Wuthering Heights, Nice Guys, and Bad Boys

Representing books with songs seems like a garish fad.  It just reminds me how teens with lots of angst try to identify themselves with songs or bands because the song just reminds them of how they feel and not what they really are. Anyways, all of this reminded me of an 9th grade activity that I did, where a song had to picked that described some significant aspect of a book.  In that activity I had picked "Every Breath You Take" to describe Pip's relationship with Estella in Great Expectations.

I remembered this when in class Kate Bush's "Wuthering Heights" was played to go along with the current book.  This was probably one of the weirdest music videos I've ever seen.  Surprisingly Kate Bush hasn't taken drugs as far as Wikipedia knows, contrary to possible first reactions.  (I was told that the music video was weird because it was released when music videos were being made for the first time.)  Her video is here:

 

Using the same thinking from song and book activity, I thought that "Nice Guys" is very fitting for Wuthering Heights.  The song is sung by Kevin Wu, Ryan Higa, and Chester See.  It's about how the "bad boys" is cooler than the "nice" ones when it comes to dating.  Not that I think being a bad boy is the way to go when dating.  "Nice Giys" is here:

 

I thought it was appropriate for Wuthering Heights because Heathcliff is the "bad boy" of the novel and has the true emotional love for Catherine Earnshaw.  Heathcliff could be viewed as someone who was influenced to become a "bad boy."  Firstly Hindley abused Heathcliff as a child and as an adult. Secondly the Lintons were repulsed by Heathcliff, especially Edgar. On the other hand, On the contrast, Edgar Linton is the “nice guy” who has everything else right but the emotional passion for Catherine. Although I'm not promoting revenge or treating women badly on dates, Heathcliff does "finish" before Edgar, since Heathcliff took away Edgar's family legacy of Thrushcross Grange and the life of his love Catherine Earnshaw.  However all of this ends up as a double-edge sword unto Heathcliff, since he dies in a deprived emotional state.

Somehow this  mentality of "'bad boys' or 'alpha males' are the best" when dating is really silly because usually those most of those types of guys are really douchebags and worthless human beings.  Then again I don't count this against people who get caught up in this kind of stuff because they usually don't know better.

Thoughts on Hallowe'en Party by Agatha Christie

I'm going to be honest about how I'm going to be doing book reviews.  I'm not going to be a prospective book critic and I don't ever plan on being one.  Despite this, I'll try to convey my thoughts as an average reader to you.

I had to read Hallowe'en Party by Agatha Christie over the summer for my English class.  I thought it wasn't so bad because the mystery novel seemed to have a very different style of plot than most detective stories seem to have.  (Then again I'm comparing this book to those pulp mystery novels that I used to thumb through while at Stop & Shop back in middle school.)

For me the story itself was hard to get into, especially if this is your first Hercule Poirot book.  This makes it hard to understand some (but certainly not critical) references to a previous book in the Poirot series.  The beginning is very captivating, since that's when the pivotal murder happens.  Then the story gets stagnant for about 50 pages, from what I can recall.  This is because this is when Poirot is being brought into town and he's just settling himself in.  Also this part would only be appreciated by those who've read all the other Poirot books, since they bring Spence who's a character from the series.

Besides that, the story was pretty compelling.  I don't mean it was really action-packed but it made me want to read it to the end.  I read the whole book in 1 summer day just because of this.  Not many books compel me to read the whole book in one day.

The only downside to the book was that there was this anti-climatic point of the story.  You know what it is when you read this passage, somewhere three-fourths of the book in.  It goes like this:
"[Poirot:] '... I have the idea, you see, that a lot of separated incidents might tie up more closely than anyone has thought.  Not all of them.  Probably not all of them, but several of them.'
'It sounds interesting,' said Mrs. Oliver, 'but I can't see-'..."  (p. 170) [in my edition, which I don't know and I don't have anymore.]

 In the end, Hallowe'en Party was a pretty good book.  I just don't see the historical importance or controversy about it.  Maybe it's because there are close to no accessible sources online that talk about it.

Not the Death but The Decline of Camcorders

Technology has always been changing often replacing the old with the new.  One doesn't have to look far back into recent history to see this way of the technology industry.  An excellent example of this is the smartphone, which has not only changed the way people see and use their cellphones but also even changed other technology markets.  Some technology have declined with the rise of smartphones.  Devices that have declined due to mobile technology are cameras, especially the DSLRs, voice recorders; and camcorders.  Certainly the average person doesn't go out and buy these "declining" devices.  Only people who really need them would get these less popular devices.  However just because the demand for a device is declining doesn't necessarily mean that it is or will be obsolete.  The persistence of camcorders is the most pertinent here.

Camcorders have been around since I could remember.  I remember watching America's Funniest Home Videos in the afternoon when I was in third grade (around 2004).  I always remembered that I always wanted one because I could see that other people could record cool content with camcorders.  Although I've never had a camcorder, I know they have their pros.  Camcorders are good for what they were made for: recording videos.  So there's no fear that a recorded video can only be 20 or so minutes long.  Also, camcorders are not really limited by their video quality, memory space, or battery life on one charge compared to more convenient video recording on devices like the iPhone.

For those who think that everyday video recording can be replaced by all-in-one machines (a.k.a. smartphones), think again because this case, multipurpose devices with video in them almost always have compromises to make everything fit into one convenient package, such as the iPhone.  Despite what is stated on the gung-ho info page on the iSight Camera on the iPhone 5S, the iPhone is nothing compared to dedicated camera - even a point and shoot one.  Remember that what you see on that iSight website was the iPhone only its best, which means that the pictures could only get worse than that marketing bullcrap.  Besides I've only seen my vulgar classmates use iPhone cameras to post selfies with as many people for Snapchat and those pictures are really horrible in everything technical about a digital photo, from quality to lighting.  Besides, how much can the iPhone camera improve since it still has an 8MP camera since the iPhone 4S.  Other than some very fine details, software has made the iPhone camera better compared to the hardware itself.

