23 June 2011
22 June 2011
21 June 2011
Nothing to do at work.
No thanks to someone who put my computer out of commission, and then refuse to get a replacement laptop for me to work on while I wait for my computer to be repaired. Take that you idiots!
14 June 2011
13 June 2011
Eyes on you?
11 June 2011
New toy
18 May 2011
Making the emotional connection
I've always wanted to make a game that's different, that leaves a lingering emotion in its wake. Watching the interview with the creative director of the upcoming Assassin's Creed Revelations, Alexandre Amancio, has shared some light on this issue which I had been pondering for some time.
In this video, Amancio mentions that one way to achieve this is to allow narrative and gameplay to merge. In the example he cited, if the actions of the player has a meaning (that could be given through the narrative) and has a direct impact on the outcome, the player would be able to establish a connection with the character in the game.
I couldn't resist thinking about one of my latest emotional experiences with a game -- Dragon Quest V.
*SPOILERS AHEAD!*
At the beginning of the game, we are introduced to the main protagonist and his father. There seems to be nothing special about this narrative, it seems to be a typical setting for a family. But the game makers took a step further and made the father help you tremendously every time after the battle by giving you a full heal, whether you need it or not. As the player, I was thinking -- wow it's cool to have "my" father around to give me free heals! I grew stronger through the subsequent battles and with "my" father's help. But towards the end of the first story arc, my father tried to protect me and a prince and died in battle. I felt a sense of loss and a huge "NOOOOOOOO!!!!!" screaming inside me. It wasn't so much about the after-battle heals, but I grew attached to the fatherly character in the game, to the extent I wish my father in real life was like that... just kidding~
*END SPOILERS*
I feel that the narration in Dragon Quest V aid in the gameplay, which in turn affects the narration when the player reaches a certain point in game, where the narration takes over and make another hit to the gameplay. It's an endless chicken-and-egg cycle, where one gives rise to the other. Most games these days disconnect the endless cycle and make it either narration->gameplay or simply gameplay->narration.
Most, if not all, game designers have long established that for a game to be "fun", one of the underlying criteria is feedback to the players. If the feedback is persistently inconsistent with the previous experience the player has encountered, the player starts to lose interest in it. However, many designers apply this rule to the game mechanics and neglected this aspect for narration with the introduction of long cut scenes. Cut scenes are cool in their own right, but I do recall nodding off at one of the final long ending "movies" as i was just watching, and not performing any input for that period of time.
If there is some way that players can perform certain actions that impact the outcome of the movie, that'll be totally cool. A good example would be Heavy Rain, which treads on the border of being a game and an interactive movie. Players can perform action sequences, and how well they have performed will affect the outcome of the game, and sometimes put the plot on a different path. However, in another action role playing game, Bayonetta, I remember being very frustrated during one of the cut scenes straight after defeating a boss, which required me to input a particular button at a particular instance. I personally feel no one would be able to do it right at least viewing the cut scene once. As a result, I was thrown back into this sequence again and again for failing to pay attention to the cut scene.
Maybe one of the reasons why visual novels are fun to some, despite their lack of interactive visual environments, is due to the connected cycles of gameplay and narration. Well, in this case, game play would refer to the decisions the player makes. Role playing games can hinge on the "fun" factor of visual novels and keep players engaged, rather than to disengage them with narration that is broken off from game mechanics.
I couldn't resist thinking about one of my latest emotional experiences with a game -- Dragon Quest V.
*SPOILERS AHEAD!*
At the beginning of the game, we are introduced to the main protagonist and his father. There seems to be nothing special about this narrative, it seems to be a typical setting for a family. But the game makers took a step further and made the father help you tremendously every time after the battle by giving you a full heal, whether you need it or not. As the player, I was thinking -- wow it's cool to have "my" father around to give me free heals! I grew stronger through the subsequent battles and with "my" father's help. But towards the end of the first story arc, my father tried to protect me and a prince and died in battle. I felt a sense of loss and a huge "NOOOOOOOO!!!!!" screaming inside me. It wasn't so much about the after-battle heals, but I grew attached to the fatherly character in the game, to the extent I wish my father in real life was like that... just kidding~
*END SPOILERS*
I feel that the narration in Dragon Quest V aid in the gameplay, which in turn affects the narration when the player reaches a certain point in game, where the narration takes over and make another hit to the gameplay. It's an endless chicken-and-egg cycle, where one gives rise to the other. Most games these days disconnect the endless cycle and make it either narration->gameplay or simply gameplay->narration.
Most, if not all, game designers have long established that for a game to be "fun", one of the underlying criteria is feedback to the players. If the feedback is persistently inconsistent with the previous experience the player has encountered, the player starts to lose interest in it. However, many designers apply this rule to the game mechanics and neglected this aspect for narration with the introduction of long cut scenes. Cut scenes are cool in their own right, but I do recall nodding off at one of the final long ending "movies" as i was just watching, and not performing any input for that period of time.
If there is some way that players can perform certain actions that impact the outcome of the movie, that'll be totally cool. A good example would be Heavy Rain, which treads on the border of being a game and an interactive movie. Players can perform action sequences, and how well they have performed will affect the outcome of the game, and sometimes put the plot on a different path. However, in another action role playing game, Bayonetta, I remember being very frustrated during one of the cut scenes straight after defeating a boss, which required me to input a particular button at a particular instance. I personally feel no one would be able to do it right at least viewing the cut scene once. As a result, I was thrown back into this sequence again and again for failing to pay attention to the cut scene.
Maybe one of the reasons why visual novels are fun to some, despite their lack of interactive visual environments, is due to the connected cycles of gameplay and narration. Well, in this case, game play would refer to the decisions the player makes. Role playing games can hinge on the "fun" factor of visual novels and keep players engaged, rather than to disengage them with narration that is broken off from game mechanics.
10 April 2011
Maybe I have been too easygoing in the past, and always listening to others without making much of a fuss when they don't treat me similarly... That's why nobody really listens to me. Because I wouldn't make a huge fuss out of it.
Maybe that's why I'm so angry and sad. Even when they apologize for having not listened. Because I know they're the way they are. The same thing will probably happen over and over again. Maybe the fault lies in me in the first place.
Maybe that's why I'm so angry and sad. Even when they apologize for having not listened. Because I know they're the way they are. The same thing will probably happen over and over again. Maybe the fault lies in me in the first place.
14 December 2010
Rooftops (A Liberation Broadcast)
When our time is up
When our lives are done
Will we say we've had our fun
Will we make a mark this time
Will we always say we tried
Standing on the rooftops everybody scream your heart out
Standing on the rooftops everybody scream your heart out
Standing on the rooftops everybody scream your heart out
This is all we got now everybody scream your heart out
All the love I've met
I have no regrets
If it all ends now I'm set
Will we make a mark this time
Will we always say we tried
Standing on the rooftops everybody scream your heart out
Standing on the rooftops everybody scream your heart out
Standing on the rooftops everybody scream your heart out
This is all we got now everybody scream your heart out
Standing on the rooftops
Wait until the ball drops
This is all we got now
Scream until your heart stops
Never gonna regret
Watching every sunset
Listen to your heart beat
All the love that we felt
Standing on the rooftops
Wait until the ball drops
This is all we got now
Scream until your heart stops
Never gonna regret
Watching every sunset
Listen to your heart beat
All the love that we felt
Scream your heart out
Scream your heart out
Scream your heart out
Scream your heart out
Standing on the rooftops everybody scream your heart out
Standing on the rooftops everybody scream your heart out
Standing on the rooftops everybody scream your heart out
This is all we got now everybody scream your
13 December 2010
The Truth Is Like A Lie
Lyrics & Music: Angela Aki
I still make the coffee for two
At the table, I still set a place for you
Just in case you come home, I always keep
The light on even while I sleep
Every time the telephone rings
I think it's you and suddenly my heart starts to sing
But your sweet voice is only a memory
Fragments of a fading melody
How am I supposed to carry on
When the road in front of me is gone
How can I believe this really is goodbye
How... when the truth is like a lie
Constantly living yesterday
That is why I am slowly dying here today
Holding onto time framed in photographs
Frozen moments caught between the glass
How am I supposed to carry on
When the road in front of me is gone
How can I believe this really is goodbye
How... when the truth is like a lie
Tell me how am I supposed to carry on
When the road in front of me is gone
How can I believe this really is goodbye
When the truth is just like a lie
Tell me how am I supposed to carry on
When the road in front of me is gone
How can I believe this really is goodbye
How... how... how... when the truth is like a lie
On the verge of tears
... when I was all alone late into the night and I failed to swat a huge cockroach in the kitchen.
