referrals?

So M has expressed an interest in touring Europe. I am trying to find a Chinese travel agency that does tours like that cause I figure she might be more comfortable with a Chinese tour guide. Do you guys have suggestsions of travel agency you may have heard of as good?

trivia report

So we were again the recipient of the coveted $1 pitcher prize as we were last place with 30 points. Although it was especially sad today because we actually thought we did pretty well considering the categories. There was the always feared "Authors" category. The "Cold War Movie Quotes" category (WTF!!), and the best of all, a Anagram category with no clue!! We completely failed that one :( Here it is for your solving pleasure:

DOLAMN
A TIP CHAOS
A MAMA CIDA
LEFT RIB

bonus: what is the theme of this group of anagrams.

Although we almost got every single question in the music category. I was happy as 3 songs played were songs Clay has sung haha.

THe most amazing thing of the night however, was that the first place winner, with 47 points after a tie breaker was a ONE MAN team. He won it all, all by himself. My hero!

LOL

I think the writers should strike more often if these are the results.

Some background: Jimmy Kimmel has been publically dating Sarah Silverman for like 5 years. And Sarah made this video for him in January



and here is Jimmy's star-studded angry retaliation



ROFL!!! See if you can spot all the celebrities! And I have to say, objectively, Matt Damon was much much sexier and cute in his video.. ^_^

I finally did it!!

So, I got the whim last night (My life is basically one whim after another without forethought sigh) to get rid of my Yahoo account and finally move over to the far superior Gmail where things don't work on a time delay. The operation kinda extended into today also since I have to basically dig up every single website account I can find and change my contact email. What a pain!! I guess the move will not be complete for at least a few more month as obscure websites I don't even remember pops up an email notification. But at least right now, I Feel happy. Yall can email me at the same address as this blog :D

exciting AI

So here is some new AI our team is developing right now, very exciting!!

whirlwind of a trip

New York Album
As you may have heard, I went on a whirlwind trip to New York City this weekend to see my most favorite idol Clay Aiken, who is playing Sir Robin in Mont Python's Spamalot on Broadway. This is a really fantastic moment for Clay fans everywhere since he is actually doing something cool after being completely shafted by his record company with the last album. My friend Regi and Sillygurl bought tickets as soon as the tour was announced so we got 2nd row center tickets. We had to pay an arm and teeth for them but it was all worth it for this once in a lifetime show.

I was actually overly ambitious in my plan as I didn't want to take any vacation so I thought I could do a red eye flight to NY from Seattle and arrive Saturday at 8am. Hang out with friends, go see the show and come back on a 4pm flight on Sunday. Now everything worked out perfectly but I was dead tired as I only got one hour of sleep on Friday night and I was having way too much fun to rest afterwards. So this is not highly recommended haha.

After I got to our hotel, the Westin Time Square, I found out that we got upgraded to an "exercise room", which means there is an exercise bike in the room, along with weights and a big rubber ball. Although i have no idea how you suppose to do anything with it since with the exercise bike there is barely any room to stand. I also have to comment on the amazing $200 shower head in the bathroom (everything in the room can be ordered by catalog). OMg, it was totally amazing, emitting just the most gentle yet totally satisfying stream of water that softly massages your body.... err i will stop now.

First Stop: Rockefeller Center

We made Rockefeller Center our first stop because Sillygurl really wanted to tour the NBC Studio which is located inside 30 Rock. I totally didn't know that so we were all looking forward to it. The NBC Studios offers an hour tour of the studio and some of the sound stages. We signed up for the 1:30 tour, since we still had about an hour to kill we decided to look around the conveniently located gift shop right outside the ticketing counter. Among Friends mugs and Heroes shirts I found this lovely cardboard of Matt Lauer.




Unfortunately we were not allowed to take pictures on the tour, but it was really interesting to see the inside of a TV station. The first thing we saw was literally hundreds and hundreds of coaxial cable wires running along the ceiling. I joked with Regi that if I sneaked up and cut one, it will take them days to figure out which one broke. Then I heard the people behind me say exactly the same thing -_-!! Then we saw the studio where Brian Williams does nightly news. Apparently he writes 90% of the news himself and he writes them down in order from last to first so that when he starts reporting, the first item will be fresh in his mind. We also saw people working in MSNBC studio, which of course has 24/7 news. The anchor desk actually rotates 270 degrees so people don't get bored watching the same background all the time. The news people working in there has two computer and a TV each, one computer to write their drafts, the other to keep constant watch on the Internet for any breaking news from the competitors, and they get TV feed from all the news channel running all the time just to make sure they don't miss a scoop. (come to think about it, 24 hour surfing sounds like a perfect job for me!!). We then went to the SNL studio and since it was Saturday, we were able to see the crew rehearse a skit. Tina Fey was there and it was very cool to see live TV in the making! Carrie Underwood was the music guest on Sat and they say she was actually in the building preparing! too bad we didn't get to see her. Lastly, we were taken to a green room (make up room) where they had a fake news desk and weather screen set up and they asked for volunteers. Regi and this kid volunteered first but then the kid was too scared and backed out and I seized the opportunity! So Regi got to report the news and I got to stand in front of the green screen and wave my arms. IT was so difficult because the monitor in front of me was not a mirror image but an real reflection so everything I did looked backwards. The guide walked me through pointing at New York, (I totally got it backwards the first time), then the west coast, and then pointing to various numbers on the screen like High, Low and Sunset time. After I got the direction down, he said "now, you gotta read the lines on the teleprompter AND do the pointing!" OH boy!! I was able to pull it through tho (thank god for multi tasking skills) and I only almost missed New York because I didn't realize when they say weather "here" it means NY hahah. It was loads of fun, too bad they didn't have videos for us, I would have totally paid for that!!

Second Stop: Ground Zero

The last time I was in New York was before 9/11 and I barely even remember seeing the WTC, so now that I am back, ground zero is a must trip. For some reason in my head, I had the idea that they had already built the memorial, but of course that is not the case, the area is still a hole lined with concrete and a small tent with a small display. It was still a very powerful experience, especially seeing the list of all those people that died. The lone guy sitting on the ground doing "Amazing Grace" on the flute really moved me.





Stop 3: Spamalot
Ok ok, I will spare everyone the details, Needless to say, Clay was amazing, the show was actually really awesome in itself. I highly recommended if you ever get a chance (it is on tour). Truly hilarious and silly stuff.




The only sad thing is that usually Clay goes out to sign autographs after the show. But this weekend he was sick so he didn't come out. and we will not get another chance sigh. But its ok, the show was totally enjoyable, as well as the Baked Alaska at Sardi's at our after show party.



A brief note about Sardi's, I have never been to a restaurant that is so fancy and old fashioned. When we sat down, they started handing out little plates and silverware, in anticipation for dinner. and then when we all sat down, we said we probably wanted desserts instead since it was late, then the waiter came and took all our plates and silverware away with perfect calmness. And then after we read the menu, Sillygurl decided to order an appetizer, then the waiter still perfectly calm, came back and laid the plates and silverware back out for her! Also you don't see the waiters running back and forth like in other restaurants, they almost have one waiter for every two tables. That is taking dinner procedure to the extreme!!

Stop 4: Canal Street
SillyGurl was determined not to leave NY without doing some shopping, so we headed out to the famed Canal Street, famed of course for its thousands of tiny stalls selling Chinese counterfeit everything. It was quite an amazing sight even though I am quite familiar with various flea market stalls in other parts of the world. I gathered from quick browsing that counterfeit Dolce and Gabbana bags are totally in!! I also saw counterfeit Burberry scarfs that were exactly the same as mine, this infused me with a brief feeling of superiority for having the real thing haha. Speaking of bags, it is probably one of the most fascinating things about Canal street. Because like I said before, all bags being displayed are D&G and you don't see anything else. But then you notice when you are walking, there are all these shady Chinese women sneaking up to you and whispering in your ear "do you want see hand bag?"., reminiscent of some other street peddlers of illegal product often shown on TV. if you say yes, they direct you to some back alley (soo sketchy) and take you into this little camouflaged door, go up these tiny narrow stairs into a windowless small room where you finally found out where all the "good" stuff is. IF you ask how come I know so much about this, that is because we did exactly this thing. We found ourselves in a tiny room that is filled with counterfeit Coach, DB, Fendi and Gucci bags all selling for $30 ish. They are pretty good counterfeit too. I was totally amazed at the secret operation that is going on. All the peddlers have walkie talkie and are in constant communication which I assume is to plan escapes in case the inspectors come. I didn't end up buying anything ( not really into designer bags) but that was certainly an experience.

