Update again

Sigh. I'm still here. Did some work on the airplane on Episode 4, but it's a super long episode, subtitle-wise, and I haven't been disciplined lately.

On top of that just bought a house! But that's really just coming up with excuses. I'll have something new up soon... I hope.

Episodes 5 & 6 Timing

A gracious visitor has shed light upon the subber, Riccardo Moratto, whose Italian subtitles I've been using for hints and for its existing subtitle-timing framework.

And it looks like he has done 2 additional episodes, 5 & 6, which I just downloaded!

Awesome find!

If anybody wants to find them, you can access them at the bottom of the first post at: http://www.asianworld.it/forum/index.php?showtopic=8043&st=0

Where to download Crystal Boys episodes!

For those of you who are less internet savvy and need a little assistance in finding the episodes...

They're really quite easy to find. It came up as my first search result on Google!

You'll need to know how to use TORRENTS of course, to obtain the files. If you're not, then maybe post a comment and ask for some help from fellow fans. Torrents are really quite easy to use.

So, the exact link where I found the download links for the Torrent, containing all of the episodes, is actually: http://www.d-addicts.com/forum/torrents.php?type=info_hash&search=d3faddf5acb95dcc8b09821676a46f129c9af04f

If that link doesn't work, then the way you get there is by going to: http://www.d-addicts.com/forum/viewtopic_55765.htm and click on "Crystal Boys Ep 1-20 + Making Of" near the top of the page, next to "Name:".

It'll take you to the Torrent download page, where you can access the torrent file. I just tried it right now, and there are a good number of peers sharing the files, so at least as of this post date, the video files should be fairly accessible.



Once you obtain the RMVB files, you should use an updated copy of VLC Media Player to play them. If you do not have VLC, then you should seriously consider getting and using it for... everything. It's amazing and free and super competent.

Episode 3: English Subtitles

Wow, this took me forever. I can't imagine how long it's gonna take after I'm done with Episode 4 and have to work purely from scratch.

The English subtitles for Episode 3 are finally complete. Some notes...

-Rather than trying to translate the meaning behind everyone's names, which I realized now was really stupid, I'm just going to write them in their phonetic form instead. It all started with Diwa, Aqing's little brother, whose name really means something like "little brother doll," so I called him "Baby Bro" in the Ep1 and Ep2 subs. From now on, I'm just going to put the names in their "pinyin" form, and I'm taking out the hiphens as well from now on, so A-Qing is now Aqing.

If you're not familiar with Chinese names, here's a little cultural tidbit to help you follow the names better. The Chinese language is very familial and personable in its ways of addressing one another. People are often addressed as Big/Little/Old/Young Brother or Sister, for example. Also, the way you often give specific nicknames is by taking part of a given name and adding "A" to it, which makes it informal sounding. That's why the main character, whose name is really Li Qing (Li is his surname, Qing is his given name), is called Aqing for short. Also, another common practice is by adding "Xiao" in front of the name, which literally translates to "Little." Or, sometimes you take part of the name and just repeat it. So, take me for example... My given name is Jianhong, and so my family calls me Honghong as a nickname.

-As a reminder, I continued my practice of labeling the language that the dialogue is in, if it's NOT in Mandarin. So, in this episode, [T] still means Taiwanese, and [J] will mean Japanese.

-Various people have reached out and written comments about their willingness to help. I've not been very good with following up with you on this... Before I get to work on Episode 4, I'm going to: (a) Follow up with everybody, (b) Find a way to provide access to the episode video files for the upcoming episodes that need to be translated, and (c) Make a post providing formal instructions on how everyone can start COLLABORATING, and include a To-Do list!

Here's something simple that needs to be done... Anyone able to go through Episodes 1 and 2, and fill in any of those lines that I left blank, when I had no idea what was being said? Also, anyone want to help convert all the A-Qings into just Aqing, and all the Baby Bros into Diwa?

And finally, here is the download link for the English subtitles of Crystal Boys Episode 3:

[revised 3/7/2010 - Thank you, Gay Asian Films, for letting me know about the subs not working right after the beginning. It's because I made an error in the sub formatting. I've fixed it and uploaded the revised file...]
http://www.mediafire.com/file/omwkjdyqjy0/cb_ep3_eng_v2.srt

Update

I'm still alive! Not too much activity lately since I got better from my sickness. Catching up with all my work still. I hope I'll have some extra work done on the next episode this weekend.

I hope to be able to set up some structure or system to allow anyone / everyone to get involved and help out a bit. If I do this all by myself, then this website doesn't make sense and the process will take forever.

Will update again soon!

Somebody's Imagination

The spoilers that came and/or never came... watch at your own risk! :D



or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITXcF60jay4 if that video is not working.

Update and Movie Files

Episode 3 subs are in progress, and I recruited my friend Wallaby to help proofread them when I'm done!

Temporary pause in the work, though, because right now my cold/flu which has been coming and going for the past 5 weeks has returned with reinforcements.

Several people have been contacting me asking where to find the video files so that they can watch Crystal Boys in the first place. I have been... pointing them in the right direction. If this applies to you - and I suspect it does - then make sure your profile shows a way to reach you, and we'll see what can be done...

