Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - 1

Wow wow wee waa.

Watching the yearly Potter series has become my routine. For the books, I finished them almost right after they were released, and that makes watching the film mainly for watching the film per se. Instead of the plot, I am in fact more interested to see the actors growing, pretty much like doing my Family Follow Up Project, haha.

Starting from The Order of Phoenix, Harry Potter was no longer a children novel, from bits of good wizards bad wizards it turned into darker theme, this generates at the same time an expanding tension. Ummm, the struggle and frustration in companionship is well built in book; however, even when the film is halved in two pieces (for boxoffice and money), 140min is just way too short for everything to bridge up, scenes are pretty disconnected, making it like flipping slides of snapshots - lacking continuity.

Opinions towards this final episode are diverse, at least, quite a number of my friends saying it is boring, dull, and climax-less blablabla, and most are referring to the mid-part - where Harry, Ron and Hermione are purposelessly wandering here and there in forrests, searching for the Horcruxes with no clues at hand. In fact, though slow the pace is, I personally quite like this layout.

For those who have read the book may agree with me, that in reality, as the characters grow older with their egos sharpened, JK Rowling did put much emphysis on setting the scene for the three young adults to interact, and spent more paragraphs in displaying their complex interactions in between. The fact that Ron left the team was actually portraited in an even more detailed way in chapters, and I would say, despite that the director deliberately stalls the plot, only barely could it make it closer to the gravity in book. But as always, trying is better than nothing, and to be fair, judging by that they need to shrink the whole hundreds pages down to two hours or so, it is not bad at all.

Anyway, as I have said, to me seeing the three young current-billionaires on screen already worths the ticket. Feels like Christmas is never coming if not hearing th deadly Avada Kedavra from the Dark Lord (who somehow has a flattened nose).

P.S. Too bad that we could see the Emma kissing scene only in next year!

Sharing

Skipped a renal bedside teaching in Nethersole Hospital today, just to go back my high school for a sharing session in the morning assembly. Yeh, the opportunistic cost is high (it might be the one and only one bedside teaching on the beloved kidneys in the year...), but there is no regret speaking for the school that have developed and moulded the present James Chow.

The assigned topic is Challenges faced by a university student. This is exactly the kind of topic that stuporizes me when I was young. Luckily it was run in a Q&A manner - a planned one - between my ex-teacher and me, at least not a boring one-man-talk.

Of course when the teacher invited me for the talk three months ago, with no hesitation I agreed. But only after a while, when preparing for the talk, I see a huge big problem - how on hell the life of a final year medical student be representative for university as a whole! Sharing with them my daily routine would for sure portrait a cant-be-more-skewed picture of university life, that's so wrong.

- The last time I went to CU campus was in August, when I only have a spare 1.5 hour between lectures to fixed my broken library card in lightning speed. The time before, was already my year 4 final MB.

- We don't have GPAs, just pass or fail in each and every subject. So fighting for marks are usually not an important issue.

- Yes, I enjoyed my hall life very much eating drinking and chitchating with my buddies, but I am sure our Mrs Ho Hostel is one of the most peaceful, silent (and perhaps in some sense - boring) student hall in Hong Kong. At 3am when students in the-closely-named Ms Ho Tung Hall in the opposite shore are screaming and running down streets for a late night meal, we on the other hand are either sleeping on bed, or sleeping in books.

Sharing on these parts of u-life are definitely deadends, so the teacher and I agreed to explore on another aspect, which my fellow schoolmates might be more interested in - the love story between the ex-president and ex-vice-president of Student Union - and the way they grow from high school to uni, and to now one of them starting to work.

(To be continued...)

The Cove - blood, dolphins and human

It took me quite some time managing to get a ticket for this documentary. I agree, films are put on screen largely based on economical concern - box office driven; but it doesn't make sense to me when this Winner of Oscar Documetary is only played in two and only two cinemas over the entire city - and sad enough - two shows per day in each.

Richard O'Barry was a previous worldclass dolphin trainer specialising in captivity, and probably you have seen him - if you are old enough - on the famous Flipper TV series, where he personally trained 5 dolphins to perform extraordinary actions and gestures, playing into drama. And since then, these intelligent creatures became popular and were loved world wide, dolphin-capturing also raised together as a goldmine industry. As anything that goes commercial, hidden cruelty is here and there. Now, Richard regrets, The Cove was then filmed to reveal to the world, the inhumane business undergoing in Japan, and vividly the way 23000 dolphins got killed in a year.



I try not to think about the political reason behind the documentary, merely listening to the sound of dolphins screaming, and seeing the bloody red cove water, how digusted could I be for the egocentric title Crown of creatures - we called ourselves.

It almost instantly reminded me of the horrible experience in Chimelong Wildlife Theme Park in our growing mothernation.

The so-called wildlife conservation park is no way close to conservation but nature destruction. All that I saw was monkeys being chained on legs, parrots' wings being fractured so that they can't fly (I am amazed by how parents reacted and said to their children: Hey son, see how obedient those parrots are! standing there and let us take photos...son this is how you should behave...), and turtles kept in turbid cloudy waters which I almost thought they were fishes.

Decorating with eduacation and nature protection, in actual fact everything is again the sweet sweet money.

When we call ourselves the human, please, be humane - to those primitive but not necessarily worthless creatures. As Richard says: when you feel it, you know souls are talking to each other.

Just the way you are

When Mr Obama kept talking about change.
I believe there is one thing that's everlasting.

Just The Way You Are - Bruno Mars

Oh, her eyes, her eyes, make the stars look like they're not shining
Her hair, her hair, falls perfectly without her trying
She's so beautiful, and I tell her every day

Yeah, I know, I know, when I compliment her she won't believe me
And it's so, it's so, sad to think that she don't see what I see
But every time she asks me do I look ok, I say

When I see your face, there's not a thing that I would change
Cause you're amazing, just the way you are
And when you smile, the whole world stops and stares for a while
Because girl you're amazing, just the way you are(yeah)

Her lips, her lips, I could kiss them all day if she let me
Her laugh, her laugh, she hates but I think it's so sexy
She's so beautiful, and I tell her every day

Oh, you know, you know, you know, I'd never ask you to change
If perfect's what you're searching for then just stay the same
So, don't even bother asking if you look ok
You know I'll say

When I see your face, there's not a thing that I would change
Cause you're amazing, just the way you are
And when you smile, the whole world stops and stares for a while
Because girl you're amazing, just the way you are
The way you are, the way you are
Girl you're amazing, just the way you are

When I see your face, there's not a thing that I would change
Cause you're amazing, just the way you are
And when you smile, the whole world stops and stares for a while
Cause girl you're amazing, just the way you are. Yeah

===============================================

P.S. Happy 4th anniversary!

