Google Wave

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope everyone is doing well and enjoying their times with family and friends.

So I was looking through many new features and programs of Google and came across this little gem: Google Wave. I'm too lazy to explain the whole thing so I'm going to let Wikipedia do the job for me:

Google Wave is "a personal communication and collaboration tool" announced by Google at the Google I/O conference on May 27, 2009. It is a web-based service, computing platform, and communications protocol designed to merge e-mail, instant messaging, wikis, and social networking. It has a strong collaborative and real-time focus supported by extensions that can provide, for example, spelling/grammar checking, automated translation among 40 languages, and numerous other extensions. Initially released only to developers, a "preview release" of Google Wave was extended to nearly 1 million users beginning September 30, 2009, with the initial 100,000 users each allowed to invite from twenty to thirty additional users.

Wikipedia, November 25, 2009 8:41 PM
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Wave


If you take note of the last part, each person invited is allowed to invite a certain number of additional users. So here's my proposal, if any of you guys are interested in receiving Google Wave (the coolest thing ever that can potentially replace email) and you have a Gmail account, let me know and send me your Gmail address. Jeff, I am expecting a prompt reply particularly from you with your Gmail because if you have Google Wave, contributing to this blog will be a breeze. Check it out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6pgxLaDdQw

Guys trust me, this thing is amazing (I don't mean to sound like spokesperson for Google Wave, but it's really cool). Let me know if you guys are interested.


-Rehan

Ponyo On the Cliff By the Sea

Since I figured I have every right to lay back and relax for Thanksgiving break, I decided to stay up and watch a movie that had been sitting in my external terrabyte for quite a while.

I've been virtually a lifelong fan of Hayao Miyazaki's works. As children, many people may remember the director/screenwriter's titles like My Neighbor Totoro (1988) or Kiki's Delivery Service (1989). Other popular titles include Princess Mononoke (1997), the Academy Award winning Spirited Away (2001), and the fairly recent Howl's Moving Castle (2004).

All of Miyazaki's films are animated, featuring recurring character designs and portrayals. At the same time, common themes are incorporated, most prominently those relating to man versus nature, technology, and morality in general. As a result, despite appearing like children's films on the outside, Miyazaki's films are often much deeper in context.

Well, the film I started off mentioning before is Ponyo On the Cliff By the Sea (2008), the latest feature film by the director. It took me a while to find a copy with good English subtitles, but once I found it, I never found the time to settle down and go through watching the movie.

In short, the film starts off with a mute "goldfish" that runs away from her underwater home. As the film progresses, we meet Sousuke, a boy around five years of age, who manages to pick up the lost fish. For some unknown reason, Sousuke decides to name this fish, Ponyo.

Eventually, the audience realizes Ponyo is a magical entity. And soon enough, we have a mixture of transformations (namely that of Ponyo becoming a little human girl), a shady, but quite amusing father (interestingly enough, Ponyo's father is an oddball underwater ex-human sorceror), impending planetary doom, a hot mom (yes, Ponyo's mother -- a.k.a. the wife of aforementioned oddball sorceror -- is a divine sea-goddess/mermaid), crazy old ladies, and a bunch of peculiarities not often seen in reality.

Don't get me wrong, though, this is a children's film (or a family film, if you will). Despite that, though, like all of Miyazaki's works, Ponyo still holds the values and themes that have been featured before. In this film's case, it would be the man versus nature theme. Ponyo wishes to become and remain a human girl. In the process, she unknowingly upsets the balance of nature, unleashing ruthless tidal waves and disrupting sea life. A good part of the film deals with settling such a conflict while analyzing more human traits like responsibility, family, love, and so forth.

In my honest opinion, I'd say it's a very worthwhile film. Yes, it can be a little childish at times, but that's a given with the movie's genre. Other than that, I enjoyed the film's uniqueness that Miyazaki is so famous for. I only wish there are more directors or screenwriters out there in this world that have only a portion of Miyazaki's creativity.

Asian Night 2009

About a week ago, a steady stream of annual Asian subgroup events came along. Thus, it's only fitting that the umbrella group, the Asian Student Union (ASU) gets its fair share of the spotlight.

Featuring all seven subgroups in Binghamton University -- Asian Outlook (AO), Binghamton University Japanese Association (BUJA), Chinese American Student Union (CASU), Korean American Student Association (KASA), Phillipine-American League (PAL), Taiwanese American Student Coalition (TASC), and Vietnamese Student Association (VSA) -- Asian Night is the annual conglomeration that celebrated Asian culture on Binghamton's campus. It's a plethora of food and performances, all handled by students.

Since each group was responsible for contributing varieties of dishes and performers, I made the effort to take care of the performance aspect for TASC. What can I possibly do?

If you know me, I'd say I'm most confident about my piano-playing abilities.

Unfortunately, performances were limited to approximately 10 minutes at a time. As seen above, the video is 15 minutes long. Knowing we were short on time, I had to rush through the majority of pieces. In actuality, I cut off great portions of the songs. The latter three songs (excluding Heart and Soul), i.e. first movement of the Pathetique sonata by Beethoven, Fantaisie-Impromptu by Chopin, and the third movement of Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata, average between 5 to 10 minutes in duration per piece. Yep, the only way to solve that is to condense the songs into wads of noise played at hyperspeed.

