tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-103381822012-01-14T07:40:35.020+08:00Short Pieces on Various ThemesAlton Thompson 唐博敦http://www.blogger.com/profile/07152271731942218793noreply@blogger.comBlogger3011100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10338182.post-86305570940858609022011-12-12T08:00:00.001+08:002011-12-12T08:00:06.479+08:00<div>Like art and tropical islands? Please give some love to the <b>Alton's Images Photoblog</b> in the <b>2011 Taiwanderful Blog Awards</b>. Just go to the <a href="http://www.taiwanderful.net/taiwanblog/alton-s-images-photoblog">Ai Photoblog</a> entry and click on the box at the upper left under the title. You will see your vote added to the total.<br /><br />Voting takes place December 11-30. The site logs votes once a day from any given computer. Thanks to you this site finished in the Top 3 last year in the Photoblog category--the very first year it existed.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-tGmjtoGc20o/TttXtX54yeI/AAAAAAAABl8/zqvNvDxoqc8/s1600/20091213.leaf.051.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 288px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-tGmjtoGc20o/TttXtX54yeI/AAAAAAAABl8/zqvNvDxoqc8/s400/20091213.leaf.051.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5682231791880554978" /></a><br /><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span></div><div><div>While you're visiting, check out <a href="http://www.taiwanderful.net/">Taiwanderful</a>'s extensive links to <a href="http://www.taiwanderful.net/taiwan-blogs">English-language Taiwan blogs</a>. A variety of categories are represented, including Travel, Language and Education, Politics, Technology and Personal Blogs. You can also locate blogs by region.</div><div><br /></div><div>Thanks for your support!</div><div><br /></div><div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small; "><span class="Apple-style-span"></span><br /></span></div><div><a href="http://altonsimages.tw/" style="font-size: xx-small; ">Alton's Images</a></div></div></div><p><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><span style="font-size:85%;">__________________</span></span></p><p></p><p><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); " ><a target="_blank" href="http://conductorsnotebook.com/" rel="nofollow">Conductor's Notebook</a></span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Taipei, Taiwan<img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10338182-8630557094085860902?l=altonthompson.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Alton Thompsonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10338182.post-431554953067101152011-07-13T09:00:00.010+08:002011-07-13T23:28:27.706+08:00<p></p><p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 13px; ">This week, as <i>Atlantis</i> completes the last shuttle mission, we see many memories being shared. </span></p><p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 13px; ">I've seen shuttle launches, and they're impressive, but the memory that stands out most for me is personal. </span></p><p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 13px; ">I was a new music teacher when Nasa announced its Teacher in Space Project. If you were a teacher, an American citizen, in good health and within a certain age range, you could apply for a seat on a shuttle flight. As a child I had followed every minute of the Apollo moon missions. I had seen every Saturn V leave the pad. Now, as an adult, I had a real shot at being an astronaut. Did I want in? Hell, yes.<br /><br />The odds were long. Over 11,000 people applied nationwide (though I expected a number far higher). Science teachers would be preferred, and I was on the young side of the curve. It came as no surprise when the letter from Nasa came saying that I was out, but that the agency invited me to watch the announcement of the winner on television.<br /><br />The agency made an outstanding choice. I liked the winner right away. She was enthusiastic and had a gift for describing difficult science concepts in clear, engaging ways. She would be terrific on a flight. But now came the surprise. This hurt. A lot. Now that the application process was behind me and I was no longer thinking about doing and saying the right things, I could just feel what I felt. What I felt was wretched. I had wanted this badly. Now it was not only lost, but lost forever. Tomorrow's technology would not arrive fast enough to help me. A door had slammed. I would never fly in space.<br /><br />The winner went with my best wishes for success. But </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 13px; ">I resolved to avoid all news about the flight until it was over. I</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 13px; ">t was her show, not mine, and I didn't have to watch it. I was a musician. Musicians have their own projects and missions and I would see to those now. Music is how I fly.</span></p><p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 13px; ">I was in graduate school when the newspaper arrived one morning with news of the impending launch. A photo of the winning teacher appeared on the front page. She was wearing a flight suit and walking out to the pad with the rest of the crew. The launch was scheduled for later that morning. The story above the fold was the State of the Union address, scheduled for evening broadcast. I left the paper on the table--State of the Union side up--and prepared to step out the door.<br /><br />The phone rang. A musician friend told me to turn on my television. </span></p><p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 13px; ">The story that follows is a story I share with millions. We watched as they played the video over and over. Each time, we hoped that somehow this viewing would be different--that this time nothing would go wrong, this time the ship would climb until it reached orbit. But the video always ended the same way.</span></p><p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 13px; ">STS-51-L is the shuttle mission that will always stand out for me. It's the only space flight I ever had a chance to be on, the only flight I ever tried to ignore, and the flight that carried the astronaut I envied, then mourned, more than any other: Christa McAuliffe of Concord, New Hampshire.<br /><br />A leap into the unknown is exactly that. No one can say what will happen. But you can write this down: Christa McAuliffe took her chance when it arrived. She seized the day.<br /><br />Would I want in again, knowing what I know, if Nasa came around with another opportunity?<br /><br />Hell, yes.