promoted!

Yay! Finally!



Diamond league!! In Starcraft 2 diamond league is the top league in the game.. and i finally hit it -_-
A few reasons, such as starting in silver and climbing my way up (i started playing when i bought the game, i didn't practise in custom game AT ALL. yes, so my newbie losses made me silver) which is WAAAY harder than like say, landing in gold/plat after your placement matches

Also, I wasn't playign that much because of midterms, so I was stuck at Platinum for quite awhile.

Then today.. I played one game.. won.. AND PROMOTED. YESAASAASD

Ok time to climb the diamond ladder soon.

The TIme Snowball Effect

Most of us are familiar with the 'Butterfly Effect', which is in essence a snowball effect of a seemingly insignificant and small event leading to a much greater and monumental effect. What I have been thinking about is a kind of butterfly effect, which I shall term 'Time Snowball effect' (can't think of a fitting enough term.. still thinking of it!)

Let's go through a simple thought experiment to demonstrate what I mean.

1) You wake up in the morning, you push off your bedsheets, and head to the bathroom.
2) You wash your face and then reach for your toothbrush. It drops to the floor and you let out a swearword as you bend to pick it up.
3) After washing up, you get dressed, and leave the house.
4) You wait at the lift lobby for your lift, and eventually it comes and bring you down.
5) You walk to the bus stop and take your usual bus to school.
6) At a traffic junction, your bus stops as you stare out of the window.
7) You reach school and you head to class. However, you bump into a guy and he makes you drop all your notes
8) After gathering your things, you check your watch - and you straighten up in alarm. You are late! You start running to class.

Now, if I were to pose this question:
Q: Why were you late for class?

Did you realise that a possible answer for this is that - because you dropped your toothbrush in the morning?

The chain of events is as such -
1) You drop your toothbrush, and you have to pick it up and wash it again. This costs about 10 seconds
2) This made you miss the lift, which costs you a minute of waiting for it.
3) This made you miss the earlier bus (which came 1 minute 10 seconds before you reached the bus stop), thus you have to wait another 10 minutes.
4) This particular bus had to stop at the traffic junction, which cost another minute
5) This total delay of 12 minutes 10 seconds made you cross paths with that inconsiderate guy who knocked your things to the floor

The small, insignificant delay of dropping your toothbrush made you waste 12 minutes, 10 seconds.
Let's take another example in which instead of an event (dropping your toothbrush) that initiated the chain, it was indecisiveness. Let's say, you couldn't make up your mind what clothes to wear that morning. So you take xx minutes, which will in turn cause another chain of its own.

Do you see that our entire lives are made up of such chain of events? And often, we procrastinate, or take a moment more to do something, and the compounding effects of this are unknown to us but they definitely are present, and will always snowball, leading to minutes, hours, even days eventually, being wasted. This is what i call the 'Time Snowball Effect'.


At this juncture, I would like to focus on another angle of this discussion - I'm sure at some points of your life, in your commuting from place to place, you have bumped into a friend, an acquaintance.
Have you considered how BIG a coincidence this really is?

Let's take a simple example of my meeting a friend on a train. I was on the way from Boon Keng to Hougang, then at Serangoon, my friend Daniel boards the crowded peak train and sees me and says hi.

Do you see that:
1) My chain of events leading to me taking that train has to match exactly the chain of events leading to daniel taking that train (and the prior circle line train) for us to coincide at the same place at that exact same time.
2) We had to board from the exact same door, which is a bigger coincidence considering point 3
3) The chain of events of ALL the other commuters have to match exactly such that
a) the flow of human traffic is not too much at that particular door, so that daniel will choose to board from that door.
b) the flow of human traffic is such that the position and timing of the people who enter with daniel will not obstruct his view of me so that he could have seen me and said hi

As such, 'bumping into a friend' is actually a very unlikely event, given you understand my chain of events reasoning. Thus, this is a very strong argument for 'fate', of the concept that there is a mapped out plan for each of our lives.
If you are to argue against this, you would be subscribing to the idea that a bunch of randomly occuring events would lead to another bunch of randomly occuring events and lead to something of such great coincidence on a constant basis. What's the odds of that?


So should you NOT procrastinate or have little mishaps to avoid this Time Snowball effect? Well, it depends on which aspect of the consequences are you looking at.
Obviously, if you are trying to avoid being tardy, you have to avoid any sort of initiation of the effect and be as quick, direct and mishap-less as possible.

However, there are certain events that actually RELY on the Time Snowball effect, such as bumping into a friend. After all, if your original chain does not coincide with your friend's chain, a Time snowball may very likely shake it such that it becomes aligned with that friend.
Of course, this means you will become misaligned with others, etc. It's all a give and take.


Ok that was just some random thoughts I was having. I didn't really piece it together very well and cogently but I can't be bothered, have to get back to my psych essay now. adios.

