红酒·绿茶 / Red Wine & Green Tea / Vin Rouge et Thé Vert

Our last two members arrived at Christmas night. And I enjoyed the hot tub in our house. Relax in Style Originally uploaded by nuance1979 , courtesy of Bin. We went to Keystone together in the morning. Skiing in group was different from skiing by yourself and it was good to have a change. Besides, after my last day of crazy skiing, I could only have some "family fun". We waited and talked and laughed at each others' falls. Our final program was a race for three pairs of ski socks. It would have been more competitive if we had ten people as planned. Nevertheless, I could only finish fourth. Thanks to the kindness of Shuxin, our champion, I shamelessly accepted the prize of socks. :) Quiet Mountain Town Originally uploaded by nuance1979 . And that was it. A six-day trip cut short by the mother nature. The important thing was we made the best out of it despite the negatives. C'est la vie!

Denver International Airport Originally uploaded by nuance1979 . We took a ride by Colorado Mountain Express to get to the house we had rented. It was originally for ten people but four of them had cancelled their trips and another two still to arrive. That night we went to Keystone for night skiing. Didn't enjoy it too much because not many trails were open and it was much colder at night. Besides, I was exhausted. The next day on Vail was the best day of my trip. We finally got to enjoy the good part of the blizzard: Great snow! I quickly realized the best powder was on the top so I didn't bother with the trails below the mid-mountain and enjoyed those blue/intermidiate trails as much as possible. My favorite trail was one called "Cappuccino", which was short and bumpy, with deep powder and a few trees. It was very interesting but not physically demanding, exactly the type of slopes I liked. People were very creative about the names of the slopes. An ...

Determined to get out of Cincinnati that day, I got up early, went to the airport and put myself on the standby list for the earliest Denver flight. It was too late. Eighteen people were on the list and I was number twelve. In the end, the first five were the lucky ones. And my attempt to reduce my three-leg flight to Aspen through Minneapolis and Salt Lake City into two-leg wasn't successful, either. After arriving Minneapolis, I anxiously checked the status of my next flight. Thanks to Murphy's Law , I wasn't surprised at what I saw at all: The flight was delayed for more than a hour so that I would miss the next flight from Salt Lake City to Aspen unless it was also delayed as long as one hour. I immediately responded to secure a backup flight from Salt Lake City to Aspen the next morning and was a little bit relieved knowing Salt Lake City was a big hub for Delta. By the time I got to Salt Lake City, the last Aspen flight had already gone, as expected. Then I made a rig...

Never in my life did I care about weather so much and find the Weather Channel not boring. I watched those who stranded in Denver airport and felt better by knowing that I was not alone. I talked to my friends on the same trip and we comforted each other by saying that the storm was great for skiing. Next morning before rushing to the airport, I checked the flight status and learned that Denver airport was closed for the whole day. With no point going to the airport, I decided to visit Cincinnati downtown for a day. (It would turn out later that the decision was sub-optimal and I should have gone to airport to put myself on the standby list of the Denver flight next day before visiting the city.) Ohio River in a Rainy Day Originally uploaded by nuance1979 . As expected, Cincinnati wasn't exciting to visit but I did enjoy the Contemporary Arts Center as well as the view of Ohio River. It would be a nice walk on the Taylor Southgate Bridge from Cincinnati to Newport, KY in...

Our expertly-planned, carefully-coordinated and highly-anticipated Christmas ski trip to Denver took a bumpy start: We totally underestimated the time we needed to pass airport security during the holiday travel season. As a result, I barely made it to my first flight to Cincinnati and my friend missed it. So he got rerouted to another flight to Atlanta and we were supposed to meet in Denver that night. Having landed in Cincinnati, I was told due to incoming severe weather, my flight was the only one to Denver which didn't get cancelled. I felt so lucky, having no idea that a nightmare was about to unfold. After being airborne for about an hour, our pilot told us that Denver airport was closed due to a major blizzard and we had no choice but returned Cincinnati. That was the beginning. Because we wasted our time flying, we found ourselves in a very bad position of rebooking flights to Denver: Almost every seat was gone by the time we got back. After wasting time with the two poor ...

