Cyndi Lauper: Memphis Blues

When I thought of Cyndi Lauper, songs like 'Time After Time' and 'Girls Just Want to Have Fun' came to my mind immediately. She sang some of the most memorable pop songs ever. I had no idea she did a blues album, actually quite recently (2010. What have I been listening to!?), until I searched for the great blues harmonica player Charlie Musselwhite on Rhapsody (who has a new album with Ben Harper on Concord, from which I received newsletter) Cyndi Lauper's song that featured Musselwhite came up as the 'Top Matching Track' there. I probably won't listen to the album if it didn't have Cyndi Lauper's name on it, which was not to say that her voice did not match the genre. After all, it's the blues. Everybody has the blues sometime, right? I especially enjoy the track "Down Don't Bother Me." The strange thing is that listening to her, even though by accident, was the continuation of the theme from last week: 80's star revisited. Similar to those bands, I didn't pay attention to any of her music after the 80's even though she kept releasing new albums (3 in the 90s, 4 in the 00s) Her 2008 album actually featured decent dance pop.

星期日音樂檔案

今晚在家吃印度菜，播了些Norah Jones的名曲，實在「應景」。Jones是印度音樂大師Ravi Shankar的女兒；之後又播了Shankar另一個女兒Anoushka的作品，一首Solea揉合Flamenco及印度風情，十分夠味道。

下午去了SF Civic Symphony這個西岸最老牌的社區樂團，在SF Union Square古色古香的Sir Francis Drake Hotel內，舉行的免費音樂會，第一首是小史特勞斯這個我不甚欣賞的作曲家的作品，玩得熱熱鬧鬧，氣氛甚佳；第二首則是學小提琴的朋友不會感到陌生的巴哈Double Concerto。壓軸作品是Cesar Franck的唯一一首交響曲，指揮很用心講解曲中幾個多次出現的主題，我們一家都覺得最後一個movement比頭二個出色。

今早要做柴可夫，週日九時甚少聽古典台KDFC，原來在該時段有Baroque by the Bay專播（理所當然的）Baroque，其實我雖然甚為喜歡該時期風格的音樂，但除了巴哈及韋瓦弟之外卻聽得不多；打頭陣的是Alessandro Marcello的雙簧管協奏曲，現在重温一下。

今日聽左乜？

通常獨自開長途車（包括上SF返工）都會炸機，今早揀了Rhapsody推薦的Dark Tranquillity 2010作品We are the void。DT保持一貫的高水準，正宗melodic death metal。接著把時間推前十年，聽了Miranda Sex Garden最後作品Carnival of Souls，記得九十年代行唱片舖，老闆見我喜歡Dead can Dance同Cocteau Twins向我推薦94年MSG的Fairytales of Slavery，那時反而沒有現在覺得MSG啱聽，十幾年來可能開過一兩次來聽而矣。其實女聲、電子音樂加點弦樂，相當好feel（可能因為早幾年才開始拉小提琴吧）此碟相信還在香港家中唱片架上被塵封。

回到公司，新編排座位附近的同事原來是那位常常要講電話的大忙人，我基本上很怕聽別人用電話傾公事（比自己在電話傾公事更厭惡），講私事又作別論；特登在公司放了一個廉價但隔聲的大headphone，今早再回去十年，播了另一張Rhapsody推薦的八十年代唱片，那是我當年從二手店執到的寶物但後來失蹤的Depeche Mode演唱會現場錄音101。來加州早年，坐車行101，都會想起該碟呢。聽到Strange Love，就會想起沙田新城市廣場以前的賓士滾軸溜冰場，差不多次次去DJ都會播！當然還有Winnie幫我從黑膠dub落cassette的精選；那時幫她錄不少軟硬，真是禮尚往來。

晚上繼續八十年代，播了好些New Order的精選作品，當然包括大學時代去ball必播的Bizarre Love Triangle啦。原來New Order在05年還有新作Waiting for the Siren's call，基本上貫徹樂隊風格，可以一聽。

突然想起，很多以前聽開的樂隊踏入廿一世紀仍有新作（又例如另一隊今天找過的And Also the Trees）不過除了Depeche Mode及The Cure之外，已經沒有再follow了。究竟過去十年我聽甚麼？其實倒也不難查證。看看HD入面自己rip的CD，05年之後推出甚至購入的已沒有幾張，從我在此帖所寫可證實。被ripped的CD以爵士佔大多數，由已作古的殿堂級人馬至當今樂手均有；其次是古典，浪漫派至廿世紀現代作品等等，少數rock band如Testament, Death, Oasis及Tool。而我從04年開始使用Blogger，所發的帖也是圍繞以上genre。

再一次印證，年紀大了，口味會變得固定，現在聽synth pop及goth可能是懷舊成份居多。雖然如此，我很有心地追上時代，未必會捧所有當時得令流行作品，但間中也有心水歌手如Katy Perry或歌曲如Ellie Goulding的Light，連Gangnam Style也覺有可取之處呢；堅持作為音樂人不能活在過去。

