Visual DNA

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Koped from PF's blog =)

 

 

Shop

Recently, I've been thinking about what I want to do when I graduate. Strangely I don't find being an engineer very appealing to me, despite that is what I've been studying for for the past 24 years, minus the time when I'm not studying. (I guess that left only about 1 year. =P)

 

There are only two kinds of profession in this world - The first are those that maintain and improve our way of life, eg. engineers, doctors, accountants, lawyers, etc. The second are those that give life to our way of life, eg. actors, writers, musicians, artists, philosophers etc.

 

I feel that, in my blood, I belong to the second category.

 

And I wanted to be a shopkeeper.

 

My shop will be situated on a very stylish and lively street, or in a secluded and peaceful corner of a very lively shopping centre. The keyword is 'lively', the place doesn't matter. The interior will be either brightly lit, to give a happy and lively feeling; or dimly lit, to give a magical and mysterious atmosphere; or both. I've yet to decide. Outside the shop, carved artistically on a wooden board or an acrylic, will be the name of my shop: 

 

 

INTEREST(h)INGS

Ideas, Inspirations, Imaginations

 

 

And the things you find in my shop, you won't find somewhere else. At the left side of my shop will be the shelves, on which beautiful bottles of various shapes, sizes, colors are displayed. On the front of the bottles will be pasted with nicely designed labels:

 

|-----------------------------------------------|

|      Bottled Happiness       |     

|      (Just add hot water)        |

|-----------------------------------------------|

 

Of course there will be other bottles like 'Bottled Love' and 'Bottled Dreams' etc.

 

Actually what is inside the bottle is a piece of colored dry ice cube. For those who never play with dry ice before, I promise you that it will be fun. =) Behind the bottle will be a line from my year one hall production script -

 

"Whether you can hold it, or not, it is up to you."

 

=)

 

Bottled ? is just one of my pet products. There are other products also. The shelf next to the Shelf of Bottles will be the Shelf of Ideas and Inspirations. The shelf will be packed with A4 size envelopes, each level is differently categorized: Stories, Arts, Music, Inventions, Business. Each category will again divide into sub-categories, eg. Stories -> Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Triller, Love, War, Short Story etc etc.

 

Inside the envelopes will contain papers where there are ideas or inspirations for its respective category. Each envelope will have a different price, ranging from 50 cents to a few hundred dollars, depending on how inspiring it is. Let say you randomly take a $20 envelope from the Invention - Mechanical section, this is what you will find inside:

 

 

                                                                                   ***********************

 

Hi, You Who Are At A Loss Of What To Invent,

 

Have you ever thought about what is the most troublesome dish on a dinner table? That's right! It is a plate of prawns that have their irritating shells on! Imagine how much you will earn if you manage to invent some simple and elegant device to remove their shells! Here is what you need to get started - 3 possible ways how a Prawn Shell Remover could work:

 

*Some very hazy diagrams and very vague explanations*

 

Well, this is it! Hope that you will be inspired, and successful in inventing it, and earn big bucks! Btw if you haven't read the Terms and Conditions in small print at the back of the envelope, you might want to read them now. Good luck!

 

Regards,

The Shopkeeper

 

************************

 

Yup, behind the envelopes:

 

Terms and Conditions

1. Once opened considered sold. No refund.

2. Five percent of profits from the product inspired by information contained inside this envelope will be given to the Shopkeeper. Hehe.

3. Each idea will only sell to you and you alone. However, if the idea doesn't develop into a product in 2 years, the Shopkeeper reserves the right to sell the idea to another person. 

 

 

My target customers will range from primary school kids who don't know what to write for their composition, poly students who don't what to do for their project, to established artists, musicians, professors etc who are looking for inspirations for their next breakthrough. =)

 

 

Let me continue with the layout of my shop. Besides the Shelf of Bottles and the Shelf of Ideas and Inspirations, is the Shelf of Surprises. On the shelf will be boxes of assorted shapes and sizes, all wrapped up nicely. There will be a range of prices, but you will never know that is inside. It will be all random randomness. It may be a lucky clover leaf, or a little hand-made bookmark, or an art sculpture, or a brass puzzle, or a board game you have never played before, or a pair of tickets to a play you will never have thought to watch. All you know is that, the things inside will be an interesting novelty which can't be found easily elsewhere.

