I just "discovered" this female metal vocalist. The track was actually from her album released in 1989. She has left the music business (and guess what? worked as a computer programmer!) already. Too bad. The track sounded awesome. I thought I heard Vixen or Lita Ford. Once again it showed how important luck is.
BTW, I heard the track on Radio IO's hair band channel. Yes, I actually enjoy hair band music (because it's guaranteed to have guitar solo) It was also useful to block out co-worker's voice :P
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Topic of the day: Caltrain unfriendly to folding bike users
I like my folding bike a lot 'coz I could carry it in my car without a bike rack (and worry about the bike falling off or scratching the exterior of my car) I used to like the idea of taking my folding bike to ride Caltrain and then bike to where I work (without my bike, I need to walk 30 minutes) but it doesn't seem to be a good idea anymore after a few incidents:
1) This happened a year or 2 ago: a Caltrain passenger/cyclist told me I had to fold up my bike instead of parking it in the bike car like every other cyclist do, so that a space could be "saved" for other cyclist with non-foldable bikes. The intention was good but where am I supposed to put my folded bike? Caltrain's rule says that folded bike should be put under the seat (which is not possible for mine or most other reasonably sized bikes) or on luggage rack (which is 3 cars down. Dragging my bike through 3 cars was a workout that I didn't need) so I declined and that dude wanted to continue to argue with me but stopped by other fellow passengers. I didn't say another word and problem solved.
2) This happened today: instead of asked by a passenger, I was asked by a Caltrain conductor to do the same. To make things worse, this time another passenger (a 架兩) actually chimed in to support the conductor! I explained the problem again. And the conductor gave me permission to violate the aforementioned rule: she told me to put my bike on the seat! (And allowed me to seat in another one) Well, how was I supposed to refuse such a good offer? Since the aisle is too narrow for me to push my bike thru, I have to pull it off the ground and carry all the way to the empty seat in the back of the car. And this was the by-product:
Oh yeah, I told the 架兩 it's none of his business.
[Update: the bike chain grease stain on my pants were safely removed by Shout (Triple Action Stain Remover)]
1) This happened a year or 2 ago: a Caltrain passenger/cyclist told me I had to fold up my bike instead of parking it in the bike car like every other cyclist do, so that a space could be "saved" for other cyclist with non-foldable bikes. The intention was good but where am I supposed to put my folded bike? Caltrain's rule says that folded bike should be put under the seat (which is not possible for mine or most other reasonably sized bikes) or on luggage rack (which is 3 cars down. Dragging my bike through 3 cars was a workout that I didn't need) so I declined and that dude wanted to continue to argue with me but stopped by other fellow passengers. I didn't say another word and problem solved.
2) This happened today: instead of asked by a passenger, I was asked by a Caltrain conductor to do the same. To make things worse, this time another passenger (a 架兩) actually chimed in to support the conductor! I explained the problem again. And the conductor gave me permission to violate the aforementioned rule: she told me to put my bike on the seat! (And allowed me to seat in another one) Well, how was I supposed to refuse such a good offer? Since the aisle is too narrow for me to push my bike thru, I have to pull it off the ground and carry all the way to the empty seat in the back of the car. And this was the by-product:
Oh yeah, I told the 架兩 it's none of his business.
[Update: the bike chain grease stain on my pants were safely removed by Shout (Triple Action Stain Remover)]
Monday, October 25, 2010
Sports highlights: Iowa, NASCAR, F1, LCS
What a weekend for sports fan like me! The Saturday didn't get off to a good start: Texas was upsetted by Iowa State after upsetting Nebraska the week before. I guess this team is just inconsistent. Wisconsin beat the other Iowa team though, in a really close game. Then came the news that the Giants has finished off the Phillies in Game 6 of the NL Championship Series. Finally, while waiting for the rain-delayed Korean Formula 1 GP, I have time to watch my taped NASCAR Nationwide race, featuring Danica Patrick and Justin Allgaier, who drove very well but couldn't win because of poor pit stops. It's sad to see that he might not get a ride next season. I thought with his good image and talent he should have been signed for the Sprint Cup series for next season already! I heard it has to do with his sponsor (Verizon Wireless) has to drop out because NASCAR has exclusive sponsorship deal with Sprint! BTW, Danica had another solid finish (22nd place)
I have waited and waited for hours for the start of the F1 race. Finally it's green flag and the championship leader Webber crashed with Rosberg and yellow flag flew again. Then I gave up and went to bed. I like the outcome though. With 2 races remaining, the championship is still wide open.
