Monday, February 27, 2012

Trapped

I don’t feel good lately. It’s not physical health related, but a mental issue. I feel like my mind is being locked up. Honestly, I don’t think I’m under any new pressure recently. There are certainly things to be taken care of. Here and there, from works, from family, etc. Some of them have timing issue and I’ve not yet got the solutions to deal of them, but they are not really problems that can’t be solved. However, somehow, I just don’t feel good.

To put that in a more graphic comparison, I feel like I’m trapped in a maze that somehow built by myself. The walls are not that high and they are actually transparent. So, I can see places outside the maze somehow, but not too clear, given there are layers of walls. I know I can break the walls down, but somehow I’m struggling in my mind of whether I should make effort to do that or simply go around them. Also, I feel like my actions are not as smooth and quick as before, somewhat like my joints and muscles are chilled, or like I’ve an invisible baggage on my back. I feel like I’m just dragging on.

Deep down inside, I know I can’t and I don’t want to give up. Not sitting down and surrender. I also know that nobody can help. Seeking help is just not feasible; I know I’m the ultimate savior of myself. There is a saying of picking up yourself where you fell. My problem is that I don’t know exactly where I fell! It is not like as if I’m in hole that my only way is to go up. I know the effort would be similar, but the direction is not as clear, seems like I just need a breakthrough or to sort things out. I don’t know for sure.

As usual, it all goes back to my mind, I am trapped in my own mind by myself. I don’t know what to do exactly, but I think I’ve reached a point where I think I’ve to do something about it. Somewhat like I know my symptoms, I know I need the cure to get better, and I just don’t know what exact that is. So frustrated! Don’t feel good! Not that I wanna cry, yell, curse someone, or just throw up, just feel like something is blocking my mind. I really want to be free….soon!



Monday, February 20, 2012

Next iPad and iPhone

I don't know if I'm the first, but I do have an opinion about the name of the next iOS products.

iPad
For the next iPad, many people quote 'iPad3' as the name of it. I would say about 40% of the chance it will call iPad3, but I would give 30% of it as 'iPad2S'. It is indeed the 3rd generation of iPad, but I don't think it is out right to assume Apple use the numeric value as the name of its products. It isn't applied to Macs, iPods, OS, or even iPhone (I got to that in a minute). So, will that be applied to iPad, not necessarily. Why iPad2S is possible is because, based on the rumors so far, the upcoming iPad will have a form factor 95%+ same as the iPad2. The major difference in physical form is the more powerful camera. Also, the core would be quar rather than duo. That's somewhat in line with that of iPhone 4S upgraded from iPhone 4. So, iPad2S is a very possible name when it is relatively more an upgrade of a fine existing product. The rest 30% chance that next iPad would be called 'iPad 4G', cos it would be the first iPad that use the 4G technology.

iPhone
iPhone4S is actually the fifth generation of iPhone. When it was about to be released, people, most of them, claimed that it would be an iPhone 5. But, oops, Apple named that as 4S. So, what make people think that the upcoming iPhone should be named as iPhone 5 when it will be in fact the sixth generation of iPhone. Would that be kinda stupid to call that a 5 when it is a 6?! I don't think Apple named its product based on major appearance change neither. Nevertheless, in terms of probability, I will only assign a 5% chance that it will be called iPhone 5. Rather, I would say that it will be 85% chance that it is called iPhone 4G, as it will be the first iPhone that use the real 4G technology, a distinguishable advancement from reception technology from the past. The other 10% would be an something like 'iPhone 6', though I kinda doubt it.

Let's see if I'm gonna be right or not later.

Thursday, February 16, 2012

Whitney Houston

Whitney Houston, died on Feb, 11 at the age of mere 48.

Personally, I’ve never been really a fan of her. There is no doubt that she had a great voice and was a terrific singer, a true R&B star. However, back then when she first came out, her songs just didn’t catch me like others. Maybe, it was because I didn’t like R&B that much at that time, though I did like MJ, perhaps it had something to do with his song’s dance rthyhm plus his dance moves in MV, etc. On the contrary, Whitney was selling her voice which wasn’t good enough for me back then as a teen with relatively superficial taste in music. A few year later, I began to learn to appreciate R&B songs, but I was won over by Mariah Carey since her debut. So, I didn’t have an urge to revisit Whitney’s song to enjoy R&B.

