IndyCar has got a new title sponsor

Can't believe I missed this piece of big news all weekend and only learned about it on the intranet on Monday! This is very exciting: IndyCar is now Verizon IndyCar. (Some news reports keep mentioning Verizon Wireless. Hey, Verizon still has wireline business! It's the "mothership" who got the title!) Among all title sponsors in recent years, Verizon has the biggest marketing muscle and IndyCar has got a much needed lift. To be honest, at this point IndyCar has nowhere to go but up (not my opinion. I read from a comment on this piece of news) I believe it's a win-win for both parties: it's reported that Verizon will be contributing 10 millions (half in cash) Most major sports sponsorships cost more than that! In fact, Nationwide insurance pays double that to sponsor the 2nd tier series of NASCAR! And of course, the top tier of NASCAR's title sponsor is none other than Verizon's competitor: Sprint. I think that motivates Verizon to step up its game. After all, Sprint forced Verizon out of NASCAR completely with its exclusive deal (Verizon used to sponsor #12 team of Penske at Nationwide. When Verizon was forced out, the victim was Justin Allgaier who lost his Penske ride and ended up with a team with less resources) Another thing interesting about this deal is that team Penske has been sponsored by Verizon for the last few years. The #12 car driven by Will Power was so close to winning the championship a few times but fell short. For the 2014 season Verizon will also be sponsoring the #2 Team Penske car driven by former F1 and Indy 500 Winner Juan Pablo Montoya. I expect him to be very competitive and a favorite to win the championship as he's still one of the best driver in the world. Oh well, no matter who wins, Verizon will get the spotlight being the title sponsor. I'm looking forward to a successful IndyCar season, which would benefit motorsports in US in general! (The third important motorsports series in US is already sponsored by Tudor so I don't think AT&T could join the party soon :P)

培正和舊金山

一直以來都知兩者頗有淵源：不少培正校友移民或升學之後定居該地。作為培正人，小時候不知在勝利道一帶甩掉多少腳毛，竟然到最近巧合在維基百科看香港街道名，才知那裡有一條舊金山徑。以下摘自報章：

勝利道一帶的街名別具革命和外國色彩，何解呢？這要從梭椏（Soares）先生講起。Soares是葡萄牙普遍的大姓，於1925年一位名為Francisco Soares的葡萄牙開發者，用其姓氏為「梭椏道」命名。他更以自由、勝利、太平幾個與第一次世界大戰有關的詞語，作為此區的街名。另外，因其名字部分與美國城市「San Francisco」相若，於是採用了當時中文「舊金山」的翻譯，將梭椏道與勝利道中間的小巷稱做舊金山徑（San Francisco Path）。而他的太太Emma和女兒Julia同樣榜上有名，譯音後化身成梭椏道旁的艷馬道和棗梨雅道。

 如此翻譯地名，的確有點馮京作馬涼的味道（麻雀館英文譯作mahjong school一樣耐人尋味）

A day-ful of Ingrid Jensen

It's the international women's day so it's perfect time to play music from female jazz musicians. I prefer instrumental music and one of the biggest name in big band yet I seldom listen to is Maria Schneider (she decided not to license her music to streaming/download services)

Found this video of her band performing Ivan Lins' composition, Lembra de Mim
The first horn soloist appeared in the video was Ingrid Jensen. I actually first learned about her today! And coincidentally the local jazz station KCSM played a few tunes she played on, including Vernal Fields from her album with the same title at 11:51AM, and Hope Springs Eternally from Helen Sung's album Anthem for a new day at 5:14PM. (KCSM also played an Ivan Lins' tune Comecar De Novo from the album Juntos at 12:40PM too. Things certainly came full circle today!)

Data Cruncher Uses Code to Solve NYC’s Problems

I read this article from the Wired magazine while having my froyo break. I was fairly impressed even though there wasn't much detail about what that female programmer did exactly. In any case, it was a good thing done by our profession and definitely deserved some credits. I guess I'm really easy to please 'coz judging from the comments on the linked articles, a lot of readers were not impressed. I do agree with one of them: some mission critical systems (like the ones used in hospital) could be so buggy that a whole team of programmers are dedicated to fixing bugs and basically performing the heroics mentioned in the article all the time!

現今的地下黨員應汗顏

蒲開油麻地的朋友可能見過「實用書局」的名字，原來創辦人龍良臣上世紀三十年代已支持共產主義，被指為共產黨地下黨員，他開辦書局賣共產書籍，又將大宅改建學校貢獻社會，當然不容於當時執政的國民黨，其後南下香港，1947年在廣東道創立「求實出版社」，五十年代遷至當時書局林立的西洋菜南街易名「實用書局」，他在書店開闢小室，供書生住宿，方便寫作又印書，30年前遷至油麻地彌敦道麗星大廈的樓上舖，可惜近年生意慘淡，今年六月將結業。

龍良臣及「實用書局」的故事十分具傳奇性。他比起今時今日的親共媚共或所謂地下黨員只知揾著數，人格高尚得多。

Links: 1, 2

劉星中阮

為打發時間上討論區，讀的十之八九為無聊帖，不過偶爾也會因此讀到一些好文，得到一點有用資訊知識，也就不算浪費了時間。有個很少上的中樂版，有名為HKCO（莫非HK Chinese Orchesra官方?）的版友常常發帖連結到相關文章，例如這篇提到以中阮作品《雲南隨想》聞名的作曲家劉星改編自己作品所面對的挑戰，實在有趣。其實中阮這件彈撥樂器可算冷門（和二胡琵琶等相比），著名作品當然不多，自不然就想到劉星。最後，發表原文的頭條日報值得一讚。

旺角行人專用區與街頭文化

旺角女人街一帶是我從中學年代開始已經常蒲的地方，熟悉有感情，從來都是人頭湧湧。成為行人專用區早期，更覺那裡好行。之後由週末擴展至七天，但隨著易拉架推銷黨、影相黨及各樂隊樂團入侵佔領，反而變得嘈吵又難行，非常擾民，最近當局終於取消該區七天行人專用，只餘週末，又成為一個具爭議性的話題。

趕絕推銷及影相黨相信反對意見不多，剩下來值得討論的，是應否支持樂隊樂團？作為業餘音樂人，我也感到有點矛盾。我親身及在網上電視聽過看過不少他們的演出，有些唱老餅國語歌，有些翻唱廣東流行曲，例如SMS樂隊唱Beyond名曲，算是頗有名氣；都不覺得怎樣出色，對於老餅歌有大班粉絲更是不以為然。（BTW，看過電視節目訪問成員威哥才知SMS是解作Sing My Songs，可是只見到他們唱別人的歌！可能也有原創作品只是無人留意？）但那只是個人主觀意見，坦白說沒有甚麼準則，若說翻玩別人作品我不支持，也不成立，皆因如果有Flamenco結他手或中樂團表演傳統樂曲，我必定舉腳贊成。

講到尾，這個層次的音樂，縱然稱不上藝術，也總算是街頭文化，在音量不至擾民的情況下，警方也無謂太過打壓。希望他們能找到一個平衡點，玩的有得玩，聽者有得聽，居民有得耳根清淨，那就皆大歡喜。

Sports highlights: Daytona 500, UFC 170

I was really looking forward to this weekend because it's NASCAR's season opener, Daytona 500, which happened to be the biggest event of the whole sports. Among all sports, NASCAR probably has the shortest off-season. Still, I had waited for 3 months! The other big event for me was UFC 170 featuring Rhonda Rousey vs Sara McMann as the main event. It has been a little less than 2 months since Rousey's last fight. I am happy about the winners of both: Daytona 500 won by Dale Earnhardt Jr and Rhonda Rousey successfully defended her title. However, the road to victory cannot be more different between them: Junior hasn't won a race since two years ago. And before this victory, he had exactly two W since 2008! Yet he was the most popular driver among fans 11 years in a row, mostly because of his last name. Anyone could see how much pressure was on him. The amount of frustration must have been through the roof! On the other hand, Rhonda Rousey has been undefeated in UFC. She dominated her opponents most of the time and scoring 1st round victory one after another (until her Dec 2013 fight in which she needed 3 rounds) She TKO-ed her opponent (who was well-rested compared to her) in the 1st round again this time. Junior had to "fight" really hard among all those great drivers who were front-runners towards the end of the race: Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon, Brad Keselowski, Danny Hamlin (they were either former Daytona 500 winners, former NASCAR series champs or driver on a hot streak!) Even though he was leading the race late, he had to restart perfectly to hold off the competition several times after wrecks/cautions. It's certainly no fluke as Junior finished close to the top many times during the past few seasons which showed how good he was.

I also watched a bit of Winter Olympics (mostly hockey and curling) but certainly nothing as dramatic as the above.

RIP Helen von Ammon

I attend the (free, Classical) Noon Time Concert at Old St. Mary near SF China town from time to time. Just learned that one of the long time supporters, Helen Von Ammon, has passed away recently. RIP. People like them made this a wonderful community to live/work in. Case in point: the concert today is fantastic: it featured pianist Sophie Xuefei Zhang and violinist Solenn Seguillon (yes, she is attractive. Check out the previous link to her pictures) Both had superb techniques and were perfect for playing modern pieces like the Debussy and the Ravel.

Schindler's list music chosen by skater at the Olympics

I was surprised when I heard it during Russian figure skater Yulia Lipnitskaya's performance. It was great music and she did a pretty good job (except for a few mistakes) The first thing came to my mind was that the movie was about a brave person acting against dictatorship. Isn't it ironic considering where the skater came from (and it's the host country too!)? Anyway, I don't think using the music for figure skating performances trivialized the Holocaust. Some journalists agreed while some disagreed. See this. One comment said it best: the music was NOT used in concentration camp and if the controversy made more people pay attention to the movie and the topic, that's a win.

港鐵不勝負荷 左報落力抽水

最近港鐵多次發生故障導致服務中斷多小時，我目睹火車滯留在吐露港公路對開路軌，慶幸我不在內。眾所周知，由於自由行氾濫，港鐵已不勝負荷，連局長也不得不承認（雖然他的反應是叫港人忍耐多等幾班，完全是無能的表現）

從工程角度看，一個長期負荷過重的系統，出現故障是必然發生的事。加大承受力可作為長遠計劃一部份，短期若不能減低負荷，至少也要遏止增長。左報文匯社評卻不提後者，反而強調港鐵需更新，以及向港鐵管理層問責，兩點都可能有政治因素：傳媒報導過早前港鐵引入祖國製新車，不知港鐵高層是否有人不是西環朋友，文匯乘機摑一巴。

之後報告指原來導致港鐵故障的是絕緣體零件，文匯再度抽水，強調零件來自歐洲供應商。誰不知一天後其他媒體踼爆(港鐵不得不證實)劣質絕緣體實為內地製造。


今次港鐵固然要俾幾個dislike，不過更大罪的是混淆視聽的左報文匯。

Overpaid executives

Just read an article about people shouldn't just complain about Wall St executives being overpaid because Silicon Valley executives are too. I just think the article sounds like sour grapes and probably written by someone from Wall St. For all these years (especially the past few), the banking industry has accumulated enough ill will: Manipulating the market. Getting bailed out by the public. Just to name a few. How could it even be compared to the tech industry? Disclaimer: I have worked in both. It's definitely not so black-and-white that one industry is evil while the other does no evil (Well, that was Google's motto) In fact, most workers like myself are at too low a level to do any evil :P

員工離職的原因

今早才討論過這個話題，之後即在FB看到朋友link阿里巴巴馬雲的文章。老實說我一向覺得馬雲名大於實，講得太誇張，唯有今次我就十分同意，他說只有兩個原因最真實：
1)人工太低
2)感到委屈
HR做所有exit interview，其實只要這兩個checkbox就夠了。講其他甚麼做得久想改變環境接受新挑戰之類，大多是讓大家好過一點而已。(當然，也有私人原因例如搬家或創業等等，兩者都是個人經驗:)

Movie time

We had a vacation last week. And it's time to do something I don't usually do: watching movies (6 on the flight, 1 off the flight!) I'll talk about them in the order of my preference:
1) La Grande Boucle (Tour de Force)
The movie is about an amateur cyclist started his personal Tour de France after losing his job and wife. Basically he rode one day ahead of each stage of the "real" tour. Lots of interesting things happened during his tour. I don't wanna spill the beans here 'coz I think every cyclist should watch it. Here is a review with more details about the movie.