Episode 1: English Subtitles (New)

Okay, Episode 1 is done again.

About 3/4 of the way through, I decided I'm gonna start distinguishing between the different languages they're talking in. Most of it is in Mandarin, but if they're talking in Taiwanese, I'm gonna start labeling it with a [T]. Later, when they start talking in Japanese, I'll put a [J].

For the most part, A-Qing's mom always talks in Taiwanese, and A-Qing as a kid often talks to her in Taiwanese as well. A-Qing as an adult rarely - if ever - speaks in Taiwanese, and mostly only speaks in Mandarin.

And of course, when I have no clue what's being said, I just put [?]. Or, if I highly doubt the accuracy of my translation, I put the [?] there too.

Please comment with errors and suggested fixes. Thanks!

Download the subtitles here:
http://www.mediafire.com/file/jkzyr2lqdfz/cb_ep1_eng.srt

Episode 1: English Subtitles down

Well, on the topic of Episode 1's English subtitles...

Yes. It would seem that they have disappeared from Mediafire. I don't know if it was the mess I was making trying to organize my online files, or if they deleted it on their end, but I somehow doubt the latter.

I really don't think Mediafire cares, so I am led to believe it was my own doing. What's bad is that I can't find my original copy! After uploading it to the internet, I cleaned up my messy desktop and thought "it's ok, it's all backed up now."

Sigh... I guess I'll have to re-do Episode 1. (ARGGH)

At least it's still fresh in my memory. Currently about 60% done in re-creation. They'll be back up again soon.

Lesson learned.

Episode 2: English Subtitles

Well it's raining here in LA and I've had a lingering cold that just will not go away. Unfortunately, that doesn't mean that I get to stay home to work on these subtitles all day. It just means that when I get home from work, I feel kinda crappy and not in the mood to do anything.

But there is good news to be had. I have nevertheless completed the translation of Episode 2 subtitles! To be clear, this SRT file syncs with the RMVB file that somebody somewhere once uploaded to the internet. The file length is 56 minutes and 2 seconds.

You can access the file here:
http://www.mediafire.com/file/dztnez2tqhy/cb_ep2_eng.srt

Please post your comments, suggestions, criticisms, corrections, etc. I really appreciate feedback!

Intermission

Super busy at work lately... Episode 2 is almost done being translated and will be up shortly.

Episode 2: In Progress

Hmm! Lots of progress today. Almost halfway done with Episode 2.

When should I start publicizing these? I wonder when I should start advertising these subtitles?

Episode 1: English Subtitles

Here it is, folks! The world premiere of Crystal Boys Episode 1 English Subtitles!

Download it here:
http://www.mediafire.com/file/jzrttzonywy/cb_ep1_eng.srt

Just so that we're on the same page... these subtitles were made with the help of the Italian subs I found on the internet. I translated it all to English and made many corrections.

The subs synchronize with the digital file of Episode 1 that I have, which is an RMVB file... 56 minutes and 1 second in length.

Give me your thoughts and comments, criticisms, corrections, etc.!

WELCOME

(Who) THE CAST:

--Me... I can understand - or at least figure out - most of what's going on. I've also read the English translation of the actual book before. I'm a big fan of books, but in this case, I actually much prefer the miniseries to the book.

--My mom? Maybe she can help me decipher some of the Taiwanese. She likes to speak to my Grandma in Taiwanese when she doesn't want me or my sisters to understand what they're saying.

--Japanese friends? Will have to hunt some down...

--YOU? Yes, you. You're obviously not at this website by any accident. YOU WANT THE SUBTITLES, I know you do! Well, you've gotta work to get them! Please contribute!

(What) THE SUBS:

I seem to have found some Italian (of all languages) subs for the first 4 episodes. I don't remember where I got them, but what's important is that I found them and that they will be a tremendous help in getting us off to a running start.

I will be posting and sharing my work in progress on here, so that you can access the subs I'm working on, and (hopefully, with a bit of law-bending) a link for you to download the current episode being translated.

I've tried converting the Italian subs into Spanish as well as English. Most of the time when the English subs don't make sense, and if I'm not able to make sense out of the Mandarin, I'll also check the Spanish-converted subs. I feel like Italian converts into Spanish a lot more smoothly than it does to English, so this helps sometimes.

(When) THE TIMELINE

Well... As tempting as certain juicy episodes are, I'm not going to jump around between them. I'm going to try to work my way through them from start to finish. This is in my spare time, though. With some help and feedback from you (THE COMMUNITY), hopefully this collaboration will keep its momentum and I won't lose interest!

(Where) VIRTUAL SPACE

Right here at this Blog, its comments, and wherever I end up hosting the pertinent files! If any of you are in the LA area and aren't creepers, and wanna meet up for a translating bonanza, then of course we could turn this VIRTUAL SPACE into a real physical space. That'd be cool.

(Why) WE WANT IN!

Yes, we want in! We the English-speaking, Crystal Boys-deprived audience want to watch AND understand this story!

(How) COMMENTS!

Since I'm no programmer, I guess the only means of communication we have for now is COMMENTS! Leave comments of "way to go!" and "keep it up!" and "jiayou!" Also, of course "HOW CAN I HELP?" would be ideal.

Let's get down to business!