Medical & Vocabulary: New Words from House Finale

Image from Fox

I must say, nothing really interests me these days. I try really hard finding other interesting topics other than the Galaxy SIII, but still, I could only find Galaxy SIII interesting. Until I remember, I had been avoiding the finale of House which was stored on my computer's hard disk. Why was I avoiding it? Guess I didn't want it to end. But in the end, I watched it, and I didn't regret watching it because it was a skilfully filmed episode. It was deep and I like deep.

Image from Fox

The lighting, the angles, the transitions, the philosophy, the battle within his great mind. It was really a nice episode, but if I were to ask for more, I wanted to see more round-ups for House's colleagues. Fake death, has typical Sherlock Holmes written all over it. The funeral was a little too rush and too short, there seemed to be too little time to build up the atmosphere of sombreness.

Image from Fox

What House offered me is more than just lots of medical terms and knowledge, but lots of beautiful sarcastic lines as well as vocabulary. The other day, a student asked me which show he should watch to improve his English, and I said, if you are advanced enough, then watch House, because it will take you to an even higher level.

I have included the vocabulary in the list below, some of them are highly useful!

For really cool quotes of House, don't forget to visit TV & Quotes: House M.D. Season 8 Finale & The End (With Cool Quotes).

Vocabulary:
finale -- (n) [C usually singular]  the last part of especially a musical or theatrical performance, which is often very exciting or emotional
sombreness -- (n) seriousness, sadness and without humour or entertainment
carpe diem -- (saying) seize the day
perjure yourself -- [R] legal  to tell a lie in a law court, after promising formally to tell the truth
white lie -- (n)[C] a lie that is told in order to be polite or to stop someone from being upset by the truth
dock (my pay) -- [T] to remove part of something, especially money
smack-addled -- (adj) -- smack slang  heroin (= a strong illegal drug) addled [T] mainly humorous  making someone feel confused and unable to think clearly
baritone -- (n)[C] a man with a singing voice that is lower than a tenor but not as low as a bass, or a musical instrument with this range
evasive -- (adj) answering questions in a way that is not direct or clear, especially because you do not want to give an honest answer
facile -- (adj)  describes a remark or theory which is too simple and has not been thought about enough
take the fall -- (slang)  to get arrested for a particular crime. (Especially when others are going unpunished for the same crime. 
overplay your hand (with sb) -- to spoil your chance of success by saying or doing too much
(had sb as) a backstop -- (n)[C] (in baseball) a high fence behind the player hitting the ball, which prevents balls from leaving the playing area if they are not hit or caught
bickering (with sb) -- (vb)[I] disapproving to argue about things which are not important


Resources:
TV & Quotes: House M.D. Season 8 Finale & The End (With Cool Quotes) @ Locky's English Playground
http://lockyep.blogspot.hk/2012/04/tv-quotes-house-md-season-8-finale-end.html

House — Episode 7 (Season 8): “Dead & Buried” @ Polite Dissent
http://www.politedissent.com/archives/8224

Choriocarcinoma @ Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Choriocarcinoma

hCG @ Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_chorionic_gonadotropin

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/platitude?q=platitudes#platitude__3

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/finale
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/sombre
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carpe_diem
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/perjure-yourself
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/white-lie
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/dock_4
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/smack_3
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/addle
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/baritone
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/evasive
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/facile
http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/take+the+fall
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/overplay-your-hand#overplay-your-hand__1
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/backstop_2
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/bicker

Technology & News: Free Apps To Recommend Part 2

Image from xdadevelopers

Image from xdadevelopers

Apps come and go quickly, the entry I wrote back in November recommending apps has already been installed on most of my friend's devices. In this entry, I will recommend some apps which have spinned off from the Galaxy SIII together with a couple of other pretty good apps you may like to give it a go!


Kicking off with the Emulated Galaxy SIII Live Wallpaper for your Galaxy SII, offering you the ripple experience of the SIII lockscreen at the point of touching. The drawback is that it will use more of your battery. Well, but everything you use requires battery anyway, and if you are not yet getting an SIII, you can still entertain yourself with this little app.

Download here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=1080988&d=1337858694 and install.