12 December 2010
Pain shall be my friend
... as I quote one of my friend, Edwin (whom I don't think would ever see this)...
自古以来，伟大的艺术家几乎都经历了重重困难，人生跌到谷底后，“死”而复生，就变得更坚强，创造出令众人赞赏的作品。令我难过的事，我也不是没经历过，何必为了它而就倒下？为了这种事情就自暴自弃，那不是太笨了吗？
我要将悲愤化为力量。生气时就将怒气放到更有意义的地方去。为了你生气。。。实在不值得。
我恨你。大家在一起这么久，那么亲，你竟然觉得我说的做的都是歪理。你应该不是故意的，但这才是你的心声吧！难怪跟你说的话你一点都没听进去。你根本就不把我当一回事。真可笑。你前一阵子还希望我能向你述说心事，既然都把我说的话当歪理，那还问来干嘛。
我受够了。
有好几次都想逃走。好几次想翻脸算了。反正没有我你应该过得更快活。没有你我也会更快乐吧。你说的，叫我遵守，你自己都没照办。要人家尊敬你？对不起，我做不到。
真想毁了你所创造的这个世界。
现在，就算你在我面前，想尽办法地想切入我的世界，对不起。我将伫立高高的围墙，不会再让你“无心伤害”。
我。。。会让我的心变得更坚强。
自古以来，伟大的艺术家几乎都经历了重重困难，人生跌到谷底后，“死”而复生，就变得更坚强，创造出令众人赞赏的作品。令我难过的事，我也不是没经历过，何必为了它而就倒下？为了这种事情就自暴自弃，那不是太笨了吗？
我要将悲愤化为力量。生气时就将怒气放到更有意义的地方去。为了你生气。。。实在不值得。
我恨你。大家在一起这么久，那么亲，你竟然觉得我说的做的都是歪理。你应该不是故意的，但这才是你的心声吧！难怪跟你说的话你一点都没听进去。你根本就不把我当一回事。真可笑。你前一阵子还希望我能向你述说心事，既然都把我说的话当歪理，那还问来干嘛。
我受够了。
有好几次都想逃走。好几次想翻脸算了。反正没有我你应该过得更快活。没有你我也会更快乐吧。你说的，叫我遵守，你自己都没照办。要人家尊敬你？对不起，我做不到。
真想毁了你所创造的这个世界。
现在，就算你在我面前，想尽办法地想切入我的世界，对不起。我将伫立高高的围墙，不会再让你“无心伤害”。
我。。。会让我的心变得更坚强。
06 December 2010
Europa
This song reminds me once again, that you don't need words to express feelings.
I feel like I've fallen in love with music again...
I feel like I've fallen in love with music again...
