Home data center

My coworker presented his latest project and described the data center setup. I cannot understand most of the equipments he planned to use but I was thinking it would be (figuratively) cool (and nerdy) to have a rack at home. I think most homes can use some reliable network storage. Check out some guys' setup.

能者無所不能

剛剛和朋友討論當世能人異士，談到「能者無所不能」，例如我推崇的文學家柳永和辛棄疾，朋友問起秦觀又有甚麼艷史呢？找到此文：

所謂“生命誠可貴，愛情價更高”。秦觀與青樓女的艷情，只不過是為了消遣時光而已。
    《茹溪漁隱叢話》引《藝苑雌黃》說了秦觀的一件風流事。秦觀在紹興的時候，由當地最高長官太守接待，住高級賓館蓬萊閣。一日，在席上看中一個歌妓，於是賦《滿庭芳》，開頭一句是“山抹微雲”，後來就是“銷魂，當此際，香囊暗解，羅帶輕分。漫贏得青樓，薄幸名存”了。此詞流傳甚廣，蘇軾曾戲稱秦觀為“山抹微雲秦學士”。
    明代的蔣一葵在《堯山堂外紀》中則透露了秦觀的另兩次艷事。“秦少遊在蔡州，與營妓樓婉字東玉者甚密”，他專為情人寫了一首《水龍吟》，還費心地將樓東玉的名字寫進去，“小樓連苑橫空”、“玉佩丁東別後”就是謎面。而“花下重門，柳邊深巷，不堪回首。念多情，但有當時皓月，照人依舊”是說他們幽會情景的。
    秦觀還有過一位叫陶心兒的情人，他曾贈一首《南歌子》給這位名妓，末句的“天外一鉤殘月，帶三星”，就是為陶心兒的“心”字打的啞謎。
　　才情都用在妓女身上，實在有（失）體統。俗話說，勸賭不勸嫖。作為朋友，黃庭堅看不下去，寫了一首詩勸告他，其中有“才難不易得，志大略細謹”的句子，秦觀看了很不高興。

Deep Learning Fundamentals

I have recently completed an online course on Deep Learning. The training videos are available on YouTube for free. I highly recommend anyone in IT take a look. After this you can use the keywords and make yourself sound like an expert!

「愛」這一個字

今天無意中學了「愛」的小篆體（見圖），該字原來包括三部份：
最頂部份原是「欠」，代表開口傾訴。
中間部份是「心」，不用解釋。
最底部份是「奔走」，即為愛的人辦事！

自古至今，愛都是這麼一回事。
(詳見此頁）

下垂

我們中學同級同學在WhatsApp開了一個大group，上週末未被香港打大風話題佔據之前，在LA的同學問了一個孩子中文班的問題：
用「下垂」一詞做句。
他立即想到的是：腦下垂 :D
我提供的是：熟了的果子讓樹枝下垂
另一位同學提供的是：別離淚始終要下垂

大家應該都知出於那一首歌吧？

辛棄疾「中藥」詞

中國文學博大精深無奇不有，有一首「靜夜思」以中藥名貫穿全詞，相傳是宋代詞人辛棄疾的作品：
雲母屏開，珍珠簾閉，防風吹散沉香。 離情抑郁，金縷織硫黃。 柏影桂枝交映，從容起，弄水銀堂。 連翹首，驚過半夏，涼透薄荷裳。 一鉤藤上月，尋常山夜，夢宿沙場。 早已輕粉黛，獨活空房。 欲續斷弦未得，烏頭白，最苦參商。 當歸也！茱萸熟，地老菊花黃。

認識這首作品也得拜《BB來了》一劇所賜，當然又是出自「浪漫」中醫師長青的台詞！

沈vs沉

在寫上次提過的柳永離別難時，發現有些網頁寫「夜沈沈」，有些寫「夜沉沉」，直覺認為後者才對，因為多年來讀文章形容深沉的都會這樣寫。不過到底兩字是否相通？Google找到李碧華的分析：沈乃正字也；我想我跟李碧華不會錯到那裡去吧？

柳永．離別難

上星期寫了一篇提到無線電視劇中一位「讀書人」用了幾句柳永的詞來讚他心儀的一位女性心地善良，到底那位女角有甚麼反應呢？

答案是大罵了前者一頓，說自己根本不善良。

如果她知道這是一首悼亡詩，而主角更很可能是風塵女子，相信會出手打讀書人才是。讀書人（即是編劇）應先看看這位網民的解讀呢。

花謝水流倏忽，嗟年少光陰。有天然、蕙質蘭心。美韶容、何啻值千金。便因甚、翠弱紅衰，纏綿香體，都不勝任。算神仙、五色靈丹無驗，中路委瓶簪。

人悄悄，夜沉沉。閉香閨、永棄鴛衾。想嬌魂媚魄非遠，縱洪都方士也難尋。最苦是、好景良天，尊前歌笑，空想遺音。望斷處，杳杳巫峯十二，千古暮雲深。

雖則如此，詞中主角應屬美女，網上找到此文，作者為柳永多首詞中美女配上圖片，很有心機！

落霞與孤鶩齊飛 秋水共長天一色

在網上隨意看看書法相關文章看到沈鵬書王安石孤桐一詩（老實說很不喜歡王安石，因其變法害人不淺，雖然他是基於一種對政經改革的熱誠，出發點不壞；他以此詩明志，頗有自讚品格清高的味道）由此再連到以下作品 原來出自有名的《滕王閣序》（無獨有偶，上期提過的蕭老也介紹過此名作，質疑非唐代王勃十四歲的作品），搜尋「落霞與孤鶩齊飛」一句時，又找到此奉勸大家不要亂引古詩文的文章，作者不無道理，其實我更欣賞該頁採用的圖片，是本文標題最佳寫照！ 

再扯開一點：提到說話常常引古詩詞，我竟然想到無線劇集「BB來了」的中醫（長青），引柳永詞來讚MK妹（朗朗），認真對牛彈琴！

中文字對錯

今天阿股提出這個話題：「線」和「綫」兩字好像一樣，Google一下出了這篇文章，解釋了十對意義相近的中文字，相當有趣。「線」和「綫」都算正體，互為異體吧；不過自己習慣上用線多於用綫。

所謂誠其意者，毋自欺也

老實說我不是蕭若元先生的粉絲，不過見老友開心些牙以下視像，對標題頗好奇下看了，竟然巧合地回應了發生在另一位朋友身上的事情！  
原來標題出自大學，且看此文詳解。

當代草書大師

讀了一篇內容農場講關於今人寫草書的挑戰的文章，很好奇看看沈鵬的作品到底是怎樣的，找到榮寶齋網頁上他的作品，包括這一篇：

以我粗淺的功力，看得懂的字只有幾個，多得偉大的Google才知道寫的是西晉詩人左思慨歎史上當政者經常用人不當的《詠史詩》（上半部）：

鬱鬱澗底松，離離山上苗． 以彼徑寸莖，蔭此百尺條． 世冑躡高位，英俊沈下僚．

無巧不成話，上個星期正在學鬱（及其他林字首草書）的寫法！

Magazine Jazz

This is another post in my recent "Blah blah Jazz" series. Every now and then I would visit the local bookstore and read some magazines, which almost always include Jazz Times because of its extensive review section. I listened to the following albums reviewed in the latest issue:
Still Dreaming: this is the name of the album as well as the name of the group led by saxophonist Joshua Redman, who paid homage to his dad Dewey Redman,  and Ornette Coleman, who has collaborated with the senior Redman. The review implied this album sounded more conventional than expected. Well, to me, it has just the right amount of "un"conventionalism. Or I might as well listen to Dewey and Ornette themselves!
Adam O’Farrill’s Stranger Days - El Maquech: As the grandson of Chico O'Farrill, you would expect to hear Afro-Cuban jazz. It certainly has those elements but there are more! I recommend reading NPR's interview with him regarding this excellent album.
Dave Holland - Uncharted Territory: this is a collaboration of the versatile bassist with avant garde saxophonist Evan Parker. If your last name is Parker and you play jazz, you'd better play something that break away from the tradition, like Charlie Parker and William Parker did! (I did manage to find one album with both William and Evan) The first track is totally misleading in the sense that it sounded "conventional" but I can reassure you the rest is not. Very challenging material.
JD Allen - Love Stone: I have read magazine articles mentioning this saxophonist before but never really listen to his music. However, with Liberty Ellman on guitar I figure you can't go wrong. I expected something adventurous to be honest but this album is all about standard ballads, played in a refreshing way though.
Buster Williams - Audacity: finally, an album that I expected to be conventional and sounded conventional indeed. This is straight ahead jazz at its finest. You can't go wrong if you are a fan of jazz.

San Franciscan Jazz

This is sort of part 3 of my latest jazz "series" and this time I will write about my "backyard" SF. As a SF Bay Area resident for over 20 years, my go-to place for jazz is still Yoshi's in Oakland. For SF, the go-to place has gone through many many changes: it was Jazz At Pearl's near China town years ago. I went a few times around 2001 before it went out of business. Then it's Yoshi' SF, which also went out of business because of the high cost. Savanna Jazz got a lot of good reviews but it had to leave the expensive SF for San Carlos, which is further down South on the Peninsula. Fortunately the SFJAZZ center seems to be here to stay 'coz I think that's the type of institution the social elites like to associate with. I did "discover" a few new venues this year:

Black Cat: this club has definitely booked quite a few quality acts and with many show times weekly. The most recent one I saw was the group Beekman from New York, which has just released a new album named Vol 3: live in San Francisco (so I count this as San Franciscan Jazz :P)
Even though I heard good music both times I went, I need to give it thumbs down: for people going there just for music like me, the only place to sit is at the bar, which has limited number of seats, one-side facing the stage and the other side back to the stage! Besides, most people went there to talk to their friends, with jazz as the background. I actually don't understand the rationale. If you just want jazz as background for chit-chat, you don't NEED to go to a jazz club. And the neighborhood is not exactly where I like to hang out at my age :P

Mr. Tipple's Recording Studio: to be honest, one big reason I wanna go was the name. It just sounds too interesting. After being there once though, I can tell you the place has absolutely nothing to do with a recording studio. It's just a bar with live music. I do have to give it thumbs up for allowing people like me (drink only and didn't reserve table for dinner) to sit close to the stage. Yes, most people there are talkers too but at least I can still hear the music, performed by this fine jazz quartet:

The sax and piano solo were impressive. They definitely have their own sound.

Bird and Beckett Books and Records: this is a relatively small local store in the SF Glen Park area. No cover charge (suggested donation is $10) and no talker! Everyone in the audience truly appreciate the music of Adam Gay Quintet last time I went.

丹布朗小說

作為一位（偽）文青，實在不應承認自己讀過丹布朗如此商業化的作品，原來他寫過七部小說，我竟然讀了兩本半（《達芬奇密碼》、《地獄》、及正在閱讀的《起源》，亦認識了他的創作公式：
必以某個歐洲名城為背景：包括達芬奇密碼的巴黎，地獄的佛羅倫斯，起源的巴塞羅娜。
必和某個歐洲著名博物館建築物有關：包括巴黎的羅浮宮，佛羅倫斯的聖約望洗禮堂，畢爾包的古根漢藝術館。
必以某驚世秘密開始，然後花極多篇幅兜圈及放大此秘密。
必定雷聲大雨點小般結束。
所以，每本書首本部都讀得停不了手，然後50-75%有點等待完結，最後25%是因為已經讀了很多而覺得棄之可惜才讀完；直覺《起源》也會是這樣，且拭目以待！

French Jazz

After writing about Croatian jazz, of course the next topic is French jazz! I actually experienced it in person at the Duc Des Lombards jazz club in Paris years ago. And we all know quite a few American jazz musicians spent a lot of time in France. The most famous one is probably Dexter Gordon. However, I wanted to listen to French musicians and found these two saxophonists:

This one by Richard Raux sounds more traditional
while this one by Celine Bonacina sounds more modern
And here is a good article about French Jazz on Vinyl.