My local PBS channel, Maryland Public Television , was broadcasting "The Tank Man" , a great documentary on the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 again. It's the second time I watched it but fresh as first. It provided a clear and solid rebuff to those who defended the Chinese government on the ground of the incredible fast growth of Chinese economy in the past 17 years. In the past I have also enjoyed "Warplane" , a four-episode documentary on military aviation and "Is Wal-Mart Good for America?" , another interesting documentary.

Had a great Thanksgiving dinner courtesy of Xi and Yangjian, who made a delicious turkey and many more. After the meal, we watched a dvd together then played mahjong , the game of Chinese. I grew up in a province where people just love to play but I didn't really like it until recently because it reminded me the festival times at home. The game is so simple that you can pick it up within minutes but takes a long time to master. Nevertheless, everyone can enjoy it, at different competitive level depending on what rules you are playing with. The rules we were using was our own greatly simplified adaptation of the Chinese National Rules of Competitive Mahjong . Most of the times, I could only keep my intial wealth. But when we played again last night, I was very lucky to have doubled my poker chips. Hope it bodes well for the new year. BTW, we also went bowling in a AMF center nearby. It was fun.

Rose rocks on Stage Originally uploaded by nuance1979 , courtesy of Ariya. Went to an awesome Guns N' Roses concert in the 1st Mariner Arena . Axl Rose was excellent on stage. With a rose red mic and stand, he demanded attention and rocked the hell out of it. Rose on piano for "November Rain" Originally uploaded by nuance1979 , courtesy of Ariya. The band showed their ample ability of delivering high-voltage, hardcore heavy metal songs as well as softer, lyrical ones like "Knockin' On Heaven's Door". Guns N' Roses in Baltimore Originally uploaded by nuance1979 , courtesy of Ariya. Opened with "Welcome to the Jungle" and encored with "Paradise City", they did most of their hit songs and new songs from their new album "Chinese Democracy" almost nonstop from 11pm to 1am, including my all-time favorite "Sweet Child O' Mine" . Rose's voice wasn't in great shape but his vigoro...

Went to an exciting recital featuring pipa soloist Wu Man , an internationally recognized virtuoso who had worked on "Silk Road Project" with Yo-Yo Ma, among others. She started the concert with two signature pieces of solo pipa, "Flute and Drum Music at Sunset"(夕阳箫鼓) and "Ambush from All Sides"(十面埋伏), which showcased her virtuosity on as well as the emotional range of this ancient Chinese instrument. Then she went on with more recent compositions by Chinese and Western composers, who learned intensively from each other and provided interesting perspectives. The last piece on the program was an interactive modern audiovisual work for pipa and percussion, "Ancient Dances", which was inspired by three poems by Li Bai , a famous poet from Tang Dynasty. I would say this piece was exploring pipa's potential as a percussion instrument and it worked out quite nicely. This concert was made possible by Shriver Hall Concert Series, Baltimore Museum o...

Roger Federer Originally uploaded by nuance1979 . The USTA National Tennis Center was like a shopping mall with many promotional booths and shops selling tennis gear or US Open souvenirs. I was so impressed by Federer that I even bought a blue Nike headband. Louis Armstrong Stadium Originally uploaded by nuance1979 . When the night fell, our US Open trip was about to end. Sadly I missed Maria Sharapova, whose game with Tatiana Golovin was scheduled in the night session and looked like a fashion show, and Andy Roddick, too. But we did enjoy being so close to those top players and watching the games in a sunny Wednesday afternoon.