2) Rush
I am a huge fan of auto racing but I gotta admit I'm rather disappointed with the current state of Formula 1: there is one far superior car in the field which either qualified for the pole and lead from start to finish or simply make one less pit stop. Having one car winning half of the races and cruising to the championship every year ruins it! I remember it used to be more competitive when I was a kid. Well, I was too young to know anything about the 1976 season described in the movie Rush, which is even more dramatic than anything I could remember: Austrian Niki Lauda was the defending champ. British James Hunt was the flamboyant driver hoping to unseat the champ. His aggressiveness caused him a few races and points in the standing. However, Lauda was injured (seriously burnt) in an accident during the Grand Prix of Nürburgring. He missed the next few races during which James Hunt was closing the point gap quickly. Lauda decided to came back earlier than recommended by his doctor to defend his title. And it all came down to the last race of the season. Fast forwarding ~40 years, 2008 was the last time F1 championship being decided by the last race of the season. Regarding the movie itself, the actors did a great job portraying these larger-than-life characters. And the gf/wives were pretty! There's nothing not to like about the movie.

3) The Lego Movie
Lego sets were toys I played the most when I was a kid (I still play because of my son) So, when the movie came out, it's a must-watch for me. There were sets that I built according to the instructions and never broke apart while other sets were mixed to create something brand new. And these are the themes of the movie: the "dictator" (dad) wanted the former while his kid wanted the latter. Don't we have the same conflicts in the grander scheme of thing too? THE man in the real world do want people to watch the same kind of dumb TV drama/sitcom over and over (e.g. the HK government encourages CCTVB to monopolize the market by trying to eliminate upstart competitors like HKTV) The title of that "theme" song, Everything is Awesome, is so ironic too.

BTW, we watched the Cantonese version (no subtitle) and worried the kids might not be able to understand but so glad they did. And it was so funny when the movie made fun of people drinking expensive coffee sitting next to my sister who does the same :P

4) Thor 2
I would not have admitted watching mainstream blockbuster like this when I was younger :P The comic book-based genre actually has a pretty good reputation among movie critics. Case in point: movies from the Batman franchise were usually quite deep. It seems that I watch at least one movie based on a Marvel comic every time I fly these days: Captain America, G.I.Joe, Wolverine, and this time, Thor 2. Natalie Portman looked gorgeous in it, especially in Asgardian costumes (all handmade by a craftsman in the workshop in London!) And the actor who played Thor was the same guy who played James Hunt from 'Rush.' Man, he was everywhere, just like a real superhero. And the action scenes seem more exciting than the first Thor movie, in which the bad guy was too easy to beat. The plot was also a bit more complicated with Thor needing Loki's help to fight the enemies. 

5) Last Vegas
This belongs to the "old man movie" genre in my book. Oh well, I watch those once in a while too (For example, the Oscar nominated "Crazy Heart".) Very simple story here: 4 old guys going to Vegas for an old friend's bachelor's party. Of course there were lots of history between them. And the old friends got involved in a love triangle. Man, I could totally see this happen to my friends in 30 years :P

6) Escape Plan
Just realized this movie was the first pairing of Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger in leading roles. I thought there were prior cases. Regardless, 2 things for sure: (1) this gotta be my type of movie, (2) reviewers would diss it because the guys have passed their prime. Well, there were indeed a lot of cliches: A prison security expert (Stallone) was wrongfully put in a maximum security prison, which operated so secretly that no law applied there. Needed help from a fellow prisoner (Schwarzenegger) to break out. I found it very enjoyable.

7) The Expendable
I watched the Expendable 2 on DVD recently. It's another movie with both Stallone and Schwarzenegger (and a whole bunch of action starts like Jet Li, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Chuck Norris and Randy Couture. Stallone was the main character though) Very straight-forward story (good guys and bad guys fight for info about material for weapons. Bad guys won and tried to obtain the material. Good guys went prevent that to happen) and old school actions. That means I liked it. Usually the original movie would be better than the sequel so I watched this on the plane. This was an exception: it was rather boring and certainly worse than the sequel. The story has something to do with the American wanna take out a dictator ruling some sort of island. I didn't really watch it except for the "blow'em up" scenes. 

I guess I won't have another movie-watching-spree for a while. 

Analysis of commercials during NFL playoff

I don't know much about advertising. My work is not related to it at all but I still find this article very interesting (and the sarcasm makes it more fun to read) The strangest thing is: I got the link and summary of the article from the daily newsletter I receive from MLB! I guess the guys at MLB think it's a good idea to trash another league/sport. Basically, the article pointed out not only that the whole 3-hour broadcast of a NFL game actually contains 11 minutes of real action (from analysis by Wall Street Journal), but also a really high amount of commercials (112 on average and 60% of the broadcast) per game!

So, what are these commercials? Beer is probably the first thing came to my mind as beer commercials are very high profile and generated a lot of conversations. Well, it turns out there are not as many as I thought: only 8%. Car commercials double it at 16%. And there are even more tech product related commercials (18%. Verizon is the top company that pays for ~50 ad per game!)

Talking about beer commercials in NFL, I recently read an analysis from Charles Wheelan's book "Naked Statistics: Stripping the Dread from the Data" about the famous 1981 campaign in which one beer company (Schlitz) challenges supporters of its competitors to do a blind tasting test. One would think it's tough to produce an outcome that makes Schlitz looks good. However, if you understand the statistics behind it, it's really a gimmick. From the book:

Let’s assume that Schlitz would have been pleased if at least 40 of the 100 tasters picked Schlitz—an impressive number given that all of the men taking the live blind taste test had professed to be Michelob drinkers. An outcome at least that good was highly likely. If the taste test is really like a flip of a coin, then basic probability tells us that there was a 98 percent chance that at least 45 of the tasters would. In theory, this wasn’t a very risky gambit at all.
So what happened to Schlitz? At halftime of the 1981 Super Bowl, exactly 50 percent of the Michelob drinkers chose Schlitz in the blind taste test.
There are two important lessons here: probability is a remarkably powerful tool, and many leading beers in the 1980s were indistinguishable from one another.

Flawed Google Drive

Isn't it awesome that someone provides a free service that let user edit Microsoft Office-compatible files (and include most functionality that people actually use) anywhere anytime when the user gets online? You know I'm talking about Google Drive (formerly known as Google Doc) I use it a lot but it has a really annoying bug: when you pick a cell on a spreadsheet, sometimes it will erase the content of the cell without you telling it to. Apparently I am not the only one who ran into this (see this post on Google's forum) Fortunately, Google Drive keeps revisions of files after every edit. According to Google's support doc, there is a menu option to access these revisions. Well, support was wrong! The option is NOT there. To see your revisions, you need to click on that "All changes saved in Drive" text instead, which is totally not intuitive.

You might say I'm nitpicking on something that is free. Maybe I am but this is from a company known for hiring the best talent in the industry! Anything less than perfect is unacceptable :P

The Real World

I'm talking about the TV show that I think ruined MTV in the 90s for good. You know, back in the days MTV actually stood for Music Television and broadcasted shows about music and ...... (surprise! surprise!) music video! I guess their management would rather boost ratings via these so-called reality TV shows that were full of shocking moments and outrageous dialogs (which I still believe were scripted!) Just realized the show has been on for 29 seasons! And the producer was really proud of this show, thinking it has done some good to the society, according to this interview:

maybe The Real World had a part in making this the most tolerant, open-minded generation ever.

Really?

Sports highlights: the Super bowl

Manchester United broke yet another "record" by losing to Stoke City 1-2. Oh well, "records were made to be broken" should be David Moyes' motto. The only things that could make me laugh are these jokes that made fun of Man U. But then none of them could be funnier than this (and this was real): a guest on a Detroit TV program mentioned a wrong team (New England Patriots who lost to the AFC champ Denver Broncos) when asked about the Super bowl. The host wasn't that knowledgeable either.

Even though the game was so lopsided, I enjoyed it a lot and I'm not even a Seahawk fan. Its QB, Russell Wilson, went to U. of Wisconsin so I supported him. And he looked so calm making those passes for 3rd down conversions. Glad to see him being successful. Normally I switch channel during half-time and I didn't have to do it. The performances by Bruno Mars and Red Hot Chili Peppers were better than I expected. I wish the latter played more than one song! And do you know Super bowl half-time performers never get paid? I didn't. They actually got compensated by huge increase in record sales the week after. Is this fair? Maybe.

NASCAR's new championship format

Yes, NASCAR has come up with yet another set of changes to its system (a.k.a. the Chase) that determines its champion (at the highest level of racing, i.e. Spring Cup) It's controversial, as usual. Feedback on various sites are mostly negative. A lot of long time fans still prefer determining the champion simply by points (just like most other auto racing competition!) Well, I didn't start watching until the Chase has already in place so I am not clinging to the past like these folks. One thing interesting about this system though (and it makes very interesting conspiracy theory): the most popular driver in NASCAR, Dale Earnhardt Jr (who won exactly 1 race in last few years) would have been the 2013 Champion under the new system. Wouldn't NASCAR just want that to happen in 2014?

The History of the Eagles Tour

I drove down to San Jose yesterday and the traffic was worse than usual when I was near the exits for SAP Center (formerly known as HP Pavilion or Compaq Center) My teacher told me there's an Eagle's concert and we joked about how old bands like them declined. I mean, what have bands like Rolling Stones written lately? They keep recycling the old songs and charge a leg and an arm for concert tickets. BTW, I think the guitar solo on Hotel California is a bit overrated even though I won't switch channel when I hear it.

Still I'm curious what the critics said. Then I found out the Eagles actually play twice at San Jose (with a George Strait concert on 1/30 sandwiched in between! How strange.) Here is a review by the local paper. Well, once again, the name of the tour alone confirms my point that these bands are about the past, not now nor future.

Shock rock/metal pioneer Alice Cooper will open for Motley Crue's "Final tour"

I heard it on the radio last night and read it on the Rolling Stones just now. First of all, what's deal with signing an agreement not to tour again, ever? That's BS to me. They could probably change one member or the name of the group and get away with touring again, when they run out of money. Second, Alice Cooper should NOT be opening for them. It should be the other way around! A lot of comments here said the same. It's not because I like AC more than the Crue. I actually enjoy the latter's music a bit more but from the grand (musical) scheme of thing Alice Cooper > Motley Crue, period!

