Vanessa Williams Talks About Ugly Betty season 4

It’s the ““The Butterfly Effect” – a superb beginning of the show after a very disappointing season 3. Read the ugly betty news recap, I totally agree with its highlight and quick thought.

Yea, following the show, it’s growing up, so do I. A quite an unease feeling from me in the very first part of the show, I felt dread and lousy, esp. the conflicts, the change and the unsettle hatred between the core characters. But as Daniel told Betty that Betty is still Betty but she did change which we never can expect things go back to the past. I just had the similar feeling in the reality Me lately.

Anyway, my favorite scenes are:  the birth of the butterfly at Olivia’s house, Daniel’s punch to Matt and the transformation from Betty’s assistant of Daniel to friend of Daniel.

You know, I don’t really like villain in tv drama. Recently, I kinda like Venessa Wililam, she is just a great actress and you just cannot keep your eye off her. And the more I understand the world, the more I understand “villain”.

Enjoy the Venessa’s short talk about the new season. And Connor is coming back, LOL! He is quite charming, esp. I like his accent…

Jonathan Ive TV interview

Yes, Johnathan Ive  is rarely interviewed. Apart from the interview by Independent I translated earlier, below is another  TV interview of his.

Another recent appearance in tv is in the latest “Apple MacBook Video with Apple Design Team”(with Japanese subtitles) @ 2008 OCT, sharing the whole apple design team’s design philosophy.

Not only Johnathan(Senior Vice President Design), now you have a chance to meet the other design team members including Dan Ricco(Vice President Product Design), Bob Mansfield(Senior Vice President Mac Hardware). You are going to experience the beautiful process of new macbook production process.

(P.S. I like they feature “IRONMAN” when they explain the vivid display of LED at the new macbook. IRONMAN is one of my favorite movie!)

In the interview, Johnathan illustrated the first time he used old Mac as a student. Nobody was helping him but He was never ever use any instruction book but just could use the product right away. 

Then he was asked about the design of iMac. Jonathan knew that a lot of people at that time were nervous about computer and technology, so their goal is how to make the product more accessible and simple to use.

The inspiration of another version of iMac released in 2002 was found in the garden, which is “flower”.

Retake the Saving Private Ryan Beach scene yourself

[via Motiongrapher]

我喜歡科技的原因是，它不但可以改變世界!還把”假”的變得太真了。有了科技，你也可以用低成本重拍 ”雷霆救兵”的沙灘打杖場面。不要錯過這短片!

The reason why I love technology is that it can change the world. It can create things that you can never never imagine or make things that only can see in your mind only!

But sometimes, you just can’t believe that technology has already make our world become too good to be “unreal”! Watch this amazing video. If you want to refilm a war fighting scenes with armies, warships and explosion yourself. YOU CAN DO IT NOW with the support of technology.

Watch this video. The budget is relatively low (you don’t need to hire a lot of people and control the crowds), provided that you have a powerful computer for the post production & excellent graphic/SFX designers. Here is the recipe from the video:

3 graphic designers(also the actors) + car +  costume,rope&guns + video camcorder + special effect postproduction

Make My Logo Bigger Cream

[via MakeMyLogoBiggerCream ]

一直想想分享這段有趣的廣告片! 如你是設計師，你一定會愛死這後片。若你是那一個想把你的 Logo 變大一點的人，請立即購買此產品!

Yes, as a designer, it is very easy for us to make clients’ LOGO bigger, but then it is not our professional any more. IF you are a designer, you will definitely love this crazy funny advertisement. 

NOT a designer? You even make this request before? Don’t worry, you will see the reason why it is being rejected. If you don’t understand after all, then you need to pay for the cream right away in order to change your design! To be BIG is very easy!!!!! LOL!