Rafael Nadal Originally uploaded by nuance1979 . We then went to the Louis Armstrong Stadium, a cozier place to watch two of my favorite players: the passionate, vigorous Rafael Nadal and the masterful, unbelievable Roger Federer . Federer Serving Originally uploaded by nuance1979 . While Nadal surprisingly lost to the underdog Mikhail Youzhny, Federer bearly broke a sweat in winning his opponent Marc Gicquel. You could feel (and hear) Nadal was fighting on the court but Federer, he looked almost bored: Winning was such a chore. I had no doubt he would win this US Open.

Marat Safin Originally uploaded by nuance1979 . I learned to play tennis in college but struggled to improve beyond the beginner level. It wasn't easy to keep playing because the courts were scarce and expensive and good racquets were expensive, too. And most importantly, I didn't try hard enough. Coming to the United States, I suddenly found myself surrounded by free courts and decent racquets with cheap prices. So I was happy to pick it up again. With a stronger body I had built with regular exercises, I enjoyed this game much more. So when I found a coupon for buying a US Open 2006 game ticket for bloody $10, I bought it in no time. A month later I was sitting in the Arthur Ashe Stadium in Flushing, NY, watching Marat Safin battling his way. It was a very close game but he eventually lost to Tommy Haas in the fifth set tiebreak. Dominika Cibulkova in Jr. Girls' Singles Originally uploaded by nuance1979 . Taking a break, we walked to the ground courts ...

Venetian Painting Exhibition Poster Originally uploaded by nuance1979 . My final destination and the real goal of this trip was the Venetian Painting Exhibition in the National Gallery of Art . I had always amazed by how the Venetian painters were able to capture the sensuality of a female body and presented in a provocative way. Bellini started it with the "Lady with a Mirror", 1515, which was featured in the poster for this exhibition, and Titian finally exceeded his old master with "Flora", 1520, "Pastroral Concert", 1510, among others. The most interesting showdown of this master-and-pupil "duel" was Bellini and Titian's "Feast of the Gods", 1514 and 1529 vs. Titian's "Bacchanal of the Andrians", 1522-1524, with the latter being an apparent rework of the same motif. It was this exhibition that reunited these two great paintings and placed them side by side as they were placed in an original exhibition arr...

Inside National Air and Space Museum Originally uploaded by nuance1979 . I went to the National Air and Space Museum for food: I didn't plan to visit it today because it was packed with screaming kids as always. After having my Big Mac, I impulsively decided to take a look and, to my surprise, I was lovin' it. Project Apollo Originally uploaded by nuance1979 .

The Grand Canyon Ceiling Originally uploaded by nuance1979 . My first stop today was the National Geographic Museum in National Geographic Society's headquarter, a place of worship for a photographer/photojournalist wannabe like me. The museum wasn't big, but the photos were amazing as always. And this ceiling of the Grand Canyon was just a decoration for the corridor of elevators. Outside National Geographic Society Originally uploaded by nuance1979 . This portrait of a girl, who was selling her toys on the street of Sarajevo, was interestingly placed in a corner, making the street in the picture interact with the street of the real life. Brilliant idea, beautifully done.

I went to Obrycki's , a very nice seafood restraurant in downtown Baltimore, for crabs last night and realized that I had never written about our famous Maryland blue crabs . I guess people just tend to neglect good things around them. In fact I've enjoyed eating crabs since I got here. And thanks to a friend, I learned to dismantle crabs like a pro. Besides Obrycki's, I also liked Jimmy's Famous Seafood , which you can call to reserve jumbo size crabs. Last year the City of Baltimore started the Crabtown Project , where statues of crabs were decorated by sponsors and placed all over the town. One of the best designs was the Hopkins Blue Jays Lacrosse Team's LAX Crab , who proudly wears a No. 2 jersey of the amazing goalie Jesse Schwartzman's.