Nothing could have been more surprising than the Oakland Raiders beating up its rival Denver Broncos though. The Raiders was leading 38-0 in the 2nd quarter! I was interested in this game enough that I turned it on while driving (not enough to stay home and watch though)
Finally, I watched another taped NASCAR race. Fell asleep at the 400th lap (out of 500) Again, I like the outcome: Denny Hamlin won and is only 6 points behind 4-time defending champ Jimmie Johnson. So there's no guarantee that JJ will win it all again (boring!) but I think he's still the favourite (BTW, I read some fans comment that NASCAR helped JJ to win by choosing race tracks that favors him last week. I don't agree at all. JJ was simply GOOD! Last week he spun and got a flat tire. He didn't panic at all. All he did was patiently got in and out of the pit and gradually move up to the front again. I haven't seen another driver like that. Not even Jeff Gordon today)
I have waited and waited for hours for the start of the F1 race. Finally it's green flag and the championship leader Webber crashed with Rosberg and yellow flag flew again. Then I gave up and went to bed. I like the outcome though. With 2 races remaining, the championship is still wide open.
Nothing could have been more surprising than the Oakland Raiders beating up its rival Denver Broncos though. The Raiders was leading 38-0 in the 2nd quarter! I was interested in this game enough that I turned it on while driving (not enough to stay home and watch though)
Finally, I watched another taped NASCAR race. Fell asleep at the 400th lap (out of 500) Again, I like the outcome: Denny Hamlin won and is only 6 points behind 4-time defending champ Jimmie Johnson. So there's no guarantee that JJ will win it all again (boring!) but I think he's still the favourite (BTW, I read some fans comment that NASCAR helped JJ to win by choosing race tracks that favors him last week. I don't agree at all. JJ was simply GOOD! Last week he spun and got a flat tire. He didn't panic at all. All he did was patiently got in and out of the pit and gradually move up to the front again. I haven't seen another driver like that. Not even Jeff Gordon today)
Monday, October 04, 2010
Sports highlights (and lowlights): football, auto racing, baseball and golf
It has not been a very good weekend because almost every team/player I rooted for lost:
Texas losing to Oklahoma was kinda expected but they dropped out of Top 25 for the first time since 2000!
Wisconsin losing to Michigan State was not too surprising because they usually had a good start and then start losing to some semi-decent teams.
Will Power losing the IndyCar Racing League championship was not too surprising either given his not-too-great performances on the oval. It was disappointing to see his car hitting the wall and was not even able to finish the race.
As far as US losing the Ryder Cup to Europe is concerned, I wasn't even sure which team was the favourite. I was glad that Tiger won a few of his matches though. Give him some time and he will be back.
I didn't feel too bad to see St. Kilda losing the Aussie Rule Football grand final to Collingwood because I didn't root for either of them. It was just that the loss was too lopsided.
Man U didn't lose, but tying Sunderland while Chelsea beat Arsenal equalled to 2 points loss in the standing.
For a while I thought the Giants would suffer the same fate. In fact, they lost the first two games of the San Diego series to pave way to the dramatic finish: winning the division by winning the last game of the regular season! It was their first title since 2003. To be honest, before the season starts, it's hard to predict them to win without a premier hitter, which make this title an even bigger achievement!
Another exciting event was Chinese fighter made history in MMA in US. Tiequan Zhang, nicknamed the Mongolian Wolf, won his debut fight in WEC in US. Wish him more success!
Texas losing to Oklahoma was kinda expected but they dropped out of Top 25 for the first time since 2000!
Wisconsin losing to Michigan State was not too surprising because they usually had a good start and then start losing to some semi-decent teams.
