steve kwan user experience designer

Tom Cruise knows everything

(June 29th, 2005 - 11:43AM)

Have you seen Tom's interviews lately? How did he go from being a smirky nice guy to a jittery, egomaniacal Scientologist? On The Daily Show, Lewis Black showed a clip of him talking about how chemical imbalances are a fallacy. He said to the interviewer something along the lines of, "You don't know about consumer drugs. I do."

Recently, Tom said to an interviewer, "Are you really so arrogant as to believe we are alone in this universe?" (credit to Fark for the link)

When did Tom become the expert on everything? And where is this attitude originating from? Was he always like this? Or is he goofed because he replaced Nicole Kidman with someone young enough to be his daughter? Well, at least he really loves her. That much is "obvious."

#7

(June 27th, 2005 - 5:11PM)

#7: Leonard Cohen - Dance me to the End of Love

A beautiful love song that was, oddly enough, introduced to me by one of the creepiest guys I know. Most people I know who've heard the song love it. It reminds me of dancing in Venice. Yes, I really did that.

I've been tagged

(June 23rd, 2005 - 11:14PM)

Richard says I'm supposed to answer this.

"Post five things you enjoy, even when no one around you wants to go out and play. What lowers your stress/blood pressure/anxiety level? Post it to your journal, and then tag 5 friends and ask them to post it to theirs."

So here are my answers.

1. Decaf Venti vanilla lattes
2. Cute girls who like me
3. Paycheques
4. Bailey's
5. Well-formed XML.

I don't know if there's any point tagging five other friends, because I belong to the same small blog community as the rest of you. But here goes.

1. Dunning
2. Divyesh
3. Graham
4. Vikram
5. Ryan.

Mezmerized

(June 17th, 2005 - 7:06PM)

I downloaded the new System of a Down album, Mezmerize, and I've been looping it on my iRiver. What a weird, disjointed, nonsensical band. None of the songs make sense, and at least one of the songs goes from metal to acoustic. I think I even heard an accordion in there somewhere. In short, it's a really screwed up record.

And yet, it's amazing.

Somehow, all of the strangeness and incongruity of Mezmerized fits together into a wicked record. Songs like Question! are hardcore and yet friendly enough for radio play.

System of a Down is an incredibly difficult band to categorize. When you read a critic's review that says an artist is uncategorizable, that's usually meant as a compliment. However, it's also usually wrong. When Moby released Play, critics said he defied genres, but after listening to the album I realized he could quite easily fall into the technoshit category. In the case of System of a Down, however, they just may be actually uncategorizable. What other band transitions so well from heavy metal to soft rock?

One thing that really stands out about System of a Down to me is that they are undeniably ugly. And that's a great thing. Rock isn't about being pretty. I'm tired of listening to Chris Cornell sing about his pain. A real rock star is a very, very ugly man. Or woman.

I saw System of a Down play on Saturday Night Live; if it were possible to kick someone's ass through a television set, it would have been a lot like their performance. It was incredible. Unless, of course, they were pulling an Ashlee Simpson, but who knows?

The first time you listen to System of a Down, you're likely to think to yourself, that's shit. But it's worth a second listen, because you might realize, that's good shit.

Faces not even a mother could love - unless you're mother's a roadie.

Pictures for my loyal readers

(June 14th, 2005 - 11:46PM)

I know my updates have been lacking for the past few days. Thanks for continuing to visit the site.

I've put some pictures from my Edmonton trip in my gallery page. Also, below is a picture from a gay date with my friend Richard. Arms locked, and drinking pina coladas. Click to enlarge.

Home sweet home

(June 12th, 2005 - 10:13AM)

It's so good to be back in my house. And it looks like it's still standing.

I had a good trip, even though my head has been hurting for the past few days (probably as a result of the drinking binge). It seems better now.

Successful installation

(June 10th, 2005 - 7:38PM)

Everything at Alberta has went well. We've also met some great people who have expressed interest in working with Eloquent in the future. I'll be bringing this up when I get back to Vancouver.

I really like being able to expense things. If I want a salmon dinner, I don't have to worry about what it costs; I just expense it! I bought a twelve-case of beer; good thing I threw out the receipt or I might be tempted to try expensing it.

I'm in my hotel now; the wireless Internet keeps cutting out and I'm not pleased about it.

I finished downloading Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II and I want to go home so I can play it.

Business trip

(June 7th, 2005 - 6:34PM)

Here I am, in Alberta.

I've been helping a new client - I shouldn't reveal who they are - with their software. My liason has done a good job unraveling the layers of bureaucracy that I would otherwise battle. They're a really large organization.

This organization has outsourced their IT to a large corporation, and relations between the two companies have been strained. Eloquent has a great opportunity to perform here, as we're almost guaranteed to look good in comparison.

Things have been going very well so far. I'll try to keep updating. I haven't been taking any photos, mainly because I'm lazy. But you're not missing anything; Alberta's not that interesting.

Alberta

(June 5th, 2005 - 11:25PM)

Heading to Alberta to help out a client tomorrow. I'll try to continue updating the site while I'm there.

#8

(June 3rd, 2005 - 2:49PM)

#8: Dave Matthews Band & Paul Oakenfold - When the World Ends

There were only a handful of redeeming moments in The Matrix Reloaded:

• An army of Hugo Weavings, which was a definite improvement from the original Matrix's single Hugo Weaving.
• A ridiculously expensive car chase.
• This song. It's moody and makes me wanna drink coffee.

Eloquent is sending me to Alberta for a week. I'll try to continue updating the site while I'm there.