Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Last weekend four of us from Canberra, XW, CH, Jes and myself, drove up to Sydney for a house-warming party at Emily's new place. Instead of a barbie, we had a `deep-frying' session using the fryer we bought for her last year. Spring rolls, chicken wings, dumplings, wedges, etc. mostly deep fried stuff as well as some curry chicken.
It was an enjoyable afternoon, as this was a long overdued gathering of friends we met at university who have since gone their separate ways. Good to catch up with some old friends. For dinner we had Kobe Jones, and the next day, we went yum cha in Bondi Junction. So it was purely a good food and good company weekend :)
Anyhow, at the house-warming party, I showed them a funny Japanese prank show I stumbled upon at Youtube. It's so crazy that it's worth showing it here. Enjoy!
It was an enjoyable afternoon, as this was a long overdued gathering of friends we met at university who have since gone their separate ways. Good to catch up with some old friends. For dinner we had Kobe Jones, and the next day, we went yum cha in Bondi Junction. So it was purely a good food and good company weekend :)
Anyhow, at the house-warming party, I showed them a funny Japanese prank show I stumbled upon at Youtube. It's so crazy that it's worth showing it here. Enjoy!
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
A friend of mine, Gary, who is also a Ph.D. student, took many photos of the Fontana di Trevi, and made them into a larger pan view photo, which is awesome! Check it out!
Click on the photo for a larger view.
Unfortunately I had trouble uploading the 360-degree pan view of St. Peter's Square in the Vatican so you can't view it here
Click on the photo for a larger view.
Unfortunately I had trouble uploading the 360-degree pan view of St. Peter's Square in the Vatican so you can't view it here
Sunday, May 20, 2007
Quick post: IT'S OFFICIAL! BLIZZARD IS WORKING ON STARCRAFT 2! REJOICE!
Check it the following videos:
Units Explanation Part 1
Units Explanation Part 2
Cinematic Trailer
Check it the following videos:
Units Explanation Part 1
Units Explanation Part 2
Cinematic Trailer
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Starcraft 2 coming soon?
Recently, I've read rumours on the Internet that Blizzard may be working on Starcraft 2, the sequel to the best real-time strategy game ever in the world. Whether this is true, no one sures for sure, but in case you missed it, Blizzard Entertainment is employing a new strategy on informing the public about its up and coming project. Its main page, Blizzard.com, showcases a timeline of its past video game titles with the last entry being a curiously glowing question mark.
Well, the page got updated again and what do you know, it now headlines the original StarCraft and Sarah Kerrigan's infamous lines, "I am the Queen of Blades. And my stare alone would reduce you to ashes." After denying it for so long, it was confirmed a couple of weeks ago that Blizzard is indeed making a new SC game.
However, it is still uncertain if StarCraft 2 will remain true to its roots and be a RTS title. There were some rumors a while back that Blizzard is planning to make it a MMO, much like what it did to the Warcraft franchise. All speculations will be ended soon as a formal announcement will be conducted at the Blizzard World Invitational two days from now in Korea.
Ask me how I know... well, I've been following the SC professional tournaments in Korea on the Internet.
Who knows? It was rumoured that by the end of the year, we may have the new SC 2 as Christmas pressies!
Recently, I've read rumours on the Internet that Blizzard may be working on Starcraft 2, the sequel to the best real-time strategy game ever in the world. Whether this is true, no one sures for sure, but in case you missed it, Blizzard Entertainment is employing a new strategy on informing the public about its up and coming project. Its main page, Blizzard.com, showcases a timeline of its past video game titles with the last entry being a curiously glowing question mark.
Well, the page got updated again and what do you know, it now headlines the original StarCraft and Sarah Kerrigan's infamous lines, "I am the Queen of Blades. And my stare alone would reduce you to ashes." After denying it for so long, it was confirmed a couple of weeks ago that Blizzard is indeed making a new SC game.
However, it is still uncertain if StarCraft 2 will remain true to its roots and be a RTS title. There were some rumors a while back that Blizzard is planning to make it a MMO, much like what it did to the Warcraft franchise. All speculations will be ended soon as a formal announcement will be conducted at the Blizzard World Invitational two days from now in Korea.
Ask me how I know... well, I've been following the SC professional tournaments in Korea on the Internet.
Who knows? It was rumoured that by the end of the year, we may have the new SC 2 as Christmas pressies!
