zzzz........

blog survey

2008-04-10T17:23:00.000-07:00

More than 30 people in the Calgary region have been named as neo-Nazis by a group posting pictures and personal information on an internet blog.
Jason Devine said he's been exposing the identities of Calgary's neo-Nazis for almost six years.
The 26-year-old student used to put up pictures of suspected white supremacists on the streets. Now, he and other members of Anti-Racist Action Calgary use an internet blog.
"If you think that Adolf Hitler is some cool guy, I think people deserve to hear about that," says Devine. The group combs through various websites to find the people they consider Nazis and posts their information to a blog. It shows pictures, e-mail addresses and links to their profiles on sites like Nexopia.
Whiteboy, German Pride and Pitbull are some of the aliases named on the list.
One 17-year-old, who did not reveal his name for fear of retaliation, calls it discrimination against skinheads.
"There's Nazi skinheads and there's SHARP skinheads. SHARP stands for Skinheads Against Racial Prejudice. I associate with both sides," he said.
There may also be legal issues.
Martin Kratz, who teaches internet law at York University, said freedom of speech rights are balanced by other laws.
"The law of defamation is quite easy. One should not promote false, injurious statements about other people to the public."
Members of Anti-Racist Action say they've been threatened many times before, both legally and physically, and they're not about to take down their website.

....W..T.....F

2008-04-09T21:17:00.000-07:00

Ring Ring"I picked up the phone and said our greeting as usual,the guy on the line asked:"David,is your name spelt D-A-V-I-D?"I said:"Yes""But it supposed to be a boy's name."he said,"Coz my Chinese name is also a boy's name."I replied.Then he continued to ask"what's your Chinese name?""I don't need to tell you,right."I answered him without thinking anything,coz i thought he's a weird guy who wanted to flirt somebody else and I really wanted to hang up the phone."Hold on,pls"coz i need to serve the clinets and answered student's question.When i turned to him again,he said"that's really not polite when you're talking to people like that...blar blar blar"Come on, who the hell you think you are,idiot.I should've hung up the phone,how dare you are to teach me a lesson?I'm a professional CSA and I'm the best of the team.I don't care what you're gonna do even you'll report to my boss.After he finished his speech,I calmed myself down and said"thank you for your advice."then transfered the line to the person who he really wanted to speak to.Gee,he spoiled my good mood.

Barbarians at the Gates moive

2008-04-08T18:15:00.000-07:00

There is nothing wrong, in principle, with the sensitive adaptation of a historic building for fresh purposes, but the news that parts of Beijing’s Summer Palace are to be turned into a luxury hotel and club is rather distressing. There can be no doubt that Aman Resorts, the company behind the redevelopment, will handle the refurbishment with great style, but that is hardly the point. The project itself is in questionable taste.The Summer Palace was sacked by foreign troops in 1860, and again in 1900. With its partial conversion into extravagantly priced facilities for international tourists and executives, foreigners will once again be putting their feet up in its historically resonant surrounds. Chinese people—the vast majority of whom will be financially excluded—will once again be looking on forlornly. I wonder if the British authorities would give permission for a wing of Windsor Palace, or a part of the Tower of London, to be turned into a Ritz-Carlton.China’s most globally recognized monument, the Great Wall, has already lost its mystique because multinational companies are allowed to use it for any lame stunt their marketing teams care to come up with. Should Fendi, to take one recent example, really be allowed to commit the vulgarity of staging a fashion show on the Great Wall’s ramparts? Why must we endure the dreadful sight of the elderly Karl Lagerfeld tottering along China’s heritage showpiece, air-kissing Eurofops and B-list celebrities? The commercialization of the Great Wall has already raised issues that anyone interested in China’s monuments should be thinking about. But in the meantime, the Summer Palace has been invaded. Again.

Final round

2008-04-06T23:14:00.000-07:00

I always feel nervous after hearing " Final round" when I play fighting games because it can judge me whether win the game or not. Similarly, final exams just the final round in our program. If I fail in the final, I will lose half of the course. We just finished the writing exam, which is the most difficult one. I mean, for me. However, I think I did not so bad as I thought. The topic I chose was to describe advantages of one kind of energy and I wrote nuclear power because basically I knew how it works. After the exam, I found nuclear energy is not only a kind of useful power nowadays, but also a good friend of many EAP 3 students cuz I noticed that most of students who chose this topic wrote about nuclear energy. In addition, none of them feel bad about writing but they thought they did a pretty good job. Yeah, glad to hear that.Well, I think because of approaching the final, everybody's skills, which include both physical and mental, have been suddenly improved. Not far before the final, we had a wonderful party. We had food, fruit and all kinds of stuff. We kept talking and eating for hours. At.T first, I thought the food were too much to eat; on contrary, the food almost gone after the party because some people ate really fast and too much. Scott was a good example. When I was extremely full, he was still looking for something good to eat. LOL!Anyways, exams haven't been finished and we shouldn't be relaxed. More challenge are still waiting for us.

^^

2008-04-05T21:12:00.000-07:00

It is almost the end of the semester. Yesterday, I talked with my roommates Becky and Sandra in my home for an hour about the knowledge we have learned from EAP program. All of us agreed that what we have learned is useful in our future in university. However, there were some problems. Although we heard fluent English from other students and native speakers, it was difficult to recognize which words are academic vocabularies and which word is slang. As a result, we had to pay more attention to avoid using informal words when doing writing assignments. Also, we still met another serious problem in the process of learning grammar, which was some definition and information in the textbook were too general. For example, when we need to tell about the structures and the usages of phrases, the simple introduction caused puzzles to us because sometimes we could not distinguish which part of a complex sentence should be a phrase. Therefore, I had to point out the subjects and objects and find how they were used. While discussing the varied sentence structures in the book, I found that it was a process of recombining my knowledge about this part of grammar. After this speaking experience, I believe that all of us benefited from exchanging learning experiences. For me, I have learned how to express my opinions in English much better than before. I know I need this kind of activity to get more practice and build more confidence.

mahjong

2008-04-04T17:10:00.000-07:00

Do you know mahjong? Do you like playing mahjong? Mahjong is a famous Chinese traditional game, which every Chinese knew it when they were young, and it needs two to four people to play. Also, different province has different manner to play, but they all very interesting for me. In fact, I like playing mahjong. Therefore, after I moved to my new home, I bought a set of mahjong. Mahjong is like card, but the way to win is totally different. It needs you more attention in the game. It not only has fun, but it practices my brain. When I was free,I would call my friends to come to my home to play mahjong. They all like playing it. Most of time, we forgot the time and played until midnight. In apart of it, we did not feel tired and even want to continue. I though every people who likes playing mahjong would be like me, especially Chinese. In China, there are several kinds of movies that are about mahjong. they described that the person who won a mahjong game was very lucky and intelligent. Therefore, you can know the influence of mahjong is quiet big and why many people like mahjong. In the end, if you do not know majong, but you want to play it. You can ask me to teach you. I will be happy to do it.

Art Market Vultures Descend

2008-04-03T21:05:00.002-07:00

The ability of an art dealer to profit from the sale of an artist’s work is a privilege, not a right, yet many dealers seem to conduct their business on the assumption that an artist should be grateful that they are getting any money for their work at all. Unfortunately, the exploitation of artists by art market professionals is not uncommon and seems to have become an almost inevitable and accepted result of the art market boom.
Although I am used to hearing stories of the underhand and questionable tactics used by dealers to make a profit I was particularly saddened by one particular case that I was made privy to the other day by a very influential art market personality. The case involves a 93 year old painter from the UK (who shall remain anonymous) who had moderate commercial success as an artist but did not quite reach the dizzying heights of fame that most artists aim for. What ever the reason this 93 year old lady did not make it to the big league, it was seemingly not due to a lack of talent or skill because dealers are starting to take an interest in her work. Why are dealers starting to take an interest in this artist’s work I hear you ask, well, it is because the art market is predicting that she will not have long to live.
It is not uncommon for artists to become famous or at least more famous upon their death primarily because the creation of work by the artist stops rendering the work that they did produce more rare and desirable. The sad truth is that many people don’t realise or appreciate the value of an artists work until the artist is gone. What makes the case of this 93 year old artist so disturbing is that dealers are actually preparing to profit from the artist’s death before it has even happened. Dealers and art market professionals are predicting that the value of this ladies paintings will increase significantly in value and desirability upon her death and are buying up all her works in preparation. The worst thing about this case is that because the works are being bought from the secondary market the artist is really not benefiting from the increased interest in her work, and by the looks of it, won’t ever benefit. It makes me sad to think that people would exploit an elderly artist in this way but it also doesn’t surprise me that things like this are going on.

Art Market Vultures Descend

2008-04-03T21:05:00.001-07:00

Art Market Vultures Descend

2008-04-03T21:05:00.000-07:00

the great debters

2008-03-14T21:04:00.000-07:00

It is not often that a movie is such a crowd-pleaser that the audience responds with tumultuous applause not once but numerous times. That is the kind of reaction Denzel Washington’s The Great Debaters inspired when I saw it in a crowded theater. Yes, the movie follows some tried and true underdog movie conventions but rarely is it done so skillfully that it does not wait until the final deciding match to provide small moral triumphs along the way to have people stand up and cheer.
Denzel Washington’s The Great Debaters is, in many ways, the “sports movie” I have been waiting to see. Based on a true story about an all-African American debate team that hopes to win the national debate championship in the Great Depression after facing off against other African-American as well as Caucasian debate teams across the country, it is a movie that has the heroes fighting their personal and ethical struggles with words, not physicality. Melvin Tolson (Denzel Washington), the professor who forms that debate team in an all-African American college, Wiley College, sets the grounds and says, “Debate is like blood sport. Blood sport is combat and the weapons are words.”
His standards are unbending and his expectations demanding and after a night of tryouts, he picks four members. The mainline debaters are Henry Lowe (Nate Parker), an astute, intellectual student who is also a bit of a womanizer and a hard-drinker, and Hamilton Burgess (Jermaine Williams), and the two alternates, Samantha Booke (Jurnee Smollett), who is reportedly the first female college debater in history, and 14-year old James Farmer Jr. (Denzel Whitaker), the researcher for the team. The latter in particular, despite being the youngest, also carries a certain amount of reputation because he is the son of James Farmer Sr. (Forest Whitaker), a preacher who is one of the few African-Americans so far to graduate from Harvard University.
The debate team’s singular struggle to win the championship title would be enough to fuel a worthy, inspirational story but Washington’s film paints a richer canvas that does not escape the harsh issues of racism in the Jim Crow South of the 1930s. There are some harsh emotional moments that drive the prejudice home such as a significant one when the team is driving home one night and sees a black man strung up on a cross after being burned to death by a lynching mob. Tolson, as many people know today, is also one of American’s most renowned poets (a fact that is only slightly hinted at) and it turns out that he has a secret life as an organizer for a national sharecropper’s union between blacks and whites, which anger the racist local sheriff, Dozier (John Heard) and may set yet another obstacle for the team.
The relationships between the members of the debate team are not simplistic either as a seemingly clichéd plot of a young James looking jealously at the potential blossoming romance between Henry and Samantha does not resolve itself in necessarily predictable ways. Tolson also carries the flaw of insisting on writing the arguments himself for the debate team instead of letting the team have their own voice, which Henry’s equally headstrong personality often collides with. There is also James’ relationship with his parents, which becomes more strained after he witnesses Tolson’s secret life.
Washington as director and writers Robert Eisele and Jeffrey Porro pull all of these strands together into a story that teaches that the journey to win should really be the means to the end of educating oneself and others to think morally and without racial prejudice or discrimination. The dialogue, which needs to be eloquent in a movie about debates, is contributive to many of the film’s well-timed and paced triumphant emotional moments within the Wiley team’s arguments that challenge for the resolutions of issues we now take for granted such as racial integration in colleges (though there could have been a more unpredictable, dimensional challenge if they had to argue for something they don’t believe in, as real debaters sometimes have to do). The debating atmosphere is also enriched in the conversations within the team as everyone seems to be talking in the cultural code of argument and rhetoric throughout (as when Tolson explains the origin of the word, lynching to the team).
Washington is one of the most magnetic and likable actors on the screen, which is why we always welcome him playing another flawed but decent, authoritative figure, no matter how many times he has played other such roles from Courage Under Fire to Remember the Titans. He also shows more definitive proof after Antwone Fisher to be a true actor’s director, as he gives every one of his actors to define who they are and not single his own character to necessarily be the natural “hero” of the story. The familial issues that result within Denzel Whitaker’s character find their own uneasy complexity, which culminate in a long-awaited square off between Washington and Forest Whitaker who conflict in the social issues around them despite both having the best interests for the young teenager (the fact that the child actor’s name happens to be Denzel Whitaker is not intentional, as he is neither related to Forest Whitaker nor named after Washington).
By the end of the film, I found myself caring so much about these vivid characters in this time and place that I actually would have found the story equally satisfying and uplifting whether the team won or not. Of course, most stories about underdogs are told because they satiate our natural desires for the longshots to triumph but the great ones make you feel that you care for them as individuals more than the outcome. Seeing these people have the will to challenge the harsh times they lived in was enough to make me cheer for their moral victory, before their historically important, visible one.