Abalone - the affordable luxury

Right, last time after writing some comments on Blokus, we did have some fun on blocking others' way in the library. Some of my friends asked me about the Abalone I mentioned, okay, lets get the chess-game on!





I first met this cleverly designed game when I was in high school.

Since the time in form 6, when I started to earn some extras with the parttime job of tutoring, quite a portion of my income would go into the boxoffice every month. One of the frequently-visited cinemas is definitely AMC in Festival Walk. And almost everytime after the film, I would go get a walk in the nearby Log-On, where innovative products are often found (and of course, by innovative I am refering to the prices as well).

In a random day of winter, a huge promotion counter was set up right outside the store, where at least thirty kinds of new-to-me chess and board games were open for trial and purchase. Walking within the shelves, I was caught by this seemingly primitive game - a weird hybrid of Black-White-chess and Marble-chess. And when I looked up the banner, it wrotes: "No.1 Game of the decade - INTERNATIONAL GAME FESTIVAL".

At this very moment, the enthusiatic young handsome salesman approached, explaining the game rules, and challenged me for a quick play.

The rules are simple:
- Each player has 14 marbles arranged as above.
- For each move, a player can move 1,2 or 3 consecutive marbles.
- The move can be either in-line (parallel to the line of marbles) or broadside (not parallel to the line of marbles).
- A player can push their opponent′s marbles, IF the pushing line has MORE marbles than the pushed line (three can push two or one; two can push one).
- Marbles must be pushed into an open space (i.e. not blocked by a marble of either colour), or be ejected into the surrounding groove.
- The goal is simple, if you can eject 6 of your opponent's marbles into the groove, you win!

Gamerule illustrated


The game is fun in its dynamic game mode. As you may have spotted, the moves involve both attack and defense intention, and everytime you are pushing your opponent's marbles to the edge, you in fact on the other hand create a weak point in your territory, which allow a potentially fatal strike back. To go advance, there exist also various starting positions to choose from, so as to create more variability and actions.

Going back to the young salesman, after 15min of play and struggle, I actually won the game.

Trust me, he looked really ashamed, and said to me:
"No, no, no way. That's impossible. Let's play for one more time!"

That is how I got this lovely playable game with me for 6 years!

The Social Network

Oh yes, it is David Fincher again.

I remember well that when I was in form 5, I wrote my first movie review on Fincher's legendary Fight Club for my summer project. I spent quite some weeks studying the plot and reading all the trivias, and was then caught by this amazing director.

Reviewing my VCD shelf at home, most of his collections are on it.
Se7en (1995)
The Game (1997)
Fight Club (1999)
Panic Room (2002)
Zodiac (2007)
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008)

Judging from the trend, it is not hard to tell Fincher is switching his choice of genre, from crime and thriller to the recent dramas - which, are always the tough ones to film. Comparing mere dialogues to the guns and blood, it is much more harder to maintain the same degree of eyecatchiness. Asking the audience to sit and listen to people talking, chatting and arguing for 2 hours could be a risky move, but Fincher did it phenomenally well.

In fact, the career story of Zuckerberg is not of a stunning kind when matched with that in Aviator, but it was the scent of reality which makes this film attractive. The ending is known before entering the theatre - we all have felt the power of Facebook. So, seeing how an ordinary university student (err, we are talking about Harvard - it is extraordinary, haha) expands a small idea step and step, and the in between realistic interpersonal betrayal and distrust, we are all curious - how on earth did he finally made it?

The choice of character is also worldclass. Seriously I knew none of the lead roles, but I guess no one would deny - they all played it right to the point, each has his character sharply shaped, and this makes the following interaction tight and fun. In particular I appreciate the line-writers who wrote the brilliant dialogues between Zuckerberg and the lawyers, it is like entering a language gunfield, bullets here and there. Armie Hammer's play for the Winklevoss brothers is as well wonderful - one actor two characters - wow!

Haha, in fact, I am more curious of how the real young Zuckerberg thinks about the way he is portraited in the film, well, it is not entirely positive to be a weird genius who did cheat a bit to have achieved his current status.

But yeh, being smart per se usually does not make one a billionnaire. =]

Burger, brand, burger

For friends who know me and Landico well, they should realise that we are both burger lovers. Unhealthy it may be, it is simply irresistable to get a juicy bite together with sips of coke.

There are few more weeks before my girl is back from the States, and I had a chance to visit Burger King with my dear groupmates. As usual, I ordered a Regular Whopper Meal, but when I was standing at counter waiting for my junk delicacy, this time, something new I observed.

Along the row of serving counters lies trays of meal awaiting to be picked up. When I scanned across them, I started to realise how neat the food was placed - from left to right: coke, fries, burger - on each and every tray, no exception.

Amazed by my new discovery, I was about to pick up my meal. Suddenly a hand from the Branch Manager reached to my tray, quickly touching every item of my set and made a minor turn - so that ALL of them have the Burger King Logo facing me - then, I overheard him talking to the newbie trainee: "This is how we position our food."

As minor as it might be, I can't help to appreciate the detailed thoughtful servive proctotol the shop has made. Not realising in the past, this is probably one of the reasons for why I always find (subconsciously) Burger King a neater and brighter brand than McDonald, KFC or its other counterparts.

This, is brand image construction, we may not notice, but it exists - serving as the unseen advertisement.


P.S.
Talking about brand imaging, in the old days, I once saw a Burger King TV commercial that I love so much. The layout was simple: The camera shot pairs of legs queuing in front of the counter, walked forward and ordered different sets one by one. At barely one second before the ads ends - a pair of legs in yellow trousers and red plastic shoes came - suffice to say - yes, that is Mr Mcdonald.

The Omnipotence Paradox

A Good old friend of mine, whose critical thinking skill is what I have always been jealous of, asked about my view towards an ancient question, when I was talking about God and Logic.

"Can an omnipotent being (or, God) create a stone so heavy that he himself cannot lift?"

Of course for God's (or, an omnipotent being) sake, I know so well that I am not a good candidate in joining the overwhelming discussions which have been made among thousands of respectable philosophers or theologists. But on the other hand, I disagree with some Christians who fired with a pointing finger, proudly accusing the other by quoting the Bible:

"Jesus said to him, again it is in the writings: you may not put the Lord your God to the test". Matthew 4:7

If God has created our mind for logical thinking and He does insist that He is the ultimate truth, providing our question is sincere and humble, why fear and evade? Instead of testing our God, I consider questions of this kind a training for the rational part of our belief. Afterall, religon is never purely by faith.

Lets go back to the everlasting paradox.

To me, I tend to agree what the stone problem has disproved - a completely almighty God (eg. working in logically impossible or self-contradictory way). What remains is, actually I would like to take a step back. I believe in a God who possesses the adequate power or abililty to create and run the world. He may not necessarily be truly almighty to an absolute extent, but to the fleshy me, that's more than enough. It doesn't alter our relation of a creator and a creature.

An interesting point might be, I observed that some Christians tend to feel very offended while somebody challenges their almighty God. When I tried to explain the above views to them, some reacted pretty furiously, considering my opinion as "compromising the perfectness of God"...but in fact, does it really matter if one has $100,000,000,000 or he has an infinite amount? As long as he is the richest among the universe, he-is-the-richest.

Discussing this question would easily made me emotionally withdrawn, going back to the Bible, I love how the poet described and praised his loving God.

"Clap your hands, all you nations; shout to God with cries of joy.
For the Lord most high is awesome, the great King over all the earth. " Psalm 47:1-2

Yes indeed, my Lord being most-high and the greatest King is perhaps more meaningful than Him being omnipotent.

Superhero II

What about Spiderman?

Flexibility is the key. There is simply no other who can hop between the skyscrapers and climb walls with bare hands while at the same time not losing the combatability. (Ah, you must be thinking about the rubbery man in Fantastic 4 - stop that, he is by no chance comparable with the spider, especially when we are talking about speed and perhaps more importantly - visual elegance, haha.) I believe all fans of spiderman would agree, his design is simple, but you never get bored.

Still, I have a problem in appreciating his costume. I must say, though that he has a muscular body build, the tight red suit does look a little bit sissy to me. Well, as like I always have much difficulty in understanding the beauty in the latest Milan fashion - I might be too old-schooled to have framed the need of metal in every superhero!

So far so good, it's time for Hulk and the Fantastic 4.

Hulk is more like a beast than a real hero. Yes it is not difficult to feel his power through his bruising punches and tear. But seeing the green big guy jumping here and there in the city, crushing every piece of land along his way, it seems he is doing more harm than good...Together with his Skrek-like skin tone and the bestial personality, err, he reminds me of Godzilla.

Well, sorry for any Fantastic 4 lovers, I am so much tilted away from them. Unlike having the mutant background in X-men, the four scientists in uniform appear way much artificial and random. And frankly, their ability aren't that innovative, are they? As a group of four, I love the Incredibles much much much more. XD

Let me end by showing a short video from Marvel - the amazing allied battle by my favourite Ironman, Spiderman and the greenbeast. Enjoy!

Superhero

Talking with Samson about my love and hate towards different superheroes.

Here is my list of choices (from favourite to the least):

1. Ironman
2. The X-men
3. Spiderman
4. Batman
5. Hulk
6. Superman
7. The Fantastic 4

Let me show you why. Amongst all, I have a crush on Ironman. First is the wonderful metallic outlook - shiny red and golden armour - looks a lot cooler and seemingly-lighter than the dull black bulky shield wore by the dark knight. Still, what truly catches me is the unique character.



Ironman has such a narcissistic makeup that he actually indulged so much in his own power. This is unique among its own kind, where you could see the struggle, self-disbelief and self-questioning in Spiderman, Batman even Wolverine in X-men; but Ironman, he is an arrogant and overweening guy in whom you can almost see the ego exploding. This scent of extraordinary charisma actually turned the labelling of superheroes around: who said one needs to be as humble as Jesus to save the world?

As for the The X-men, it is pretty unfair to put them on the list, as a group, of course the variety broadens. Amongst them, in particular I like the Wolverine - the fusion of pure flesh and metal is primitive yet attractive. Comparing with Ironman, he doesn't even need rockets or bullets - he fights, heals, and fights again.

A real warrior, I would call him.


(To be continued...)

Abortion III

I advocate legal abortion being implemented does not mean I agree with the very act of abortion.

Personally, I choose to consider life begins as a sperm first enters an egg, there might not be a scientic explanation, but you can't deny the symbolic meaning of it - a vivid illustration of how two lifes fuse together. It is not a morality judgement that lead me away from abortion, it is simply a personal uneasiness in making this decision.

Deciding to go for abortion needs just a moment, but I know myself so well, once after the decision is made, the sense of guilt is seeded. It may not grow immediately after the simple procedure, but it would definitely ring a bell from time to time. It may be when I saw another newborn baby, it may be everytime I kiss my wife, it may be when I walk pass the obstetric ward. Guilt just doesn't go away.

Though morally I might not have done anything wrong, well, everything is about cognition - guilt follows not the morally right or wrong but simply how I percieve the event, and I couldn't change it.

So, abortion is not an option for me, but probably, good for the society.

Gloomy sunday

Speaking of the choice of music in 告白, there is a particular scene that caught me tight. When the teacher stepped out the restaurant, knowing the story of A, she walked slowly, kneeled and cried, then stepped up again for the path ahead. Without a word, the chemical reaction went on with Radiohead's Last flowers and the overwhelmingly emotional body languages from 松隆子.



I got my goosebumps when I listened, it reminded my of the legendary Gloomy Sunday written in 1933.

It was said that people listening to this song would be clouded by a sense of intense disparity and hopelessness, and indeed the song was once banned to be radio-boardcasted due to this very rumor (or, fact). Over 100 artists have reinterpretted this deadly masterpiece, afterall I love the tinge of sorrow in Sarah McLachlan's version.



Haha, hope that I still have visitors to this blog after posting it here.

告白 - Who's confessing?

Having been through a packed Orthopaedic week, I really need a good rest from books. Asking dad out for breakfast and movie in the morning is a good choice - but, it tensed me up even further.

Of course the plot is great with no doubt, I am definitely interested in flipping the book when I have time.

Also, I love the way of filming. The story revealed the core from the start, and the rest is like peeling onion skins - new clues follow tightly one by one. The music used is as well interesting, there was often a audio-visual mismatch - jazzy rhythm when one's killing, this made the scene odd and heart-chilling.

Watching Confessions is like staying in a psychiatric ward full of funny extreme characters. Taking a class of mid-school students as the background of murder is simply horrifying - all hiden behind the innocent faces.

Some may say everyone in the film is psychic, but stop for a while, isn't it a realistic reflection of the cilivilised world we are living in? On one hand, we live and interact with a mouthful of peace, love and care; but deep down in our heart always lied a suppressed devil with hatred and blood. Confessions is like a physcially acted-out verson of our mental play, as I always believe: We are all born evil.

Other point is fate. Well, yes A may seem cold-blooded to kill without a sense of guilt - but isn't that fully attributable to his own upbringing? Being raised by a mentally-skewed engineer mother, leaving behind a genius whose great work has never been recognised, these are all moulding one's character, while chances come - BOMB - the chain reaction kicks off. Therefore I often feel sympathetic for those serial killers, it is either his past or his gene that make him the murderer, and jailing him is simply a reason of social-effectiveness - this man is hindering the progression of our peaceful society.

