The Flipped 5

橫跨美國之旅

2010-08-09T23:09:00.000-04:00

七月四日那個長周末，開車載著全部家當從 Seattle 開到北卡羅萊納州的 Raleigh。大致行程可參閱路線圖。

除了 Ohio 那站是順路拜訪高中同學外，其他的停留點都是住宿的地方。第一天因為不確定能開多遠，所以旅館是當晚臨時找的。後來里程比較能掌握時，就晚上用旅館的網路預訂之後幾天的房間。提早訂也比較便宜。建議儘量找 Comfort Inn、Best Western、或 Quality Inn 這類連鎖旅館比較安全無虞。

這次因為家當都在車上，沒辦法沿路一邊開一邊找景點玩，覺得有點可惜。不過 I-90 經過蒙大拿州沿途的美景已經夠值得了。I-90 一直通到明尼蘇達州後路線開始變得比較複雜。懶得事前研究好路線的我，就靠著 GPS 的指示。

經過 West Virginia 時，我的 GPS 決定帶我走狹窄的山路。雖然彎來彎去開得十分有趣，心裡卻一直擔心煞車會不會磨損過度、還有萬一在鮮有人跡的地方車子拋錨的話要怎麼辦。就這樣一邊很興奮一邊很緊張地折磨了好幾小時終於回到比較筆直的公路上。

七月六號中午順利到達新住處，滿足地完成了橫越美國之旅。

後註：不科學統計數字：在 Ohio 看到的公路巡警比所有其他州加起來的還多。在北卡看到的車禍比所有其他州加起來的還多。

Mom is a Google Fan

2006-10-09T22:05:00.000-04:00

Typical conversations between me and Mom go as follows (though the actual ones are in Chinese):

Mom: Could you check the price of 褪黑激素 [melatonin] in the U.S. for me?
Me: How do you say 褪黑激素 in English?
Mom: Google it.
...

Mom: Don't sit in front of the computer for too long, or you'll get 五十肩 [literal translation: "a 50-year-old's shoulder"].
Me: What's 五十肩?
Mom: Google it.
...

Mom: Have you eaten any mooncakes?
Me: What's a mooncake?
Mom: Google it.
...

(Okay, so I made the last one up. I know what a mooncake is.) Almost sound like conversations between a computer guru (Mom) and a noob (me), don't they? ;-)

Why We Shouldn't Get Angry About Spams

2006-08-17T20:10:00.000-04:00

Why we shouldn't get angry about spams (caution: the linked audio contains foul language):

Spams accelerate technology advancement
Spams inspire arts
Spams inspire serious arts
You cannot be eviler than evil itself
At least we know our e-mail client is still connected

No. Seriously, I hate spams.

Happy Father's Day

2006-08-08T03:00:00.000-04:00

It's Father's Day in Taiwan today. 爸，祝您父親節快樂！當天稍晚(Later that day...)

What the Little Pocket in the Pocket is For

2006-07-14T02:00:00.000-04:00

Without:

With:

(Inspired by DER's ms-paintings, and my worn-out pockets.)

Life is about Journey, Not Destination

2006-07-08T03:00:00.008-04:00

Have you seen Cars or Click lately? I think they are both trying to tell us the same thing: that life is about the journey, not the destination. As the character Morty says in Click when he warns the main character Michael about skipping his life to enjoy only the parts where he celebrates his achievements with a story about a man who's after what he thinks is treasure:

He's always chasing the pot of gold, but when he gets there, at the end of the day, it's just corn flakes.

(And this article, Would You Be Happier If You Were Richer? A Focusing Illusion, might explain why it's just corn flakes.)

The joy's in the process

When I was a child, I used to build scale model cars as one of my hobbies. Usually I bought one model kit during the Winter vacation after I got the red envelopes for the Chinese New Year. (The envelopes are similar to Christmas gifts which children get here in the U.S. and many other places in the world, but only they are in cash, yay!)

Building a model is quite an engrossing experience. I would wake up early and start building it, and kept doing it until very late in the night. It involved not only assembling but also painting different parts into various colors (and properly scheduling the process, or I'd literally have to watch the paint dry before I could pick them up and assemble them). This would last several days until the model was finally finished.

Even though it was satisfying to look at the finished model car, I always hoped that the building process could go on much longer.

Have I mentioned that the joy's in the process?

Recently I watched a video of a speech given by James Dyson, inventor and the founder of the Dyson Corporation. I saw a commercial of their vacuum on TV a while ago and was very impressed with its maneuverability. Unlike the vacuums I had used before, you could easily change the direction it's going by simply rotating your wrist while pushing it forward.

In the speech, he mentioned that he went through 5, 126 failures and almost 5 years to build a vacuum cleaner based on the same principles that a cyclone separator tower used. And I'd say this would be a enjoyable process only if one's genuinely interested in the process of searching for ways to make something really work, instead of merely setting out to have a product that makes a profit.

Failures teach us things, and learning is always a rewarding process.