ssss

2008-03-14T13:23:00.000-07:00

I have been feeling very sad and lonely for a long time because I missed my family and old friends. I myself go to school after get up and go home after class everyday. After that, I cook for myself and do my homework. I think the food is not delicious because I eat it by myself. When I was in China, I always had meals with my friends or family. I thought the food was good because I could chat with my friends or family. Nowadays, I live by myself and I felt lonely. I want to go home recently; however, I cannot go home as I told before. Last week, when I felt lonely and terrible, I gave my friend a phone call and told him I wanted to visit him. His girlfriend cooked four kinds of delicious food for me and we had a meal together. Then, we discussed a lot of things including movies, cell phones, sport, and computers. I felt very happy about that since I was not lonely any more. At 11:30 pm, his girlfriend wanted me teach her to steam Chinese bread. I showed her how to cook it. We spent two hours on cooking Chinese bread because of yeast’s problem. Finally, we achieved success and she was very happy. Event thought it was very late, we were still watching TV. At 4:30 am, we were too tired to watch TV, and I asked my friends gave me a ride. When I was arrived my home, I was not sad any more although I was tired at that time. From this experience, I think friends are very important to me and I will cherish our friendship forever.

The experiment of my editing.

2008-01-26T18:56:00.000-08:00

I had edited an essay which was written by my classmate. His essay was great because he was a few grammatical mistakes. However, he still got some. He was one of student who got A+ in writing in this program. This reminded me to check my essay because no matter how good were you, you still could do something wrong. In fact, this is normal thing that study had to do. The reason of this could be to get a good mark and make their teacher happy. In addition, this was the same rule in my culture. The students had to check all of their writing to keep it clean and nice to make their revisited easier. To back to the point, I saw the mistake that my friend made was to use article. For example, “to study in the class.” I considered this was wrong. It should be to study in class. Well, I usually made the same kind of mistake. In my opinion, it is a common error for English learner because it always confuses them. Ever Canadian will the language mistake.

hitman a nice moive

2007-11-21T22:24:00.000-08:00

I have been waiting for the movie "Hitman" for a long time, and finally I watched it because I am a super fans of this game. This game is developed by a company called IO in Denmark and it has 4 series so far. I remembered when I first played this game, I couldn't admire more about the great idea of the game: you acted as a hitman who named 47 to assassinate certain people for money. In addition, I have convinced my father to play this game and he really got into it. After several years later, it has become a movie, which was wonderful news for me. However, finishing the movie, I felt a little frustrated.
Although the movie was about Hitman, the scenarist just like created a new story based on the game. I totally could not find any connection between the movie and the game. Also, the actor who acted the 47 was not what I expected. Probably the one in the game has impressed me a lot but I won't say I satisfied with the movie. The actor was a little bit young so he looks not that mature except his stony expression.Furthermore, to my surprise, the agent 47 always stayed with a woman in the movie, which has completely destroyed the image of 47 in the game.
Well, I think it does not happens occasionally because if people really love a novel or a game, after they become a movie, every single change will make people uncomfortable so I don't wanna complain anymore and what should I do is go back to the game and enjoy myself haha