The decreasing popularity of a device doesn't mean that the device is useless.  For example, radio isn't the first form of media most people go to when given the choice.  There's the TV and Internet, which are more appealing than the radio because the TV and web are very visual.  Yet that doesn't take the usefulness of the radio, especially in the car or when the TV and the Internet are unavailable.  Similarly, the recent audience for camcorders have dwindled down to the ones who really are looking for a camcorder and not those who get one just because "everyone else has one."  It all goes down to functionality and specifications - just how many purposes a device can have and how well does the device do each function.  Despite smartphones winning over in functionality with their multitude of uses, the camcorder is victorious in video recording by a lot.

Camcorders are not so popular as they used to be.  Since smartphones are becoming more widespread now the use of camcorders have fallen significantly, along with many related and similar technology.  However camcorders still survive because of the niche audience who really wants or needs the functionality of a camcorder over, say, an iPhone camera.  Devices in technology should always be looked at both their aspects in function as well as specifications before deciding how popular or disused they are.

The (Silly) Reason Why Mitt Romney Lost the 2012 Presidential Election

After some thinking, I've figured out why Mitt Romney lost the 2012 presidential election.  Actually it's rather silly but I'm still convinced that the reason I'm thinking of may have had a tangible effect during the election.

Mitt Romney lost the election because of the YouTube video, Mitt Romney Style.  I must've watched that video about 20 times since I've heard of the video, which is right here:

The corollary to Mitt Romney Style is the Hot Problems parody (featuring Mitt Romney, of course).

I know it's kind of stupid to say that a (/two) YouTube video(s) could've made a presidential candidate lose an election like that.  However it's difficult to recall any other parody video of either Mitt or Obama that got about 50 million views.  (Also it is one of the few College Humor videos I enjoy.)  I mean, this video of Obama doing Gangdam style only got a few measly 1 million views:

I'd also not like to go into the factual and truly political details of why Mitt Romney lost the 2012 presidential election.  That task would be for political experts such as those working for CNN.  I already explained to my Spanish class last year why Romney lost in a paragraph I read aloud based on an article from El País completamente en español.

All in all, my "reason" is pretty silly and is absolutely in no way an reliable resource to why Mitt Romney didn't become president in 2012.  However it is interesting to see that all of this suggests that social media (such as YouTube) has the potential power to influence current events.

About Putting External Links in Comments

Dear Commentators on my blog,


After getting comments that all have a link to a website advertising smartphones (or other related products,) I've decided to make an amendment to my comment policy.  Actually I've never had a comment policy before.  I always wanted to have kind of an open forum environment in my comment - even if I've never stated this before.  However these comments that seem to be shameful advertising and contain somewhat "spam"-y links cannot keep popping up in my blog.

I've decided that I will no longer be allowing comments with links in them, particularly those with shortened links and display text that is different than the link itself (letter by letter).

I really wish I didn't have to do this but I know that apparently the "bot"-like users of the Internet won't be stopping their antics anytime soon.  I believe it really only happens on my technology blog posts.  This is especially true when I write about the iPhone, even if it's criticism.


Now don't leave spam links in your comments,
TheArtistAsian

Thoughts on the new Surface Pro 2

It may seem stupid of me that I will post a review of the Surface Pro very soon, since the Surface 2 and Surface Pro 2 come out in two days.  Nevertheless, I have some very strong impressions about the new generation of Surface.

The 2-position kickstand
I think that the new 2 position kickstand is a great update.  It allows users to view the screen of the Surface from different and more angles.  I would say that it is great because I tend to hunch down to use my Surface Pro because the screen is so low.  In the rare chance that I do get a Surface Pro 2 with 512 GB of solid state memory, I will surely appreciate the stand because it will allow me to use the Surface with more comfort.  I tend to bend down to look at the screen when I place my Surface Pro on a low desk or on a soft place like a sofa or bed.

Improvements for the Type Cover 2
I was thinking that the uniform black color scheme of the Surface Pro and Type Cover was a bit bland.  I'm glad that now the Type Cover 2 comes in blue, pink, and purple as well.

Also, I'm very happy to hear that the Type Cover 2 is backlit.  It was very hard to know if the caps lock was turned on or not until the new keyboard comes with a lighted caps lock key.  I think the backlit keys make the Type Cover conform with a standard that is almost universal with laptop keyboards.

The power cover will be very nice because it will add much-needed battery life to the Surface Pro 2.  It'll need all the battery juice the Surface Pro 2 needs.

However... some disappointments as well
I'm kind of disappointed in Microsoft that the much needed Docking Station for Surface and the Power Cover will be released next year.  I feel that those product releases weren't planned well.  Anyways, the Surface Pro only debuted just barely a year ago in January 2013... so I'm not that surprised anyways.  Still, the Power Cover and Docking Station should've been released along with the Surface Pro 2.

_____
Picture sources (in order of appearance):
1)  http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/slideshows/tech-life/top-features-of-microsofts-surface-pro-2-tablet/built-in-kickstand/slideshow/22992526.cms
2)  http://www.theverge.com/2013/9/23/4761840/microsoft-announces-surface-type-cover
3)  http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msusa/en_US/pdp/Type-Cover-2/productID.286867100
4)  http://amanz.my/2013/09/microsoft-memperkenalkan-surface-pro-2-secara-rasmi/
5)  http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/09/23/microsoft-surface-pro-2-tablet-officially-announced

Snapchat creeps me out!

When I sat down to write this, I was going to examine how stupid my classmates look when they take selfies, most likely with Snapchat.  However my plan of action drastically changed when I looked up a little more info about this app "everyone" is using.

 

I had previously thought that people had sent pictures on Snapchat sort of like an IM system that exclusively focused on pictures.  However, when I went on Wikipedia (it's good enough for laymen, not scholars), I found out that the reason why I see everyone tapping and holding their new messages.  It's because that you can only read Snapchat messages when tapping and holding them.  Even *better* is the fact that once you open your new message, you only have 1-10 seconds to see it.  Then, it is "deleted."  (Actually, the software doesn't provide a way for users to ordinarily view past messages.  The exception is with tinkering with the code of the app or using an app emulator.)