Croatian Jazz

I made a Spotify playlist named "England!" since they made the amazing run at the World Cup. Oh well. It's all over now so I gotta start listening to some Croatian musicians, which I am completely ignorant about. This is a good article about the Story of Croatian Jazz. The most famous Croatian jazz musician is vibraphonist Bosko Petrovic, who has also founded the legendary Croatian jazz club, BP Club. I am checking out this album which contains his best known composition: "Green Lobster Dream"

陽奉陰違？

眾所週知，香港電視台一台獨大，也是建制的護航者；不過所謂上有政策下有對策，間中也有節目內容諷刺政府，就如幾個月前的劇集《翻生武林》；而早前播出的一集《學是學非》，梁嘉琪的角色就對由麥美恩飾演的機械人拒絕回答其母語是甚麼而作出批評，明顯就是針對五月份特首林鄭指詢問其母語的議員問題太無聊一事！

陳奕迅國語歌速成法

我對陳奕迅音樂的認識其實僅限於頗舊的歌，而且是廣東歌，除了最近聽的我們：
不過他多首廣東歌有國語版（多謝網民提供資料）
裙下之臣＝煙味
白玫瑰＝紅玫瑰
黑澤明＝月黑風高
富士山下＝愛情轉移

歲月如歌＝兄妹
明年今日＝十年
打回原形＝寂寞讓你更快樂
Lonely Christmas＝聖誕結
粵語殘片＝白色球鞋
不如不見＝好久不見
最後的嬉皮士＝第一個雅皮士

歌名一樣的有：
低等動物
Ｋ歌之王
Shall We Talk

「鬥」「鬪」「鬭」?

去年開始練書法大師于右任的標準草書，今週寫到這個「鬪」字，即使未正式學過卻也估到意思和「鬥」一樣，上網查證一下才知「鬪」就是「鬥」的俗寫；另外更有一個兄弟「鬭」！詳見此文。文中有圖可見甲骨文的「鬥」字真是忠實反映兩個人對打的形像，而後來「鬭」和其他同屬「鬥」部首的字基本上也可寫作「門」，至於我最關心的草法，該文亦影了《中國書法大字典》，可參考董其昌及草書韻會的寫法。

金庸小說人物姓名考

無意中讀到一篇文章講金庸小說中人名之出處，當然部份可能作者聯想力太豐富，不過總算有趣。有些事件本來我也不知，包括金庸射鵰在台灣因為書名引人聯想起曾在其詞中寫過「彎弓射大雕」的那位「名人」；以及慕容博慕容復兩父子也有點影射蔣公父子。

風流何罪，無榮無辱無咎

早前友人在都柏林一中國餐館牆上見到草書的裝飾，細看方知是鄭板橋詩『新竹高於舊竹枝，全憑老幹爲扶持』，引起大家研究鄭的生平及作品的興趣，鄭是真名士自風流，以下一則實在值得分享（原文出自揚州晚報）： 

鄭四十多歲時納了饒五娘為妾，此事在鄭板橋《揚州雜記卷》中頗為詳細，開頭是“揚州二月花時也。板橋居士晨起，由傍花村過虹橋，直抵雷塘，問玉鉤斜遺跡，去城蓋十裏許矣。樹木叢茂，居民漸少，遙望文杏一株，在圍墻竹樹之間。叩門徑之，徘徊花下，有一老媼，捧茶一甌，延茅亭小坐，其壁間所貼，即板橋之詞也。問曰：‘識此人乎？’答曰：‘聞其名，不識其人。’告曰：‘板橋即我也。’媼大喜，走相呼曰：‘女兒子起來，女兒子起來，鄭板橋先生在此也。’”接下來是會面、書寫《道情》、老媼作筏、贈詞為訂。是年鄭板橋43歲，饒五娘17歲，艷福不淺。 此樁風流雅事中鄭板橋可稱道者，他不急於成親，只許諾：“若成進士，必後年乃得歸，能待我乎？‘媼與女皆曰‘能’，即以所贈詞為訂。”饒五姑娘尤可讚譽的是，第二年板橋成進士，滯留京師。饒家益貧，不僅花鈿服飾拆賣略盡，宅邊小園五畝亦售人。有一富商，欲以七百金購饒五為妾，其母心動，女兒則說：“已與鄭公約，背之不義。七百兩亦有了時耳，不過一年，彼必歸，請待之。” 正在這為難時節，出了個拔刀相助之人，此人為江西茶商程羽宸，一直仰慕板橋文才，那日至揚州，問板橋，在京，且知饒氏事，即以五百金為板橋聘資接饒氏。第二年，板橋歸，覆以五百金為板橋納婦之費。 饒五娘成了板橋愛妾，兩人如膠似漆，後來在山東還生了個兒子，板橋十分珍惜，要饒氏帶著兒子回興化老家撫養，不意到了6歲，兒子又死了，饒氏回到板橋身邊，直到臨終。

按：本文標題出自鄭板橋念奴嬌莫愁湖一詞

Is hot dog a sandwich?

Not sure if I've heard this debate before but a Ford pickup commercial mentioned it. In the commercial the guys ask "Alexa" (the voice-activated assistant made by Amazon) integrated to the truck whether hot dog is a sandwich. Alexa replied yes. However, I got different answers from Google! I guess either side has supporters and valid arguments. To me, hot dog deserves its own category.

歌詞：飛蛾撲火（菊梓喬）

對你好無需原因 緣份捉緊迷失情感
圓月總有明暗 人生會有遺憾

待你真緣淺情深 伴隨又相分留低餘温
情未可以自禁 何解要我看君半晌便已誤了一生

夜已深 段段情話耳邊穿梭纖纖身軀撲火
花花世間百轉千彎只等你再經過
誰來寵愛我 無法再幫助
夢太深 虛假與真再分不清猜不到怎結果
刻骨銘心晚想朝思在生命蠶食我
祈求不要太辜負我

舊記憶歷久常新 擁抱過的身如給囚禁
留下一個烙印 何解要我暖多半晌又再度要傷心

夜已深 段段情話耳邊穿梭纖纖身軀撲火
花花世間百轉千彎只等你再經過
誰來寵愛我 無法再幫助
夢太深 虛假與真再分不清猜不到怎結果
刻骨銘心晚想朝思在生命蠶食我
祈求不要遺下我

夜已深 自問情願也都甘心不惜飛身撲火
花花世間涉水攀山只等你擦身過
誰來取替我被愛這寶座
夢太深 燈光與火再分不清根本不知痛楚
貪嗔愛癡各種犧牲是真誠還是錯
無人可以再阻擋我

神劇：翻生武林

一向不大欣賞大台作風的我，近年由於沉迷馮盈盈，她有份主持的《後生仔傾吓偈》固然盡力追，連她客串了三個鏡頭的《溏心風暴》也看足全劇，而她作為第三女主角的《果欄中的江湖大嫂》更是以最快速度收看！順便也看了同期播出的《翻生武林》前香港小姐冠軍陳凱琳古裝扮相出奇地吸引！程度比得上果欄中的小狼女。收視率比不上《果》，相信和劇情充滿政治諷刺有關，始終不及後者容易吸引C9觀眾。不過如此出位的內容，惹來不少回響（1，2）基本上既踩擦阿爺鞋的建制派，也踩無甚作為的犯民。以維穏見稱的大台竟容許如此結局，也令我大跌眼鏡。

Astrophotography

早一陣子寫過關於太空及天文學的帖，而朋友之中有幾位都是好此道者，昨天首次借來一支望遠鏡嘗試觀「星」，第一目標當然是最容易找的月亮！從鏡中可清楚見到月球凹凸不平的表面，看友人提供的星圖可知月亮右邊是雙子座；金牛座及北斗七星亦不難用肉眼可見，從望遠鏡看這些星也只是一個稍大的點。再試試用GoSky Cell Phone Adapter Mount接上手機鏡頭拍攝但不成功，最成功的是裝了免費的SkyView手機app，靠手機GPS及鏡頭即可知所觀看星空位置然後顯示星座！

經過昨晚，我也躍躍欲試，找到以下有用帖子及網站：

Space.com介紹平價望遠鏡

如何拍攝銀河

用基本器材拍攝仙女座星系

關於Nikon D3200鏡頭的討論

天文攝影入門 作者介紹了幾幅作品都只是用相機不需望遠鏡拍的：Orion and Taurus, Milky Way
能把多張天文照片合成的軟件
十大適合新手觀看的天體

灣區最佳觀星地點（2，3，4）
四月份看甚麼星？

希望在可見將來有成果再在此分享！

Sports lowlights: 有線61足球台變身662體育2台

想當年為了Euro2000在家中裝了有線電視，18年來從不間斷地看61台（因為聽聞畸寶服務永遠無法終止！）今天早上四時在播放緬恩斯對慕遜加柏上半場臨完場時，機頂盒更新，61號頻道消失，由662接手，然後在六時正見證了logo由「足球台」轉為「體育2台」這個歷史性的一刻。

RIP有線61足球台

Derek Jeter

I heard this during the broadcast of the 2018 MLB season opener Cubs vs Marlins. The focus was of course on the new Marlins owner Derek Jeter and the fact that he has to deal with a team in complete rebuilding mode: all 3 outfielders from 2017 were gone (first time in MLB history) In comparison, the team W-L record of Jeter's career is 500 games over .500! And throughout his career, he has only played in 1 game that the Yankees have been mathematically eliminated from playoff. That's incredible stats!

削球手

我的小學時代最瘋魔各級學生的活動我想非乒乓球莫屬！每當小息大家就會衝去操場的球枱開波，由於球枱數量有限，當然以球技決定誰有得繼續打誰早早出局離場，老實說我打的機會不多，所以長大後很珍惜有得打的時候，看電視轉播也津津有味，香港有線電視體育台經常播出中國及世界的乒乓球比賽，旁述解釋得相當不錯，也令我認識到一類型打法獨特的球手，就是削球手：

削球手的打法是消耗戰，任你狂攻猛打，他慢條斯理，好整以暇的一一化解，以柔制剛，一分球打上十多廿板是等閒事，戰至酣時，來回數十板亦有之，對進攻球手的體力消耗，可想而知......藉着技術和膠皮的性能，削出的球時而帶有千斤沉重的下旋，時而帶有輕飄飄令對方容易出界的上旋，這都是本身沒打球的觀眾難以察覺的。

Pie rule

自問玩了多年棋類遊戲，不過去年才首次認識到pie rule這個規則。捉過棋的朋友都知道，下第一手的多多少少總有點著數，尤其是雙方棋力旗鼓相當，不少棋類都會由擲毫決定誰下第一手，變得有點幸運成份。於是有人想出用pie rule: 此例可以兩人（甲乙）分餅來說明之，無論由誰來切，難保會有偏差：給自己的一半大一點，相對地對方就蝕底了，最公平的方法莫過於由一位（例如甲）負責切，但乙有權選要那一半！運用在國際象棋，就是甲執白先行一步，乙方可選擇：（1）執黑繼續下，（2）轉為執白，讓甲方轉為執黑繼續下；理論上甲第一步不會選對白或黑棋特別有利的走法。這玩法有趣吧！

