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.