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"In Hong Kong, there are 105.75 mobile subscribers for every 100 inhabitants."

Hong Kong is an dynamic and eccentric city. I believe most of my family and friends here would concur. There is no other asian city as extravagant as this. And definitely no replacement (sorry, but "whatever" to Taipei and Shanghai).
Hong Kong is deep. It may be physically small, but the thought behind the many communities here are very knowledgable and realistic. In fact, its very intense and in your face. I would never compare it to other metropolitans like Manhattan which is probably a lot broader and varied, but Hong Kong is definitely not just another city. Hong Kong is crazy and I love it. Its where I grew up and call home.

~~~ Handsome Boy Modeling School - White People ~~~

Flip Flap Inspired Morning

I finally got my own Flip Flaps. Hehe. I got the orange, blue, and white one. Its something about the charming plastic bold colored scheme that has me. They remind me of the old Mario Bros. backgrounds. Those 8 or 16-bit flowers that only move back and forth in the background as you play. I plan to place mine by my desk to accompany me while I program hardcore next year..haha.

+++ http://artpad.art.com/gallery/?i8uglfpswcs +++ My ridiculous homemade Tomy Flip Flap Ad.


+ Others +
- Oh yeah. I'm already in Hong Kong. And Tokyo for Xmas!
- My modded Xbox has been banned on Xbox live....sigh...

Game of the Year

Many mega blockbuster games are taking on the shelves this holiday season. If I had to choose one among all these great games...Half Life 2 by Valve is the winner. I don't think the game is perfect, but I like the direction the developers of this game have taken. Their source engine has helped simulate a world more closely resembling our reality:

Characters - Advanced facial animation system delivers the most sophisticated in-game characters ever seen. With 40 distinct facial "muscles," human characters convey the full array of human emotion, and respond to the player with fluidity and intelligence.

Physics - From pebbles to water to 2-ton trucks respond as expected, as they obey the laws of mass, friction, gravity, and buoyancy.

Graphics - Source’s shader-based renderer, like the one used at Pixar to create movies such as Toy Story® and Monster's, Inc.®, creates the most beautiful and realistic environments ever seen in a video game.

AI - Neither friends nor enemies charge blindly into the fray. They can assess threats, navigate tricky terrain, and fashion weapons from whatever is at hand.

I'd like to add that level design is also worth noting. It keeps the adrenaline rushing and the game is fast paced consistently. Other things include all those little things like shooting the birds and breaking/throwing random objects throughout the world.
The minimum specs of this game, however, are pretty high. And I do advise playing it on a cutting edge PC. I wouldn't waste the time otherwise.

Note: My pick was among games like Halo 2, Metal Gear Solid 3, World of Warcraft, GTA: San Andreas, NFS Underground 2, Sims 2, etc... I do still need to check out Prince of Persia: Warrior Within and Gran Turismo 4 before the year end.

Still so Much to Learn

During my drive back up to Vancouver from LA earlier this week, I got into an accident on the I-5 and trashed my car. I was at Portland then, and my ML had to be towed. It was not the most exciting experience at all. Thank God nobody was injured and insurance is paying for the vehicle damages. I ended up taking the train to Seattle (with my three huge suitcases) where my Mom came to pick me up the following day.
Theres still so much to learn. On top of nearly killing myself, I wasn't able to deal with the aftermath of the accident. I was blank and still shocked over the event. It made me feel worthless, spoilt, and young. Next time around, I will take care of my own consquences in a more adult manner.

I will be starting my Computer Science Masters degree at game school DigiPen this coming January 2005. I'm definitely excited about moving to Redmond, WA and starting school again. I know its not going to be easy at all...but to say the least, I know I will enjoy studying a lot more this time through....I hope...

+++ www.usatoday.com/money/media/2002-12-03-video_x.htm +++ Old, but relevant article to show that I'm not crazy.

+++ www.wired.com/news/games/0,2101,65984,00.html?tw=wn_tophead_2 +++ I am bullish over multiplayer wireless portable gaming.

+++ www.last.fm +++ Ahhh. More new music coming my way. *drools*

Time to Jet. Returning back to Hong Kong for Xmas this weekend.
Erik.

Something about Nothing

Its been a while since I've written an entry. Mainly due to my temporary time away from the computer and television to allow my eyes heal "properly" from the lasik...
I don't know about you all, but I definitely heavily rely on my computer in my life(and sometimes the television). I felt handicapped all throughout this time because more than half of my motivations required my computer. I couldn't find/download music, play games, chat, blog, surf the web, read the news, etc.... The computer and internet is probably one of the best educational systems introduced in my life. Its definitely my primary instrument of work and source of entertainment. I mean, seriously, the internet itself on my computer is a portal to the world!! My laptop, which I bring around with me all over the place, is "a mobile world" that follows me whenever I am within WiFi boundaries.
But yeah, my point is that I am a slave of my PC. And if you are reading my blog, chances are that you are too.

[12/2/04] +++ http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,65890,00.html?tw=wn_tophead_6 +++ Exactly what I mean.

Erik.

Oh, and yeah, I have officially been contaminated with the Naruto virus..

Music.

I'm sure some of you are sick of my music blabbering all the time (who wouldn't be by now?) But somehow, somewhere I realized I had never mentioned what about music that has me swept off my ground...so here goes an exert from my diary...

In my world, music is life. I doubt there is a more accurate definition of music than that inside my dictionary. It embraces all my emotions. Music is merely just a hobby or interest of mine. It could inspire, motivate, be an adventure, be a form of escape, be a medium of communication, be a learning experience, trigger memories, etc... Music is art.
It's pretty interesting to know that my passion for music didn't grow until 6-7 years ago. Not like it didn't exist in my life up until then or anything, I just simply didn't find it particularly interesting compared to sports or computers or whatever.
I speculate a big part of the upbringing of music in my life was having to have gone to America. Not only was it culturally a whole new experience, I had heaps of free time at boarding school to listen to music. Hmmmm.
The guitar would probably be another good reason of cultivation of my music. The guitar has always been something I've wanted to learn for myself. It gave me much self satisfication. It was and is still a challenge to me (to get better and better and better). Hopefully one day it would be a medium for me to express what I truly hear inside my head. =)

Love music. Share it. I honestly believe if some of you spent more time listenning to it, it would become much more rewarding than you had thought.