Call me crazy if you want, but last night me and my roommate went to see the midnight premier of Spiderman 2. We arrived at Edwards Theater around 9:30pm, there were 3 shows of Spiderman 2, two of them were already sold out, but we were lucky enough to purchase tickets for the third show.

It was around 10:00pm and in front of theater there was already a line of people waiting for Spiderman 2 scheduled at 12:01am. Many people in the line wore cloths with the hero Spiderman on it. We were in the line too, and we could feel that people were so excited about this movie.

The movie did not disappoint me. It is even better than the first one, more action, more special effects and injected with a sense of humor. At the end of movie of this sequel, the plot has left many options open, thus the story can take many twists in the third one, therefore I am predicting that Spiderman 3 will most likely be another exciting movie. As to the question whether Spiderman's identity was exposed in this sequel, I will better leave that unanswered, so you can find it out by yourself in the movie theather.

Just want to bring the existence of this wonderful software to everyone's attention, so you can enjoy the communication convenience as I did. The name of the software is Skype, and it is a superb free internet telephony.

Skype is free and simple software that will enable you to make free calls anywhere in the world in minutes. Skype, created by the people who brought you KaZaA, uses innovative P2P (peer-to-peer) technology to connect you with other Skype users. If you are tired of paying outrageous fees for telephony, Skype is for you!

I have this thing downloaded and installed on my PC. All you need to do is to create your account after the installation, then that's it you are ready to chat. Of course the other party needs to have Skype installed on his/her PC as well, for the audio chatting to take place. I have friends in Argentina, Bolivia and China. Once Skype is installed in their PCs, then we can chat as long as we want and the best thing is no international fee to pay.

The night I installed Skype, I chatted with my friend in Beijing for over 2 hours. I have to say that the quality was outstanding. The voice from my friend was clear and no time-delay. Often when I call China, I experience choppy sounds, echo and sometimes I need to worry whether the call would get through during special holidays. With Skype, worry no more, anytime, as long as you want, and you can always enjoy a clear and smooth conversation, just like you and your friend are talking face to face. Best of all, it is free!

I am bewitched by Utada Hikaru's First Love. I have been listening to this song repreatedly since last night. The sound waves just keep pushing me into the corner of my emotional temple, and her soft voice just keep reminding me of the past and the present. I want to hide, want to confront, but at the end I just find myself crying and singing the same lyrics with her, together and never alone: "You are always gonna be my love". It is a statement, but how much is true in reality. A statement that crumbles in wind, and dries in sand. Nevertheless, I rather fantasize that it is 100% true, but yet it is just a fantasy, and in front of reality fantasy just looks like a melting ice cream, except when you lick it, it's not sweet but bitter.

Yes, the song is still playing, every bit of emotion is being transmitted into my ear by a earphone. I am sitting here tying, but I want to soar and to sing with every heartbroken individual in this world. It is flowing, the sadness, flowing to you and me, in and out, from my fingers and also from my eyes. I reach out for direction, sense of belonging, and understanding, but no one is there except loneliness, a hand of skeleton, the pale light of moon. Please don't despair and don't cry, "you will always be inside of my heart", while you wander outside of my sight. When the song dies at the end, maybe you will see you've already lost your heart in melodies of a flying kate.

這是今天一個人在我的論壇上貼的一則新聞，文章的大概載錄如下：

大陸吉林大學校園裡，學生充當考試「槍手」賺外快已經是公開的秘密，不少英語系的學生，甚至全班一起下海，幫人參加英語程度鑑定考試，每次可賺取1500元到2500元人民幣，考完試後，有些雇主還會請槍手學生上大飯店吃飯。

其中最傳奇的例子，就是一名學生代人參加三次研究所考試和兩次難度很高的司法考試，全都榜上有名，為自己的荷包賺進14萬人民幣。

成都晚報報導，由於槍手市場日益興隆，有些槍手仲介公司便應運而生，以找「家教」的名義來招募槍手。不過，學校方面怎麼會縱容考試作弊？大陸媒體報導，學校也想賺報名費，所以槍手、雇主、仲介、學校，已經形成一個完整的利益生態鏈。

這可真是名副其實的“自由”市場經濟了。

No sun again today, cloudy and gloomy.

