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.

Superhero comics as a reflection of social movements

I watched a documentary aired on the History Channel called "Superhero decoded." At a first glance it was kinda like a promotion for the new Wonder Woman movie! However, I actually learned quite a few surprising facts from it. For example, I have no idea that Stan Lee created the X-Men as a reaction to the African American Civil Right movement! The message was that American shouldn't look down on others because they were different. He also joked that he was lazy to come up with backstories for each Superhero how they acquired the superpower so they were all just born with it :) And the peace-loving Professor X (Charles Xavier) and the aggressive Magneto also represented two schools of thoughts from the two African American leaders: MLK Jr and Malcolm X. Still, the first Marvel black superhero were created a bit latter. That would be the Black panther, a prince from a fictional African country. Then the first African American superhero appeared: Falcon, who was the crime-fighting partner of Captain America.
Back to Wonder woman: She was first created around the WWII as a warrior with superpower from the Amazon. However, as the American society became more conservative, her role also changed in that direction: renouncing her power in order to get a boyfriend! The demand for equal rights by another social group, the women, was reflected in the transformation of Wonder woman, who was once again the mighty hero who beat up bad guys. They showed a few clips of the TV show starring Lynda Carter. She was great in that role. Also reminded me of the childhood days when it was aired on Hong Kong TV.
Another surprising fact for me was that Iron man was created during the Cold war era. Tony Stark was a weapon manufacturer making big bucks but was injured and captured by the enemy and ended up creating the Ironman suit to save himself. The story was "refitted" for the war in Afghanistan after 911, which drew a lot of comparison to the Vietnam war: heavy casualties of US soldiers overseas evoked antiwar sentiment.
Yeah, maybe comic books could be used as supplementary textbooks for Social Studies!

Ferko lawsuit

繼上次寫過馬場風雲，今次又寫寫賽車場風雲。美國NASCAR房車賽每年巡迴全國舉行很多場賽事，某些和NASCAR淵緣深厚的賽車場如Daytona, Talladega, Dover Monster Mile，一年必有兩場賽事，其餘的只得每年一場，多年前曾有人因此興訟，結果卻實在令我驚訝，講的是這一單：德州居民Ferko（也是德州賽車場的小小股東，但和管理層無關）以反壟斷法控告NASCAR未有為該場每年安排兩場賽事，勝訴後的一年他如願以償；但對他生活卻帶來重重打擊：首先他工作的食品安全公司認為他成為新聞人物影響團隊而解僱了他，他在外州找到工作搬離德州，其後他留在德州育有一子的廿歲兒子自殺身亡，Ferko覺得如果他還留在德州的話可能可以阻止悲劇發生，最後他太太因為爭取孫兒撫養權失敗和他離婚；種種不幸可以說是源於該次訴訟，只能歎一句命運弄人吧。

人品與藝術

前一陣子和朋友討論一位歌手的新歌，他說不喜歡那歌手平日說話太「作狀」，我說那對歌唱得好不好沒有影響吧，話題再扯到人品與藝術水平的關係。我第一個想到的「反面例子」是出色的Tenor saxophonist Stan Getz，第二個想到元代書法家趙孟頫，似乎史家對他為人評價不高，想來和他是宋室後人卻在元朝做官有關，事實上的確如此。其實我倒不太在意，他的字我相當欣賞，我認為實在是文質彬彬秀麗的美，把王羲之這一面發揮光大，只是主觀地略嫌不夠豪氣。當然，論人品，趙和奸臣的層次不可同日而語；我記得宋代就有書法藝術水平極高的奸臣蔡京，再google一下，還有更多，當中最臭名昭著自是秦檜，且看看專家有何評價。

Leonid Afremov's paintings

I "discovered" this artist because of this music video:

Some of his depictions of streets of small towns reminded me a bit of Thomas Kinkade. Seems that his stuff are more available (less pricy) according to this discussion.

Here is a video that shows how he paints:

You are what you meme

For those not familiar with the current language, "meme" basically means idea or a thing that represent idea (e.g. a picture) As a verb it means passing around those things. Maybe I should be glad that I started college and career before the "age of meming" As you can see I like to write (>1000 of posts on various blogs) I cannot guarantee all of them are unoffensive to no one. Kids, learn from these 10 "was-accepted-by-Harvard-but-not-anymore" students. Yes, everything you post will count against you.

