December 2011
2 posts
My Favourite Movies of 2011
Hugo
50/50
Source Code
Moneyball
Stanley Ka Dabba
MI:4
Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara
Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Super 8
X-Men: First Class
(See 2008, 2009, 2010)
A Stange Encounter
At a bus stop in Santa Clara, a middle-aged man walked up to me to ask for a quarter. I didn’t have change, so I offered him a dollar instead. He thanked me, and walked away.
A few seconds later, he turned around and returned to thank me again. “I really don’t know how to say this… but thanks again… I just need it to make a phone call,” he said. “No problem!,” I...
November 2011
2 posts
October 2011
2 posts
“I loved his enthusiasm. His simple delight. Often, I think, mixed with some...”
– Jony Ive’s tribute to his best friend is one of the best out there.
5 tags
My Steve Jobs
Steve Jobs meant a lot of things to a lot of people. For some, he may have been a loyal friend; a jovial dad; a tenacious boss; a ruthless competitor. For others, he might have been the reason they fell in love with technology. For most, he was probably just the head of a company which made consumer products they would hear about every so often, and perhaps get to use and love.
When I think...
September 2011
4 posts
Radiolab: An Appreciation by Ira Glass →
Jeep recognizes French, even when it's not... →
1 tag
“I am nothing. It’s simple. If I were smart, I might be afraid of looking...”
– Paul Buchheit: I am nothing
August 2011
1 post
“If you believe in trying to make the best of the finite number of years we have...”
– Sal Khan
July 2011
5 posts
7 tags
Documentary 4: Collapse
(This post is a part of a series of documentaries I’ll be reviewing. To follow: Food, Inc. Previous reviews: Transcendent Man, The Cove, and Inside Job. [Note: I decided to review Collapse in place of The 11th Hour, but I’ll be sure to check that one out as well.])
A man aboard the Titanic starts building a lifeboat as he suddenly becomes aware of its gloomy fate. Around him, he encounters...
7 tags
Documentary 3: Inside Job
(This post is a part of a series of documentaries I’ll be reviewing. To follow: To follow: Collapse and Food, Inc. Previous reviews: Transcendent Man and The Cove)
Hearing how a bunch of surnames and acronyms caused the world to almost collapse can be puzzling. At times, shocking. But there is worse — seeing a complete lack of repentance on the faces behind them.
In any fair justice...
4 tags
Documentary 2: The Cove
(This post is a part of a series of documentaries I’ll be reviewing. To follow: To follow: Inside Job, Collapse, and Food, Inc.)
How many reasons do we need before we question ourselves about the ethicality of devouring a particular species? What makes a lucky few — dogs, cats, monkeys — off-limit to our blades and bellies, while others bare the brunt of suffering for the worst of...
9 tags
Documentary 1: Transcendent Man
(This post is a part of a series of documentaries I’ll be reviewing. To follow: The Cove, Inside Job, Collapse, and Food, Inc.)
Seldom do technologists gain prominence for their prophesies. Our field, you see, values doing over thinking. You believe we’ll be Tom Cruising over our Minority Report-esque holograms in 2020? Great. Now build it.
But Ray Kurzweil is an exception....
Documentary Week
After realising that I’m dreadfully behind on my documentaries, I’ve decided that I am going to spend the next five days catching up on all the high praise Sundance-winning, Tomato Meter-breaking documentaries I’ve been hearing so much about for the past few months/years.
The documentaries on my list are:
Trascendent Man
The Cove
Inside Job
The 11th Hour Collapse
Food...
June 2011
3 posts
“Today’s grads enter a cultural climate that preaches the self as the center of a...”
– It’s Not About You - NYTimes.com
I want to quote this entire article, but this paragraph should suffice for now.
People are frameworks
When I was younger, I had a distinct black and white view of the world. People had either “made it,” or hadn’t. People were either happy, or they weren’t. In terminology most relevant to me, I thought of people as products: some were being built, some polished, and some had made it to the market, now feverishly looking for their next buyer.
I’ve come to a...
May 2011
13 posts
“The bad thing of war is,
that it makes more evil people
than it can take away.”
– Immanuel Kant
(via chzane)
“The insidious thing about depression is that it takes determination and energy...”
– Depression, Burn Out and Writing Code | muddylemon
“Paul realized that what we needed to be solved was not, in fact, human powered...”
– You Are Solving The Wrong Problem « Aza on Design
Office Hours With Paul Graham At TC Disrupt →
Paul Graham is without a doubt one of my favourite investors of all time. Watch how honestly and critically he can assess ideas without projecting an ounce of negativity or meanness. Also — super-human like ability to get to the heart of something within seconds.
My favourite podcasts
Podcasts are a large source of fuel for my curiosities. Unlike most mediums, they’re also free and make little or no money, so I thought I’d do the least I could for them and highlight some of my favourites:
Entrepreneurship: This Week in Startups, Foundation
Movies: /Filmcast, Filmspotting, KCRW’s The Treatment
Science: Radiolab, NPR’s On Science
Humour: WTF with Marc...
