platformer with combat in TP action game

platforming in 3D game is an extremely difficult thing, in my opinion. a game without platformer leaves designers very easy at level design. because gamers can be given one or a certain number of finely crafted path. there are certain elements could be largely ignored, for example, the roof of a building can just be left undone. although there're still a lot of players tried to use a limited platforming ability provided by the games they are playing.

but this is not what i want to talk about though. i want to talk about how to combine platformer with combat. the most basic form of the combination i can remember is Mario's jump on the green turtles, or mushrooms. the most wonderful example i have witnessed was prince of persia sand of time series. it was triumphed in warrior within and perfected in the two thrones. with that in mind, i want to ask. how do i create a game like Oni, with Oni's hand to hand combat and BoD's weapon combat, with a platformer like PoP SoT series? so basically, i am asking how do i have a game with great platformer, great and detailed melee combat, and how do i combine both of them?

there are two main situations for players to explore in action games. one is navigation, the other one is combat. why do i want to combine platformer with combat? one of the reasons is that i am so very excited by PoP SoT series. an action game without platformer was boring. you are just merely going from one level to another. the combat will eventually wear thin and repetitive. it is normal to expect your game might have a cult following, but not mass market product. this might not be a bad thing, however, most action games with before mentioned level design pattern was usually bad. because most combat designed was usually sad. combining platformer and combat was a good way to bring variety to the games, even though one of the elements might be too simple. platformer might even be more important than combat. since it keeps player moving without another mind bothering along side of him.

second reason for combining platformer with combat was because it gives different players a chance to explore same situations in different manners. some people like to fight one on one, pure fighting. the other people might like to running around, find a chance not to fight. thus, open a great door for a feeling for the power of coice. third, it also gives a chance for designers to really develope few different characters with different fighting style. the example i could come up with is neo and morpheus in matrix. when neo faced morpheos in a virtual dojo, two totally different style was so obvious, but also very interesting.

there's a very important issue i wish to see solved. that's the camera. i want a realistic fighting mechanics. by integrated platformer into melee mechanics, i am afraid of characters went out of the camera. and since i wish for a camera style like Oni throughout most of the game, i wonder how do i make a wall jump without displacing camera on the far side of room...

by jolly, this is just a writing to distract myself from wantom destruction. i do not see any future of any improvements on the fighting action games at all. since complicated control is always belonged to a handful of players...

你是啥南北!?

我覺得蠻有趣的. 我記得有這麼一個對話, 出處忘了.

北魏的魏孝文帝仰慕中華文化. 凡事都要說南朝的好. 有一回, 又和他的大臣在說, 南朝多好多好.

他的大臣氣死了, 說: "南朝好, 南朝一年換一帝, 咱們幾十年才一帝."

看來, 那時的南朝就已經民主化了...LOL!!

first thoughts on fighting mechanics for TP actioin games

i like blade of darkness' fighting mechanics. It is the most complete design for weapon combat on pc.

i love Oni's hand to hand combat mechanics. It is the best fighting mechanics for TP action adventure games on PC.

i will not stress on the things i love in both games. i will however, stress on the things i wish to have for both games with bits of elements from other games that i wish to be included in the future TP action adventure game.

Blade of darkness doesn't have strafes, which is a huge turn off for many gamers. it could even count as one of the reasons this game failed. the other major reason is because of lacking support for online competition. for me, the decision of no strafe was horrible to me as well. but after watching a match in Rune, i felt i could guess for the reason behind it. my thoughts was that Blade of darkness require higher degree on combos. designers purposely want the fight to be locked on business, so the combo enhanced combat mechanics can then fly. the fighting is suppose to be more meticulous and methodical. but lacking strafe was still horrible for navigating through the corridors. Blade of darkness did not have a grabbing combo and the defense mechanics was a bit lacking, especially when there's no shield. i like the escape mechanics in the game, i think it's a great idea. but need to be improved on maybe variety and precision.

Oni has strafes. but it did not have hard locking on system. it did have a very hard to notice soft lock on system, which automatically fired up when a fight mechanics was issued. Oni featured at least 4 grabbing moves. however, the designers find a way to stop players' abusing the ability. instead let AI cheats, i wish to bump up AI and make evasive moves available. some of the combos in Oni were not realistic enough. i wish for more realistic fighting. we could add a ground grappling system. i wish the evasive movements could be integrated into fighting mechanics.

i also wish to mixed bod with a defensive mechanics like something in the mount and blade. i really loved bushido blade series. what i would love have bushido's elements transfered to BoD is the instant death system, weapons contact reaction system, and body parts hurt system.

i think it's best to have both hard and soft lock on system. each lock on system, i will try to deesign two different fighting mchanics. for instance, the soft lock on system will have less combos, much much less chance for instant kills, but it's best to fight multiple enemies by using platform abilities. with hard locking on system, the combo will be complete, players will have more control over the instant kills, evasive movements are available. but it's best used against one or two enemies, preferable, boss, since switching target will be a huge hassle.

my idea of platforming in TP action games

platforming in third person action games should focus on how designers create an engine for competitive platforming. it should require skills from players as well as level designs creativity from the game developers.

the first thing i think should be solved is camera issue though. my idea of ideal camera placement in third person action games is nailed above the back of the character i am playing. but it does have a few problems. first, it minimizes player's estimation for jump distance. second, it sometimes got blocked by the objects between camera and the character; or in the case of cornering, camera could stocked at a weird angle, which then interfered with the gameplay. although second problem was solved in Rune as far as i am concerned. there're still many developers did not use that option. so i say, use something like Rune, please... for the first problems, i'd think that make sure the physics in the game feel right; and make hanging in the air, like gliding an option. in addition to this two, i'd really like to request a weird option, which is design as many camera options as possible. i loved king's quest mask of eternity for a free form camera control although many cried against it. but i loved it. mostly, i'd like to express the wish for good numbers of camera options in the game. for, it's the soul of third person aciton game in my opinion.

