Neoteny is the greatest state of mind (Part 2: Star Trek - Into Darkness)

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First of all, I randomly ran into one of my friends whom I haven't talked to in many months. This was out of pure serendipity. I was looking for the medical school library, which was really hard to find as there were no signs I could locate... and I somehow wandered into a genetics lab building, peeked into one of the doors, and saw my friend M furiously scribbling. So I did the logical thing and pushed the (unlocked) door and knocked at the same time. And she was like OMG hellooooo!

So we chatted about life and lamented about work. Not that anything was going particularly badly, just the nature of research. I mentioned that I wanted to see the newest Star Trek movie. M expressed the same sentiment and that she would ping me about it later. Eventually I remembered that I needed to go to the medical library which she directed me to and it happened to be right downstairs. Oops.

That same Saturday at approximately 9:10pm, M emailed me about going to a late showing of Star Trek at 11:35pm. I already showered and was about to make dinner. I quickly whipped up a random pasta stew and slurped it down and met up with her and and her boyfriend K who was driving a new manual car. The amount of (sober) spontaneity was unprecedented. (I did not realize I would top myself a day later.)

We got bubble teas. M and K sneaked in theirs in M's bag. I got the warm barley tea and it wasn't sealed completely, so I left it in the car but that's okay. Maybe I should have specified completely no sugar instead of half. Anyway... Fast forward past the drone of previews. I was getting sleepy.

I was really looking forward to Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto's reprise as Kirk and Spock. And especially anticipating Benedict Cumberbatch's portrayal of the mysterious villain John Harrison. He nailed it! I totally enjoyed all three characters' chemistry with one another, as I interpret Harrison to represent a dark and impulsive side of Kirk, which the cool and rational Spock is an antithesis of. The action scenes are quite exciting, but I particularly dig the nuanced performance Cumberbatch brings in his dramatic deliveries.

Scotty is a timely (comic) relief at all the right times. The hot blonde of a weapons specialist with a physics Ph.D. is an ambivalent but admirable attempt at bucking stereotypes. I would have liked to see more of Sulu, but Cumberbatch stole the show :-P

Kudos to the CG artists and set designers as well. I liked the futuristic skyline of San Francisco - where the Star Fleet is based! I assume people would have learned to control earthquakes by that point :-P

The next day I ran into another friend in my lab building and he didn't like the movie and called BC's character "freakazoid". I think he doesn't like the "excessive pandering" to "fangirls". Perhaps he can stick to watching hip-hop music videos.

Neoteny is the greatest state of mind (Part 1: Exploratorium)

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Photos galore now. I found myself pondering about how the scientific concepts are communicated and brought to life, rather than the concepts themselves. There are lots of exhibits about light, colors, acoustics, and meteorology, perhaps because the fundamental tenets can be experienced more easily by the layperson?

Just outside the Exploratorium

Bay Bridge and some sailboats

This reminds me of cross-sections of plant stems. Or views under an optical microscope. 

This I did not know! I did remember that thicker rods have higher spring constants and therefore wiggle faster. I pride myself on knowing most of the science behind these exhibits, but I'm always happy to learn new things :-)

Kaleidoscope your face!

Mirror mirror on the wall...

I did not want to use my camera flash as a courtesy to the other visitors :-P

Whoever thought of this has a slightly macabre and edgy sense of humor.

Clock tower. It has a neo-steampunk feel :-)

This made me nostalgic of my AP Physics C class activity of racing soup cans.  To my surprise, the chunky noodle soup beat the creamy peanut butter... I wonder if it's because all the chicken nuggets clumped in the middle?!

Nice glass display of the donors. Reminiscent of whimsical bubbles! More fun than the ol' engraved metal slabs.

Mmm the classic optical illusion.

Funny jokes. And puns.

More jokes.

I love these.

This is a curious exhibit on linguistics and psychology... sort of.

Another whimsical twist on the obvious.

I like this design.

This is one of the landmark exhibits that made the Exploratorium what it is today. Dr. Frank Oppenheimer is a fascinating character!

Cute note and worms.

Bubbly algae.

The columns represent the heights of SF Bay tide every hour.

Weather observatory.

This is a nice display of the water cycle that we don't usually think about.

