Post #262 Link Dump
At&T, Apple, Google all I want is my text messaging for free.
Smoking can be cool
Teamwork
Reading Rainbow theme song
Actually fairly impressive
I had a similar conversation once. Mine was shorter.
Al Franken is awesome
bullseye
Hail Vectron
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Peter:Rarely has a game been so much fun when you are actually not playing it. Sumo Tori is totally worth the download for the size, but be forewarned, you will most likely just sit and watch them stumble for hours.
Post #261 Sharing
Every single person that works in my company is supposed to have a degree of some sort from some institution of higher learning as a prerequisite to getting a position of employment here. That should indicate that the people I work with are the results of the respective culmination of their countries highest achievements in academic ability.
That is why on a regular basis at my office I am shocked and disturbed at the ineptitude of my co-workers when it comes to the most basic human interactions and common sense.
The concept that seems to be especially difficult is one that should be learned early in human development. Most of my co-workers do not seem to understand the concept of “sharing”.
There are two very separate instances where this has made itself apparent. The first is in a simple book sharing experiment that I began. Living in Japan, English books for pleasure are either expensive or hard to come by, often both. It makes sense, then to offer the books I have read to my immediate friends in the hopes that they would return the favor for me. With my trusted friends this system has performed admirably, so with the intent of expanding my marxist influence I began leaving books in a conspicuous place for any member of the staff to take.
This has resulted in every book I have placed there (well more than 50 at this point) being removed with nothing being left in its place.
The most memorable instance of this was with a new group of teachers who were in the process of training. I had, before my presentation, left 3 books in the box that was now delegated as the “share box” for books. At the end of our day I was sitting down to eat and watched as one member of the group walked over, picked up all three books and put them in his bag.
“You're taking all three books?”
“Yeah, I'll read them all.”
“But not all at the same time?”
With a tone of voice to suggest I was stupid. “No.”
“So why don't you take one book and leave the others for someone else?”
“Someone else will take the books and then I won't be able to get them.”
“But you're not leaving anything to replace the books you're taking?”
“No, I don't have any.”
“But its still okay to take them all.”
“Well...they're free.”
“Of course you'll bring them back later for other people.”
With a tone of voice to suggest I was stupid. “Of course.”
That was over a year ago, the employee has since quit and the books were never seen again.
The part that bothers me the most is the “Of course.” at the end. We all know this is the proper answer, the answer you are supposed to give, so it comes out so quickly as if it were so obvious but I know the books are never coming back because the kind of person who would return books wouldn't take everything available in the first place.
There is no way to prove this until after it happens, then these people so many excuses that its painful to listen to and there is the invariable “I was just about to...” return the books, pay for the good, perform CPR, whatever needed to be done that wasn't.
The part that bothers me is this is a full grown adult with a supposedly higher than average education. Yet I can see they don't get the problem, they don't understand why I am hassling them. So that system pretty much broke down. For me the end came when I placed my collection of Giant Robot magazines in the box, at least 30 issues, each imported at great cost, all of which were gone a few hours later with nothing left in their place. Obviously I didn't really expect to get the magazines back, but I know that 30 individuals didn't take the magazines, one person picked up the whole pile and walked off. What was most amusing was the fact that I actually got annoyed, despite basically knowing that this is exactly what was going to happen. I no longer share books in this way, I put things I consider garbage there and if I have anything good I ask my friends if they want it and if not it goes to the international center library.
My second example is a little more conceptual, but perhaps more telling. Everyone wants their movies and media for free. I understand that since I live in Japan as well and sometimes things just don't come here. Several times I have had people ask me if there was a way they could download a torrent and block the only other function of a torrent client, seeding to other people.
The conversation I had went something like this:
“Is there any way I can download from a torrent site and block the uploading?”
“Why would you want to do that?”
“Won't it make my connection faster so I can download faster?”
“Not really, but do you understand how filesharing works?”
“Yeah...” (This means 'no' but they aren't willing to admit it)
“If you don't share out it means other people can't get what you are downloading either, so it makes the whole system slower. Basically, if everyone did what you are talking about no one would get anything.”
