True or False

Back then, I liked True or False, black or white. Loved math, couldn't handle history.

Recently, I re-certified as a US sailing judge. Part of the process is a true or false test. I found the test is a lot harder and easier, as I understand the rules better now, than years ago. It's harder for me to honestly tick "True" when I know better it's not always really true. It's easier since I begin to understand what the system expects the right answer to be.

So, try the following test I made up for fun, T or F, no explanation, no it depends, no body is going to listen. But, at some point in life, you might need to stand up to give your answer.

1. Killing is wrong.
2. If you love him/her enough then you would be with him/her forever.
3. Time, distance, speed of light can be measured.
4. Fate decides destiny.
5. God exists.

Loxahatchee river

There is a commonality about being on a desert, an ocean, a snowy mountain, a rain forest or a swampy river. They are ancient. They are the same as thousands of years ago. You look up and down and around, thinking it's what my great great great ........ (100 times) grandmom saw, when she was on this earth. Click here for a 15MB Quicktime movie.

Kite Park

It took the county a few years to finish up the final touch of this lovely park. It's ideal for kite flying, because of the wind from the water and no tree in the way.

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.

Inner conversation

Whenever I bent over tonight, salt water drips out from my nose, which keeps reminding me the few hours of gusty windsurfing on the river and the conversation along. Right after launch, I knew I've too big a sail for these kind of wind. But, my pride told myself "Let's go for a round, then come back for the change." In the middle of the river, wind picked up another few knots (force is proportion to square of it's velocity), which turn the whole situation to survival mode. So, the conversations went on:
- Let's keep going till you get to the other side!
- I should never come out with this sail in the first place!?! Now you want me to go further.
- The last thing you want is get stuck in the middle of the channel.
- If I can get back this time, I will not come out again today.
- It sound very much like some gamblers or lovers; If I can win this one, or if I can see him one more time....
- Yes, but I thought I can handle this.....See!!!! wind clam down a bit. Let's go back.
- O yes. Now you can manage it. Then you don't need to go back. Otherwise, what's the point of being a sailor? "Go big or go home" girl!!!
- Right, maybe I should try another round.......
- That's how you get better and better.
- Ahhhh, it pick up again!! I should've known better. Ooooo, my hands hurts....
- Stop complaining, just focus and get through the waves.

it goes on and on......... I guess it will never stop.

Inspiring Dream

I dreamed about there's a new policy in the HK airport. You need your ID card to claim your luggage. But, I left my ID card inside the luggage....... which leads to some interesting thought.

Without the first axe, how do you chop down hardwood to make the axe handle?
Without the first kiln, how do you fire the brick to make the kiln?
Without Safari, how do you download/ up-grade Safari?
Without the first accelerated neutron, how is the chain reaction started?
沒有一顆解脫的心,怎樣能釋放自已,走出窘局,去修練一顆解脫的心。
沒有第一桶金.......

看來,都是要暫借外力,幫一把就成了!

Longitude

Way before stepped on both sides of the prime meridian in Greenwich, I had watched the movie "Longitude", about John Harrison's forty-year task to invent a system for determining longitude at sea with a nautical timepiece. Meanwhile, 200 years in the future, naval officer Rupert Gould discovers Harrison's neglected chronometers and sets out to restore them. 3 and a half hours of passion, determination, and discovery half based on the novel by Dava Sobel. It's another rare case that, the movie is more intriguing than the book. I hope science teacher will have a chance to show this kind of movie to students. Here's one of the comment online: One of the most fantastic teaching movies I have seen. I show this video to my Oceanography students at school. I love the back and forth movement between present and past, as the struggle to duplicate Harrison's work is mirrored in the struggle to create an instrument that would revolutionize ocean travel. I think nothing motivate the young more than the possibility of one's ability to change the world. Before Harrison's invention, sailors lost their lifes everyday because no one really knew where one really was in the open sea.

Launch

Windows of my soul

It might look creepy, but it's healthy as the eye doctor said.

Gybe

The Fountain

Have you ever decided you're going to be deeply moved by a movie even months before you watch it? That's my experience with "the fountain". It's simply one of the most heart breakingly beautiful and intriguing movie I've seen. Be forewarned, You either totally love or hate Darren Aronofsky's work.