 

Ok... Maybe I've been "living under a rock," so to say, since I don't have a smartphone.  Regardless of that, I still think that this self-deleting messaging service sounds like something out of a spy movie.

 

When I told my curious mom what I was writing about, she noted how the service would be excellent for terrorists to use, since the messages delete themselves in Snapchat.  (Apparently, my mom likes to point out security issues in technology that permits extremely communication.)  I pointed out to my mom that Snapchat servers (technically... yes, it's all very technical) save users' past 200 messages.  Despite this, I thought it would be harder for the federal government to investigate servers that really aren't dedicated to saving information, such as those for Facebook and Twitter.

 

So I'm pretty much scared about this app.  Well, this isn't one of those "WARNING" chain mails fallacies but I have my misgivings about this app.  Because the last memorable thing I remember about Snapchat before today is that some teen girl talking about how some weird guys she didn't know kept sending her their pictures.  If you asked me, those guys were probably sexual predators.

An update - 9/29/2013

I'm sorry that I can't write blog posts on a consistent schedule.  I promise I'll try to make them more consistently.  I plan to finish a blog about every week or two, most probably on a Friday.  It's because I want to use my time better.  I'd rather stimulate my brain to write a blog post than to let it fall into dystrophy while I'm on Facebook.

Anyways, I have a few updates.

1)  At the end of the summer, I got a Surface Pro and I'm planning on making a personal review of it.  So far, I like it and I'll go out of my way to include more than what every online review says about this tablet/laptop hybrid.  I won't be doing benchmark testing or anything remotely like that because that's for computer pros who know what they're talking about.  I'll be speaking about the Surface Pro for the laymen of the computer world.

2)  I have a lot of ideas for blog posts.  They're just all in draft mode in my post queue.

3)  I love art but I get very distracted when I'm not studying... so I had an idea to draw everyday on a whiteboard.  I know it's a real compromise but at least I can practice on my lines.  I won't be uploading pictures of what I draw everyday but it's better than nothing.  I think I'll make it a Tumblr exclusive thing because those drawings won't be polished enough for deviantArt material.

4)  I've been reading some books and I have some responses that I'd like to upload.  I feel that perhaps that if my responses were on sheets of paper that would sit in my room, then they would not get much of an audience reach or maybe even some good responses.  So, I want to put them on the Internet.  I'm pretty sure I won't ever be a literary critic (nor do I want to - critics always peruse for the cons of everything they read about and hardly ever have completely good reviews about anything, kind of like that food critic from the movie Ratatouille).

5)  Since the word "Asian" is in my Internet name, I have plenty of blog posts about how being Asian is usually detrimental (in my own experiences) when I come across people, usually in school.  If I'm outside school, I really don't have any problems about my Asian-American identity.

So... that's all for now.  I hope that someday this blog will become more than a place for my thoughts.

Honor Code

The Internet has become a form of high speed information exchange.  Everyone who's in school knows how much more time it would take if everyone had to research with only books.

Despite these advances, I cannot say that the Internet is a good place overall.  A form of communication is only as good as its use.  I bet all of you have heard about Facebook addictions, online bullying, and other detrimental outcomes out of social media.

The topic of shaming people via the Internet is horrible in my opinion.  I feel that people no longer have a respect for the respect of others because there are little consequences for it.  Unless online shaming results in a suicide, there are no tangible consequences for this misconduct.  Sure, abusive users get banned if enough people report that user but that won't prevent the user from making another account to continue the abuse.  For example, no one may ever know if any bulling had occurred on sites like Twitter.  Tweets can be too indirect to detect bullying.  An entire name could be in a tweet and bullying could be easily lost in the constant tweet surge of Twitter.

Posting pictures of celebrities, which can legitimate or not, seem to be a surefire but lurid way of selling out sensational tabloids.

In protest of this selfish, cynical and horrid form of modern revenge, I pledge never to call someone out by name on the Internet.  I may talk about the affliction a jerk caused me online, but I will only give names to people that have the authority to take concrete action against those who wronged me (such as a principal in school).  If you, the reader, happen to know or figure out who I am ever talking about, then that is great for you.  However, please respect the honor of other people and don't spread (true and untrue) stories that can harm anyone.

Maybe it's because I'm Asian... but I have a very strong sense of respecting the honor of others.  For example, if I overheard a classmate admitted to getting high on the weekend, I won't spread the story around like a wildfire.  If anything I will probably forget it, sooner or later.

All in all, I ask you to not call people out in petty revenge.  I promise you that there are many better ways of dealing with people than to shame them online in any form.

The iPhone 5S craze is... stupid.

So around the time after the iPhone 5S came out, this video popped up on the YouTube homepage.  (I've written quite a lot about homepage YouTube Videos, huh?)

 

There were huge lines in front of every Apple store, as seen in the video.  At one point in the video, the YouTube channel creator asks an interviewee something like, "Why wait in line for the next iPhone?"  The interviewee responds, "I guess you have to be insane to do so."

There was also this woman sleeping in a (closed) plastic bag.  She had been in it for so long that steam was forming on the inside of the bag.  I just can't believe how people can do such stupid for one single product.  I mean, if you strip away the iPhone 5S's name and reputation away, all you have is a fancy piece of glass and metal (plastic if it's the iPhone 5C - I haven't overlooked that).

...And you might have seen this line coming, but it has to be said:
I can't believe how materialistic people, especially in America, have become now.

I'm not impressed with fraternities at all

In July, I saw this video pop up onto the popular videos feed on the main YouTube page.

 I was really interested at why a video like this was even considered to be "trendy" enough to appear on the YouTube homepage as a trending video.  All I saw in that video was just a bunch of (white) people partying with discarded cups all around them while the floor was wet from something... (Either it had rained prior to the video's recording or the partiers had spilled a lot of alcohol.)

