Body of Lies

I've watched this movie over and over again for these days. It's worth of watching. I don't know if it is used as a teaching material for diplomats,but it's so genius that everyone gets to know how secret agents operate their tasks. And how dangerous they are!

The screenplay is great. Though one would doubt why would a pro agent (Ferris,starring Leonardo DiCaprio) fall in love with a local girl and get caught by people using her as the bait.

And,in the late of the movie,agent Ferris is taken into a car by several other cars producing a sandstorm to cover and make the satellite surveillance completely useless. How come Ferris doesn't carry a GPS gadget to identify himself ?

All in all,this is a good story told by a good director and acted by good actors. Director Ridley Scott,the director of the epic Gladiator,has talents to deliver a great amount of information to audience piece by piece. And Russel Crowe,one of Ridley Scott's favorite actors,plays his role vividly and hatefully as a CIA Near East division head.

While I enjoy this movie,I also wonder what if some other people,unlike diplomats,have watched and studied it? Maybe terrorists,maybe would-be terrorists?
But with so many talents in Tinseltown,people might not worry about this. Screenplay writers would come up with greater plots to outdo this one.

The Lisbon Treaty

Before going to Europe,I'm interested in the process of European integration. Not long ago,the Lisbon Treaty was ratified by the EU members. What is it?
What's the impact when it comes into force?

I didn't have too much time to study the treaty sentence by sentence,so I read over the "fast facts"of the treaty,and came up with my take of it.

Well,for the people who are doubtful about the idea "the world is flat" will be assured that they're not wrong. And for the Eurosceptics,the treaty proves again that "all the european states linking together as a country functions well" doesn't work.

The Lisbon Treaty,coming after the failed European Constitution,bears so much pressure to keep the EU members all together and better enough to rival its counterparts,like the United States and China.  So it allows the EU members to keep their rights and prevend the EU regulations and laws to intervene in their sovereignty.

Some member states have the final say on the issues like taxation,immigration and abortion policies. While keeping highly flexible,the functioning of the Union under the Lisbon Treaty might still stay where it is today. Without a single policy and consensus,one might expect more treaties and amendments to come.

European Union is an acclaimed and succesful regional integration example. Euro states have been working on staying as a whole from a single market to a single,well,federation. But after four decades of hard work,the EU and its people still need more time to get their plans come alive.

Family

My cousins visited us,along with their parents. They came from abroad. Before they finished the senior high in Taiwan,they were sent abroad.
My older cousin spoke like an adult yesterday. That was to my surprise. I only remembered her younger days in Taiwan. They're grown-ups now.
And I know why people miss their families.

Sometimes I think a man should do something great,just like a CIA agent Leonardo DiCaprio plays in the movie "Body of Lies".

But I also know that sometimes a man would be another kind of human being,like the actor in the first installment of renewed James Bond movie series,"Casino Royale". James,in the movie,meets a girl that melts his heart gradually,he even wants to settle down with her after falling in love. That's not easy for a agressive,power-hungry and conceited man.

In the ends of both movies,the two guys all end up,probably,alone. I think that would be my destiny too.

However,in the process,something might be unveiled.
Maybe there will be ansers to a long-asked question by myself:"What is the meaning of life?"

Real World

Let's talk about business.

The latest copy of Taiwan's BusinessWeekly unveiled some scoops of one of the fastest-growing companies in the world - Samsung.

Samsung is now a corporate giant in many ways. It makes the most LCD monitors,occupies a large proportion of LCD TV market and is second to none when it comes to NAND Flash or DRAM making.

Samsung is also the second biggest hand-set maker,only a spot shy of Nokia.
From the inside story of BusinessWeekly,Samsung makes its fame by mass producing design-oriented but affordable products. And it always tries to kiss up to its enemies to learn and gain hi-end techniques.

Now Samsung has a whopping leading advantage in comsumer electronics,and one should not be surprised to see a staggering amount of advertisements and commercials posted and aired all over the world.

How can we,the Taiwanese,beat them?

Of course the magazine puts out some strategies to meet the global giant. But one thing is vital important: Samsung has the Korean government get its back. And the Korean government could do and come up something attractive to allure Foreign Direct Investment(FDI). In my opinoin,their government works better than ours.

Taiwan's economy used to benefit from small-and-medium size companies. But now,this island is ailing because of the transit of capital. Taiwanese entrepreneurs have moved their money and factories to mainland China and caused a series of bilateral effects. Now we suffer from a lack of energy inside and a striking challenge outside.

The remedies not only rely on the free-trade deal with China,which is the so-called ECFA. But to transform our economy to the next generation,and to lead the world by hiring persons with global perspectives.

Acer's climbing to laptop market is a good example. I think without Gianfranco Lanci,the CEO of the Acer group,it would not be the No.2 right now in the laptop industry. At least not so fast to be among the top brands of the world.