Similar echoed in B. A boy living in inferiority in every aspect of life, when one day the balance tipped off, killing become an achievement, and, a source of satisfaction.

Haha, though rated class III, the movie in itself is not that bloody and not much of real violence. But the message is simply too socially-inappropriate for our new generations (whose brains still possess certain degree of neurological plasticity), keeping them (temporarily) from plot of this kind is a wise decision. Afterall, we are all born potential murderer, aren't we?

Abortion II

Let's put the science aside, considering the current medical definition of abortion - would I advocate or not?

Well, a yes and a no.

Yes. In a social-function perspective, I support the law for legal abortion. We have entered a generation where pre-maritial sex is no longer a debate topic but a norm (I am not saying its morally right), and in the short OG rotation I had seen at least 10 mother-to-bes who were still in their school uniform. If abortion is never allowed, whats going to happen to the reckless and helpless couple, afterall raising a child is not playing Tamagotchi.

And did you notice how much one needs to invest for a newborn baby? We are in the era of nuclear families - not that we want to - but who on earth could now actually be financially-competent to raise an entire football team. We are not talking about optional luxuries now, you can go check the price of diapers or formula milk, then you'll see.

Yes, I agree teenage unplanned pregnant is a huge mistake one could have made, but I don't see a better way to ruin 3 lives at a goal than to force a couple who are immature and inadequate, or more horribly, irresponsible and non-committed to raise a child.

(to be continued...)

Abortion

Well, right. Today our professor from Department of Plastric and Reconstructive Surgery asked me (specifically) a question: Do you think abortion is one of the contraceptive methods?

And more directly, what is my view towards abortion?

To give a definite answer, we first need to get a consensus on when do we mean by abortion, in other words, when do we consider a life has begun. The Catholics take this strictest, they thought life started at sperms and eggs, so things become simple - no artificial contraception, let alone abortion.

The next come the majority of general public - including the Christians. I have asked quite a number of my non-medic friends, and they all agree that life begins at the moment of fertilization, fusion of a sperm and an egg.

But wait, what about millions of ladies in the world having an IUCD (Intrauterine contraceptive device) in situ? These highly effective metals are placed inside the uterus, induce inflammation of uterine wall, and practically prevent implantion, after the egg has been fertilized. Isn't this constitute an abortion?

I guess before the religon leaders stand on the stage, convicting those who aborted under the law of Bible, and loudly encouraging the fellow listeners to think twice before sex and to contracept by all means, they should first learn more about human biology and current advances in contraceptive methods. Or else, in their definition, their moving speeches might have aided somebody to sin, mistakenly.

Kick Ass

Anyone could be a superhero.

I ain't interested in this movie from the beginning. I still remember quite clearly I first saw this poster in Cape Town (yes, the Cape Town in South Africa) while wandering in a mall with Brother Steward. Without knowing the plot, somehow the poster (not this one) reminded me of Austin Powers' kind of horrible humor. But now, I apologize for my unfair pre-occupied comment.

Kick-ass is a special one. You may have watched tonnes of movies centred on superheroes - Superman, Batman, Spiderman, X-men, Ironman (Pause - why all men?), Fantastic 4, Hulk, The League of Extraordinary...but if you bring the same expectation to Kick Ass, I guarantee you for a complete jaw dislocation.

Kick Ass is about an average teen fantasizing to become a superhero - and finally remained ordinary. It may sound non-sense, but frankly, this is what makes this film unique and to some extent - meaningful. I believe, as the movie has narrated, everyone in some point of life has dreamed about being a superhero, it might not necessary be a genuine one, but at least, we had all once dreamed for more power. But the inconvenient reality is that, we are bound to remain ordinary. Still, a superhero being heroic is by definition of zero surprise, it is always an average man who did the extraordinary who truly shines.

I love the movie's sarcastic altered quote from spider man:
"With no power, comes no responsibility. Except, that wasn't true."

Hi, Hi-tech!

***
Yes, iphone is powerful.
***

I started my day by using its multialarm plus nap-mode.

Before leaving the room, I checked the weather forecast, it reminded me to bring an umbrella.

While travelling on the train to HK Eye Hospital, I read the yahoo news.

Still not yet there, I rehersed today's powerpoint presentation ("Ocular manifestation of Hereps Zoster infection" what an specialised topic.)

After that, we had a spare hour, I read my own notes on the phone.

I got bored, so I played Need For Speed (highly recommended!).

We got bored, we mixed and matched faces by I Swap Faces - got an iatrogenic laughter induced stomache afterwards.

Going out for lunch here in Kowloon City, we searched Openrice for recommendations.

In the eye outpatient clinic, facing the crazy vocabs, I had my Medscape and Wikipanion.

Going back to hostel, on the minibus, I played MegaJump.

While having my homemade dinner alone, I clicked and listened to the latest summary of NEJM - a just fit 20min.

Realising today is Wednesday, I had a free movie ticket from Golden Harvest, I checked the time by HK Movie.

Before sleep, check facebook.

Set my alarm for another day.

==============================
Conclusion
1) Yes, it is powerful!
2) Ummm...seems things can go on without any conversations at all...
3) Why do I call this thing the i-PHONE, without having made a single phonecall at all?
==============================

500 Days of Summer

Finally, after a series of thrillers and fantasy movies, here comes the 500 days of Summer, the first romance-comedy on this blog.

The story is about Tom, a greeting card writer, meets Summer, a girl that he fell in love with almost at the first sight. The problem is - Summer never believes in true love. The film then narrates - in a fun way - the subsequent 500 days over the pathyway of love.

Watching this film is like enjoying a large bowel of fruit-salad, you got spoonfuls of mixed taste of love in a row, from romance, sweetness, passion to disappointment and heartbreaks. Well, right, love is definitely the most complex chemical reactions that ever exist - its unpredictable, non-reproducible, and - not quite scientific.

The tidal love between Tom and Summer might be quite a realistic mirror of all the lovers in the world. The emotional complexity and irrationality involved is what keep the couples exploring on. Putting together two people with different backgrounds and personality in such an intimate relationship would of course, from time to time, generate tension. But perhaps, it is the difference that make one attractive, and make him/her the unique and irreplacable one.

P.S. Joseph Gordon-Levitt is so charming!

iPhone

This is probably the most hi-tech product I have ever invested in my life.

All along I considered my cell's only purpose as the phone itself (or proably an alarm too), so, despite all the heat around new mobiles, I remained an insulator in changing my old nokia phone.

But these weeks I see the point.