“Yeah, I get that, but is there a way I can download a torrent but block the upload?”
“No, no you can't.”
So sharing is a concept that seems to have been somewhat lost over time and with each generation of people who joins my company I rarely see improvements in the attitude. Certainly I haven't been seen actual generations, but I have seen new university graduates pretty much every year and over the last decade my view is that this particular trait is on the way out for the moment. Or, I might be getting older and just see everyone with youth and vigor as being selfish.
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Michael V:Hey Peter, Of course, I would share my books. Yeah, of course.
Post #260 Super Powers
Last night Matt came over and I had a short discussion with him about super heroes. I had recently completed the Wolverine game and honestly learned a lot about the character. I didn't know the claws were actually bones which had then been covered in adamantium.
My question, then, was why weren't Wolverines teeth also covered in adamantium? Why doesn't he have a permanent grill? I know teeth aren't bones per se, but it would seem logical if the coating is going over all his bones it would include the teeth as well.
In my write up I posit some similar questions.
Then I started on my Theory of Supermans flight. Its gross, so people don't want to accept it, but I think its the kind of place only real logic would bring you to.
search tags: wolverine superman claws comic character teeth claws flight
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Post #259 Better searching
I noticed someone searching for American Ninja 4 and when I tested the results myself I got nothing. that is because the php search function is not particularily robust or easy to implement without a massive amount of code.
Rather than write that code (or copy it from somewhere else) I have decided to add simple search tags at the end of each post which should assist in yielding better results. There are currently 250+ entries, I probably won't do them all but it will still take some time.
Good hunting.
search tags: peter is lazy search code php
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Post #258 Introduction to Judo
My son is going to get his first does of Judo next Wednesday. He is too young to do it, but he is going to come and watch me fight. I am interested in what his reaction will be since the outcome of most Judo experiences is pretty violent. Either he is going to see me beat a guy or he is going to see me get beaten. There is the off chance that we fight to a draw, but the way I do things I tend to win big, or lose big,
Everyone in the Judo club is eager for him to get a little older and join up, just because he's my son, but they don't seem to understand that I don't want to push him into any sport. I do hope he is active, but I really want him to choose his own thing. I would be really excited if he did something completely different from Judo, like ballet.
People seem to think I am joking when I say this but I am really impressed by dancers and their physical ability, it would also be cool if he could get into a team sport, which my personality seems to be completely unsuited for.
Should I survive (they have made me team captain again, against my will) I will post an update next week.
search tags: judo sports son ballet
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Pat Frm The Past:My son's only 3. Too young for here in Canada as well. I do want to sign him up for Judo at 5 though. Just to give him the experience. And because he'll likely be small, and smart. Knowing how to not get your ass handed too you on the school yard might also be helpful. If he flames out or seems disinterested, well, we'll move onto other things. Like gymnastics, which he's already taken lessons for and loves; swimming, which is the same as gymnastics; hockey, which he is currently obsessed with; or dance, which he is currently infatuated with as well.
I hear you on the dance thing.
Update:Surprisingly successful at the Judo tournament. Our team was kind of designed to be weak. We used a lot of our younger inexperienced players to give them a chance to experience higher level of tournament so winning the first round was a good sign.
I won my first match with a hold down. It was funny because he was small and a good deal faster than me so I didn't want to make the fatal mistake of underestimating him. He was made the team captain for a reason. He went for tomoe nage, which never seems smart to me when my legs are a good deal longer than someone his. But, its a big showy throw and I think maybe thats how he wanted to win.
The real problem is that I am not a showy fighter at all. In fact, you could say I am brutishly dull. When he went for the throw I blocked it and we went back to our line. He then went for the same throw again, I think, expecting the worst case scenario of me blocking again. I didn't, it is a big mistake to do the same thing twice in a row in a high level match. This time he went for the tomoe nage and I slipped through his defenses easily knowing where his body was going to be. The look on his face was pretty priceless as he obviously hadn't accounted on me being able to do this so quickly or easily. The hold down was a lock and that was an easy win after that. I even mugged to the kids from my club on the sideline which is a little out of character for me (in Judo).
The second fight doesn't have much to describe. We went back and forth, very evenly matched, I got him to tumble about 20 seconds before time ran out so the ½ point was mine and so was the match.
Oh, and my son, he didn't seem to notice the actual Judo at all, but he did notice the mats and wanted to get his ass out there and play on them.
Post #257 Putting more here
The problem with writing for multiple blogs is that everything is pretty clearly delineated and so when I am writing I am often thinking about how to categorize what it is I am doing. Once things get a category they generally don't end up here. Obviously there is no need to re-post things I have made for other sites, but each week or so I think it might be easy for people if I collected the posts I made and put them here.
Then rated them for quality.
The new Halo ODST trailer got me almost as excited as the new Modern Warfare game coming out. I 1. want a movie and 2. am willing to buy the game on release instead of waiting for a price drop. Thats some good advertising. Even if you don't like games, you should watch the clips.
Awesome.
I had my feet eaten for HikanNinja and it turned out good.
Also some various blog posts about a New Japanese TV series, Doraemons Birthday The same as my sons and a Blessing I might need for my xbox.
search tags: games halo odst hikanninja xpatslive
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Post #256 Mask of the Ninja
Casper Van Dien was Johnny Rico in Starship Troopers. Sure the movie didn't call for a lot of acting skills but he was perfect. I thought with that movie under his belt he would become fairly popular. There has been a lack of action stars and he fit that role fairly well. He could obviously do military and all-American without really acting. The next movie I saw him in was Dracula 3000 where he plays Captain Van Helsing (which isn't really fair since it was actually made the year before Starship Troopers) but it had Coolio in it and for some reason I think Coolio is something of a curse if you work with him.
The next non-television film he was in was Starship Troopers 3, which was way better than Starship Troopers 2, so he at least dodged that bullet. (This is a relative comparison, Starship Troopers 3 is a questionable movie at best and I don't really recommend to anyone but the most hardcore of science fiction fans. They will enjoy Jolene Blalocks [vulcan chick in tight clothes from Star Trek Enterprise] lips throughout regardless of plot holes).
You may very well wonder why I am talking to such an extent about Science Fiction movies in a Ninjalicker Internet Movie Kung-Fu Internet Movie Database review. It's because those are more enjoyable films than the actual movie Mask of the Ninja which starred Casper Van Dien and I spent a majority of the film wondering what had happened to his career.
I thought he had a career playing space marine guy set up for him for years to come and certainly all American action hero guy in lame but fun action movies but he never took off. I wondered (perhaps hoped) that he was off trying something new. Something new not being the train wreck that is Mask of the Ninja.
Do you remember the ninja movies that were popular in the mid 80's? Movies like Enter the Ninja, Revenge of the Ninja and Ninja Ninja Ninja? The creators of Mask of the Ninja sure do and they spend a good portion of the movie re-creating the look, feel and atmosphere of those movies. If you went back and watched one of those movie now you would get the feeling that they don't really stand the test of time. The plots are confused or poor, The inclusion of westerners seems tacked on to make the movie accessible. The fact that an inordinate amount of ninja's re-located to Los Angeles rarely made sense unless you were on the production team and knew you couldn't afford to go out of state to film. Well, even knowing those problems the makers of Mask of the Ninja forged ahead and made a near scene for scene re-make of a standard ninja movie from 20 years ago.
Please play this on a loop in the background the rest of the time you are reading this review.
There were always a lot of things that bothered me about Ninja movies, once I was old enough to realize when things didn't make sense and Mask of the Ninja could be a summary of them. You could do this yourself and make it into some sort of party game, but make a short list of all the things you know to be true of the mythology of Ninja's.
They used stealth more than head on tactics.
They tried not to reveal their true identities should they be seen. That kind of went with the stealth thing.
Their allegiances were mainly political and mercantile.
