Words from 1st half of May 2013

My previous post on May 3^rd was a bit out of my character. I was quite worried about a family matter that could have very long term consequences. However, things got a bit clarified about a week later. Though nothing is final yet, I feel a bit better in spite of still taking a wait-and-see attitude to see further development. That’s all I wanna say for now for that matter.

There are a lot of other things that I wanna talk about. Rather than going in great detail like I would prefer, just can’t do it this time, so they are just gonna be brief and broad in scope.

PERSONAL SIDE –

Housemoving

Yes, landlord raised the rent to his so-called ‘market’ level which is actually above the actual one. A brief negotiation didn’t reach an agreement. As such, my wife and I took few quick looks in places around and fortunately found a place very close by that both of us deem acceptable. So, after few years of living the same address, we gotta move next week! Yes, that’s right! everything has to work out in about a week! Things are actually in progress: talking to moving company, changing address at utilities, shopping new furniture, and LOTS of packing! I expect to have close to 50 boxes plus some furniture to be moved and subsequently LOTS of unpacking!....what an exhausted exercise!

Kid stuffs

My older son is gonna graduated from Kschool this year! So, stay tune for which elementary school that he will end up to. Meanwhile, still arranging summer classes for him, so far, only swimming is confirmed. Others are coming…Also, my younger son is gonna be two very soon. Time just flies! We need to help him to grow up and learn older stuff, like no diaper during the day extra. Time-consuming exercises!

Leisure

Well, busy as hell is one thing. I was fortunately enough to be able to squeeze time to do some stuff for myself. First, I saw ‘Iron Man 3’. Usually, I would use a separate blog post to talk about movie, but just too busy this time. Not gonna say much to that, but the movie was indeed enjoyable! In spite of knowing many things before going in, there were still some surprises that I enjoy very much. Like the villain’s ability, how Gyweth Paltrow’s involvement in action scenes and how Robert Downey Jr. interacts with Mark 42 and the rest of Iron Men! Fun stuff! Nuff said!

Also, I was able to catch up with an old friend who came back from Germany for a brief visit, and attended a drink with some old co-workers to have a nice relax chat. It’s nice to talk to people that I’ve rarely seen. Thanks to Facebook and Whatsapp!

WHY?

WHY THIS happens to me???????????????? WHY?????????????????????????????

Margaret Thatcher

"Watch your thoughts for they become words. Watch your words for they become actions. Watch your actions for they become…habits. Watch your habits, for they become your character. And watch your character, for it becomes your destiny! What we think we become.” — Margaret Thatcher

May her rest in peace!

Think and change

Being a family man, a city dweller, and a person with a full time job, 24 hours are all we have, it is always difficult to allocate my conscious hours properly to optimize its usage on a consistent basis.

It is not easy to self-motivate to step back and think what should be done, how to do things more efficient and effective, and really do it! The catch-22 situation is that we often try to make things work smoothly to a point that we can do them on a 'cruise control', things become routine. However, environment around us is actually changing all the time which should demand our reaction to change accordingly in order to adapt. Changes take effort and very few of us would make them voluntarily as we usually enjoy the routine way of doing things. As such, the result is, few of us will not make change at all and ultimately fail. Some of us will be forced to make adjustment when our routine way will not work anymore as the environment has just changed so much. Few of us will make adjustment a bit earlier than those but still would do that most likely as a reaction to the changes in the surrounding, kinda adapting the environment so as to make the change less painful. Only very few of us would have the vision to make self-adjustment on voluntarily basis at the same pace with the environmental changes or even a step ahead of them. The cream of the crop would be those who can do that on a consistent basis. 

Even though I understand that it is always better to aim high, as a discount of that would still be sizable achievement. However, we adult often get caught or grounded by the harsh reality. Have a dream is one thing, realizing a dream is marvelous, but we know that the probability of that is low, the cost is high, so it would be better to be more practical to have so called 'reachable' goals than 'dreams'. It is sad, but I still can't get myself pass that. 

