Pretty Women

While having lunch with my colleagues today, we were having a discussion about topics. One of them is about a common interest - Movies. Then, a topic about who are the prettiest actresses was brought up. As a movie buff in their eyes, I told them my choices. Certainly, there were discussion back and forth, and they suggested their selections. One of the funny things was that the only female colleague that thought that Julia Roberts is pretty. Others asked me what I thought, I said her mouth is too big. She has a great smile, but pretty?....nah. Then, other said what about Angelina Jolie? I said she has big lips, not big mouth! That's different. They seems to agree with my comment.

Then, I mentioned who are my choices, like Charlize Theron, Sharon Stone, Natalie Portman, Winonna Ryder, LeeLee Sobieski, etc. Certainly, some of them are not at their prime. I think except Sharon who they disagree a bit and Leelee who they really can't recall. I think they said my choices are generally pretty. Certainly, there are other names mentioned among us, like Catherine Zeta Jones, Scarlett Johanson, etc, and other suggestions that were 'shot down, like Nicole Kidman, Jennifer Lopez, etc. Well, I was a fun conversation and we all seems to enjoy it.

I think 'Pretty Women' is such a common topic that unless you can't see or you can't remember names, it is always a fun topic to chat about. Definitely it depends on how far you wanna go in your conversation, but it is topic that can be quite interesting and informative. I can say that I enjoy the conversation very much!

Matrix style flipbook animation

Cool!....

War

What is going on in the world lately? Of course I'm not talking about those celebrity gossip news. The biggest story, besides the ongoing financial tsunami episode X, it is the war in Gaza.

Well, I'm not in the position to tell who is right or wrong. Cos, for me, all I saw are destruction of propeties, loss of lives and suffering of the surviors. Their blood is red, like all of us. I understand that violence aggression is part of human nature, it makes us human and help us to survive. Yes, there is an ongoing shortage of resources, but with cooperation and love, things can be worked out to help each other. We are not put into a position that we have to kill another human being for our own survival. That makes me sick to see the civilian victims. That just doesn't make sense to me.

Violent conflicts between individuals are understandable. Cos, some of their acts are results of emotion, mental sickness, or impulse. However, when groups go into organized violent conflicts or war, that just stupid. If they read 'Art of War' CORRECTLY, to get something without going to war is always the preferrable way. War causes so much destructions that there are always implications, such as revenge, hatred, retailation as aftermaths. Cycle of violence can last for generations, are those really something we want? Do human beings ever learn? I don't think so. Cos, war is main theme of human history, peace is only oddity. I remember that I read an article long ago saying that out of recorded human history, only a small portion of time that there was no recorded war. So, I guess we humans just don't learn. That's why it is so common to wish for world peace as new year resolution. I guess as long as there are humans on earth, there won't be peace.

Prophecy

My last blog mentioned about 'Prediction'. That makes me think about Prophecy. There are many famous prophets, Nostradamus, Edgar Cayce, etc. Certainly, everyone of them has their own predictions and the accuracy are subjected to interpretation. Cos, the bottomline is that you won't know if they are accurate until things happen. Anyway, in the last decades or so, there have been increasing interest in prophecy due to the approach of millennium. So, there were many doomsday scenarios, especially after WWII. Then, Hollywood were making tons of those movies, like Deep Impact, Armageddon, End of Days, etc. They have not stopped that, the latest one will be coming out soon - '2012'. It is about prediction by Mayan thousands years ago about the end of the world. As it was told that the Mayan calender will be ended on Dec 23, 2012. Certainly, Hollywood would not let go of such thing, that's why X-Files last episode is also about 2012. Another prophecy movie is 'Knowing', also about how a bunch of mathematical codes can predict future events. Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that Prophecy is such an interesting topic for many of us, as many of us are 'helpless' humans that often look to God or else for advice on what is gonna happen, either good or bad.

Do we really want to know the future? I think that most impressive story about knowing the future is a old Chinese sci-fi fiction about a guy who has the ability to know what is gonna happen in future. To him, reading newspaper is a depressing act, cos everyday, the news are not new to him. The worst case is that he can't change the future, even his thought about changing the future is already known to him. He even knew how he is gonna die - in the operation room for brain surgery - the final act that he wanna his future-knowing ability to be taken away but fail.

So, the thing is a paradox: if future can be changed, then prophecy is not accurate. If future cannot be changed, then all surprise of good things will be taken away, but the bad things would depressive and more depressive if you know all the efforts that you make to change the bad things from happening would make the bad things even more difficult to accept.

I just think accept who we are, what we did, and just do what should and want to do. Let's see what will happen and that's it!

My 2009 NBA All Star Games Prediction

Well, I'm a fan of NBA since I was a kid. Anyone who know NBA knows that NBA All Star Game is show of popularity and glitz. What I want to talk about is that I think something unpleasant to Chinese fans will happen in this year's All Star Games.

The 5 starters of each coast are voted by fans, the rest players are selected by NBA insiders. For the past years or decades, things have been fine. i.e. star players on winning teams usually got high votes. Those star players are usually quite talent and entertaining. As NBA was largely an U.S. centric game, though the champion has been called the World Champion. Those votes were come from U.S. fans mostly. However, as NBA is a 'global' business in these days, you can tell how David Stern, the commissioner of NBA has been salivating the Chinese market. Then, we got Yao Ming. Yao has been in the All Star Games since he joined NBA. Luckily, he is a talent and has getting more and more dominant in the center post. So, with the decline of Shaq, Yao has been voted as the starting center for the west coast for few years. Fans and critics are largely ok with that, because he is really talented in his position. If he is not the best center in NBA now, he is certainly in the top three, so it has been fine.

