Beijing

I'm back from my trip. I'm not feeling too well as I haven't been sleeping at all. Maybe getting 4 hours of actual sleep each night. -_-
Here are some pictures of my trip. I do miss the weird food there. YUMMMMM! FOOOOOOOOD!
Also took a lot of Engrish photos. You never know what kind of things waiting for me to understand.

Goo.d

Today was a good day.
I got World of Goo from the WiiWare library. I was anticipating this title since last year. I'm always a big fan of physics based simulations, especially games like Bridge Builder, Pontifex, and those other random Flash based games.



I also saw the new Marvel movie, Punisher: War Zone. All of Marvel's new releases have been solid and this one just adds to its current track record. The movie was VERY violent. I have to warn against that. It's extremely disturbing with its violence and gore.

It is a solid film, but it's not a good movie overall. The Punisher series has always been about the action because the story is so simple, and that it delivers. This is all about the guns, gore, and cheesy lines. Only go watch this if you're a Punisher fan.

Good Days

Today was is a good day.
This year hasn't been that good for me overall and I find myself struggling to step forward.
Good days have been far and few in between for me. So I celebrate today.

I got a massage at a Chinese therapist. My back is feeling a bit better even though my it is still a little hot from the firecupping.
Mom and I went for an early dinner at Ha Long Bay, a Vietnamese restaurant. The restaurant has been open for 5 months from what the girl said, and it's pretty good, though that location on the corner of Westminster and Cooney is not visible at all.
I'm definitely going back though, they have a kickass avocado shake! MMMM AVOCADO SHAKE. Good avocado shake is hard to find.

iCaved and iBought an iPhone

The title says it all.

A Double-edged comic

I always like the nerd humor from xkcd.
This strip however made me laugh and cry a little inside at the same time.

Gmail's New Themes

Google/Gmail has publicly released their new Themes feature and I have to say it looks kickass. This has been a long time coming considering third parties have created this functionality for the old Gmail and now that it's released as an internal feature, the new Gmail now looks beautiful as it is functional. Customizable themes just make the mailbox that much more personal.

Although this isn't a full opening of their color schema, it's just one step short of it. Right now you can only select pre-made templates that Google provides. I can't wait until Google releases a fully customizable color schema. Maybe even a UI layout modifier, but I think that's asking for a little bit too much.

Glamour

I just finished watching this TED presentation on Glamour by Virginia Postrel. It delves into the mysticism and illusion of glamour, the progression from the early stages of the mid 1900's into present-day super stardom.

I love her descriptive adjectives of "falsification", "illusion", and "transcendent". This is a good analytical speech on examining the definition of glamour and how it drives our modern perspective into what is beautiful. It entices us into the world of the mysterious and beautiful yet somehow still real and attainable, breaking through the everyday and transport us into the world of idealism and perfection.

She also describes the idea of 'sprezzatura' used by Baldassare Castiglione and defining glamour as being effortless. Effortless style. Effortless beauty.
A quote from the "The Book of the Courtier" Baldassare Castiglione -1528
"to practice in all things a certain sprezzatura, so as to conceal all art and make whatever is done or said appear to be without effort." Evoking the thought of a perfect world where everything is easy.

RestoReview: Trattoria

Trattoria or Trattoria Italian Kitchen is a contemporary lounge restaurant targeting a relaxed atmosphere. The restaurant has its own spin on the trattoria style establishment by being less formal but also being a vibrant lounge having a large selection of wines and various delectable Italian dishes with modern twists. It is part of the Glowbal Restaurant Group and most likely an offshoot of Italian Kitchen. Trattoria is located at 1850 West 4th Ave in Vancouver rooted in the heart of Kitsilano's dining district.

We started out with a pitcher of the Sangria Bianca, or the White Sangria. Light, but well balanced. Cranberries give it a slight pink color also adding a hint of fresh fruitness.

Antipasto Plater(eggplant parmigiana, kobe meatballs, tiger prawns
osso bucco crochette, forno roasted clams, caprese salad
forno roasted asparagus and mushrooms
calamari with spicy tomato fonduta) - this was a delightful teaser and sampler of the different vegetables, seafood and meats.

Pasta Platter(spaghetti and kobe meatballs with tomato fonduta
penne pomodoro, linguine pesto and lasagna) - Delicious sampler of the various pastas. This is a MUST order. The Linguine Pesto is superb.

Torta di Mascarpone Pizza (fingerling potatoes, roasted garlic, caramelized onion) - I'm a little conflicted on this one. I'm pretty sure they served the wrong cheese since it was very strong and smelled more like Gorgonzola, than the supposedly Mascarpone. The cheese tasted bad, but the rest of the pizza was delish. Very tender roasted potatoes. Yum, and the dough was an oven fired masterpiece. The cheese issue might have just been a little kitchen mix-up.