現代天才：尼采

之前介紹過Netflix的天文學相關紀錄片，此外也有很多文史哲的，早前看過介紹佛祖、蘇格拉底和孔子的Genius of the Ancient World，再接再勵看了講馬克思、尼采和佛洛伊德的Genius of the Modern World，想透過本帖分享一下尼采(Nietzsche)幾個我認為相當有啟發性的理論想法。首先，我和尼采一樣都不是基督教徒，當然我的思路和他的層次相差太遠，「反對」宗教的能力及程度也有很大距離，他指出基督教教義中心思想是天堂永生，在人世過得很苦的人可因此有所盼望，可以忍受此苦，例如封建社會無法脫離奴隸階層的群聚，尼采認為這不是提升人類水平的途徑。他提出「超人」的概念，那是指做人有目的，為達到目的排除萬難包括受苦，會得到真正快樂。俗語有云：「天才與白癡在一線之間」，很不幸地發生在尼采身上，他44歲就精神病發，人生餘下十二年都沒有再復原。他最後的重大著作包括Will to Power更被希魔濫用為自己獨裁霸權的理論基礎。其實尼采對未來世界的預言甚為準確，他在病發前已對自己的理論有所保留，明顯擔心被野心家曲解；他又擔心不再被宗教主導的現代社會世人會甘於安樂不求進取（他稱之為last man）照照鏡子不就有這樣的人嗎？

Duckosarus

標題是我為歷史頻道網頁介紹的一隻新發現的「怪龍」所創作的名字，如有雷同，實屬巧合:) 去年Nature發表了關於此恐龍的文章：研究人員推測這貌似鴨的恐龍七千五百萬年前生活於蒙古戈壁沙漠，這是第一隻被發現的兩棲類恐龍，能在水和旱地生活。早一陣子無線電視節目「後生仔傾下偈」請來嘉賓盧思穎，談及她小時候的夢想是研究恐龍，我想能發現如此奇怪的化石肯定是該領域專家最大樂趣。

土耳其首都.音樂.足球

剛剛在FB看史檔介紹伊斯坦堡，作為一個歐洲史及藝術史的學生，對該城的重要性當然略有認識，但現代土耳其共和國的首都其實是安卡拉(Ankara)伊斯坦堡竟然不是土耳其的首都！原因何在？Google輕易找到多個相關網頁。定都伊斯坦堡的顎圖曼帝國可算是現代土耳其的前身，在第一次世界大戰戰敗後，伊斯坦堡被盟軍佔領；後來領導土耳其重新獨立的Mustafa Kemal Ataturk（此姓氏由後來土耳其國會贈予，意為土耳其人之父！）以較接近國家中部的安卡拉作為基地，成功後就定都於這個新政權勢力龐大的地點，並無把首都遷回伊斯坦堡，也有和舊政權劃清界線、破舊立新的意義。寫本文時當然也找點土耳其音樂人的作品來聽聽，我介紹以下兩位：
Tahir Aydoğdu玩的是傳統土耳其箏

Ozan Musluoğlu則是一位爵士低音提琴手
無獨有偶，前幾天在有線電視BeIN台看了半場土耳其聯賽賽事：勁旅費倫巴治對阿克希薩爾竟然輸波；又在意甲賽事羅馬對拿波里看到前者的新晉土耳其射手Cengiz Under大顯光芒。

有色雕像

有去開藝術館的朋友，可能一想到雕像，會想到白色的石像；羅浮宮的勝利女神，費羅倫斯的大衛，雖然歲月留痕不是全白，總是很難想像古代雕像可能是有顏色的！不過有學者研究過好些古代雕像上殘留的化學物質，發現有顏料的跡象；三藩市有博物館辦過以「有色雕像」為題的展覽及出版相關書籍，各位可以看看此帖，內有一些專家推測作品未褪色前可能的原來模樣。

貝多芬第九首演

去年在圖書館發現了一本由History電視台出版的The Greatest Music Stories Never Told，由於要出門無暇閱讀，所以等到上月才去借，由公元前1400年講到2007年，共一百個音樂故事，第一個就是之前寫過的"The Oldest Known Piece of Music" 而我認為最感人的故事要算是貝多芬親自指揮他的第九交響曲首演，由於已經耳聾，他指揮得比樂團演奏慢了一點，當全曲已奏完，台下觀眾拍爛手掌之際他還繼續，是女歌手Caroline Unger走到他面前請他轉身，接受歡眾的讚美！

Conquering Dystopia

From the YouTube video of the bassist Hugo Doyon-Karout, I "discovered" another band Conquering Dystopia. To my surprise, it is an instrumental death metal band (which has released their album via crowdfunding!) I suppose guitarist Jeff Loomis is probably the most famous musicians in the band 'coz he also played guitar in Arch Enemy and Nevermore. Bassist Alex Webster is from Cannibal Corpse, who really showed off his chops. Check out their album on Spotify. Kinda reminded me of the good old days (late 80s) that shredding was popular.

Beyond Creation

I think it has been a while since I last recommended metal bands. I listened to way too much Canto/Mandopop lately so I have to balance with some metal. Spotify recommended a track by "Beyond Creation" based on the Death song I just listened to. Like Death, the band is very technical, lots of opportunities for the instrumentalists to shine, even including the bassist (Hugo Doyon-Karout) The band has released two albums so far. The latest was "Earthborn Evolution" from 2014. Really looking forward to their upcoming release. In the mean time, ​check out this YouTube playlist with lots of awesome bass playing:

達摩，少林，武功

我喜歡觀看各種體育項目，當中除了球類，也包括格鬥；十幾年前更親身練過一點太極，又曾「試班」跟少林師傅學過一套復興拳；一直對天下武功出少林，而少林武功則由達摩祖師手創的講法深信不疑！現今網絡資訊發達，要求證及找更多資料實在容易，讀完此文方知完全不是那樣一回事。文中提到以下幾點：

• 達摩不會武功，基本上沒有任何史書傳記記載他會武
• 達摩不是少林僧，由梁武帝撰寫的「禪門第一祖菩提達摩大師碑」說達摩畢生，只是一個遊方和尚，「莫知其所居，未詳其姓氏」，最終圓寂，也不是在少林寺，而是在「洛州禹門山」。
• 少林武功和禪學思想關係不大
• 有名的少林棍法其實由明朝名將俞大猷所授，少林原本的反而有所不及
• 易筋經很可能由道士所寫，主旨是壯陽術

我想我讀得太多武俠小說（尤其是金庸的）了！

星之源

曾幾何時我對天文學極有興趣，那是在我對電腦移情別戀之前！去年整理香港的舊物時找到小時候視為寶物的天文書籍：崑崙出版公司印行，董時新編譯，Herry Sherwood原著的「無線電宇宙」，售價為HK$3.2；年少無知的我，對書名固然感到有趣，相信更引人入勝的是副題：「來自宇宙間智慧生物的訊息！！」不過除了看過書中的星雲圖片，其他內容基本是不明所以，三十年後才真正地讀一遍（當然不是全部看得懂）基本上是介紹用無線電「望遠鏡」可從太空各處（太陽系內外）接收到的各種電波，以及由此對宇宙星球所增加的認識，不過全書沒有提到從電波成功解讀任何來自宇宙間智慧生物的訊息！無獨有偶，在此之前在書店見到一本The Jazz of Physics, 作者是一位玩爵士樂的物理學家，書中提及他曾經研究宇宙起源，包括Big Bang theory等等；在Netflix也看了好幾套和天文有關的紀錄片，例如：
Edge of the Universe : 這個系列提及用無線電望遠鏡尋找太陽系以外類似地球般有機會孕育生命的行星。
The Farthest Voyager in Space：介紹七十年代發射的兩隻太空探測船
Secrets of the Solar System：探討太陽系一些未解之謎，例如木星這類gas giants如何誕生

有趣的是，由於這些都是舊片，提到「未來」太空探測船可能會有甚麼發現，而2018年已經是那「未來」！2011年出發探測木星的Juno已經接近木星多次，提供了大量出人意表的數據；而Voyager一號更是第一次有人類製造的物件離開太陽系，進入Interstellar space（也是爵士巨匠John Coltrane一張唱片名稱，印證jazz和physics關係不淺呢！）

後記：去年寫過的天宮一號回歸地球事件，昨天又有新消息，最新預測的回歸日期是3/25-4/17之間。

Sports highlights: the All-Star games, Torrey Pines

By now I am used to NFL Pro-Bowl and NHL All-Star game happening on the same day (at around the same time too) I didn't really plan to watch either game (especially after NHL has chosen Kid "Loud Mouth" Rock as the guest performer) but ended up watching both. The Pro-Bowl started rather lopsided with NFC having a big lead but the AFC came all the way back under the leadership of Derek Carr (yeah, we still like the Raiders in this household) Glad we watched the game. For NHL, I did watch some of the semifinal (skipped the show) and the pre-recorded final. Also glad to see "our" division, the Pacific, winning it! However, the most exciting event of the day was probably the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines GC in San Diego. Of course the reason I watched was it was Tiger's first PGA Tour event after his long break. By the time I tuned in (after the Pro-Bowl has started), 4 players tied at -11 on top of the leaderboard. (Tiger was done with -3 and even for the last round) Then all of them went down hill from there and three ended up going to the playoff. After the first playoff hole, two left but couldn't break the tie for the next few holes (Former world #1 Jason Day wasn't able to convert a few relatively short putts for victory) The playoff has to continue on Monday! Then it was decided only after 1 hole: Alex Noren's ball spun back from the rough around the green into water. Tiger's next tournament won't happen 'til Feb. And NASCAR is coming in Feb too. That's what off-season is like for me.

Naxos唱片：三十年成功之路及新作介紹

作為香港人又是古典音樂愛好者，對本土品牌Naxos著實引以為榮，早一陣子在第四台廣播聽到去年是該公司成立三十週年紀念，可算是一直陪伴我聽古典音樂之路，以前聽Naxos其實是因為他們的CD特別便宜（五美元左右），那是由於Naxos找來錄音的主要是名氣稍遜但水準絕對不弱的樂手樂團（很多來自東歐），後來曲目比價錢成為更值得支持Naxos的理由：Naxos出版了不少現代音樂家的新作（又或者是「老字號」作曲家比較冷門之作）去年為紀念三十週年推出的三十碟套裝又是賣大包之作（Amazon只售$43.75）

回顧完過去，是時候推介一些去年㡳今年初方推出的「熱辣辣」新作：

本碟是Naxos現代音樂錄音一個好例子：女作曲家Narbutaite來自東歐立陶苑，家人深受當年鐵幕下的政治迫害，反映於這幾首作品之中，詳情請見Naxos官方Podcast介紹（BTW，值得各位古典迷subscribe）。

聽過沉重的作品，轉轉口味聽Romantic Viola Sonatas，拉過中提琴的我聽得特別有感情。

The oldest known piece of music

This is my first post of 2018! And I would like to talk about music written (many many) years ago. According to this article, hymn honoring the Sumerian ruler Lipit-Ishtar was found on a 4000 year old clay tablet which includes instructions and tunings. And there is another "not quite" old Greek tune called “Seikilos Epitaph” from first century A.D. which is complete enough that modern musicians were actually able to perform! This is a beautiful rendition played on harp.

Best Jazz Albums of 2017 Part II: the Top 5!

I have finally sampled all (and deep-dived a few) of the Best of Jazz 2017 I posted earlier. And I really dig the followings:

• Akua Dixon - Akua's Dance: This one is probably the most mainstream among all the recommendations even though she played a non-mainstream jazz instrument (cello). After all, she did cover Sade's The Sweetest Taboo, which I actually like (the original too, of course)  Her music reminded a little bit of Regina Carter. I also enjoy the acoustic guitar works on this album. It would have been perfect without that lone vocal track IMHO.
• Binker and Moses - Journey to the Mountain of Forever: I wouldn't expect a duet of sax and drums can sound so exciting. As you know, it's challenging even for a sax trio with bass and drums as the rhythm section without a chordal instrument like piano or guitar to supply the harmony. I admire their ability to pull this off. Of course, it featured more band members in the later part of the album and those tracks are as good. 
• Tony Allen - The Source: this is one funky album that is growing on me.
• Harriet Tubman - Araminta: there are only 2 tracks available on Spotify for this album but you get an idea of what this guitar trio plays: jazz that really rocks. 
• Camilla George Quarter: she is yet another exciting (female) sax players that I hear in the last few years. Again, the vocal track is the only "distraction" for me.

The Magic of Mushroom

最近在Netflix介紹下看了一套以題目為名的紀錄片，大家不要以為和迷幻有關，只是科學吧。一直以為菇是植物，原來生物學中fungi自成一類，在植物和動物之外，反而比較接近後者！本片用鏡頭特別放大拍攝菇類靠孢子由一處彈到另一處繁殖，實在有趣；而在我們吃菇看到的「帽」之下，原來有延申極廣的根網絡，深入其「寄主」（例如樹）後，從後者吸到水分，同時又為其提供礦物質（如氮）。這個也是菌類分解有機物的機制，本片指出其重要性，如沒有此機制，地球上會堆積更多廢物！除了以菇類製成抗生素，片中又提到發明家利用菇類根網的特性，把木屑和菌放在模內，可製成類似發泡膠的物料。此外，大家都會聽過一味中藥：冬蟲夏草，其實也屬菇類，醫學界正研究以此藥抑壓癌細胞擴散。本片實在值得一看。

宋詞. 菩薩蠻·花明月暗籠輕霧

今天介紹一首很香艷的詞：李後主描寫他的美女情人小周后和他偷情又驚又喜的心態（其姐大周后時為李後主皇后）；全文（此頁有註釋）：

花明月暗籠輕霧，今宵好向郎邊去。剗襪步香階，手提金縷鞋。
畫堂南畔見，一向偎人顫。奴爲出來難，教君恣意憐。

薪火相傳

家中孩子放假太多空閒時間，要他上網學點東西，例如寫網頁之類，才發現我一直極少用Mac OS X的TextEdit，試用了一會，第一件事要Format做Plain Text（否則default是Rich Text Format)，而打double quote會自動被轉換，又要修改設訂，總之麻煩重重；還是開個Terminal使用慣熟的vi或emacs好了，就這樣新一代emacs用家後繼有人了。

（後記：在IT老友介紹下找到Atom這個較為現代的Code Editor ，emacs體驗之旅暫時告終）

玩筆

上半年沒有購入甚麼新筆，下半年終於不再忍手，購入數支各有特色的筆：

• Delike New Moon w/ Bent Nib: 在FB見到人家用Delike示範書法，寫得很好（當然功力比硬件重要），而筆外型和我支Kaweco Sport有九成相似，更有書法尖（又名美工尖）！年幾前買的英雄牌書法尖墨水筆是漏墨王，經已放棄；決定再試一次書法尖，在eBay找到一支比仿Kaweco Sports款更漂亮的New Moon，好不容易等到從國內寄抵我家，拿上手比照片看來高貴呢。這支書法尖做出來的粗幼效果比英雄牌要含蓄一點，但出墨順暢無漏墨問題，性價比相當高，是每天都用得著的筆。
• Duke Emerald Black Barrel Guan Yu Calligraphy Bent Nib: 寫書法尖寫得上癮，決定試試另一極端，在Amazon找到這支可以很粗可以很幼的「大關刀」，十分好玩。
• Noodler's Ink Konrad Flex Nib Clear Demo: 早一陣子在eBay買了「無間」Rhodia迷你記事簿，賣家是網店Goldspot，自此每週收到他們的宣傳電郵，大減價相當吸引，上個月終於「落搭」購入一個Noodler's的特價筆墨套餐，包括此筆和兩隻墨（一黑一白！）是自從去年賣掉我的Namiki再寫flex nib, 依然喜歡。 

Comcast X1 box English audio

As a long time soccer fan (and a sports junkie), I try to watch as much as I can on TV. In US, that means often I would watch channels that broadcasts in Spanish. I knew some programs actually have English commentary "as a second language" on Comcast but I just couldn't figure out how to listen to that, until today. Here are the steps:
Step 1: Click the Xfinity button on your remote, then choose the Settings icon, then choose Language, SAP Language. And in my case, choose English.
Step 2: Back to the program you are watching, click the "Down arrow" button, toggle on SAP, it will switch to English (which was chosen in Step 1)

Best Jazz Albums of 2017

又到了一年一度樂壇回顧的時候，和去年一樣也是連結別人介紹的最佳廿張唱片算了，我正在由第19位慢慢開始聽（略去第20位因為是vocal），這位作者的口味實在比較獨特，有前衛的，有New Orleans原始風味的，有World Music元素的，就是沒有Straight ahead的，讓我接觸一些平日較少聽的音樂實在是好事；廿張之中我只聽過#12 Ambrose Akinmusire – A Rift In Decorum: Live At The Village Vanguard，也算喜歡；從Spotify有得聽的砌了這個playlist:
 
其實2017年的新作我實在聽得不多，無獨有偶，最「主流」的要算是Chris Potter樂隊的The Dreamer is the Dream，多得ECM終於肯在Spotify「上架」！其餘喜歡的都算比較另類: William Parker Quartets的雙唱片集Meditation/Resurrection及Cuong Vu 4-Tet的Ballet(The Music of Michael Gibbs)。有空的話再寫寫其他種類音樂的2017精選。

貴咖啡

昨天和朋友（別號「奶茶王」）說笑要開店賣頂級咖啡，首先想到的是「藝妓咖啡」(Gesha)，其實以前我認識的貴價咖啡只有「貓屎咖啡」，不過上個月讀了香港的明周又認識了似乎更高貴（貓屎相對有點不雅？）的Gesha，在香港某家咖啡店賣四百港元一杯！好在我不太懂欣賞這些精品，在本地咖啡店如Sightglass, Ritual等等喝杯四十港元左右的cappuciano經已十分滿足！

後記：無巧不成話，今天又看到台灣大學電子系碩士成為冲咖啡世界冠軍的故事。

Orchard Field

單看名字會想到種滿果樹的果園吧？和朋友聊天，問起他的旅程，他回覆說在ORD，雖然工作關係我輸入過一大堆airport code，竟然想不起ORD是那裡，原來是芝加哥O'Hare! 為甚麼縮寫為ORD？其實該機場歷史悠久，二次大戰期間是道格拉斯為軍方生產軍用運輸機的工廠，名為Orchard Place，道格拉斯徹走後改稱Orchard Field，為表揚戰時出色軍人O'Hare又改名，韓戰期間美軍再徵用該機場，後來才轉型成為民航機場。這段歷史頗為有趣！

詩經. 月出

雖然我也有臨何紹基集字唐詩及鄭耀津老師的療癒隸書習字帖，總覺得用唐詩宋詞練習隸書有點不合時代，還是比較喜歡抄詩經，最近抄了這首「月出」
〈陳風〉 
月出皎兮，佼人僚兮，舒窈糾兮，勞心悄兮。 
月出皓兮，佼人懰兮，舒懮受兮，勞心慅兮。 
月出照兮，佼人燎兮，舒夭紹兮，勞心慘兮。 

主旨很簡單，就是月下美人令作者羅羅攣吧。

土星任務

早幾個月前帖了一文關於中國太空站天宮一號將於2018年初以「特別的方法」回歸地球，負面報導不少；剛好在那時又有關於美國太空船卡西尼將於九月中在土星「結束探險任務」的新聞，由於撞的是土星（而且是大氣層）不是地球，倒不見甚麼負面報導，反而有這篇介紹此任務的重大發現。其實我比較好奇的是：土星當地的傳媒對此有何感想？

ECM on Spotify!

上個星期爵士古典界最大的「新聞」可能是經典唱片品牌ECM終於破禁：讓旗下作品在網上各大收費音樂平台串流播放！以往讀到任何讚賞ECM唱片的樂評，除非在圖書館借到，否則只有概歎緣慳一面，所以這是對我來說期待已久的好消息！ECM毋庸置疑是唱片界奇葩：獨立不群又能取得商業上及藝術上的成功，即使是同一位樂手為ECM及ECM以外的公司出碟，細心的樂迷都很容易聽出分別！ECM就有一種前衛知性的味道。我在同一天在FB分別讀到兩篇介紹ECM必聽作品的文章[英文link][中文link] 我又特地重讀過去N期音響雜誌專找介紹ECM唱片的樂評，在此分享一下聽了的作品:

1) Keith Jarrett, the Koln Concert: 這張可能是ECM最著名的唱片！全碟均為即興爵士鋼琴獨奏，獨愛鋼琴的姐姐十分喜歡此碟，我就一如過往嫌Jarrett夾雜在琴聲中的招牌「吟唱聲」

2 ) Paul Bley, Solo in Mondsee: 此亦是一張爵士鋼琴獨奏，可以聽到點點藍調的味道，亦有姐姐的stamp of approval

3) Vijay Iyer Trio, Break Stuff: 這個鋼琴三重奏兩張前作我經已十分欣賞，而樂評人認為此碟更上一層樓

4) Chris Potter, the Sirens: 自從2013年起，我最欣賞的色士風手之一的Chris Potter的作品都在ECM發表，這是第一張。2015及2017的我還未開始仔細聽呢。

5) Bill Frisell, Small Town: 接著的都是結他手領軍（或獨奏）的作品，本碟是一支結他加一支bass，構成的音樂空間比想像中的廣濶。

6) Ralph Towner, My Foolish Heart: 忽發狂想：以古典結他作品聞名百年的Francisco Tarrega如果還在生，或許會彈得像Towner。

7) Dominic Miller, Silent Light: 除了流行曲cover Fields of Gold一曲略為cheesy之外，其餘的都彈出清新嶲永的味道。

8) Avro Part, Arbos: 也來一張（現代）古典音樂，有合唱，有銅管樂團，有小提琴大師參與，俗一點我也要說：「抵聽」

Decaf?

I became a coffee lover last year and drinks mostly decaf these days just to avoid the stimulant. I had no idea it's association with that infamous "party" though. The most interesting facts I learned from the linked article though, was that the method they extracted the caffeine actually left poison in the drink! Hmmm...... what about the current method? Hopefully it won't suffer the same fate.  

Sports highlights: NASCAR Championship weekend

As a big fan of NASCAR, I knew there will be a 3+ month break after this weekend that seems like forever but still I was really excited about this. The truck race was without much drama: Christopher Bell wasn't really challenged during the whole race. The Xfinity race was more competitive: William Byron's car was strong during most of the race but Elliot Sadler was equally if not stronger at various times during the race too. (Daniel Hemric's car had a failure that took him out of the equation and Justin Allgaier's car couldn't find speed, even with the help of 7-time championship winning crew chief, Chad Knaus, in his pit) Sadler was leading the final stage of the race and had a good chance to win the championship. However, he was held up by Ryan Preece, who could have just let Sadler go. And William Byron seized the opportunity to use Preece as a "pick" and passed them both. That was THE championship winning move. Sadler bumped into Preece as a desperation move and hit the wall which made it even less possible for him to catch up to Byron. Sadler was really mad at Preece at the end of the race. After all, looking at the history of the series, this year might have been the closest one where an "old dude" (Sadler was a full time driver at the top level for about 10 years before moving "back down" to this series) win it all. When I look at the list of champs starting from 2001, 6 of them moved on and won championships at the next level. For some reason this series favor young guns.

