Some People Never Change

I wrote about my cousin not too long ago (People change, myself included).  How embarrassing it is that I have to correct myself so soon.  Some people never change, never ever. 

I just can't believe it.  The whole re-establishing a connection thing turns out to be part of my cousin's and her dear sister's plan to dump their mother.

My dear elder cousin called my father from Australia.  After 10 minutes of nonsense he told my father that he and his sister had had enough of their mother and decided to relocate her to Hong Kong.  He informed us that he had planned to let her stay with us for "a period of time".  What the hell!  You did not call for 20 years and suddenly you ask us to adopt your mom?!  You may well consider your garden house in Sydney suburb too small for a family of four, or you don't have any money left after buying a house as a wedding gift for your son, but your mom is none of our business.  YOUR mom is YOUR mom, not OURS.  WE ARE NOT GOING TO ADOPT HER.  END OF DISCUSSION.  PERIOD.

I am a pianist; I'm not a politican

The whole "Let the Bullets Fly" craze has actually killed my interest in the movie.  There must be a "Let's-See-Who-can-Find-More-Hidden-Messages" competition going on between some Americans and the hotheaded Chinese boys?

The Joy of Being a Parent

"Dad, I want to play something new", the little lady stopped practising the Accolay and called from the study.  I handed her the music of Csárdás by Vittorio Monti that I'd been working on for weeks.  She tried it for 10 minutes, and, holy cow, she could play at twice my speed!

It feels soooooo good to be outperformed.

People Change, Myself Included.

Went to a family gathering this evening. Didn't want to go but am extremely glad that I went.

I very briefly mentioned my uncle here.

When was the last time I met my cousin?  Must be some 20 years ago, probably during my uncle's funeral. As my uncle had determined not to work, my father took care of his two kids.  After graduating from college and becoming a physiotherapist, my elder cousin moved to Australia.  Since then I haven't talked to or met him.  I was always mad with him.  My father paid his college fee, brought him clothes and offered him things we didn't get, and he just vanished. Not a note of thanks, a phone call, or an email for nearly 20 years.

A few days ago my father received a phone call from my cousin.  He was coming to Hong Kong with his wife and kids.  My father was overwhelmed with joy.  He called me and my brothers and sister three times a day to ensure that we would attend the family dinner today.  It sounded like the greatest news to him in many year.  Not wanting to spoil my father's mood, I went to the dinner, reluctantly.

Surprise. Surprise. I enjoyed the gathering, very much, a lot.  I actually felt happy to meet my cousin, his wife and children. Wasn't I supposed to be filled with hatred, disrespect and a feeling of annoyance? Honestly I wasn't. Not a bit. My cousin is now living a good life and has a lovely wife and two wonderful children (one is, like his father, a physiotherapist and the other is a medical doctor to be).  Not in a million years can I imagine that it can be so satisfying and joyous to see someone who are somewhat blood-related to me becoming polite, well-mannered and wonderful young man and woman.  Filled with joy, I thanked my cousin for breaking the ice and coming here to visit us.  I meant it.  A big thank you indeed.

On my way home, I kept wondering how foolish I was to let myself be blinded by prejudice and close-mindedness.  If only I had taken the first step and contacted my cousin, I'd have had all the joy of seeing my niece and nephew grow.  I'm glad that it's not too late.

I have been telling my daughter that doing something that you don't want to do may bring you some totally unexpected joy.  I am right.

Vivian Maier

Not sure whether this humble nanny would like to be known, but she is bound to be referred to as an unknown Henri cartier Bresson, Robert Frank, Eugene Atget or Garry Winogrand.





More examples of her work are available here and here.

Looking at these vintage photographs, I can't help but wonder how many other Vivian Maiers are left undiscovered.  Street photography must be Vivian Maier's second nature that she did not realise what an incredible eye she had.  Living in a man's world and probably a bit introverted, she might find it easier to stuff the negatives and prints under the bed than making an effort to show them to people.  Some critics say that her work does not stand out from other street photographs. "Not enough irony or wit, and, not keeping a distance from their subjects", they claim.  What?  Since when has getting close to the subjects become a vice, and adding irony or wit a virtue?  The greatness of Maier's work lies in her connection with the subjects, not any calculated irony or wit.  I am pretty certain that she never pre-contemplated a ironic or witty scene, and waited for the perfect magic moment to come; she just brought her Rollei to her eyes when she saw something interesting and pressed the shutter. That was it.

If the purpose of life is to create something that will last, she successfully achieved this very purpose.  Her work is going to last.

Good that there were films and nothing digital half a century ago.

石悅《明朝那些事兒》 (Shi Yue: Those Ming Dynasty Stuff)

Sometimes I feel embarrassed by my ignorance of China, which is less than an hour away. There are some household names that I am completely unaware of. An recent example is 石悅 (Shi Yue) and his bestseller 《明朝那些事兒》(Those Ming Dynasty Stuff).