</span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Taipei, Taiwan<img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10338182-43155495306710115?l=altonthompson.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Alton Thompsonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10338182.post-85330062578648082312011-05-21T08:00:00.003+08:002011-05-31T05:24:38.768+08:00<span class="long_text short_text" id="result_box" lang="zh-TW" style="font-size: small;"><span class="" title="Alton">邀請您</span><span class="" title="Alton">。 </span></span><span style="font-size: small;">You are invited.</span><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/thompson/3886775183/" title="After Dark by alton.tw, on Flickr"><img alt="After Dark" height="240" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2525/3886775183_cf4c6f43cb_m.jpg" width="136" /></a><br /></span></div><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><i><b><br /></b></i></span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>相遇 Les Rencontres (Encounters)</b></span><b><br />影像．唐伯敦與朋友 Images by Alton Thompson and Friends</b></span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-size: small;">影像展：五月二十一日至六月三十日</span><br /><span style="font-size: small;">A photo exhibit running May 21-June 30</span><br /><span class="text_exposed_show" style="font-size: small;"><b><br /></b></span><br /><div style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="font-size: small;"><i><span class="text_exposed_show">客串艺术家 Guest Artists:</span></i></span></b></span></div><div style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="font-size: small;"><b><span class="text_exposed_show" style="font-size: small;">邱敏芳 Keisha Chiu, 洪恩 Wendy Hung</span></b></span></div><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/thompson/4399986925/" title="Alton: Le Rouge"><img alt="Le Rouge" height="186" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2715/4399986925_fe7895fdda_m.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span><br /><div class="stitle"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br />Le Rouge 義法廚房</b></span></div><span style="font-size: small;"><i>Address: </i>1F.419-6, Section 1 Wenhua Road, Banqiao District, New Taipei </span><br /><span style="font-size: small;">台灣 新北市 文化路一段419-6號1樓</span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><i>Telephone: </i>02 2255 2861</span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><i>Open:</i> daily 8:30 to 22:00 (10:00 pm), until 23:00 (11:00 pm) on Fridays and Saturdays </span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><i>Average meal:</i> NT$250 to NT$500 per person </span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><i>Details: </i>Chinese and English menus. Credit cards accepted. Reservations recommended.</span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><i>Directions:</i></span> <br /><span class="text_exposed_show" style="font-size: small;">Taipei Metro Blue Line<br />Xinpu MRT Station Exit 1<br />Walk left upon leaving the exit.&nbsp;</span><br /><span class="text_exposed_show" style="font-size: small;">In sight: 7-Eleven on the near corner with Starbucks Coffee (recently Dante) on far corner.<br />Le Rouge stands next to Starbucks on the left. </span><br /><span class="text_exposed_show" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-size: small;">各位會員大家好，本月21號(週六)晚上八點我們將在義</span><br /><wbr></wbr><span style="font-size: small;">法廚房舉辦藝術家唐博敦攝影個展開幕酒會。這間餐廳位於</span><wbr></wbr><span style="font-size: small;">新埔捷運站1號出口附近星巴克咖啡店的左邊。藝術家唐博</span><wbr></wbr><span style="font-size: small;">敦誠摯歡迎大家蒞臨共襄盛舉。另外這場活動並不收取任何</span><wbr></wbr><span style="font-size: small;">費用門票等，希望到場參與者別忘點一杯飲料，一同向唐先</span><wbr></wbr><span style="font-size: small;">生祝賀本次展出成功。</span><br /><span class="text_exposed_show"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="http://altonsimages.tw/"> </a></span></span></span><br /><span style="color: #333333;"> <span style="font-size: 85%;">__________________<br /></span></span><br /><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 85%;"><a href="http://altonsimages.blogspot.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Alton's Images Photoblog</a></span><div class="blogger-post-footer">Taipei, Taiwan<img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10338182-8533006257864808231?l=altonthompson.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Alton Thompson 唐博敦http://www.blogger.com/profile/07152271731942218793noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10338182.post-20573949735848115512011-01-15T12:30:00.038+08:002012-01-14T07:40:35.043+08:00<br />Today is the day of the Freshman English Speech Contest. I'm on a college campus in Hualien, Taiwan. The English Club has invited me to help judge the event.<br /><br />I enter a classroom with a window at the back and a cleared area at the front. Students have wedged themselves into every available space, talking in Mandarin and in Taiwanese, jostling and laughing. Calligraphy on a red banner draped at the front of the room proclaims the occasion.<br /><br />Students handle all the tasks. One manages the stopwatch, another sends signals, another announces, another assists judges, another calculates scores. I am guided to the middle seat of three. I recognise the judges on either side of me, both Taiwanese, as language teachers. A student greets us and gives each of us a cup of tea, pens and a sheaf of blank score sheets.<br /><br />The club president, a compact young woman with glasses, steps to the front with a no-nonsense air. The room grows quiet. She explains, in Mandarin, the purposes of the club. She introduces the judges and reviews the rules of the contest.<br /><br />Speakers have a time limit. They get one signal when a minute remains and another when time is up. All contest material comes from books selected by the club. Today's source is&nbsp;<i>Selected Works in the English Language for Oral Presentation.</i><br /><br />The club president exits the stage. The announcer behind me calls out a name.&nbsp;The judge on my right leans in. 'This is our first contestant,' he says. 'Her English name is Sandy.'<br /><br /><br />A young woman steps to the front. She is tall, broad-shouldered and long-limbed. She turns to face us and waits, her posture straight but relaxed.&nbsp;Her mouth turns up at the corners in a suggestion of mischief.<br /><br />She wears a plain shirt and black slacks with Nike Air Force shoes. A cell phone is clipped at her hip. One wrist is adorned with a jade bracelet.&nbsp;A small pendant at her neck bears the figure of Guanyin.