Maria Sharapova Originally uploaded by nuance1979 . If you happen to be a Maria Sharapova fan, like me, you would have known that she recently lauched her stupid, buggy, all-flash official website . Let me say it again in case you didn't get it in the first time: It is a stupid, buggy, all-flash website! What's worse was that they shut down the best fan site, http://www.mariaworld.net, for it. You can still find it when you do a google search for "Maria Sharapova". What I liked about mariaworld.net was exactly the opposite of what I hated about the official website: A simple but fast all-html design with concise news and great pictures. If ever those stupid website designers had tried to access this website as a fan had, they would have killed themselves. I just don't get it: Why do you have to shut down the best fan site for an offical one? If it was for some legal issues, how come you didn't shut down those in Russian or French or, even worse, th...

Dixie Chicks: Taking The Long Way Originally uploaded by nuance1979 . My favorite country group, Dixie Chicks , didn't let me down: Their fabulous show at Verizon Center , DC tonight proved once again that they were a musically talented country trio who didn't need tabloid or political "accidents" to keep their fans' support. With only one Bush joke, Natalie Maines letted her music do the talking and she was shining when performing live. While younger crowds were more familiar with the Chicks' new album, older fans like me enjoyed singing along with their timeless masterpieces like "Landslide" or "Cowboy Take Me Away". The stadium was packed in almost every section so I gave up the idea of sneaking to a better seat as I usually did. No wasting time talking or changing fancy outfits, the Chicks were singing and playing nonstop for almost two hours. When the crowd wasn't ready to leave after the show, applauding, they encored a ...

Lobster Trap Lamp Originally uploaded by nuance1979 . We ended our trip with another lobster feast in the Trenton Bridge Lobster Pound , where I found the creative use of a lobster trap and buoy. (This time I was sane enough to order a two-pounder. Whew!) Bicyclist Originally uploaded by nuance1979 . Finally a picture of me on a bike again after four years. Still good. PS, we got our bikes from Acadia Bike and enjoyed the Island Explorer free shuttle service for going on and off the Carriage Roads . PPS, did I mention the weather was pleasingly cool and Baltimore was hot as hell when we were in Bar Harbor?

Eagle Lake Originally uploaded by nuance1979 . Our last day in Acadia was getting physical: biking for the day and kayaking for the evening. Turned out biking was very pleasant but kayaking was so-so. Only on bikes could you get close to and fully enjoy the breathtaking views of the lakes in Acadia. I'll let my pictures do the talking. Jordan Pond Originally uploaded by nuance1979 . Jordan Pond House was conveniently located at the south end of the Jordan Pond. Enjoying some freshly baked popovers and a clam chowder in the outside while watching the water was like a dream comes true. Bubble Pond Originally uploaded by nuance1979 . Can you feel the cool water flowing onto your feet? Lupines Originally uploaded by nuance1979 . Not so many colors other than green could be found in summer but the purple lupines were there in the water. Blueberries were another symbol of Maine. You could find all kinds of food or drink made from blueberries like i...

In the Sunset Originally uploaded by nuance1979 . We went to the Cadillac Mountain again in the afternoon for the sunset and joined by the same-minded people. Photography was so easy that even I looked great in the golden light. Sunset on Cadillac Mountain Originally uploaded by nuance1979 . I recorded a four-minute video of the sunset. However, don't expect too much because of the limited video-recording ability of my camera. And sorry, no English subtitles available.

Whale! Originally uploaded by nuance1979 . One of the most exciting programs in our trip was whale-watching. We took a roller-coaster ride on a lovely and fast boat called "Friendship V" with the Bar Harbor Whale Watching Co. and spotted at least seven whales including humpbacks, finbacks and minkes. A couple of them were frequent visitors of the Maine Gulf and people gave them interesting names like they did with their pets. You could identify them by the patterns of the tails. Bald Porcupine Island Originally uploaded by nuance1979 . The weather was crystal clear so even a simple picture of the island between the sky and the sea looked unforgettably beautiful.

The Bubbles Originally uploaded by nuance1979 . A pair of mountains on the north side of the Jordan Pond was called "The Bubbles", whose smoothly round shape unmistakably reminded you a perfect female body part. (Interesting choice of word, wasn't it?) It was a beautiful view; Hopefully girls also enjoyed it. Bubble Rock Originally uploaded by nuance1979 . We hiked the Bubble Rock Trail and reached the top of the South Bubble, where the Bubble Rock was dangerously placed. Don't hate me if you can't find it anymore next time you come to Acadia. After the Rain Originally uploaded by nuance1979 . Soon after we finished hiking, the weather turned severe. Heavy rains and hails were pouring down. We waited in the Visitor Center for a while and the weather turned sunny again as I had expected. We wasted no time to go to the Cadillac Mountain for some beautiful views and ended our first day as such.

Sand Beach Originally uploaded by nuance1979 . Our plan of the first day was sight-seeing in the park. Following the Loop Road, we came to the cozy Sand Beach, which, with water temperature below 50F, was good for walking, maybe tanning, but not for swimming. (We did see one brave man trying, though. Good for him!) Otter Cliffs Originally uploaded by nuance1979 . After the beach, the road was winding along the coast with beautiful views of cliffs. Thunder Hole Originally uploaded by nuance1979 . A particular place of interests in the cliffs was the Thunder Hole, a sharply narrowed cliff which caused the sea making thunder-like sound when the water rushed in. A creative use of the name of this place was found later in a nice family-run restaurant, Poor Boy's Gourmet . Guess which part of the restaurant was named "Thunder Hole"?

The Five-pound Lobster (Before) Originally uploaded by nuance1979 . After a tedious two-day driving, we started our Acadia trip with a jaw-dropping meal of Maine's unofficial mascot, the lobster. Without any hesitation, I ordered a hard shell jumbo at the Beal's Lobster Pier and found myself facing a five-pounder, alone. Those of you who have eaten a lobster before might have already dropped your jaws but I honestly didn't. (I did later.) Let's just say I (way way) overestimated my capacity of lobster-eating. The Five-pound Lobster (After) Originally uploaded by nuance1979 . For the record, I finished the monster with only one claw left! We went to Bar Harbor downtown at night and saw lots of lobster or blueberry-themed cool gifts.

Thanks to Radu Florian! Q. How do I setup my account such that I can ssh to the computers without typing in my password? A. You need to generate a set of private/public keys, and setup the ssh configuration to use them. Here's how: ssh-keygen -t dsa cd ~/.ssh cp id_dsa.pub authorized_keys # If you already have such a file, do 'cat id_dsa.pub >> authorized_keys' echo 'Done.' # You need to make sure that the permissions for the .ssh directory and id_dsa file are 0700 # If you want to allow for password-less connection into the cluster (from your site), repeat # the commands at your site, and copy the contents of the id_dsa.pub file into ~/.ssh/authorized_keys

M. Night Shyamalan might not agree but "The Village" (2004) was, to me obviously, a political satire of Communism, a profoundly flawed and hopelessly naive social theory. The fact that a self-appointed "best ever" human society had to be built on lies and determent of "Those We Don't Speak Of", which properly refered to the overwhelming propaganda and ferocious censorship every Communist regime had to rely upon, was ironically sad. Even if the decision of living an eighteenth centry Communist-like life was made by a group of benevolent and presumably wise people like your parents or grandparents, the movie posed the thought-provoking question without asking: Do I or do I not have the right to choose my own way of living? To me, it is out of question.

is not my problem anymore. Glad it's finished. Now I can relax at my apartment's lovely pool and soak up the sun like an egg on a frying pan.

Casio G-Shock Atomic Solar GW300A-2V Originally uploaded by nuance1979 . Got my G-Shock yesterday and loved it. It calibrates itself with an atomic clock in Fort Collins, Colorado everyday so its timekeeping accuracy is fantastic. Guess that would help me get up before 11 in the morning, huh?