Link to video of James Dyson's speech on the Art of Engineering at MIT World.
Link to the article Would You Be Happier If You Were Richer? A Focusing Illusion that appears in the June issue of the Science Magazine (subscription required, but there's also a free version here).

Android 207 Short Film

2006-06-22T21:30:00.000-04:00

This short film from Undergroundfilm.org is really awesome.

Synopsis on Undergroundfilm.org's website:

A short film about an android trapped inside of a large maze and has no idea how to find its way out. The maze is vast and filled with many surprises.

To be able to create a real robot like this is perhaps every A.I./machine-learning researcher's dream.

Fremont Fair - Park the Car across the Bridge!

2006-06-19T19:10:00.003-04:00

It was Saturday afternoon, and I was as bored as a graduate student waiting for the results from his computer program. Oh wait, I really was. My college classmate proposed to go to the Fremont Fair, and I gladly agreed.

Finding a parking spot in Fremont is already hard on usual weekends, and with an event like this, it was almost impossible to find one nearby without paying a premium. A personnel from one of the parking lots was asking for $15, but we decided to look for free spots.

One wrong turn, however, we went on the 99 bridge (see map below) heading south. Then we thought: "Hey, why not park across the Fremont Bridge and then walk back to the fair?"

Parking was so much easier on the other side of the bridge, and we were feeling as smart as portia. The Fremont Bridge was quite busy that day and was constantly opening and closing. I had a funny idea that all the sailboats should have the capability to submerge so that the tens of cars and hundreds of pedestrians didn't have to wait for the few boats.

We saw some fun things at the fair, like the Da Vinci Toad which seems to be some kind of protest against the Da Vinci Code book and movie. Given that I've seen neither, I can't really give any comments on this.

However, it looks like we missed the real fun part of the fair: the Fremont Solstice Parade. Maybe next year. And remember, park across the bridge!

Link to my Fremont Fair photos.
Link to photos of the Fremont Solstice Parade on Flickr.

Pirates of the Caribbean vs. Monkey Island

2006-06-03T02:44:00.000-04:00

Update, July 08: Added links to Ron Gilbert's (the creator of the Monkey Island series) blog and a recent interview with him on Gamespot.

I was watching the trailer of the movie Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, and all of a sudden, I was reminded of an old computer game series from LucasArts called The Monkey Island. It's a series of adventure games about Guybrush Threepwood, a pirate wannabe, and his fight against the evil pirate, LeChuck.

The reason that I was reminded of the games wasn't really the storyline. It was because of the scenes and some of the characters. For example, here are the evil pirates from the games and the movie, LeChuck and Davey Jones:

And here are the leading female characters, Eliane Marley and Elizabeth Swann, though in the games Eliane was romantically involved with Guybrush:

And another character in the game, the Voodoo Lady and this lady from the movie who seems to be giving some advice:

And finally this scene on water from both:

When I thought about the similarity between the Monkey Island games and the movie now, I realized that I should've had the same feeling when I saw the first Pirates of the Caribbean. Now I'm just wondering why it didn't occur to me at all at the time. And indeed, the article on Wikipedia says:

Many attempts have been made to draw parallels between the [Monkey Island] series and the movie Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. This would be very appropriate since Ron Gilbert openly admits that sections of Monkey Island 2 borrowed extensively from the original Disneyland ride, such as the famous "dog holding the keys to the jail-cell".

The adventure game genre has pretty much been dead for several years. It's great to have a movie series that brings back the old memories of playing those games. I hope one day, adventure games will become popular once again, and we'll be able to enjoy the great storytelling aspect of games that combines art, illustration, animation, and interaction.

The Five Obstructions

2006-05-26T03:23:00.004-04:00

In the documentary The Five Obstructions, director Lars Von Trier set up different obstructions for another venerable director, Jørgen Leth, to recreate Leth's own famous early work The Perfect Human five times.

What amazes me is that even though at first glance some of the obstructions seemed ridiculous, and it would appear that no one could've made an acceptable film following the rules of those obstructions, Leth was always able to leverage the obstructions and to turn them into catalysts that made his recreations even better than the original.

There is such a paragraph in the book Complex Worlds from Simpler Nervous Systems describing a certain kind of jumping spider called portia:

Portia reaches its prey by taking indirect routes (detours) when direct routes are unavailable, including detours that can be completed only by initially moving away from, and losing sight of, the prey (reverse-route detours). In encounters with certain types of prey, such as spitting spiders, which are particularly dangerous, portia takes detours even when shorter, direct routes are available.

I've been pondering about how the sparkling film recreations came out of the obstructions and the story about the spider, and something like "intelligence manifests itself through encounters with obstables and difficult situations" is all I can utter. Borrowing words from The Perfect Human:

Also today I experienced something that I hope to understand in a few days.

The 4th Post

2006-05-26T01:28:00.000-04:00

This is my 4th post since I moved my blog here.

I'm just trying to keep my nice numbering streak going. Hilarious!

I promise the next post will have something to do with "five."