After our brief encounter with the underbelly of the counterfeit handbag business, it was time to fly home. I had a really good time in NY, saw my favorite guy in one of his best roles in his career, hang out with wonderful friends and saw some truly amazing things. Not bad for one and a half days eh?

Juno

I went and saw "Juno" last night. It was a really sweet and funny movie, very irreverent. If you don't know the plotline, it is basically about how a highschool junior got pregnant and found this couple to adopt the baby. Juno is the main character, a slightly weird, very independent, totally reckless kind of a girl who decided to have sex on a whim and then when got pregnant by accident, picked her own adoption couple. Her whole family was a little off kilter and dysfunctional but they have lots of tolerance and love and affection for each other which is really all you can ask for in a family. I really respect Juno alot (well except for the sex education part she missed). She is quirky and cynical, and yet still full of optimism for love. She does what she wants and doesnt' care about anybody else's opinion. I wish I could be more like her in spirit. All in all, a great movie! Very deserving of the Oscar nomination.

P.S> my other sad thought is that I am so old i can no longer understand all the teenage speak anymore :( oh and American teenagers are totally scaaaryyyy...

Lunar Eclipse Tonight

http://shadowandsubstance.com/

There will be a total eclipse tonight around 7 pm PST (or your appropriate time zone). I am looking outisde and it has fogged up like Veliu's goggles on the slopes so I am giving up. You guys should check the weather!! :)

Obama Rally

My friend Om is a big Obama supporter who has convinced me that he will be a good choice for President. So I decided to go with him to the big Obama rally on Friday at noon at Key Arena. I have never seen him giving his speech in person and I wanted to check it out as I heard it is an incredibly inspiring experience. We heard on the radio that the doors will open at 11 am and Obama will probably start his speech an hour later. So we decided to leave from Campus at 11 am. This turned out to be a really bad idea. Because traffic was horrible when we got there at 11:30. We finally got parking, walked towards to arena. As we approached, we saw that there was a huge crowd outside. I wondered if they were the line waiting to get in. we grabbed a rally worker and asked him if this was the line to get in. He then looked at us with pity and said "no, the doors are already closed. The arena is full, these people are waiting outside because they are going to pipe out the speech on the loud speaker" !!??!! The arena was full? it seats 17000!!!. People are waiting outside? it is 40 degrees and raining!!. We were quite dismaybed but determined to stay til the end. After about half an hour of waiting and my hand has frozen over, Obama arrived amid thunderous applause and screaming. He was very nice enough to stop outside the arena and talked to us using a bullhorn. Thanking us for coming out and telling us that change is possible. He was able to whip the crowd into a frenzy with jsut a few words. People were chanting "Yes we can" and "Obama" over and over again. I have only seen this kind of united fervor at rock concerts. I have finally seen first hand the power he has to bring people together.





We stood in the cold and listened to his speech which had a theme of "Hope". He spoke about our nation's problems and the difficulty of solving them. But mostly he spoke of hope. Not false hope and optimism that everything will be ok. But hope that if we work together and towards a common goal we will be able to overcome the obstacles. One thing really made an impression on my mind. He mentioned that one of his goal is to work towards real "Peace in the World". I kinda snickered to Om and said "Peace In The World eh!!??". It was more like a joke. Om only laughed but this lady in front of me heard me, turned around and said "well if we all believed and worked towards it it can happen". I felt a little bit of shame for being so cynical but mostly I was impressed at the example of the kind of people he can bring together. People that believe in his vision, people who are practical but not cynical. In short, people that have conviction and hope. So I believe that if these are the type of people he can inspire to work for him. He can really accomplish things.

I found out that he won the WA caucus today, making him one step to the presidential nomination. I have nothing against Hillary actually. I think she is a very experienced and capable politician. Frankly, anyone would be better than some Republican in my mind. But I think there is something about Obama that are kind of intangible. If he gets elected in the general election, perhaps we will see some real difference in Washington. Time will tell!

need ideas!!

so I am charged with the task of creating a demo game for the Game Developer's Conference next week. It is suppose to showcase our ability to take a media library and choose songs and play songs and show the album (think like Windows Media Player) but in a game form. So far all we came up with is a guessing game, where we will play a clip of a song, and then show you a bunch of choices and you have to guess which song is it or which album it came from. I will probably implement this first since of the time crunch, but can you guys think of any better idea of a more fun music game I can do?

Jump! Jump!

M watches TV every day in the morning before work. Mostly "Good Morning America" so sometimes she tells me news and stuff although usually GMA is much behind than the webnews. But there is some news that I can't really get from my net browsing. One of them is local concert news. So the other day M came by quite innocently and said "did you know that Riverdance is here??" I answered "no really? thats nice" absentmindedly. Then M said "They are only here for one week! next week! at the paramount!!". I stared at her for a couple of seconds and then got the hint and went to buy tickets. This is quite unusual for M because she is pretty typical Chinese lady in that would never actually go out and say what she wants.

imagine our dinner out conversations..
M: What should we do Sunday ??
Cat: well we usually go out and eat. do you want to go out and eat on Sunday?
M: oh ok, if you want to...
Cat: .. sure.. where do you want to go.
M: wherever you want to go...
Cat: what do you feel like eating
M: whatever you feel like eating
Cat: -____-!!!

Anywayz, this is pretty strong hint for her so in my infinite effort to encourage her assertiveness (except in cases where she is yelling at me =P ), I immediately went and bought tickets and we end up going last night. The theatre was packed with enthusiastic Riverdance fans. The dance troupe was quite excellent. IT always amazes me how incredibly insync 20 pairs of legs can be. Even though they are mostly Irish dancers, they also had a flamenco dancer and some Russian cartwheelers that was quite excellent as well. THe highlight of the show was a Dance Battle between two guys doing American street tap dance and 3 guys doing Irish tapdance. It was so hilarious as they would mock the other team's dance by doing it really badly. So definitely had a good time. Although I am still waiting for the day when I will be coming home and M was there and tells me "hey, I heard Riverdance is playing, lets go see it, I bought tickets today" :D

Atonement

Went to see "Atonement". I didn't want to see it at first since I am really not a fan of Keira Knightley and I just can't see the attraction of any "most romantic movie since Titanic" if she is in it. M was all keen on it though as well as my friend ZM so we ended up going for it. The movie actually is really well made. The director made really fantastic use of close up shots that showcase the actor's eyes. There are so much meaning being conveyed in each subtle look. You can practically understand the whole movie without any dialog. The movie soundtrack and cinematography is also gorgeous as well. Besides silly Keira Knightley whom I hate, I really enjoyed all the other casts, especially the 13 year old younger sister did an amazing job as a precocious child with an agenda. For a movie hailed as an "epic romance", there really wasn't too much romance involved as Keira Knightley and her beau spend most of the movie being apart. I didn't feel moved at all by their love story. I feel like I have been misled by all the advertisements trying to grab all the ladies to the theatre..tsk tsk.. (or maybe my heart is just made of ice =P) I won't give away the ending, but really, you can't really consider a romance "epic" if they lived happily ever after eh?

Now that I have seen one of the Oscar movies, I feel obligated to see all the rest of them, so on my list will be "No Country For Old Men", and "There Will Be Blood" and perhaps "Juno" and "Michael Clayton".

