I suddenly have a weird idea, I am thinking about writing a book about skiing in chinese. There is no books on this topic exist in HK, so I can fill the niche market. I have this inspiration when I just came across a really crappy book written by somone with merely a private pilot license. I am a ski instructor, although only the lowest level, but good enough qualification to sell the book. There are many misconception about skiing in HK public and introducting this sport to them could be quite interesting. I will first write about why I love skiing in the introduction. In the main content, I can start with how to select equipment, from clothings to boots, binding and skis. The next chapter will be tips on skiing, this section is probably make up of half the content of the book. I can recycle what I have learnt from my instructor training and my skiing lessons. I can also write an appendix on snowboarding, breifly touch on the difference between these two sports. I can insert some side-bars about history of skiing, famous skiers, trivia knowledge etc. I can easily search up those information can from google and wiki. The final section introduce famous ski resort around the world. Too bad I can only rely on 2nd hand information, it would be great if I have first hand experience on those resorts. That maybe an easy way to become an author.
Crossbone Gundam 骷髏高達
在高達官方的歷史中﹐ 骷髏高達並不起眼﹐只有短短六本的漫畫。雖然是高達教父富野悠季的作品﹐故事也是發生在原祖高達的UC世界中﹐但沒有動畫版的支持﹐只有高達的死忠支持者會知道其存在。這套作品由長谷川裕一繪畫﹐若隨便翻開一頁看﹐必定會給其簡陋的畫功嚇死。若嫌畫功不夠差﹐可以再看漫畫的機械設計﹐保證立即咒罵聲四起。高達一向是行軍事寫實風格﹐今次的設計完全令人大跌眼鏡﹐主角的太空母艦是隻中世紀海盜船﹐害我差點以為看錯夏古羅船長。敵方的機械人更是不論不類﹐以前渣古的雄風消失了﹐取而代之是幾隻鐵甲太空怪獸。唯一可幸的是高達由是Katoki設計﹐比起大河邦源男的高達帥氣得多。但是還是給弄了個骷髏標誌﹐破壞了高達原有的美感。若讀者沒有給這些恐怖的表面嚇走﹐倒可以發掘出骷髏高達的內在美。論故事劇情的吸引力和主題思想的深度﹐這套漫畫在眾多高達作品可說是少見地出色﹐水平大慨只是僅在0080之下。
還記得高達有套電影叫F91﹐ 原定在電影版推出後﹐再出電視版繼續發展故事﹐電影結尾是還加句這是剛剛開始的字幕。可是F91不受觀眾歡迎﹐玩具不好賣﹐電視版的計畫於是胎死腹中。沒有資金出電視版﹐找個漫畫家倒不用花很多錢﹐就成為現在的骷髏高達。故事發生在UC0133﹐F91的主角西普克再次出場﹐化名為金格度﹐憑著女朋友拉比身份的關係﹐率領在F91當反派的十字先鋒軍團﹐在木星打游擊戰對抗實施極權統治的木星帝國。根據高達的慣例﹐主角必定是個死小孩﹐機緣巧合地坐上高達﹐還可以一出場就大殺四方。骷髏高達卻一反這個傳統﹐名義上主角是托比亞﹐但他最初只是坐敵軍搶回來的機體﹐有點小聰明和駕駛天份﹐還要一邊打一邊學習駕駛技術﹐到第四集才弄到台高達坐。故事中描寫金格度的戲份比托比亞還多﹐大部份精彩的打鬥也是由金格度負責。前半部的真正主角是金格度﹐後半部最多也只是兩位主角平分秋色。能夠連當兩次主角的機師﹐除了金格度外就只有駕元祖高達的阿寶﹐以及命種高達的人棍王基拉了。骷髏高達還有一個角色令人印象深刻﹐就是團隊裏那個老爺子駕駛員﹐一年戰爭時已開機械人的老兵。他並不只是個只責負搞笑角色﹐亦不是用來祭旗引爆主角能力的死人﹐而是一個處處流露出智慧的戰場老手。在新人類天材萬能的高達世界﹐大慨他是唯一可以憑多年的作戰經驗克敵的另類軍人。