New owner

Since he got an iPhone, I naturally inherited the old iPod. MP3 player is something new to me. Once I plugged it in my Mac, it told me this little thing can only syn with one iTune library. Do I really want to erase all the old memory? What a lovely loyal little toy, only serve one owner at a time.

楊桃

Eat. Drink. And be married under the full moon.

Just got back from a perfect trip in Europe. Blue sky the whole time, even in London. Dear old friends. Driving up and down Tuscan countryside in a little Lancia. Staying in vineyards farmhouse, belly laugh well past bed time. Visiting historic hill towns, tasting gelato.
Eat. Drink. And be married under the full moon.
28/9/07

PB and I

PB and I have an interesting relationship. Sometimes, he will disappear for days and then show up in front of the door all dirty. Today, he stayed for a long while, enjoyed a lot of cat pets and food before taking a long nap. He will use his ESP to tell me "Perhaps I will see you tomorrow, maybe not. I will come when I can, but I don't know. Because, I was born to chase butterfly and bird."

Genghis Blues

In search of jazz music in the library, I stumbled onto this rare and wonderful find. A documentary film about a blind blues musician, Paul Pena (Ca, USA) heard something intensely beautiful coming from his short wave radio (station from Russia), and how he ended up traveling to the other side of the earth to explore and find answer to the mystifying obsession. The story tells you about how this seemingly impossible form of Tuvan throat-singing (multiple vocal tones simultaneously, to me it sound like a few Australian Aborigine's didgeridoos playing at the same time.) inspired Paul. No matter you like those kind of singing or not, you will probably deeply moved by the story of a man whose struggle in life is not defined by conformity and rules but by curiosity, and love of music. Although, Tuva is in the extreme south of Siberia, most people live there are Mongolian, descendants of Genghis Khan.

http://www.genghisblues.com/index.html

Zen & Potter

MASAKAZU KUSAKABE----Zen & Potter 10 Steps 　
Steps for the Zen
1. You decide to look for your favourite cow that is out in your fields. You learn tracking techniques to look for your favourite cow.
2. You search the fields and find the cow's footprints. You know the cow is nearby.
3. You look around the area see your favourite cow in the distance.
4. You are able to catch your cow but the cow is wild from living in the fields.
5. You spend time with your favourite cow and train it so that it will obey your commands.
6. You ride your tamed cow back home from the field. You are two beings who have become one and understand each other. There is a strong bond between you.
7. You release your cow from his halter. You busy yourself with other chores but the cow stays close to you and the farmhouse.
8. The cow stays near the farmhouse but understands freedom again and does not follow you in body or thought.
9. You and the cow now think individually and are both free of your bonds to each other. You interact very naturally and live as equals with one another.
10. You become everything and nothing.

Steps for the Potter
1. You realize that ceramic objects are enjoyable.
2. You begin to study ceramic shapes, history and uses.
3. You decide that you want to add ceramics to your life, maybe as a hobby or by becoming an apprentice.
4. You become a craftsman. You have knowledge of clay, forming, glazing, firing and kiln construction. You are capable of producing pottery.
5. You know how to use ceramics to live life more beautifully. You strive for beauty and grace in your work and share this with others.
6. Ceramics becomes your life. You need to express your ideas, thoughts and messages through ceramic art. You display these thoughts and messages through ceramic exhibits and shows.
7. Ceramics has now led to an interest in other areas such as gardening, cooking, painting, music and history. The pursuit of all knowledge becomes equal and ceramics no longer holds centre stage.
8. You loose your connection to ceramics and submerge yourself in the natural would, trying to live serenely and peacefully with the plants and animals around you.
9. You become part of the natural world and know that you are equal with all other living things. You loose your individuality and like the rabbit that feeds the hungry hawk, you would also give your life for another creature.
10. You become nothing and everything.

A soul been to hell

The kind of glazes interest me the most, are those been to hell. To me, it means oxygen deprived for hours in thousands of degree. The poor soul came out with extreme clarity and layers of depth. The closest thing I can related to, is like a writer who had a difficult life (war/ jail/ death.....), through the prolong struggling, he found clarity and layers of meaning in life. You can see it in the writing. It's the kind of book makes you keep going back, and every time you will see a new layer.

