Satie

so i'm actually supposed to be reading my doc reader. the novel is not entirely boring, but my suitemates are complaining a lot about it. guess cos it's about chinese i finally get less repelled by it. for once. i'm almost killed by the BORING reader this quarter.
but i started downloading. a big SORRY to the dying classical music industry. well, heck it's dying anyways. but i swear i'll try to buy the cd's soon. i suddenly fell in love with satie. haven't listened to french music for quite a while. all this time been jumping up and down with the wicked dramatic russian tunes. so i think satie's cool. i like the dancing melodies in Gnossiennes, like the kind of music you hear in art films. like, i can imagine the slow mo and lingering eyes and water colorish pictures...and the hidden emotions and clever stories. Gymnopedies are simply too over-performed. the melodies just sound so cliche. k, that remark wasn't fair. shouldn't dissmiss the work cos it's over played. but still... i also like the unexpectedness in Trois airs à fuir very interesting. ok. this is turning into a review. no. brrrrrrrrrrake.

before i leave the topic, satie is reportedly an eccentric person. anyone tell me more? like i've never heard much of him before. k. fine. i go google more myself.

also accidentally, i got flemming's beau soir(debussy). well, how do i put it. it's nice. but her voice just seems too heavy for the part. it's like, a foggy night. might just be beautiful too, but the opaqueness just kind of feels weird. still puzzled why veronique is not famous. :( in my opion she's much better than most of other singers i've heard as far as the melodies are concerned. equally weird. she's supposed to be famous for singing mozart. i don't like mozart anyways. so i don't care.

What Brody gave us to read.

Two Retired Scientists -- Bill and Doug

Vogue

my meal points are finally facing termination. yay so i had panda express today. at the food court in price centre, i ate a 3-entree combo and a cup of soup. good good. :) after dinner i read the latest issue of vogue. it is either that the fashion business has been in rapid degeneration since the last time i read vogue in singapore, or the american taste cmi. well, i'm pretty sure that'll be the last issue of vogue i'll ever buy, at least here. no wonder the subscription rate is only a dollar for one issue. thinking, the only magazine found in francis crick's household was vogue. maybe it was better at that time. maybe it was better in england. maybe he sucked at choosing fashion magazines.

我看是郁闷的。

德州塔木农场新年庆祝

看来要解决个人问题，还是要深入内地，勇于下乡，到最艰苦的地方去。

！！！ 古琴丝弦濒临失传 zt

古琴丝弦濒临失传

六十多年前绝处逢生的古琴丝弦，如今再度徘徊在失传的边缘。
目前全国精于制作古琴丝弦的仅潘国辉一人，而即将退休的他身边尚无传人―――

随着退休之日的临近，潘国辉越来越忧心忡忡，因为目前全国仅他一人精通古琴丝弦制作工艺，而他身边至今没有一个能够承前启后的徒弟。昨天，潘国辉师傅向记者倾诉了萦绕心头的担忧。

古琴乃世界文化中最古老之弹拨乐器，主要由弦与木质共鸣器发音，至今已有四千年之历史。丝弦古琴源远流长，秦汉即有“削梧为琴，绳丝为弦”之说。潘师傅告诉记者，抗战期间，古琴丝弦一度销声匿迹，琴家缦友苦觅不得。在吴景略、庄剑丞等琴家的鼎力相助之下，苏州弦工方裕庭依据琴书上所载传统造弦方法加以研制，才恢复生产古琴丝弦，韵长意深的丝弦古琴得以绝处逢生。其后几十年，方裕庭是全国惟一的古琴弦生产者。1961年潘国辉师从方裕庭，开始制作古琴丝弦。可是，好景不长。十年动乱，古琴丝弦被迫停产，直至1978年重起炉灶。