《着色山水》熱

早前澳洲之旅在紐西蘭奧克蘭轉機，竟然派發免費中文報紙華頁(Mandarin Pages)，當局對中國旅客（及移民？）似乎頗為重視，我當然順手拿了一份，閒來讀一點，早幾天讀到其中一篇關於新發現中國古畫《着色山水》的報導，原來美國密芝根大學在我飛那一天舉行了和此畫有關的研討會，此畫之所以如此受重視，皆因有學者認為可能出自著名詩人兼畫家王維的手筆！專家朱紹良先生對鑒定此畫提出幾個入手點，例如服飾、建築方面，值得參考（以上連結也包括該畫的圖片。）

大笨鐘

小時候所認識的英國名勝中，大笨鐘算數一數二，大個才知那是音譯英文Big Ben，原意和笨無關，Ben好可能是紀念當時一位土木工程師Sir Benjamin Hall，他也是負責監管工程的國會議員，其名字有份刻在鐘上。我一直以為那是整座鐘樓的名字，原來Big Ben只是指那被敲出聲的巨鐘而已，鐘樓其實以伊利沙白女皇命名。

Sports highlights: Back-to-back Stanley Cup Champion, first time NASCAR winner

After the European football season is over, I had to switch my focus on another championship: this year's Stanley Cup final was a great one, pitting one of my favorite sports team, the Pittsburgh Penguins against the relatively newcomer Nashville Predators. Since the Pens have won last year, I won't feel too bad if they fail to defend. After all, it's hard to repeat as champ in many pro Sports in this day of age. (That's why Real Madrid's back-to-back European cup was hailed as a big achievement) Just when I thought it's a piece-of-cake when the Pens won the first two games of the series at home, they lost the next two away. Then won 1 at home again. So they were 3-2 at Nashville last night trying to clinch the title. And unlike the previously high-scoring contests, it was 0-0 until the last 2 minute of regulation! Both goalies were at their best and proved they were the elite of the elites. At the end something have to give and it's a lucky bounce that scored an "ugly" game-winning goal for the Pens. My family was surprised that I am actually a long time Penguin fan, which I try not to show too much when they played against the local fav San Jose Sharks! I jumped on the bandwagon in the early 90s when Super Mario and Jaromir Jagr reigned supreme winning the first two of the 5 cups they have now. The current dynamic duo of Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin have actually surpassed their predecessor by winning the next 3 together!

After writing about a five-time winner, I would like to change the topic to a first time winner on the same day. That's Ryan Blaney of NASCAR Cup Series, winning at Pocono. Seems like many rooted for him to win because of the history of his team owners, the legendary Wood brothers. (I just found out one of the driver-turned-announcer Michael Waltrip used to ride for them and won an All-Star race. No wonder) The No. 21 car has been strong and especially at the end passing the then-leader Kyle Busch with about 10 laps to go. To be fair, if there was another caution and re-start, his car will probably be over-taken by the "Closer" Kevin Harvick. FOX sent fellow cup driver Brad Keselowski as a reporter to the Victory Lane to interview Blaney, who did the opposite one day ago for the Driver-only broadcast of the Xfinity race at the same racetrack. BTW, that really made interesting TV. Hope there will be more Driver-only broadcasts in the future!

大熱倒灶名馬風雲

昨天上FB讀On this day見到我在N年前的帖，說我對Big Brown很失望。隨著年紀漸長，這些「不知以前寫的東西何解」發生的次數也越多。Big Blue我知是甚麼，但Big Brown 呢？我以為這個好普通的詞語可能Google也不得要領，但全能的Google立即找到答案：那是2008年順利勝出美國馬圈三冠賽事頭兩場的馬！當時對上一次有馬匹贏得三冠王已是三十年前的事，之後一直有多次「叫胡食唔出」，大家對Big Brown寄予厚望，結果它在Belmont Stakes跑包尾不特已，甚至沒有衝線！難怪我這個「忽然馬迷」如此失望。看看Google其他搜尋結果，發現更有趣的文章！原來背後馬主練馬師都分別捲入醜聞風波：練馬師由於多次違反規則，包括餵馬匹食類固醇及止痛藥等禁藥，又隱瞞馬匹操練紀錄等等，結果被停牌十年！而擁有該馬的公司，亦以馬圈前所未有的方式經營：把馬匹馬廄設施及馬醫院資產如基金般售予投資者。問題是養馬從來回報難估計，很多馬主都是得不償失，志在過癮。不過該公司以高價買入有質素馬匹以贏取獎金的策略，起初的確奏效，只是無以為繼，背後金主以種金方式營造假象，上下其手中飽私囊，最後被判入獄廿年。這樣的故事可能比無線拍的更引人入勝。

有黑暗既地方就有光明

標題是一句著名的對白，來自一套我從來未看過但聞名已久的卡通「天威勇士」，最近FB史檔出了相關的帖，我才知原來這個系列的卡通及玩具是我喜愛的「變型金剛」的競爭對手，有網民指後者有抄襲前者的成份，更令我對「天威勇士」（及前身「百變雄獅」）產生濃厚興趣！找到一篇介紹它歷史的文章。