‘I’ll always love you’ was a huge hit in 1992. To be honest, I hated that song very much at that time. Looking back, it couldn’t help for having that feeling to that song which was by no mean bad, it was really a great one indeed. I hated it because it was played so much on radio and everywhere I went that I couldn’t stand listening to that anymore. Particularly the showcase of her voice range at the end of the song, that was supposed to be admired but it became nuisance to me instead. On top of that, I didn’t like the movie Bodyguard neither. However, in 1998, she did sing a song that I consider to be the R&B diva duet of the century ‘When you believe’ with Mariah Carey that I love very much. Overall, in spite of all her success in artistic awards and commercial achievements throughout her career, I’m sorry to say that I’ve never really been drawn to her music all those years.

Don’t get me wrong that this blog post is aim to diss her or her achievement or whatsoever. I do feel sad for such a talent that died this young. What happened to her in her personal life is none of our business. Some people said that her marriage to Bobby Brown led to her downfall in her career as well as her life in general. I think that we have no position to judge what’s right or wrong about her choice. Cuz, who knows the truth? And does it really matter anymore?

Recently, I had the chance to sit back and listen to her works. Surprisingly, I began to be able to appreciate her songs unlike when I was young. I guess it is because I’m old enough to feel the emotion of her voice unlike before. I don’t feel bad to finally being drawn to her music. Cuz, her music, like many of other great singers can certainly pass the test of time.

At the end, I just wanna say “Thanks Whitney for the good works that you left behind and may you R.I.P.!”


Monday, February 13, 2012

My Jeremy Lin analysis

After 5 full games and started 4 of them, the NBA is officially under siege of the ‘Linsanity’. Unless you live underneath a rock in the past week, you must hear of Jeremy Lin, a ‘Linderella’ story of modern day professional sports. I would not go into usual introduction of what had happened in this first week that he become a sensational NBA success story for being New York Knicks’s prime point guard. Instead, I would like to talk about his value of a cultural icon-in-making and my prediction of his near future.

The States is a melting pot and there should be people of different races for people to look up to. Asian American has 5% of the population, but their representation in the mass media is way below that. That’s actually quite strange given that their buyer power is by no mean small as this segment of population are relatively highly educated and economically well off. I guess there are reasons for that. First of all, Asians are relatively quiet, they don’t voice out loudly enough to be heard. Secondly, though the Asian group is very diversified: the Laos are not similar to the Japanese, the similarity of Korean and Indonesian may limit to their taste of spicy foods, the Asian population somehow has a common culture to nurture their kids to focus on a relatively limited scope of careers. So, Asians of politicians, community leaders, athletes, people that are in front of the camera are far and between. As there are not jumping out to be seen and heard, so there is less incentive for mass media to pull them out when they are hard to be found.

Jeremy actually partially fit the profile. A devoted Christian young man with a strong family, a good education of being a Harvard economic graduate, and has a relatively quiet misdemeanor and a hard-working work ethic. What makes him so different is his career choice of becoming a professional basketball player. That’s such an odd choice that is quite unprecedented in Asian American communities. In spite of all the hype that the media is making of him this week, the most important thing is that what he has shown on the court proves that he is no fluke! He is a real deal, a legit point guard that can perform at highest level. Cuz, there are gonna be somebody out there in the league can’t stand his fame and wanna take it personally to prove he doesn’t deserve the hype. That’s gonna make him a marked man on the court in the next few weeks. On top of the tight schedule of games, he is gonna exhausted soon. Also, the potential threat is not just coming from other teams, but his teammate Carmelo Anthony wouldn’t be happy to share ball-in-hands minutes with Lin. How the coach gonna handle this will be very interesting. My guess is that Carmelo will adjust his own game. Otherwise, even if Lin stays silent, his teammates who benefit from Lin’s court vision and ball feeds will voice out, let alone the NY media, they gonna eat Melo up if Knicks starts losing because Melo is hogging the ball from Lin. But, this internal team issue remains uncertain at the moment.

Going back to Lin’s values, his surge in the spotlight is due the fact that he is so unique that he has no predecessor to look up to. Just put aside his cultural value aside for a moment, in these days and age, value certain comes with a figure, and Lin is combination of a list of factors that will do him a favor in make big bucks.

