少数几位光临此blog的看客，大概也看得出来我最近又忙了起来。的确，又上了个新项目。
于是，安静了许多。
不过，倒是可以借题发个感慨，今天因为什么事情，偶然想起了过往生活的一个片段。其实那也不过是大半年前的事情，现在却觉得距离好远。那个片段我不会描述了，当时我很开心。如今想到了也不会有太大的触动。
竟然有些欣慰。 发现自己是个很容易满足的人，大多数时候对生活的要求不高，一些简单的事情就会很开心；另一方面，情绪是颇可以大起大落的，不过倒也容易忘却。总之，因此很容易快乐。这样也好吧。
As some of you may know, I bought an Ipod Touch this month. Haven’t fooled around with it so far… But I was tempted to. So today I hacked it, thanks to this clear guide on CrunchGear.
I didn’t have to downgrade it, since mine hasn’t upgraded yet… So I didn’t have to erase all the songs and videos I already have on there. Good.
Speaking of which, this baby really does suck up time… Compressing videos for it etc. Now hacked and can install 3rd party software? Hmm… I guess I just want constant wi-fi access anywhere from now on.
P.S. As a backup, some links which I found useful:
http://forums.ilounge.com/showthread.php?t=211806 (How to install native iPhone apps on iPod Touch)
I’ve also been playing some video games recently, namely Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare and Crysis, both highly hyped First-Person-Shooters. My verdict: the hype is well deserved.
I still remember playing the original Call of Duty back in college. Probably was my freshman year? Suffice to say, that was one of the games that dragged my GPA down. The most impressive part about Call of Duty is the hyper-realistic sense of warfare: whether it was D-Day on Normandy, or defending Stalingrad, you felt you were there. Bombs, shells, mortars, rockets, small arms fire — the battleground was desperately chaotic and Call of Duty made sure you experienced it. Most vividly, I remember getting shell-shocked (when shells explode too close to you): there was the few seconds when all you could see was a blur, and you lost hearing — and then everything came back. There was also the excitement when you, as the infantry, played cat and mouse with tanks (and trying to blow them up with explosives); and vice versa, when you were in the tank, trying frantically to survive street warfare.
In Call of Duty 4, the setting is no longer World War II (too many WWII shooters to count…). Instead the scenario is a fictitious anti-terrorist campaign set in the present day (which of course involves stopping nuclear bombs and fighting Arabs…). The plot isn’t that interesting, but the fighting sure is. Everything good about the original is retained, and then magnified. Close quarters combat is even more frantic. You need to Dodge grenades (you could choose to throw them back, if you had time), RPGs, and of course lots of bullets flying every which way. Some single-player levels are impressively memorable, most notably one level in which you need to use stealth to infiltrate an enemy position and snipe out the bad guy. Suffice to say, one of the best sniper levels I’ve played in a long time.
Call of Duty has always emphasized realism, and that’s what it does best. Crysis, on the other hand, is a whole different breed. This sci-fi shooter places you as a US Special Forces elite, and you are basically a one-man army. Luckily for you, you’re wearing a special nano-suit which is a sort of advanced combat gear — it can offer you four different modes, from the primary defense mode (armor) to speed to strength (allowing you to jump ridiculously high), and finally cloaking (full invisibility). So you get to play Predator on your enemies. Which is indeed lucky for you, because right from the first skirmish, you quickly realize that killing them is HARD.
The plot of Crysis is pretty straightforward: you’re assigned to infiltrate an island held by Koreans (North Koreans, of course) and rescue a group of scientists at a dig site with a major discovery. Unfortunately, you soon find out that their major discovery is bad news: it’s actually an alien base, ready for invasion. So what’s a man gotta do? Kick ass of course…
The great thing about Crysis, besides the beautiful graphics (which I can’t fully witness due to my laptop’s hardware) and your nano-suit, is the freedom it offers. Maps are huge (in fact, you could spend so much time just wandering about), and with your different skills, you could tackle the objectives in very different manners. For example, you’re about to infiltrate an enemy base at the foot of a mountain. You could decide to sneak up using cloaking, and just enter through the front gate. Or you could use your jumping skills and try to get on top of the mountain and sneak through the back.
Besides that, the action is intense. The AI is well designed, and enemies will act very tactically, emerging in groups and often trying to flank you. And it’s pretty hard just nailing one bad guy: everyone is wearing armor and can take in a lot of body shots (aiming for the head is a better option, but you often knock out their helmets first). And then there’s the aliens — they are sure hard to kill…
So, that’s about it for those two games, which basically took up a few days of my time… I suggest checking them out, if not just for the sake of witnessing what modern video games have evolved into. Seriously, I need to get my hands on some good hardware.