Hilde Hein's book about the Exploratorium gives fascinating insights into how the museum came about, its founding philosophies, and how it has developed over the years. Perhaps this is the sort of thing I would enjoy doing for life... combining science and art and (helping to) inspire people about it?

[Bones and Inception references] A dream...

... that was a blend of real and fictional people, complete with a soundtrack of lush strings. I swear I had heard the melody before but I can't place it. So frustrating...

In the dream, I'm an undercover agent trying to catch the perpetrator who kidnaps unsuspecting standardized test takers into an "alternate matrix" and then runs experiments on them. In religious terms, the "alternate matrix" is like... purgatory? Or the bridge between the physical world and the world of the dead, or something like that.

And... I'm working with Brennan and Booth on this case. (I think this is a sign that I watch too much Bones... and Mulder and Scully might have been a better fit for this :-P) They have already rounded up the accomplices outside the luxurious private school building/ castle/ mansion. Now I have to catch the main perp in the act.

However, he can teleport and switch rooms at will, and there is simultaneous testing going on in different rooms... so I remember dashing up and down the spiral stairs that are covered with elegant and ancient-looking carpets and sided with mahogany handles. What a stupid way to catch a teleporter, I know...

All the while I am running around, I keep hearing an ensemble of orchestral strings playing a melody with a overlay of (1) the Happy Birthday song progression Franz Schubert's Symphony No. 8, Mvmt 1 (as I remembered hearing from Minority Report) and (2) Non Je Ne Regrette Rien (from Inception). I recall some students are taking solfege tests on the second floor, but they don't notice me when I poke my head in.

I myself have been taking a strange mix of GREs and SATII... marking an obscene number of Scantron ovals... the horror! I have to ask to leave the testing room to go to the restroom, but I put the proctor in a trance while attempting to catch the perp.

Long story short... I did not catch the perp in my dream because the soundtrack got louder and I felt some strange abdominal cramping and woke up just as I saw Booth frantically signalling me from outside the building...

Seriously... is this like fanfic fodder or what...

Cultural jabs in non-American films

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I think "foreign films" sounds decidedly American-centric. It's interesting to observe the cultural nuances from non-Hollywood films. And of course, non-Hollywood almost means non-American...


[Translated] quotes from Mýrin, a.k.a. Jar City, an Icelandic film:

"Ever been to Stockholm? Terrible place!"

"Is that what they teach you in America? Stop being a pussy."

I have a hard time telling whether that's a friendly poke and shout-out, or the writer/director has some beef with Stockholm or Swedes in general, or many Icelanders have similar beef to pick. But the way the police chief makes fun of the rookie on his team who has (studied?) in America at some point... indicates some nationalist pride perhaps.


Quotes from Eagle vs. Shark, a New Zealand film:

 "I sell these to the Muslims..." (character holds up a candle of twin towers) "and these to the Yanks." (same character holds up a candle of Bin Laden)

"Where do you want to go?"
"Home, I want to go home."
"Ah, home's horrible. You must want to go somewhere else."
"Mmm, dunno. Australia?"
"Nah, not there. My ex-wife lives there."
"What, is she alive?"
"Who cares about her, she's a lesbian."

Okay, the candle example I find rather insensitive actually. But perhaps because I have been conditioned by the distinctively American inhibitory sense of political-correctness. Like not all Muslims are militant, etc. In any event, it's not nice to joke about any incidence of mass murder, IMHO. The lesbian joke, while also not very politically correct, is funny like South Park funny.

And I don't know if the New Zealanders still feel superior to the Australians because back in the 19th Century, many British elites settled in New Zealand while many British convicts got sent to Australia. Perhaps the older generations still do?


Maybe it will take an external event of cataclysmic scale in order for all Earthlings to realize that... we are all Earthlings.

On comedic personas

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The guys - Alec Baldwin, Jim Carrey, Zach Galifianakis, Robin Williams
The gals - Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Betty White

I think these comedians represent a good part of the humor style spectrum, ranging from goofy to witty spiced with some crass, with their own idiosyncratic inflections. The guys tend to be either suave (witty) or slapstick (goofy), or both (Robin Williams seems to do both pretty well). The gals are mostly clever (witty) and sometimes goofy, but in a different way than the guys. Somehow it's more acceptable for guys to flaunt themselves than for gals... hmm.

