香港遊：影視篇

記得有一段日子我很喜歡電影，喜歡程度高到可以一個人去戲院看戲。不知何故，此情不再！可能身在SF灣區太多其他選擇：戶外活動或音樂會，再加上網上實在太多東西可看。事實上，早年收藏的很多好戲，例如Black Swan, Frida等等，還未看呢。近年每年只看幾套，差不多一半是在飛機上為解悶而看！今次兩程都睡得極少，所以共看了四套電影:

- Searching for Sugar Man 一套關於folk rock樂手Sixto Rodriguez的紀錄片。他的故事甚具傳奇性，雖然曾推出水準十分高的作品，在他生活的美國，他鮮為人認識；反而遠在種族隔離政策時代的南非，有不少fans，欣賞他反建制的精神。 [Update:Rolling Stones雜誌有一篇文章關於十件這位音樂人鮮為人知的事。]

- Total Recall 翻拍大隻佬阿諾舒華辛力加以前的賣座作品。我最好奇的是有幾成相似。

- Ted 中文譯名賤熊30，可想而知是一套有點不文的笑片，事實也是如此。

- 大武當 背景是武當山比武，時代卻是民初，實在令我意外。編劇似乎對道家思想有點認識，雖然難免眼高手低，總算為本片帶來一點深度。兩個主角，一是打得的趙文卓，一是睇得的楊冪；對要求不高的我來說，不能不滿意。不看影評不知片中有道長救老婦的情節，飾演兩角的是現實的夫婦：方平及鮑起靜！ 

提起鮑姐，自然想起她忠心打工多年的亞視，今時今日的亞視，水準及收視均不堪入目，淪為笑柄，連鮑姐亦棄之他投。吊詭的是，今次在香港看得最多的竟然是亞視！皆因除夕夜亞視的新數碼電視頻道「歲月留聲」啟播，該台專播亞視當年的經典節目，例如驟雨中的陽光，萬家燈火，甜甜廿四味，浣花洗劍錄，變色龍等等，我們一於大懷舊，以慶祝家中新添置的高清電視。不少網民都預料該頻道的收視有機會超越主台呢！

Anything Goes

寒假開始了兩天半，天氣一直麻麻，雨好像下過不停；星期天連外出的心情都沒有！倒不如做做「功課」：聽聽網上不同版本的Anything Goes，那是我們想練練的一首曲子。這個演出實在出色:


無獨有偶，以該曲作為主題曲的音樂劇會在明年1/8在SF上演，我們算是及時湊興吧！
今天又給我發現了一位出色的音樂劇女演員：Sutton Foster，很喜歡她唱的My Romance。

世界文化展

不是指Epcot Center那種規模的，而是家中小朋友所讀小學二年班的功課，上一次做的是和我家淵源甚深的馬來西亞；今次做的則是關係也不淺的意大利，因為常吃薄餅及意粉之故！看看其他小朋友的展品，其實也頗有趣：
1）越拙劣的越顯得屬小朋友自己手筆；有一個做了立體可動的吊車放在版上，很難相信父母沒有幫大忙。
2）小朋友介紹該國知名人士，政治人物固然正路，但也有一些介紹流行偶像。最搞笑那個介紹美國知名人士三位：Taylor Swift, Selena Gomez及Justin Bieber，並註明Bieber雖本是加拿大人，但現居美國。還有一位日本知名人士只得圖不見名字，可能我孤陋寡聞，在我心目中的日本名人是小澤......征爾（名指揮家）

Splitting a stereo MP3

This is not something one needs to do often but I'm still surprised not many tools and forum posts are about this operation. I could have imported the file into a recording software which would manage the left and right channels as two tracks and pick one to export. However, I found a better solution: the open source software SoX (Sound Exchange) thanks to this post which contains the command to do so.

