Filed under: Music
I am not a fan of Mozart’s opera, but I am a fan of Mozart’s violin concertos. In particular, recently I couldn’t get enough of the following piece.
In early 1980s (or late 1970s), the Chinese government invited Isaac Stern for a “music exchange” visit to China. It was all documented in the documentary “From Mao to Mozart”. For me, the most memorable sequence of the film is when Isaac Stern taught the current Chinese National Philharmonic how to properly play this piece.
Filed under: Lifestyle
So I have been windsurfing 3 times in the last 4 days. First day: excruciating back pain — which matched my experience 2 years ago. No surprise there. Second day: Sailing beautifully and felt an exhilarating upper body pain afterwards — arms, abs, even butt. Which made me think this would be a wonderful and fun complement to running (which is just foot work); I was supposed to build up upper body strength anyway.
But today, the injuries were stacking up. Arrived at Evanston: 7 knots wind. Choppy water. Lots of white waves. (In the process of windsurfing, you may already get sea sick). It took a long time for us to get on the board — a LONG time. I was surprised by how long it took myself to this, consider that I had almost immediately hopped on and sailed on in the first two times. Furthermore, at one point, I thought I was gonna die.
1. A BUMP ON THE HEAD (and almost fatality): I was trying to get on board, as a big wave was crushing toward shore. The mast fell toward my side. I lost balance and fell in. The mast followed. And hit me right on the head as I was in the water. The sail covered my head, and the weight of it pushed me under the water. Meanwhile, another wave came in and pushed the sail down under. I drank several gulp of water and tried to regain my clarify (after the mast hit my head), struggled to swim out of the sail but continued to be pressured under. Almost out of breath. But finally got out. (But that was scary). Just now when I washed my hair, I realized there’s a bump on the upper right hand side of my head.
2. TWISTED WAIST: I shouldn’t pull up the sail with one hand. But sometimes I got so tired that I did just that. Consequence is that right now I am suffering from disabling left side back pain, and had to wear a corset and have a lot of trouble sitting and walking or bending.
3. CLAMPED FINGERS: Several times when I tried to climb onto the board the mast moved and clamped my fingers between the board and the mast. Go figure.
4. TWISTED ANKLE: there is an area in the lake which is pretty far from the coast, but the depth of the water is deceptively shallow. So a gust of strange wind blew from nowhere and I felt off the board on my back, but landed STRAIGHT on my ankle. The foot immediately turned soft and I became a jellyfish. (For a moment, I thought, I will never be able to run away). From then on, pretty much I paddled back to shore.
Bottomline: I am still alive. And plan to do more of this and add on more injuries.
Filed under: Music
I like Cantonese rap (plain vanilla Cantonese rap…not techno/english-infused-ABC like Edison Chan’s). As P said, Cantonese has 9 tones. Perhaps this is a language meant for rap? Some Cantonese rap lyrics can be so “dei sei”.
Anyway, I find the following song by LMF (Lazy Mutha Fucka) quite soulful. Currently listening one of their older albums.
个个乎 返屋企既故事香港地算唔算是我地屋企试下只身处地去念下我地点解个个都觉得自己衰到贴地九七过后班鬼佬就纳晒包袱飞番屋企 PET低你地班孤臣儿子响树食自己厄 去到第二度又黑鬼憎丢空人咪死死地滥番来风暴过后D人就更加净是识得照顾自己无晒方向感D心态就更加投机 D贵楼就继续起 丢空无人住都继续起唔俾你搬上去等公关拒拖住你连班级饭碗都渗 无晒士气做甘多门面也都是晒气家阵既香港同以前又边树 有得比无论你去到几远记得要番屋企边度至是我地既成长地无论你去到几远记得要番屋企唔好忘记 唔好忘记无论你去到几远记得要番屋企呢度至是你地既成长地无论你去到几远最紧要识得返来咪劳气 咪泄气又有无念番起以前细个 一家人一张折台一齐食饭电视送饭 睇欢乐今宵但是家阵就各有各食喳喳琳扒完就呢埋入房玩ICQ 以前既家个个都系狮子山下睇下而家个个就要乜乜豪霆你问下你个细佬边个是卫亦迅拒唔知 净是识得有个陈亦迅以前歌仔都有甘唱我地大家系狮子山下顶硬上而家香港唔似样香港无根 香港人无归属感你班高官点唱都是废话有钱个班讲野都是甘假市民既生活就越来越差至怕个个缆住一齐等死咪怪我越描越黑无面俾无论你去到几远记得要番屋企边度至是我地既成长地无论你去到几远记得要番屋企唔好忘记 唔好忘记无论你去到几远记得要番屋企呢度至是你地既成长地无论你去到几远最紧要识得返来咪劳气 咪泄气有太多的说话如何去表达各有各的选择 是无奈既潇洒谁不想可以留在家 谁人问可对话有多少既年华
Filed under: Economics
Basically, recently every where I look links international trade with climate. I didn’t follow the debate and now I am trying to get back onto the boat.