On a different note, I downloaded demo for Devil May Cry 4 on xbox yesterday. It is a beautiful slash and hack game with really gorgeous graphics and fluid combo motions. I enjoyed playing it except for the fact the camera angle is horrendous. This is 2007, not 1999, the time of fixed camera angels should be times of the past!!

Play!

I went to Play! A Video Game SYmphony last night at Benaroyal Hall. Play! is a group that is also touring around the country with video game music. I guess they are kind of a rival to Video Game Live. The show actually is alot more formal than Video Game Live. It was held in a proper concert hall with a proper traditional orchestra and the Northwest Boys Choir. They didn't have any fancy light shows, just 3 jumbotrons that showed close up of the musicians along with video game footage. So it was a much more proper concert than VGL. I really enjoyed it because the arrangements was wonderful. The setup that lets you see the musicians up close makes it really interesting because you don't usually think about which instrument produced that chime, or that sequence of melodies when you are listening in the game.

The setlist included the requisite Final Fantasy suites -started with Liberi Fatali and ended with One Winged Angel (quite appropriate :)) . The NW Boys Choir was amazingly good. They sounded just like the soundtrack. they had such good harmony and tone, not to mention they had to stand for the entire concert even though they only had to sing in 4 songs.

There was also the Super Mario and the SOnic the Hedgehog tracks which elicited lots of laughter. But the most exciting thing was they did an arrangement of Battlefield 1942!! DunX5 FTW!!! I was so excited I Had to call Velius before the show to tell him haha. THe funny thing is that although they were playing DunX5, the footage they show is actually from BF2, specifically DaQing Oilfield jet battle. I was like "wait a minute, there are no jets in 1942!!". It brought back good memories :)

There were two surprises during the concert, the first is that Jeremy Soule was there. The conductor presented him after the Oblivion suite. I think the Oblivion suite was the best segment of the show. The orchestra did an amazing job with the music and they showed all the cool footage from the game (ahh reminds me of all the headaches I went through for that game). I am sure Jeremy got mobbed after the show. he got huge applause and screams. The second surprise is that they did a Guild Wars suite near the end which wasn't even on the program. Now that really brought back memories hehe.

Couple other little things:

During the Wow segment, the video they showed was the opening from WarCraft 3 heh!

They did this really modern rock music for Silent Hill 2, with an electric guitar solo which turned out to be a keyboard imitating an electric guitar. Man it sounded really really good.

In the end, it was a really good night and I really enjoyed the concert.

defending the national pride

The Chinese group organized a group trip to the sonics game last night against the ROckets. We were of course rooting for Yao Ming, some secretly, some not so secret. The game was actually really intense, Rockets won by 2 points at the last minute, they were 11 points down still with 5 minutes left. So it was very exciting. Everybody was standing the last 2 minutes of the game. I had a really good time watching the game and dropping hotdog sauce all over myself. :)

After the game, some more excitement happened too: quoting our group leader:

"Several guys robbed the national flag at the very end of Yao Ming's game tonight.
With support of many Chinese friends from here and from mitbbs, one of the robbers was put to jail (at least told by the police) for at least tonight. It will be a very cold night for him.

The good news is the national flag was found right before we left the arena and in good condition. Cheers!
Also, the game is a very exciting one and Houston finally won the game. (That is part of the reason the drunk robber did that stupid thing.)

Thanks everybody's help!
Without your support, we could not hold the guy until police arrived.
This accident gave us strong confidence that when united, our Chinese community has huge power.
Let's keep united.
"

Chinese news report:
http://sports.sohu.com/20080124/n254864476.shtml

trivia

WE were once again the winner of the coveted $1 pitcher yesterday (losing = winning!). We had a whoppin 28 points! although the point spread wasn't that big to be honest, we graded the 3rd place winner which had 40 points. The fantastic news was that there was a Star Trek category!! The awful news is that I couldn't remember what happened at the ending of TNG, the last episode called "All Good Things Must Come TO An End". So we missed the easy question :( but I did get the rest of the category. There was a category on Marques Tuaiasosopo (sp?) and that was too obscure for me to even remember the questions right now.

Bonus round was actually Jeopardy style this time. The questions were the first 10 final jeopardy question on the tv show Jeopardy (without a bunch of Russian secretary questions). and we had to wager 0-2 points. Now being reckless gamblers that we are, we wagered 2 on every question so we will either win spectacularly, or get the $1 pitcher beer so we can't lose either way. :)

Oscar's out

They released the Oscar Nominations this morning. You can see them here: http://oscar.com/nominees/index?pn=index#12_BestScoreNominationCategory

Unfortunately, I can safely say that I have not seen a SINGLE movie that is nominated. This year was pretty much a blank for me as far as movies go. This is going to make watching the ceremony (if it happens that is) not as fun.

Injured

So I went skiing on Saturday with some friends who all went to snowboard. But I am determined to get better at skiing. We went to Snoqualmie pass, which is a small mountain (think Eldora) about an hour away from where I live. The mountain is divided into 3 sections and we were on the west side. They only had ONE green trail and maybe 3 blue ones plus a small bowl. We didn't get there til after noon so we had to get night skiing tickets. Night skiing really isn't that different since the snow reflects so much light. It is kind of interesting to experience though. The snow was actually really good, it was snowing like crazy all day and we had some nice powder in the afternoon. There were 7 inches on the car when we went back to dig it out (all beautiful powder).

I rented my skis at the ticket window but even as I went down the green slope I immediately realized I couldn't control my speed. No matter how big of a V I made, I just charged straight ahead, it was quite scary actually. So that resulted in couple wipeouts, including one that bounced my head around. :( I thought maybe I have lost all the strength I have picked up in Colorado. I went down the trail several more times but it wasn't getting any better. Lastly, we went down a very short blue slope ( it is nothing compare to the green we went down in Vail) and I went into a huge wipe out and twisted my left knee pretty badly. So now I am crippled and have to stay home and take advil :(

I have no idea what happened, I shouldn't be wiping out on the green slopes now! I figure perhaps the skis are somehow weird and I can't get any edge on them or something, cause the boots fitted perfectly. Anyway, that was kind of a disaster over all hahaha. The people I went with are trying to go every weekend this season. I really want to join them as I think that would really improve my skills alot. But at this rate, I would be lucky if I wasn't injured the whole season lol

stop shaking!!

I went to see "Cloverfield" tonight. Ever since I saw the preview I have been fascinated by its apocalypse subject and the style of realism they are going for. I think they are trying to go for a 9/11 type of feel and I think they have succeeded. JJ Abrams sure knows how to build up a scene. I thought the movie was very interesting and probably very close to what real people would do if there was a 30 story tall monster ravaging their city. I wouldn't say it was a great movie though because I dont' think there is anyone that can see it more than once. The handheld camera style is soo incredibly shaky and dizzying, it didn't help that I came in late and had to sit in the 4th row, half way through the movie I was about to throw up so I had to get up and move to the stairs in the upper section and sit there. I am really impressed that the people sitting in the first row didn't do a group retch during the movie (it was a full house).

As for the plot, I am not sure what to think of the main character's actions, are they heroic or idiotic? If someone really close to you, say your parent or your spouse is trapped in a building and bleeding to death next to a giant monster that is going to kill everyone, and knowing that if you go back for them, you probably won't make it, would you go back for them? I know it is easy to be heroic now and say "of course I am going back" but if you were really in the situation, can you do it?

Thirdly, if you plan on going to see the movie, don't go after you just ate because there is a good chance it is all gonna come back up, go an hour earlier so you can sit in the very back rows to prevent motion sickness. I think this reflex that associate dizziness and throwing up is very annoying. I think probably in ancient times, dizziness probably meant you ate something poisonous so it is beneficial to throw it up. But in the modern age, say if you were trapped in a spinning helicopter trying to escape certain death, throwing your guts out really isn't the best thing to do.