04 December 2010
02 December 2010
My Precious
I don't know Korean but I've been intoxicated by this song~~~ Nyaaaa~~~
I don't know how close the translation is to the actual lyrics, so please forgive me if it's weird~ I just lifted it off some other website haha!
sujub-eun geu sogsag-im seumyeodeuneun gwisga-e
soboghage ssah-yeoganeun ulideul-ui iyagi
seololeul balabomyeo sal-aganeun
cham eoliseoggo yeppeun moseubdeul
tabagtabag geol-eoganeun najimaghan golmoggil
teum sailo bichwooneun hanmogeum-ui haes-salcheoleom
mueosjocha al su eobsdeon na-ege
jag-eun kkumhanaleul sim-eojuneun neo
My Precious(My Precious)
My Precious(My Precious)
gasigat-assdeon gieogdeul-i
heunjeogdo eobs-i salajilmankeum
ttatteushage
My Precious(My Precious)
My Precious(My Precious)
gasigat-assdeon gieogdeul-i
heunjag-eun hangeol-eumjocha sojunghi
ganjighage doel geosman gat-eun
ileon seolleim
gibunjoh-eun balam-e seuchineun osgis wilo
buseojineun neoui nunbich duson-eul moa dam-eumyeo
cheol-eobs-i geujeo sunsuhaessdeon naldeul-i
nae gaseum-wilo jeonhaejyeo onda
yunanhi ganjeolhaessdeon ilh-eobeolin nae balaemdeul
meomusmeomus chueog-ida hansumjisgo dol-aseomyeo
honjaseoman namgyeojil geos gat-assdeon
naui duson-eul kkog jab-ajudeon neo
My Precious(My Precious)
My Precious(My Precious)
buseojilgeosman gatdeon gaseum-eul
mal-eobs-i sseudadeum-eo jwossdeon neoui songil
My Precious(My Precious)
My Precious(My Precious)
neoman gyeot-e issdamyeon mueosdo
haenael su iss-eulgeosman gat-eun
ileon seolleim
My Precious(My Precious)
eotteon haes-salboda ttatteushan
My Precious(My Precious)
eotteon boseogboda chanlanhan
buseojilgeosman gatdeon gaseum-eul
mal eobs-i sseudadeum-eo jwossdeon neoui songil
My Precious(My Precious)
eotteon haneulboda kkaekkeushan
My Precious(My Precious)
eotteon yuliboda tumyeonghan
neoman gyeot-e issdamyeon mueosdo
haenael su iss-eulgeosman gat-eun
ileon seolleim
My Precious
=================================================================
Shy pervading while whispering in your ear
Our story is covered by mystery
Feels happy when we looked at each other,
Oh look how pretty foolish it is.
While we gently walking at the alley
the gap like a sip of illuminated by sunlight coming through
I could not even know what it is
You instill in my little dream
My Precious(My Precious)
My Precious(My Precious)
It was like going to memories
A warm feeling
I don't want to disappear without a trace
My Precious (My Precious)
My Precious (My Precious)
Cherish even a small step forward
This excitement
that we will cherish as
Glorious in the wind passing over the collar
Your eyes, our hands together
The days of just pure sales work
Handed over while my heart comes
I was desperate and lost hope of an exceptionally
Broken sentences are still reminiscence turns
Were likely to be left alone
Did you hold on tight to my hands
My Precious (My Precious)
My Precious (My Precious)
Seemed my heart keeps beating
Silence gave your hand to me
My Precious (My Precious)
My Precious (My Precious)
If only you can passed by what ever it is
Can make it just like
This excitement
My Precious (My Precious)
Warmer than the sun
My Precious (My Precious)
More than any brilliant gem
Seemed my heart keeps beating
Silence gave your hand to me
My Precious (My Precious)
Which is cleaner than the sky
My Precious (My Precious)
More transparent, than some glass
If only you can passed by what ever it is
Can make it just like
This excitement
My Precious...
I don't know how close the translation is to the actual lyrics, so please forgive me if it's weird~ I just lifted it off some other website haha!