Oni was an amazing game. i always loved the quote from avault's Oni review,

"Even a partial list of her moves sounds like a TV commercial for Ginsu knives: “She hits, kicks, runs, rolls, jumps, slides and flips with the greatest of ease! The amazing Konoko!”(Review by: David Laprad) "

and yes, Oni can do all these with never before seen grace, and none can compared to her even today. the problem for Oni was not that she's lacking the movements. the problem for Oni was that there's no meaning for Oni's most of her movements. what i am saying is that you could play through most of the level without using many of the amazingly fluid platformer animations. And in today's standards, lacking wallrun, wall jump, and hanging onto the edge of walls were a big let down also. whatever function game designers were creating for the character, he better assign meanings to it. or otherwise, it got wasted! the jump animation in the game was a bit weird to me too. there seemed to be a gliding senstaion when Oni jumped, which was out of place in terms of physics in the game. at least to me personally, since there're some people who don't feel a thing. Oni did not use a camera like Rune, it used similar but totally different. Rune's camera was not obtrusive because, when cornered, the character can be seen through. Bungie said, no, we don't want that. so they went and designed an environment that when Oni was cornering, players can see through the wall and see Oni... lol

prince of persia SoT series was a prime example of platformer games. the smoothness of doing all the gymastic stuff with the prince was amazing. and since it's a platformer first, combat second, there's almost no waste in prince's gymastic talents. however, there's not much room for competitive multiplayer either. the camera for PC was not very consistent. it seemed to me that some of the platformer manuever, like jump over a long break, was predetermined. players cannot control how far, how strong they are going to jump. the level design was quite linear. however, the best thing in terms of any platforming games was the Dahoka chase. although it does suffer some camera inconsistency, it confirms myself that competitive platforming will be an absolute blast. but camera issue will definetly need to be addressed. and how much player's control over some aspect of platformer game mechanics need to be addressed too.

now let's talk about psychonauts. i loved psychonauts. the camera in the game was quite wonderful until the last level, which was terrible for that type of camera... it has an glide mechanics, which add insurance to the success of a jump. however, there's still not much skill involved. at least that's what i remembered. the feeling of physics was great. which helps in many places. it's a bit different from prince of persia. Prince of Persia's level design was very tight, and linear. but Psychonuats' level design was open and not as linear.

all the games mentioned above, their designers created their platform engine according to their needs, except for Oni, they just created for fun mostly, i felt... now, i haven't tried assassin's creed or mirror's edge. personally, i am interested in mirror's edge right now. because i am wondering what kind competitive platforming do they have? i always felt that with camera placed above my character's back would be impossible to do anything like PoP. However, now i see that i should brainstorm for the new stuff rather than just thinking about PoP. my idea of competitive platforming was from 2D platforming. i remembered that for some jumps, you really need skill to perform in rockman and metroid series. for example, some people could wall jump to the places i could not and the time run trials...etc.

to sum up from what i really said above and questions for further thinking:

1. i would like a game character do all the stuff like Oni with new tricks as well.
2. i would like a game designed around those tricks Oni had plus new tricks too.
   
3. the camera is mighty important, i would love to have as many options for it as possible.
   
4. how much should be controlled by the designers in terms of platofrm manueverablity?
5. should competitive platforming be designed in an open environment or all following a linear path?
   
6. what modes should be in the competitive platforming? what's the reward? and what should be considered skills in such competition?
   

writing these down is helping me to relieve some tensions, so i won't feel cramped in my head. i don't look forward to make anything...since i am not interested in programming at all... so the chance for materialize anything from this article was zero.... lol

Tp action game brainstorming

i love third person action games. to me, good action games should always have two satisfying game mechanics, one is melee combat, the other one is platformer. i think every gamer would always dreamed what his dream game would be. I am no exceptions.

i love Prince of Persia SOT series, Oni, Blade of Darkness Severance, bushido blade series, and Psychonauts. so i keep thinking how to combine all of the great elements in those games. I know i need to try to convince other people so i could start my project. (that is...in my dreams...) because doing a third person action game focused primariy on melee combat is a dangerous thing. Oni and Bod Severance were two prime example of it. The market share for this type of games is very limited. it seemed that only the hardcore of the hardcore would be willing to invest time and energy to play through a game, in which the only meaningful gameplay was one repetitive melee combat after another. However, i know there're people who'd die to play this kind games. so what i'd propose to solve the profit problem for this kind game is to integrate melee combat and platformer together. but instead focusing on single player mode, we focusing on multiplayer mode. I mean, console fighting games went online, sports game like madden went online, racing games went online. why not creating a engine to integrate both platformer and melee combat online?

what i have in mind is a very hardcore melee combat mechanics. it is a combination of weapon and hand to hand, or weapon against empty handed combat system. it should be much more detailed and realistic in both departments than in Oni, or BoD Severance. in addition, by adding platformer, i hope to open a numerous modes of online plays, with some integrated with the combat engine. which could include time trials, 2 to 8 people racing, or mario cart style of platforemer racing...etc. i wish to hone the online multipayler to the perfection, but let the players, or modders using both melee engine and platformer engine to create their own stories. The game will be released with simplest game structure, something like Mount and Blades, with level design tools. and for the add-ons, it's not just new single players campaign, or story, it may not even have that. there would be new stuffs modders and gamers could utilize to create their levels, new skins, new movements, new formations for armies, maybe to improve upon the dialogue systems, and many other things. by publishing adds on, it's a service to a huge community. but also a chance to expand our multiplayer experience.

but of course, it's just never to happen ideas...:p

thinking of you

thinking of you.
illusion
for comfort.
but no more
than
illusion itself
think of you
like tomorrow
big smile flow through
the door
yellow
like old comfort picture
burn
yet desire for you to be
here
imagination with wild
amazement
bloom
to spring
hop and hop
and yes
till i drop

boring trends in third Person Action game

i love third person action games. but i feel unease about the current trends of designing philosophy behind this genre.

