[Movie]Angels and Demons (2009)

已经知道了大魔王是谁的读者，可以把这部影片当作是灾难冒险片来看；还没看过小说的影迷，不用担心背景知识不足，剧情简化了推理部分，也可以当作是一部灾难冒险片来看；看过小说又忘记了具体情节的读者，跟着感觉走，更适合拿来当灾难冒险片看。

我一直觉得《达芬奇密码》的小说偏“文”，拍成电影不一定好看，外加预告里Tom Hanks的扮相实在和想象力里的Langdon教授差太多，所以我一直还没看电影版。《天使恶魔》 这部小说就正好偏“武”，将近千吨炸弹的威胁，连续不同地残忍杀人方式，限于24小时内的追踪，还有大批围观群众（聚集在梵蒂冈的那些信众）和媒体聚焦， 基本上就是好莱坞灾难片的情节了。而且，这次Langdon教授扮相有改进，还有小说中强调的特别帅的神父，以及众所周知的罗马建筑和意大利帅哥警察 (XD) ，使得我对这部片好感大增。

小说的两条主线就是Antimatter即将爆炸和销声匿迹的Illuminati 成员是否真的重出江湖，参与了谋杀科学家，毁灭梵蒂冈的计划。小说花了很重的笔墨来铺垫科学和宗教之间长久以来的纠葛，电影则力求淡化这一敏感主题，于是加快故事进度，一上来10分钟之内就已经宣布了Antimatter的巨大威胁和Illuminati的秘密，除了必要时候提及伽利略的经历以外，尽量避免讨论天主教和当代科学之间的矛盾，Langdon教授则凭借在宗教符号学方面的专长，逐一定位4个被抓走的主教并找到Path of Illumination。他不能完全阻止惨剧发生，不过因为影片是PG-13，所以特效不算太血腥，爆炸场面还够火力。除了特效，好莱坞大片还是需要笑点的，所以在神圣的梵蒂冈档案室里，总是意外不断，这里可以看到Langdon教授幽默的一面以及女主角的露脸。女主角Vittoria是个称职的花瓶，虽然不是小说里那个瑜伽功夫了得的高手，整部戏都踩着高跟鞋到处跑也算是女中豪杰了。

为了不得罪以梵蒂冈为代表的全世界天主教势力，电影虽然涉及了教皇之死以及密宗会议这样的内容，但基本上还是保持了很强大的宗教气场，梵蒂冈的圣彼得广场以及红衣主教集体出席会议，都气势非凡。电影甚至改编了小说中最后的身世之谜之梗，不知道是求能够和平上映还是因为时间不够。据Variety介绍，梵蒂冈这次的反应就是低调，不想给这部片制造更多的曝光率。

这部戏应该就是典型的Runaway Project, 英国、德国、意大利、瑞典的演员都有参与，女主角甚至是以色列的美女，当然不可少意大利政府的支持，看完这部戏真的很想去罗马城一游。

[Web2.0] Good for YouTube Bad for GFW

As the saying goes "there are two sides of the same coin", two approaches to Internet are the centralism and the decentralism, and I prefer the latter one.

Decentralism is mainly because of the user participation and collective intelligence, which is a good excuse for YouTube's liability to infringement but a miss for the China's Great Fire Wall
project.

According to DMCA1998, if the service provider could prove 1) does not have the constructive knowledge of infringing activity; 2) cant control the infringing activity and does not benefit directly from the infringing activity; 3) remove the infringing content promptly once receive the copyright holder's notification, the service provider could be exempt from injunctions. YouTube has been actively practicing the third provision, both falls into gray area of the first two. It is really difficult for YouTube to clean up all the infringing content because of users' effort. Some of clips are infringing; some could be fair use; and some of the clips dont have the identification tag that the system cant automatically detect them; and even YouTube moves them from on account others can secretly continue upload. Also, some users come to the site are just looking for user generated content, in such circumstances, YouTube is benefiting directly from non-infringing content. So, the user participation gives excuses, at least, enough arguments for the Viacom v YouTube case.

As for the GFW project, though the censorship is getting worse (YouTube is completely blocked by end of the April), users' collective intelligence and participation efforts make it possible to break the GFW. Users still can try proxy and VPN services to pass GFW to access foreign websites, and for domestic uses, users have developed many new words to avoid sensitive words block. The ironic thing is we all know GFW blacklist for sensitive words is unpredictable, yet, users intelligence to develop new words for reference is weigh more unpredictable and innovative. Therefore, GFW can never completely stop the access. Sadly, they will try physical violent ways then sometimes. Still, the decentralism makes it not that strong.

Here's a video that describes one of the latest popular Internet slang in China, and an article that explains how the GFW function, a nice piece. And, they are both in Chinese..
Interpret the GFW and Break the GFW
http://course.ccert.edu.cn/blog/dingxuan/2009/04/30/gfw/

[Food] Singapore Fried Rice Noodles

It's always potluck time by the end of the semester. Sometimes, people have the expectation for international students' exotic dishes; sometimes, too exotic that people dont want to try it.
This is one of my favorite potluck dish to bring, the basic ingredient is Chinese style but the taste is like Southeast Asia. I like the like the flavor and the text of it.

Singapore Fried Rice Noodles (From rasamalaysia.com, a pretty luxury one)
Simple Singapore Fried Rice Noodles, the taste relies on the rice noodle an the curry, so I usually add whatever I have at hand.

Ingirendent:
1 large yellow onion
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2-3 slices of ginger
2-3 green onion
1/3 box of ground beef
15 shrimp
1.5 cup spring sprouts
1 pk, 12oz Wai Wai brand rice noodle

Sauce:
1tbs cooking wine for marinade the beef
4tbs soy sauce
3tbs oil
1cup chicken broth
3tbs curry powder
some sugar depends

First, heat the oil and fry the onion slices, ginger, and garlic, till the onions are translucent golden. Second, add the ground beef.
Third, add the rice noodles, soy sauce, chicken powder, curry, and sugar, cook until the rice noodles are tender.
Forth, finally add spring spouts and green onions, stir and turn off the fire.
Serve as side dish or main dish.
Another good reason to bring for potluck is it is dry food that is easy to carry.