A few things about Those Ming Dynasty Stuff:

• First published in 2006;
• Over 5 million copies sold in 3 years;
• Best-selling history book ever;
• One of the 30 best-selling books since 1949;
• Winner of Best History Book Award;
• Has been translated into English, Japanese and Korean.

Those Ming Dynasty Stuff is a seven-volume set about the history of Ming Dynasty (1368 to 1644) by 石悅, Shi Yue. One may tend to think that Shi is a wise old historian at one of the major universities. Wrong.  Shi, who was trained in law, is a custom officer.  He wrote the first volume of Those Ming Dynasty Stuff when he was 26 and completed the seventh and last volume just before he reached 30.

There is an interview of Shi by CCTV, which is quite interesting.  How on earth would a 7-year-old pick up the "24 Histories" (二十四史) and start reading? (By the way, the "24 Histories" is not an ordinary book of history. The whole set contains 3213 volumes and about 40 million words, written in traditional classical form.)  Why should such a young person, who also enjoy video games and comic books, sometimes talk like someone who has lived many lives? Was he a historian in his previous life? 

Secret for a Long Life - the Violin

Many violinists are able to play at advanced age (Ivry Gitlis, Ida Haendel and Nathan Milstein to name a few). Here is a video of Ida Haendel playing Bloch - Nigun at the age of 81. Absolutely unbelievably amazing. You have to watch the video to believe it. (Embedding is disabled at the request of the owner of the video so you have to click on the link to view it.) Violin making also appears to be a good sports to maintain one's physical and mental health. Stradivarius was still making violins at 90 when his contemporaries lived an average life of 50 something. Is violin playing/making the answer to aging? Probably, but one has to avoid travelling too much to let the magic work. A number of top violinists actually died in train (David Oistrakh and Leonid Kogan for examples) or in a plane crash (Ginette Neveu, who won the Wieniawski Violin Competition at the age of 15 over 180 contestants, including David Oistrakh the Great, who finished second).

Eye Candy for Girls

The ladies in my office are always calm and quiet.  But they go crazy this morning over a young, brave and good looking fresh graduate from the police training school who rescued a tourist from the sea.  Link here.

I wish I were there

There are thousands of historical moments that I wish I were there to witness. One is the performance by the "children orchestra" in 1939.

From Nathan Milstein's From Russia to the West:

"Toscanini's legendary temperament, well known to the musicians and the public, exploded once in my presence in a very funny way.  In New York in 1939, a benefit was held for the Chatham Square Music School. The star attraction of the program was the "children's orchestra", as it was advertised. The orchestra's violinists included Heifetz, Adolf Busch, Oskar Shumsky, and me, and I remember that one of the violists was William Primrose. The cellists included Emmanuel Feuermann, Piatigorsky, and Alfred Wallenstein.

All eighteen or twenty of us "children" came out onstage in shorts, even Busch, a big, red-faced man who was almost fifty then, yet looked younger than the rest of us.

The conductor of our "children's orchestra" was none other than Toscanini.  We played Ferdinard Rie's "Perpertuum mobile." Heifetz said before the performance, "Let's surprise the maestro! He'll be keeping a strict beat, as usual. But we'll start an incredible acceleration. Let's see how Toscanini reacts."

The maestro came out to his "children's orchestra" in a long, old-fashioned coat, like a school teacher. He began conducting and we followed Heifetz's plan and played faster and faster. Toscanini could not understand what was going on! He was so angry that he dropped his baton and ran off!

The "children's orchestra" was a great success; the audience loved it and thought that the trick with the tempo had been planned that way. The maestro, however, was furious and would not come out for a bow. Instead Wanda [Toscanini's daughter] came out, dressed in a man's suit (she had borrowed my pin-striped pants) and with a hat in her hand. She even twirled a drawn mustache, as if she were the maestro. The audience was certain that this too was part of the grand design and went wild."

Locatelli Sonata in F Minor, Op.6 No.7

I have been looking for David Oistrakh's version of the Locatelli's sonata. Not much luck still. The only recording that I have is the one by Leonid Kogan. A wonderful CD by the way.

Noah's Ark

Fascinated by the greatest creation by mankind ever (which is, God), a Christian friend of mine has been sending me me links to the "discovery" of Noah's Ark on Mount Ararat in Turkey by Noah's Ark Ministries International (NAMI), a Turkish-Chinese coalition formed to search for remains of the Noah's Ark.

He doesn't follow the news too closely.