&nbsp;A handmade medallion of multi-coloured construction paper, draped around her neck, displays the numeral&nbsp;<i>1</i>.<br /><br />I recognise the student. Sandy is captain of the women's&nbsp; basketball team for her class. She has three younger brothers who also play basketball. She once showed me a photo of a beagle puppy on her cell phone. The puppy's name is Obama.<br /><br />The timekeeper signals.<br /><br />Sandy leans slightly toward us, as if sharing a confidence.<br /><br /><br />'I say to you today, my friends...'<br /><br />Her voice is intimate, engaging, almost conspiratorial.<br /><br />&nbsp;'...even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream.'<br /><br />She looks each of us in the eye.<br /><br />'It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.<br /><br />'I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed:&nbsp;<i>We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal</i>.'<br /><br />The island of Taiwan is a mountain range thrust up from the ocean by the collision of two huge crustal plates. Its peaks are the highest in Asia east of the Himalayas and some of the fastest rising mountains in the world. The loftiest of all is&nbsp;<i>Yu Shan</i>, Jade Mountain--a rocky cliff that cuts into the sky nearly 4,000 metres above sea level. Taiwan's aboriginal peoples have regarded Yu Shan as a sacred place ever since their ancestors arrived on the island over 6,000 years ago.<br /><br />Yu Shan can't be seen from our campus, but I know Sandy can see, framed in the window behind us, the peaks of Taiwan's Coastal Mountain Range with a glimpse of the Pacific Ocean beyond.&nbsp;Today the water beats bright&nbsp;under drifting puffs of white cloud. Palms and stone ridges alternately gleam and gloom on the mountainsides.<br /><br />'I have a dream that one day, on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.'<br /><br />She has taken care with the pronunciation.&nbsp;<i>Slaves. Slave owners.</i><br /><br />Sandy's mother tongue is Taiwanese. She began speaking Mandarin in pre-school and English at age six. In high school she began studying Japanese. Like many young Taiwanese, she finds Japan interesting. She first grew curious about the language as a child when she heard her grandparents speaking fluent Japanese at home. Japan had ruled the island when they were children.<br /><br />Taiwanese is the common language in her home. When the family watches television, Sandy explains Japanese dialogue in samurai movies for her parents, obscure Mandarin phrases in talk shows for her grandparents, and the English slang in Hollywood movies for everybody.&nbsp;Sandy hopes one day to work as a translator for an international organisation like the WHO or the UN.<br /><br />'I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi'--she skips crisply across each syllable--'a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.'<br /><br />Taiwan is not a member of the UN. China does not allow this because it claims the island as its own territory. The claim, though spurious under international law, keeps many doors of official recognition closed. China's government recently passed a law authorising 'non-peaceful actions' should Taiwan ever move to make its self-governing status official. Over 2,000 Chinese missiles, packing nuclear warheads, are aimed at the island as Sandy speaks.<br /><br />'I have a dream,' she says, 'that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the colour of their skin, but by the content of their character.'<br /><br />Sandy learned a few years ago of an uncle she never knew she had. He disappeared during the White Terror when Taiwan was under one-party Kuomintang rule. Her parents never conducted a search, never called the police, never held a funeral or openly grieved. The family simply stopped talking about him. Pictures of him were put away, along with all his belongings. Sandy and her brothers, born later, were never told he had existed.<br /><br />After Taiwan became a democracy events of the island's history began to be openly discussed. Sandy knows now about her uncle. She and her brothers light incense for him every Ancestors Day. She knows he was a literature major at a university, that he won awards in athletics and public speaking.<br /><br />'I have a dream today.&nbsp;I have a dream that one day in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.'<br /><br />Sandy's school recently enrolled two new students from China. One is in Sandy's class. Sandy doesn't know him well. She has noticed, though, that he seems to watch a lot of television. Every time Sandy sees him he is asking classmates about Taiwanese television shows.<br /><br />'I have a dream today.&nbsp;I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight. The glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.'<br /><br />Sandy recently got her driver's license. She plans to buy a scooter. Soon she will also register to vote.<br /><br />She can remember Taiwan's first national elections. She was a small child. The buses were filled with people who had returned to Taiwan from overseas. China launched missiles overhead. America sent an aircraft carrier. Taiwan voted. Since then she has seen three presidents elected. She has seen many women elected to office, including a vice president. A woman is running for president now.<br /><br />'With this faith,' she says, 'we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope.'<br /><br />Sandy plays Mah Jongg, Uno and Super Mario. She&nbsp;likes night markets better than shopping malls. She complains to friends that she spends too much time on Facebook. Her favourite food for a typhoon holiday is instant noodles with mushrooms.&nbsp;Her favourite beverage is green tea.<br /><br />'This will be the day when all of God's children will sing with new meaning: My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring.'<br /><br />Sandy started a blog last year. She reviews movies, discusses athletic events and hiking trails, and shares photos of friends and family members, including a beagle puppy.<br /><br />'If America is to be a great nation this must become true.'<br /><br />She sees the signal and draws a deep breath.<br /><br />'So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania. Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado. Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California.'<br /><br />She smiles.&nbsp;'But not only that.'<br /><br />Her eyes go to the window then, sparkling, sweep the room.<br /><br />'Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia. Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee. Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.'