Saturday, July 31, 2004

Friends Again

第九季的时候,好像是因为换了翻译,Friends的中文字幕天翻地覆,开始逐渐靠近正常智力水平了。
Blahblahblahblu....... ※×%$%@^&*%$ (这就已经看出了进展)
Days of Our Lives 《光辉岁月》 (不是八零年以后的孩子干的)
Ross the Devorce Force 螺蛳离婚生力军 (终于有中国特色了)
Cool. 强。
Breaking up sucks. 去TMD分手。
Damn it! TMD! (自从国防部……)
Maybe. 也许:) (so international)
He's gonna flip out. 他会发飙的。
不过还是有翻船的时候:
I'll give you two a minute. 我给你2分钟。(一一得一,一二得二,……※%¥#)
I think you are good with the poultry. 我想你很有诗意。(面朝鸡笼,春暖花开 )


Friday, July 30, 2004

After two months I came to realize that there is no way I could finish frames 34 to 36 of that roll which has been in my camera since May 30th, so I decided to go have it processed. I went to the small shop which I have been using in the past for my color prints and was told that slides will take 3 days and I cannot get mounted ones unless I pay an extra 100 for 50 frames because the frames are only availeble on wholesale. Considering the nice and professional work they had done for me in the past, I believe that the guy was serious. In fact I was later told that there is no slide processing service in this entire city and my roll will be shipped to Chengdu and that's what's taking so long.

If I settled here, I am gonna open a shop some day.

It has been so long since stopped working and my memory is fading. Yesterday I downloaded a version of Emacs for Windows only to realize that I have forgot a lot. The only things I can remember about Emacs are: open file, write to file, save and exit, exit, paste (yank) incremental search and split window. I can't even remember the command to run GDB in Emacs which I have been doing for over 10 hours a day because that's my job. Man, time does kill.

Wednesday, July 28, 2004

老婆今天生日


老婆从张家界考察归来,休息一下先zzz... Posted by Hello

BBS中的政治游戏

今日在网上闲逛,得此奇文,才晓得这个夏天无聊的不止我一个。像BBS这样的玩意,其实大可不必如此认真,但是既然有人有心要做一下学问,不妨成全一把,留此存照。

原贴来自:法学时评网 周濂

有点儿乱

外语片看多了,得了个怀习惯,一只眼睛看画面,另外一只看字幕,神经兴奋过度。可怜今天借来的是中文对白英文字幕,眼睛还是止不住往下面晃,时而又省悟过来,弄得我神经兮兮。

在租碟店里晃悠了二十多分钟,老板舍不得开空调电扇,汗把我背都湿透了。也许是进来文艺界不景气,可看的东西少而又少。好不容易在众多色魔怪兽和反恐英雄 中找到几部国产电影。其实近年由于身在他国,倒还有些想念中国的片子,其中既有好了伤疤忘痛的成分,也还因为看过几部不错的中国电影。《绿茶》是有一点 烂,然而这样的故事并非无中生有,只是不太适合观众的人群。同样的,《寻枪》其实是不错的电影,然而暂时无法成为主流观众能够接受的风格。反映平平的《手 机》其实是一部佳作,冯小刚和葛优是真正的国宝。公私生活的纠缠,人到中年的危机,名誉,亲情,背叛和忏悔被一片片剥开,让观众在央视黄金档主旋律的阴影 下看到中国社会特定阶层真实的道德危机,这或许正是《手机》反响不大的缘由,因为有太多人被点到了痛处。在贺岁片的档期上映,想象冯小刚是有意为之,在年 复一年皆大欢喜的迷云中一招“含笑半步颠”,直捣难言之隐,中国版的American Beauty。而《卡拉是条狗》中葛优啃一条黄瓜的功夫,不是梁朝伟在《花样年华》里面抽几根烟能够悟到的。

而这部《洗澡》就不同,我不得不承认后半部我是靠快进看完的,快进常常是我老婆对付韩国连续剧的手段,为我所不齿,说“既然选择要看,就看嘛”。除了最后 两分钟,《洗澡》乏善可陈,东拉西扯,不知所云。从北京街头未来主义的全自动洗澡设备到已经老得发霉的京片子和蝈蝈,从黄土高坡疲惫的群众演员到又一次青 藏高原上布满壕沟的老妪的面容和转经轮……从不到二十部国产电影中,单靠剪接就能够拼出这整部电影。论国产想象力,当数《甲方乙方》和《大腕》,至今无出 其右者。至于近期港片,一口痰耳!

Tuesday, July 27, 2004

《盲井》 Blind Shaft

http://www.smth.org/pc/pccon.php?id=1341&nid=61508&s=all

前些日子刚刚看过盗版碟——不要怪我,这样的电影如果有正版我一定会买,如果不被电影局禁掉,我也一定会到影院去看。

那几天还在拨号上网,来去匆匆,今天偶然发现flying1979同学的一片短评,省去我爬格子了,谢过。链接如题。

相关链接:

侧面之一:故事及其他
《盲井》在柏林电影节上胜出,获得艺术成就银熊奖,影片的主演表示都没想到会胜过张艺谋的大片《英雄》。《盲井》导演李扬借片向在”金钱至上的过渡期“里生存的中国人提出了问题。
侧面之二:《盲井》获奖并不意外
对于国内的媒体来讲,与其说李杨是匹黑马,不如说他是半路杀出来的程咬金,咬得让大家有点发蒙。就像上一届诺贝尔文学奖得主揭晓之后,国内媒体对获奖者匈牙利作家伊姆雷.凯尔泰斯却一无所知一样,尴尬得很。
侧面之三:主演李易祥
李易祥拍这个戏,不洗头不洗澡,不单单是外表,就连神态动作都变了。他回到北京时,灵灵看着他都害怕,说:“你怎么一点都不象原来的你了。”
侧面之四:关于《神木》
印在煤上的树叶就是煤的魂。死物有魂,何论生物。

