Sunday, August 26, 2012

"Happiness is wanting what you get." - Dale Carnegie

I thought I'd share some things I saw on the Internet that made me happy lately:

K-pop viral sensation Gangnam Style


The Muppets: Ode to Joy

Flight of the Conchords: Feel Inside and Stuff Like That 






Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Avengers Deleted Scenes

I loved the Avengers, so finding out that there were deleted scenes made me really happy. Here are the ones I was able to find:

A potential opening to Avengers 2? It includes a version of Maria Hill which I don't think is actually consistent with the character in the original movie.


Opening by Vivianbianchi

Extended planning scene with Loki and Clint Barton.


Loki and Barton (extended scene) by Vivianbianchi

Nick Fury talks to the Council?


Nick by Vivianbianchi

What happened after the Hulk fell from the sky and turned back into Bruce Banner.


Bruce Banner Deleted Scene from the "Avengers"... by Flixgr

Oh Tumblr. Where the eff is your permalink??? Anyway, if you scroll down this page, you can see the deleted scene where Steve Rogers/Captain America finds out that Peggy is still alive, and he makes the decision to go see her.

Also, Buzzfeed has the Avengers' gag reel, along with a bunch of GIFs.

Sunday, August 19, 2012

How To Watch Chinese/Cantonese Media Online

The day before yesterday, I came across a site that provided me with lots of Cantonese gossip, and then I got sucked into watching movie trailer after movie trailer. It made me feel a little homesick, to be honest. When I lived at home, my family had a membership at a Chinese rental store, and we would rent movies and TV shows to watch. I credit our consumption of Cantonese media with my absorption of the Cantonese language.

So of course I complained on Facebook about it, and promptly received several suggestions about where I could consume media online. Here are the suggestions:


  • PPS.TV - Requires registration (which I think is free), and the entire site is in Chinese. I can read a little Chinese, but it takes a lot of effort, so I'm not sure I can use this one.
  • MapleStage - Recommended for dramas. Site is also in Chinese, and subtitles are in Chinese. Dramas are from mainland China, Taiwan, Korea, and Japan. 
  • Hulu - Supposedly has some, but a cursory search was unhelpful to me. 
  • AzDrama.Net - MONEY - Site is written in English, and contains Hong Kong dramas and shows. You can sort by shows with English subtitles, although many of the shows have Chinese subtitles. There are also Taiwanese shows and Chinese shows. Note: Their search sucks, and is one of the worst in-site search engines I've ever seen. I did a search for "condor heroes" to see if they had "Legend of the Condor Heroes", and every single search result took me to the HK Drama page. 
  • Crunchyroll - Was not mentioned, but was one of the sites I originally used to watch Cantonese shows. The focus seems to have shifted to Japanese and Korean dramas, but they still have Cantonese shows from Tai Seng Entertainment on. The selection is limited, though, because I think Tai Seng has an ongoing dispute with Crunchyroll, and they took a bunch of popular shows offline. 

Monday, August 13, 2012

The Updated Punchcard App Is Way Easier To Use

Ok, is it just me, or does Punchcard kind of suck at social media?

Evidence:


I only saw cursory references to the new features on the updated Punchcard app, and no detailed explanations in the official blog. It seems like basic common sense to tell your users what your new features are, across all your social media channels. 

Well, in case you're wondering, here's what's new in the Punchcard app:
  • You no longer have to be at your location in order to scan your receipt. If you're out of range of the store where you have a receipt, then you can just do a search for the zip code and the name, and snap a picture of the receipt that way.
  • Did I mention you can search for locations?
  • Each individual punch now shows you exactly how much you spent each time, down to the penny. 
  • You now have an "inbox" in which you are informed if your punch has been approved or not. If it hasn't been approved, you'll be shown a reason why.
An interesting item of note:

I actually made a lot of purchases over the past two weeks at different stores, and scanned those receipts in with no problem. However, I also returned items from those scanned receipts to the stores as well. Logistically, I don't think there's any way for, say, Target to coordinate with Punchcard to dock me the money I've saved by returning an item. It doesn't matter anyway, though, because I still end up spending that money at the same store. Punching away!

Saturday, August 11, 2012

Why I Deleted My Quora Account

Quora is a social question and answer site in which many of its participants are from the world of tech startups, which makes it a better place to get information than, say, Yahoo! Answers. When you ask a question on Quora, no matter how silly or misguided or honestly, stupid, you'll get at least one serious answer that has been carefully thought out, and the writer will take pains to provide evidence to back up his or her point of view.

So why would I want to leave? 

Because they decided to make lurking a thing of the past. Now, when you log on, other people on the site can see which questions and answers you've read, and also how you came to the post, whether via email, search or a public stream. Of course, if you don't like it, you can turn it off yourself. However, when something's on by default, most people don't bother to change it.

I like lurking. Although I find comment threads interesting, I rarely participate in discussions because I find doing so exhausting, even when it's enjoyable. I like being able to read freely without having someone know what I am doing, so I don't have other people in my head while consuming. I don't want to have even someone I know come up to me and ask me what I thought of that article that I may have read and forgotten about two weeks ago.

Frankly, do most people even care that much about what their friends are consuming? I know Facebook introduced the whole concept of "frictionless sharing", and people like Robert Scoble are invested in this idea that it somehow makes the Internet better when the entire Internet knows what you had for breakfast, what you read on the toilet, and what you sing in the shower. But honestly? I don't want to know all of that! If I was interested in what you thought about X, I'd have a direct conversation with you about it, whether online or off.

This trend that Facebook started is disturbing, and if it weren't for the fact that I keep in touch with my closest friends via Facebook, I'd have shut it down the day they introduced frictionless sharing. In the meantime, though, I'd rather cut through my social network clutter and eliminate the inessential sites that don't bother to respect the user.

It's too bad, because I have enjoyed my time on Quora. But life is short, and I can live without it.

What You Should Know About Deleting Your Quora Account: 

There is no option to delete your Quora account within your account options. In the account options, you have the ability to "deactivate your account", which just means that your account goes silent, but your questions, answers, and anything else you've contributed remain up on the site. However, no one else can actually interact with you.

If you want to actually delete your account, and delete all the content you've contributed, you have to contact privacy@quora.com and provide them with a direct link to your Quora account. My request was processed quite easily, although there was a minor glitch. When I clicked on my link to verify deletion, I found that my account was still up. I replied to the support staff, and they took care of the issue in a timely manner and deleted my account without further delay or questioning.