口琴五重奏

上文講到在香港聽音樂，想提一提今次回港首天去飲茶，在停車場找車位，我一如既往把爸爸聽開的新聞台轉到香港電台第四台這個音樂台，那時正開始介紹即將播出的一個音樂會，演出的是香港本地的英皇口琴五重奏。我從小就對口琴頗有感情，我媽教過我如何吹音階；以五重奏的形式演奏改編的古典作品，我實在十分好奇，不過演奏未開始就有位飲茶，離開時再上車，節目剛好結束！好在香港電台第四台有節目重温，這是英皇口琴五重奏官網的資料，也可用這連結（用Windows Media Player，試過用VLC但窒窒地）

HMV，你要活下去！

從新聞得知英國老牌唱片連鎖零售店HMV宣佈破產，員工面臨失業，認真傷感。由十幾歲開始，逛唱片舖已成為我最大樂趣之一，旺角到沙田大大小小唱片舖我都逛過不少，記得當年兩個名字有荷李活的商場有多家唱片舖，競爭激烈，卻均門庭若市。我一直有看樂評然後找碟來聽的興趣，很多選擇頗為冷門，在這些唱片舖找到的機會一半半；雖然如此，也常常在那裡花光零用錢。之後第一次去美國，老校友熱情招待，更帶了我們去他至愛的Tower Records，那次經驗對我頗為震撼：皆因一生從未到過面積如此大，選擇如此齊全的店！想來對我選擇留學美國影響不少。如果當年去的是英國和HMV，可能我一生從此改寫也說不定:P

其實後來HMV登陸香港，我每次回港也逛得不少，雖然睇和買不成正比，基本上在其他店舖找得到的都比它便宜，但HMV選擇實在優勝，我喜歡的爵士古典唱片有時只它一家才有，還可試聽，所以也幫襯不少，好些都是因為HMV介紹而認識及購買呢。最近一次，就買了「國寶薈萃」這一張精彩的中樂CD，雖然只是「雜錦」精選碟，選曲頗有心思，小冊子製作亦甚為精美。

可惜時不與唱片舖，今日的HMV，只是比當日倒下的Tower Records慢了幾步吧。連我這樣發燒的樂迷，一年也買不到五隻CD，Rhapsody等網上服務實在太便宜又方便了。新一代更只會上YouTube找歌聽，然後到iTunes買在iPhone播；行唱片舖對他們而言，就像賣飛機欖對我們一代同樣陌生！

今天才知原來Beatles因為HMV介紹才認識George Martin，HMV立此大功，音樂之神應保佑它一百年不倒吧。希望HMV找到白武士打救，不致倒閉。

觀塘故事

雖然十歲以前家在觀塘，不過對其印象反而不及之後的沙田清晰。記得小巴的牌會寫「官塘」，一如香港其他已改名的地方（大尾篤->大美督）上期壹週刊有篇訪問個五十歲一樓一，提到觀塘歷史：

據香港開埠前歷史的文獻《新安縣志》記載，觀塘原名「官富場」或「官塘」，是個官方曬鹽場，早在宋朝已經出現，但繁榮地段不是裕民坊，而是現時的茶果嶺、牛頭角一帶。
觀塘在上世紀五十年代開始發展，當年觀塘道是海邊，裕民坊是小山丘，人煙不多，只有少數木屋，港英政府選了該址為第一個衞星城市，希望把觀塘建成一座花園城市。
當年的設計中，今日的仁愛圍是觀塘大會堂，小販市場是休憩用地，仁愛圍巴士站是庭園，但隨着偷渡潮，原本規劃的藍圖沒有出現，反而隨着人口增加，觀塘市中心出現大量加建及僭建，在雞寮（今翠屏邨）更加建了徙置區。
被安置到觀塘的居民，成為工業發展的重要動力，大量廉價勞工，為該區廠家提供豐富人力資源。觀塘於一九五七年完成填海後，漸漸變成一條大型工業邨，工人宿舍就在徙置區和木屋附近，高層宿舍則位於半山上的月華街。
三年前展開的《觀塘市中心重建項目》，以裕民坊為中心，重建佔地五點三公頃，是香港歷來最大一次。
當年「紅」極一時的左派陣地，六七暴動遭防暴隊衝入查封的「銀都戲院」三年前第一間拉閘，同齡的「寶聲戲院」則暫改裝成卡拉 OK和食肆。仁愛圍雞記麻雀館，明年初便要清拆。
裕民坊亦將在二○一三年展開正式拆卸，現時九成九店鋪和住宅已被市建局收購，街道上到處都見到市建局封條，整個裕民坊，人去樓空，如一座孤城。
凌記書店老闆陳伯在輔仁街經營書店幾十年，拆卸在即，他仍舊如廿年前一樣，坐在摺櫈上守着他的書。附近牛腩麵店已全部結業，「牛腩巷」獨獨只剩下凌記死守經營。陳伯八十幾歲了，打烊時間，等候六十多歲的兒子前來幫手才夠力拉閘關門。

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.]