Posters

I always like posters. I would go watch a movie simply because I like the design of the posters. Visiting poster shops was also one of my favorite things to do. While I was in Tainan to visit my folks, I organized my belongings a little bit again (aka. toss), and happened to see some movie magazines, and some old posters.

I got the first one when I was probably a sophomore in the university. The movie had just been released. Interesting movie in the way that it is lovely, funny, but also dark. I put this poster on the door of my closet in the dormitory for few years. A public display in such a tiny space in the dormitory room, that's why much I liked this one. Now it's hard to imagine having to cram in that room room with 3 other roommates. I believe I only had, like, 20 square feet of living space.

I was still too little when the second episode of Indiana Jones was released. I love the whole series (exclusive of the latest one simply because Harrison Ford has certainly not aged quite well), so when the movie magazine had a sale of their poster inventory, I decided to order this one. Harrison Ford was definitely very handsome.

I don't know why I even have a poster of Bruce Willis, and it is definitely a mystery why I even have kept it for so long when I don't even like him to begin with. How can it survive after so many rounds of moving and tossing? It is so funny to see him with hair. Having said that, he looks quite good in the poster of his very recent movie, Surrogate.

Adium vs MSN Live

The last few weeks, things with F have bothered me quite a bit, especially after the MSN event. On top of that, I've heard of lots of complaints about the latest MSN Live, so I decided to play with it a little bit.

Setup: latest Adium (1.3.7) on Snow Leopard, Live Messenger (10.4.8089.726) running on XP

Scenario 1: Account on Adium does not have account on Live as friend. Account on Live does not have account on Adium as friend.

• I used Live to add Adium as friend. Adium did not receive any request from Live at all. Adium remained offline the whole time on Live.
• Then I used Adium to add Live as friend. Live did not receive any request from Adium either. Live appeared online to Adium, but Adium remained offline to Live.
• I logged off Adium and logged back on. Both appeared online to each other.

Scenario 2: Account on Adium does not have account on Live as friend. Account on Live does not have account on Adium as friend.

• I used Adium to add Live as friend. Live did not receive any request from Adium, but showed as online immediately.
• Then I used Live to add Adium as friend, but Adium still appears offline to MSN.
• I then logged off Adium and then logged back on. This time Adium is online on Live.

On Adium, I right clicked on Live account, and chose "Get info", a window popped up as shown in the first screenshot here. The value of 'has you' is No, although in reality Live does have Adium as friend.

I then used Meebo and log on Adium account, and found that the value of 'Has You' is also 'No', as shown in the second screenshot here.

Microsoft must have changed something so other IM programs no longer get the same old information they used to get. And because I know how to check this, and this caused me so much anxiety. If you use Adium to add any friend to MSN, it would be a good idea to send a message to confirm if they add you and can see you online.

Julie & Julia

Ed and I went for lunch together, and we had a long chat afterwards. I was ready to kick him out at 4, but he kept talking and talking, so before I came to my senses again, it was 5:30. He wanted to watch a movie, so we decided to run to Miramal to grab a quick dinner first. Julie & Julia has a showtime at 7, perfect for us.

I did not know Julia Child before the movie, and so was not aware of her high pitched voice. But half way through the movie, I was really uncomfortable about the voice of Meryl Streep. After I returned home, I digged out some of the cooking shows of Julia Child on youtube, and concluded that Meryl did a good job at the voice, but she overdid it a bit. I am not sure where she got the accent, but she certainly gave me an impression that Julia Child is an immigrant of the first generation.

Plain stories are told in the movie. There are no big ups and downs. Although the movie talks about food, but food never plays an important part, instead, it is the process of the preparation that counts, like husband and wife watching the cooking show together, shopping for ingredients, boiling the lobsters. Some may feel that it is a shame that food plays an important role, but we never get to see how delicious the food looks like, but I think it is a great idea not to show the food. We are quite lucky to live in an era without wars, and people can afford to eat out, and there are so many restaurants to choose from if we decide to, and most of them are quite affordable. We've seen food, and how well food can be presented. There is no need to purchase the movie ticket to see that in the theater, but it is good to see the loving relationship between the 2 couples, and their loving way to maintain it.