"Three Times" at Seattle International Film Festival

2006-05-22T02:24:00.000-04:00

Hsiao-hsien Hou's (侯孝賢) Three Times (trailer at Apple.com) will be featured at the 2006 Seattle International Film Festival on June 10 and June 13. Tickets can be purchased here.

Plot summary from the Apple movie trailers website:

Three different time periods - 1966, 1911, 2005, three stories and the same actor and actress, Shu Qi [舒淇] and Chang Chen [張震], play out the two lead roles, evoking a sentimental tale of three reincarnations of an unfinished love.

Link to the New York Times Review.

(via andy.leck.com)

One Last Thing, Two More Tickets

2006-05-17T22:58:00.000-04:00

Back when I was in Taiwan, consumer rights weren't as much advocated as they are now. I remember once my brother and I brought our parents to see the first Jurassic Park movie. My brother and I had both seen the movie, and we thought the computer-generated dinosaurs were so convincing and they were such a feast for the eyes that we thought our parents would enjoy the imagined world in the movie as much as we had.

The movie was a huge hit in Taiwan, and the theater we went to was jam-packed. Much to my surprise, the story was incomprehensible this time: the theater had randomly edited out segments in order to shorten to movie so that they could squeeze in as many shows per day as possible. The cuts they made were truly random, some were even right in the middle when someone was speaking. Yet everyone stayed until the end of the movie, and no one seemed to be complaining! I was outraged and almost called the theater to tell them my dissatisfaction.

Last week, I had a much different experience. A friend of mine and I went to see One Last Thing at the Varsity Theater. Towards the end of the movie, the picture and the audio went out of sync, and it was really difficult for us to understand what was happening on the screen. We decided to tell the personnels right away and asked them if it was possible to rewind the film and play the last part of the movie again. They said they would need to rewind it all the way back to the beginning. It was a fine movie, and it's a pity that the technical glitch got in the way. Nevertheless, they offered us two free passes (see picture). Five minutes of desynchronized picture and audio for more than one hour of new movie, I'd say they were pretty generous!

Blog Moved

2006-05-16T23:44:00.000-04:00

I've finally decided to move my blog here from MSN Spaces Windows Live Spaces. During the move, I also posted here some articles I that I wrote elsewhere before:

When the Stakes are High

2006-04-16T03:07:00.000-04:00

Recently I've been watching (recorded) Grey's Anatomy a lot. It's a hospital-themed story centered around 5 medical interns and their life in Seattle. Almost every episode has a central idea that the story evolves around, such as personal boundaries, karma, or superstition. And it's easy to identify with the characters in the story, because we experience similar things day in, day out.

When the stakes are high

One particular thing I like about hospital-themed stories is that they frequently involve life and death. We all make mistakes, and there are always things beyond our control. For doctors, mistakes and surprises often cost someone else's life. (So expect a lot of emotionally intense scenes for all your viewing pleasure!) We all know that we tend to make poor judgments when we take things too seriously, become too emotionally aroused, or get too personal. Sometimes their mentor has to remind the interns to keep a distance from their patients; otherwise their attachment to the patients may prevent them from making the right decisions.

Don't we all have this kind of fight everyday? We make trade-offs between doing what we want and doing what's right. We bruise our pride for the greater good. We worry about whether we're showing the best of ourselves so much that we fail to enjoy the time together with someone we like a lot.

Eventually, we all know we have to learn from these mistakes and the unexpected and move on.

The devil inside

One of my favorite characters in Grey's Anatomy is Alex, played by Justin Chambers. Alex is arrogant, insensitive, and becomes easily jealous. But don't get me wrong. I like him because he's a reminder that we all have these traits, no matter how small the portions might be.

There's nothing bad about the traits themselves. But they tend to invoke anger and defensive behaviors of other people. Depending on what we truly want, acting out these traits, sometimes the only thing we end up with is the thrill we get from acting mindlessly on our impulses. However, there are usually healthier way to show our feelings and turn the impulses into positive energy. And perhaps it's because he reinforces these ideas in my mind and allows me to accept the devil inside myself, it's always a relief to watch him just being himself.

Happy to be an addict

I bought a portable TV just to watch the X-Files when I was serving in the army. I called the TV station after I missed an episode of Ally McBeal to figure out whether they'd repeat that episode. (And trust me, it was a big deal for me to make such calls before.) I'm so glad that I've found a new favorite.

I actually started watching it only a few weeks ago, and I missed all the episodes before that. I had been watching the old episodes almost everyday. Now that I've finished all of them, I have to wait for the new one to come out every Sunday, and the wait is hard to get used to after a period of intense viewing. It's a bit like the food I've been eating recently, but that's another story...

