Bullshit corner in Stirling

I like traditional pubs or bars where no music is played. Maybe nowadays people just fancy something that would split their ears, but head-banging music is definitely not my cup of tea. I don't wish to shout at each other against the ever bombarding loud music to make the conversation audible.

Moreover, people in the traditional pub are more friendly. Barmen or barmaids always remember your name and favourite drink; sometimes before you actually order, a pint is ready for you.

Port Customs Bar used to be my local when I studied in Stirling. During my short visit in Stirling, I managed to spend a Saturday afternoon to have several pints of my favourite Balhaven and to catch up with old friends there.

Everything looks pretty much the same as before, except a few interesting plates added. I discovered the BULLSHIT CORNER when Sandy, a Scottish gentleman who took me to the wonderful world of Glenmorangie four years ago, told me that I was allowed to bullshit at the BULLSHIT CORNER.

Fanne has just bought a flat and we are hoping to move in in early October. It may be a good idea to have such a plate on one corner of the kitchen island.

The falling green man in Stirling

I've been back in Taiwan for two weeks. Although there is certainly so much to say about the short visit to Britain, I'm just too busy, as well as too lazy, to write down everything again on my blog. How can I manage to copy to this blog everything I have recorded in my handwritten diary? Tough.

Anyway, there are still some interesting stories worthy of writing down. The first would be a pedestrian crossing signal in Stirling. Before getting to the point, I shall begin with the walking green man in Taiwan.

Like those in many cities in the world, a set of pedestrian crossing signals in Taiwan consists of two panels, showing a standing red man and a walking green man respectively.

However, instead of being a still depiction, the green walking man on the signal panel in Taiwan does walk. It is animated. The device was designed by a team led by Ms Lin Liyu (林麗玉), the then Dep Commissioner of Taipei City Dept of Transportation, in 1999.

Moreover, when the green man starts walking, the top panel becomes a countdown timer displaying the seconds remaining until the next 'stop' signal comes on. In the last 10 seconds, the green man even speeds up to remind the pedestrians to do the same.


(Note how the green man speeds up in the last 10 seconds.)

In Stirling, as in other places in Britain, a lot of crossings are equipped with ordinary 'red man/green man' signals, but the one in front of Stirling Railway Station is absolutely hilarious. The illuminated green symbol is in some way tilted and looks as if the green man is about to slip and fall over.

I believe the falling green man has been there since I went to Stirling for my doctoral study in 2002. It was there when I left for Taiwan in summer 2007 and it is still there today. It really brings to my mind the little falling man in the yellow 'slippery floor' warning sign.

Wei to visit Cambridge and Stirling

Having left Britain for more than two years, I am about to visit this country again. I miss so much the pubs, cold weather, unexpected heavy rains, fierce gales, bloody crows squawking at 4.00 o'clock in summer, depressing darkness at 16.00 in winter and, above all, the friends who have supported me in all aspects of life in this distant land.

I will land in London on the 5th of August then take the train to Stirling on the 6th. After packing up my stuff left in the former landlady's attic and singing with the Choir of the Church of the Holy Rude in a Sunday service, I will travel down to Cambridge to visit Yung-Yao, the best man. I shall return to Taipei on the 15th.

Unfortunately, and surprisingly as well, Fanne is not going, because she is pregnant and advised not to take long-haul flights during the first three months of pregnancy. Yes, I am a prospective father now. Although I am on myself this time, I believe in the near future I will take my child to the distant land where once I have worked so hard.

The three minds unattainable

While I have been pondering over the question raised in the previous post all the night, on facebook Connie has already made a comment on it. She contends:

there is no such experience which is identical to another in my life so far.

Upon reading her remark, a passage from Section XVIII in the Buddhist text Diamond Sutra (originally वज्रच्छेदिकाप्रज्ञापारमितासूत्र Vajracchedikā-prajñāpāramitā-sūtra in Sanskrit, and known as 金剛經 Jingang jing in Chinese) came to my mind:

[Buddha said] it is impossible to retain past mind, impossible to hold on to present mind, and impossible to grasp future mind.

Based on what I studied more than one decades ago, these few words suggests that the mind is in all places and present at all times, yet it is in no places and is present at no time. The mind is formless and therefore no one can locate the mind from the past, present or future. Everything, including our experience of suffering and happiness, is nothing but the projection of our mind.

There is no such experience which is identical to another in our life, because we can never stay in the past, present or future. What an aphorism from Connie!

Does everyone chase something of a life time?

Yesterday many people in Asia saw the longest total solar eclipse of the century. Many scientists, amateur stargazers, as well as those who just wanted to catch up on the fashion, travelled far to India, China or Japan to join people their see the eclipse, which lasted over six minutes at its maximum point.

As only a partial eclipse was visible in Taipei, I did not see the 'total solar eclipse of a lifetime', as some witnesses described. However, the phrase 'of a lifetime' poses a question to me: Is it really necessary to chase something of a lifetime? Is there anything that does not occur more than once in my life?

I shall think about it tonight.

Can't be bothered to maintain another blog

It's almost the end of the academic year 2008; 2009 is coming on the 1st of August. I was reorganising all sorts of article files in my computer, which happens regularly, more or less twice a semester. I suppose it is human nature to categorise things into groups, either for preservation and easy reference or due to obsession with order.

The re-sorting process usually takes a couple of hours, even a whole afternoon because sometimes it is difficult and thus time-consuming to decide to which folder an article should be assigned. However, another reason for the slow process is that from time to time I would be distracted by some entertaining or inspiring items, which I just can't ignore but have to read again.

I found an interesting item about blogging, which I collected last October from a BBC blog site. The author argues that although 'Twitter, Flickr and Facebook make blogs look so 2004', what we are seeing now is 'the development of a mixed economy, where blogging has many forms, professional, amateur, micro and mega.'

I don't mind if, as he points out, 'our attention span is now so short that we can't read more than the 140 characters in a Tweet or the one line status update you see on Facebook', but I would definitely be drained of physical as well as mental resources if, in response to friends' kind invitations, I joined all the social networking websites, added all the third-party applications, played all the mini-games and updated my personal profiles and whereabouts.

I've joined MySpace, then Facebook, then Windows Live Spaces and then Wretch (a Taiwanese community website), and turned down invitations to Twitter and Plurk.

I feel uncomfortable to sign up for a networking site, a community or a blog site but dismiss it later. As a result, what I would do now is creating an entry or simply giving a line beneath the title banner, for example:

I don't use Windows Live Space. Visit my blog at Blogger.

or

Just can't be bothered to maintain another blog. Interested to know more about me? Check out Principal Wei's Weblog.

I am sure there will be more online social network services featuring more unprecedented applications, but I don't think I would follow the trend.

It's good to be recognised

My parents used to tell me when I was a child that modesty is a virtue and we should not show excessive pride and self-satisfaction in our achievements.

However, I, as a little boy, just didn't understand, if modesty is a virtue, why people displayed their award certificates, banners or medals in their offices and drawing rooms and even had 'winner of certain stuff' printed on their business card.

I suppose, although modesty is a virtue, it is quite appropriate to let others know that our efforts has met with success. It is also important to remind others that we are formally recognised for something we have achieved and reliable in the field of a particular profession so that they may seek help from us when necessary.

I have taught at National Taiwan University for three terms since Spring 2008. Adjunct assistant professor as I am, I spend a lot of time in course planning, updating course content and offering students instructive guidance. Sometimes Fanne even complains that I spend far more time with students than with her.

However, hard work pays off. The course I offered in Autumn 2008, 'Musical Cultures Around the Globe', is selected as 'distinguished general education course, autumn 2008'. I received an award certificate from the university president yesterday and then gave a presentation on my course design and teaching approaches.

I've never received any award in public since I left primary school, nor have I ever dreamed that I would received an award after I become a 'teacher'. Although mum would probably say that I should be modest about this, I just want to say that modesty is a virtue but it's good to be recognised.

Por una cabeza—original by Carlos Gardel

(Carlos Gardel singing 'Por una cabeza' in Tango Bar)

Here comes the original version recorded by Carlos Gardel in 1935 for his last film Tango Bar. Read the words below (English translation quoted from Planet Tango) while listening to the historical recordings and you'll have a better idea what this song is about.

Por una cabeza de un noble potrillo que justo en la raya afloja al llegar y que al regresar parece decir: no olvidés, hermano, vos sabés, no hay que jugar... Por una cabeza, metejón de un día, de aquella coqueta y risueña mujer que al jurar sonriendo, el amor que está mintiendo quema en una hoguera todo mi querer. Por una cabeza todas las locuras su boca que besa borra la tristeza, calma la amargura. Por una cabeza si ella me olvida qué importa perderme, mil veces la vida para qué vivir... Cuántos desengaños, por una cabeza, yo jugué mil veces no vuelvo a insistir pero si un mirar me hiere al pasar, su boca de fuego, otra vez, quiero besar. Basta de carreras, se acabo la timba, un final reñido yo no vuelvo a ver, pero si algún pingo llega a ser fija el domingo, yo me juego entero, qué le voy a hacer.