高達的故事往往是強調英雄主義﹐妨忽只憑一台高達就可以扭轉戰局。骷髏高達的戰爭是立體多面的﹐金格度固然是個王牌機師﹐但他更加是精通謀略政治﹐明白軍事手段只是達到目標的方法一種。他不會熱血地拼死戰鬥﹐以為只要殺光敵人就是勝利。單靠十字先鋒的軍力不足以解放木星的人民﹐而若只是純軍事革命的改朝換代﹐亦有違他要在木星建立民主社會的理想。他要做的事是刺破木星政府的謊言﹐讓人民明白到他們一直給當權者欺騙﹐他們有權選擇自己的生活。十字先鋒與地球軍火商是互相利用的關係﹐軍火工業必須依賴戰爭才可以生存﹐地區性的小型戰爭正好用來測試新機體﹐剛好需要武器的游擊隊正是最佳的實驗者。游擊隊是生存在地球與木星的夾縫中﹐一邊要奉承要地球勢力去打擊木星勢力﹐而另一邊要擔心地球與木星關係好轉﹐出賣游擊隊作為政治交易的籌碼。若非木星的獨裁者自視過高﹐舉旗反抗地球自招滅亡﹐金格度的解放運動最終只會徒勞無功。木星政府連人民呼吸的空氣也控制﹐要反抗付出的代價實在太大了。只要大部份人生活過得不算太差﹐木星人民早已慣習了當順民。遇上人民抱怨生活過得不好﹐政府還可以把責任轉移為地球的壓迫﹐統一民意恃氣同仇槍口一至對外抗敵。漫畫中游擊隊為理想推翻政府﹐不得不依靠外國勢力緩助﹐最終成為國際政治陰謀的犧牲品﹐正是現實世界歷史政治的寫照。
傳聞笨大打算製作劣評如潮的命種高達第三輯﹐這簡直為求谷銷量賣更多新玩具﹐自毀高達這金漆招牌﹐殺雞取卵的短視行為。其實UC世界中還有很多出色的故事可以動畫化﹐與其推陳出新那些過眼雲煙的非UC係列﹐不如考慮把骷髏高達動畫化﹐創造一個新的高達經典代表作。
Harddisk Warranty
My Seagate SATA harddisk was broken last month and after a few weeks of wait, the replacement is finally arrived. I am very impressed by the warranty service offered by Seagate. No recipt is required, which otherwise could be troublesome since I may have lost the recipt. The warranty service is completely self-service online. All I have to do is enter the serial number of my harddisk﹐ check whether it is still under warranty. If the warranty is not expired, I can open a service ticket and then send in the old harddisk. No question asked. It is probably the best warranty experience I ever have. Unlike other warranty service which attempt to repair the problem, which may take up a few months, Seagate just send me a replacement unit, which works just like a new one. Here you have one happy customer. When I buy harddisk in the future, I will consider Seagate first. I think this should be the standard for all warranty services. Warranty should be covered by the manufacturer, not the import agent. As long as each product has a unique serial number, there is no need for the proof of purchase.
碧血劍(新修版) – 金庸
重讀新修版金庸集是我的閱讀大計﹐由他的第一套小說開始﹐一路順著出書次序讀閱下去。上回看過了「書劍恩仇錄」﹐今回就讀書金庸寫的第二部小說「碧血劍」。金庸寫這本小說時還成為武俠大師﹐他的成名作是下一套小說「射鵰英雄傳」。「碧血劍」不論是劇情編排或是人物描寫﹐也只是沒有什麼特色的大路武俠小說。故事借用明末歷史作為背景﹐主角是抗清名將袁崇煥的兒子袁承志。從他兒時落難被朝廷追殺開始﹐其後遇上名師拜入華山派門下學藝﹐加上機緣巧合盡得鐵劍門與金蛇郎君的真傳﹐一落山闖蕩江湖便已是天下無敵﹐很典型的武俠小說開場式。「碧血劍」的敗筆是接下來的故事欠缺主線﹐劇情只是隨著主角的遭遇飄流﹐金庸生動優美的文筆也彌保不到情節的缺陷。袁承志原本想找崇禎皇帝報殺父之仇﹐不過路上遇到太多沒有關係的支線﹐劇力給分得太散﹐捉不著讀者的集中注意。結局也令讀者十分失望﹐那有主角吃一記敗仗就要退隱海外﹐總是覺得有草草收場之感。重看「碧血劍」最讓金庸迷感興趣的事﹐是書中有很多角色在「鹿鼎記」再次出場﹐看「碧血劍」中神拳無敵歸梓樹一家﹐溤難敵﹐李自成﹐白衣尼九難﹐五毒教主何鐵手等人的事蹟﹐有如在看「鹿鼎記」的前傳般過癮。
「碧血劍」作為一部武俠小說還有另一個遺憾﹐就是袁承志在小說中從來末遇上旗鼓相當的對手。從小時候初試身手打豹子﹐到路上與溫青青同行時遇上的仇家﹐五毒教﹐溫家六老﹐錦衣衛﹐華山派的師兄弟﹐甚至最後的大佬玉真子﹐袁承志總是輕易獲勝﹐完全沒有絲毫驚險的感覺。諷刺的是袁承志打倒大江南北所有最武林高手﹐在最後一役金蛇營給清兵圍困山頭﹐袁承志身手再好也要敗給殺不盡的士兵。這就是武俠世界中的殘酷現實﹐就算武功蓋世﹐在兩軍交戰千軍萬馬中﹐要自保突圍已很吃力﹐若還要守護其他人則必敗無疑。軍隊打仗是靠團體合作性﹐一個人不論武功如何高﹐也難單憑一己之力扭轉戰局。不像些新派武俠小說或漫畫中﹐只要幾個絕頂高手就可以統一天下﹐那可是跨張得離譜過份。
