The Painted Veil

The second film I saw on its opening day really impressed me. An unusual western love-after-marriage story set against the beautiful scenic backdrop of Southern China in the 1920s, 'The Painted Veil' emphasizes the emotional development of the main characters. In the end I saw that there was no lack of love between Walter and Kitty; what was lacking in the beginning was the discovery of it.

Unlike any other movies I went to, this time I waited and watched the end credit, and was glad to see China Loafer listed as a Cable Runner. His 'Crying Babies' is a very interesting blog entry.

By the way, the soundtrack features Lang Lang as the solo pianist. But I don't think it showcases his skills.

My First NBA Game

Tonight I went to the TD Banknorth Garden and saw my first NBA Game (or even any basketball game) ever. I was surprised that I actually enjoyed it, even though my home team lost to the Philadelphia 76ers and neither team played that well. I realized why basketball is a favorite pastime:

1) Sportsmanship: work hard to win; work as a team; tactics, etc.
2) Cheerleaders (Celtics Dances) are hot. Many dances and costume changes.
3) Great entertainment:
a)) National Anthem performed by a 4-person choral in Colonial costume (the mic could have worked better)
b)) Trampoline Sky Riders were cool
c)) Aerobatics performed by Celtics Dances and assistants
d)) Really cool to see yourself on big screen, funnier when it's from a fish-eye lens
e)) Junior cheerleaders: girls and boys were great
f)) Everyday Hero: today's was an animal-rescue officer who led a cute black dog to the arena

Other things I saw:

1) Many ads
2) Many kids in the audience
3) Many kids involved in entertainment programs
4) Audience likes to make noise and chant "D-fense"
5) Sports photographers use Canon L lenses (gosh, those are EXPENSIVE)

Last but not least, I learned some of the basketball rules. Thanks to X for being a very patient personal commentator, who also taught me baseball rules.


Will I see another NBA game? Given the chance, sure. Maybe I should go see Yao Min in Houston :)

Great Blue Heron

看了albatross的鱼鹰，我也贴个捕鱼的家伙。

According to our resident bird expert A, this one is a Great Blue Heron. It is a large bird, very elegant, yet stealthy. A good fisher, he caught two fishes in the 20 minutes I watched him.


The bird was so still that I thought it was a sculpture, until it moved ever so slowly and then so fast to catch a gold fish:
and flew to the other end of the lake with his catch:
我的漫漫器材路啊，还很修远。。。

catching another one:
dinner again:



画鸟，就是先画一个蛋，再画一个蛋，然后把两个蛋连起来。

Coverage

Oh no, this is not a post of anti-cleavage :)

Last night when I was walking to my car in the underground parking garage, my cell phone rang. It startled me, because I always lose signal when I enter this garage which is two stories below the ground level. Apparently now it works, and the signal is really good: I got 4-bar out of a 5-bar maximum. I am really happy that my cell phone service provider has improved their coverage where I could benefit from. Then again, this is the underground garage that has enjoyed free wireless Internet service since a year and a half ago. Cell phone coverage is definitely the next thing on the agenda.

Viva technology!

Ambergris 龙涎香

noun
a waxlike substance that originates as a secretion in the intestines of the sperm whale, found floating in tropical seas and used in perfume manufacture.

ORIGIN late Middle English : from Old French ambre gris ‘gray amber,’ as distinct from amber jaune ‘yellow amber’ (the resin).


An 82-year-old woman sent her 67-year-old sister a Christmas gift, except this one was ugly and weighed four pounds, and she didn't bought it from a store. In fact she found it on a beach 50 years ago and kept it around. The older sister sent it to the younger sister who now lives by the ocean, hoping that she could find out what it was.


So now you guessed it: it might be ambergris, though after the ban on commercial whaling, an expert is still needed to confirm it. Valued at $10 a gram, this Christmas gift could be worth about $18,000. However, the sisters might have a hard time selling it, because endangered species legislation has made buying or selling the stuff illegal since the 1970s.


Ambergris starts as a waxlike substance secreted in the intestines of some sperm whales. The whales eventually expel the dark and foul-smelling blobs to float the ocean. In essence, ambergris is just whale vomit. Then waves, wind, salt and sun do their magic to the whale vomits so they may wash up as solid, fragrant chunks. Ambergris is a rare and often valuable ingredient in fine perfumes.


So next time when you apply a fancy perfume, think that one whale might have helped bringing that fragrance to you.


To see a picture of this ambergris, click here for the NYTimes article. (The link might expire very soon.)