Image from SlashGear

Next, Flipboard has not only come to the Galaxy SIII but also to the rest of the Android devices! An amazing app which allows you to link up your Facebook, Twitter and the web then presenting to you in the form of an electronic magazine. I particularly like the positioning and resizing of the photos. Brilliantly done! You can still share and comment on your favourite posts while you are using it. Trust me, you will love it!

Download here: https://downloads.flipboard.com/android-beta/0a319c667/Flipboard-1.8.4-63-beta-release.apk

Image from xdadevelopers

Image from xdadevelopers

If you like the look-and-feel of the TouchwizUX of the Galaxy SIII, you can also download it and many other stock widgets from here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1666384
Thanks to Smando of xdadevelopers.

Image from Google Play

Image from Google Play

After Focus is a decent app which allows the user to post-edit their sharp photos and making it blur -- Bokeh! The tricky thing is, you need to learn to draw 3 lines. One is the clear and unblurred boundary, second is the semi-blurred, and last the fully-blurred. If you draw it wrongly, the software will prompt you, so it is not too hard to use really, and the output is quite nice too!

Download here: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.motionone.afterfocus&feature=apps_topselling_free

Image from Google Play Image from Google Play Image from Google Play

Finally, LINE Camera. Excellent guide to add effects and funny, cute stickers to the photos. Adds colours to the making of eCards or ePhotos for your friends and love ones. Lots of creativity allowed with the package offered. Great stuff! Touch a dear friend's heart by sending them a photo produced by the LINE Camera, you'll both have a good time making and receiving the photos.

Resources:
Technology & News: Free Apps To Recommend Part 1 @ Locky's English Playground
http://lockyep.blogspot.com/2011/11/technology-news-free-apps-to-recommend.html

[LWP] Samsung Galaxy S III Dandelion LWP @ XDA Developers
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1659991

Official Flipboard App
https://downloads.flipboard.com/android-beta/0a319c667/Flipboard-1.8.4-63-beta-release.apk

[PORTED][ALL-ROMs] TouchwizUX from Galaxy S3
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1666384

After Focus App @ Google Play
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.motionone.afterfocus&feature=apps_topselling_free

LINE Camera @ Google Play
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=jp.naver.linecamera.android&feature=search_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwyLDEsImpwLm5hdmVyLmxpbmVjYW1lcmEuYW5kcm9pZCJd

Message: No News? Not Really, Just Not Interesting Enough

Image from Samsung

No news? Well, not really, the most exciting one for me is the launch of the Samsung Galaxy SIII, but too much of it will definitely turn off my other non-SIII-interested readers, so I decided to shut up... at least for awhile, about the SIII... or maybe a little bit more before I do actually shut-up, and that is I have finally found a good excuse for me to wait a little longer before I splash out my cash to get it -- I will wait for the Pebble Blue colour one to come out first and compare which colour I really want to get. Then again, I will go to New Century Plaza in Mongkok before the 3rd June to try out the phone myself.

I might even make a hands-on video review myself! If that is the case then it would be my very first video on the internet. I'll see how it goes. It might just be fun!!!

I have added one additional video in my last entry just now for those of you who want to hear what the professional software developers from xdadevelopers have to say about SIII.

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And you should have noticed the change of theme from House M.D. to SIII on our blog.

No sure if you consider this a news or not but I have just realised that I have left my USB flash drive in the evening school which contains a piece of homework which I am currently working on and the class note for the class I did tonight. Not sure what the night school will do to it and I will go back to reclaim it tomorrow morning. (What a bummer!) Fingers crossed!

**********************

And then there was this solar eclipse which I missed, but actually, everybody in Hong Kong also missed. I will just let Kai help me tell you more about it!

Epic fail? Indeed!

Subscribe/Like to our English Playground if you want to hear me talking about my own stuff rather than reading more research stuff, or subscribe if you want to read more research stuff.


