Looking at Julie's blog site, I began to wonder... Jules asked, what is in your VCR?

Funny, I was actually thinking of tossing mine away. The Video Casette Recorder has played a vital part in most of our lives. It recorded TV programs while we were away or watching other shows at the same time. It showed all those movies we rented, borrowed or copied. It provided us with entertainment during the lull in the TV season, or in the dead of night when we could not sleep.

But now, when I look at video, I can only see how much technology has advanced. DVD is here. The picture and audio quality is far superior to anything I have ever seen. And remember one thing, DVD, if handled correctly, is forever. The picture quality in a video, however, slowly degrades everytime you play it. Yes, EVERY TIME.

So if you see a particular movie over and over again, especially the good bits ("A white hole?" "For every action, there is an equal opposite reaction. A black hole sucks time from the universe, while a white hole spews it back in." " That thing is spewing time, back into the universe?"), you may notice that the picture is not as sharp as it once was. (BTW, the above good bit was from the Red Dwarf episode, "White Hole". Funny as hell. A must see!)

Also, video is extremely sensative to mold, dust, and other bad bits. And if your tape breaks, you may as well toss it into the bin since the movie is no longer complete.

So I guess it's time for me to buy a DVD player (have a DVD drive already for the PC). Only problem is, I can't record... till DVD-RAM comes to town.

Damn...... nearly 2 months... boy am I lazy.... But it's been busy... and I have a cold again... dammit.

Anyway, it seems that I am losing steam in publishing my blog... since I have so many things in my mind.... must write that blasted screenplay, research history (for the screenplay), learn Java, French and re-read my hacking books for security.... on top of that, my day job and side job writing for the post.... how does some people do it?

Anyway, I was inspired to write again in my journal here since I read someone's blog in particular and am surprised that he can do so much with so little time... so I guess I could do it too.

Shall post again tommorow!

Hmmm.... nearly a month since I last posted. In the ensuing time, I've reformated my home PC 8 times, reinstalled ME, then 98SE, back to ME, to finally 2000 Prof (3 times) before I got my system stable again. Mandrake Linux is back as my primary OS, but my DVD drive decided to snuff it (again... blasted Sony!).

In addition, I got a nasty cold that knocked me out for a few days.... I hate colds....

But I managed to see both Final Fantasy: The Movie and the latest Jet Li kung fu fest "Kiss of the Dragon". FF looks OK, nothing spectacular compared to my expectations but I am sure they will get better as time goes on. Nice story line, a bite weak in character development, and some of the human movements are not fluid enough. Not to mention the facial expressions (or lack of it). Still, an excellent beginning.

Jet Li is actually a rather short guy. But he is so damn powerful! Make no mistake, Bruce Lee is probably the strongest (he worked our religously and had move muscle tone then anyone), Jackie Chan is the funniest, but Jet Li is the fastest. The guy has skills up the Yin Yang. The story (although set in Paris, everyone speaks English - the chinese among themselves, and so do the french... why not use their own language and use subtitles?) is true Luc Besson style (he help produced it) though not very deep, but the action is cool. But as Jet Li himself said in his web site, please Parents, don't let your children see it. It is pure escapism, no Matrix like wires or special effects. Just pure skill.

The great windows eXPeriment is a failure. I only tried it so I can see if I can do my web development studies AND play games on the same OS. Unfortunately, it managed to crash a few times and failed to load up NHL 2000 (or 2001!). So, I swallowed my pride and reinstalled the blasted WinME, which also managed to hang and fail to load up NHL 2000. Bastards.

So now I have a Win98SE bootup in my hand with yet another format and reinstall to go. (I'm writing this blog off my Linux, my DEFAULT OS on my computer).

Just saw Tomb Raider. My advice: skip it. Or at least wait till video. Geri Haliwell would have been a better Lara Croft.

In other news, I have re-installed Windows (an experimental version) but turned off the modem. There is no way I am going to let M$ have control of my computer via the net. This windows will be stand alone, only for web development, games and movie watching. I have let evil posses my computer, but there is no way for it to jump around....... muahahahaha!

It is no great secret that Asia is a haven for digital piracy. The latest movies can come here within days of an official release Stateside. Case in point, Lara Croft's Tomb Raider has arrived on my shores only 5 days after its weekend release (never mind I think that Geri Halliwell would be a better Lara Croft but I digress).

In addition, DVD's of the latest movies are also available, allegedly out of Hong Kong and Malaysia, in which the DVD's are "ripped" off the actual theater film (not those flimsy handycam-in-the-theater ones, but an actual film-to-digital transfer, which is soooo illegal, even in Malaysia). The prices range from $30 from the original imports to $7-8 (US) for the crystal clear digital copy of an actual (and still is) DVD.

Guess I have to buy a DVD player now.

Ah, the ancient art of Linux.

I decided that Blogger is getting to be very slow so I must consider moving my journal (along with a renamed domain). I love Blogger, and really do hope that Ev (it's CEO and only remaining employee) strikes it rich, but as they say, it's not personal. It's business.

BS. It's always personal when one's actions affects other people. In this case, it may affect Ev in a way. But I can probably free up space for some converts.

In any event, this means I must find a good host and learn Linux. Which means reinstalling it again with Apache and PHP and see what I can do.

So Mandrake 8 has been installed, I am learning as slow as a turtle, but it feels good to use something that does not have to pay homage or tax to Uncle Bill.

Speaking of Ancient Arts, I think it's time for me to troll around the net and find that game, The Ancient Art of War.

Posted on Mandrake 8 and Netscape.

Bastards.

A few days after the Vice President delayed the implementation of the gas price hike, we were told to expect an announcement last night at 9 PM. Since I was at the apartment watching movies and no net connection (even palmtop net connection!), I did not have the opportunity to be enraged hearing that the prices were to up by 30% at the stroke of midnight last night. No warnings, no time to adapt. Pure cold turkey. To think I had passed 3 gas stations thinking if I should fill 'er up, but nah, the government won't do shock therapy. It's just not the way you do things. I was wrong and my view on government gets dimmer indeed. At least I had a blast watching Analyse This.

I also saw Stigmata, a film if any that should have brought the wrath of the Catholic Church. (Instead, they targeted the mostly harmless film Dogma which is funny as hell but makes us think just a bit.) Stigmata follows the premise of the actual teaching of Jesus Christ, based on the very early writings by one of his discipiles. A faith that does not need beautiful or luxury churches, cardinals, priests or popes. A faith in which belief is within you. Facinating.

Islam is kind of like that already, with people being free to follow the teachings by themselves, to pray, to read, understand and comprehend the teachings. Well, in some countries. I am not exactly the most penitent but I do follow its values, as a knight in shinning armour would follow the virtues of Chivalry. Back to Stigmata, such teachings (which allegedly were declared heresay by the Vatican) does not actually threaten faith of Christianity, but that of the church. The standing of the church. The power of the church. Not that I am against organized religion or anything, but I do have serious problems of people or organizations trying to influence masses for the sole purpose of staying in power (Microsoft, my country's previous dictator and current President are prime examples).

Is the Vatican a power hungry organization? They once were (check the Middle Ages, the Dark Ages and all those Crusades). Are the Mullahs of Iran any worse? Don't know about that, although I have to admit they can be rather conservative to an extreme. But I do understand that faith must be tested against all that question it. Questions must never be silenced. Because at the end of that, you do not serve the religion. You serve yourself at the expense of others.

And that is not what my parents and grandparents taught me.