They killed in as quick and efficient manner as possible.
They avoided direct conflict.
Now, using these basic rules (you can add your own if you want to include things like magic, but I think that depends on the construct of the movie) every time one is broken, you get your cocktail enema. You could try and make the argument that the world of the movie could include its own definition of a ninja but they will often give short contradictory definitions within the structure of the film.
They do this in Mask of the Ninja. They do everything in Mask of the Ninja, minus teaching white hero guy some secret move he later uses to dispatch evil ninja leader. They couldn't get to that because Casper spends a goodly amount of time on his back falling out of consciousness because he just got a beat down. This movie does have clans and a daughter who is supposed to be hot and a multitude of ninjas who do the one things that annoys me more than anything else in movies of the ninja flavor. They walk around in plain sight in ninja suits. They guard doors, they stand by things, they assault a police station and they do it all dressed as a cliché ninja.
Thing is, even I know those suits were mainly designed for hiding at night, so wearing them outside in the daytime is not going to help you hide. In fact, They are so conspicuous I think they might even draw attention as people start to wonder if a ninja cosplay convention is in town.
I can tell you this. The ninjas who felt like they had to wear their ninja suits at all times were the ones who died out first, not the ones who survived for the last 600 generations.
Pretty much every ninja in this movie probably would have died on their way to work.
Another problem with Mask of the Ninja, and I can only say this because I have been listening to Japanese for the last 8 years, if you are going to have a guy in your movie speak Japanese, get a native Japanese speaker or one real good language coach, because this guy sounds like me trying to say something for the first time.
If you are going to write a movie, when you write something that reads a nonsensical please go back and try again. In this clip I could make the argument that if what Casper is saying is true, it would have been more sensible to not make the chip in the first place.
search tags: movie mask of the ninja casper van dien review
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Post #255 Sport Shirt Round-up
I hadn't thought of doing this but when I think about it for a while I realized I do wear a lot of sports shirts and I do have fairly strong opinions on them and have ended up talking to people about these things so it made sense to summarize here:
Nike: I figured I would get the bad ones out of the way first. Nike sports shirts tend to be heavy duty, last forever and get itchy as hell. The collar is always the culprit for me, but after a while the whole shirt doesn't feel that good.
Adidas: These are my favorites, Adidas tends to do a lot of things right. If I could go back in time and buy the same shirts I had bought before I would buy dozens. They are light, the more you wash them the softer they get. The best shirts have the insignia stitched into the shirt in the same color. They did away with labels in the collar that always itch like hell. The more I wear these shirts the more I like them. I bought a new one recently and was a little dismayed that the material felt different, not a silky, but that might be because its new.
UnderArmour: These are the most popular shirts with the other guys in my Judo club in Japan. I got one because just feeling the material made me think of some of my oldest adidas shirts. I bought the XL size and these shirts are designed to be skin tight. I didn't realize at first or I wouldn't have bought it to be honest. I'm not body conscious but I wouldn't wear this as anything but an undershirt or while wearing something else. Either that or I have to get some pec implants.
Ignio: I think this is a really small Japanese company. I bought a hat from them and was really happy with the almost complete lack of logo. Their sport shirts are dirt cheap, so its hard to complain but they hit a really nice average for these sorts of things.
Champion: I love Champion sweaters and track suits. Its too bad their sports shirts are some of the hottest I have worn. If you are looking to sweat these do the job well but I am usually looking for something to keep me cooler and something I won't notice while I work out. I notice these all the time when I am wearing them.
I was going to post links to the company stores but they are all super flash heavy and my laptop doesn't like that so much. This post is filed under Judo becuase its the only reason I wear sports clothes.
search tags: sports shirts nike adidas champion review
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Pat frm the past:Hey, you're RSS feed is FUBAR. Just saying.
Peter:Can you be more descriptive, because I get it fine. What reader do you use and what is wrong with it? It would help a lot if I got details, I might be able to fix it. Thanks.