香港人用香港語

早一陣子發表過反對香港中文用詞強國化的意見，後來在網上找到有人轉載一篇《香港人用香港語：秒殺匪語一百例》，出發點不是一味反共，就我個人而言，強國式中文一大缺陷是放棄固有合適兼意義明確的詞語不用，夾硬新作一些直譯外文的語句，例如：一籃子因素不如寫為多種原因、加大力度即是加強、所謂地標實為名勝。

後記：後來看到有人link去新華網一篇文章批評「重中之重」一詞被濫用。其實論點有少少不同，畢竟作者認為該詞也有其意義，只是使用者常常誇張其事。

The Jimi Hendrix Strange Experience at Miami

今日有空檔去圖書館刨雜誌，照例睇屋企無訂的Guitar World，其中一篇鱔稿味甚重但我都照讀，講一個幾乎失傳的The Jimi Hendrix Experience live performance，那是一場在Miami賽車場內舉行的一個音樂節，舞台就在兩架貨車上搭成，Jimi Hendrix這個三重奏已推出第二張大碟（亦將於一年後拆伙）合作得相當緊湊，雖然開show前hi了不少野；那是原本為期兩天的音樂節的第一天，第二天卻下起雨來，只得彈木結他的Acoustic blues高手Mississippi Fred Mcdowell有得演出兼收得酬金，此外財政處理一鑊粥：連負責保安的也收不到錢，與負責運錢的護衛公司職員持槍對峙！錄音和錄像失踪也和演唱會員工收不到酬勞有關：該名員工拿走母帶一走了之，幾十年後其後人才將之賣給Hendrix公司，今天終於重見天日：收錄上述演出錄像的PBS Jimi Hendrix傳記DVD及錄音黑膠均在最近推出，該文宣傳頗為成功，搞得我心癢癢想入貨！

後記：近期和Hendrix有關的新聞的確不少，以其生平為主題的電影All is By My Side（Hendrix由Outkast的Andre 3000飾演）將於九月上映。

Grammy and jazz

I was trying to check out the nominations in the jazz category of Grammy 2014 using Google. Well, one of the links I got is a British newspaper article moaning the lack of European Jazz artists being nominated. Ironically, the article didn't mention any European jazz artists who the journalist think deserving of nomination. And the photo chosen for the article is American pianist Fred Hersch, who the journalist totally agree deserving nomination, which is totally irrelevant to the point he is trying to make! Oh well, good journalism is scarce on the other side of the Atlantic as well. The only relevant article I found so far has to do with the jazz vocalist category. I guess I will have to write another one after the results are announced.

Palm and Qualcomm

It was April 2010 last time I wrote about Palm, the handheld computing pioneer. HP acquired Palm back then. Too bad it was not a success as I hope it would be. HP did release a tablet called TouchPad based on the webOS developed at Palm but it was a flop and was discontinued 49 days after it was announced in 2011. HP opensourced webOS and transferred its team to LG. The latest move by HP was selling off Palm's patents to Qualcomm. Qualcomm is certainly capable of making good use of the patents to create new products. On the other hand, they might just use them for legal purpose only. :(

Unfamiliar territory

I suppose one of the least understood country (especially to the west) would be North Korea. NBA great (and the notorious) Dennis Rodman has organized a few trips and playing games over there, which generated a ton of publicity, not all of them positive to say the least. However, I've just read an interesting article about a scientist who were with Rodman there (translating for him). There are few things I wanna mention from the article: he found that North Korean people were genuinely friendly to him, in spite of the propaganda against Western people (especially American)  Trips like the one made by Rodman would make North Korean understand the outsiders more (and vice versa) And the understanding could only be a good thing. Regarding his own activities there (researching genetics and teaching science,) he found the students were really interested in the scientific methods and ideas he taught and appreciated his efforts. It's good to put politics aside.

The "epic" Windows 8.1 upgrade

If you bought a PC that was released more than a few months ago, it's likely to have Windows 8 instead of 8.1 installed. And since the 8.1 upgrade is free (for most version of Win 8), it would be a good idea to get it. But how? Well, the update is supposed to be available at the "(App) Store" (i.e., the one on the "Start" screen) However, it is only available when your Win 8 has the KB2871389 patch/update installed already. And this patch is supposed to be automatically "discovered" by Win 8's Windows Update. In my case, it was indeed suggested to be applied but that did not happen. And for some reason the PC won't download any update even if I requested it to. So I ended up going to Microsoft directly to download the update installer and ran it. For a long time it was "copying packages to the windows update cache" and I was worried it hang but fortunately it completed eventually. Upon restart it actually pulled 60+ other updates, which took about an hour to complete. Once it was done, the 8.1 update is finally available in the Store and I chose to install it. However, downloading was stuck at 0% after 15 min. I googled again and found another KB article by Microsoft. I ran the "troubleshooter" which seems to fix something and not fixed something. Oh well, it doesn't hurt to try installing the 8.1 update again! And it did slowly made progress downloading. The whole update is ~3-4Gb and of course I didn't wait for it to finish before heading to bed. I guess it took 2-3 hr to download. When I got up, I finally see the "Agreement" screen. Next, it asked me to confirm the hotmail address I provided when setting up the PC the first time. How? It's tied to another e-mail addr which I have to check on my other PC. Man, these days people are expected to have multiple e-mail accounts and multiple internet devices. Anyway, it's finally done! And I am one happy 8.1 user.

Next project: install a SSD. Found this post from someone who did it.

HIMYM is officially over the hill

I was a big fan of the show "How I met your mother." I have always found Cobie Smulders ("Robin") very attractive but I gotta admit my passion for it has waned some what and stopped watching every episodes religiously after the first few seasons. It's because I found sometimes the writers just tried too hard to be funny and "beat the horse to death" so to speak. However, the show went from "sometimes boring" to bad taste when the 1/13 episode was aired. This episode continued one of the show's more boring theme: the slap bet. One of the character went on a journey during which he met 3 Kung-Fu master-like characters who taught him the art of slapping. The problematic part is that the Kung-Fu master wore costumes that were stereotypes of Asians (e.g., the Fu Manchu moustache, the yellowface) These might have been acceptable a few decades ago but it's generally regarded as racist these days and caused an uproar in social media. The creators came out to apologize afterwards but the damage has been done. It's probably not gonna stop me from watching the show completely 'coz it's the last season anyway but it just dropped out of my list of all-time favorite sitcom.  

US education system

I guess most people won't take a close look or try understanding the education system until they have kids (unless they study education at college?) I was told the charter movement was a good thing years ago but then I've also heard some skeptical opinions. Anyway, none of our kids ended up going to charter schools. Just came across a post on Slashdot about it. It links to a few articles, including one that criticize it heavily. There are always 2 sides on every coin: new form of schools brings new way to educate kids. Sometimes things could get out of control though. For example, one of the operators mentioned in the article use computer-aided classes heavily to reduce the cost of hiring teachers. It's a good thing to bring down the cost but you can't sacrifice the human touch too much. Another example is about teacher's union disallowed at those schools. We all know what powerful teacher's union could do. It's always difficult to strike the balance.

Jazz playlist

There are quite a few interesting jazz albums released this year. I put together this play list:

• Charnett Moffett: The Bridge
• Ron Carter Golden Striker Trio: San Sebastian
• Frank Vignola & Vinny Raniolo: Melody Magic
• Lage Lund: Foolhardy
• Jim Hall: Fame and Fortune

And there are quite a few common themes among these albums:
1) guitar/bass centric: there are albums for fans of guitar and bass (like me :) Charnett Moffett and Ron Carter are among the biggest names in jazz bass. Bass lovers certainly won't be disappointed with the amount of bass solo. All 5 albums features guitarists except the first one (solo bass!) And as a bonus for fans of violin, guest violinist Zack Brock played on 4 tracks on Melody Magic.  
2) small groups: there were solo, duo, trio and quartets. That's all. Very intimate. You could clearly hear the on-going (musical) conversations.
3) If you are a fan of Beatles, you would enjoy the covers on both "The Bridge" and "Melody Magic"
And if you are a fan of Jacques Loussier, THE master of arranging Bach's work into jazz piano trio format, "Melody Magic" has that kind of magic. You will find the classical melodies very familiar yet refreshing with the new arrangements.

Finally, the world of jazz guitar has lost one of the icon: Jim Hall, in 2013. This Fame and Fortune album seems to be a compilation by the "mysterious" Jazz2Jazz label (aka JEI records) from earlier releases featuring Jim Hall playing with different pianists. Too bad there's very few info about the label (and the album!)

She Rocks

That's the name of an award ceremony. Gotta admit it sounds kinda cheesy but I dig the idea: paying tribute to women in the music industry. Many female rock musicians are household names. However, it's interesting to learn about the ones "behind the scene", like Dinah Gretsch (CFO of Gretsch guitar) and Maricela "MJ" Juarez (pickup expert at Seymour Duncan) Yes, they rock!

「大陸詞匯」vs「正宗港詞」

剛在高登看到關於春節一詞的爭論，Google一下才知有網民反對香港中文用詞強國化，有議員提出

「本土語言清洗論」（按：即香港原本常用詞語被取代，需撥亂反正），他們稱「適當」不能寫成「適切」、「推出政策」不能寫成「政策出台」、「最重要」不能寫成「重中之重」、「改善」不能寫成「優化」，「質素」不能說「素質」、「趨勢」不能說「勢頭」、「新年」不應說成「春節」、「功夫」不能說成「武術」

對我來說，從小已習慣農曆新年及春節互通，不過可能因為家人多和台灣及星馬人溝通，讀的又是右派報紙，所以我的經驗對判定春節是否外來語，實在作不得準。

至於功夫及武術，兩者實無抵觸。我認為功夫是武術的subset，專指傳統中國武術例如太極詠春少林等等，外國的武術如日本空手道或巴西柔術，甚至中國本身的摔跤及散打，稱之為功夫都不恰當。

除了以上兩項，我十分贊成必須堅持香港原有的寫法。

2014 Class of MLB Hall of Fame

I'm so happy that one of my favorite baseball player of all-time, Frank Thomas, was just voted into the Hall of Fame on the first year he was eligible. He totally deserved it. His bat could really hurt the opposing team, whether he swung it or not! He's called the "Big Hurt" for a good reason. He was part of the reason I became a fan of Chicago White Sox. And I was glad that he spent a season with the local Oakland A's late in his career too. You always learn something new everyday: I just learned why he was so motivated from the linked article. Too bad Craig Biggio was a few vote short of getting in. I'm looking forward to seeing him (and Bonds, Piazza, Kent) in some day.

對德國學前教育認識之謬誤

早一陣子看過網上廣傳一文指出德國法例明文禁止兒童六歲前接受學前教育，即香港大行其道的各種「不要輸在起跑線」課程在德國均屬非法。本人雖然不支持虎爸虎媽行徑，倒也無法想像德國會這樣，要知道德國出了不少傑出音樂家，很難相信他們全在六歲後才開始學音樂（翻查音樂家生平也否定這一點）

再看看維基百科介紹德國教育及相關法律條文，意思也不像是禁絕學前教育。果然，找到一篇深入分析德國教育的文章，指出原本網文之錯處。其實，該條文針對的是德國史上一種「貴族」先修班，並非泛指學前教育。

Sports highlights: college football and supercross

It was the first weekend of NFL playoff. I watched a bit of those 4 games without high hope (the only team I rooted for was the Packers and didn't expect them to advance) However, the bowl games were better for me. I enjoyed watching Oklahoma defeated Alabama (not that I was a fan) The 2 bowl games on Friday night were also highly entertaining (Ohio State lost to Clemson and Oklahoma State lost to Missouri)

And the biggest highlight was the 1st race of the 2014 Supercross season. The races were really competitive. Too bad both the rookie Eli Tomac and veteran James Stewart crashed out. The former champ crashed while challenging for the lead! Ironically, the 450 race was won by another rookie: Ken Roczen. I saw a few of his 250 motorcross (outdoor) races when he first came over from Germany after winning the MX2 World Championship but still adjusting to the environments in the States. I guess it doesn't take long to learn for those with great talent.

Finally, I came across an article about 10 years of Endurocross competition in the States. I'm surprised that it's doing relatively OK during the economic downturn because of its ability to promote the sponsors inside a stadium setting compared to the outdoor version. I hope I could watch it live in Vegas some day!

