From: pearl@remus.rutgers.edu (Starbuck)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.anime
Subject: rec.arts.anime: Welcome to rec.arts.anime!
Keywords: monthly informative posting
Date: 1 Sep 92 17:17:47 GMT
Followup-To: rec.arts.anime
Organization: the Worlds Welfare Work Association, Rutgers Anime division




Archive-name: anime/welcome

		      WELCOME TO REC.ARTS.ANIME
		      =========================
			      Edited by
			     Steve Pearl
			    August 3, 1992

This is a monthly posting to familiarize new readers with the rec.arts.anime
newsgroup.  If you have any questions, additions or corrections, send your
stuff to:

Internet: pearl@remus.rutgers.edu   	or 	Steve Pearl
CI$: >internet: pearl@remus.rutgers.edu		359 Lloyd Rd
GEnie:  S.PEARL6				Aberdeen, NJ 07747-1826

Changes to this posting since August, 1992:
- added a pointer to Bob Niland's LD articles under the LD definition entry.


DISCLAIMER 1: To the best of our knowledge, the editor is not associated 
with ANY of the companies or organizations mentioned below.

DISCLAIMER 2: The opinions expressed on this post do not necessarily
represent the opinions held either by the editor or any organization
he's affiliated with.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

o WHAT IS REC.ARTS.ANIME?

The NetNews charter list has this entry for rec.arts.anime:

	rec.arts.anime		Japanese animation fen discussion.

The charter reflects the nature of the group, which is discussion of Japanese
animation (and related subjects).  Until recently, this was the only NetNews
group for animation, until a split in 1990 created the rec.arts.animation
newsgroup for general animation discussions.

But why is Japanese animation singled out?  Why not American animation, or
French animation, or Swazilandian animation?  Because the Japanese currently
produce some of the best animation in the world, in terms of story and
technical quality.  Note that although the animation for most American
cartoons is done in Asian countries these days, rec.arts.anime only concerns
itself with animation originated in Japan.


o HOW TO USE REC.ARTS.ANIME (For NEW UseNet users)

If you're a new NetNews reader and don't know the correct protocol and
etiquette for posting messages, the following files accessible in the
news.announce.newusers newsgroup are recommended reading:

	- "A Primer on How to Work With the Usenet"
	- "Rules for posting to Usenet"
	- "Emily Postnews Answers Your Questions"

Some basic tips to reduce the signal-to-noise ratio:

- If you don't see postings about a subject you're interested in (and which is
  related to this newsgroup), don't gripe, POST AN ARTICLE ABOUT THAT SUBJECT!
  If you receive no reply in a week, TRY AGAIN!  Fires don't always start with
  the first spark.

- If you feel the need to insult someone, do it by electronic mail, or better
  yet, write a scathing message and then throw it away.  Please don't do it
  here.  It's irritating to the bystanders, and harmful to your public image.

- Before you submit a follow-up to a message, read the rest of the messages in
  the newsgroup to see whether someone has already said what you want to say.
  If someone has, don't repeat it.  If you're answering a question, mail your
  answer to the person and suggest that they summarize to the network.  This
  way the net will only see a single copy of the answers, no matter how many
  people answer the question.

- If you post a question, please remind people to send you the answers by
  mail and at least offer to summarize them to the network.



o DEFINITIONS

The following are short descriptions of terms and abbreviations common in this
newsgroup.

.Z:	Suffix for compressed text files.  See Compressed Text.

Anime:	Japanese word for animation, pronounced "ah-nee-may" The term
	"anime" is preferred in this newsgroup over "japanimation" (a
	term used by Americans to refer to Japanese animation), as the latter
	seems to be offensive to some people.

Anonymous FTP:  A method to log into a remote machine without needing an
	account, and extracting software from it.  A list of machines with 
	anime resources available through anonymous FTP is given later on.
	If you want to use anonymous FTP but don't know how, ask your local
	System Administrator.

APA:	Amateur Publication Association, a generic term for a kind of "members
	only" fanzine in which the members of the association send art or text
	contributions (known as "tribs") to the fanzine editor, who then
	compiles all the tribs into a magazine which is sent back to the 
	contributing members.  Note that a member of an APA is expected to 
	contribute something (i.e., no passive members).  [For more
        information, and a list of Anime APAs, send me e-mail]

Aspect Ratio:  The proportions of the image rectangle.  Most theatrical anime
	uses an aspect ratio of 1.66:1, with some exceptions.  For example,
	WINGS OF HONNEAMISE uses an aspect ratio of 1.85:1.  This means that
	the image is 1.85 times wide as it is tall.

BGC:	Bubble Gum Crisis, a popular SF OVA series.  The name is a slang
        for a situation which is ready to blow up at any time.

BGM:	Background music, expanded here to include songs.

CD:	Compact Disc.  There are four major types of anime CDs:
	soundtrack - Contains the musical score for the anime.  An exception
		is the soundtrack for Akira, which includes the voices and
		sound effects!  If you just want the music, get the Akira
		Symphonic Suite instead.
	symphonic - A full-symphony rendition of the music in the anime.
	image - Contains music that "evokes the memory (or mood) of the film".
		This includes new versions of music on the anime, music written
		for the film but not included in it, and other (maybe new)
		music somehow related to the film.
	high-tech - A synthetizer rendition of the music in the anime. 

CD-V:	CD-Video.  A five-inch disc that has one track of audio-and-video,
	and three or four additional tracks of audio-only. It looks exactly
	like a CD, only with gold foil instead of aluminum used for the data
	surface.

CAV:	Constant Angular Velocity.  The name used for a method of encoding
	images in a LD which can retrieve individual image frames from
	a video.  This mode allows such special effects as "perfect" freeze
	frame, "perfect" slow motion, and frame-by-frame stepping.  A LD
	using CAV can only store 30 minutes of video per side.

