It's Friday (the 13th even!), let's have some fun entry.
In the last 2 weeks, there are new materials from 2 bands that I heard a lot in 2003/04 - Maroon 5 and Linkin Park. I like their stuffs a lot, used to listen to them until I get sick of them. There hasn't been anything new from them for over 2 years until now, so let's see what they've got:
Maroon 5 - Makes Me Wonder
I'm a big fan of Maroon 5 since I heard "This Love". It was followed by "She Will Be Loved" and "Sunday Morning" - one great song after another. Even if they had their generic-rock-song hit - "Harder To Breathe", I didn't mind. After "Sunday Morning", I did something I rarely do: buy their album - Songs About Jane. Maroon 5 had this nice blending of soul, a little jazz and rock into their songs and Adam Levine's lazy falsetto focals makes them stand out.
I've really been anticipating their new stuffs greatly. So when I heard their new song, Makes Me Wonder, I can't help but getting a little disappointed. This Love, She Will Be Loved, Sunday Morning - I fell in love with those songs the first time I heard it. Makes Me Wonder - not so. Maybe it's not really fair to have such a high expectation - it's actually quite a nice disco/dance inspired song, but it's still not as good as their best stuffs.
Linkin Park - What I've Done
I used to hate Linkin Park when I saw their video for Crawling - eww, those stuffs are so dark and bleak and those screaming are too hard to stand. But when I started to listen to their stuffs, I changed my mind. I have been waiting for their next song since "Breaking the Habit" and "Faint". Their new song, "What I've Done" is all right, sounds like a typical Linkin Park song - with a few differences. Mike Shinoda isn't rapping and Chester isn't screaming anymore (maybe those vocal surgeries have taken its toll). Furthermore, in the video, the band looks like they're U2 wannabe, with Chester being a cheap man's Bono. Linkin Park has gone on record saying that they're going into different direction with their new album and they won't do their old stuffs anymore. Until I hear more, it remains to be seen if it's a good thing or not. Their latest album, Minutes To Midnight, comes out on May 14/15.
Speaking of musicians with new albums this year, I actually didn't want to pose this embarassing stuffs but I have some strong feelings about this:
Avril Lavigne - Girlfriend
I confess I once liked Avril Lavigne. There was a time in early 2000s when she and Michelle Branch, Nelly Furtado, Pink came on to the scene and challenged the bubblegum pop princesses like Britney Spears. "Complicated", "Sk8ter Boi" aren't really great songs, but their pseudo-punk rock sounds are fresh during that time. In fact, I still listen to "Sk8ter Boi" as a guilty pleasure song (Lyrics: "He was a boy, she was a girl, can i make it anymore obvious." - is a case study of lazy songwriting). But flash forward till now, I watched this video of her latest song, Girlfriend. I didn't even finish it and I thought, isn't she too old for this shit? Seriously, she's married now and she is still doing the punk rock high school girl stuffs like her first album on the video? She's even worse than Ashlee Simpson in that video. Really embarassing stuffs and I don't think I will listen to any of her juvenile crap like this anymore.
======================================================
This has almost nothing to do with music. But I found this extremely funny stuffs yesterday. Apparently, in Tokyo, Japan, each candidate for the gubernatorial election can have a 5 minute video where they can speak their mind and basically convince people why they should vote for him/her. Last year, Tokyo just had one and along comes a left wing musician candidate with a mission. a video.
Damn, his candidacy video is just one of the most hilarious thing I've seen recently. Please watch it all the way to the end. If you think Ralph Nader or some 2003 California Governor recall election candidates (like Gary Coleman) are crazy, you ain't see nothing yet. Without much further ado, I present you: Koichi Toyama for Governor
They even made the South Park version:
... and apparently, he isn't the first one to do it. Years ago, another musician did a similarly strange video too:
I would seriously consider voting for any of these guys, especially Koichi, whose immortal awesome last words are "If I win, the majority will be freaked out, I will be freaked out too! Vote for me!". Now, that's a candidate worth voting for.
Friday, April 13, 2007
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
The H-1B Situation
This post is 1 week late.
So last Monday, April 2, was the first day for filing the H-1B visa petition. I need this visa to work here in US for another 3 years. Every year, there's 65000 spots for filing and another 20 000 for people with Master degree or higher. Now, for the last 3 years or so, the spots have been filled up faster and faster; last year, the spots were filled by May. I was expecting that it would disappear even faster this year. But never would I expect it would disappear so quickly. 150 000 applications within 1 day! (the final number now is about 120000 for 65000 spots)
News source : http://www.visalaw.com/2007_04_01_blogarchive.html (scroll down to the bottom)
As a result, all applications filed on the 1st and 2nd day (April 2 and 3) will be put in a random computer generated lottery. This will take several weeks to find out the results.
However, this has really hit many people, including me, hard. I couldn't sleep on the night I found out. I talked to many people about this and found so many reactions. Some people who panicked so hard on the thought of having to get out of the US permanently. Some people seemed to accept their fate come what may. Few come up with "clever" scheme to stay here. As for me, I am preparing for the worst, the day I have to go back for good, and never has the days feel so numbered.
After the first day of panic, I am actually quite calm about the whole thing. There's really nothing much I can do since it's entirely up to luck. Right now, I'm just preparing for the worst - if I my petition isn't selected, and if that happens I will surely go back - to either Singapore or Jakarta.
I'm actually cool to the idea of going back. Over the years, my good friends have gone back one by one and they are doing okay, so it's kind of inevitable too that I will go back.
It's just I have a plan here in US and some "unfinished business". I will not elaborate on the "unfinished business" part. But I love my job and way of life now. I can save up and enjoy a reasonably good life. After 3 years when my visa expire, I can go to a grad school and study something I really like without parents interference. But if I have to go back, I guess I would have to work much harder.
For now, I haven't told my parents yet about this. I have only told my sister, for if the worst happen, she will be alone without relatives here in US until my cousin comes next year. I don't want to leave my sister alone either, but if the worst happened, she has to be prepared.
What am I going to do from now on? I have had some thoughts on what to do immediately after my OPT ends mid July. After the H-1 news hit, I felt like I have to do some of them. There are still some cities I haven't visited that I would like to visit: Boston, Chicago, Miami, Hawaii, somewhere nice in Texas and the south, etc and I'd like to travel around end of July. Then, I'd like to attend the San Diego Comic Con at the end of July. After that, I probably will go back for good from LAX, flying the Airbus Singapore Airlines non-stop flight from LA to Singapore ... and never look back?
