bismark's blog

New Goal: Relearn Japanese

Well, I have heard that publicly sharing a goal is one of the best ways to find motivation for it, so here we go: I am going to start using my Japanese again. @molecularbond sent me a link about cat cafes in Nagoya, and even though I think the only real purpose cats have in this world is to provide us with funny pictures, it still made me 懐かしい for all things Nihon.

My Japanese pretty much sucks now. I used to be able to read newspaper articles and carry on conversations about philosophical beliefs for hours. Now I can barely remember how to correctly use certain grammar particles. Sigh.

So, time to re-rip my J-Pop albums, finally get around to watching Ponyo, and pull out my flashcards. I am working on my Spanish currently, and I think getting my brain back into multilingual mode will actually help with that.

I would actually love a job where I could both program and use Japanese. I should start looking for something like that.

Rooting for Android

An app called “a Hands Heater” has been sitting in the iPhone App Store top 25 of the paid apps for awhile now. It’s a stupid gimmick app that makes the screen appear like a set of heating coils emmitting heat. Amazingly the app ‘s description takes three paragraphs before it mentions that it doesn’t actually do anything. Kind of a slimy thing for the developer to do.

The really sad thing though is how many people are buying it and subsequently leaving reviews saying “Doesn’t actually work, I want my money back!” Though the reviews certainly have worse grammar and spelling; think YouTube comment level of English mastery. The developer is raking in cash due to stupidity. I dunno who to fault more.

Anyway, aside from making me really fear for our world, this makes me really want Android to win. If Android were to become the Windows of mobile devices, all of this crapware could go over there. Have you ever tried find a quality, well designed piece if software on Windows? It’s a joke. Every search brings up results for crap shareware on stupid sites like download.com. I love how they present advertisements with “Download Now!” buttons that are larger than the link for the software you actually want. Barf.

On the other hand, it seems like there is always at least one beautifully designed piece of software for all genres and needs on the Mac. I’ve paid for many pieces of independantly developed Mac software, and they all are a joy to use.

It may sound elitest, but I think it would be great if Android wins the marketplace so the App Store can start losing the cruft and just be filled with beautifully things I want to buy even if I don’t really need them.

My Review of "The Hurt Locker"

I was obviously not happy when I wrote this and it was also 2:30 AM, so read accordingly. But I can’t see anything I necessarily disagree with so I will leave it as is.

I’m lying here in bed feeling empty, depressed, and angry. This was not an easy movie to watch. But I think everyone should. Some might say “Why would I want to watch a movie that makes me feel that way? I will stick to Disney.” And if you are one of those people, you more than anyone else needs to watch this movie.

Why? It’s real. It’s the reality of what is happening right at the very moment you are reading this. How can we ever hope to stop it if we always hide ourselves away and pretend like all is well in the world?

War is horrible. It destroys humans. Mentally and physically, right at this very moment humans are being destroyed by a war funded by my country. It’s disgusting.

This movie is about the psychological destruction of humans caused by war. Think of one of the people you love most: spouse, sibling, child. Now realize there is someone just like you whose person they love has had their humanity stripped from them by war.

The scene that got me the most was toward the end as he is standing in the cereal aisle of the grocery store. We talk about honoring the veterans for preserving our freedom quite a bit in this country. This scene just made me think not only of the absolute evil of the things veterans have had to endure, but of the desicable shallowness of the things we use our freedom for. Filling our bodies with fake food while we consume fake sex and violence for entertainment. Another human destroyed so we can have our premade meals and our porn.

Well this has been a rant instead of a review. I guess that’s shows how the movie made me feel.

I recommend this movie, not for entertainment but as a reminder of why we are all responsible for denouncing war and proclaiming peace.

False Doctrine in Hymns

Here is a question for my LDS readers:

Does anyone else feel like there is false doctrine in the second verse of “Choose the Right” (#239):

“There’s the right and the wrong to every question;”

Every time I sing it I am like, wait, really?

Also, what is otherwise a very beautiful hymn, the second verse of “Lead, Kindly Light” (#97) sometimes rubs me the wrong way…

When I have to stop working on a programming project and read a research paper comparing maintaining replicated databases to spreading disease, I wonder why I decided to go back to school. :/