Sports lowlights: football and more football until autoracing

It has been a few years since last time I watched this many football during the weekends and holidays near New Year's day. I was sick the last 3 days of 2013 and had WatchESPN on most of the time while listening to the (college bowl) games lying in bed. The results were mostly disappointing: Texas Longhorns lost (as expected by ESPN's stat dept, by > 3 TD to the pretty good Oregon Ducks) Dallas Cowboys lost (as predicted by me. In the recent years, the team almost always got a chance to win the final game to get into the playoff and lost) Wisconsin Badgers lost (ESPN predicted a 3 pt victory, not with high confidence though. The winner South Carolina ranked 10 places higher for a reason I guess) Man U lost (to a team in coaching turmoil like the Tottenham Spurs) I didn't even watch any of these games (so not watching didn't help the teams but helped my sanity) Instead, I watched NHL's Winter Classic (Maple Leafs vs Red Wings) played outdoor in U of Michigan's football stadium (nicknamed "The Big House") It was snowing real hard. Great atmosphere. I think it slowed down the puck movement and action a bit though and hurt the entertainment value somewhat. (I just found that there'll be a few more outdoor games, including one in Dodgers stadium on Jan 25th between the 2 So Cal teams! No snow for sure.) I also watched quite a bit of the Rose Bowl (first time not featuring the losing Wisconsin side for a long time!) My Stanford friends please don't hate/unfriend me but I was mildly happy that Michigan State won (for some reason I like this team better. Maybe because it's a Big 10 team and a public school :P) Hopefully the same vibe infects the NFL matchup between the bay area 49ers and the midwestern Packers this Sat! BTW, Aaron Rodgers WAS the man. It's the first game he came back from a broken collarbone and he led the team to a last minute comeback to win the game, the division, and a chance to challenge the defending NFC champ 49ers.

Now that the new year has started. It means the new AMA Supercross season is starting very soon. Can't wait! Here is the complete TV schedule:

• 1/4/2014, 10 p.m. : Anaheim, Calif., Angel Stadium – Fox Sports 1
• 1/11/2014, 9:30 p.m.: Phoenix, Chase Field – Fox Sports 1
• 1/18/2014, 10:30 p.m.: Anaheim, Calif., Angel Stadium – Fox Sports 1
• 1/25/2014, 10:30 p.m.: Oakland, Calif., O.Co Coliseum – Fox Sports 1
• 2/1/2014, 10 p.m.: Anaheim, Calif., Angel Stadium – Fox Sports 1
• 2/8/2014, 10:30 p.m.: San Diego, Qualcomm Stadium – Fox Sports 1
• 2/15/2014, 8:30 p.m.: Arlington, Texas, Cowboys Stadium – Fox Sports 2
• 2/16/2014, midnight: Arlington, Texas: Cowboys Stadium – Fox Sports 1
• 2/22/2014, 7:30 p.m.: Atlanta, Georgia Dome – Fox Sports 2
• 2/23/2014, midnight: Atlanta, Georgia Dome – Fox Sports 1
• 3/1/2014, 7:30 p.m.: Indianapolis, Lucas Oil Stadium – Fox Sports 1
• 3/8/2014, 7:30 p.m.: Daytona Beach, Fla., Daytona International Speedway- Fox Sports 1
• 3/15/2014, 7:30 p.m.: Detroit, Ford Field – Fox Sports 2
• 3/16/2014, 1 p.m.: Detroit, Ford Field – Fox Sports 1
• 3/22/2014, 7:30 p.m.: Toronto, Rogers Centre – Fox Sports 1
• 3/29/2014, 8:30 p.m.: St. Louis, Edward Jones Dome – Fox Sports 1
• 4/5/2014, 8:30 p.m. Houston, Reliant Stadium – Fox Sports 1
• 4/12/2014, 10:30 p.m.: Seattle, CenturyLink Field – Fox Sports 1
• 4/26/2014, 7:30 p.m.: East Rutherford, N.J., MetLife Stadium – Fox Sports 2
• 4/27/2014, 4 p.m.: East Rutherford, N.J., MetLife Stadium – Fox Sports 1
• 5/3/2014, 10 p.m.: Las Vegas, Sam Boyd Stadium – Fox Sports 1

Daniel Snyder says Redskins will never change name

That's the title from USA Today, which is totally misleading! When I saw it, I found it odd 'coz never is pretty strong and he won't have a say when he doesn't own the team anymore (maybe he will sell it someday or die, who knows?) It turns out he said 'We will never change the name..." which makes more sense (Still, I think the name should be changed because of the racism concerns) Poor reporting by USA Today!

Sports highlights: Dallas Cowboys

It's yet another up-and-down, drama-filled season that is almost over for my team. The loss to the Packers after leading by 23 at the half was extremely mindboggling. Oh well, fans should not have high hope on the current team anyway. Still, there is one feel-good story I could write about: former Cowboys QB (mostly backup) Jon Kitna may play the same role again this Sunday (The starter Tony Tomo was injured. They might start Kyle Orton and have Kitna backing them up) He planned to donate his salary from that game to school. I posted another story (forgot where, probably FB) about him contributing to the community after he's done with NFL. A real class act!

My "best of 2013"

Albums of the year:
- Yellowjackets: A Rise in the Road. I gotta admit I listened to them for the wrong reason: Jaco Pastorious' son Felix played bass on it. It's actually fusion jazz at its best.
- Death Angel: The Dream Calls for Blood. They just stick with the classic thrash sound like they did it 20+ years ago, exactly what I need!
- In 27 Pieces: The Hilary Hahn Encores. Violinist Hilary Hahn plays 27 new works she commissioned. Gotta support adventurous classical musicians.

Books of the year:
- Haruki Murakami: Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage. Compared to the epic 1Q84, this "long" novel doesn't seem like much (I finished reading in 3 nights) and it's much more "realistic" I guess it's easier to relate to the story.
- Geek to Guitar Hero: The hero here is Alex Skolnick, guitarist of Testament (metal) and Alex Skolnick Trio (jazz) He wrote this memoir by himself. Testament is one of my all-time favourite band. Alex Skolnick's unique style of guitar solo was one of the reasons I'm attracted to their music. I wanted to read about the beginnings of his band and his guitar study and the book certainly didn't disappoint. The book basically covered his childhood (not a very happy one because he didn't fit in with his family and school) to present, primarily focusing on his experiences from his first stint with Testament. I felt somewhat connected to his stories because he grew up in the SF bay area (Berkeley) He mentioned a lot of local places (e.g. Yoshi's!) and bands that I'm familiar with.

Concerts of the year:
- Black Sabbath: I have never been to a Black Sabbath concert until this year. The set list included every Black Sabbath classic I wanted to hear: War Pig, Iron Man, Paranoid, N.I.B.... etc. Plus a few songs from their latest album, 13 (their 13th studio album), which was a pleasant surprise, even though Ozzy's vocal was a bit shaky.
Still, I was so glad that I went. They are the one and only Black Sabbath.
- Chick Corea: He is certainly one of the biggest names in jazz today. He is the type of musicians that makes the others play better. One thing I really like is instead of drawing attentions to himself, the big star, he made the whole band shine, especially the up-and-coming guitarist Charles Altura, as well as the horn player Tim Garland.
- Solo Bass Night 5: as the name suggested, the concert was all about solo bass players. I was most impressed by Ariane Cap, who showcased her masterful two-hand tapping techniques. It got even more interesting when she was joined by her bandmate, bassoonist Paul Hanson (their group is named Oon!) This unusual pair of instruments complimented each other very well. I also enjoyed listening to 11-string master Jean Baudin. He created music with complex texture and layers using his bass, effects and loopers. I rarely buy any CD these days but I bought 2 of his.

Rides of the year:
- Mt. Tam: The ride started from Bolinas Rd, through the neighborhood via some local streets to Olema Rd and back onto Sir Francis Drake towards North. Then we turned right into Nicasio Valley/Reservoir. Quiet and open country road there. Nice! Next, we turned West to Point Reyes Station, then to Hwy 1. We saw the ocean again (~40 miles into this route) and it was time to turn left and ride up Bolinas-Fairfax rd (small entrance, easy to miss!) It's a long 4-mile climb 'til we reached Ridgecrest, i.e., the famous Seven Sisters. Each sister represents a rolling section of the road (more than 7 of them!) The last "sister" was a hard 3 mile stretch before reaching the East peak. The original map didn't have this section so our planned 64 mile ride became 70!
- Mt. Diablo and Morgan Territory: I always wanted to climb Mt Diablo since I've already done 2 out of the Big 3 Mt in the Bay Area (Mt Hamilton and Mt Tam) and I think it's the right time to go. I started at the Blackhawk Plaza Shopping Center and took Blackhawk Road, which passed a few gated communities (affluent neighborhood!) Then turned into Mt. Diablo Scenic Blvd at 3.5 mile mark. A cat 2 climb starting at the South Gate 'til the entrance kiosk, then a 6-mile cat 1 climb all the way to the top. I was not only a bit tired from climbing but more importantly very much bothered by the poor visibility due to dense fog and mist. The very last section before the Summit was steep. The dense fog and mist was still there, if not worse, when I needed to go back down (also needed to negotiate the turns on the slightly slippery road and avoid getting hit by cars going downhill, which I could only hope the drivers were skillful enough to handle) I couldn't feel safe until I got back to the junction, where I regained visibility finally (that 4.7 mile descent felt like eternity!) I rode thru Walnut Creek and Clayton and the next major milestone was Morgan Territory Rd (at the 38.5 mile mark) The first few miles of Morgan seemed too mild and that worried me coz' I knew it went up to 2000+ ft above sea level eventually so the later the climb start, the steeper it would be! Finally I started climbing at the 42 mile mark (where the road is buried deep in the woods and my friend warned me there's no phone reception) and the Summit (2087 ft) is at 48. Overall, Morgan wasn't that bad (I had similar if not worse experience with long climbs on the Sea Otter ride, Tunitas Creek and West Portal on the Peninsula.) It's just that I was tired from the prior climb and rides. This is a ride any rider would be proud of!
- Tennessee Valley: unlike the first 2, this is a mountain bike ride. And it's in the Marin, kinda close to the Mt. Tam area. Although I bought my mountain bike for over a year, I have never rode it with anyone else! I'm glad that I learned a few tricks from my co-workers who went with me. The SF scenery from the top of the mountain was awesome. 

Sporting events of the year:
- America's Cup: even though the races were not exactly at where I work, I could see things related to the event all the time. For example, one of the base is really close so I saw the boats being lifted to and from the water. And of course, banners are everywhere in SF. However, I got the best view on cable TV (installed right around the races started!) And this series were epic! Biggest comeback ever, period. This is the type of event you talk about for the rest of your life: how bad the Oracle/USA team was in the beginning and how the boat got faster and faster and things got turned around completely. And of course, how unlucky the Kiwis were: the races that favored them got cancelled because of weather (too windy or not windy enough and thus exceeded race time limit!)
- Grand Prix Macau: it's hard for a auto-racing fan grew up in HK not to get excited about the event. So glad that it's held while I visited HK this year so I could go, at least once in my lifetime! The road course featured lots of tight corners (it has actually been modified from the early days for improving safety) and drivers could actually pass (unlike the boring F1)
- Bruno Escalante vs Michael Ruiz Jr. It's the fight for the IBA junior bantamweight title at Redwood City. It's also the first time I saw boxing live in action. There were 7 fights in total with some knockouts. Some were really entertaining. And the judges seem to score the same way I did :)

Gadgets of the year:
-Nikon D3200: I always think it's cool to own a single-lens reflex camera. However, I was just not the type of guys who carry a camera around everywhere AND taking good pictures! So I am content with using the camera on the phone most of the time (at least since owning camera phones 10 years ago) I'm glad that I took the plunge and bought this camera (and the flash recommended by my friend) Even with auto-settings, the camera takes pretty good photo.
-Fender Special Edition Jaguar Thinline: This is one guitar with the look I like (the f-hole) and good playability: easy access to higher frets because of the body shape and easier stretches of fingers for complex chords because of the shorter scale length. Haven't bought something I like this much for a while!