sujub-eun geu sogsag-im seumyeodeuneun gwisga-e
soboghage ssah-yeoganeun ulideul-ui iyagi
seololeul balabomyeo sal-aganeun
cham eoliseoggo yeppeun moseubdeul
tabagtabag geol-eoganeun najimaghan golmoggil
teum sailo bichwooneun hanmogeum-ui haes-salcheoleom
mueosjocha al su eobsdeon na-ege
jag-eun kkumhanaleul sim-eojuneun neo
My Precious(My Precious)
My Precious(My Precious)
gasigat-assdeon gieogdeul-i
heunjeogdo eobs-i salajilmankeum
ttatteushage
My Precious(My Precious)
My Precious(My Precious)
gasigat-assdeon gieogdeul-i
heunjag-eun hangeol-eumjocha sojunghi
ganjighage doel geosman gat-eun
ileon seolleim
gibunjoh-eun balam-e seuchineun osgis wilo
buseojineun neoui nunbich duson-eul moa dam-eumyeo
cheol-eobs-i geujeo sunsuhaessdeon naldeul-i
nae gaseum-wilo jeonhaejyeo onda
yunanhi ganjeolhaessdeon ilh-eobeolin nae balaemdeul
meomusmeomus chueog-ida hansumjisgo dol-aseomyeo
honjaseoman namgyeojil geos gat-assdeon
naui duson-eul kkog jab-ajudeon neo
My Precious(My Precious)
My Precious(My Precious)
buseojilgeosman gatdeon gaseum-eul
mal-eobs-i sseudadeum-eo jwossdeon neoui songil
My Precious(My Precious)
My Precious(My Precious)
neoman gyeot-e issdamyeon mueosdo
haenael su iss-eulgeosman gat-eun
ileon seolleim
My Precious(My Precious)
eotteon haes-salboda ttatteushan
My Precious(My Precious)
eotteon boseogboda chanlanhan
buseojilgeosman gatdeon gaseum-eul
mal eobs-i sseudadeum-eo jwossdeon neoui songil
My Precious(My Precious)
eotteon haneulboda kkaekkeushan
My Precious(My Precious)
eotteon yuliboda tumyeonghan
neoman gyeot-e issdamyeon mueosdo
haenael su iss-eulgeosman gat-eun
ileon seolleim
My Precious
=================================================================
Shy pervading while whispering in your ear
Our story is covered by mystery
Feels happy when we looked at each other,
Oh look how pretty foolish it is.
While we gently walking at the alley
the gap like a sip of illuminated by sunlight coming through
I could not even know what it is
You instill in my little dream
My Precious(My Precious)
My Precious(My Precious)
It was like going to memories
A warm feeling
I don't want to disappear without a trace
My Precious (My Precious)
My Precious (My Precious)
Cherish even a small step forward
This excitement
that we will cherish as
Glorious in the wind passing over the collar
Your eyes, our hands together
The days of just pure sales work
Handed over while my heart comes
I was desperate and lost hope of an exceptionally
Broken sentences are still reminiscence turns
Were likely to be left alone
Did you hold on tight to my hands
My Precious (My Precious)
My Precious (My Precious)
Seemed my heart keeps beating
Silence gave your hand to me
My Precious (My Precious)
My Precious (My Precious)
If only you can passed by what ever it is
Can make it just like
This excitement
My Precious (My Precious)
Warmer than the sun
My Precious (My Precious)
More than any brilliant gem
Seemed my heart keeps beating
Silence gave your hand to me
My Precious (My Precious)
Which is cleaner than the sky
My Precious (My Precious)
More transparent, than some glass
If only you can passed by what ever it is
Can make it just like
This excitement
My Precious...
30 November 2010
Mixed Reality
I opened my eyes. It was all dark beyond the window, and the street lamps made the falling raindrops on the window look like stars in the dark sky. After a short moment I finally fully awoke, and realized that it was going to my stop. Hurriedly alighting and stepping into shelter together with the rest of the commuters, I immediately turned to my left and saw several rows of shoes neatly arranged on the curb, with a big sale sign among the row. Those poor quality shoes looked awkward with their retro design, it's no wonder they're on sale. However, I was mildly interested and swept my eyes across the bed of shoes, barely noticing a dark pair of shoes with white polka dots under the dim orange light. Realizing they're not worth my time and purchase, I looked straight ahead... and there I was, lying on the sofa in the living room in my house. I sat up with a splitting headache. The dark street felt so real it felt weird that I could awaken from that world into this.