Vocabulary:
launch -- (n) [C] an event to celebrate or introduce something new
splash out (sth) -- phrasal verb UK to spend a lot of money on buying things, especially things which are pleasant to have but which you do not need
reclaim -- (vb) [T] to take back something that was yours
bummer -- [C] [S] offensive something that is very annoying or not convenient
Fingers crossed --  cross your fingers (also keep you fingers crossed) to hope that things will happen in the way that you want them to
epic -- (adj)  informal  extremely large



Resources:


Hands-On with the Galaxy S III: UI, Gestures, Web Browser, and USB Host @ YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6idNXrjfAo


Technology & Event: Samsung Galaxy SIII Reviews @ Locky's English Playground
http://lockyep.blogspot.com/2012/05/technology-event-samsung-galaxy-siii.html

How to Take Photos of an Eclipse (EPIC FAIL?) @ YouTube
http://youtu.be/lL2kR1EJKkw

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/launch_1
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/splash_1
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/splash-out-sth#splash-out-sth__2
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/reclaim
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/bummer
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/cross-your-fingers_2#cross-your-fingers_2__1
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/epic_2

Technology & Event: Samsung Galaxy SIII Reviews

Image from Samsung 

This time, it is serious! Samsung Galaxy SIII has already begun selling in Dubai and it is available for pre-ordering today!!! Let's have a look at what it means by "designed for humans".

What do you think about the commercial? I think the concept is pretty cool!

Here's my interpretations of the commercial.

The first shot on the ripple lockscreen is really the most eye-catching selling point -- "it understands you" when you swipe across the screen, the water pattern follows.

The "hands-on-heart, phone-to-phone, palm-to-palm-separated-by-glass-wall" airport scene "shares what's in your heart" with S Beam and is really touching! Wedding and running hand-in-hand "keeps track of loved ones"? That's the Social Tag, a glance at yourfriends’ photos will show you their current SNS status..

The baby touches mummy's finger and "recognises who you are" is brilliant and warm! And of course that is referring to the Face Unlock function which is available on Android Ice Cream Sandwich v4.0.

The orchestra conductor swinging her hands left and right follows your every move, could refer to several functions, in particular the S Voice, which you can tell it towake up, answer, even take a photo

Girl running with scarf and the jumping wedding group with "sees your best side" refers to the Best Shot function which intelligently select the best photo for you.

Waves and sunlight -- "connects with nature" with the Pepple blue and marble white choices.

Smart Stay "waits till you are asleep".

Samsung Galaxy S3 pop-up shop @ London
Image from recombu

In fact, there are many more functions then the TV ad can say, check this following video out!

A more detailed review on words can be found here, written by The Verge : http://www.theverge.com/2012/5/25/3042640/samsung-galaxy-s-iii-review

Additional video by the xdadevelopers, a website for professional programmers, who were testing this amazing phone, see what they have to say about the phone from a programmer's point of view.

Pre-order in Hong Kong is almost over, as the phone should be on sale pretty soon. For those of you who are interested in trying it out before you buy, such as me as I want to see which colour suits me best, you can check out the following website,

http://www.samsung.com/hk/galaxys3/

Or simply, see the following poster,

Resources:
Samsung Galaxy SIII
http://www.samsung.com/global/galaxys3/
http://support-hk.samsung.com/galaxys3/

[GALAXY S III] Official TV Commercial @ YouTube
http://youtu.be/OsP-S2nETCc

Samsung Galaxy S3 gets pop-up shop @ recombu
http://recombu.com/news/samsung-galaxy-s3-gets-pop-up-shop_M17810.html

Samsung Galaxy S III Review @ YouTube
http://youtu.be/L4l8zhx6TeA

Samsung Galaxy S III review @ The Verge
http://www.theverge.com/2012/5/25/3042640/samsung-galaxy-s-iii-review

Hands-On with the Galaxy S III: UI, Gestures, Web Browser, and USB Host @ YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6idNXrjfAo

Samsung I9300 Galaxy S III @ GSMArena
http://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_i9300_galaxy_s_iii-4238.php

Technology & News: Samsung Galaxy S3 Has Finally Arrived!!!! @ Locky's English Playground
http://lockyep.blogspot.com/2012/05/technology-news-samsung-galaxy-s3-has.html

Rising star: Samsung Galaxy S3 @ TODAY Online
http://www.todayonline.com/Technology/EDC120528-0000079/Rising-star--Samsung-Galaxy-S3

Song: I Started A Joke -- Bee Gees

Image from Billboard.biz

Definitely deserves more entries from our English Playground and my late sleep tonight just to finish this entry, Bee Gee's slow songs not only live forever, but also provide huge opportunities for learners to practise their listening skill.