It is not a waste of time after all

I saw this interesting news story on Kotaku. A guy on his way home,saw an SUV flip over on the road. He was able to save 2 people inside by applying emergency medical procedures to them. THe funny thing is, he has no medical training whatsoever except he passed the medic certification in American's Army game. According to him, his training in the video game helped him stay calm under pressure and save 2 lives.

I have received no prior medical training and can honestly say that because of the training and presentations within America's Army, I was able to help and possibly save the injured men. As I look back on the events of that day, the training that I received in the America's Army video game keeps coming to mind."
I remember vividly in section four of the game's medic training, during the field medic scenarios, I had to evaluate the situation and place priority on the more critically wounded. In the case of this accident, I evaluated the situation and placed priority on the driver of the car who had missing fingers. I then recalled that in section two of the medic training, I learned about controlled bleeding. I noticed that the wounded man had severe bleeding that he could not control. I used a towel as a dressing and asked the man to hold the towel on his wound and to raise his hand above his head to lessen the blood flow which allowed me to evaluate his other injuries which included a cut on his head.

You know what this means guys, if we ever get trapped in a TV station in a Middle Eastern city, yall know what to do....

New Years Resolutions!

Happy New Year everyone! I am so glad Velius did a recap of our trip so I don't have to muhahahha. Anyway, I had an idea to do a New Years resolutions post but I found out Kung already did one so I guess this isn't a new idea anymore :( oh well here it goes

Moonfleck's 2008 New Years Resolution:

1. Go to the gym at least once a week- ALl my muscles have pretty much atrophied from having a desk job. I noticed this especially during Ski trip since when I came back from all that exercise, I felt much stronger, so my goal is try to keep it up.

2. Read one book a month - I haven't read a good book in quite a long time and my mind probably has atrophied as well so this is gym for my brain.

3. Continue piano lessons - I want to keep taking piano lessons so I don't waste 10 years of playing. lets see if I can find a good teacher tho

4. Learn ONE song on guitar - I kinda stopped learning after my guitar lessons last year so I want to learn one more song this year.

5. Do not lose touch with all the friends I am in touch with - I have gradually lost contact with tons of people i used to know since I got out of school. It might be too daunting a task for me to get them all back but I can try not to lose the ones I still have (especially the Veggies!)

6. Redecorate my room - I am tired of the furniture and layout in my room which I've had since middle school. I want to sell all the furniture and buy new ones. An attempt at interior decorating. I wanted to do this last year but never got around to it cause of laziness. Let's see how I do this year.

7. Learn to cook 3 new dishes - I haven't learned how to cook anything new since school. So I want to learn something interesting and hopefully easy (tea eggs here i come!!)


Ok I think that is it for now. I still have a bunch of other things on my mind but the odds of actually getting them done is pretty slim so better not ruin my chances. :)

OMG!!!

I jsut saw this video that demos physics engine in Crysis by stacking 3000 oil barrels and knocking them down.. It is crazy!! I can't imagine the rig that will take to render this. Make sure you watch to the end to see some insane explosions. I think I am going to attempt to run this game in another 2 years maybe lol.

Forbes has a sense of humor

Prince Peach made it to the Forbe's top 15 richest fictional character list this year. They explained it by saying she married Mario and then divorced him, taking off with half of the fortune in shiny gold coins and mushrooms. Tsk tsk... I guess even fairy tales need legal help these days.

THere were also several other major changes on the list. I quote:

McDuck moves into the top slot vacated by last year's richest fictional character, defense contractor Oliver ''Daddy'' Warbucks. Warbucks was tragically killed by an improvised explosive device during a visit to Iraq in March. The mogul's sudden demise leaves Warbucks Industries--the world’s largest maker of depleted uranium artillery shells and cat food--without leadership. Adopted daughter Lil' Orphan Annie is now in court fighting Warbucks' former wives, bodyguards and mistresses for control of the company and estate.

All told, six billionaires fell off the list, including Atlantic City real estate magnate Mr. Monopoly, who lost everything in the subprime mortgage crash. Archaeologist Lara Croft is missing and presumed dead after her plane disappeared above the Congolese jungle. And narco-capitalist Tony Montana, aka Scarface, was finally confirmed dead by a joint CIA/FBI task force.

Taking their place is a cast of new characters including Ming the Merciless, who ranks second on this year's list. With the existence of this evil alien overlord only recently confirmed by the U.S. government, we've had difficulty separating planetary wealth from his personal fortune, but we can safely say his net worth is at least $20.9 billion, and potentially much higher. Variously described as "control freak," "micro-manager," "vile despot" or "a kinder Steve Ballmer," Ming is best known for his fixation on NASA public relations specialist Dale Arden, girlfriend of astronaut Flash Gordon.

I guess fortune is a rather fickle thing.

AMerican Ex Wish List

Was talking with Kungfucius about Rockband. Alas he said he will not be bringing one to Veg Out sniff. Anyway, if anybody has an American Express card. They have a great deal for rockband at My WishList website. They have 100 on sale for $50. You have to basically log in using your AMEX card and then refresh like mad and hope you can beat the other 5 million people. They also have a Xbox elite system for $300.

http://mywishlist.amexnetwork.com
Rockband is going on at Dec 11th at 12 pm

Xbox is going on at Dec 11th at 3 pm and 7 pm.

How is your luck?? :)

OMG Portal is so awesome!

I just finished Portal and I have to agree with Ender, this is like the best game ever!! It is so innovative and funny. I have to admit when I first started I thought it was too easy. Once I understood the way it works I breezed through like most of the rooms with no problem. I really enjoyed some of the later rooms though. Like 17 took me an hour to do but it was really fun. But most of all, it has this incredible, fantastic ending (trying not to spoil). I burst out laughing while I was also shaking with nervousness, and creeped out by the story all at the same time!!! That was like one of the best game I have ever played! (and actually finished ahem). That was time well spent!! :D!!

ok this is hilarious

Dazzleu sent this to me at work. I burst out laughing, how do they think of these things. The guy was a really good sport too.

a new low point!

I suppose this day is memorable as well, but for a totally different reason. Yesterday was the day when our trivia team, CCP, LOST a tie breaker for last place!!! This is the worst of the worst. Not only that, we lost it twice!! Our night ended with 33 points. We actually graded our rival's paper so we were joking that we tied for 33 points, what if it was last place??!!! And guess what, it was. D and I were chosen to go up there for the tie breaker. At first we were quite confused on whether the $1 pitcher should go to the team who wins or loses the tie breaker but at last it was decided that it would be the team who wins (highly unfair for a requirement for last place if you ask me). The first question was "in which movie did Arnold Schwazenegger uttered the phrase "consider this a divorce!!". Both of the teams said "True Lies" which was of course wrong!! We had to have a double tie breaker for LAST PLACE!!! The second question was "how many of the Seven Dwarfs had beards". at this point I have to say, we totally lost because of D because D then turned to me and said "well sleepy didnt have a beard" and I said "I know Dopey didn't havea beard". D said "well that makes 5 then". and sure enough we were WRONG!! It was 6 and only Dopey didn't have a beard!!! This is totally D's fault, totally!!!

anyway, so we were left with regretting why didn't we just get one more question wrong and avoided this total humiliation sigh sigh...

oh yeah and the box the waiter gave me for my leftovers was WAY too small even though he assured me it will work. Snoopy spent an incredible amount of energy trying ot pack it in and failed. humph....

One more album

I forgot to post about this one.

This is album of pictures taken at Chicken, Alaska and the way back from Yukon. We took the Taylor Highway, which is also called Top of the World Highway. From the name it sounds like it will be a very high up road with gorgeous view. We stopped at a town before we climbed the overpass to ask about this road, the lady at the gas station told us that there is a 45 degree climb, and it is all gravel and it is so dangerous because you can't even see the ground when you climbing over. As a result, we went ahead with much trepidation and also anticipation of the gorgeous view. But in reality, it was a really tame, road that wounds up some hilly landscape, sooo boring. This teaches to believe people at gas stations!! Anyway, the only highlight of the trip is the town of Chicken, which is just hilarious in its own way, and the lone border crossing on top of the mountain. :D

Top of the World Highway

Rest of the picture

I have made two other albums, one is all the wildlife we saw on the trip. I didn't take most of the picture since our friend had a SLR.

