MLB All- Blizzard team

This is probably written by an East Coast MLB writer who has nothing better to write about during the snow storm.  

Catcher, Jarrod "Salty" Saltalamacchia
First base, J.T. Snow
Second baseman, Ski Melillo
Shortstop, John Shovlin
Third base, David Freese
Left Field, Coco Crisp
Center field, Devon White
Right field, Cool Papa Bell
Designated hitter, Chili Davis
Starting pitcher, Sandy Koufax
Closer, Tom "Plowboy" Morgan
National Anthem, Frozen's Idina Menzel
Ceremonial first pitch, Vanilla Ice

BTW, J.T. Snow was also the answer to the trivia question on MLB.com: Who was the last Giants first baseman to win a Gold Glove Award?

The age of paper

In the past there were archaeological periods called stone age, middle ages, industrial age...... someone asked on Quora what ours will be known as and the top voted answer was: the age of paper (maybe nearing the end of it) Think of how important these paper-based artifacts were to our civilization in the past few centuries: paper money, birth certificate, stock certificate, contracts, computer punch cards, books, paintings...... etc, just to name a few. I think it's a good point. Found another article about the importance of paper (even in today's digital age where many of the above have been replaced by its digital equivalent) For example, at the very digital company Pixar, well-known for its movies made with computer graphics, a lot of the ideas were actually drawn on paper before they made it to the final product. And there's another reason to stick with paper: a study found those who read ebook before they go to sleep take longer to fall asleep and also have less quality sleep, when compared to those who read paper book! (Side note: I have a love-hate relationship with Quora. I enjoy reading many interesting questions and intelligent/informative answers on it. However, one have to log on to read so I can't really link to its article. Also, it sends weekly emails to the account that I used for logging on and I wasn't able to unsubscribe)

Some books that I've read (and some I haven't)

這幾年我的閱讀口味算相當「穩定」，非小說類以琴棋書畫相關題材為主，2013/14年讀了：

• Chuck Klosterman-Fargo Rock City.主題是作者在美國比較荒蕪的州份長大成為hair metal死忠的經歷。
• Eric Siblin-The Cello suite.作者以中提琴大師Pablo Casal發現巴哈這套無伴奏中提琴傑作手稿為主線，講述兩者生平故事。
• Marilyn Yalom-Birth of the Chess queen.象棋本無皇后（或女皇）一子，作者探討發展出該棋的歷史背景及可能因素，包括歐洲多位權重一時的女皇的故事，老實說有點沉悶。
• 祝君波-藝術品投資指南.作者是藝術品拍賣界老行尊，本書介紹了多個不同類別藝術品市場的特點及歷年變化。
• Sarah Thornton-Seven days in the art world.對於藝術界如何運作,例如拍賣會,Art Fair,博物館,藝術家年度獎,工作室,藝術雜誌社等等,作為行外人的我實在覺得十分神秘,讀完本書後認識增加不少.

小說則仍以日本作家中譯本佔大多數，包括近年產量不多的村上春樹及與之相反的推理小說大師東野圭吾，一位好友讀了不少其作品再轉贈給我（有一本更是他多買的！）：

• 村上春樹-沒有色彩的多崎作和他的巡禮之年
• 東野圭吾-分身、十一字殺人、迴廊亭殺人事件、幻夜、黎明破曉的街道
• 松本清張-寶藏疑雲。松本是比東野早一代的推理小說家，多年前我已讀過他的經典作品點與線及天城山奇案，這是他1960年的作品，同樣引人入勝兼發人深省。

過去幾年的「新」嘗試是找些American Classics來讀讀，包括：

• Truman Capote-Breakfast at Tiffany's
• F. Scott Fitzgerald-The Great Gatsby
• Raymond Chandler-The Lady in the Lake

選擇這些皆因他們都是村上春樹（或書中主角）頗為欣賞的小說家。

14年底借了買了好幾本書將於本年頭讀完（過去幾年返港買落不少書都只是開了頭！）包括：

• 東野圭吾-聖女的救贖
• 吳樹-誰在收藏中國.作者以一個藝術愛好者及記者的身份探究中國藝術品買家賣家種種不尋常的現象。
• Marc Myers-Why Jazz Happened.認識爵士樂歷史的樂迷相信都知道爵士樂各種風格的演變，不過就未必知道和音樂本身無關但促成這些演變背後的重要因素，那就是本書的主題。
• 葉漢良-談玄述異(1)作者曾是頗為有名的廣播人，後習術數，這是他寫的一系列紫微斗數書籍的第一本，其實是雜論，引述了不少思想家、畫家、作家、心理學家等等對命運人性的論述，也是我比較有興趣的課題。

最後想講的是年度最佳書籍，我跟從Best of 2013讀了Stanley Crouch寫Charlie Parker的Kansas City Lightning，另一本頗有興趣的是以IT為背景的小說The Circle；看過Best of 2014 tech books，也有提及The Circle：指其作者不曾嘗試接觸IT人及行業，純屬老作！以上連結介紹的幾本書似乎頗有趣，打算去圖書館找找。

Stephen Hough and his page turner

This was an interesting article written by classical pianist Stephen Hough from 2009 and I wanted to recommend it back then. For those not familiar with classical music performances, when there are many pages of sheet music for the piece being performed (mostly happens for chamber music or accompanists. Soloists are required to memorize the whole piece no matter how many pages) the performers would be too busy to turn the page when it ends for themselves so this would be done by someone called, well, the page turner. His article mentioned novel/movies using the (destructive) relationship between a musician and a page turner as the theme. He actually has a positive/constructive page turner experience: the young music student who turned the page for him during a recording session noticed one note was wrong and pointed it out to him!

Blues playlist

I was feeling the blues the other day and realized I haven't written about it for a while. In fact, I haven't listened to much other than Johnny Winter's "Nothing But the Blues" when he passed away last year :( I also like the album "Badlands" by Trampled Under Foot earlier in the year. Found this list of award winners from May 2014 and decided to check some of them out:

• Lurrie Bell carries the torch of Chicago Blues passed down by musicians like his dad Carrie Bell. "Blues in my Soul" is the name of his album from 2013.
• Another electric Blues guitarist that I have been listening to is Toronzo Cannon, who released "John the Conquer Root" in 2013.
• Also in 2013, folk rocker Ben Harper teamed up with Blues harmonica legend Charlie Musselwhite for the awesome album "Get Up!" 
• Speaking of harmonica, the tribute album to Little Walter by Musselwhite and other harmonica greats like Mark Hummel was getting a lot of attention in 2014. Here is a video that features Billy Boy Arnold from the album:

I have never heard of this album

... yet I agree with the writer of this article "The Most Important Album You've Never Heard." No exaggeration here. Check out the "All-star" lineup listed! $25 in 1949 was probably quite a lot of money, even for a set of six 78-rpm albums with photo. Of course it's collectible items (there were 5000 of them signed and numbered by famed producer Norman Granz) and I confirmed on ebay: one set was listed for $699. Even the reissued CD is hard to find: a "Deluxe version" of 2 CDs are available on Amazon for $211.99. Can't go wrong with tracks from jazz greats like Duke Ellington, Coleman Hawkins, Charlie Parker ... etc. You could actually listen to some of them on YouTube: