Christmas 2009

Before Christmas Day, I hosted a small dinner party for 3 friends. This was our second cook-out involving the same group of friends at Chef Allegro's kitchen (the first one being my birthday a couple of years back and I was really grateful for their showing up!). This was not an easy job -- one guest is a vegetarian, a second only eats meat, luckily the third one is like me, who loves everything. I was extremely unorganized that evening, almost burned down my kitchen by neglecting oil in a wok on high heat while attending to other chores. Mind you, this happened not just once, but a couple of times, so I started to worry that I might have becoming senile.

My guests brought coke, spanakopitas (OK, V does eat some vegetables), and a creamy custard dessert (H&M are really good dessert chefs!) which I didn't get the name. What I prepared were the following: zucchini pancakes, tomato egg drop soup with fish balls, bok choy with mushrooms, steamed shrimp with mung bean noodles, stir-fried squid and celery, and sweet and sour pork ribs. Last but not least, my home-made spicy sausages. Yum yum, everything was so good that we agreed to have cook-out dinners together more often.

Then came Christmas Eve. We went to an Italian restaurant on Park Plaza and had a family style three-course lunch. Again everything was so good that I ate too much. I then invited myself to Y's because she has a sewing machine. I had dinner with her family (she is a good chef!) but I was so full from the Italian lunch that I could only have a small bowl of her delicious spare rib soup. I started sewing after dinner, and oh my, didn't I realize that I was not meant to be a tailor! In any case, I eventually finished sewing a full apron. That was my first sewing project, and might as well be my one and only!

On Christmas Day I went with W and T to a Jewish Christmas party hosted by an Indian guy S who is also a good chef. Attending the party were some Jewish people, and many more non-Jewish people, including Indian, Thai, Chinese, Chinese American, Japanese American, American, and maybe others. We had to sing Happy Birthday to You, Jesus per order of the host, before we could eat dinner comprising roasted lamb (very moist), roasted vegetables (in the lamb fat), Focaccia bread (love it), brussels sprouts, mashed yams (sweet), spaghetti, and countless varieties of desserts (did I mention the super strong rum chocolate balls?). I also had my first mulled wine, very strong, too. I asked the question, "so why is this a Jewish Christmas party?" One guy, who might as well be a Jew, said, "did you have to pay to come to the party?" I said, no. He said, "that's why it's Jewish, because it is free!"

Then I noticed people were watching Yule logs burning on a really old TV placed on the floor right in front of the fire place! We actually finished watching the 48-minute free on-demand Comcast video, and then switched to a very boring snowman on-demand, which didn't move at all. Out of the boredom caused by the snowman, I asked my second question (see how slow I think -- I blame it on the food trauma), "so exactly how old is Jesus today?" "2009", someone said. Someone else disagreed. Then we had a good discussion on what AD (Anno Domini) and BC (Before Christ) mean and how come there is no Year Zero, and if that is the case, which year was Jesus born in, and then one guy commented, oh, let's hope his birth didn't take a whole year to happen! We were informed at the party that scholars believe that Jesus was born a few years BC (then again, what exactly does Before Christ mean if you can't even figure out when he was born!), which I did hear before that based on the appearance of the exceptionally bright star (must be a nova) in the sky, he was almost certainly born a few years BC. Just like this, my profound question bewildered all the PhDs and PhDs-to-be at the Jewish Christmas party.

The next day I got an email from YL who was visiting from Silicon Valley. I meant to meet her this past summer in SF but she didn't have my phone number in her new iPhone thus not knowing who the missed call was from (?!). 有朋自远方来，不亦乐乎？It was really nice seeing her and other old friends and new friends at a Sichuan restaurant. Again, the food was really good and I ate too much. Now I know what my new year's resolution should be.

Well, I didn't just eat all the time during the holidays. I was busy trouble-shooting, too. Finally I solved the mystery that's been bothering me for almost 3 weeks: the sudden demise of my kinase assay. Lesson learned: I have to be suspicious about everything, and I can't trust anybody (of course including myself, to be fair). Guess what caused the problem? The stock buffer I used apparently lacks Mg2+ (not supposed to be)! And without Mg2+ kinases can't phosphorylate their substrates. It's that simple!

Wish everyone a happy and prosperous Year 2010!

从流行到古典（3）贝多芬《第七交响曲》第二乐章

我在美国的第一个室友Vienna是向我介绍音乐剧的人。她很迷 Andrew Lloyd Webber 的 Phantom of the Opera，去伦敦的时候专门跑去看。这一点，五年之后我在伦敦等签证的时候也想效仿，不过那几天的票全部售罄，我就只好断了这个念头。其实在那之前，最早接触音乐剧的东西，是大学的时候听的黄莺莺的一张英文碟里的 All I Ask of You，也是从胖那里借来的，也是出自这个剧，年少的我感动连连，‘爱我，是我对你唯一所求’，呵呵。来美国后，我在百老汇看过一场 Phantom of the Opera，坐第一排边上，脖子都扭酸了。那场景可是真壮观，我非常开眼界，音乐呢就是再熟悉不过的了。现在想起来，我都很惊讶于为何我对音乐剧那么钟情，也许是我人生的一个阶段吧，不知不觉我就越过了那个时期，热情不再了。

但是这并不影响我对 Sarah Brightman 的喜爱，尤其是当我看到那张有着精美的，过度ps的艺术化的照片的Classics专辑。和我前面介绍的两个流行专辑不约而同的是，这也是由古典音乐改编的。里面的一首歌 Figlio Perduto，风格迥异，编曲给我的感觉好像是中东的音乐，反正就是非常的特别，没想到居然是贝多芬的《第七交响曲》第二乐章。我当时就震惊了。

Figlio Perduto / Sarah Brightman



Lost son

Walls of wind
Night has fallen
Father and son are together

With a horse
They proceed
Through this intense darkness

But suddenly
The boy trembles
With fear
It gets cold

Father oh father
Haven't you seen
The king of the elfs
There he is

Lost son
Do you want to play?
I bring you joy
Come with me

Father oh father
Did you hear
What he said
And what he will do?

Lost son
If you don't come with me
I will use the power that I have

Father oh father
The king of the elfs
Is touching me
He hurts me

And the boy
Eyes closed
He doesn't move
He's already lost

Son
Lost son
If you don't come with me
I will use my power

Father oh father
The king of the elfs
Is touching me
He hurts me

And the boy
Eyes closed
He doesn't move
He's already lost

...he's already lost


我第一次完整的听贝多芬的交响曲是在大学的时候。贝五的敲门声就不算了，我那时从我们班现在最有名的同学L那里借了贝六《田园》，可惜不得其法，不知怎样欣赏，首先，为什么它有五个乐章啊，一般只有四个！旋律是很美，可是我不知其所以然。直到后来萍给我介绍了一套音乐教程，Greenberg教授的《如何欣赏古典音乐》，听完了48节课以后，才明白起来。原来音乐也像体育一样，要知道规则才能懂，才知道要期待什么。当然，规则也不是一成不变的，当规则被打破，出乎人们意料的时候，往往会更加精彩。贝多芬呢，就是一个开拓人物，打破了很多旧规则，创造了英雄气概的音乐。像他的贝三和贝五的第一乐章，都有catharsis的作用（这个词的中译，我的水平太低，不知道该怎么翻；《新英汉词典》译为‘感情受艺术的作用而引起的净化’），从压抑悲伤到找到方向，情绪被解放而激昂，听完让人痛快淋漓。我在学习贝三的时候就想，如果我不在了，在我的追思会上，我希望可以听到贝三的第一乐章，那样会多好啊。

贝七，贝多芬的Dance Symphony，写在他的全盛时期，在首演的当晚就大获成功，乐团不得不重奏一遍第二乐章。从此，这个乐章就大受欢迎，常常被单独拿出来演奏。不过呢，到了我这儿，还是先从 Sarah Brightman 那里听来，哈！


Beethoven, Symphony No 7, II - Karajan, Berliner Philharmoniker



大家好像并不爱听我八卦，那我就不八卦了，况且我也不忍心八卦老贝－－他总是在错误的时刻爱上错误的女人（年青漂亮贵族，而且不是已婚就是已订婚）。他和著名的 Immortal Beloved 终于也不能像 Cosima 和 Wagner 那样。他心灵上的痛苦，生理上的缺失，却激发了他的创作激情，成了我们乐迷的福音。

从此我就从一个浪漫主义者成为了一个贝多芬迷。

——————————————————————————————————————————————
updated Jan. 10, 2010, answering Troubadour's comment:

你很对，我的表达不够严谨。最后一句应改为：

“从此，我，一个浪漫主义者，就也成为了一个贝多芬迷。”

写到这里，我的流行的渊源也就结束了。Greenberg教授的讲座算是把我领入了门，从此不光只是会为浪漫主义的优美旋律和情感而陶醉，也为古典主义的明丽风格而动容，甚至学会了欣赏繁复而有时嘈杂的巴洛克主义－其实我也是后来才明白，这讲究形式对仗工整的巴洛克主义音乐风格，如counterpoint, fugue,是很合我这个自封的严谨科学工作者的胃口的。所以如果有一天，我写了一个《我爱巴赫》，请不要吃惊。哈！

旅行 - 许巍

阵阵晚风吹动着松涛
吹响这风铃声如天籁
站在这城市的寂静处
让一切喧嚣走远

只有青山藏在白云间
蝴蝶自由穿行在清涧
看那晚霞盛开在天边
有一群向西归鸟

谁画出这天地又画下我和你
让我们的世界绚丽多彩
谁让我们哭泣又给我们惊喜
让我们就这样相爱相遇

总是要说再见相聚又分离
总是走在漫长的路上

Is Taiwan R. O. China?

Today I went to the USPS to mail a letter to Taipei. I asked A's advice on how to write the address properly since he grew up there. So I wrote something like this on the envelope:

XXXXX
XXXXX (in Chinese)
Taipei, Taiwan
R. O. China

The clerk took my letter and started key in destination on her computer. I happened to glance at the screen on my side and noticed "China". So I pointed out to her that it should go to Taiwan, not just China (the Mainland). Then she said, "You should write down 'Taiwan' at the bottom, then. Otherwise it won't go there." I said, "I have 'R. O. China' at the bottom. Isn't that good enough?" She said no.

So apparently according to at least one employee at the US Postal Service, R. O. China doesn't equal to or contain Taiwan. Then I wonder, whether this means that they believe there is only ONE China, or that Taiwan is NOT China.

Now that is really puzzling!

从流行到古典（2）贝多芬《钢琴奏鸣曲“悲怆”》

Warning：这是一篇大大的，松散的流水账！我最近怎么这么爱回忆？想起了好多人，好多事！
———————————————————————————————————

在研究生院里，我遇到了几个朋友，对我的音乐爱好产生了重要的影响。第一个要提的就是萍。她是我的室友，还是四川老乡。有人问，你到底是哪里人？我爸是四川人－我经常要这样来解释我的名字（还有啊，Troubadour你怎么把我名字都说出去了！）；我妈是山东人（所以我和Albatross也算半个老乡），在云南长大；我在安徽出生长大，在云南读的小学一年级。所以，你说我应该觉得我是哪里人？

萍把我领入了音乐的殿堂。她虽然是学数学的，可是她很酷，因为她会弹钢琴。我们跟她去Leonard Bernstein曾经任教的音乐系的教室听她弹琴，美妙的琴声拨弄得我们心里痒痒的，于是我们就拜师学艺，从枯燥的音阶开始弹起。她还给我们讲述理论知识，比如和弦（我到现在也只懂最基本的），说Pachelbel的Canon in D，只用弹和弦就可以。不过呢，这么美的曲子，可能是因为和弦太多了吧，我学都没有学。当年我在音乐系的半地下室的小琴房里练的都是简单的练习曲，没办法，老胳膊老手了，这种精细的技术活不好学啊！所以我最高的成就就是巴赫的G大调小步舞曲，最后两个小节还总弹不协调。

我练瑜伽的时候认识了两个音乐系的博士生，日本女孩Yoko和台湾女孩玉慧。我受邀去参加过几次她们的作品音乐会。我那时只有听的份，没法和她们谈音乐，因为我什么都不懂。我就是觉得，她们的音乐好高深啊，我一点儿也听不懂。后来我才明白，现代音乐就是这样，因为太新了，我们的耳朵还没有适应呢。

说了半天，我们今天的主角就要出场了。有一年秋天新生入学的时候，认识了师弟，四川老乡H（好多年后，成为Facebook朋友后，我才知道H和我一天生日。我这辈子只遇见过两个人和我一天生日，还都是这十多年间才遇到的。按理说，概率不该这么低啊！）。H和他太太都是大厨级的人物。我记得水煮肉片最后一步往辣椒面上浇热油这一招还是我从他的一次party上学的。那次他一个人招待二三十个饿狼似的穷留学生，那要不是大厨的水平，敢揽这活儿吗？我最多也就招待个十几个人就已经忙得我四脚朝天了。