Went to a tubing trip on Potomac River in West Virginia with GSA . The weather was a little bit chilly in the morning but by the time we started it was fine. Enjoyed the trip though it was less adventurous than I had thought. Even so I still fell into the water TWO times! That was fun. By the way, in the tubing company's gift shop they had an interesting T-shirt saying on the front, "What happens on Potomac...", with a sketch of two American Indians resting in their tubes, then saying on the back, "Stays on Potomac.", with a sketch of the two Indians embarrassingly falling out of their tubes into the water.

World Cup Map Originally uploaded by nuance1979 . Thanks to Univision , the leading Spanish-speaking TV channel in United States, we can watch all 64 games of the FIFA World Cup 2006 LIVE(!) In Spanish! (Well, the Spanish part I wasn't THAT excited about.)

Kykuit, the Rockefeller Estate Originally uploaded by nuance1979 . We missed the tour of Kykuit , the Rockefeller estate on Saturday and went again on Monday early in the morning. The building was less magnificient than I had thought, modest I should say given the wealthiness of the Rockefeller family, probably because it was built by the first generation, namely John D. Rockefeller, who started the legendary family business. The third generation, four-time NY State Governer and Vice President of the United States, Nelson Rockefeller was a modern art lover, who commissioned drapery copies of several famous Picasso paintings including "Three Musicians". (By the way, the first time I had an idea of Nelson Rockefeller was in the movie "Frida", where Edward Norton depicted him destroying a controversial mural by Diego Rivera.) The family also had a keen interest in and therefore an awesome collection of (Cause they are rich!) Chinese potteries, which were caref...

Rent, the musical Originally uploaded by nuance1979 . Because of the great experience I had last time in Broadway with "Chicago", I decided to do it again with my friend Jinfeng, who was visiting New York on a business trip. Since "Chicago" was a story about, what else, Chicago, I picked "Rent", a story about NYC this time as our first choice. Thanks again to TKTS , we were able to get the half-priced ticket. An even detailed source on the various rush ticket policies for different shows was Talkin' Broadway , where I found out later only to convince the optimality of our purchase. (The only better price we could have got was the lottery $20 tickets, whose risk we couldn't afford.) Unlike "Chicago", whose music was my favorite, (all that) jazz, "Rent" featured exclusively rock and pop. And unlike "Chicago", with which I was bragging about my English listening , "Rent" was hopelessly beyond my capac...

Marcel Duchamp, "L.H.O.O.Q." Originally uploaded by nuance1979 . Because I lived close to DC and (did I mention) all Smithonian museums in DC were free, I felt so obligated to go to the Dada exhibition in NGA -- on the last day. Turned out I wasn't the only one who procrastinated: It was PACKED like Time Square. The exhibition was organized geographically to show the many faces of Dada in six cities. So many years after this avant-garde movement, it was still fresh, freaky and funny: Like the Mona Lisa with mustache and goatee or the pig-faced Nazi soldier hung over your head. If Raphael could have some fun by sneaking a self-portrait in the "School of Athens", why couldn't we have some fun by mounting a bicycle wheel on a stool and calling it art? Like the (re)discovery of dissonates in music, Dada added a whole new vocabulary to the language of art. One thing I didn't like about the exhibition was that they put Duchamp's "Fountain...

It was a rare oppurtunity that the Peabody Institute was offering a free ticket to each Hopkins affiliate for the season-closing performance of the Peabody Symphony Orchestra . So I took it immediately and enjoyed every minute of it. The orchestra was full of young, energetic budding musicians who were eager to make their marks. You could hear it right away in the first piece in the program, Otto Nicolai's Overture to "The Merry Wives of Windsor". It was like everyone in the first violins was playing like the concertmaster, with equal confidence, vigor and virtuosity. In fact, the concertmaster and two assistant concertmasters did lead in turn in three pieces of the program. Music director Hajime Teri Murai was terrific in conducting both the instrumental and the vocal music. I wasn't so sure if I would like the program at first because I wasn't a big fan of opera. But the music as well as the wonderful performance convenced me. Richard Strauss's Suite from ...

Had a great time playing paintball for the first time with my friends in Anne Arundel Paintball Park , which was an awesome place for paintball but unfortunately was going to be closed for good soon. So I quoted their introduction here: Anne Arundel Paintball Park is a quality Paintball Field located near the intersection of Rt. 175 and the BW Parkway. AAPP is owned, operated, and staffed by paintball players, so you know that when you come out to play, you'll get people that have a great deal of knowledge about the sport. The combination of a great staff and awesome outdoor fields has made AAPP one of the most favored paintball parks in our area. We had five girls and five boys but ended up with "Team THU" and "Team PKU" because that resulted in a more balanced divide. The game was more intense and physically demanding than we had thought. So after three hours, we were exhausted in sweats and paint. Turned out our team was more cooperative therefore played w...

Volvo Ocean Race Boats Originally uploaded by nuance1979 , Courtesy of Mingyao. It was a sunny spring weekend when Inner Harbor was at its best. We enjoyed the wonderful weather by walking around the harbor and tried a free sailing courtesy of the Downtown Sailing Center . It was a fun ride in the water even though the boat was small. Meanwhile, professional sailors of the Volvo Ocean Race were there to show off their babes, including the American team called "Pirates of Carribean". Also in the festival were Pride of Baltimore II , the ambassador of Baltimore, Maryland, Gazela Philadelphia , a vintage shipboat which has featured in my favorite movie, "Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles" with Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt and Kirsten Dunst, and Cisne Branco , a beautiful Brazilian Navy sail training vessel.

Ran into trouble with MPlayer OS X 2 for Chinese fonts. Couldn't find any answer online but finally solved it (by lots of guessing). Here is the solution: 1. Get TrueType fonts online: wget ftp.gnu.org/non-gnu/chinese-fonts-truetype/bkai00mp.ttf.gz wget ftp.gnu.org/non-gnu/chinese-fonts-truetype/bsmi00lp.ttf.gz wget ftp.gnu.org/non-gnu/chinese-fonts-truetype/gkai00mp.ttf.gz wget ftp.gnu.org/non-gnu/chinese-fonts-truetype/gbsn00lp.ttf.gz 2. Unzip them and put them into MPlayer fonts directory: gunzip *.ttf.gz chmod +x *.ttf mv *.ttf /Applications/MPlayer\ OS\ X\ 2.app/Contents/Resources/Fonts/ 3. Choose the right encoding and fonts when playing: Font Encoding Comment ------ ---------- --------- bkai00mp CP950 Big5, Kai bsmi00lp CP950 Big5, Song gkai00mp EUC-CN GB2312, Kai gbsn00lp EUC-CN GB2312, Song

Samsung T809 (T-Mobile) Originally uploaded by nuance1979 . Got my cool new phone on a really nice deal. Finally said %^#%$#% to Motorola and returned to Samsung.

Polish pianist Krystian Zimerman rocked Shriver Hall tonight and opened a three-day event named "Piano Celebration" with an astonishinng "bang". Considered one of the greatest pianists in his age, Zimerman's characteristic and eccentric timing went through every pieces on the program. It seemed he would like to insert some silence or sustained resonance here and there as a very interesting note. I would say it worked very well with the Beethoven "Pathétique" Sonata, giving the old favorite a fresh new interpretation. He dedicated it to "those in prison who chose to fight the law instead of abeying it". Another prominent piece in the program was a sonata by Grazyna Bacewicz , a female Polish composer, whom Zimerman had been very close to, about war. Having suffered from World War II, the composer must have had a profound sentiment and understanding of war and was able to convey it to the audience through technically and musically demanding...