Inspirational TED talk – Design Patterns from John Maeda

你是否覺得現在的生活太繁複了?每天有太多資訊要爭奪你的注意力。因為太多選擇了，就是食飯、買東西，以致坐車都是件很麻煩的事。更何況是上那一個手電網絡公司台、寬頻公司、MPF 組合、投資/保險策略等等。以前我們的生活，還沒有那麼多選擇時，不是簡單得多嗎? 看看 以下 John Maeda 有趣而又富啟發性的 17 分鐘 TED 演講，你或可從中，得到如何把生活看得/變得”簡單”的方法。

We are living in the world with information all competed for our attention. How can we not to be overloaded from too much information? Everything become much more complicated now. Simple stuff like eating, shopping and transportation,  become a trouble for us because of too many options and choices; so do our ISP, cellphone/telecom plan, MPF scheme, investment/insurance package etc. Can we have “Simple Life” as the old days? Not the Paris Hilton type of “Simple” because, I guess, not many of us that rich yet, maybe some of our readers are, who knows, LOL! Watch John Maede’s TED talk below, it is only 17 mins. An insipirational, insightful and interesting presentation about his experience and feeling about “simplicity”.

(via information asethetics)

I love what he said “Enjoy everything in the world” and you will find that “Simplicity & Happiness” is not that hard.

Here is an abstracture of the 10 Laws from his book: “The Laws of Simplicity”(via John Maeda’s blog) . My favorite is ”Learn”(Law4), “Emotion”(Law7) and “Make Meaning”(Law10).

Law1 – Reduce: The simplest way to achieve simplicity is through thoughtful reduction.
Law2 – Organize: Organization makes a system of many appear fewer.
Law3 – Time: Savings in time feel like simplicity.
Law4 – Learn: Knowledge makes everything simpler.
Law5 – Difference: Simplicity and complexity need each other.
Law6 – Context: What lies in the periphery of simplicity is definitely not peripheral.
Law7 – Emotion: More emotions are better than less.
Law8 – Trust: In simplicity we trust.
Law9 – Failure: Some things can never be made simple.
Law10 – The One: Simplicity is about subtracting the obvious, and adding the meaningful.

DNAStream – The Web-based TV

[via Planet Ajaxian]

If you used Joost before, you must be very impressed by its UI which is very classy.  But you need to download, install and do setting for streaming some how.

Now you have alternative, try DNAStream.TV ! I love DNAStream’s UI, fabulous and user-friendly. The TV program run smoothly with nice video quality at my 19″ LCD. Of course, the number of TV programs choice are still limited compared with Joost. But DNAStream.TV is still very cool! Check it out!

16 Best Dance Movies (1977-2007)

我最喜愛的 16 套跳舞電影 ! 如你喜歡跳舞，不要錯過以下的任何一套!

They are my 16 favourite dance movies. I think they are the best dance movies  from 1977 to 2007, which are not only about dancing, but love, honor and dream! If you love dancing, don’t miss any one of them.

1977 – Saturday Night Fever (Disco)
1983 – Flashdance (Jazz)
1985 – White Nights (Tap/Ballet)
1987 – Dirty Dancing (Ballroom)
1993 – Strictly Ballroom (Ballroom)
1996 – Shall We Dansu (Ballroom)
1998 – Tango Del Atardecer (Tango)
2000 – Billy Elliot (Ballet)
2000 – Center Stage (Ballet)
2001 – Moulin Rouge (Broadway/Musical)
2002 – Chicago (Broadway/Tango/Musical)
2003 – Honey (Jazz/Funk/Hip Hop)
2004 – Shall We Dance (Ballroom)
2004 – Dirty Dancing Havana Night (Ballroom)
2004 – You Got Served (Hip Hop)
2007 – Stomp the Yard (Hip Hop)

