Here comes Bollywood!

(Paper label of one of the Bollywood records I bought, with the song title Dil me chupa ke)

I'm so glad that the two 78s records I bought from eBay arrived today, just before the weekend and very much earlier than I expected. The seller, based in India, stated on his eBay page that international delivery would usually take 20 days, but the records came in 10 days.

They are definitely going to be the focus of the micro-soundscape in the Chen family this weekend.

The four songs on the two records I received today are from Aan (आन, pride), a Hindi musical film which features an acclaimed soundtrack of ten songs. Among these four my favourite is 'Dil me chupa ke' (roughly translated as 'Hidden in my heart') sung by the famous playback singer Mohammed Rafi.

Listen to it; it's absolutely fantabulous. It really made my day.




(DVD available on WebMall India)

For those who are interested in what the song is actually about, please refer to the transliterated lyrics and translation, quoted as in Desi Film & Music - Bollywood Songs Lyrics.


Dil Mein Chupake Pyar ka Toofan le Chale
Keeping it secret in my heart, I am carrying the storms of my love

Hum aaj appni mauth ka samaan le chale
today I am carrying the ingredients/power of my death

Mauth ka samaan le chale
Carrying the tools/ingredients of my death

Dil mein Chupake Pyar ka Toofan Le Chale
Hidden in my heart, I am carrying the storms of love


Ha Ha Ha AAA
Mit ta hein kaun dekhiye ulfat ki raah mein
Let's see who gets destroyed in the pathways to love/friendship

Ulfat ki raah mein
in the pathways of love

Mit ta hei kaun dekhiye ulfat ki raah mein
Woh le Chale hein aan to ham jaan le chale
he is taking the oath so I am taking the life/soul

Maut ka Saman le chale
carring the power of death

Dil Mein...
in my heart


Ha Ha Ha AAA
Manzil pe hoga Fasla Kismat ke Khel ka
At the destination there may be distances for the games of destiny

Kismat ke Khel ka
for the games played by destiny

Manzil pe hoga Fasla kismat ke khel ka
Kare jo dil ka khoon wo
He who kills the heart

Meheman le Chale
am Taking that visitor along

Maut ka saman le chale
carrying the tool of my death

Dil Mein...
in my heart

Our first-ever HMV gramophone at home

Just as a Chinese saying goes, 'Even the cleverest housewife cannot cook a meal without rice (巧婦難為無米之炊),' so I deem that a well preserved and properly serviced vintage gramophone cannot demonstrate its magic capacity of sound reproduction without a 78s record.

Although having long ago finished a doctoral thesis on popular music in 1930s and 1940s Shanghai and still conducting researches on music in the first half of the twentieth centry, I've never thought of having a gramophone at home until about three weeks ago.

Somehow, I was convinced that there should be a gramophone at home. Thus, I place a bid on eBay and won an HMV 101 portable immdiately after returning from the holiday in Britain. The machine arrived in great condition last Friday.

However, I couldn't operate it in the first place. The turntable did 'turn', but no music would come out as I had no records to play. Fortunately, two 78s records I bought from, again, eBay arrived yestday after a long wait.

This morning, while playing a record with my son in my arms stunned by the marvelous talking machine, the image of this most recognised dog in the world surfaced on my mind.


(Image taken from Wikimedia Commons)

Whereas in the painting, on which the HMV logo was based, the dog Nipper was listening to 'his master's voice' coming out through the horn of a wind-up gramophone, at Principle Wei's home, the father and son were watching the magic machine delivering the Hebrew folk song 'Hava Nagila'.


(The vintage Decca 78s produced in the 1940s—the first record purchased in my life and the first one played on this machine at my home)

We're on VOGUE cover

Fanne was out of town on business for four days and therefore I played single fahter again. She returned home yesterday.

To make up for the family time we had lost when Fanne was away, we went to a department store on Sunday afternoon.

By chance VOGUE was, in association with some makeup brands, holding an event, in which customers who spent more than certain amount of money were offered a professional photo shoot for free.

As Fanne splurged a lot to replenish the empty drawers of her dressing table with tonnes of cleansers, lotions and cream, we were eligible for such a photography service.

So, we're on VOGUE cover (well, actually 'against' VOGUE wall).

Another tough academic year head

Time flies; it's September 2010, only two weeks away from the new semester. My schedule was so tight during summer break that I just cannot believe I have already had a two-month summer break.

I received an award for the course I offered in Autumn 2009, 'Musical Cultures Around the Globe', the same thing I had received in 2008—'distinguished general education course'.

I was also, probably because of the award, requested to offer the same course in the whole July in certain summer college, organised by my University in collaboration with other twelve universities in North Taiwan. Thus, apart from those from my University, there were some more external students to look after.

All hard work paid off. I received the best score in a course evaluation among all the courses offered at the end of the summer college, and was invited to deliver a speech on teaching skills and course planning to other teachers in a symposium in November.

Immediately after the summer course, I flew back with Fanne and Ronne to Britain for in early August Ronne's christening, and thereafter travelled to Korea in late August to present a paper in a conference for East Asian musics.

After all these summer tasks were completed, I was notified yesterday that the long-promised TWD 2 million grant was finally confirmed (what a bloody long procedure and thus a bloody long wait) and is coming in mid September. The long waiting times once made me so nervous and insecure that at one point I thought the grant had been nullified, when misreading an announcement of certain grant results and not able to spot the project title on the list.

