Yearly Archives: 2008

Daily Scribble

DVC Indoor Range

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DVC

What is the photo? Toilet? No! It’s DVC Indoor Range, probably the best shooting facility in greater Vancouver. It opened almost half year ago. Out of many reasons, I couldn’t try the range until today. One of the reason is price. When it first open, it was very expensive. $65 for a lane including a rental gun and a box of ammo. Later they introduce the $30 day pass if you bring your own gun. However the price is still over my comfort zone. The range I usually practice at only cost $5 per night. Recently they start special promotion, two for one Wednesday. What a good deal! So me and my shooting buddy decided to try it out tonight.

The shooting range is very close to work, only 15 minutes drives away. The range is housed in a modified warehouse with reinforce steel walls to keep the bullets safe. The building is air conditioned, so the temperature is kept in a comfortable 20 degree. It has 13 lanes. When we were there, the range is empty. We have pretty much a private shooting session in the first hour. The best of all the perks is the auto target return system. You don’t have to wait for everyone finish their shooting and the range office puts on the green light before you can check your target. You can bring the target sheet back to you at the ease of pressing a button. Not more interruptions to halt your fire while waiting for the green light. It is so convenient.

I think I will split my shooting practice between this range and my usual range. The facility in this range is far superior than the other range. However, I will miss the friendly atmosphere in the other range. It is inconvenient to halt your fire every 15 minutes, yet it gives you the time to socialize with your fellow shooters. The new range not only looks like a toilet, the atmosphere actually feels like a toilet. Everyone occupy one stall and busy doing their own business. People are isolated in their personal space with no communication with each other.  The old fashion shooting range maybe less efficient, but it is nice to feel the presence of a community.

DVC Indoor Range

Daily Scribble

Laminin

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Laminin

Laminin is just one of the boring protein chemical inside our body. It has four arms allow it bind to other molecules. The three short arms bind to other laminin and the longer arm binds to cells, hence it forms membranes as well as internal organs. In short laminin makes our body holds together, without laminin our body will falls apart.

Sometime I must admire the creativity of evangelicals, they can twist the context of anything just to spread their religion. I saw a youtube video from Louie Gigilo on Laminin today. He claims that it is God’s creation that the protein holds our body together is in the shape of a cross.   In the video, he told a story of his encounter with a biologist who introduce laminin to him. The story itself is pretty good, the setup is quite interesting. Except the background music is really lame and his tone is kinda crappy.

At the end of the story, he showed the audience a drawing of the laminin molecule in the shape of a cross. Well, any molecule with 3 short arms and 1 long arm can be drawn in the shape of a cross. Next, he show the audience a photo of the molecule which does not look like a cross at all, it looks more like a Nazi symbol with the twists at the tip. Somehow the audiences all cheer up and praise Lord for this life miracle.

Louie Gigilo should research a bit more on laminin before he endorse it as an evidence for God. Some drawing of laminin are in the shape of a pitchfork, the symbol of the devil. Photos of lamini come in various shapes, some indeed remotely look like a cross. To me, some shapes look like X-wing fighters, while other look like Tie fighters. Maybe we all have the good side and dark side of the force inside our body constantly fighting each other. This coincidence could explain Jedism must be the true religion.

Laminin2

Lamin photo

Spreading the gospel is fine, but please do it more intelligently. Don’t ashame your fellow Christians. Saying the shape of laminin has significant meaning is like imagining animals from the shape of clouds in the sky. Jesus don’t need this kind of cheesy evidences to persuade his believers. .

電影

投名狀

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The Warlords 想看「投名狀」很久了﹐囊括香港金獎像八個獎項﹐李連杰﹐劉德華﹐金成武三大型男傾力演出﹐千軍萬馬的打仗場面﹐沒有不看這套電影的理由吧。在飛往新加坡的夜機上﹐發現機上的娛樂系統有「投名狀」﹐不理上機前工作一整天有多累﹐也要堅持看完電影才肯休息。唯一美中不足是椅背的小螢幕﹐這種大場面大製作的電影﹐要置身戲院看大銀幕才夠過癮吧。

「投名狀」的娛樂性和藝術成就被受肯定﹐我也不用多費唇舌去錦上添花。李連杰的個人武打表演依舊﹐但整齣電影最刺激奪目的場面﹐非山字營在舒城打的第一場仗莫屬。山字營寡以敵眾﹐八百步兵捨命前衡﹐換取弓箭與火槍一百步的差距﹐是近年看過最慘烈的戰爭場面。電影後段的蘇洲攻防戰﹐和那只有幾個凌亂鏡頭的南京總攻﹐相比之下就顯得淡然無味。其實後半部已偏重文戲﹐交帶兄弟三人反目相殘的恩恩怨怨。雖然動作場面不多﹐但仍然保持劇情的張力﹐帶動著觀眾的情緒。「投名狀」文武兼備難能可貴﹐不愧是擅長拍文戲的陳可辛導演﹐加上武術指導大師程小東的精心傑作。