The video got me thinking... For some reason, I've always been afraid of college.  If you knew me personally, this fear might seem unfounded for I would be called a "diligent student" by my teachers and peers.  The fears stem from not the academic rigors of university education but social interactions.  It mostly involves fitting in.

For me, there are three stereotypes that are always fixed unto college students in the media, whether it is a sensualized Hollywood movie to adults talking about how "the whole world's going down the drain these days."  Those three things are namely:
1)  Partying.  Particularly partying extremely hard.  Extra points for frat/soro exclusive parties.
2)  Being hipsters.  This mostly stems from the extreme arrogance and self-imagined nonconformity as a by-product from studying subjects and topics that at least 50% of the world's population would never even dream of thinking about.
3)  Forever in debt.  I guarantee that 90% of all college textbooks, if bought brand new in plastic wrap, cost over $500.  Let alone all the crazy fees for college tuition and housing.  (You can only imagine all the electronic devices and other things you could get if it were not for college.)

The stereotype that is relevant to this post is about partying, particularly fraternities and sororities.

I am not afraid to say that I have never truly felt like I've ever fit in with almost any group of people at my age.  They almost always seem to be too concerned with who said what and it's even worse today with people almost always checking their smartphones for notifications from Facebook, Instagram, and every single mobile app that exists in the app markets.  (I hope I do not sound too much like an old geezer ranting.)

Fraternities and sororities only make me feel worse about myself.  I am already extremely nonconformant (in a creative way and fortunately not in a vapid way as of the hipsters) and I would never do anything stupid and foolish in order to gain the ultimately trivial acceptance of a group of trivial human beings.

Well, I got a bunch of facetious definitions of what a fraternity is from Urban Dictionary.
(Here: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=fraternity&defid=1545131)
(... And here: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=fraternity&defid=6241540)

I also got some advice about how fraternities essentially don't matter to every person.  (Here it is: http://www.youniversitytv.com/news-general/5573-should-i-join-a-college-fraternity)

I also found an ABC story about countering hazing in fraternities.  It seems kind of contradictory to me because it seems that fraternities and hazing go hand in hand.  I know that fraternities may not be all like National Lampoon's Animal House but at the same time college partying is not a myth.  (The story's here: http://abcnews.go.com/Business/fraternity-group-lobbies-hazing-reform/story?id=19766121)

Also, I found out that all the twitter handles that were displayed at the end of the video do exist.  (And they all seem to have a likeness of the people who would actually put up a video like that.)
_____

Perhaps I shouldn't care so much about a pretentious group of people who don't really matter to me or my life goals...

Why a cheaper version of the next iPhone is a bad idea

This idea I have may seem ludicrous because I haven't ever owned a smartphone but I think many other people are wondering:

Why did Apple decide to make a low-cost iPhone 5C?

I don't mean that it's not a completely bad idea.  The iPhone unlocked is definitely one of Apple's most overpriced technology product.  Making a cheaper one seems like a great idea to people who desperately covet one yet cannot afford to spurge on one immediately.

However, I think it may actually damage Apple's legendary status as a technology company.

You see, the iPhone has always been a high-end smartphone.  However with the option of a low-cost iPhone, the smartphone will cease to have any product image of a luxury.  Sure, the "regular" metal-body iPhone 5S will still be available.  Unfortunately, the "low-cost" iPhone will ultimately hurt the iPhone product line because the production family, as a whole, will lose its image as a extravagant product (perhaps to a point where the iPhone may be garish).

Some might have seen this satire parody about the next iPhone on YouTube...

 ... And when I heard "an iPhone for the peasants," the image of the iPhone becoming more affordable was suddenly revolting.

I don't have anything against those who want a low-cost iPhone but in the long run it will surely hurt Apple's whole company image.

Apple has made these ridiculously expensive, even overpriced pieces of technology.  The iPod Touch, the Mac Pro, the MacBook Pro - all of these products are mostly out of reach for an average American's budget, yet are so coveted as technology products to the whole world.  (One of these days I'll write a blog post about how ludicrously overpriced Apple products are - but that's in the future.)

Just making an Apple product that's more affordable?  That's a bunch of bullcrap.  Overpricing coveted Apple technology has ironically - and paradoxically, as well  - made the company the most valuable American company.

Bottom line:  Apple making an affordable version of the next iPhone is whacked out with its history of selling overpriced technology and will ultimately ruin its success as the most valuable American company.

Just something I made from the junk mail...

I sometimes get really annoyed when I get junk mail.  So this time I decided not to rip it up but instead to do something more creative.  (Then again, I never rip up my mail.)

(The image was originally posted here: http://theartistasian.tumblr.com/post/58809540212/why-ads-shouldnt-be-handed-over-to)

By the way, I'm not a cannibal and I don't promote it, either.

Conformity... with Smartphones?!?

It seems like in the school that I went to last school year everyone had at least an iPhone 4 or higher.

I don't know if teachers your high school do this or not, but in my English class everyone had to put their cell phone into the cell phone bucket before the class took a test.  (Personally, I thought this was stupid but I always got away with it by saying I put my cell phone in my backpack.)

When I looked at the class' cell phones, I obviously saw a bunch of iPhones.  A good number of the teens from that school seem to be too thrifty to buy a good case for their iPhones.  (There are numerous sources online that show how fragile iPhones are...  There's this post/meme that shows this guy's shattered iPhone that had fell on the floor just after taking the phone out of the box.)

Then I realized something (given that "anywhere" refers to the US; this fact is not necessarily true in the rest of the world):  All the phones looked the same.  If the iPhones had no cases or the phones were not (shabby but unique) feature phones, it would be impossible to distinguish one's iPhone from another.  This is especially true when they are the same model, whether it's the 4(S) or the 5 model, and you don't wake up the phone to identify your phone based on the wallpaper.

It's a common thing to hear in the fashion and product industry: "Be different."  Also, many teens that are my age are too preoccupied with the contradictional and eternal task of standing out while fitting in to no avail.  (Those same teens tend to be obnoxious hipsters as well.)

