Archive for January, 2007
Tuesday, January 30th, 2007
Toastmasters speech #2: Improve your digital photographs
Today, I’m going to show you some quick and easy ways to improve the quality of your digital photographs.
Let’s see if this will be a good topic. By the show of hands, how many of you have digital cameras? How many of you use the digital cameras on a regular basis? How [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Life by LW
Friday, January 26th, 2007
Moving sale part 1
I’m actually in the process of selling my house right now. That explains why I haven’t written any long post for couple of weeks.
We found a great agent who’s helping us preparing our house for sale. It will go on the market by mid of February. It’s a very hectic time for [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Life by LW
Wednesday, January 24th, 2007
免费打电话到中国之二
谢谢Charles的提示。
Free Call Planet也提供免费打往中国的电话服务。
我还没试过，不过看起来不错，还可以打中国手机。
No Comments » - Posted in Life by LW
Wednesday, January 17th, 2007
Toastmasters speech #1: the Ice Breaker
This is my first Toastmasters speech. It’s intended to introduce myself to my fellow toastmasters, and get my feet wet.
The title of my speech is: “And the best is yet to come”.
You probably recognized the title of my speech from the famous Sinatra song.
“Out of the tree of life I just picked me a [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Baby, Life by LW
Tuesday, January 16th, 2007
Toastmasters
I’ve been a member of Toastmasters International about a year.
It’s an international organization that helps people improve their public speaking.
I joined Toastmasters back at my old job in order to improve my presentation skills. However, I didn’t feel up to the challenge of actually giving any speeches, although I gave a few table topic [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Life by LW
Sunday, January 7th, 2007
影评- 霍元甲 Movie Review: Fearless
昨晚在家和老婆一起看了李连杰主演的霍元甲。
总体来说这部片子不错,是我们最近看过比较有意思的一部.
我想大家都应该知道霍元甲的故事。他创办精武门，同外国武术家比武，弘扬中国武术，最终被药毒死。我是在小时候看霍元甲电视连续剧知道霍元甲这个人的。
我觉得这部片子的编剧是花了时间的。因为大家都知道故事的结尾，所以故事内容上需要出新才能抓住观众的胃口。此片的出新有几个地方。一个是片头从霍元甲与四国武士打擂开始，然后在打败前三个后倒叙回述他成长的故事。其次是此片花了不少时间在霍元甲杀了秦师傅后隐入乡间这段时间的叙述。还有就是原版电视剧中他的死因是重了慢性毒药，但在本片是急毒攻心。 还有就是它朋友地鼎力的帮助。这几处更改让知道霍元甲故事的观众不会觉得故事太老套。
霍元甲杀了秦师傅后隐入乡间这段有种似曾相识的感觉，好像是中国版的The Last Samurai，有点照抄的嫌疑。
这部片子最吸引我的地方就是它的武打设计。武指袁和平又造出了一些非常引人入胜的武打场面。其中与秦师傅在餐馆里对大场面最华丽也最紧张。与俄国大力士打的那段最搞笑。
配乐和场景也是一流。我尤其喜欢在比武时的鼓点。片子剪辑与视觉效果都很好，基本上没有冷场，只是觉得对精武体操会的具体描述少了一点。
我觉得李连杰的演技还是有可以改进之处。总觉他的面部表情和肢体语言有些夸张以及缺乏层次。希望他在能多拍几部武打片。文艺片么就算了，比他好的性格演员太多了。
导演于仁泰驾轻就熟，片子速度的安排和总体质量是有目共睹。
有人说本片是一个政治寓言，我倒是没看出来。只是觉得霍元甲做人的成功在于他能警醒自己，在这个大变革的时代能够适应潮流，改变武术门派之间的人为划分，以及更积极地与外界沟通（以武会友）的态度。他的成功是在时代有需要（强民救国）及他自己的能力之间的完美交叉。
希望新的一年会有更多象霍元甲这样的好片上映。
分数：８。５分（１０分满分）
下面是老婆的分析：这个片子前面部分象《埃及王子》，中间部分象The Last Samurai，后面部分象Ｇｌａｄｉａｔｏｒ， 总是有让人似曾相识的感觉。不过武打设计非常精彩，还是袁和平厉害啊！我希望看到更多这样的好片。
No Comments » - Posted in In Chinese, Reviews by LW
Thursday, January 4th, 2007
Chocolate
I was never into Chocolate.
For some unknown reason, I just never enjoyed chocolate. It was not an essential food for me, and I can say with certainty that I haven’t had anything chocolate related in at least couple of years.
Then it changed.
I read a fascinating article about a week ago on the Dallas Food [...]
2 Comments » - Posted in Life by LW
Thursday, January 4th, 2007
Looking back at 2006
It’s the beginning of a new year again.
I think you’ll agree that the beginning of a new year is a good time for reflection and planning.
By planning, I don’t mean new year resolutions. We all know how those fare. I meant creating yearly plans that aligns with your long term plan and execute [...]
