德州女婿

早幾天從電視節目預告得知今週舉行高球對戰(match play)比賽，原來由電腦公司Dell贊助，在Dell的老家Austin舉行也理所當然，而UT Austin校友Jordan Spieth相信是最受歡近的球手，不過德州大學大家庭最近多了另一位高球手新成員！就是前UT女球手Angela Akins的未婚夫西班牙好手Sergio Garcia。此君和老虎仔同期出道，外號El Nino(聖嬰氣候之意), 是在世界各地贏過廿幾場賽事的一代名將！今次在Austin比賽，特地穿上德州大學的橙色服裝，相信校友們都會支持他 :)

Sports highlights: the new NASCAR season

Watching NASCAR during the weekend has become such an integral part of my routine that I really missed it during its off-season, no matter how short it is (3 months) when compared to other of my favorite sports (NFL's "on" season is about 5 months!) And an uninteresting Super Bowl made me even more looking forward to the NASCAR season opener: Daytona 500! For 2017, it was extra-special: the top series in NASCAR has changed title-sponsor for the first time since I started watching, from Sprint (the phone company who "inherited" the sponsorship from Nextel) to Monster Energy (the drink company who has already sponsored many auto-racing related events) Since I am a big fan of supercross and motorcycle racing, when I first heard of the news, the first question popped up in my mind was: if the NASCAR top series' name changed from Sprint Cup to Monster Energy Cup, how about the existing Monster Energy Cup, which is an annual supercross race scheduled a month or so before the new season begins? (BTW, I enjoy it a lot as it gives fans a preview of things to come. ) Well, they actually renamed the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series to Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. And the move to the new sponsorship is supposed to be very beneficial to NASCAR: after an incredible rise in the last decade in terms of viewership, advertising dollars and broadcast fees, what went up must come down. The sports was actually at an awkward crossroad: on one hand, the younger crowd found that long races and long reasons in which a few cars and drivers could do so well and ran away with championships were boring. On the other hand, the "purists" or old fans of the sports found all those tinkering with the good old point system and the addition of the "artificial playoff" ruining the sports. I guess it's clear which direction (and demographic) NASCAR is going after getting Monster Energy on board as the title sponsor. Still, I am surprised by the reaction to the "new" Monster Energy Girls at NASCAR: Yes, we have fans that complained about those outfits, being too revealing. Not to me. I am used to watching those Monster Energy Girls at the supercross races (with the same title sponsor!) To be honest, what really got my attention was not them but the new race format! When I watch the broadcast of the first race of the new season I saw it mentioned "stage" and "stage winner" and I was completed shocked! It turned out every NASCAR race is divided into three stages. The result at the end of each stage matters: points are rewarded towards the championship! (The actual system is more complicated than what could be explained in one sentence though) And there would be caution laps after each stage ends to bunch up the field. I see several advantages as a fan: (1) the cars would be more competitive among each other not just at the end of the whole race but also near the end of each stage to fight for those points. (2) Less effect from green-flag pit stops and the related "luck factor" that could change the outcome of a race. I always hate to see a driver who did nothing wrong but got trapped in the pit because of somebody else's accident. Now there are at least two more definite points in the race where cars could pit under caution. (3) the stages are short enough that a car can complete without making any pit stop so one could win a stage without any involvement of pit-stop strategy and pit-crew skills. In a way this is "back to basic." Kinda like the format of the GT races of Pirelli World Challenge that I like a lot. I think this new season had a good start: Daytona 500 was won by Kurt Busch, a former champ who tends to be very competitive but has never won this "Super Bowl of NASCAR" We also had Martin Truex Jr winning the race at Las Vegas but everybody talked about "the fight" instead: Joey Logano's car hit Kyle Busch's near the end of the race. Busch was so pissed that he walked to Logano's pit stall after the end of the race. He fought with one of the crew member and ended up with blood on his forehead! Anyway, I am very interested to see if the new point system will produce a different champion at the end of the season (oh well, anyone but Jimmie is fine. Prefer not Logano too as he totally ruined Carl Edward's in 2016)

Hampton Court

Netflix有一套紀錄片專講Hampton Court這個位於倫敦十里以外的皇宮，早幾天晚上我本來打算看一點兒，第一個入住的國王亨利八世有六個皇后，未講到第二個應已睡著，誰知竟然看完！原本該處主人是國王身邊的紅人主教，多次招待國王在此作客，但醒目的主教知道那裡豪華比得上皇宮，還是讓國王作主人比較恰當。這個亨利八世年少登基，那時既fit又有型，第一任皇后亦漂亮高貴，Hampton Court見證過他們關係美好的日子，不過廿多年來皇后無所出，國王耐性有限，要主教向羅馬教皇申請離婚，教皇不允主教亦無辧法，結果主教在皇上降罪前「幸運地」去世，亨利八世亦因此寫下他在史上最為人認識的一頁：就是反出羅馬教廷，自立英國聖公會！在第二段婚姻期間，他發生了改變他一生的一次意外：為追求刺激進行馬上槍術比賽(jousting)而墮馬受重傷，此傷陪伴其餘生，令他每日疼痛，並性情大變，成為一個暴君！這個第二任妻子被他處死，第三任妻子病死，第四任離婚，第五任紅杏出牆又被處死，而他暴飲暴食，五十幾歲魂歸天國（如果天主承認他教會的話），還有第六任皇后在旁，也算是緣份。

其實Hampton Court還再成為後來兩個皇朝國王的居所，之後入住的威廉三世和皇后瑪莉，夫妻關係似乎比較恩愛，他們的目標是把該處改建為一坐比得上法國凡爾賽的皇宮，不過budget有限，只改建了一半，卻因此令今時今日的Hampton Court成為具兩個時代建築特色的歷史名勝！

最後一對入住的皇帝和皇后的故事也值得一寫：喬治二世和卡露蓮亦算恩愛夫婦，皇帝的情婦也是皇后默許的，後來皇后有足患，動得少食得多難免肥胖，去世時喬治二世竟然宣佈不會再娶！可惜的是這對父母和太子不和，太子妃臨盆一刻，太子決定坐馬車逃離皇宮，去倫敦誕下兒子，此子將來會繼承祖父王位成為喬治三世，當然對Hampton Court全無好感，此後不再有英國國王入住。

「講黎講去三幅屁」出處？

今日我同老友吹水，我笑佢「講黎講去三幅屁」，咁佢問我呢句話既典故，真係問到我口啞啞，咁梗係要Google下，揾到有人在FB度寫：

廣州話「講來講去三幅被」來自這句話—「講來講去三幅被，量來量去二丈四」。過去民間織造業有一慣例，每一幅被的長度是八尺，三幅被即二丈四。這句慣用語現在用作比喻人說話重複，沒有新意。例：呢個上司無料嘅，講來講去三幅被。（這位上司沒有才學，說來說去一個調子）

今次真係鬧交學中文！

New metal from old bands

I read an interview of the founding father of death metal, Obituary, from the Rolling Stone magazine yesterday and listened to their new single from the upcoming album (to be released later this month) I guess that's why I subconsciously tuned into the Music Choice Metal channel today. And surprisingly I listened to a couple of (relatively) new releases from several of my old favorite metal bands, including:

• Overkill, The Grinding Wheel
• Dark Tranquiliity, Atoma
• In Flames, Battles
• Kreator, Gods of Violence

The channel promoted itself as programmed by a real person instead of an algorithm. I guess there's really something to it hearing all of the above within 30 min. My first impressions of these albums range from "above average" to "excellent" I am going to listen to all of them multiple times on Spotify until the verdict is out.