其实读完《圈子圈套3》已经有几天了，一直没有写感想，主要是感想颇让人压抑。
作者是一个经历丰富的人，但也是个（或至少曾是个）身陷圈子中的人。系列的每一部，读到最后，虽然主人公的事业看起来柳暗花明，但总有让人觉得无奈的地方。3的结局更是如此，转了一大圈，经历了那么多圈套，主角竟又回到了起点——虽则物是人非，但圈子却还是那个圈子。
读这套书的收获自然是有的。作者对商场的描绘的确可谓职场教材，但也让我无奈——我其实也是在这个圈子中混，我是否真想要这样的生活呢？因为这意味着我需要成为书中那样的人。就譬如小薛这个角色，显然在他身上不仅仅是主人公洪钧看到了当年的自己，作者本人也是如此。
遂想起3中洪钧对小薛的变化的感受：成熟就是快乐越来越少的过程。
最近因为折腾Google Reader的缘故（大家可以看到右边我google reader订阅的blog吧。。。），开始收藏朋友、同学的blog。现在这个清单当然远未穷尽，只是看到的一些故人的blog好像很久没有更新的样子，抑或是在spaces上设了比较私密的权限，因此没有或者无法订阅。
每一个链接的由来，大概都有个故事，就是我与这个链接主人的故事。有的是小学、中学同学，有的是大学同学，有的是社团活动认识的学姐、学妹（还果真都是女生。。。），也有的是朋友的朋友，至今只是神交。故事是怎样的并不重要，可以非常繁复，乃至惊天地泣鬼神，也可以非常简单。重要的是这些链接，及其背后的文字、影像，因为各种理由成为了我日常生活中的一部分。
实话实说，我无论做人还是读、写blog，都是非常以自我为中心的。以前自很少到友人的地盘上转悠，发言就更不必说了，只是在水木的那一段日子曾经痴迷于blog的社交性。如今开始使用各种订阅服务，不需要费什么力气就可以看到他人blog的近况，倒还好了一些，开始跟踪他人的生活。
于是会说，blog是一面镜子。有一千个人，就有一千个blog，每个都不同。无论是从网站的选择、页面的组织，还是具体的文书，乃至更新的频度，都透着每个人的才华与个性。
其实写到这里，按理说行文才刚开始，后面可以讲很多例子，但是意思已经出来了，而我也累了。作罢。
I’ve been doing some catching up regarding Heroes, the new (or quite new) sci-fi series from NBC. I’ve just finished Season 1, and now I’m on Season 2. Only a few episodes left before I’m up to date.
The whole Heroes universe is basically a mash-up (to use this popular word) of some very classic ideas. In essence, Heroes could be described as X-Men meets The X-Files meets Japanese Manga. There are people among us, “ordinary people”, who have extraordinary abilities — flying, healing, fire, ice, telekinesis etc. These people find themselves in a great struggle for survival, as there are darker forces trying to manipulate their lives and also the course of history. The conspiracy string in the story decidedly feels like The X-Files, whereas the general plot to stop a great catastrophe (only through the co-operation of a group of heroes) is undoubtedly X-Men-ish.
Each of the talented individuals has his/her own story, and there are a million connections between seemingly unrelated characters. The charm of the series is not in its coolness — indeed, Heroes boosts some fancy visuals and cool stunts — but rather in the humanitarianism that it features. Ethereal themes such as the struggle against conformity (being who you really are), the strive for excellence and unconditional love are explored, and though they may appear cheesy or clichéd to some, I found the presentation to be on the whole sincere and heartfelt — Heroes is unquestionably romantic, right from its opening scene where Peter stands on the rooftop, about to explore his true inner-self.