 

For people who wants a little surprise in their life. =)

 

 

And that's all for the shelves on the left. At the end of the shop, there will be a display counter, behind which there is a man, and behind which there are more shelves. Who is the man? He will be a magician cum trickster. In the display counter and on the shelf will be bags of tricks, magical devices, strange contraptions, poker cards, wands and books of magic. Here you will be able to learn the secrets of mind reading, spoon bending, levitation, misdirection, transformation of objects etc etc. ...little miracles that brighten up your life and the life of others around you.

 

On the right will be another counter, quite a big one, and that is where The Shopkeeper, which is me, will be. And guess what, I'll be selling coffee - mocha, latte, cappuccino, frappe etc etc! Haha! All coffees will be served with double shots unless the customer requests otherwise. At the center of the shop will be tables and chairs, for people to chill out, read magazines, chit-chat, relax, discuss, brainstorm, and think of world changing ideas (with the help of my double shots coffees, of course =P). And once in a while, when he feels like it, the in-house magician will go around and amaze the customers with his little walkaround magic. I guess pple in this stressful country needs to be amazed once in a while. =)

 

Yup that's all. So what do you think of my shop? Anyone wants to invest? LOL!

 

 

Trivia

A caffeine rush never fails to make me want to blog. Tried Belgian Chocolate Ice Blended instead of the usual The Ultimate at Coffee Bean. Damned sweet, but it's rich. Nice. =)

 

Anwz today's entry will be ramblings as usual. It will start off with a little piece of trivia and end off with a little piece trivia.

 

(Don't worry, they are not the same trivia. Though I originally intend to make it so. Hee. =P)

 

Trivia Number 1

Have you ever wondered what the piece of rectangle on your laptop, which allows you to move the cursor using your finger, is called, and how it works? I've been musing on the above questions during one of my fits of 'boredness' at the office. I tried rubbing the rectangle of my company's laptop with a rubber, my wallet's leather, and a small cute furry Australian 'Hugging Kola Bear' (whose is hugging a stick of glue). The rubbings might had excite / stimulate the Kola Bear, but they sure didn't make the cursor move. And I wondered why. So, I did a little research today, and here's the answer:

 

The rectangle is called a Touchpad, and it works by sensing the changes in capacitance created when your finger touches the pad. Put simply (as I understand it), the touchpad is made of a conducting metal grid (determining location) covered by a non-conducting plastic membrane. Your finger / body is a (grounded) conductor. If you know your physics well, 2 conductors separated by a thin non-conductor causes charge built-up, and that charge difference between the conductors is called capacitance. And the Touchpad senses the change in capacitance on the metal grid as your finger moves around, and moves the pointer accordingly.

 

Kola Bears (toy ones) doesn't work because they are insulators. Try metals, they works (given enough surface area).

 

I tried explained this to some pple. They gave me the 'Human body is conductor meh?' look. Then I would give them the 'Ya hor. Why har?' look. Afterall human body isn't exactly made of metal, isn't it? So, I did a little research, and hence, I present to you, Trivia Number 2!

 

Trivia Number 2

Actually the answer is very simple (I've just forgotten it). Given enough voltage, current can pass through almost anything, even insulator. Strictly speaking, materials ain't exactly divided into conductor or insulator (or semiconductor, for those who are engineers). Conductivity isn't so black and white, there are a range of greys in between. Human body is less conductive than conductors like metals, but is more conductive than insulators like plastics/ceramics - somewhere in the middle of the spectrum... but still, it conducts current in that situation nevertheless , so, human body is a conductor.

