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The Essential & The Non-Essential...pieces of Jay's mind. Read at your own risk. The content may not be suitable for children 2009/9/6 Music of Movies at Hollywood Bowl 090509Last night I had a chance to enjoy the lengendary composer John Williams conducting LA Philharmonic at the historic Hollywood Bowl. Already a fan of his movie scores, especially Star Wars, I had to come.
We decided to try our luck at the Hollywood Bowl ticket office buying tickets, and it was pretty much sold out, especially in the last sections where tickets are cheaper. Gladly there were a pair of $36 tickets open in the mid section, and they were relatively good seats with fair visibility and good sound quality, and there was a jumbotron right in front of us.
  After conducting the orchestra on Star-Spangled Banner, John Williams introduced actress Lynn Redgrave, who would narrate the introduction of each Harry Potter scores. As it turned out, the first 45 minutes of the performance were spent on Harry Potter music. I felt kinda bummed out, and thought majority of the audience did too (an OK applause afterwards) ... We don't care about Harry Potter! Let's get on to the serious stuff.
  John Williams and Lynn Redgrave
 In the lower right hand corner, I thought the profile of the guy looks exactly like Harrison Ford in tuxedo from Indiana Jones & the Temple of Doom!
After the intermission, John Williams opened with a medley of some of the popular and familiar movie tunes, which was entertaining and a nod to some movie classics. The medley was followed by the suite from Catch Me If You Can, which was directed by Steven Spielberg. John Williams joked that his frequent collaboration with Spielberg was like "a marriage without arguments." It hit home with some of the older audience (and me) when they played "As Time Goes By" from the classic Casablanca, with violin solo by lead violinist Bing Wang. After a couple of theme songs, theme from Superman looked like the piece to close the show.
Just as I thought this was going to be a disappointing way to leave the show, John Williams came back from backstage for the encore, saying "here is a gift to my 800 year old friend," and the audience (incredibly many Star Wars fans) went into thunderous cheer, whipping out their lightsabers and waving in the air. Then the Yoda theme was softly played out in front of us. I had so much goose bumps that you wouldn't believe.
 A sea of lightsabers
When it was finished, John Williams turned around and led the orchestra for a thanks-bow. He saw and acknowledged a large presence of Star Wars fans waving the lightsabers by waving his baton. He left for backstage, and was welcomed back by standing ovation, and then the emotion boiled higher when the opening theme and Imperial March from Star Wars were played. The audience wanted more, but finally he showed a sleeping gesture as it was too late. The encore ran probably 20 more minutes, in addition to the 2 hour show. This is a holy grail for the Star Wars fans, including myself, to see the master conducting his own music that made the movies great. Worth every penny.
Samples of the night from a Youtube source
(More pictures can be found in my blog album) 2009/8/5 It takes a ClintonHow heroic is that... to secure the release of two US journalists who allegedly entered North Korea illegally and were sentenced to 12 year labor? From the outside, it looked like Former President Clinton single-handedly broke them out of the prison. But the truth is, it must have taken months of negotiations back and forth between US and North Korea, and have Clinton meet with Kim Jong Il and reap the fruit of the months-long peace talk. What went on there behind the scene perhaps only the VIPs would know. But it made Bill Clinton damn sexy doing that, and reminded me of Harrison Ford the kick-ass president in Air Force One.
I feel a Hollywood movie coming up.
 2009/7/11 身騎白馬突然在東森看到這首新歌的幕後花絮. 在聽詞曲的過程中, 有一股莫名的感動, 讓即使從未經歷如此的人, 能感受其意境.
全新打造的「身騎白馬」完整版，由徐佳瑩和音樂製作人蘇通達再度合力操刀。為了打造古 調與流行音樂的不可能，製作人蘇通達大膽巧妙地將電音、國樂和管弦樂並置，鮮明的層次 成功地營造戲劇張力，極具衝突卻能引發一股入耳的感動。這首歌不但傳達了一個平凡女生 義無反顧追求愛情、追求夢想的勇敢與孤獨，也更像是徐佳瑩為了音樂勇往直前孤身北上的 真實寫照。音樂錄影帶由黃中平導演執導，沒有煽情的劇情、沒有華麗的包裝，平實且誠懇 的視覺風格將徐佳瑩的素人情感傳達得淋漓盡致。
p.s 歌仔戲中的男女主角最後相聚.