Mainly sung by Robin Gibb, "I Started A Joke" is a song with two interpretations, one as a outcry of social alienation, and one as a self-reflection of the devil.^[1]


Simply and wonderful melody, beautifully sung, magically magnetising the deepest of the listeners' heart.

I started a joke Which started the whole world crying But I didn't see That the joke was on me, oh no I started to cry Which started the whole world laughing Oh, if I'd only seen That the joke was on me Running my hands over my eyes Image from Jeanetics: Blink I looked at the skies Running my hands over my eyes And I fell out of bed Hurting my head from things that I'd said Brave heroes started the whole world living @ Tyne Cot Military Cemetery, Passchendaele Image from photo.net Till I finally died Which started the whole world living Oh, if I'd only seen That the joke was on me I looked at the skies Running my hands over my eyes And I fell out of bed Hurting my head from things that I'd said Till I finally died Which started the whole world living Oh, if I'd only seen, oh yeah That the joke was on me, oh no That the joke was on me, ohh

Thank you Robin once again, for all your great songs and music.



Vocabulary:
outcry -- (n)[C] a strong expression of anger and disapproval about something, made by a group of people or by the public
magnetise -- (adj) to make an object magnetic
alienation -- (n)[U] the feeling that you have no connection with the people around you

Resources:
People: Thank You, Robin Gibb!!! R.I.P. @ Locky's English Playground
http://lockyep.blogspot.com/2012/05/people-thank-you-robin-gibb-rip.html

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_started_a_joke

Bee Gee Robin Gibb Mourned and Hailed in Britain @ Billboard.biz
http://www.billboard.biz/bbbiz/industry/record-labels/bee-gee-robin-gibb-mourned-and-hailed-in-1007110352.story

I Started A Joke @ elyrics
http://www.elyrics.net/read/b/bee-gees-lyrics/i-started-a-joke-lyrics.html


http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/outcry?q=outcry
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/magnetize?q=magnetising+#magnetize__3
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/alienation_1?q=alienation

People: Thank You, Robin Gibb!!! R.I.P.

Tribute to Robin Gibb

Robin Gibb
Image from wikipedia

Thank You Bee Gees, for bringing extraordinary songs to this world!

Number 5 / Johnny 5
Image from hexus

For creating romance in your magnificent falsetto songs!

For making my childhood filled with hope, decency and love!

For bringing disco music to this world!

You didn't start a joke, you started the whole world loving! You started my loving your songs even before I was born, when I was in my mother's womb!!!

Robin Gibbs, R.I.P.

Vocabulary:
falsetto -- (n)  [C] (plural falsettos) a form of singing or speaking by men using an extremely high voice
decency -- (n) [U] behaviour that is good, moral and acceptable in society


Resources:
Short Circuit (Johnny 5) - More Than a Woman @ YouTube
http://youtu.be/kOWYVT5xABA

bee gees - more than a woman @ YouTube
http://youtu.be/2ZCtgFmQvjQ

Bee Gees - How Deep Is Your Love ( Original ) HQ [ NO CONCERT / NO KARAOKE ] @YouTube
http://youtu.be/BBMriOspUvA

Bee Gees - Stayin' Alive [Version 1] (Video) @YouTube
http://youtu.be/I_izvAbhExY

Bee Gees - I Started A Joke and First Of May  @YouTube
http://youtu.be/0QTQdAKUZmA

Movie: Short Circuit @ Locky's English Playground
http://lockyep.blogspot.com/2011/03/movie-short-circuit.html

Song: How Deep Is Your Love -- Bee Gees @ Locky's English Playground
http://lockyep.blogspot.com/2012/02/song-how-deep-is-your-love-bee-gees.html

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/falsetto_1?q=falsetto+
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/decency?q=decency