British comedy group Idiots of Ants shows what Facebook might look like in real life. High five to Laughingsquid.
Monthly Archives: April 2008
In Case of Emergency
Just put in 2 emergency numbers in my cell phone today. You should do the same, just in case.
Jet Li’s English
I cringe every time Jet Li opens his mouth in these American films. I’m embarrassed for him, but at the same time, it makes me chuckle.
His first line in The Forbidden Kingdom after a long fight scene:
No, Fool!
Why do I write this now? Because I’m watching Kiss of the Dragon on TV and laughed out loud at the following lines:
Bridget Fonda’s character: I’m not your type, huh?
Jet Li’s character: I don’t have a type.
Hmm, what else does he say that’s funny? I can’t seem to remember now.
The Awareness Test
Don’t worry, no scary monsters will pop up.
The Dot, Plus, and Googlemail Gmail Hacks
Here are some neat things I’ve found recently. They might not be new, but I think I need to jot them down here so I won’t forget these tips. These hacks could be helpful for fighting or tracing spam.
The Dot
Apparently, Gmail does not recognize the dot (or capitalization either) in gmail addresses. So yourusername@gmail.com is the same as your.user.name@gmail.com and all the different combinations are sent to your inbox.
The Plus
Did you know you have an unlimited amount of aliases with Gmail? You can receive messages that are sent to your.username+any.thing.you.want@gmail.com. For example, if you forced to register online, you can use Your.user.name+some.spammy.site@gmail.com. If you start getting spam, you ‘ll know who gave your address away and you can probably then set up a filter to automatically direct those messages to, oh, say, THE TRASH.
Googlemail.com=gmail.com
Of course, I don’t want to forget that yourusername@gmail.com is also the same as yourusername@googlemail.com. Mail from either address goes to your inbox. This is probably because they can’t use gmail.com in Europe. Just a reminder though, you’ll need to login with the original address you signed up with and some websites won’t accept symbols as valid email addresses. Still, I think these are pretty neat tricks.
Sneak Peek: The Forbidden Kingdom
Just got back from a sneak preview of The Forbidden Kingdom that opens this Friday, along with Expelled. Don’t worry, no spoilers here because I don’t really like to write. I’m just embarrassed every time Jet Li speaks in English. I think filmmakers make the effort to minimize his lines. But boy, he does move beautifully. Jackie Chan–always funny. Great choreography by the famous Yuen Woo Ping, whose moves most Americans would know from the Matrix movies and Kill Bill.
I remember watching Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon in the theater, especially during the scenes when the Chow Yun Fat ran across the water or over trees, people whispered “that’s so fake.” OF COURSE IT’S FAKE, PEOPLE!!! Anyhoo, I think The Forbidden Kingdom will make just about anyone appreciate fantasy martial arts movies. My friend’s 3 (almost 4) year old daughter Mackenzie was so gripped by the movie that at one point she yelled out about Jackie Chan’s character “you just can’t kill him!”. Too cute.
This is the first film that features Jet Li and Jackie Chan together. Apparently, Jackie Chan said it was pretty easy to work together.
I have not worked with someone whom I’m comfortable with, in terms of
movements, rhythm and natural reactions, in the last 10 years. I have
done many fight scenes with others but there were usually more than 10
takes, which is a waste of time as the person may forget his moves and
unnecessary injuries. When I fought with Li, our actions were quick. We
also didn’t have to do the same stunt over 20 times. #
Ok, I’m motivated to go to the park again. My new dream job: to be in a movie with both of them.
Video: Discovery Channel’s I Love the World
The World is Awesome. I heart the Discovery Channel.
Expelled the Movie opens this Friday
Ben Stein seeks to determine whether Intelligent Design is legitimate or just a pseudo-science in Expelled, the Movie.
Why an Olympic Boycott Won’t Work
A boycott of the Olympics would have precisely the opposite effect that is intended. #
Flock: Sporting New Feathers
Ok, so maybe it’s not THAT new, but it’s new to me because I haven’t played with Flock since version 0.0001 beta. Apparently, I got Joey hooked on Digsby. Not sure why he likes it so much. Now I have another thing to introduce to him.
Joey, meet Flock: the social web browser.
Not sure why I decided to have another looksy, but I’m glad I did. Essentially, it’s a tricked out version of Firefox that gives you quick access to most of your social networks like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr, webmail, Picasa, you name it, it’s there.
There’s an integrated RSS reader and blog publisher too (although I don’t like to use it because I can’t, or haven’t figured out how to, upload images onto my server with that tool).
Many of the Firefox extensions seem to work, which is the only reason why I’m willing to give it a test drive.
Is anyone else using it or giving it a go?
Yuan breaks through 7 vs. the dollar
China’s National Foreign Exchange Center has set the central parity rate for the yuan at 6.9920 to the dollar, breaching the 7.000 usd level for the first time. #
The Olympic Spirit in SF
Boy was the spirit of the Olympics ever-present at the Torch run protests today! Everyone showed strong team participation and competitiveness. Check it:
Team China:
Team Tibet:
Team Burma:
Team Darfur (represented by the green balloons):
Team Vietnamese Fisherman:
Team Friendlies (yes, that’s what the Mascots are called):
Team Lion Dancing:
Team Fudan (represented by the blue flag-i have to give a shoutout to the university where I was last summer):
and my favorite, Team Athletes:
Where did all these people come from? How did they start “cheering” on their respective teams? Where were they before all this? Are they JUST starting to protest now? I felt a little left out, like I should have been holding a sign or something.
