Arithmetics

人=吃飯+睡覺+上班+玩,
豬=吃飯+ 睡覺,
代入:人=豬+上班+玩,
即:人-玩=豬+上班.
結論:不懂玩的人=會上班的豬

男人=吃飯+ 睡覺+掙錢
豬=吃飯+ 睡覺
男人=豬+掙錢
豬=男人-掙錢
所以男人不掙錢等於豬。

女人=吃飯+ 睡覺+花錢。
豬 =吃飯+ 睡覺。代入上式得：
女人=豬+花錢。移項得：
女人-花錢=豬。
結論：女人不花錢的都是豬。

綜上：
男人為了讓女人不變成豬而掙錢
女人為了讓男人不變成豬而花錢

男人+ 女人=兩頭豬

帝女花

Talking about translating Chinese lyrics into English for singing, my high school was one of the pioneers. Here comes the song I learnt then (I really think it is brilliant!):

(帝女花's melody)
Time really goes fast 3 6 56 53 6
Remember some time in the past 5 61 35 32 3
when we were all little boys 2 35 1 61 2
going to class every day 3 56 2 35 1
Taking notes, reading books, 231 236
writing essays, acting plays, 1 6 16 12 3
In those days, all of us were happy 5 6 2 3 56 23 5
except when it's time for examination. 23 17 6 1 51 35 6
Wah Yan Boys when they come out to the world 12 166 53 56 1
they work hard never stop 231 236
until they are successful 2 2 35 56 2
until they are well established 35 23 17 6 1
wherever they are, whatever they do. 51 35 6 51 35 6

Dying

Two questions:

1) Do you want to know when you are going to die?

2) If you know you are going to die at a certain date, would you tell others about it, especially those who are close to you, like your husband/wife?

Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra (Part II)

The second concert given by the VPO demonstrated that they are a world class orchestra. The Symphony "Linz" of Mozart was not a work that I like, but VPO played it with elegance and I have no complain about it. The meat of the concert was on Tchaikovsky No.5 in the 2nd half. Although people might say Tchaikovsky's Symphony lack the intellectual depth (compared with Mahler or Bruckner or even Shostakovich), the orchestral sound that brought out by VPO was truly amazing. Gergiev put a great deal of rubato to the piece and there were many contrast in the tempo he took. Not only tempo, but also dynamics, colour, etc. He was good at making the climax sounded really exciting. The French horn sounded excellent in the 2nd movement. The clarinet and oboe were also very good. I enjoyed Gergiev's Tchaikovsky. His live performance was really full of sparks.

The encore pieces were a short piece from a ballet suite (I think) and two Waltzes (one long and one short). The short Waltz at the end was truly remarkable and it stirred up the emotion of the audience. This is a remarkable concert by the VPO!

Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra (Part I)

After watching L'empereur du Chant, I went straight ahead to VPO's concert. The Mozart Overture was just to make the 1st half value for money. But it was really not necessary, because the Shostakovich No.9 was so good that it is already worth the price in its own right. I am impressed by VPO's woodwinds and brass section. Their sound was full and bright. Perhaps the location of seat made it difficult for me to appreciate the strings (the solo violin in the 1st movement of Shostakovich did slip a little), but they were very together. I'll have to wait for tonight's performance to tell how the strings really sound.

Gergiev was really a conductor full of energy - at least he appeared to be so. He moved a lot. He did not use a baton (although I seemed to see he used a very small one when conducting parts of the Shostakovich) but his fingers moved in a special way. I personally think it doesn't make any difference to the players in the orchestra, but some people (probably they have not played in the orchestra before) thought that it was really impressive. Gergiev's interpretation was full of sparks. After all, he is a Russian and Shostakovich should be one of his strongest areas. I also got his CD on the same piece with Kirov Orchestra. The live performance last night proved that he has a consistent approach to this piece, which is full of sarcasm in the context of Stalin's expectation of a glorious piece after the war (details please refer to Bernstein explanation to this piece in his Young Person's Concert).

The Brahms No.4 was a piece that demonstrated the high quality of VPO's strong brass and woodwinds sections. Gergiev was putting a lot to it and the opening's rubato was so good that I think it was comparable to Carlos Kleiber's version, which I listened to prior to the concert.

The encores were a Hungarian Dance and one of those Strauss's Waltzes. The orchestra seemed to be enjoying their music making as they smiled to each other when playing the Walze.

I look forward to attending the second night of the concert, because I shall be sitting in a better location tonight.