Trattoria (Italian Kitchen)
1850 West 4th Ave, Vancouver, B.C.


Service & Setting: 4.5/5
Taste: 4/5
Cost Level: 3

Video Games Live!

It's been a while since the last VGL here in Vancouver which was in 2005. I'm glad it's back and I hope they're back a lot sooner than another 3 years again. Unlike the previous VGL at the QE theatre where it wasn't packed, tonight's showing at the Orpheum was packed like a can of sardines. It was full, full, full!
It was a lot more interactive this time around and it gets better and better.

Positive highlights of the show:
1) Soldier with glow in the dark exclamation mark and Tommy Tallarico in a cardboard box going around on stage.
2) An interactive game of Space Invaders where the guy had to wear a shirt with the Space Invaders icon and move around on stage to move the ship. (He lost the challenge and didn't complete the challenge of beating the first level in 2 minutes).
3) A Guitar Hero: Aerosmith challenge of Sweet Emotion on Expert. (The kid didn't beat the challenge of 175,000 points, but they gave it the prize to him anyway because he was so close. He hit ~173,000pts.)
4) A rock arrangement of One Winged Angel from Final Fantasy 7.
5) Some guy shouting out "LEEEEEEEROYYYYY JENKINS" during the World of Warcraft music.
6) Random filming of 'Reviews on the Run' with Tommy Tallarico and Victor Lucas doing a review of Warriors Orochi 2. They totally burned it! It's a piece of shit, and they totally deserved the dissing they got. Even X-Play's review rated it as terrible.
7) Girls in front of me doing Nintendo DS chat during the intermission with totally weird drawings and Japanese chat.
8) Longer running time. It started at 8, and ended at around 10:45.
9) Exclusive premiere of music from Need for Speed: Undercover including a live performance by a winning submission for the soundtrack by the Vancouver band, Splitting Adam

Negatives:
1) The lights are so annoying. During the Metroid and Metal Gear segments, they kept shining directly in our eyes. Though it was probably the section I was in and just somehow the lighting just focused on our section. Agh.
2) Random shouting during the music. Some of it was just inappropriate and served no effect but obstructing the music :(
3) SSX Tricky remix session with three EA DJ's blowing out our ears because of a feedback loop. (It might not have been their fault, it seemed more like a technical glitch)

Video Games Live is so much fun! It would be a lot more fun going with a bigger group of people though.

Supper vs Dinner

I just looked up the definition of supper on Wikipedia. It's funny how many different definitions there are since in most places in North America both terms have no difference. However, reading the wikipedia entry opens up a can of worms since different regions have different definitions. A couple of places call lunch as "dinner" and 'supper' for dinner. Another grouping uses dinner as a major evening meal and supper as a light evening meal.

Credit and Debt

I am lucky that my parents instilled a sense of being frugal into me and taught me to not embellish spending. I just finished watching a movie called In Debt We Trust. You can watch this on the web on this link.

I had heard of this problem before. Credit and/or credit card companies target vulnerable students who are not psychologically prepared with the pitfalls of lending. Youths are enticed with offers of credit cards and the allure of "buying now, paying later" not realizing how not paying the credit balances on time could and will eventually lead into a cycle of perpetual debt. People's lives are ruined in the blink of an eye of a miscalculation of the power of credit and shatter futures one by one on a daily basis. It's crazy to think we live in such a world of greed and capitalism, with the rich feeding on the poor and misguided.

Financial Frenzy

I'm quite baffled by the current financial woes, or so I hear. I don't understand how it all works. I know it is in bad shape, but I don't know how everything works together that creates this/a hostile financial situation.

The buyout of Bear Stearns, government bailout of Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac, the emergency funding for AIG, the crash of Lehman Brothers, the sale of Merrill Lynch to the Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase purchase of Washington Mutual, the forced sale of Wachovia to Citigroup. There are other events of the current financial crisis, but those are the ones that come to mind as I live in North America.

What will this mean for the world? What will it mean for individuals like me? I really have no idea.

Seven States of Matter

Playing Penny Arcade Adventures is always interesting as their colorful dialogue, wordiness, and intellectual anomalies make it a hilarious game. One of the items in the game was a book on the "Seven States Of Matter". I'm not really a physics student, but I looked around for a couple of articles.

Liquid, Gas, Solid, Plasma, Beam, Thought Waves, and BEC/Bose-Einstein Condensate (zero state of matter). Hah?

Mashable mention

Yay. Even though the mention of our product, Rezgo, was buried way down there in a list of 270 other online business tools, a mention is a mention! Mashable!