So,for other enterprises,if they want to compete with the world,they may have to find the guys who can win the world. Not just by us,the Taiwanese,only.

That's what I think about tackling Korea. And they do have realized and done the philosophy of global recruitment. Not only for corporates,but the government itself has hired some foreign experts as advisers.

We have to keep up,or to be left behind. 

50

Tonight,I went to a concert. It was really awkward. It was held to celebrate an anniversary. But I couldn't know how the concert relate to that anniversary. The content was messy,and without any comment or interpretation,I had no idea what was going on when the show was brought up.

I don't like drum performance,I'm usually not entertained by drums. But this concert was kicked off by a series of drum-knocking. How boring it was!

I guessed all of the company's big shots seated on the lower deck had the same kind of feeling as mine,wondering what to do to get rid of the boredom. Counting sheeps? Maybe.

I postponed seeing a doctor tonight. Under a treatment,I'm supposed to see him and take medicine for six to twelve weeks.

Anyway,from the beginnig of the show,I'd started counted the time before its end,and had been cooking up something for tomorrow.

I have something up to do tomorrow.

Day 4 (11/29)

Yes,when I wrote this article,it's been more than ten days passed after Nov.29. I had been busy for a while,and now let's read on and make it a piece of memoir in Tokyo:

We went to Yoyogi Park as commited to each other last night. But before the Park,we went into the Meiji Shrine and took a look of the surrounding areas. The weather was delightly perfect. Sunny,but not hot at all. And to my surprise,we witnessed a wedding ceremony. This was not my first time to see a Japanese traditional wedding ritual,but I guessed it was my newly-made friend's. I had saw it on the second day I got here.

When we went out of the Shrine and headed to the Yoyogi Park,there was a billboard with a picture showing people in traditional gowns. Then I knew the Shrine might use itself as an attraction to those would-be brides and grooms,commercially. I thought so.

Afterward we hanged out in Yoyogi Park a bit,and turned to a flea market across a road soon. There,we had fun looking for things,mostly clothes,with cheap prices. And sure we were both satisfied when leaving the market.

Shibuya(涉谷) and Ometosando(表參道) were the last few places we visited together. We talked a lot and shared our views of life,travel and philosophy of design. We stopped at the Aoyama district,this was the last place I could be. I could't walk ahead more,nor be my friend's company. It was time. The final call to go back to the hostel,take the luggage,hop on a train and make it in time to my flight.

It was sad to say good-bye. I shaked my friend's hand,and said good-bye,eventually.

On the way home during the flight,I slept,ate and slept again. I thought I went with a mood,but ended up happily. How amazing! I would never figure out and fathom the depth of humans,relations and life. But I think I can try to meet them open-mindedly,and take the results well.

Sometimes,you do what you do,and leave the rest out of your reach to others.

The followings are a few photos I like the most. They may be the reason I go back again someday.

Day 3 (11/28)

International Day.
Today I met four cute persons.

(1).A girl in Department of Medicine(藥學部) of University of Tokyo,who's from Liaoning Province,China,said "Follow me!" to show me the main gate of the school. She was taking part in a senior high alumni reunion of Lianing,and happened to meet me on her way. She used"I didn't expect to meet a Chinese before going to that event" as conclusion. She was cute.

(2).A 25-yo boy,studying microbiology at U. of Tokyo,wanted (or was going) to be an engineer after graduation from the Graduate School. He showed and led me to a Chiyoda Line(千代田線) subway station. That trip took us more than 20 minutes. How nice he was! Though he barely spoke English,we catched up with each other a bit. And I knew he went to the Tokyo Tower once,with his girlfriend.

(3).Katharina,a fashion designer,who had her intership in Hong Kong,revisited H.K. and flew to Tokyo. Her next stop will be Kyoto.
She lives in Germany. She's a german with fluent English,and a pair of beautiful big eyes. She's pretty,slim and young.
Did she say she has graduated or something? I didn't really catch that part.
Anyway,we might visit Yoyogi Park together tomorrow. I'm going to show her the way there.

(4).An architecture student from New Zealand. He's a Chinese,and soon to be a New Zealander. Only 2 years later,he'll have a N.Z. passport,said he.
His home is in Sichuan,China,and he's invited to join a contest here in Tokyo. He said he went present something before noon and had a dinner in Roppongi Hills(六本木).
He's traveling around central Japan for 3 weeks,including Yokohama,Osaka,Nara,Nagoya and Tokyo. He'll leave Japan from Osaka. He's on vacation after that contest,because the school is off. The flight ticket is offered by the host unit. His professor's good friend,a teacher/professor in U. of Tokyo,is going to show him the architecture of the university itself,on next Wednesday,Dec. 2.