Here's the list, alternating between Kevin Su (KS) and me (JH):

JH: Super Mario Bros. Theme
KS: Family Guy Opening Theme
JH: Pokemon Gameboy Theme
KS: River Flows in You (Yiruma)
JH: Final Fantasy VII: Tifa's Theme (Uematsu)
KS: Final Fantasy VII: Tatakau Mono Tachi (Uematsu)
JH: Pathetique: first movement - Sonata No. 8 in C Minor, Op. 13 (Beethoven)
KS: Secret Theme (Jay Chou)
JH: Fantaisie-Impromptu (Chopin)
KS: Adapted Waltzes, Op. 64 from Secret (Chopin / Jay Chou)
JH: Moonlight: third movement - Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp Minor, Op. 27 (Beethoven)
KS/JH: Heart and Soul (Carmichael)

...After being worn out from the piano, I decided to chase a bus following Asian Night's after party. I was justly rewarded with a sprained ankle. Yay! Nights of experience. Gotta love it.

An Amusing Interview

Adam, a friend of mine was working on an article for his class and decided to interview me about a fairly recent ladybug infestation here in Binghamton.

Here's the gist of it, pretty much word for word:

"Hey, I have to write an article for a class on a trend and I know one that was happening was the ladybug stuff. I was wondering if you guys could answer these questions to your best ability. Thank you.

Please be as descriptive as possible and you can exaggerate or say ridiculous things."

A: When did they start showing?
J: October 21, 2009, at approximately 2:30 PM.

A: What was your initial reaction?
J: Somewhat surprised, since a couple of them got on my desk lamp.

A: What did it look like? Where were they?
J: Looked like one side of my room became polka-dotted. Most of them were on my window, though several advanced to the ceiling and walls.

A: What was your thought process in getting rid of them? Thought process in how they got there?
J: I looked for holes near the windows (obviously that's the only way they could get in), but found nothing extraordinary.

A: How did you get rid of them? Difficult? Crush any?
J: I caught each and every one of them by hand. Ladybugs automatically play possum when under threat, so it was easy. I simply nudged one and it fell into a container that I set underneath. Yes, there were a couple of casualties, namely the ones that refused to play dead so I accidentally made them dead for real.

A: Ever think it was a prank? If so, by whom?
J: Nope. There were signs of ladybug swarms in Albany, Syracuse, Boston, amongst other northeast regions.

A: was there any recurrences? reaction then and actions taken?
J: Yes, four days later, around the same time of day. There were not as many as before, but I facepalmed myself and proceeded to escort them out one by one.

A: Ever fear they were going to fly on you during sleep? Accidentally eat one in sleep? Was there any fear? If so, why?
J: Nope. I made sure I got every one of them out of my room. They're red, so they're easy to spot. And if I did miss any and actually ate them, it doesn't matter, since insects are good sources of protein.

I thought it was a pretty entertaining topic, since the memories made me chuckle for a bit.

PAL Masquerade Banquet and TASC Night Market 2009

I can never get tired of annual events at Binghamton University, especially those hosted by Asian Student Union subgroups. But just because I spend most of my time managing my work in TASC (Taiwanese American Student Coalition) and AO (Asian Outlook) doesn't mean I can't go and take a look at what everyone else has to offer.

Already in my third year, this was the first time I attended the banquet hosted by PAL (Phillipine-American League). I pretty much only expected the same food and performances that are present in virtually all banquet-related events.

And I was right. There were food -- good food, mind you -- and performances -- also good performances. It definitely had its interesting elements, with the elegance and formality that served as huge atmosphere improvements.

And as seen above, it's a Masquerade Banquet for a reason. I couldn't help but get into the spirit of things for just a moment.

We get good food for dinner while we look on to the various dance performances in the center of the room. The highlights were definitely on the social aspects of the event than the performances, though, since there weren't too many performers to begin with. I guess dinner can be thrown in there as a highlight, as well.

Then again, when I mentioned good food, I purposely didn't say "great" food. Not to put down PAL and its wonderful event (don't get me wrong here), as I very much enjoyed the night, but TASC is notorious for providing some of the best food in its annual events.

You know you like the flier. Recently I developed a tendency to use recurring character designs in all the TASC fliers. I honestly wonder if the trend will stick?

Well, the annual TASC Night Market seemed to be horribly down at one point. We were aiming to sell at least 120 or so tickets before the opening of the event on November 7th. Into the final week of tabling, the organization sold a mere 50 or so. Then for some peculiar reason -- and I'm simply guessing that people were lazy -- an estimated 70-80 additional advance tickets were sold on the last day.

Oh yes, advance tickets were actually sold out. I never would have predicted such an outcome. And even then, it didn't stop there. An additional 40 tickets were sold at the door on the night of the event, since there were no longer any discount advance tickets. Original plans included about 140 seats for the event. At the end, approximately 160 people showed up.

After spending 15 hours in the Old Union, fatigue was simply part of the routine. This wasn't to say no one else was tired. Working hard all the way through, the food turned out to be exceptional (though one of the dishes, not entirely sure which, was a tad salty), the design crew finished everything on time, and there were little to no major setbacks. I can definitely say that "success" is the perfect description.

Maybe when the time comes, I can leech some photos and upload them here.

2009 World Champions New York Yankees!

Short and sweet, it was a playoff series that I will remember for a while. Right after the 27th out, I quickly ran over to my laptop to order a brand new championship hoodie.

But damn, it is expensive. Knowing the impatient bastard that I can become at times, I couldn't help but choose the 1-day shipping option for the hoodie. In actuality, I probably won't have the hoodie until next week anyway, since all championship products are still currently on back-order.

The excitement put some new inspiration in me. I might just write about the World Series MVP Hideki Matsui for Asian Outlook magazine's next issue. Seriously, batting .615 by going 8-for-13, with a walk, a double, 3 home runs, and driving in 8 runs in 6 games (with limited plate appearances in Philadelphia) is enough to garner the honors.