Apparently it's not the same for smartphones.

I remember reading in a Metro Boston newspaper that the iPhones were for liberals and Blackberries were for conservatives while the newest iPhone was in the 3G/3GS phase.  Now it seems like the iPhone has flipped on its political spectrum and has been the flagship phone for conservatives.  The iPhone's user interface has remained relatively unchanged since the very first iPhone (until iOS 7 comes out... but that's not now).  The iPhone is the only true benchmark that other (mostly Android) smartphones are pitted against in YouTube video comparisons.  It also seems like that the iPhone design is very resistant to change, since not much was added to the iPhone 5 for both software and hardware... but enough about how conservative the iPhone is.

I was talking to a classmate of mine at the end of the school year.  We were discussing how we didn't have smartphones.  We actually found it to be okay because... of the reason she stated it perfectly: "I wouldn't want a phone that half the [US] population has."

I totally agreed with her, since I'd want to be able to find my own unique phone if it was thrown into a pile of other phones.

Then I asked her what phone she wanted.  "A Samsung Galaxy S4."

I did like her choice but...  "That's a phone that probably over half the population has in Asia, especially in Korea."  (There's only one Korea I could be talking about at this point in history.)

"But that's over there, not here."

I did give her points for that.  But for me, the Galaxy S4 was even too common for me.

I stated that I would prefer the Samsung Galaxy Note II.  "It'd be perfect for me because I have big hands and the screen size would be perfectly proportional to my hand size."

"But I'd want a phone I can actually fit into my pocket."

"Well, it would fit in my pocket.  Besides, I like the S Pen."


(Okay... maybe the conversation didn't go exactly like that but...)
I find it really hard to stand out while owning a smartphone in a society that believes one is nonconformant while owning an iPhone 5 while one is comformant if s/he doesn't own an iPhone.

...If I could own a Samsung Galaxy Note II as an unlocked smartphone, I would have the only company manufactured smartphone I'd ever want.

And as Monkey Joe said: "A little product placement doesn't hurt!"



_____
[I do not own the picture of the black and white "iPhone 5"s or the picture of the Samsung Galaxy S4 and Note II.  It is used for identification and educational purposes in this blog post.]

Too much info or being a recluse?

Telling people about your problems can be kind of weird.

First people might think that you are revealing too much about yourself when you talk about your problems.  They might be having a bad day and you telling them about your bad day won't be helping others and you feel any better.  Usually, the run-of-the-mill people want to hear about topics that make them happy and feel better about themselves.  Also, people might ask you back sarcastically, "Why don't you fix it instead of prating about it?" or something among those lines.  Even worse, they could gossip about it.

Some people might be kind and open enough to listen to your problems.  Perhaps those people might even offer a solution to your problem, even if they're not affected by this problem.

I think I would like to help other people... But it seems that other corrupt people in society have conditioned me to shy away from helping others.  For example, one of my classmates didn't exactly know how to carry out a lab experiment that our physics class was doing.  I went to help the other guy, despite my lab partner insistence on letting the other guy "fail."  Clearly other people are a little more than selfish and indifferent when it comes to helping others.

This apathetic treatment of others makes a person to pent up their afflictive feelings about their problems.  This will cause those people to suffer even more emotional damage for keeping their frustration and unexpressed feelings about their problems.

I used to talk about my problems and other things in my life to others.  I was never lurid like a soap opera but I never wanted to present myself as if my life was perfect to others.  It wasn't until some inconsiderate jerks told me to stop talking about everything that I really stopped talking to others.

Maybe I shouldn't have listened to those idiots, now that I look back...

An epiphany about Yahoo's acquisition of Tumblr

The Business of

with

 

and



I think I've been unconsciously thinking about the weird spelling of Tumblr ever since I've made one...  (By the way, my Tumblr is here and my Tumblr with only reblogs can be found here.)

Just recently, I've also activated my Flickr on my Yahoo...  (My Flickr can be found here.)

At that moment, I realized why Yahoo recently acquired Tumblr... (It is the sole reason why users see ads on their Dashboards now.)

Yahoo acquired Tumblr because it's an social media that has the same ending as its popular photo hosting platform Flickr.

Flickr and Tumblr...

So the next time a company acquires another one, pay attention if it's driven by vanity - especially nominal vanity.

P.S.: I'm sorry about the shameful self-promotion...

[I do not own the logos of Yahoo, Tumblr, and Flickr.  They are used for educational purposes.]

Just a Note about Ads on my Social Media

picture from here.

I am proud to announce that I will never run ads in any of my social media ventures, as long as I have the choice to.  It is hard to do so because all these free websites wouldn't be available without advertising.  The only sites that I can think of right now that let users control ads is YouTube and Blogger.  (YouTube ads can be turned off in user's own videos, but ads will be on by default.  It is optional in Blogger as AdSense.)

I have actually been trying to go ad-free as much as possible but I thought it'd be nice if I actually made it official in writing.  

Instagram is a ripoff of Twitter... and now Vine

vs.

and

Because I'm a person who likes to think things in a technical way, I was pondering a while back about the concrete uses and purposes of several social media websites.  This happened after Instagram announced that its users can now upload 15 second videos with its famous filters in addition to its photo filter service.

Vine, at that time, was relatively new as an social app made by the parent company as Twitter.  It allows its users to upload 6 second videos.  (Supposedly, the reason why Vine's video length is so sort because it forces users to become creative with its time constraint.  Personally, I see more crap than anything on Vine.  You have better luck finding rare nuggets of creative tweets on Twitter than anything good on Vine.)

I also remember the time when Instagram cut off Twitter integration.  People can upload pictures onto Twitter but it's kind of difficult to do so because big pictures cut down on Twitter's already sparse 140 character limit.

With all the given information above in my head, I suddenly had an epiphany about social media:

(Essentially...)  Instagram is just a ripoff of Vine and (but more indirectly) Twitter.