The first game i bought was king's quest mask of eternity. It's a blend of adventure, RPG, and action genre. i was hooked since then. I played Oni, MDK, Rune, Heavy metal FAKK2, Blade of Darkness Severance, Max Payne series, Devil may cry, bushido blade series, Tenchu series, Outcast, Prince of Persia SOT series, Zelda Wind Waker, psychonauts, and many many more. I found each one of them was an exciting piece of work. i was very excited to look forward for new games to come. But i was disappointed gradually. Very disappointed nowadays even.

the reason for this is because, most of the TP action games went to one of the two directions, shooting or quicktime event. I loved melee and platform in TP action games. I don't hate shooting if designed well, like MDK. most of the TP games now revolved around shooting, not melee. it is degrading in my opinion. because 8 years ago, fighting in TP game was much more diverse and awesome. Oni and Blade of Darkness Severance were the prime example of melee combat excellent games. There are other hardcores would even point to Die by the Sword as a reference.

i'd like to venture a guess for why shooting is extremely popular among the game designers. It's a very easy mechanics to design compared to melee combat. there's not so much collision detection to sweat over. There's not as much animation to grudge about. although today's standard of shooting in games were already raised much higher than MDK. It seemed to me, the whole process still just came down to Person A shoot Person B, Person B react animation to where bullets supposed to register, animations of being shot was then activated. i don't see the need for collision detection. Even it does need to have Collision Detection, the amount of it was largely reduced compared to the real melee combat. And you even need to consider, what happend if the melee combat has multiple enemies. Collision Detection would be hell. animation would be a torture.

The quicktime event... le sigh. it must be one of the worst invention in video game history. From God of War's big battle to Resident Evil 4's wagging to escape situation. To me, the invention is invented to relieve game developers' brain cells. Of course, there's consideration for the gamers as well. But rather than saying it's for the gamers, Market share should be a bigger blame for it. As the video game emerging to become a huge profitable industry. the goal for any coporation is to increase profit. So, nintendo invented the wii, and other game companies, including Sony, microsoft, invented quicktime event to lure more people to gaming. no, nintendo invented Wii alright, others just recycled old stuff and mass produced it. what's quicktime event? as a player, you just randomly pressed buttoms according the queue on the TV screen. What's easier than this? It's also easier for the developers to pull off some dramatic and awesome looking sequences without messing with the control. However, games with quicktime events do not feel like playing anymore. because as players, they are not doing the action on the monitor which translated to mean that players are not playing in my opinion. They are merely like a well trained dog responding to the bell, which reminded them of lunches.

Talking about melee, which made me so sad. when we looked back 10 years ago. everybody is experimenting with their own ideas. from those years, Oni was born, BoD Severance and Rune were born. Heavy Metal FAKK2 was there. Bushido Blade series was out. even crazy as die by the sword attracted die hard fans everywhere. The combat, with hand or with weapon was getting more and more detailed. Some of the game, like Oni, bushido blade, and Blade of Darkness Severance were almost as good as any real fighting games on the market; even had a lot more potention in creating an exciting story line than any of the fighting games on the market. but they withered and died... now, we de-evolutioned into arcadish action games, like ninja gaiden, devil may cry, and god of war. i don't hate those games. i played two out of three from the list. but it's so different from Oni, blade of darkness, or bushido blade. even when the blood was flying like a raging volcanoe in ninja gaiden, i felt detached. i didnt feel empowered or involved when god of war groweled like female cat in Spring time. i cant' even mention about the quicktime event in god of war, it made no sense at all. it's a very sad decade when most of the game developers are trying to make movies rather than games. using quicktime as a device, i felt it's game designers who are playing gamers rather than gamers playing the game the designers made.

as a side note, i am more a pc gamer than console. i felt in this degrading trend for melee combat console was a huge factor. It is very sad and extremely annoying. But there's always a light shine through darkness. For me, it's the arrive of the Mount and Blades. I could almost felt through my hand when my opponent blocked my weapons! it's incredible!

random

i read a book about the big predators of the world, their roles in the ecologic realm, their present status in recent years, and the impact of their declination from nature. i read another book with the same attitude a while back, the monsters of god. it's an interesting topic. i wish to know about it more.

+++++++++++++++

i am not in a good state of mind lately. i could do something alright. but more and more annoyed i became. wished for a tender encounter. but of course, i hated that feeling. not really deserving it in any possible way. comparing with my mom, she's the one that need the utmost comfort. Not me. wished to take her up high, honor her. but the more i think i could not. cursing myself would at the same time cursed her. but how much i hate, despise, resent, look down upon myself. it's absolutely terrifying. now talking about it riled me up with hatred and evil intent. no, not really... that's another sad and funny part, i am too tired to do anything.

+++++++++++++++

i made a dumpling the second time last Sunday. i finally made a successful fillings this time. when i say successful, i meant there's a soup came out after you cooked the dumplings. i was quite happy. i am not really sure about the reason of the success though. my guess is that compared to the first time i made two weeks ago, the veggie-meat proportion of the fillings a lot more veggie this time around. yet, the fillings did not feel less meaty than two weeks ago. this is an interesting notion.

+++++++++++++++

Quino's comics

When i was young, my mom brought me many books. For books was and still is the symbol of knowledge, knowledge of all kinds. She even brought me many picture books like comic strips from Tsai Chi Chung(蔡志忠). Few of them survived the journey when we moved to USA. When I got older, I became very fond of a series among those remaining picture books. It's called Mafalda. The author was an Argentina man, Quino is his pen name. Mafalda series was translated by San Mao(三毛). I was so fond of Mafalda, I searched internet for other things created by Quino. The result was a spectacular discovery! There are very few words in Quino's works, even less coversations, especially for the work outside of Mafalda. However, every picture brought something surprising and delightful view of the world. Quino wrote a lot of things with his pictures. Sometimes, it's about politics, sometimes, it's about humanity. No matte which subject, Quino found so many amusing ways to hone his ideas into his pcitures. I shall not describe them with the stupitidy of my pen. Here're a few of them to showcase Quino's great comics.

馬說

東郭之兒 , 生而未嘗逢馬 , 意其四足而甚大者皆牛也 . 他日 , 適市而逢馬焉 , 驚而呼曰: "是牛 , 何以是斑斑也 ?" 其聞者笑之 . 語諸市人 , 而市人笑之 . 東郭之兒自失焉 , 歸而語諸長者 , 則馬也 . 以是不語者三日 .