WildLife of Alaska

Here is the pictures of Portage Glacier and Denali National Park, Denali National Park is actually really cool, but the day we went was really cloudy and foggy so the picture turned out to be kinda sucky.

Portage Glacier and Denali National Park

FInally!!

Ok, I have finally felt shame for my negligence of my photos, and since I expect a influx of new photos from the Caribbean, I feel like I better get the Alaskan ones out of way, finally! so here I am starting with my absolute favorite part of the trip, the drive to the Arctic Ocean on Dalton Highway (highway 11). This is the most wonderful part of my trip because I have seen things that are just so amazing and so out of the world that I will never see anywhere else. It is also the most exhausting and terrible part of my trip because it took us 16 HOURS( we started morning of the 3rd, didn't get there until 6 am of the 4th) to drive 400 miles on the worst gravel road ever made and I hated every minute of it and every minute I swear to myself, I will NEVER go back. And finally I just have to say, Subaru makes one hell of a car!

Alaska- Dalton Highway
Picasa doesn't allow embed videos so here are videos:
2 am in the Arctic Tundra

Mosquitos, Mosquitos

I am pretty sure they are sheep!

Some of my favorites:
This is the Alaskan Oil Pipeline, Dalton Highway basically runs alongside it. The red flowers in the back are Alaskan Fireweeds, they are everywhere.


This sign is deceptively full of hope. and I don't happen to have any Actic Circle photos for some reason. Must be in the other camera.


We are only 10 hours away...


Midnight Sun, this is right before we drove through the mountain pass into the Arctic Tundra. At this moment, we were still hopeful of getting there before morning. HA!!


The sunlight basked mountains of the Actic Tundra


The pipeline in the sun


The Polar Bear club (yes you get a certificate!)


Our trusty old Outback after the grueling trip back.

Black Friday

SO Anybody going to do some shopping battle for Thanksgiving? The Best Buy and Circuit City Black Friday Ads are now up on http://bfads.net/ Who is going to brave the weather and the crowd in search of a good deal? :D

I will miss this since I will be on a cruise with M in the Caribbean. Maybe they will simulate one on the ship lol.

random TV thoughts

Black Hawk Down has the best soundtrack ever!!

Assassin's Creed is soo sexy looking!

Is Beowulf a completely computer generated movie? I am soo confused by the trailer. and is it a good thing the trailer reminds me of a badly done game trailer?

The game playing on the teeny little arcade screen is actually a real version of Guitar Hero playing to the correct notes in The Guitar Hero episode of South Park!!!

The Rerun's Are Coming!

I was watching The Daily Show last night as I always do when I heard Jon Stewart say "We might be out next week because of the writer strike". Gasp!! I almost forgot about this. The Writer's Guild is staging a huge strike possibly starting next week, unless some last minute deal can be struck to keep them at work. The dispute is over internet broadcasting rights and fees. The writers wants to get paid for each time a show is shown over the internet as well as other new media like cellphones. The companies thinks it is so new they don't even know it will make money, how can they pay the writers. Therefore, impass--> strike. You know what this means, it will be all reality shows for the next six month ( they don't use real writers), "Daily Show" and SNL and "Colbert Report" and other up to the minute scripted shows will be dark for weeks! Network shows like "House" and "Desperate Housewives" will run out of reserve episodes in a month. and in a year or so, we will see a flood of really crappy movies that were rushed out this month to get ahead of the writer strike. The future looks gloomy :(

Halo Kitty Rules!

Happy Halloween everyone :)

Our building organized trick or treat for the kids. You can bring your kids around every office and get candy. So today I put out the candy and the sign that says "you can trick or treat here". Everything is going really well and everybody that walked by is complimenting us on our awesome window poster



Then, this really cute girl about 5 years old came by with her mom. She is in a Disney Snow White costume. She said "hi", and got some candy. I was just thinking "awww she is so cute". When her mom saw our poster so she said to the girl "hey! look it is a Halo Kitty poster, how cute!! you remember this right? we were testing this together the night before it came out, we let you play with the controller and kill mommy!" -_-!!

You can only hear this kind of conversation in our building hee hee.

more ZeroPunctuation

Here is this week's ZeroPunctuation review of Medal Of Honor : Airborne (hint he hates it haha). His review comes out every Wednesday on The Escapist.

oh the pain

I went to see "Lust, Caution" (link contains spoilers) with friend today. I didn't really want to go at first since I already gleaned the major points of the plot from the trailer and I don't like to see movies where I can guess the ending but this is suppose to be Ang Lee's big piece this year and of course there was all this indignation of really naked sex scenes in there so we went to check it out. ( btw, what is with Ang Lee and really naked sex scenes? is he going through some artsy phase? He was actually dismayed by all the fuss over the sex scenes but really if you don't want people to fuss over it, then don't make a NC-17 movie!)

Anyway, some thoughts about this movie without giving away the plot. It is really quite an masterpiece. Ang Lee managed to capture the subtlety in every expression, every movement, every unsaid pause. It is all filmed with a distinct Chinese sensibility. When I was watching it, I did not have a feeling of an "made for foreigner" movie (take notice, crappy Chinese directors with too much money). The actors were absolutely wonderful. The only bad points I can think of is that some of the HK actors (including the main guy) doesn't speak Mandarin that well, so some of the subtlety of intonation is lost during the mandarin dialog and it was a little jarring. But other than that, everything was exquisite.

Now onto the sex scenes, despite the big deal people made of it, there wasn't actually alot of it considering it was a 3 hour movie. It definitely was deserving of the "NC-17" rating though. I saw way more than I wanted to see. Both character was completely naked, although the guy's front side was always in shadows, the backside was very apparent. In other words, it was completely bare and under the light for everyone to see, and there were at least like 5 different positions with big close ups. I have heard some people call it a realistic portrayl because of the fact that there was no cover up, no half hidden views that might have beautified what was basically a very animalistic act. But I have to disagree, yes, it was very raw but it was hardly realistic because it was infused with the desperation, the anxiety and the fear of both characters until the whole act becomes one giant explosion of pain and suffering that the two people tries desperately to be numb to. The only thought i had when I was watching it was it was alot of emotional pain, almost unbearable. So I feel like it wasn't very realistic ( at least for normal people I hope), more like an magnification to the breaking point.

All in all, it was a good movie, I don't think I can bear to watch it again though because I tend to empathize with the main characters in movies and this is just too much pain to go through.

I want to talk about the plot too later, is anybody waiting to see it and dont' want to be spoiled?

Crysis Demo

The long awaited but probably unplayable Crysis PC demo is coming out tomorrow. You can download it at the Nzone website (I would wait a day, the bandwidth hog could be humongous). And just in case you think your PC might meet the requirement, they have a helpful "test your system" button on the website so they can show you how sucky your PC really is :)

In case you forgot what this is, here is the official blurb:

"With mankind facing an alien cataclysm, your elite Delta force and North Korean forces combine, united by common humanity in a battle to save Earth. Graphically stunning, tactically challenging and always intensely immersive, Crysis sets player choice at the heart of its gameplay, with customisable tactical weaponry and adaptable armour allowing instant response to changing conditions. "

Don't burn them

So anybody doing anything fun for Halloween? I guess I will just be home watching scary movies marathon on scifi or something. On another note: Cat Dirt Sez

"Zombies" Reported Coming out of Eastern Hills
I just saw on tv that fire zombies have been shuffling out of an area near a resovoir. It is unclear whether they are 'flesh eating' zombies, or the less dangerous 'vegetarian eating' variety.

I bet they smell bad..