Ender's Game

2006-03-06T01:17:00.000-05:00

（以下內容可能會透露故事情節）

這週末剛把朋友介紹的科幻小說《Ender's Game》看完。故事是講人類被外星生物侵略後，一個聰慧過人的小孩 Ender Wiggin 從被選為未來的戰鬥指揮官的人選、到後來他與外星生物對抗的故事。

尋求了解的孤單靈魂

我覺得故事最精采的部份，是最後約十分之一的地方。Ender 晉級到指揮學校後，本來以為又是進入一個完全陌生的環境。開始訓練的時候，卻突然聽到睽違已久、之前在戰鬥學校裡的朋友的親切稱呼。這些親切的稱呼加深了那種和彼此間完全信任的老友並肩奮鬥給讀者的感覺。

故事中另一個伏筆是他在接受訓練時玩的電腦遊戲裡不斷重複出現的一些場景。這些場景也反覆出現在他的夢境中。後來他造訪外星生物的居住地的時候，發現外星生物透過人類的通訊儀器了解了他的想法，並照著他腦中的記憶建了一模一樣的場景。外星生物也同時藉著這個場景嘗試告訴 Ender 他們的歉意。

從最基本的構成單位算起，個體與個體的交互作用是構成更高層的事物的必須要素。沒有交互作用，這些個體便無法一起組成更強有力的事物。人，可以說也一直在尋找這種交互作用的證據－－希望別人能體會自己的想法、期望彼此思想的交流能激發出更新更好的思維。

但是有時候這種交流並不容易，因為每個人（或個體）對不同事物往往賦予不同的輕重程度。書裡外星生物在某種程度上沒有像人一樣有個體的分別。喪失ㄧ個戰鬥兵只是像掉了頭髮或指甲一樣。外星生物套用同樣的想法在人類身上，所以以為屠殺人類不是什麼十惡不赦的事情。人與人相處時，也常常習慣性地假設別人有跟自己相同的價值觀，而做出越界的舉動。就像《To Kill a Mockingbird》裡主角對他女兒所說的：

You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view... Until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it.

（巧的是，以現在的人的眼光去看以前的人寫的這句話，會認為這句話有性別歧視的意味－－用 his 而非中性的 their。）

應變、應變、再應變

故事中 Ender 受訓練的時候，他的老師們有時會給他一些難到荒謬無理的挑戰。但即使再疲倦、心裡覺得那是不公平的挑戰，Ender 從來不說「我放棄了」。他總是從過去的經驗試著找出應對的方式。

身為資訊系的學生，我不得不想到有一套叫做 Universal Artificial Intelligence 的理論。要說 Universal Artificial Intelligence 要先從目前我們設計演算法的方式講起。我們針對某個問題設計演算法時，設計出來的是一套制式的方法。當電腦執行這個制式的方法來解問題的時候，並沒有被賦予可以改進這套方法的自由度。但是人（還有或者一些其他生物）處理問題的方式顯然不是這樣。我們處理問題的方法有能力檢視我們處理問題的方法然後做出改進（即 self-reference 或自我指涉）。Universal Artificial Intelligence 就是設法給電腦這樣自我檢視的能力。不過困難點在於我們現有的電腦不像自然界那樣有無窮的時間跟運算能力能慢慢找出有自我檢視能力的一套方法。另一個問題是，就算電腦真的找出一套能自我改進的方法，我們不見得能了解為何電腦能解出某個特定問題－－就像我們仍然不完全了解人腦的運作原理一樣。

電影

根據 imdb.com 的資料，由《Ender's Game》改編的電影將由 Wolfgang Petersen 執導。Petersen 導過一部我小時候很喜歡、也是由小說改編成的電影《The NeverEnding Story》。真正看完《Ender's Game》小說後，又讓我更期待他導的這部改編的電影。

你呢？有什麼小說想推薦給好友、或期待改編登上大螢幕呢？

Will & Grace

2005-12-16T21:32:00.000-05:00

來自電視影集《Will & Grace》的一段話：

When I'm feeling like there's no love coming to me
And I have no love to give
When I'm feeling separated from the world
And cut off from myself
When I'm feeling annoyed by every little thing
Because I'm not getting what I want

I'll remember that there is an infinite amount of love available to me
And I'll see it in you

I'll remember that I am complete within myself
So I'll never have to look to you to complete me

And most of all
I'll remember that everything I really need
I already have
And whatever I don't have
Will come to me when I'm ready to receive it

很芭樂，我喜歡。

TGIF

2005-12-11T02:22:00.000-05:00

系上每個禮拜五下午都會讓研究生輪流辦一個叫 TGIF (Thank God It's Friday) 的活動，其實就是準備一些零食、點心、和啤酒，讓教授、學生、跟職員大家有聚在一起聊天社交的機會。每個 TGIF 也都要訂個主題，譬如如果剛好遇到什麼節日快到的時候，最簡單的就是用那個節日當主題。

不過對於一些對 TGIF 不是很感興趣、平常也不會去參加的人，輪到要辦 TGIF 時難免會有那麼一點不心甘情願。這禮拜辦 TGIF 的人好像就有點這樣，所以他們訂的主題叫做 "Who Gives a ****?!" （這樣要翻成「管它去屎」嗎？哈哈！）

不過有些人可能會覺得這樣的主題名稱會有點無禮，所以因應最近強調的「政治立場正確性」（political correctness，譬如聖誕樹不能叫 Christmas tree，而要叫 holiday tree），有人就把主題改成很文雅的

...
...