这其实已经是炒老菜了，不过最近因为闲来无事，又上了几次校内网，所以可以趁兴评点一番。
大家都知道校内网是抄袭facebook，这点我就不想说什么了（即便校内的创始人还是清华电子的师兄。。。）。证据相当确凿吧，大家两个网站如果都上过的话对此应该是毫无疑议的——相同的界面、相同的色系和设计风格，甚至连没有贴照片的网友的显示都是一样的（那个蓝色的问号）。当然更核心的是背后的想法。
总的说来，校内是落后了两三年的facebook。facebook动作很大，现在已经早不是一个针对大学生的社区了，概念上也已经上升到了“互联网操作系统”阶段，这从今年的f8平台，以及随后涌现的大量的facebook apps可见一斑；当然，还有近日关于其广告平台的一系列爆炸性新闻。今年facebook颇有些出人意料地成为了互联网最热门的话题，就是在于它突破了其自身起始的概念。
反观校内网，还处于比较起始的阶段，还在立足于大学生人群。功能上，当然也不可能和强大的facebook apps相比。基本上，还是一个中规中矩的社区网站。当然，可以说它在中国学生中是很有影响力的——简单对比一下我的同学里，有多少用facebook，有多少用校内就可以看到。因此其优势在于其语言与本土化群体。不过，这大概是优势也是劣势，倘若校内网继续沿着facebook的路子抄袭下去，对外开放其开发平台，会有多少人为其开发apps呢？进而，它有可能成为一个广告平台么？
当然，校内并不必非要一炒到底，而facebook的路子能否成功现在也仍是未知数（其广告平台正在引来猛烈的关于用户隐私的争议）。只不过，在概念的创新上，我们的确很匮乏。做网站，技术本身大概不是障碍，障碍在于我们如何应用技术去创新。
昨天晚上，应栋栋之邀在清华做了个小讲座，基本上是给了自己一个臭屁的机会。
讲座之后，与大郎、政委、栋栋、鹏鹏、超哥、肖院长和张妍到北门外的翅香园小聚。号称这里是电子系前辈开的，若前辈在的话，虽不能免单，但送一个菜总是可以的。
一行人入座，方才意识到，我们怎么又把可爱的阿诺·施瓦琛哥忘记了。或许忘记了倒是好事，于他的身体健康而言。然而我们自是不会顾忌这个的，遂打电话。琛哥果然豪爽，一句“喂，你们给我留点啊”就杀了过来。
大家的话题，起初是聊各自的导师、实验室里的事情，我颇有些插不上话的感觉。他们提的人我大抵也不认识，有些无味。后来开始聊大学的生活，聊班里的事情，八卦没来的人（譬如毕达哥拉斯同学）、当年系里的女生啊什么的，内容便精彩了许多。当年许多压箱底的劲爆段子于是被捧了出来，作为在座唯一的女生，张妍同学我想是大开眼界了。琛哥总想模仿几段小涛子的名言，然而毕竟模仿不来，只能意犹未尽地说，“唉崔涛的口气很难模仿啊”。
说到当年系里的女生，其实是个很爆笑的话题。虽然于这些当事人有点不敬。不经意间，还被提醒起了几个我当年有些好感的女生。前些天给Terry叙述我波澜壮阔的爱情史时，竟然把这几个女生忘记了。。。毕竟只是有过一些好感而已，是一些空虚时期的情感寄托。不过，其中有一个，我当年确是准备想要约会的，情书都写了一封。只是没有送出去。嗯，倘若我回去翻大学的东西，那个信封大概还找得到的吧——是否已经有些发黄了？
从十点开始聊，一直料到一点多。都有些疲倦了，却仍未尽兴。于是相约，以后要多多一起打球等等。
这三个多小时里，仿佛时光倒流，回到了大学。 然而毕竟时光是不会倒流的——与那时相比，年长了一岁多，工作了一年多，期间又发生了这许多事情——面对这些得失、那些无奈，自己的心态与看法都发生了很多变化。不胜唏嘘。
给电影人的情书
歌手：蔡琴
作词:罗启锐 作曲:李宗盛
大型多媒体音乐剧电影之歌主题歌
多少人爱你遗留银幕的风采
多少人爱你遗世独立的姿态
你永远的童真赤子的心态
孤芳自赏的无奈
谁明白你细心隐藏的悲哀
谁了解你褪色脸上的缅怀
你天衣无缝的潇洒心底的害怕
慢慢渗出了苍白
你苦苦地追求永恒
生活却颠簸无常遗憾
你傻傻地追求完美
却一直给误会给伤害给放弃给责备
何悲何爱何必去愁与苦
何必笑骂恨与爱
人间不过是你寄身之处
银河里才是你灵魂的徜徉地
人间不过是你无形的梦
偶然留下的梦尘世梦
以身外身做梦银亮色的梦
以身外身做梦中梦
I had this really long chat with Janet on MSN yesterday. She’s such a great friend, knows all my thoughts, so I asked her, what do you think is the perfect type of girl for me?
Good Janet had a lovely response, as usual:
she has to be smart
you have to respect her, so you have to admire her
she can’t be too submissive, she has to intrigue you and keep you on your toes
not too overpowering in personality because you still have to feel like a man
must be playful, fun, but have a serious side
have that feminine quality so you feel confident bringing her home to meet the parents
must be affectionate, romantic, and cherishes you
and must like jewelry apparently
Hmm… You could argue that those are general qualities that any guy would like, but I would say it still contains some valuable data on my own personality. That’s why I’m writing it down here to remind myself.
P.S. If you know a girl that fits the above description, mind sending me an email?…
P.S.2, following are Janet’s original words of wisdom on me…
Smart but naive
Arrogant but sincere
Confident but insecure
Shy… until you open up… and then still quite shy…
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