Sunday, May 13, 2007
This is funny...
Wednesday, May 09, 2007
Okay, this will be a long entry... be warned :)
Now that I am back from a month-long vacation, I realised that it wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be getting back to work straight away. I guess it's also because the trip was sufficiently long to `de-stress and make me whole' again.
Currently working on a new paper for a conference this year. Yes, I will be flying again soon this July to Harbin, China. But it will only be a short and direct conference trip. No stopping, rest or visiting.
At least it would not be as fast as Aya, who will be leaving for South Korea this Sunday for work for a week. And we (her mom, Emily and myself) are apparently more excited about the Korea trip than her! You see, they are either crazy about Korean movies, or nuts about Korean food. As for myself, I'm a fan of Korean Starcraft progamers. I'm always lurking around Youtube following the `e-sport'.
Anyway, after leaving beautiful Venice and Italy, we first reached London. But the next morning, the four of us (including my brother and his friend who is also visiting) took a flight to Aberdeen, Scotland. We decided while in Italy that we would do some travelling in Scotland. Spent 4 nights there, in various places. Believe me, after visiting Italy, it feels like there are no cities, with a long history or modern, that will match Rome, Venice or Florence. Not even London. Just my personal opinion though.
So instead of spending about a week in London, we decided to spend four days in the highlands of Scotland and only a few days in London. The photos here are from our journey (we rented a car for our entire trip) in Scotland, starting from Aberdeen in the east, through to the famous Glenfiddich (which means `the valley of the stag', I think) Scotch whiskey distillery in Dufftown and Inverness, then to driving along Loch Ness (oohh..), to the western Isle of Skye, south to Fort Williams, and finally south-east to Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland.
Interesting name for a jam (due to its three-coloured texture, of course)!
At the beautiful Glenfiddich distillery... they are really happy for tourists to come. Free entry and an hour-long tour of the distillery, free sample of their Scotch whiskies. Ladies' washroom is amazing, with antique chairs and tables as well as a real fireplace and chimney next to the washing basins (according to Aya)!
Ruins of an ancient castle next to the Glenfiddich (pronounced with a hard ch, same as Loch Ness)
Inverness, a town at the river mouth of river Ness as it flows into the Moray Firth in north-east Scotland. The river flows from nearby Loch Ness and the Caledonian Canal connects Loch Ness, Loch Oich, and Loch Lochy.
Amazing scenery along Loch Ness, and no, we did not spot any monster!
Ruins of Urquhart Castle, overlooking Loch Ness. It's huge!
One of the many ancient burial mounds scattered across Scotland, apparently from the distant past before Chistianity.
Dogfalls, one of the bush-walking/trekking sites we visited...
Eilean Donan Castle, situated near the Isle of Skye...
View from Portree, the largest town in Skye, and one of the places we stopped for a night.
Prawns (or more likely scampi) we had in Portree...
The Storr (not the Malaysian supermarket chain, The Store) is a rocky hill on the Trotternish peninsula of the Isle of Skye. Its more famous landmark is `The Old Man of Storr'... it's that isolated towering rock facing the east.
We actually hiked up to just beside The Old Man of Storr. Took us about an hour to reach there and it's worth it. View up there is magnificent!
Another landmark on the Isle of Skye, the name eluded my memory. Scary place to be up there looking down. It's probably a vertical cliff for more than a hundred metres!
Another bush-walking on another day close to Portree.
Drove past Eilean Donan Castle again as we left Skye...
Another Loch...
We reached Edinburgh on the fourth day and spend one night there. That's Edinburgh Castle, which sits atop Castle Rock, a now-extinct volcano, overlooking the city of Edinburgh. The entry fee of 12 pounds per person (I think) is definitely worth it!
The city of Edinburgh... which is our last top in Scotland before taking a 5-hour train ride back to London.
We thought that this Scotland trip was really good. It's a nice transition from the ancient cities of Italy to the majestic natural sceneries (most of the time) of the Scottish highlands, aside from the wonderful traditional Scottish and English food such as Haggis , Black Pudding, Kippers and different ales. And strangely enough, out of four days in Scotland, there were three sunny (at least not rainy, maybe a bit cloudy) days, which is phenomenal as Scottish weather is well-known for cold, rainy days.
