Yearly Archives: 2008

Daily Scribble

Booking my flight to India

4 Comments

This afternoon, I was booking my flight to India.  There are not many airlines flying direct to Bangalore.  I am not adventure enough to take an internal flight inside India, so my options are limited.

The most straight forward path is taking Air Canada/Lufthansa, making a transfer in Frankfurt.  The connection time is perfect, not much time is wasted in the airport.  The itinerary looks great except it is flying via Europe.  India is exactly 12 time zones away from Vancouver, so flying west should be the same as flying east.

Only Singapore airline have direct flight to Bangalore.  Somehow, the travel booking websites somehow couldn’t route the flight via Singapore.  They always route it through Europe.  I have to print out Singapore airline’s flight schedule and try to work out the connect flights myself.  Singapore airline only flies 3 days a week form Vancouver to Singapore, so I can’t leave on Friday as planned.  The flight arriving at 11p.m and the daily flight from Singapore to Bangalore is at 10p.m.  The timing of the connect flight is not looking good.  I can also fly to San Francisco first, then to HK, then to Singapore and catch the direct flight to Bangalore.  It will be 3 stops compare to 1 stop taking Lufthansa, not very desirable either.

At the end, I book with Lufthansa to save the trouble.  For the 2nd trip, maybe I will stop by HK and try the SFO route of Singapore airline.  Too bad that HK has no direct flight to Bangalore, yet.  Dragonair will have daily flight to Bangalore starting May 1.  Taking Cathy Pacific and Dragonair, stop over in HK would be the best flight itinerary.

Daily Scribble

Big endian vs little endian

1 Comment

The endian is one of the most confusing concept in computer design. I remember it took me so long to remember their difference in year 1 computer course and then I forget which one is which shortly.  The endian answers the question what is the proper byte order inside the computer, to be more specify, which bit should travel first. The big endian thinks the most significant bit should go first, while the little endian believe the least significant bit should go first.

The term big endian and little endian is coined by David Cohen in his legendary paper On Holy Wars and a Plea for Peace. The terms are originated from Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels. In the tale, there are two countries Lilliput and Blefuscu go on war for what is the right way to break an egg, on the big end or on the little end. They are big endian for the former one and little endian for the latter one. In the tale, Swift is satirizing the holy wars between religions with the egg war. Which end to break the egg is such a silly question that people should eat their egg any way they like. However if two computers want to communicate, they have to share the same endian. So, it is some sort of holy war in the computer world, and either side is not going to give up easily.

The little endian have their idea coming from daily language, such as English. We write characters from left to right, start with the first character, second character and so on. Thus, they think it is natural to send the least significant bit first. The big endian are inspired by the mathematicians. In maths, we write from left to right begins with the most significant digit. Each camp has its merits and has been rallying troops for the endian war.  The paper was published in 1981, almost a quarter century ago. Today, the computer world is still split along the line of endian with different protocols, architectures on each camp.  This give us lots of headache when we are building chips to bridge different protocols.

It seems the endian war will never end. As Cohen said, agreement upon an order is more important than the order agree upon. Shall we toss a coin?

電影

寶貝計劃

1 Comment

Rob-B-hood 以前成年的電影﹐拍出來總是像倒模一樣﹐套套差不多﹐看多了也覺得悶。今次「寶貝計劃」狀態大勇﹐給人耳目一新的感覺。可愛趣緻的嬰兒誰不愛看﹐想出把嬰兒和動作電影﹐兩樣不干相的東西加來坐的這個編劇應記一功。電影有老中青三代男演員﹐許冠文﹐成龍﹐古天樂﹐不過最搶鏡的還是那個嬰兒﹐他才是這套戲的真正男主角。

故事是說三個神偷做世界﹐偷不到錢卻偷了個嬰兒。成龍和古天樂變湊仔公﹐鬧出笑話一大堆。原本打算是嬰兒換錢﹐不過兩個男人又拾不得。最後壞人要搶嬰兒﹐於是大打一場大團員結局。主線的劇本一般﹐犯了港產片於理不合的毛病。不過細節處理得出色﹐有讓人噴飯的笑話﹐有緊張刺激的動作﹐也有感動窩心的場面。

兩個大男人給嬰身弄得手足無措﹐又要餵奶又要換片很好笑﹐雖然有點似抄西片Pacifier。開場電梯飛身教嬰兒﹐中場嬰兒車大戰運款車﹐這兩場的動作設計巧妙生鬼。成龍抱著嬰兒入賭場那一幕最有真情﹐不想教壞嬰兒只好自己戒賭。古天樂湊仔湊上癮﹐由不負責任的男人﹐變成負責任的爸爸也很妙。

這套戲有很多地方好看﹐最悶的反而是成龍那些招牌動作場面。最後的冰窖大戰施得太長﹐不停騷成龍的猴子戲功夫。其實他這些招式耍了二十多年﹐觀眾早已看膩了。拍電影與學習一樣不進則退﹐成龍大哥怎可以靠食老本﹐不停重覆他那些動作招式呢﹖

終於寫完了所有影評﹐還清了在飛機上看的電影債。下個月我要出差飛長途機﹐恐怕又會一口氣看很多套電影﹐又要晚晚筆耕寫影評了。

電影

美女食神

2 Comments

Beaty Chef 荷里活的爛片也有三斤釘﹐但始終是大製作靚特技﹐尚餘不少觀賞價值。香港爛片則糙製濫造﹐內容無聊低俗﹐免費下載也嫌浪費硬碟空間﹐更不要說浪費時間看。看後完想寫點評論﹐除了盡情地狂罵勁踩外﹐基本上沒有什麼好寫。