Dr. Randall Price, a devoted evangelical Christian and former member of the NAMI's team who was once hailed as one of the top experts in biblical archaeology by NAMI, pulled out of the project a few months ago, believing that NAMI had been taken advantage of by the Kurdish guides. The "remains of the Noah's Ark" were, according to Dr. Price, probably planted by the Kurdish guides at the site for the NAMI's team to discover. He said,

I was the archaeologist with the Chinese expedition in the summer of 2008 and was given photos of what they now are reporting to be the inside of the Ark," he wrote in his message dated April 26.

The photos were reputed to have been taken off site near the Black Sea, but the film footage the Chinese now have was shot on location on Mt. Ararat. In the late summer of 2008 ten Kurdish workers hired by Parasut, the guide used by the Chinese, are said to have planted large wood beams taken from an old structure in the Black Sea area (where the photos were originally taken) at the Mt. Ararat site. In the winter of 2008 a Chinese climber taken by Parasut's men to the site saw the wood, but couldn't get inside because of the severe weather conditions.

During the summer of 2009 more wood was planted inside a cave at the site. The Chinese team went in the late summer of 2009 (I was there at the time and knew about the hoax) and was shown the cave with the wood and made their film. As I said, I have the photos of the inside of the so-called Ark (that show cobwebs in the corners of rafters – something just not possible in these conditions) and our Kurdish partner in Dogubayazit (the village at the foot of Mt. Ararat) has all of the facts about the location, the men who planted the wood, and even the truck that transported it.

To my knowledge, the Chinese took no professional archaeologist or geologist who could verify or document the wood or the structure. (Copied from WorldNetDaily)

Dr. Price's view is shared by other experts, including those who are Christian (see for examples, here, here and here). Some mainstream churches have also quietly banned NAMI's propaganda.

The guys at NAMI are giving Christianity and Chinese Christians a bad name. I just can't help wondering whether their true mission is to make Christianity sound stupid and Chinese Christians look quibble and desperate.

And, so what if the remains of the Noah's Ark are found and one of the myths of an ancient tribe proved? Is discovery of the grave of Shennong Shi (神農氏) proof of the existence of a God of Medicine that is relevant to all people?




The Bach's Chaccone is greater than any PRESENT Gods. Chances are that 500 years from now people are still listening to the same Chaccone and admiring Bach as we are doing now, but the PRESENT gods will become nothing but names mentioned in books about history of religions like Mithra, Nero and the many other gods before and after the Council of Nicaea.

We Will Miss You

After devoting her entire life to education, Shirley Lee, ISF Academy's Principal before Malcolm Pritchard, passed away on Wed, Oct 6, 2010.

A note from Shirley's children: 

"Our mother, Shirley Lee, passed away in the early morning hours of Wednesday, October 6, 2010. During the last week of her life, she was comfortable and with little pain. She was comforted by all of you who visited, spoke with her on the phone, and sent your thoughts, prayers, and blessings our way.
 
Shirley was a force with which to be reckoned and should be remembered for her boundless energy, bottomless compassion, and absolute belief in the potential of her students, her community, and her culture. We are all blessed to have spent whatever amount of time we had with her.
 
She is survived by her two children, Lily Panyacosit Alisse and Tawal Panyacosit Jr., her two beautiful granddaughters, Eden and Celeste, and all of you who loved her as we did.

A memorial service will take place in the next few weeks and we will do our best to apprise you of its occurrence. Please forward this announcement to all who would care to know.

Thank you again for all the love and support,
Lily and Tawal"

Lily and Tawal have expressed that, in lieu of flowers, those who wish to remember and honor Shirley should instead send donations to an organization that they will designate within the next few days.

Wanchai Market

Our daughter's violin teacher has been politely nagging us about our relaxed attitude and reminding us that we should have given her music theory lessons long ago. Running out of patience, she ordered us to prepare her for the Feb/March 2011 music theory exam. Unable to resist an order from such a lovely lady, we enrolled our daughter in a music theory class. So, starting from about a month ago, my wife and I have been living our new schedule - every Saturday for half an hour when our daughter is having music theory lesson, we wander around in the Wanchai market, looking for fresh meat, good produces and other interesting things. The following is what we have discovered so far.

Hong Ning Dairy - The only organic dairy farm in Hong Kong. It is a very small operation - daily production is less than 6,000 bottles. Given its extremely small production, the farm does not bother to have an outlet on the island side. (A list of its outlets in Kowloon and the New Territories is here.) Yet, if you drink milk, you can find Hong Ning milk at a little shop in Wanchai market, which manages to get allotted 20 to 30 bottles per day. The shop is called 菜菜子 Oh My Farm, shop B3, 3 Wanchai Road. The milk is priced at HK$12 a bottle (should be HK$11 a bottle as you can have a dollar refund when you return an empty bottle). Not cheap but at least we don't have to travel to the Kowloon side to buy a bottle of milk. At 菜菜子 Oh My Farm, you can find a great variety of organic produces, which can be had at half of 3Sixty/City Super's prices. The ladies there are extremely helpful and friendly. You are going to like them, I guarantee.