From zero to hero – he has a humble background, clean, working hard with real skills. But has no sport scholarships was offered, cut by teams, put into sub-league, been a benchwarmer. Nonetheless, he didn’t complain. Then, opportunity fell on his lap, he seized and made it! This kind of story is a favorite American story that fit the American ‘folklore’ or spirit, Obama would have no problem quoting his story in his State of the Union speech, teachers would have no problem citing him as an example in classes. When the national sentiment is not that good during these economic doldrums, an inspiring story of personal triumph from rag to famous should no doubt attract eyeballs.

Asian/Ivy League professional athlete – The Asian part attracts Asian fans and consumers of both domestic and aboard. Yao Ming, though he was not the first Asian/Chinese NBA player, he is the most successful one. He opened doors to show that what is possible. However, he is sent from China with 400M basketball fans with money to spend and he is not a home grown talent, but also being someone trained by the country to succeed. I respect for what Yao did and as a person, but Lin is different for being exactly not another Yao Ming. Lin is a purely American product. He is easier for most Asian Americans to identify with given how he was brought up and what he had gone through. There just aren’t too many Asian role models, Yao, Jackie Chan, Jet Li, etc all speak English with accent. The entertainers are in particular still famous for having the stereotypical trait of Asian - knowing martial arts. When you see a skillful Asian who speak perfect English and made it in a non-traditional profession, that certainly caught every Asian American’s attention. For fans aboard, in the absence of another Yao, Lin is the next best thing. I think it is silly to call him one of their own; but we just can’t stop them from doing so. The Ivy League part is as well intriguing. For people who didn’t know much about sports in the States, Ivy League schools don’t play along with the rest, for whatever reason, maybe they consider themselves more prestigious, traditional or else, athletes in those schools are basically overlooked by profession teams in sport though skill levels of many of which are comparable to the rest. I don’t know if it is the works of the ‘big boy’ networks or so. Anyway, so Ivy League alumnus occupies Wall Street, Capital Hill, Silicon Valley, but not in sports area, particularly on courts or fields. So, I guess those Ivy League alumnus, turning away from Bloomberg terminals, would still be happy to cheer Lin as one of their own, though they have a big belly rather than a six-pack!

Christian – Christianity is power in the States, remember how much money ‘The Passion of Christ’ made, how Tim Tebow’s fame exploded just months ago, and how many people use bible as reason/excuse to explain the world in Yahoo/forums in the States. There are saying comparing Lin to Tebow is not exactly right, the latter rose with legit backing of sport machine and all that. I don’t care that much. Cuz, being a successful and openly devoted Christian in this country does invite challenges from non-Christians. I think as soon as one non-Christian criticizes Lin for being too Christian, 3 Christians are gonna jump out to defend him. That’s a double-edged sword, but I would prefer to have it than not. Believing every Christian is equal in front of God, Christian of all races and background would no doubt support Lin, particularly when openly devoted Christians are rare in the league.

Being a Knicks – This team has sunk for so long, specifically since Patrick Ewing was gone. Isaiah Thomas made it a mess, the onboarding of Amare/Melo didn’t deliver as it was thought so far. For an important sport city in the States, fans there are devoted but they could be harsh as well. For being disappointed so long in the Mecca of basketball, suddenly a white, no, an yellow knight coming from nowhere (actually from the end of the bench) gave so much excitement to the fans, how can people not getting fire up? For being in a professional basketball team is great, but being a New York Knicks, that adds tons of additional value when you become successful. That’s why Chris Paul III was dying to go to NY even he was the franchise player of Hornet, as Charlotte is no New York! You make it in NY, you make it in the States! New York can offer all the perks for any celebrity. Being a favorite of local fans who include all financial/media/marketing/advertising professionals, the sky is limited for financial returns.

Those NY marketing folks can sell anything, they can sell a cat to mouse. With Lin in their hands, they slice and dice his potential and appeals, you can tell Lin’s upcoming endorsement deals are gonna be massive, as they won’t be just for NY, but for the whole nation and to the World as well. If Lin can stay healthy, keep smile and perform, given his young age and the rest, he will be the most bankable and richest Asian athlete in the world in next few years.