studyyyyy

2007-11-06T22:23:00.000-08:00

Last couple of weeks, while I was walking in the university, I was thinking about a question. Looking at students from all over the world, I wondered why they come to here and study? Generally speaking, every year millions of students come to study in North America. Like Chinese international students, which take the highest percentage of them, have to pay huge tuition fees but they still choose to leave their own country. Why? I think the reason is not just the job crunch in China, but the problem is educational system.
Educational system sounds really common; however, it contains lots of things. I checked Li kai fu's blog, who used to be the vice-president of Microsoft, and found some edification from it. A successful university just like a private company, everything needs to be judged by itself. Things like tutors, courses have to be adjusted with the situations of the university. Some universities are controlled by governments so for example, they have to wait for funds from the governments. In contrast, a private school get money from foundation so that they have more freedom. Because of this, these universities can improve very fast and it is why private universes, especially in the US achieve a great success. In addition, these universities may try some different ways to improve. Some of them are crazy, like the MIT(Massachusetts Institute of Technology) has spent about a hundred million dolloars in order to share 2000 courses on the Internet for free. Although the university has lost huge profit, it is good way for them to try distance education and become the best university of engineering. Compared to them, Chinese universities are far behind so there in no doubt that students come to here and study.

work hard

2007-10-08T19:00:00.000-07:00

Those days are a little sad. But I can do it.
Yesterday, I said I am poor in English writing. An d J say I need to say I can do it.
Yes, I agree with that. It just takes time. I was not only good at wrting in English not aslo Chinese. I think I will get it sooner or later.
I got my mark of persentation. It was ok. I thought I was getting enough preparetion of it. but I just got b. It was a little bit suck. The summer of calgary finally comes. I hate the winnter it was too cold.

haha

2007-09-29T12:56:00.000-07:00

Nowadays, in an ever tighter job market, great importance has been attached to an interview by both the employer and the applicant. The interview, so to speak, has become indispensable for getting a satisfactory job. On the one hand, the interviewer can take advantage of the occasion to learn about the candidates, such as their work experiences, education and their personalities, so as to pick out the right person for the company. On the other hand, the interviewee can make use of the opportunity to get to know the job he is going to take up, the salary, the working conditions and many other things about the job he is interested in.　　Therefore, the job interview is very important to a job-hunter. But how can one succeed in it? Firstly of all, the interviewee must pay attention to his or her appearance. The first impression is always where we start. Get dressed properly and neatly. Secondly, good manners are equally important. Don’t be too proud, and neither too timid. Just be courteous. Thirdly, the interviewee must demonstrate his aptitude and skills for the job and his knowledge about eh job-related areas. Be confident. Last but not the least, the interviewee ought to be honest about his or her personal as well as academic background, for honesty is the best policy.　　To sum up, the job interview is indeed important, but there is no need to be nervous. As long as the interviewee has the ability for the job, with careful preparation and a fairly confident and honest performance, his or her success can be ensured.

The payment is so *******expensive.

2007-09-22T20:36:00.000-07:00

I am going to move at the last day of the examination. However, it's very diffcult for me. Because I am international student and I have no job, Ihave to pay 3months at least. Was that exsit? I can't believe that. It's impossible. Funtunately, I do not need to buy the new funiture because my friend will gave me his old staffs. I am very lucky! haha... But my rental is going to increase. Everyone listen up, if your manager told you that, you had to know that it's only allow to increase twice in a year. Do not be ganked please.haha

ddddd

2007-09-16T18:28:00.000-07:00

Finally , the mid tern finished. I am a little bit worry about the result. Because, I have not finished the final draft. Too bad so sad. I hope that I can pass it. I know that I am a lettle bit weak in writing. But I think I can hadle it one day. I was poor in writing in Chinese and English.
After those months, I felt my English improve a little. I think I had better keep praticing in it. If not, I think I will become as poor as before. One lady told me that how much that you can read it how much you can wrtie. So I think I can improve it by reading.