H向我强力推荐了我喜爱的齐豫的一张专辑《藏爱的女人》(Love of My Life)。他说，这可是齐豫和俄罗斯交响乐团合作的，效果特别的好，而且都是世界名曲改编的歌曲。我一听，果然如此，这成为了我大爱的一张专辑，其中的一首歌《Brave New World》更是大爱的大爱。说到这里，你一定猜到了，这首歌是从贝多芬的《钢琴奏鸣曲“悲怆”》改编的。对，就是改编自第二乐章，如歌的慢板。让我惊奇的是，贝多芬居然写了这么优美的旋律！我的意思是，贝多芬很少写优美的旋律，不是他不能，而是他选择不，他擅长的是把简单的动机演变成不寻常的作品，比如《第五交响曲》，第一乐章整个就是从那四声命运的敲门声演变而来的，你相信吗？所以，当我听到这么优美的音乐，我爱不释手，立马跑到图书馆，借了Claudio Arrau演奏的三部贝多芬的钢琴奏鸣曲（悲怆，月光，热情），一遍又一遍地听，见到朋友就向他们推荐，说是这世上最动听的音乐，放给他们听，可惜他们反应平平。我猜他们私下里一定觉得我疯了。

我就这样开始了对贝多芬的学习。

这里贴我喜爱的另一个钢琴家Horowitz的版本：
Horowitz plays Beethoven Pathetique Sonata - second movement

华语歌坛

最近发现了一个听歌的虾米，今天呢就听了第九届全球华语歌曲排行榜。好让我失望啊！给我印象最深的居然是李宇春的"下个，路口，见"，可见我听歌是就歌论歌，不带成见的。其它三首还有点印象的按顺序分别是：不要说话 -- 陈奕迅, 稻香 -- 周杰伦, 日光 -- 苏打绿。剩下的都是些毫无特色的芭乐风，唱着一些无关痛痒的你情我爱罢了。

突然发现，我成为了一个严肃的音乐爱好者，对华语歌坛都不感兴趣了！

马上要到贝多芬的生日了，我赶紧去写我的《从通俗到古典》（2）吧！

从流行到古典（1）柴可夫斯基《第一钢琴协奏曲》

我要在这里回忆一下我成为古典音乐爱好者的历程。这是一个曲折的过程，与我成长的那个封闭的时代有关。现在的小孩子跟我们那时候不一样了，他们很早就能接触到古典音乐，有些可能是想要逃都逃不掉那许多的钢琴课，小提琴课。哎，我当年怎么就没有这样的机会呢？

想起来已经至少有二十年了。那时候胖是我们这一伙特别要好的女孩子里零花钱最多的，而且她还有海外关系，所以她的音乐磁带很多，很流行。有一个寒假，我向她借了我喜爱的苏芮的这么一张专辑：

休息·工作·再工作… （1987）

里面有一首歌叫做《后浪》，我一听过耳不忘，非常震撼的感觉，那旋律根本就是来自不同的世界。看磁带单子上的介绍，说这首歌是根据柴可夫斯基的曲填的词。老柴我也是听过的，不过都是芭蕾舞曲。记得我们高中班庆元旦晚会上有这样的音乐抢答题，放一段音乐，还没有两个小节我就说是《四小天鹅舞》。所有的人，连出题的同学都睁大了眼睛望着我，说你回答地这么快啊？大家难道以为我是只会数理化的nerd么？这有什么，这个我太熟了。其实那个时候，在我们那个小小的地级市，接触古典音乐的机会是很少的，只有广播电台偶尔介绍一下，那可是我非常喜欢的时刻。我记得那时江苏台有个播音员好像是叫海容的，是我的最爱。她有一档15分钟的节目会介绍西方古典音乐。没想到就是那么巧，就在我听过《后浪》之后没多久，海容介绍了柴可夫斯基的《第一钢琴协奏曲》，当然是非常简单的介绍，然后放第一乐章的主题。天啦，这不就是《后浪》吗？钢琴和交响乐队让这音乐更加的辉煌了！我听得热血沸腾。在节目重播的时间，用我们家那个基本不工作的红灯录音机把主题给录了下来。这是我第一次发现原来老柴还有这样的作品。