Anyway, I reckon this is the longest entry I've ever written on this blog. So I'll end here and hopefully, post photos of our trip in London another time.
Now that I am back from a month-long vacation, I realised that it wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be getting back to work straight away. I guess it's also because the trip was sufficiently long to `de-stress and make me whole' again.
Currently working on a new paper for a conference this year. Yes, I will be flying again soon this July to Harbin, China. But it will only be a short and direct conference trip. No stopping, rest or visiting.
At least it would not be as fast as Aya, who will be leaving for South Korea this Sunday for work for a week. And we (her mom, Emily and myself) are apparently more excited about the Korea trip than her! You see, they are either crazy about Korean movies, or nuts about Korean food. As for myself, I'm a fan of Korean Starcraft progamers. I'm always lurking around Youtube following the `e-sport'.
Anyway, after leaving beautiful Venice and Italy, we first reached London. But the next morning, the four of us (including my brother and his friend who is also visiting) took a flight to Aberdeen, Scotland. We decided while in Italy that we would do some travelling in Scotland. Spent 4 nights there, in various places. Believe me, after visiting Italy, it feels like there are no cities, with a long history or modern, that will match Rome, Venice or Florence. Not even London. Just my personal opinion though.
So instead of spending about a week in London, we decided to spend four days in the highlands of Scotland and only a few days in London. The photos here are from our journey (we rented a car for our entire trip) in Scotland, starting from Aberdeen in the east, through to the famous Glenfiddich (which means `the valley of the stag', I think) Scotch whiskey distillery in Dufftown and Inverness, then to driving along Loch Ness (oohh..), to the western Isle of Skye, south to Fort Williams, and finally south-east to Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland.
Interesting name for a jam (due to its three-coloured texture, of course)!
At the beautiful Glenfiddich distillery... they are really happy for tourists to come. Free entry and an hour-long tour of the distillery, free sample of their Scotch whiskies. Ladies' washroom is amazing, with antique chairs and tables as well as a real fireplace and chimney next to the washing basins (according to Aya)!
Ruins of an ancient castle next to the Glenfiddich (pronounced with a hard ch, same as Loch Ness)
Inverness, a town at the river mouth of river Ness as it flows into the Moray Firth in north-east Scotland. The river flows from nearby Loch Ness and the Caledonian Canal connects Loch Ness, Loch Oich, and Loch Lochy.
Amazing scenery along Loch Ness, and no, we did not spot any monster!
Ruins of Urquhart Castle, overlooking Loch Ness. It's huge!
One of the many ancient burial mounds scattered across Scotland, apparently from the distant past before Chistianity.
Dogfalls, one of the bush-walking/trekking sites we visited...
Eilean Donan Castle, situated near the Isle of Skye...
View from Portree, the largest town in Skye, and one of the places we stopped for a night.
Prawns (or more likely scampi) we had in Portree...
The Storr (not the Malaysian supermarket chain, The Store) is a rocky hill on the Trotternish peninsula of the Isle of Skye. Its more famous landmark is `The Old Man of Storr'... it's that isolated towering rock facing the east.
We actually hiked up to just beside The Old Man of Storr. Took us about an hour to reach there and it's worth it. View up there is magnificent!
Another landmark on the Isle of Skye, the name eluded my memory. Scary place to be up there looking down. It's probably a vertical cliff for more than a hundred metres!
Another bush-walking on another day close to Portree.
Drove past Eilean Donan Castle again as we left Skye...
Another Loch...
We reached Edinburgh on the fourth day and spend one night there. That's Edinburgh Castle, which sits atop Castle Rock, a now-extinct volcano, overlooking the city of Edinburgh. The entry fee of 12 pounds per person (I think) is definitely worth it!
The city of Edinburgh... which is our last top in Scotland before taking a 5-hour train ride back to London.
We thought that this Scotland trip was really good. It's a nice transition from the ancient cities of Italy to the majestic natural sceneries (most of the time) of the Scottish highlands, aside from the wonderful traditional Scottish and English food such as Haggis , Black Pudding, Kippers and different ales. And strangely enough, out of four days in Scotland, there were three sunny (at least not rainy, maybe a bit cloudy) days, which is phenomenal as Scottish weather is well-known for cold, rainy days.
Anyway, I reckon this is the longest entry I've ever written on this blog. So I'll end here and hopefully, post photos of our trip in London another time.
