Saturday, May 28, 2011

What makes Chuck (TV) great

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(1) Strongly defined characters, each with at least one "powers".
(1a) Chuck - disarming smile, super brain, adorable nerdiness, and the Intersect.
(1b) Sarah - ninja abilities while being model-grade gorgeous...
(1c) Morgan - loyalty, very high courage/skills coefficient
(1d) Ellie - quintessential big sis, also super brain...
(1e) Devon a.k.a. Captain Awesome - all the good qualities of a matured frat boy

(2) And the whole bumbling underachiever to super spy journey is classic epic hero story. Why oh why oh why, cannot resist this type of story...

(3) The will-they-won't-they romance between Chuck and Sarah is tantalizing. Love triangles, quadrilaterals, interconnected polygons...

(4) Nebulous evil organizations (Season 2 & 3). And tragic villain Daniel Shaw (Season 3). And super badass villain(s) Volkoff (Season 4)

We seek the excitement in fantasy.






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Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Hairstyle of TV characters

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Some of the male characters have more hair in the beginning of the series, i.e. the shaggy look... like Charlie from Numb3rs, Dr. Chase from House, or Chuck/Morgan/Casey from Chuck.

This might be partially related to the fashion at that time, i.e. mid-2000's? Although that is debatable. Another factor might be character development, as the shaggy look (either straight or curly) conveys a more youthful and perhaps inexperienced vibe?

Or just for the sake of variety. Although I have never seen it go the other way, i.e. the character having more hair as the series progresses. :-P






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Going against the flow

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Wow, this is a whole new level of rad! Counter stream uphill and all... hail to the power of physics!






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Monday, May 9, 2011

More neuromarketing, i.e. tapping into your deepest and darkest desires

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According to Buyology, auditory and olfactory signals are much stronger than visual ones. That means... out go the company logos, in come the fragrances and musical jingles.

Does that mean Facebook is gonna gather data on our favorite composers, analyze their musical signatures, and tell the ad companies how to make addictive tunes? I bet they're probably doing that already.

And the scents and fragrances are even more primal... they go straight to the limbic system and elicit instant recall of the most profound emotional memories. Hmmm!

Be afraid. Be very afraid... Hohohohohohohohoho......






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Hooked on an IV drip of House episodes

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Garwddang that show is addictive. House is too much of a jerk, but a self-aware and unrepentant and entertaining one. I love the foil action with Wilson. Their conversations almost always have philosophical and moral undertones, presenting two contrasting points of view on how to deal with thorny ethical quandaries like to what end should doctors go to save their patients and/or protect their friends and family... Or just how to treat people and behave in society in general.

Except when they are playing stupid pranks on each other involving guitars or chickens. Or should that be... even when?






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Friday, May 6, 2011

Life (NBC TV detective procedual) [Spoiler alerts!]

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Watched the entire series (32 episodes) in 3 days because the main story arc proved too compelling for me... The lead character is unlike most I've seen. Like an Edmond Dantès who space-warps to a Zen Buddhist temple after he gets out of prison. The central difference is that Detective Charlie Crews' (partial) revenge is to protect someone important to him, rather than his desire for vengeance. 

He has a habit of "micro-meditation" during conversations, when he would either stare into space or quote some very Daoist riddles. The actor has done a superb job with this character, who reminds me of a crater lake atop a dormant volcano... deep, dark, mysterious, usually serene yet capable of immensely explosive power.

Crews' foil character has about as much of an angsty past, although she stays rather grounded while often snappy. Their interactions most closely resemble those of the duo in The Dresden Files, although Harry Dresden is mildly klutzy and Crews is very methodical... almost like a Zen master :-P

There are times when Crews actually reminds me of Dr. Gregory House. They both have that rugged (British) look and the dogged persistence that does not let go until the problem is solved. And they rarely smile... if one appears, it is often forced or pained. Le angst! I want to escape to a Zen temple, but there would probably be no Internets, rawr.






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Why no color outside the box??

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Oh woes, I won't be able to visit these kinetic artworks in person... and my current locale would prefer to remain prim and manicured and upkeep its culture of influence via money made from playing the start-up lottery.






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Sunday, May 1, 2011

On superstitions and rituals

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People don't like to mess with their implicit memory -- the type of memory that contains "automatic" sequences of actions, or activities that don't require much conscious thought. This is understandable... it frees up more brain resources to respond to the changing environment. So implicit memory would be part of Maslow's "safety needs".

One example of implicit memory is the user interface, e.g. car dashboard, computer programs, etc. Every time a web browser alters its UI, there are bound to be some people who won't like the change. Mostly because they're used to the old interface, especially if the new interface drastically modifies their habitual mouse movements or keystrokes. Heck, look at the Facebook UI changes and the wall posts that ensue. And even for someone who's relatively receptive to UI changes like me, I get a little peeved at the Firefox 4.0.1 swapping the order of "Open Link in New Tab" and "Open Link in New Window" (Firefox 3 had the New Tab below the New Window)...  although I'm getting used to the change now. I suppose one really annoying thing would be making rapid changes and/or switching back and forth :-P

I agree with Martin Lindstrom's statement in Buyology that superstitions and rituals are psychological crutches that make us feel safer in an ever-more-rapidly changing world... and that the most analytically and rationally minded of us can fall prey to this type of thinking (yours truly, case in point). I almost never press the "4" button on the microwave or when setting my alarms. If I need to heat something for 4 minutes, I press 3:59. If I need to make an 8:30AM meeting, I might set my alarm at 7:39AM, for example. This is rather silly of course, and there is no rational reason of why I do it... that's what superstitions are huh...






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