到底「百變雄獅」及「變型金剛」那一個先面世？其實歷史頗為複雜，如果計美國版，Tonka公司在1983年由日本引入Machine Robo成為GoBots（百變雄獅），其後Hasbro在84年也從日本引入Micro Change及Diaclone成為Transformers（變型金剛）由此看變型金剛的確是跟風之作。那兩者的前身又是誰抄誰呢？根據維基百科，Machine Robo及Micro Change均於1982年由日本推出，但前者被視為先驅：

Machine Robo (マシンロボ) is a Japanese transforming robot toyline first released in 1982 by Popy, a division of Bandai. The toys featured a number of other innovative features – Raideen is often considered the first transforming toy, and thus a precursor of the world-famous Transformers line.  

Takara Toys' 1982 Micro Change series of toys were part of the 1980 New Microman toy line and were small household objects that could transform into vehicles or artificially intelligent robot characters that fought alongside their 10-centimeter tall alien cyborg Microman creators against the evil Acroyears. The line was combined with Takara's 1982 Car-Robots series of Diaclone toys by Hasbro in 1984 to create the Transformers. The transformers Megatron, Soundwave, Blaster, cassettecons/casettebots, Perceptor, Reflector, and several Mini Cars (Bumblebee, Cliffjumper, Windcharger, Huffer, Gears, and Brawn) came from this line.

只要對流行文化有少許認識的讀者都知道，兩者的「比拼」係由市場包裝策略比較精明的「後來者」變型金剛勝出；除了在八九十年代大受歡迎，近年又拍成電影，玩具大賣。那百變雄師的下場如何？從此文可見它的玩具評價實在不高，其引入者Tonka被Hasbro購入，包括部份GoBots的知識產權，以此為名出過零星以幼童為對象的玩具（1993年，2002年）2012年及之後的Transformers Rescue Bots也源於此。不過原創者母公司Bandai似乎仍保留了部份知識產權，在2004年及之後推出無動畫的玩具系列，2015年及之後授權香港公司Action Toys推出的超合金等等。看看這一款三合一，實在令人眼前一亮，似乎真的由黑暗走出光明了:)

後記：近日無論香港或世界都發生了不少黑暗的事情，實在令人沮喪，希望一如標題所言，光明快將來臨。

The Santana highlights

I watch a bit of ESPN (Sportscenter?) highlight show last night and host John Buccigross dedicated a segment to the Santanas, which included:

• Carlos Santana played the National Anthem at the NBA Final Game 2 Warriors vs Cavs in Oakland. He actually "made a mistake" by playing an extra verse. (BTW, it's kinda hard to find out who played the bass in that video. That's Benny Rietveld. Check out his bass solo on Youtube. He played with Miles in 1988 too)
• Atlanta Braves' Danny Santana went 4-for-5, 3 R, 3 RBI, 2 2B, HR.
• Milwaukee Brewers' Domingo Santana has been playing well lately too: he hit a HR against Clayton Kershaw on Saturday.

古典音樂網台

再一次介紹我在Shoutcast發掘的網台Audiophile Classical，今天中午之前播了好些不太熱門的作曲家及作品：

• Piano Concerto No. 2 in B minor, op.42, [Howard Shelley piano, BBC Philharmonic, Matthias Bamert] Erno Dohnanyi Erno Dohnanyi - Piano Conc.
• Concerto for two clarinets in B-flat major, [Dieter Klocker, Sandra Arnold, Czech Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra] Antonio Cartellieri Less-known composers
• Entracte No. 2 from Rosamunde Franz Schubert Masters Of Classical Music (Vol. 9)
• Serenade No. 5 in D minor, op.53, [Cologne Chamber Orch., Christian Ludwig] Robert Fuchs

Dohnanyi是一位新浪漫派匈牙利作曲家，廿世紀人但算保守，是我欣賞的風格。

Robert Fuchs有一位很出名的同姓同鄉Christian Fuchs（Leicester City奪英超隊伍成員，也曾在2016代表奧地利首次打入歐國盃）也是風格略保守的廿世紀作曲家，以上一曲可在Youtube找到，原來他是Brahms少有點名稱讚的作曲家，那我更加非聽不可！維基百科指他也是著名的老師，你道他旗下弟子包括那些？Mahler, Sibelius, Korngold, Enescu等等！認真「架勢堂」了。

Antonio Cartellieri比以上兩位更早一個多世紀，是波蘭奧地利人，擅於聲樂及小提琴，不過今次聽到這首他的作品卻是兩支單簧管協奏曲，不算多見的組合！大家可以在Youtube聽聽，我認為相當悅耳，十分慶幸像他這樣較為冷門但出色的作品能被今人重新發現、錄音及被播放。