“The thing is, though, that the kind-of-O.K. aspects of “Thor” have the effect of...”
– ‘Thor,’ With Chris Hemsworth - Review - NYTimes.com
I mostly enjoyed Thor for what it was, but I also kind of agree with this (without agreeing with the conclusion.)
“In copy-editor-free zones—the Web and emails, student papers, business...”
– From the Slate article: Logical punctuation: Should we start placing commas outside quotation marks? (via Coudal) (via alexbain)
This always made no sense to me. Glad to see CoCo is the poster-boy for this movement.
What Happens to All the Asian-American... →
Just Thinking.
jhnmyr:
Most people think of unconditional love to mean “I couldn’t love you any less, no matter what.” But what I think unconditional love means is “I couldn’t love you any more, no matter what.” Either way, it sounds neat.
Nailed it, Mr. Mayer.
What if Osama Bin Laden Had Been Captured? →
Riveting account of Saddam Hussein’s last days post-capture and his interrogator. Funny how depictions of even ounces of his humanity — like maintaining a flower garden in his cell — can make you forget he was a monster.
Review: Source Code
My first ever complete movie review, intended for our University magazine. Edited (and apologetic) for language. Posted a month later because of New Zealand’s lousy delayed release dates.
In Duncan Jones’ Source Code, a sci-fi thriller about a guy trying to save a train from blowing up, reality doesn’t matter. But it’s clearly worth changing.
This 93-minute flick puts us...
Phrases From 2000-2009 That I'm Glad Are Pretty... →
rickyv:
“I think I threw up in my mouth a little.”
“Uh, I liked it better when it was called ___________.”
“That’s just how I roll.”
”____________ is the new ____________.”
“Uhhh… random?”
”____________ called, it wants its ____________ back.”
“Because if we don’t, the terrorists will win.”
Interwebs, internets, etc.
Assorted Borat catch phrases
Additions:
- “True...
April 2011
5 posts
“The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity.”
– “The Second Coming” by William Butler Yeats
“The Stockdale Paradox carries an important lesson in personal development, a...”
– The Stockdale Paradox
“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life....”
– Steve Jobs
(In excitement and anticipation to this wonderful piece of news.)
March 2011
8 posts
“Even at their most sacrilegious, Parker says, they never plan to inflict pain....”
– Why South Park’s Trey Parker and Matt Stone Now Say It’s ‘Wrong’ to Offend - The Hollywood Reporter
A random encounter on the bus today
Stranger (from behind me): How are you doin', mate?
Me: Good.
Stranger: Ever used the Internet?
Me: Uh.. yeah, a few times.
Stranger: I'm a subject on the Internet.
Me: A-what? I'm sorry?
Stranger: A subject. People like my jokes.
Me: Oh yeah?
Stranger: dub dub dub dot [random website name I'm kicking myself for not getting down properly] dot com
Me: Oh, that's cool. I'll check it out.
[I reach my stop and walk out in complete astonishment.]
A Dream Within A Dream
By Edgar Allan Poe
Take this kiss upon the brow! And, in parting from you now, Thus much let me avow — You are not wrong, who deem That my days have been a dream; Yet if hope has flown away In a night, or in a day, In a vision, or in none, Is it therefore the less gone? All that we see or seem Is but a dream within a dream. I stand amid the roar Of a surf-tormented shore, And I hold within...
“What if intimacy is just a mode of behaviour that depends upon a certain kind of...”
– The Social Network, the End of Intimacy, and the Birth of Hacker Sensibility (via Instapaper)
José González – Heartbeats (cover)
“I don’t believe in God, or at least not in the one we’ve invented for ourselves...”
– Douglas Adams
“Great minds discuss ideas; Average minds discuss events; Small minds discuss...”
– Eleanor Roosevelt
(via david)
February 2011
3 posts
“If anything, stories like Ms. Portman’s show that great success, like DNA, is...”
– Natalie Portman, Oscar Winner, Was Also a Precocious Scientist - NYTimes.com
Things I've Done In The Past 5 Days
Nearly slipped off a Ferris Wheel
Went parasailing (twice)
Drank coconut water
Built a sand cave
Danced on a cruise ship
Travelled 1200 kms on a bus
Left behind my passport at a hotel, found out 600 kms away and 6 hours before flight time, and still managed to make it (a tale for another post)
Shed a couple tears watching The King’s Speech on the airplane, then immediately...
“The general idea of the rich helping the poor, I think, is important. That your...”
– Bill Gates: Vaccine-autism link ‘an absolute lie’ - CNN.com
“If Egypt democratizes, it is very likely that other Arab autocrats will be...”
– Why Egypt’s popular rebellion is the greatest historical event in a decade, and how Barack Obama missed the boat. - Canonical
January 2011
2 posts
“Your life, your place here on this world may not seem very important to you in...”
– Reddit (aka. the mecca of profound wisdom scribed by random nobodies.)
December 2010
11 posts
“The two things that matter most to happiness are love and work. Love —...”
– Barry Schwartz: Using our practical wisdom | Video on TED.com