One boring day in paediatric surgery team, we are invited (or you can call it summoned) to join the team surgery in the operation theatre. Well, I myself am never a keen observer in all sorts of surgery, still we need to go for it, and the lucky us picked on a case of laparoscopic partial nephroectomy (cutting half a kidney). We started at 9am, and the time went on and on, though the images were so clear on the TV screen, my legs started to sore. As the surgeons were too busy dealing the heavily bleeding redbean, they were not able to entertain our questions, so we stood.

The only thing I brought with me is a pocket general surgery guide, I tried to flip over and over, wishing to see a page writing about paediatric surgery - and of course there was none. So, despite my raging curiosity over the anatomy, surgical procedures, complications - I could only stand.

But then, Joanne's iphone came into play. It satisfied all our wants, with the additional dessert of facebook and yahoo news.

This is when I started to love this piece of Apple.

P.S. The surgery finally ended at 5:30pm.

Priority

Umm how I wish I could have 48 hours a day.

These days I am so much troubled by the limitation of time. Recalling my chat with my dearest roommate Kaman last year, I found the lesson of prioritizing our jobs seems to be advancing in our final year. Family, girlfriend, friends, churchlife, movies, leisure books, and finally the horrible studies. Mind you, I am not saying any of the above is a burden to me, in fact I love them all (with studying inclusive) - just that the basic rule of economics is so truthfully real - "Resources are scarce, yet human wants are unlimited."

The question is, how could I achieve a balance (or, homeostasis) in it!

I tried to prioritize them like this:
1) Family, girlfriend
2) Friends
3) Churchlife
4) Studies
5) Leisure

But it doesn't even work a bit:
- Doesn't bible says we have to put God at first place?
- Some may blame me being heavy-color-light-friends
- Seems the study time is never enough!
- Gosh I want more leisure time...

Finally, I see the point. It is the limitation in time that makes things valuable. If time is unlimited I would never be pleased to have dinner with my girlfriend, I would not have cherished so much about my family time, and studies would seem so endlessly torturing. So, perhaps more importantly is not to feel regretful for whatever choice I have made (provided that they are reasonably meaningful). Because, based on again the rules of economics, the list option-forgone is endless.

William Hung is right....
"I have already given my best, and I have no regret at all."

The Expendables

In the days without girlfriend, I can only go in the threatre alone. I dare not to watch Going The Distance by myself - so my weekend dessert turned into another extreme - The Expendables by Stallone.

Judging only by the starring cast, the movie starts with a baseline rate of at least 2 stars. From the ever-energetic Stallone, to Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, and my favourite Bruce Willis (also Arnold Schwarzenegger). Indeed, the testosterone level remains skyhigh throughout the two hours - almost blew me away.

Stallone is simply amazing. I wonder how could he bear this muscular body in his age of 64, and kept on running, fighting and combatting as a lead role. Of course, if you pay enough attention, it is quite obvious that much of the filming angles have been suited to minimize his actions. Though it is no way comparable to his fleshy punch in Rocky, credits have to be given for his age and effort.

On the other hand, Jet Li 's performance is way under his ability. Probably due to his poor English, he spoke only for a few lines (words, in fact), and throughout the film he kept being beaten up and teased as an Asian, umm I hate that.

Well, the highlight of the movie is probably the short conversation among the lovely triad -

Schwarzenegger: Hey how about dinner?

Stallone: Yeh, when?

Schwarzenegger: In a thousand years?

Stallone: Too soon.

(Schwarzenegger walks away.)

Willis: What's his fucking problem?

Stallone: He wants to be president.

Frankly, the movie is so much Hollywood and is definitely nothing new, don't expect a twisting story or fascinating fight scenes. But paying just $30 (Golden Harvest Mongkok!) for all these stars, why not?

Rubik

Umm I had a long free week after my first clinical rotation. I really wish to gain some extra-medic skill, but limited by the short time - skiing is out, tennis is out, piano is out. I could only resort to something smaller and easier (yet challenging enough). Finally I found my long-forgotten Rubik's cube in my drawer, and there I go!

My best record was only to finish one single face unaidedly (if you still consider this as a record...). This time I made up my mind and tried go online to learn, only by then I realise there are rules/algorithm for you to solve this thing. Still, it took me almost 5 hours to memorise all the crazy steps and solve one by my own...

Well, fun always disappeared after revealing the solution, but searching in youtube, you will see crazy guys are all over the world.

Blindfolded Rubiks


Rubik's in 10 second

3-years old Chinese solving Rubik's

When I

When I woke up, I think of you.

When I skipped my breakfast, I think of the ham-and-cheese panini you made for me.

When I stood in operation theatre watching the open-heart surgery, I think of how you keep my heart beating.

When the prof fired questions to me, I think of the way you ask my questions - so I smiled and forgot to answer.

When I was answering the questions, I think of you answering mine - so I spoke nonsense - and the prof asked me again.

When I drank Mr.Brown coffee, I think of the color you like.

When I finished the movie alone in theatre, I think of and count how many times have we been holding hands in front of the big screen, and I missed the main plot.

When I watched MV of Lady gaga, I think of your Christina Aguilera.

When I walked pass TimberLand, Lancome, Madico, LeaveLand, Trendyland, I think of you.

When I dropped my pen underneath my bed and I crawled to pick it up, I think of the 趴地熊 on your bed.

When I was poo-pooing in washroom, I think of the 屎Pat熊 on your bed.

When I opened the fridge, I think of how cold your hands were in winter.

When I peeled the California Orange, I think of you in California, and the days we watched Annoying Orange together.


=============================
You see how much these are disturbing my life, so please come back soon, so that I can SEE you and stop thinking about you!
=============================

The Twilight saga - Eclipse

I have done an informal survey, asking quite some twenty friends about their views on the Twilight series, and the post-hoc subgroup analysis (still informal) showed a significant difference between boys and girls. Generally, boys are bored and girls are romanced.

So here I come, from Twilight to NewMoon, to the current Eclipse.

As far as I know, there are three different directors for each of them. If you have seen Twilight, I am sure you as as well tell the difference from the exceedingly slowpaced but detailed plot - it was filmed by a female director. Plus the fact that the original story was written by a gifted lady writer Stephenie Meyer, the entire story actually centred so much on Bella's struggle of love, and her difficult choice between the charmingly protective vampire Edward, and the (very) muscular and amiable werewolf Jacob.

Indeed if I were to classify the film genre, I would rather put it into Romance/Love story. To be fair, after shifting my paradigm and seeing the world in Bella's eyes, I could feel the enchantment of love floating around, in a strong scent.