TV Season

Alot of photos this post! Not a wordy post like usual! =X (edit: well.. it turned out to be a wordy post :p and i just realised it is my 700th post! epic enough i hope :p)

Before I start this post, I just wanna point out that although I'm not super active in updating this blog (I'll try to be! So come back often!) , I've hopped onto the Twitter-wagon quite some time ago, and i tweet ALL THE TIME.
Yes, so go here
http://twitter.com/alanzzz
To follow my twitter!
(Btw when hyperlinks are aligned with my Twitter feed on the right ----->
they don't work and can't be highlighted, so you have to type it into your browser. Still trying to fix this problem :S)

OKK. I am so happy and excited that TV season is back!! Most of the TV shows have been on a hiatus after their seasons all ended some months ago. And now, THEY ARE ALL BACK.

Just a quick rundown of the shows that I watch.. as well as a pretty long write up on Glee S2E1 which I just watched. :) (it was awesome btw)

Psych

This came back couple of weeks ago, and the newest season is really good! I would say Shaun and Gus have the BEST chemistry between actors in any show I know. They look totally natural delivering their lines, they are really funny, their lines seem too-funny-to-be-not-impromptu, and the latest season just has been reaaally good.
A must-watch!


Survivor Nicaragua


Survivor just came back last week, and being the diehard Survivor fan I am, I naturally watch and will follow it. It looks pretty meh so far, with a 'Young vs Old' concept of tribe division, can't see the challenges being very interesting (like last season.. who can forget, the VERY FIRST challenge, we already have a dislocated shoulder (stephanie), broken toe.. etc. awesome! haha.)
since they obviously can't have very physical challenges.

They have a saving grace in :

BRENDA

Haha ok there are alot of chio photos of her but I'm lazy to find more. She's this really hot asian-looking chick.. soo pretty can. BUT BUT. She's NOT asian, but in fact she's SPANISH. yes.

Ok besides the hot girl of the season ( I hope she stays for a long time!!) , I found Jeff Probst's blog.
http://popwatch.ew.com/category/tv-shows/survivor/
He is a VERY entertaining blogger, he makes an entry after every episode on Thursday so must go read! And MUST watch the videos that are at the end of each entry!

If you check out this entry
http://popwatch.ew.com/2010/09/13/survivor-nicaragua-jeff-probst-season-preview/
The video at the bottom with 3 parts.. Jeff is REALLY funny in these videos.


How I Met Your Mother

What is Robin looking at in this photo...

ok anyway, new season of HIMYM returned on Tuesday, and... I can't say I really enjoyed it? The jokes seem to have become very predictable ( i found myself guessing correctly the coming punchline over 50% of the time) though some running jokes are still quite funny

Marshall: "My Dad is my best friend..."
Ted and Barney : "HEY!"

Haha ok you won't really get that if you haven't watched it before. But.. it's still a good series! ( hope) so do check it out.


Chuck

Airs on the same day as HIMYM (tuesdays!), the latest season (4) also just came back.

I can't say i REALLY enjoyed it.. it wasn't funny or anything. Just some basic plot development I guess? And although I was totally for Chuck & Sarah.. Am i the only one getting tired of them? It seems like the going-to-be-together-but-not-quite feeling was much more entertaining than them kissing at every chance.

And the topless scenes of Chuck are just getting disturbing. I don't need to see more hairy flabby Chuck thank you.
The 'sex-ting' thing in the premiere episode was funny as hell tho ;)


Glee

Wow, I just watched the season premiere...

AND SINCE WHEN IS GLEE SO FUNNY?!?!

There were SO many funny lines in this opening episode.. i hope they didn't pia all their funny lines in this premiere episode then have nothing left in the subsequent ones.. This section may be potentially spoilerish so skip it to the next show (Modern Family) if you haven't watched the episode and don't want to be spoilt.

There were so many funny lines... where do i start?
The new football coach Beiste ("spelt B - E - I, S - T - E", pronounced 'beast'. lolol) with her odd lines like:
"You're all coffee and no omelette!" and
"That's a steer(?) with six tits and no oink!"
which, as Sue Sylvester epicly mumbles with her blank face "that... does not make any sense" for both those lines.

What really disappointed me, however, was how this potentially awesome new character who could be an opponent to Sue with her fierceness and odd lines just.. suddenly collapses? It was like somebody popped a balloon, deflated the blimp, -poof-. Maybe the writer for her lines quit his job? What happened?!?! I really want to know :@
Whatever happened, she suddenly becomes sensitive and loses the battle with Sue with not a single good line after that. I mean, if this happened 10 episodes down the road, ok, fine. But in the very same episode? :(

They should have milked this character and developed her more, and let her be Sue's rival throughout this season. I mean, we need someone who can actually come up with a comeback to Sue's ruthless scathing comments like

"I'm sure you're used to hillbilly parents yelping adulation at you as they attempt to impregnate tailpipes of various off-road vehicles"

LOLOLOL. DAMN BLOODY FUNNY!
I had to replay that scene to catch what Sue was saying lol just damn hilarious.
I'm sure we can remember the countless ridiculously funny comments she had in S1 with Will Schuster.. wtb more.