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Better Than Score

A friend post the second video on his plurk. Very cool design to make stairs like a piano. I was joking that it would be fun to play with few friends, and play Fuer Elise out of it, and then, for some reason, I started to look for Fuer Elise on Youtube.

The first result took me to this guy's youtube account. He downloads music, and use a midi program to create the video to present the score. Of course we cannot really play any instrument from the video, but for a person who cannot read score like myself, it really depicts the music better. I know exactly what I'll expect to hear, and it looks fun. This guy also plays piano. When he does, he also includes his playing in the video, so we could actually see the music animation, score, and his playing. The recording is also very good, far superior to those live recording. I just have to subscibe to his youtube.

He also includes in the desciption of his youtube where he gets the music, where to get the midi software, where to find additional information of the background of the music. It is very informative. I enjoy it.

Liev Schreiber

Some people have their fairy-tale kind of romance to meet their love of the lifetime at the first sight. Some people may just be so ugly and annoying that you just have to pay attention to them when they are around, to see if they are still the same A. And for me, some actors are just so impressive that I can always spot them no matter what they look like in the movies.

He is Liev Schreiber. I happened to see 3 of his movies lately, all 3 with different setting and characters, within just few days.

The first movie is Taking Woodstock, directed by Ang Lee. It was August 28. I went to watch the movie the Fred, the day before I left Vancouver. Liev plays Vilma, a transvestite with nice chest (or boobs?) without any makeup, apparently. He appears to be a confident woman who knows what she wants, and is not afraid to pursue. Her pink outfit really stands out among the crowd, and I turned around, after her 2nd take or 3rd take in the movie, and told Fred that I like her.

The second movie is Wolvrine. He plays Victor. I watched that movie on the flight from Vancouver to Korea, so that was just one day after Taking Woodstock. I know the lead actor is Hugh Jackman, and Hugh is definitely an attractive person, but Liev got most of my attention for the whole time I was watching it.

The third movie was Kate & Leopold. Not sure if it was even a popular movie or not. I was browsing PPS (am using heavily for entertainment now), and decided to pick this movie for no obvious reason other than to kill time. The lead actor happens to be Hugh Jackman still. There is just something wrong with Hugh in this movie too. He is, again, a very handsome man, but I just cannot concentrate on his role, and his acting is mostly dull. Liev's acting is, on the other hand, interesting, and his looks very very fascinating. He looks more like the third attachments here in the movie.

Since I was on the computer watching Kate & Leopold, so I just easily open a browser, and found out Liev Schreiber plays the role of Stuart, and, he is also the person I paied attention to in Taking Woodstock and Wolvrine.

Scooter

My parents tried their best to be fair to their kids. When my brother was in college, he asked a scooter. Well, he had a lot of activities to do, and, of course, he had a girl friend. I never asked for one, but my dad still bought one, in my name, after I graduated and started to work. I never took it, so my dad uses it in Tainan. The new one is better for him, because it is larger, and more suitable when he has to take mom for a ride.

This past weekend, I went back to Tainan for Moon Festival, and asked dad if he uses both scooters. He had a shockingly quick response and asked me if I wanted to keep one. Yes, I've been without any vehicle since late 2003, I've walked a lot, and it's time to get some mobility, and thus, add some spice to my dull life. I am not ready to get a new one, however, looking at what I'd like to do and where I'd like to be one year from now. A used one would be a better bet.

I asked for the older one, and had it shipped to Taipei. Just went over to pick it up. The registration card says it was registered in March 1992, so it is 17 years old, quite an old scooter for a 50cc. This is the 3rd time that I own a scooter. All 3 are hand-me-downs. It's good though. I don't have to worry if it could be stolen.