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

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...