Evgeny Kissin & Karajan - Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No.1
俄罗斯钢琴天才纪辛在十七岁时与卡拉扬合作的柴可夫斯基《第一钢琴协奏曲》

但是真正得以欣赏这部作品还是到了美国之后。公立图书馆成了我的最好的资源，我在那里借音乐书和CD，然后我知道了本来老柴要把这部作品献给俄罗斯作曲家、指挥家、钢琴家、莫斯科音乐学院创始人尼古拉·鲁宾斯坦（Nikolai Rubinstein），却被鲁宾斯坦认为是不可能演奏的作品。后来老柴把这部作品献给了德国作曲家、指挥家、钢琴家汉斯·冯·彪罗（Hans von Bülow），后者于1875年在我的河对面的波士顿交响音乐厅全球首演了柴可夫斯基的《第一钢琴协奏曲》。看来我和这部作品还是有点缘分的。

说到这里我忍不住要八卦一下。这个冯·彪罗是李斯特的学生，并且娶了李斯特的女儿Cosima。李斯特是个很多情的人，终身未婚。Cosima是他与伯爵夫人Marie d'Agoult（差六岁的姐弟恋哦）的私生女。Cosima嫁给冯·彪罗后也没有闲得住，和比她爸爸只小两岁的另一个多情种子有妇之夫瓦格纳搞出了婚外恋，在她还是冯·彪罗夫人的时候为瓦格纳生了两个女儿。当然，如果是找遍天上地下难得的真爱知己，难道你还要为世俗道德宗教观念所束缚吗？所以说，现实生活有远远比电影电视剧更加撒狗血的精彩情节。

言归正传，我对柴可夫斯基的喜爱和更广泛的了解就是这样开始的。从壮观的《第一钢琴协奏曲》，到Boston Pops每年独立日焰火表演时演奏的庄严、雄伟、胜利的《1812序曲》，优美动听的《D大调小提琴协奏曲》，充满了爱、青春、和荷尔蒙的《罗密欧与朱丽叶幻想序曲》，哀伤的《第一弦乐四重奏》，以及六部交响曲，都给我带来感动。他的《B小调第六交响曲》又称为《悲怆》，忧郁抒情的音乐让我深深地为作曲家凄凉的一生而叹息。我要感谢他，感谢他为我们带来这么多优美的旋律、感人的音乐。

浪漫主义的情怀从此就埋在了我心里。

Santa Comes Again

Santa, how do you know I love music?

And chocolate?

Thank you so much, Santa! I can only guess who you are!

After the Snow

The first significant snow fall of this season happened last night (if we don't consider the dusting on Oct. 18). This morning it looks really pretty outside.

At the crack of dawn, a waning moon is still high in the sky:

Looking northeast:

And the sun is about to rise:

The same trees 6 hours later:

Inside, a Christmas cactus is blooming:

Sarah Chang - Salut D'Amour (Elgar)

两年多前，在“Boston's Top 100”中我提到, "my favorite piece by Elgar is Salut d'amour Op.12, which did not make to the 100. 喜欢这种柔情的作品好像感觉我的口味比较小资，当然我更欣赏贝多芬的英雄气概。（他的英雄交响曲怎么才排第39呢？）"。今天就把这曲子贴出来。Sarah Chang好可爱啊！

我多希望我也能拉小提琴！可是小米老师只教了我和小托同学两节课，就跑去DC为医改而奋斗了。说是两节课，其中半节课我还接听了剑侠的电话，根本没有听进老师的教导。所以现在我只能拉《闪闪发亮的小星星》，一共6个音，其中两个用整个A弦和E弦，也就是说，只有4个音需要自己找，就这样，我还是把这曲子拉得狂躁不安（弓用不好的缘故）。然而，我对小米老师的希望是教会我《Simple Gifts》。这个愿望看来是不能实现了。

Halloween 2009

在最geeky的学校里，这样的鬼节装饰一点也不奇怪，要是没有就奇怪了。

华灯初上时。

这棵树，头一天还在灯光照耀下，晚风里摇曳多姿，有着我的摄影术表达不了的美丽通透的金黄。一天的秋风，就让它残成了这样。