Right, more money is coming and so is more pressure. Since it's an industry-academia collaboration project, we have to work closely with IT engineers and programmers of our industry partner, and at the same time I will be teaching two courses. Moreover, as the grant is for the employment of more research assistants (not funding towards my own salary!), I will be busy producing a lot of contract renewal paperwork near the year end.

Hjckrrh, I don't think I'm ready for all of these.

How can you read all the texts on screen?

I hadn't had any opportunity to watch news channels or browse news sites over the Internet when I had been in Korea for a conference, from the 24th to 27th of August, so it was particularly touching when I saw this familiar layout of an image on a news channel this afternoon.

There are six news channels over the cable TV network in Taiwan, broadcasting 24 hours a day, 7 days week. As every channel would try its best to offer the general public all sorts of information as much as possible, apart from the news image or clip and the main caption or headline for it, there may also be up to three news tickers running at the same time, together with other information such as date, time and weather forecast on screen.

Sometimes I really wonder if all the audience members have a brilliant command of speed reading or can simply comprehend more than one message thread simultaneously.

Look at this screenshot I took this afternoon, if it was a running video clip rather than a still shot, how many block of texts would you be able to read at once?

I have no idea how a news channel look in Korea, but having left Taiwan for only four days, I really miss those Taiwanes text-overloading news channels.

Same places, one more member

(Mum and Dad with the wee one, southbound platform, Pitlochry Railway Station, August 2010 )


(The newlyweds, southbound platform, Pitlochry Railway Station, June 2007)

Three years after my wedding, I returned to Stirling with my wife and son, and had him baptised in Church of the Holy Rude.

A couple of days before the baptism, we managed to visit again Pitlochry, the town where we spent our honeymoon, and took several photos at the same spots where we had taken some during the honeymoon.

Do Mum and Dad look any different?


(Mum and Dad with the wee one, Moulin Inn, Pitlochry, August 2010 )


(The newlyweds, Moulin Inn, Pitlochry, June 2007)

On Polaroid: feast at the end of the semester

I should have posted this Polaroid photo earlier. Although compared with a digital photo, its resolution is definitely much lower, I just love its aged texture.

Since I started my full-time postdoctoral job in 2009, I have been inviting members in my database construction team to a feast at the end of every semester, and sometimes sort of fellowship dinner during the semester as well, in return for their hard work and to encourage teamwork cohesion. Most of the time, research assistants who share the same office with us would also join us.

After Ronne was born in early March, I have to go home on time every weekday to cook dinner and share child care responsibilities with Fanne, and spare the weekend for families, so no dinner event was held during the spring semester 2010.

However, I managed to gather my team members and some colleagues to have a good feed at a Cantonese restaurant on the 29th of July, about a week before I flew to Britain.

Pei-Hsiu, an alumna of our graduate institute, offered one of her last three Polaroid instant films, which have been discontinued, to capture the image of these well pleased folks. A nice shot, isn't it?

Three-year-old wedding cake ready to be served again

(Lovely small two-layered wedding cake, Church of the Holy Rude, 23 June 2007)

It's about the halfway point of the summer vacation and I've just finished a one-month intensive summer course on musical cultures around the globe. After working industriously on my own project and the summer course for a whole month, I am ready to take a vacation to Britain.

When Fanne and I were married in the Church of the Holy Rude, we were told that the top layer of the wedding cake had to be saved for the christening. Margaret, my former landlady, kindly kept it in her deep freezer for us and now it is going to be re-iced and decorated by Tricia, the lady who made it for us three years ago.

In the past, it was popular to have a three-layered wedding cake: the bottom layer served in the reception, the second distributed to the guests and the top saved for the christening. However, as nowadays the wedding is not necessarily associated with the first child's christening, although multi-layered wedding cakes are still in vogue, the top layer may be saved for the couple's first anniversary, or simply eaten up after the ceremony.

I am so glad that we follow the tradition. The top layer will be served after the baptism.

I also feel so privileged that we could be married in the church where Jame VI, the last King of Scots, had been crowned and that my son is going to be baptised in the same church.

Sinister expression on Ronne's face

There must have been something wrong with the camera, or probably with the light, room temperature, relative humidity, air pressure, et cetera, et cetera. How could my son, who is four and a half months old, look into the lens with such a sinister expression on his face.

Compared with the one below, this is definitely wicked!

I was told by relatives and friends with children that babies may show their first hints of smile, as a reaction to another person rather than reflex from gas, as early as five weeks, but it becomes more regular by twelve weeks. By six months, most babies would smile at people they know best.

I wonder when a baby starts giving a grudging expression to show disapproval or reluctance, out of will rather than physical needs such as hunger or discomfort.

'Nobel Laureate only' parking space

This is not news, but is new to me.

The sign seems to have been there since late 2007, shortly before I was hired as an adjunct assistant professor at National Taiwan University. However, I only came to know this yesterday through a non-NTU student who is in the course I am running for the summer college.

As there is only one among the academic staff at National Taiwan University, Prof Yuan Tseh Lee, who has ever won a Nobel Prize, this location is absolutely reserved for Professor Lee.

Such a reserved parking space once aroused criticism. Some considered it a waste of space because Prof Lee (a part-time distinguished research chair rather than a full-time fellow) only came to the campus occasionally and there were more who badly needed it.

Well, I don't think it is something entirely nonsensical as there is a similar policy at UC Berkely. Nevertheless, I suppose the parking authority there is obviously much less verbose than that at NTU.


(image from National Public Radio News)