All Posts by ‘George Chen’

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/04 Sakamoto

January 12, 2005

It’s actually very hard for me to "review" Ryuichi Sakamoto’s music since I pretty much buy whatever he releases (although I usually pick and choose in terms of his soundtracks… I don’t buy *everything*…).

/04 is new. In fact, it is the import JP version. I can’t wait 5-6 months for the US release. 😛 /04, continues the "piano-thing" that’s Sakamoto been on for a few years now, but no complain from me.

According to one person on the YMO Mailing List (before I got a chance to listen to it myself), /04 include 6 new tracks, 6 new arrangements and 2 old tracks.Turns out the "old track" Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence is actually a new performance. The joy! The new performance is one of the slowest version I have heard. (also, check out my friend BK’s version here as well. Good stuff too.)

Just buy it damn it. More people need to learn about his music.

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Mac Mini, Shuffle and poor Sony.

January 11, 2005

Some quick thoughts:

  • Mac Mini is actually not as cheap as you think if you add all the things you really need like Bluetooth and AirPort. (i.e. the configuration I want is $952.00)
  • It’s also the re-birth of PowerMac G4 Cube in terms of the design concept.
  • The outter case makes it looks like the old Macintosh HD icon. haha
  • Shuffle is great! Apple will sell a tone of these in Asian countries because of the right form factor and the neck strap/landyard.
  • Looking forward to the color versions of Shuffle soon….
  • I am getting both!!!

And OMG, poor Kunitake Ando. I fee really bad for him/Sony. How he wish Sony can put together a presentation like this with such a wide selection of good products. Don’t worry Mr. Ando, you guys still have PSP. /comfort (note: watch the Steve’s note at Apple, and you will know what I mean)

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Plus Minus Zero

January 9, 2005

A small (?) consumer electronic company from Japan. All products are pretty whimsical and functional. I understand the lead ID/Founder (?) Naoto Fukasawa is also IDEO Design Fellow.

While this is not "consumer electronic", I think the Soccer Mat is the best out of its various offerings.

Related note, I also discovered the Japan Design Net web site. Seems like a good resource to learn more about Japanese design without a trip to Japan itself or to visit your local Japanese book store.

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2046 . 1224 . 1225

December 25, 2004

Some thoughts on 2046:

Watched 2046 on Christmas Eve – a lot of important scenes/themes evolves around that time frame and that makes watching the movie on the day even more interesting.

I am not sure why some people are still confused by the movie consider the over narration by Tony Leung through out the movie. If you are still confused by the end, you can always check out the bonus DVD which Wong Kar-Wai pretty much explained everything.

All the Stars are great, except we don’t get to see Chen Chang much probably due to heavy editing.

Over the years, Wong was actually making “one” movie. In 2046, you’lll find some “old friends” like Lu-Lu from Days of Being Wild. And it’s even explicit stated Lu-Lu *was* the Lu Lu that we knew. Wong left no confusion about it. That also explain why at the end of Days of Being Wild we see Tony Leung (which is a 1991 film.)

The visual’s GREAT. Although this is not a Sci-Fi film, but the Sci-Fi scenes (needed due to the story-within-the-story) are very very beautiful and well done for Hong Kong standard.

Although not my favorite Wong Kar-Wai movie (ITMFL still is), but I am very very happy to report 2046 is a truly sincere effort by Wong. And it shows.

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Chinese . Japanese . Korean

December 22, 2004

Recentrly I’ve picked up a
Chinese translation book by the Korean author Jin Wen Xue. The title of the book is “Chinese . Japanese . Korea” (the Japanese
edition of the book is titled “Japanese . Chinese . Korean”, and I am sure
the original Korean edition is “Korean . Chinese . Japanese”)

Anyhow, the book is not one of those stuffy cultural antrphology stuff, instead,
it’s a full color color boook and rather humorisly talk about the similar things
and the differences of the 3 cultures. i.e. Chinese is culture of “saulty”,
Japanese is the cultere of “sour” and the Korean is the culture of “bitter”.

I wish there will be an English translation of this book out soon in the US.

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Hitting the big 5-0 version 2.0

December 3, 2004

The past couple of months I was still busy with Final Fantasy XI online – while most are going gar-gar over the just released World of WarCraft.

Before the new FF11 expansion pack came out, I’ve deicide to start playing the game from ground up again as an Elvaan. You have to admit, FF11 is the "coolest looking" MMORPG out there right now because of the Japanese design sensibility.

I created a character name Dichter (Poet in Danish) intended to be BRD, but I was pretty sick and tired of the party play myself so I decided to pick up BST – the only "soloable" job in the game.

What’s ironic, was that, I ended up doing a static duo with my Linkshell mate for close to 23+ levels in one month. I’ve finally hit 50 just a few days ago. Then my Linkshell mate also deicided to spend more time on World of WarCraft instead which spells the end of the static duo.

Took me only 2 months to went through subjob items, Kazham airship pass, Limit 1. The second run is certainly much easier. Getting Limit 2 done shouldn’t be an issue. AF shouldn’t be a problem either. The fact is, I am going on vacation for a week starting next week which mean I wouldn’t spend much time on it. Bottom line is I am still having great fun with this game and the friends I met in the game.

I like Mira gave my character the nick name "Dumpster Lubster". I like the random Linkshell chit-chat… i.e. YourMom was drunk last night which lead to the discussion what’s the favorite drink for each person (me, Jack & Coke)… So, yeah, it’s still fun. It really is the people that you met along the way make MMORPG interesting. But AF is still very important. 😉

(note: Yeah, some knowlege about MMORPG or FFXI is needed for the reading above…)