Will Power losing the IndyCar Racing League championship was not too surprising either given his not-too-great performances on the oval. It was disappointing to see his car hitting the wall and was not even able to finish the race.
As far as US losing the Ryder Cup to Europe is concerned, I wasn't even sure which team was the favourite. I was glad that Tiger won a few of his matches though. Give him some time and he will be back.
I didn't feel too bad to see St. Kilda losing the Aussie Rule Football grand final to Collingwood because I didn't root for either of them. It was just that the loss was too lopsided.
Man U didn't lose, but tying Sunderland while Chelsea beat Arsenal equalled to 2 points loss in the standing.
For a while I thought the Giants would suffer the same fate. In fact, they lost the first two games of the San Diego series to pave way to the dramatic finish: winning the division by winning the last game of the regular season! It was their first title since 2003. To be honest, before the season starts, it's hard to predict them to win without a premier hitter, which make this title an even bigger achievement!
Another exciting event was Chinese fighter made history in MMA in US. Tiequan Zhang, nicknamed the Mongolian Wolf, won his debut fight in WEC in US. Wish him more success!
Friday, October 01, 2010
Topic of the day: Taylor Guitar and GE Commercial
I was watching Ryder Cup coverage (on the background) and this commercial caught my attention: It's about Taylor Guitar got money from GE and one of GE's employee played their guitar at the factory, and played very well!
Oh well, too well! She didn't actually play it. It was achieved by clever videoediting.
The "real" guitarist was Marija Temo. Here is a video of her:
Oh well, too well! She didn't actually play it. It was achieved by clever videoediting.
The "real" guitarist was Marija Temo. Here is a video of her:
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Friday, September 24, 2010
Musician of the day: Edgar Meyer
Thanks to my wife, I got tickets to the opening concert of New Century Chamber Orchestra's new season, featuring double bassist Edgar Meyer. I have seen many great jazz bassist but this was the first time I saw a classical concert featuring bassist as soloist. Meyer definitely has the dazzling chops for that. He was not only exciting to listen to (making use of the whole range of the instrument from the booming bottom all the way up to the highs using harmonics) but also to watch: his fingers moving up and down and across the fingerboard is not unlike heavy metal guitar shredder at work. It turned out the piece he played was written by Giovanni Bottesini, aka "The Paganini of the double bass"
I was also the first time I heard Adagietto from Mahler's 5th live. I didn't know it could be performed by a chamber orchestra!
In addition to performing, Meyer is also a prolific composer. I am listening to his quintet right now(performed by Emerson String Quartet and himself. I find a bit unusual to listen to Emerson playing contemporary music. You would think this should have been a Kronos Quartet album!)
I was also the first time I heard Adagietto from Mahler's 5th live. I didn't know it could be performed by a chamber orchestra!
In addition to performing, Meyer is also a prolific composer. I am listening to his quintet right now(performed by Emerson String Quartet and himself. I find a bit unusual to listen to Emerson playing contemporary music. You would think this should have been a Kronos Quartet album!)
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Tech of the day: anti-censorship tool
Unfortunately, this post is not introducing any. On the contrary, I just want to help debunk the myth of Haystack, which is a piece of software that was supposed to achieve this goal for people in countries in which the government heavily censor their citizen's internet usage. Check out this article, titled "The Great Internet Freedom Fraud". This is yet another case of hype over substance. To be a hero, you don't need to act like one. Instead, just sound like one.
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Music of the day: Public Domain Music
I am listening to music from the MusOpen project right now. The goal of the project is to "set music free." A lot of recorded music are protected, meaning you can't just use them wherever you like (say, as the background music of a movie you shot) You might think it's OK if the music was written way back but it's not. It's because a piece of recording is protected by at least 2 copyrights: one for the underlying composition and one for the performance. For example, if you have the mp3 of a Beethoven Sonatina, you still might not be able to use it because even though the composition is not protected, the performance might still be. Currently the project is raising money to hire orchestra to record music such that both the composition and the performance itself are free. I saw someone criticized that the project should not focus on old/established works (aka warhorses) because one could easily buy such recording real cheap online but they missed the point. No matter how cheap those recordings are, you can't use them freely.