Walking along Wanchai Road in the direction of Johnston Road you will see a little hole in the wall stall which sells fresh poultry (平靚正家禽). There you can find Kamei chicken (lean, hormone and god-knows-what-it-is free chicken) developed by the Kadoorie Farm.  Cheap by 3Sixty's standard but still not inexpensive (HK$30 or so for a drumstick or HK$50-60 for a piece chicken breast). If you, like me, haven't developed into a 100% veggie though, agree that it is better to give up bulk of junk for better quality stuff, you will appreciate Kamei chicken (by the way, how much can one eat?). A warning: there is no turning back - you'll either be a 100% veggie or stick to Kamei chicken. You won't touch KFC again.

Further down the road you will find Sun Kee Butcher (新記健味豬, No.40 Wanchai Road, Tel: 25757675). If you prefer organic farming you should go to Sun Kee Butcher. This tiny stall is the last castle of Tam Keung, one of the very few farmers in Hong Kong practising organic farming. His other outlets in Kowloon City and Shatin are gone as there are not enough customers who are willing to pay 10-15% extra for what looks like the same thing that they can get at Park'N Shop. Luckily, his stall in Wanchai is thriving. If you go there after 2 p.m., you probably will have to leave empty-handed. Ah Tak, the man in charge of the stall, is extremely friendly. He is most willing to chat with his customers and share his knowledge about cooking and Wanchai history. Call him at the above number and he'll reserve your order for pick-up later in the day.

If you have a half day off and are fed up with Pacific Place or IFC, take a detour to Wanchai. It will be fun.

Self-Pitying Wealthy Poor

A couple earning well over US$300,000 a year, who own a house with big lawn and two nice cars should feel contented. Not necessarily, at least not in the case of a law professor at the University of Chicago.

Following Obama's proposal to let Bush's tax cut expire only on incomes above $250K, the law professor wrote and published on the internet an article explaining why he should, after paying taxes, mortgage, contribution to 401K, his children's private school education, etc., feel strapped. His article drew hate-mails from across the States. And, finally, "after a big fight with his wife", the professor deleted the article from his website. (Google "whining of the rich" or "whiny law professor" if you are interested.)

I guess the professor is not very smart. What made he think he should tell the whole world how much he and his wife are earning, how much taxes they are paying and how much they need to pay for their children's education is beyond me.

The whole episode gets me thinking though. Are there any comfortable-but-non-big-bucks options for the upper middle-class?

A few months ago a friend lent (gave?) me a book called 窮得有品味, Chinese translation of Die Kunst des stilvollen Verarmens by Alexander, Count of Schönburg-Glauchau. From the author's name, you can probably tell that his ancestors were members of one of the noble families in Germany. Now a poor journalist though, the author, by reason of family heritage, can tell an authentic Chagall from a well executed fake, the best champaign from the second best and know the top painters and sculptors. His book is about means to live like a noble in the most inexpensive way. Extremely entertaining and most inspiring, I really love the book. Strange that there is no English translation of it (I did a quick Wikicat and GoogleBook search and it appears to be the case. If I am wrong, please correct me). If you can read either German or Chinese or Japanese (there appears to be a Japanese version), I sincerely recommend it. It's so true that we don't need to live in the biggest houses, fly first class, go to the fanciest restaurants and drink Romanee Conti to live a good life.

Yesterday, a very good friend invited us to go to dinner at one of the most expensive restaurants in town to celebrate her birthday. Not that I don't want to go out with some good friends, but, what the point of spending many thousands of dollars to risk bumping into some celebrities who will spoil my mood? I don't fancy fancy restaurants and derive no satisfaction from going to places like Amber. Call me a cheapo but I prefer small restaurants with less than 20 tables that are owned by the chefs. I'm not sure whether I'm getting old or what (maybe wiser?) but I'm really tired of the rat race. Two weeks ago we sold our apartment and made a tiny profit. We have decided to move into a cheaper place. Moving into a smaller and cheaper place has multiple benefits: First, there are more options to us - my wife can choose not to work if she wants to and spend more time with Ho-Sum; I can have more time for books and music and can refuse to work with people I don't like. Second and perhaps more importantly, we do believe that we are doing our daughter a disservice if she lives too comfortable a life. It's about time she goes to school on public transport and takes care of herself. Living too ISFish won't do her any good.

富得有品味 is nothing; I prefer 窮得有品味.

A Little Prayer

Wondering what the 2nd encore Evelyn Glennie played in her concert was, I posted a question to a local music newsgroup that I randomly found on Google before I went to bed yesterday. Got answered by another percussionist from China this morning. It is A Little Prayer composed by Evelyn Glennie herself.

A short video that I found on Youtube



And, Evelyn Glennie in Sesame Street.