End of the Road

I do realize that I haven't updated this blog in a while. The reason is pretty simple: not enough readership. When I post something on Facebook I get instant feedback, and it is easy for people to comment. My thoughts are instantly broadcast to friends whether they like it or not.

This blog has seemingly run its course, and it has served it's purpose. Maybe someday I will return to writing here, but for now hiatus is the status.

Finaly some sense

Finally, logic has prevailed. Felix Hernández won the 2010 American League Cy Young Award as he finished the season 13–12 with a 2.27 ERA and 232 K's. Anyone with the slightest baseball sense would recognize that King Felix won because of the 2.27 ERA, and NOT the "dismal" 13 wins.

Hopefully, this is a sign for things to come. Sabermetics finally prevails, and I hope it is here to stay. Then again, without journalists making stupid comments and managers making stupid trades based on the W-L "stat", it will certainly be less entertaining. Thank goodness we have Theo.

Only in America Part III

I guess ignorance is bliss.



In other news...



LOL Cleveland!

You can dooo eeet!

After years of "doing it wrong", I've finally trained myself to naturally type the "y" key with my right index finger (I used to use my left). I just realized this today as I had to look up which is the proper finger to type the "y" key. I had been correcting myself for so long that it became natural, and I forgot that I was doing it right all along. Funny how the brain works.

This "achievement" may seem insignificant. For me, it is solid proof that I am able to shed bad habits that have been with me for life. All it takes is willpower and a little practice. On the downside, I'm feeling what might be a little CTS in my right index finger. Maybe I should have stuck with the left index afterall.

P.S. If anyone needs help with typing or typing properly, I recommend the awesome Typing of the Dead.

Oscarvations 2010 Edition

The dynamic duo experiment worked. A lot of people didn't like it, but I thought it was no better or worse than in years past. Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin are generally great with comedy. The lowlight was the opening monologue. Including Neil Patrick Harris was fun. I certainly wouldn't mind seeing him host one of these years.

My faith in the world (at least the film industry) is restored. A lot of awesome and deserving movies got recognition this year. The Hurt Locker wins best picture. The best film won, and not the one that made the most money. Crazy Avatar nerds everywhere are now blogging/tweeting/buzzing with vitriol.

Katherine Bigelow wins best director for Hurt Locker. Bigelow is James Cameron's ex-wife. She is really hot for a 59 year old woman. Her win was probably the big wow moment of this year's show.

The Year in Review Meme

I skipped this awesome activity last year. Again, credit to John. However, I didn't cheat like he did, heh. Rules are the same as last time: first sentence of first post of the month for each month of 2009. A bit of comment follows each sentence, but it is hidden text and you'll have to highlight it to see it.

January
As Hong Kong stepped into the new year peacefully, more injustice took place in the Mainland. (What else is new? Another civil rights activist was just sentenced to 11 years just last week.)

February
HSBC... again. (The "World's Bank" strikes again with high fees and low benefits. Banks very often forget that besides being a business, they are a service to the people.)

March
The stuff we buy just keeps getting worse. (Definitely holds true. Lower prices mean cheaper and shittier products. We ultimately lose as landfills pile up faster.)

April
Resident Evil 5's issue of race has ballooned to internet wide proportions. (I think these stories are overblown. Video games get enough negative press as is.)

May
A couple months ago, there was a case of bickering between the so called "Kong Boys" and "Kong Girls". (Ultimately, video games and pocketbooks suffered.)

June
WRC and NASCAR too? Gran Turismo is again looking to be the all-in-one racing game. (Another post about games? Daaayum! A nerd is me.)

July
Recently picked up a new TV series called The Unit. (Thinking back I didn't really enjoy the whole "life on base" dynamic. The Unit is still awesome though.)

August
Why why why why why am I not surprised. (That prostitutes are more trustworthy than politicians in China. Corruption, yo.)

September
I am for the most part a Firefox user when it comes to web browsing. (Ain't that the truth.)

October
This is so much better than the original. (Pomplamoose rocks!)

November
It has been a long while since I posted. (But the point is, Belichick is still our coach.)

December
Was down with the sickness last weekend. (A long two weeks with me being sick, then my girlfriend.)

Sick Day Movies

Was down with the sickness last weekend. Ended up watching four movies. Some new some old.

A Night at the Roxbury ** (out of 4 stars)

Old SNL humor from a decade ago. It was kind of funny ten years ago, but it seems to have lost whatever charm it once had. On the up side, it made my girlfriend laugh, so it was worth renting.

Transformers 2: Rise of the Fallen **

The story and the action was pretty much exactly what I expected. Nothing new and nothing exciting. The only aspect of TF2 I liked was the "robo martial arts". The Transformer hand to hand combat was pretty interesting. Unfortunately, the "messy" designs of the Transformer robots made it difficult to watch. There were a ton of military equipment references in TF2, which might make it interesting for modern weapon buffs. Other than that, it was pretty ho hum.

G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra *

I didn't find any redeeming qualities in this movie. Perhaps the bits I did possibly enjoy are the nostalgia and nods to the old cartoon series. The action is over the top, but not creative or exciting. All the CGI looks obviously fake. The plot makes no sense, but that is to be expected. The characters are not memorable, and the constant flashbacks to tell the history of the characters is not done smoothly and became quite annoying. However, the absolute worst aspect of this action flick is the writing. The cringe inducing dialog is very cheesy and I don't think they did it on purpose. I will most definitely not watch the sequel to The Rise of Cobra.

The Game ****

This David Fincher gem from the late 90s starring Micheal Douglas is still good today. Douglas does a great job at portraying an asshole millionaire, then a whiny millionaire, then a helpless millionaire, then finally an ex-millionaire hellbent on revenge. He probably channeled some of his Falling Down rage for the last 15 minutes of the film. The story, soundtrack, and visuals are just the right amount of creepy. You'll see San Francisco in a light like never before. Just plain awesome storytelling.

James Bond, we have arrived

Many people (me included) use our mobile phones to tell time. A watch has become more of an accessory rather than a tool.

LG has come out with the geekiest of gadgets: a wrist watch that doubles as a mobile phone. Kids of my generation and earlier have probably dreamed about this type of gadget at least once in their childhood. Even as grown-ups, the wrist watch phone still sounds awesome. Science fiction is finally becoming reality.

As for the phone itself, reviews state that it works well as a phone, and comes with a pretty good microphone and speaker. You can use a bluetooth headset in case you don't want to look like a pretentious douche talking to your wrist, and the phone even has 3G connectivity. Curiously, the phone also has a media player.

The major downside is that this phone has a very short battery life. 60 minutes of talk time is the standard test result. With bluetooth it's even less than that. The size of the phone is small for a phone, but it is pretty big for a watch. This is going to look awkward on people with wrists smaller than Arnold Schwarzenegger.

I'm afraid I have to ask why a media player is necessary. Also, why not make a 2G model to save power? That way a camera would no longer be necessary, and it could make more room for a bigger battery or even kinetic charging.

Anyhoo, nice work. Now have fun pretending to be a secret agent.

In Belichick I Trust

It has been a long while since I posted. There are multiple personal reasons for that which I will not mention here. There's a lot going on the world, but I'm going to get back on the horse with something a little on the lighthearted side (though some may take this subject a little too seriously).

Over one week has past, and the sports media looks like it has finally stopped talking about Bill Belichick's decision to go for it on fourth and two. The game last week against the Colts was perhaps the biggest game of the season for the Patriots. The chance to secure home advantage in the playoffs, the chance to dethrone the mighty Colts, robbing them of a potential perfect season. Sadly (perhaps luckily), I could not watch the game live. I only read about the decision after the game had ended.

So it's fourth and two with the clock running down. WWBBD (What Would Bill Belichick Do)? Bill Belichick went for it. All I have to say is that this guy won us three Superbowls in four seasons, and he nearly won a fourth in five. In my book, Bill has a free pass to do whatever the F he wants on the football field for the rest of his coaching career. As for the decision itself, I wouldn't even consider it bad. Belichick knows the Pats better than any fan or journalist out there. He has the most experience and knowledge at his disposal. He is the only person on this earth who has the right and who has earned the right to make that decision. As far as I'm concerned, Belichick made the correct decision regardless of the result.

And that's that (that's that).

Pomplamoose Music

This is so much better than the original.

Moving on without you

Looking towards an upcoming wedding, I realize that most of the brothers and groomsmen are now married. This is a vast difference from a couple years ago. Friends are having kids, starting families, or buying apartments. We're all growing up, getting old, moving on with life. At the same time, I feel like I'm leaving my friend behind. He's supposed to be the one who abandoned us, but as we get older, and Kiki stays forever young, it feels like we're the ones who are moving on.

It's been six years bro, but you haven't been forgotten. Boy is it a chore to go visit you every year. Though I'm glad it's so far out in the boonies. You've got fresh air and a great view. I'm pretty sure you wouldn't want to be in LKF for eternity, but then again you're actually forever 24. All the best.

Another Extreme Solution

Three Hong Kong reporters were beaten and arrested for dubious reasons in Xinjiang two weeks ago. The mistreatment and false accusations triggered protests and demands for clarification. Though I was angry and saddened by this incident, the first thing that came to mind was how to fight back.

As two of the detained reporters were getting beat up, the third reporter was able to record the incident with his camera. Unfortunately, the tape was confiscated during his detention. What to do?

Maybe the awesome TV show The Unit was still fresh in my mind, so I thought of covert operations. When reporters are in a sensitive area such as China, they should bring along a "covert reporter". This covert reporter will be outfitted with sophisticated spy glasses with a built in camera and microphone. If trouble arises, the covert reporter will spring into action and casually record the whole incident.

Regular TV stations can't officially release footage? I agree. The covert operation should stay secret. This covert operation must remain a secret for the sake of future missions. So instead of the TV station admitting it was their footage. First release it anonymously on a Chinese YouTube-esque website, then broadcast the video on the local news, claiming it was taken and uploaded by a random person on the scene. Let those violent keystone cops know that there's always someone watching.

Again, it's one of my bizzaro solutions to one of the world's troubles that will never happen. When you get beaten up and falsely accused of "inciting public disorder".

Common Sense 101

Thieving rich kids get a roasting - Two well-to-do University of Hong Kong students who stole a friend's credit cards to buy computers were slammed by a magistrate yesterday. Patsy Moy Friday, September 18, 2009 Two well-to-do University of Hong Kong students who stole a friend's credit cards to buy computers were slammed by a magistrate yesterday. The scolding came after Michel Yuen Sui-fa, 20, pleaded guilty to one count of theft, while his girlfriend, Li Chi-wah, 21, admitted two charges of obtaining property by deception. Acting principal magistrate Chan Kam-cheong lambasted the pair for their greed, saying he saw no financial pressure that could have driven them to commit the offenses. Yuen, who was raised in France, is a second year accounting and finance student at HKU and lives in a luxury flat in Kowloon with his family. Li is the only child of an engineer father and a teacher mother. Yuen was accompanied by his mother, and Li by her father when they appeared in Kwun Tong Magistrates' Court yesterday. The magistrate said the defendants were privileged enough to enter the city's top university. But he said they had failed to take advantage of the opportunity to study hard, resorting instead to dishonest tricks. "You should feel lucky to have these [caring] parents. Both of you come from relatively well-off families," Chan said. Yuen's theft took place on August 25 at the upscale Elements mall in Tsim Sha Tsui. He had invited the victim to see a movie and have dinner. Yuen suggested exchanging wallets with the friend "for fun," then removed the credit cards from her wallet and handed them to Li. Li took the credit cards to a computer shop in Sham Shui Po, where she tried to buy two laptops worth at least HK$20,000. When the shopkeeper became suspicious and asked for Li's identity card, she panicked and tried to flee. After a brief chase, she was caught by the shopkeeper and later arrested by police. Chan adjourned sentencing to October 2, pending probation and community service reports. Both Yuen and Li are on HK$500 cash bail.

All three of these kids (including the victim) should be expelled from Hong Kong University for being idiots.

Wanna be like Rog

Rafael Nadal returns to the Grand Slam tournaments from injury at this year's US Open tennis tournament. I couldn't help but notice the drastic changes in his appearance. Gone are the sleeveless t-shirts and capri-esque long shorts. Nadal is now sporting a regular collared polo type shirt with regular above-the-knee length shorts.

This is a drastic change for the man who arguably pioneered unconventional tennis attire. Yet more drastic is his hairstyle. Nadal always had longish hair that fell below his chin midway to the neckline. At the US Open, we're perhaps a bit shocked to see that Nadal's hairstyle and length is quite similar to... Federer?

That's right folks. Nadal's appearance appears to be identical to Roger Federer. His Nike shirt, shorts, and even bandana are the same as Federer's. The hair similarities just make things a little bit creepy.

We know Nadal doesn't need Federer's game to win, but adopting Federer's appearance an attempt to stay injury free?

Old vs. New. Still got the fist pump.






His barber finally has work to do.

"Chinese People Suck" Revisited

Original post can be found here.

Mandy said...

Chinese people have a self concept of being "polite and modest". This is their national identity anyhow. I do think this rather ironic at times.

I have trouble knowing what to say when they say to me "Chinese people are more modest than westerners" (many Chinese I've spoken to feel Americans are "opinionated"). For Westerners, sharing ones personality, ones likes and dislikes, are a sign of friendship and trust/ a willingness to engage enthusiastically. To them it is seen as arrogance. Misunderstanding? Maybe.

I think they feel extremely fortunate to be, as they see it, of a more morally and culturally superior culture (I am reminded of this often).

Chinese tell me about the racist Americans that made black people sit at the back of the bus, then, in the same breath tell me they "don't like Indians because they are too dark". (BTW I am not American). There are different rules regarding what is PC and what is not. Perhaps some westerners share these kinds of prejudiced sentiments but they are sure as hell not going to voice this! This is an amusing point.

You have to be so hard and tough in China. I am far too much of a softy and friendly person I guess. People at markets manipulate and force one into situations one doesn't want to be. They do not take "No thank you" for an answer. I feel very uncomfortable with being cornered. In these setting the Chinese can be uncharacteristically confrontational. Wow. I avoid markets now as it is traumatic and I feel bullied (although maybe this IS a cultural misunderstanding on my part, I'm try to be diplomatic!)

People are guarded and they fight for their territory (spatially on trains etc but during bargaining too). I think it is related to the trauma of the revolution and the fact that there are toooo many people (upping competitive/grabbing mentality). The people are not very trusting- not just with westerners but with each other too.

The public behavior is not very refined to the Western eye and the Chinese are FIERCELY practical people (hence the supposedly rough tone during speaking- not a true indication of attitude). When I think of things from this perspective I don't really take offense to being pushed out the way by charging people rushing to the seat on the subway.(-:

While I DO want to tear my hair out sometimes, I have developed affection for a lot of people here in China!

Keep engagements light-hearted is the key here I think.

SEP 9, 2009 1:15:00 AM

Re: Mandy
Wow! This piece was written over three years ago and I still manage to get a response about once a year. At first I thought the title might be a little too strong, but now I'm kind of glad I used it. Perhaps I have a new found respect for the word, suck.

I first wrote this piece out of anger and disgust. I was unhappy that my own people were such an embarrassment. It's been three years and I admit that I haven't mellowed out one bit. Something has changed though. Instead of getting angry, I'm getting even. Instead of avoiding people or trying to snake my way through crowds, I find myself bumping people and giving a helpful nudge now and then. Rest assured, not everyone gets this type of treatment. I never push women or children, and I only bump the people who are doing something blatantly wrong like cutting the cue, or blocking the way for no reason. Hey, I even forgive those people with lazy feet who are unable to walk in a straight line.

In these three years I've seen worse examples than my plane debacle. There is a lot of wrong in China, and there are plenty of Chinese wrongdoers. At the same time there are some examples of good, and despite the title I used I think it is obvious that not all Chinese people suck.

Anyhow, followers of this blog will realize that I have moved on from this subject, as there are much bigger fish to fry. Bad manners are the least of China's worries. Defeating corruption and taking care of the underprivileged Chinese citizen takes precedence.

Thank you for your insightful comment.

Back to Basics

I am for the most part a Firefox user when it comes to web browsing. My second choice is Google Chrome. However, there's always this rare (or outdated/poorly designed) site out there that requires me to dig out Internet Explorer once in a while.

I'm not entirely against IE. It's just that it is so damn slow. Both IE7 and especially IE8 run at snail speed. Is my computer too slow? Possibly. If that's the case, shouldn't the other browsers run slow as well?

I decided to downgrade all the way back to IE6. I remember first using the IE6 beta back in 2000. That's almost ten years ago. The downgrade process required me to delete the XP Service Pack 3, which took forever. I was left with a ten year old web browser that had none of the bells and whistles of Firefox or Chrome or Opera, but it ran smooth and fast. Though because of major security issues and Firefox superiority, I won't be using IE6 very much at all.

I appreciate new functions added to upgrade software, but I think developers should really make speed and usability more of a priority.

Another Fallen Hero: 譚作人

From the Associated Press.

Another China activist charged with subversion

(AP) – Jul 31, 2009

BEIJING — A Chinese activist who questioned why so many schoolchildren died in 2008's massive earthquake has been charged with subversion and will stand trial in mid-August, his lawyer said Friday.

Tan Zuoren's trial is to begin Aug. 12 in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province where a devastating earthquake last year left nearly 90,000 dead or missing, said lawyer Pu Zhiqiang of Beijing's Huayi Law Firm.

Tan is accused of inciting to subvert state power, but it was not immediately clear what evidence will be brought against him, Pu said by telephone from Chengdu.

Beijing routinely uses the charge of subversion to imprison dissidents for years.
Following the 7.9-magnitude earthquake in Sichuan, Tan tried to investigate the collapse of school buildings in the quake and the number of schoolchildren killed, estimating at least 5,600 students were victims.

Tan had hoped to complete his investigation before the May 12 anniversary of the quake, but he was detained in late March, Hong Kong-based activist network Chinese Human Rights Defenders said earlier.

In May, the government finally released its own count of students killed in the disaster, putting the official toll at 5,335.

Critics allege that corruption-enabled shoddy construction caused several schools to collapse while buildings nearby remained intact — a politically sensitive theory that the government has tried to quash.

Officials blame the sheer force of the quake as the main cause of the number of flattened schools.

Pu said the charges appear to be linked to Tan's quake investigation as well as essays he wrote about the 1989 student-led demonstrations in Tiananmen Square that ended in a deadly military crackdown.

China has always reacted sharply to any challenges to its one-party system, but it is also cracking down on any dissent ahead of a gala celebrating the communist regime's 60th anniversary on Oct. 1.

Subversion. That's what most of China's greatest modern heroes are often accused of. Why? Because our great nation is so corrupt and backwards and too proud/afraid/stupid to admit that they fucked up.