I really hope for the best, but I also have to prepare for the worst. Pray for me (and some of my friends too, including my roommate).
So last Monday, April 2, was the first day for filing the H-1B visa petition. I need this visa to work here in US for another 3 years. Every year, there's 65000 spots for filing and another 20 000 for people with Master degree or higher. Now, for the last 3 years or so, the spots have been filled up faster and faster; last year, the spots were filled by May. I was expecting that it would disappear even faster this year. But never would I expect it would disappear so quickly. 150 000 applications within 1 day! (the final number now is about 120000 for 65000 spots)
News source : http://www.visalaw.com/2007_04_01_blogarchive.html (scroll down to the bottom)
As a result, all applications filed on the 1st and 2nd day (April 2 and 3) will be put in a random computer generated lottery. This will take several weeks to find out the results.
However, this has really hit many people, including me, hard. I couldn't sleep on the night I found out. I talked to many people about this and found so many reactions. Some people who panicked so hard on the thought of having to get out of the US permanently. Some people seemed to accept their fate come what may. Few come up with "clever" scheme to stay here. As for me, I am preparing for the worst, the day I have to go back for good, and never has the days feel so numbered.
After the first day of panic, I am actually quite calm about the whole thing. There's really nothing much I can do since it's entirely up to luck. Right now, I'm just preparing for the worst - if I my petition isn't selected, and if that happens I will surely go back - to either Singapore or Jakarta.
I'm actually cool to the idea of going back. Over the years, my good friends have gone back one by one and they are doing okay, so it's kind of inevitable too that I will go back.
It's just I have a plan here in US and some "unfinished business". I will not elaborate on the "unfinished business" part. But I love my job and way of life now. I can save up and enjoy a reasonably good life. After 3 years when my visa expire, I can go to a grad school and study something I really like without parents interference. But if I have to go back, I guess I would have to work much harder.
For now, I haven't told my parents yet about this. I have only told my sister, for if the worst happen, she will be alone without relatives here in US until my cousin comes next year. I don't want to leave my sister alone either, but if the worst happened, she has to be prepared.
What am I going to do from now on? I have had some thoughts on what to do immediately after my OPT ends mid July. After the H-1 news hit, I felt like I have to do some of them. There are still some cities I haven't visited that I would like to visit: Boston, Chicago, Miami, Hawaii, somewhere nice in Texas and the south, etc and I'd like to travel around end of July. Then, I'd like to attend the San Diego Comic Con at the end of July. After that, I probably will go back for good from LAX, flying the Airbus Singapore Airlines non-stop flight from LA to Singapore ... and never look back?
I really hope for the best, but I also have to prepare for the worst. Pray for me (and some of my friends too, including my roommate).
Friday, April 6, 2007
The Post Mortem of an April Fools Joke
So, last sunday, April 1, was April Fools' day (Duh!). I made some jokes, including the lame ass fake newspaper article and game secret below. But my most powerful joke was putting on my MSN nickname, something like "omg, tornado hit Surabaya"!. I started it around 12 AM on April 1 and planned to keep my MSN on throughout the day to see who would get tricked. By getting tricked, I mean if whoever message me to ask about my nick without mentioning "april's fools", he/she gets tricked.
and boy did I not expect the outcome. In the end, there's a total of 12 people who get tricked with 10 on April 1 and 2 who came forward the next day. On the other hand, 2 people called my bluff perfectly, in fact, one of them actually copied my joke with my blessing and tricked another 3 people on his MSN. As for demographics, all but one are indonesians (not surprisingly), the other one is a Singaporean (surprisingly) whom I haven't spoken with for quite long. The indonesians who fell for it include 2 from Malang* and surprisingly, only 2 from Surabaya - considering that their hometown is part of the joke. Some people had to check CNN/BBC first before msg-ing me, and a few of them is currently in Indo! I only take into account the people who responded to my nick as well as a couple whom I approach; I have no idea of people who chose to stay silent. It was a successful prank as I didn't expect this many people would fall for it.
However, I must explain my rationale behind my joke and offer proper apologies. Some people, like Tin express in her blog, has been quite hurt by the joke, or the fact that they harmlessly fell for it. In fact, a friend of mine was in Jakarta starting his work when he saw my nick and he immediately had to call his family in Surabaya. I apologize to those people. It's never my intention to hurt any people or feelings.
That said, let me explain my joke. I thought long and hard about my joke. It has to be quite unbelievable but not too much so that it won't be immediately obvious. It has to be funny without being lame. So I've been thinking about the recent disasters that's happening in Indonesia (flood, earthquakes, plane crashes), and I thought to myself, what else could happen? I also happened to be reading about the mud flow incident in Surabaya. So I picked Surabaya as the target place - I am aware I might offend some people. Then the disaster - Blizzard? Sandstorm? Nah ... too unbelievable or lame. I thought about US and one nature's wrath came to mind: Tornado. I laughed inside, pleased that I have found the perfect storm for the joke. Hence, the april fools' joke was born.
I hope this explanation would satisfy a few people whom I have upset either because they got tricked or I pick Surabaya as the target. I have definitely had some "interesting" and "insightful" MSN conversations on those. Well, overall, it's an April Fools' Day, we're allowed to make jokes and pranks, so it's okay if you got tricked. I have been tricked and upset too in the past, but I think we need to learn to have a laugh at ourselves sometimes and April Fools provide a great opportunity to do that. Secondly, I don't want to be viewed as insensitive to Indonesians because of my jokes, I'm aware that I might offend people because I'm deriving my joke from the recent, unfortunate string of disasters that had befallen Indonesia. I have made sure that my joke is as tasteful as possible by not mentioning any death or damages and thinking of a very unlikely disaster. Lastly, again I apologize to anyone who is greatly offended by the joke, one way or another.
But it was fun, and I will definitely come up with something next year.
* you might know who they are. Hint: they go to same school as me.
PS: Some jokes I consider but rejected, as MSN nickname or fake news:
- A Hong Kong remake of Brokeback Mountain. The movie will be called Shaolin Mountain - it's about 2 shaolin monks who fell in love while practicing kung fu together. It will star Andy Lau and Tony Leung as the monks (and maybe Anthony Wong as the Shi Fu) and directed by Andrew Lau and Alan Mak, reuniting everyone from Infernal Affairs.