免費電視

鑑於有線電視收費越來越貴，我家決定停用，其實也不是第一次。雖然我常常看電視，不過也支持這決定；反正我最愛看的NASCAR，本季已經結束。令我好奇的是，數碼電視天線在我家接收力有多强？可以看到那些免費台？記得多年前試過用Analog天線，效果奇差；今天試用數碼天線，簡直是意外驚喜！四大美國台: FOX (2.1), ABC, NBC, CBS (5.1)收到兩個；我家主要新聞來源的本地中文台(26.1)也無問題。此外又有以下新發現:

• 宏星電視(1.9):台灣節目
• KAXT-R1（1.13）：音樂
• KQED World（9.3）
• KBS World （26.3）：韓國
• ICN 26.4：中文
• 華語電視38.2：中文
• NHK World 38.4：日本英文
• KQED Life 54.3

水氹

連續幾天都下雨，陽光乍現，即把握機會出車，出得半小時也總好過無！沿途見一個五歲左右的小朋友穿著雨靴，拖著大人在街上走，小朋友一路踩水氹，十分過癮；我心想為何大人沒有阻止他呢？也許覺得反正穿了雨靴，派上用場吧。連帶想起午飯時和老友吹水，提到擔心小朋友在青春期反叛，可能到時也應該讓他們自己在成長路上穿雨靴踩水氹？

Deception of travel photos

I came across this interesting article while traveling last Summer. Ironically, it's about photos taken at trips usually only showed the good sides of them but not the bad ones and thus unfairly "beautified" them. Even terrible trips resulted in great photos as you could see in the linked article. One of the photos was from one family vacation to Europe. Everyone from that family fell sick during the trip. I felt bad for them. Nevertheless, the pictures said nothing about it. The submitter actually appreciated the talks and times spent with family members together. More power to her.

NASCAR drivers and college education

Not that it matters but I'm just curious who went where. Well, it turns out there is only one active full-time driver with a bachelor's degree in the Sprint Cup, Ryan Newman. He earned his engineering degree at Purdue University and credits his degree in vehicle structure engineering with helping him succeed on the track. He graduated from college in 2001 and was named NASCAR's Rookie of the Year in 2002. It's a little bit surprising to me at first but then I realized most drivers got started young and the season is loooong. They just don't have time to go to college.

Sports highlights: a special weekend for auto-racing fans

First of all, may the 2 drivers (including past winner from HK, 丘永材) passed away at Macau Grand Prix last weekend rest in peace. Formula 1 returned to US after a few years of hiatus and it was extra special to me because this race was in Austin, Texas. Tons of controversies surrounded this brand-new race track in the past few years. Some doubted it would ever been built, let alone having a race in 2012! Also glad to see the final result, which was a pleasant surprise to me: usually it's a boring race when Vettel won the pole and then led wire-to-wire (i.e, led every lap except during pit cycle maybe) but he couldn't do it and was overtaken by Lewis Hamilton, one of the most aggressive and fun-to-watch F1 driver IMO. Now the championship will be decided at the next race with only 13 points separating Vettel and Alonso. Well, championships at all 3 levels of NASCAR have been decided last weekend already. All 3 championship leaders had ~20 point leads entering the last race but nothing was easy. Jimmie Johnson almost pulled it off to win his 6th championship by saving fuel better than the championship leading Brad Keselowski. However, mechanical problem ultimately doomed his quest. Oh well, it proves once again luck averages out. He got some breaks during his championship winning seasons in addition to his superior skills (and that of his crew) Same goes for legendary race team owner Roger Penske. He saw his IndyCar driver Will Power entering the last race with a decent lead in the championship and then gave it away. It's hard to predict then his other driver, Brad Keselowski of NASCAR, was the one winning him the championship this year! Congrat to Mr. Penske for winning his first NASCAR Spring Cup championship after competing in it all these years.

