Quote of the Day

“Here’s a useful tip: hot glass looks exactly the same as cold glass.”

 

Picture of the Day

I actually had this picture for a while, but I finally got to cropping and posting it to my blog. This picture is from Tetris Arena on the Tetris Friends website. It was during a one-on-one challenge match, where if you win three consecutive matches against three different people, you get a Challenger’s Crown.

As you can see from the picture, I’m busy at work stacking my pieces and sending lines to my opponent. This screenshot was taken by my opponent, who had a glitch on his side – he couldn’t see any of his pieces. That meant, even if I sent lines to him, he would never get them, because lines only flood after the next piece is dropped. Because of the glitch, we effectively were put in a never-ending Tetris match.

Fortunately, my opponent was a good sport and said that because it was his side that had the glitch, he would close his browser window to forfeit the match and give me the victory. I decided that I would post his screenshot on my blog and tell the story to show how appreciative I was for his generosity.

 

What I’m Reading

After reading Blink by Malcolm Gladwell and being satisfied with it, I decided to read Gladwell’s other books. Earlier today, I finished reading The Tipping Point, a book about the the top of the mountain – the point that something reaches and becomes an epidemic.

The book goes on to describe three key things, among others, that turn something into an epidemic: the Law of the Few, the Stickiness Factor, and the Power of Context.

The Law of the Few states that there are a handful of very special people that can set off an epidemic because of their social status, may it be because they are extremely popular or extremely convincing.

The Stickiness Factor states that in order for something to become an epidemic, it must stick to the general population. Without it being sticky, or memorable, it will never last an extended period of time in a successful state.

Finally, the Power of Context states that in order for something to have a maximum effect, it must take place at the right time. The environment has a more significant effect than many believe it does, and could be the difference between an epidemic and a failure.

Similar to Blink, The Tipping Point brings insight to some interesting and intriguing topics that could be put to positive use in real life. However, the writing itself from an entertainment viewpoint isn’t as good as Blink was; although some good anecdotes were included in The Tipping Point, I feel it wasn’t as attention-holding as Blink.

 

What I’m Watching

By recommendation of a few different people, I watched I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry earlier today. The movie stars Adam Sandler, Kevin James, and Jessica Biel.

The two main characters, Chuck and Larry, are best friends and are firefighters in New York who have been partners at work for a long time. The main conflict of the movie is introduced when Larry tries to change his beneficiaries after his wife’s death, but is denied because over a year has passed since his wife’s death. After saving his partner Chuck’s life, Larry knows that Chuck owes him. Larry devises a plan to form a same-gender union with Chuck so Chuck can become his beneficiary. However, something that seemed simple turned out complicated when the state government began sending out investigators after suspecting that neither Chuck nor Larry were homosexual and were only united for benefits.

After watching Brüno two days ago and getting enough homosexual jokes to last me a long time, I was discouraged before I started watching I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry. However, as I got several minutes into the movie, I knew that it wasn’t as crude as Brüno was. I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry quickly became comedic and interesting, and I enjoyed the entire movie. I would recommend it to anyone who likes a good movie – the great natural personalities of Adam Sandler and Kevin James make the whole movie hilarious.

 

The Daily Shoot Assignment of the Day

Triangles keep the viewer’s eyes on a photo. Follow a triangle, and you see other elements. Make a pho­to with triangles.

The rounded triangular shapes of guitar picks were the closest thing I could find to the shape of a tri­angle.