Granted, their style has a lot to do with their native personalities. Whereas Baldwin fits nicely in a boardroom or 007-type scene, I cannot picture him in a tutu (i.e. Carrey's Black Swan parody) or entertaining pre-schoolers (i.e. Galifianakis). Williams is more of a chameleon in this sense because he acts out the "fool" archetype much of the time but also being serious simultaneously, i.e. Mrs. Doubtfire, Patch Adams, etc.

The gals tend to stay true to how they are in real life, I think. We have a self-deprecating geek, an in-your-face no-nonsense go-getter, and a mild-yet-snarky grandma. Their gigs mostly center on these character types and it's difficult to imagine them playing something else. Fey's style is somewhat similar to Galifianakis' in that they often make fun of themselves. I find this rather endearing (probably many people too). This is in part due to my cultural upbringing, but I must say it's the safest strategy in this contemporary atmosphere that is super-charged with political-correctness.

Tangentially related... the Comedian from Watchmen is not funny "hahaha", but funny "I'm gonna make your life a joke". See how this archetype works better in a guy?

http://cynicritics.com/2011/03/21/zacksnyder/

On some action movies (Tron: Legacy - Iron Man 2 - I, Robot - Matrix - Firefly, etc.)

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CG effects galore! Too much flashing eye-candies can result in a hyperglycemic attention span.

I get bored watching most action films that simply showcase CG effects. What engage me are the philosophical references and/or soundtracks. Tron: Legacy and I, Robot fit the bill. I liked the machine vs. human theme, manifested in the form of zen symbolism and Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics, respectively. Their soundtracks kick ass too.

Iron Man 2, by comparison, was a disappointment after Iron Man 1. Tony Stark is a rather one-dimensional character. I'm not so sure whether he gives The Institvte a good name or not...

I can sort of see why Olivia Wilde took a break from House to star in Tron: Legacy. The zen references make the movie more interesting than it otherwise would be. I wonder if her character's name, Quorra, alludes to zen koans (quorra - query - riddle - koan) That would be a clever trick. She portrays these mysterious characters rather well, while giving them a certain approachability and hence more sympathetic to the audience, i.e. Thirteen from House.

On the other hand, Summer Glau is good at playing the really "exotic" types of characters, i.e. River Tam from Firefly, a child prodigy who becomes the subject of human experimentation. She's like the female equivalent of Keanu Reeves, at least re: their movie roles :-P






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Do not try and bend the spoon [Actually this could have been taken straight from 道德經 and we'd be none the wiser]

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... instead, only try to realize the truth. There is no spoon.

Why yes, only that the observer sees a spoon and thinks there is a spoon. And the mere act of observation is never isolated from the grand scheme...

The Matrix. With Zen koans. I have known about these for a long time, just not by this label. Aren't they delicious? The vast interconnection of the universe and how the physical reality is but one aspect, one possible manifestation out of an infinite combinatorial soup.

The Tao of Physics. I know most of the concepts already, but I'd just like to see if I could uncover any new insights. The pioneering quantum physicists sure sounded remarkably like the ancient Eastern philosophers in their quintessence.

I love that splash page where the quantum physics equations are next to a selection of a classical Hindi text. For the vast majority of people on this planet, they all look like inscrutable gibberish. But they do have something in common. They both attempt to describe the ultimate truth. Which of course, is not really describable.

Goes to say that I can't describe the state I am currently in right now. It is indeterminate. If I change a variable, the outcome would be vastly different. Everything would change. It is so tempting. I can't quite understand, because it is a tautological contradiction for the brain to try to understand itself... unless I go beyond the brain...






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Bakemonogatari

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= Bakemono (化物) + monogatari (物語)

I should have already blogged about this when I watched it w/ S.O. in... January? So this is a belated entry :-P I just felt an irresistible urge to watch some of it again...

Such charm in the exercises of reductio ad absurdum, non sequitur, and subtly blatant -- blatantly subtle -- parodies of anime antics.