Today, I just feel like I need to make small changes, nothing grand, just small changes that would make myself better, maybe it is because I feel kinda down or bored and would like to do something to make myself happy. If I can make certain things better, I should be happy, that's simple! Well, I know that there are other things that bring joy to me, like my kids and my wife. Nevertheless, I also enjoy to do something for myself, by myself, that would cheer myself up. I don't know if it makes any sense to others, cuz happiness to me can be categorized. Like tasty foods could be hot, cold, salty or sweet. Happiness for me is similar, I can't put exact words to describe them as foods, but the situation is similar.

So, what I think I need is to find time to think, to brainstorm! Sound crazy to some people, but with a fully-packed daily schedule, spare time is hard to come by. Come to think of it, how sad it is! I'm talking about finding time to think freely!? Yes, I can think anytime anywhere, but quality output would need quality input in a quality environment. I'm not asking for having a full massage, with cocktail and buffet, in an incense-burning parlor with chill-out music. I just need a quiet hour, perhaps walking in my own pace in a park with trees and being uninterrupted. Again, it is sad that I don't think I can do that until sometimes next week! So, to me, a realization of self-motivated changes and actually executing them to generate good results on a consistent basis is absolutely a dream to me.

Homemade bread

Another new appliance was bought over last weekend. It is electric bread maker (Model# SP104) from Panasonic. The reason why we bought this tool is because we would like to save money in the long run and have healthy bread in our household instead of buying those light in weight and expensive bread that come with preservatives and chemicals. Certainly, we need to buy ingredients to make bread and they are not that cheap. In order to provide a greater variety, various kinds of nuts, dry berries, etc were bought as well. Further, my wife also bought different kind of jams, so our son wouldn't get bored with homemade bread. So far, we have used the machine twice and I do love the output so far. The crust is chunky and the core is soft. The best part about this maker is that it has a timer, so I can schedule the bread to be ready in the morning, so we can have freshly made bread for breakfast. In fact, even the leftover, it still taste good in next morning. I hope this tool will last for years to come!

iWatch vs Google Glass

Few months back when I first heard that Apple may make iWatch. The first thought came to my mind was to ask WTF?! Was Apple supposed to be busy working on the iTV? I did remember what Steve Jobs' autobiography had mentioned that Steve wanted to conquer few more markets in coming years: TV, textbook publishing, and photography. Those things are already kinda underway, iTV is in the work, textbook publishing is aided by its SDK and iPad, photography is aided by iPhone/iPad penetration and probably few years down the road with acquisition/partnership with Lytros. Maybe, there is an sidetrack thing like iCar. I'd never heard of wrist watch to be one of them, certainly not as likely to see the light to be out in the market sooner than the iTV?! Also, though I do wear wrist watch myself, many people that I know of actually are using their mobile phones as watches anyway. To me, wrist watches perhaps have done their 'historical' responsibility of time-telling. Yes, it will certainly be around in future, mostly for the two ends of the market: the cheap one as toys for kids and the Swiss luxury ones as antique, status symbol or collectables. For myself, I do look at my watch few times a day, for checking time purpose only. Actually, I look at my iPhone for the same purpose few times a day as well. As such, why would Apple think about this market? 

However, after I read the following few articles, I do see the potential of iWatch and do think that it is the perfect time for Apple to enter this market. I'm not gonna repeat what the authors of the articles have said. But, I do hope some if not all the potentials of what iWatch can do will come true. If so, that would be awesome!

http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/for-apple-the-iwatch-is-just-the-beginning

http://blogs.computerworld.com/personal-technology/21766/5-wearable-ideas-apple-could-borrow-sci-fi

http://asktog.com/atc/apple-iwatch/

Regarding Google Glass, I didn't have the same reaction as iWatch. I saw few pics of what Sergey Brin and some models with the Google Glass on. Kinda get a feel of what it would look like with that thing on. My thought is mmmmm......ok, it looks like it would use a lots of AR and make us feel like Terminator walking around on the street. Based on further reading, Google thinks that people can potential ditch mobile phone and use the Google Glass instead. Well, that get me thinking......