The cup series championship featured even more drama: all 4 drivers had their moments that look promising for them to win it all. Keselowski's car was the weakest among them (which kinda proved his point that Toyota had an unfair advantage over other manufacturers.) I kinda rooted for Martin Truex Jr who was the only one among the final 4 who has not won a championship yet but was the winningest driver this season (and he has shown huge improvements in the past few years) and have been dominant on 1.5 mile race track like this one in Miami. It seems that he has lost his magic here though. Busch's car has been the strongest, especially in long runs. In situation like this, it's only natural that Brad K's team would play the strategy game by going off sequence, i.e, pit early and try to gain ground with new tires while hoping to get lucky. Harvick and Truex's team followed suit but Kyle Busch's team decided to stay out and pit normally, which would have been the winning strategy if there was no more cautions since his 3 competitors all need to pit one more time then him. However, luck was not on his side. The caution was brought out by none other than his older brother Kurt! Talk about sibling rivalry! So Kyle's car ended up behind Truex's and like Sadler he was held up by another driver with nothing to win: Joey Logano (who was certainly no friend of Busch) but unlike Sadler his car was strong enough to eventually pass Logano but he admitted later he used up his car doing that and was not able to pass Truex even though he got really close.

The other "winner" that I must mention is this year's brand new point system! I think it did make the races prior to the championships more competitive.

關於錯字的新詩

今天在FB「跟安妮寫手趣」頁看到一首有趣的新詩（節錄）：

下輩子 我要變成一枚 印錯的字
錯降在一首 完美的情詩裏
讓你微微詫異
讓你認真思考
我存在的意義

作者是徐珮芬，全文可在此找到。（提示：之前兩段更淒美）

解憂節目

上次香港之行，心情沉重，幸好自癒能力算是頗強，想到善用醫院兩個探病時間的空檔，先是去了銅鑼灣誠品書店，買了兩本好書，一本探究草書，另一本細數宋詞；繼而闖闖中環大會堂，看看畫展，聽聽香港小交響樂團音樂會「藍月夜」該下午演出曲目包括：

• 舒伯特 B小調第八交響曲，D759，「未完成」
• 莫扎特 降E大調第九鋼琴協奏曲，K271，「茱諾姆」 （由年輕女鋼琴家Sophie Pacini負責獨奏）
• 荀伯格 《昇華之夜》，作品4

三者由城市維也納連結起來，雖然勉強也無所謂。最特別要算是最後一曲伴上前衛現代舞。其實這首算荀伯格前期還未很「難聽」（指應用前衛音樂理論）的代表作，我聽過頗多次，卻不知原來此曲源自一首詩，而詩的主題是一個女子在月夜下向她的男人告白：她和別人有了BB，此段當然心情激動，清楚地反映在舞者的動作中，其後獲得諒解，並決定共同開始新生活，三個階段分別由三位女舞者演譯，而男主角則是由始至終同一人。非常慶幸沒有錯過如此別具特色的演出。

除了音樂會，竟然也去了戲院看電影（訪港極少看電影，之前較有印象的是去看「那些年」和The Lego movie而已）看的更是極少看的日本電影！皆因在Pokka Cafe看到「解憂雜貨店」的宣傳品，那是改編自近年讀了很多的作家東野圭吾的小說，下機當晚睡不著才讀完全本「真夏方程式」呢！「解」是東野首本集奇幻與推理情節於一身的温情作品，我反而未讀過原著而先看電影版。由於喜歡此作家，對電影自然也愛屋及烏。故事圍繞一家已結業的雜貨店，當年老闆歡近人家來信詢問疑難，他會一一細心解答；老闆過身店也結業多年後，有三個少年在犯事之後無意中闖入，適值時空交錯，收到多年前多封詢問信，他們這幾位以未來人身份回信，改變了好幾段人生。有影評說由於要講的事太多，人物的刻劃有點片面，可能也有道理，總之我就十分喜歡。

Sports highlights: NASCAR "semifinals"

All 3 NASCAR series will have their final races of the season that determines the champion this weekend. And the 4 finalists for each series were determined by last weekend's race which made the races extra interesting, with a few notable crashes involving those fighting for playoff spots. During the truck race, the 4th final spot holder at one point, Ben Rhodes, tried to cut in front of his closest competitor Austin Cindric at a restart and was wrecked. Rhodes' crew chief was very upset about that but the announcers didn't think it's the fault of the latter, who got that final spot eventually, as a beneficiary of the crash of course. Similar issue happened to #48 Brennan Poole of the Xfinity race when he tried too hard to gain around on other competitors. Once he crashed out, the 4th spot came down to either Daniel Hemric or Cole Custer. Custer tried his best to overtake Hemric but just came up short. Another unfortunate #48 was Jimmie Johnson, who also had to fight for that 4th spot for the Cup championship at the bottom of the final 8. And that's not the only drama: Denny Hamlin was leading for a long time and looked promising to get that 4th spot. However,  remember he wrecked Chase Elliott at Martinsville and ruined the latter's chance to win the first Cup race of his career (and more importantly, advance to the championship)? So, no surprise that when Hamlin lost his top spot from the pit and restarted near Elliot, the latter would take revenge (after all, his only chance to advance was to pass everyone else, i,e, win the race to got into the championship 4) Last but not least, Matt Kenseth won his first race of 2017 (by overtaking Chase Elliott for the top spot) which would also be his final season in NASCAR. It's cool to see him going out on top.

書體和音樂

早一陣子去了一個「俾面」音樂會，百無聊賴練字，胡思亂想中文書法各種書體和西洋音樂似乎也可拉上關係：
楷書：不用說，當然是流行音樂！夠大眾化，人人都會。
草書：我認為和爵士樂頗相似：既有法規，也有很大自由度，各家寫出來的很不同，很有即興味道。
行書：令我聯想到古典音樂的浪漫派，創作及演繹浪漫派音樂，均加入很多個人感情，誇張也無所謂。
隸書：這樣說有點籠統，但隸書感覺上比較一板一眼，很有巴哈的巴羅克音樂的味道。
篆書：簡樸原始味重，Gregorian chant一類中古時代西洋音樂大概可以相比。

機上娛樂：狂睇紀錄片

上次香港一行在機上看了好幾套紀錄片，可能因為有興趣的劇情片已看完，亦可能想靠紀錄片入睡！無論如何，也覺得值得介紹一下（我特地把片名記在筆記簿嘛）：

In Pursuit of Silence 老實說，看完差不多兩週經已印象全無！只記得是講現代人生活很多噪音，走到深山享受寧靜對身心有益云云。我想有點道理，不過沒有音樂會比較悶吧。

Yarn 本片講了世界各地幾位以針織作為媒介的女藝術家的故事，這個算是相當冷門又女性化的媒介，題材的確極有新鮮感。

Obit 這是一套介紹報紙訃聞版記者的紀錄片。不知現代人一般有幾多機會閱讀報紙訃聞？我印象中的訃聞主要是地區免費報刊出關於本地人士去世那些，到底是收費廣告嗎？香港報紙的當然是，皆因我家去年就登過。這些當然和本片談及的有所不同：後者都是有記者採訪家人搜集資料然後寫出介紹生平的文章。原來以往訃聞部乃係報館把記者「流放」的部門！其實他們責任重大呢，出起錯（例如主角未死！）後果頗嚴重吧。

Sports highlights: NASCAR, EPL, Bundesliga, Champions League, World Series

It has been two really intense weeks back home and I missed quite a bit of playoff actions from NASCAR and Major League Baseball in the States. Glad that I was able to catch Game 6 and 7 of the World Series. Thumbs up to the Astros winning it all. Any pro team from Texas winning a championship is always welcome, especially beating a team from So Cal, my #2 "disliked" team LA Dodgers. The road to WS victory was definitely a tough one even though they played very well in the regular season, they were almost eliminated by the Yankees in ALCS. And if they didn't mount a big comeback in Game 5 of WS, LA just needed to win one of the next 2 games at home to win the series!

I didn't bother to record the 3 NASCAR races I missed but relied on Comcast's On-demand "condensed race" replay of Talladega 2, Kansas 2 and Martinsville 2 (the first race of the Round of 8.) I guess I still watched most of the highlights, e.g. key passes and crashes :P The race at 'dega featured a tons of the latter as expected. And I've finally understood how the new point system works! So basically there are 3 different types of points: the "original" points drivers used to get based on their finishes at the end of each race, the "stage" points that were given to drivers finishing in Top 10 at the end of each stage, and the "playoff" points that were given to stage and race winners. Additional playoff points were awarded based on the end of regular season standings. And playoff points came into the picture during the playoff (obviously!): these points are added to each driver's total points after the point reset for each driver at the beginning of each playoff round, and carried over through out every round and every race in the playoff (except the final race) So drivers have incentive to win stages and races to accumulate the playoff points which would help getting to the final race.

The interesting matchups during the past few weeks in Champions League for me are Real Madrid vs the Spurs and Manchester United vs Benfica. Looks like it's finally time for Real Madrid to have a down year: only able to tie the Spurs at home and lost 1-3 away. The first Man U-Benfica match was a thriller: Man U scored a lucky goal but the 2nd win seems more convincing. (Oh yeah, their victory over the Spurs during the past weekend was a good one too!)

Bundesliga is the only domestic league that my dad followed and Bayern played Leipzig again right after they met in the German cup (which went to extra time) The latter had a player sent off for both games and lost both. (Also lost their Champions league match to Porto!) I guess the team is still not ready for too much spotlight.

富亨食好西

十月底臨時趕返港探家人，出發前先下載了Motopark這個找停車場手機app，因為知道由大埔的家出發，開車必定最省時。星期一一早先開車到屋苑百佳熱熱身重拾揸右軚車的觸覺，好不容易等到探病時間即開往醫院，醫院停車場爆滿，在外已有七八部車等人走，Motopark就派上用場了：即到最近的頌雅苑停車場，那可能是全香港最易泊的停車場：經常找到前後皆吉的位，由後位直入到前位，不用倒後泊位！從停車場出來，見到搭過無數次的老朋友271，原來這裡正是「傳說中」的富亨邨，即271巴士總站也！此後連續十幾天都泊在這裡，順便醫肚，基本上街市商場每一間店也幫襯過了（除了大家樂及文具店！）本帖為大家介紹一下：

• 點心仔：此店有車仔麵及涼茶坊兩個舖，我在前者幫襯過兩次煎釀三寶（每次四件都要釀茄子）、車仔麵、腸粉、糯米雞，後者兩次燒賣及豆腐花，全部都便宜及有水準。
• 太子美食：這是街市內典型「乜都有」的茶餐食肆：有燒味有碟頭飯有早餐有菠蘿油有奶茶......我幫襯過乳豬飯（普通）、金菇肥牛湯飯（正），魚香茄子飯（掂），雞扒早餐，菠蘿油、奶走等等。這是你想不到吃甚麼也可以先入去的店。
• 香港仔魚蛋王：魚餃墨丸牛腩均不俗。（當然和尖沙咀九記有點距離）
• 和食：即街市版吉野家，味道不錯。
• 真意小食：小丸子好味抵食。
• Q點心：菜肉包和鵪春蛋燒賣均美味。
• 百份百：很健康地點了西蘭花炒魚柳。
• 桃園粥麵：很不健康地點了梅菜扣肉煲，不過另一次則點了蒸肉餅，兩者皆有水準。
• 麵包先生：除了提子包這些標準野，也吃了它的老婆餅，有意外驚喜。
• V28: 同是麵包店，我比較喜歡麵包先生。

我想今後要在開車在大埔揾食，富亨必然是首選！

Python

I read some where that Python is one of the "in demand" language for those looking for programming jobs (also for data scientist!) As a life-long computer enthusiast, I gotta be curious about this language, which seems to be successor to the "throne" of backend scripting language, i.e., Perl. I needed to write a quick and dirty program so it's the best opportunity to learn a new language. And I found that OS X has Python 2.7 pre-installed! Basically I learned how to write my first program entirely from StackOverflow (the for loop, if-then-else, functions......)