<br /><br />She makes no grand flourishes. She confides, in words she has chosen, words now hers.<br /><br />'When we allow freedom to ring,' Sandy says, 'when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will speed that day when all of God's children will be able to join hands, and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual: Free at last, free at last, thank God Almighty, we are free at last.'<br /><br /><br />Cheers erupt. Sandy bows and comes up beaming.<br /><br /><span style="color: #333333;"> <span style="font-size: 85%;">__________________</span></span><br /><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-size: 85%;"><br /></span></span><br /><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 85%;"><a href="http://altonthompson.blogspot.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Alton's Notes</a></span><div class="blogger-post-footer">Taipei, Taiwan<img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10338182-2057394973584811551?l=altonthompson.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Alton Thompson 唐博敦http://www.blogger.com/profile/07152271731942218793noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10338182.post-65904182317960362492010-11-27T06:00:00.000+08:002011-12-21T01:14:56.061+08:00It came to may attention recently that a site called <a href="http://www.blockshopper.com/">Blockshopper</a> (visit links at your own risk), which claims to offer 'real intelligence on local real estate', <a href="http://tampa.blockshopper.com/news/story/3600099259-Classical_musician_and_photographer_acquires_Ridgewood_Park_3BD">published my photo and biographical information in an article that states a falsehood</a>.<br /><br />The text in full:<br /><blockquote><div class="article_title news_story_title" style="border-bottom: none;"><h2 style="font-weight: normal;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">Classical musician and photographer acquires Ridgewood Park 3BD</span></i></h2><b><b class="gray">by</b>Betty Verdun, <b class="gray">published</b>Sept. 24, 2010</b></div></blockquote><div class="article_text"><blockquote>Alton Thompson and Linda Thompson bought a three-bedroom, three-bath home at 2408 N. Riverside Drive in Ridgewood Park from Michelle Stencel and Jonathan Lowe for $625,000 on Aug. 27.<br /><br />The 2,506-square-foot house was built in 1975 in Ridgewood Park. It is located in the Ridgewood Park subdivision.<br /><br />Mr. Thompson is a professional classical musician and photographer who is now based in Taiwan. He serves as conductor for ensembles in Europe, Asia and the Americas, as art photographer with Alton's Images and also serves as a faculty member at various education institutes.<br /><br />He has worked with the Hsinchu Philharmonic Orchestra, the National Taiwan Normal University Symphony Orchestra, the Taipei Symphonic Winds, the Dafeng Performing Arts Symphony orchestra, the Soochow University Youth Orchestra, the Taipei Men's Chorus and the combined choirs of National Taiwan Normal University. <br /><br />He holds a D.M.A. in orchestral conducting from The Johns Hopkins University's Peabody Institute in Baltimore, received his M.M. in music performance from The University of Memphis' Rudi E. Scheidt School of Music and earned his B.M.E. in music from The Florida State University's College of Music.<br /><br />According to BlockShopper.com,<a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_519101569" target="_new"></a> there have been 13 home sales in Ridgewood Park during the past 12 months, with a median sales price of $43,600.<br /><b>Filed under:</b>No story tag<b><br />Address: 2408 N. Riverside Drive</b><br /><b>Buyer(s):</b>Alton Thompson and Linda Thompson<br /><b>Seller(s):</b>Michelle Stencel and Jonathan Lowe<br /><b>Sale date:</b>Aug. 27, 2010</blockquote></div><br />The reality: I bought no property. I don't know a Linda Thompson or any other individuals named in the article. I know nothing of the private enterprises named: Blockshopper, <a href="http://thefloridaauthority.com/about_us.asp">The Florida Authority, and Cornerstone Properties and Investments LLC</a>.<br /><br /><i>The creators of this site have no permission to use a copyrighted image of my likeness nor my name and identity in the promotion of any product or service.</i> No one contacted me for confirmation of this report. Contact information was readily available at the same web site from which my photo and biographical information were <strike>stolen</strike> lifted.<br />&nbsp; <br /><b><i>To the creators of this article:</i> remove my name, identity and likeness from all materials connected with your business</b> <b>at once.</b><br /><b><br /></b><br /><b><i>Personal recommendation to anyone considering a business relationship with BlockShopper, The Florida Authority or Cornerstone Properties:</i> <br /><br />Avoid.</b><div class="blogger-post-footer">Taipei, Taiwan<img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10338182-6590418231796036249?l=altonthompson.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Alton Thompsonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10338182.post-36938177645573924652010-07-07T08:00:00.004+08:002010-07-07T22:48:02.399+08:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_gY9xlC9NfyU/TDPmatDwKdI/AAAAAAAAA0k/H61iRoFA3i8/s1600/mahler01.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_gY9xlC9NfyU/TDPmatDwKdI/AAAAAAAAA0k/H61iRoFA3i8/s400/mahler01.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5490985717141088722" /></a><blockquote><p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFCC;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">For me, to create a symphony is to create a world.</span></i></span></p><p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFCC;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">- Gustav Mahler (1860-1911)</span></span></p></blockquote><p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFCC;"></span></p><p><br /></p><p>Today marks the 150th birthday of composer and conductor Gustav Mahler.</p><p>Richard S Ginell offers an appreciation in <a href="http://articles.latimes.com/2010/mar/14/entertainment/la-ca-mahler14-2010mar14">The Los Angeles Times</a>. Enthusiasts and music professionals will already acquainted with the work and resources of the <a href="http://www.gustav-mahler.org/english/">International Gustav Mahler Society</a>. Don't miss '<a href="http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/classicalmusic/2010/07/how_gustav_mahler_saved_my_lif.html">How Gustav Mahler saved my life</a>,' an entry by Tim Smith in his blog <a href="http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/classicalmusic/">Clef Notes</a> (<i>Baltimore Sun</i>).