Well, here's my thinking:

1. Instagram is basically Twitter.  If you remove the 140 character limit (or rather, miserliness of words), put more emphasis on the pictures, and more filters, you end up with Instagram.  (Really, it's that easy to figure out.)
2. Instagram essentially does what Vine does, which is making short videos.  Instagram added the short video feature that doesn't face the many kinks that Vine currently faces.  Some of Vine's issues include a lack of incentive to check the app itself on a very frequent and regular basis and the time constraint.  However because Instagram has such a popular and high user volume with only a photo based platform, it only makes sense for Instagram to implement "moving pictures" (AKA video).  In addition, Instagram has made their videos with a limit of 15 seconds.  This solves the solution that Vine currently faces with its 6 second videos.  Many people complain about the time limit on Vine, unlike the positive reception of Twitter's 140 character tweet limit.

While Instagram faces its own problems for being a social network exclusive to mobile devices (you can't upload anything onto Instagram from a computer), Instagram still remains extremely strong.  Despite Instagram clearly ripping off other popular social media platforms, Instagram still remains a strong social app.  Instagram is definitely one of the top 20 US social networks.  I guess this shows that sometimes you don't have to think too hard when innovating and making popular products or commodities.  "Innovation" may be as little as changing a few features of an existing and famous social network to make another one that could be just as popular.
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Update (7/13/2013):  I haven't seen many Instagram videos but I found a good one by Gabifresh.

Belonging: Does it really matter?

Do I even need to belong?  Not to live like a hermit but is there really a need to belong in a group?

No. In some form or to some extent, it is all a fallacy.  (Naturally, it may be hardwired into people's brain in order to somehow survive better.  Ultimately, the answer is no.)
___________________
I've been wondering about a certain situation that almost all teens who are maturing come to consider:
Does it matter if you belong or not?

I used to think that if I didn't belong to a group, I'd end up as a scapegoat to someone else's problem.  It's been going on for a while, but I've been flip-flopping between being social hermit-like and socially desperate.  My social hermit-like mindset imposed a propensity on me to isolate myself from others and not even bother to interact with others.  My socially desperate mindset made me think that everyone that I met and interacted with (and to be honest, "interacted" would be describing barely tangible exchanges between other people) thought that I was just another one of their problems and just a total waste of their time.

So, I've come to the conclusion that it really doesn't matter if you belong to a group or not.  I don't know if the need to belong in a group is hardwired into every teen's head.  However, if this propensity is really hardwired into teens' heads, then that part of my brain has been defective ever since I was in second grade.  My "defect" has left me very dissatisfied with all aspects of my social life ever since Day 1 of high school.  Despite all my attempts at trying to "fit in," I only continue to "fall out" with almost every guy and girl at my age.  I will admit that I've met a few people I've "clicked" with, but those fleeting moments of happiness were washed away by the apathy and horrifying emptiness that envelops me when I'm with average teens.  So overall, trying to belong in groups for me has granted me no happiness and will probably never will.

For those who have "clicked" with, I can only say that I find happiness while being with others that are "my type" and (not necessarily having the same interests as me but) - in plain words - that I enjoy being with.  Ultimately, I've only found pain and regret when I hung out with people that I knew weren't my type but heedlessly tried to fit into a group I had never liked in the first place.

So, about finding people I enjoy being with... I realize I really haven't been doing that.  Maybe I should do that?  I better get started at finding those people...

My Thoughts on Facebook

I don't know about you, the reader, but I believe that Facebook is just an online platform where people show off what they did last weekend that you didn't.  Not only that, you feel bad about the things you didn't do or can't do on the weekend and spend even more time looking at their manifestations of their regrets among the other frivolous pages, memes, and inspirational-yet-not-that-inspirational-in-the-real-world content that Facebookers like, comment, and share.  In my opinion, Facebook is pretty much a complete waste of time.

These are the things I see on Facebook:
1.  [Friend 1] who constantly posts "I'm over you" memes and "Treat your girl right" memes as if a bot was uploading them on average about every 10 minutes.
2.  [Friend 2] who writes sublime posts about how much she likes her boyfriend yet doesn't address her boyfriend.
3.  A lot of friends' Candy Crush scores.
4.  (Essentially...) A BBW's long wishlist of fashion products she probably wants to buy yet never says if she actually owns them or not.
5.  Girls duck facing even though they'll never have lips as plumb as Jessica Rabbit's natural ones.
.... and the list goes on and on.
I mean, Facebook markets itself as a platform where users, "...connect and share with the people in your life." (Yes, I tore that straight from the FB homepage.)  However, the real question I'd like to ask here is, "Just how meaningful are these 'connections' and 'sharing'?"  Based on the abridged list of things I see on Facebook, I'd say that the interactions people have with each other on Facebook aren't that meaningful.  I'm pretty sure that victims' names like Amanda Todd ring right up when "Facebook" and "cyber bullying" are put next to each other.  Apparently "connections" and "sharing" are not only lacking substantial significance, but can even be harmful to its users.  Facebook can't be that beneficial if it brings about useless and even harmful interactions among its users.

With the rise of the Internet, there seems to be an "Internet addiction" plaguing people's lives. I don't remember where the video is but I saw videos where even this professor talked about how his addiction to a certain Internet game even made him lose his job.  Facebook is no different as an Internet platform that users can be addicted to.  You might even think about the Facebook Musical video if you've been on YouTube lately. (here: http://youtu.be/Y2JhpNbe2Io)  I myself have had a minor addiction to Facebook.  I would keep checking my notifications for any likes or comments.  If I didn't get any new notifications, I'd get really disappointed and even sad.  It's sad that I actually succumbed to such a silly thing but it did happen.  Facebook can't be that good if it caused me to obsess over red pixels on the Facebook platform.  I've certainly regretted wasting a lot of time on Facebook that could've been used for more productive and useful activities.