Thousand Mountain I Go Alone

Went to see 萬世歌王 yesterday afternoon. It lasted for more than 3 hours. Can't say it was brilliant, but it was a sincere production. It raised some big issues about life and challenged some values of Hong Kong people. For the gags and funny part, the most impressive bit was that 詹瑞文 sang a song with lyrics taken from the newspaper in a casual manner. Another bit was he translated the Chinese song "Chor Lau Heung" into English. If you know the song, the effect is really funny. He actually sang it with the audience:

《 千山我獨行》 Thousand Mountain I Go Alone

和唱 Chrous 啊………….啊……………… Ah!……………….Ah! (請用英文式Ah! xD )

湖海洗我胸襟 Ocean wash my heart and chest
河山飄我影蹤 Mountain float my shadow
雲彩揮去卻不去 Colour clouds want to go don't go
贏得一身清風 Win a body clean wind
塵沾不上心間 The dust never touch my heart
情牽不到此心中 Emotion never to my soul
來得安去也寫意 Come and go feeling comfortable
人生休說苦痛 Don't say life is painful
聚散匆匆莫牽掛 Easy come and easy go
未記風波中英雄勇 Don't remember the trouble hero made
就讓浮名 輕拋劍外 Just let big names passed away
千山我獨行 不必相送 Thousand Mountain I Go Alone

Overall a good show. Value for money if you bought the $180 tickets. I am going to see his other production 男人之虎 in two weeks.

有冇人記得呢個Ad?

"妙巴, 我地一齊黎do ah!" I remember it was a soft drink ad.

Wolfgang Schneiderhan - Concertos Box Set

I have bought this CD set from HMV Japan. The pieces chosen here were just perfect - they include the violin concertos of Vivaldi, Tartini, Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Bruch, Mozart, Mendelssohn and Martin. Schneiderhan's Beethoven Violin Concerto is renowned for its high standard and its beautiful phrasing (Jochum as conductor). Although the Beethoven in this box set was conducted by Paul van Kempen, I don't mind getting it. I was impressed by his Beethoven Sonatas, which I bought from HMV Hong Kong at a price of HKD65 (3CDs) the other day. I am very much looking forward to listening to other pieces he played.

Concert: Shostakovich Cello Concerto No.1

Went to HK Sinfonietta's concert yesterday. I bought the ticket mainly for the cello concerto, because it is one of favourite cello concertos. The soloist was Pieter Wispelwey. He is a Dutch cellist at the age of 44. I never heard of him, but he has recorded quite a number of CDs for Channel Classics. He played the piece quite vibrantly, and HK Sinfonietta, under the baton of Daniel Raiskin, was full of sparks. The horn, which has an important part in the cello concerto, was less than satisfactory. I think it has to be improved. Wispelwey was techincally quite capable, but I would like him to be more reflective, especially in the slow movement. His encore was, I believe, from Bach's Cello Suite, and it was magnificently played. I bought his Bach CD afterwards. I listened to it this morning, and it was different compared with other recordings that I have (Ma, Rostropovich, Maisky (both old and new recordings), Starker). It is wonderful to find something new in such a familiar work.

I only stayed for the first half of the concert, as Dvorak Sym No 7 was not my cup of tea. The concert hall was 80% full last night. Not bad for HK Sinfonietta.

給未來的自己寫信

There has been a hot topic in various blogs: 給童年的自己寫信. Many people have written their letters. I think this is a brilliant idea. Reminiscence is always something I like (a sign of aging). But then I think a more fruitful letter would be to write to our future self. This would create a space for us to think about how we are going to live.

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寫給十年後自己的信

Hi Andy,

How are you getting on? This sounds like a casual greeting, but I am really interested in how you have been doing. By the way, I am you but at the age of 35.

I hope you still manage to find the time to read, listen to music, etc. I hope you are still enjoying life. I hope you still have a kind heart, still have the passion to help those who are in need. I hope you have become more mature in the past 10 years.

You are now 45 and should now be in a role that can affect more people than you did 10 years ago in your career. I hope you have been a humble servant to the one you lead. Be a leader breeder, not a leader blocker. You have become aware of this since ten years ago. I hope you have not forgotten it on your way.

Do not forget to spend time with your family members, be it your wife, your kids, your sisters, your parents (if they are still there).

You have been seeking for improvement in the past ten years. I hope you have realised by now that those efforts put in were not wasted. You should have become a more mature person having a higher EQ in stressful situations. How are you coping with pressure? Remember you had some struggles in bringing home the problems from your work?

Do you still remember the worries that you had 10 years ago? I hope when you look back, you would laugh at them and think why you spent so much time worrying about those things and allowed youselves to be troubled by them. You should have come to realise that worries do not add much value and there are things that you have no control in your life. So the best solution is to leave them to God and just do your best.

You still remember the time when you thought you wanted to prove yourself to other people? We always want to let other people know that we are competent, smart and superior. You came to realise that there are things you are just not good at, and you are just another ordinary person that was endowed with some gifts. These gifts should not be the basis on which you value yourself. Instead, how you interact with others, how you live your life, how you help others finding their path, etc, are the important things in life.

Although other people might perceive you to be a cocky person, some people do find it easy to share with you because you are a good listener. Make use of this gift and help others along the way. There is no better serving than letting others know they are valuable and they are not alone. Most importantly, there is true Love in this world.

I truly hope that you would continue to live a focused life and you would be able to return to the right path when you drift away. I am sure God would constantly remind you along the way.

Keep up the good work.

Andy at 35.