I don't think Google Glass is gonna be a success in consumer market. These are my views:

1. Glasses itself is an necessity, Google Glass is not

Wearing glasses itself is not a comfortable thing. Most people wear it out of necessity. If not, why would people wear contacts or go Lasik. Mobile phones these days are getting better and better. Surprisingly, even bigger screen phones are more popular and people don't mind to take a bigger screen out most of the time. How can people be convinced that wearing glass is much better than using a mobile phone. Based on what I see so far, I don't see that most people will be convinced. That's why, unless people would think that glasses as a replacement of mobile phone is an necessity, people would not get a Google Glass and ditch their phones.

2. Glasses are fashion accessories but Google Glass is not

Only few people would wear it for fashion. Even for those few sake as an argument, you would need to customize it to make the Google Glass into weird shapes and multi-colors to perform the function as a fashion accessory. I don't think Google would do that, so it means that 3rd party accessory suppliers will need to put accessory on Google Glass itself. Just put aside the size of market demand to justify this accessory market, would that be comfortable to put a pound of plastic and metals on our face, the answer is NO for most people.

3. The problems of operating glasses with web access

Forget the weight, discomfort and the look itself, wearing a glasses that can browse the web/AR all the time is not necessary a good thing. First of all, web info can be a distraction when we are driving, or even walking on the street. It is a matter of safety. Also, with the screen so close to our eyes, would that  affect our eyesight? Would it be safe to kids? If you said, the operation of the glasses can be turned off for energy saving or give us a rest. Then, would it mean that we should take off the glasses? Cuz, that's how we use our phone. We put that in our pocket or bag when we are not using it. However, if we put the Google Glass down or away. It kinda defeat the purpose of wearing it all the time. Also, the Glass shouldn't be truly turned off, but rather than in sleep mode. Cuz, we suppose to use it as a phone as well, so we need to make sure the alarm, ringer or whatever will ring for incoming calls. Would putting aside the Glass be an issue? Should it be put in a bag or a case? Cuz, you don't wanna get a scratch on the Glass or get the frame bended. But, putting the Glass on quickly to get a voice or visual call would need a training! Also, from the pics of Google Glass so far, I don't see clearly the earpieces clearly. Would it be a challenge to put the Glass and earpiece on comfortably and quickly all the time? Furthermore, I think the Google Glass is operated by voice. So, it means that we have talk all the time if we want anything done. Seri is still in Beta on iPhone can be a good indicator that operating a gadget through voice is still not matured. Without using Seri, we can still rely our fingers to get things done. But Google Glass doesn't have this option. Another beauty of mobile phone is that we can use Facetime or else to communicate with deaf people via sign language, but how can you do that with Google Glass? I don't think so, unless you stand in front of a mirror. That's silly right?

4. Privacy

Further from the above, even when (and I believe it will) voice recognition technology matures, it doesn't address the fundamental issue that not everyone love to say what everything they wanna do out loud in public. Not even getting into driving with the Google Glass on, speaking our mind open all the time out loud is not we would do all the time. Many people often browse private things and curse on the web, but it doesn't mean that they want to let other people know when they are doing that. So, the consequence is that we may need to put on hold on doing or saying something until others are not around. That's not a smooth web using experience for sure. Also, Google Glass can provide instant AR ability and video recording as well. How can people avoid from being filmed? How can cinema prohibit illegal recording? How can we avoid from being instantly recognized? as people can use face-recognition program to spot people that they are interested while the target may not want to be harassed. The further enhancement of the form factor of the Google Glass is expected. Down to a point that it may look like what Tom Cruise was wearing in MI:2. I.e. it looks no different from regular sun-glasses. The good thing is that people may no longer have to feel uncomfortable being looked at by someone with Google Glass. However, it makes it worse that everybody is uncomfortable of being looked at by everyone with glasses on. Cuz, they can't tell if they are being filmed, recognized, etc. All of these are big issues.

As such, I think the success of Google Glass may limited to some professional in certain occasions, like surgeons in surgeries, Navy Seal in missions, divers in dive or explorers in caves, etc.

Considering all of the above, though iWatch and Google Glass are not at direct competition with each other, except that both of them are next step of product development of Apple and Google respectively in the direction of 'wearable mobile technology'. I can't help to predict that iWatch will clearly be the winner. Let's see if my prediction is gonna be right or not in about a year.