中文清晰版 Sex and the Nation

以下文字拷贝自中国三大门户网站之一的新浪(www.sina.com.cn)首页,时间是北京时间2004年7月27日:
美女啦啦队新鲜出炉
影视 歌星 旅游 试听 人体 言情 简历 小说
论文 书库 周易 股票 模特 百科 电视 科学
武器 武侠 留学 服装 网游 科技 内衣 兼职
免费 保健 硬件 动漫 演员 情感 减肥 写真
奥运 新碟 丰胸 壁纸 英文歌 美少女 演唱会
好歌 美腿 歌手 爆笑 低胸装 排行榜 真人秀
♀美女♂酷男
窈窕淑女放电
爱上猫的老鼠
性商测试
想做性感小猫?快行动吧!
和处男谈婚论嫁
悔当初只看中她美貌 旗袍风情秀(组图)
撞见老爸不堪的一幕 女人夜生活的本质
夏日美眉性感模型 美图壁纸下载
测你的性感姿势
致命爱情 望欲 麝月
蒋介石的女人们
处女情与肉体记忆 搭配出惊艳感 沟通无限心理
组图:街头美女偷眼看
● 组图:女星比基尼抢眼
● 组图:布兰妮梦幻写真
● 组图:港姐观南海观音
● 组图:沙排美臀当道
倡导素食情侣街头拥吻
以 上仅仅是新浪首页上的文字链接,还不包括图片和弹出广告窗口。眼下全国网上大扫黄,网站被封、服务器整 机拆除之类事件此起彼伏,大量毫无色情内容的中小网站无辜遭连座,依靠租用服务器的个人小网站更是叫苦连天,苦心操持多年的知名度和数据毁于一旦。而大打 擦边球、公然贩黄拉皮条的中国三大门户新浪、网易、搜狐却任凭风雨飘摇而金枪不倒,网民怨声载道。

其实岂止是网站,整个中国传媒,在过去的两年,已经取代老中医们的电线杆,成为最大的性信息门户。此起彼伏的选美大赛搞得处处波涛汹涌。刚刚过去的欧洲杯,道貌岸然的中国中央电视台,在直播间 里就有十六位衣着宽松、智商为零的“足球宝贝”搔首弄姿,面向十三亿观众的清晰特写镜头里,也不乏宝贝们的乳沟、小腹和大腿根部。也许是领导们同情球迷之 挑灯夜战,也许是节目组值夜班也有生理需求,局外人不得而知。刚刚过去不久的北京车展,屏幕与报纸当然是连篇累牍,频率最高的汉字除了“车”当然有“美 女”。央视更是派出新一代有波无脑的女主波在展厅里高声尖叫,并向全国播出。最精彩之一:女主波围绕一辆兰博基尼叫床接近尾声之时,变换姿势爬到车身前 部,喘着粗气对观众们说:“让我们来看看他的心脏——发动机!……”随即拔开前盖,自然是空空如也,美女先是一惊,随后两眼圆睁,昂首挺胸又一次喊道: “啊,啊,没有,没有!……”

中国大地色情激昂的两年,我正远在美国留学,所以我今天是一条海带,非常的无聊,在家里读书上网看电视。然而相比之下,当我身处思想腐朽生活糜烂的资本主 义社会,荧幕上的所见使我有愧于道貌岸然的文明古国。相比中国传媒泛滥的美女面孔与身体,美国的大多数节目主持人均为男性,且以中年为主。收视率靠前的 Late Show、Tonight Show、 Monster Garage、 Orange County Chopper、 60 Minutes 甚至厨艺节目的主持人甚至都是男人。CNN、 MSNBC、 ABC 等电视台的新闻和社会栏目主持人也是男性居多,而且不论男女,年龄都普遍偏大,形象更加稳重而不乏吸引力。影视产品分级制度严格,像父母带着孩子看《十面 埋伏》直面激情章子怡这样的局面更是无从想象。广告、图书等载体上,不同种族、年龄、肤色的人像照片分庭抗礼——试问,我们的哪个门户网站上能找到60岁 女人的漂亮照片?

每每要证明中国什么东西少,有人就说咱们“人平均”如何如何;而到了需要证明什么东西多的时候,有人就说如果“每人”怎样,那么十三亿人就有多少云云。我 等才 疏学浅,发明不出新鲜的理论,所以也套用一下经典罢。如果每个中国人两腿之间有一样东西,那么大概有十三亿个,其中有大约一半和剩下的不同,而且由于出厂 日期有先有后,有的暂时还不能用,有的已经过期了。但是咱人多啊,那么剩下的也不应该是一个小数,所以全中国就有大量的闲置设备。虽然我们的公检法和国家 机关也有大量的闲置人员,开展一两次或者十七八次轰轰烈烈荡气回肠的运动如同探囊取物,但那个野火吹不尽春风吹又生的道理,恐怕就连足球宝贝们也能够倒背 如流。

但在中国有一些规律,那就是州官可以放火,但是百姓不能点灯。每每遇到下一轮的运动,倒霉的都是无名无姓的草根阶层。坐在空调办公室数钱的,永远都是同一 群人。在中小网站六月飞雪的同时,新浪网易搜狐这样的全国性门户虽有所收敛,但无关痛痒,因为无数的收费短信已经把黄段子、激情图片和同城幽会播撒到神州 大地,钱已经进帐。与此同时,电信部门作为网上色情交易的付费渠道,已经爽够了。各方酒足饭饱,打点停当,当然就到了立起牌坊,隔岸观火的时段。而下一次 聚会应该已经为期不远,因为不论是两腿之间还是两耳之间,都蕴藏着无穷无尽的革命力量和创造源泉,而真正欲火焚身的,并不是你我在荧幕上看见的欲望小妹和 宋朝 公安。

——仅以此文献给楼下街口的租碟老板。

相关链接: 将色情进行到底

Monday, July 26, 2004

Sex and the Nation


Born in the late 70's of last century, I thought I am living after the time of movements on this piece of land and I am wrong. I came back to my country for just a few months and I am seeing one of the most spectacular and fussy nation-wide movement in web space for the first time. Posted by Hello

Two Dials on One Line

Today I just realized that I can use ADSL and voice moden on the same phone line at the same time (for two computers, of coz). Both work well except that I can hear a very faint noise on the voice moden which does not happen when it is used alone.

Sunday, July 25, 2004

20 Years of Apple

And another link

The Road Ahead

Due to the fact that I am so bored staying at home all day, I started looking into the old bookshelf which came into our house in 1996 when we moved in. Among the Chinese literature, cook books, dictionaries and my old textbooks, there is a copy of The Road Ahead, Chinese version by Willian H Gates III, copyright 1995 and printed in China in 1996. And I picked it up after watching 12 episodes of Friends on my computer today.

The translation is lousy, I have to say. The text feels like the work of a code generator rather than real human being. But they are forgiven since back then, 10 years ago, not many people know what Bill Gates was really talking about and aside from that, it was good enough to have someone working to bring interesting books to the Chinese people at a reasonable price. It cost me 20RMB (about $2.50) and that was an expensive book for me at high school. I did not read much of that immediately thanks to the translation of those programmers, and this book somehow made it to my small bookshelf in college dorm. But I did not bother to read it either. Finally it came back home.

Today I read it. Or should I say skimmed through it within half an hour. I did not dive much into the details bacause I do not want to be caught in the fuzzy translation. However, it was quite impressive.