I've heard from somewhere or some people that Facebook is a place where you can "reconnect" to old friends.  I know my 8th grade teacher has claimed this.  I can't deny that it can help people keep in contact with friends that they don't see often.  For me, I keep in contact with my friends who where in higher grades with Facebook, especially after they graduate.  However, can an online friendship really replace a real life friendship?  I don't think so.  Facebook likes, pokes, messages, and status updates can't replace the warm interactions friends can have.  Even a Facebook gift can't substitute a smile to a friend, or time spent hanging out, or even a gift that is handed to a friend in person.  Facebook is a waste of time for anyone who attempts to replace a real life friendship with one entirely on Facebook.

Facebook is a social platform that is popular - but isn't for everyone.  It's not for people who get extremely jealous or are prone to OCD conditions.  Those type of people will get caught up in the endless stream and pulse of Facebook notifications, likes, posts, comments, and shares.  Not only are many of Facebook interactions are meaningless, they can be harmful and make new Amanda Todds.  Whatever you think about Facebook, it can never replace a real friendship. Perhaps you could have used those hours you might've wasted on Facebook, wandering on your "friends'" timelines.  Maybe spent those "friend"-ly hours on walking outside, reading those books that you might not have time to read, or clean up your messy room if you have been neglecting your clean up.

The Hiatus has ended.

I've been running into major issues.
Now that summer is here and I finished the 11th grade, I can finally finished all these blog posts that I've fallen behind on.  I jotted them down in a very rough form in draft mode but I never got to make them thorough until now.  Being at the library also helps me get my blogs out of draft limbo too because I can actually focus and not get caught up in those social media.

So be prepared for a major uploading very soon.

My thoughts about Girlfriends

Every girl I've had a crush on was dumb and/or was out of my league (especially in age).

Some of my peers (I won't name names) were or are obsessed with having girlfriends (like in middle school or high school).  In elementary school, having a boyfriend/girlfriend was "gross" around the kids my age.  Then in middle school, having a boyfriend/girlfriend was a sensational tabloid-like substance that circulated well around in gossip rings.  Apparently in high school having a boyfriend/girlfriend is pretty much normal - since teen parents are more common now than in the 1950s.

About those people that think you're "not cool" if you don't have a boy/girlfriend - I think that they are pretty crass.  It's not like I haven't met "my match" but I just think that I'm too different for any girl to like me.  (Although you might think that I'm wrong,) I feel comfortable enough to say that I won't want a wife when I grow up.  People say that if you don't, then you'll get lonely when you're old and that sort of crap.

It's not as if the ladies I was ever interested in were mentally challenged, but they were not my type (intellectually).  I mean, what kind of match up would a smart man and a dumb woman make?  A very bad one, I can only suppose.  I know that I am certainly not smart enough to enlighten a dumb woman or have a dumb woman have a life-changing epiphany.

So I think I've had it with "getting a girl."

Candy Crush: Just a Bejewled Ripoff

I'm very sorry that I haven't been uploading anything regularly for the past two months but I have to take care of important things.

Other than that, I have an urgent topic that needs to be addressed immediately (Yes, this topic is even more important than the other 4 posts that are currently in draft mode):

Candy Crush is lame.

If you are a part of active society, you should know what game I'm talking about. (If not, you can see the 1st level of the game for yourself [here].  You can also download it on the App Store and Google Play - but this is not an ad, so, let's get back on topic.)

You might be reading this post with an agape mouth right now - and have an Amazon River of hate running though your head right now, all directed at me. (That is, if you're just a banal hipster.)

I say this because I asked someone how to explain it about last week, since its popularity has exploded all over my school.  One of my classmates has even made two Facebook accounts to play this game.

The explanation was simple.

"Do you know Bejeweled?"

"Yeah."

"Well, it's like that but with candy."  (Hence the name Candy Crush.)

I am certain that Bejeweled has been out for about 5 years now.  Also I am sure that Bejeweled must have had some success, despite not being a mainstream smash hit.  So just imagine replacing Bejeweled with candy and...  Well, to me that would be lame and a ripoff.  I have the Bejeweled demo on my feature phone and I pretty much know the gist of that game - which is nothing to hype about.

To see what all this hype was about, I played the first level.  I'll admit that it's kind of cool to get an ultra candy when you put 4/5 pieces of candy in a row or a square L (3 down and 2 to the left/right of the top/bottom end of the 3 in a row).  That's something that I thought would deserve more points than just 10 extra points for every jewel in a row or for the square L.  However, I realized that the game itself purposely makes it difficult for players to make those arrangements - unlike Bejeweled.

I did like the Venetian background music.  It's a cheesy ripoff of Bejeweled.  I mean, who wants to arrange pieces of candy into 3 or more in a row in real life?  Then again, how would even be rich enough to have that many jewels to play around with in Bejeweled?

About Women Changing Their Names after Marriage

I was just thinking... Why do women change their last names after marriage?

When I grew up, it wasn't like I was confused what family I belonged to.  I was actually annoyed when people assumed that my mom had the same last name as me.

I don't know if it's widely known among Americans in general but married women never take their husband's last name; only the kids usually do.  (And even if it's with the kids, the kids' last names could either be the dad's or mom's depending on what the mom and dad agree on. For example, Naruto's last name is from his mother, not his father because the dad didn't want anyone to know that Naruto was the dad's child.)

Why?  It's like (traditionally) how married women take their husband's surname after marriage.  They just do.

I know there's this trend that the married woman will add on their husband's last name with a dash after her last name. However, I personally find this to be annoying, especially when I have to write out a compound (American) last name that's at least over 25 letters long.  [I don't mind Indian/Arabic names because I know linguistically those names are just wicked long hands down.]

Apparently (from history class before vacation), Southeast Asia still has to do significant work on women's rights before it is up to par with the UN's goals.  So this whole conception of "you give up your self-identity when you change your last name as a married woman" is ultimately a fallacy when that concept is not held by countries that don't have women's rights.

I'd like to find out more about the historical reason why (in the Western world) women don't keep their original last name but take their husband's last name.

