Sunday, September 19, 2004 10:55 PM
Slow Motion-Inducing Sickness

As the updates become a little more sporadic and generally less frequent, it's a painful reminder that my life isn't really that exciting, and interesting thoughts that warrant an entry are few and far in between. I guess I can claim to be better because you're not reading "LOLz!!1! guess who i 8 @ teh m4ll otday111!!!".

I just got this game, Burnout 3, for my PS2. It's definitely fun - something sadistic yet strangely exciting to see cars pile on top of each other and having chunks of metal/glass/tires flying in every which direction. What makes it even better is the way that the game presents its car crashes: via slow-motion, fast camera movement that focuses on all the interesting action happening at the moment. It's pretty cool and makes your stunts look more impressive.

Well, it got me to thinking about all the recent games and movies that use the same effect - action scenes that up the ante by transpiring in slow motion. Of course, it was the original Matrix movie that introduced everybody to the concept on this side of the ocean, but it was also present in Asian cinema since the 80's, when John Woo made a name for himself in gunfights alongside Chow Yun Fat.

The difference is that Asian cinema has traditionally (and still does) employ a static camera in a dynamic scene; you're watching the action has a standing observer, except that you get to slow down and watch as each individual drop of sweat flies off the guy getting whacked in the face. Matrix brought with it a dynamic camera on a dynamic scene; you're moving as you're watching the action in slow motion, enabling you to see the action from all sides at about the same time. When the camera motion is synchronized with the on-screen action (i.e. the camera rotates in the opposite direction the actor is rotating at a given moment), it makes the scene seem even more dynamic and so feels "cool".

At least, that's how I think of it in theory. In practice, as per a skit on the Chappelle Show, slow motion changes things and if used excessively kinda sucks. In particular, I'm thinking of Matrix: Revolutions, where it seemed like the climax was just a CG, slo-mo, special-effect orgy that looked dumber as time went on. I like cool effects shots as much as the next guy, but it's supposed to be used in moderation, at for the right sequences. Obviously I didn't think that was one of them.

Anyway, that concludes my thoughts today. I'm spending time working on the new design and layout, but I probably won't update it until all the parts are ready, and that may take a while. I'm also comtemplating on whether I'll buy a domain like www.datheron.com and get a real corner of the web, so to speak. Thinking, thinking...

Tuesday, September 14, 2004 8:45 PM
Represent

So, in a little over 12 hours, I get to go back to UC Berkeley and its career fair, representing my company and what it stands for. With the economy the way it is, I'd imagine the crowds to be huge and myself to be busy for the 6-or-so hours they allotted us.

The career fair system is a strange thing (at least, this is true of Berkeley via my own experience); people drop off their resumes, some of which are read, others are there as placeholders for Human Resources to discard, and still others are direct enough to tell you to apply on their website. But then, why go to the career fair at all, when the real system is a paying, online subscription system to job postings?

I found out about this during my job hunt senior year. True, you can make an impression at career fairs, grabbing free stuff and getting in some good talking time with recruiters, but I'd think that people actually doing that are actually rare. We're instructed to mark resumes of truly outstanding people - but aside from those few, what about that stack of untouched resumes which keeps on growing? I'd imagine for most companies, their setup is very similar to ours; have representatives and recruiters go, collect resumes, then forward them to the HR people for processing and further refinement. Yes, ma'am, that smile is worth one "+".

Maybe I shouldn't be so cynical. After all, by some combination of career fairs, infosessions, online postings, and career center hookups, I was able to get a pretty good job. It doesn't hurt to go, and hey - you get some pretty cool stuff a lot of the time. I offer the best of luck to those hunters tomorrow...

Saturday, September 11, 2004 5:25 PM
Webpage dynamicism

I guess today's 9/11, the third anniversary of horrible terrorist attacks that forced us to go to two wars. I wonder if they'll eventually make it into a national holiday, because a lot of people have already exploited the event as much as humanly possible.

Anyway, I've been working on some little things for my homepage for a while now. As much as I'd like to say that this page is the end-all of all webpages and nothing can improve the awesomeness of its existence, the sad reality is that this page is way behind the times. Being a CS fellow, it's almost an insult that I chose to keep my page this way for so long when I know of better ways to get around some of the issues.

If anything, what initially attracted me to computer science and computers in general was the ease at which everything was done. That is, I'm not saying CS is easy; what I mean is that building ideas via computers is a lot more convenient. Even before the Internet became common place, I was drawn to the fact that I could just sit in front of a computer, spend a few hours, and create something that I was proud of. When the Internet did arrive, I loved having the ability to stay in one spot and go all over the world. In a sense, it has some of the attraction of television but with control placed firmly in my hands.

But, after a few years studying it and now a few months in the industry using it, I've noticed that convenience brings along its own unique concerns; having too much. When things are as convenient as the Internet, it's inevitable that people will want to use it, invest time into it like I have and create software. When millions of people actively pursue this, things tend to overlap and perform the same functions. And, if most programmers are like the people I've met at school and in the industry, we like to reinvent the wheel and tweak the radius to our liking. That is, instead of reusing code (which is an acknowledged "good engineering practice") and programs like we should, we do ahead and do the same things over because we can. I sincerely don't know if this is just an ego thing.