Wednesday, September 01, 2010
Sports highlights: Road course specialists
For IndyCar and NASCAR, road course expertise is certainly different from that of oval tracks. 4 time defending NASCAR champ Jimmie Johnson has not won on road course until this year at Sonoma. In fact, he raced in other competitions at road course in order to prepare himself better and that paid off. At the other end of the spectrum is Juan Pablo Montoya, who has raced in Formula 1 before and now in NASCAR. He won two times so far in his NASCAR career, both on road course! There was a roughly half-half split between road course and oval for this IndyCar season. And IndyCar had its last road course race of the season the weekend before. Will Power was crowned the king of road course (for having the highest point total in all road course races. There will also be a champion for oval only and of course an overal champ) Power was also the overall point leader. However, his closest competitor, Dario Franchitti, was considered a better driver on oval than Power and could make up the difference in the remaining races. For a while during the race last weekend, Power proved that he was not just a road course driver but he could do as well, if not better than, Franchitti on oval. Unfortunately his car ran out of gas and Franchitti took a risk by not taking any tire at the pit to get to the front, and won!
For NASCAR, there was a different story: a group of drivers branded road course specialists race exclusively on the road course races of NASCAR (which is held much fewer than oval races) Boris Said is arguably the most famous among them (also because of his hair-do) In fact, some NASCAR drivers learned road racing skills from him. Last weekend NASCAR's 2nd tier Nationwide series raced on the Montreal road course. Said was one of the favourite again (many predicted him to do well in previous road races too but he has not won before, not counting his lone victory in NASCAR truck series) And he had to compete with the local favourite, the Canadian and former F1 champ, Jacque Villenevue. After the frontrunners all having trouble (bad battery, broken track bar and running out of feul), he took the lead and won the race. That's a feel good story. And I guess he didn't mind being a road course specialist last weekend.
For NASCAR, there was a different story: a group of drivers branded road course specialists race exclusively on the road course races of NASCAR (which is held much fewer than oval races) Boris Said is arguably the most famous among them (also because of his hair-do) In fact, some NASCAR drivers learned road racing skills from him. Last weekend NASCAR's 2nd tier Nationwide series raced on the Montreal road course. Said was one of the favourite again (many predicted him to do well in previous road races too but he has not won before, not counting his lone victory in NASCAR truck series) And he had to compete with the local favourite, the Canadian and former F1 champ, Jacque Villenevue. After the frontrunners all having trouble (bad battery, broken track bar and running out of feul), he took the lead and won the race. That's a feel good story. And I guess he didn't mind being a road course specialist last weekend.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Star of the day: Peter Lenz
Peter Lenz, a 13 year old motorcycle racer, died when he crashed at an Indy race last weekend. It was sad. I am sure he was a talented driver, competing this young at this level. RIP.
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Topic of the day: Google = Invincible?
Well, Google is no longer selling Nexus One, once consider the iPhone killer. The sad part is, it wasn't even on my radar screen when it was announced a month ago!
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Topic of the day: Canada to ban MMA
Canada has one of the best MMA fighter in the world, George St. Pierre! Ironically, British Columbia Medical Association is seeking to ban MMA in Canada. This link has a good analysis that showed why BCMA's arguments were bad. For one thing, there were more fatality involved in soccer. Canada might as well banned soccer!
Friday, August 20, 2010
Topic of the day: how my folding bike was saved
When I was riding my Downtube folding bike the other day, the chain all of a sudden fell off. And the 2 pieces of the chain guard (one on each side of the chain ring) were not held together anymore. I had to push it all the way home. I took it off after I got home:
Without this piece, the piece on the other side of the ride would not stay on either.
After further examination, I found one link of the chain is broken too:
I almost wanted to give up because I thought it would cost me quite a lot to buy a new chain as well as replacing the chain guard. Fortunately I didn't. Turns out the whole "repair" costed $6! I bought a few nuts/bolts/washers to reattach the remaining half piece of the chain guard to the chain ring. And with the help of Performance Bicycle in Mountain View, that 1 broken link in the chain was replaced. Now it works again :D
Without this piece, the piece on the other side of the ride would not stay on either.