I do not like this man by the name of Bill Gates whose company sells secondary-grade software at high price and makes my computer crash for no reason. But it does take some vision for anyone to describe your life to you ten years before it happens. This books covers quite some of the things that are happening in the digital life today and although the picture may not be exactly like reality, the prediction was in the right direction. It may had too much confidence in ISDN (Integrated Service Digital Network or It Still Does Nothing) and ATM (Asychronous Transfer Mode), and failed to predict giants like google, but I wasn't expecting such a systematic yet real plan of what's gonna happen in the near future. It did miss something (see some more opinions from other people) but the Gates of Bills was just one person.

Now the question becomes: what's the revolution of our current times?

Picasa and Hello

Just tried Picasa and Hello and impressed.

In addition to free hosting, Hello makes it super easy to add photoes to blogger.com. The only thing needs improving is that Hello uses IE as web browser which we all know is a bad, bad idea!

Picasa is nice. A lot better than ACDSee, without all the unnecessary features yet it feels friendly, sophisticated and elegant. This reminds me of a lecture by google staff a year ago about being "useable" or "useful". ACDSee version numbers keep growing while the software is achieving newer levels of sucking. The best ACDSee version is the one I used back in 1998 (ACDSee32 v2.40) which is nothing more than an image organizer and browser and is even faster on 33MHz 486 than today's fancy ACDSee on 2.8GHz. Moore's Law is only ture in terms of hardware speed. In terms of useful performance computers are growing not just fast and in some cases such as ACDSee, it's even negative.

Saturday, July 24, 2004


Me. Posted by Hello
My wife had her ear(s?) pierced recently and now she is travelling with her younger sister.

Very First Picture Here


Nothing, just a shot I got a few months back. I post it here to see how the Hello software is working with blogger. Posted by Hello

Rule for Myself

Now I can put up photos on the blog. Instead of going nuts about this, I am gonna say at most three pictures per week and no two images in a row.

Look, I do not have a digital camera and my savings will run out if I keep posting :)


A Face-lift

I am kind of lazy so I chose to switch to this ready-cooked template. Plus it looks fine to me with the blue because the previous white background hurts my eyes a little.

And I have opened to comments from registered members of blogger.com. Again since I am lazy I may not respond to any of the possible comments if there are anyone interested in my stuff at all. This blog is not meant to be read by more than a few people in the first place. Because I am not a nice guy I may simply hide some of the comments I do not like. So sorry, first.

One last thing, I understand no more than Chinese and English.

Welcome and enjoy your stay here.


Monopoly

A month after I activated this pre-paid cell phone card and more than a year before it's expiration date, it stopped working with over 30% of its value left. After the dial tone the only thing you can hear is "your pre-paid phone card has expired". China Telecom, the largest Chinese public communication company and the only one allowed to provide land line service and the one who just got the entire business of 2008 Beijing Olympics, is the absolute No. 1 monopoly throughout this entire country thanks to its bond with the government.China Mobile, one of the only two companies which provide mobile phone service in China, is actually part of China Telecom and not surprisingly, is surpported by the government to bully all competition. China Mobile is actually the one who got the Olympics contract, but we can symply save the trouble and call it China Telecom.

Put in a short way, China Telecom is even worse than Microsoft. The latter, at least, is not backed up by the government in any way and their monopoly is based on their own product.

So my pre-paid cell phone fee is down the toilet and since I am not insane I am not going to argue with China Mobile about this. This interesting phenomina has been around for so many years: nearly everyone hates China Telecom and China Mobile, yet they are still in excellent business. Recently the government has just passed a new law banning any company to charge only the caller for mobile communication and banning anyone from lowering service price without government (pronounced as "China Mobile") approval. Meanwhile after state exams, examinees need to call China Telecom's info service to know their scores and the service fee is 5RMB per minute, which is even more expensive than international calls. But you just have to call and pay for it unless you do not really wanna know. And just another pieces of news was on TV yesterday: China Telecom refuses to provide detailed phone bill records to customers due to "technical reasons"(pronounced as "you-are-stupid"), instead everyone can only see the total amount and man if you do not pay in time, your phone is cut off right away. My mom saw this happen once with no warning at all.With more and more Chinese people getting online, broadband internet service is so booming and there are a mumber of companies providing subscriber service but you don't wanna waste your time guessing who is the winner: China Telecom's ASDL serivce. There are companies providing T1 to the living room for less than half the price but you simply cannot get it because they are not allowed to enter certain areas of the city - maybe just the populated areas, all other places are open to fair competition for everyone.

This has been on the media recently: up till now less than 10 counties recognize China as a market economy and no major economic body is on that list. Both the EU and the US refuses to see China as a market economy and Chinese am I, I think they are absolutely right.

It has been so boring these days and even I am writing this stuff.

《南方周末》 反垄断法:现实与期望

Thursday, July 22, 2004

Betrayed Will

Found this amazing re-construction of an acient classic Chinese poem:

骆宾王的《咏鹅》,暴强

提交者 : 山外山 于 北京时间 2004-07-22 10:05:08


  《咏鹅》
  鹅 鹅 鹅,

  曲 项 向 天 歌。

  白 毛 浮 绿 水,

  红 掌 拨 清 波。

  这首诗中骆宾王模拟鹅的感受控诉环境污染的严重,写得极为辛辣生动。

  首先要解释下“鸟”字在古代多表骂人的意思,而“鹅”字恰由“我”“鸟”两部分构成,所以全诗的意思应该是∶

  我操!我操!我操!

  我仰着头对天这个骂呀,

  这水被他妈的谁污染了,全是绿毛呀,老子刚泡了会澡就掉了一池子的白羽毛,这还让不让鹅活了!

  赶紧拼了老命往岸边划吧,哎呀妈呀,脚掌都开始秃碌皮了,已经露出了俺红扑扑的嫩肉,难道这就是那帮人类嘴中唧唧歪歪称赞不休的狗屁清波池吗!

An intersting link about free public wi-fi service.

Bay Area Free Wi-Fi Wireless Hotspots

Wednesday, July 21, 2004

My butt hurts from sitting on the edge of my bed watching Friends, checking email and browsing because the cable is only one meter long and that's the greatest distance I can stay from my ADSL moden. Besides since I have only 100 hours every month thanks to my financial status, I feel like a freak dialing and logging off in a hurry.

It truly is boring. I just got the UNIX book from my 32-kg suitcase and thinking about going through it sometime. It feels like a brick.

Oh my ass hurts.

Starting from the fourth season there seems to be a new transtator. Here is some translation in the sub-title of this version of Friends I am watching:

Joey 祖儿(一百六十斤?)
That's mean. 那是认真的(哦?)
American Express 快递公司
stripper 清洁工(卫生啊,卫生!)
Oh I have a contraction! 我有合同!
Doctor: I am a first year resident. 我是第一年的居民。
It's so gross! 好重啊!(嗯!)
You guys are best buds. 你们是最好的花蕾。(我们的祖国是花园……)
Dude! 花花公子!
she's straight. 她是直的。(他可能是,她也是?)
visual aids 可见的艾滋病(弓虽)
Please don't pick your teeth out there. 请不要把牙齿掏出来。
y2k panic 2000年野餐
Shoot! 射!(%¥×◎※)
Screw it! 转!(◎§÷……#)
kumpao chicken 坑包小鸡(翠花儿,……)
GAP commercial 缝隙广告(哪条缝?)
smoking body 抽烟的人(哪个部位?)