ETA: I wish I brought my camera. We have a new admin this year who has gone all out decorating the hallways (so this is where our morale budget went humph). We have one of those open ceiling stairwells, it is completely lined with real dried corn stalks, then covered with two layers spider webs (different colors) and then sprinkled with spider.s THere are grey rats running up the side of the stairs. our walls are covered with humongous bats and I swear the pumpkins are multiplying every day.

sarcasm rule!

I forgot about the Escapist: Zero Punctuation for a while and today I went back to catch up on his game reviews. It is still as funny as ever. You just can't beat a dry, sarcastic British guy with excellent sense of humor (see House, Dr.). Here is his review of Orange Box

my craziness is self evident

I had planned to go see the Opera "Iphigenia in Tauris" today. It supposed to start at 8:00pm. I am supposed to dress up, pick up my friend at 6:30 pm and meet Snoopy at 7:00pm in front of the theatre so it gives me an hour for any type of unforeseen events. On the surface this plan seems quite simple and fool-proof. But really, here is how it went down:

4:30: Call my friend to double check time of pick up at 6:30pm,was invited to friend's house for dinner so planned to get there at 5:30 instead.
mood: YAY FOOD!

5:30: arrived at friends house to realize that I have brought neither dress nor binocular nor books promised friend. I haven't panicked because as I said before, I have an hour window. So revised plan to go back home after dinner for things I need.
mood: embarrassed but calm

6:30: finished dinner while calmly convincing friend's mom that we have plenty of time. dragged friend back home.
mood: determined

6:50: finally picked up stuff that I ACTUALLY NEED for Opera. Call Snoopy to tell her going to be delayed til 7:15 pm.
mood: perfectly calm..

7:15: Call Snoopy again to tell her we are stuck in small traffic at the highway exit,
mood: still not panicking.. after all, still have 45 minutes to spare.

7:27: While parking Snoopy calls to tell me they are going in and has left ticket with usher. I thought no problem. It isn't nice to make Snoopy wait anyway.
mood: feeling a little bit of urgency

7:40: arrive at Opera House with 20 minutes to spare~!! walks calmly to the Usher who tells me that we are actually late since the show actually starts at 7:30 PM!!!!! Now we have to stay outside and wait for intermission.. at HALFTIME!!!!
mood: =O AHHH!!!! OMGWTF!!! Soul crushed...

7:45: in complete distraction and panic, I made giant papercut on my finger while I was flipping the program.
mood: pain!! :(

8:40 : finally sitting down for second half of opera
mood: remorseful,


So yeah, that was how it actually went down.... I have no idea why I thought the opera started at 8 instead of 7:30... so this is great example of how one piece of bad assumption can cause giant catastrophic chain of event to fall down. :(

oh yeah btw, the second half was pretty awesome LOL.

COD4 Demo Available

You can now download the Call of Duty 4 PC demo. Features one entire map (only single player tho:( 1.4 G.

http://www.fileplanet.com/180530/180000/fileinfo/Call-of-Duty-4-Demo
http://www.h2k-gaming.com/index/nieuws/1186

Give yall's pristine new PCs a work out!

Required (minimum) Specs
CPU: Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 2.4 GHz or AMD(R) Athlon(TM) 64 2800+ processor or any 1.8Ghz Dual Core Processor or better supportedRAM: 512MB RAM (768MB for Windows Vista)Hard Drive: 8GB of free spaceVideo card: NVIDIA(R) Geforce(TM) 6600 or better or ATI(R) Radeon(R) 9800 Pro or better


Recommended Specs
CPU: 2.4 GHz dual core or betterRAM: 1G for XP; 2G for VistaHard Drive: 8GB of free spaceVideo card: 3.0 Shader Support recommended. Nvidia Geforce 7800 or better or ATI Radeon X1800 or better

Myers Briggs

So I was randomly reminded of my Myers Brigg's test that I did for my old company. Then that got me thinking, what personality type is Dr. House. I first thought it would be INTJ, but I looked it up online (and yes, apparently other people think about this too lol) and everybody agrees he is INTP because he is so observant and likes to delegate out all the work so I guess that makes sense. There were some heated discussion about what Spider-man is too. They can't decide if he is feeling or thinking since he seems very emotional.

Anybody else did this test before? and what are your results? Here is a simple test

To start: I am INTJ (although I am really trending towards P all the time I think.)

Update: here is a link of brief descriptions of the personality types. I feel like this is a better page than most because alot of other websites are quite pedantic. See if it fits you :) so far, I thought Kung and Velius' description fits them quite well as far as big pictures go (except for Velius and lawn mowing hehe )

O_o

So I was standing in the microwave line in the kitchen today. I was second in line, so I nudged up to the first guy( my coworker) in line to peek at his lunch since I know his wife is a really good cook. So we were talking about his stirfry when I saw another guy walk in on my peripheral vision. I figure he is just another guy waiting to use the microwave. I saw him went to the fridge, pull something out and then stood to the other side of me and grabbed a plate. So I turned my head to see what he brought (what can I say, I like to look at people's lunch lol). and behold, like magic, he pulled out an ENTIRE straight-offthe grill rotiserrie chicken onto the plate. My jaw dropped, this is when I realize the "thing" he pulled out from the fridge was one of those plastic chicken containers that places like Costco sell. My coworker and I started laughing and I asked "is that your lunch", the guy sheepishly said "yeah, I need alot of protein". O_o!

coffee nerds

So they bought us these 2 fancy Starbucks automatic coffee makers for our kitchen earlier in the year. They are super nice, you just press a button and it makes coffee. Yes, it is an continuing effort, along with lunch delivery and wi-fi commuter busses, to keep us at work 24/7. So as soon as these two darlings came to be with us, it became indispensable. People use it hundreds of times a day and like all things under the law of entropy, it has started to gradually break down (albeit at a slower pace than the copier printers DAMN THEM~! *cough). So today I wandered into the kitchen to find one of the machine is again broken. I don't really use them so I was only mildly interested. but I saw there were a whole bunch of post-it notes on them which peaked my curiosity.

The first one said :" the normal coffee option is broken" (quite normal)
Then someone wrote underneath that line "WEAK SAUCE!" (this guy needs his coffee)
Then, someone tore a small piece of Post It and put it on top of that one and wrote "Flog it harder!!" ()_0

Then, someone put another post -it right next to that one that said :

"Severity : 1"
"Priority: 1"

-_-!! this is how you know you work with a bunch of geeks..

Damn those skulls

So I guess this is why Velius has been making me do all these sick acrobatics, that results me in falling off various objects continuously. How come I never noticed these Skull "effects"? do you have to do them in Legendary?

Halo 3 Skulls and Efffects

Remember this day!

Friends!! Comrades!!, remember this day in history, September 24th 2007, the day when team Coal Creek Productions(TM) received SECOND PLACE in the Celtic Bayou Trivia Night contest!!! Yes, you heard me right, after umpteeth humiliating weeks of last places and drinking more $1 pitcher beers than what is good for us, we won 2nd place with a fantastic and godly score of 125 points!!! Yes, feel free to shower us with praise and flowers :)

This day started out special. There was aelectricity in the air. When D imed me in the afternoon and said "I think we are going to win today", I laughed it off as an attempt to rally the troops. Even during the rounds, when I couldn't remember the other name of Master Chief, I wailed in anguish at our luck ( how can I not, considering I just came straight from the Halo3 launch party!!!!?????) We couldn't remember the name of the Israeli intelligence branch. We had no idea that 75% of U.S. Internet Users spent 3 hours or more a day on internet videos (WTF!!). and Phalacrosis is really not what you think it is, and Unilever's company logo is really freaky. All that did not matter! because we remembered that the U.S. left Vietnam in 1973. we knew that the small Islamic Sultanate in the South China Sea was Brunei, we sweeped the sports category, we almost sweeped the TV series photo matching round (yes House was one of them, and damn you, Hill Street Blues). and in the end, D's prophecy came true and we were triumphant!

