Scenic campus...

... for wedding photos!

To date, I have seen three newlywed couples taking photos on campus since September. Must be the bright blue sky and the stately sandstone buildings and the colorful flora in the main quad area.

Two of the couples took pictures at the exact spot of the northeastern corner of the quadrangle, the four sides being long corridors lined with "Greco-Spanish-style" columns with this exquisite effect of shadow contrast when sunlight hits at certain angles.

Hmm! Maybe that's why. It's like the two parties have traversed down the perpendicular corridors and converged at the same spot. Very romantic thought :-)

And perpendicular means maximizing the CROSS-PRODUCT. (Die-hard nerd won't let this go without a lame tech joke.)

I think I would like my photos in the MIIIT Chapel area though. I rather like the moat and the stylish abstract rocket-like statue on the roof.

Techie jokes

- - -
A biologist walks into a bar...

I challenge anyone to make jokes about theoretical math. The Klein Four Group does the best job I know of.

Double standard for women engineers

- - -
(I came across this from an Ig Nobel reference... they FINALLY posted the webcast!!!!!!!! Was waiting for SO LONG!!11!!!1!!!!!)

IEEE Spectrum article about extending the "Studmuffins of Science" calendar project to women because it was successful for male models... as to be expected, didn't work so well for women.

I'm all for the notion that beautiful and sexy women can do awesome science. If there are more roles like Prof. Amita Ramanujan. Played convincingly, of course.

In retrospect, the East Campus calendar girls are courageous indeed. Their stylistic interpretation is open to debate though, ahaha.

Auditorium: the game

- - -
Play the online demo version.

It's a puzzle game with an aesthetically dynamic interface -- sleek, clean, minimalist color scheme. The object is to direct a photon beam via adjustable force fields in order to initiate various instrumental voicing simultaneously... and generate a symphony.

It's a festival of topology, visual arts, music, with physics references. Not much else I can ask for in a puzzle game!



The music is Hans Zimmer/Philip Glass-style hypnotic. In Act 2, the chord progression of i-VII-VI-V in C# minor works quite nicely with the elegant black background and bright particle beams. The visual and the audio together convey a sensation of cruising in space -- with an MP3 player and headphones.

I'm sorely tempted to get the full version of this.

Monk Finale

- - -
Monk ended! (Insert awwwwws)

I think it's a very nice wrap-up. Monk solved the case of his wife's murder. The evidence has been in the last Christmas gift she gave him... 12 years ago... and he never opened it until now. (Well, the series has been going strong for almost a decade now... the longest non-cartoon TV series I have watched and enjoyed.)

[In progress] Dark justice (more spoiler warnings)

- - -
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)

- - -
(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