If only there is any way of waking from this world.
If only there is any way of waking from this world.
24 November 2010
Miss-Understood
Nono, I'm not refering to the Ayumi song...
I guess I really enjoy reading and learning more for the sake of learning. I get distracted by ideas and often get lost in exploring them. Just a few days ago, because my brother posted BBC's top 100 books list, which I'll post below, I had been re-reading some of the books I had totally forgotten the contents of.
According to BBC, most people have only read 6 out of the 100 books listed below. The 20 bold ones are the ones I remember having read:
BBC Top 100 Books (2010)
1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulk
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34 Emma - Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meany - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zifon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Inferno - Dante
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams -
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factoy - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo
The list is a little weird, especially when The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe is part of the Narnia Chronicles, but oh well, let's just ignore that. =)
Currently I'm re-reading number 59, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. I remember this was a rather queer book, with a lot of maths-y stuff in it, and the chapters were numbered in a strange way. However, reading it again was quite a pleasure, now that I understood much more the writer tried to put across in the seemingly strange and emotionless narration.
One thing that really caught my eye was the Monty Hall Problem. I had known the circumstances of the problem before, I think I have heard it from Kelvin before, and he had patiently explained the correct solution to me before, but I had totally forgotten about it and went with my intuition again. Reading and re-reading the solution I know of it to be correct, but it still hasn't registered in my head yet.
The Monty Hall Problem speaks of a scenario of a TV Reality Show. You are the contestant who gets to choose one out of the three doors, in which 2 holds a goat, while the 3rd door has a car behind it. You pick one of the doors, and the TV host opens another door to reveal a goat behind it. You are then given the choice to stick with the door you have already chosen, or to pick the other door instead.
My intuition tells me to stick with the current door I have chosen. I mean, at first, I have 1/3 chance of getting the door right on my first choice, once the host opens another door with the goat, my chance of getting the door right seems to have increased to 1/2. Thus whether I stick with the current door, or to make the switch, should give me an equal probability of winning the car.
But nonono~~~ That's a misconception, which many people fiercely believe to be true. Consider the following: Right at the beginning, I choose the door, and this door has 2/3 chance of having a goat behind, 1/3 of having the winning car. After the host opens another door, if I had chosen a door with the goat, and stuck with the door, the probability of me having a door with a goat is still 2/3 instead of 1/2, because the event where the host opens another door with the goat is irrelevant to my initial choice of door. This means, if I were to follow the strategy of sticking with my initial choice of door, I would only have 1/3 chance of winning. However, suppose that I had chosen the door with the goat and after the host opens another door with the goat, I choose the last door, I would definitely win the car. The probability of me winning the car by following the strategy of changing doors after the host opens a door with the goat will then be 2/3. Thus, in such a scenario, we should always change the door we choose. Opps is that a clear explanation...? =X
Anyways, that aside, I have been really interested in a few upcoming DS games (weird coming from me? Especially since the DS is like a dying console with the 3DS coming out in the early half of 2011)... Professor Layton vs Ace Attorney (as seen in this post), Ni no Kuni, and just today I found out about 999: 9 Hours, 9 People, 9 Doors.
In an interview with the director of 999, he mentioned that the inspiration for the game came from the Enneagram of Personality, which is one of the models used to classify personalities. According to 2 of the Enneagram tests I've done online, my core type most likely a Five, or maybe a Nine. It is interesting to read about the possible origins of each type, and I can already form ideas how this Enneagram concept could be used to form settings of games or stories. It is then no wonder that the Enneagram of Personality forms the inspiration of many literature.
The possible origin of Nines are particularly disturbing in my opinion, especially in relation to the recent events that happened; though the nature of Nines could also be due to their horoscope (especially Libras, who feel the need to maintain peace at any cost) in a way. Most adults view things so much different from children and simply refuse to look from their perspective (it's the center of the story of the Little Prince, which I have also re-read recently), or will deem their perspective as being weird and are not empathetic to their views. But by being so, children or the other party might feel that they are unable to communicate to the "adults". Maybe this contributes to the "generation gap" between parents and children.
