ZZzone

Monday, October 09, 2006

The Post-War Germany Part II

Well, the content of the video link in the last post does change, but it's still about the post-war Germany, this time it mainly focuses on the history of the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) and German Democratic Republic (East Germany), their division from each other, their separate development under different regimes, the Berlin Wall's establishment and some individual incidents that ensued, and Germany's final reconstitution.

历史在纵向和横向的比较中总是有着惊人的相似。Looking back to the history is for looking forward to our future, take a look at this video clip if you like the first part of last week. (ignore the last several minutes because it's another somewhat stupid program.) However, how about Hegel's saying that "we learn from history that man can never learn anything from history"...(@.@)

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Monday, October 02, 2006

The Post-War Germany

A very interesting video clip i found on NTDTV. Stream -> (roughly 30 mins, generally objective, in Chinese, however not available in China and may link to some other content in one week.)

It's about the Potsdam Conference, the Marshall Plan, Germany's border revisions and population shifts, the partitional control of German territory by the Allied Control Council, the begin of the Cold War between communism and "capitalism", the "air bridge" Berlin Airlift plan to support West Berlin, the establishment of the Berlin Wall and its final collapse and Germany's reunion in 1989, and so forth...

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Sunday, October 01, 2006

NBA Photo of The Year 2006



Vote now!

Vince, Kobe and 14 other guys. That has been the story through the first eight years of the Photo of the Year competition, as Vince Carter (3) and Kobe Bryant (4) have won seven of the eight titles. But this year, Kobe has been elimated by Ben Wallace and Hakim Warrick took out Vince. We're down to the semifinals and with Ben Wallace's defeat of Dwight Howard, there are only three competitors remaining.

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Saturday, September 30, 2006

Moon Festival Blessing From Hua

朋字双月并肩行,
远隔千里两地明;
祝友健康阂家乐,
事业顺利展宏程;
国庆佳节同喜日,
捧杯聚首秋月中。


Background Knowledge:

The Mid-Autumn Festival (Traditional Chinese: 中秋節, Simplified Chinese: 中秋节; pinyin: Zhōngqiūjié; Korean: Ch'usǒk or Chuseok 추석/秋夕; also known as the Moon Festival, Mooncake Festival, or the August Moon Festival. In Hong Kong, Singapore, and Malaysia, it may be referred to as the Lantern Festival, similar in name to a different festival which falls on the fifteenth day of the Chinese New Year) is a popular Chinese celebration of abundance and togetherness, dating back over 3,000 years to China's Zhou Dynasty.

The Festival falls on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month of the Chinese lunisolar calendar (usually around mid- or late-September in the Gregorian Calendar), a date that parallels the Autumn Equinox of the solar calendar. At this time, the moon is at its fullest and brightest, marking an ideal time to celebrate the abundance of the summer's harvest. The traditional food of this festival is the moon cake, of which there are many different varieties.

The Mid-Autumn Festival is one of the two most important holidays in the Chinese calendar (the other being the Chinese Lunar New Year), and is a legal holiday in several countries. Farmers celebrate the end of the summer harvesting season on this date. Traditionally, on this day, Chinese family members and friends will gather to admire the bright mid-autumn harvest moon, and eat moon cakes and pomeloes together. It is also common to have barbecues outside under the moon, and to put pomelo rinds on one's head. Brightly lit lanterns are often carried around by children. Together with the celebration, there appear some special customs in different parts of the country, such as burning incense, planting sweet-olive trees, lighting lanterns on towers, and fire dragon dances. Shops selling mooncakes, before the festival, often display pictures of Chang'e, floating to the moon.

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Monday, September 25, 2006

Picks of The Basket (Repost)

为了不使此帖沉下去,特此重帖。最近qq用得比较厉害,帖子比较少,大家请见谅。。。

所谓的自选"精华贴"from my blog...

I) Was I for the government or against the government this time?

