gaming is for grownups

I just came across this article which claims that adults play video games more than teens.

I can't say I'm surprised. Anecdotally, I've noticed:
- Most of my friends are Halo addicts.
- Starcraft is still well loved as a LAN party game among those of us who played in college.
- My sister and her boyfriend were/are FFXI junkies. In fact, they met while playing FFXI.
- I know of several people my age (including myself) who have game consoles in their bedrooms.

The first generation of people that grew up with video games is now well into adulthood, and I guess they're just choosing to continue playing games, both new and old.

congrats to Ang Lee!

I was really happy to hear that Ang Lee, one of my favorite directors, won an Oscar for his work on Brokeback Mountain. I've yet to see this one, but I've enjoyed most of his previous movies, including Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, The Ice Storm, and The Wedding Banquet.

As a side note, I am somewhat amused by the reaction by the Chinese press, who really had to do a number to spin this story. Not only did they claim Lee as "Chinese", even though he was born and raised in Taiwan, they censored any mention of the movie's subject matter. I guess it's probably a blow to national pride that Taiwan now has an Academy Award winning director, while China does not.

I wonder how they felt when Taiwan blew out China last week in the World Baseball Classic?

say what?

Taiwan's President Chen recently scrapped the dormant "National Unification Council", which was supposed to oversee China unification issues. China's response?

China has expressed its concerns directly to United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan about Taiwan's scrapping of a unification council with the mainland, Xinhua news agency reported.

I thought the CCP's position was that the "Taiwan situation" was an internal affair, but I'm delighted that they are now acknowledging Taiwan as a country, at least to the extent that they would lodge official protests against its government through the UN. Of course, thanks to Chinese interference, Taiwan has no seat at the UN, so I'm not sure what the Chinese government thinks it's doing.

waste not

Last weekend, while staying at my parents' house, I observed an interesting sequence of events:

- My cousin went to the refrigerator, took out an open can of soda with a piece of plastic wrap on it, and proceeded to drink from it while we ate lunch.
- She finished the can about halfway through lunch, whereupon she opened a new can, from which she drank for the rest of the meal.
- After we finished, she took the new can, covered it with the same piece of plastic wrap, and stuck it in the fridge.

I guess I'm surprised there are people who have problems finishing cans of soda (I drink at least two liters of water a day), but I'm also amused/impressed with my cousin's solution.