Even the new guy who looks like Justin Bieber with blonde hair had a really funny exchange with Puck if you didn't catch it:

Puck: "Dude your mouth is huuuuge. How many tennis balls can you fit in there?"

(this was already funny enough to get me chuckling.. then comes .. )

Sam: "I don't know.. I've never had any balls in my mouth. Have you?"

-FALLS OFF THE CHAIR LAUGHING SOOO HARD.

HAHAHAHAHHAA. BEST. COMEBACK. EVER.
This line was so unexpected that I just kept laughing and had to replay it several times to keep laughing more at it. Even Puck just grins and concedes, it's too awesome a line to respond to.
And Finn with his look of LOL and whispers "I like this kid" to Arty.


And I did not know the new girl until just moments ago when I was doing some research to make this blog post.

Charice Pempengco AKA Sunshine!

Sunshine ( as she is called on the show) came out wearing those huge geeky glasses looking all adorkable, and holding her ground against Rachel in that toilet singing scene.
But it was the scene in the auditorium that got it for me..
Who else had CHILLS when she reached the chorus of "Listen" from Dreamgirls? Her voice is SO awesome. I mean, I'm sure we're all sick of Rachel's pitch-perfect voice and want some POWER which she lacks! And Sunshine clearly delivers with her powerful delivery of the chorus! Belt it out girl!

I was disappointed when she immediately gets poached by Vocal Adrenaline.. I was counting on her to be a regular face in the show! bye bye rachel :p

And if you are like me stuck under a rock and totally oblivious to Youtube stars.. Sunshine is Charice Pempengco, who is actually quite famous already ! She's apparently some Youtube sensation and has already been signed by some recording company and is.. well, famous.
In fact, her top video is a song "Pyramid" which has 21 million views -_- I won't embed it here, because it's already so damn famous. Go search yourself!


I TOTALLY enjoyed almost the whole episode, though it feels like they're trying to do too much at once and should slow it down for more character development. I can't wait till the next episode, hope for more funny lines and good songs! More Sunshine please!

(btw does anyone know where I can get the songs for S1 2nd half of the season? I have Glee Mix 1 and Mix 2 but I think it only covers the first part of the season. I want the rest of the songs!)


Modern Family

Modern Family is coming back tomorrow!!

This show is not as popular as TBBT /HIMYM/Glee yet but IT SHOULD BE. The cast is very dynamic and funny, and PHIL DUMPHY YO. He is THE Sheldon of Modern Family. I won't say he singlehandedly carries the show like Sheldon does for TBBT as the rest of the cast are funny, but he definitely has the funniest lines.

And it's only in its second season!! Not like HIMYM in its SIXTH and TBBT in its FOURTH. Very easy to catch up! Just watch S1, and .. you are there! Haha. There isn't much continuity in the episodes though so you can always just start watching from S2.


The Big Bang Theory

I'm too lazy to crop out leonard's face to properly define the show, but I should I guess, as that is what really defines the show.

Well, 1st season was really good, then it got less funny as I'm-afraid-of-women-Raj and I'm-a-pervert-who-makes-bad-pickuplines-on-women-Howard got stale and a little boring over the next 2 seasons.

And Leonard who?

Does anyone else think Leonard is a totally useless character in the show? He is not funny at all, he is not funny at all, and he is not funny at all. What purpose does he serve? Besides chasing Penny and providing a small storyline there. I'm sorry, but he is just not funny at all.

And of course comes the STAR(s) of the show- Penny AND SHELDON. Omg ok Sheldon is the funniest thing ever. They should add him in the thesaurus under 'funny'. You never tire of his blind arrogance and lack of social awareness coupled with his many many funny lines, very expertly delivered by actor Jim Parsons.

And Penny byherself isn't exactly very funny, but the best scenes in the show have been those with her AND Sheldon. Their classic 'Soft Kitty' duet is very well known now, and the 'knock knock knock, Penny' thing is quite famous too.
These two characters have so much subtle chemistry that they literally carry the show. Well, Sheldon carries the show, with Penny on his back.

Well, the new season returns on FRIDAY (wth is with the new timeslots? first Survivor on Thursdays, now this) can't wait to see what the show writers have for us. :)



okkk that's a wrap i believe! I don't think I left out any shows. I hope not. And, NBA season is starting soon! In October! Woo. can't wait to watch Miami Heat and see if the Lebron-Wade-Bosh combi flops or ... flaps? what's the opposite of flop. 'works' doesn't quite cut it. hmm.

OK I should be sleeping soon, so i can be fresh tomorrow to hopefully study more for my mid term exams next week :) Have a great TV week!!!