Committee on International Relations, U.S. House of Representatives ->

Bosh & Censorship ->

II) I still remember this movie. I've downloaded Xu Jinglei's latest movie "梦想照进现实" but found out that it's all about some junk chatting between a bad-looking male and Xu herself throughout the entire 2 hours, it's pretty weird and I really don't have much patience and interest in listening to what they are talking about...

(this entry doesn't get a permanent link so i have to copy it here...)

琵琶语 - 徐静蕾近日的一部在国内上映的电影《一个陌生女人的来信》里头这个配乐如此震撼,在我看第一遍时片头就有隐约的预感。在片子中途那个羞涩的小女孩一头不小心栽进他命运中的男人的怀中时琵琶声再次响起,在片尾从年迈的管家和女人的对视后音乐再次想起直到片尾字幕全部打完,我承认没有这首曲子也许我不会对这部电影有这么深的印象。虽然后来知道是林海早些时候的编曲,但没想到竟然和电影情节如此的吻合贴切,琵琶的一丝一弦,钢琴的附和和小女孩的吟唱,深深的振颤着观众的灵魂,为女主角的悲惨命运感到无比的心痛和无奈。我没看过原著,只是就电影故事论故事。她这种爱情观在现在看来简直是天方夜谭,在爱情中始终要面对的一个课题-付出和得到这个平衡中走了我们认为的极端,这也是她那句"我爱你和你无关"的实质所在。一个儿时最纯洁最美好的梦竟然成了这个女人一生的梦魇,耗尽了她毕生的时间和热情,直到死后才把这许多无人知道的痛楚倾诉给那个永远不属于她的男人,没有怨恨没有抗议,连最后一句话都是"我已经写不下去了,亲爱的,保重......" 用现在最普遍的话来评价就是"那个男人值得吗?你怎么这么傻???你这样做是为了什么???"但这是她的错吗?这种悲剧是她自找的吗???全世界也许都在笑她这样一个女人,但她真的错了吗???我们虽然可以很简单的将它归结于外部因素,小女孩从小就穷困潦倒,缺少基本的父爱,母亲执意的乔迁,八年血腥抗战,国破家亡,导致了她的支离破碎但无法自拔的爱情,和一个第一次就和他说sorry的男人单方面的纠缠了一生。但是事实就是这么简单么?这些因素能够解释一切么?由这些客观因素造成的女人的主观意识到底是极度荒谬的还是无比坚强的?如果说女人的眼泪,无数次的憧憬,短暂的欢愉,以及这封来信本身体现了人性中最基本的渴望被爱的欲求,但除了这些,她自己认为她和她的小孩的离去是一个悲剧的结尾还是对尘世的超脱?真理和荒谬只有一线之差,能像数学家量化来决定这个度的人是不存在的,否则它就是圣人,我们心中的神,爱情的真谛到底是什么在这部电影中被看似平淡但穿透性的显现了出来,留给人们的是一个令人窒息但永远解不开的谜。

III) Sometimes I wish I had never grown up so that i could always play my favourite PC games without considering all other nuisances:

Commandos 3 Destination Berlin Impression ->

Neverwinter Nights Impression ->

Myth The Wolf Age Films - For Those Who Own and Love the Game ->

Screenshots of NBA Live 06's Gameplay ->

About The New Game Sanguozhi 11 ->

IV) After the youth and the true love elapses and gets insulted, we become mature, when the spring and the true love may never come back again...

One Fine Spring Day ->

V) Investment, and more importantly, concentration, make differences:

CCTV Romance of Three Kingdoms Impression ->

Moment in Peking ->

VI) The best humor I've ever witnessed...

About Liu Shan ->

VII) The NBA players must learn how to play team basketball rather than individual one as they failed bitterly again in competing for the FIBA World Championship. The new season is not very far away from us, this time, who are you going to pick for your Yahoo fantasy NBA team?

Yahoo Fantasy NBA ->

My NBA All★Star 2006 Picks ->

VIII) I love "k"ing songs, and I promise more will be coming soon!!!

Karaoke ->

Wakin's Cantonese Songs ->

10 Albums ->

More Wakin Chau ->

IX) "[Abstract art is] a product of the untalented, sold by the unprincipled to the utterly bewildered."