Trust me, balloon will come back to earth eventually, his fame does too. However, I think he is for the longer run. His next contract will be big, may not be Yao Ming size, but will be closed. Though he is not a franchise player, and I doubt he will be, his youth, skills and marketing strength should command multi-millions easily. As I said, I think he deserves success, it is a result of being equipped and lucky as well, to be playing for the right team at the right time and place.

Let Linsanity continues.

簡體字 愛沒有心

An article for reader who know Chinese. It is about how screw up the Simplified Chinese comparing to the Traditional Chinese that Hong Kong and Taiwan are still using these days. Cultural value shouldn't be justified by numbers. (PRC + Singapore of 1.3B+ vs HK/Taiwan/Malaysia/Overseas Chinese of 30M+). Support what's right, not what's popular!

近來互聯網上盛傳一首《諷刺簡體字的歌謠》,不知何人所作。長期以來,大陸內部一直不乏批評簡體字過度簡化字形而喪失原意的聲浪,此次出現諷刺簡體字的歌謠,網友紛紛轉帖並跟帖補充。香港甚至有網頁轉載,改題《諷刺大陸垃圾殘體字歌謠》。

有民眾說,在當今漢字繁簡之爭方興未艾之際,它的出現,為繁體字助威,為簡化字添堵;也有人說,現在用手寫字的沒幾個人,都用電腦輸入了,所以簡體幫助書寫速度沒甚麼大意義了;更有人讚美道:「寫的人真是天才!」讚賞起調侃功力之佳。

諷刺簡體字的歌謠:

細雨蒙蒙(濛)沒有水,開(門)門關(關)門不見門;
烏雲(雲)密佈不下雨,台(颱)風颳(颳)來哪有風?
戰鬥(鬥)英雄戰大鬥,難怪豪傑(傑)不算人;
聽(聽)字有口沒有耳,到底是說還是聽?
采(採)花不須用手摘,相愛(愛)何必獻真心?
白貓(貓)黑豬(豬)皆屬狗,老闆(闆)原是木頭人。
干(幹)部看來都干(乾)癟,會(會)上人云我亦云;
鞦韆(鞦韆)只宜秋季蕩,冬冬(鼕鼕)鼓聲冬日聞。
面(麵)粉不須麥子磨,窮人從此不挨餓;
更有高人好武藝,一棒打去犬成龍(龍)。
讀講說談(讀講說談)不開口,聲(聲)音何須耳朵聽;
「四捨(捨)五入」是什麼?四間房舍五人進。
勸君莫吃豬內臟,內臟(臟)肯定都骯髒(髒) ;
山谷裡面沒太陽,稻穀(穀)在此難生長。
別人盡做別(彆)扭事,買個蘿蔔(蔔)卜凶吉;
工廠(廠)設備都掏光,廣(廣)州也唱空城計。
丑角容貌並不醜,唱曲應在喝曲(麯)後,
鬍鬚(鬍鬚)頭髮(髮)不長毛,不妨試試101

網友跟帖補充

我最不喜歡的兩個簡體字:相愛(愛)沒有心!相親(親)不相見!如何親愛?

漢字簡體化之後;親(亲)不見,愛(爱)無心,產(产)不生,廠(厂)空心,麵(面)無麥,運( 运)無車,導(导)無道,兒(儿)無首,飛( 飞)單翼,湧(涌)無力,有雲(云)無雨,開關(开关)無門,鄉(乡)里無郎,買(买)成鈎刀下有人頭,輪( 轮)成人下有匕首,進(进)不是越來越佳而是往井裏走,只有魔還是魔!

無草無木何生葉(葉),十口齊開長出來。
古怪聖(聖)賢無口耳,曉義 (義)高人似叉燒。
拾貝堆土築大垻(壩),難怪連年鬧洪災。
鳳(鳳)輕如風(風)隨處飄,龜(龜)殘缺爪往哪爬?
紅門一入深似海,從此「蕭」郎是「肖」郎。

約略解釋幾句:
「葉」(葉)是植物,卻沒了草花頭,也沒了樹木,難道就憑十個口也可以長出來?
「義」(義)是中國人重視的品質,在簡體字裡卻不知成了「乜叉嘢」(粵語)!
「鳳」(鳳)的鳥身不見了,「龜」(龜)的四肢也被斬斷,醜惡至極!
堤「壩」變成「垻」,只剩泥土和貝殼,令人失笑。
在文革年代,姓「蕭」被強迫改做「肖」,到現在還沒完全糾正過來。
原詩是崔郊的《贈婢》:「公子王孫逐後塵,綠珠垂淚滴羅巾。侯門一入深似海,從此蕭郎是路人。」


Thursday, February 9, 2012

SOPA & PIPA

Haven’t blog for a while as I’ve been quite busy in all fronts, it doesn’t stop me from paying attention to recent news stories.