Jazz playlist

It seems like the only reason I still subscribed to magazines are for the new release reviews. Found a few really interesting ones that fill up my recent playlist:
David Weiss, Endangered Species: The Music of Wayne Shorter
I don't listen to a lot of large ensemble jazz. However, some groups do work better for me. Like Dave Holland's and this one with David Weiss. As the title said, it features work of great saxophonist Wayne Shorter. The reason it "works" for me is that I could still hear distinctive voices from each individual instead of getting blended altogether.

Jacam Manricks, Cloud Nine
The leader, saxophonist Jacam Manricks is an unfamiliar name to me. The reason I found this is that the aforementioned David Weiss was the guest trumpeter here. More importantly, Sam Yahel, a jazz organist I really enjoy listening to, played on it too. Manricks played a 4-minute long unaccompanied solo. That's really a challenge. The guitar playing of Adam Rogers was a pleasant surprise.

Adam Rogers, Apparitions
And the above led me to check out the guitarist's work as a leader. This one features Chris Potter on sax and Edward Simon on piano. Can't go wrong with that!

Amir ElSaffar, Alchemy
That's a well chosen title. The trumpeter was really good at fusing middle eastern music with jazz.

It has been a good month discovering "new" jazz for me, after a brief trip out of the country. Still have a few more to write about. Stay tuned!

Crowd goes wild

I watch quite a bit of Fox Sport 1 channel because of its auto racing, MMA and soccer programming. Once in a while I would also watch their talk shows, like Fox Sports Live and Crowd Goes Wild. I like Georgie Thompson on the latter because she looks and sounds sexy (that British accent!) Well, more reason to support the show: turns out two guest hosts are from my Alma Maters: Jason Gay, the Wall Street Journal writer, graduated from U of Wisconsin while Sanya Richards-Ross, former Olympian, went to U of Texas.

A side-note: On today's show, Sanya Richards-Ross commented on her personal experience with the recently stepped-down football coach Mack Brown: Brown would text her with encouragement when she was at track-and-field competition all over the country and the world. That's why people call him a class act!

惡星情人

早幾日被問到那一本村上春樹作品我比較不欣賞，我直覺的答案是「國境之南、太陽之西」我也不知道原因；其實我根本完全忘了故事情節，唯有重讀一遍吧。我還以為這書是我在十年前左右讀的，原來是1993年出版，很可能我即買即讀，之後數年也可能重讀過一兩次，相信超過十年沒有碰過。很快就重讀完，也明白為何當時我不太欣賞：因為沒有村上招牌的超現實情節，當年我也沒有家室，很難想像主角的心境。

一如村上其他作品，本書和幾首曲子頗有關係，奇怪的是我一直對書名前半部的South of Border一曲興趣不大，又一直誤會書名後半部是耳熟能詳的East of the Sun, West of the Moon，最想聽的反而是Star crossed lover。在那個互聯網剛起步的年代，要找來聽實在不易。今天在Rhapsody及YouTube一口氣聽了六七個不同版本，結他版比鋼琴版少得多，不過也找到兩個：
有機會的話也想試彈一下，當然，這在廿年前是無法想像的。

機上娛樂

在沒有自選電影的年代，每次來回香港及美國，起碼看三四套新電影，現在反而看得更少，可能因為自選會看電視劇集、資訊節目及舊片。講講今個trip看的：

新電影是The Wolverine, 動作打鬥英雄片對我來說十分適合在極度沉悶等待到目的地的長途機上看，近年就看過Captain America及GI Joe。本片故事了無新意，離不開英雄被困解困成功救美打敗頭號壞人的情節，Wolverine很有型就是了。差點忘了我也看了The Great Gatsby，原著我是後知後覺地在去年才看，因為想擴闊我看的小說範疇，不再局限於中日文。電影在夏天旺季推出，反應似乎普普通通，所以我的期望不高，其實想找一套悶片催眠，結果只是錯過了幾段，倒看了大半套，和我看小說時所想像的境像相若吧。

電視劇集是Big Bang Theory，自從Friends完結之後，我很少追處境喜劇，不過間中會看看這套以冷門的大學科學家為主題但收視強勁的劇。其中一集講他們到中學勸女生加入科研行列；無獨有偶，最近有一則IT界新聞是關於各大公司獎勵學校辦寫程式課程，如多女生參與可獲額外獎金。

資訊節目有一集講韓國斧山旅遊，行程包括寺院食齋參拜穿佛珠修心，學做米酒及咖啡拉花，試穿韓服（包括龍袍），少看旅遊節目的我也很enjoy。另一集講位於玻利維亞，全世界最大的巨型鹽沼Salar de Uyuni, 無邊無際無窮無盡一片白，實在壯觀；當地居民用鹽建屋，掘鹽賣錢，鹽下更有鋰礦，未來會是一大財路。 最後看了三集Birth of Europe，這個地埋節目探究歐洲大陸如何造成。

舊片是以前看過多次，近年未有重温的李小龍作品唐山大兄。有趣的是原來該片配樂用上Time from Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon, 配樂人有點前衛。

Jazz fusion playlist: Dave Holland, Jeff Lorber

I enjoy bassist Dave Holland's performance a lot. I've been to concerts of his groups at Yoshi's a few times. I listened to his big band album even though I'm not a fan of this format at all, not to mention many albums in which he played as a side man. However, I was not familiar with the fusion side of his playing (which I should have 'coz Holland played with Miles Davis) until now: after listening to his 2013 release "Prism" (reviewed here), which features his long-time drummer Eric Harland (great to watch him play live), guitarist Kevin Eubank (even non-jazz fan would know him for his time at Jay Leno's 'Tonight show')

Regarding the term fusion, I first saw it being used in the 80s to describe music by the likes of John McLaughlin but also that of Kenny G and Spyro Gyra. The name "smooth jazz" took over in the 90's. However, the tide has turned: smooth jazz is going out of favor and musicians are distancing themselves from it. One evidence: Jeff Lorber started using the name of his old group, Jeff Lorber Fusion, since 2009. His group did play an important role in the history of smooth jazz: Kenny G got his start playing in this group (you could hear his playing on this album) Enough of the past. I highly recommend their new (2013) album, Hacienda. Smooth or not, this is great instrumental/improvisational music. And it featured two guests: guitarist Larry Koonse and violinist Jean-Luc Ponty. That's a lot of star power!

東區我的故事

在香港生活差不多廿年，成長期活動範圍以油尖旺沙田為主，過對面海總是隆重其事，例如跟父母到中環購物到北角會友，偶爾也會到淺水灣石澳，總的來說是相當陌生，東區更是絕少踏足，今次我的｢做個遊客｣計劃選了小西灣。

從大埔中心坐74X到大老山隧道(入隧道前落車) 轉682，不到兩小時就到小西灣運動場外，事前讀過這個詳細介紹(網友寫得相當用心，super like!) 知道沿海旁走，有路上山可望大浪灣，風景優美。其實這次共走了三條路，第一條是在公園洗手間附近開始的龍躍徑，大部份雖稍斜但寬闊，行山客不少開著小音響邊聽邊走，有粵曲有英文金曲，很高興聽到有人播｢萬水千山縱橫｣，和我同是關正傑fans(我踩車上山多唱｢天蠶變｣) 半個小時後到達一個大涼亭，東張西望，找到第二條-有很多石級的砵甸乍山郊遊徑，走起來甚為吃力，十多分鐘後見到山頂觀景台指示牌，那是一個短短的detour, 觀景台可見整個九龍東部(包括鯉魚門)，也有一個大涼亭，我醫肚醫得太遲，經已餓過飢，吃了預先買定六個麵包的兩個，再加一個powerbar，肚餓尤未止，已有打退堂鼓之意，休息廿分鐘離開觀景台，抉擇時候：向左走向右走？結果好勝之心得勝！其實最辛苦路段已過，向馬塘坳的路都是下山或平路，這段可見大浪灣，有一對港男港女情侶行孖必打情罵悄，令我頗為驚訝有不怕曬不怕辛苦的港女(路上見好幾個) 過了馬塘坳就見一大路，那是港島徑第八段，跟著大潭峽的指示牌(牌上有巴士標誌)，走下一條樓梯就是石澳道，稍向右行至哥連臣道交界，就是往筲箕灣的9號的巴士站，我未見巴士先見紅色小巴，$7到筲箕灣。

本來打算即坐叮叮到銅鑼灣，但想起筲箕灣也是我極少到之地，於是改變主意隨便走走，見到譚公廟的牌，十分好奇，皆因我只知金庸小說〖天龍八部〗有個譚公，走到譚公廟，當然參拜一番，見有幾隻用來裝飾的木雕船及水上人家，估計是保佑他們的神祇。下一個吸引我的指示牌，是海防博物館，我記得星期三全港博物館免費，實在不容錯過，也是明智抉擇：在鯉魚門堡壘原址建成的博物館極具氣派，乘電梯一上就是八樓展覽廳，永久展出明朝以來香港海防(亦即是軍事) 歷史，倭寇為患的明朝，腐敗懦弱的晚清，抗日失敗的英治香港，其歷史在香港讀書的朋友想必略知一二。無獨有偶，展覽介紹了哥連臣這位有多地以其命名的早期英國軍士，原來就是最早勘察地型畫成香港地圖者；展覽又介紹了添馬艦地名的來歷。最後隨導賞團參觀魚雷發射站，為了此設備，又建有供應蒸氣機的水池，及煤炭用的鐵路、煙囪，如此大陣仗，卻從未建一功即已被拆。最後觀看的是火藥庫，日軍佔領後被改作處決囚犯的刑場！導賞員叮囑大家必需教育下一代不忘歷史，諷刺的是有訪客穿的是日本排球隊T恤(不是我), 用的是日本牌子相機(是我) 我的東區之旅就此結束。

後記：之後沒有坐叮叮，為的是把握時間逛銅鑼灣誠品，當真好心有好報：為姐姐找CD時竟然見到大量雨果唱片公司新舊出品，十分齊全，包括幾隻尋找多時的潮州弦絲樂及潮州客家箏樂。

2013培正同學日

今年是母校培正香港建校八十周年，同學日格外隆重，正日前一晚先和幾個舊同學在TST Fat Angelo's來個「小圈子」晚飯，當中有位已兩年沒見，可喜的是大家「無穿無爛」，縱有煩惱事，即管一起分享下。

當晚仍jetlag，同學日一早就起床，唯有看看電視消磨時間，亞視歲月流聲台當然是首選，看了第五十幾集的天蠶變，還有新角色加入，飾演的竟然是港姐張瑪莉，原來她當選後加盟過佳視及麗的，那是香港有三個免費電視台百花爭鳴而無一台獨大的年代。之後再轉睇J2，因為播的是我大學畢業後至愛的動畫：美少女戰士(Super S系列) 夠鐘向培正出發！

十一時多在窩打老道校門左近下車，已見校內好不熱鬧，原來是同學會新址開幕！一班同學會高層和校友老師在慶祝，見大家身上戴著新的八十周年紀念校呔或風褸，我趕快也去買一條。接著行上中學部，經過校友對教師的籃球比賽，戰況激烈。為找小食部，行了數段新的自然教育徑，找個同學仔問路，才知小食部已搬至新大樓中間，行當年往體育堂更衣室的通道可達，這時適逢同學仔帶領校友參觀新大樓及和舊時很不同的圖書館，我也加入行列，中學禮堂控制室看起來相當pro. 到了午飯時間，我光顧了小食部為曦社辦的$60自助餐，味道真不錯，又和幾位同樣由海外回來的同學高談闊論，更是高興。

