I think this season will be the last season I watch 'Heroes'. For those who don't watch, Sylar has recently acquired the power to shape shift. Now what do you suppose the writers for the show went and did? They decided to have Sylar have an identity crisis (cliched) and shift between himself and his 'mother' carrying on a two-sided continuous conversation. That's right they co-opted the premise of 'Psycho'.
Listen up Tim, it was hacky when you turned Suresh into 'The Fly' and it's still hacky having Sylar become Norman Bates. It's not "paying homage" when it is the crux of your whole plot; it's fucking plagiarism you talentless chiseler.
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Friday, December 19, 2008
Quote of the Year
"The plural of ancedote is not data."
- Taken from Trick or Treatment: The Undeniable Facts about Alternative Medicine by Simon Singh and Edzard Ernst.
- Taken from Trick or Treatment: The Undeniable Facts about Alternative Medicine by Simon Singh and Edzard Ernst.
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Dear Muscians and Singers Everywhere
Please stop writing songs about how awesome music is.
We get it; you're muscians, and you're pro-music.
We get it; you're muscians, and you're pro-music.
Thursday, November 13, 2008
TKD Wipeout
I've just started getting back into martial arts training. I've decided to expand my MA cultural horizons past the Bujinkan and am currently delving into TKD. I started on Tuesday at the Boilermaker TKD club. The atmosphere there was really great. People there were happy to accommodate a complete stranger (okay I did email ahead and ask to check out the club), and were enthusiastic about their training. It was a great first experience overall.
Despite it being my first day, and having near zero TKD experience, I ended participating in all of the reindeer games including the final exercise, flying jump kicks. Yes, We actually did flying jump kicks my first day in class. I performed okay. The flying jump kick is not terribly difficult if you understand how a sidekick works and how to jump. This is where I get an incredibly bad idea.
The point of a flying jump kick is to knock a rider off a horse. That's what it's for, but during practice we are kicking waist high into a pad. This is obviously not rider level even if they are mounted on a pony. I, in a moment of shear brilliance, decided to try for a lot of height on my next kick. So, I set when I jump, which is when you use your arms to add height. I jumped high enough that my kick clipped the very top of the pad, and spilled over. Of course, once my foot cleared the top of the pad there was no way I was going to get it back. The wipe out was pretty spectacular. I fell probably 4 feet in an awkward, sloppy breakfall onto a lovely hardwood floor. The rest of the club was momentarily concerned, but once they saw that I was okay they immediately broke into the "waiter dropping a rack of dishes" clap. It was like a mini rite of passage into the club, my first epic wipe out.
As a side note, the international organization for TKD is WTF, which is just hilarious.
Despite it being my first day, and having near zero TKD experience, I ended participating in all of the reindeer games including the final exercise, flying jump kicks. Yes, We actually did flying jump kicks my first day in class. I performed okay. The flying jump kick is not terribly difficult if you understand how a sidekick works and how to jump. This is where I get an incredibly bad idea.
The point of a flying jump kick is to knock a rider off a horse. That's what it's for, but during practice we are kicking waist high into a pad. This is obviously not rider level even if they are mounted on a pony. I, in a moment of shear brilliance, decided to try for a lot of height on my next kick. So, I set when I jump, which is when you use your arms to add height. I jumped high enough that my kick clipped the very top of the pad, and spilled over. Of course, once my foot cleared the top of the pad there was no way I was going to get it back. The wipe out was pretty spectacular. I fell probably 4 feet in an awkward, sloppy breakfall onto a lovely hardwood floor. The rest of the club was momentarily concerned, but once they saw that I was okay they immediately broke into the "waiter dropping a rack of dishes" clap. It was like a mini rite of passage into the club, my first epic wipe out.
As a side note, the international organization for TKD is WTF, which is just hilarious.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Japanese (wa) superior language (desu) (ka)
*caveat: I am a japanese student, not an expert*
Well no, not exactly. I feel that one particular grammatical struture is less prone to the equivocation that occurs when sophists try to demonstrate that fictional constructs are existant, like god. The stucture is the first learned and arguably the simplest strucutre in japanese.
A (wa) B (desu) *note I am using the romanized japanese
This translates to "A is a B". So, Apple (wa) fruit (desu) is "apple is a fruit". Now this isn't strictly limited to inclusive categories, but some context comes into play. The reverse, (sono) Fruit (wa) apple (desu) would be "that fruit is an apple" rather than "fruit is an apple".
All of this is relatively straight forward, but what is intersting is that this structure cannot be used to indicate location. "the apple is in the fridge" does not use this structure. Instead, the verb arimasu is used for existance. Why is this relevent? In english we genearlly use "to be" as a verb for classification and for one of existance, while in japanese the concept of "belonging to a category" and "existing" are grammatically seperate. Thus, the translation for apple (wa) fruit (desu) might better be translated as "apples belongs to the category of fruit" or "apples are classified as fruit".
I find this distinction to be useful in expressing a phrase like "god is unknowable" would be less prone to equivocation in japnaese. Due to the dual use of "to be", the english sentance leaves open the interpreation that "god exists as unknowable" rather than the interpreation "god belongs to the category of unknowable". The first interpreation suggests that god exists as a thing that is unknowable, while the second (hopefully) assigns the word to the category of unknowable.
Well no, not exactly. I feel that one particular grammatical struture is less prone to the equivocation that occurs when sophists try to demonstrate that fictional constructs are existant, like god. The stucture is the first learned and arguably the simplest strucutre in japanese.