This is unbelievable. Today I need a proxy server even to see my personal blog. The internet service in this country is spreading as fast as the accessible world is shrinking. I do not enjoy wrinting in another language while I am in my home country but I am obliged to do. Today I saw this post and it saved a lot of typing for me.

傻逼年年有,今年特别多

    提交者 :  35F2 于 北京时间 2004-07-21 04:22:22
    

    Blog 已经踏入法律雷区?
    【2004-07-15 09:58】 【张樊】 【chinabyte】
    Blog在互联网上日渐兴起,同时也开始有人关注blog的命运了。Blog在我国现行法律下能够得到充分的发展,把其自由精神、传播思想的作用完全发挥 出来吗?类似于国外的blog,以一个崭新的传媒方式在我国社会中站稳脚跟吗?这些问题是我们必须要考虑的,决非危言耸听,在对blog普遍看好的同时, 我们必须要从社会制度层面要思考这些。其实blog早就踏入法律雷区,如今的火暴是一种灰色生存。

    曾记得三年前在网上广为流传着一篇文章《个人网站,将面临“全军覆没“?》,作者从法律角度全面分析了在我国现行法律体制下,个人网站的前途和命运。今 天,blog实质上是一种新的个人网站形式,与传统的个人网站没有本质的区别。个人网站发展面临的法律障碍,blog都必须要面对。

    而blog又直接从事着信息服务,在我国面临的管制尤其多。在我国目前至少有下列法律法规对blog起着作用。

    首先,国务院发布的《互联网站从事登载新闻业务管理暂行规定》。我们不少人把blog当作一个媒体,用blog来发布新闻。按照国务院的《互联网站从事登 载新闻业务管理暂行规定》,只有“中央新闻单位、中央国家机关各部门新闻单位以及省、自治区、直辖市和省、自治区人民政府所在地的市直属新闻单位依法建立 的互联网站(以下简称新闻网站),经批准可以从事登载新闻业务”。对于非新闻单位依法建立的综合性互联网站,只有具备规定的第九条所列条件的,经批准可以 从事登载中央新闻单位、中央国家机关各部门新闻单位以及省、自治区、直辖市直属新闻单位发布的新闻的业务,但不得登载自行采写的新闻和其他来源的新闻。非 新闻单位依法建立的其他互联网站,不得从事登载新闻业务。也就是说非新闻单位具备相关条件才能转载新闻。个人网站根本不可能具备这些条件,所以个人 blog发表自己的原创信息完全与之是背离的。

    其次,信息产业部发布的《互联网电子公告服务管理规定》。个人blog还提供了作者与读者的互动,读者可以在blog上对有关文章发表看法。这实质上就是 一种电子公告服务了。按照《互联网电子公告服务管理规定》,经营电子公告服务(包括电子布告牌、电子白板、电子论坛、网络聊天室、留言板等等),除了要有 经营许可证以外,还“应当在向省、自治区、直辖市电信管理机构或者信息产业部提出专项申请或者专项备案。” 据说,目前全国的成千上万的BBS论坛只有网易、大洋网、强国论坛等几个少数网站是领了牌照的。众多的BBS都无法做到,一个个人的blog怎么可能做到 呢?

    再次,文化部发布的《互联网信息服务管理办法》和新闻出版总署与信息产业部联合出台《互联网出版管理暂行规定》。对从事互联网信息服务和出版活动都做了严 格限制,按照规定“从事互联网出版活动,必须经过批准。未经批准,任何单位或个人不得开展互联网出版活动”。规定中特别是对从事互联网出版服务和信息服务 的主体条件都做了限定。Blog这种互联网出版行为肯定是不具备这些条件的。

    除此之外,还有文化部发布的《互联网文化管理暂行规定》等等,也对blog发挥着法律效力。

    由此可见,我国在管制blog的法律上并不是空白,法律并不缺失。而木子美和竹影青瞳事件的发生,反映了我国整个社会法制的焦点问题“有法必依、执法必严”的问题。法律的生命在于执行。

      Blog在没有任何管制的情况下活着,是一种极不正常的状态。要想blog健康的发展,政府必须管制。以目前的法律法规的内容,就根本没有 blog的生存空间,但我们必须正视blog给这个社会的积极作用。我们应该创设出适合blog发展的管制模式。政府直接管制blog使用者是不切实际 的,政府的管制重点应该放到blog服务提供商身上,对blog服务提供商实行许可制度,明确其对blog使用者的监管责任。

      我们真切的盼望着blog能在法治的轨道上发展!
    链接 
No wonder it is getting more and more difficult to access my blog from home. A week ago I could at least use my administrative functions but starting from yesterday, the browser just kept connectiong to server and ends up having a time-out. I have to use proxy server even to keep my own journal.

Tuesday, July 20, 2004

I cannot find a working proxy today.

My eyes are getting crossed after watching 4GB of compressed video. By the way, I seem to have an issue about the spelling of video (is this right or should I say vedio?) Currently it is the only word I almost certainly would spell wrong. I remember when I was in high school I used to spell because as beacuse for like a year and nobody ever noticed. I had about twenty English exams during that year.
Watched Blind Shaft and A River Runs Through It.

Also finished the first three seasons of Friends. What a long run.



Monday, July 19, 2004

This is interesting:

http://www.skype.com

[娱乐]十面埋伏剧情版,没看电影的先看看这个。。。(转载)

提交者 : giraffee 于 北京时间 2004-07-19 14:22:47

作者:丫够逗的 提交日期:2004-7-19 14:16:10

从一开始两个主角的名字就预示了将是一部及其没有创意的作品,金城武叫金捕头,刘德华叫刘捕头。接下来,就是两人坐在差馆里非常散漫的边喝小酒边谈工作, 刘道貌岸然的对金说:最近上头派下来一个任务,就是要严厉打击一个叫“飞刀门”的黑帮势力。据说他们老帮主翘了后,不但没有消失,反而在一个新帮主的带领 下日益猖獗起来,要将其彻底摧毁。金满不在乎的问刘,你有什么线索吗?刘淫荡的笑答:近日新开了一处娱乐场所,叫牡丹坊,你没去逛逛吗?金马上会意的露出 同样淫荡的表情说:今晚就去逛逛。
    