飯後回去小學部，皆因老友女兒在培正小學就讀，有份演出；又遇到其他現為家長的舊同學。之後就是在中學禮堂舉行盛大的加冕儀式，非加冕班級也有份上台接受薪火相傳，小弟有幸代表禮社。第一個高潮是為畢業八十年的老校友鄺伯加冕，從小就見鄺伯代表同學會出席活動，聲若洪鐘多年不變，其實已是一百歲的老人家，他的一句：「行得、食得、瞓得」引來全場笑聲掌聲。然後七十周年至廿五周年（隔每個五年）各級社皆人強馬壯分別上台接受加冕，主角當然是銀禧的曦社。儀式後繼續在門外拍照，和一班當年相熟多年不見的電腦班師兄們吹水，吹到勝利道的茶餐廳打個底（因為晚宴尚有數小時才開席），然後浩浩蕩蕩往YWCA上接載我們的旅遊巴，前往大公宴會場九龍灣展貿中心，路線和以前體育課去游泳池（那時校園內並無）相似，勾起一眾乘客集體回憶。

九龍灣展貿中心乃係全港最大的晚宴場地之一，才能容納得了一百席的大公宴，我們禮社所訂的一圍正是#100！這一席有我們兩位校花，多年不見，美貌更勝當年。重遇的不只他們，還有兩位old family friends，認真意外驚喜。

大公宴表演節目包括時裝表演，方知香港十大名模之一陳祉妤（舊名陳沛嘉）也是同級禮社同學（來自澳門分校）。另一個精彩節目則是由銀樂隊新舊成員組成的jazz band表演多首名曲。

幾個有趣小插曲：和校花傾了幾句，原來當年大家談論背書，自負的我說了一句話，她如今仍記得，又再印證客戶服務的真理：一個正面形像不易建立，一件破壞形像的事情卻令人難忘！還有另一位舊同學，新來培正就被改花名，原來也是我做的好事呢:P

後記：用了current affairs的label，皆因香港建校八十周年晚宴有多位名人校友出席並見報。

New thrash metal from old and new bands

Thrash metal continues to be one of my favorite sub-genre of metal. Many great thrash bands from the 80s are still going strong like Anthrax and Slayer (oh yeah, almost forgot Metallica played thrash metal too) or have come back from hiatus like Testament, who released 2 highly acclaimed albums since then. And I've just listened to 2 pretty good new albums: "The Dream Calls for Blood" by Death Angel and "VI" by Onslaught. Check out the linked reviews! In both cases, there isn't anything really ground breaking. They just stick with the classic sound, i.e, the sound we thrash metal fan enjoy! On the other hand, if you prefer a thrash metal band that's willing to experiment on a new album, I suggest you give Annihilator's "Feast" a listen. Their main man Jeff Water likes to throw the listeners some curve balls. And a vital music scene not only needs new albums from old bands but also new blood. Diamond Plate is one of the latter. They have just released a new one "Pulse." Glad to see the scene is alive and kicking!

HBO Documentaries: YoungArts Masterclass, Sports

I wasn't in the mood for sitcom or drama last night and I realized Comcast's free HBO offer should be over soon so I purposefully looked for good shows on HBO and came across one with trumpeter Wynton Marsalis. At first I thought it might be just a cameo appearance but I couldn't be more wrong! The whole episode was about Wynton mentoring a group of young jazz musicians (some are only 18-19 yr old) as part of the YoungArts Masterclass Season 3.. Obviously all of them have the chops. The advices given by Wynton were way above technical level. He gave each of them one word. For example, the saxophonist needed relaxation because of his intensity. The bassist needed concentration to support everybody else. And the pianist needs to free his playing and takes some risks. It's kinda like watching American Idol (except all the comments was about musical art instead of manufactured crap) I can't believe a major network like HBO shows something this good (and niche)

The 2nd show I watched was Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel. Last time I watched gotta be long time ago (maybe in college when I had HBO) The hour long show talked about 4 stories in depth:
1) Concussions in NFL: NFL setup a fund of $765 Million to settle the lawsuit by former players. Man, it's a brutal sports. It's really sad to see the guys who played real hard are now having serious health issues like ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease)
2) Around-the-world sailing race: this is the ultimate tough-guy sport - Half of the participants couldn't finish the race! Basically the route takes ~3 months to complete. Each yacht is manned by just one sailor. He was all by himself for that 3 months battling dangerous water.
3) The Seattle Sounders-mania: Soccer (or football for the rest of the world) has never been that popular as a spectator sport in the States. I mean, lots of people played but not that many watched pro-teams play compared to baseball/football/basketball. Things have changed in the past few years though: per-game attendance of MLS (major league soccer) has passed NHL and NBA (which was actually "reasonable" because NHL and NBA teams play way more games per season) Still, it's hard to imagine one MLS team could have such loyal/crazy fanbase that rivals the top teams in Europe (think Liverpool, for example) That team is Seattle Sounders. The show kept comparing the sold-out crowd at the Sounders' game vs the many empty seats at the Mariners' game. Gotta give a lot of credits to the 2 owners of the Sounders. Both of them have a background in the Hollywood/show-biz and know how to generate buzz well.
4) The comeback of pitcher Steve Delabar: he was in minor league baseball for a while and his arm was injured really bad. Had a surgery but his baseball career was over. He worked as a substitute teacher at a school and also helped out their baseball team. He was introduced to a strength-training program. He wanted to try it out before the students did. And the program really worked for him. He was able to pitch well (velocity reached mid-90s) again and was noticed by some scouts. Next thing you know, he's back in pro-baseball, progressing thru the minor league and eventually made his major league debut! The next year he was traded to Toronto Blue Jays. Continued to play well as a closer and got chosen for the All-Star team. Couldn't his story be more Cinderella-like?

IndyCar championship

As I predicted, Helio Castroneves was unable to overcome the point deficit during the last race of the season at Fontana and Scott Dixon won the championship for the 3rd time in his career. He definitely deserved it. It was a bit unfair that the league penalized him for that pit road incident earlier in the season anyway. And I was glad to see the "King of the road" Will Power had his second victory on an oval track! What an irony. If he did well in any of the final race of the season in the past few years, he would have won a championship or two.

下一代

The more things change, the more they stay the same. 在這個人人上網的年代，原來後生仔女依然喜歡聽收音機！女兒和姨甥女坐我車，要求轉台，一時101.3，一時97.3，好在這個爸爸不太老餅，除了爵士古典，這些台也在preset。其實很好奇她們在家何時聽收音機？還記得以前深夜或清晨都會聽收音機，中學年代開夜車收音機更是良朋，不過那時坐爸爸的車常常都要被迫聽新聞台，爸爸更加不會讓我寫一張清單然後幫我錄歌！

早幾天參觀女兒下年就讀的初中，原來有家政班（教煮食）、法文班、工業班（教木工）；在香港受教育的我，當真大開眼界，這樣比起我小時候獨沽一味鋤書的模式確實優勝。

Sports highlights: Red River rivalry, upset Saturday, MLB, NASCAR at Charlotte

The past Saturday of College Football was all about upsets. The most important one to me was the big win by Texas over the heated rival Oklahoma. We haven't won for 3 years! And Wisconsin beat the then-ranked Northwestern later that day. I watched only the OT part of the Michigan-Penn State game. Every time I thought it would have been over after someone kicked a FG and switched channel, I found that it's still not over when I switched back! It's like no one could win the game! Not a fan of either team but I was happy to see the underdog (Penn State) won as well as the other upsets :Utah defeated Stanford (a new PAC-12 team > an "old" PAC-12 team) and Missouri beat Georgia (a former Big 12 team > a SEC team)

We were certainly following the MLB playoff on TV and radio even though no bay area team (no team I root for, in fact) is still in it after the A's went down. The low-scoring St. Louis vs LA game was a nail-bitter but I'm not counting the latter out yet. And Red Sox coming back from 5-0 deficit in ALCS game 2 was a dramatic one. I guess it's deja vu of 2004 (which means the White Sox will win the WS next year. Yay!)

The complete opposite of drama was F1 in Japan. Vettel and his invincible Red Bull machine was passed during the start (surprise!) but he still won on tire strategy. BORING! In comparison, the NASCAR race at Charlotte was much more exciting. I thought it would be a waste of my time to watch when Jimmie "Five Time" Johnson made steady progress and eventually overtaken team mate Kasey Kahne for the lead in the middle of the race. He and his car looked so good. Well, this was not F1 and he didn't do well on one of the re-start and slipped back. On the other hand, Matt Kenseth, JJ's main competitor in the championship chase, didn't do well in the beginning but slowly improved to finish 3rd, one place ahead of JJ and maintained his championship point lead. However, the story of the race gotta be 2012 champ Brad K finally winning his first race of the season, after he failed to get into the championship chase. What made it more amazing was that he recovered from a poor pit stop in which the jack was stuck to (and damaged) his car and he had to serve penalty! Please remind me why I still watch F1 (!? Maybe just because it's on TV)

And the great sports weekend was concluded on Sunday night with Da Boys winning over rival Redskins. Texas rulez.

Sports lowlights: Dallas Cowboys, Helio Castroneves

Hate to mention "lowlights" two weeks in a row but it was disappointing to see Da' boys lost by 3 late in the game. They showed signs of brilliance from time to time but just not have the consistency for the whole 60 minutes :( And I was rooting for Team Penske to win the IndyCar championship this year but Castroneves' car had issue on both races in Houston during the weekend and lost his big point lead in the standing. I'm afraid it's another 2nd place finish at the end of the season for a Team Penske driver. That's Will Power for the past few years. Ironically, Power won the 2nd race at Houston. The "King of the road" seem to get back on track after a disastrous season. So that belongs to the "highlight" department. Another one is Manchester United's victory with new kid Adnan Januzaj scoring 2 goals (he was the difference between a W and a L.) We also have a new star this side of the Atlantic: San Jose Sharks Tomas Hertl. I was happy watching him scoring 4 goals against the New York Rangers, even though I also like the latter team and hoping for a less lopsided game. It's awesome watching the opening games of the new NHL season on TV in HD! Anytime of the year in the world of sports some leagues start while others end. One just finished this weekend was Champion League Twenty 20 (Cricket) The semis and the final were all exciting. Lots of fire powers from the final 4! Mumbai Indians deserved to win it all. Last but not least, the late late game on Sunday night, Raiders vs Chargers, was an entertaining one. Glad to see Raiders winning another one. The Ws are hard to come by these days. Maybe Pryor could make it in NFL after all (not expecting MVP/Aaron Rodgers-type of numbers) 

Sports lowlights: NFL, EPL, MLB, NASCAR

Dallas Cowboys lost. Manchester United lost. Wisconsin Badgers lost. 5-time Cup champ and 7-time Dover winner Jimmie Johnson won at Dover again to move up to second in the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship standings which might not have happened had Junior didn't miss the pit entrance and had to come back to pit and lost a whole lot of spots.

And I wrote about White Sox needed to win 3 out of 10 to avoid losing 100 games this season last time. Well, they won exactly that many games and ended the season 63-99. I guess it's a "highlight." SF Giants won quite a few games for the last week, including 2 against the Dodgers (winning the season series) and also the season finale in walk-off fashion. Plus they signed fan favourite/clubhouse leader OF Hunter Pence to a long-term deal. Let's hope he will continue to lead the team to success (instead of being another big contract failure that the Giants had in the past) Congrat to the Oakland A's for winning back to back AL West! I listened to the radio on the day they clinched (after Texas Rangers lost) and passed by the Coliseum right after they won that game! They are the hope of the Bay Area for the moment. Still, I don't have too high hope. The "Moneyball" team has made many trips to the postseason without winning it all. This could be yet another one of those years which they just miss THAT something to propel them over the hump.