東郭之先生 , 聞而過之曰: "孺子亦有所失乎?" 曰: "非也 . 吾常以馬為牛 , 既知其為馬矣 , 吾慚而未言 , 將無以見市人也 ." 先生曰: "噫 . 馬信為馬也 , 孺子以為牛 , 孺子之過也 . 市人乃能笑孺子者 , 是以馬云也 . 苟不以馬而以他使是非 , 幾不能不以牛為馬 , 其於孺子有間乎 ? 孺子殆未之學耳 , 市人故不足慚也 ."

-------------廣陵先生文集


"苟不以馬而以他使是非 , 幾不能不以牛為馬 , 其於孺子有間乎 ?" 這一句話有點不懂...

胡志忠

處州小將胡志忠奉吏之越 , 夜夢一物 , 犬首人質 , 告忠曰: "某不食歲餘 , 聞公有會稽之役 , 必當止吾館矣 . 能減所食見沾乎 ?" 忠夢中不諾 . 明早遂行 , 夜止山館 , 館吏曰: "此聽常有妖物 , 或能為祟 , 不待寢食 , 請止東序 ." 忠曰: "吾正直可以禦鬼怪 , 勇力可以排奸邪 , 何妖物之有 ?" 促令進膳 .

方下箸次, 有異物 , 其狀甚偉 , 當盤而立 . 侍者懾退 , 不敢旁顧 . 志忠撤炙 , 乃起而擊之 . 異物連有傷痛之聲 , 聲如犬 , 語甚分明 , 曰: "請止 , 請止 , 若不止 , 未知誰死 ." 忠遠臂愈急 . 異物又急呼曰: "斑兒何在 ?" 續有一物自屏外來 , 閃然而進 . 忠又擊之 , 然冠隳帶解 , 力若不勝 . 僕夫無計能救 , 乃以慧撲 . 羅曳入於東閣 . 顛仆之聲 , 如壞牆然 . 未久 , 志忠冠帶儼然而出 . 復就盤命膳 , 卒無一言 , 惟顧其閣, 時時咨嗟而已. 明旦將行 , 封署其門 , 囑管吏曰: "俟吾回駕而後啟之 , 爾若潛開 , 禍必及爾 ." 言訖遂行.

旬余 , 乃還止其館 , 索筆硯 , 泣題其戶曰: "恃勇禍必嬰 , 恃強勢必傾 , 胡為萬金子 , 而與惡物爭 , 休將逃魄趨府庭 , 止於此館歸冥冥 ." 題訖 , 以筆擲地而失所在 , 執筆者甚怖 , 覺微風觸面而散 . 吏具狀申刺吏 , 乃遣吏啟其戶 , 而志忠與斑黑二犬 , 俱仆於西北隅矣 ."



------------出自薛用弱集異記(太平廣記)

無題

當我思念的人在遠方,
我的思緒就像安祥的曲調,
悠揚而漫長.

當我思念的人就在身畔,
我的情緒又變成了,
節奏輕快的小調,
跳躍而喜悅.

---------------------------------

第一次見到你, 我的心在跳.
知道你我同一班, 我的心情雀躍.
每天見你一面, 我的眼神都閃耀.
別人叫我行動, 我說不要.
其實,
當你在我身邊, 我真想大叫.

--------------------------------

你從來沒有承諾什麼,
卻做的比別人都多.
風不說什麼,
卻吹過春夏秋冬.
太陽刺眼,
卻情深不悔的,
照遍大江南北.
拿他們比你又有所不如,
因為,
對你的思念,
日月,
風雨,
卻從不改變.

----------------------------------------------

真奇怪, 拿回憶來磨, 回憶不曾減少, 消磨的卻是我.

----------------------------------------------

女孩, 我不常見到你,
我會想念你.

女孩, 當我見到你,
我卻不曾高興.
我心中只擔心你對我有,
一丁點兒的冷淡.
當我見到你,
我卻未曾歡喜.
我心中只害怕你在我心中將留下你,
臨走前的遺憾.

女孩, 我不常見到你,
我有時真的想念你.

------------------------------------------

我的愛人, 在遙遠的地方.
等待, 等待那天的到來.
我要整裝待發, 我要去尋找他.
那久遠失去的愛.

------------------------------------------

你們的出現
好像
我身旁的薄霧
並不使我
看不見
只讓我
縮短視線

------------------------------------------



寫下自己的東西, 念一念. 哇, 原來都那麼爛...

也許

"也許"

也許你真是太累,
也許你要睡一睡.
那麼叫夜鷹不要咳嗽,
蛙不要嚎, 蝙蝠不要飛.
不許陽光撥你的眼簾,
不許清風刷你的眉,
無論誰都不能驚醒你,
撐一傘蔭松庇護你睡.
也許你聽這蚯蚓翻泥,
聽這小草的根鬚吸水.
也許你聽這般的音樂,
比那咒罵的人聲更美.
那麼你先把眼皮閉緊,
我就讓你睡, 我讓你睡,
我把黃土輕輕蓋著你,
我叫紙錢兒緩緩的飛.

聞一多寫於喪女之痛.

宓子論過

賓有見人於宓子者. 賓出, 宓子曰:

"子之賓獨有三過: 望我而笑 , 是攓也 ; 談言而不稱師 , 是反也 ; 交淺而言深, 是亂也 . "

賓曰:

"望君而笑 , 是公也 ; 談語而不稱師 , 是通也 ; 交淺而言深 , 是忠也 . "

故賓之容 , 一體也 ; 或以為君子 , 或以為小人 , 所自視之異也 .


---------- 錄自淮南子齊俗訓

這篇的全部意義我不能說全懂. 我只能稍微猜猜其中的意思. 大意應該是兩個人對同一件事有兩種看法. 甚至是完全想反的看法. 而之所以會產生如此不同的看法是因為,

"...所自視之異也."