接下来,在一处纸醉金迷奢华糜烂雕梁画柱庸脂俗粉的地方,金和一帮性工作者纠缠着,似乎已经醉了。金喊到“阿母”,宋丹丹应声而出,用一口已经深入骨髓不 可能改掉的东北音儿问:大爷有何吩咐?金要求见一见这里的首席性工作者,那个年代叫‘头牌’。于是,很快獐子蚁被裹的严严实实的,在众多绿叶衬托下,出场 了。然后就是一番及无创意的户籍调查和调情对话。忘说了,片中獐子蚁的名字是:小妹。比较特别的是,是一盲女。金在此刻表现的完全是一个极度变态的虐待 狂,他解扣子是用刀的。金把小妹粽子皮样的外衣剥下来后,里头是一套飘逸的纱裙,这次露的是右肩。獐子蚁似乎很满意自己的锁骨,片中无时无刻不逮机会就露 一下。一段扭腰摆胯的舞蹈过后,又发现其臀部还停留在“我的父亲母亲”中的造型上。
    
接下来的场面是本片中第一个笑料,金看完舞蹈狂性大发,拉着章就是一顿撕扯,后头是以宋丹丹为首的一帮“绿叶”又拉又拽鸡飞狗跳的,跟着刘以一副英雄的样 子,嗖得跳了出来,大喝:住手!说人家衣冠不整。那场面象极了现在扫黄办突击检查黑歌厅那架势,估计这场景老谋子比较熟,可谁让你用这儿来着,这是一古装 片啊。然后就是一句:小姐站左边,嫖客站右边,排列整齐!收队!这时,“阿母”大姐急忙上前,八面玲珑的游说起来,末了,刘终于扯动嘴角露一点点色狼面目 的问了一句:你说她是头牌,她一个盲人又会什么呢?“跳舞!”宋大姐连忙吹捧起来,风情万种的瞟了刘一眼,说道“官爷可以试一下嘛。”接下来,就是那场著 名的牡丹坊艳舞,场面确实宏伟壮观,光是弹琵琶的,就一百多人,然后还有二百多敲鼓的。场子周围摆放了一圈那叫什么鼓,我也没看出来。比较新鲜的一种乐器 是拿一南瓜放水盆里敲。盲眼的小妹站在中间,梗楞着脖子,支棱着耳朵,四周听着。刘坐在她正前方,面前是一大盆芸豆。让我不得不怀疑该片的赞助商里定有一 家从事农业种植的企业。刘问:仙人指路听说过吗?小妹答:以前常玩。于是刘拈起一颗芸豆,深情凝视了许久,突然出手!芸豆直飞向旁边的一面鼓& thorn; 眫~~~的一声~!芸豆落地,接着小妹马上一个倒毛儿飞出去,手中绸带挥舞,打到同样一面鼓上,又是当的一声!跟着小妹很快又摆出一副飞天的造型站回了 原来的位置。接下来是两个芸豆,三个芸豆,到最后,刘忽然把手里的一盆芸豆全部泼了出去,然后奸笑着等着看笑话。小妹连刀马旦的工夫都使上了,手忙脚乱了 半天,唉,兔子急了也咬人哪,刘这么欺负一个残疾人显然是过分了。于是小妹摆出一副“老娘也不是好欺负的”嘴脸,用绸带拽出了刘放在桌上的钢刀。注意:这 是第一个破绽,一个盲人,刚还走道撞墙呢。突然间就会隔空取物了。我马上想起了葛优葛爷的一句经典台词:我又能看见了!这是爱情的力量啊!跟着,就是一段 猫捉老鼠的游戏,最终以刘把小妹带回大牢告终。
    
在大牢审讯的场面也变态到了极点,刘从背后拥住此刻已完全回归到《我的父亲母亲》中那个造型的小妹,嘴唇轻轻贴在小妹耳边,双手轻抚小妹双肩,这本该在花 前月下的恋人间才会有的姿势,放在大牢里显的尤其的不伦不类!更过分的是,俩人眼前还放了刑具!刘一手握着小妹的手,一点点引导她抚摩着刑具,耳语道:这 是你的头。。。这是你的肩。。。这是你的腰。。。另一手随之抚到小妹的身上相应的位置,然后两个衙役突然转动刑具边的绞盘,一根碗口粗的竹子喀啦一声裂 开。小妹全身一震,刘露出满意的笑容!放手道:你自己想想吧。给你一天的时间。这场景严重有损我公安干警光辉伟大的形象!强烈抗议!最后刘与金定下一条计 谋,让金继续假扮风流大侠,救小妹出狱,借护送为由,直捣飞刀门老巢!很快,夜深了。小妹呈“大”字型被绑在刑具上,狱卒在巡视,全然不见房梁上盘着一身 着蓝底金花大褂子的金。拜托!给点专业精神好不好!就差在身上写着“我是夜行人”了!当然,也不排除他们是商量好的,然后金很轻松的打垮了一大票冲上来的 群众演员,救出了小妹。
    
     清晨,两人跌跌撞撞的走在林间,小妹感谢金的救命之恩。以下是一段非常BT的对话:
     “谢大侠救命之恩,请问大侠尊姓大名?”
     “随风。”
     “随意的风?”
     “是随处风流的随风。”
     一阵天真的笑,拜托!还没逃离险境哎,现在就开始调情!
     “听大侠声音好年轻,不知相貌如何?”
     “你摸一摸不就知道了。。。”
     下面,章的一个动作。。。唉,我实在说不出口。大家去看吧。总之是很变态。
    
然后追兵来了,第一拨很差,很容易就打发了。而且因为知道金是卧底,所以没下狠手。经典细节是:四个骑兵围在小妹四周,金从几里地外射出四支箭,箭飞来的 镜头绝对是模仿国外影片中的导弹效果。一箭一个,四人倒下。狗男女逃窜。四人又爬起来了,从自己的胳肢窝下,腰带上,发簪里,拔出一根根箭来。我喷血啊! 太假了吧!然后就是仿《卧虎藏龙》的洗澡场面。放着远处一豁大豁大的湖不去,金非拿一破刀在地上挖了一三尺见方,半人多深的小泥坑,让小妹洗澡,自己敲着 刀往远处走,我有瞬间的时空错乱,芥不小虎嘛!同时我出现了幻听耳边响起了小虎在沙漠上回荡的歌声。。。然后,是刘和金在林中秘密接头。刘告诉金,不要动 真情,脸上那醋劲儿。。。估计心里正念叨:这马子明明是我先看上的!”同时保证说,不会再有追兵。自己会悄悄带兵尾随,直到飞刀门老巢。
    