Stranger wandered into my life

It's what happen when you let stranger wandered into your life. He will tame you. He got a name now, which is "Panda Boy" ,who also become the studio companion. He loves to follow me around like a dog. When I'm throwing on the wheel, he loves to lay on the cool tile in the bathroom. Like Fox say to little prince, "only with the heart that one can see rightly, what is essential is invisible to the eye." I become responsible for what I have tamed, I'm afraid.

A ride in hell

It's over 90F (32C) outside, but it's must be closer to 140F (60C) inside the kiln room. No one can stay in more than a minute at a time. Fortunately, this Bailey fire like a Porsche. ^08 to ^10 only take 4 hrs if you wanted. We will see how the shino turn out. My feeling is that, it will take me a while to learn to handle this kind of power, in the mean time, I just hold on to my seat tight.

一味三吃

Fig is in season. Buy one get one free in our Publix. So, I got online and found receipts to try out. Grilled Mission figs with Serrano ham and olive oil. Sound Delicious! I even put some goat cheese in. I hope some day one day, we can post not only words, sound and images, but also tastes and smells.

A big step

Always been an Apple fan, ever since Mac classic with 2 MB of memory and a 40 MB hard drive back in college. It must be really hard for kids these days to imagine days with back and white screen, no photo, movie, internet or email, and or action games 8 MHz computer....... They must ask, then what it's for?
I got iLife '08 today, installed and have iPhoto running on a 4 years old G4, (iMovie wouldn't run on it though). Even before I try the rest, already thinking this sofeware worth every penny it cost. I have a lot of respect for all the designer, programmer, developer..... everyone who was involved in this great step forward again.

NAQOYQATSI

Na-qoy-qatsi: (nah koy’ kahtsee) N. From the Hopi Language.
1. A life of killing each other. 2. War as a way of life. 3. (Interpreted) Civilized violence.
Powerful images and moving music for hour and a half without a word. I think in this case, language no longer describes the crazy world we all live in.

New hanger

Somehow we managed to procrastinate this project for years. In fact, the real work only took 30 mins (of course assume you've all the right tool and gear.) It's the kind of thing, once it's done, you keep asking yourself, why it's not done earlier.

6 hours of life jounery

I like one of the critic says, "The Best of Youth" is no masterpiece, but it has enough truthful, moving moments to make it worthwhile. It also let me understand more about Italian family and their nation in the last 40 years. Everything is beautiful if you decided it's what you're going to believe.

Fundamental

Today I spent way more time to parpare my clay then actualy throwing or working on it. I found that the bigger the project, the more attention I have to pay to the clay itself. I learned it the hard way, by repeating the mistakes of using too tough/dry clay, thinking I can get away from it, and it will save me time. But small body with not much strength like me has no such luck.

What's the chance?

Every once in a while, I will run into a Chinese in this town, maybe one a year, if that. But so far, only one or two speak Cantonese. Last night, when I heard someone speak Cantonese in our local Japanese-sushi restaurant(Fugu Tei), I paid a lot of attention; so much so that the waiter came along and ask what do I want? I told him how happy I am to run into some Chinese. As the conversation went along, we found out that the Chef-Uncle had grown up in the same small fishing village we had lived in, but the he had left 20 years ago. And the waiter lived just a few blocks from where I grew up in the small town of Tai Po. We exchanged the name of our most favorite local restaurants back then and so forth ... ...
I know that for some people, it may be no big deal to run into someone who speaks your mother tongue, and who is from your own home town. To me, though, it means a lot.