古琴丝弦可谓命运多舛。现在苏州民族乐器一厂工作的潘国辉，万万没有料到，师傅苦心挖掘、来之非易的丝弦工艺，在历经六十余年的风雨之后，如今到他手里再次面临着失传之险。潘师傅说，他曾打算收徒传艺，但他现在每月收入700多元，这样微薄的薪水能让年轻一代安心学艺吗？而且，古琴丝弦市场低迷。全国仅苏州还在维持生产，而苏州民族乐器一厂惟独他一人能娴熟地精制古琴丝弦。虽然出自潘师傅之手的古琴丝弦名扬海外，但每年销量区区二百来副，利润微薄。

据了解，追慕前人遗韵的海外缦友，大多珍视丝弦古琴，因为钢弦古琴会衍生出金属噪音，且金属之声过重，余音太长，难以彰显古琴“清丽而静、和润而远”之原味原韵。然而，大陆操钢弦琴者居多，相当部分年轻琴友不谙丝弦弹琴。为此，苏州科技学院吴声琴学研究所最近联合北京、南京等地的琴友，向潘师傅定制了二百副丝弦，意欲在琴界推广丝弦古琴，为古琴丝弦寻觅生机，但终究势单力薄。

代代相传的丝弦古琴难道真的要弦断音绝了吗？潘师傅一脸忧愁地对记者说，听说古琴正在申报世界文化遗产，倘若古琴丝弦工艺失传，钢弦古琴能代表源远流长的中华琴学吗？！（董亮）

苏州日报 2003年6月30日

if you do not follow the rules

so there's a freezer in the lab that you dispose all the dead mice in. there is a sign on the freezer stating the rules of using that disposal site. the consequence of not following the rules is, according to the sign, "you will be added to next week's fly food."

scientists are really the most miserable pple in the world. they are stressed and frustrated most of the time. i used to imagine scientists to be well-mannered cultured intellectual indiividuals. so, the manner part is really not exatly correct. so in the lab you hear f*** all the time, everywhere. i even heard a scientist talking in the most frustrated tone "so the potential f***-ups will be blah blah blah, we need to do blah blah to prevent f***ing up blah blah. it's f***ing driving me mad" yeah. and the students decribe every failures as f***-ups. i'm getting used to it. i'm getting used to it.

k. so i've decided to make the fuss today.
yeah, so yesterday, i went for the asian culture night on campus. so food and stuff blah blah. half way through, there was a fashion show, showing off all the national costumes naturally. after my friend looking very cute in her sia uniform and a couple of korean kids, came an eurasian looking girl in a bright red "qipao" who claimed that she was from taiwan. (wth). ok, that aside, her slits on the sides of the qipao were up to the hips, and she was trying to do some dance moves with her matching folding-fan. obviously failed to seduce anyone, esp when compared with the real seductive pakistan girl later. well. i find her pathetic. she's wearing a chinese costume (well that's not even chinese, but some babarian manchurian costume) trying to do what chinese are really not good at doing. and while she tried so hard to present a culturally chinese image she had to distinguish herself as a taiwanese. (well if she wanted so badly to be distinctive taiwanese, why didn't she wear some native taiwanese gaoshan costume?? that's inferior, obviouly, in their eyes) yeah fine. and then there were flocks of japnese wearing all sorts of weird things. my uneasiness at the show was probably pretty obvious, cos many friends asked if i was ok. i wasn't unhappy cos i didn't see a mainland chinese up there. such things like showing off and selling ourselves out is really not in our blood. man. how cheap. look at the japanese who were so proud of their so-called contemporary japanese teen outlook, which is really just a lot of random combi and bad taste. i admire how confident they look in that crap. that might be what draws them close to the western world. also, hard-selling their "culture" has always been their specialty anyways. back to the chinese thing, if the westerners think they know what chinese are like from that kind of frivilous performance, such as that by the TW girl, let it be. but they are wrong. it's just pathetic. both the entertainer and the entertained.
oh don't tell me to just enjoy such things without any political preoccupation. can't do it.

absolute horror. my mom got herself a blog. a BLOG. my MOM. well. my dear mother catches up with technologies faster than most pple her age. i can't even decide if that is fortunate or unfortunate of me. but still. wow...