Here’s my chat with Melissa after we left:
Me: I just bought sek lau jup (guava juice from a store in chinatown)
Melissa: I just bought a mocha
Me: guess that means I’m pro-China and you’re pro-America.
Can I just be pro-people?
Side notes: My pictures are pretty horrible here. For better pictures, see Scott Beale’s post and Rockbandit’s flickr set.
This was also the first event that I used Twitter. With the torch route so unpredictable, it was awesome to get real time info/updates from folks all around the city, especially @laughingsquid.
Protesting Violence using Violence?
Update: By the way, read about what China is saying about the torch relay here and here.
The Olympic flame landed in SFO today around 3:40am. There have been so many protests already. Being Chinese American, I am proud of China’s rise in power and prominence, but at the same time, I am dismayed at all the controversy surrounding the Olympics. I don’t condone China’s civil rights record, but c’mon people, when you try to bum rush the torch bearer, you are doing exactly that which you are protesting against. I wonder what
I’m also proud that my city will be the only North American city to host the torch relay. The current published route (IF it’s not cancelled) has the Torch ceremony beginning at 1 P.M. tomorrow in McCovey Cove and finishing up at Justin Herman Plaza. (SFGate Map of Torch Route), but the route could change up to and even during the relay, said Mayor Gavin Newsom. Even with all the protests, China vows to continue the relay. I’m tempted to take a day off tomorrow, but I don’t want to fight the crowds. Anyone out there going?
Set Google Alerts
Google Alerts are email updates of the latest relevant Google results based on your choice of query or topic. For example, you can set up an alert with your name to see who’s writing about you. ;-)
Potassium Chlorate and Gummy Bear
I never did like chemistry class, but this looks pretty cool. I hope Sheldon doesn’t read this. He’s one of my high schoolers who likes playing with smoke bombs.
Nas to Perform in Shanghai
What is this world coming to? Nas is performing in Shanghai and Beijing this month!
April 4th, 40 Years Ago
Update (April 5, 2008): Everyone’s knows of his “I Have a Dream” speech, but check out his very last speech in Memphis, the night before he was killed. Part one and part two, which is especially powerful and moving.
Photo Credit: Trikosko/Library of Congress
April 4, 1968- Dr. Martin Luther King was shot dead at a motel in Memphis, Tennessee. I was listening to NPR on the way to work this morning and heard a story of Robert Kennedy delivering news of MLK’s death:
It was supposed to be a routine campaign stop. In a poor section of Indianapolis, 40 years ago Friday, a largely black crowd had waited an hour to hear the presidential candidate speak. The candidate, Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, had been warned not to go by the city’s police chief.
As his car entered the neighborhood, his police escort left him. Once there, he stood in the back of a flatbed truck. He turned to an aide and asked, “Do they know about Martin Luther King?”
They didn’t, and it was left to Kennedy to tell them that King had been shot and killed that night in Memphis, Tenn. The crowd gasped in horror.
“For those of you who are black and are tempted to … be filled with hatred and mistrust of the injustice of such an act, against all white people, I would only say that I can also feel in my own heart the same kind of feeling,” he said. “I had a member of my family killed, but he was killed by a white man.”
Many other American cities burned after King was killed. But there was no fire in Indianapolis, which heard the words of Robert Kennedy.
“What we need in the United States is not division; what we need in the United States is not hatred; what we need in the United States is not violence and lawlessness, but is love, and wisdom, and compassion toward one another, and a feeling of justice toward those who still suffer within our country, whether they be white or whether they be black.”
Two months later, Robert Kennedy himself was felled by an assassin’s bullet.
Remember history and learn.
Twitter Local
Twitter Local lets you generate an RSS or XML Feed to filter out Tweets around a certain area. I wonder who’s tweeting around me. #
Dark XP and Gmail
For everyone who has followed me on the internet all these years, they know that I have a dark side. I absolutely LOVE dark-themed websites, for some reason. All my websites have been dark, save my very first Blogger template. I even wrote about the switch from light to dark back in 2002. Too bad I didn’t post a screenshot. I use dark desktop/wallpapers on all my computers, even the one at work. For my personal computers, I’ve been using a dark theme called Royale Noir. It looks exactly like Royale, the blue default XP theme, only it’s, uh, dark.
Download Royale Noir Windows XP theme:
Download Royale Noir .zip491 downloads
Instructions:
- Extract files to “C:\windows\resources\themes\royale noir”
- Double click on “luna.msstyles”
- Select “Noir” from “Color Scheme”
Because this theme has been code-signed by Microsoft, No UXTheme.dll hack required.
More recently, I’ve been testing out a darkened version of Gmail. It requires the Stylish Firefox extension and the Gmail Redesigned user style by UneasySilence. Cool interface, eh? Has Gmail ever changed it’s look since it was launched?
Oh, and I’m also trying out the dark Google web search. I wonder how many people out there are into dark skins/themes.
BibleMap.org
A free Bible atlas that utilizes the power of Google maps.