Friday, October 6, 2006

Five Years of Consequence

A chart by Ben Schott, published on September 7th, 2006

This chart chronologically records the most influential events that occurred in the past five years. Also it provides various statistical surveys(like the approval rating of Bush and Blair, U.S. troop fatalities in Irap, etc) that envision us with lucid and detailed information on most paramout and interesting occurrences after 911.

Following is the caption from the chart:

It’s been nearly five years since 9/11, but it seems like a lifetime. Certainly, a lifetime’s worth of events for America and the world — elections and insurgencies, hurricanes and tsunamis, attacks and threats of attack — have unfolded with such speed that it can be hard to sort through, or even recall, everything of consequence. The chart below is an attempt, admittedly selective and incomplete, to survey the first five years of our post-9/11 world — a world that is certainly new, though not always brave.

click the following link to get the chart:

Five Years of Consequence(pdf, 1.12mb)

The Banquet

Another Chinese commercial flick targeted at golden Oscar. A Chinese "Hemlet", more than just Chinese Kong Fu. Right at its birth, it was doomed to be compared, by the picky audiences and mass media, with Crouching Tiger and Hidden Dragon, Hero and House of Flying Daggers, which were all directed by Chinese big shots. Despite all the differences in background, expenditure, and influences, there is one thing in common, Ziyi Zhang in ancient Chinese costumes picturing us Chinese Kong Fu. Coincidence? Absolutely not. It's just that Ziyi Zhang is one of the few Chinese names that could make these western audiences voluntarily buy tickets.


Back to the movie itself. As I see it, it's pretty good. Comprehensible scenario, splendor scences and fabulous attires. And most importantly, the theme the director attempts to convey to audiences--craving for power. To seize the supreme power, everyone, from the emperor and empress to government officials, all have their way: usurpation, machination, betrayal, retalliation, propitiation, etc. It doesn't matter who kills the Empress in the end, actually, it has already aroused quite a lot of public disputation. A lust, a desperate lust for power stabs her on the back. Any one has this lust could be the murderer. In this sense, The Banquet has revealed a profound theme and ended a perfect conclusion. And by the way, I like the theme song, it's hard to describe my feelings but I do like it.


Toilet Etiquette

Ran into this very very interesting video clip on Youtube this afternoon. First, I think it's necessary to give "etiquette" a clear definition. Generally speaking, etiquette are rules about the behaviors generally accepted as correct or appropriate to do. So "Male Restroom Etiquette" mainly tells us about the things that male usually do in a toilet. The simple rules male follow within a bathroom. about "efficiency", "urinal selection", "not making eye-contact", "no single word within a loo", "flushing", etc.

see this video clip: