Apocalypto

Talk about extreme violence ,brutality and emotional impact. Mel Gibson top my list. One the other hand, he also never fail to show us that, humanity hasn't change for thousands or hundreds of year (depends on you're watching "The Passion of the Christ" , "Braveheart" or "Apocalypto"). Here's a line from Apocalypto:
Old Story Teller: A Man sat alone, drenched deep in sadness. And all the animals drew near to him and said, "We do not like to see you so sad. Ask us for whatever you wish and you shall have it." The Man said, "I want to have good sight." The vulture replied, "You shall have mine." The Man said, "I want to be strong." The jaguar said, "You shall be strong like me." Then the Man said, "I long to know the secrets of the earth." The serpent replied, "I will show them to you." And so it went with all the animals. And when the Man had all the gifts that they could give, he left. Then the owl said to the other animals, "Now the Man knows much, he'll be able to do many things. Suddenly I am afraid." The deer said, "The Man has all that he needs. Now his sadness will stop." But the owl replied, "No. I saw a dark hole in the Man, deep like a hunger he will never fill. It is what makes him sad and what makes him want. He will go on taking and taking, until one day mother earth will say, 'I am no more and I have nothing left to give.'

漂亮的揮春

How excited to receive 漂亮的揮春 from Walter, my new found friend and calligraphy teacher. He even sent me some blank red paper to try on. Then, I'm going to send my works to all of my CBC nephews, who don't know any Chinese. I hope/guess their parents are not going to tell them the fact that, aunt May really doesn't know how to hold a brush.
I am looking forward to the next visit back home.

For people who don't read Chinese and want to know what's it all about. Here's my total inaccurate interpretation:
Calligraphy on Red paper on the wall, with wishful saying is a way to celebrate new year.
Outside front door: Celebrate good life with nice music, fragrant tea and fine wine, year after year.
Inside front door: L- Spirt like dragon and horse, C- Fortune , R- Done as your will (so, be careful what you wish for ;->)
Side door: Safe and peace going in and out.

Butterflies in motion

Learned something about video production. A 2 hours production to 3 mins final cut ratio, not including driving down to the beach twice and shooting time. But, I'm very proud of the result. Worth a few minutes of downloading time, get the small one if you're in a hurry. See "Butterflies in motion".

Butterflies on the beach

It's a beautiful morning.
Wake up! Butterflies....
Let's fly!
Bye...

Usefulness from what is not there

The postman found me in the front yard pulling weeds. He said " You got a package from Hong Kong!" So, I leave the weeds, came in to open the package. Made some tea to go with the cookie just arrived. Very delicious. Couldn't stop with just one.
Checked on the beautiful new calendar, new year is only weeks away, and it's going to be year of rat! We just watch "Ratatouille" last night. Inspiring! BTW, in the back of your card, " The poem - Usefulness from what is not there - Lao Tsu" is very inspiring too. Thank you, Sam.

The Secrets of Fire King

Finally, I finished "The Memory Keeper's Daugher". a very beautiful but heart wrenching story. Be forewarned, in my opinion, anyone who plan to have kids, or already have kids should think twice before start reading.

The story reminded me the following:
"Our actions and all our thoughts, flow like water, their springs buried deep in the mysteries of the past. Everything we do and every consequence is the force of old actions. Once you turn down these dark corridors, you don't know what you will find because you do not know where you've been."

However, Kim Edwards has another book, "The Secrets of Fire King", not a bestseller, but a collection of well crafted short stories. I'm amazed by her ability to deeply understand people and their deepest thought from totally different culture, background and era. From trapeze artist, cleaning lady of Marie Curie's, Korean new immigrant after the war , Malaysian rubber tapper to new age marine biologists...... and more. Her tales read like the work of a wise traveler who returns home with exotic souvenirs from other lands.

Orange Bowl

Spent four days in Miami judging for Orange Bowl Regatta before the new year. One of the biggest I've ever been. Over 500 boats from 19 countries. I sailed in OBR over a decade ago, never dream that one day I will have the chance judging for it. It seems almost impossible, even now. The days begin with a brief meeting. Major task is assign power boats and race courses among 8 judges. Then we spent most of the day going around the course, observing the race and giving yellow flag for sailor who broke rule 42, which is "Propulsion, like pumping, rocking, ooching and sculling." Then we hear protests among sailors on shore after the races. Then I hear judges argue the case again at the bar and dinner. My power boat engine broke down in the middle of Biscayne bay one day, lucky to have an observer boat to tow back to the yacht club.

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.