Larry Ellison and his 2-time America's Cup winning Oracle Team USA had become instant-legend by coming back from an 8-1 deficit. Enuff said.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D

我很少看美國電視drama（一小時那種），對上一次已是四五年前的事，但今天因為偶像Cobie Smulders客串演出這套Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D而看了，其實這類改變Superhero漫畫的作品本已很吸引，果然沒有令我失望。相信該劇另一位靚女，擁有華人血統的Chloe Bennet（汪可盈）會令我繼續追下去。

Sports highlights: MLB

With less than 2 weeks left in the season, many games have playoff implications: Indians, Rays, Rangers and even the Yankees are all fighting for the 2 AL wild cards. I'm afraid it's too late for the Yankees even though they are beating up the SF Giants. They lost way too many games in the past 2 weeks. The Indians playing the lowly Astros are certainly helping them but hurting the other wildcard hopefuls. Sometimes the analysts could be so right even before the season started. Some predicted the Astros would lose 100+ games. Then the Astros beat the Rangers on the opening day and I thought those people would be wrong. Not so! Speaking of the Rangers, their chances are not good. Looks like their series against the Royals would just be ruining each other. Another team in danger of losing 100 games is the White Sox. They had a brief winning streak last month so I stopped worrying but then they lost the magic completely. They got stuck with win#58 for a long time! Finally they got to win#60 but I'm not optimistic they could win 3 more before the season ends 'coz all of their opponents are fighting for postseason (except for 1 game vs the Blue Jays): the Tigers wanna get a higher seed for home-field. The Indians and even the Royals are wildcard hopefuls and cannot afford to drop even one game. Finally, we have the Reds vs the Pirates this weekend fighting for the wildcard and maybe NL Central. It's great to be a baseball fan now!

Sports highlights: Jim Furyk's 59, Man U, La Vuelta, Beat LA, college football, Sprint Cup

I, as a sports junkie, am trying to enjoy as much sports on TV as I can on the week I "returned" to the world of cable TV. Here are some memorable moments:

Jim Furyk became the sixth men on PGA to shoot 59, which happened in the 2nd round of BMW Championship. This article says Furyk's 59 is among the best out of those six.

NBC bought the right to English Premier League and putting some of the games on NBC Sports Network (formerly Versus, formerly OLN) Comcast did the right thing and included this channel in the starter package. I'm usually the one who whine about not getting a certain channel but it's my buddy who subscribed to DISH not getting this channel! So, my first EPL game on big TV this season is Man U vs Crystal Palace. I missed the 1st 20 min and thought I might have missed some Man U goals already but I didn't, which was NOT good!. They only scored twice against a team that never stay for more than one season after promoted to the premier league. Still, I'm glad that both strikers RVP and Rooney scored, a PK and a free kick, respectively, which gotta boost their confidence.

Another present surprise included by Comcast is Fox Sports 1 (formerly Speed) I did not get Speed with Comcast's basic package before we terminated the service last time. The Fox-owned Speed used to broadcast F1 (now on NBCSN), Supercross, NASCAR Truck series, etc and I seriously considered getting cable just for Speed but I eventually didn't because of the high cost. I was also surprised that Fox Soccer channel has been folded (now become FXX which is non-sports) So basically Fox "converted" a motorsports specific channel to a general sports channel (like ESPN and NBCSN) which shows its remaining motorsports, soccer programs plus some more after losing F1 and EPL rights. FS1 will be showing Champions League games starting this week!

La Vuelta a Espana (Tour of Spain) is one of the 3 grand tours (the biggest road bicycle races of the year. The other 2 is of course Tour De France and Giro d'Italia) Watching bike racing to me is kinda like watching NASCAR: a lot of times most of the action happened at the end of the race, for example, the peloton catching the breakaway, or the sprinters shoot it out at the finish line. Still, I would turn it on whenever I remember (these European races end around 9am!) This year's Vuelta doesn't have some of the biggest name: Chris Fromme, Alberto Contador, Andy Schleck. Cadel Evans but I was glad that I watched. Stage 20 was a brutal climb (I saw a few 24%) Giro's winner Vincenzo Nibali was 3 second behind American Chris Horner at the start of the stage. Both were in the 2nd group after the breakaway near the end of the race and during those steep climbs. The British sports channel commentators mentioned rains might help Nibali and they sounded like they want that to happen. I guess there's a subtle bias against the American! For a moment Nibali attacked and it seemed like Horner had a hard time keeping up. Well, it turned out Horner was saving some in his tank and only used it later to pass Nibali and extended his lead to seal his overall victory. Congrat to the 41 year old becoming the oldest grand tour champ.

The hated Dodgers has been unstoppable for the last few months. No one could deny it's a much better team than our Giants this year and a likely championship contender. The games between these 2 teams probably don't mean much to the big picture but true fans still care. It was a nail-biter on Friday and the Giants hanged on to win. On the other hand, the Saturday night game was a huge blow out by the Giants. Then another close win on Sunday. Sweet!

Watched the Wisconsin vs Arizona State game via Slingbox on the same night. What a mind-boggling finish! The Badgers should have won the game by kicking a field goal but the QB simply put the ball on the ground which didn't stop the clock and we ran out of time! Unbelievable. Not enjoying any college game this weekend :(

I've followed the career of NASCAR Nationwide series driver Justin Allgaier since his Penske years when his team was sponsored by Verizon. He lost that ride because NASCAR's bigger sponsor Sprint forced Verizon out. Now that he's on a smaller team, he still performed consistently as the best-of-the-rest after the top-tier drivers. It's hard to tell if his talent is good enough for the Sprint Cup, the top series in NASCAR but he never got a chance to race there until this week. One of the owners of his Nationwide team has bought a Sprint Cup team and his Nationwide sponsor agree to sponsor that car for a few races so Allgaier will make his Sprint Cup debut this week.

Of course this is just a tiny story among all things happened in NASCAR this week. Recall last week's race in which Ryan Newman was about to win the race but Clint Bowyer's car spun and brought out a caution. Eventually Newman didn't win and Truex beat out Newman on a tie-breaker for a spot in the 12-driver field of the chase for Sprint Cup championship. Bowyer was allegedly spun out intentionally to help out Truex. Both were penalized by NASCAR and Truex's spot in the chase was replaced by Newman, which I think was the right thing to do. However, the story didn't end there. It turned out Joey Logano's team was found colluded with David Gilliland's so that the latter let the former passed to gain a spot (and a point) which helped him beat out Jeff Gordon for the final spot in the chase. To compensate for this, NASCAR added a 13th spot to the chase to include Gordon. Again, I think that's the right thing to do. Ironically, Logano won the pole of this week's race, the first of the 10 races for the championship, which was delayed by rain in the Chicago area.

電視精回歸

取消Comcast有線電視後過了大半年，其實也沒有太不慣；上上YoutTube已很多東西看，不過小朋友漸長大，再加上間中有的訪客同時想上網，家中所謂寬頻(DSL)就不勝負荷了。早一陣子AT&T寄過廣告宣傳我們屋苑已有新一代U-Verse服務，打去問才知目前速度仍和DSL一樣，而Comcast最新的優惠是TV+Internet兩年合約，兩年內由超筍價加到正價平均每月$70+雜費，覺得可以接受，於是重投Comcast。落搭後兩個工作天就收到Comcast的cable box，之前也買了cable modem，準備self-install，想來不會太難，又免卻等待technician上門。

結果花了三小時，登入Comcast activation網站四次，有兩次網頁無反應，另外兩次activation不果；打去Comcast activation專線四次，三次是automated response，成功activate cable modem及cable box，打第四次是因為優惠包括六個月HBO沒有兌現。當中也花了一點時間configure router，原來對上一次用有線寬頻已是十幾年前的事，那時Wifi尚未流行，modem直駁電腦；之後用router都是用PPPoE駁DSL modem，Google了一會才知router WAN setting只需定為DHCP，但router還是無法接入Comcast，想起十年前朋友吹水提過要clone MAC address，即router「假裝」自己是用來activate那部電腦，終於搞掂。

兩晚看了三小時電視（因為去了Uproar Festival），也看了不少精彩節目，包括：
America's Cup: 只看了美國隊開賽以來的唯一勝利的重播，除此之外整體上慘不忍睹。
Giants vs Rockies: 久違了的巨人隊比賽，皆因MLB.tv網上轉播不包括本地隊伍；雖然今年表現強差人意，但也要捧捧場。
Motorcross: 冠軍人馬已出爐，聽見這些熟悉的名字總有點親切感。

World Poker Tour: 看別人賭不是自己的錢，我一直都很有興趣。再加上節目安排了不少美女，包括主持。

Queensryche vs Queensryche

Queensryche is certainly not a household name like Aerosmith. The band did have a big hit, "Silent Lucidity," in early 90s, which is actually not typical Queensryche, which started out as a progressive metal band. Prog bands were favorites of certain magazine writers those days and I was persuaded to listen to some, like Crimson Glory and Queensryche. I enjoyed Queensryche's "epic" concept album: Operation Mindcrime, a whole lot. Their techniques were superb, melodies were catchy and storyline was interesting. Fast forward 25 years to 2013, the band fired the lead vocalist Geoff Tate. At that time his wife was managing the band and his step-daughter was managing the fan club. It's not hard to imagine $$$ might have caused some problems. After the split, both parties claimed ownership of the band's name. Both of them released an album in 2013. And both of them are touring to promote the albums. Well, two bands with the same name certainly caused quite a bit of confusion. I received newsletters from concert promoters and have to read carefully to tell which one is performing when. I hope they could ultimately resolve the conflict peacefully. (I could live with two bands having the same name) This controversy was actually the reason I listened to both new albums! The verdict: Queensryche with Todd La Torre (the new singer) holds a slight edge over Queensryche with Geoff Tate. The new album of the former sounds just like a continuation of the ones from the earlier days. Even the vocal sounds very similar! The latter is not bad either. Just sounded a bit too mainstream.

Post #601

Last week I have published my 600th posts of this blog which was started in 2008/12/26! The average was about 120 per year. To be honest, there's a clear downward trend. It's unlikely to reach 120 for 2013 :( Maybe there are less notable events/interesting topics to write about on a daily basis. Another reason is that I got "distracted" by Facebook (what else!) where it's appropriate to post about marginally-notable events and semi-interesting topics! And I have also "diverted" some of my music-making and biking related writings to my other blogs. Finally, I gotta admit I wrote less about my views on politics and current affairs. You don't need Snowden to remind us that the Big Brother is watching as he always do. Still, my blog is a better place for such posts than FB (I guess it's less likely to offend my friends here) For example, some of my FB friends posted this one about the Japanese radiation-leaking danger zone (formerly known as a nuclear plant) causing health issues in North America now (e.g. California) I am very skeptical and seems like some people with first-hand knowledge feel the same as I do judging by the comment section.

Pitchers that used false identity

The story of foreign pitchers using false identity to enter and play in U.S. caught my attention last year. Roberto Hernandez (the pitcher formerly known as Fausto Carmona) played 2 good seasons with the Cleveland Indians. His future was still uncertain when that article was written in April 2012 because he needed to reapply for visa to enter US and may face suspension by MLB. Found an interesting article dated last July about Indians players threw him a party with 3 birthday cakes when he came back to the States. He joined the Tampa Bay Rays and started quite a few games for the team in this 2013 season and even pitched a complete game last month but his record doesn't look good. We might not hear much about him.

