I’ve been in denial these past few days, but there is no doubt now of the weather. As a gesture of acceptance for the summer season, I turned on the airconditioning in my room for the first time.
Archive for May, 2008
Summertime
Friday, May 30th, 2008History of Video Games (1972-2007)
Tuesday, May 27th, 2008This is a montage of some of the important video games since the technology’s inception*, from Pong (1972) to Wii Sports (2006) and beyond. I found that I could identify almost all of the games presented (especially the earlier ones), having played them at some point. That made me feel nostalgic and teary-eyed… sort of.
Ahh, how nice it is to remember childhood and growing up through the video games you played…
* But actually, the fist video game ever is Tennis for Two (1958), which was made using an oscilloscope.
Wilson’s Heart
Wednesday, May 21st, 2008I just saw the House season finale and seriously! What a tearjerker! I was like a housewife watching soap opera. I had to head over to the TWoP forums to read about other people’s reactions to the episode. I watched a TV show so depressing I needed therapy after!
While this last episode had less medicine jargon and plot twisting, it packed quite a punch emotionally, which owes a lot to the great acting. Excellent move giving Robert Sean Leonard something to really work on. Even the show’s recent guest Ann Dudek, whose character is best known as “Cutthroat Bitch”, provided a very convincing performance.
Not to mention how brilliantly crafted the last one was (last week’s episode which is part 1 of the 2-part finale). It made good use of unconventional tools for storytelling – something you mostly see in movies made by the more daring/experimental/intellectual filmmakers. On cinema it’s quite uncommon, but it’s even rarer still on TV, I think. Among all the drama shows I’ve seen only a few writers pull off such style and intricacy*.
How dark and sad and wonderful. I now renew my faith (read: worship) in House and its writers. After all these years, the show still has new things to offer. I await season 5!
Finally, to celebrate (mourn) the great finale, here is the song that played through (and added to the misery of) the last minutes of the episode: Iron & Wine’s “Passing Afternoon”.
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* I would like to cite some of these writers that I so admire: The X-Files writers Darin Morgan and Vince Gilligan (my favorites!), writers of Six Feet Under, and of course, Joss Whedon in Firefly.
What’s In A Name?
Monday, May 19th, 2008After MUCH help and consultation from several friends, I have finally acquired myself a suitable, probably perfect, Chinese name.
Pronounced, it sounds phonetically like “Herman Joon” – in Mandarin. In Cantonese, it sounds almost exactly like “Herman Joon”! (With the necessary intonations, of course.)
The first character does not have any literal meaning. With Chinese names, this corresponds to their surname. The next two characters comprise one’s given name (for some, it’s just one character). So in my Chinese name, the second character means “cultured”, or equally, “literature”. And the third character?
“Handsome.” Incidentally the Chinese word that sounds closest to “Joon”. And it’s true, too.
:D