Few thoughts on Oscar 2013

First of all, I've to declare that I've not seen any of those nominated movies (except Les Miserable). So, I wouldn't be able to judge the results from an artistic merit. So, my opinion is more based on what I know of the Academy based on their history and political sentiment.  For being a long time movie fan, though I couldn't go to movies as often as I like due to family engagement, I do still pay attention to see what's new and good in the market. So as to use that as chatting materials in social circles.

Anyway, I don't have a broad scope of opinions to cover all the winners or losers. I just want talk about few of them. First of all, Argo is a pro-American movie, so does Lincoln. However, the former is more a "feel good" movie that not as heavy and 'academic' as the latter. That helps the voter to make the choice. Furthermore, the snub of Ben Affleck in the best director nomination would give an extra boost to its winning. Spielberg is still the "king" of Hollywood, but he had won before with Jews and veteran support. Given Obama is still in the White House, Lincoln is appeal would somehow be diminished a bit. Also, with Daniel Day Lewis won his third best actor award, that should be enough.

Jennifer Lawrence won the best actress. It is just another chapter of the ongoing trend of best actress winner: relatively young (vs. the best actors), pretty, and some of them would be considered as 'up and coming' in the business. Checking Wiki, the winners in the past decade or so, except Meryl Streep and Helen Mirren, most of them fit that category (as a matter of fact, I think Anne Hathaway's win in best supporting actress also fit this image). Jennifer Lawrence is young and good, so I wouldn't think that would cause any controversy. Actually, this award consolidate her status as the 'it' girl in Hollywood. Come to think of it, she (or her manager) definitely succeed big time in the showbiz and she is gonna (maybe already) comment the biggest paycheck in Hollywood among actresses. Why I say that is because, she has been equally successful in both artistic (with the award'S') and commercial movies like The Hunger Games and X Men prequels. So, we are surely see her unstop in the coming decade unless she goes Lindsay Lohen!

Ang Lee won the best director is considered to be a surprise in the West media. I heard that Life of Pi is an amazing achievement. But, it is not unheard of Academy discarding great cinematic works. So, the reason why I'm kinda surprise is because Ang did (if I remember correctly) murmur or bad mouthed the Academy for not rewarding Brokeback Mountain the best movie back then. Cuz, the Academy does usually remember this kind of things, and may never award to some people again no matter how good their works will be. Anyway, this award did solidify Ang's position as a master in handling difficult movie subject. If not for his failure in Hulk, if he would be given a chance to direct some potential blockbuster again, his success would even be elevate to the exclusive club of directors like Spielberg, Cameron, etc.

Anyway, just my two cents in this latest showbiz news.

A Good Day to Die Hard

Before going to see the fifth chapter of the Die Hard Saga, A Good Day to Die Hard, I read quite a few critics saying that, if you can leave your brain at the door, you will enjoy the movie very much. I was glad that I did. Indeed, I enjoy the movie tremendously! It was a wild wide that didn't stop much before another gigantic action piece set unfolded. 

The GOODS:

Actions - Well, that's why most fans want and we got it. There are basically few big action sequences. Even for viewer like me who saw so many car-chasing scenes in movies all these years, I still find the 'Truck chasing' scene in Moscow an amazing sequence! Guns were not used much there in the chase, instead, it was all trucks smashing other vehicles in busy traffic that make the boom! The other 2 big action sequences involves the Russian military helicopter. They are both decent especially the machine guns firing from the helicopter, that really showed the firepower!

The BADS:

Dialogue - As being described, the 'down' time of the movie for dialogue or story was kept at bare minimum, just enough to fill 'small' gaps between actions scenes. There are surprisingly few characters that spoke, even for John McClane himself. All he said that I remember in the movie was 'I'm on vacation!' The writer I think is just too lazy.

Script - It could be much much better. A story about stolen Russian nuke materials at Chernobyl involves Russian defense minister, an CIA and his dad John McClane in Russian actually provide a lot of room for imagination, but the movie's script doesn't deliver. It didn't challenge viewers even a bit. The flow of the story is so monotone, to sum it up, it is just about 2 Yankees in Russia chasing the bad Russians and kill them all. That's it!