The unique factors are (1) the text on bright backgrounds that flashes in accelerated pace until abrupt stop, (2) camera angles and zooms reminiscent of Michel Gondry's films, (3) minimalist visual design and music - Philip Glass style or jazz accompaniment riffs, and (4) absurdist meta-humor.

(1) Typographical, almost subliminal messages really hammer it in... the identical replicas of characters that fill up the screen remind me of Andy Warhol soup cans.

(2) Frequent close-ups of eyes and eye movements, bird's-eye view, up-the-skirt view, spherical projection...

(3) Sometimes it seems neo-noir with the bleached coloring, even more faded-out than that in Minority Report. Almost Impressionistic. However, certain objects are emphasized with bright colors. The music induces a trance, a hypnotic state that juxtaposes with said bright colors (e.g. blue, yellow, and red establishments in the park scene, episodes 3-5).

(4) ROFL... one has to watch the episodes to understand.

[In progress] Dark justice (more spoiler warnings)

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There have been some memorable characters in fiction - some call them messengers of justice, others call them... serial killers. The shortlisted ones are Dexter Morgan of the TV series Dexter, Yagami Raito of the manga Death Note, and Dr. Hannibal Lecter in the numerous novels and movies featuring him. (Spoilers follow...)

They come from different backgrounds and have their distinctive modus operandi, but they are all hyper-intelligent, meticulous, confident about their abilities, and sociopathic. Very charismatic sociopaths who are (or in the case of Death Note, have been) quite successful in hiding what they do.

(to be continued)

[In progress] Some takes on The Prestige (Spoiler alert)

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(One can always check out Wikipedia for more spoilers.)

Some have said that this movie packed too much into the limited time frame. But movies like these are so much more fun because one could realize new insights upon multiple viewings.

Those who think this film is like "Batman vs. Wolverine" probably are more into plot-driven movies than character-driven ones. And The Prestige is most definitely a character-driven movie.

Michael Caine's "Alfred the Butler" aura works very nicely to soften the cutthroat competition between the magicians.

Tesla, science, magic

I like the way Nikola Tesla is portrayed. I admit to partiality toward scientists and engineers... but only those with good sense and wisdom. Tesla is a curious character with quirks and a brooding contemplative tendency. Though in this movie, he's the brilliant mind with the voice of wisdom.

He builds a device that creates a double of the original in another location, be it living or not. He understands the implication of his teleportation-cloning apparatus and warns Angier not to use it, and knows that Angier would anyway. Here we have the scientist who must watch an inherently neutral machine get abused.

One can say that the scientist has a responsibility to prevent that, but honestly, some people can turn anything and everything into weapons. Harnessing the force within subatomic particles has led to radiation therapy and fission bombs. Same with dynamite, airplanes, genetic manipulation.

Science can be like magic when it's not well-understood. But even after it's well-understood, it can still be like magic. If one does not lose the ability to appreciate the aesthetics of the underlying mechanisms.

Illusions

The magicians' rivalry is a positive feedback of ever-escalating obsession with perfection and maintaining the illusion of success behind their rather imperfect life. That's the ultimate magic trick. As Buddy Kane from American Beauty puts it, "In order to be successful, one must project an image of success at all times."

But what about the inside? What if it's just an emptiness? Like Borden/Fallon each living half a life and driving their loved ones to demise? Or their thirst for revenge veiled by constantly trying to one-up the other on the stage?

Random aside

Twins who're in love with two different people while pretending to be the same person... just asking for trouble :-P

[In progress] Numb3rs chronicled - WARNING: spoilers galore.

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It's refreshing to see a TV series that's not all about doctors, lawyers, politicians, or a combination thereof. And it's also nice to see that certain characters' nerdiness is not objectified as an easy target for humor as in a few other TV programs. Even though the technical details are glossed over for the sake of maintaining the abstraction barrier (and for having commercial breaks), the writers have done an overall good job in presenting said technical details.

The premise is using mathematical techniques to solve crimes, but the show is not just about math -- the characterization and relationships among the characters bring life to the math and the science. As the seasons progressed, the audience can see how the characters develop, how they gain wisdom (or cynicism), and how their relationships grow.