Heard my pot sings

After using the Shimpo Whisper in/at MISSA for 2 weeks, I've decided I'm not going to put up with my old noisy pottery wheel anymore. Yes, I really should have returned it the day I got my Pacfica, 6 years ago. It's totally my own fault. We tried to fix it, with every possible way, even went as far as replacing the bearing, not to speak of oiling/ check the bell,etc...., but nothing seems to work. Don't get me wrong. Pacfica makes good wheels. We have a bunch in the Art Center, and they're all fine.
And it was the reason I got mine.
So, my Whisper just arrived. It's so quiet that I've to change some of my throwing habits, good or bad. I'm so used to higher speed means louder noise . You could say, I throw by ear. Now, without the noise, more sense has sense has to go to the touch and the eye.
I throw in front of an open window. Now, without the wheel noise, I can hear the resonance of a big tall pot when the wind blows. Interesting! It leads me to think what else you can hear if you can turn off some of the loud noise in our life.

The subtleties of composition

Read about the elements of drawing composition are rhythm, movement, and tension. I've no trouble understand those terms at all if we're talking about dancing or movie, but drawing...
Also, at the end of the chapter, it say the ideal composition is stable, but not too stable, comfortable, but not too comfortable. Again, if we're talking about a relationship, I can easily get the idea. But, composition, hummmm..........

Summer art camp

I'm teaching a teens clay class this week. Using some material I've never use before; kitchen oven bake clay and polymer clay. Strickly speaking polymer is not clay, it's PVC. Since we need to have their work dry , fire and ready to be colored in a day or two, so they can take their works home at the end of the week, we seems to choose the ideal material. For friends who are new to clay, traditional pottery class normal take months, once a week, so there's a lot of time to let works dry to trim and fire and glaze and fire again....... At the beginning, I was kind of looking down on the polymer clay, feeling like it's only for kids, because of it's bright color. I end up enjoy it a lot with the kids. Believe it or not, it's some maths involved which I enjoy teaching too. And you wouldn't believe how bad is the maths standard in the states.

Eyes opening jazz piano lesson.

Yesterday, I've my piano tuned and my first jazz lesson. Before yesterday, I had years of classical training in my teen and I thought I know something about music, and I was so wrong. The truth is I only know how to follow the script but have no idea why and how script was composed that way, not to speak of playing by ear...... The very depressing part is that I never even question about why and how, I thought playing piano means what I've been doing all along, just at different levels. I didn't know there's another world out there. Once you truly understand the fundamental, you can truly fly. So, I want to know what's the most fundamental for making pots, what's the fundamental for life............... I don't want to find out there's another world out there someday, but just a little too late.

More for the summer

Of course, I should not miss out the most favorite activity; train tracks. In case you're new to this Thomas business, they've one of the most successful marketing model in the toy world for 60 years.

Best ways to spend your summer

Playing in sand box.

Pushing boats

Eating apple with GM and watching Bob the builder

Making ginger bread cookie with M.

Youtubing Thomas and friends

Jocab, my nephew, who is 3 and a half, living in Vancouver. They have a very cool July this year.

Mystery solved

If you remember a mystery about 2 months ago, here's an answer. Mother nature will do whatever it take to keep it going, not a day longer, not a day short.

Stranger

That's what happens when you go away for a while. Grass and weed grows so tall, strange animal will come and maybe take over your house.

Colors and Images, good enough to eat and dream

Wind walker

I'm not a BMW friend, but I have to say thanks to them for this beautiful commercial.

2 weeks MISSA

It's my third summer here, since 2003. Vancouver Island is one of the most beautiful place in my mind. I'm not sure is it the coast line, the wave, the air or the light, everything seems peaceful and soulful. Part of my daily routine included Tai Chi on the boat house, encounter with deer, reading on my most favourite bench, not speaking of working in the clay studio.

8 months journey

Clipper is a great way to travel between Seattle and Vancouver Island. I arrived on Canadian Day, and there were so much going on in Victoria. I hope I were not pulling my suitcase around town, waiting for the suttle bus to go to MISSA for the start of a 8 months journey.

http://www.missa.ca/ceramics.htm#hill

19 lbs of onion tears

Remember 3 years ago, same time, same house. Lily and I visited the Hasegawa family in Seattle the first time. Today, after 19 lbs of onion tears and laughter, hundreds of sushi, and bottle after bottle of sake, Venus meet Saturn in a full moon. All wedding guests are happy to hold little Kiyoshi. It does remind me of like chololate like water.

Little Prince

This wild one is really from Frence.