Acting - Another thing that was being kept at minimum. Nobody really act much in the movie. John McClane didn't shine in this movie, he just had some minor scratch here and there, didn't even crack a joke. He showed his age but it was fine with us. But, he basically acted and talked with firearms. His son is not much better, supposed to be the heart of the movie, his acting is so 2D, same as most other characters in the movie. What's weird to me is that, even most 'small' characters that usually we could find in old Die Hard movies are absent in this one. The only one that I can recall is the taxi driver. Other than him, I think all other Russians who had spoken dialogue in the movie are all bad and dead. I would say that they kept the movie flow tight with barely 98 minutes. However, I would say that if they put a bit more time to develop the story and nourish the scripts and dialogue, like give an extra 15 minutes to the movie for that, this movie would be much better. 

At the end, I've to say that I did enjoy the movie for pure action purpose. So, if you can bare with the BADS and go to see it for the GOODS, you will enjoy it!

Other thoughts about this one and the older Die Hards -

Die Hard Saga has come to the fifth installment, compared with many other action series. Die Hard is certainly one that I like very much. Also, in terms of story development, it should be the easiest (vs. Lethal Weapons, Rambo, Terminator, etc). I like the first one, cuz it was new: one good guy against so many bad guys in a premise (a building for the first movie) and won at the end. The sequel was good as well as it became a little bit more like a James Bond movie with a bigger premise - an airport. Both movies put a humanized dimension with good supporting actors, and the relationship between John McClane and his wife facing the terrorists.

The third one is actually the one I like the most. The premise is the whole NYC. Bruce Willis + Sam Jackson is good couple and they played off each other very well in that one. I like the Wall Street burglary as well as the subway bombing scene. Also, Jeremy Iron as the bad guy did act and how he fooled John McClane to go all around NYC was fun to watch story wise. The fourth one wasn't very memorable to me, I only remember the few action set pieces: the cop car hit a helicopter outside a tunnel, a cargo truck vs a fighter jet, a SUV hit Maggie Q in an elevator shaft. That's all. So, after seeing the latest one, I would say the series is kinda going down the hill, especially when Bruce Willis said that Die Hard 6 will come. Unless, more attention will be put on the script, though I would still go for the actions alone, it could be another let down to a great movie series that could have been much better. Well, I can only stay tune to see what will be next.

Les Misérables

Finally, I got my chance to see the latest on screen version of Victor Hugo's masterpiece Les Misérables in cinema yesterday. It was late but it is certainly worthy!

I've neither read the book nor saw the stage play before. My only knowledge of Les Misérables is from 3 sources: A dance remix song of a cover version of the song "On My Own" from a German group called Harajuku, Susan Boyle's version of "I dream a dream" in the Britsh Got Talent, and the 1998 movie adaption of the same title which I loved very much!

That's why when I saw the 2012 version, I can't help to compare with the 1998 version. Certainly, the key difference is that, the 2012 version is full of songs with minimal dialog, while the 1998 version has no songs and only dialog. What I like the 1998 version is that, as I didn't know the background story at all back then, I was captured by the story itself. In addition, the characters were written really well, and the actors/actresses who played the parts were outstanding. I totally bought into the interpretation of Liam Neeson as Jean Viljean, Gregory Rush as Javert, Uma Thurman as Fantine, and Claire Danes as Cosette. All four leads are very good actors/actress that I really admired. I very sympathize Liam Neeson of trying so hard to become a good man, really pissed that Gregory Rush to chase him every turn. I also upset that Claire Dane would fell for the Marius and somehow put Liam Neeson in risky position of being caught. Though I've not seen the 1998 version all these years, I still can recall those footprints of the movie that left in my mind.