Random convo between two huge nerds

(9:24:39 PM) ParticlePhysicistFriend: Apparently with a particle accelerator you can burn a tumor deep inside a person without even making an incision.
(9:24:51 PM) Me: I see
(9:26:37 PM) ParticlePhysicistFriend: The particle beams can be steered very precisely, and only deposit their energy at a particular penetration depth.
(9:26:58 PM) Me: I see.
(9:27:06 PM) Me: Very targeted.
(9:27:22 PM) Me: I'm curious
(9:27:38 PM) ParticlePhysicistFriend: If you want to hit a tumor in the middle of somebody's brain, you can't really do damage to all the surrounding tissue.
(9:27:39 PM) Me: I'm taking quantum mech now since I think circuits are getting small
(9:27:48 PM) Me: amazing.
(9:28:24 PM) ParticlePhysicistFriend: Anyways, particle accelerators cost billions so hospitals aren't getting them any time soon.
(9:28:25 PM) Me: but I guess this technology is not portable and very expensive
(9:28:32 PM) Me: aahahah
(9:28:46 PM) Me: hospitals are trying to make things *cheap* and *small*
(9:29:06 PM) ParticlePhysicistFriend: Not really, those MRI machines probably cost tens of millions.
(9:29:10 PM) Me: I know
(9:29:17 PM) Me: they want portable MRI's
(9:29:23 PM) Me: I think many groups are working on that
(9:29:31 PM) Me: some group @ Harvard has a prototype
(9:30:00 PM) ParticlePhysicistFriend: Yeah
(9:30:18 PM) Me: I'm trying to figure out exactly what my research is.
(9:30:25 PM) ParticlePhysicistFriend: By taking QM?
(9:30:25 PM) Me: I don't have an advisor yet
(9:30:33 PM) ParticlePhysicistFriend: Does the teacher have a german accent at least?
(9:30:47 PM) Me: oh, QM is what I think I should know for any research in circuits, devices, etc.
(9:30:53 PM) ParticlePhysicistFriend: You can't learn QM from somebody that doesn't have a german accent.
(9:30:59 PM) Me: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH
(9:31:08 PM) Me: Mine has an... Australian???
(9:31:15 PM) Me: Scottish?? Welsh??
(9:31:18 PM) Me: I don't know
(9:31:30 PM) ParticlePhysicistFriend: 4 out of 5 of my QM professors were german.
(9:31:31 PM) Me: But I don't think is German
(9:31:38 PM) ParticlePhysicistFriend: Fail.
(9:31:45 PM) Me: lemme check his CV.
(9:31:45 PM) ParticlePhysicistFriend: Tell him to learn a german accent.
(9:31:49 PM) Me: HAHAHAHHA
(9:32:00 PM) ParticlePhysicistFriend: So he doesn't sound like an imposter.
(9:32:36 PM) Me: He's a Scot.
(9:33:06 PM) Me: well, his undergrad is in Scotland
(9:33:17 PM) Me: so that's prolly where he's from.
(9:33:18 PM) ParticlePhysicistFriend: There's a lot of people working on quantum computing right now, but I don't know if that's really covered in most QM classes.
(9:33:25 PM) Me: nope
(9:33:36 PM) Me: not at this elementary level I'm doing :P
(9:33:37 PM) ParticlePhysicistFriend: Most classes just go on and on about atoms.
(9:33:51 PM) Me: I'm doing this operator thing
(9:34:04 PM) Me: expectation values? of momentum and position operators
(9:34:12 PM) ParticlePhysicistFriend: It's all just linear algebra.
(9:34:20 PM) Me: we went right into Schrodingers
(9:34:24 PM) ParticlePhysicistFriend: You should be familiar with that from those circuit thingies.
(9:34:29 PM) Me: oh
(9:34:36 PM) Me: But I guess I don't know how to set it up
(9:34:49 PM) ParticlePhysicistFriend: Oh you're doing the schrodinger formalism.
(9:35:00 PM) Me: since this was actually pset from my semiconductor physics class.
(9:35:06 PM) ParticlePhysicistFriend: That's just messy because you have to take integrals all day long for your homework.