鐵達尼號撞冰山之謎

上月遊船河，原來適逢鐵達尼號撞冰山沉船，認真大吉利是。當年電影一出主題曲成為大熱，傳聞各郵輪皆禁播該曲，不過看來已解禁。而該船因何故撞上冰山，一直以來眾說紛云，最近在Netflix看了它推介的一套2012年的紀錄片Titanic Final Mystery，似乎找到合理解釋。一直以來，最令人不解的是，船上有兩位船員專職觀察航行方向有否冰山之類的危險，視野足以讓船長有三十分鐘改變方向，所以矛頭一直指向船員船長失職。本片指出真正原因其實是海上冷暖空氣造成了海市蜃樓般的現象，令觀察員的視覺出現誤差，到撞冰山前一分鐘左右才發現及警報，船長立即扭軚也來不及；更不幸的是其實原來正面撞以該船的設計反而不會沉沒！唯有概嘆一句：人算不如天算。不過以上連結的評論似乎對本片結論有所質疑，並建議讀者參考其他紀錄片，有機會真要看看。

Sports highlights: Triple Crown of Motorsports

For the recent years that I have been following auto racing, F1's Monaco GP, IndyCar's Indy 500 and NASCAR's Coca Cola 600 (at Charlotte) always happen on the same Sunday. I guess you can't have a bigger day than this for US motorsports fan (even though only the first 2 is really part of the "Triple Crown" with the third one being 24hr of Le Man) I knew I won't be home the whole day so I recorded all of them and started watching the first one in the morning. It has been a long time that I saw Kimi Raikkonen leading a F1 race. Too bad his Ferrari team decided to pit him too early and have him lost time in traffic so the 2nd place (aka Ferrari's #1 man) Vettel could build a big lead and remain in the 1st place even after he pitted. That's basically the gist of the race. Then it was time to watch Indy 500: the polesitter Scott Dixon was involved in a freak accident in which his car became airborne and smashed at the wall but fortunately he walked away unharmed. The beloved "newcomer", 2 time F1 champ Fernando Alonso did very well and led quite a few laps but his engine blew and ended his day prematurely. Finally it came down to 3 time Indy 500 winner Helio Castroneves and the driver who "almost won it" a few years ago, Takuma Sato. Both had fast cars this Sunday. Castroneves passed Sato but was overtaken again late and Sato never looked back. The race wasn't decided by fuel saving strategy like last year when Alexander Rossi won it. However, fuel-saving was the race-winning strategy for Coca Cola 600 later that night (really late!) 2 of the stage winners, Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr really dominated most of the race but they pitted at lap 368 while Austin Dillon stayed out and gambled with the fuel, along with Jimmie Johnson. Dillon was the "last car standing" (Johnson ran out of fuel) and didn't caught by Busch and Truex (who finished 2nd and 3rd) Finally able to made his very supportive grandpa and car owner Richard Childress proud. (You need both luck and the silver spoon to win a race at this level!) My recording actually ended before these "thrilling" last lap because there was a lengthy rain delay :(

八卦掌 vs MMA

繼太極師傅挑戰MMA教練的Epic FAIL視像成為大熱後，又傳出八卦掌李姓師傅不敵MMA好手的片，後者董建（和香港前特首差一字:）的師父則是散打冠軍仲叢陽，仲又被稱為「少林梅花樁第一人」，不過從片中可見董出拳腿都不太有少林功夫的影子，至於李的八卦掌功力如何，也無從印證。

Hugo Boss和納粹黨

在FB歷史討論有網友提到據聞納粹黨軍服是Hugo Boss設計的，以前我從來未聽過，其實Hugo Boss的服裝對我來說貴了一點，不過也很喜歡該牌子黑色的褸及簡單直接的設計，現在才知原來是德國品牌，的確有德國Bauhaus "form follows function"的味道！說回正題，到㡳以上傳聞是否屬實？我找到這篇文章（維基百科也有提及），原來Boss未有為納納粹黨設計軍服，但他們兩者的關係匪淺：Hugo Boss本人曾經成為黨員("party membership",戰後他被歸類為"follower"而非主動推動納粹主義份子），此身份幫助他公司取得為納粹德國政府生產服裝的合約，公司的確是德國軍服的供應商之一。而他真正「助紂為虐」的罪過，是在他環境惡劣的工廠使用當時德軍佔領區被迫成為勞工的居民以及戰俘，而他們在空襲期間仍要工作！以上連結文章給Hugo Boss的評語是：

Ultimately, Boss was not an evil man, but he did not do enough to stop evil happening.

我想這段歷史也值得現今各大舉足輕重的科技業巨頭引以為鑒，不竟他們掌握了現代人生活多個重要環節。