SF下午

感冒未清，今早有點掙扎是否到SF上班，想想之前已休息了一天，還是出出去吧。公司樓下保安跟我打招呼，問我怎麼沒帶pinky，做他們這一行的觀察力真强；當然不是指我的手指而是摺車，我告訴了他因由，重出江湖快矣。同事們去Boulevard慶祝沒有被迫遷到東灣，我為了不把病菌散播推掉了，轉而去foodcourt吃兼聽聽鋼琴獨奏，他彈了Beatles的Norwegian Wood（那個版本編曲不錯），一首Lady Gaga舊作，還有我們的「飲歌」：「六個餐飽」(Tramerai by Schumann)下一站是Embarcadero的商場，買了一些禮物，還有自用的Godiva無糖朱古力；其實一早已買了一堆給媽媽，不過想親自試試味，再買多一點，原來和一般有糖的味道差不多，難怪她喜歡。雖然無糖，但卡路里也不低，而且代替糖的甜味物質多吃會致瀉，所以還是適可而止吧。

Sports highlights: college football upset, CFL playoff and wrecks at Phoenix

The memories of SF Giant's world series victory and celebrations still linger with me (so was that of Sydney Sixers winning the Twenty20 wicket champions league) but the fast-paced world of sports have completely left them behind. The young NBA season has already provided big headlines like the firing of Laker's coach only 5 games into the season. I watched part of the "Upset of the season" in college football: Texas A&M beating the then No.1 Alabama. 'Bama looked so strong all season that current headcoach of fellow SEC conference-mate South Carolina, Steve Spurrier, even claimed that 'Bama could beat the worst NFL teams, which most people including experts like current and former NFL/College coaches and laymen like myself disagreed (unless he referred to the poorly coached 2002 Washington Redskin by him :P.) Still, I thought if they were to be beaten, it would be a traditional power house in SEC, instead, it's the SEC newcomer Texas A&M. As a loyal fan of Texas, of course I dislike both A&M (long time conference rival) and 'Bama (with whom we fought for the college football supremacy decades ago and most recently in 2009) Earlier in the season A&M played a good game against Florida and almost beat them. I was in a big dilemma: on one hand, I don't want to see A&M to be that successful right after leaving the Big 12 conference and proved they made the right decision. On the other hand, A&M needs to be competitive enough to prove that the level of playing at Big 12 is not way below SEC. Oh well, since I dislike both of them, I might as well root for an upset and it happened. I was so glad that A&M's star QB Johnny Manziel didn't emerge last season or he might have ruined the perfect ending to the long time UT vs A&M rivalry.

And I was able to watch more football on Sunday, thanks to ESPN and Firehouse Brewery. ESPN streamed both CFL first-round playoff games (or Conference Semi if you will) My favorite team Saskatchewan Roughriders was an underdog and almost pulled off an upset by scoring a TD in the last 2 minutes and took the lead over Calgary but fell short. The Sunday night NFL game between the Texans and da Bears was a snooze-fest but Firehouse had good beer. 

The great sports weekend ended with the replay of the penultimate race of the NASCAR season (9th of the chase) with 3 drivers still in contention and it certainly didn't disappoint: championship leader (and 5-time former champ) Jimmie Johnson wrecked, on his own, which was a rare mistake made by him and young Brad Keselowski became the new leader again. Clint Bowyer wrecked Jeff Gordon and the latter retaliated and turned into fights between pit crews. Danica Patrick crashed, stalled on the track and turned into a big wreck during the final lap. Auto racing fans shouldn't root for wrecks. However, we certainly won't mind a few fights :P This immediately brought back memories of another Jeff Gordon related fight. I thought it was last season but it turned out to be Nov 2010 when I looked it up (against Jeff Burton) Seems like NASCAR wants Gordon to fight to pump up the TV ratings every now and then but with tight races like this I don't think that's necessary! I did feel bad for Kevin Harvick who won the race but all people could remember and talk about were the ones I mentioned above.

Deleting an area to transparency in GIMP

I played with GIMP a bit to edit some pictures for a photo project. For one picture, I have created a layer with the desired background and needed to remove some unwanted areas on the picture in the upper layer to transparency so that the background would be exposed. Here is how to do it (found the instructions from this post)

If you imported the image or layer from a JPeG (.jpg) file, it will not have an alpha property for that layer.
Use menu: Layer / Transparency / Add alpha channel
Delete will then (by default) make the deleted section transparent.
When you save back to a JPeG, GIMP will paint the background (of the saved image only) white.
Save into an XCF file to retain all of the layers, transparency, etc.