(9:35:23 PM) ParticlePhysicistFriend: Later on in life you learn the dirac formalism, and the math gets simpler.
(9:35:23 PM) Me: oh, I didn't actually do that fortunately
(9:35:38 PM) ParticlePhysicistFriend: Apparently schrodinger was some kind of man slut.
(9:35:42 PM) Me: yes
(9:35:51 PM) Me: I'm doing QM in like 2 classes right now
(9:35:57 PM) Me: one is called QM
(9:36:04 PM) Me: the other is semiconductor physics
(9:36:38 PM) ParticlePhysicistFriend: Yeah. I guess they usually call it solid state physics.
(9:37:10 PM) ParticlePhysicistFriend: I think schrodinger also had something against cats.
(9:37:22 PM) ParticlePhysicistFriend: I'm allergic to them, but I have nothing against them.
(9:37:22 PM) Me: sigh.
(9:37:30 PM) Me: I'm allergic to them
(9:37:34 PM) Me: and I like cats.
(9:38:46 PM) ParticlePhysicistFriend: I don't know any solid state physics, since I work on miniature particle accelerators.
(9:39:01 PM) ParticlePhysicistFriend: But I hear the hot topic is graphene.
(9:39:11 PM) Me: and carbon nanotubes
(9:39:18 PM) Me: and solar cells
(9:39:18 PM) ParticlePhysicistFriend: Yes.
(9:39:29 PM) Me: these are the groups here that are getting $
(9:39:45 PM) ParticlePhysicistFriend: Apparently you can produce nanotubes by rolling up graphene like making an eggroll or something.
(9:39:57 PM) Me: yeah ahahah
(9:40:00 PM) Me: mmmm
(9:40:19 PM) Me: That sounds like cool stuff, but I don't wanna spend time in a bunny suit all day.
(9:40:28 PM) Me: So I guess I shall do the modeling
(9:40:33 PM) Me: if I actually research about this
(9:40:41 PM) ParticlePhysicistFriend: See, half the people that start grad school here think they're going to work on string theory with steve weinburg and become the next einstein. The truth is there's no money in string theory, so they all end up doing experimental solid state physics, where the benjamins are.
(9:41:12 PM) Me: I can see that
(9:41:31 PM) Me: there're many groups here doing optical waveguides
(9:41:38 PM) Me: something I should know about for my stupid quals
(9:41:53 PM) ParticlePhysicistFriend: Actually the solid state people spend most of their time wondering why their afm or sem or stm or whatever doesn't work.
(9:42:03 PM) Me: sigh
(9:42:06 PM) Me: how depressing
(9:42:14 PM) Me: Just like the PhD comics
(9:42:28 PM) ParticlePhysicistFriend: Part of my group does optical waveguides.
(9:42:59 PM) ParticlePhysicistFriend: You're just getting older.
(9:43:02 PM) Me: Here, the professors explicitly said they don't know jack about their students' work
(9:43:06 PM) ParticlePhysicistFriend: Reality is starting to stare you in the face more.
(9:43:09 PM) Me: And they're PROUD OF IT
(9:43:22 PM) Me: ahahaha
(9:43:32 PM) ParticlePhysicistFriend: Professors don't really care about the details of your work, they just expect results.
(9:43:39 PM) Me: heh
(9:43:52 PM) ParticlePhysicistFriend: It's not really academia, these research groups are mini research factories.
(9:44:07 PM) ParticlePhysicistFriend: Or research paper factories.
(9:44:09 PM) Me: Intel is one big ass research factory
(9:44:13 PM) Me: yeah
(9:44:16 PM) Me: lol
(9:44:19 PM) Me: I need papers
(9:45:01 PM) Me: well I mean, I'm still dealing with classes and ... qual prep... that's not getting done
(9:45:38 PM) Me: Actually, my ultimate life goal is to be like Henry Thoreau.
(9:46:09 PM) Me: I don't think there's a place for that
(9:47:52 PM) ParticlePhysicistFriend: Hell, they just gave a guy a nobel prize just for not being bush.