In particular, I appreciate the shot where Bella was put on a high freezy mountain by Edward, being a cold-blooded species he failed to offer a warm fleshy hug - but the perspiring Jacob could. Seeing his beloved girl holding around skin-to-skin by another boy - you could almost taste the sour in it. Transfering the inner tension into something physical, I love the idea.

P.S.
Boys who used to enjoy action and fantasy may have expected too much of blood or fight from the Twilight series. Haha, if so, I would suggest him going for the Underworld series instead - again story of vampires and werewolves - but dark and thrilling, no more girly love.

P.S. 2
Afterall, Bella is the lucky one, at least she has the chance of entering this dilemma, it is a blessing to be immersed by the polar love of two kinds. For my choice? Look at the poster I chose!

The Fungshui Gamble

Coming back from a day trip to Macau with my friends, what a crazy, fun, appetite-filling and blessed journey.

Calling this city the Republic of Gambling is so politically correct. Jasper is right: the number of casinos there is comparable with the 7-11s here in Hong Kong. Though (luckily) none of us went for gambling, it is hard not to get drown by the sea of chips and poker cards.

Whenever linked to luck, everything become intimately related to fungshui. The traveller's guide on my hand has an entire chapter teaching the gamblers how to battle against the "風水陣" set up by the casinos. I have much fun reading it.

First, I got to appreciate the complex 五行 ideas involved. In the older days where science and maths are yet to be the leading knowledges, our ancestors cleverly attributed the in-harmony natural laws to the beauty of nature. It is a good idea to make decisions in line with our mothernature, and yes, there is so much wisdom in it.

But now back to 2010, where probability has become a major syllabus in HKCEE maths (what is it called in the 3-3-4 system?), do you still seriously think that you can outplay the 買大細 by wearing a shiny green shirt and holding a toad in palm? If you doubt, I don't even need a randomised control trial, try the following and you will see.

1) Go get a sum of money, buy 1000 hands in series, if you still have a considerable edge, I paid you double.
2) I come join you wearing the same shirt and holding the same toad species, when you 買大, I 買細, ummm you guess who would the toad help?
3) Go ask the fungshui master: Why dont you get in the casino and win something big, instead of earning the pity penny from the book publisher?

Phew, afterall, I am not the one who is gambling. If I am, you may actually see me holding a frog in my hand too - umm, it does no harm XD

Determined by butterfly

As our current technology improves explosively, sooner in our future, we may possibly succeed in going back to the past. While if so, at this day, theism (at least Christianity) will collapse. Let me elaborate.

As Christians we have some core beliefs - one of which is the uniqueness of individual creation. We believe that God has created us with intention, given us freewill to make choices, and imposed on us his plan of our lives.

Then, if there is a single person succeeded in travelling back time and changed something, it proved two concepts simutaneously:
1) Determinism is correct.
2) You can reverse - and take the role of - God's creation.

According to the butterfly effect, even a tiny change in the past would lead to a drastic change in future. The further you travel to past, the more different the current world would be. So, if one has travelled back 100 years, he killed someone randomly - the entire family at current time will break down and vanish in no where (if unlucky enough, he may have vanished as well). While at the same time, new individuals will appear due to the change in marriages. So, you utterly cancelled God's creation, and replaced with your own ones.

How about the proof for determinism? Think deeper, the butterfly effect per se has this implication - our life is determined by our past experiences.

In response, I have two choices. Either I believe we human can never travel back to past (which might hold true at least for 100 years I guess), or I believe, even if we can travel back, we cannot change anything.

For either, I need a big leap of faith, gosh.

The Butterfly Effect

"It has been said that something as small as the flutter of a butterfly can ultimately cause a typhoon halfway around the world." - The Chaos Theory

Despite being a low-budget film, this film chills with its brilliant illustration of its name - the butterfly effect. In fact it was a 2004 production, but I missed the opportunity for so many times, now I got it and love it.

From time to time, we human often fascinates the possibility of going back into the past, and change things that we regretted for. It is of our nature to ask the question what if I have/haven't bla bla bla, but we never know - if we change one thing, we changed everything.

Let's put it in this way. Say if somehow I go back to my childhood years, I turn off the light in my bedroom while the younger me was studying for his form 2 biology exam, so I felt asleep. Haven't prepared enough for the test, I performed badly. Then when the result was out, I felt discouraged, and my interest in biology went into a downward spiral, turned out I chose the art stream the next year.

Finally, James Chow never appeared in medical school, maybe, he is now working in a writing firm instead(urgh).

Within this dynamic interconnected world, a small decision at a moment could give a completely different outcome. To complicate, it is not only our decision that guide our future, in fact, every of us are altering each and others' destiny.

Then, I got to ask myself the fundamental question: if things didn't go the way in my past, will I have met her now?

Yes, I believe so. At least for this point, we are destined.

The Butterfly Effect - movie trailer



P.S. For those would like to watch, make sure you finish all the FOUR alternate endings! Personally, I love the director's cut most - stone cold but inspiring.

Blokus, Block us!

Umm I love board games.

In this era of computer video games, between the Starcraft II and Mastermind, the newer generation could pick with zero reaction time. I am not pretending to be old, but indeed when I shop in the current Toy'R'us searching for Abalone (not the edible luxury, it-is-a-chessgame!), I found the shelf for broadgame shrinked - from 4 complete blocks in the past, to currently, 1 single shelf.

Probably the toy-manufacturers have revolutionalised their marketing strategies. They are putting broadgames online. Blokus is a good nice example.

The game is simple and short. You play the blocks from one color, the only rule is that you need to link the blocks at corners. The winner is the one who has the least blocks on hand at last!

Though the platform allows us to play with computers or other online players, I enjoy more playing with friends face-to-face. Haha, I still remember vividly the short play with my dearest groupmates in library last week, sitting in a row, we turned the lib into a cyber-bar. =] It will be perfect if we can sit around the real BOARD game, with cokes at hands: shout, scream, and play!

P.S.
Go and enjoy the game here: http://www.blokus.fr/online-game/
If you love it, make sure you support the game-creater by buying a real set back home!

Ip Man 2

Umm originally my first choice of movie for this weekend is Dear John. But after the exceedingly exhausting OSLER, I need something stronger to cheer my mind up, so finally I resorted to the Ip Man 2. (By the way, I wonder why the inflation is going so mad here, now $9 for renting a VCD? Gosh I would go broke very soon...)

Frankly, films on Chinese kungfu have quite limited themes, and among them, national spirit is definitely the top. This truly gives film-makers a headache, how are they suppose to generate something fresh and new to satisfy the already-desensitized audience?

Right, Ip Man 1 has done quite a great job. Though it is not an innovative idea to play tricks on the hatred between us and the Japanese, the character of such a gentle kungfu master is indeed attractive. And with the skewed portrait of the nasty Jap commander, the contrast of course generated more echoes when we saw the Japs being hit hit and hit until they bled.

