Better walk to hell at our free will than ascend to heaven under God’s command.
2014-09-18
2014-06-13
Vermeer geekification
One part of me wants to algorithmize everything, while another part wants to preserve the vintage of manual art, like romanticizing about an alternative universe in which light sabers can beat laser blasters.
2014-03-31
2013-12-25
2013-12-22
Two recent movies
Every computer scientist’s wet dream:
Every computer scientist’s nightmare:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WzV6mXIOVl4
2013-09-28
The Klingons
Imagine you are a Klingon warship commander. After going through some hyper-warp to arrive at an alternative space time, you find that all Klingons are in gentle servitude to humans.
This is what I felt about the HK technology industry as a SF bay area computer scientist.
PS
If you are a Klingon in that alternative space time, work with that commander so that you will not turn into a pussy.
2013-08-07
Father’s day haiku
A Y-chromosome
passed from dad to son
unchanged across millenniums.
2013-07-28
The matrix concert
I went to the Matrix in Concert with the San Francisco Symphony conducted by Don Davis, who is also the composer for the Matrix trilogy.
Basically, what they did is to play the first matrix movie with music accompanied by the orchestra.
I enjoyed the show for a variety of reasons: I am a fan of the original movies, the visual setup (black dressing + green lighting) is fitting, and the music integrates seamlessly with the movie.
The most interesting aspect is that the music adds (yet) another layer of performance + reality, over the original movie, which is already layered. The music starts with the opening scenes and ends after the end credits. So the entire show starts before the movie starts and ends after the movie ends. In a movie theater, most audience would walk out during the end credits, but we should sit through this one. (It was very funny to see a few folks who left during the end credits.)
What has not changed is that I want to be agent Smith if I can choose to become one of the characters.
🙂
2013-06-14
Aromatic association of cities I have lived in more than 1 year
They say olfactory memory is the most visceral as it is within our primitive brains.
Taipei: soil within sidewalk pavement cracks
Kaohsiung: (strong) industrial waste water
Stanford: dry grass
Palo Alto: coffee
Mountain View: swimming pool chlorine
Emerald Hills: trees
Beijing: gun powder (sulfur)
Seattle: sea-weed/salt
Hong Kong: (humid) bean curd