上句或許是說, 兩人角度地位身分對這一件事情的關係是不相同的. 很可惜我現在有問題, 不知道可以去問誰...

但是不管如何, 這個故事實在是有趣極了! 往往從類似小故事裡, 更可以感到古人離我們近一點! 因為這些小故事裡, 他們也有同樣的遭遇! 他們甚至產生和現代人類似的看法! 這些故事都是寶貝啊!

魯監門之女嬰

魯監門之女嬰相從績, 中夜而泣涕. 其偶曰: "何謂而泣也?" 嬰曰: "吾聞衛世子不肖, 所以泣也." 其偶曰: "衛世子不肖, 諸侯之憂也, 子曷為泣也?" 嬰曰: "吾聞之, 異乎子之言也. 昔者, 宋之桓司得罪於宋君, 出奔於魯, 其馬佚而輾吾園, 而食吾園之葵. 是歲, 吾聞園人亡利之半. 越王句踐起兵而攻吳, 諸侯畏其威, 魯往獻女, 吾姊與焉. 兄往視, 道畏而死. 越兵威者, 吳也; 兄死者, 我也. 由是觀之, 禍與福相及也. 今衛世子甚不肖, 好兵, 吾男弟三人, 能無憂乎?"

-------錄自韓詩外傳, 卷二, 第三章

給我媽和我妹看了, 他們都說這有啥意思. 我妹說, 他好像是在拿蘋果和橘子比... 我倒是覺得這篇小故事很有意思. 一個國家的動亂往往波及鄰近的國家, 即使是現在, 也仍然如此. 可能更嚴重! 譬如說, 賓拉登在阿富汗活動的結果是, 海珊被殺掉, 伊拉克, 阿富汗, 還有巴基斯坦大動亂... 或者, 中國赤化, 結果, 韓戰, 越戰, 然後是南北韓對立, 大陸台灣分化, 直到現在.

法拉第向瑟拉求婚

法拉第給瑟拉的信大意如下:

今天任何其他的事都不能做, 給你寫了一天的信. 由白天寫到深夜, 現在又由白天寫到快天亮了. 地板上遍是寫不成文的信稿所柔成的紙團. 現在我累極了. 當我默想你的同時, 好像機油, 氯氣, 鋼球, 水銀, 好幾十種東西在我腦裡亂轉. 這種不可收拾的局面, 我再也支持不下去了. 這樣辦吧: 你如果肯嫁給我呢, 我們就結婚; 不然, 就算了.

------錄自陳之藩的書 "一星如月"

嘻嘻, 自然不做作.

Lawrence of Arabia

I watched Lawrence of Arabia last night. I've been wanting to watch this for a long time. I rented from library once. The DVD disc was not watchable at the time. I had a conversation with one of my uncle's friends about movies she watched in Taiwan last week. She mentioned that her favorite movie was Lawrence of Arabia. Thus, I decided to rent from the Library again. The disc worked this time, and I was a happy man!

This movie was really long, it's three hours and more. After the movie I was so exhausted. This was however, a good sign. I can not believe a movie made in 1962 could have such a grand scale! This movie could be called truly an Epic! The whole thing was done in Arabic Desert near Jordan. The director, trying to give audience a feeling of desert, shot many scenes from afar. The distinct comparison of men riding camels and the landscape was magnificent. Director David Lean did not just show the depth of desert by putting landscape and men riding camels side by side. He was not afraid to extended movie length by shooting riders from afar closing in through a prolonged period of time. That was amazing to me. One of reasons the western genre was dying today was because some stupid people complaining that the riding a horse was much slower than driving a car! And yet, I've never seen any western movie dare to do what David Lean did here!

It's a biography movie about T. E. Lawrence. He served in English army as an intelligent officer who successfully led Arabic tribes rose up to fight the Turks, the Ottoman Empire during the WWI. The scripts of the movie was incredibly delicate in many places. In the tent scene when Lawrence first met Prince Faisal, for example. The conversation between the two clearly revealed the situation, and more importantly, it showed off both characters to the audience. It seemed easy, yet, the simple thing usually was very hard to do. Many of the Characters were amazingly acted out by incredible actors. I specifically loved Prince Faisal, Ali, and Abu. And when I found out that two of the three were not Arabics, I was even more amazed.

I find it's interesting that I'd compare this one with Riddley Scott's Kingdom of Heaven. Because I liked the supporting cast a lot more than the protagonist. I felt both center character was murky, however, Lawrence had much much more depth than Balian. Lawrence was tormented throughout the movie. He was a sad man with a cause. A cause that's much bigger than himself. Although he became a war heroe, the scar of the war on him was clearly shown at the end of the movie. It was to me a very sad story.

問題集

余至武昌火藥局, 看造火藥之法. 以銅為輪, 以鐵為輾; 圜地為大磨盤, 以牛輾之, 盤大徑二丈三尺, 周圍七丈許. 每盤用四牛, 每牛速曳兩輪. 盤外周圍溝漕, 約寬八寸許. 火藥在槽內, 牛行槽外. 馭牛之人行槽內, 每牛以一人馭之; 每兩牛四輪之後, 則有鏟藥者一人, 隨之執銅鏟, 於槽內鏟動; 庶輾過之後, 火藥不患大緊也. 又有小磨盤, 磨礦與磨麥相似, 僅用一人. 又有櫃, 篩礦, 篩炭, 其法絕精, 非圖不能說明.


-----摘自 曾國藩名言類鈔傳記治軍篇章

我的問題:

1. 武昌火藥局是那來的? 誰出錢建? 誰設計? 啥時建? 之後的經歷是怎樣了? 在民國時又怎樣了?

2. 清朝時的度量衡是怎樣的? 以現在的尺度來計算是多少?

3. 那時的火藥成分是啥? 這想必是西方來的配方, 和鴉片戰爭之前中國用的火藥有啥不同之處?

4. 裡面有很多東西都不確定是啥. 裡面也有看不大懂得句子. 例如: "....火藥不患大緊也." 這到底是啥意思? 是說這些步驟後, 火藥突然爆炸的機會就不大了?