</p><p>For my own part, the symphonies of Mahler have been works that one befriends throughout like. Years ago, the cycle recorded by <a href="http://www.bernardhaitink.com/">Bernard Haitink</a> and the <a href="http://www.concertgebouworkest.nl/">Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam</a> provided an earth-shattering formative experience. There is a moment in the life of any young person (or at least, there should be) when one gets a sense of just how very <i>much</i> is out there. And my mountaintop orchestra experience in a concert hall remains a Mahler Ninth performance I heard in Philadelphia led by <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/1998/01/13/arts/klaus-tennstedt-a-conductor-of-romantic-works-dies-at-71.html">Klaus Tennstedt</a>. Tennstedt had come through an ordeal with throat cancer. The music flowed out of him, and the <a href="http://www.philorch.org/">Philadelphia Orchestra</a> played for him as I have never heard them play for anyone else. The experience was powerful, and unforgettable.</p><p><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><span style="font-size:85%;">__________________</span></span></p><p></p><p><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);font-size:85%;"><a target="_blank" href="http://conductorsnotebook.com/" rel="nofollow">Conductor's Notebook</a></span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Taipei, Taiwan<img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10338182-3693817764557392465?l=altonthompson.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Alton Thompson 唐博敦http://www.blogger.com/profile/07152271731942218793noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10338182.post-45620146204208987522010-07-04T18:00:00.000+08:002010-07-07T03:12:40.611+08:00<p></p><p>Happy Independence Day, America.</p><p>Here's one of your own: Ray Charles.</p><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ghz4_kikLkE&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1?rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></div><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span></span></p><p><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><span style="font-size:85%;">__________________</span></span></p><p></p><p><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);font-size:85%;"><a target="_blank" href="http://conductorsnotebook.com/" rel="nofollow">Conductor's Notebook</a></span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Taipei, Taiwan<img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10338182-4562014620420898752?l=altonthompson.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Alton Thompson 唐博敦http://www.blogger.com/profile/07152271731942218793noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10338182.post-74332424587928420042010-07-04T08:00:00.001+08:002010-07-07T14:50:17.929+08:00<p></p><p>Just in time for July Fourth, music journalist <a href="http://projects.washingtonpost.com/staff/articles/anne+midgette/">Anne Midgette</a> offers a detailed and exciting look at the world of American opera in a two-part survey for the <i><a href="http://projects.washingtonpost.com/staff/articles/anne+midgette/">Washington Post</a></i>.</p><p><br /></p><blockquote><p>Part 1<br /><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/24/AR2010062406932.html">American opera at a crossroads</a><br />2010.06.24</p><p>Part 2<br /><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/01/AR2010070107217.html">Small is the word for new American productions</a><br />2010.07.04</p></blockquote><p><br />Opera companies in America face increasing audience demand for innovative new works. The trend in new opera mirrors the trend in new ballparks: intimacy over grandeur.<br /><br />Prepare to read about compelling new works that you will wish you could see. And thanks to an increasing number of creative partnerships among companies, you may.</p><p><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><span style="font-size:85%;">__________________</span></span></p><p></p><p><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);font-size:85%;"><a target="_blank" href="http://conductorsnotebook.com/" rel="nofollow">Conductor's Notebook</a></span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Taipei, Taiwan<img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10338182-7433242458792842004?l=altonthompson.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Alton Thompson 唐博敦http://www.blogger.com/profile/07152271731942218793noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10338182.post-77221912738319600932010-06-29T09:00:00.001+08:002011-11-29T09:51:46.354+08:00<p></p><p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 13px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">I admit I have concerns about much that wears the name 'street photography' in this digital age. On those rare occasions when a real artist has done truly compelling work, sure, I'm glad we have the image. The street photographers now flooding the Net, though, often exhibit more sense of entitlement than aptitude for art. Heedless of t<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2010/apr/18/street-photography-privacy-surveillance">hat borderland between observation and intrusion</a>, they just intrude. </span><br /><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 13px; text-align: -webkit-auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">You can see why the street photography genre would be popular with people who just bought their first digital cameras. The sky's the limit and the overhead is low. How easy it is today to become a paparazzo of the ordinary citizen. Just taking the camera out of the box is enough to transform everyone else in the world into raw material. Your neighbour is now your unwilling and unpaid Lady Diana. Ethics? What's that? </span><br /><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 13px; text-align: -webkit-auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">It would all go over better, I think, if the photographic backpackers romanticised themselves a bit less. Or if fewer asked us to mock their subjects. Or if they were less strident about having their own way ('I'm a photographer, not a terrorist!') after taking so little interest in the wishes of others. Or if the pictures were better.</span></p><p><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><span style="font-size:85%;">__________________</span></span></p><p></p><p><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);font-size:85%;"><a target="_blank" href="http://conductorsnotebook.com/" rel="nofollow">Conductor's Notebook</a></span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Taipei, Taiwan<img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10338182-7722191273831960093?l=altonthompson.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Alton Thompsonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10338182.post-39133090908430387652010-06-20T08:00:00.027+08:002011-02-07T14:35:45.656+08:00I was recently interviewed by one of those applications that find you on social networks.<br /><br /><br /><div style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"><i>Pepsi or Coke?</i></div>It depends on the rum.<br /><br /><div style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"><i>Love is great, but I'd also marry for...</i></div>the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam.<br /><br /><div style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"><i>If you had a pet elephant, what would you name it?</i></div>Cyrano.<br /><br /><div style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"><i>Nick and Jessica could've worked things out if...</i></div>he hadn't been born a trilobite-eating cephalopod in the Ordovician Period and she a plains-dwelling indricothere in the Miocene. Such tricks of fate can doom even a love as deep as theirs.<br /><br /><div style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"><i>Hello, Hi, or Hey?</i></div>Ni hao.<br /><br /><div style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"><i>The key to success is...</i></div>in a very safe place where it's not likely to be disturbed.<br /><br /><div style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"><i>I think I saw Carmen Sandiego in...</i></div>a Beitou hot spring, signing for towels with Lara Croft.<br /><br /><div style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"><i>What will be your last words?</i></div>This reboot had better work.<br /><br /><div style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"><i>Twitter or MySpace?</i></div>But I hardly know you.<br /><br /><div style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"><i>What do you think you'll name your kids?</i></div>Wonder Girl 1, <br />Wonder Girl 2, <br />Wonder Girl 3, <br />Wonder Girl 4, <br />and Wonder Girl 5. After their mothers.<br /><br /><div style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"><i>Nothing, I repeat, nothing, is getting between me and my...</i></div>tendency to repeat myself.<br /><br /><div style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"><i>If I were pregnant, I'd probably crave...</i></div>a C-section before the real trouble starts.<br /><br /><div style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"><i>I shower in the...</i></div>Feng Shui fountain at Taipei 101.<br /><br /><div style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"><i>I believed in Santa Claus until I was...</i></div>told by a yeti that they'd eaten him years ago.<br /><br /><div style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"><i>Love or lust?</i></div>Not sure. Could you ask me again in my other ear?<br /><br /><div style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"><i>Girls go to Mars to get more...</i></div>superoxide anions and nitrogen gas.<br /><br /><div style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"><i>What's your favorite jellybean flavor?</i></div>Navel of Wei Tang.<br /><br /><div style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"><i>Who do you take after? Mom or Dad?</i></div>A deity in the form of a swan.<br /><br /><div style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"><i>What's your favorite cheese?</i></div>Bruckheimer cheese. Cameron is too stinky and Emmerich is just foul.<br /><br /><div style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"><i>Naked food fights are...</i></div>a great way to boost concert attendence.<br /><br /><div style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"><i>What's the first thing you do when you wake up?</i></div>Wonder whether this present trend should continue.<i>&nbsp;</i><br /><br /><div style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"><i>Why do Canadians enjoy blogging so much?</i></div>It's either that or moose-tipping.<br /><br /><div style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"><i>What is your favorite word?</i></div>hubbub<br /><br /><div style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"><i>God is...</i></div>as God does.<br /><br /><div style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"><i>How many people have you dated?</i></div>Enough to know it's a bad sign when she brings her invisible friend. <br /><br /><div style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"><i>Ever broken a bone?</i></div>No, but I've dented a euphonium.<i> <br /><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;">Would you make out with the last person who visited your blog?</span></i><br />You obviously missed the last Taiwan blog party.<br /><br /><div style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"><i>I know it's time to clean the fridge when...</i></div>the cheese mold has evolved into a sentient life form with opposable thumbs.<br /><br /><div style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"><i>If I were the first person to land on the moon, I would've said:</i></div>'Houston, Rhapsody Base here. The Gershwin has landed.'<br /><br /><i><span style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;">If I were a super hero, my super suit would be made out of...</span></i><br />platinum. Then I could sell it on eBay and take the Catwoman shopping for lingerie.<br /><br /><div style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"><i>How many Facebook users have you kissed?</i></div>Facebook users don't kiss. They suck face.<br /><br /><div style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"><i>The answer to the ultimate question is...</i></div>'No comment.'<br /><br /><div style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"><i>What will your wedding band be made out of?</i></div>Two trumpets, I think, with horn, trombone, and tuba.<br /><br /><div style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"><i>Are you a 'glass half-full' or 'glass half-empty' person?</i></div>I never do anything half-glassed.<br /><br /><div style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"><i>I squeeze my toothpaste from the...</i></div>diaphragm.<br /><br /><div style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"><i>Which side is your good side?