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Topic: Confusing race... (Read 1606 times) |
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Jess_13
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Confusing race...
« on: Feb 21st, 2004, 7:37am » |
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OK this is a hard one..sorta...
There are two horses and theire jockeys.. A rich man wants them to run a race to find out who is the slowest horse...how will this race ever end? The two horses have the same speed.
IF YOU KNWO THIS DONT ANSWER!~!!!!
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Icarus
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Re: Confusing race...
« Reply #1 on: Feb 21st, 2004, 8:25am » |
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You will find a version of this same puzzle on the Riddle pages: Arab Sheikh Camels in the easy section. The Easy forum has several threads for it.
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Jess_13
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Re: Confusing race...
« Reply #2 on: Feb 21st, 2004, 8:31am » |
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Ya i dont know the other ones... sorry.. 
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evergreena3
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Re: Confusing race...
« Reply #3 on: Apr 1st, 2004, 1:57pm » |
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Jess,
You said "If you know this, don't answer."
How, then, do you expect anyone to answer your riddle? If I don't know it, but I figure it out, then I DO know it...and therefore can't post it. What then?
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You're welcome! (get it?)
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Speaker
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Re: Confusing race...
« Reply #4 on: Apr 1st, 2004, 3:46pm » |
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evergreena3, that would be the old two doctors situation.
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SWF
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Re: Confusing race...
« Reply #5 on: Apr 1st, 2004, 5:09pm » |
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on Feb 21st, 2004, 7:37am, Jess_13 wrote:| The two horses have the same speed. |
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Since the horses have the same speed, "slowest" must refer to something other than speed, maybe intellegence or horse sense?
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KenYonRuKu
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Re: Confusing race...
« Reply #6 on: Apr 1st, 2004, 5:27pm » |
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Speaking of horses, what do you think, Speaker, of the most famous horse in Japan?
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Speaker
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Re: Confusing race...
« Reply #7 on: Apr 1st, 2004, 5:32pm » |
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A fine animal. With a history that is truly without blemish.
I did not know you were a betting man...
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DeMark
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Re: Confusing race...
« Reply #8 on: Apr 2nd, 2004, 10:37am » |
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Yeah, let's talk about horses. I love U guys, someone gives a riddle and after it's solved you start talking about something
completely different from the riddle. Okay, not totally different in this case...  Tell me something about the most famous horse in Japan. Please.
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| « Last Edit: Apr 2nd, 2004, 10:39am by DeMark » |
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kellys
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Re: Confusing race...
« Reply #9 on: Apr 3rd, 2004, 1:18am » |
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Yes, I heard about this horse on the public radio here... they said that the horse "gave hope to the Japanese in troubling economic times." (hope of repeated failure?) Is this true?
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KenYonRuKu
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Re: Confusing race...
« Reply #10 on: Apr 3rd, 2004, 2:42am » |
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The horse in question wears Hello Kitty paraphenalia and is, in modern parlance, a knackers yard worrier. It has lost well over a hundred of its last races, and is a major celebrity here in Japan. Only in this country could this be so. What say you Speaker?
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Speaker
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Re: Confusing race...
« Reply #11 on: Apr 4th, 2004, 5:05pm » |
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Yes, I agree. There is a sort of anti-hero common in many Japanese stories and culture. The person who tries there very best and loses (or even dies trying) is greatly respected.
I cannot think of any of the textbook examples, but maybe.
Lupin III (Lupan Sansei). He is a hero, although a crook, but he is always screwing up, never succeeds or gets the girl. This is a manga, but I hear that they will soon be making a movie about him.
I will try to find some more concrete answers.
The Horse is called Haru-urara. He is an 8 year old male horse. He normally races in a place called Kochi in the south of Shikoku, the smallest of the four main islands. He has lost more than 106 races in a row. At a race in Hokkaido, the northern most island, 8,300,000 yen was bet by a record breaking crowd of 9000 people, to WIN. Of course Haru-urara lost, so the economy of the people went down, but the race course went up. People were quoted as saying that, "Well, it wouldn't be right to destroy the dream."
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| « Last Edit: Apr 4th, 2004, 5:09pm by Speaker » |
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Icarus
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Re: Confusing race...
« Reply #12 on: Apr 5th, 2004, 3:56pm » |
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on Apr 3rd, 2004, 2:42am, KenYonRuKu wrote:| Only in this country could this be so. |
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I have to disagree with this! There are many examples of similar things in the US, and in Europe. I suppose in other places as well.