"Who Gives Four Stars"

Ellie Parker

2005-11-28T23:10:00.000-05:00

Apple 有個電影預告片的網頁。最近在上面看到一部 Naomi Watts 的新片叫《Ellie Parker》，看起來好像會蠻有意思的。她在裡面演一個到處去試演的女演員。

之前看她演的另一部片《Mulholland Drive》，她在裡面也是演一個想變成女演員的角色。裡面有兩段分別是她跟她的朋友練習劇本裡的一段對話，跟後來真正去試演。

跟她朋友練習時，她用很肥皂劇的方式和很浮誇的情緒表達，然後一邊嘲笑劇本寫得很差勁。

真正試演的時候，（在劇中）她恰好抓住劇本要表達的情境，把那種熱烈思緒在內心的翻騰表達得恰到好處。

同樣來自劇本的對話，卻給人完全不同的感受。這兩段相比較下，真是可以看出她演戲的功力。

另一個令人敬佩的演員是 Peter Sellers。不過我只看過他演的一部片《Dr. Strangelove》，是一部嘲諷冷戰的電影。裡面有一句很為人津津樂道的話："Gentlemen, you can't fight in here! This is the War Room." 他在裡面一人分飾三角。會讓我印象深刻的原因是，我後來去看電影介紹才知道三個不同的角色都是他演的。（雖然我第一次看《王牌大賤諜》也看不出來那個 Dr. Evil 也是 Mike Myers 演的。）

雖然 Peter Sellers 常常能在演戲時突發奇想做出令人發噱的舉動，他後來卻對大家總只期待他的搞笑表現感到很厭煩。善於扮演不同角色的他，在真實生活中也常常疑惑自己到底該有什麼樣的個性、該是怎樣的人才是自己。《The Life and Death of Peter Sellers》這部片對他的生平有一些介紹。

因為工作的關係，他常有機會認識演藝界的美女。在跨入電影界成名後，他又先後結了三次婚。只是，在他辭世的那天，他的皮夾裡僅放了一張第一任妻子的照片。也許人想追求的，跟真正需要的，常常不一樣。

畫汽車

2005-10-24T17:37:00.000-04:00

小時候去書店或圖書館時，總是喜歡跑去翻汽車雜誌。每年存起來的零用錢，也會跟過年拿到的紅包一起用來買汽車模型。有一次還很瘋狂地跟著哥哥走了一個多小時的路，從在文化中心附近的家走到地下街旁的模型店去物色新模型。

至於其他的時候，就靠畫汽車、和用紙做立體的汽車模型來解癮。不過用紙做難度很高，加上我們要求過高：真車沒接縫的地方，用紙做時絕對不能有接縫，所以用紙從來沒有從頭到尾完成過一部車子的模型。

The Movie Crash

2005-10-24T02:43:00.000-04:00

最近看了《Crash》，是屬於那種裡面很多人物故事縱橫交錯的類型。之前看過也是這種類型的還有《Magnolia》跟《Short Cuts》。不過這三部片裡我最喜歡《Magnolia》，那時一口氣看完才發現居然三個多小時過去了。Aimee Mann特別為《Magnolia》作的曲也跟電影裡的情境搭配得天衣無縫。《Magnolia》還是朋友因為片尾有很多青蛙從天上掉下來推薦我看的。

這類型的片讓我想到一個不久之前的汽車廣告：一個人在路上看見一輛可愛的車，不自覺微笑起來。接著微笑地不經意地看了另一個路人，那路人也以微笑回應。就這樣一直傳播下去……。

在書上看過一段話，說人腦裡單單一個細胞顯然無法知道人在想什麼、做什麼。而就像人之於細胞，或許世界上整個人群也有什麼目的，是我們怎麼樣也無法了解的。又或者我們的智慧真的有一天有辦法領悟更深一層的道理。

照機率算，怎樣才能找到最好的另一半？

2005-07-01T22:34:00.000-04:00

從一本叫《Chance: A Guide to Gambling, Love, the Stock Market and Just About Everything Else》的書看來的。簡單地說，如果在超過適婚年齡前有機會遇到一百個人的話，在遇過三十七個（照比例算，37%）後，遇到的第一個比之前三十七個都好的，最有可能是有機會遇到最好的。不過這是在不能吃回頭草的前提下才正確。否則，就等一百個都遇過再回頭去找最好的那個囉，呵呵。

註：那是一本數學科普的書。這個原則其實是一位叫 Arthur Cayley 的數學家對於 The Optimal Stopping Problem 的解。不只是找對象，像買房子之類的問題也可以拿來當作參考。（挑房子時，好的房子沒有把握機會買，很可能就被其他買家買走了。）這個網頁也有相關的敘述：The Algebra of True Love

Kiss Your Children

2005-05-31T00:07:00.000-04:00

從垃圾桶裡撿起來的咖啡紙杯上寫的：

Do not kiss your children
so they will kiss you back
but so they will kiss their children,
and their children's children.