Nonetheless, 2009 is a different story. The cause is Yi Jianlian. He is a good player, but not a star, at least not yet. However, he is second in vote after Kevin Garrnett so far. That's not good from basketball prospective. His votes, undoubtedly mostly of them are from China. I can understand they want to see their player in All Star Games. However, they got Yao already, if they just blindly vote whoever is Chinese, that's not good. Cos, my prediction is that if Yi Jianlian is voted as a starter for the East Coast. Then, the other 4 starters and the rest players of the East will not actively pass balls to him and he will be hacked by the 4 starters and all the rest of the West (excecpt Yao, but I doubt he will help Yi out as he plays the opposite team). If you think that is not gonna happen, you will be surprise! Cos, it happened before, I remember that when Shaq was young and stupid, he verbally challenged the centers of the west in one of the All Star Game in the 90s, then he got hacked by Kakeem and David Robinson whenever Shaq wanna go to the basket, u know playing defence in All Star Games are usually a second thought, people just wanna dunk, slam and striking poster post. So, Shaq got hacked.

For Yi, he will be hacked not because what he said or what he will say, but because he will be voted blindly by the Chinese fans. Those players will punish him to show that he doesn't belong there, at least not yet. That would be embarrassing for Yi and for the Chinese. I hope that won't happen, but based on the current signs, it is very likely that will.

First blog in 2009....just another blog....

I've been lazy updating my blog in the last 2 weeks or so. It's because I've been on vacation. Usually, I've more 'personal time' to update my blog during my work days. While in vacation, my time has been occupied by many other stuff, just couldn't find the time alone to update my blog as I did before. Anyway, I think things will get back to 'normal' from now on....

Well, new year has just begun. My thought is....SO? I don't see how Jan 1 is any different than let say....Jan 12? Maybe, the weather is a bit different, but we still have 24 hrs a day, the world still goes on, so do our lives. The poors are still poor, the riches are still rich for the most part. Arabs and Jews still fight, and the economic tsunami is still going on. I just don't see what is the big deal about a new year. I think people just need to find an excuse to do something together. To me, that's about it. What's up with those countdown? Fireworks? Oh! come on, if those are not excuses, I don't know what they are then.

Am I anti-social? am I a party-pooper? am I just trying to be different? Well, I don't think I care how other see me on this issue. As long as I don't hurt anyone and I think I'm entitle to what I think and I still respect what they think and do, so that's why I don't really care. Don't get me wrong that I'm upset or unhappy of new year. I'm not. My mind is calm and my thoughts are clear and steady. Just want to point out the hollowness of the 'new year' celebration 'gift-wrapper'. To me, if you are a Christian, Christmas is meaningful. If you believe in labor rights, May 1 is meaningful. If you are self-center, your birthday is important. If you need an excuse to 'start' something, Jan 1 would be the day for you. That's my point.

Transformer fanatics

Guys just have different passions about these stuffs than gals. I can't imagine a girl would spend time doing such......

When I feel that I'm old

While I'm still in the middle of my vacation and won't be back to work till beginning next year, I spend a lot of time with my baby son. Taking him to the park is almost the daily routine. Man, just playing with him, watching him with so much energy, I'm feeling old. What can I say? it is an undeniable feeling. Just can't help but the time that I spend with him just keep reminding me that.

The Day the Earth Stood Still

Just went to see this movie this afternoon with my wife. It's been a while since we went to see a movie together, works and family do take a lot of time. Anyway, my wife thinks that this movie is so-so, cos she is just not that into sci-fi stuff and for her, they all looks the same. When the movie ended, her comment was: "is that it? that's the end?" Of course, I said "yes".

Do I like it? I think it is ok. Cos, I didn't go to see it with very high expectation after all the criticism that I've heard. So, it helps. To be fair, for movie of such theme, about life and death of our earth, what more can u do? Good guys die, but some don't, that make sense. Bad guys die too, but some don't, that's equally acceptable. You want a bit of sci-fi jargon, u got it. U want special effects, u got it. U want some relationship stuff, it has but thank god...not much, u got it. So, what else do u want? Did it give me deep thoughts about our earth? Emmm.....not much, cos other movies have done that or better. Do I find that entertaining? Well, it has its moment, it is decent! I think it is not as cheesy as Armageddon, but not as good as Deep Impact. Not as stupid but exciting as Transformer, but at least better than Wars of the World.

In terms of acting.....emmm.....let's not get into that, cos it has none. Keanu is playing himself, can't find anyone do better, Jennifer Connelly, emm....kind a waste, much more so that she was in the Hulk. The kid? I would rather watch the girl in The Sign, at least she got the funny line of water is contaminated!

So, here u go... I still think it is worth going to see this movie. Just to chill and think nothing for one and half hour of non-thinking visual entertainments.

Photo Session

The economy is bad, so $ has to be saved whenever possible, especially for high expenses or 'non-essential' ones. I'm having my annual leave now, one of the things that my wife and I plan to do is to take our kid to have a baby photo session. Yes, it costs $, yes, it is not really essential, but time can't never be stopped or saved. So, our son is growing, just try to capture some images of him in a professional way is not something totally out of our reach. As such, we did it today. Thank goodness, it didn't cost too much, and both of us are happy with the results, particularly my wife. She just delighted to have looked at those photos. They just light up her face!

For me, out of the 50 photos that we selected, only one has me in, cos I just don't look good in any of them. I'm just tired and still recovering from light fever yesterday. The key is that, I'm just not photogenic person. I did't know how unpleasant to be filmed till I saw myself in those photos today. So, it is wise for me to take a pass. My wife is better looking than I'm, way better.

Anyway, I think overall, I've a good family day today.