 

Frankly speaking, I hate grey areas. That's why semiconductor is one of my most lousy subjects. T_T

 

 

《暗恋桃花源》

Watched 《暗恋桃花源》, directed by Stan Lai (赖声川), last Saturday with 2 friends and a bunch of strangers (friends' friends). The play is damned good. Tech is good. Effect is good. Story is good. Style is good. 3 hours long, 3 hours of pure enjoyment (except for a few parts which is a little boring). The story goes like this:

*Spoilers Alert! *

The setting is 1940s, in the war-torn Shanghai, under the moonlight. A loving couple, 江滨柳 & 云之凡 is about to be separated. 之凡 is leaving for her hometown together with her family for a few months. Here, lovebirds promised to keep in touch and pledged their undying love for each other forever blah blah blah... (This is the boring part.)

At the end of the scene, an disgruntled old man, the director, comes onto the stage complaining to the 2 actors that they didn't get the feel right. ("云之凡不是这样的，她就像一朵纯洁的白色山茶花..." To which the frustrated actress replied, "导演，山茶花怎么演啊???") It turns out that they are rehearsing for a tragic play called 《暗恋》. At this point, strange props and pple starts coming onto the stage. Another drama group has booked the theatre for rehearsal that same night! ( 滨柳 :" 怎么这样？为了这出剧我推掉了《白色巨塔》leh!" ) So the director went off angrily to find the manager, and this other group begins rehearsing for their comedic play, 《桃花源》.

(Meanwhile, a mysterious woman was looking high and low for a guy called 刘子骥, which no one in both drama group knows.)

The setting is ancient China, in a house. This couple is unhappy with each others. The guy, a loser fisherman, who manage to catch only small fishes, suspects his wife is committing adultery with his landlord, which she is. To keep a long story short, the fisherman left the house in anger after a big quarrel to go to the dangerous upstream to catch big fishes, while the wife and the landlord happily stay in the house and do whatever they want to do. 

Then is back to 《暗恋》. (A cock assistant 小胖 in 《桃花源》sent its next scene's backdrop to Malaysia, so, cannot they continue.)

滨柳, now married, old and dying, is lying on his bed in a hospital in modern Taiwan. (He immigrated there years ago) After all these years, he still cannot forget 之凡 even though he already has wife and kids. He found out that 之凡  has also came to Taiwan many many years ago, so he puts a notice in the newspaper, hoping that she will see that article and see him one last time... 

Then is back to《桃花源》. The fisherman rowed his boat upstream and encountered a big storm. (Here is where all the impressive effects came in: smoke, lightning, and fisherman flying here and there (using steel wire)! ) At the end of the journey, he reached a Paradise, where red petals falls non-stop (really non-stop for 15-20mins!); cows, horses and other animals roam freely (pple in animal costumes, damn cok! =P). There he met his wife and the landlord look-alikes (the inhabitants of the paradise), who keep telling him to relax... relax.. relax...

Suddenly, there is a blackout.  小胖 had cut the main wire in an attempt to stop the other group from rehearsing... ermm... (Haha!) Ganna screwed, and so, he say he'll repair it during...

---------  Intermission  --------- 

After intermission, the 2 groups, unhappy with the progress they are making, decide to divide the stage into half and rehearsal separately. However they keep interfering with each other and the result is utter and complete confusion. (This s the most hilarious part. =) In the end, they decide rehearse one by one.

《桃花源》: The fisherman, now a very serene and peaceful person (after hearing people kept telling him to relax non-stop), decides to go back and bring his wife and landlord to the Paradise after a few days against advice. However, it turns out that many years have passed in the real world, and his wife and landlord've already married with kids (though they are also unhappy with each other). At first they thought the fisherman is a ghost ("那里有牛，有马..." "哇! 牛头马面!!!"), then when they are convinced he's still alive, they thought he's crazy and refused to believe him...

...leaving the poor fisherman alone in the real world...  

(And for those of you who have read the original 陶渊明 's《桃花源记》, you'll know that the fisherman will never find his way back to the Paradise again.)

《暗恋》: 之凡  , now old and also married, eventually came to visit 滨柳. There, they found out that Fate has played a trick with them. In the vast China, they have managed to meet each other and fall in love in Shanghai despite living in different parts of China. Yet, in the (comparatively) small Taiwan, they were kept from each other despite that they both immigrate there soon after they separated... In the end,  之凡  left, went back to her family, leaving 滨柳 with his. Here, sorrows and regrets lingered in the air...