RestoReview: Soul Robata and Izakaya

Soul Robata & Izakaya is a new Japanese restaurant in Richmond's "food alley" on Alexandra Road. Soul is not your average Japanese all-you-can-eat. It serves a more traditional robata-style grilled food. Although the restaurant is dubbed as an Izakaya, it didn't feel like it as I didn't even see a drink menu. The restaurant is not really visible from the outside, it blends into the various stores beside it. However, the interior is charming and quite inviting. They had little lanterns or Akachōchin hanging above their sushi bar. The restaurant has a small, warm loungey atmosphere with quirkiness represented by the little cups and ceramics on the wall with english phrases that didn't make any sense or fit with the ambience. Examples of some of these phrases were: 'corn squeezins', 'mountain dew', and 'little brown jug'.

Sashimi (Hamachi, Kampachi, Mata?) - Fresh and soft. What good sashimi should taste like.

Grilled Beef Tongue - Soft, tender, and melts in your mouth. My fav beef dish!

Monk Fish Liver Pate - Definitely a must try. I haven't really tried fish pate and I have to say I really like it. It reminds me a little bit of the salmon pate I had before, but this is given a unique twist with its slightly pickled flavor. Yum!

Salmon tartare with Nori - I'm a little put off by this. I've had better salmon tartare elsewhere in Vancouver (if I remember correctly, it was at Brix). I would have to say it was average, and a little too strong in flavor. It was too 'fishy' and had a strong smell.

Crispy Chicken Skin - Mmmm. Can't really go wrong with fried chicken skin. Crisp, and flavorful.

Hairy Crab Bruschetta? - I'm not sure what is so hairy about it. Crab paste (the high cholesterol stuff) on top of bruschetta and served on some salad. An interesting dish guaranteed to raise your cholesterol through the roof. It's something to try if you've never tried it before, but I didn't feel like it was all too delish.

Takoyaki/Octopus Fritters - I love takoyaki, and Soul's "Octopus Fritters" are no exception. Standard formula and tasted like perfection.

Fried Ice Cream - I tried out two different flavors, green tea and
black sesame. The green tea was quite ordinary and did not match with the fried exterior at all. The black sesame on the other hand is rated as Jeff's current "Best Fried Ice Cream ever". The dark, intense earthy flavor of the black sesame merges perfectly with the fried batter. It is a perfect dessert to a Japanese robata dinner. For those of you who have never tried black sesame ice cream, it is an intense, mildly spicy concoction that has a nutty taste. (Unless you order ice cream at Guu, in Aberdeen anyway, that tastes like watered down ice cream because it's probably from Mondo Gelato).

Soul Robata & Izakaya - Definitely a robata, not so much an Izakaya. It's not Japanese run, but that's okay, the food is good. Service was excellent, tea service came by almost every 5 minutes or less and the staff was friendly. Ambience is a little quirky and not authentic, but it's a friendly and relaxed atmosphere. The Black Sesame flavor Fried Ice Cream is a MUST.


Soul Robata & Izakaya
1015-8580 Alexandra Rd, Richmond. B.C.

Service & Setting: 4/5
Taste: 4.5/5
Cost Level: 3

Microsoft's new advertising campaign

Microsoft's second wave of ads are definitely much better than the Bill Gates / Seinfeld ads. It's nice to see Microsoft finally starting to pick up on competitive advertising, but they have a long way to go before they catch up to Apple's anti-pc ads.

Close Call

I nearly got smashed in about 15 minutes ago. People really need to do shoulder checks, especially in high speed areas. I almost got pushed into the wall on the Second Narrows bridge. I was driving around 75km/h in the far right lane going onto the bridge. The black pickup in the center lane then decided he wanted to switch into my lane. I was probably in his blind spot just behind him on the right half a car length back. He was merging in pretty fast and he probably would have hit me had I not blasted my horn and try to give him some room. I think I might have damaged the right surface of my car as I moved right to dodge but probably ran into the barrier. I don't think I hit the guy, but damn, I heard a loud screeching/squeaking sound for about a second.

Alaskan Cruise

The Alaskan Cruise was a nice relaxing break for me. It wasn't the most exciting trip. It was quite boring, but it was nice and calming for me. I spent a lot of time out on the deck just staring out into the ocean and the icy land of Alaska enjoying the cool breeze.
Normally, I would assume I gained weight on the cruise, but I somehow actually lost 2Lbs after the week-long cruise. Must have been all that stair-climbing and walking action. I took a no-elevator approach and climbed the stairs every time. I walked a lot since I had to keep going between the back and the front of the ship.

I can't say I'm completely happy with the food on the cruise. I was happy with the quality on the casual dining. The formal dining however was quite disappointing. The expectations I had were quite high. I've heard that Celebrity Cruises has better food. I'm going to hold judgment and give them a 4/5 and give it an overall rating of acceptable. This is a temporary judgment as the cruise we were on had a special group of Jewish cruisers and b/c of them half the kitchen had to be locked down for them alone to prepare kosher meals. This severely limits the abilities of the kitchen's quality control to serve good meals.


Here are some pictures that I've chosen from the 1152 shots I took. :o