Art ->

X) How about some comfortable maths and physics in a far-between dreamland?

High School Maths ->

Physics In My Dream ->

XI) The word "politics" is actually derived from the word "poly", meaning "many", and the word "ticks", meaning "blood sucking parasites". However, when you try to solve it, you may wind up realizing that "politics is nothing but the art of looking for trouble, finding it whether it exists or not, diagnosing it incorrectly, and applying the wrong remedy"...

Recommendation ->

About Taiwan's Economy and Politics ->

Shanghai Story ->

Which Is the New China ->

17 Years Have Passed ->

XII) WHOA!!! TERRIBLE! DISGUSTING! SHOCKING! OH^NOOOOOOO!!!

Mouse!!! ->

XIII) The vehemence of anger resulting from the the huge discrepancy of Kobe's 81 points and 8 points, both against the Raptors...

Raptors Really Suck ->

Mr. Bryant's Video-game-alike 81 Points ->

XIV) I refused to grow up this time again:

A Quick Letter To An Old Friend ->

XV) What we should bring back when we finally return to our lovely hometown?

An Insightful Essay - Recommendation ->

XVI) WWII, D-Day, Easy company, 101 Airborne Division, Band of Brothers...

The Hills of Bastogne ->

We Stand Alone Together - Band Of Brothers ->

XVII) Digital photography:

To Share More Pictures ->

Yunnan, China ->

ACDSee Photo Editor ->

XVIII) Unfortunately, she and her mother didn't follow my advice due to her bad records on science subjects, what else can i do?

A Random Thought - Arts VS Science Again ->

XIX) Life's too short for chess...

A Super Chess Game Played in 1851 ->

Yahoo! Chess Game ->

XX) Red opium or relish?

Fictional & Classical Chinese Women From The Red Chamber ->

XXI) Love is the triumph of imagination over intelligence.

Q&A ->

XXII) Bill is gradually retiring as a philanthropist, which is more about relaxing and giving than competing and earning. But his legendary stories have already left us so much to learn from:

"Microsoft is #1" From Bill Gates, 1987 ->

WGA: You Are Busted! Or No? ->

Circuits: Getting Hung Up on the Apple-Microsoft War ->

XXIII) Game fantasy never ends:

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion & Game Fantasy ->

XXIV) Philosophy or inanition?

Repost ->

Too much to include in one time, just check out the archive section to discover more! 8D

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Thursday, September 21, 2006

A Nazi Movie In My Dream

人的梦境总是让人莫名其妙,昨晚就是,虽然我真的不经常做梦,多半睡得挺踏实。。。现在还有点后怕,说是噩梦也不是,但也好不到哪儿去,而且记得也不是很清楚,现在还要抛开杂念集中精力回想一会儿,呵呵,大概能记起个90%,准确度90%。

情节似乎很简单,“电影”主角是我自己,生在二战时期,国家,地点不是很明确,梦境里“没有交代”,只知道大的背景是德国纳粹横行猖獗的时期,而我只是个小罗布头,在一个风景和武大媲美的大学里念圣贤书的那种,是深受其迫害的。

不知什么原因我和一个同窗好友(似乎是一个NBA球员年少的时候,好像是诺维茨基,因为他是德国的,哈哈)某一天被纳粹的狗腿子捉走,开始我们还天真的以为只是被抓去清点一下人口,过后就放我们回去继续念书,没想到一关就是很长时间,每天就是行尸走肉般和一大群人在德国军官面前像牲口一般被点数,进行军事化训练,稍有不对的时候就会听到德国鬼子的大声嚎叫和鞭挞(有点以前玩盟军敢死队的味道,alarm, alarm...),其中一个场景似乎是其中一个狗腿子还是我们小时候玩得比较好的一个玩儿伴,每当我们擦肩而过或者对视的时候,诺就会横眉冷对,怒目圆睁,对方似乎有点心虚的意思,也不敢怎么样。余下时间就是干活,大家都不准有自己的思想,平时大家就像是哑巴和聋子,目光呆滞的看着远方的那种状态,如果说有思想也是鬼子灌输的同性恋,违反伦理,吃*喝*等人世间最龌龊的事情。当问到能不能有自己的爱,有自己的自由的时候,我们经常被逼含泪的大声地说出不能,即使以后被放出去,也只能爱一个自己根本不喜欢的指定的男的,然后就听见鬼子的淫笑和一脸的满足。。。

