:-)

So I am going to try something New as often as I can, as much as I can afford.... of course in a subjectively reasonable way, not going to take a private jet to Paris just for the afternoon tea.... Inspired by "Yes Man?" Not really. Trying, means taking chances, assuming risks, gaining experiences, refining judgement and therefore extracted wisdom... Sounds quite serious but not so if you have already peek my picture below ;-) .... let's start from the very root of my being.... Just to take a nice bath....

HOMEWORK: Checking out some social networking sites

Facebook's vantage point is the strong link of social communities connection, users can have more privacy if the users choose to; but the one size fit all "uniform" is simply boring, everybody looks the same. It has many pointless and tedious applications such as sending around virtual drinks, hugs, kicks, gifts, pokes and the endlessly annoying invitations which are totally meaningless and time consuming just to decline them. The most usable features are the wall, pictures, news feed and friends linking function. However, I am very disappointed at their attempt of owning/manipulating users information forever .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxF0z8nrNtY

Are you facebook-addicted? Check this out.

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1443652/42_funny_ways_to_know_if_you_have_a.html

If you are, here is help

http://www.allfacebook.com/2007/10/how-to-stop-that-facebook-addiction/

Myspace's social connection can be much less personal since everyone can see your profile as long as they have Internet access, many critics says it attracts sexual predictors, but the good thing is it showcase every individuals personality, every one's page is unique, the "customizable" layouts and music play list are what flourished myspace.

Friendster is the super star in Asian countries, including Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. I never like friendster because of of my friends either don't use it or for those who do, frequently encounter software glitches and slow access. I have tried Friendster and did not like the advertisments, it took the entire left pannel which makes it seems like my profile is being squeezed to the side (See the screen shot below.) However I cannot truly judge since none of my friends are on Friendster.

Facebook is very much about connectivity and focus on college crowd, Myspace is about personality and music. Friendster is more for adults. For me, selecting social networking sites is ultimately about peer pressure.

One social networking site that I love is yelp.com, it is VERY practical and has full coverage of consumer reviews and local business and organization search, visitors can search base on neighborhood, category, price range, feature and includes google map, rating and comments to help users to make the best possible selection.

Translating...

This is one of my favorite picture book written (in Chinese) and illustrated by Jimmy, it's beautifully, graphically and evocatively done. To challenge myself I am trying to translate the entire book into pure english and capture every drop of sentiment.

The Cover:

Some pages inside....so wish that you guys can understand the words.

HOMEWORK: New Media

This documentry is amazingly interesting and informative about you tube and the new media, it is a 55 minutes presentation but not a single second was boring.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPAO-lZ4_hU

My understanding of new media:

Channels which conveys messages in a computerized and degial way, there are many technolgies are catergorized as new media, such as: social neworking, blogs(photo, music, travel, mobile, political, etc), VOIP, social bookmarking, instant message, mashup, social shopping, RSS, P2P and much more. New Media is mass media, massive amount of people communicate in massive ways, it is chaotic

Sinfully Sweet Stuff

My post-Valentine’s day chocolatiers review:
100% personal experience, reliable and reachable (in NYC)
Who can really resist chocolate?

1.If you like champagne truffle, this is the best of the best, big thing in Switzerland, always freshly imported from Swiss. They also have different coca density chocolate bars, and some refreshing mix, like, mint, orange and lemon with chocolate. But champagne is totally the impeccable killer.

http://www.teuscherfifthavenue.com/

2. This is the most expensive one that I have visited, has 200+ years of royal history, high end French chocolate, every piece is exquisite.

http://www.debauveandgallais.com/main/intro.asp

3. This is an amazing cute little chocolate boutique to go for rich think sensational hot chocolate in any given time during winter; it’s a cute cafe at the back and chocolate store in the front. If you go, try Aztec Hot Chocolate, and you will must love this place, simply cute.

http://www.mariebelle.com/

4. This one has the most weird/unique/shocking ingredients in chocolate, wasabi, bacon, chili, curry, ginger...its hard to imagine but somehow it taste good and exotic. If you want to try all, you can buy the little bars which packed like a book-shelf, it’s about $25.

http://www.vosgeschocolate.com/

5. This is the perfect representative of the French conservative classic, they will probably offer you a sample to try, and my experience was sensational! ♥

http://www.lamaisonduchocolat.com/fr/index.php

6. This is Belgian chocolate, people say that they have very good truffle and dark chocolate, honestly I brought something but haven’t try yet, yet still I am pretty confident about this choice.

http://www.leonidas-chocolate.com/

7.Finally one from New York here, if you go to the store, you can really see chocolates are being produced, the aroma of chocolate is super strong and sweet, they make great cookies too! They have sofas and bar chairs inside, you and Daniel can hang out there. The truffles look so cute and prices are cheaper then others above. Features many different kinds of chocolate bar with variety of nuts and coca density.

http://www.mrchocolate.com/

8. This one's has variety of truffles, also look beautiful like jewels.

http://www.marcolinichocolatier.com/

Seriously they are all exquisitely delicious, you will probably think kitkat, Max brenner and Hershey are incomparable when taste side-by-side , don't worry you will not eat so much since they are luxurious and fattening, but definitely worth trying with zero regret. Personally I love French and Swiss chocolate, so teuscher and La Madison are the Must, Debauve and Gallais too but really too expensive, 1 little piece (size of a quarter) is like $4 - $5!! If you want to visit more chocolatiers I have more to recommend, let me know. ;-)

HOMEWORK: Term Projet

I will talk about the few things left that people cannot do with the internet, some new utilities and trends of the new media spectrum, how people behave differently and what we are not but should be aware of.
http://www.thismodernworld.org/arc/rar/YIL.jpg