- An Indonesia cigarette tycoon takes over a big Italian Football club (I was considering either AC Milan, Inter Milan or Juventus)
... next, I will write about the gloomy H1-B visa situation
EDIT (April 10, 2007): I don't know if it's just strange coincidences or that my guilty conscience has caught up with me, but for some reason, I dreamt that my hometown was hit by an earthquake last night.
and boy did I not expect the outcome. In the end, there's a total of 12 people who get tricked with 10 on April 1 and 2 who came forward the next day. On the other hand, 2 people called my bluff perfectly, in fact, one of them actually copied my joke with my blessing and tricked another 3 people on his MSN. As for demographics, all but one are indonesians (not surprisingly), the other one is a Singaporean (surprisingly) whom I haven't spoken with for quite long. The indonesians who fell for it include 2 from Malang* and surprisingly, only 2 from Surabaya - considering that their hometown is part of the joke. Some people had to check CNN/BBC first before msg-ing me, and a few of them is currently in Indo! I only take into account the people who responded to my nick as well as a couple whom I approach; I have no idea of people who chose to stay silent. It was a successful prank as I didn't expect this many people would fall for it.
However, I must explain my rationale behind my joke and offer proper apologies. Some people, like Tin express in her blog, has been quite hurt by the joke, or the fact that they harmlessly fell for it. In fact, a friend of mine was in Jakarta starting his work when he saw my nick and he immediately had to call his family in Surabaya. I apologize to those people. It's never my intention to hurt any people or feelings.
That said, let me explain my joke. I thought long and hard about my joke. It has to be quite unbelievable but not too much so that it won't be immediately obvious. It has to be funny without being lame. So I've been thinking about the recent disasters that's happening in Indonesia (flood, earthquakes, plane crashes), and I thought to myself, what else could happen? I also happened to be reading about the mud flow incident in Surabaya. So I picked Surabaya as the target place - I am aware I might offend some people. Then the disaster - Blizzard? Sandstorm? Nah ... too unbelievable or lame. I thought about US and one nature's wrath came to mind: Tornado. I laughed inside, pleased that I have found the perfect storm for the joke. Hence, the april fools' joke was born.
I hope this explanation would satisfy a few people whom I have upset either because they got tricked or I pick Surabaya as the target. I have definitely had some "interesting" and "insightful" MSN conversations on those. Well, overall, it's an April Fools' Day, we're allowed to make jokes and pranks, so it's okay if you got tricked. I have been tricked and upset too in the past, but I think we need to learn to have a laugh at ourselves sometimes and April Fools provide a great opportunity to do that. Secondly, I don't want to be viewed as insensitive to Indonesians because of my jokes, I'm aware that I might offend people because I'm deriving my joke from the recent, unfortunate string of disasters that had befallen Indonesia. I have made sure that my joke is as tasteful as possible by not mentioning any death or damages and thinking of a very unlikely disaster. Lastly, again I apologize to anyone who is greatly offended by the joke, one way or another.
But it was fun, and I will definitely come up with something next year.
* you might know who they are. Hint: they go to same school as me.
PS: Some jokes I consider but rejected, as MSN nickname or fake news:
- A Hong Kong remake of Brokeback Mountain. The movie will be called Shaolin Mountain - it's about 2 shaolin monks who fell in love while practicing kung fu together. It will star Andy Lau and Tony Leung as the monks (and maybe Anthony Wong as the Shi Fu) and directed by Andrew Lau and Alan Mak, reuniting everyone from Infernal Affairs.
- An Indonesia cigarette tycoon takes over a big Italian Football club (I was considering either AC Milan, Inter Milan or Juventus)
... next, I will write about the gloomy H1-B visa situation
EDIT (April 10, 2007): I don't know if it's just strange coincidences or that my guilty conscience has caught up with me, but for some reason, I dreamt that my hometown was hit by an earthquake last night.
Sunday, April 1, 2007
Today's News
Indonesian government bans productions and screenings of local teenage romance movies
By RP, Associated Press Writer
April 1, 07
Jakarta, Indonesia - In an unprecedented move, the Indonesian government has announced an immediate ban to production and screenings of local teenage romance movies. The ban was initiated with the hope that the indonesian youth would be protected from negative moral values often associated with such movies.
"The recent slate of local teenage romance movies contain scenes that do not reflect the values of ideal indonesian teenagers. These movies contain scenes of holding hands, hugging, kissing, sweet talks and rebellious dialogues, and even worse, display of unrealistic wealth such as big house, expensive sports cars and exotic foreign locations such as America", said Jero Wacik, Minister for Culture and Tourism in a statement about the ban. "We hope that this ban will protect the indonesian children and viewers from the false and negative values shown by these movies"
Teenage romance movies have been popular with the local audiences ever since the local film "Ada Apa Dengan Cinta" (lit. What's Up With Love) was screened in 2002 to an unexpected but rousing success - grossing over 4 billion rupiahs (US$400 000) locally - and sparking a revival in Indonesian cinema. The number of indonesian movies produced have increased since 2002, many of which are teenage romance and horror. While the movies have done well in box office, they have also created controversies with religious politicians who see the movies as morally dangerous to the youth, hence encouraging the ban. This ban has been viewed by many as an attempt by the government to make the country more religious, in the light of the recent public kissing ban as well as the Playboy magazine controversy.
This ban has also sparked fierce opposition from many people in the film industry, including producers, directors and actors who threatened to strike and put the film industry in a stand still. Masyarakat Film Indonesia (Indonesian Film Society) has already arranged a public demonstration to be carried out in front of the People Legislative Council building tomorrow. "Banning teenage romance movies will only destroy the film industry which will destroy the indonesian economy", commented Sunil Soraya, director of a recent teenage romance movie called "Apa Artinya Cinta" (lit. What's The Meaning of Love), on the ban.
Despite the great controversy over this ban, many people on the streets seem unaffected. A local high school student said, "Those teen movies are so bad, it doesn't matter if we don't see them anymore."
==============================
Video Games Secrets (spoiler warning):
Game: God of War II (PS2)
Secrets: Fighting Hercules as the Final Boss
How to get it: Complete the game in The Titan Mode (the hardest difficulty) without saving and game over. After you defeated the final boss, Zeus, you will be treated to a different cutscene/alternate ending. As Kratos is about to deliver the final blow to Zeus, Hercules (awesomely voiced by Kevin Sorbo, star of Hercules: Legendary Journey) appear to stop you, after which, the battle begins. Enjoy.
By RP, Associated Press Writer
April 1, 07
Jakarta, Indonesia - In an unprecedented move, the Indonesian government has announced an immediate ban to production and screenings of local teenage romance movies. The ban was initiated with the hope that the indonesian youth would be protected from negative moral values often associated with such movies.
