Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Please don’t let anyone Americanise it (1992)

news.lettersofnote.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

101–110 of 326 posts

Re: Please don’t let anyone Americanise it (1992)

#101

Post by nemo44x »

sillyquiet wrote: post #15

e.g., Philosopher's stone -> sorcerer's stone. Science-fiction and fantasy UK book covers were better too, which is another example of the same weird parochialism of the U.S. publishing industry as it was. My probably unpopular opinion is that it's a reflection of a more general, largely un-self-aware New York City parochialism, which was where most of the big publishing firms were based, at least until the last deca…

> Science-fiction and fantasy UK book covers were better too

Same with video games back in the day. The Japanese versions had much cooler box art than the Western ones. But they were often abandoned because they used a style that wasn't as popular in the West.

Re: Please don’t let anyone Americanise it (1992)

#102

Post by garaetjjte »

Intermernet wrote: post #54
vrc wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s why the continuous motion ones are so sought after and pricy. The mechanical continuous motion watches are really marvelous feats of engineering

They're also (as far as I understand it) not actually continuous motion. They just have much smaller increments of movement than a single second.

It seems there are mechanisms with fully continuous motion, eg: https://www.grand-seiko.com/global-en/about/movement/springd...

Re: Please don’t let anyone Americanise it (1992)

#103

Post by Adraghast »

coldtea wrote: post #76
jawns wrote: post #7

His argument about digital watches did not age well. My kids have known how to understand a digital clock since they were toddlers, but even now, in elementary school, they require entire lesson units in school on telling time from a clock face. Beyond that, he argues that pie charts tell us more about the relationship between things than tables of numbers, and a clock face is "the world's most perfect pie chart." Bu…

> but even now, in elementary school, they require entire lesson units in school on telling time from a clock face. I'd say that's a failure to teach them analog time as toddlers, not digital time being inherently superior.

Digital time is inherently superior. Analog time requires the extra cognitive step of translating to the numbers being represented. Digital time skips that process and shows you the numbers directly.

Re: Please don’t let anyone Americanise it (1992)

#104

Post by Adraghast »

_trackno5 wrote: post #8
jawns wrote: post #7

His argument about digital watches did not age well. My kids have known how to understand a digital clock since they were toddlers, but even now, in elementary school, they require entire lesson units in school on telling time from a clock face. Beyond that, he argues that pie charts tell us more about the relationship between things than tables of numbers, and a clock face is "the world's most perfect pie chart." Bu…

Funny how we got downgraded into "smart watches" that barely hold a charge for a day and are good at everything other than telling the bloody time. Having an always on display is an actual feature nowadays lol

Mine is extremely good at telling me the time. I just look at my wrist and there it is. Maybe you're using it incorrectly?

Re: Please don’t let anyone Americanise it (1992)

#105

Post by renewiltord »

ZoomZoomZoom wrote: post #86
throwaway894345 wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honestly I’m an avid fan of all of the “Planet” series precisely because of Attenborough.

It's deeply lamentable that in this day and age one has to resort to throwaway accounts to express their fondness of Sir Attenborough.

These days, if you say you're English, you'll be arrested and thrown in jail.

Re: Please don’t let anyone Americanise it (1992)

#106

Post by scarface74 »

_trackno5 wrote: post #8
jawns wrote: post #7

His argument about digital watches did not age well. My kids have known how to understand a digital clock since they were toddlers, but even now, in elementary school, they require entire lesson units in school on telling time from a clock face. Beyond that, he argues that pie charts tell us more about the relationship between things than tables of numbers, and a clock face is "the world's most perfect pie chart." Bu…

Funny how we got downgraded into "smart watches" that barely hold a charge for a day and are good at everything other than telling the bloody time. Having an always on display is an actual feature nowadays lol

People said the same about smart phones compared to Nokia candy bar phones with battery lives that lasted a week.

In exchange for charging my cellular watch every night, I get a device on my wrist that can make phone calls, stream music, store 16GB worth of music, has GPS for when I run, monitors my heart rate, gives me notifications and let’s me send messages.

If I went into coma in 2009 and the most advanced piece of technology that I knew at the time was the iPhone 3GS or the then current laptops and woke up in 2022, I would be much more impressed with the Apple Watch than any other piece of technology.

Re: Please don’t let anyone Americanise it (1992)

#107

Post by em500 »

sillyquiet wrote: post #15

e.g., Philosopher's stone -> sorcerer's stone. Science-fiction and fantasy UK book covers were better too, which is another example of the same weird parochialism of the U.S. publishing industry as it was. My probably unpopular opinion is that it's a reflection of a more general, largely un-self-aware New York City parochialism, which was where most of the big publishing firms were based, at least until the last deca…

The Harry Potter book cover art change was not nearly as bad as what they did to video game box art.

Original (Japan): https://i.pinimg.com/originals/22/5b/d9/225bd9e4fda8aee8ed0c...

Americanized: https://i.ebayimg.com/images/i/351430897872-0-1/s-l1000.jpg

Re: Please don’t let anyone Americanise it (1992)

#108

Post by onpensionsterm »

vlunkr wrote: post #42
CalRobert wrote: post #5

There's a deeply frustrating infantilisation when something is localized in the same language. My kids and I love Bluey, an Australian show, but apparently the producers had to refuse to have it redone with US and UK accents to stop it happening. Never understood what the problem with having David Attenborough instead of Sigourney Weaver narrate Planet Earth was either.

Bluey is a fantastic show, and the fact that it's unapologetically Australian is part of what's so fun about it. I think it's just the choice of nervous higher-ups to localize things like this, and not actually what people want. Like Douglas Adams says, people can survive hearing references they don't understand. And they might even learn something about another culture.

Which is why non-localised US media can be so successful in other countries, even places where English isn't the first language.

Re: Please don’t let anyone Americanise it (1992)

#109

Post by yes_i_can »

Hayvok wrote: post #73
Abekkus wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The first planet earth wasn't just given different voiceover for American audiences, it was recut. The brass called the Attenborough cut "excruciatingly slow-paced", so once they decided to re-edit, it was probably easier to recast the narration than to try and edit down Attenborough's own speech. The Attenborough cut is my personal preference too.

Agree in general that the UK/Attenborough cut is preferable, but the American intro sequence is fantastic and dramatic. Gave me chills the first time I watched it.

I kind of hate the dramatization in newer nature documentaries, rife with cuts of sweeping landscape views set to loud, epic music. I'm probably just getting old, but it feels like they're trying too hard to keep my attention. I don't need blaring horns and pounding timpani to keep me watching.

Re: Please don’t let anyone Americanise it (1992)

#110

Post by scrollaway »

theshrike79 wrote: post #77
CalRobert wrote: post #5

There's a deeply frustrating infantilisation when something is localized in the same language. My kids and I love Bluey, an Australian show, but apparently the producers had to refuse to have it redone with US and UK accents to stop it happening. Never understood what the problem with having David Attenborough instead of Sigourney Weaver narrate Planet Earth was either.

Bluey is one of the few kids shows a parent can watch without having their brain melt. And it gives great ideas for playing with the kids.

You should check out Gravity Falls, and the 2017 DuckTales.
Post reply on HN