It's time to call it a halt!

After moving to Macau, I've been in the second stage of hi-fi enthusiasm. I've been searching for the right audio reproduction system at home. Throughout the stage, I had ups and downs. Financially, I am at the red side because of all the buying and selling game. All I hope is that I can finally pay for my ideal gear.

Now I'm pretty sure that I can call it a halt!

The last hi-fi member which has recently come to my home is an early pair of Spendor SP1/2. It is very probably my dreamed loudspeaker. I may share more of my thoughts and feelings about it here. Now let me put it simply first: It's the speaker I'm not fatigued after listening to music for a long time and it can bring me an urge to listen even more! With the speaker, I can hardly think with all those hi-fi terms but music.

That's Fate!

The annual staff party's over. As usual, I got nothing of the lucky draw gifts. OK. OK. That's fate. I know. But I just hope there might be miracle... :(

Deadline

Tonight is another deadline for my weekly newspaper article. But I don't have any headache because I was so forgetful that I didn't send out my article last week before leaving for my Taiwan trip. The old piece has then been left for meeting tonight's deadline. Thanks God it's not closely attached to last week's time frame; otherwise, it's just a waste of time.

It's not very easy to meet deadlines, especially when my experience is not interesting enough to share with those probably interested readers. Sometimes, I just can write some general stuff. If I'm lucky, I can come upon some pretty good topics but this is not often...

Wulai

We're in the Yun-Hsian Amusement Park in Wulai. It's my second time there. Good place to walk around among the green.

I've been there during the flower season!

Blossoming Flowers

Julie and I were in the Yang-Ming-Shan National Park. The cherry and other trees were beginning to blossom. Our joy blossomed too! The little rain just couldn't stop it!

My Taipei Trip

Julie and I spent 6 days last week in Taipei. I'd been there for 2 times and didn't feel good about the city. I got the opposite feeling during this third trip. Taipei is not as old-fashioned as before. It's now more stylish and modern. Although most of the young people dress very much like Japanese and the girls have quite heavy make-up, they look more attractive.

I didn't buy any non-food things there as the pricing is not cheap. I only did window-shopping. The goods are pretty nice. I found some very good-looking vintage-style stuff like wallpaper, carpets, lights and telephones. I'm always into the 70s design. I think the products fit my home too. However, I have to save some money for other more important areas...

Julie and I enjoyed the trip very much as it's a gathering with her parents. It's my one and only chance with them in Taiwan for they'll be back to Macau for retirement this year. After they're back, I don't think we'll go there again. You are not surprised if I remind you I have gone there for 3 times and Julie is even more "experienced" with her 5 trips!

The second most enjoyable thing is food. It's delicious and cheap. It's a pity that I couldn't eat little ube dumplings. I had a lot during my first Taiwan trip. Since then, I haven't had any. I really want to have some. They're yummy yummy!

I may post some photos here tonight.

Can the Industry Be Screwed Up Any More?

Read this and this. I'm speechless...

Sunday Morning

Every Sunday I have to wake up very early in the morning for hosting a music show for Macau Radio. It's nearly a 3-hour programme. The duration is pretty good for I can share a lot of music, probably in full, with those early birds. But the time is really very early that I usually do the show with my tired mind. What's worse is like today. I have to do another full-time job right after the show! My tired mind has to keep working until evening. Thanks god that I'm pretty good at taming my tiredness. Energy seems to be able to flow until bedtime. For sure that will be a sleep like dead... ZzzzzZzzzz

New Chinese Newspaper Article

Click here for my Chinese article in Macao Daily News this week.

Finishing Broken Flowers

Watched another part of the film and all the bonus materials on the DVD. I was so naive to look forward to Don finally finding his ex-lover, who has sent him the mysterious pink letter, during his trip. The ending is the usual odd style with sudden cut and without any happy or sad indication. It's kind of letting the viewers ponder life. As Jarmusch said in one of the bonus clips, the best part of life is not in the rational realm. Life is so complicated and there are lots of stuff that shapes our lives and can't be controlled. Positively speaking, we should lead our lives by trying our best under the current situation. Nothing is more concrete than NOW. Let's enjoy this moment, plan for the future but expect the unexpected. Doesn't this sound exciting?

My Weekly Newspaper Article

I write for Macao Daily News weekly. My articles appear in the supplement section every Friday. My ex-colleague and dear friend Oriana has advised me to post them here. I don't know if I can put them in separate sub-pages. Before I have any clues, you can read my writing last week here. Please note that it's in Chinese...

Webern by Quartetto Italiano

Grabbed the vinyl record of Complete Music For String Quartet By Webern at post office this morning. As you can read from the photo, it's performed by the brilliant Quartetto Italiano. If their interpretation is not the best, it's surely one of the best.

Look at their posture on the cover. Ain't they cool? I've got the CD edition of the same recordings. Sadly the CD cover only has the part with the 4 violins held with hands... I like the original cover much more. :P

I believe the vinyl copy is the original pressing. At least, it's made in Holland. I'm very glad to own such excellent record which encloses one of my all-time favourite classical pieces by one of my beloved composers.

If you haven't heard the work or any work by Webern, I highly recommend you to check it out. Among the big 20th-century classical composers, I consider Webern as the greatest.

Broken Flowers

Watched part of the latest Jarmusch film last night. The plots are quite interesting with the unique style by the director. Although I don't like Bill Murray very much, his acting seems to fit the character. It's amazing to see Sharon Stone again in the movie. She looks old but still beautiful. From what I watched, there are several hilarious points that made me laugh out loud at heart. You know, it's the same old funny treatments by Jim. I think I have to finish the film ASAP. What about tonight?