| Plight of A Viking |
[Sep. 22nd, 2006|03:15 pm] |
|
You know, part of the reason I don't tell people things about me is because I'm naturally indecisive. I might tell you one thing I'm gonna do and then tell someone else something completely different. People ask because they care and wanna give me advice-- which is good-- but it can also make things worse. Although, I suppose that hearing things I don't like now could save my ass later. |
|
|
| What the hell |
[Aug. 13th, 2006|11:48 am] |
|
Someone broke into my car...again. |
|
|
| artsies |
[Apr. 17th, 2006|12:51 am] |
Man, some of the stuff here is so good I can't stand it. My art is shit. I think the only thing I might do well is script, and even that takes a lot of peer input.
http://www.deviantart.com/view/31607895/
(www.deviantart.com)
So next week, Gerry's gonna gimme a coloring lesson in openCanvas. Let's see if I can't learn something! |
|
|
| It's always the elongated ones |
[Feb. 25th, 2006|12:41 pm] |
|
What the heck is wrong with cucumbers? I mean, I buy one, it's barely in my custody for a few days when the thing starts growing stuff. It's not even worth buying! Don't they sell...like...quarter-cucumbers or something? |
|
|
| How to teach a parrot |
[Dec. 23rd, 2005|10:12 am] |
Truncated excerpt from Dr Temple Grandin's Animals In Translation: Using the Mysteries of Autism To Decode Animal Behavior, 2005:
"All of the parrot studies up to then had used a classical operant conditioning format. Operant conditioning, also called... stimulus-response teaching, is when an animal learns to do something in order to get what he wants... That's classic behaviorism.
"The problem was, no bird ever learned [to peck a blue square for a treat]. They didn't learn anything, really.
"Dr Pepperberg decided to give up on operant conditioning and try a different branch of behaviorism called social modeling theory... For years behaviorists had assumed that animals and people learn everything they know through either operant or classical conditioning.
...
"But Dr Bandura pointed out that the stimulus-response learning animals did in labs was just learning by trial and error. The animal does more of whatever behaviors he gets rewarded for doing, and less of whatever behaviors he's been punished or negatively reinforced for doing.
"That sounds like a logical way to learn until you think what it would mean in the wild... If the only way a baby antelope could learn to run away from a lion was by finding out what happens if you don't run away from a lion, there wouldn't be any baby antelope left.
...
"[Dr Bandura] thought that a baby antelope would learn to run away from lions by watching other antelope run away from lions and doing the same thing.
...
"[Dr Pepperburg] set up a social modeling situation for [Alex, the grey parrot]. Instead of teaching Alex one-on-one she taught him two-on-one, two people to one bird. And instead of teaching Alex directly, she taught the other person, while Alex sat on his perch and watched. No one had ever done that before.
...
"...if Dr Pepperberg wanted Alex to learn the color blue, she took a nice, crunchy piece of bark and painted it blue. Then she'd... ask the assistant, 'What color?'
"If the assistant got the answer right, he got to play with the bark... All Alex got to do was watch.
...
"Using modeling theory was the breakthrough. Alex learned so much that he started asking questions on his own! One day he looked at his reflection in the mirror and asked Dr Pepperberg, 'What color?' " |
|
|
| (no subject) |
[Dec. 3rd, 2005|05:56 am] |
|
A little reminder, friends: if one day you're cooking and your grease catches fire, no water nor flour! Smother with a lid, towel, or baking soda! |
|
|
| All the things I wish I could be: |
[Nov. 6th, 2005|11:18 pm] |
1) Comic writer/artist
2) Rock star
3) Hero
4) Whistleblower
5) Nobel prize winner
6) Music critic
7) Writer
8) School teacher
9) College professor
10) Charming
11) Fencing coach
12) Video game designer
13) Polyglot
14) Dictator
What's on your list? |
|
|
| Goodbye |
[Oct. 16th, 2005|08:49 pm] |
When I was in elementary school, there was this older guy named Sonny Ngo who tutored me. He was a good guy, taking time from his own schoolwork to help me and my brother learn the basics. He and his parents and three sisters lived down the street, and his family and my family were good friends.
Sonny had no problem calling himself "white-washed." He had a white girlfriend named Jan, whom he taught to speak all the necessary platitudes of polite Vietnamese conversation. Though born in Vietnam, he didn't speak much of his native language himself. In his college years he unleashed his hair, letting it grow long and straight. Combined with his tanned skin, he probably would've looked comfortable on a horse, wearing feathers and wielding a bow and arrow. He enjoyed surfing and biking and various other "outdoors" sports. He tried out for MTV's The Real World but got cut in the final round of auditions. Later, he started talking about enrolling in firefighter academy, and that's where he ended up, and he was a firefighter ever since.
What was in Sonny's mind before he did the deed? I don't know. I don't know if I want to. The only thing I do know is how he did it, and I regret even that smidgen of knowledge.
I am sad and I am angry. But here is the AIM message that comforts me, from my young cousin Kaitlyn, 11: "well, just be safe okay? nothing is impossible to solve. *puts on mask* *in darth vader voice* the force is strong"
Such uplifting advice from the most infamous Sith Lord of all time? Ah, if only Sonny had heard it first. |
|
|
| Final Fantasy: Advent Children |
[Sep. 23rd, 2005|11:18 pm] |
I thought it was pretty boring, and a little cheap the way they used music from the game. They also chose bad places to put music.
As expected, it was pretentious and melodramatic, but I guess that's a given considering that the characters are trying to save the world.