-Noah benShea

註：是從我家裡的垃圾桶撿的，是自己之前丟的啦。我不是去亂撿的

Street Fair

2005-05-24T22:40:00.000-04:00

上個周末走路出門，發現學校旁邊本來是一般的商店街上，辦起street fair來。其實就是集市，有很多攤販。大部份賣的都是衣服、飾品、手工藝品之類的，也有賣食物的。逛了一下，突然想念起台灣的夜市。不過其實以前在台灣的時候，不太喜歡去夜市。要逛寧可去百貨公司舒舒服服地逛。

因為整條街道封起來不准車過，所以也有當街表演的。剛好看到一個年輕人表演逃脫術（straitjacket的，不是關棺材丟水裡那種），一邊表演還一邊搞笑。不過雖然搞笑看他弄得也蠻辛苦的，到後來面紅耳赤的。還有聽到樂團演奏加勒比海風味的音樂，馬上就想起小時候玩的LucasArts （就是那個喬治盧卡斯導演開的公司）出的電腦冒險遊戲「猴島小英雄」，故事背景是在加勒比海的小島上。裡面的配樂比起現在的遊戲，或甚至是電影，一點都不遜色。

其實還蠻希望常常有這種street fair的，感覺起來蠻熱鬧的！

虛無論

2005-05-08T02:33:00.000-04:00

最近剛好看到一些講「虛無論」的文章，覺得自己的想法似乎有點偏向虛無論的論調，只是不贊同他們毀滅的主張。

虛無論主張生命是沒有意義的。如果我們相信最初的生命是偶然形成的、可以複製自己的「物體」，因為演化跟不同物種間的競爭，後來有了現存的各式各樣的生物，那麼，沒有意義的主張似乎很合理。最多，生命的意義就只是我們對生命的定義（相對於無生命）：能繁衍新的生命（不過這樣就變成解釋的本身仰賴被解釋的東西）。僅此而已。

但是，沒有意義並不表示我們就要去摧毀一切。人類在演化後的優勢，表示我們具有創造力、好奇心、審美和道德觀。這些都是（大部份人）生而俱來的，發揮這些天性也帶給我們愉快與成就感。何必違背自己的天性去從事毀滅呢？

其實繞了一大圈，說了一堆等於沒說。最後還是要好好的過自己的生活。

推薦相關電影：《I Heart Huckabees》、《The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy》

「隱藏」

2005-04-29T02:50:00.000-04:00

《美國心、玫瑰情》（American Beauty）裡面那個痛恨同性戀的鄰居，結果其實自己也是同性戀。

《The Woodsman》裡，自己有戀童癖的主角看見路上有人誘拐小男孩，覺得很氣憤，把那個人痛打了一頓。

書上說，有些我們不喜歡的別人的特質（不過我們不喜歡≠不好），我們有些時候並不真的介意。但那些會讓自己氣得咬牙切齒的，往往是自己也有、但盡力想隱藏的特質。

或許，伍迪艾倫在《Annie Hall》裡說的一句話：

Is it the old Groucho Marx joke that I'm - I just don't want to belong to any club that would have someone like me for a member?

說的正是這種矛盾的狀況。

「隱藏」其實不是件好事。書上也說，這就像整天手中握著易爛的草莓，卻要設法不被人看見那些葡萄，是件很費神的事。所以，不然就不要怕人家看到，不然就把草莓丟了吧！

腦瘤策略

2005-04-17T22:29:00.000-04:00

Lend your voices only to sounds of freedom
No longer lend you strength to that which you wish to be free from
Fill your lives with love and bravery
And you shall lead a life uncommon

－Jewel／Life Uncommon

很喜歡這段歌詞的第二句。譬如當別人以不禮貌的態度對我們時，我們不喜歡的是「不禮貌」這件事。如果我們也以不禮貌的態度回應，就是助長了「不禮貌」的氣焰。但是我們可以用嚴正而禮貌的態度，正面表達我們不願意接受對方的不禮貌。

當然也會遇到有些人堅持繼續用蠻不講理的態度對我們，在某些不得已的情況下，就只好用「腦瘤策略」。「腦瘤策略」是從一本叫《Undoing Depression》的書看來的。書裡大致是說，如果我們必須要跟我們無法忍受的人相處的話（譬如討人厭的上司），在沒有其他方法可以扭轉情勢的情況下，可以假裝「想像」那些人會有令人無法忍受的行為，是因為長了腦瘤。因為腦瘤的關係，他們無法控制自己的行為。也因此，我們要以耐心跟同情心對待他們。

最近一直在聽的另一首歌裡面有一句歌詞說「容忍不等於接納」（Tolerance, it ain't acceptance）。容忍只是控制心中的怒氣。而接納則是能體會跟體諒對方行事的理由，自然就不會感到不悅。如果我們實在難以體會對方行事的理由，「腦瘤策略」可能會是個接納的好方法喔。