For example, of late there is William Hung, who has gained celebrity status as a result of this performance. A couple other examples are the Jamaican bobsled team and "Eddie the Eagle", a British ski jumper, who were big hits at the Winter Olympics a few years ago, despite being hands-down the worst competitors in their sports, only able to make the Olympics because their countries had no other competitors. Both were very popular in the US, and I believe that Eddie was a real sensation in Britain.
Americans have a tendency to "favor the underdog". I suspect the same is true elsewhere.
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Speaker
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Re: Confusing race...
« Reply #13 on: Apr 5th, 2004, 5:34pm » |
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Icarus, I think you are right about people cheering on the underdog all over the world. But, there are some differences, which instead of trying to explain I have an example.
There is a cartoon in Japan called "Doraemon." This is the robot cat that has a pocket on its tummy from which incredible things can be pulled. Doraemon lives with a boy called "Nobita" who is pretty much a loser. Doraemon and Nobita have all kinds of adventures. So, my point. While many other Japanese cartoons have been aired in the US with great success, Doraemon was aired and flopped. The reason given was that the star Nobita was too much of a misfit/loser/nincompoop. However, Doraemon is a huge success in Japan. This is not my opinion, coincidently it was recently discussed on television. It was a quiz type show where an MC and a panel discuss strange/obscure facts.
On the television show the MC asked the panel why Doraemon was not popular in the US, whereas many other cartoons are. Some of the reasons given before somebody figured out the right one were. People did not like the scenes where Nobita is peeping at the girl character taking a bath. (People understand the Puritan nudity ethic common in the US.) Another was that the "bully" character was too rough and therefore not acceptable. There were other discussions but I cannot remember it all. Finally someone hit on it and the MC explained what is the accepted reason in the TV industry.
I did a little search to find more examples in fairy tales and other stories, but have not found any yet. So, maybe it is all just anecdotal, but I think there is more to it than that.
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Icarus
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Re: Confusing race...
« Reply #14 on: Apr 5th, 2004, 6:57pm » |
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Without any familiarity with the show, I cannot guess about why it was not a success here. I would not trust the TV industry's reasoning. Quite frankly, there is a strong belief in this country that our entertainment producers are almost completely clueless. There is a lot of evidence of this, including the fact that several shows which were turned down by the industry, but produced anyway because somebody financed them indepently, have gone on to become major hits. The latest example of this was "The Passion of the Christ", but there are many, many others. Meanwhile the industry leaders keep churning out show after show that flops.
Why didn't Doraemon succeed? There are any number of possible reasons. My guess, is that American kids could not find something compelling to relate to in Nobita. If he is portrayed as a complete loser whose failure is due to his own lack of trying, and he never learns any better, then I could understand us not caring for him. (I don't know if this is true of him or not.) Americans understand and sympathize greatly with misfits who are just trying to make their own way in the world, even when they lack the abilities to do so. We all feel that way to some extent. The vast majority of our stories reflect this point of view in some way. The loser who has no dream, no different drummer, but rather is too lazy or too scared to try, or who treats those around him as badly as he is treated does not get this sympathy, for we would rather not recognize the same in ourselves.
How this may be different in Japan, I don't know. That Japanese do view things significantly differently than Americans is clear. One example going the other way are game shows. As one example, I have heard that the show "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?", once wildly popular in Britain and the USA, had to undergo significant format changes to fit the Japanese market, because the Japanese tend to look on the British/American versions as awarding undeserved wealth and find it offensive. We are much looser in our view of what is "deserved".
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Speaker
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Re: Confusing race...
« Reply #15 on: Apr 5th, 2004, 7:09pm » |
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Your description of Nobita hits the head on the nail. He uses the powers of the robot cat to avoid or get around his own problems, and inevitably causes problems for the other characters. He never seems to learn.
I have seen the Millionaire show in Japan, but not in the US or UK. So, I cannot compare them.
But, there was a similar show. The player had to describe why he should get the money. Examples like; pay off debts, get married, take care of old parent, take a long vacation from grueling job. The audience then voted. It was a real tear-fest most of the time. But, it seems the winners "deserved" or needed anyway to have the money.
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Icarus
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Re: Confusing race...
« Reply #16 on: Apr 6th, 2004, 4:38pm » |
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Of course that brings up the question of why Japanese do like him. It has been my observation that what Americans want in our stories is, as I said, someone we relate to in some way. Someone whose struggles we understand, because we undergo similar struggles. Our most recurrent theme is the misfit who does not yield to pressures to conform, but overcomes. (A second common theme is the misfit who does yield, with evil result.)