尋寶

甚為喜歡亞視版的尋寶，那是一個介紹藝術收藏品的節目，我先看的是國內的版本，每一集都有幾位家庭觀眾帶自己的得意收藏品上來給電視台邀請的專家鑑定真偽及價值；亞視版並非國內版配上廣東話，而是邀請香港的專家（看過的都是在香港工作的內地人，我也視之為香港的專家）為香港的觀眾鑑定。

對於收藏藝術品，我是心有餘而財不足；不過尋寶經驗我也有不少，是來自買二手唱片及書籍。十多年前玩過一陣子黑膠，去過本地多間大大小小有名無名唱片店二手黑膠部搜羅心頭好，記得有一次去到SF Conservatory of Music在19th Avenue的舊址，當時正為搬遷大賣藏品！記得那次買了相當精彩的貝多芬Triple Concerto錄音。後來到自己搬遷，迫於無奈轉贈唱盤予友人，但保留了多數黑膠碟。匆匆十數年，終於重回多姿多彩的黑膠世界！裝好唱盤後，除了重温十多年前的藏品外，下一步當然是擴充！除了Berkeley Telegraph街，SF downtown幾間舊相識，最近又到過幾間二手書店入貨，頗有收穫！介紹下幾張「得意」「新貨」：

Al Di Meola: Scenario
此碟特別之處是有份參與的是一些Art rock界響噹噹的名字，例如Yes鼓手Bill Bruford（原來早於83年玩fusion，我要到九十年代末看他樂隊出show玩jazz才知他也擅長這一瓣），Genesis鼓手Phil Collins（差點忘記他玩Art rock打鼓的歲月，早幾天還在收音機聽他唱In Too Deep，原來早年他也曾為fusion樂隊Brand X打鼓。），King Crimson低音結他手Tony Levin。

Blues for tomorrow
這張碟名毫不起眼，但仔細看看陣容，認真不得了：Sonny Rollins,John Coltrane,Coleman Hawkins,Art Blakey是其中最響噹噹的名字，其餘的也是頂級高手。這是一張jazz blues專輯，收錄的是Riverside沒有在其他碟發表的錄音，可謂滄海遺珠。唱片封套的notes詳盡地介紹了blues在爵士樂的地位：雖然blues在爵士樂之前誕生，前者是後者吸收多種風格的其中一種，有人視後者為前者之進化；其實爵士樂演進數世代(Dixieland->Swing->Bop)，12-bar blues依然是爵士樂其中一個常用的形式，只不過Bop大師如Charlie Parker等等把12-bar blues的progression多加變化，所以jazz blues聽起來一點不老土。主題曲Blues for Tomorrow的陣容對我來說相當特別，因為有Coltrane和Hawk兩個不同年代的Saxophone宗匠接連solo。此碟在1957年錄音，當時的Coltrane出道已超過12年，不過他是在這一年才推出首張由他領導樂團的同名唱片Coltrane，也是在這一年他過檔Bluenote推出其突破性作品Blue Train。

Julian & John (a.k.a Together, from the CD version) 

驟眼看碟名你可能以為是指Julian和John Lennon兩父子，其實是Julian Bream及John Williams兩位古典結他大師才對。繼Andres Segovia之後，這兩位算是最響噹噹的巨星。此碟是他們兩人首度合作的唱片，曲目包括Carulli及Albeniz的作品，彈開古典結他的朋友對他們肯定不會陌生，而兩支結他的編曲亦豐富且有新鮮感。

Mulgrew Miller: Work!

這是一張27年前推出的爵士鋼琴三重奏唱片，三位樂手都是出道不久，才是鋼琴手Mulgrew Miller第二張作品。低音提琴手Charnett Moffett和女鼓手Terri Lyne Carrington至今仍然活躍，今年分別推出新作；可惜Miller已於今年五月底去世。他和另一位今年去世的爵士鋼琴手Cedar Walton都是我早年在Yoshi's欣賞過的大師。他們都給我實而不華的感覺，這張唱片越聽越有味道。

Larry Coryell, John Scofield, Joe Beck: Tributaries

由三位爵士結他高手合作的作品，想必不會差。尤其是Coryell和Scofield都是十分多元化的樂手，第三位其實我看錯以為是Joe Pass，不過Joe Beck和我師父Jimmy Bruno合作的Polarity一碟我也是十分欣賞。言歸正傳，原來有樂評對此唱片評價普通，覺得只有結他友才會喜歡；可能這個說法也沒錯，我一定有點bias。總之這不是一張易找的作品，CD版也要從日本入口！我們有三個彈結他的band友，我常常希望有朝一日搞個爵士三重奏，這張唱片也是一個很好的參考。

Sports highlights: sportsmanship and victories

49er is on my top-hated team lists but gotta give their players some credits and respect when it's due: 49er played against Kansas City Chiefs last week in a pre-season game. Coincidentally, it's the first time they met after former 49er QB Alex Smith was traded to KC. 49er players (including Smith's replacement) took turn to wish Smith well. And they were not even on TV so I'm pretty sure that's genuine feeling, not what the word "sportsmanship" could describe.

From the team that I don't care to the ones I care: Giants, A's, White Sox, Yankees all won their weekend series (against the lowly Marlins, the competitive Indians, the still-not-rock-bottom Twins and the "mightly" Red Sox, respectively!) I couldn't remember when this happened last time this season! Oh well, true fans are supposed to stick with their teams during good times and bad times.

BTW, we drove by the Sonoma Raceway on Sunday, exactly 1 week before the Sonoma Grand Prix (Indycar race) The traffic was not great even on a day without big race. I went a few years ago and wish it's an oval track (wider tracks usually resulted in more passing opportunities. And you could see the whole track better) Oh well, not everyone lives near an Indycar and NASCAR race track though. I shouldn't complain too much about the traffic and the fact that it's a road course instead of an oval. 

NASCAR真人騷

我對真人騷相當抗拒，原因？太戲劇化！「真」的成份不高。不過最近卻看了一個，是汽車添加劑製造商Peak贊助Michael Waltrip車隊招一名新成員受訓。參加這個節目的車手經過多重考驗，當然少不了賽車，也有鬥快速避開障礙（例如賽事進行中遇到的壞車），鬥短時間進出維修站，還有非賽車：演出為Peak宣傳的廣告片，鬥演得好。睇開美國賽車的朋友都知Peak現任代言人是新聞多多的Danica Patrick, Danica有在節目出現指導參加者做廣告所需演技，她算駕輕就熟了。有人睇有車睇，這個節目總算冷場不多。我支持這個節目的另一個原因是Michael Waltrip車隊的車手: Michael Waltrip作為車手戰績不俗（兩次贏得Daytona 500大賽），車隊論budget算不上頂班，旗下卻猛將如雲：包括老而彌堅的Mark Martin，爭標前列分子Clint Bowyer等等。

Progressive Insurance Radio Ad

I don't like watching their TV commercial. The actress is probably quite good at acting but she's NOT pretty and looks kinda annoying (even though I know she has many fans) Man, its radio ad is even worse! I hear them a lot on TuneIn radio. Apparently I'm not the only one who couldn't stand them. Check out these negative comments on the forum of another online radio site.

爵士高手雲集聖荷西

第一次去要收費的聖荷西爵士音樂節，十幾年前去還是免費，不過廿元入場費可看足全日，也是超值，希望大會給音樂人的報酬好一點。這位音樂人分享他在夏日音樂節的報酬及經驗，甚為有趣。

下午三點到達downtown，最近在附近學結他所以對泊車情況也略知一二，找到隔幾條街的免費車位再踩車過去慳了五元。具體地址也沒有事先看地圖，總之向人群及音樂的方向踩就不會錯，原來是用圍欄包著市中心廣場（即博物館及Fairmont酒店對出那個）圍欄以外也有表演場地，都不見收費站！似乎可付可不付，我也沒有多探究，總是先去圍欄入口買票吧。再看看節目表，原來Fairmont酒店內就有一場Touch of Brass Big Band，老實說甚少聽Big band，這個演出還有女歌手，唱得甚為動聽。

四點鐘到上演「重頭戲」的Main stage看Javon Jackson with Les McCann and Dr. Lonnie Smith. 後兩位是玩Soul jazz keyboard的元老級人馬，McCann除了彈琴還唱歌，唱的藍調很有味道。我雖然不喜聽vocal，接連兩場聽了一點還可接受。Dr. Lonnie Smith則是我一向十分推崇的organist，彈起來總是霸氣十足又游刃有餘。

五點鐘節目表列了在Fairmont演出的是Joe DeRose and Amici.單看名字，直覺上是一男一女前者彈後者唱的組合（例如Tuck and Patti），在官網仔細看看卻是另一回事：DeRose是一位出自Berklee的fusion jazz鼓手，Amici是指和他合作的樂手好友，其中包括我以前也聽過並甚為欣賞的結他手 Hristo Vitchev，當日他用Tele彈出的聲同fusion十分夾，solo非常精彩。6弦Bass手Dan Robbins的技術同樣令我歎為觀止。他們的原創作品各有特色，例如其中一首由DeRose介紹乃係源自一條在座友人提供的bass line/riff.

六點鐘重回Main stage是為了看著名Smooth jazz色士風手兼電台節目主持人Dave Koz and friends，是那幾個friend？後來才知，總知意外驚喜。雖然論深度Smooth jazz無法和"Real"（傳統／主流／現代） jazz相比，但我其實一直都不太抗拒，說到底當天如果沒有聽Kenny G今天的我會不會聽及玩jazz也是疑問。和Kenny G相比，Dave Koz給我的感覺更懂得製造商機；近年Smooth jazz大衰退，他就和其他幾位和他知名度不相上下的色士風手合作同台演出，搞得聲勢浩大頗有突圍而出之感。雖然這個說法有點不尊重女性音樂才華，但有點姿色的女色士風手一向受人注目，以前就有Candy Dulfer，今次的Mindi Abair亦肯定增强這個lineup吸引力不少。這次演出更是明刀明槍搞大眾化：玩的都是70/80年代的pop/R&B/soul/funk作品，包括翻玩Sly and the family stone, Earth, Wind and Fire, James Brown, Herb Alpert，台下觀眾明顯相當受落，很多聞歌起舞。(雖然主流爵士網評一如所料對此不以為然)
(Left to right: Gerald Albright, Dave Koz, Mindi Abair, Richard Elliot)

總括來說我很高興去了這次音樂節，短短四小時也十分滿意。

Everybody wants to rule the world: Blues version

I've just learned about a few new releases from Concord/Telarc's newsletter. One of them is 7 Cities by the blues rock group Moreland & Arbuckle. This is the first time I heard of their music. The most special track to me is their cover version of "Everybody wants to rule the world," the huge hit of Tears for Fears.

意外驚喜

由於放假加上聲樂節目關係，已有個多月未去過Noontimeconcerts，今天的節目終於輪到我喜歡的弦樂四重奏(曲目是Smetana, Borodin的作品)。出車後，發覺沒有帶單車鎖，唯有由聽音樂改為到唐人街買野食；一如所料，金門餅家又放假。再到園林點心，竟然見到牛脷酥！這是我在美國首次吃到。之後再遊一會單車河：望望Luna Rossa的大本營(來自意大利的LV Cup參賽隊伍)，以及新起好的海傍小公園，倒也不俗。

Vasona park一遊

在半島居住後，比以前少了去扒獨木舟，皆因最近我家的Shoreline park的湖實在太小，一下子就環湖一周，不夠過癮；再加上踩單車已花去很多時間。昨天踩了Montebello，今天正好轉轉活動，發掘一下扒艇的新地方。Google找到位於Los Gatos 的Vasona park，決定試試。

其實Vasona park是老地方，picnic試過，萬聖節之夜玩過，單車踩過，只是艇未扒過。我一直都認為那裡環境優美，但一如其他美好的事物，壞處就是多人爭；矽谷雖然處處都有適合遊玩的公園，已比其他地區優勝不少；始終也有一些像Vasona這樣較受歡迎。停車場收費六大元，如用來津貼一下保養的經費，也算合理，總不能因為該處居民有錢要他們全數負責吧。想慳這六元也很簡單，把車停在附近街上再踩單車過去即可。

租艇中心比告示的十一時還要早點點開檔，有點意外驚喜；在我之前已有幾家人租水上單車，該中心也有當今最熱門的Standup paddleboard 出租，他們有大約十多塊，開門不到一小時，已差不多全數租出！我租的是獨木舟，職員問我租一小時還是半小時，我推斷湖不會太大，果然，我租了一小時如果不hea夠環湖兩周，不過比Shoreline還是大一點點，不至於一眼睇晒！我想我會再回這裡玩水上活動，記得早一點去便可。