Next, I'm interested to see how it compares to PHP when it comes to building web app. So I found a free host that support Python and good old CGI: HelioHost. I changed one of my "idle" domain bought from GoDaddy to use HelioHost's name servers.

天災人禍

這幾個月美國真的禍不單行，繼多個颶風肆虐南部各州，又發生史上傷亡最嚴重的拉斯維加斯槍擊案，最新的則是北加州酒鄉山火，當真是親者痛仇者快！希望憑著這個地方一貫頑強的生命力，大家能共同渡過難關；就如紐約洋基棒球隊在落後兩場下也能挽回劣勢晉身下一輪季後賽！

Bye Bye Shoutcast

I "restarted" listening to Shoutcast, the free streaming/online radio directory, since about a year ago. To be honest, the UI seems really dated but I still get to listen to a ton of free smooth jazz almost everyday so I can't complain. Today I found that many of the links have stopped working. Most feed started with something like a commercial and no music. Then I really paid attention and that dude actually told people to go to "Radionomy" instead (I had a hard time figure out the spelling though) And I also found out Shoutcast was acquired by AOL/Radionomy a few years back. I guess the "cutover" (oh yeah, I hear this word too many times these days) is finally happening. Long live Radionomy!

New TV shows

I used to watch a lot of sitcom back in the days especially Wings and Friends. I think I watched every episode multiple times. Will and Grace was from around the same time too. And the show was revived this season! I watched the first episode last night (for nostalgia) and I found it entertaining (making fun of the white house)

And this is not the only new show from this season that I watch! My (Star)Trekkie friends strongly recommended me to watch Orville, created by Seth MacFarlane (of the "Family Guy" fame) who also acted (as the captain) in the show. Before it was air-ed, most speculated it would be a parody or at least a Sci-fi comedy, which I disagree after watching the first 3 episodes. The topics are rather serious IMO. Again, I found the show entertaining, with good stories and interesting characters.

Yeah, I've got some alternatives to watching auto-racing or baseball all the time :P

NASCAR in trouble?

Readers of this blog all know that I have been a big fan of NASCAR for several years. I probably started following the sports when it reached its height in popularity and witnessed its decline in recent years. I won't blame the NASCAR bosses for their efforts to reverse the trend. Critics actually think they tweaked the rules for the championship too much! For example, stage points and playoff points were introduced for the first time this season to encourage drivers to be competitive not just for the win of each race but also in the middle of it. I guess the goals of these rule changes are (1) having multiple (4) drivers eligible to win the championship and (2) encouraging drivers to win races instead of just accumulating points. It's hard to argue against that, IMO. However, with no such "playoff" system, IndyCar's championship battle almost always come down to the last race anyway. Unfortunately, as this article pointed out, there are just way too many distractions happening in NASCAR right now. The following video shows one of them: young phenom and championship contender Chase Elliot's car was caught "cheating" with illegal modification to give the car an advantage:

寒磣

讀書學中文！今天繼續閱讀上個月才找出來，買了多年的「新書」《雪梨！村上的奧運日誌》，其實早在四月去雪梨之前就應讀。譯者張致遠用了一個我不認識的詞語：「寒磣」來形容一間酒吧，我想他的意思是：醜陋；不好看，又或者是有點寒酸的味道？

烏鷺

在FB的圍棋群組見到一個帖介紹一本（英文）新書，封面是一隻烏鴉一隻白鷺，有群組成員問兩動物有甚麼意義？有人答兩種鳥分別代表黑白棋，亦有人質疑指動物背後有更深刻的意思，我不知後者對不對，且看這個台灣網頁怎麼說？

最早提及烏鷺的詩文是唐朝詩人解縉的大作：“雞鴨烏鷺玉楸枰，群臣黑白競輸贏。爛柯歲月刀兵見，方圓世界淚皆凝。河洛千條待整治，吳圖萬里需修容。何必手談國家事，忘憂坐隱到天明。”直到了宋元年間才開始出現大量以烏鷺代指圍棋的詩文

2017 Indycar championship

It was a busy weekend for auto-racing fans! All 3 of the NASCAR series, F1 as well as IndyCar raced during the weekend. To be honest, IndyCar normally doesn't get the highest priority but it's different this weekend because IndyCar will crown its champion at this final race of the season with 6 drivers still mathematically eligible! Based on the history of the past few seasons, Penske drivers came to the race leading in points were totally capable of screwing up their chances. I still remember how Will Power squandered his lead years after years until he finally won one. And just 2 years ago, Juan Pablo Montoya was leading the championship entering the last race but crashed with Will Power and losing the championship to Scott Dixon from Chip Ganasse Racing. In fact, I think Dixon has a good chances to do it again this year even though he was behind Josef Newgarden of Penske racing in the standings. The point gap would have been bigger if Newgarden didn't crash chasing teammate Will Power exiting the pit during the penultimate race. (I seriously questioned why the team decided to pit both drivers on the same lap!) Team Penske drivers were again fighting for the lead during this race. The defending champ Simon Pagenaud got ahead of polesitter Newgarden with a different pit strategy. Luckily no crash this time and Newgarden finished second safely and become the first American IndyCar champion in 5 years (the last one was Ryan Hunter-Reay) Glad to see that. (Newgarden's sponsor Verizon, which was also the series title sponsor, should be happy too. Their CEO Lowell McAdam flew all the way to California to present the trophy to their own driver!) These two and fellow American Alexander Rossi (2016 Indy 500 Winner who also won at Watkins-Glen last month) should increase the interest in the sports among Americans in the coming years. (Forbes agreed too)

結他之死？

最近在FB見到關於玩具反斗城生意不佳可能要關門大吉的新聞，令我想起早一陣子也有關於美國著名樂器連鎖店Guitar Center的傳聞，早幾個月前報紙就有文章探討結他之死，因為十年間電結他年銷量由1.5 mil下降到1mil！昨天Billboard採訪結他「神」Eric Clapton又提及幾家結他廠商生意均走下坡。不過讀過太多XX之死的文章，包括重金屬、爵士樂、唱片（還有某個國家前領導人）我想電結他還是有一定生命力。

The greatest jazz albums I've never heard

I can understand the rationale behind writing outrageous post title to attract readers because the competitions for eyeballs are just crazy. However, if one wrote about "The Greatest Jazz Albums You've Never Heard", it almost guaranteed to be a disappointment. Regardless of my bias against West Coast/Big Band/Vocal jazz, the lineup are really not that strong, with the exception of these 3:

• Larry Carlton "Last Nite": Carlton played awesome fusion that any fan of guitar cannot resist 
• Stan Getz "West Coast Jazz": I forgot to mention another bias of mine: jazz tunes less than 3:30 minutes long seems to left something unsaid to me. This 13-song album has 2 under 3:30 but you can't really go wrong when Stan Getz played his tenor so I let that go :P
• Lou Donaldson "Blues Walk" Another "you can't go wrong" rule has to do with Blue Note Records: anything they released in the 50s and 60s are simply Good.

草訣百韻歌

我問我一位寫草書的老友：「現在我每日學一個草書字，一年365日，但常用中文字就有2500個，豈不是要學很多年？」老友答：「草書其實有規律，有歌訣，偏旁部首有根可尋的。」找到這個解釋草訣百韻歌的網頁。

Tiangong-1 space lab

關於這個太空站如何回歸地球的報導，我先讀的來自一個中文媒體，很負面吧！似乎頗有造成大災難的機會！再在網友留言找到英文網站的連結，讀完又覺得好像沒有那麼高危。到底誰對誰錯？大家細心等等，今年十月至明年四月自有分曉。

以宗教名義豁免疫苖注射

上個月和友人討論地產市道，無意中在cap圖包括了這則關於家長拒絕疫苖注射以致某些病死灰復燃的史丹福大學研究報導，提到其中一個家長的理由宗教，友人十分好奇甚麼宗教禁止信眾接受疫苖呢？於是我再Google一番，找到此文，原來個別教派認為單靠信仰就可得到庇佑，接受疫苖是多餘罷了；其實根本沒有宗教／教派的領導人／發言人明言禁止。不過，任何人都可以宗教為由得豁免而無需證明自己信的是何教！要用來作藉口實在太容易了。

The Napa I don't know

Even though I won't call myself a food and wine expert, Napa is one of my favorite place to visit. Can't beat the atmosphere there! It has fun written all over. I read this article "The Napa You Don't Know" from AAA's magazine VIA. Turns out I've actually been to most of the places(wineries and shops) mentioned except the Gatehouse Gallery houses. The reviews are mixed though. As a cyclist, I do wanna check out the Clif bar founders related places, like the Velo Vino tasting room and food truck.

Changes in San Jose Downtown

I wrote about a new venue/bar called Forager in San Jose on my other blog. That space was huge and I was very curious what it used to be. Turns out it was the South First Billiards. Now I could visualize how the pool table fits in that space. From another news article back in 2015 I learned that there was actually a "wave" of moving out of that area because of the violence. Not sure if there was much improvement in that regard but new businesses seem to have moved back in. Another example was the nearby Agenda lounge. Now it's the Avery lounge (not sure if related)

Why Elvis Presley Isn’t the King to Millennials

The title came from a post by the History channel. Well, the question might as well be "Why should Elvis be the King to Millennials"? I guess the writer didn't have anything better to write on the 40th years after Elvis died. He wrote "Elvis. King of Rock and Roll, but not of Spotify" which did get me curious about who the top artist on Spotify is. For the record, Elvis ranked 331st as of 8/16. It turns out Spotify doesn't provide an easy way to see the whole ranking. Someone posted this in the forum. And this was from February.  I guess you could call Ed Sheeran the King of Spotify?

Stories from Wizard of Oz

I was listening to the local classical station this morning. I think it just finished playing "Over the Rainbow" when I tuned in. As we all know, the song came from the movie "Wizard of Oz" but the DJ said the song almost got cut from the movie (wikipedia has more details). I learned something new everyday. And the DJ mentioned another story about the movie: the coat worn by one of the character was bought from a used store. When the character put on the coat and reached into the pocket he found the name of the original owner, none other than the author of "Wizard of Oz", L. Frank Baum! Snopes.com has more details about this story (and it's not too sure this was not made up)

Manually fill a .Net DataSet

I am "refactoring" a piece of legacy software at work. One method returns a DataSet to the caller from an Oracle query. The Oracle backend has been replaced by a Web Service but I still need to populate the DataSet for backward compatibility. This post describes how to manually fill in a DataSet object.

亂世.強權

沒有最黑暗，只有更黑暗。有人說女方丈更小器，果然不幸言中，得罪她的小朋友都罪加一等；來一首應景歌曲：
 
這個「官方」上載寫道：

地球人在這個大地上用上種種藉口互相廝殺, 各自的歪理今日愈來愈令人類良心道德撕裂

諷刺的是歌手曾被批評轉軚愛國賺維穏費。

Sports highlights: Young guns and underdogs

I enjoyed all 3 NASCAR races this past weekend. Gotta admit I slept through most of the laps but did wake up in time for the exciting endings: both Sam Hornish Jr and Darrell Wallace Jr were able to preserve their lead late in their respective races (Xfinity in Mid-Ohio and truck in Michigan) and fought off the strong challengers from behind. You just don't see Kyle Busch finishing 3rd in a truck race often (NASCAR is limiting the number of lower-level events for top-level drivers so fans would actually see other drivers winning more :P) I guess it's an irony to see an African-American driver winning in a sports rooted in the south on a weekend dominated by news about white supremacists. And it's the first race that Bubba returned to the series this season! For the cup race, Martin Truex Jr was dominating as usual but out-gunned by Kyle Larson at the last restart. Yup. It's a weekend for the young guns and underdogs.  

The same is (almost) true for the opening weekend of the English Premier League, with defending champ Chelsea beaten by the underdog Burnley and Liverpool tied by Watford. And the young guns of Man United shined in their game vs West Ham: the 24 year old Lukaku scored twice in his EPL debut for Man U. So did Martial and Pogba.