昨天動筆寫這篇影評時﹐原本是打算以批評作戰不實為主﹐討論李連杰的價值觀為副。心想太平天國是清朝末年﹐長毛賊那來這麼多火槍。蘇州屠殺降兵是大哥與二哥決裂的主因﹐殺降兵如此不仁不義﹐總有更好的解決辨法吧。心想上網查看資料不會花很多時間﹐結果越看越有趣對那時期的歷史入迷﹐差不多把有關太平天國的網頁啃光才去睡﹐正史野史大小通吃。原本影評題材的如意算盤打不響﹐不論是故事本身改篇自清末四大奇案的刺馬案﹐除了為創作和觀感作出取捨的地方﹐電影其實頗為忠於那年代的歷史。太平天國原來也有火槍隊﹐從洋鬼子那兒買了不是火器。蘇州屠殺降兵更取材自歷史事件﹐不過現實中由李鴻章飾演大哥﹐清朝常勝軍(火槍隊)的英藉登戈少校則當二哥的角色﹐投降前當面保證士兵性命。當年這件事情演變成國際事件﹐登戈抗議名譽受損要找李鴻章決鬥﹐英美列強的報章也有報導﹐最後要英國軍方出面才擺平。不過登戈始終是外國人﹐下場比劉華幸運得多。在太平天國動亂平息後﹐清朝不過是遺散了常勝軍﹐把登戈炒魷送回英國老家﹐沒有給鳥盡弓藏亂箭射死。

電影中大哥李連杰的價值觀也很具爭議性﹐他是理想主義者與現實主者者的混合體﹐為拯救水深火熱萬民的高尚目標﹐可以為求目的不擇手段﹐連結義兄弟也可以捨棄﹐還要自我陶醉說二弟會明白他的犧牲是值得。在網上灠時卻驚訝地發現﹐大陸版為迎合內地審查自我閹割﹐刪減李連杰幾句對白幾行眼淚﹐大哥人格的描寫卻變成謬之千里。在大陸版中的大哥﹐只是一個賣友求榮﹐憑軍功上位的野心家﹐對比港台版那個充滿理想的悲劇英雄膚淺萬倍。怪不得有些大陸影評把「投名狀」寫得一無是處﹐說那不過是另一齣內容空洞古裝大片。兩個版本九成九相同﹐前後加起來不夠二分鐘的鏡頭﹐竟然可以是一套電影的靈魂﹐大陸版和港台版根本就是說兩個完全不同的故事。不過在這個連驚慄電影經典「閃靈」﹐也可以被剪接成溫馨家庭小品的年代﹐李杰連可以由一個好人剪成大壞蛋﹐也不是什麼令人奇怪的事了。

這篇影評從構思到落筆﹐差不多已完全變了另一篇文章。原來想寫有關電影內容的評論﹐結果變成圍繞電影的評論。「投名狀」除了是套好看的電影外﹐還給我上了一堂通識歷史課。不知道有多少觀眾看完電影後﹐會自發去再看太平天國的歷史呢。

政治經濟

碎屍案的教訓

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這幾天的港聞頭條是十六歲少女慘被變態殺手碎屍案﹐案發經過異常駭人。在此奉勸不知道案情而又剛吃飽飯的朋友﹐往下看前要嘔心的心理準備。

少女在網上結交變態殺手﹐與他外出發生關係時﹐他因吸毒失常殺死少女。最駭人是戀態殺手處理屍體的方法﹐先把受害者削骨起肉﹐切成薄片一塊塊割下後﹐再沖下廁所毀屍滅蹟。骨頭混入街市肉檔當當丟棄豬骨出售﹐最後頭髏則石沉九龍塘碼頭。原本受害人很有可能因為時間令證據消失﹐找不到屍體而被例作普通失蹤人口案處理。幸好天網灰灰疏而不留﹐ 變態殺手吸毒後失言﹐向朋友炫耀殺人事蹟。案發過程輾轉傳到警方耳目﹐才能鎖定兇從隸捕歸案﹐還受害者一個公道。

看罷這宗駭人的碎屍案﹐得出兩個教訓。第一個是少女上網交友要小心﹐胡亂與陌生人外出是十分危險的事情。第二是殺人不是什麼光采事件﹐千萬不要向朋友炫燿。否則只要洩漏少許線索﹐警方也可以讓兇手繩之於法。正如電影A1頭條中說過﹐單單殺人不難﹐但殺人後不被揭發則很難了。

Daily Scribble

It’s heavy

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Target sheet

I stayed in India for two months, I didn’t practice my shooting for two months. Today when I go the range again, I found my skill is really rusty. My rifle seems a lot heavier than its weight in my memory. My arm is sored and tried after only one box of ammos. I am struggling to hold the rifle stable to line up the sight with the target. I can see the cross hair wobbling left and right, up and down in my scope. When I am lucky to line up the sight, my trigger finger is way too jerky and pull the rifle off the target. Needless to say, my accuracy is much worse than when I was performing at my peak.

I guess shooting is like playing any other sports, you have to keep practicing to stay fit. I know I still have the muscle memory. I can tell when I do everythings right. It is just my physically weakness prevent me from doing the right thing. I guess more practice is the only way to regain my marksmanship.

Here is an explanation about the photo. If I am in condition, 9 out of the 10 rounds should stay within the 8 ring. Tonight, the holes are all over the place. Sigh!