Here come to the second episode, knowing the background of Ip Man immigrating to Hong Kong, I have no expectation for an overwhelming atmosphere of national spirit - and I got it right. This time, the actions are still equally amazing (Both DonnieYen and Sammo Hung are my favourite martial artists - no way comparable to Jackie Chan), but the storyline is just too superficial. Comparing to the last film, this time, the reason for going on the final combat with that stupid English fighter appears too far-fetched, the distinguishing point lies on the difference in nature of insult/conflict: nation-to-nation last time, but individual-to-nation here in Ip Man 2.

Another mistake is the fragmented storyline development. It appears odd to me seeing the abrupt unity of all the kungfu masters, only minutes after they fight with each and others. And probably this is why the ending became so artifically educational, even to an unrealistic degree.

Still, taking away the thin plot, it is quite enjoyable to watch an action kungfu movie at the weekend, particularly after I got so much bruises in the clinical exam, it rocks to see others being hit, bang bang bang!

Best purchase!

Recently, I had my best purchase of the month.

Every weekend, I used to buy some drinks back to hostel to sooth my dry boring days. Instead of the usual lemontea, this time I chose the long-forgotten Ribena (it often reminds me of my good old days, when there is a whole large glass bottle of concentrated Ribena at home).

Wellcome was making a promotion, among the every-where-yellow-tags:
$19.6 for TWO 6-in-1 packs of apple-flavored Ribena + a 500ml bottled Ribena original.

At that time, I thought I have already got my best-buy. But the best is yet to come, haha.

When I start trying the new Ribenna - I almost cannot finish it - it is just way too sweet to be swallowed! (Later I found 27.5g of sugar in this tiny 250ml pack, urgh.) So, I start diluting it. From then on, I make a whole 1.2L bottle full from each pack, and trust me, it tastes wonderful.

So, finally, the maths goes like this:
1.2L x 12 = 14.4L
14.4L + 500ml (bottled Ribena) = 15L

Buying 15L of drinks with only $19.6, I should go electing for the smartest consumer of the month, haha.

Inception

Christopher Nolan got my heart since I first watched his low-cost but phenomenal production - Memento. He is such an amazing story-teller, no matter how twisted the plot is, he never failed in keeping the pace tight and tensioned. So was his last blockbuster The Dark Knight, which I enjoyed it under the huge screen of IMAX - he made the classic so much alive.

When expectation is high, many a time I got let down. But Inception is an exception.

Instead of praising how well the plot is written or how sophisticated Nolan's way of filming is (which everybody has already been talking about), I would like to talk a bit on another catching point - his choice on casting.

In fact Leonardo Dicarprio was Nolan's first and only choice of playing Cobb, and I cannot agree more. Leonardo's power in playing emotionally-overwhelmed characters is simply unquestionable, judging from his previous films Shutter Island, Aviator etc, he is so much gifted in acting out the inner struggle and pain within a character, which synchronised the audience to go on with the plot. Seriously I would say, his first Oscar award is not far.

On the other hand, Ellen Page's play is a surprise. My impression about her still remained so much on her leading film Juno in 2007, and thats why, in my mind she is still that pregnant girl who goes to school. This time in this darker Inception, she played it right to the point, no more happy faces, but became a much more mature smart young lady.

Another star who amazed both Landico and me is Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Gosh his elegant and intelligent character in the movie glued our eyes throughout, and, he-is-so-charming!

For those who have not yet watched this movie, buy a ticket and go for it, if you found it sucks, I get you the refund =]

The Texas Play

I am always a big fan of Texas Holdem, and recently the 2010 World Series of Poker has just started.

With the entry fee of US$40,000 (and my poor poker face), by no chance I could ever join this tournament in Vegas. Still, watching the highlights in youtube still offered me quite some excitement. No doubt one of this year's spotlight would be on the 21 years old Tom durrr Dwan, who has been such a young successful online poker-pro, and indeed, he is one of my favourite players - with his aggressive bets and phenomenal reads - it's simply amazing.

Lots of friends when hear the word "poker", they instantly yelled: nah, gamble. Indeed, just like Mahjong, Texas Holdem would loss its soul if money is not involved (when you say all-in, its all your money in). Still, I would say, the gambling component may actually be less than what you imagine, perhaps, luck is even more important when you are playing Monopoly Deal.

The essence of poker is not to win in all hands you played, instead, it's all about making the right decisions at the right time, in every calling, raising and perhaps more importantly - folding. When poker is played in smart and experienced hands, in the long run a rising amount will come, that's also the reason for why there are so many professional poker players (Phil Ivey!), who could earn a living - a very decent living - just by joining tournaments and online challenges.

So, you now see why there is never a "World Series of 賭大細" in Vegas.


=================================
Tom Dawn vs Phil Ivey in High Stakes Poker

God and logic

Can God work beyond logic?
This is a disturbing question.

First, we need to make some terms clear. Nowadays, we use the word "illogical" quite off-labelled - when a couple quarrels, the girl may fire: You are being so illogical - well, I must say that, he may act or speak in irrational reasoning, but he is definitely still under the boundary of logic.

Day to day, like oxygen, we live so close with and actually rely very much on logic, we simply cannot get out of it. An closer analogy would be Newton's law F=ma, its almost impossible to have an actual example (not those hypotheses in theoretical physics) that violates it. And logic would be something even more primitive, as Newton derived the law also from logic.

So, when we are dealing with problems, we would best use the exclusive terms "logically possible" and "logically impossible" (where the exclusivity also embraced the simple logic of true+ not true = all). By means of logically impossible, it indicates a self-contradictory property eg. an angled circle.

With this basis, the notion "God can work beyond logic" can be rendered meaningless - because we simply don't understand what does it mean by beyond logic - do you mean he can work in logically impossible way or do you not?

At least for what I believe, God has to follow our logic (or His logic if you feel it offensive, or in stricter term, the logic), at least in all his messages left for us, or else, there is no ground at all for us to build any faith or understanding on this so called religon.

Even if He does create or do something logically impossible, would that actually mean anything to the-definitely-logically-bound you?

Stockholm Syndrome

Wikipedia:
Stockholm syndrome is a term used to describe a paradoxical psychological phenomenon wherein hostages express adulation and have positive feelings towards their captors that appear irrational in light of the danger or risk endured by the victims.

Came across this term while getting some extended reading on hostage psychology. It is such an interesting phenomenon which has been consistently demonstrated in a series of kidnapping events. Well, as I previously mentioned, human emotion may partly (at least what I believe) be generated via a sequence of subconscious reflex neuroendocrine responses - its not hard to imagine such a biased and tilted affection to emerge, when somebody is put in a particular extreme situation.