Battlestar Galactica （星際大爭霸）

2005-04-09T02:54:00.000-04:00

昨天晚上終於把租來的《Battlestar Galactica》（星際大爭霸）看完了。6 片 DVD 總共 10 面。這部影集小時候台灣的電視台播過，記得小時候很愛看，可是這次再看發現有印象的只有兩三集。其他的不知道以前看到哪邊去了。因為最近這邊的 SCI FI 頻道把這部影集全部重新製作，劇情跟人物都有很大的更動，所以就想把舊的租來看看到底以前是怎麼演。

舊的特效以現在的眼光看當然是有點差，不過最誇張的是那些空戰畫面從頭到尾一直用相同的一堆片段。一直重複，看到快瘋掉了。

舊的《Battlestar Galactica》裡面有兩段讓我印象比較深刻的。一個是主角把一個地方惡棍用來控制其他人的機器人打敗後，有個小孩把主角視為英雄，假裝拿著雷射鎗學他在對付機器人的情況。主角看了跟小孩說：「打敗別人，不是什麼值得稱頌的英雄事蹟。面對機器人的時候，我感覺到的是畏懼。為了生存，我只好做我唯一能做的。」另一段是一個星球上的兩大勢力起衝突，有一方野心勃勃地想以武力侵略，另一方的領導者想簽和約以求避戰偏安。主角跟他說：「避戰不一定代表和平。有時候，避戰意味著被奴役（喪失自主權）。」（當然，這句話跟冷戰時美國對第三世界的刻板印象和核武的恐懼有關。）

之前看到一些報告，說母老鼠在照顧幼鼠的時候腦中會有與吸食古柯鹼相似的反應。而野生動物中，公的動物會保護妻子跟子女，是因為那些自己逃跑的，便無法把自己的（自私）基因特徵傳下去。這些都是演化的後果。所以，自私還是利他、甚或是其他的人格特質，或許無所謂低劣或高貴。只是這些特質造成的選擇，決定了族群是否能延續下去。如果一個族群面對威脅時平白將自主權交出，也只能說他們不適合生存。

看過的科幻影集，也很喜歡《銀河飛龍》（Star Trek: TNG）。裡面常常會融入一些有趣的社會議題。譬如他們有個 Prime Directive，是要求他們不可以介入其他文明的自然發展。因為很多時候，文明的進步是要從錯誤挫折中學習。人類沒有經歷以前的專制，怎麼能體會現在享有的自由的可貴呢？而一個國家的民主如果不是自己人民努力爭來的，恐怕也不會好好去珍惜吧！？

Nothing in this World that's Worth Having Comes Easy

2005-03-29T22:24:00.000-05:00

今天的《Scrubs》影集裡的一段話：

Nothing in this world that's worth having comes easy.

今天劇情是結婚不久的夫婦中，有一方覺得要維持快樂的相處氣氛好像很不容易、覺得如果是適合的一對，應該不用花任何心力就可以永遠快快樂樂的。後來他聽到這一句話，才發現自己沒有做出足夠的努力。

這句話還有另一種詮釋是：太容易得到的事物，我們通常不懂得珍惜。有時候，我們錯以為好運會不斷降臨，而沒有好好珍惜自己已經有的。最後才發現，不是每次都是那樣唾手可得的。

職業運動

2005-03-24T02:28:00.000-05:00

已經不記得是在哪邊看到的對話，大概是這樣的：

甲：「那些職業運動員的貢獻到底在哪邊？為什麼不用那些體力去做一些比較有實際貢獻的工作，像是保衛國家、或是建設之類的。」

乙：「他們提供的是精神層面的貢獻，是給其他人工作之餘，一個大吼大叫、宣洩情緒的地方。」

不過通常還是要自己支持的隊伍或運動員有很好的戰積，才能達到效果。今年西雅圖的籃球運似乎很旺，有很多精采的球賽轉播可看。不過，總還是覺得沒有以前在台灣看公牛王朝時的熱血沸騰。

另一個常看的 F1 賽車，今年因為規則大幅修正，加上已經連霸好幾年的法拉利車隊 2005 年的車子還沒測試完畢，前兩場賽事使用修改過後的 2004 年的車，所以還沒辦法再看到去年那種進四次維修站也可以贏的霸氣。（進維修站要加油跟換輪胎［今年不允許換輪胎］，且進出有速度限制。一般正常的策略是一場比賽進維修站一到二次。）

真想要大吼大叫！

音樂這個時光機器

2005-03-21T15:24:00.000-05:00

我乘著音樂這個時光機器，看見

　　　全家去pub吃晚餐的颱風天
　　　環河快速道路的夜

聞到

　　　西雅圖夏天空氣中的青草味

鮮明度與音量成正比

※ ※ ※ ※ ※

跟著唱著原本晦澀的歌詞，突然，「我懂了！我剛體驗過！我懂了！」

卻還有無數首歌，無數句晦澀的歌詞

基因歧視

2005-03-21T01:24:00.000-05:00

I not only think that we will tamper with Mother Nature,
I think Mother wants us to.

