10 Guan

Watched "I am Love" last night. Amazing movie, that. I highly recommend it.
As it happens, one of the trailers was for "A Woman, A Gun and a Noodle Shop" by Zhang Yimou, which is based on The Coen Brothers' "Blood Simple," also an amazing movie. Here's a trailer for the Zhang adaptation.

Check it out.



You know how I can tell it's a Chinese movie from this trailer? The main characters are haggling over 10 guan.

A Woman, A Gun, and a Noodle Shop
I am Love

Philosophical Sycophancy

I have this haunting para-fantasy of college where I'm undone by cheap poetry because I am still at best a dilettante in affairs of the... oh I'm getting wordy. Let's just say there's a thread in here:

Philosophy Major Come-ons.

Version 1. Cartesian.

[Skinny dude with a ponytail, on one knee, to girlfriend]:

I think (pause), therefore I am (longer pause. Then, closing his eyes, he whispers) with you~

Version 2. Lacanian.

[Post coitus, a young man nervously pulls up the sheet over his nipples and looks around confused. Asks]:

Was that as good for me as it was for you?

Version 3. Kantian.

[Junior varsity athlete (he thought philosophy would be an easy major, confusing it with sociology) approaches a hot chick at the bar. Frames his crotch with splayed hands and smirks. Says:]

It's not the size of the ocean, babe. Bu--t actually it pretty much is.

Elsewhere at the bar:

Version 4. Sartresque.

"You had me at hell is other people."

Version 5. Nietzchean.

"Let's make a bet. If you pronounce this word (he shows 'Nietzche' on a piece of paper) incorrectly you have to go out with me. If you pronounce it right, I take you out and date rape you anyway."

Version 6. "Buddhist" (emphasis on the airbanging)

"Let me guess... You're Chinese? Wait, no... Korean? Wait, no..." (He repeats this to death, comes back as Nicolas Cage's sperm, miraculously "gets it right" in the next life and achieves Nirvana, where he is confused and disappointed because there are no hot Asian chicks. Just a bunch of old white dudes with ponytails.)

Telenoid

Japan has a population problem. It's rapidly declining because the kids aren't reproducing like they used to.

Not sure what made me think of that when I read about the Telenoid R1, but I don't... think... it's... helping.

The Telenoid R1 is meant to be a minimalist human, so details are restricted to its eyes and face, which are strangely realistic. Its body is limited to flipper-like arms and a stylized torso that ends in a mermaid-ish taper.

Telenoid users interact with people at a distance through a laptop, as shown in the video below. The control system tracks the user's face and head motion and captures his or her voice, then relays them to Telenoid, which expresses them. It's about 31 inches tall and weighs 11 pounds.

Scared.