5. 這裡面更重要的是這個火藥局裡, 中國人佔了多少? 第一批小留學生有貢獻嗎? 中國人在這時候和外國的交流和鴉片戰爭有多大的不同? 這樣一個火藥局, 對於民間的鐵匠, 術士有任何的啟發嗎? 我想說的是, 有這樣一棟建築物, 那時中國的學者, 工匠, 留學生之間有任何交流嗎?

The games I am looking forward to the most now

I've been playing Video Games since 2001. I've always played the old games, which were always 3 years old at least. My first game was Fifa football 1997. I bought from EB in a local mall near Umass Amherst. Since then, i played many games. There are so many games coming out every year, and every year, there're only a handful that really interested me. There are even fewer that i'd felt a rush to buy them. Here's a list of games that I want to play them very badly.

Mount and Blade, it's an indie game created by a team of a husband and a wife from Turkey. I tried the demo a few times 3, 4 years ago. I could not get into it for the animation was very stiff, and i couldn't bear it. I've tried the new version of the demo last year and this year. Although the animations were still stiff, i insisted myself to get into the game and it's totally worth the effort! There're still mechanics i could not execute perfectly, but it still game me an incredible experience! The combat although awkward at the beginning, it grew on me! And the mounted fight was the best out there! There's no comparison with this game on the mounted combat! It gave me a feeling of total control! They used the map style similar Zelda game, but with a 3D graphic and real time day/night cycle. I can't wait to put my hands on the game. When I heard that Paradox Interactive got the right to publish the game, i was so happy. And now, it's finally on the market, all I need to do now is to update my computer... lol

Assassin's Creed, it's a revolutionary platformer action game from Ubisoft's Montreal studio. The studio claimed that anything stick out of ground taller than 1 inch will be interactable. From what I read, I think this promises was kept quite well. Somebody mentioned that the combat was too dull, and the missions structure was way too simple. But i am looking forward to this game for it's platformer gameplays. I know this will be an amazing experience that was never presented in any games in the past. I can't wait to play this game. Now, i only need to find a way to upgrade my computer... lol

Empire Total War, it's a tactical/strategy game. I played this series from the beginning. From shogun to medieval total war. I played Rome total war and Medieval 2 Total war very briefly. Because I don't have the rig to play RTW and M2TW... And now the latest installment is coming out next year... I missed online play so much... Fighting a battle with up to 7 other players was an experience that i shall never forget! I remember playing Naploean mod for VI with other players. We could play one battle for 1 hour and more sometimes! We organized, we talked about strategy, talking about which hill we wanted, which hill the other side might take advantage of. Then when the game started, we patiently marched our troops, line them up, and shoot. Along the way, both sides taunted each other, both sides watched each other's move intently. Constant communication, help each other out, if we finally had a breakthrough, we press out advantage home. If somehow we got a hole in the line, we tried to filled it up with more men. Those were incredible experiences that I could not share with anyone who did not play video game, mainly my mom, my sister, basically anybody around me. This time, Empire Total War bring Napolean era into 3D world along with sea warfare. I don't care about the graphic at all. It is the sensation that fighting along with other players thrills me. I cannot describe to you how much, just how much I want to fight those battles online! However, I seriously doubted the development team could really pull it out smoothly, to guarantee a lag free online play that is... Of course, I'd first need to acquire an adequate computer first... lol

Sins of a Solar Empire, it's a real time 4x strategy/tactic game. I never liked any games that related to space much. But this one is a must. This is another revolutionary game! Before this game, 4x strategy games were always term based, as far as I know. However, this game came and changed that with a zoom out/in mechanics. And the studio even added real time tactics, something similar to Homeworld! This is amazing. They even have multiplayer in real time! I can't wait to put my hands on this game. Now, only if I have a good computer... lol

These are the games I really want to play right now. I am writing this, and if anybody was reading it, he could see...I am not able to play those games. Because my computer was way outdated. But I still want to write things down, just to remind myself that: I do want something, even though it's trivial, it's not necessity. I hope writing these things down somehow served as an incentive to push myself out there to find a job. They alone might not be enough, but they could be one of the many pieces of dry wood...

weeds weeds in my yard

When my family moved to the current residence, there're a lot of things i don't know around our lot, weeds were one of them. i was and am still quite fascinated with these persistent and proud plants. There's a time when i tried to get rid of them. But i was lazy and not as persistent as the the little fellas, i failed. During which time, i read through variety of books about grasses, backyard plants, and some horticultural books. I came across a book by Sara B. Stein called: Noah's Garden. It was a book about author's experience in transforming her backyard into something that could make more ecological sense. To put into another words, she wanted to plant more native plants and make her garden more appealing to the native animals. Wow, it seems like i lack the ability to summarize her book in one simple sentence... Anyway, i was thrilled by this book. because in a way, the arthur made the term Ecology closer to me than ever. Every suburban family has the ability to have a touch on the nature. Most of them could create a sustainable habitat for wildlife. The backyard could not only be the habitat for squirrels and chipmonks. There could also be frogs, mouse, bugs, all kinds of birds and many other living creatures. Of course, it seemed at the time that i could do less work on the yard was a huge plus as well! Upon reading it, i really wanted to dig in. There're loads and loads of things to learn! But it's not that easy at all! I needed to first learn to identify plants on my lot. I've already fascinated by them already. So i thought to myself, it should be easy enough. However, years passed, i did very little. It's a shame, the only thing i did was doing as little as possible on my yard and let those little fellas boom. No matter what I tried to do, I always slowed down after the initial effort.

Through a coicidence, I met my sister's friend's sister. With her help and my mom's lead, I started to grow some flowers, scallions, and chimes this year. Most of them are growing well. It is quite an experience. Because i haven't been this persistent for a while now. During this year, i've also identified some wild plants that growing in my backyard. So here is the list of them along with some pictures i found online.

This is Red Sorrel. Some also called it Sheep Sorrel. The leaves tasted quite sour but not too bad. I read some even eats it as salads. However, it could only be used sparingly. It is also very bad for people who have Kidney problems, like Kidney stone...
On the right is Red Sorrel's flower. But sometimes it's not this red though...