CLV:	Constant Linear Velocity.  The name used for a method of encoding
	images in a laserdisc which provides twice the capacity of CAV disks
	(up to 60 minutes of video per side).  The special effects available
	in CAV disks are not supported in CLV disks, but some high-scale
	LD players use special electronics to simulate those features.

Compressed text:  Text files compressed with the Unix compress(1) program.
	This is done to long text files (like anime scripts) to save disk
	storage space.  In order to view such a file, you must first run
	uncompress(1) or an equivalent program in order to convert it back
	to its original form.  You could also use zcat(1) to view the contents
	of the file without decompressing it.

Dubbing: Translating an anime film into another language, using voice actors
	to provide the voices in that language.

Dubbing: Copying video/audio tapes.  Dubbing anime tapes for purposes other
        than having a backup copy is illegal according to the US and Japanese
	copyright laws. 

ED:	Ending credits.  A good place to find good animation and BGM.

FAQ:	Frequently Asked Question.  A question which is frequently asked
	by new (or casual) users of a newsgroup.  In order to increase the
	Signal-to-Noise ratio, some newsgroups have a person in charge of
	posting a monthly list of FAQs and the correct answers.  The Anime
	FAQL consists of four postings which (hopefully) cover most things
	new rec.arts.anime users look for:
	1) An introduction to the newsgroup and its slang.
	2) Answers to common questions.
	3) Anime Resources, both electronic and commercial.
	4) Recommendations for good anime.

	This list is posted here the first week of every month.  You're
	looking at it.

FTP:	See Anonymous FTP.

GIF:	GIF is a format developed at CompuServe to store color computer
	graphics in a compact, machine independent format.  To view a GIF file
	you need a program that reads the GIF file and produces an image in the
	format used by your computer system.  The /gifstuff directory in the
	ix3.ucc.utexas.edu anonymous FTP site contains GIF viewers for Amiga,
	Apple II and IIgs, Macintosh, MS-DOS, Sun, and X.  If you can't find
	what you're looking for, you can ask in the appropriate newsgroup for
	your computer, or in alt.graphics.pixutils.

IMHO:	In My (Humble, Honest) Opinion.

KOR:	Kigumare Orange Road, an old romantic fantasy/comedy TV series popular
	in this newsgroup.

LD:	Full-sized (twelve inch) laserdisc.  There is also an eight-inch
	format, usually known as "LD8".  Bob Niland has written a variety of
	general articles on LaserDiscs.  They can be requested from him via 
	email at rjn@hpfcjn.fc.hp.com or via ftp from princeton.edu
	(128.112.128.1, in directory pub/Video/Niland) See the FAQ for
	more information on ftp.

Letterbox:  The term used to describe the method on which a film with an aspect
	ratio grater than 1.33:1 (the aspect ratio of a TV screen) is shrunk
	so that the image fits in a TV screen.  This will cause black bands at
	the top and bottom of the screen; the greater the aspect ratio, the
	more pronounced the bars.  The word comes from an analogy of looking
	at the screen through a letter-box slot.

Manga:	Pronounced "man-gah".  A type of Japanese artform which has
	it's roots in Ukiyo-e wood prints and other traditional art.  In it's
	popular culture form of Asian sequential art and graphic storytelling,
	features, manga can be found in most Japanese bookstores.
	Many popular anime were adapted from original manga. Recently,
	a newsgroup rec.arts.manga, was created to discuss manga in
	it's many incarnations.

Mailing list:  A method of communication between fans of a given subject
	without the need of a newsgroup.  A member of a mailing list sends
	e-mail to a machine called a "mailing list server", which in turn
	sends copies of the e-mail to all the members of the mailing list.
	To subscribe to the mailing list, send e-mail to the mailing list
 	server.  The first line of the e-mail should look like this:
		subscribe list-name yourlogin@youraddress Firstname Lastname

Mecha:	Roughly, Japanese for "mechanicals".  Most of the so-called
	"giant robot" anime features are known as mecha features.

Model kit:  Scale model.  The most popular varieties of these are:
	injection-molded - this is the typical polyestyrene scale model
		most people are familiar with.
	garage kits - usually done from plastic resin (for mecha) or vinyl
		(for character models).  These tend to have smaller production
		runs and be VERY expensive (up to $100.00!).

OAV:	Original Animation Video.  An anime feature released directly to video
	without a previous theatrical or broadcast release.  The US equivalent
	would be "made-for-video".  In terms of quality, theatrical movies are
	usually the best, followed by OAVs, and network TV shows at the end. 
	Also known as OVA (Original Video Animation).

OP:	Opening credits.  Another good place to find good animation/BGM.

Otaku:	Japanese for "obsessed fan" (a term which applies to many people in
	rec.arts.anime :-) ). See The Frequently Asked Questions list
	for a more detailed definition.

OVA:	Original Video Animation.  Same thing as an OAV.

Script:	An English-text script for a particular anime feature.  Very useful
	for Japanese-impaired anime fans.
	
Subbing:  Slang for subtitling.

Subtitling:  Translating an anime film into another language, using text at
	the bottom of the screen as a running translation of what the
	characters are saying.

Synopsis:  A text description of an anime feature, possibly with some snippets
	of dialogue thrown in.  Unlike dubbing, subtitling, and scripts,
	a synopsis does not require the approval of the legal owner of the
	feature before it is made publicly available.

UY:	Urusei Yatsura, a famous comedy SF series.

WotW:	WARRIORS OF THE WIND.  See the Frequently Asked Questions List for the
	NAUSICAA OF THE VALLEY OF THE WIND vs. WARRIORS OF THE WIND entry.


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