More magic connections

Come to think about it, I've watched a few movies about magicians this year. I like "The Prestige" so much, and went on to read the book, but get disappointed. As some critics say, the novel was subtle and complex, while the film is blunt and simplified. And more clever in my opinion. There are a lot of twists and turns in the rivalry between two magicians, and the enjoyment will come from the willingness of suspension of disbelieve til the end. Interesting that there was a Chinese magician performing disappearing fishbowl in London in the film, would it be Long Tack Sam??
The other film is "The Illusionist", simple love story. Young lovers were forced to separate. He went to China to learn magic, returned 15 years later and she was about to marry the evil Prince of Austria. So, what trick he need to pull to win the girl and save his head? BTW, Sam married an Austrian before the turn of the 19th century.

Magic connection

Maybe you've never heard of "Long Tack Sam, 郎德山", but he's one of the most famous Chinese acrobat and magician in his time. He overcame isolation, poverty, cultural and linguistic barriers, extreme racism, and world wars to travel all over the world to perform vaudeville acts. We might never know anything about him, if not because of his great-granddaughter determined to travel the globe to find out his stories. It leads me to think about my own great-grandfather/mother, whom I never met and know nothing about, not even their names. I wonder if I do find out the legacy, grand or ordinary , will I be able to see the connections, like Ann Marie Fleming does? And understand how we all are connected?
Almost forget, it's a graphic novel. A lot of fun to read.

Yum.......

You know what's on sale: 2 PINT for $5
Caramelized Pear & Toasted Pecan: the 2007 Häagen-Dazs Flavor Search champion!!!
Cinnamon dulce de leche: "new flavor"
Mayan chocolate: not for the faint of heart!
Raspberry sorbet: classic*
Among the top 10 of the search, ginger cashew crunch seems to be the most creative.
If I've a chance next time, I will suggest pomegranate & lychee sorbet, coconut & yam & toasted sesame swirl frozen yogurt, and chestnut & rum big red bean ice cream.

My Hero

On the way home after Thanksgiving dinner in Jacksonville, I was YouTubing on the iPhone along I95 for 4 hours (thanks for AT&T unlimited data plan), very surprised that it only dropped a few times. Very delighted to see some footage of my hero; The youngest ever recipient of the honor of Dame (equivalent to Knight for a male) from the Queen. An asteroid is named after her. Her last book is called "Taking on the World". All these are because 3 years ago this week, she began her second attempt of solo sailing non-stop around the world on a very fast boat "B&Q" and broke the world record by 1 day (total 71 days, 14 hrs), which also broke a lot of men's heart. Her name is Ellen MacArthur.

http://www.ellenmacarthur.com/
I'm thrilled to see that she's trying to use her achievement to make a better world.
What a coincidence that Francis Joyon is departing today , trying to regain the title of the record he lost. In fact, the window of opportunity only open a couple of weeks every year. If the weather is not optimal, there's no chance to set new record.
Somehow, I wish my hero's record will last a bit longer. :->
Here's another nice clip of ultimate sailing. It's a long cut, but I just cannot get enough of it. I hope it will inspire you to do something brave today, even maybe your most adventurous trip on the water is ferrying across the harbor.

Shangri La

She finally let all the secret leads to Shangri La slip down into the blackening abyss.

It has been 4 hours since I last looked up from the book. It took a while for my mind to come back to this real world, mostly because it's well past lunch time too.

It properly begins with my last trip to Yunnan Province. The book "Lost Horizon" is promoted in every bookstore.
But, the real motivator is a romantic line in the movie; Robert Conway "You know, when we were on that plane, I was fascinated by the way the shadow followed us. That silly shadow! Racing along over mountains and valleys, covering ten times the distance of the plane, and yet always there to greet us... with outstretched arms when we landed. And I've been thinking that, somehow, you're that plane, and I'm that silly shadow. That all my life I've been rushing up and down hills, leaping rivers, crashing over obstacles, never dreaming that one day that beautiful thing in flight would land on this earth and into my arms."

I feel really bad for those readers who has to wait more than 60 years for the sequel "Shangri la, The return to the world of lost horizon", to answer all the leaves off questions. Mainly, did the man once leave his Shangri la be able to get back?

After all, the movie, the original book and now the sequel leave me the same question again. I only hope I don't need to wonder for another 60 years. Strange creature, I craved for satisfaction of putting fragment pieces together, and closing the series of remaining circles in life.

Google Rocks

I was trying to remember the name of an old good movie, so I can share with my friend. Unfortunately, all I could describe was "an English surveyor", trying to determine was it a "hill" or a "mountain" in Wales, way back. Quite desperate, since I've almost exhausted all hope. The library, the librarian, Netflix and the person who watched it with me....... Not that I don't use Google as least a few times a day, I just didn't think I've enough key words or at least an actor's name to go by......

Every once in a while, the most unexpected way, is the most obvious way.

How artists beat neuroscientists in their game?

For a while, I was daydreaming if I've the chance to go back to school, neuroscience is what I wanted to study. Human mind always intrigues me.

Jonah Lehrer argues in his book, science is not the only path to knowledge. In fact, when it comes to understanding the brain, art got there first. Lehrer shows how each of the eight artists in his book discovered an essential truth about the mind that science is only now rediscovering, century later. For example, Proust first revealed the fallibility of memory; our remembrance of the past is imperfect. We bend the facts to suit our story, as "our intelligence reworks the experience". "The only paradise is paradise lost." The sad thing is we have to misremember in order to keep remember. As neuroscientist can tell you today, when it come to memory, our brain work like a copy machine. But, the problem is, every time we remember something, we lost the original and replace it with the copy with noise and lost.

BTW, did I tell you about my daydream? Come to think about it Art school may not be a bad thing after all. ;>

Great expectation

Somehow, I love to take pictures of fruit. Sometimes, more so than flowers. I'm not sure isn't it the additional dimension of taste add in the mystery. Neuroscientists tell us our senses of smell and taste are uniquely sentimental, which can also trigger some buried long term memory. Like smell of fire cracker reminds me the chaos of Chinese new year. Crispy egg roll reminds me the warm visits of an auntie. Slow melt of milk chocolate reminds me of some happy time in high school.