This is Buckhorn Plantain. This plant is all over my lawn. It has incredible lawn mawing resistence. it does not look beautiful at all. However, the bumble bees really like it.

This is Clover. It was common in EuroAsia.

This is GoldenRod. There's only one in my backyard. This plant can grow taller than me. Its golden flower can attract many bugs and bees. I read that in the old time, people always assume Goldenrod as the culprit for Autumn allergy. But the truth is, it's not. The real culprit is Ragweed. Goldenrod got the blame because its yellow flower bloomed as the same season as Ragweed.

And voila, Here is the Ragweed. It was named for its leaves. I think there's only one of this in my backyard. However, i might misidentified it since there're quite a few other species i got confused with, eg., pigweed, giant ragweed...etc.

This is Horseweed. This plant is amazing. Because i saw him everywhere! I saw him in New England, and i saw him in San Diego, CA, the last time i visited there. The only difference between the two is that leaves of the plant is usually fully opened up at NE, but many of it was not fully opened up in San Diengo, CA. My guess is they need to get as much sun as possible in NE. But they don't need to do that in California, there's just too much sun.

This is milkweed. It is an interesting plant. Because there're some bugs that use this plant as their sole food source. Oh, and its flower is very pretty. But the ones in my backyard somehow don't flower at all. I don't understand the reason either... need...to...find...out...why....

This is Pokeweed. It bears many fruits. I had one grow into pretty large size in my backyard at one time. I saw many birds resting in the plant and eating the fruits from it once. I ate a few before, but it did not taste good. I read that the fruits are actually slightly poisonous.

This is Rabbit Foot Clover. It prbably got its name from flower, which is furry.







This is Yellow Woody Sorrel. I am not sure if it's related to the red sorrel. I might one day looked it up. :p i got quite a few of this on my backyard. I remember it tasted sour as well, but i am not 100% sure.

吳宇森的.....赤壁前傳初步心得感想

我看了吳宇森導演的赤壁前傳. 這是舅媽家朋友鄭小萍阿姨兒子的. 首先, 我想說, 我覺得所有大陸近年來的大片都實在很差. 對這部也一開始就不存著希望. 這些大片通常都有著同樣的問題, 那就是: 對白生硬, 故事空洞, 角色貧乏. 很難過的是, 這部赤壁繼承所有上述的缺點. 還要加上其他的...

先說好的地方. 這部戲裡說明了一件事. 那就是香港的導演和武術指導加起來的確是有兩把刷子! 拿這部戲和英雄, 天地英雄, 黃金甲, 和夜宴相比, 赤壁的動作鏡頭乾淨俐落, 看起來非常爽快. 關公一出來就氣勢不凡, 之後所顯露出來的身手更是帥氣. 雖然張飛在八卦陣裏的美式橄欖球非常怪異, 但是他的笑料和他所顯出的特效卻是驚人的. 中村師童的 "甘興" 也非常的棒, 不論是他的身段還是造型都顯出其他人所沒有悍氣. 趙雲的勁力和霸氣也很令人開心. 總之, 這部戲的動作沒有讓我失望, 特效把這些人的力與美漂亮展示出來. 這是吳大導演令我心服口服的地方. 比之其他大片的跳舞, 我看的很高興.
再來, 我得提提音樂. 這部戲的音樂很獨特. 有很多大鼓! 我覺得非常棒! 裡面有的地方很像日本音樂, 後來戲結束候我才恍然大悟. 原來音樂製作人是個日本人! 要是有這部電影的原聲帶, 我很希望去買來聽聽! 那大鼓在關鍵時刻往往帶動我心的跳動! 非常值得一聽!
整部戲裡, 我最喜歡的地方是孫權被周瑜勸去打獵的那一段. 三國演義裡沒有這個, 演義裡周瑜從柴桑口回來在孫權的議事廳裡大發口才, 因而堅定了孫權決心一戰的意志! 但是咱們的吳大導演決定不要老套. 事實證明他那一套大有味道! 這一段裡, 吳導利用孫權和猛虎之間的決鬥讓觀眾看到他個人內心的奮鬥. 這是非常俐落而且清楚的處理方法. 吳大導演, 我低估你啦...

現在我要來抱怨了. 首先要瞭解一點, 那就是我並不希望故事和人物要和演義的一樣. 我希望的是導演要有自己的聲音. 這個故事是家喻戶曉. 作為一個導演要詮釋這樣的一個故事, 必須要有他獨到的眼光. 在我的認為裏, 這個導演必須有話要說. 吳宇森想說啥呢? 我還看不出來, 說不定要等第二集我才會看到.
首先我要抱怨, 中國人不會拍古代的戰爭場面. 這已經不是第一次我這樣抱怨了. 投名狀是最近我看到還算可以的了, 但是還是很不夠好. 而這一部更是讓我失望破了家. 在我感覺上赤壁在戰場上用了大量的電腦特效, 這或許不是壞事, 但是他卻拍不出場面的壯烈. 這場面的壯烈並不是看到很多兵士被圍毆, 被圍著用槍戳就是壯烈. 要看壯烈場面, 去看看 Riddley Scott 導演拍的 gladiator, 或著是 Mel Gibbson 先生拍的 braveheart. 我不是學電影的, 但是我知道, 我看的很沒興致. 再開頭的時候, 張飛要擋曹操, 他排出來的陣勢好像還是個樣子. 結果一到要接觸的時候, 就變成濫打. 士兵也不在排隊了. 他竟然叫士兵一排一排上去打, 而不是幾排一起上前去作戰! 周瑜練的雁行陣竟然是叫士兵排成雁子翅膀的樣子?! 之後的八卦陣一開始好像是個樣子, 但是之後根本就不合理, 因為在那個情況之下, 根本就不會有人活下來, 又哪需要那些猛將出場呢? 當然, 這裡的戰爭大概是想要讓觀眾們看看孔明的奇陣妙計. 像是用陽光反射來讓衝過來的騎兵見光死. 但是這些東西實在讓我看的不過癮之至! 基本上我的認為是, 中國人(台灣大陸加香港)對於古代的陣戰是完全不了解. 這是很可惜的, 因為真的陣戰要比那些自以為是奇的陣戰要更實在, 而更能從感管上帶動情緒的起伏. 以上是我的見解. 還有, 他所謂的奇陣, 我通通都看過, 用陽光反射, 我在蘇菲亞羅蘭的Don Quiote 裡看過. 那個曹軍在八掛陣裡用以自保的盾牌陣, 我也在 Troy 裡看過. 這些所謂的奇陣, 實在一點都不奇. 只是陳腔濫調...