Being Fashionable... Or Not

It seems to be that all my life (ok, maybe all throughout middle and high school) I have never seemed to be fashionable.  I mean if you could look at me right now, you'd never think that I would be contemplating about what is fashionable or what looks good, stuff such as Ralph Lauren Polo Purple Label or Chanel.  It wasn't like I was so blatantly stupid as to know that Lands' End khakis looked better, let alone more formal, than sweatpants.  It was just that I grew up in an environment where almost no one around me could afford even 1 article of clothing from those mentioned brands, let alone think that kind of stuff.

All my "friends" at school probably think that I dress very yuckily but they don't know inside my head that I'm evaluating whether or not a certain Gaultier look that I saw last night was a hit or miss.

Anyways, the point I really wanted to make is that I seem like I'm totally uninterested in the topics that really intrigue me.

I think that my "friends" think I'm antisocial or something among the lines of that because I don't connect with them on Facebook or Twitter or some other shenanigans like that.

Well, let me propose this point to that argument.

Back in the summer of 2007, when people who were really Internet geeks or quasi-Internet geeks, I was just a rising 7th grader.  At the end of the school year, I was asking all my "friends" in class to join me on Facebook.  (I found out about Facebook through my judo club, where people claimed it was a "neater version of MySpace."  I avoided the whole MySpace shebang because I heard about that kind of "sexy" stuff and other 18+ material tended to happen on MySpace anyways.)

All my friends were saying, "Um, I don't think I need it now." They said that as if I was doing something that was above my age limit, as if I was drinking alcohol.  Over the summer, I did manage to get 3 friends onto Facebook but at that point I was impatient with the process of everyone jumping on the bandwagon.

Flash forward to 8th grade.  Now everyone had a Facebook. (At least the 50% extroverted people did.  But I found my "friends" to be obnoxious things on Facebook, such as this friend having one of his girlfriends do a dropkick on me in Pet/Friend Arena.)

Flash forward to 9th grade.  (Sorry about the corny "flash forward"-s.)  My US I history teacher asked if people used Twitter in class.  (Because one of John Adams relatives wrote 1 sentence journal entries, comparable to tweets.)  One of my classmates openly declared that, "Only 30-something-year-olds use it," and the whole class was in accordance.  Well, what do you know?  By the summer after 10th grade nearly all of those teens in that room were tweeting away avidly.

[I was initially drawn to Twitter when it became quasi-mainstream and mentioned in newspapers but I didn't join right away because I was suffering in a antisocial phase of my depression then.]
__________________________________________________________________________
The bottom line is that I know what's trending even before the trend sweeps the world.   I was interested in Facebook and Twitter before any of my peers even gave those sites a thought.  So, who's really "in" and who's really "out"?

Everyone might say that I'm "out" while they're "in", but I'd like to suggest that this more-than-a-conjecture from my subconscious may have more veracity than what the masses say.

Thinking while Typing... or maybe Thinking after I Type

I'm not entirely sure of what I want to do with this blog...

I know for sure I'll always post my original thoughts.  That's a given.

I don't want to have a blog that's just personal but at the same time I don't want to have a blog that just fails because it tries to do everything.

I know I'll do some product reviews of some products that I think are either great or horrible products that people should know about.

I like to contemplate on art and just events that are happening.

There's only one way to find out: Just make the next post and see where that takes me.

A day at the library

Some people might think that a "stay"-cation is a terrible ordeal to endure.  I know that almost every person I know would say that.  However vacations for most people are more like trying to get away from "your sucky life" rather than trying to better prepare yourself for your life in order to make the most out of it.  You get "lost," so to say, on your vacation to the beautiful beaches of the Bahamas or the majestic Rocky Mountains and all of that trite tourist baloney.

I don't really dread a "stay"-cation because... well, I've only had three vacations outside of Massachusetts, none of which were out of the US.  So a "stay"-cation is not much of a big deal to me.

Well, today I was at the Wakefield library for pretty much the whole day.  And to be honest, it wasn't that bad.

Firstly I had to get some homework done, because I know I wouldn't do it if I had stayed home.  Secondly I needed some peace and quiet in my life.

I wouldn't call it magic but something strange happened to me while I was in the quiet reading room of the library.  Suddenly silence suddenly became a loud noise and every single noise possible suddenly became muted and rare as silence is in the busy streets of inner Boston.  It seems like an oxymoron but any city or suburban person knows that feeling everytime he or she goes into the forest on a calm night; the silence is deafening and might even pierce through one's ears, although this is all psychological because your mind knows there is no sound whatsoever.

At the end of the day, it didn't seem like I was in a city because it was so quiet.  I've only experienced this in a certain church in Boston that I regretfully cannot remember the name of.

So today wasn't a wasted day, a day I wished I could have back to redo it, a day that had no value unlike almost every single other day I live through...

I wish I had HTML knowledge...

Sometimes, I wish that I had HTML knowledge.

For instance, I had to put a meta-tag into this blog in order to get my blog verified on Pinterest.  It took some trial and error but I eventually figured it out.

Another example: I'm the type of DIY person.  And I don't want to put up with pre-made themes or pay for quality themes on Tumblr.  I want to make my own quality Tumblr theme so I can feel great after making a great theme and proud for actually accomplishing something.  I found a YouTube tutorial but I haven't followed it along yet.

Lastly: I don't like using third party applications when it comes to making headers for profiles like in Facebook and Twitter.  I like to make the picture just right so that my header doesn't look tacky and looks like someone who doesn't know how to crop pictures made the cover.

The only problem is that I have not invested my time in learning any HTML at all or photo editing.  I do know basic Photoshop, like contrast/brightness and size adjustment but that's about it.

Struggles of a Sometimes Artist

I really want to get the X-Acto Basic Knife Set [link] for art projects that require me to cut out irregular shapes that I can't do easily with scissors.  However apparently every time I wanted to go to Blick's, it was snowing.  I really wished I could drive and had my own car so I could go anywhere I'd like.