(9:49:11 PM) ParticlePhysicistFriend: To get a nobel prize in physics, you have to invent the ccd or the fiber optic cable. Then you have to stick around and not die for 40 years until everybody agrees your earth-changing invention is nobel prize worthy.
(9:49:22 PM) ParticlePhysicistFriend: But in politics, you just have to not be bush.
(9:49:24 PM) Me: That's why I say
(9:49:45 PM) Me: The Physics Prize should have more $$$
(9:49:56 PM) Me: and they should give it to their grad students.
(9:50:10 PM) Me: That goes for the prize for medicine
(9:50:12 PM) ParticlePhysicistFriend: What does an 80 year old emeritus professor need a million dollars for, to buy a sports car?
(9:50:12 PM) Me: and chemistry
(9:50:25 PM) Me: I think the insulin one
(9:50:40 PM) ParticlePhysicistFriend: Actually, lots of the old 70 year old professors in my department do in fact drive sports cars.
(9:50:44 PM) Me: the guy who won it gave to his grad student collaborator
(9:51:07 PM) Me: That's because they didn't have sports cars when they were young and dirt poor
(9:51:10 PM) ParticlePhysicistFriend: porsche, bmw, one guy had a ferrari that he crashed I think.
(9:51:11 PM) Me: like we are now
(9:52:09 PM) ParticlePhysicistFriend: I find it ironic that 90% of sports car owners are bald old men.
(9:52:24 PM) Me: They want to think they're still young
(9:52:30 PM) Me: suave and cool
(9:52:34 PM) Me: like James Bond
(9:52:55 PM) Me: People who wear helmets while biking - safe and uncool
(9:53:05 PM) ParticlePhysicistFriend: Maybe they go cruising picking up girls 1/10th their age.
(9:53:10 PM) Me: People who don't wear helmets - dangerous but cool
(9:53:24 PM) Me: like James Bond
(9:53:31 PM) Me: except his death rate is 0%
(9:53:35 PM) ParticlePhysicistFriend: This post doc I work with doesn't stop talking about his sport bike.
(9:53:39 PM) Me: lol
(9:53:53 PM) ParticlePhysicistFriend: And won't stop watching motorcycle crashes on youtube.
(9:53:56 PM) Me: Dr. Yang of parity violation fame
(9:54:04 PM) Me: he married a girl 50 years younger
(9:54:08 PM) Me: freaking sick
(9:54:24 PM) ParticlePhysicistFriend: It be ironic if her name was yin.
(9:54:29 PM) ParticlePhysicistFriend: Yin and yang's parity violation.
(9:54:33 PM) Me: Some people like to live on the dangerous side
(9:54:42 PM) Me: wow that was the funniest thing I've heard all day
(9:55:55 PM) ParticlePhysicistFriend: You know there's a tv show on cbs based on making fun of physicists?
(9:56:14 PM) ParticlePhysicistFriend: They tell jokes like that to try to pick up blond bimbos and get laughed at. But not in the good way.
(9:56:41 PM) Me: Big Bang Theory?
(9:56:57 PM) ParticlePhysicistFriend: You know, some physicist probably invented the cathode ray tube, which lead to the tv, and they use the tv to make fun of physicists.
(9:57:00 PM) Me: I watched the first 10 minutes of the 1st ep
(9:57:05 PM) Me: and got annoyed at it
(9:57:48 PM) ParticlePhysicistFriend: I've never seen a tv show before where I got every single reference.
(9:58:06 PM) Me: wahaahah
(9:58:08 PM) Me: amazing
(9:58:09 PM) ParticlePhysicistFriend: I even have digital copies of some of the posters they have in the background.
(9:58:14 PM) Me: dude
(9:58:20 PM) ParticlePhysicistFriend: Nasa public pics and stuff.
(9:58:33 PM) ParticlePhysicistFriend: Sad.
(9:58:49 PM) Me: no it's not
(9:59:12 PM) Me: physicists don't have to be freaking inept like that
(9:59:25 PM) Me: they could be cool and suave like freaking James Bond

Onani Master Kurosawa

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I was reading this series that has been dubbed a "parody of Death Note" by many, since the protagonists have the same mentality at least in the beginning... down to that particular scene...

It starts out with a perverse premise, but by Nature's folly it grows into something with surprising psychological and emotional depth... which I wasn't entirely prepared for... Apparently this has been compared to Catcher in the Rye as well.

(I seem to have a particular soft spot for moments where characters attempt to reach out but only to come short... same thing happened in One Hour Photo...)

Hot pot, HP6

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Had the best best hot pot I remember in the last um, 8~9 years? =D Soooo much food, yet it was amazingly not *too* filling. We ordered a little too much veggies, but we finished pretty much everything ahahaha...

HP & Half-Blood Prince was actually better in movie than book, since the whole teenage soap opera seems to overwhelm the seriousness of the other events in the book, but the movie has a good balance. I revisited in new light Draco's vulnerability and Snape's character...

Parodies (Harry Potter Puppet Pals... need a thick-skinned sense of humor for these)

Hodgepodge of recent

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1. Rewatched "Wall-E" on DVD. And still enchanted by the robots' celestial dance sequence. I think I can rewind that part 10 times in a row. Watched the end credits to completion and the bonus features as well. I totally should watch "Up", but I can wait till the DVD comes out =P

2. E is for Expresso. One murder mystery, two 500-piece jigsaw puzzles, plenty of fun. Greenbucks Coffee, Cap'n Chino, Lottie Machiatto, rofl.

3. Instead of coding, I flew my kite for about an hour today. Took me awhile to get started because the loop was in the wrong place. It was airborne for approximately 80% of the time, and went quite high at some point... 5-story :-)

4. Errata in the book...
p. 166 - There is no such thing as a centrifugal force...
p. 174 - Human cells don't have cell walls...

Ultimate fanfiction project proposal

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My ideal epic fanfiction would be a cross-over between Numb3rs and Batman. Go figure. Probably not altogether surprising, as the lead characters are both of a somewhat similar type as myself, and the supporting cast is more than awesome.

It won't be too hard to come up with a general scenario... could even be along the line of the Bourne series. But the devil is in the details, and one can imagine how the Professor and the Dark Knight would want to handle things on their own and see no need to collaborate... so it would take a most compelling circumstance that would force them to join forces and forego preconceived notions.

On an aside, I think Alfred and the prof's father would totally get along. I can picture them doing some crazy hands-on project together, like building something outrageous in Mr. Eppes' garage or the basement of Wayne Enterprises...

On science fiction, Star Trek, "Physics of the Impossible" by Michio Kaku

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The 1979 Star Trek motion picture is quite prescient, predicting the singularity that is the merging of human mind and machine mind. (too many m's =P) It's looking more possible today than before...

No wonder, Isaac Asimov was on the scientific advisory board. Perhaps Prof. Marvin Minsky does have the right idea about serializing a science fiction writer consortium. Jules Verne's book about Paris in the 20^th Century mentions technology that didn't exist in the 19^th Century but are here now.

In his book, Michio Kaku talks about stretching the imagination just beyond the edge of possibility and whatever is currently in existence. There's no existing physical law that forbids teleportation, telepathy, force fields in the style of Star Trek, invisibility, etc. Which means that these phenomena could very well arise in the next few decades.

Good times.

Purry day

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Pool adventures! Haven't swam for a while, so I started gently. The squid is a funny stroke. But it's actually pretty fast :-P I shall get goggles for next time so I can swim properly.

Walking in the neighborhood... browsed around in a Nike store. ED got a belt and a fuzzy light blue towel at Marshall.

Mmm, b.good is a grrrrreat place to eat (artworks, yummy burgers, yam fries and veggies and tea, hehe)

Star Trek movie - I wasn't very familiar with the back story, but I knew enough to appreciate certain character exchanges. Good mix of intense and light moments :-) I shall investigate more into this series.

Se7en

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The ending is a downer, but perhaps not surprising...

Kevin Spacey is a piece of work. Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt's performances are as I expected, but I've rediscovered Spacey since "The Usual Suspects". I still like Anthony Hopkin's portrayal of the intelligent villain better though.

Minority Report revisit

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For some mysterious reason, I rewatched the whole thing. That was the third time. The first time was when it came out in 2002, the second time was about 3~4 years later. Each time I got some more out of it.

Two salient points this time:

(1) How beautiful the score sounds... Schubert's Symphony No. 8 (no wonder), and John Williams taking inspiration from Bernard Hermann...

(2) The character Danny Witwer is actually kind of cool... though in the end his ambitiousness and eagerness to please have contributed to his downfall.