There's a lot of stuff that I just don't get. I'm never going to understand how they figured it was okay for Cloud to fight by himself.
I didn't like the character designs. Pretty much all the men look like Japanese rock stars. That's just...odd.
I hate mind-controlled freaky little children.
---
The one good thing in this movie: at the very end, Tifa gives this facial expression while she's looking at Cloud. What she's saying is "we are so totally having sex later."
Cang has spoken. |
|
|
| Avast! |
[Sep. 19th, 2005|09:41 pm] |
How
Did I
Forget about
Talk Like A Pirate Day!?!?! |
|
|
| FFAC |
[Sep. 15th, 2005|08:17 am] |
|
I expect Final Fantasy: Advent Children to be pretentious and melodramatic. Let's watch and find out. |
|
|
| chicken stew |
[Sep. 5th, 2005|06:49 pm] |
I made chicken stew today with jalapeno peppers (14.5oz can of diced tomatoes with japaleno peppers). Man, that first taste was POWERFUL. I got accustomed to it kinda quickly, though.
Next time, I want it stewier and spicier, both problems of which can be solved by the addition of more diced tomatoes and JALAPENO PEPPERS. |
|
|
| [New Orleans' Charity Hospital halts efforts to evacuate patients after coming under SNIPER fire] |
[Sep. 1st, 2005|12:22 pm] |
http://www.cnn.com/2005/WEATHER/09/01/katrina.impact/index.html
When I first read this headline, I thought to myself, This can't be real! People attacking hospitals with sniper rifles?? It conjured up images of a true chaos, in which every man was out for himself. I pictured militias and paramilitary soldiers wreaking havoc on the city. But then I read a little more carefully:
"New Orleans' Charity Hospital halted efforts to evacuate its patients after it came under sniper fire, according to Dr. Tyler Curiel, who witnessed the incidents."
" 'We were coming in from a parking deck at Tulane Medical Center, and a guy in a white shirt started firing at us,' Curiel said. 'The National Guard (troops), wearing flak jackets, tried to get a bead on this guy.' "
" 'We got back to Charity Hospital with with food from Tulane and we said, 'OK the snipers are behind us, let's move on,'' " Curiel said.
This was the viewpoint of a man (a doctor) who may not have really known what he was talking about. He describes the shooter as "a guy in a white shirt who started firing at us." Doesn't sound like a sniper to me.
The issue here isn't Dr Curiel's possible mischaracterization of the situation, it's the article's reliance of a source that may not be well-informed-- whether purposely or not-- which makes the information deceptive. The fact that "sniper fire" is part of the headline indicates a degree of sensationalism. This is irresponsible. My bet is that the situation is not as severe as the article insinuates (but clearly the situation is severe by any other standard). |
|
|
| Status report: |
[Aug. 17th, 2005|08:59 pm] |
|
I just remembered that I have rat urine on my pants. |
|
|
| Natalee Holloway |
[Jul. 28th, 2005|06:41 pm] |
|
Why does America care about Natalee Holloway? Is it because she's young? Beautiful? Affluent? White? All four? What is it? |
|
|
| Batman Begins, directed |
[Jun. 26th, 2005|12:47 am] |
Batman Begins-- directed and written by Christopher Nolan and written by David S Goyer-- wasn't too bad, but like anything I watch, there's the good, the "eh," and the ugly.
THE GOOD
Casting: Christian Bale (Batman), Gary Oldman (Jim Gordon), Michael Caine (Alfred), Cillian Murphy (Dr Crane), Morgan Freeman (Lucius Fox), and Liam Neeson (Ducard) were all excellently cast. There was nothing wrong with Ken Watanabe's (Ra's Al Ghul) or Tom Wilkinson's (Carmine Falcone) performance, but they didn't do a lot in the movie. As for Katie Holmes, well...I don't like her cast in any movies, honestly, though her acting in this film didn't have any particular flaws.
Reimagination of Batman: I really like the direction that David S Goyer took the story. For the first time, I really feel like Batman is Batman. In the past, I would've said that Bruce Wayne is Bruce Wayne, and he masquerades as Batman. Now, after seeing this film, I have to say that Batman is Batman, who masquerades as Bruce Wayne.
Goyer did something amazing: he rationalized everything in Batman's universe. Batman-- when you get to the very heart of the idea-- is pretty ridiculous, but now he makes a lot of sense. Goyer brought Batman down into reality by showing us how he and all his equipment came to be. He even explains briefly how the other evil bad guys of the Batman world came to be.
Music: Good music.
THE "EH"
Action: The action wasn't particularly fantastic throughout the film, partly because Batman fights in the shadows most of the time. I did like what I saw of Bruce Wayne when he was with the League of Shadows, however. In particular, his fight against Ducard on the ice was cool, and his "camoflauge fight" amongst the ninjas-- also against Ducard-- was cool too.
( The conflict: )
THE UGLY
Editing: I didn't like it; at least for a lot of the first half. Things were happening too quickly; Nolan was trying to cram too much in too little time; I felt like I was watching an hour-long trailer or montage.
OVERALL
Not too shabby. I liked it! |
|
|
| Blackjack +2 |
[Jun. 24th, 2005|04:38 am] |
|
I've missed it by a few hours, but it's because I went to sleep at 9pm. |
|
|
| navigation |
| [ |
viewing |
| |
most recent entries |
] |
| [ |
go |
| |
earlier |
] |
| |
|
|
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
tacoshel's journal