So a while ago I wrote about the battle between Tudou and Youku. At the time, Youku seemed to be in the lead, with Tudou trying strategic moves to pull themselves up the ranks of video sharing sites in Asia. Youku's advantage seems to have sprung from them concentrating on the historically more difficult Chinese market, with deals in place with Chinese TV stations to ensure that new and relevant content is constantly available to viewers. As we know, deal negotiation is a difficult business in China, and Tudou took the decision to focus on Japan, partnering with TV Tokyo to allow viewers to watch animated shows shortly after they appeared on TV. The problem with this, of course, is that there is far more competition in the popular Japanese anime market; making a dent in an already saturated area is a difficult deal to swing. Youku, on the other hand, focused on exclusive deals with Chinese TV stations, enabling the company to carve out a niche to which few others had access.
More after the jump
I was intrigued to find in my inbox this morning a study about how perfectionism relates to social goals. Shim & Fletcher studied a sample group of 367 college students to find out how two particular areas of perfectionism - personal standards and concern over mistakes - made a difference to perfectionists' actions and reactions in social situations.
Unsurprisingly, it seems that people who are preoccupied with perfection don't just set aside their worries when they start interacting with others.
Full results after the jump
Previous studies in this area have concluded that there is a correlation between depression and emotional intelligence; Fernandez-Berrocal et al, for example, published a paper showing that adolescents who reported a high level of self-assessed emotional intelligence were less likely to be depressed or anxious. There's a copy of their research online, which you can download here.
Salguero et al recently wondered whether there would be a difference in the relationship between emotional intelligence and depression if gender were also taken into account. Keeping in mind the results of previous research, they studied 620 students who rated themselves on a scale of emotional intelligence, as well as completing a depression inventory.
Results after the jump
I found this post on The Art of Manliness the other day, which intrigued me. It listed 100 books that every man should read; and, being a bit of a bloke myself, I decided to take a look and see how many I'd already read. It's actually quite nice to have a list of "must-read" books, most of which I haven't yet read. Fodder for my reading list...
See the list after the jump
This year, I'm devoting some time to filling in gaps in my reading. The Picture of Dorian Gray was one of those books I've always assumed I'd read during my classical fiction period, which happened when I was about 14 and decided I should really read all the classical novels before I carried on reading modern ones. I covered Austen, Eliot, Dickens, the Bronte girls; most of which I'd read before, but I've found that the classics tend to be worth revisiting.
Somehow, though, I'd always managed to miss this one. How, I have no idea. It's right up my street. And when I started reading it, it swiftly rose up the ranks to become one of my favourite novels ever. Ever ever.
More after the jump
I love Jane Green. There are three authors in this world about whom I can honestly say I've read everything they've ever published: Jane Green, Sue Grafton and Enid Blyton. I was that kind of kid.
The problem with this, of course, is that it means I have to re-read books to get my Grafton/Green fix. Blyton I grew out of long ago (though I wouldn't be surprised if I revisit her books at some point too), but it disappoints me that I don't have new material to read by the others.
Which is why I was so excited to be sent a copy of The Patchwork Marriage, a new book by Jane Green.
Review after the jump
A while ago, one of my colleagues came into the office and exclaimed "OH MY GOD. You must read this book. SHE IS YOU."
I wasn't sure. It's been really popular - and, whilst I'm a huge fan of popular crime fiction, there was something about this particular book that hadn't appealed. A few people had said it was pretty average; disappointing, even, considering all the hype.
But it got to the point where the agency I work for ran the ad campaign for the trailer, all my colleagues were raving about how great it was, and the girl was a tattooed private investigator. I had to give it a go.
More after the jump
