Ever wondered what actually happens when you type ‘format c:’ (or ‘rm -rf *’ for the enlightened) into your command prompt? Probably not, but for those who have take a look at this interesting article which dispels a lot of the myths surrounding these much feared incantations. As it turns out you have to do a lot more to wreck your system these days!
“During last week’s lunar eclipse, our Moon appeared to disappear. As the Earth moved between the Moon and the Sun, the Earth’s shadow fell on the moon, making it quite dark.”
Take a look here for some cool time-lapse photos, taken using multiple exposures, of the event courtesy of NASA.
Miso Soup (not my photo - for illustration only!)
At the weekend I had the pleasure of eating a mixture of both Japanese and Chinese cooking and found that I actually liked it a lot, especially the miso soup which is apparently a staple of Japanese cuisine (and highly tasty!). If your are interested you can find a recipe for it here, it’s pretty straight forward so I’m sure I’ll have a go at cooking it some time. I find that cooking has a certain therapeutic effect after being stuck in-front of a computer for most the day! I think my chopstick skills are slowly improving (although others may disagree!) - eating rice was especially difficult with them, the key seems to lie in treating them like a sort of spoon and scooping up the rice between both sticks 
This has got to be about the most disjointed post I’ve ever written - sorry, I’ll try and stay focused from now on!
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There are few films which capture the imagination quite like the likes of ‘Crouching Tiger, Hidden Draggon‘ (2000 - Ang Lee) and ‘Hero‘ (2002 - Zhang Yimou) with their exquisite portrayal of dynastic China in all its rich shades of beauty. Even without the subtitles the pure density of the images portrayed in these films are a joy to behold - there is nothing quite like them in western cinema.
It was with a certain trepidation that I heard of what might be considered a third in this line of masterpieces - ‘House of Flying Daggers‘ (2004 - Zhang Yimou). The name alone congers up the same mystical feeling as the others and indeed, to an extent, it delivers. I had heard from certain sources that it wasn’t much good so was a little skeptical about it to begin with but was glad to be proved wrong this time.
The story centers around a rebel group of assassins called the Flying Daggers which has set up operations against the corrupt Tang Dynasty in China (859 AD). The regime decides to send an undercover agent to infiltrate the group and assassinate its leader. Jin (Takeshi Kaneshiro), a police captain, takes on the assignment but soon becomes embroiled in a completely different sort of game in which he finds his loyalties divided between the woman he must protect and his duty to the regime…
The finely choreographed martial art scenes are a joy to watch - one particularly memorable scene within a forest sees some excellent use of slow motion as daggers and bamboo poles fly through the air as the protagonists try to avoid the marauding army of the regime who seamlessly fly through the air from tree-to-tree in their murderous quest. In this respect some of its visual effects are obviously heavily influenced by ‘The Matrix‘, which, of course, itself ripped-off the style of classic Hong Kong action films before it (funny how these things seem to come full-circle).
Some people have complained that the story is too weak and that it is all show and no substance, but it deals with one of the greatest dilemmas of all time: follow your heart or your mind. Within the simplicity of the storyline there lies a deeper complexity surrounding the social loyalties that everyone is bound to. While it may not be as easily accessible as ‘Hero’ it still manages to hold its own and should definitely be given a chance by anyone with an interest in this genre.
In essence ‘House of Flying Daggers’ is a painting in motion and for all its shortcomings you cannot help but be blown away by it - 8/10.
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We watched a fairly depressing live-action film at Anime society last night called Hana-bi (meaning ‘fireworks’), written, directed and acted-in by the omni-skilled Takeshi Kitano. I won’t bore you with the details right now but sufficed to say it didn’t have the happiest of endings, still, a brilliant film.
A little later on a few of us reconvened to practice the ancient art of origami (paper folding) and I got a few pics:
Colored origami paper from Muji
Helping hands
Solitary crane
Of course we couldn’t quite rival the proper Japanese origami masters who can make models like this in their sleep:
…now there’s skill.
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A bit of a treat for Star Wars fans today. Early this morning I managed to get hold of the new ‘Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith’ trailer which is soon to be released. It’s a pretty cool glimpse of what the film holds in store and shows off a lot more than I would have expected, especially this bit of dialog:
Darth Sidious: “Lord Vader?”
Vader: “Yes Master?”
Darth Sidious: “Riiiiiiise”
Here are a few screencaps for your enjoyment:
Evil eyes!
“Riiiiiiise”
Padme isn’t looking very happy
Yoda isn’t happy either!
Lava fight!
You download the trailer here
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Bit of a mish-mash of stuff today - lots has caught my eye this week!:
Unfortunately (depending on your view) my election prediction was wrong, but it wasn’t far out! I think from an Englishman’s point of view it’s difficult to comment on who would or wouldn’t make a better president but I certainly don’t think that Bush’s record is much to be pleased about. I think most of the international community were hoping for a change of leadership but now will have to put up with an even more over-inflated egotistical war-mongering world dictator (if you think I’m being to harsh please comment below). I wish we could say differently about our leaders over here to!
Saw on the news today that Microsoft have won a £500m nine year contract to supply software to the NHS (National Health Service), only a week after the OGC (Office of Government Commerce) reported that Linux was a “viable desktop alternative for the majority of government users”. It’s nice to know that our health systems will be running on an operating system that is about as reliable as umbrella with holes in it! Yet another example of big-business muscling out the competition even when it’s shown to be better and cheaper.
Went to another graduate employers talk last night (think petroleum) which was quite interesting. The event was a bit different from some of the others I’ve been to as there was quite a lot of interactivity and discussion in groups. I found it particularly funny to be talking about logistics, procurement and finance as a Software Engineering student - just shows you can bluff your way through anything with a bit of common sense! One of the benefits of going to these things is the surprising quality of the free food which is usually on offer - especially handy when you’ve missed college dinner!
In the wake of watching ‘Super Size Me‘ a while back I decreed to never grace the golden arches of McDonald’s ever again, not that I actually ever did very often but I was just too grossed-out to ever do so again. I think this guys experience would typify what is expected of a McMeal but if this is the case why do people go back for more??? To my mind it just doesn’t make logical sense, their food doesn’t taste of much, it will make you fat and unhealthy - the choice seems simple to me. What made me laugh the most was the ‘Corporate Responsibility Report‘ on their website - classic stuff.
Word of the week: Discombobulated - To throw into a state of confusion. E.g. “the hecklers pelted the discombobulated speaker with anything that came to hand”. hehe - a word one on my lecturers came out with this week!
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