing a limb. I can’t imagine ever putting myself through that again.
- randycupertino 2y agoᛖᛁᛖᛋ ᛒᚱᛁᚷᚻᛏ, ᚳᛚᚪᚹᛋ ᛋᚻᚪᚱᛈ, ᛏᚪᛁᛚ ᚻᛖᛚᛞ ᚻᛁᚷᚻ. ᚷᚩ ᚳᛖᛖᚾᛚᛁ ᛁᚾᛏᚩ ᚦᛖ ᛘᛁᛋᛏ, ᚩᛚᛞ ᚹᚪᚱᚱᛡᚱ. ᚠᚪᛚᚻᚪᛚᛚᚪ ᚹᚪᛁᛏᛋ ᚠᚩᚱ ᛁᚩᚢ. Eyes bright, claws sharp, tail held high. Go keenly into the mist, old warrior. Valhalla waits for you.
- jjtheblunt 2y agoYou wrote english in the elder futhark, tediously or with some letter by letter translation tool?
- BizarroLand 2y agoLooks like this is a bit of a rabbit hole. https://wetnosespetsitting.com/coping-with-the-loss-of-a-pet/ https://wetnosespetsitting.com/coping-with-the-loss-of-a-pet... Has a copy of this, but it was attributed to a reddit post https://old.reddit.com/r/cats/comments/hmyago/rest_in_peace_francie_my_cat_passed_away_this/fx877wl/ https://old.reddit.com/r/cats/comments/hmyago/rest_in_peace_... But the runes were not on that post. Searching the runes (which kind of sounds badass) led to https://imgur.com/gallery/rest-easy-boy-4OYHNTn https://imgur.com/gallery/rest-easy-boy-4OYHNTn from May, 2022 https://www.instagram.com/kaitbernhardt/p/CUvyLLEMaNN/ https://www.instagram.com/kaitbernhardt/p/CUvyLLEMaNN/ from October 2021 But the trail seems to go cold there. The lore seems to suggest that it originated on Reddit but it probably got lost in the purge when Reddit exiled non-official clients.
- randycupertino 2y ago
- DiggyJohnson 2y agoI genuinely recommend a pet, especially a cat, to any depressed person reading this comment with even just a modicum of income. It’s the perfect amount of responsibility and payoff, to put it in terms a robot could understand. It’s very hard to fuck up so badly to cause permanent injury or death, and most unadopted cats live lives much worse than you at your worst. Take the risk, adopt, fix, and grow.
- veunes 2y agoPlus, the act of caring for another living being can sometimes make it easier to start caring for yourself.
- navigate8310 2y agoThis tantamount of "using" a pet to improve your life than genuinely care for them. What could happen is once you improve your life, you may slowly start detaching from it and throw out. That special bond may not form, if you only buy/adopt because you are depressed.
- postexitus 2y agoNever happens with a cat. Maybe with a dog because they have so much higher upkeep.
- bayindirh 2y agoIn that case, you're not using an animal to improve your life. At most, you're forcing yourself to look a bit outwards and focus your energy on an animal, in other ways put strain on yourself. Most pets love you unconditionally back, as long as you don't abuse & neglect them knowingly. They will look after you and motivate you to continue having this feeling by looking after yourself, too. Losing a loved pet can leave a scar which can last a life time. I still miss my pet bird, which lived for more than a decade, and died peacefully, and brought limitless joy to everyone in the family, by loving, demanding attention and trolling us. Animals may look simpler than us, but almost all of them know the language of love and care way better than us.
- 2y ago
- veunes 2y agoThat was beautiful. How a single night, a breeze, a cry in the dark can change a life. The smallest moments (ones we don’t plan for) can shape our entire world.
- veunes 2y agoWhen I was younger, a little cat appeared on our doorstep. We named him Pew. He’s already 16 years old and has been with me throughout my childhood and adolescence - my whole life. Although he recognized my father as his owner, he is still very much a part of mine. When I started living alone, I adopted another ball of happiness from a shelter. I named her Gadget. I love her insanely, and she loves me back.
- cons0le 2y agoWith all the AI nonsense , we've lost track of how good skilled human translators can be. The writing is great, but the translation is masterful
- drewg123 2y agoMy wife volunteers for a no-kill cat shelter. One night a literal basket of kittens was found on their doorstep. The shelter was already well over capacity, so we became foster "parents" for them. The runt of the litter (whom the shelter had named "Chrome") was terrified and cried constantly. After a week or two, she bonded with my wife, and would cry whenever she was not around, and wanted nothing to do with me. I recall one time when she escaped their play-pen when I was home alone, and clawed the skin off my hand when I had to pick her up and put her back, hissing and crying. After a month or two, space in the shelter opened up. All her siblings were quickly adopted, but her fearful, shy nature meant she was left behind. So she became our first "foster fail" and we adopted her. She now likes me just fine (though still not as much as my wife). What I love about her is that she's the perfect work companion. She likes to sit next to me on the couch when I'm working, and puts her paws and/or head in the crook of my arm (unlike our other cat, who seems jealous of my laptop and does his best to prevent me from working).
- ChadMoran 2y agoI got a cat when I didn't know how much I needed him. He brought structure and joy to my life in a way that really turned it around. Unfortunately, two years ago he was diagnosed with FeLV+ even though he was an indoor only cat. Today we're having an at-home quality of life consultation as I suspect we'll have to put him to rest in the coming days. Outside of beating myself up from not doing more for something that is preventable I gave him the very best care both in terms of medical and supportive. Having this little guy for almost half of my life changed it in such a positive way I support anyone thinking about getitng a cat.