"The recent slate of local teenage romance movies contain scenes that do not reflect the values of ideal indonesian teenagers. These movies contain scenes of holding hands, hugging, kissing, sweet talks and rebellious dialogues, and even worse, display of unrealistic wealth such as big house, expensive sports cars and exotic foreign locations such as America", said Jero Wacik, Minister for Culture and Tourism in a statement about the ban. "We hope that this ban will protect the indonesian children and viewers from the false and negative values shown by these movies"
Teenage romance movies have been popular with the local audiences ever since the local film "Ada Apa Dengan Cinta" (lit. What's Up With Love) was screened in 2002 to an unexpected but rousing success - grossing over 4 billion rupiahs (US$400 000) locally - and sparking a revival in Indonesian cinema. The number of indonesian movies produced have increased since 2002, many of which are teenage romance and horror. While the movies have done well in box office, they have also created controversies with religious politicians who see the movies as morally dangerous to the youth, hence encouraging the ban. This ban has been viewed by many as an attempt by the government to make the country more religious, in the light of the recent public kissing ban as well as the Playboy magazine controversy.
This ban has also sparked fierce opposition from many people in the film industry, including producers, directors and actors who threatened to strike and put the film industry in a stand still. Masyarakat Film Indonesia (Indonesian Film Society) has already arranged a public demonstration to be carried out in front of the People Legislative Council building tomorrow. "Banning teenage romance movies will only destroy the film industry which will destroy the indonesian economy", commented Sunil Soraya, director of a recent teenage romance movie called "Apa Artinya Cinta" (lit. What's The Meaning of Love), on the ban.
Despite the great controversy over this ban, many people on the streets seem unaffected. A local high school student said, "Those teen movies are so bad, it doesn't matter if we don't see them anymore."
==============================
Video Games Secrets (spoiler warning):
Game: God of War II (PS2)
Secrets: Fighting Hercules as the Final Boss
How to get it: Complete the game in The Titan Mode (the hardest difficulty) without saving and game over. After you defeated the final boss, Zeus, you will be treated to a different cutscene/alternate ending. As Kratos is about to deliver the final blow to Zeus, Hercules (awesomely voiced by Kevin Sorbo, star of Hercules: Legendary Journey) appear to stop you, after which, the battle begins. Enjoy.
Sunday, March 18, 2007
Understanding Engineers
Got this from Friendster bulletin, courtesy of Imanda:
=====
Enjoy!
Understanding Engineers - Take One
Two engineering students were walking
across a university campus when one
said, "Where did you get such a great
bike?"
The second engineer replied, "Well, I
was walking along yesterday, minding my
own business, when a beautiful woman
rode up on this bike, threw it to the
ground, took off all her clothes and
said, "Take what you want."
The first engineer nodded approvingly
and said, "Good choice; the clothes
probably wouldn't have fit you anyway."
Understanding Engineers - Take Two
To the optimist, the glass is half
full.
To the pessimist, the glass is half
empty.
To the engineer, the glass is twice as
big as it needs to be.
Understanding Engineers - Take Three
A priest, a doctor, and an engineer
were waiting one morning for a
particularly slow group of golfers.
The engineer fumed, "What's with those
guys? We must have been waiting for
fifteen minutes!"
The doctor chimed in, "I don't know,
but I've never seen such inept golf!"
The priest said, "Here comes the greens
keeper. Let's have a word with him."
He said, "Hello, George! what's wrong
with that group ahead of us?
They're rather slow, aren't they?"
The greens keeper replied, "Oh, yes.
That's a group of blind fire fighters.
They lost their sight saving our
clubhouse from a fire last year, so we
always let them play for free anytime."
The group fell silent for a moment.
The priest said, "That's so sad. I
think I will say a special prayer for
them tonight."
The doctor said, "Good idea. I'm going
to contact my ophthalmologist colleague
and see if there's anything he can do
for them."
The engineer said, "Why can't they play
at night?"
Understanding Engineers - Take Four
What is the difference between
mechanical engineers and civil
engineers?
Mechanical engineers build weapons and
civil engineers build targets.
Understanding Engineers - Take Five
Three engineering students were
gathered together discussing the
possible designers of the human body.
One said, "It was a mechanical
engineer. Just look at all the joints."
Another said, "No, it was an electrical
engineer. The nervous system has many
thousands of electrical connections."
The last one said, "No, actually it had
to have been a civil engineer.
Who else would run a toxic waste
pipeline through a recreational area?"
Understanding Engineers - Take Six
Normal people believe that if it ain't
broke, don't fix it.
Engineers believe that if it ain't
broke, it doesn't have enough features
yet.
Understanding Engineers - Take Seven
An engineer was crossing a road one
day, when a frog called out to him and
said, "If you kiss me, I'll turn into a
beautiful princess."
He bent over, picked up the frog and
put it in his pocket.
The frog spoke up again and said, "If
you kiss me and turn me back into a
beautiful princess, I will stay with
you for one week."
The engineer took the frog out of his
pocket, smiled at it and returned it to
the pocket.
The frog then cried out, "If you kiss
me and turn me back into a Princess,
I'll stay with you for one week and do
ANYTHING you want."
Again, the engineer took the frog out,
smiled at it and put it back into his
pocket.
Finally, the frog asked, "What is the
matter? I've told you I'm a beautiful
princess and that I'll stay with you
for one week and do anything you want.
Why won't you kiss me?"
The engineer said, "Look, I'm an
engineer. I don't have time for a
girlfriend, but a talking frog, now
that's cool."
=====
Enjoy!
Understanding Engineers - Take One
Two engineering students were walking
across a university campus when one
said, "Where did you get such a great
bike?"
The second engineer replied, "Well, I
was walking along yesterday, minding my
own business, when a beautiful woman
rode up on this bike, threw it to the
ground, took off all her clothes and
said, "Take what you want."
The first engineer nodded approvingly
and said, "Good choice; the clothes
probably wouldn't have fit you anyway."
Understanding Engineers - Take Two
To the optimist, the glass is half
full.
To the pessimist, the glass is half
empty.
To the engineer, the glass is twice as
big as it needs to be.
Understanding Engineers - Take Three
A priest, a doctor, and an engineer
were waiting one morning for a
particularly slow group of golfers.
The engineer fumed, "What's with those
guys? We must have been waiting for
fifteen minutes!"