Saturday Night Fever Dance Scene

White Nights Opening from Mikhail Baryshnikov

Strictly Ballroom MV

Tango Del Atardecer

Billy Elliot Trailer

CenterStage – Final Dance Scene

Moulin Rouge Trailer 

Chicago Cell Block Tango

Honey – Jessica Alba Dancing

Shall we Dance – Tango

You Got Served – Movie Trailer

Stomp The Yard Trailer

“You’ve got to find what you love” – Steve Jobs’ 2005 Commencement @ Stanford

這是 2005 年 Steve Jobs 在 Stanford 的一個約 15 分鐘的畢業典禮演講。沒有 Keynote，也沒有 macbook。Great speaker is great speaker. 那是 Steve Jobs 的故事令你著迷，給你無限的啟示。接這裡看中文全文翻譯 (via Mr/Ms Days)。不要錯過下面的 live video。 尤其喜歡他說的這一段，這也是我的信念:

“有時候，老天會拿磚塊打你的頭，但不要失去信心。我很確信，能讓我繼續走下去的唯一理由，就是我愛我所做的事。所以你必須找到你的所愛，不管是對工作、對愛情都一樣。你的工作會填滿你一大塊人生，唯一能真正滿足的方法，就是去做你認為偉大的事情。要做出偉大的事，唯一方法就是做你愛做的事。如果你還沒發現這是什麼，繼續觀察，不要停止。用你全心的力量，找到時，你就會知道。”

Steve Jobs was delivering his commencement speech to the graduates of Stanford University in 2005 (see video below). It’s around 15mins. This time, No keynote! No macbook! But what he said is even more powerful than a thousand images. It is his story/words that moves you, touch you and inspire you. A Steve Jobs’ video that you should never miss.

Click here for the speech transcript in English from Stanford News Archive.

This the part I love the most:

” Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don’t lose faith. I’m convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You’ve got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. “

Flash Dance, JLo & Hyori Lee

中國人有句話 : ”橋唔怕舊，最緊要受!

前人有很多東西都是歷久常新、百看/百聽不厭。FlashDance 是 1983 的電影，相常喜歡跳舞的人都一定看過。故事很簡單，內容是一個女主角日間在地盤做苦力賺錢維生，晚間則在酒吧為理想而跳舞。其中一場經典舞戲是在櫈上跳舞再以水淋身。

有關跳舞的電影很多時，橋段也如 FlashDance一樣，就是人們為了生活只好放棄跳舞，若繼續為理想，只好把跳舞當成為興趣或兼職。跳舞電影，如 “Honey“、”Step Up” 也是這個路線，之前有提及的 Reality TV - DanceLife 也是頗相同。好像很消極似的，但是故事的背後/最後，其實也告訴觀眾，堅持理想的重要，有成功的可能，也令更多人喜歡跳舞，給他們動力去學習舞蹈。

而現實呢? 當然要成為一個全職的 Dancer 不是一件易的事 ，尤其是在香港，對很多人來說，跳舞從來都不是一種職業(Profession) ，只是一種興趣 ! 在商業的社會，藝術從來不是文化，而是消閑娛樂。那是一件可悲的事! 我很幸運地，在身邊有很多很有 “Passion” 的舞者 。

Let me share with you the ever-lasting theme with lots of dance scenes.  Enjoy the clips below. I recommend you to watch it from the bottom to the Top (from clip 4 to clip 1) .

Why? Hope I can explain it well….some people said Hyori Lee “copied” JLO.(P.S I don’t mind coz I still like sexy diva Hyori).  Then, Hyori sang JLO’s I’m Glad with FlashDance dancing scene at a live performance(clip1).  JLO procduced the music video”I’m Glad”(clip3) based on FlashDance story, which she was in sued by the Flashdance copyright owner. And Hyori’s Anyclub MV(clip2)  got the same story plot as the FlashDance original Movie(clip4).

clip1 – Hyori Lee – I’m Glad Live

clip2 – Hyori Lee – Anymotion

clip3 – Jennifer Lopez – I’m Glad
 

clip4 – Flash Dance (1983) dance intro

Power of Google Movie

 

這是德國 University of Applied Sciences Ulm 學生的 Balcholar Thesis Project。這是一段 infographic 短片，甚具專業水準，內容也很有啟發性! It’s also a new way of presentation media.Don’t miss it! Must See!