刘刚走,金就迫不及待的把刀挂到树上,也不从哪儿找来一高智商松鼠,帮他一荡一荡的敲着刀,自己溜回去偷看。结果被小妹发现了,小妹不但没有惊声尖叫,反 而挑逗起金来,于是出现本篇第一个激情场面。獐子蚁又露锁骨了。她一定有恋锁骨癖。又往前走,到一山花烂慢处,金骑马飞奔在花丛中,不时附身抄起一捧捧野 花,你说小妹她又看不见,你耍什么帅嘛!再说除个草而已,用不着费那么大劲儿吧。俩人正玩着,突然又出现四个一组的追兵。金当时就惊了,连连给对方打眼 色,面部肌肉呈中风抽搐状,借近身肉搏之机小声说:“自己人。”岂料对方根本不认!又是一场恶斗啊,打退四个,又来四个,周而复始,源源不断,别说是金捕 头了,就连观众都崩溃了。靠声一片。搞笑的是所有杀手都是同一姿态出场的,左手持盾牌横于胸前,盾牌上沿与鼻孔齐。低头,右手持刀指向后方斜上45度,小 碎步,四人一列,这姿势在以后所有官府追兵出场时贫贫出现。看得我真想在退场时发动所有观众都用这姿势走出去。在这时,引用星爷一句经典台词:“杀手的刀 最近时离小妹喉咙之有0.001毫米,但在0.0001秒以后,刀的主人翘掉了。。。”不知从哪里飞来的四根木头锥子,扎在杀手后脖埂子上。狗男女又一次 得救 了。两人又逃。
    
又一晚,小妹问金到底是不是真心。金一副风流浪子的样子气跑了小妹,刘出现了,给了金一筒足有100多支的箭,语重心长的嘱咐说:以后的追兵都是总捕头派 来得了,我也保不了你,兄弟你保重吧!金FT,问:难道我的命不是命吗?难道弟兄们的命不是命吗?我杀自己人好难过的。刘说:在总捕头看来,我们都不过是 棋子罢了。。。于是金愤怒,喊:“我不干了!”(这句台词我提前5分钟就猜到了。)然后跑出去追小妹。

最FT的竹林出现了!一帮杀手飞在竹子上,金和小妹在地上跑,杀手们从空中投掷一米多长,碗口粗的竹钎子扎他们,用扦子下落的密度和速度比较杀手数量,计 算得出:每个杀手必须背负2吨以上的竹扦子飞在天上,才够扔的,但从画面上看,基本都是空手的。而且扦子和两人的脚步绝对是“与时俱进”的。永远扎不着, 你扎近一点,我跑前一步。。。就这么又追出好几里地,终于!飞刀门的人出来了。居然是“阿母”。两人获救了。但刘也被捉来了。这时小妹才露出真面目,原来 不瞎。一切尽在阿母掌握。那时候金的表情哦。。。。那叫一个经典!而刘,居然是飞刀门派到官府的卧底。。。。《无间道》古装版!刘其实和小妹早就相恋三年 了。而这时的小妹和金却。。。。三年的苦恋比不上三天的放纵。这时终于出现了本片要表现的重点。万恶淫为首啊!

后来嘛,就是阿母放刘回去继续卧底,刘要求见小妹,却发现小妹移情,刘愤怒了。,强行要和小妹。。。。又露锁骨了。然后被阿母在扎了一刀才冷静下来。刘走 后,阿母要小妹去杀了金。有句词很经典:他知道我们的底细了必须要杀,一了百了。。。小妹不忍下手,私下放跑了金。走前二人终于。。。。唉!这次连后背都 看到了。谁知刘并未走远,半路冲出来。先是捅了小妹一刀,然后与金决斗,瞬间秋叶漫天就变成冰天雪地,比《后天》的速冻效果好多了。打斗期间,金一有空就 扑过去看看小妹。他一过去小妹就复活一次。最可气的是小妹都被雪埋了好几个钟头,胸口还插着一飞刀,人楞是从雪堆里又爬出来了。

不死僵尸啊!最后,小妹为救金,拔出胸口的飞刀,在空中砍到一滴血水后,自己喷血而亡,而其实刘并未真正杀了金。他见小妹为救金宁可不要自己性命,绝望的疯掉了,茫茫雪地中。。。只有金抱着小妹的尸身痛哭,洋女人的歌声响起。。。。全局终。

Weird day. I met like everybody online today.

Sunday, July 18, 2004

Today I counted the broken parts of my parents' computer:

Mainboard: the repair guy obviously gave them a refurbished and it is not well done. The machine dies over a few dozen times every day.

CPU: it is said that the repair guy fried the previous one so this one is a replacement. Hope lord knows where he got this secondary device.

Video card: the monitor would just go back out of the blue (yeah, it does turn win98 blue sometime before the seizsure). And sometimes you can even have mosaic, black white or in colour, before realizing that the keyboard and mouse are not responding...hey where is the power switch?

Sound card: when I plug in the speaker and mic I got an amplifying device. There is this screaming sound getting louder and louder.

Monitor: all the adjustment functions are gone.

Floppy disk driver: already replaced, the old one was not working.

I was hoping that the workstation in my office get this so I could have a new one.

I've been watching Friends for a few days and I am bringing Chinese TV series to my friends in Ameria. This is called cultrual exchange.


Friday, July 16, 2004

Look at this:

"不一定需要反张的人说,就让老张自己凭良心说,也是迄今为止最烂的一片。"

"英雄至少还有 杜可风撑着,虽然故事烂,画面还算漂亮。这十面埋伏算个鸟啊,个个镜头人脸都在正中间,比央视新闻联播都不如。颜色又艳得翻胃,比MTV还假,两个钟头下 来眼睛都吐了。还有啊,充满情欲的主人公们每隔二十分钟就嘿咻一下,但是又不敢真脱,恐怕整个剧组都要为此伤了身体,实在可怜。说到台词,弱智的程度,也 叫人叹为观止,好比正上初二年级刚刚步入青春期的语文不及格的文学青年。当初因为"你是疯儿我是傻"遭人耻笑的赵姑娘,忍辱负重,今天终于等到个国际大碗 垫背了。"

And just for the record:

评论:《十面埋伏》九大鬼扯
http://ent.sina.com.cn 2004年07月19日11:30 新浪娱乐


  第一扯——章子怡疑似神仙

  张艺谋偏爱章子怡,这几乎是路人皆知的事情。但如果你觉得人家光是知道还不够,又想方设法要逼着大家都像你一样视她为神仙姐姐,那就很是矫情了。所以 当大家看到影片开始不久老张为发挥小章的舞蹈功底而特意为她设计那段其实跟剧情关联并不大的与刘德华在牡丹坊内大玩特玩“仙人指路”游戏的片段,觉得尚可 接受的话,到了影片结尾部分大家看到老张安排酥胸中刀的小章死了四回都没死透的时候,就真的不敢苟同了。

  补救措施:让小章最后面对镜头时微笑着甩甩如瀑的长发后加上句——“入了飞刀门,就是这么自信”,观众们也就不会再有像见了诈尸一样不安的反应了。

  第二扯——金城武疑似变态

  金城武“纯情一代男”的大好形象这回全砸在他所盲目信赖的张导手里了。在这部畸情武侠片里,金城武不是拉着小章的手往自己身上乱摸,就是在草地上挖个 坑骗小章在里面洗澡方便自己偷看,要么就是不分场合地随意滥用他那并不纯熟的恶虎扑食功,而且怎么用功也搞不掂小章身上那套宽松而单薄的衣衫。一直得不了 手,金城武郁闷得失去了正常的判断力——原本是他拉扯着“目盲”的小章在密林里狂逃,中间他拐回头去取小章落在途中的刀囊,等他再追上小章时,“目盲”的 小章已经自力更生且毫发无损地穿越密林跑到离分手地点好几里外的水坑里忙着大战官兵了!可怜的金城武,也不想一想,难道你留在小章手里的刀鞘还有导盲功能 吗?