The doctor chimed in, "I don't know,
but I've never seen such inept golf!"
The priest said, "Here comes the greens
keeper. Let's have a word with him."
He said, "Hello, George! what's wrong
with that group ahead of us?
They're rather slow, aren't they?"
The greens keeper replied, "Oh, yes.
That's a group of blind fire fighters.
They lost their sight saving our
clubhouse from a fire last year, so we
always let them play for free anytime."
The group fell silent for a moment.
The priest said, "That's so sad. I
think I will say a special prayer for
them tonight."
The doctor said, "Good idea. I'm going
to contact my ophthalmologist colleague
and see if there's anything he can do
for them."
The engineer said, "Why can't they play
at night?"
Understanding Engineers - Take Four
What is the difference between
mechanical engineers and civil
engineers?
Mechanical engineers build weapons and
civil engineers build targets.
Understanding Engineers - Take Five
Three engineering students were
gathered together discussing the
possible designers of the human body.
One said, "It was a mechanical
engineer. Just look at all the joints."
Another said, "No, it was an electrical
engineer. The nervous system has many
thousands of electrical connections."
The last one said, "No, actually it had
to have been a civil engineer.
Who else would run a toxic waste
pipeline through a recreational area?"
Understanding Engineers - Take Six
Normal people believe that if it ain't
broke, don't fix it.
Engineers believe that if it ain't
broke, it doesn't have enough features
yet.
Understanding Engineers - Take Seven
An engineer was crossing a road one
day, when a frog called out to him and
said, "If you kiss me, I'll turn into a
beautiful princess."
He bent over, picked up the frog and
put it in his pocket.
The frog spoke up again and said, "If
you kiss me and turn me back into a
beautiful princess, I will stay with
you for one week."
The engineer took the frog out of his
pocket, smiled at it and returned it to
the pocket.
The frog then cried out, "If you kiss
me and turn me back into a Princess,
I'll stay with you for one week and do
ANYTHING you want."
Again, the engineer took the frog out,
smiled at it and put it back into his
pocket.
Finally, the frog asked, "What is the
matter? I've told you I'm a beautiful
princess and that I'll stay with you
for one week and do anything you want.
Why won't you kiss me?"
The engineer said, "Look, I'm an
engineer. I don't have time for a
girlfriend, but a talking frog, now
that's cool."
Thursday, March 15, 2007
You aren't a Spartan if you aren't a real one ...
Last week, I dropped my Powerbook accidentally. As a result, it had to be sent away for repair. My list of upcoming movies is in that computer, so I can't post anything yet on that topic.
Last week's Video Games Live Concert was great. Although I was a little bit disappointed. Maybe I have been overly excited about it too much that I have looked at all the concert footages in youtube that robbed me of all elements of surprise. Nevertheless, I think the show put their best stuffs at the beginning, not the end, including the MGS and Zelda. The Mario stuffs need to be revised, they need to add tunes from Super Mario 64 (especially Dire Dire Docks theme). ... and Square Enix, what's up with not showing gameplay footage? as for lineup: how about some Resident Evil, Silent Hill, Chronno Trigger, Castlevania, fighting games (SF, Tekken) stuffs? But the highlight of the concert includes seeing video game pianist Martin Leung perform (it was Awesome!!!) and seeing vertexguy performing Contra jungle theme (one of my all time fave) live for the very first time. Koji Kondo, the composer of Mario, Zelda and almost every Nintendo stuffs out there was there and performed too, which was cool (although his performance was kinda off, but nvm). Overall, it was cool, but I wouldn't attend another one unless there's significant new materials.
After the concert was over, I went to Metreon IMAX to watch 300 with a bunch of Spartan friends (ie. San Jose State University students). As I said earlier, my expectation was low for this movie, I wasn't impressed by the hype. However, it turns out to be a good movie. Although, the story is familiar, there was enough substance by the acting and visuals to keep the story going. Props to director Zach Snyder. He is a talented director who also knows how to tell a story besides delivering good looking movies. His previous movie, Dawn of the Dead remake, was also surprisingly good and efficient horror that defied my low expectation. So, Zach Snyder, bring on Watchmen. For the score, 300 gets a solid 3.5/5
300 has been all over the news since its last week box office success. Apparently, it's happening all around me too:
- MSN nicknames full of references about the movie, especially from my "Spartan" friends
- a sudden rise in "Spartan" pride, again, among my "Spartan" friends
- girls liking the movie for different reasons, for example, Tintin never stops talking about the Spartan warriors' body display (which made me consider this movie some kind of gay parade). My sister never stopped gushing over her idol since Dracula 2000, leading man Gerard Butler.
I also finally watched Johnnie To's latest film "Exiled". It's kind of a pseudo-sequel to what many critics and fans consider his best film ever, "The Mission" (1999). It even reunites most of the cast members of "The Mission" including Anthony Wong, Francis Ng, Roy Cheung and Johnnie To's regulars Lam Suet and Simon Yam. Expectations run high ... so high, it 's ultimately bound to be disappointing.
One reason why I love Johnnie To's late 90s/early 00s films is because he could successfully deconstruct the whole Gangster/Killer/Guns/Brotherhood Hong Kong film genre successfully, adding his touch of uber-cool style and ironic sense of humour to make them great without making them another worthless entry to the genre. So while father of the genre John Woo started his downslide in Hollywood with MI:2, Johnnie To was keeping HK film industry alive with good films like "Running out of Time", "A Hero Never Dies", "Fulltime Killer" and the aforementioned "The Mission". Now, why am I saying all this? Because in some ways, "Exiled" is like Johnnie To's deconstructing his earlier genre films that I mentioned. It is filled with the same cool shootout moments that as well as absurd, ironic moments of comedy that you would expect from him. Sometimes, it feels so exactly familiar that I swear it's as if the master himself is playing a game with you. However, unlike his better films, his cool shootout actions are hard too watch because most scenes are too DARK and the usual ironic humor is mostly flat. The all familiar premise doesn't help either. So in the end, it wasn't much of a good movie at all.
Johnnie To is still active making movies. However, after this film, I can't help but feel that we won't see anymore likes of "The Mission" from him. This film feels tiringly familiar, it's as if Johnnie To has no more plans to make anymore films like this and deliver this film as the "greatest hits" to his fans. While I am confident Johnnie To can still make good films, I shall miss those films that made me his fans in the first place. Exiled score: 3/5.
============
My schoolmate in Singapore Evelyn just moved to Sunnyvale from LA and she just found a job here too. I'm gonna see her sometime this week and catch up.