Now, here we go the 2012 version. First of all, I did read some reporting of this movie before hand. I can't help it for being a movie fan! What I read didn't affect how I ended up enjoying the movie. I knew that Hugh Jackman can sing. It is not a news to me. Certainly, learning that all actors/actresses did really sing during the filming really add to my admiration of the movie. Particularly, when I saw the heart-wrenching theme of Anne Hathaway singing "I dreamed a dream". That was really powerful. Surprisingly, most critics criticized Russell Crowe's singing, I didn't find him that bad. His singing was certainly bearable. Instead, I found his acting of Javert was actually not as good as Geogory Rush. Russell's acting in the movie is too stiff with a "wooden" face. Hugh Jackman is fine as Jean Valjean. However, I don't know why, even the length of the 2012 version is longer than the 1998 version. I somehow has a feeling that Jean Valjean in the 2012 version has a weaker part than the 1998 version. Particularly, the feeling of trying hard to be a good man in the new version is not as hard as the older version. Amanda Seyfried as the new Cosette is certainly hot, but her role is small and she didn't really act that much in the movie. Perhaps, she didn't try harder to be a scene stealer. Instead, Samantha Barks' role as Éponine who sang "On my own" really caught my eye. This role was a forgotten one to me in the 1998 version. Also, Helen Bonham Carter and Sacha Baron Cohen added a bit of comic to the sad premise of the story. That's a nice touch.

Another thing I really like the 2012 version is my exposure to other songs of the play, I made me gotta check out the soundtrack of the movie afterwards. I don't wanna go into the costume, art direction, CG, etc of the movie, cuz, I think they are fine enough to serve the sorry.

Overall, I like this movie and I'm glad that I finally saw it in cinema.

The way I live these days

It is now Jan 2013. I've kinda lost touch of the time for while. Busy life at work and at home put my sense of time into different perspective. I just feel time flies, day by day, week by week, many things just happen. I rely on the calendar on my iPhone to record important events, some of which won't happen until months later, such as dental appointment or immune shot appointment for my boys. Anyway, I just need to know they are about to happen.

My life is now mostly being arranged according to my family's need. Gotta go to work to make a humble living to pay bills. Buying bread everyday for my son's breakfast the next morning. Looking after the boys at night before they go to bed. Check my son's homework or school notices every evening. Reminding my son to practice piano everyday, and helping out my wife on stuffs and few houseworks every now and then. Over weekends, my major duty is to pick my son to places: playgroup, Taekwondo classes, park, etc. Am I complaining? I'm matured enough to accept my role in my family, how important I am to them. So, it is not about complaining at all.

I do still try my best to squeeze some leftover time for my own sake and enjoyment. I still surf the web here and there on my iPad and PC, I listen to my podcasts on '1.5x or 2x' speed of normal in traffic. I read mostly news on the web these days. Cuz, no matter how busy I'm, I still can't stand for being ignorant of what's going on in the world near and far. With the power of technology these days, with the access that I've, being losing touch with reality is not tolerable. In fact, many news stories are more interesting than fictions. Regardless their natures, tragic, comic, inspirational, or else, they are far more interesting than my mundane life anyway.

Actually, my life or family life these days are not as flat and boring as I mentioned. There are issues that do have long term impact to my future days. Seniors in my and my wife families respectively have health issues. My sons have respectively learning issues that do bother me a bit. In addition, my work relationship, my wife's career, and the relationship between my wife and I , all did have rough spots here and there. Thank God that I think that I've proper EQ and attitude to face those difficult issues and some of which really get my wife frustrated when they are brought up. I'm fortunately for the most parts, myself even if not being the solution, but at least not becoming a problem that make things worst! Well, what can I say? Life is always a half glass of water. We can choose to enjoy it by looking at the bright side, or to damn it by complaining the shitty part. It is all in our heads, we make the call, we choose. What I've learned is that things will proceed with or without our involvement, but our emotion is all our making.

For the most parts of my life in the last decade, I learned to appreciate how fortunate I've been and satisfy with what I've. For being older and seeing what's going on in the world, I also learned few other things:

• Nothing is guaranteed. Thus, take nothing for grant.
• Life is strong and fragile at the same time.
• Try to appreciate, learn and enjoy the journey, and don't too caught up with the results.
• There are wayS to do things, don't be stubborn.
• How important of a thing depends on how you look at it and who is looking at it.
• Life can be happy and meaningful without a lot of material things.
• Really spend time to think what is needed and what is desired.

Well, I guess it is enough for today from a grumpy old man!