A (wa) B (desu) *note I am using the romanized japanese
This translates to "A is a B". So, Apple (wa) fruit (desu) is "apple is a fruit". Now this isn't strictly limited to inclusive categories, but some context comes into play. The reverse, (sono) Fruit (wa) apple (desu) would be "that fruit is an apple" rather than "fruit is an apple".
All of this is relatively straight forward, but what is intersting is that this structure cannot be used to indicate location. "the apple is in the fridge" does not use this structure. Instead, the verb arimasu is used for existance. Why is this relevent? In english we genearlly use "to be" as a verb for classification and for one of existance, while in japanese the concept of "belonging to a category" and "existing" are grammatically seperate. Thus, the translation for apple (wa) fruit (desu) might better be translated as "apples belongs to the category of fruit" or "apples are classified as fruit".
I find this distinction to be useful in expressing a phrase like "god is unknowable" would be less prone to equivocation in japnaese. Due to the dual use of "to be", the english sentance leaves open the interpreation that "god exists as unknowable" rather than the interpreation "god belongs to the category of unknowable". The first interpreation suggests that god exists as a thing that is unknowable, while the second (hopefully) assigns the word to the category of unknowable.
Friday, November 7, 2008
Screw you; I’m going to blog about WoW
So, I’m pretty sure that blizzard has decided write off low-level content. WOTLK has a new class that starts at level 55, and the talent trees have become so overpowered that low level instances have become a joke.
For example: last week I was run through Gnomer by a high-level friend, and I got the grimy ring quest drop, which starts a quest at level 28 and requires the use of the Sparklematic 5000 in the clean room of Gnomer. Unfortunately, I was only level 27 at the time, so I resigned myself to soliciting another Gnomer run in the future. Well, 4 levels (2 days I think) later I say ‘screw it’ and figure I can probably solo it to the clean room; I may die numerous times, but my chances are good. I trotted over to Gnomer and prepared for a good solid hour of running back to the instance.
The results were ridiculous. I had no issue running to the clean room. The mobs dropped like flies; hell, I was chain pulling most of the time. I died one time, when my pet was tanking three mobs, and my computer lagged due to my graphics being turned up to high (my computer sucks). Seriously, blizzard just doesn’t give a shit how changes in the talents and skills affect low-level content.
For example: last week I was run through Gnomer by a high-level friend, and I got the grimy ring quest drop, which starts a quest at level 28 and requires the use of the Sparklematic 5000 in the clean room of Gnomer. Unfortunately, I was only level 27 at the time, so I resigned myself to soliciting another Gnomer run in the future. Well, 4 levels (2 days I think) later I say ‘screw it’ and figure I can probably solo it to the clean room; I may die numerous times, but my chances are good. I trotted over to Gnomer and prepared for a good solid hour of running back to the instance.
The results were ridiculous. I had no issue running to the clean room. The mobs dropped like flies; hell, I was chain pulling most of the time. I died one time, when my pet was tanking three mobs, and my computer lagged due to my graphics being turned up to high (my computer sucks). Seriously, blizzard just doesn’t give a shit how changes in the talents and skills affect low-level content.
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Hiro Nakamura is a Rube
Why does anyone like this guy? His inane aspirations to be a questing comic book hero have led him to be the most easily manipulated man in history. Seriously, Hiro will believe anything. If I ever met Hiro, this is how the conversation would go.
Me: Hiro! thank goodness you're here! The world is in great danger!
Hiro: Really?!
Me: Yes, you must save it!
Hiro: How do I do that?! I want to save za world!
Me: The only way it can be saved is if you bring me a cheese sandwich!
Hiro: Huh?!
Me: Trust me, it’s difficult to explain, and I know it makes no sense, but in order to save the world you must bring me a cheese sandwich, preferably one with bacon!
Hiro: OK! I will save za world! *Hiro runs off to fetch me a cheese sandwich with bacon*
Hiro is dumber than a dog that chases a ball you pretend to throw. He’ll do anything so long as you add “trust me, it will save the world”. He is the kid in school that fell for “if your hand is bigger than your face then you have cancer”, twice. He is the kid at scout camp that spent all week looking for a left-handed smoke shifter or a skyhook.
Ando probably killed him in the future because he kept bollocking everything up. On that note, writers, please give Ando lighting powers. That way, Ando can be the super hero and Hiro can be properly relegated to being the bungling side kick. His only job will be to chauffer Ando around so he can fry the shit out of people.
Me: Hiro! thank goodness you're here! The world is in great danger!
Hiro: Really?!
Me: Yes, you must save it!
Hiro: How do I do that?! I want to save za world!
Me: The only way it can be saved is if you bring me a cheese sandwich!
Hiro: Huh?!
Me: Trust me, it’s difficult to explain, and I know it makes no sense, but in order to save the world you must bring me a cheese sandwich, preferably one with bacon!
Hiro: OK! I will save za world! *Hiro runs off to fetch me a cheese sandwich with bacon*
Hiro is dumber than a dog that chases a ball you pretend to throw. He’ll do anything so long as you add “trust me, it will save the world”. He is the kid in school that fell for “if your hand is bigger than your face then you have cancer”, twice. He is the kid at scout camp that spent all week looking for a left-handed smoke shifter or a skyhook.
Ando probably killed him in the future because he kept bollocking everything up. On that note, writers, please give Ando lighting powers. That way, Ando can be the super hero and Hiro can be properly relegated to being the bungling side kick. His only job will be to chauffer Ando around so he can fry the shit out of people.
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