One could argue that, like Nobita, the Simpsons similarly never learn. But in fact they do learn in each show. It is just that in the next show all such lessons are forgotten and must be learned again.
Do Japanese find something to relate to in Nobita or Doraemon? Or does the Japanese attraction have a different basis? Do you like the show despite not relating to its characters?
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I wonder: Which is larger
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Speaker
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Re: Confusing race...
« Reply #17 on: Apr 6th, 2004, 5:48pm » |
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Maybe the attraction is similar to the German schadenfreude. So people like to see this kid dig himself deeper and deeper into trouble. Knowing, however, that they would never do something so stupid.
Doraemon is also moderately cool in that he has lots of gadgets that do incredible things. So, that is fun to watch. I do not like it as much as other cartoons, but my children like to watch it and it is on Sunday evenings, so I get my fill pretty quickly.
Nobita never learns, but that is the life of a cartoon character (and many other characters on the idiot box).
There was another television show, which is more to my liking, although it has been off the air for several years. The plot line was the same every week, but with a different cast every week. The anti-hero is a loser of some kind. Everybody in the office picks on them. Ignores them when they should pay attention, and points their fingers when looking away would be more polite. Forcing them to do all the dirty jobs and never thanking them. (Many of the episodes were at an office, but some were in the home, or among groups of housewives.) Anyway, finally the anti-hero gets fed up and screams "BAKA-YA-RO" at the boss or whoever. The translation varies depending on the situation, but "GET OUT OF MY FACE YOU IDIOT" would be pretty good. Every episode ended this way, with the same final line. So, you could never get to see the anti-hero enjoy the fruits of his rebellion. I think this allowed people to settle it in their own mind: Did he quit, or was he granted membership to the group, or was there no change. So, it was not as satisfying as I would have liked.
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| « Last Edit: Apr 6th, 2004, 5:50pm by Speaker » |
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John_Gaughan
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Re: Confusing race...
« Reply #18 on: Apr 7th, 2004, 7:11pm » |
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on Apr 5th, 2004, 6:57pm, Icarus wrote:| I would not trust the TV industry's reasoning. Quite frankly, there is a strong belief in this country that our entertainment producers are almost completely clueless. |
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Belief? No, fact
I think the real issue with the U.S. entertainment industry is they treat us normal people as morons. They think we are unable to digest sophisticated entertainment, so we get crap* like Survivor, game shows, and sitcoms that use recycled plot lines for decades in a row.
I gave up on the TV and music industries. Every once in a while I will buy a CD or watch a show, but rarely. They just do not produce entertainment that I find entertaining.
* this is, of course, my opinion. You are free to disagree. Most people do.
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Icarus
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Re: Confusing race...
« Reply #19 on: Apr 7th, 2004, 7:28pm » |
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Disagree? Hardly! The only show I ever watch anymore is Jeopardy. I followed Junkyard Wars for a couple seasons before they removed everything that was enjoyable about it to make an "american" version. "Enterprise" failed to engage me in the slightest, even though I stuck through "Voyager" to the bitter end.
I've heard people complain about the declining quality of TV programming, but I don't believe that is true. I've seen reruns of shows that I loved as a kid, and quite frankly, I have no clue now as to why. They are as bad or worse than what I see today.
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John_Gaughan
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Re: Confusing race...
« Reply #20 on: Apr 7th, 2004, 7:41pm » |
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on Apr 7th, 2004, 7:28pm, Icarus wrote:| I've heard people complain about the declining quality of TV programming, but I don't believe that is true. I've seen reruns of shows that I loved as a kid, and quite frankly, I have no clue now as to why. They are as bad or worse than what I see today. |
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I think that is true about a lot of things, and part of the issue is cultural shifts. I just bought UHF, which I remembered as a funny movie from when I was growing up in the 1980s. I think I laughed twice while watching it as an adult. I think the main reason I did not find it nearly as humorous is that it is no longer the 1980s. People change.
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Speaker
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Re: Confusing race...
« Reply #21 on: Apr 7th, 2004, 7:57pm » |
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We could think of it as a function of wisdom (knowledge gained) or maybe intelligence (ability to think). So, as you gain experience and knowledge as you age, the unusual and surprising things that made you laugh and kept your interest no longer do so.
And, the writers and producers still need to hit the "prime" demographic. So, they write to the lowest common denominator figuring they will catch the most viewers. Also, it is a creative art, so who knows if its entertaining until you are entertained by it.
I only watch a few hours of tv per week here in Japan, but when I am back in the US, I try to watch as much as possible. Just to absorb the current pop culture. In this mode, I don't judge, just consume. It is not a pretty sight.
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