Copley Hall

went downtown for rehearsal. and i've got to say, wow. Copley Hall is pretty. a little too victorian for my liking but, pretty. and it's a very small cozy hall, with the audience hugging the stage that creates very intimate acoustics. the whole thing is in a warm orange tint which i like too. so everything went pretty pro. the solo violin is fantastic. the pianist is such a "finger spinner" (uh-hm a real one. :p ) the conductor moved so much i thought he was going to fall off the stage. well, it's jazz, but still... looking forward to concert. the sop beside me keeps saying that we need to do the screamississimo tastefully hah.

VITAS

I'll say this gay-looking boy is pretty cute. sorry if my coverage seems outdated haha.

and you've got to hear him. reminds me of farinelli. countertenor. anyone has any idea if he's more of a countertenor or boy sop? he's 24...

lamp

the MQ

this is the funniest publication i've seen on campus. much better than the koala which i consciously avoid most of the time. so read the latest issue on radiating sun god and such..
The MQ
It's hard to imagine it's funded by the school..

philip glass

Buy it... if you relax to atmospheric classical music led by piano and strings, harmonious by nature, but without clearly defined themes.

Avoid it... if you prefer scores with more sharply defined cue changes and thematic swells, or if you never plan on sampling any of Glass' work.

this is what i read at some website, as recommends for the soundtrack of the film The Hours. well, i do agree to the "avoid it" part, but the "Buy it" it part is very misleading. well, i don't think philip glass' music can be considered classical music, especially this one. it just doesn't have drum beats. but that's not important. the thing is, i can never relax to philip glass' music. his has too much tension for that purpose. even though he's a minimalist and all, piano and string only whatever and he has no distinctive melody most of the time... his music is superior at mood painting. think about the mood in The Hours. it's nothing but disturbing conflict, tension, agony and struggle. how could you. how could you relax to such music?

such websites... well. i don't really see the point of writing such recommends at all.

一只大强

强人人体素描

某人的画
看他的画，想起小时候一笔一笔认真画静物时的情景。色调，明暗，形，线，虚实处理，都是那么小心。看这些画，我如梦初醒：不知从何时起，我学会了漠视学院派的训练，忘记了细心钻研光与影关系，然后耐心的调色，诚实地用笔纪录的感觉。（还记得刘寅教我，颜色不要调得太熟，稍微调调就上去，才有味道。可是要小心调，一下调准。刘寅其实不错。）后来我只一味地涂抹，一味地抽象，以为自己很现代，很潇洒，而学院派的很过时，陈腐，放不开。误区，都是误区。荒唐啊。

mmm叫它作大漠

构图有点问题，太满了。没办法了。看来还得再画一张。

gene names

so apparently there's this contest for funny genes going on in my genetic class. my prof was primarily inspired by two woman scientists in ucsf who mapped the genes on the Y chromosome. apart from the real gene "testis determining factor TDF" the rest are made up. such as:

Channel Flipping - FLP
Air Guitar - RIF
Ability to identify aircraft - DC-10
Total lack of recall for dates - OOPS
Selective hearing loss - HUH?

and the whole list with locus mapping is HERE

choir choir

choir choir. i just heard the recording of VE XV (i think. the roman numbers are really a fuss to remember.), as many of my old friends have pointed out, they sounded SO good. I wouldn't say that was impeccable, but their music had so much meaning in it. well i've not heard the glorious batch's performance, but since i went into rj, it finally has a near perfect choir. yes they are truly giving the music its soul, because they put so much of their own into the making. they sound so mature, their executions so subtle, not like an average high school choir. i trust my friends when they say that the choir sounded better in the competition and i really regret not being able to be there when they compete. whatever gross outcome of the competition is not important, even though it did shock me and totally disgusted me, the choir should've done well and should be proud of their excellence. and i am sure the conductor is far too professional to be affected by such minor disturbance. he knows perfectly well how good the choir is and his faith in the choir is enough for the choir to grow and blossom. it's only not very fair on my juniors to make them feel bad despite all the effort and achievement. sigh. like what one of my juniors said, we should just boycott syf. not a bad idea at all.

i can't quite figure out what liszt tries to say in his sonatas. sometimes they just appear to me as plain beautiful. i don't understand him at all.