Ever, Forever

"Up" and Ravel

What can the Pixart movie "Up" connect to Ravel Piano Concerto??

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The monologue music in the movie "Up" instantly reminded me the 2nd movement of Ravel Piano Concerto in G major.

The atmosphere of melancholy, while the old man realized that he never made the dream of going to Paradise Fall come true, and while he was reading the Adventure Book belonging to his beloved wife, eventually, he was conscious of the fact that....her dream was no longer going to Paradise Fall long time ago, it has been living a happy life with him.

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Ravel's Piano Concerto in G major was composed during 1929-31, after his tour to US. There Ravel was heavily influenced by what was fashioned- Jazz Music, including the harmonies and jazz vocabularies.

If you are interested in other Ravel's compositions with jazz elements, check his Sonata for Violin and Piano, and his one-act opera L'enfant et les sortilèges (1925).

For more information, check this.

Here and There

How do we define different periods in life?

by place?

by certain event ?

or by someone?

Memory Assembling

How long does it take to assemble memories together?

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puzzle 1:Months ago, a friend took me to a local shoes shop which I loved very much, rarely high quality and genuine leather can be found elsewhere. Sadly, I was never able to find the shop afterwards, and my stupid ego/ laziness also stopped me from asking my friend where exactly it is...

puzzle 2: I had my very first fresh fruit salad and water-boiled only pasta in a shopping mall @ lisbon, where I definitely thought it is impossible to find it on this island. Weeks after, one day I was walking around the city center area, starved and tired, AND, HERE IT IS! The salad shop is right in front of me!

puzzle 3: There is this famous pastry shop in the very center of center in the city where we always wanna go and taste the food, unfortunately, center of center also implies how difficult to find a parking lot, after 5 rounds of driving in the center area, we gave up.

puzzle 4: Recently I have been practicing in this music school in the city, and after getting off the bus, I need to go through the main streets where lots of restaurants and shops locate.

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After all, it took me two months to know....

Pastry shop, Salad shop, and Shoe shop is right next to each other, unfortunate to me, that street happens to be right at the curve point , where you can't see three shops in one straight line.

Bartok and being John Malkovich

Being John Malkovich (1999) is a movie written by Charlie Kaufman, who also wrote "Adaptation" in 2002 and "Synedoch, New York" in 2008.

The story describes a puppeteer, Craig Schwartz (John Cusack), saw a recruitment on the newspaper and went for a company where is located on the seven and half floor.

One day, Craig found a secret way in the file room where goes to the mind of John Malkovich, a famous actor.

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In the film, at the very beginning scene, Craig was manipulating a puppet on the stage in a big theater with Blue velvet curtain. Apparently the story was right on the way to its climax, the puppet seemed to think he was a real person, until he found out someone was actually controlling him. The puppet looked up, and at this moment, he saw Craig! The puppet then broke down, his body collapsed on the floor. He filled with anger, smashed his fists on the mirror...

Music from Bartok Concerto for Orchestra, Allegro perfectly created the atmospheres of anxiety, anger, panic, and shock. Strong Rhythmic Motif is remarkable in Bartok's music, and it articulated the introduction scene of Being John Malkovich.

Exotic: Yamato-e v.s. Eiffel Tower

How often do we have the exotic feelings?

The word "exotic" always reminds me Debussy, a significant French composer, who went to Paris Exposition Universelle (1889), and the impact from there changed his musical style, moving from the influence of Richard Wagner to Eastern element music.

In fact, the most important symbol in this exhibition was the brand-new Eiffel Tower, which served as the entrance in the event.

In there, Debussy was introduced to Gamelan music from Java, where is part of Indonisia. The special pantatonic scale effects inspired him, thus created the impressionistic music.

What about Impressionism in Art?

That was even back then, in Exposition Universelle (1867), japanese woodcut prints (Yamato-e) appeared in Paris, artist like Van Gogh was deeply influenced by its strong contrast in color, the unconstraint from traditional space and three-dimensional perspectives.

Nanny Starbucks

I was calling an internet service company this afternoon.

To be honest, since I moved to Portugal, I haven't heard the American accent for a long long while.... the moment that representative picked up my call, it made me feel like..."damn! I am back to the States!" and...in a good way which never be expected in my life.

The internet service I ordered generally works in all the Hotspot points, and basically, most of Starbucks do have the Hotspot service. Therefore, the guy was pretty confused why I had to close my account if there is not any problem in connecting the WIFI.

"Ma'am, is there any particular reason that you have to close your account?"

"You know this unlimited plan works in any place with Hotspot."

"Sir, hmm...the fact is...I live in Portugal now, and here...they don't really have many Starbucks, not that I can recall.."

The moment I said it out loud, yet, I felt very sad, like an person who was expelled from the civilized world.

Coffee in Portugal is actually tasty and cheap, even the vending machine provides high quality coffee, but the difference is...people here don't hold the paper cup of coffee, walking on the street, chatting with friends or pretending they are busy on the cellphone, "DRINK WHILE MOVING" is definitely a double-NO thing!

In winter, I miss my Starbucks world back in the States sadly....and oddly, I still love coffee here.

All the feeling is simply from a representative from my previous internet service, what can I say?

Admit it, winter does make us feel nostalgic.