No wind. Trees outside the lab do not move, even the branches do not wave. Nothing, stillness.

I just drew a melancholic painting in my mind, background is blue. Now can you taste the salty sadness? Or can you touch the emptiness of my loneliness?

Stroking the keyboard, I've composed the medoly of my life. The music is like wings of an angel, embracing me in a warm womb. Like a baby I fall sleep, in sleep I forget.

But everything persists in their own existence. Like the stone tiger in front of emperor's palace, like the old tree standing in an unknown park. They still exist, like nothing has happened. Indeed, nothing has happened.

Do you find that tragic? Do you sometimes feel life is slowly slipping away from all you senses, but mind is still affirming to you your very existence, at same time proving you uselessness?

No, I didn't not catch the signal in the damp air, or pretend I am the heroic character in an epic tragic play. I am just me, a monk, a wanderer, a poet, a son and a 25-year-old Chinese male.

And the writing will continue until your heart understands my words.

Just when you thought the days of Hitler and his fanatic killing of Jews are far behind us, sealed in the history book, and racism is fading away as education and logic are taking over madness and violence. The history comes back to haunt us, to remind us not much progress has been made and that evil stays regardless of the passage of time.

A gang of young men cut her hair, slashed her clothes and drew swastikas on her body, before overturning the pram in which her infant was lying.

Other passengers failed to intervene as the six men attacked the woman, whom they accused of being Jewish.

This is the recent report of the attack on a French mother that took place on a train. Although later investigation showed the woman is not Jewish, but the attack itself reflects that racism and hatred towards a particular ethnic group still exist in our world.

Six men - described by French media as of North African appearance - surrounded her and rifled through her bag.

......

The attackers reportedly shoved the woman, used a knife to cut her hair and her shirt open, and drew swastikas on her stomach with a marker pen.

What is more shocking is that such attack took place on a train, and no passenger intervened or attempted to stop the racist act. We have all grown to be selfish these days, risking our own security and life in the name of justice has become so rare in our time, it is considered to be foolish.

I went to see King Arthur last Friday with a very high expectation, the preview looked good and I always like movies that have ancient battle scenes. However when the lights came back up at the end of the movie, I was rather disappointed. The movie is bad!

The plot is too simple, no ground-breaking special effects were found, and many aspect of the characters felt imcomplete and neglected to depict in the movie. It seems to me that the central theme of the movie is about the idea of freedom and being a free man. But the entire movie failed to make a strong conclusion, or failed to endow a deeper meaning to the idea. It reminded me of Mel Gibson's Braveheart, but in comparison this movie is very poor, not as half as powerful than Braveheart.

So after nearly 6 months, we met again last Friday. We had dinner together, then sat in Tea Station, and ended the night with a movie. Not much change of you, did you notice any change on me? I did not fail myself, I couldn't find any feelings left in me, I think I have gotten over you completely. But it is not to say that the scars are gone. No! They will always be there, they are part of me, my past. Part of me is made of scars.

Part of the night felt surreal. There were moments that I felt we were back to the days of sunshine and laughter, it felt that nothing has happened between us. Yea, it felt like a dream, dream intertwined with reality, reality intertwined with fantasy. What is real? What is dream?

It is time for me to close this chapter, a chapter that has dragged too long, a chapter named "Sugar Cane".

我又怎麽知道曙光的嘲笑，
當我避難于被窩裏的時候，
唯有孤獨的瘟神抽打影子。
那泛著紅線的雙眼，
根本看不到時間的另一面。
直到手提電話震響，
才發現綠色山野的荒蕪。

I have finally decided to give Wordpress a try after witnessing its power and beauty from some Wordpress blog showcases. Last night I created a subdomain in MonkSD, and successfully installed Wordpress. I have not had time to customize and tweak it, but I will soon make time to do so. Now I am still setting up some preferences and options for Wordpress, and getting familiar with this wonderful blogging tool. Once it is ready and set, I will sure post the address here, and I hope you guys will take it a look and give me constructive feedbacks.