Situation in Syria is serious, but I see that as another chip about to fall in the global game plan running by the ‘big brothers’. It is a bit remote from me.

Jeremy Lin’s recent rise as the starting point guard of NY Knicks is a nice story. I wish him well and will stay tune for his performance when the Knicks are playing some elite teams like the Lakers, Bulls, etc. Also, it would be interesting to see how the team performs once Camerlo and Amare are back in the line up.

What really concern me these days are actually about the stupid freaking bills proposed by those blood-suckers of RIAA and those fifthly rich media giants. I.e. the Stop the Online Piracy Act bill (SOPA) and its sister bill in the Senate: the Protect IP Act (PIPA). For those who lives under the rock may not know that these bills are aimed to kill the freedom of information traffic by chopping down the whole IP if the site owner let some files with content of some so-called ‘intellectual properties’ owned by those bloodsuckers passing through its sites. For someone who knows a bit of internet traffic, most files are travelling in random paths of shortest distance. For example, a file from A to Z may goes through N and P this time, but through H, W, X, next time. Based on what are written in those bills, it can take down the whole internet! Thus, sites protests, like Wikipeida, Google, etc. Thank God that there are some sane people up there, the latest news is that those bills are ‘postponed’, but they are not dead. So, the zombie will rise again for sure in future.

Looking back so far, there are victims, aka the most prominent one, Mr. Dotcom of Megaupload. I’m not gonna defend him or whatsoever. But, he is jinx for sure. Not only his site, but other like Filesonic has already raising white flag. I just hope this domino effect will be halted. Cuz, man, I love those sites! I’m not a BT user because of the risk that comes with it. But those file sharing sites are very useful to me and I’ve never encountered any virus-infected files through my interaction with them. That has shown to me that most users of those sites are safe-honest users (yes, I could be lucky).

Sharing information of all sorts has been the root of internet since its birth for public use. Some people, no, I mean those bloodsuckers, wanna impose their old money-making model to the web, and try to make quick bucks without doing much are doomed to fail. I don’t mind people are making money on the web. They can go via ads and create useful software. I would and did pay for stuff that I use, like via iTunes. My Win 7 and MS Office 2011 are legit copy that I paid out of my pocket. However, why the fxxk do I’ve to pay money to the blood-sucking, do-nothing middle men like the labels and RIAA? Paying the artists are fine, besides iTunes, actually many of them realized that free sharing of the songs are way of promotion. Fan bases are built up that way, and they will go to their concerts if they like their music enough. I think that is the way to go. See even Madonna signed contract with Live Nation and dissed WB, you should know that the traditional way to making money will not work in these days and age.

Whether you like it or not, once the cat is out of the bag, SOPA, PIPA or whatever in future are not gonna stop what most internet users have been enjoying all these years. Online Wall Street Journal is only one of few examples of far between to be able to make money on the net by forcing the old business model. Most folks will opt out of NYTimes and get their news elsewhere. Once the dam is broken, you can’t stop the water. So, I’m sure even with the demise of Megaupload and Filesonic, there will be others to find their way to satisfy internet users’ need one way or the other. I’m very hopeful on this.

Monday, February 6, 2012

2012 Super Bowl

I'm said that Patriots lost to Giants this year. I think Bill and Tom will have the bitter taste of defeat by the same opponent in two Super Bowls in the mouth for the rest of their lives. That's just sad! Yes, I know Giants played a great game, but being a fan of the Patriots, I just can't help but feel upset of the this loss...

Last week, I had a dream of the score of this Super Bowl to be 23-26 that Patriots won. What a wishful thinking and it just proved that I shouldn't bet (not that I did in fact) based on what I saw in my dream. Anyway, it is tough to be a winner, but even tough to pull oneself up after defeat. I hope the Pats will recover, well, they have months to heal... :(