ETA: edited to fix ridiculous grammar mistakes

TLAPD

Happy Talk Like A Pirate Day~!

playing God

So I have been sick at home the past 2 days pretending to work. shh.. and I saw this Japanese flash game called "growth game". Basically you have to determine which technology to put down in which order so that they grow each other into the ultimate human/environment paradise. AFter of 2 hours of hard effort (it is strangely addicting) I was finally able to achieve the ultimate paradise result. It is quite satisfying to tame a wild volcanic island into a metropolis AND remain environementally friendly.

The Growth Game

More halo stuff

can you tell this is all everybody is talking about at work? lol

I saw this video and thought it was pretty neat, it is the Halo theme on Mario Paint. I never seen this program before but I guess it is a mario themed MIDI synthesizer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIFAe_oLT5g

This is the video game pianist playing the Halo theme on Piano, he was at PAX last year, not this year tho.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Nz4TN7yCzQ&NR=1

man I wish I can play like him,

ok. no more Halo stuff for a while, promise lol

Halo Diorama

The online tour of the Halo 3 Diorama is finally up. I am not a particular fan of tiny models of battlefields but it was still interesting to look through it. I was quite impressed with the next video, "the making of the diorama", which was told from the perspective of the museum curator. The music they used was very poignant and sad. You almost feel the whole thing was too beautiful for a FPS game advert haha.

Halo 3 Diorama virtual tour (click on Menu -> VIdeo-> first video to see the Making Of)

Halo 3 Believe video (maybe spoiler)

New Addiction

I discovered the awesomeness of Lumines 2 days ago and I have been playing nonstop. It is a new addiction that I totally am incapable of shaking. Lumines is a tetris-like block game that was originally on the PSP and was ported to Xbox Live Arcade recently. The idea is quite simple, you have various block pieces that consist of 2 colors and they slowly drop from the top, but unlike tetris, you don't try to fill in the bottom row, instead, you try to make stacks of 4 smallblocks that has the same color. And periodically, a time line passes through your blocks, and only then your stacks gets erased. Sounds simple enough, but combined with pretty graphics and trance soundtrack, it is incredibly fun and addictive. Here is a sample of someone playing:



Now this guys is about my level (which is to say, sucky). My goal right now is to get the achievement of 70 blocks erased in 60 seconds. This is a monumental task for me. I have struggled for hours in vain, my best record only comes to about 39, I usually average about 25. I was pretty dejected already when someone showed me THIS one, which have crushed my soul forever. This is Mr.Hexic, #1 in Lumines rank on XBLA, erasing a whopping 201 blocks in 60 seconds



I can only cry, and keep trying.

jumping on the bandwagon

I guess I better say something about Halo 3, as I was assured that it will be the most incrediblest, fantastic, 10 million dollar entertainment launch in the history of humans period. In another two weeks you won't be able to walk anywhere without seeing some Halo 3 related product. Today, they released "LIVE ACTION" trailers for the games that will be played in cinemas across the country. Get it? they made real live action trailers for a video game!!! this is going to be first of several actually.

Halo 3: Museum trailer


actually I thought this trailer was pretty good. It didn't have any flashy graphics or intense action sequences, but rather invoke a feeling of nalstalgia through the old marine's memory. Very nicely done. I can't help but think MS is making another pitch for the live action movie.

Here is more on the web and trailer campaign from the press release

Filming the Experience

As part of the integrated campaign, an innovative web experience has been created that enables consumers to interact with and explore every part of the climactic battle in minute detail. Beyond the TV, cinema and print efforts, the site is also supported by an online advertising campaign that starts the conversation with the consumer and a branded channel on YouTube that helps to position Master Chief as the biggest hero in history. All digital components were created by AKQA San Francisco.

Viewers get a sneak peek at "Diorama" on http://games.yahoo.com Friday Sept. 14 at 9 a.m. PST / 12 p.m. EST, as well as a feature on the making of the diorama, entitled, "Ammo". The "Diorama" work will make its TV debut during NFL Football on CBS Sunday Sept. 16. This, and the full series of web films, which honor the heroism of Master Chief, will also be available on Xbox LIVE Marketplace and http:www.halo3.com/believe starting September 14

cloning kamikaze supersoldiers

M was explaining what she does to me the other day. Most of the times I don't even ask her since I have no idea even when she explains it to me. But this time, it was pretty interesting. M is involved in gene therapy for leukemia/cancer patients. She splices these genes together that targets cancer cells. Then she takes T-cells from the patient, insert those genes that turn these T-Cells into special cancer killing cells and then send them back to the patient to fight the disease.

This is all very good, but, M says, that is only the first generation. The second generation involves making the new soldier cells dependent upon certain enzyme to survive. So the patient must get daily injections of enzyme in addition to the T-Cells. This way, once you are done with the therapy, you stop injecting the enzyme and T-Cells dies off. This kind of reminds me of super soldiers that relies on some drugs to do their work, and when the masters are done with them, they just withhold the drugs and they die off. tsk tsk..

Anyway, so M says, the third generation which they are working on now will splice a "suicide" gene into the T-Cell. So after the therapy is over, they send a chemical signal through the body and boom, the T-Cell self destructs. Simple and painless.

Now I ask you, are we very far from cloning kamikaze supersoldiers that will do our bidding? I think not.....

upgrading

So M has finally decided to upgrade her camera (which is a Nikon Coolpix I bought for her Sophmore year). After looking around, we decided to get a Canon S5IS. It seems to be the best out of the point and shoot categories. Having a 12x optical zoom would definitely help with taking brighter pictures, and it is not too complex that M can't play around with it. So now I have to find a good deal with it. This is the time when I wish Amazon headquarters wasn't here.

Just some photos

I was going through some old photos today and I saw these picture I took of some pretty scenery. The first one is boats going through the Ballard Lock. The second one is sunset at Alki Beach ( is it pathetic that the first thing I thought after I saw it is how the water looks just like CGI !). The third is boats moored at Lake Union. Also I am trying out this Flickr thing that TOchi seems to be using.(Any tips on using this thing?)

new music!

So, I discovered this new band recently and I went to their first public concert. I was fortunate enough to get front row seats so I took some videos. I think this music could really take off!

Awesome Concert

I also managed to capture some backstage footage.

Song 1

song 2 ( A rare duet!)

watch and weep

in keeping with the theme of PC games we can't quite play. Here is a multiplayer trailer for Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. It shows "perks" or customizable add-on. I would love to use "Last Stand" though, my last revenge before death. WOuld come in soo handy in BF2 lol.

BioShock PC DEMO

From all the internet chattering, you would think BioShock is the bestest best single player FPS ever made (Most game rating sites gave it like 9.99999/10). I played the Xbox360 demo and thought it was indeed very well made with incredible art and voice acting. The atmosphere is pretty creepy too. So if you wanted to see what all the hype is about. You can download the Bioshock PC demo here (bittorrent link). It is 1.84 gigs and minimum spec req are listed below.

Minimum System Requirements:
CPU: Pentium 4 2.4GHz Single Core processor
System RAM: 1GB
Video Card: Direct X 9.0c compliant video card with 128MB RAM (NVIDIA 6600 or better/ATI X1300 or better, excluding ATI X1550).
Sound Card: 100% direct X 9.0c compatible sound card
Hard disc space: 8GB free space


Recommended System Requirements:
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo processor
System RAM: 2GB
Video card:
DX9: Direct X 9.0c compliant video card with 512MB RAM (NVIDIA GeForce 7900 GT or better)
DX10: NVIDIA GeForce 8600 or better
Sound Card: Sound Blaster® X-Fi™ series (Optimized for use with Creative Labs EAX ADVANCED HD 4.0 or EAX ADVANCED HD 5.0 compatible sound cards)

The actual game gets released tomorrow.

Jazzy

I AM
78%
JAZZTake the Transformers Quiz

High five Kolaap

interesting article on Wikipedia

WEll about Wikipedia. SOme of the edits were really interesting, but the CIA one, you are just like (appropriately) wahhhhh!~!!>?