</i></div>If you have to ask, you're not on it.<br /><br /><div style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"><i>What would your clown name be?</i></div>Bopo Mofo.<br /><br /><div style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"><i>What's the worst movie you've ever seen?</i></div><i>My Dinner with O. J.</i><br /><br /><div style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"><i>Quick! Make up a number (example: eleventy seven).</i></div>Hoo-doo-win da-two-wa, skiddly-bop.<br /><br /><div style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"><i>What are the odds that this interview never ends and is just a psych experiment?</i></div>I never give odds on ends.<br /><br /><div style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"><i>How old were you when you had your first date?</i></div>Not sure, but it was a lunch rendez-vous. We ate paste.<br /><br /><div style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"><i>If I woke up as the opposite sex, I'd...</i></div>throw my arms around me and give myself a hickey.<br /><br /><div style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"><i>What question should they ask Miss Universe contestants?</i></div>Present a ten-point plan for achieving world peace.<br /><br /><div style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"><i>What question would you ask God?</i></div>Johannes Brahms and Clara Schumann. Did they ever... ?<br /><br /><div style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"><i>I feel at peace when...</i></div>I'm torturing accordion players with scorpions and thumbscrews.<br /><br /><div style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"><i>Bikini, Tankini, or Linguini?</i></div>Puccini.<br /><br /><div style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"><i>What do you wish you had never done?</i></div>Accept my roommate's dare to walk up to that Virginia Tech linebacker and tell him I enjoyed his mother's performance in <i>Girls Gone Wild</i>.<br /><br /><div style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"><i>What's your least favorite thing about the Coriolis Effect?</i></div>The vector formula for calculating the magnitude and direction of the Coriolis acceleration. I mean, who needs that?<br /><br /><div style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"><i>What's your favorite blues lyric?</i></div><i>Woke up this mornin'</i>. Of course, it's more interesting with the lyrics that come after it.<br /><br /><div style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"><i>Would you rather own a dog named Growler or a parrot named Captain?</i></div>A tyrannosaur named Eater of Interviewers.<br /><br /><div style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"><i>What should you really be doing right now?</i></div>Lying on a beach in Kenting.<br /><br /><div style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"><i>Automatic or stick shift?</i></div>Mini Cooper or Lamborghini?<br /><br /><div style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"><i>The sitcom about my life would be named...</i></div><i>Face the Music.</i><br /><br /><div style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"><i>Would you rather meet your future in-laws naked or in bondage gear?</i></div>I guess I would rather they were naked.<br /><br /><div style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"><i>Quick! Write the first sentence of a novel.</i></div>It was the best of hair days, it was the worst of hair days.<br /><br /><div style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"><i>I want my last meal to be...</i></div>a Guiness-record submarine sandwich.<br /><br /><div style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"><i>Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, or Slytherin?</i></div>Hey. Watch your language.<br /><br /><div style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"><i>What's your favourite kids' cereal?</i></div>Lucky Charms. Great with Bailey's.<br /><br /><div style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"><i>What's the most recent dream you remember having?</i></div>A nightmare. I was answering an interminable series of questions on some stupid social network. <br /><div style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"><i>I wouldn't mind being stuck in a closet with...</i></div>Juliette Binoche, two goblets, and an open bottle of Pinot Noir.<br /><div style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"><i>Why are there so many zombies on the Internet?</i></div>Wha-a-a...?<i>&nbsp;</i><br /><br /><i>What celebrity do people say you look like?</i><br />Frylock.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_gY9xlC9NfyU/TU-GQYMvJUI/AAAAAAAAA8c/kPU6Nf4MCtA/s1600/alton.as.frylock.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_gY9xlC9NfyU/TU-GQYMvJUI/AAAAAAAAA8c/kPU6Nf4MCtA/s320/alton.as.frylock.jpg" width="241" /></a></div><br /><br /><div style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"><i>I wonder about...</i></div>the best way to finish this sentence.<br /><br /><div style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"><i>Sedan, compact, or sports car?</i></div>Starship.<br /><br /><div style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"><i>Do you play any instruments?</i></div>I had an ocarina lesson once.<br /><br /><div style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"><i>Fuzzy Wuzzy was a bear. Fuzzy Wuzzy had no...</i></div>cognitive functioning and vocal apparatus sufficiently evolved to enable him to describe his lack of hirsute qualities in words. This inability, though considered an impairment in the species <i>Homo sapiens</i>, is characteristic of ursine species such as the one to which Mr Wuzzy&nbsp; belonged. His remarkable dermatological predicament thus never came to the attention of neurologist Oliver Sacks, was never spotlighted in a subsequently celebrated case study, and was consequently overlooked by composer Michael Nyman as a subject for chamber opera.<br /><br /><div style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"><i>I feel naked without my...</i></div>clothes.<br /><br /><div style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"><i>Which sport is the best to watch?</i></div>Golf. Ha ha. Just kidding.<br /><br /><div style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"><i>If your house was on fire, what one possession would you keep?</i></div>My panache.<i>&nbsp;</i><br /><br /><div style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"><i>I like to put ketchup on...