This is the end of the rehearsal. Both groups congratulate each other, pack up and leave the theatre happily. All left.

Except for the mysterious woman, who is still searching for her equally mysterious beloved, 刘子骥.

--------- The End  ---------

 

It is simply a good show. Spectacular effects, comedy/tragedy contrast, extremely funny scripting aside, it has one thing that I feel all good shows should have - it is thought-provoking.

And it really provoked quite a variety of thoughts:

'Many things in this world are elusive - you will never get it no matter how much you chase / want it. You gotta 面对现实.' (Mine.)

'Stan Lai is encouraging Taiwan to merge back with China.' (My mum's, who didn't watch the show.)

'The 2 directors in the play are being 虚伪, cos they are presenting a story abt one trying to find something/someone, yet they turned a blind eye to the woman who is really trying to find someone...' (Overheard when I was leaving the theatre.) 

'Love is about... ... ... ...' (A friend's blog.)

 

A good show. No wonder it is in its fifth or sixth re-runs since its first debut 20 over years ago. For those who didn’t watch, wait for next re-run ba. =)

 

P.S. For those who don't know who's 刘子骥, read the original《桃花源记》.

 

Carrot, egg, coffee

A little story sent by a good friend. Found it quite inspiring. Share with you guys here, hope it inspires you too! =)

 

 

A young woman went to her mother and told her about her life and how things were so hard for her. She did not know how she was going to make it and wanted to give up. She was tired of fighting and struggling. It seemed as one problem was solved, a new one arose. Her mother took her to the kitchen. She filled three pots with water and placed each on a high fire. Soon the pots came to boil. In the first she placed carrots, in the second she placed eggs, and in the last she placed ground coffee beans. She let them sit and boil, without saying a word.

 

In about twenty minutes she turned off the burners. She fished the carrots out and placed them in a bowl. She pulled the eggs out and placed  them in a bowl. Then she ladled the coffee out and placed it in a bowl. Turning to her daughter, she asked, "Tell me what you see."

 

"Carrots, eggs, and coffee," she replied.

 

Her mother brought her closer and asked her to feel the carrots. She did and noted that they were soft. The mother then asked the daughter to take an egg and break it. After pulling off the shell, she observed the hard-boiled egg. Finally, the mother asked the daughter to sip the coffee. The daughter smiled as she tasted its richness and savored its aroma.

 

The daughter then asked, "What does it mean, mother?"

 

Her mother explained that each of these objects had faced the same adversity - boiling water. Each reacted differently.

 

The carrot went in strong, hard, and unrelenting. However, after being subjected to the boiling water, it softened and became weak.

 

The egg had been fragile. Its thin outer shell had protected its liquid interior, but after sitting through the boiling water, its inside became hardened.

 

The ground coffee beans were unique, however. After they were in the boiling water, they had changed the water. "Which are you?" she asked her daughter. "When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond? Are you a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean?"

 

Think of this: Which am I? Am I the carrot that seems strong, but with pain and adversity do I wilt and become soft and lose my strength?

 

Am I the egg that starts with a malleable heart, but changes with the heat? Did I have a fluid spirit, but after a death, a breakup, a financial hardship or some other trial, have I become hardened and stiff?  Does my shell look the same, but on the inside am I bitter and tough with a stiff spirit and hardened heart?

 

Or am I like the coffee bean? The bean actually changes the hot water, the very circumstance that brings the pain. When the water gets hot, it releases the fragrance and flavor. If you are like the bean, when things are at their worst, you get even better and change the situation around you.

 

When the hour is the darkest and trials are their greatest, do you elevate yourself to another level? How do you handle diversity?

Are you a  carrot, an egg or a coffee bean?

 

May you have enough happiness to make you sweet, enough trials to make you strong, enough sorrow to keep you human and enough hope to make you happy.

 

The happiest of people don't necessarily have the best of everything; they just make the most of everything that comes along their way. The brightest future will always be based on a forgotten past; you can't go forward in life until you let go of your past failures and heartaches.

When you were born, you were crying and everyone around you was smiling. Live your life so at the end, you're the one who is smiling and everyone around you is crying.

 

May we all be COFFEE!