Pat from the Past:When I go to http://www.ninjalicker.com/NLrss.php in my browser (Firefox 3.5), I only get the last two article, and when I reload, they disapear and don't reapear until I restart the browser.
I'm using the live bookmark feature of Firefox to load the feed.
Pat from the Past:I think I figured out the issue. Desktop Customization / Skype & Google <-- this title. XML doesn't like special characters like ampersands, quotes, less than and greater than signs out in the open. It should be & (or & if the first attempt looks just like a normal ampersand)
Pat from the past:I think you wrote the back end for this site yourself right? Try running the titles through htmlentities();
Peter:Thanks for looking into that. I wrote everything (codewise) on the site myself and while I had your comment in the back of my head I have been too busy to actually sit down and try and figure it out. I tried to make the RSS feed create itself dynamically out of the database, which seemed easy enough until I tried it. Overall its been working but feedback like this will make sure it works for more people more often.
I grant you this pencil lead with +1 intelligence.
Post #254 Blood The Last Vampire Review
Just posted my review of Blood The Last Vampire over at HikanNinja. For fans of the Ninjalicker Internet Kung Fu Movie Database all anime and Japanese related movie reviews end up there.
search tags: movie review blood the last vampire
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Post #253 Desktop Customization, Skype and Google
I think I have made a bunch of posts on productivity, each touting my latest effort to improve my personal productivity. I have to admit, while these have generally resulted in spurts of effort none of them have been sustainable. Basically I think it all comes down to self-discipline. Although it is possible to maximize your own efforts.
Recently I did a little overhaul of my laptop since I have decided to use it more for typing (at times sitting in front of the 30 inch monitor makes it difficult to work on text) and I also removed it's ability to play flash animation. This means no youtube on this computer. While I can check my reader I cannot spend hours watching random videos from the internet. This has helped greatly with the realization I can just save these posts and then watch them at a later time when I have finished my work. I have noticed it is a lot easier to sustain an effort without this very time consuming distraction.
The other bit of customization went to both computers, customizing the desktop. I really don't want too much style but I do want one big ass clock displaying all the time. That and the date. I don't know why, but it helps me organize myself better when I can keep track of time.
Rainmeter and customize.org for the pc and conky for ubuntu and I had made the desktops I want making my work environment just a little more pleasant. Screenshots unavailable since for some reason my screenshot program doesn't do the embedded images. The cpu usage meter and whatnot just look cool.
I have also begun using skype and google talk since my wife is still in Canada. For international calls it makes sense but I have found I have a lot of im conversations that go on a lot longer than they should as opposed to actually just speaking to the person. Especially when talking to co-workers about work. I would prefer to only use google talk since it integrates my google chat as well, but it only is available for windows at the moment (although the page says you can use it directly from gmail, but I need a mac friend to try to to see how well it works). Most of my friends seem to be mac users, go figure. I am hoping google gets on a linux version so I only have to have one chat program open on a computer at any time.
search tags: computer skype google talk custom linux
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Peter:Here are the much desired pictures of my desktops. I know you don't really care, but shut up.
Peter:Literally two weeks after I dump Pidgin for google talk exclusively they add support for the service. Sometimes I wonder if the world really is paying attention to my blog.
Post #252 Link Dump
Design site
Alpha 9
Hot or frightening?
Hitler L4D2
don't look
SING
Lego Corvette
Enjoy the kill
Effort realized
Kung fu
Morality
AT AT for the kids
For Real psychic power
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Post #251 Why Buy Porn?
I've had basically the same conversation twice and I don't think I am satisfied with any of the answers I've received. Why do people still purchase pornography in a physical form, such as on dvd or in a magazine? How is it these outlets still exist. In fact, it seems that pornography on dvd (and now blu-ray) is something of a booming industry.
With the prevalence of the internet and it's massive store of available pornography I can't seem to wrap my head around the idea of someone putting their hard earned dollars down to purchase said item. Everything available in any magazine is available for you on the internet, and probably much more that you never wanted to see.
The same goes if you want a little motion, for the same price you could get a fast connection to the internet and be surfing girls pooping on turtles or whatever gets you off. If you're willing to pay for a site I would be willing to bet you get a whole more more. (I've only ever looked at free stuff) My wife said that maybe they like the tactile sensation or having their own store, but I am betting the magazine doesn't satisfy the tactile part and as far as a store, I have a 500 gig hard drive and a 250 gig external. I could store a lot of boobies on that.
I don't have the wherewithal to actually go out and find a dealer in pornographic materials to ask them their opinion, so I am left with speculation. I got nothing.
I would love to hear another theory.
search tags: porn dvd internet
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Post #250 AllegraMan
Can Aquaman get allergies?
Superman, of course not, Batman, well, he could build a filter into his mask, but Aquaman, he is spending a lot of time completely out of his environment. That should have some sort of effect on the sinuses.
People have tried to argue with me about how his whole internal system must be different (gills et al) but at the end of the day the guy comes onto land fairly regularly and breathes through a blowhole on the front of his face. Pretty much means he has a sinus cavity and mucous to protect it.
search tags: aquaman allergies batman superman
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Post #249 Trolling for a Troll
Recently to entertain myself I have been trying to get a troll over at HikanNinja to do an interview with me. The post was about a local guy who is pushing for celebrity status for himself. He promotes local festivals and whatnot and is pushing his own music career. Honestly it seems like mountain man is jealous of the mediocre celebrity this guy has managed to draw to himself, but the way he went about attacking him was so juvenile that I thought it would be a fun playdate.
You can see the entirety of his posts here.
So I tried directly looking at the quality of his comments and asking him to clarify each one. He barely could manage a coherent statement, then he challenged me and the subject of the initial interview to a two on one fight.
I pointed out that this was a one way trip to deportation in Japan, but since it was obviously never going to happen he was unfazed. What I really wanted was for my challenge to a sit down interview to embolden him to actually meet me.
I had two hopeful outcomes. 1) Get him to actually try and explain himself in a way that didn't include the word 'dick' and basically embarrass him when he was unable to do so since all I would have to do is stay calm and stay on topic or 2) get him to hit me and have one of my cohorts call the police. Getting a deportation on film would be really interesting.
There is actually a set of comments removed at the bottom since he wasn't going for the interview where he challenges myself, the interviewee and the interviewer to a 3 on 1 fight. We went and found his personal details and myspace page etc, he's a pretty big dude, which explains a lot of his bravado, but unless he is some kind of ninja there is no way he could take on three people at the same time and hope to win.
At that point I was tempted to arrange the fight and 1) get him to hit me and call the police or 2) arrange it at my judo club and make it fair. This was because I was feeling a lot of stress personally and wanted to take it out on someone, I quickly realized that as mouthy as this guy was on the internet, I doubt he would show up for an actual event. Certainly he could have attained his original goal of fighting me if he agreed to the interview because at least then we would be at the same place at the same time.
Since I deleted his last comment without a reaction I expect him to go away, but if he should come back we're going to take all the embarrassing stuff we found on him on the internet and do a profile.
search tags:internet troll hikanninja
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Post #248 MTV Cribs
I just watched my first episode of MTV cribs because of the jetlag I couldn't sleep and it was on at 5:30 in the morning.
I would really enjoy it if at the end of the episode someone asked "And how much money did you give to charity this year?"
search tags: tv mtv cribs charity
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Post #247 Re-Branding
The Pepsi re-branding was global news, although the actual bottle design is the same in Japan. I came to Canada few days ago and was really interested in seeing the actual results, although I have yet to actually drink one.
I was sort of interested in the reasoning behind the change because marketing is always talking about brand recognition.
A real surprise was the fact that all the newspapers and television channels have also gone through some re-branding. Hardly anything has the same name as when I left.