This week's movie lineup looks weak, so I'm gonna catch some leftover like Black Snake Moan or Zodiac or maybe newly released The Namesake. or I could continue my Zelda Twilight Princess. or read The Game by Neil Strauss that Eric lent me.
... and oh, is anyone interested in Damien Rice's Concert in Oakland at April 28? let me know
Last week's Video Games Live Concert was great. Although I was a little bit disappointed. Maybe I have been overly excited about it too much that I have looked at all the concert footages in youtube that robbed me of all elements of surprise. Nevertheless, I think the show put their best stuffs at the beginning, not the end, including the MGS and Zelda. The Mario stuffs need to be revised, they need to add tunes from Super Mario 64 (especially Dire Dire Docks theme). ... and Square Enix, what's up with not showing gameplay footage? as for lineup: how about some Resident Evil, Silent Hill, Chronno Trigger, Castlevania, fighting games (SF, Tekken) stuffs? But the highlight of the concert includes seeing video game pianist Martin Leung perform (it was Awesome!!!) and seeing vertexguy performing Contra jungle theme (one of my all time fave) live for the very first time. Koji Kondo, the composer of Mario, Zelda and almost every Nintendo stuffs out there was there and performed too, which was cool (although his performance was kinda off, but nvm). Overall, it was cool, but I wouldn't attend another one unless there's significant new materials.
After the concert was over, I went to Metreon IMAX to watch 300 with a bunch of Spartan friends (ie. San Jose State University students). As I said earlier, my expectation was low for this movie, I wasn't impressed by the hype. However, it turns out to be a good movie. Although, the story is familiar, there was enough substance by the acting and visuals to keep the story going. Props to director Zach Snyder. He is a talented director who also knows how to tell a story besides delivering good looking movies. His previous movie, Dawn of the Dead remake, was also surprisingly good and efficient horror that defied my low expectation. So, Zach Snyder, bring on Watchmen. For the score, 300 gets a solid 3.5/5
300 has been all over the news since its last week box office success. Apparently, it's happening all around me too:
- MSN nicknames full of references about the movie, especially from my "Spartan" friends
- a sudden rise in "Spartan" pride, again, among my "Spartan" friends
- girls liking the movie for different reasons, for example, Tintin never stops talking about the Spartan warriors' body display (which made me consider this movie some kind of gay parade). My sister never stopped gushing over her idol since Dracula 2000, leading man Gerard Butler.
I also finally watched Johnnie To's latest film "Exiled". It's kind of a pseudo-sequel to what many critics and fans consider his best film ever, "The Mission" (1999). It even reunites most of the cast members of "The Mission" including Anthony Wong, Francis Ng, Roy Cheung and Johnnie To's regulars Lam Suet and Simon Yam. Expectations run high ... so high, it 's ultimately bound to be disappointing.
One reason why I love Johnnie To's late 90s/early 00s films is because he could successfully deconstruct the whole Gangster/Killer/Guns/Brotherhood Hong Kong film genre successfully, adding his touch of uber-cool style and ironic sense of humour to make them great without making them another worthless entry to the genre. So while father of the genre John Woo started his downslide in Hollywood with MI:2, Johnnie To was keeping HK film industry alive with good films like "Running out of Time", "A Hero Never Dies", "Fulltime Killer" and the aforementioned "The Mission". Now, why am I saying all this? Because in some ways, "Exiled" is like Johnnie To's deconstructing his earlier genre films that I mentioned. It is filled with the same cool shootout moments that as well as absurd, ironic moments of comedy that you would expect from him. Sometimes, it feels so exactly familiar that I swear it's as if the master himself is playing a game with you. However, unlike his better films, his cool shootout actions are hard too watch because most scenes are too DARK and the usual ironic humor is mostly flat. The all familiar premise doesn't help either. So in the end, it wasn't much of a good movie at all.
Johnnie To is still active making movies. However, after this film, I can't help but feel that we won't see anymore likes of "The Mission" from him. This film feels tiringly familiar, it's as if Johnnie To has no more plans to make anymore films like this and deliver this film as the "greatest hits" to his fans. While I am confident Johnnie To can still make good films, I shall miss those films that made me his fans in the first place. Exiled score: 3/5.
============
My schoolmate in Singapore Evelyn just moved to Sunnyvale from LA and she just found a job here too. I'm gonna see her sometime this week and catch up.
This week's movie lineup looks weak, so I'm gonna catch some leftover like Black Snake Moan or Zodiac or maybe newly released The Namesake. or I could continue my Zelda Twilight Princess. or read The Game by Neil Strauss that Eric lent me.
... and oh, is anyone interested in Damien Rice's Concert in Oakland at April 28? let me know
Thursday, March 8, 2007
Samsung SyncMaster931c
I finally got my old Fujitsu Lifebook sent in for repair. They took out the laptop screen and left me with 1/2 the laptop. So, I went to Frys and got myself a brand new 19 inch flat screen monitor to use with my laptop. It's so bright and beautiful. So good, I connected my Powerbook to it too. Too bad I have to return it when I got my laptop all fixed.
The Monitor
The Monitor + Fujitsu Lifebook
The Monitor + Powerbook G4
This Friday, I'm going to Video Games Live concert in SF with Alexander and Adrinata the iguana. I'm really excited about it, can't wait to hear Metal Gear Solid theme in all of its full orchestra glory.
After that, I'm going to catch a midnight show of 300 at The Metreon with kasim dkk. Now, I know I promised my overview of this year's upcoming movie earlier. It's coming soon. But 300 is one of them and I'm just gonna talk abt it now. I can't believe the hype this movie has gotten. From the trailer and story, it just looks like an ancient war spectacle film with great visuals and that's it ... I know it's written by Frank Miller based on a legend. But the story sounds ordinary - nothing interesting, and for me great visuals usually can't save it. I'm gonna see it but I'm not very hopeful.
My friend in Berkeley caught an advance screening and he said it wasn't worth the hype. He even encouraged me to watch it with Booze. Thanks, but I shall watch it with a straight face.
The Monitor
The Monitor + Fujitsu Lifebook
The Monitor + Powerbook G4
This Friday, I'm going to Video Games Live concert in SF with Alexander and Adrinata the iguana. I'm really excited about it, can't wait to hear Metal Gear Solid theme in all of its full orchestra glory.