Anyway, what this little rant is trying to get to is that I've been researching how to make this website a bit more up-to-date. For those in familiar with web design, I'm trying to use the likes of CSS, Javascript, and PHP to make updating my website easier and a bit less painful. I could just download Blogging scripts and webpage scripts online...but I'm going to write my own scripts; partly because I want to learn, partly because I want to customize my site completely, and partly because I'm proud that I built this thing by myself, piece-by-piece.

I've had some success so far. Here's what I've been doing. The password is "allenc" if you want to try posting stuff...

...and I just got back from a walk. Good news and bad news. Good news: Cal beat New Mexico in football today, which is great. Bad news: I just got a $30 parking ticket at Berkeley. I'll save my contempt for them for a later post.

Tuesday, September 7, 2004 9:53 PM
This Just In: No Rambos at the Local Company Gym

So I'm driving home from the gym, a little light-headed and dizzy. Probably not a good idea.

I've recently revised my health plan. I'm hoping to go to the gym everyday, hopefully 4-5 times a week after work, for an hour per day. I'll get my running in (20 minutes), and be able work on other parts of my body as well, most notably the jello that are my abs. I actually think I can do this - it's surprising how a few favorable conditions can make things look a lot better. That is:

That, plus the fact that I really do want to exercise, should keep me going realistically for another few months. Wish me luck, and godspeed.

Sunday, September 5, 2004 11:25 PM
Assorted Random Thoughts, Limited Edition

If you couldn't tell, I got lazy Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. It's in LE now, and my random thoughts continue thusly...

I hope everybody's having a fairly good Labor Day weekend, well, if where you live observes this holiday now. I took the time to come home to happy Woodland, where the weatherman tells me I'd be suffering 100+ F weather for the next few days unless I haul my ass back to the Bay Area and enjoy brisk 82 F weather. My stay here has been pretty sweet, though - got some shopping done, met with family, and got my car washed. There are few things more satisfying than washing one's own car.

As I was driving home, getting stuck in traffic jam after jam and cursing whoever designed San Francisco's highway intersections, I was tuned to XM Radio's CNN Financial News channel and specifically to the Suze Orman Show. She's basically a financial planner/advisor/consultant who takes questions from people and tells them what to do; as it happens, I agreed with a lot of her advise as I was listening. I just didn't agree with the spirit of the show.

To paraphase a classic - The Catcher in the Rye - these people were a bunch of phonies. Most of the callers who call in already know the answer to their question or should already know - they call in so Ms. Orman can tell them, in her hardball ain't-taking-no-crap attitude, what's already pretty obvious. It might not be a staged show (ignoring pre-interviews and screening, which always happens with these shows), but that kind of transparency in the questions and answers make it pretty staged in my book.

Now, I can understand if people just want someone to confirm their suspicions or encourage them to the right path, but laying your troubles out on national TV just isn't the best way to go about it. Are some people just such whores for attention and exposure that they willingly go on televised shows, knowing very well that they will most likely be humiliated by the host because...well, because that's what they pay the host to do? I'm sure these hosts are a lot nicer in real life than on TV, but when time comes to scream and yell what's obvious to the rest of the world, these people say some pretty mean-spirited things, making for some supposedly vivid entertainment.

Oh well...as long as people like to watch other people look like idiots and feel morally superior, these daytime reality psuedo-soap operas will continue to get funding and shown. Let's get smarter, people.

Wednesday, September 1, 2004 11:03 PM
Assorted Random Thoughts, Remix

As usual, the beginning of a new month means that I archive all my old entries in the Archives. Look for some of my retro wit there if you dare to venture into the past.

I also read my own entry at work today; I must say that I was really trying to fight sleep at that point, and the quality of writing plummeted as I got to the last paragraph or so. Good thing I have full control over this page and is embarassed by that enough to revise a few parts.

Back from the bathroom and microwave? Good.

These past couple of days, I've been trying to actively exercise and get out of the office and the house more. I've been whining about my weight for weeks now, and I promised myself that after I started real work, I would make a damn good attempt at bringing back the balance between malnutrition and...a tub of lard. Self-promises are usually the hardest to keep, so I'll be the first to commend myself for a good try.

I'm not that bad. I did start running this week, once every other day, and I hope to do it until it gets too dark to run on the streets after work. At this point, the effort is there but the body is crying; on Monday I managed some 10 blocks (roughly a mile) in 15 minutes, today I was able to drag out the run to 20 minutes and 15 city blocks before ailing leg raised a white flag. Just imagine, though - at this rate, I'll be able to go marathon-like distances in a matter of weeks. Yes, I know physical improvement usually doesn't happen linearly; I'm hoping my body can withstand exponential improvement!

I've also checked out the gym that my company's office leasing provides today, and I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of their equipment. After accepting the fact that I wasn't going to get home before the 6 o'clock News (and that was a lot to swallow), I'm figuring now that I can make it home by eight after I use their gym for half an hour to an hour after work. I myself predict that this plan will end within the month, but I'm also secretly hoping that, like maintaining this webpage way longer than what I expected, I would look at my flabby self in the mirror and be motivated.

You know what, though - all this exercise and writing has me tired out once again. Feel free to visit the cookie jar as I visit my bed.