But then what interests me is the psychoanalytic explanation of this syndrome: "a primitive gratitude for the gift of life". Personally I aint a keen advocate in the psychoanalytic/psychodynamic theory, but this illustration did ring me a bell on the citizens in North Korea.

The absolute dictatorship and complete information shutdown does not necessarily preclude the occurence of happiness in this country. In fact, when we magnifying our view, probably it is a reflection of millions of hostages under the sole control from the captive, who serves to provide the only source of basic needs. Indeed, somehow it fulfills the diagnostic criteria of Stockholm Syndrome:

• the captor becomes the person in control of the captive’s basic needs for survival and the victim’s life itself
• the hostage endures isolation from other people and has only the captor’s perspective available
• the hostage taker threatens to kill the victim and gives the perception of having the capability to do so
• the captive sees the perpetrator as showing some degree of kindness

Umm. I start to appreciate Freud.

If

If I were one of the hostages, I would definitely fight back after the first bullet was out. Judging from the snail-like actions by the local Phil police, I would rather fight for my own life. Of course, in that narrow aisle in the coach, with only a handful of men, it is a gamble of life - it either works, or I die.

If I were the police officer in charge, I would have asked two of my elite collegues (corrupt them if needed) to go and replace for the two old hostages. It would be the simpliest way of capturing him - less blood, I expect.

If I were one of the SWAT members pushed out on site, I would have performed in the exact same way. I am not trained (and paid) for risking my life, even the whole world is watching.

If I were the poor lady who had lost her entire family in one single day, I would probably have gone mad by now...

If I were the man with gun. I would not have initiated this at all - abducting somebody is simply the silliest crime I would have committed - there are only two mutually exclusive endpoints: either be caught or shooted.

Blame

When the phrase of foul language broadcasted lively in TVB news, nobody would lodge a compliant on it - simply, it ventilated all our anger and disappointment, seeing the professional SWAT team in operation.

Apart from the word stone-aged, I cannot find another that could better be used in describing the entire rescue process. Going without helmets, staying in cross-fire positions, hammering windows with hostages inside. Gosh, for God's sake, if we were allowed to send our local team there, things can be solved in a much less sissy way.

But then, despite the burning anger, it may be wise for us to limit our blame. It is of no point - and so unfair - to turn a problem of country underdevelopment into racism. Extrapolating our hate in a single person (or the group of police) to the entire nation, only make us an even less socially civilized city. Moreover, when taking Philipines' baseline condition into account, our reaction might be a simple expection-reality mismatch - it is not an issue for us to be outrageous in, instead, we should feel pathetic for them.

I am not justifying the faulty rescue operation, but love and hate always come with a certain degree of rationality. Afterall, we are not mental terrorists.

Maybe its time to let our government do their work in blaming, and divert our emotions in praying and giving hands for the suffered ones.

Do we have a choice?

Talking about Inception, recently I has quite a strong idea ruminating in my mind.

In the past, I used to consider determinism as something naive, but these days when I read more on neuroendocrinology, I started to see how our thinking, emotions and judgement are easily explainable by the minute shoot of neurotransmitters/ hormones. If so, every tiny choice we made in life can simply be attributed to a reflex physiological response.

This may sound simple, but if its true and the whole world accept it, think about the gravity behind. A serial killer raped and killed 10 girls, he can boldly say: My brain made me do it. He is then deemed guilty not because of his cruelty or coldbloodedness - you can only blame his genes and neurons. The social implication is even wider, each and every of us need not at all responsible for our own acts, but instead, we are living only to fulfil the social norm.

The metaphysical meaning of this view is what truly stabbed me hard. I just intuitively cannot accept myself being a uncontrollable program - your conscious mind is reminding you of the freedom to make choice second to second, while in fact it is just a damn scam of life. With this desperation - I can only resort to death.

It is such a huge paradox, gosh!

Totem

Watched the stunning Inception with Landico the second time. After the mind-drilling Memento, Chris Nolan pushed his art in storytelling to a master level, and again consumed all my brain glucose within this 150 minutes. Absolutely, best movie in 2010 so far.

The second time in theatre doesnt make the film dull, knowing the plot, I enjoyed the movie with much more appreciation to the fine details. This time what catches me is the role of the spinning Totem throughout the story. It is so true that, when you lived in a vivid dream for such a long time, you would definitely need something to remind you of the reality, or, you will get lost - sad enough, without knowing it.

Of course I have no doubt in THE real world i am living in, but indeed from time to time, when life becomes a routine, duplicating itself day by day, I often got quite a strong sense of derealization (yah, quite like the kind in Panic Disorder). Somehow, things around me look distant and unreal, and its hard not to question the certainty of my own being.

But then, I have my own Totem to remind me how true this world is - the unique kiss from my lovable girl.

You may ask: how does it work?
Oh, it defeats the purpose of a Totem if i tell - and - dare you go and try!

Satisfaction

The difference between surgeons and physicians is so much that you can basically put them in two species. Physicians are teased as boring impractical philosophers, while surgeons are primitives who work in reflexes.

I guess this forever-ongoing accusations originate from our different source of satisfaction.

Surgeons are powerful, they diagnose, investigate and CURE. Who would not be amazed after surviving from a Whipple operation? It is simply amazing to every patient who has been bombarded by bad news of cancer, while being treated completely under surgeons' hands. So, surgeons love to see things cured - all at once.

Physicians are different. They think, think, and THINK. The most bit of satisfaction probably come from making the diagnosis itself. This is so true for all those brainy internalists, who can spot a case of rare endocrine disorder based solely on trival derrangement in electrolytes. After the diagnosis, can they offer a cure? Err, quite often - a big no.

But being unable to cure dosent mean we can do nothing. Controlling progression of medical diseases can as well prolong a patient life (hopefully the quality of it), though definitely not as drastic as from curative surgery.

Yea, this debate will go on, as even I myself is so much tilted in personal preference.

Euthanasia

Watching the recent news, you may notice the previous (and probably, current) euthanasia advocate moving into his new house, finally leaving the bedbound life in hospital.

After the claim for euthanasia, people from everywhere starts eagerly to donate and offer all kinds of financial and technical help, and finally he sees the world again.

Though cruel, i ain't very much excited about it.

I have no personal opinion towards euthanasia. But my point is, among all the bedbound patients here, there are lots who are not saying a word, choose to stay strong and live. While the advocate is enjoying his new house (dont tell me he doesnt), who is going to grant the other a chance? Somehow, this is another example of resource mal-allocation in this city with capitalised love and tender care.

Afterall, I am not the one who faced the same ceiling for 20 years.