Wikipedia 'shows CIA page edits'

An online tool that claims to reveal the identity of organisations that edit Wikipedia pages has revealed that the CIA was involved in editing entries.
Wikipedia Scanner allegedly shows that workers on the agency's computers made edits to the page of Iran's president.

It also purportedly shows that the Vatican has edited entries about Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams. ...

Shuggy FTW!!

Our team recently held a Dream Build Play contest, which basically allows you to make a game using the our framework, and the winner gets to have a contract to put their game on XBL Arcade. The results was announced this week at Gamefest. you can check the games out at the website. I played most of these games ( not judging tho) and my favorites were definitely The Dishwasher (totally deserved winning) and SHUGGY!, the best, cutest, most interesting platformer I have seen in a while. The level design is incredibly innovative and fun to play. We played it so much our entire office was so sad when it didn't make it. However, I did meet Shuggy maker at Gamefest and I got a t shirt out of him :)

If you have some time to kill, I highly recommend checking it out, it has about 100 levels. it is free to download, and it tells you exactly what you need to install to play it (download the windows version) and when you install our framework, you can rest safe knowing it has been completely tested by me :) The game itself may be a little buggy but just remember it is built by ONE guy over couple of months.

Glory in the awesomeness of SHUGGY!!

p.s. I would recommend trying The Dishwasher too, but I don't think the makers released it. I can only find this video that is about 2 months old, I think the final version doesn't have red blood like this, its all inky.

Iran, the next Iraq

Iranian Unit to Be Labeled 'Terrorist'

U.S. Moving Against Revolutionary Guard

By Robin Wright

Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, August 15, 2007; A01

The United States has decided to designate Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps, the country's 125,000-strong elite military branch, as a "specially designated global terrorist," according to U.S. officials, a move that allows Washington to target the group's business operations and finances.
[...]
The designation of the Revolutionary Guard will be made under Executive Order 13224, which President Bush signed two weeks after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks to obstruct terrorist funding. It authorizes the United States to identify individuals, businesses, charities and extremist groups engaged in terrorist activities. The Revolutionary Guard would be the first national military branch included on the list, U.S. officials said -- a highly unusual move because it is part of a government, rather than a typical non-state terrorist organization.

Bold is mine, WTF!!! Bush just declared the ARMY of another COUNTRY terrorists. That is like saying, the Canadian army is terrorists. You know what this will lead to.. justified invasion of Iran without having to declare war. Declaring war needs approval of Congress, hey but if you are just "fighting terrorists", you can do whatever the hell you want. Can the country only invade one or two country at a time?

Demos

I have discovered game demos on Xbox Live and I am quite pleased with it. They come for free at about 1 gb size and you can download them WHILE you are playing some other game so it is like a little present at the end of game *_*. I have downloaded about 4 demos over the last week and just trying them out. Some sucked and some looked pretty cool. I feel like this is so much better than downloading PC demos because no installation is required, you download, you click play and then you just delete them. So convenient!!

Blue Dragon: J-RPG, this one I totally hated. The art style looks very ugly to me and the voice acting was horrible. I didn't even get passed the first enemy before I lost interest.

Eternal Sonata: J-RPG made by the same company that made Tales of Abyss. I thought it had very pretty graphics and music, seems very typical J-RPG. I got Velius to try it since he liked Tales so much. I thought the game play was alright until I discovered the way to circumvent the timed blocking action during combat is just to button smash B after attack. It may be pretty, but maybe too easy

Stranglehold: It is like MaxPayne except with a storyline of Hard Broiled by Chow Yun Fat. It is kinda funny to play a character that looks like him, and you can do these time slowing moves complete with stylish dives while you are duel wielding surrounded by white doves LOL. It was pretty amusing to play basically a John Woo movie. I find it hilarious that everytime I move him near a table or a counter he will start to slide across them like in an action movie, this results in everything on the said table getting completely smashed. After 3 -4 times of doing this, all I can think about is man, his pants must be sooo dirty! I doubt I will pick it up but it was interesting none the less.

BioShock: underwater FPS also out for PC., this game came with alot of hype. I think it won best game of E3 or something. I am not sure I want to play another single player FPS but I wanted to see what the hype was about. It was creepy man! I started this demo late last night after the requisite Tenchu session (failure again!!) and I had to stop about 2 minutes in because I was so creeped out by the music and the environment. Have yet to see any enemies so might have to report back on that. I can tell this is a great production though because the graphics was amazing, the art design is unique in that it is art deco and the music enhances the mood alot. We will see how the game plays later, (in broad daylight ;))

Hiking at Mount Rainier

One of my schoolmates CY came to visit Snoopy over this weekend so we all hang out together. They decided to go to Mount Rainier for a day hike since CY is such a hiking enthusiast. Mount Rainier is about 2 hours from here so it is good for a day trip. The day turned out to be really beautiful with almost no clouds. I have never been to Mount Rainier on such a good day, the two previous times I went, it was so cloudy I didn't even see the mountain when I was standing on it. We decided to take the Skyline Trail on the Paradise side. It is a 5 mile loop that has about 1500 feet elevation change. The description list it as "strenuous" and takes about 5 hours. I was a little wary about such a long hike but I figure 1500 feet was not too bad. It takes us right to the feet of the mountain and it is the same trail summiters take to go to the gathering point at Camp Muir. The hike started out with quite a steep ascend for about 20 minutes but it turned out after the first few hundred feet of pain the rest of the trail was quite doable. The view was spectacular and the wild flower meadows was incredibly beautiful. We saw a ant line of summiters crossing the glaciers far above. There was gorgeous mountains on every side and the weather is so warm and the sun was shining. I think this is one of the best hike I have ever done.










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hiking

Yesterday, I went hiking with M at Tiger Mountain, which is a range that is right next to our house. The trail we went on was only 1000 feet rise but I was still very winded as I haven't hiked in a long time. This resulted in merciless teasing from M who says I act older than her *humph*. Can she play dunx5 for 4 hour straight and not get dizzy? I don't think so!

Anyway, when we finally got to the top, there was a very beautiful grassy hill that overlooked the vast expanse of the area near our house. In the first picture, do you see where that ugly patch of construction is on the right? thats where our house is. So we sat down to admire the view, when suddenly these paragliders hiked up with their gigantic bags and proceeded to jump off the cliff. Apparently they were members of a paragliding club. I have never seen parachute paragliding before and it was an amazing sight to see them lightly jump into the air and float away like eagles soaring on their wings.



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The Bourne Ultimatum

I went to see THe Bourne Ultimatum with M today. I have to report that it was an awesome movie. It was a perfect combination of crazy action and intense espionage. They had some really cool situations that was not a spy movie cliche. I found myself at the edge of the seat the whole time holding my breath for Bourne. I think I like this movie better than the James Bond movies because it is more gritty and more real (featuring the very shaky camera actions), had minimum gadgets. There was no "groan" moment with hacking thank God. Below is my favorite parts spoiled

1. The train station chase with Simon the reporter, it was soo intense, and so amazing with enemies at every turn and Bourne trying to direct him. IT reminded me of MIssion 16 of Tenchu where you had to sneak ahead of your target to kill everyone first. Very intense

2. The motorbike bomb that killed Neil, I was totally mislead by that shoulder bag as did Bourne, until you realize, holy shit, the "asset" was alot smarter than you thought. I am much more impressed with assets now, since they are not just like fodder for Bourne to plow through.

3. The massive car chase in New York city was very well choreagraphed and only minimum product placements hehe.

Quote of the Day

Scott, Emily, Ida and Me in the office, Scott turns to Ida in frustration:

Scott: Wouldn't it be great if we could talk in C++?

Ida: As long as we don't talk in lisp.

Scott: See, if this was C++, if I didn't want to hear you talking, I could delete the object beneath you. And I gave you a weak reference in the first place anyway, so then you'd just crash.

Me: You mean you'd delete Ida's chair?

Everyone: ....

[10 minutes later]
Ida: I think it's just rude.

Scott: What's rude?

Ida: Deleting my chair is rude!