主角袁承志的性格令人看得十分不爽﹐基本上他沒任什麼主見﹐行事只是順著身邊的人的意思。他才下山就還上溫青青算是他倒霉﹐惹上了這個金庸小說中最麻煩的女主角。隨後小說中的大部份故事﹐袁承志只是給溫青青縴著鼻子走。說起來還只是溫青青一廂情願吃定袁承志﹐袁承志對溫青青是結拜兄弟的義多於男女之間的愛。袁承志喜歡九難更是莫名奇妙﹐才見過一次面就日思夜想。看來袁承志還膚淺得很﹐只會迷戀女孩的美貌﹐不過也可能是給溫青青迫得太緊而產生潛意識反彈﹐要移情別戀去平衡心理。袁崇煥為國為民捐軀很有大志﹐不過袁承志雖然名字叫承志﹐他並沒有承到了多少父親的遺志。他被推舉當金蛇營首領是靠父蔭﹐他擁有一支戰力相當的軍隊﹐但從來沒有考慮過給何善用﹐只是想把軍隊當禮物送給李自成。他在關外見過清太祖皇太極﹐聽皇太極明朝虐民的言論說得頭頭是道﹐腦中只是閃過一絲對自己立場的反省﹐就還原去依靠忠孝的思考規條﹐看來袁承志除了懂武功外﹐對其他事情也一竅不通亦不去多想。到後來李自成入京稱帝腐化﹐斬大將殺兄弟﹐袁承志與李自成脫離關係﹐他已再沒有可效忠的對象﹐種下了他日後心灰意冷決定離開中土的原因。
金庸在 「碧血劍」的後記中寫了一篇袁崇煥傳﹐我認為這篇歷史傳記比小說正文還好看。金庸流暢的文筆讓袁崇煥一生呈現讀書眼前﹐同時學貫東西的金庸在文中為明未的歷史加點分析注腳。他不但引用中國歷史的例子﹐還引用近代西方歷史的例子﹐說出明朝亡國的近因是因為連出三個昏君﹐但遠因卻是明朝的文官制度﹐令國家機器沒有辨法有效運作。金庸在袁崇煥傳中分析歷史的視角﹐正好與黃仁宇的「萬歷十五年」中的大歷史觀不謀而合﹐兩人對明朝覆亡的見角也是英雄所見略同。
AJAX Library
In the plan of creating a wordpress theme for my website, I decided to take this opportunity to learn the nuts and bulbs of the web2.0. The essence of web2.0 is AJAX, which stands for Asynchronous Javascript and XML. This acronym sounds quite complicate, but the idea is very simple. In short, web2.0 has two major aspects. First, update a portion of a web page on the fly by fetching new data from the server using the XMLHttpRequest object built into the browser. Second, using the graphic user interface javascript to create windows-like applications that runs inside the browser.
There are many AJAX libraries out there provide nice interfaces that handle most of the low level functions. I won’t consider any commercial packages since they don’t justify the cost. Microsoft, Yahoo and Google offer free proprietary packages, but I won’t consider them. Microsoft Altas is so retarded and you can only use it inside visual studio. Google web toolkit is a bit odd, first you have to write java code then compile it into javascript. The Yahoo library is in pretty good shape, but it still can’t beat the dojo open source library. Dojo seems to be the most all rounded AJAX library. It has over 3MB of source code! Scriptaculous comes in a distant second, lacking many useful features. Dojo have all the bit and pieces required to assembly a web application that rival the functions of a windows-based application. The only thing that still need a native windows application is number crunching jobs, such as drawing 3D graphics or processing huge data files.
Web2.0 is still in early development stage. There are many competing AJAX libraries and everyone is reinventing the wheel. It is very important to beg on the right horse early on, so later on I won’t stuck with a dying technology. Dojo is the current leader in the game with support from IBM and other big players. I am going to pick Dojo as the primary AJAX library for my new website.