Cleavages

SPB and JL on the hit TV series CSI:

CSI : Las Vegas = CSI : Guts

CSI : Miami = CSI : Cleavage



So in this vein, Director Zhang Yimou's new movie "Curse of the Golden Flower" (《满城尽带黄金甲》) can be summarized as

"Curse of the Golden Cleavages".

How People Find My Blog through Google

Random thoughts:
1) People search for anything.
2) 山楂树之恋 proves to be popular over a long time period.
3) People don't linger around my blog. Number of pageviews per visit is usually 1.
4) How come people searching for webtroubadour  ended up clicking my blog?
5) How many pages do you have to go through to get to my blog when you search for 狂犬病治疗?

Thanks to M and V for their help in data-mining.

Also thanks to my readers from google search for this interesting dataset.

#--------------------------------------------------------
# Date Range: 8/1/2006 - 8/31/2006
#--------------------------------------------------------
Keyword Visits P/Visit
山楂树之恋 2 1.00
美女 博客 1 3.00
"aol data" 1 1.00
cassatt+Portrait of the Artist's Mother 1 1.00
文 美食博客 1 1.00

#--------------------------------------------------------
# Date Range: 9/1/2006 - 9/30/2006
#--------------------------------------------------------

Keyword Visits P/Visit
美食博客 1 1.00
mit fire truck 1 1.00
丑瓜美食博客 1 1.00

#--------------------------------------------------------
# Date Range: 10/1/2006 - 10/31/2006
#--------------------------------------------------------
Keyword Visits P/Visit
http://liebestraum.blogspot.com 2 1.00
liebestraum 1 1.00
莱克星顿中学 1 1.00
Liebestraum sms 1 1.00
liebestraum photos 1 1.00
"how much does a musician" 1 1.00
valdez, ALaska photo -exxon 1 2.00


#--------------------------------------------------------
# Date Range: 11/1/2006 - 11/30/2006
#--------------------------------------------------------
Keyword Visits P/Visit
set up wireless router for comcast 1 1.00
Out of Africa  Clarinet Concerto A 1 1.00
"malcolm lowe" 1 1.00
北桥诗社 1 2.00
ieva jokubaviciute 1 1.00
山楂树之恋 1 1.00

#--------------------------------------------------------
# Date Range: 12/1/2006 - 12/31/2006
#--------------------------------------------------------
Keyword Visits P/Visit
rivalry between lang lang and yundi li 1 1.00
山楂树之恋 1 1.00
webtroubadour 1 1.00
狂犬病治疗 1 1.00

Carrickfergus -- Charlotte Church

I wish I was in Carrickfergus
Where the castle looks out to sea.
I would swim over the deepest ocean
For my love to be with me.
But the sea is wide and I can not swim over
Nor have I the wings to fly
I wish I had a handsome boatman,
To ferry me over, my love and I.

I wish I was in the land of Eire,
Where the mountains reach the sea.
Where flowers blossom as I do remember.
Where my true love came to me.
But the sea is wide and I can not swim over.
Nor have I the wings to fly.
Ahh to be back now in Carrickfergus
To be together .. my love and I.
To be together .. my love and I.

I wish I was in Carrickfergus,
To be together my love and I.

I wish I was back home again.

___________________________________

Disclaimer: I did NOT write this.

I'd rather be in Anchorage today

10:50am, Dec. 8, 2006

Am I Tonedeaf?

This week's Sciece Times featured the art of instrument design, specifically violin design. M made me listen to the online clips of recordings on two violins, one on a 1721 Stradivarius and the other on a violin by today's violin maker Schleske. I have to say that the difference was very subtle, and upon listening many times, with the help of a good headset, I could only tell that the new violin sounded a little fuller.

This made me worry that I might not be able to tell the subtle difference of tones. So I did the tonedeafness test again. The first time I did it (about two weeks ago), it was at 1:30am and I was really tired. I got 75% correct and ranked just around the average. I blamed that to my fatigue. I always thought I had a good sense for tones though I had no official musical training. Today I did it when I was not as tired. I scored 80.6% correct, and was ranked 69th percentile. (Well, I thought I could have done better!)

I had some interesting findings analyzing my responses from my two tests. Today I made 2 less mistakes than last time, while I made the same 7 mistakes all over again! I was correct on one question that only 23% people got correct, while I could be wrong when 72% people got correct! What is going on?

I think I have some memory deficit while taking the test. I tried hard to focus. But sometimes I just can't.


To help you better understand the scores:

>90% correct: exceptional performance
> 80%: very good
>70%: normal
>60%: low
<55%: possible pitch perception or memory deficit