After that, I'm going to catch a midnight show of 300 at The Metreon with kasim dkk. Now, I know I promised my overview of this year's upcoming movie earlier. It's coming soon. But 300 is one of them and I'm just gonna talk abt it now. I can't believe the hype this movie has gotten. From the trailer and story, it just looks like an ancient war spectacle film with great visuals and that's it ... I know it's written by Frank Miller based on a legend. But the story sounds ordinary - nothing interesting, and for me great visuals usually can't save it. I'm gonna see it but I'm not very hopeful.
My friend in Berkeley caught an advance screening and he said it wasn't worth the hype. He even encouraged me to watch it with Booze. Thanks, but I shall watch it with a straight face.
Sony PS3: The Empire Strikes Back
The Game Developers' Conference has started in San Francisco.and today, Sony had delivered its keynote for PS3. and it looks really good.
PS3 will have an online service called Playstation Home to combat Mii, Xbox Live and ... Second Life. PS Home is like Second Life, where you have this virtual world where you can create your own life-like avatar rendered in next-gen graphic. In the virtual world, you can have your own apartments and futuristic communities where you can do stuffs like hang out with other ppl, play bowling and arcade games, and other stuffs... and you get to own cool electronic devices too like HDTV (all Sony branded, of course). Best of all, all these ... are Free. Well, you have to pay $500-600 for your PS3 first, but still. You can say that Sony rips off everyone, but if Sony could rip them off and execute this successfully, then points to them.
... and Sony has also showed new Killzone PS3 footage. Remember the old, amazing too-good-to-be-rendered-on-PS3 Killzone footage from E3 in 2005 that turned out to be fake? Now, Sony has shown a real one. I haven't seen it, so I can't comment on it. But it was used to showcase the Playstation Edge - a new dev tool to help developers with the very-difficult-to-develop PS3?
... and Sony has also announced a new "cute" and creative game called LittleBigPlanet that got some positive buzz ... definitely an attempt to fight Nintendo on the software front.
All these are Sony's efforts to combat the recent negative buzz about PS3. I will give Sony kudos for this because I'm actually quite impressed. I definitely worry for my dear Nintendo.
BUT ... Sony has done this before, many times - making great, impressive announcements for future products, only not to deliver on its promises. This is particularly true for PS3. All these new features they just announced today will be released in earliest Fall this year. So we'll see if they can keep their promises or not. If they do, which is kinda unlikely, then Nintendo and Microsoft (and 2nd Life too?) better worry.
Gamespot Story on the Keynote.
==================================================================
On M Night Shyamalan:
Pei is definitely one blogger who knows his reader well =). Yesterday, he posted this article on M Night Shyamalan.
M Night isn't doing so well these days. Lady in The Water has just (deservedly) flopped. His off-screen egoistic reputation hasn't helped at all. But he's talented and I know he'll make his comeback especially when he's at his low point; and I'm here to talk about his new project, something that might signal his comeback.
Last month, M Night signed a deal with Paramount to make a live action adaptation of popular cartoon Avatar: The Last Airbender. That sounds like a really bad idea to me. But that's not the comeback project I am gonna talk about. After the Avatar announcement, it was revealed that M Night has written an original script called The Green Effect. It was a apocalyptic thriller on Global Warming. Apparently, all studios passed on it and asked him to rewrite it before submitting it again to them.
... and then Latino Review got a copy of the script and posted a positive review (beware spoilers) of it.
... and then yesterday, Fox picked the project up and the title has changed to The Happening.
... and I couldn't be more excited.
I have read the positive review of the script and I must say I'm really excited. It has the kind of story that M Night could deliver. Now I'm going to discuss the story from the script review. So, if you don't want to be spoiled, skip this section.
=====SPOILER ALERT=====
The Green Effect is about an environmental crisis that suddenly threatens the existence of humankind. One day, people around the world in big cities started killing themselves one by one mysteriously. As people try to run away from whatever mysterious thing that causing this to happen, they discover that a mysterious toxin has been released from trees around the world and the toxin caused whoever breathes it to have an urge to kill themselves. Then, they also found out that this toxin only affects human, animals are immune to it. This then becomes a story on survival in a new world where apparently, if you don't take care of nature, nature will take care of you.
Wow, unlike that confusing muddled bedtime garbage Lady in the Water, this is actually a good, chilling, effective story worth telling. I also never expected M Night to be an environmental guy. and with the recent popularity of An Inconvenient Truth and Global Warming issues, the timing of this movie couldn't be better.
But I have to say that M Night could do better. Although he could write a good story, some elements are just so flat out wrong/unbelievable/funny (Exhibit 1: everything in Lady in the Water. Exhibit 2: alien defeated by water in Signs) that it harms the story. In The Green Effect story, that thing is ... toxin making people commit suicide. WTF is that? why can't the toxin just kill people directly? M Night probably wants to give himself an opportunity to do some gruesome death scenes. However, I think that harms the story more.
2ndly, another M Night weakness, cardboard white main characters. Since Signs (or even earlier), M Night has become weak on creating memorable characters and this seems to be no exception, from what I read in the script review. also, maybe it's what M Night has to do to be successful in hollywood, but why another white main character? he is Indian, and he probably should start making his main character another race for a change.
Lastly, nothing to do with the script, but M Night has done nothing but horror/thriller since The Sixth Sense. Although all his movies aren't simple horror movies, no one can deny that each one has horror elements in them and this one is no different. I wish that M Night would branch into another genre, like a romantic comedy maybe? lol.
=============
So overall, hopefully everything goes well and M Night doesn't let his ego gets the better of him, he will make his comeback and one damn good film. Suddenly, June 2008 seems so far away.
===============================================================
Yesterday, while browsing asian blogs, I found out that my favourite japanese singer Utada Hikaru has divorced her MV/Movie director Kazuaki Kiriya (director of Casshern). It was as sudden and surprising as the news of their marriage 4.5 years ago. Normally, I wouldn't care much about celebrity gossip. But this one makes me wonder if it's possible for 2 creatively talented people to have a long and meaningful marriage... look at Sofia Copolla and Spike Jonze.
... speaking of Utada Hikaru, if you ever eat at Pepper Lunch USA in Milpitas, you might think that the owner is Utada Hikaru fans. They play her songs everytime I eat ther, from the latest album, even. The food is good, but an audio variety would be better.