And the awful SF Giants actually went 6-4 for the last 10 games, even won 2 on the road! Welcome back, Panda!  

Looping through Multiple Databases on a M$ SQL Server

An instance of M$ SQL Server can host several databases. One application suite at work has objects scattered around many databases (because there are conceptually multiple applications that work together) I have a stored procedure that I need to debug but I don't know the name of the database. Fortunately, there is an undocumented SQL Server feature/stored proc called sp_msforeachdb. Check out its usage here.

「求其」不要寫得太求祈

我地講廣東話不時會話人地做野是是旦旦，亦即係好「求其」（中間再加一個助語字 :P）
原來正確寫法唔係咁，應該寫「求祈」先啱。
求同祈都係指請天上既神幫忙，好多時求完就自己乜都唔做，所以係「小心認真」做事既反義詞，咁解都有道理嘅。
這本書解釋得更詳盡。

手遊. 電競. 女神

從小就接觸電腦遊戲，不知何故一直不算太沉迷，雖然有玩過第一代PlayStation及Wii，也有好幾年完全脫節，最近幾次返港聽財經節目，有講及以手機遊戲為主要業務的公司，股價頗受關注，總之是有人炒的股；繼「手遊」後，又有新詞語「電競」，即電腦遊戲競技比賽，相關公司股票成為新炒作對象。其實電競日益「主流」化有跡可尋，美國有線「大台」TBS近年有節目ELeague轉播打機比賽，我看人家打Street Fighter看得很過癮，好像回到大學年代在Austin機舖星期五下午放學後到機舖和友人觀戰的歲月；而香港「大台」TVB旗下的網台Big Big Channel也有直播藝人打機聯賽，並在電視台的「男人」節目特地找來兩位將參與聯賽的港姐靚女馮盈盈及張曦雯訪問，她們這一代不只是「宅男」才打機了，這兩位都有豐富打機經驗，也把這些經驗轉為商機：上星期香港動漫展就找了她們出席，這一代的藝人不再單靠登登台剪剪綵等活動賺外快吧。

Passage by William Ackerman

I mentioned the 5-for-$15 deal I got at California Audio Show the other day. One of the vinyls I bought Passage by William Ackerman (the pic I took on that post was blurry) I know nothing about this artist so I took a gamble on it. I figured you can't go that wrong with a release from THE New Age brandname, Windham Hill. After all, George Winston did a few excellent piano albums with Windham Hill. This album turned out to have a very interesting back story: I later on found out Ackerman was a guitarist, a composer and most importantly the founder of Windham Hill, after he dropped out of Stanford (almost graduated but became a carpenter instead.) He made this record while he was in Palo Alto! The album cover has notes from him about the various duet with other instruments adding colors to his acoustic guitar. The guest pianist was actually George Winston. A great buy!

You (and I, but why :P) can also stream it from Spotify:

奧運城市

上兩個月就想介紹一篇文章，關於奧運城市在申奧成功後往往大興土木，建球場體育館宿舍等等，但在奧運結束後即荒廢，其頹敗情狀認真不堪入目，是不折不扣的勞民傷財大白象！政府落得負債累累，受害的當然是市民；而事前政府所指的經濟效益，也只是空頭支票，真正撈到油水會是貪官和朋比為奸的承建商，難怪每次申奧都有不少城市樂此不疲。

奇怪的是，2024及2028這兩屆，竟然無人問津，巴黎和洛杉磯輕易取得主辦權！還記得十幾年前遊巴黎，見不少和申奧有關的橫額海報，不過輸了給倫敦。今天聽體育台的Happy hour節目討論此話題，原來洛城是少數辦奧運真正有錢賺的城市，皆因校際體育活動及旅遊業本已相當發達，大部份設施可使用現成的：包括大學宿舍､體育館､大球場及酒店。希望到時不用加州或美國政府倒貼吧。

California Audio Show 2017

I wrote on this blog the last 2 times I attended the show (2011, 2015) It was on hiatus last year. The 2017 show was at Oakland Airport Hilton (instead of SFO) with fewer rooms (I guess it helped to manage the cost) Still, the manufacturer line up was impressive and I spent a solid 3 hours listening to various systems. The show was "divided" into 4 areas and roughly equal to 4 different classes of equipments:
1) the "sky is the limit" class has 2 rooms: the ultra-expensive Von Schweikert speakers + VAC tube monoblock amp is no doubt the best system of the whole show (well, for that price tag it gotta be)

2) the "still too expensive" class has 1 floor of bigger rooms: the Margules group is the winner here. The system was able to generate a huge soundstage with its own turntable, tube amps and (a very conventional dynamic) speakers. For electrostatic speakers, Sound Lab and Martin Logan were both there. The latter had a pair of huge ones named Neolith (for some reason I just don't appreciate it as much as the smaller systems I listened to before. Maybe the music they played turned me off :P) I would give the edge to Sound Lab. The Acapella spherical horns (speakers) sounded great with vocals too. You can't really go wrong with anything on that floor.

3) the "not too expensive" class is on the 2nd floor with smaller rooms: Audio Note UK has complete tube amp/speakers/turntable system that sounded great as usual (and doesn't require a ton of space behind the speakers) but my top pick went to Volti Audio. The design of having a horn in the middle used by the Rival speakers seem to be the way to go. And it costs less than eight grand! They were also placement-friendly like the Audio Note speakers.

4) the "affordable" class features, finally, equipments that I may buy, i.e. headphone/DAC/amp that I could listen to often. For some reason I am less "in love" with the Audeze planer magnetic headphone this time. I did find some very interesting product by SCHIIT (yeah, weird name) First, I AB-compared the headphone out on a M$ Surface tablet vs Fulla 2 DAC/AMP using a song I'm very familiar with, No Doubt's "Don't Speak" The latter sounded more detailed and fuller with an entry-level Sennheiser headphone. One step up was SCHIIT Modi 2 (DAC) and Vali 2 (AMP) combo (using a pair of Beyerdynamics DT-880. All three combined costs <$500! You can't have a better deal than this)

After checking out hardware, of course it's time for software!  I found THE deal of the show: 5 for $15 vinyl from the "guitar music"  bin of the Audio Nerd. I joked with the guy if he had something against guitar :p He said they just happened to have extra inventory. 

I  hope the show will be back in 2018!

簡體字書在香港書展

一年一度香港書展又來了，記得往年受談論的新聞主要和o靚模有關，不然就是書商趁機大清倉臨尾大劈價，今年有一則不同：來自中國售簡體字的書商抱怨香港簡體字教育不足以致他們的書滯銷，不過寧蝕運費運回國也不打算賤賣。今時今日中港矛盾之深，這樣的說話實在很令人反感，其實問題本身值得思考和討論。我們這一代未必通曉簡體字，但能讀簡體字書的也很多，新一代受新移民家庭影響，相信更加沒問題。從小到大我買過讀過不少簡體字書，包括數學象棋歷史書，都沒有繁體版；也有小說，因為便宜。我認為書籍如果滯銷，相信和內容及售價不夠吸引有關，書商應該自我檢討，何必諉過於人？

Sports highlights: three impressive (or improbable) victories

I am talking about golf's British Open, soccer's Gold Cup (semi-final) and NASCAR's Brickyard 400.

Heading into Sunday's final round, Jordan Spieth had been leading the tournament since Round 1 on Thursday. However, blowing his lead in the final round of a major championship was something he has done before (last year's Masters) And he almost did it again with consecutive bogeys in the beginning of the round. Then he finally lost his lead to Matt Kuchar on the 13th: his tee shot went way way wide. It took a long time to find his ball and then another lengthy delay to find a place to drop the ball (ended up somewhere near the driving range) Nevertheless, he did a good job with damage control: he was only 1 stroke behind after this hole. Then he sank a long put to eagle the 15th and never looked back. I didn't have the guts to watch all these live (glad that I switched channel before the "disastrous" 13th) but I am so happy to see a fellow Texas alum winning a big one. (To be honest, I would not have followed it if not for him. Who won the 2017 US Open anyway? I have no clue) He is now the youngest golfer to have won the first 3 legs of the 4 majors since Jack Nicklaus.

The rematch between 2 former Gold Cup finalists, Mexico and Jamaica, happened one round earlier this time, at the semi-final. Mexico has not trailed at any moment in this tournament so far. And they had many chances during the first half, only to be denied by the excellent Jamaican goalkeeper. Jamaica's play improved in the 2nd half. And the game was 0-0 until the very last minutes. Just when I thought it would end with PKs. Jamaica scored an impressive free kick. The Mexican goalie had no chance. Looking forward to the final between Jamaica and USA! (Even though my buddy looked down on this tournament!)

NASCAR drivers and owners consider the annual Brickyard 400 as one of the more prestigious races (other than Daytona) on the calendar, because it races at the iconic Indy Motorspeedway. Kyle Busch won it last year (as well as the year before, but nothing since then) has been strong and leading the whole race, until he was wrecked by the also very competitive (in fact, red hot all season) Martin Truex Jr (who admitted his fault after the race) The crash left the door open to drivers like Matt Kenseth (who lead after the restart) and Trevor Bayne (who was on a different pitting strategy) Then we have 3 drivers stayed out of the pits: Brad K, JJ and Kasey Kahne (who has been in a long slump with a 100+ race losing streak) Kahne was the first among these 3 that pitted and he got lucky: Kurt Busch crashed right after Kahne left the pit so he became the leader after the subsequent restart. He survived the last restart at the OT and ended his drought! This 18th victory could be the one that revived his once-promising career.

機上娛樂2017暑假篇之二

繼續寫寫其餘在旅程看過的電影/節目。

• 三少爺的劍：本片改編自我未讀過的同名古龍小說。首先出場的是一位劍法高超的劍客，原來他叫燕十三，卻不是三少爺，接著出場的是三少爺的舊情人，真正的神劍山莊三少爺卻躲在妓院做打雜，是為了避開一眾迫他稱霸武林的家人情人，當然事與願違不得不戰。男女角長相都不太吸引，算是打發了點無聊時間吧。其實本片最令我覺得有趣的是最尾演員名單出現了一個久違了的名字：顧冠忠，我認不出舊情人父親就是由他飾演；另一位我認得出飾演三少爺父親的，正是徐少強！這兩位同時出現，相信80年代電視迷都會聯想起當年轟動一時的「中途易角事件」：麗的天蠶變主角雲飛揚本來由徐飾演，拍攝及出街半途，徐突然失蹤，結果找到顧頂上，在劇中的解釋是練成天蠶神功後連容貌也改變了！再Google一下，更發現本片導演爾冬陞在1977年正是飾演楚原執導的三少爺的劍成名，而徐和顧兩人也有份！而當年三少爺的「新情人」由余安安飾演，比這個版本漂亮吧。
• 這個冬天不太冷：這個電視節目由無線旗下三位音樂人參與，一起遊阿拉斯加，三集節目介紹了北極光，通往北極的公路，位於北極圈內的小鎮巴羅（Barrow，竟然有香港人移民當地揸的士！）等等，三位音樂才華實在不弱，在極地彈彈唱唱十分好feel，大家不妨上YouTube看看。
• Beltracchi: The Art of Forgery: 即使對藝術品古玩拍賣市場毫不認識，都會聽過贗品充斥的問題，不過贗品「製作人」的故事，相信大家就不會聽過幾多，始終他們都是「見光死」，難得近年有「落網人」公開其故事，當然他們「從良」後要賺點收入，甚至可以靠影片提高知名度，或者有人欣賞其原創作品而成功轉型也說不定，這個肯定是Beltracchi出鏡的原因。此君本身頗有才華，十四歲就已經能抄畢加索到似模似樣；亦對藝術史藝術家有深入認識，他說他會從藝術家作品集找「靈感」，例如某畫家有一段時期沒有作品流傳，他就會從其他敍述中「創作」一件風格相符的作品。至於如何找舊畫布，偽造作品被收藏家買入的故事，也很有趣。Beltracchi夫婦曾經因為這門「生意」十分風光，不過2010年被補及被判有罪，需還款歸原主兼坐監，真是一場空。