Losing by a head of a noble horse who slackens just down the stretch and when it comes back it seems to say: don't forget brother, You know, you shouldn't bet. Losing by a head, instant violent love of that flirtatious and cheerful woman who, swearing with a smile a love she's lying about, burns in a blaze all my love. Losing by a head there was all that madness; her mouth in a kiss wipes out the sadness, it soothes the bitterness. Losing by a head if she forgets me, no matter to lose my life a thousand times; what to live for? Many deceptions, loosing by a head... I swore a thousand times not to insist again but if a look sways me on passing by her lips of fire, I want to kiss once more. Enough of race tracks, no more gambling, a photo-finish I'm not watching again, but if a pony looks like a sure thing on Sunday, I'll bet everything again, what can I do?

Por una cabeza—the song version

(My first attempt to sing Carlos Gardel's all-time classic 'Por una cabeza' with two students from the Graduate Institute of Musicology, NTU, Madan on the piano and Jingting playing the harmonica.)

'Por una cabeza' and 'La cumparsita' are probably the two most famous and recognisable tango pieces of all time. While the latter was just a song written by the Uruguayan musician Gerardo Matos Rodríguez in 1917, the former was originally a song recorded for the 1935 film Tango Bar with its music by Carlos Gardel and lyrics by Alfredo Le Pera.

Most people came to know 'La cumparsita' through numerous small ensemble or larger orchestral rearrangements on various occasions and 'Por una cabeza' particularly from film scenes such as those from Scent of a Woman and True Lies. Wherever we encounter these two pieces, they are usually, if not always, rendered by instruments and seldom performed with their original lyrics.

I have found the original historical score, with lyrics, of 'Por una cabeza' on the fantastic TodoTango for about ten years since the site launched, but never had the opportunity to sing it to some instrumental accompaniment. Last week I presented the song at the welcome reception of the Graduate Institute of Musicology, NTU.

It was my first-ever attempt to show the original song version of this all-time classic. I found it so difficult to interpret the song in the way Carlos Gardel did, singing behind the beat, to allow an expressive quickening or slacking without altering the overall pace. This style can also be heard in many recordings of famous crooners such as Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby and Nat King Cole, who mastered the art of the rubato to phrase a melodic line while telling a lyrical story.

I don't think I've got the talent to sing like Nat King Cole. However, we should try more times in the future and see how we can hold the voice and instruments together in the way we hear in Gardel's historical recordings. After all, a lot of tango pieces are actually songs which should be crooned out rather than just played on the instruments.

I was wrong and Haägen-Dazs is never Scandinavian

Since I met Häagen-Dazs, the ice cream, more than 20 years ago, I have held a firm belief, without conscious reasoning and supportive evidence, that it is imported from Denmark. Not until yesterday did I learn that it has actually no connection with any Scandinavian country, nor is the brand name of any Scandinavian origin.

Having not dined out for quite a while, Fanne and I invited Dad to Korean BBQ at the food court in Shin Kong Mitsukoshi (新光三越), Xinyi New Life Square (信義新天地) near Taipei 101. As it almost hit 33 °C yesterday, I proposed to have some ice cream for pudding on our way back home to finish this hot day. We then walked to the next building in the complex and gave ourselves a treat at Häagen-Dazs.

When I was busy shovelling down the classic rum raisin, Dad posed a question to us: 'Where is Häagen-Dazs from?' Because my belief of Häagen-Dazs's Danish origin was just a preconception, I could not offer my father a definite answer.

After consulting its Official Site, I realised that Häagen-Dazs is a brand of ice cream created by a Polish couple, Reuben and Rose Mattus, in The Bronx, New York in 1961, and the brand name is simply formed of two made-up words which give a Scandinavian impression.

These two invented words really piqued my curiosity and therefore I dieceded to look for some theory for product naming.

In a long forgotten textbook on advertising management, which I haven't read since I received MBA in 1999, I found 'foreign branding', an advertising/marketing strategy in which foreign or foreign-sounding names are given to a product or service to influence consumer perceptions and attitudes by evoking connotations of foreignness and its implied cachet or superiority.

That's it. It reminds me of Elvis Castillo's classic 'She'. Things may not be what they may seem inside their shells. Häagen-Dazs is not derived from any Scandinavian word, I was simply beguiled by the Polish couple who created the brand, as well as, of course, the product's super-premium quality.