After further examination, I found one link of the chain is broken too:
I almost wanted to give up because I thought it would cost me quite a lot to buy a new chain as well as replacing the chain guard. Fortunately I didn't. Turns out the whole "repair" costed $6! I bought a few nuts/bolts/washers to reattach the remaining half piece of the chain guard to the chain ring. And with the help of Performance Bicycle in Mountain View, that 1 broken link in the chain was replaced. Now it works again :D
Friday, August 13, 2010
Music of the day: Jazz Organ Fellowship Gala
In the spectrum of popular jazz instruments, I'd say organ probably falls somewhere between violin and guitar. Joey DeFrancesco and Jimmy Smith are as big names as any other jazz greats but for some reason organ is not getting the attention it deserves. Only if someone would take action! And that someone is Pete Fallico, Founder and Executive Director of JOF (Jazz Organ Fellowship.) I really admire his efforts in raising the awareness of such a wonderful instrument and its players. I attended its 2nd annual gala/concert last night and saw wonderful performances by 3 organists: Tammy Hall, Atsuko Hashimoto and Trudy Pitts. Pitts is this year's JOF honoree. I am a fan of the organ trio format because most of them features a guitarist. And this performance featured the great (and local guitar hero) Mimi Fox as well as Yukata Hashimoto from Japan (husband of Atsuko)
This event was very inspiring. Maybe I should organize one for jazz violin some day!
This event was very inspiring. Maybe I should organize one for jazz violin some day!
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Topic of the day: NIMBY
Just learned this new term (well, it's new to me) today because of the eviction of Ike's. Long story short: Ike's is a sandwich shop in the (SF) Castro neighbourhood. It was so successful that there were long lines outside the shop. And that caused problem with the people living upstairs, who complained about garbage and noise. Not sure if the complaint worked but turns out Ike's does not have the required license for its operation, according to the City. Anyway, it is facing eviction. Is this an act of "Not-in-my-back-yard"-ism? I dunno.
Monday, August 09, 2010
Sports highlights: Silva vs Sonnen, former F1 drivers in NASCAR
I have not watched any of Anderson Silva's fight live before this Sat but I'll make sure I do next time. The fight last Sat just added some more to his already legendary status. He was taken down and was dominated all 5 rounds and did not look like he had anything left to fight back. And then he did it! He submitted Sonnen. I guess that's why he's a legend.
Three former F1 drivers (that I know of) competed in NASCAR races this weekend. Both Villeneuve (the former F1 champ) and Piquet Jr did well in the Nationwide race (finished 8th and 7th, respectively) but they were 1-uped by Juan Pablo Montoya, who won his 2nd Sprint Cup races in his career. Both times he did in on a road course rather than oval. I guess he hopes Sprint Cup has more road course races than just 2 times per year!
Three former F1 drivers (that I know of) competed in NASCAR races this weekend. Both Villeneuve (the former F1 champ) and Piquet Jr did well in the Nationwide race (finished 8th and 7th, respectively) but they were 1-uped by Juan Pablo Montoya, who won his 2nd Sprint Cup races in his career. Both times he did in on a road course rather than oval. I guess he hopes Sprint Cup has more road course races than just 2 times per year!
Monday, August 02, 2010
Music of the day: Legend of the Ring
Just read an article about "Legend of the Ring", a condensed version of Wagner's masterpiece (consist of 4 operas) This is a funny quote from that review:
Well, I'm still curious enough that I might watch it some day!
[it] resembles nothing so much as a PowerPoint mockup of one of the opera world's richest and most majestic creations. This is opera as performed by recent business school graduates; it feels as though the libretto is studded with "net-net," "bottom line" and "at the end of the day.
Well, I'm still curious enough that I might watch it some day!
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Topic of the day: Simkins Hall renamed
I remember this dorm. One of our good friends from Texas used to live there. And it was the center of a recent controversy. For all these years we were at UT, we didn't know the name was dedicated to a former law professor who was a Klan member. I can't imagine being an African American knowing that fact could live in that dorm happily.
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