反歧視

諗過帖呢個上FB，不過實會得罪好多朋友，都係低調d算。
有人話香港唔存在歧視同性戀所以無需立法；另一方面，亦有人（有d係同一批人）認為同性戀係不道德。除非係好虛偽既人，否則一定會蔑視佢認為不道德既人喎。

It's deja vu all over again!

Sports fan would know the title was one of the famous quotes by 金句大師 former Yankee great Yogi Berra. I read some of my old posts and found this from 2010:
1) University of Texas football team lost to Oklahoma that year. Same thing happened in 2012.
2) University of Wisconsin lost to Michigan State. Same in 2012.
3) Will Power couldn't win the IndyCar championship in spite of a good chance entering the final race. Same in 2012.
4) US lost to Europe in Ryder Cup. The 2012 version was worse: US had a huge lead before the final day and blew it.
5) Tiequan Zhang will fight again next week, this time with UFC in Macau. Hope he will win again!
6) Last but not least, SF Giants won NL West (and went on to win the World Series)

[Update:  Turned out Tiequan Zhang didn't win in Macau. Too bad, but at least he was competitive in that fight.]

Belle

Talking about the main character from Beauty and the Beast. My daughter used to watch it all the time (of course she has outgrown it already) It's also a tune performed by Gilad Hekselman on the album Disney Jazz Volume 1: Everybody Wants to be a cat.

I came across this album from his discography. I was impressed by his playing when I saw him performed live with Melissa Aldana at the Small's in NYC back in August. BTW, so glad to see the club being recommended by Alex Skolnick (the great metal and jazz guitarist) in his Tweet recently. 

Sports highlight: the Giants did it again

I posted this two years ago when the SF Giants won the world series and I linked to an insightful article written by Peter Gammons. Of course I am linking to his writeup for the 2012 victory here again. Similar to last time, the Giants' great pitching was a key. With Tim Lincecum struggling as starter in the regular season, his move to the bullpen during the postseason by the management was a brilliant one. There were quite a few key hits from unexpected players in 2010, like Cody Ross and Edgar Renteria. In 2012 they have Marco Scutaro and Ryan Theriot. I guess more things change, more things stay the same. The management has proven they know how to run the organization the right way. Even the big contract offered to Barry Zito was vindicated!

中國式過馬路

早一陣子好友分享其中國經驗，提到過馬路如何混亂；無獨有偶，最近有中國網民在微博發表：“中國式過馬路，就是凑够一撮人就可以走了，和紅綠燈無關。”成為中國網絡大熱話題，皆因大家均有同感。

Texas shootout

Four former Southwest Conference-mates from Texas played against each other on Saturday: Baylor vs Texas, Texas Tech vs TCU. All teams scored 50 points or more. All offense. No defense!

Memories of Yoshi's

Read an article on the Downbeat magazine about the 40th anniversary of Yoshi's. I still remember going to its old location on Claremont Ave in Oakland. And that's where it got started! I guess I qualified as old-timer these days. The most interesting quote came from musician John Santos:

In 2010, we played a show on my birthday at the San Francisco location. That also happened to be the same day the San Francisco Giants won the World Series. The win came just before we went on, so I had the pleasure of announcing that the Giants has won. The crowd went berserk, and we had a party all night. To throw a little numerology in: I was born in 1955, I was turning 55, and my favorite Giants player, Tim Lincecum, was number 55. That night was in the stars. 

香港太太的生活

我係男人都好enjoy睇佢d名貴野。不過,要睇快手！主角丈夫已入稟控告未經授權發布機密資料，向法庭申請禁制令。 條片d配樂有少少批判銅臭，不過單憑內容，呢兩公婆唔似暴發戶，都係百手興家果種，唔會俾人負面印象。