18 October 2010

New portrait for Principal Wei's Weblog


(Image created by Davide Lin)

Much the same as the way in which people can create a sonic bricolage by copying, cutting, splicing and overlapping audio files with sound editing software, nowadays people can also manipulate visual images with graphics editing programmes.

This morning when Davide and I talked about the previous post, 'Straighten warped 78s record', on my weblog, he somehow proposed that I should change the age-old portrait, the one with two broccoli spotlights projecting respectively from the two bottom corners, on the website and immediately created a new portrait for me.

I found out later that this portrait was a photoshopped work from a historical portrait of General Phil Sheridan, who, I suppose, never matters to Taiwanese people and is just a figure from Google images when Davide searched for images of 'general' over the internet.

Anyhow, I really appreciate Davide's hard work, although the work of photoshopping might cost him, someone who has a degree in graphic design, only a few minutes. I therefore add this portrait, in addition to the broccoli one, onto my weblog.

17 October 2010

Straighten warped 78s record after recovering from fever




I was struck down with flu in summer 2005 and haven't caught any flu or cold ever since, until three weeks ago this year. I had a fever of 39.5 °C for more than ten days and only recover from it last weekend. According to my doctor, my strong immunity system finally collapsed after a five-year free-from-flu holiday; it's about the time to spend some time in sickbay.

After having a hard, heated time, I was so eager to heat a 78s record.

I bought a 78s record of Cole Porter's 'I Get A Kick Out Of You', delivered by Henry Hall and the BBC Dance Orchestra, and it arrived at my door three weeks ago, just before the flu knocked my out. It was somehow curved and couldn't play smoothly, but I was so debilitated that I couldn't be bothered to mend it.

This morning, I spent half an hour heating the record by waving a running hair dryer around it with a heavy mug in the centre. Fortunately, the warped record was straighten and could play perfectly after all the effort.



I'm so glad the trick works; I've never thought that a 78s record could be fixed in this way. Now I can enjoy 'I Get A Kick Out Of You', originally written for the Broadway musical Anything Goes and the film of the same name.


(Image from IMP Awards)

Here comes what it sings:

I get no kick from Champagne
Mere alchohol doesn't thrill me at all
So tell me why should it be true
That I get a kick out of you

Some get a kick from cocain
I'm sure that if i took even one sniff
That would bore me terrificly too
Yet I get a kick out of you

I get a kick every time I see
You standing there before me
I get a kick though its clear to me
You obviously don't adore me

I get no kick in a plane
Flying too high with some guy in the sky
Is my idea of nothing to do
Yet I get a kick out of you