... and while browsing the asian blogs, I also learnt that HK music industry is experiencing some creative crisis with new songs plagiarising older, foreign songs and the blogger showed some examples to compare the similar situation with the music industry in US. I thought I have some examples too:
Michelle Branch's Everywhere VS Green Day's Good Riddance (Time of Your Life) (The Guitar Opening)
Jojo's A Little Too Late VS Katharine McPhee's Over It
Nickelback's Someday and How You Remind Me (this one is classic)
and this one from the blog I read that I agree with:
The Fray's Over My Head and How To Save A Life (same chorus!!!)
==========
I guess that's it for now, sorry for the longwinded entry
PS3 will have an online service called Playstation Home to combat Mii, Xbox Live and ... Second Life. PS Home is like Second Life, where you have this virtual world where you can create your own life-like avatar rendered in next-gen graphic. In the virtual world, you can have your own apartments and futuristic communities where you can do stuffs like hang out with other ppl, play bowling and arcade games, and other stuffs... and you get to own cool electronic devices too like HDTV (all Sony branded, of course). Best of all, all these ... are Free. Well, you have to pay $500-600 for your PS3 first, but still. You can say that Sony rips off everyone, but if Sony could rip them off and execute this successfully, then points to them.
... and Sony has also showed new Killzone PS3 footage. Remember the old, amazing too-good-to-be-rendered-on-PS3 Killzone footage from E3 in 2005 that turned out to be fake? Now, Sony has shown a real one. I haven't seen it, so I can't comment on it. But it was used to showcase the Playstation Edge - a new dev tool to help developers with the very-difficult-to-develop PS3?
... and Sony has also announced a new "cute" and creative game called LittleBigPlanet that got some positive buzz ... definitely an attempt to fight Nintendo on the software front.
All these are Sony's efforts to combat the recent negative buzz about PS3. I will give Sony kudos for this because I'm actually quite impressed. I definitely worry for my dear Nintendo.
BUT ... Sony has done this before, many times - making great, impressive announcements for future products, only not to deliver on its promises. This is particularly true for PS3. All these new features they just announced today will be released in earliest Fall this year. So we'll see if they can keep their promises or not. If they do, which is kinda unlikely, then Nintendo and Microsoft (and 2nd Life too?) better worry.
Gamespot Story on the Keynote.
==================================================================
On M Night Shyamalan:
Pei is definitely one blogger who knows his reader well =). Yesterday, he posted this article on M Night Shyamalan.
M Night isn't doing so well these days. Lady in The Water has just (deservedly) flopped. His off-screen egoistic reputation hasn't helped at all. But he's talented and I know he'll make his comeback especially when he's at his low point; and I'm here to talk about his new project, something that might signal his comeback.
Last month, M Night signed a deal with Paramount to make a live action adaptation of popular cartoon Avatar: The Last Airbender. That sounds like a really bad idea to me. But that's not the comeback project I am gonna talk about. After the Avatar announcement, it was revealed that M Night has written an original script called The Green Effect. It was a apocalyptic thriller on Global Warming. Apparently, all studios passed on it and asked him to rewrite it before submitting it again to them.
... and then Latino Review got a copy of the script and posted a positive review (beware spoilers) of it.
... and then yesterday, Fox picked the project up and the title has changed to The Happening.
... and I couldn't be more excited.
I have read the positive review of the script and I must say I'm really excited. It has the kind of story that M Night could deliver. Now I'm going to discuss the story from the script review. So, if you don't want to be spoiled, skip this section.
=====SPOILER ALERT=====
The Green Effect is about an environmental crisis that suddenly threatens the existence of humankind. One day, people around the world in big cities started killing themselves one by one mysteriously. As people try to run away from whatever mysterious thing that causing this to happen, they discover that a mysterious toxin has been released from trees around the world and the toxin caused whoever breathes it to have an urge to kill themselves. Then, they also found out that this toxin only affects human, animals are immune to it. This then becomes a story on survival in a new world where apparently, if you don't take care of nature, nature will take care of you.
Wow, unlike that confusing muddled bedtime garbage Lady in the Water, this is actually a good, chilling, effective story worth telling. I also never expected M Night to be an environmental guy. and with the recent popularity of An Inconvenient Truth and Global Warming issues, the timing of this movie couldn't be better.
But I have to say that M Night could do better. Although he could write a good story, some elements are just so flat out wrong/unbelievable/funny (Exhibit 1: everything in Lady in the Water. Exhibit 2: alien defeated by water in Signs) that it harms the story. In The Green Effect story, that thing is ... toxin making people commit suicide. WTF is that? why can't the toxin just kill people directly? M Night probably wants to give himself an opportunity to do some gruesome death scenes. However, I think that harms the story more.
2ndly, another M Night weakness, cardboard white main characters. Since Signs (or even earlier), M Night has become weak on creating memorable characters and this seems to be no exception, from what I read in the script review. also, maybe it's what M Night has to do to be successful in hollywood, but why another white main character? he is Indian, and he probably should start making his main character another race for a change.
Lastly, nothing to do with the script, but M Night has done nothing but horror/thriller since The Sixth Sense. Although all his movies aren't simple horror movies, no one can deny that each one has horror elements in them and this one is no different. I wish that M Night would branch into another genre, like a romantic comedy maybe? lol.
=============
So overall, hopefully everything goes well and M Night doesn't let his ego gets the better of him, he will make his comeback and one damn good film. Suddenly, June 2008 seems so far away.
===============================================================
Yesterday, while browsing asian blogs, I found out that my favourite japanese singer Utada Hikaru has divorced her MV/Movie director Kazuaki Kiriya (director of Casshern). It was as sudden and surprising as the news of their marriage 4.5 years ago. Normally, I wouldn't care much about celebrity gossip. But this one makes me wonder if it's possible for 2 creatively talented people to have a long and meaningful marriage... look at Sofia Copolla and Spike Jonze.
... speaking of Utada Hikaru, if you ever eat at Pepper Lunch USA in Milpitas, you might think that the owner is Utada Hikaru fans. They play her songs everytime I eat ther, from the latest album, even. The food is good, but an audio variety would be better.
... and while browsing the asian blogs, I also learnt that HK music industry is experiencing some creative crisis with new songs plagiarising older, foreign songs and the blogger showed some examples to compare the similar situation with the music industry in US. I thought I have some examples too:
Michelle Branch's Everywhere VS Green Day's Good Riddance (Time of Your Life) (The Guitar Opening)
Jojo's A Little Too Late VS Katharine McPhee's Over It
Nickelback's Someday and How You Remind Me (this one is classic)
and this one from the blog I read that I agree with:
The Fray's Over My Head and How To Save A Life (same chorus!!!)
==========
I guess that's it for now, sorry for the longwinded entry
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