The rapid economic growth in China has been put in test when the heat wave hit ShangHai in past weeks. To reserve the electricity and to control the record-breaking electrical comsumption in the city, city officials has issued warnings, and has forced many companies to move their daily operation to night time, such to avoid possible electricity shortage.

Another 400 companies in the Chinese city of Shanghai are being forced to switch their operations from day to night due to power shortages.

Along the rapid economic growth, China must also take care the energy supply issue. Otherwises, the economy cannot grow without the assurance of sufficient energy supply. China needs to secure its energy sources, before potential energy disaster strikes.

So I've heard that the fourth generation iPod is out. This latest version of iPod is slightly smaller and it is also $100 cheaper. In response of the recent complaints of iPod's poor quality batteries, the company claims that the latest iPod's batteries are better, and last 50 percent longer. I think I will go to the nearest Apple store to check out this little cutie, since it is $100 cheaper, if my money permits, I might just bring one little baby back home with me. I have always wanted an iPod, but they are just too expensive.

The new intern at my workplace is obsessed with mountain biking. 90% of his conversation revolves around bikes, trails and his one-month-old biking experiences. Through his talk I gradually got interested in this exciting and adventurous sport, and decided to try it out for the first time when he invited me on Saturday.

So Monday after work I joined him and his friends, and he was kind enough to let me ride on one of his bikes. He chose an easy trail which is inside UCSD, because I was a starter. I was partially excited and partially scared before the riding, for I know it is a dangerous sport, people do get hurt from it.

In the beginning, I think I did pretty good, followed him through the trail and kept up with him closely. Most part of trail is easy riding, however there were some steep parts, at least to me they were steep. There were also some parts with a lot of sand, which makes riding very slipery. While riding on it, you could feel the tires were slipping and sometimes moving out of control side by side. But I did it, I overcame my fears. Although I was gripping the bike handles so tight that I thought I was tearing them out from the bike.

After awhile, I gained more confidence and was more relaxed, and this was when the disaster happened. On one of the steep downhills, I was going down pretty fast, without breaking. When I reached almost the bottom of the hill, the bike felt like it was losing control, so I paniced and applied the brakes too hard, as a result the bike flipped and I flew out of the bike, hit the ground in a dog-eats-shit style. I ate a mouthful of dirt, scratches all over my left arm and on both of my legs, and my whole body was covered with dirt. I got up quickly and realized that I just had my first fall. When I got back to the house, my housemate looked me shockingly and thought I was robbed and then raped by some monsters. I looked into the mirror, and I have to admit I did look terrible.

But I was happy and felt really good about myself after the riding. I like this sport very much. It is like a challenge, and there are some fear factors, but once you overcome them then you will enjoy every bit of it. So I think I might get a bike myself and get into mountain biking more.

As I mentioned in one of my previous entries, Hotmail is upgrading their free email accounts' storage space up to 250MB. Apparently the email storage expansion seems to be underway, because Neowin users have confirmed and reported 250MB of storage space showing up in their Hotmail account when they logged on today. However my Hotmail account is still showing 2MB of storage space, hopefully I will see the change soon.

According to this news posted on Neowin, users have a chance to get 2GB of email storage space for free, normally only paid accounts enjoy such storage space. To obtain 2GB, you need to sign up a new email account using MSN Explorer, and the email address must be @msn.com not @hotmail.com. Whether this is true or not, I cannot confirm but some people did reply that they did indeed got 2GB email account. Maybe it is a temporary mistake from MS, or maybe MS just want to lure some more users intentionally.

This is rather a belated review, since I watched this movie last Thursday, well to be precise it was Friday since it was a midnight show. Yea, go ahead you can call me crazy, and yes I did, I did watched the first show, the 12:01am past midnight show.

However this midnight show is different from the one of Spiderman 2. First of all, the Mira Mesa Edwards theater only had one screen allocated for I, Robot, whereas they allocated first 3 screens and then expanded to 4 screens for the midnight show of Spiderman 2. So from the number of screens allocated for the first show, we can tell that far more people were in the midnight show of Spiderman 2 than I, Robot. Secondly, people were lined up 3 hours prior to the Spiderman 2's midnight show, as for I, Robot we arrived at the theater around 11:20pm and the line was not long at all.

Okay, enough comparisons for now, let's get down to the actual movie. In my opinion, the movie was very entertaining, plot was closely knitted, however it was not as funny as other Will Smith movies, such as Bad Boys II. The topic explored and delineated in the movie was an interesting one, it was the same kind of topic portraited in Animatrix, Second Renaissance: the conflict between robots and human. In fact, many movies has explored on this particular topic, A.I. and Bicentennial Man were earlier examples. This particular topic is interesting and attractive to me, to explore the relationship and rules between human and robots. We are not that far away from the depicted robot era, since we are getting increasing depended on machines, and many companies and laboratories consistently pursue on artificial intelligence and robot technologies. One day, the problems and tensions depicted in the movie might present themselves in real life, then how would we solve them, how would we avoid mistakes and prevent catastrophes?

Okay enough philosophical discussion. The movie is very entertaining and action-packed, Will Smith is still a funny actor to watch, and he proved that he still got some juice.

Someone posted this hilarious flash clip on my forum, I thought it is funny enough to share with others who visit this blog, so here is the link. Enjoy and keep in mind that election is coming soon!

My lovely and amiable co-worker has started an interesting poll around our workplace recently. The poll is about a magical "Happy Pill", a pill that is absolutely free and no negative side-effects, and the question is whether you will take it or not. Currently the statistics of the poll is posted here. You are more than welcome to participate in this poll, just post your answer in the comment, and I will pass them on to my co-worker. If you can elaborate on your answer, that will be even better. Thanks in advance for anyone's participation.

My answer to the poll is no. I believe that everything is relative, you can't have a coin of only one side. If all you feel is happy, then soon you will eventually lose the notion of happiness. Sadness and happiness need to co-exist, otherwise lose one you will lose both of them.

I come to a new understanding of China's Only Child policy when I read this news from BBC. Recently a total of 52 people were convicted, some of death penalty other life in prison due to their participation in baby trafficking.

Over a two-year period the smuggling ring is thought to have bought and sold 118 babies, many of them girls.

It was unmasked last year when police boarded a bus in south-west China and found 28 babies stuffed inside travel bags. One had died from the cold.

However the article points out that although it might seem chilling and horrifying to outsiders, but it is an old and growig phenomenon in many of poor Chinese villages, and the ultimate cause of such inmoral and inhumane trade is China's strict family planning law.

Desperate for a boy, farmers often sell a baby girl before its birth can be registered. Ironically, the baby will often be sold to other poor farmers as a future bride for their son.

Recently many articles have surfaced to point out another grave side-effect of China's Only Child policy. Over the years, it has created an imbalance in China's population, causing far more males than females. It means when reaching the age of finding life patners or get married, many Chinese males will not find their mates, such potentially increases social unrest, and also more severaly causing increase in crime, or even war.

So it is like a vicious cyle: villagers want boys, because boys are physically fit for many tasks in the field, but however villagers also worry that their boys will not find girls to form a family, since girls are so scarce. Thus they turn to baby traffickers, in search of a girl, a future wife. What I am saying is there must a social need in the first place for these individual to initiate their illegal trades, there must be a demand-supply relationship. Therefore to successfully crack down such trafficking network, arresting these traffickers are not the ultimate solution, but we need to study and look deep into these social problems, and trying to eradicate the ultimate cause.

Here is something positive and fun. I knew that every 4 years there is a World Cup, but I never knew that there is also a World Cup for homeless people. This year the World Cup for homeless is held in the Swedish city of Gothenburg.

More than 200 homeless players representing 28 countries from four continents are taking part.

The tournament is designed both to highlight the problem of homelessness and to help those involved overcome their problems.

As stated, one of the event's goal is to help these people to overcome their problems and addictions. Hoping that a sport such like football can help them get back to a more positive and normal life. According to the article, the event has achieved such goals in the past.

Organisers say it was a big success, with 31 of the 141 players now holding regular jobs and 12 signed as football players or coaches.

Forty-nine players are said to have changed their lives around by taking courses, overcoming addictions or finding a home.

I am just glad to read news like that, it reveals few positive things that still exist in this chaotic time period.