2009/7/2 What a gloomy month that wasJune 2009 probably had the highest concentration of depressing events (at least personally) in my life so far. In chronological order:
1. Heard from the program of the rejection. The R word is something I'd admit that grew on me after graduation, sadly.
2. My default favorite hockey team Red Wings got their wings clipped in the 7th and final game of Stanley Cup in which they were favored to win.
3. Shocked to find out that my landlady suddenly passed away at the age of 49. She was a good-hearted person who loved God and helped people in any way she could.
4. Learned some news that was disappointing and felt like my past effort went to waste, that I'd rather not state here.
5. Deadly week for celebrities. Among the names like Farrah Fawcett and Billy Mays, Michael Jackson stood out just because he was the King of Pop. His death garnered the most unprecedented public reaction since maybe Princess Di or Elvis.
I believe I am past all that, and life is too short to dwell on the bad news!
2009/6/25 The King of Pop diesThe King of Pop Michael Jackson died today at the age of 50. Early in the afternoon there were reports that he was not breathing at his home and suffering from cardiac arrest, and was sent to UCLA Ronald Reagan Medical Center. Working across the road from the hospital, basically at ground zero, we heard the helicopters and sirens outside the window. It only drew more and more crowd when the news broke that he was dead. When I got out of work, there were cars cruising by Westwood that blasted Billie Jean out loud, just to celebrate and remember this great icon in our generation.
Michael Jackson went from a child star of Jackson 5, revolutionized the rock/pop music and soared to superstardom in the music industry. I remember it was a big deal that he went on the world tour and came by Taiwan back then. Years later, he became the laughing stock of late night talk shows for his ever-changing appearances, scandals of child molestation, and money trouble that forced the auction of his Neverland Ranch. The dream of his comeback concerts in England unfortunately died with him today.
Thanks for all the good music, Michael.
 2009/5/30 You can't always get what you wantThough I have been mentally prepared for this, yesterday when I learned that the admission to the program has been denied, there was still an inevitable sighing and a great sense of disappointment. Knowing what I am up against and that this will be highly competitive, these months I've been trying not to build up expectation and telling myself that the chance could be slim. Still, the competitiveness in me told me otherwise.
I prayed to God and Dad to give me strength when the truth comes, and I think He is doing just that. I think that each person has his own fate, and maybe this is a divine way of telling me I am not ready yet.
Lately I suspect there's a spider that nests behind my driver's side view mirror. The spider kept webbing and webbing on the mirror and I haven't seen any catches on the web. I doubt it will ever get any food at that location. The more I destroy its web, the more stubborn the spider will get to reconstruct its survival tool.
Then it dawned on me that, the spider and its web is such a perfect life lesson on perseverance. Failures are ingredients of success, and I am putting the past behind me and looking forward.
2009/5/16 ILVTOFUThis license plate letter arrangement requested by a vegetarian person to the state of Colorado, was rejected for its ambiguity for it can be extremely vegan, or provocatively suggestive...
 2009/4/21 Yes ManJim Carrey's latest comedy romance movie Yes Man tells a story of Carl, who's always passive and negative, and who joins a personal development program where saying yes to everything is the key to a better life - even agreeing to doing crazy and outrageous things. In spite of the things that he says Yes to could have gone way wrong, he suddenly finds his life with a positive outlook, and inadvertently gets a job promotion and a girlfriend.
I couldn't agree more with the notion that a successful life, business, or peaceful state of mind is driven by positivity. When it comes to a decision point, the moment that you think on the bright side there will be many opportunities and pathways opening up. You'd get more options, and following them could potentially lead you to great results, or pleasant surprise that you might never have dreamed of otherwise.
The world would be a better place if we all open our hearts a bit and stop being negative. Let's be Yes Man.
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