王晶導演早己是爛片的代名詞﹐這套「美女食神」又怎會例外。那一期興美女廚房﹐於是他便開部話題電影湊熱鬧﹐順便騙騙無知觀眾口袋的錢。總票房好像只有百多萬﹐證明香港的觀眾眼睛還是雪亮的。故事內容不詳細說了﹐八成抄周星馳那套食神﹐不過當然畫虎不成反類犬。電影找來一班電視明星演出。李克勤唱歌好聽﹐但做戲真的不敢恭維﹐好像自「浪族闊少爺」以來﹐演技從來沒有進步過。余詩曼是無記視后﹐不過她把拍肥皂劇那套拿來拍電影﹐表情跨張虛假﹐用來拍歡樂今宵的搞笑劇就差不多。其他的演員全是大綠葉﹐表出功多藝熟﹐可惜劇本白痴胡鬧所限﹐完全沒有發揮機會。戲中最過癮倒是周中師傳﹐比美女廚房時更抵死。

大慨我給荷里活的爛片寵壞了﹐看完「美女食神」才知什麼叫低處未算低。若果不是坐長途機百無聊賴﹐我絕對不可能與這套電影拉上關係。原本打算看來接觸香港流行文化﹐看看現在香港興什麼樣的電影。不過電影沒有觀票不流行﹐並不能代表香港流行文化。除了李余二人的死忠粉絲外﹐我倒好奇有什麼人會購票入戲院看這套戲﹐不知道他們是什麼心態入場呢。

電影

Bourne Ultimatum 叛諜追擊﹕最後通碟

Leave a comment

Bourne Ultimatum 一部好的驚險電影﹐不需要炫目的電腦特技﹐甚至不需要很多的動作場面﹐已能捉緊觀眾的神經﹐令人大口也不敢喘地追看到完場。這部「最後通碟」是「叛諜追擊」系列的最後一集﹐改篇自Robert Ludlum的暢銷小說。導演用別於一般動作電影的手法拍攝﹐模疑手提攝錄機有點不隱定的畫面。有些評批人不喜歡這種所謂的真實風格﹐認為看不清楚戲內做什麼。我則認為只要不影響故事的表達﹐嘗試用不同拍攝的方法可以接受。

Matt Damon在戲內飾演一個失憶的CIA特工﹐由第一集開始不停逃亡﹐一邊尋找自己的身份﹐一邊對付CIA派來殺人滅口的特工。這電影系列的一大特色是環遊世界﹐主角在逃亡之旅足跡遍給全球。第三集開場承接上一集結局﹐在莫斯科逃避警察的追捕。接下來的故事好像玩野外定向﹐一邊與CIA的特工鬥快﹐一邊從一個線索追蹤去另一個線索﹐最終指向Borune的身世之謎。

第一場主角在倫敦火車站與爆料記者接頭﹐隔著電話下指示躲避狙擊手。雖然沒有多動作場作﹐卻營造出一份很強的張力。主角從記者的筆記找到線索﹐指向馬德里的CIA分局。第二場是主角與CIA殺手交手﹐在馬德里街頭和屋頂四竄﹐劇力緊張並充滿動感。主角和殺手交手那一場只有瞬間﹐但是那是真功夫用真正的殺人方法﹐並不似其他動作電影般﹐邊打邊講﹐打極也不死不傷。

電影頭三分二很精彩﹐可惜最後三分一衰收尾。主角單人匹馬勇聞紐約﹐輕易地偷入CIA總部和秘密特工訓練基地。主角去CIA總部可是光明正大行入去﹐怎麼總部好像無掩雞籠讓人自出自入﹐國家機密好像不怎安全。我還以為訓練基地多數在沙漠或荒島﹐建立在紐約商業大夏某一層有點兒戲。而且那個訓練基地只是幾間房﹐什麼先進設備也沒有﹐如何可以訓練出Bourne這個超級特務。結局有點兒牽強反高潮﹐還以Bourne的身世有什麼驚天大陰謀﹐原來只是個失敗了的洗腦實驗﹐還以是Bourne精忠報國自願參加計劃﹐不能埋怨別人。

CIA進行殺手洗腦實驗﹐希望可以培養出絕對冷血的殺手。串連三集「叛諜追擊」的主線﹐就是Bourne從拾人性的經過。在紐約飛車追逐戰中﹐主角沒有殺CIA派來的殺手。到最後在屋頂殺手用槍指著主角﹐主角反問殺手他為什麼要殺人﹐殺手答不上亦沒有開槍。有感情的人不適合當殺手﹐洗腦實驗總始終不能抑壓人的天性。主角就是第一集執行任務時﹐看見目標的小女兒不忍心下手﹐才在逃亡是中伏受傷失憶。

其實不用搞什麼洗腦計劃這樣麻煩﹐找個天生冷血的殺手不更簡單直接嗎。殺自己的親人朋友就會不忍心﹐執行任務殺個陌生人會有什麼心理包伏﹐值得搞到要自己身陷險境。殺手與士兵的專業操守一樣﹐任務派下來就要徹底執行﹐不可以受到感情因素影響。若果殺手覺得自己不適合任務﹐大可以在出發前退出。在任務執行間胡思亂想﹐不單危害自己生命﹐更可能影響國家安全。寧可在任務完成後回去才慢慢想﹐不喜歡再幹的話便洗手退役好了。也許CIA不必讓殺手接受洗腦訓練﹐改為學蟬也會更有幫助。讓殺手們在行動時心無雜念,專注殺死目標全身而退﹐方能完全領悟到大師級殺手的境界。