The major differences that I can see are that newspapers have changed fonts and that's it. I just watched a decade old episode of Seinfeld and Friends on a channel that was trying to convince me it was completely new.
search tags: tv re-branding pepsi newspaper
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Post #246 Robot Love
Peter Singer, the author of a new book on battlefield robotics, told LiveScience.com in May he had seen soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan grow so attached to their bomb-disposal robots that, in one case, the soldier risked 160 feet of enemy machine gun fire to retrieve his little buddy, and in another, a soldier brought his robot in for repairs with tears in his eyes over the "injury" to his beloved "Scooby-Doo." Several units, he said, had given their robots promotions, Purple Hearts, and even a military funeral. [LiveScience.com, 5-21-09]
search tags: love robot
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Post #245 Age
I have begun meeting, on a regular basis, people younger than my tattoo.
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Post #244 Dreams
I have had several dreams recently that I have actually remembered. This, in the last few years has been unusual for me.
The first, I have to pee, so I do, which is not unreasonable. The strange element is that I pee in the garbage can, or the sink, or pretty much any receptacle that is not a toilet. The toilet is available to me. I just don't use it.
I have looked online and found that this dream represents a sense that one has lost control of the events in their life, or that one is taking control of their life. Thanks internet.
The other dream I am wearing pants. These pants are too short and they are too tight in the butt. So either I push my pants down so they look long enough, or I pull them up and they squish my butt cheeks together. I have found no interpretation to this dream so I am opening the floor to all the amateur psycho analysts out there, what do you think these pants represent?
search tags: dreams
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Post #243 Gene Generation
I heard there was a movie with Bai Ling in it where she was an assassin in the future and she wears a lot of leather. Both of these statements are true, which meant that I was destined to watch this movie. I wasn't expecting much and I don't know if that qualifies as my expectations being fulfilled or not. I did get to see Bai Lings boobs (twice), which does sort of elevate the whole status of this whole project.
The question one must ask oneself when venturing into a film is this: “Are Bai Ling's boobs enough to carry a whole movie? Even if they are generally clad in leather and sprayed down?” Sadly, it depends more on the genre of the movie than the quality of visible boobage. Bai Ling manages to almost pull off her role. The supporting cast, on the other hand, was really not up to the task, which is surprising because some of them are recognizable actors who do well in the other roles they have appeared in.
There is the case of the little brother, who is supposed to be a rapscallion troublemaker who is always down on his luck and I think he's supposed to be comic relief we feel sympathy for. I cannot express how much I hated this character and for me one of the best scenes in the movie is when a guy puts a gun in his mouth causing him to throw up. The only way the scene would have been better is if he had pulled the trigger. This character also gets peed on, but that's just gross.
In total, this means that Bai Ling and her boobs are not enough to carry a whole film (at least in the cyber-futuristic-action genre). Nor can the writers of this film understand that despicable characters are not appealing. I think we all want to root for an underdog, but if the dog has the mange you just want to keep them away from you and as sad as it is to admit it, you are sort of relieved when they are dead.
Other than Bai Ling's boobs the big draw of the movie would be the futuristic landscape they produced, mainly with greenscreen and CG. The overcrowded city is walled in by a massive structure that I assume is supposed to keep the populace in.
The reasoning behind this is never really explained, which I am actually ok with since you can't make a whole new society and then explain every aspect in it while still carrying on a story.
The problem is the ending of the film is a big reveal about the cities of the world, which up to that point had just been a backdrop. There are some conversations by the bad guys about going to a different city where everything will be better, but that's as much significance as it's given.
Here's the big spoiler, if you haven't already figured it out. If you don't want to know skip this paragraph and jump to the end even though you should have figured out that a pretty cheap Sci Fi story that involves wanting to go somewhere else always has the same ending. All the cities are exactly the same. Shock and horror. They all seem to be on some burnt out planet. They also seem to have no way of sustaining themselves. None of this is explained in the film and to be honest, when it happens you may not have cared enough to notice.
I think Bai Ling could do a movie and be good if they made the character just a regular Chinese chick, in leather, then stuck her in a situation that required to act like a regular Chinese chick in unusual circumstances. Just don't spend too much time trying to get her to act.
The guy who plays the little brother...I hope he changes his hair.
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