不同場加映：到埗翌日是星期日，大雨無出街，爸爸介紹看港台31台逢星期日下午播放的音樂節目，播的是「Bob Dylan 無處是吾家」我陰謀論地認為在回歸廿週年介紹這位以抗爭音樂聞名的唱作人，是港台又一次暗反「阿爺」:P

還有一天早上channel surfing，在電影台看到警察鬥大盜的《通天大盜》，主角是林子祥（被盜一方保險公司的調查員）及楊紫瓊（心靈空虛以做案為樂的富婆），部份在巴黎拍攝，又有滑雪滑翔機騎馬等exotic玩意，當年（87年）普羅大眾相信沒有像現在般常常有機會外遊玩樂，自然覺得格外有新鮮感。就算撇除這些今日看來很cheesy的情節，我也覺得頗有娛樂性。

機上娛樂2017暑假篇之一

一如過往，坐長途機都是睡不著，今次第一程看了三部電影，兩集電視及一部紀錄片。回程也看了三部電影，兩集電視及一場音樂會錄像。

• Logan：此片算是X-Men系列作品，之前幾套我都非常欣賞，所以對本片十分期待，上畫時本就想拉隊去看可是攪不成。上機前已和兒子討論，他說既以金剛狼為主角，相信會很血腥，事實上的確如此。不過片中時代的Logan，能力已不復當年勇，連打不死之身也走下坡；故事主題是以「人工製造」Mutant為「武器」的公司，因為新技術淘汰舊技術，要把一大批少年武器殺害，以揸出租汽車為業的Logan，就被捲入拯救行動，包括一名有他的Mutant基因的少女。
• Lego Batman movie：早幾年在香港戲院看了第一套Lego Movie，結局揭露原來是現實世界中的爸爸不准兒子亂動他的Lego collections，十分欣賞。本片的主題是惡搞Batman和Joker的關係：前者似乎不能沒有後者！感覺上太過胡鬧。
• John Wick, John Wick 2：由Matrix「型到震」的Keanu Reeves著到官仔骨骨做打不死的「殺神」，其實兩集內容差不多，我還是先看第二集再在回程看第一集呢！第一集中Wick為亡妻留給他的愛狗被殺復仇，第二集則被迫為黑幫大佬殺人再對抗全球追殺令。相信導演很受吳宇森及發哥的英雄片風格及形像影響，原來不只我這樣想，請看此網上文章。
• Jack Reacher：本片有點John Wick X Logan的味道，皆因靚佬湯飾演的主角Jack Reacher也是打不死的戰神，而主線又是打救懷疑被他「留種」生的女兒；當然，片中角色最吸引我的是我一直十分喜歡的舊Sitcom "How I Met Your Mother"女主角Robin(Cobie Smulder)她飾演一名好打得的女軍人，其下屬因揭發軍火商陰謀被殺，她順理成章被陷害，和她常常通訊卻素未謀面的Reacher也被捲入其中，逃亡期間有少許Smulder露bra鏡頭甚養眼；芳鹷十八飾演機警的「女兒」的Danika Yarosh也演得很稱職。
• 骨妹：本身不算梁詠琪fans，其實由她主演吸引力不大，不過很好奇一把年紀的她如何演譯一個骨妹，原來她的戲份是已離開了該行；故事開始時梁和丈夫在台灣生活，無意中在報紙看到一則㝷人廣告，尋的正是她，事緣她的老友剛過世，梁回到她長大及工作的澳門和其他舊友團聚，原來過世友人購了保險受益人是已經翻臉遠走的她！接著就倒敘當年梁(桑拿場19號 )如何入行，如何從「老師傅」（「重口味」江美儀飾演）努力學按摩，如何得到其他同場女幫助，特別是未過世前的18號，如何和18號艱苦地共同湊大後者的私生子；當中的母子情及姐妹情實在賺人熱淚，也算對骨場⻣妹有了少少認識，剛去完澳門的我感覺上好像去了兩次呢。

 
最後介紹我在機上聽了的一張爵士唱片，是鼓手Will Calhoun向Elvin Jones致敬之作，可以在Spotify上重溫（當中有cover Wayne Shorter一曲Mahjong，倒和去香港有點關係呢）：


請留意part 2

文藝香港

早幾年重拾玩筆寫字的樂趣後，會常常去看看（中國）書畫展，幸運地在灣區有個矽谷亞洲藝術中心，當然，在香港機會就更多；今次訪港第一週就在中環大會堂看了三個書畫會：香港中國美術會、九鼎書法會及筆尋嘗畫會的會員作品展。九鼎書法會更是「開正我嗰瓣」：大力推廣古書體，展出很多金文篆隸之作。
今次也看了以本土為主題的畫展，其實本來打算到觀塘的一新美術館，陰差陽錯卻去了香港大學美術博物館（在荷花池拍攝不到荷花，幸好找到此館不算白行一趟）
至於音樂會，下機當晚在D100爵士鍾情FB頁的介紹下去了旺角樓上餐廳（真的叫做Upper，位於「著名」砵蘭街地區一座架步林立的大廈！）的一場音樂會，是由鼓手Nate Wong領軍的Wong Way Down，玩的是Fusion風格爵士樂，包括多首原創作品，這隊樂隊創作及演奏水平均相當高。臨尾Nate用melodica玩了幾首歌，無獨有偶，這是我最最最近期玩的樂器！

在機上讀港版星島日報，介紹HKCO4U（香港中樂團「為你」）這場以年輕樂手為主角的音樂會，如果我沒有記錯，原來自小就喜愛中樂的我從來未曾去過一場專業正式的中樂會！（小朋友演出不算）演出場地地址就是香港中樂團，其實位於上環文娛中心之內。當晚第一個驚喜，就是我久聞大名的炎黃第一鼓閻學敏擔任司儀，他笑說由於近日天氣炎熱，打鼓會火氣攻心，因此當晚音樂會並無打鼓部份，他改為負責介紹作品及樂手。第一首作品以一支低音大笛為主角，玻璃鋼製造的大笛我是首次見識，音質雄渾有勁。而由揚琴伴奏的二胡獨奏傳統作品一枝花，就讓二胡高手施展出渾身解數。接著是香港作曲家廖穎琛的琵琶作品花針，正如鼓王指出該作品利用琵琶發出十幾種不同的聲音，實在變化多端，掃弦手法令我想起力度澎拜的重金屬及Flamenco結他！由兩枝二胡合奏的良宵，老實說也不太特出，不過鼓王說這是兩人對話版卻沒有錯。接著五首均為胡樂（高胡，二胡，胡，低音胡）四重奏：也就是以西樂弦樂四重奏為藍本的一種編制，我也是首次接觸。對於參考西樂的做法，我也感到頗矛盾：一方面，玩西樂流行樂的我，對西式的和音手法比較「習以為常」，而中式合奏大家大致上玩同一個旋律的手法不是那麼「認同」，卻同意那是值得保留的傳統；其實對於「新VS舊」這一點，我找到一篇詳盡的分析。我想各種玩法都有高人可以玩得好聽吧。當晚的四重奏我最欣賞由旅居北京德國音樂家「老鑼」的作品「燃燒希望」，至於當晚首演另一首香港音樂家譚逸昇所編，由三首中港台名曲（康定情歌，月光光，高山青）串成的作品，當然有點「政治正確」的味道，其實也編得頗為有趣，例如所用的chromaticism有點爵士味。（對我來說更有點個人感情：康曲的歌詞「廿八蚊一塊....」當年啟發了我們把樂隊名稱改為SPS，而SPS就曾在上環文娛中心比賽，演出了「電訊盈科」）

週末最後一擊去了另一個（中環近上環）樓上表演場所「花好音樂廳」的Funk jazz之夜，演出包括Mike Stern, John Scofield, Jaco等等的名作，兩位結他手Simon Yu和Wilson Lam，相對後者簡單一部BOSS multi-effect, 前者的Stomp box算多籮籮，總之各有各特色。

後記：在Google老鑼時得知早幾年他因為作品《法海你不懂愛 》惹來宗教界及其他人士抨擊他侮辱佛教人物。老老實實，以我對白蛇傳少少的認識，的確覺得故事中的法海有點多管閒事，我這講法是否要被禁呢？

何文田A3遊

去年十月觀塘綫延綫通車很多傳媒提到新的何文田站依山而建，部分出口遠高於月台，例如由月台到通往愛民邨的A3出口共五百多級樓梯，和廿五層樓相若，被毛記電視惡搞，我一直就想去行行。今天正好要去紅磡張榮記，似乎會坐港鐵去黃埔站並會經過何文田站，不過家人教路，在旺角的話搭巴士(6C,6F)較方便，在張榮記再問如何去黃埔站，原來最近的站就是何文田站！入站前看到的裝飾覺得甚有特色，在閘口這一層行去A3減省了月台上來的樓梯，所以只得百多級而已。

題外話：今天是觀音誕（每年有數天，這天是成道日），我們經過觀音廟，見香火鼎盛。

Cycling and sailing (and a new America's Cup winner!)

I have been loosely following this new edition of the America's Cup since Oracle USA's miraculous victory 4 years ago. I watched a bit of the Louis Vuitton Cup competition earlier this year and was surprised by the new system used by Team New Zealand: instead of winding with arms and hands, they used a bicycle-like pedaling system which winds with leg power. I was very curious and immediately Googled it and found this article. And I missed the TV coverage of all America's Cup races until it's over! This time no comeback from USA. This new pedal system seems to be THE innovation that contributes a lot to the success of Team New Zealand according to this article. Congrat to the Kiwis! (yeah, Larry doesn't win every time)

3 Minutes to Midnight

昨天才聽了一首我熟悉的Iron Maiden歌曲，來自其精選的Two Minutes to Midnight!今天聽的名字多了「一分鐘」，卻是完全風馬牛不相及的結他手Lawson Rollins的新唱片
Lawson Rollins的風格大致可歸類為New flamenco, 即Jesse Cook及Ottmar Liebert那一類，論技術及創作水平，Rollins和他們都不遑多讓；近年他每有新作，結他雜誌都會訪問，和我一樣十分推薦。

拍攝荷花

相熟朋友都知我喜歡帶著相機周圍去但拍不出甚麼好東西，反正拍過的照片將來未必找得到。記得早幾年訪港見過好幾個荷塘，包括饒宗頤文化館及北區雲泉仙館，不過都是在秋冬時候，荷花盛放的五六月早已過了，只剩淍零殘花，僅可拍頽廢之美。最近找到去年一篇文章介紹香港八大影荷花熱點，雲泉也榜上有名，且看有否緣份去其他拍拍。

Steve Wozniak the painter

I went to Paint Nite's event several times before. Basically each event is a lesson by an artist who taught you how to paint a piece from start to finish. These are not serious art lessons but more like social events where you can (or expected) to drink. After attending one, I receive their newsletter regularly. And a recent one is about a painting called "Tahitian Sunset" which is quite pretty but what really caught my eye was the name of the artist who created it: Steve Wozniak. Is he "the WOZ" (Apple's co-founder)? Hmm...... No. 

RIP Geri Allen

I've just learned that the amazing jazz pianist Geri Allen has passed away. I have enjoyed her performances for decades. For those not familiar with her music, just listen to her album "Life of a Song" and you will understand how talented she was.

It's a very sad day for all jazz lovers.