It's becoming a tradition for me to go to the National Cherry Blossom Festival in DC every spring. As expected, it was packed with like-minded visitors mostly from DC, Virginia and Maryland. The beautiful views of the pink blossoms along the Tidal Basin were enjoyable. Even better was a shower of cherry blossoms blown down from the tree. Due to the warm weather of this winter, the blossoms arrived one week earlier than their usual schedule and, in my opinion, were not as good as those of the last year. We also checked out a Hokusai exhibition in Sackler Gallery and were lucky to see a performance of lion dance and percussion by Kenny Endo , a Japanese drummer. Also featured was a Japanese traditional dance by a guest dancer, who was teaching the dance in DC. As usual, we wouldn't leave DC without having some good Chinese food in Rockville. And we did.

Bought myself a pair of inline skates. Tried once in the driveway of my apartment. Not as easy as I had thought but great fun as I expected. Had no problem of skating but haven't figured out a good of stopping. Will look for instructions online. Protection was absolutely necessary. (Believe me!)

MIT - Killian Court Originally uploaded by nuance1979 . No Boston trip would be complete without a visit to Harvard and MIT. So shall it be done on the last day of my trip. I followed the guided tour and had a nice walk on the campus. Then I joined a campus tour in MIT, given by a physics-majored sophomore from whom I learned a lot about the university. I especially liked their interfaith chapel , a brilliant idea and true work of art. However, my attempt to find the legendary Noam Chomsky 's office or something was completely failed: I hadn't even figured out where the Linguistics Department was. Well, that didn't stop me from buying a book of him, "On Language: Chomsky's Classic Works Language and Responsibility and Reflections on Language in One Volume" from the MIT Bookstore, which I could have bought on Amazon.com for a less price. But hey, I bought it in Cambridge, Massachusetts, man!

State House with demonstrators Originally uploaded by nuance1979 . My timing to start hiking the Freedom Trail couldn't have been better by witnessing a real world display of democratic freedom: a demostration in front of the beautiful Massachusetts State House. Police were around to make sure it didn't block the traffic and some cars were horking to support the demostrators as they passed by. You might not agree with them ("Keep It [slot machine] in Massachusetts" to "Save Our Jobs") but the right of free speech was protected. Old State House Originally uploaded by nuance1979 . Accidentally my favorite site along the trail was the Old State House. Its elaborated decoration proudly reminded you Massachusetts' colonial history and its unique role in the history of United States as the origin of the Revolutionary War. I visited the Old State House, whose interior resembled that of Homewood House on Hopkins campus. Through an exhibition ...

Salome with the Head of Saint John the Baptist Originally uploaded by nuance1979 . My second day in Boston was dedicated to the Museum of Fine Arts . In the heart of the museum was the palace-like Old Masters' Room featuring great works from High Renaissance and Baroque. My favorite, however, was Bernardino Luini's haunting image of "Salome with the head of Saint John the Baptist", which had a great introduction on their website: The Bible's gospel of Mark recounts how King Herod, captivated by the dancing of his stepdaughter, Salome, offered her any reward. At her mother's urging, Salome requested the head of John the Baptist, who had criticized her mother's marriage. Like other Renaissance paintings of this subject, the beautiful faces of Salome and John belie the brutal violence of decapitation. This painting, its contours blurred by delicate shadows, is one of the works by Luini most indebted to Leonardo da Vinci. MFA also had a great collect...

Seiji Ozawa Originally uploaded by nuance1979 . Of all the major cities on the east coast, Boston was the last but certainly not the least I visited. As one of the oldest cities and the cultural center of the United States, it reminds you the definitive image of this nation when it was born out of the old world. My first trip to Boston, therefore, started with a delightful concert featuring Yo-Yo Ma and, of course, Boston Symphony Orchestra . I was welcomed at the door by a Japanese greeting ("Konijiwa") from a friendly usher. Even though he was embarrassed when I told him that I was Chinese, I didn't feel offended at all. With Seiji Ozawa as the longest-serving and the most beloved conductor of the Orchestra, I wouldn't be surprised if I was told that there was a constant population of Japanese audience in every concert. It was the first time I saw Yo-Yo Ma performing live and he didn't let me down. He played the Schumann Cello Concerto with mesmerizin...