Meanwhile, this NYT article makes me look twice:
Trade and Climate
When leaders of the world’s richest nations and the big developing countries agreed at the Group of 8 summit this month to restart global trade negotiations, they sent a powerful signal about the need for concerted action to deal with the world’s economic emergency.
It was disturbing, however, that they could not agree on a common strategy for reducing the greenhouse emissions causing global warming. Trade and climate policy have become increasingly entangled. A failure to agree on how to address global warming could undermine half a century of opening world trade.
The House of Representatives proved the point last month when it passed a climate bill that would impose trade penalties on countries that do not accept limits on carbon emissions. Last year, the European Commission approved the idea of an “equalization” levy on imports from countries that have not agreed to cut emissions.
President Obama rightly opposed the penalties in the House bill. Unilateral sanctions are unlikely to work and more than likely to provoke a dangerous protectionist tit-for-tat trade war. Yet if the world’s biggest emitters of CO2 — including the United States, China and India — fail to reach an agreement at a meeting in Copenhagen in December, the temptation for countries that accept limits on emissions to impose unilateral sanctions on countries that do not could well become irresistible.
The main reason trade and climate change are linked is that the damage inflicted by carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases is not mainly local or regional. If big emitters do not cut back, atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases will continue to rise dangerously no matter what the rest of the world does.
Moreover, without a worldwide agreement on emissions, strict limits in signatory countries would very likely lead to a fall in energy prices in countries that did not agree to cuts — encouraging even more energy consumption in those places and undermining the goal of stopping climate change.
Congress is concerned that domestic limits on carbon emissions would put American companies at a competitive disadvantage with rivals in countries with no such caps. But that is not the only problem. In the absence of a system of import duties related to carbon, industries with high emissions might relocate to nonsignatory countries to save money. Or they might fail, unable to compete with dirtier and cheaper foreign rivals.
There are precedents for using trade measures for environmental goals. The Montreal Agreement to curb the use of ozone-depleting gases included trade controls on such substances. And the World Trade Organization has suggested that levying taxes at the border on the carbon content of imports would be acceptable if they are devised properly — in the same sort of way as some consumption taxes are levied on imports, ensuring equal treatment with domestic products.
Such tariffs must be part of an international agreement on climate change. Unilateral penalties against fast-growing polluters like China and India would be seen as illegitimate and could easily backfire, scuttling chances of an agreement on climate issues. Congress must refrain from putting sanctions in its climate bill.
An international accord that includes trade-related enforcement measures must also include commitments on emission reductions all around, as well as financial aid for poorer countries, like India and China, to meet the caps without sacrificing economic growth.
Further, any deal must set clear guidelines on how to identify and quantify transgressions and establish appropriate countermeasures. It also must not open a backdoor for protectionism. Without such a deal, trade is going to have problems. Failing to conclude the current negotiations will be the least of them.
Yesterday I had conversations / caught up with 4 friends, and while the topics discussed with each are strange:
Friend 1: why is there 6th sense?
Friend 2: lots of scary details on laser hair removal
Friend 3: the good, regularly life
Friend 4: kindred spirits
They keep me grounded and the next day, I was still mulling over the reminders they served me.
And I am amazed at how many people somehow have faith (although, might be misplaced) in me. It is flattering. But I am the only one who knows it.
Filed under: Random
Two souls had the following conversation one night:
Cleopetra: a coworker of mine said, before he got married, he said from now on he was going to have another job. Yeah, a JOB. So many jobs already. When people found the one and no more jobs, would that be the beginning or boredom?
Penelope: that’s why you can’t stop looking until you find the connected soul. And there is a name for such souls. It’s call “kindred spirit”. You have to find your kindred spirit.
Cleopetra: a book said most people don’t find the kindred spirit.
Penelope: XXX probably reaffirms me that my kindred spirit exists out there. I just need to find them, and he must has all the good stuff that XXX doesn’t have.
Cleopetra: maybe only 1 out of 200 married the kindred spirit.
Penelope: perhaps you don’t marry the kindred spirit.
Penelope: but you make friends with kindred spirit.
Cleopetra: i don’t think i’ll
Cleopetra : what do you mean
Penelope: who could be like a 60 year old woman/man
Penelope: or a 12-year old child
Cleopetra : probably not a child
Penelope: you may not meet your kindred spirit until you are 54 year old
Penelope: but in between you would have married someone
Penelope: and in between your husband probably would have died
Penelope: so perhaps, we can’t really wait until the kindred spirit comes along
Penelope(: but at least, give it some time
Cleopetra : maybe you can make anybody your kindred spirit
Cleopetra : if you try hard enough
Penelope: no way
Penelope: probabilistically,
Penelope: chance is small
Penelope: that so many things mash
Penelope: but we are assuming that one has a SPIRIT
Penelope: if one doesn’t have a spirit, one perhaps does not need a kindred spirit
Cleopetra : i know
Cleopetra : so funny
Cleopetra : what do they need
Penelope: dead fish
Cleopetra : seriously
Penelope: they need what they see other people have?