再來就是笑點的安排. 中國人(台灣香港大陸)的電影裡很多都有笑點, 很多嚴肅的電影裡也少不了一點兩點. 我以前非常喜歡的港片裡幾乎都有類似的安排. 我依然很喜歡, 我的印象裡最記得成龍在警察故事裡接電話的那一段. 看起來既驚佩又好笑! 而赤壁, 在吳大導演的手裡, 卻因為笑點的安排而使的這個本來是歷史大劇的影片變成了周星馳式的歷史搞笑片... 從孔明對張飛說他去找千員援兵後, 結果來了 "一個" 關公. 再來是使者對著周瑜說, 不好啦, 不好啦... 慌張的神情, 警急的語氣, 把周瑜帶到後面去, 結果, 竟然是一隻馬難產?! 到最後張飛在八卦陣裡手裡空空的猛往曹兵裡殺去, 用美式橄欖球的英姿衝斷一切長槍... 如果今天吳大導演是表榜著歷史笑鬧劇, 我一定很開心的欣賞. 但他不是, 這部片子是扯著歷史大片的旗幟上場. 如此的安排是令我心寒. 並不是說有好玩的地方就是不好, 但是這裡的安排, 這樣的數量, 完全搞壞了整部戲的氣份. 或許這是吳大導演想要的氣份, 我只能說, 好險好險, 我沒花錢看這個玩意兒...

我覺得最近這些大片的對白都非常生硬. 赤壁並不能擺脫這個現象. 我實在不能明瞭是為啥. 因為大陸的作家實在做了不少好東西, 我看的大宅門, 霸王別姬, 活著, 黃金甲, 他們的對話都生動活潑. 而且還有一個很奇怪的現象, 這些大片都喜歡用一個字的對白. 好像是想突顯中國人的文字. 這是一件很可怕的錯誤! 因為中國人講話不是那樣, 即使古代也不是! 中國人的文字也不是語言, 即使現在在朝著個方向努力. 這樣的用法將要帶來極度不正常的後果. 這一字對白是對中國文化的偏激認識. 電影裡的人物應該是在講話而不是讀劇本. 一字對白使的電影對白失去一種情緒和聽覺上的完整. 即使不是一字對白的時候, 用語用詞也太短. 太短不見得就不好, 太長的對白拖泥帶水. 但是在赤壁裡, 用詞太短反而顯的超現代...

還有很多其他的問題. 例如偷牛, 織草鞋, 彈琴, 等等, 我想吳大導演一定有他想要在觀眾身上造成的某種影響, 但是我卻只覺得是浪費時間陳腔濫套. 孫尚香是想討好現代女性, 小喬的性愛鏡頭是想釣那些年輕人票源; 只要是導演想要有特殊情況的時候, 他就來段音樂, 一聽就知道, 啊, 導演想要給觀眾一些特殊的情緒啦! 但是, 我幾乎都感覺不到. 以上都讓這部電影從經典好片變成經典笑片. 我在想, 如果這樣, 為啥不叫周新馳來導呢? 他導的話還可以說不定還可以少花點錢, 至少賠的少一點...

讀書心得

中國的章回小說, 像是西遊, 三國, 紅樓, 水滸, 這些大一點的我是都看過了. 不談這些 , 因為談的人太多了. 小的像是儒林外史, 廿年目睹之怪現象, 聊齋, 老殘遊記也瀏覽過幾回. 我在看完儒林外史, 廿年目睹之怪現象, 和老殘遊記, 等書之後, 有一個感想. 那就是, 這些書真是反應古代最好的資料! 我看到往往人家一提到這些書馬上就是 "古代社會的黑暗", 再不然就是 "封建社會的草菅人命", 再來就是那時代的腐朽制度. 我不能否認, 這些書裏是真的不少這些東西. 但是, 自從五四以來, 不斷的從這些書裏提出這些想法, 卻好像幾乎沒人去深入研究這些書裏的其他東西?! 這是一件十分奇怪的事情!

我在國中的時候讀到有關儒林外史的介紹, 裡面就提到范進中舉的故事. 這應該是個很有名的故事. 在講述這篇故事的時候, 應該要讓學生認識到當時的社會背景. 要了解到, 中舉是個怎樣了不起的事情! 而不是光嘲笑范進那又瘋又傻的樣子! 然後攏統的說, 你看, 這就是那時候讀書人的蠢樣?! 而且, 儒林外史裏, 范進只是一個小例子. 這本書裏實際上講了一大堆有學問有品行的人. 都是作者本身十分敬重的人物! 裡面有學問有品行的人也有對實際事情不同的看法而發生爭論. 而這些如果不是我自己耐了心去看了好幾遍, 光看教科書哪裡能看的到呢? 而這本書的價值在我的看來就會完全和現在完全不一樣了! 光以社會黑暗面去看這本書是完全不能正確的了解這一本書的!

今天就寫到這裡...

random thoughts

I am feeling sad. But it's been like this for a while now. Sadness is not the worse part. In fact, the worst part is that scary feeling that somehow mixed up with the sadness. 

 A burst of burning flames, 

simmered right beneath my throat. 

Mind felt empty, but it might just because 

the mirror inside lost its reflecting shine. 

What brings forth the wind, that blowing 

through the front yard? 

T'is a mystery with birds chirping in the dark. 

Grass profiled against the grey background. 

When the sun rises, everything will appear. 

In front of the Eyes.