  补救措施:请金城武现身说法,告诫观看该片的青少年观众——“远离色情网站,刻不容缓。”

  第三扯——刘德华疑似软骨

  按照片中的描述,小章约等于潘金莲,小武约等于西门庆,而德华约等于同时具有武松般体魄及武大般遭遇的综合体,这样德华最后执意要杀掉小章才有了逻辑 基础和情感基础。其间,德华问飞刀门的掌事者是谁决定派自己心爱的小章去色诱捕快的,人家答曰“这又不是第一次了”。按照常理,如果自己冒着生命危险在官 府做卧底,而帮会又再三再四地派自己视同珍宝的女人防浪形骸地去勾引自己的同事,那自己不立马揭杆而起也要回去找老大谈谈条件,总不能赔了夫人又折寿吧? 而德华接下来居然忠心耿耿地背着新任帮主插在他肩上的那把飞刀,义无返顾地继续他的卧底事业。如果这还不算是脑子进水的话,最后你会看到,当蛇蝎心肠的小 章对德华甩出致命一刀时,而德华却只是作甩刀状吓了吓小武同志?!

  补救措施:让刘捕头在隐身风雪之前回头深情表白一句:“没有最傻,只有更傻”,观众就不难明白何谓贱到深处无怨尤了。

  第四扯——飞刀门疑似弱智

  张导从一开始就努力把飞刀门打造成一个高手云集的明门正派,但他显然没有成功。因为对飞刀门而言,在本片中只有两项任务,一是保护好自己的老巢不被官 府发现,二是与此同时尽力诱捕下决心要清剿飞刀门的州府总捕头。但天不遂人愿,最后总捕头没出现不说,惟一的战利品捕快金城武还被小章同志给偷偷放生了, 飞刀门的老巢也被州府的精锐部队围了个水泄不通。

  补救措施:让傅彪穿上古装,面对着满是尸体的战场哭诉:“他们盾牌兵,早就集体补过钙了,我们飞刀门说好今晚也要补的,都怪我,货送迟了一步哇!”

  第五扯——盾牌兵疑似抽风

  影片中出现的那些由州府派来的盾牌兵个个堪称喜剧之王。起先他们成功地在花海深处拦截住了逃跑的金城武和章子怡时,小武同志紧赶紧地溜到一边儿靠近一 位盾牌兵,用章子怡难以听到的低音告诉他,“咱们可是自己人”,而这位兵哥哥竟然像特工接头一样低音回答到,“谁跟你是自己人” ——要知道,没过多久小武同志就被德华兄告知,那些盾牌兵并不知道他的真实身份。既然一概不知,为何还要像什么都知道了似的小声替他掩饰呢?后来就更好玩 了,当轻功很好的小武同志拽着小章在竹林里飞奔时,盾牌兵们便开始大发神威,像蜘蛛侠一样跃上竹稍头,一边从战略“高度”进行围追堵截,一边不停地把丈把 长的竹箭掷向逃犯。因为画面上看不到他们身后有背着成捆成捆的竹箭,所以你可能很想知道这些忙于进行空中作业的盾牌兵们手中不停掷出的竹箭究竟从何运来, 别急——导演给你解密了,盾牌兵们开始齐刷刷地立在竹梢,开始狂削不知从何截取的竹段上的枝叶。

  补救措施:让摄像给竹梢上的诸位一个特写,再让他们集体说一句“不这么演,嘿还真对不起咱这张脸”,观众就好明白这么夸张的表演是有来由的了。

  第六扯——摄影组疑似偷懒

  也许是在顾及画面色彩的艳丽程度上投入了过多的精力,张导忽略了对摄影技术的创新要求,于是观众便从影片中得到了取之不尽的审美疲劳。影片当中无论是 飞刀、箭枝、毛竹,还是豆子、土块、木楔,只要一经演员掷出,无一例外地运用了脱胎于《黑客帝国》中经典的“子弹时间”那种跟拍高速运动物体飞行轨迹的电 影特技。一遍两遍尚可接受,从头用到了尾,那就难免招致“技穷”的骂声了。而影片中几位主人公策马狂奔的镜头,也都如出一辙,跑来跑去都是树林的背景、威 武的姿势和仰视的角度,镜头语言贫乏到了催人深眠的无聊境界。

  补救措施:当金城武和章子怡第N遍策马飞奔过树林时,请他们各加上一句“不一样的驾乘,一样的感受——宝马系列”。

  第七扯——道具组疑似捣乱

  电影中常见的穿帮镜头,除了跟导演无暇顾及外,多半就与负责道具和剪辑的师傅有关了,但能马虎到像这部电影里一样,也算是极品中的极品了。为了困住逃 跑的金城武和章子怡,盾牌兵们除了从高处用竹箭狂扎,还在地面立起了密密麻麻碗口粗的竹签,从画面上看,不由不让人担心万一竹稍上的官兵不小心掉下来,那 岂不是也要被戳成血人了。说时迟那时快,搭救章子怡的飞刀门高手即刻赶到现场,并掷大批量的竹叶飞刀,盾牌兵们应叶坠地——可是,地面上立即变得平平如 也,由于飞刀门高手的惺惺相惜,盾牌兵们神奇地躲过了遍地的竹签。故事结尾处,肩胛骨上插了一把飞刀的德华兄更是神奇,任凭复仇心切的小武同志怎么蹂躏 他,人家背上的利刃就是分毫不进,一直玉树临风地矗立在德华背后。这样一来,小武便是气也要给气个半死了。

  补救措施:让盾牌兵们落地后纷纷坐起,然后褪下半边衣衫,指着自己的脖子和膀子说:“自从用了护肤品,什么质地的飞镖都不怕了,不信,看这里,看这里,看这里,一点疤痕都没有吧!”