I guess I really enjoy reading and learning more for the sake of learning. I get distracted by ideas and often get lost in exploring them. Just a few days ago, because my brother posted BBC's top 100 books list, which I'll post below, I had been re-reading some of the books I had totally forgotten the contents of.
According to BBC, most people have only read 6 out of the 100 books listed below. The 20 bold ones are the ones I remember having read:
BBC Top 100 Books (2010)
1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulk
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34 Emma - Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meany - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zifon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Inferno - Dante
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams -
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factoy - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo
The list is a little weird, especially when The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe is part of the Narnia Chronicles, but oh well, let's just ignore that. =)
Currently I'm re-reading number 59, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. I remember this was a rather queer book, with a lot of maths-y stuff in it, and the chapters were numbered in a strange way. However, reading it again was quite a pleasure, now that I understood much more the writer tried to put across in the seemingly strange and emotionless narration.
One thing that really caught my eye was the Monty Hall Problem. I had known the circumstances of the problem before, I think I have heard it from Kelvin before, and he had patiently explained the correct solution to me before, but I had totally forgotten about it and went with my intuition again. Reading and re-reading the solution I know of it to be correct, but it still hasn't registered in my head yet.
The Monty Hall Problem speaks of a scenario of a TV Reality Show. You are the contestant who gets to choose one out of the three doors, in which 2 holds a goat, while the 3rd door has a car behind it. You pick one of the doors, and the TV host opens another door to reveal a goat behind it. You are then given the choice to stick with the door you have already chosen, or to pick the other door instead.
My intuition tells me to stick with the current door I have chosen. I mean, at first, I have 1/3 chance of getting the door right on my first choice, once the host opens another door with the goat, my chance of getting the door right seems to have increased to 1/2. Thus whether I stick with the current door, or to make the switch, should give me an equal probability of winning the car.
But nonono~~~ That's a misconception, which many people fiercely believe to be true. Consider the following: Right at the beginning, I choose the door, and this door has 2/3 chance of having a goat behind, 1/3 of having the winning car. After the host opens another door, if I had chosen a door with the goat, and stuck with the door, the probability of me having a door with a goat is still 2/3 instead of 1/2, because the event where the host opens another door with the goat is irrelevant to my initial choice of door. This means, if I were to follow the strategy of sticking with my initial choice of door, I would only have 1/3 chance of winning. However, suppose that I had chosen the door with the goat and after the host opens another door with the goat, I choose the last door, I would definitely win the car. The probability of me winning the car by following the strategy of changing doors after the host opens a door with the goat will then be 2/3. Thus, in such a scenario, we should always change the door we choose. Opps is that a clear explanation...? =X
Anyways, that aside, I have been really interested in a few upcoming DS games (weird coming from me? Especially since the DS is like a dying console with the 3DS coming out in the early half of 2011)... Professor Layton vs Ace Attorney (as seen in this post), Ni no Kuni, and just today I found out about 999: 9 Hours, 9 People, 9 Doors.
In an interview with the director of 999, he mentioned that the inspiration for the game came from the Enneagram of Personality, which is one of the models used to classify personalities. According to 2 of the Enneagram tests I've done online, my core type most likely a Five, or maybe a Nine. It is interesting to read about the possible origins of each type, and I can already form ideas how this Enneagram concept could be used to form settings of games or stories. It is then no wonder that the Enneagram of Personality forms the inspiration of many literature.
The possible origin of Nines are particularly disturbing in my opinion, especially in relation to the recent events that happened; though the nature of Nines could also be due to their horoscope (especially Libras, who feel the need to maintain peace at any cost) in a way. Most adults view things so much different from children and simply refuse to look from their perspective (it's the center of the story of the Little Prince, which I have also re-read recently), or will deem their perspective as being weird and are not empathetic to their views. But by being so, children or the other party might feel that they are unable to communicate to the "adults". Maybe this contributes to the "generation gap" between parents and children.
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