－《Gattaca》開始時引用 Willard Gaylin 的一句話。

這個週末看了《Gattaca》，故事是說不久的未來人類把基因解碼了以後，把基因當成判斷一個人的唯一依據。不過當然極端的外在環境往往會激發出（超越）一個人最好或最壞的特質，所以這種依據並不準確，變成了基因歧視。

片頭這句引言很有意思，可以解釋成：雖然這是人類想插手控制自然演化，但想插手控制也只是我們演化來的天性。人類為了生存，有時候必須要從非常不完全的資訊來作出判斷。然而這種能力卻也是偏見的基礎。當這種偏見的本能思考開始回過頭來控制人類的演化，真的會給人類更多的優勢嗎？還是會變成整個人類生存的致命傷呢？

要取市場導向還是照顧死硬派玩家？關於模擬賽車遊戲...

2005-03-20T00:43:00.000-05:00

在1989年時，當初名為 Papyrus Design Group 的遊戲公司推出了《Indianapolis 500: The Simulation》這個模擬賽車遊戲。這個遊戲是模擬賽車遊戲迷一般公認為第一個能真實模擬賽車動態的遊戲。我還清楚地記得第一次在電腦上玩這個遊戲所受到的震撼，跟後來去駕訓班第一次開車的興奮不相上下。這個遊戲是第一個讓玩家感覺到不只是在控制方向，而是在控制「一部車」的方向。

在推出一連串備受死硬派玩家推崇的賽車遊戲後，Papyrus 還是終於在去年(2004)關門大吉。原因一方面是模擬賽車的市場規模有限（對一般遊戲玩家而言難度過高，且需要很長時間的練習），另一方面是 Papyrus 專注在 NASCAR 賽車系列，而 NASCAR 賽車卻決定把製作電腦遊戲的權利獨家授與 Papyrus 的競爭對手 Electronic Arts。

因為遊戲太過真實而銷售不盡理想的不只有 Papyrus。Warthog 所設計的公路賽車遊戲《Richard Burns Rally》雖然也受到死硬派玩家的一片好評，銷售量與此類遊戲的銷售天王《Colin McRae Rally》系列仍相距甚遠。然而《Colin McRae Rally》系列常常被死硬派玩家批評為具有氣墊船（hovercraft）似的操控。尤其是其製作公司常常將之宣傳為具有極為真實的動態模擬，更常常引起死硬派玩家的群情激憤。

那到底為什麼《Colin McRae Rally》這類不盡真實的遊戲仍然大受歡迎呢？一般玩家不在乎（或無法分辨）遊戲模擬車子的操控是否真實，只在乎要有選不完的車子跟跑不完的賽道。對於模擬不真實的遊戲這不成大問題，只需要加入更多車子跟賽道的 3D 模型。然而對於要求真實度的遊戲，設計者就需要收集更多車子在不同狀況下的動態資料，而這是個十分費時的工作。這意味著如果有相同的發展時間，要求真實度的遊戲會有比較少的車子跟的賽道，因而會處於銷售的劣勢。

Sony 銷售極佳的《Gran Turismo》（GT）系列算是賽車遊戲中的異數。GT 模擬的操控足以滿足死硬派的要求，車子的數量也是賽車遊戲之最。然而遊戲中沒有車子內部的儀表板、沒有模擬車子的損壞狀況、以及電腦控制的對手不夠聰明，都被認為是美中不足的地方。

死硬派玩家會因為市場導向而漸漸被遊戲公司遺忘嗎？由 GT 的表現看來，這種情況不至於發生，畢竟製作遊戲的也有自己身為死硬派玩家的。然而身為、自認為、或想成為死硬派的玩家挑選遊戲時絕對要睜大眼睛，不要被廣告詞所欺騙了。

相關連結：Gamespot 網站關於 Papyrus 歷史的簡介

圖片為 Papyrus 的最後一套遊戲《NASCAR Racing 2003 Season》

信念

2005-03-18T17:52:00.000-05:00

在《Signs》這部電影中，主角因為相信上帝透過一些事件讓他最後得以救回自己的家人，最後重拾了對上帝的信仰。

在 imdb.com 觀眾評論有一篇寫道，這部片要表達的不是要不要相信上帝這件事。重點是在由於主角沒有放棄可以找到一條生路的「信念」，最後成功求生。至於能找到生路是純屬巧合，還是有不可知的力量操縱，就看觀眾自己如何詮釋。

自由意志

2005-03-18T05:39:00.000-05:00

人到底有沒有自由意志？這個問題恐怕還得無數科學家的一番努力才有答案。

為什麼要問有沒有自由意志這個問題呢？如果沒有自由意志，人就變成了所謂的機器：所表現的行為不過是周遭環境轉換成輸入後必然的反應結果。既然所有的反應都是必然的結果，那對個人而言就沒有一個「最終的主宰」要對自己的所作所為負責。對於整個世界來說，一切過去與未來早已決定。（不過因為交互作用過於複雜，所以沒辦法預測。）

對於覺得有決定自己行為能力、且能造成影響的我們，這是個難以接受的說法。但是，似乎又沒有一種思考邏輯可以推翻這個說法。

圖片來自《The Matrix Reloaded》