  第八扯——编剧组疑似找骂

  是不是绝后现在还不好说,但在诋毁中国古代侠士的道德情操及人生境界的方面,《十面埋伏》绝对算得上空前的努力了。如果说《英雄》好歹让人见识了“侠 之大者,为国为民”的高尚追求的话,那么这部电影里各为其主的两位混迹于江湖的男主人公,则成功地被张艺谋刻画称了愿为争风吃醋付出生命的街边滥仔。花了 近俩小时让大家等着看俩流氓从草地滚到雪地里斗殴,三位编剧果然有任尔痛骂混不怕的超人勇气。

  补救措施:直接将影片改名为《古惑仔之大唐舞妓事件》。

  第九扯——主题歌疑似凑合

  一部提前到暑期公映的贺岁喜剧大片,最后竟然配上一首全球著名的歌剧女优凯瑟琳·巴特尔用美声演唱的英文主题歌,真应了驴唇不对马嘴那句俗语。片子差强人意就算了吧,连个主题歌也整得没一点诚意。

  补救措施:如果是为了跟张导演要在片中强调的“三年的守候也抵不上三天的激情来得实在”的真爱带来的神奇力量,该片完全应该选用由赵薇演唱的《爱情大 魔咒》;如果怕这样做挡住一部分心态成熟的观众入场,也该选用王菲的《将爱》——“将爱进行到底,伟大是残酷的衍生,将爱进行到底,没有对错的血腥”。

  现场观众映后酷评

  ●一对带着孩子的父母:“从头到尾不是男嘞跟男嘞打,就是女嘞跟男嘞啃,不知道是要宣扬什么——早说呗,早说谁还带孩子来看嘞?你说他问一遍大人们为啥要撕衣服我能跟他说天太热,你脱个没完没了我这还咋跟孩子解释?!”

  ●一位漂亮美眉对其男友:“我说下午去游泳吧,你非说这片不看太遗憾,现在好了吧,花恁多钱,结果比不看还遗憾呢!以后你要再敢说张艺谋拍的武侠片好看,别说我骂你弱智!”

  ●一位青年男影迷:“你是跑电影的记者?那你能不能帮俺们转告张艺谋,叫他明年别把电影送去奥斯卡比赛了吧——丢不起那人呀!”

  ●一位中年女影迷:“我?我本来是跟我老头儿一块儿来的,他后来先走了。因为我说起码人家张艺谋的电影颜色都怪漂亮的,他非说就是论漂亮这片儿也比不上《英雄》。比不上就比不上呗,你钱都掏了好歹也要看完吧!”

  ●一位男大学生:“你们前两天在娱乐版上登的稿子里,金琛说张艺谋现在这种弄法儿彻底毁了他对电影的梦想,人家说的真精辟呀!”

  ●一位白领女士:“我打算自己再看一遍,我觉得张艺谋的电影不是说看一遍就能完全看懂的,这部电影一定还有什么比较深刻的寓意。”

  ●一位老先生:“我现在才明白为啥人家前几天的首映式不放片子了,你换成我是导演,我也不会那么早就让你们摸清我的底细,嘿嘿嘿。”

《大河报》报首席记者 杨煜普


Director Zhang Yimou is going down. It's called the bottleneck of your career.

The new movie is about two hours long and the ticket is about twice more expensive that all other movies shown around the time. The cost was a quater of a billion plus a few dozen million for promotion.

About an hour into the movie I realized that there would be nothing to keep me from saying that this one really, really sucks. Even after the fiasco of Hero, I still cannot believe that this is a Zhang Yimou film. But it absolutely is. Hero was, at least, beautiful. There is not a single remarkable thing in this movie, and the trailer is probably the least sucking part of it.

Great Mr. Zhang is in menopause. Let us give him some time.

I, a software engineer and a amateur in photography, could have done this movie with 500 thousand dollars, period.

Thursday, July 15, 2004

M$ software is not compatible with each other. After trying for over two hours, we cannot get audio and video work together on MSN. Everthing looks fine but there is no voice whatsoever.

My parents finally have DSL.

Then I realized that there is something seriously wrong with my parents' PC. The machine freezes ramdomly and everything is disabled. I have to use the power switch ever 5 to 10 minutes. My dad said that the PC had been repaired a few months ago and both the mainboard and CPU had been changed.

It is obvious that the damn dealer gave them a used and apparently broken mainboard and that is causing the ramdome crash of system.


Tuesday, July 13, 2004

My camera has been sitting there since I went to the Moffet air show in May. The slide film has been in that camera for two months and there are still 4 shots left. Since I do not want any random shots and my films end up suffering from the weather.

Oh man.
Two days after I left Beijing, the city was flooded by four hours' heavy rain. Many cars and buses are converted into submarines in the downtown area. The dranage system is symply not working. This happened quite often in the city of Xian. Every year the southern part of the city would be soaked in rain water a few times in the summer. I spent four years there attending college.

A brief follow-up of this incident:

About a week later in the city of Xian where a dozen ancient dynasties choose as state capital, a flood damaged a local museum and of course, the Ban Po Tribe stuff in it. Someone's house and potery are finally screwed up a million years later.


4 days before DTM (Deutch Tourwagen Masters) opened in Shanghai, the city was attacked by a heavy storm and part of the construction site for DTM was damaged and one worker was killed.


I forgot quite a few things while leaving CA.

I forgot my cell phone in my friend's car. It must have fallen onto the floor when I was talking.

I forgot to bring my headphone with my walkman. Today I went to a local store and bought a cheap pair. I will try to pick up my German class.

Monday, July 12, 2004

The local government closed many meat processing plants recently and hundreds of butchers lost their jobs.

I've been sick for three days.

Friday, July 09, 2004

Air quality in Beijing is quite impressive. For so many years in China I have not been able to see clear blue sky in three consecutive days. What has been so boring in CA is rare in my hometown as well as in the state capital. However, this also demonstrated that the poor air quality in other cities is very likely to be human's fault. Beijing was really dusty two years ago. Now it is much more pleasant except for the traffic which is already one of the best in my country. There are tons of traffic laws and cops out there while the traffic is absolutely caotic, creative and stunning. I do not have a car here so I take taxi most of the time. And I am running on the average 3 red lights a day and 90% of the time the car is riding on both lanes. I go on the wrong side of the road at lest once a day. Most of the time there are 2 lanes of traffic on 1-lane road, 3 on 2 and 5 on 3. I had an accident as a passenger when another car ran a red light and hit our car on my side. In the city the average speed is under 20 mph despite my highly-motivated driver. On the freeway the traffic is going under 50. These numbers are no longer surprising to me when I saw cars going in reverse on some of the major roads. For twice, I was in that ****ing car and was thinking of killing the driver before I get killed. The road is not bad, the cars are OK and also cannot be blamed on.



I have not been using dial-up as primary until now. It sucks.