Cleopetra : can’t be that easy
Penelope: they need companionship because they can’t hear their own spirit?
Cleopetra : where is the motivation
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What is a kindred spirit afterall? The following post comes up when you google “How to find kindred spirits?”.
*************************************************
“All my friends have a kindred spirit. Except me. Sure, I have a lot of friends, but we don’t have a lot of things in common. I want someone who truly understands how I feel rite now…the rue I’m going through.
Someone who’s favorite color is also black(or white).”
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It seems to suggest that kindred spirits could be ridiculously easy to find. It is only a matter of black or white.
In honor of all my kindred spirits out there:
Filed under: Music
Well, I have heard of Bruce Springsteen many times, but never have I really listened to his music. And then I fanatically watched the “We are the World” clip (which I posted earlier), and the one voice that really stood up for me is Bruce Springsteen’s. You can call it howling, but I call it soul — he had it when he rocked out that phrase “we are the world” with his closed and slanted eyes. This kind of singer is quite particular to the rock music genre….I have always had the idea that the most powerful singers are rockers.
Another random thought is this: very good singers sometimes don’t demonstrate their power in their own songs…but when called to participate in other singer’s song, playing minor role, such as backup, harmonizing voice, or co-singer, they shine — very, very brightly. Some of the great singers whom I have discovered through this collaborations (and not from their own music) are: Reba (from duet with Natalie Cole), Nelly Furtado (in Michael Buble’s Quando Quando Quando), Julio Iglesia (in duet with Frank Sinatra), and now with Bruce.
Anyway, I post his song “BORN TO RUN” here. Each time I re-listen to it, my liking for it increases. The tone of this song undulates between that of the the voice of a man pleading softly, and then calling forth urgently. In particular, the way Springsteen delivers the following line with the mix of pleading, seductive desperation really touch me:
“Together wendy well live with the sadness, Ill love you with all the madness in my soul”
This is NOT a boring song. Within it there is variety. That is probably why I think it truly deserves its title as the 14th greatest guitar song in music history (as voted by Rolling Stones)
In the day we sweat it out in the streets of a runaway american dream
At night we ride through mansions of glory in suicide machines
Sprung from cages out on highway 9,
Chrome wheeled, fuel injected and steppin out over the line
Baby this town rips the bones from your back
Its a death trap, its a suicide rap
We gotta get out while were young
`cause tramps like us, baby we were born to run
Wendy let me in I wanna be your friend
I want to guard your dreams and visions
Just wrap your legs round these velvet rims
And strap your hands across my engines
Together we could break this trap
Well run till we drop, baby well never go back
Will you walk with me out on the wire
`cause baby Im just a scared and lonely rider
But I gotta find out how it feels
I want to know if love is wild, girl I want to know if love is real
Beyond the palace hemi-powered drones scream down the boulevard
The girls comb their hair in rearview mirrors
And the boys try to look so hard
The amusement park rises bold and stark
Kids are huddled on the beach in a mist
I wanna die with you wendy on the streets tonight
In an everlasting kiss
The highways jammed with broken heroes on a last chance power drive
Everybodys out on the run tonight but theres no place left to hide
Together wendy well live with the sadness
Ill love you with all the madness in my soul
Someday girl I dont know when were gonna get to that place
Where we really want to go and well walk in the sun
But till then tramps like us baby we were born to run
Filed under: Music
The paradox of death is that it draws the living together. In the memorial service which I have personally been to, I often find the atmosphere is that of rejoice of living rather than the dead. People leave the memorial service with a peaceful heart rather than one that is encumbered by turbulent emotions. Memorial service for great people often bring together other great people, who otherwise who just go on living their often hedonistic, narcissistic life; and in these situations, they show sides of them which we normally don’t see. An of course when great people gather together, there is a show to be seen.
So Michael Jackson’s memorial service yesterday was a great show. In particular, I really liked Usher’s and John Mayer’s performance.
Anyway, am I the only one who find John Mayer’s performance of MJ’s Human Nature extremely sexy?
Filed under: Music
Michael Jackson co-wrote this song with Quinsy Jones. I heard it when I was young. But saw it again today in MJ’s memorial service. Looked it up on Youtube and am currently amazed that MJ had the star power to round up such a well known and diverse group of pop stars of his time to produce this great song:
Seriously: Together are Dionne Warwick, Cindy Lauper, Kenny Rogers, Stevie Wonder, Ray Charlies, Bob Dylan, Diana Ross, Billy Joel, Paul Simon, Bruce Springsteen, Tina Turner — Wow wow wow….
Can we still do it today?
COFFEE & BISCUITS 