终于有一天我们不能忍受了,人间地狱的集中营啊,给谁受得了?我在诺的眼中已经看出极度的愤慨和出逃的决心,我也打算当那一天来临时,我和他一起逃离苦海。。。
终于等到一个大雪天,有雾,还有雨,有时还电闪雷鸣,正是一个逃跑的大好日子。我们如往常一样在军官指导下在大操场上衣衫单薄,哆嗦着的parade(似乎没戴脚镣也没有围栏,要不也逃不了。。。),由于是走的类似椭圆形的形状,当诺和我走到行军队伍的边缘时,诺往四周一看,正好不在狗腿们的视野之内,也少有人盯防,撒开腿就跑,搞得我突然一下紧张起来,就像疯狂一样的紧跟着他一起飞奔,由于是“电影”,所以顿时紧张的交响乐四起,余下的人也都像脱了缰的野马跟着我们飞逃,场面混作一团,德国鬼子大喊大叫,急忙提枪追赶,但由于逃跑人数众多,目标太大,一时无法稳定局势,鬼子们急忙请求支援,而跑在最前头的诺和我似乎情况稍微安全点。但很快追兵将至,我估计这次直接这样跑会逃不了的,于是拿出看家本领,飞行。。。(不要太惊讶,我在梦里已经飞了千八百回了,i just can...至于为我既然能飞为什么不早飞就另当别论了),但又不敢飞得太高那种,那样会很心慌,有担心肯定会摔死的感觉,飞行高度大概和一座高楼持平吧。不觉中我终于飞上了以前比较熟悉的一个路线上,知道该去哪儿,而且看到眼皮底下的追兵似乎也没有跟上我,感觉我这次大大有希望,只是不知道其他人怎么样了。忽然眼前有一座楼,正是我们的兄弟宿舍的平台楼顶(类似武大的樱花校舍哦),白雪覆盖,梅花怒放,脚印重重,我终于顺利登陆了。。。

此时正好碰上一同班同学(似乎是高中的)在雪地里看书背单词呢,看见我过来,还以为没什么事,只是邂逅而已,以为我会问他一句吃饭了没有(至于他为什么不知道我们被抓又另当别论了。。。),我连忙把他一把揪过来躲在墙角小声地跟他说了全过程,他吓得直哆嗦,我还不时地往后看,看看是不是有追兵,他见我回头看,吓得屎尿都快出来了,知道这都是真的,说道,你别吓我啊,天哪。。。我最后告诉他,你暂时不要告诉别人,以免走漏风声,便急忙抽身离去看看下面的动静。由于校舍范围内树木茂盛,即便是冬天也是树木缠绕,而且我却属猴,天生会爬树(我小时候也的确是,呵呵。。。),于是继续攀岩在和校舍楼顶持平的树木丛中(人猿泰山???),观察着下面的动静。突然见有一票人马杀到树下,跑在前头的正好是刚才逃跑的几个罗卜头,后面是提枪的大叫着的狗腿子,我急忙在大树上倚好,以防被发现,等响声过后,探头看了看,没有人了,心里踏实了许多。突然一声霹雳,吓得我急忙从树上滑落下来,怕被雷劈着。此时正好看见树旁一个鳏夫将一个孤婴含泪诉苦似的送交到一对年轻夫妇的手中,我突然心里一颤,仿佛感觉是十几年前事件的回光返照,难道这个小孩子是我,而那个中年男人却是我父亲??我今天到底为什么会被人绑架追杀??

正彷徨间,荒唐梦醒,却发现毫无逻辑,果然只是黄粱一梦而已。。。

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Wednesday, September 20, 2006

Sanguo War Maps




I have no idea where i got those, but i do like them :-{D

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