nothing much

2007-09-15T20:04:00.000-07:00

I am going to move. Finally, because of my friend needed to move and sell the house, i have to leave. However, it still has good sense to me. Because I got a chance to deal with many things. Maybe, this my jounery. I think I will become more mature. I hope so. Live happens. My friend told he would move next year, but last week his mama told he to sell the house. It is just a little change in my life. The plan is always affected by the changes. Don't you think so. This week I went Jiawei's home to play dota. It was very nice game. If anyone wants to play with us, call me. Then I will connect with them. Come on ,man. I need 2 more people to make a team.

the chinese cuture in some canadian mind

2007-09-15T00:18:00.000-07:00

last Thursday, I attended a lecture was about Chinese culture. I was very interested in it. China was one of the Great Ainet Counties. The teacher mentioned thechinese language was very easy besides the chinse charaecters. Because it was diffcult to write. However I didn't think so. I learned the garmmar for ten years, but I can not be very good at it. The Chinese langauge consisted of 2 parts. The new one is very easy, but the old one was very diffcult. So, I can't agree with it.

missing

2007-09-14T00:45:00.000-07:00

Today is mother's day, i hope all mothers have a day with their families.
I miss mama. I haven't seen her for a long time. I miss the soup which is cooked by her,too.
How delicious it is! We haven't told with each other since I came here. May be both of us are busy. Yesterday, I just got an emial form her. She told me she would go to a Chanzhao style restaurant with my grandparents. It's so gald to hear that. My grandfather is 86 and my grandmother is about 80. Fortunately, both of them are very health and happy. I remenbered they were very romantic.The date before Chinese New Year is their anniversary and they will dress up and go to a resturant. None of us can go with them. It's not allowed. They have been doing that for 30 years. I miss them ,too. Because I was brought up by them. When I was kid ,my perants were very busy,so my dear grandperants had to take care of me. I left them when I was 12. I am so far away form home now. I wish I can spent that day with them. But I can't. I didn't feel that day is such a important day unitl I came here. I still have so much to do here, such as my undergraduate courses, my elp course. Right now, the most anxious thing for me the extension of my sutdy premit. I hope I can get it done as soon as possible.
I miss my family.

stampe

2007-09-13T08:14:00.000-07:00

I remanbered the stampe. haha.... it's really fun. i play the N.A.M.E(North American Midway Enterainment). I have been there once but I didn't play the enterain. So this time gave me a very different feeling. The free brafast was sick. I stayed there from 10:00a.m. to 12 p.m. . I played a lot. As a result I was very tired. hehe I can't believe that. I thought the Calgarieen were very proud of the stampe. Because I saw every one enjoyed stay there no matter old or young. lET'S talk about the entertainment. The most crazy one was the sky monster. It's very similar with the prites' ship. And the crazy mouse was another game. I t was very boring, but it injurded my leg. too badd so sad. Indeed, I was having a good time.

tired

2007-09-10T22:03:00.000-07:00

House cleanning is so tired. I and my roomate cleaned our house whcih is 2400sqf. It is too large to clean. At fritst, we cleaned ourselves badroom. We vamumed the flood and cleaned our room. After a while , our room seemed much better. After, that we started to clean our kitchen. We clean oven, wahsroom ,talbe, chair and TV. Then we vamumed the mian flood and bonse room. After, we vammued all the floods, we cleand all of the windos. There are 9 windos needed to be cleaned. We also cleaned the basement. Ohhhhhhhhh.......that was to crazy. I hate cleaning even though it is necessary. But I still needed to do it in order to make our house looks great. LOL

sucks

2007-09-06T22:04:00.000-07:00

How is the life going?
Sucks...........
Those day, I think I am really bad luck!Because I have been having the problems with study permit, admission of u ofc and teeth. My study permit was expried for 6days. And my new hasn't been arrived yet. It was the second times for me to extend it. Mr. Li helped me a lot; however, I have not got it. Also, the admission of university was too slow. I can stand it. I hate peoplesoft. It is rediculious. It wastes the time of all the students. Too bad so sad, my dad. Last one, I have had teethache for a few weeks. I can't eat well.
But I think I will work out all the problems.