</i></div>before I step out the door.<div class="blogger-post-footer">Taipei, Taiwan<img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10338182-3913309090843038765?l=altonthompson.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Alton Thompson 唐博敦http://www.blogger.com/profile/07152271731942218793noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10338182.post-12207109359188971282010-06-20T08:00:00.018+08:002010-07-07T03:16:57.949+08:00<p></p><p><a href="http://www.bernardhaitink.com/">Bernard Haitink</a> is taking leave of the Chicago Symphony. The Dutch maestro has served as resident conductor since 2006. The association has been a distinguished one. Haitink joined with conductor emeritus Pierre Boulez to inaugurate a Golden Age in the orchestra's history in preparation for the arrival of new music director Riccardo Muti.</p><p>Haitink now concludes the collaboration as Muti takes the helm in September. The orchestra has marked the occasion with a Beethoven symphonies cycle. The performances have drawn high praise. </p><p>In August Haitink will conduct the Vienna Philharmonic in two performances of Bruckner's Fifth Symphony at the Grosses Festspielhaus, Salzburg.</p><p>Last year Decca commemorated the conductor's 80th birthday with a <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Art-Bernard-Haitink-Birthday-Celebration/dp/B001PP9Q40/ref=cm_wl_create-landing">7-CD release</a>, available at Amazon UK.<br /><br /></p><p><i></i></p><blockquote><p><i>Chicago Tribune</i><br />2010.06.16 <a href="http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2010-06-16/entertainment/ct-live-0617-cso-review-20100616_1_vadim-karpinos-beethoven-symphony-purposeful-pace">'No loss of momentum as Beethoven review enters final lap</a>'<br />2010.06.12 <a href="http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2010-06-12/entertainment/ct-live-0612-cso-review-20100612_1_chicago-symphony-orchestra-bernard-haitink-daniel-gingrich">'Back to nature with Haitink, CSO'</a></p><p><i>New York Times</i><br /><a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/timestopics/people/h/bernard_haitink/index.html">Bernard Haitink articles</a></p><p><i>Music Web International</i><br />'<a href="http://www.musicweb-international.com/SandH/2010/Jan-Jun10/cso1106.htm">Haitink's Chicago Beethoven Cycle</a>'</p><p><i><a href="http://chicagoclassicalreview.com/2010/06/bernard-haitink-bids-farewell-to-the-cso-with-a-mature-and-sophisticated-beethoven-nine/">Chicago Classical Review</a></i></p><p><i>Proms 71 and 72</i><br /><a href="http://www.musicalcriticism.com/concerts/prom-71-72-0908.shtml">Haitink and Chicago: Turnage, Mozart, Mahler, Shostakovich</a></p><p><i>Boosey and Hawkes</i><br /><a href="http://www.boosey.com/cr/news/Turnage-Bernard-Haitink-premieres-Chicago-Remains/11530">Turnage </a><i><a href="http://www.boosey.com/cr/news/Turnage-Bernard-Haitink-premieres-Chicago-Remains/11530">Remains</a></i><a href="http://www.boosey.com/cr/news/Turnage-Bernard-Haitink-premieres-Chicago-Remains/11530"> premiered by Haitink, Chicago</a></p><p><i>Telegraph UK</i><br /><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/3559663/Bernard-Haitink-I-love-power-without-responsibility.html">Haitink: 'I love power without responsibility'</a></p><p>Archiv Music Store: <a href="http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/Name/Bernard-Haitink/Conductor/56110-3">Bernard Haitink</a></p><p>Official Site: <a href="http://www.bernardhaitink.com/">Bernard Haitink</a></p></blockquote><p><a href="http://www.bernardhaitink.com/"></a></p><p><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><span style="font-size:85%;">__________________</span></span></p><p></p><p><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);font-size:85%;"><a target="_blank" href="http://conductorsnotebook.com/" rel="nofollow">Conductor's Notebook</a></span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Taipei, Taiwan<img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10338182-1220710935918897128?l=altonthompson.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Alton Thompson 唐博敦http://www.blogger.com/profile/07152271731942218793noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10338182.post-65532123944023737312010-06-05T12:00:00.013+08:002010-06-05T17:11:19.635+08:00<p></p><p>Legendary coach <a href="http://www.spotlight.ucla.edu/john-wooden/">John Wooden</a> died yesterday at age 99. He guided his <a href="http://www.ucla.edu/">UCLA Bruins</a> to unmatched dominance in college basketball. His teams' achievements included ten national titles and an 88-game win streak. He was also a Hall of Fame player at his college alma mater, <a href="http://www.purdue.edu/">Purdue</a>. Yet he also avoided talk of wins and losses, seeing athletic challenges mainly as challenges to character. He once refused to enter a championship tournament that denied one of his players a chance to play because of his race.</p><p>At games Wooden held a program rolled up in one hand and the plan secure in his head. He focused on details from the first practice, when he showed new players how to put on socks. The press hailed him as a 'Wizard' and <a href="http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=5249709">many of his maxims entered lore</a>. Yet he lived in the same modest home throughout his career. His name was listed in the public phone book. He wrote regular letters to his wife of many years, Nell, even after she died.</p><p>In a field where success is often defined as the acquisition of a trophy or a ring, Wooden defined it as '<a href="http://www.denverpost.com/headlines/ci_15232375">knowing that you did your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming</a>.' </p><p>Hear him share his thoughts in this 2001 video.</p><p><br /><!--copy and paste--><object width="334" height="326"><param name="movie" value="http://video.ted.com/assets/player/swf/EmbedPlayer.swf"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"><param name="wmode" value="transparent"><param name="bgColor" value="#ffffff"> <param name="flashvars" value="vu=http://video.ted.com/talks/dynamic/JohnWooden_2001-medium.flv&amp;su=http://images.ted.com/images/ted/tedindex/embed-posters/JohnWooden-2001.embed_thumbnail.jpg&amp;vw=320&amp;vh=240&amp;ap=0&amp;ti=498&amp;introDuration=15330&amp;adDuration=4000&amp;postAdDuration=830&amp;adKeys=talk=john_wooden_on_the_difference_between_winning_and_succe;year=2001;theme=how_we_learn;theme=what_makes_us_happy;theme=master_storytellers;event=TED2001;&amp;preAdTag=tconf.ted/embed;tile=1;sz=512x288;"><embed src="http://video.ted.com/assets/player/swf/EmbedPlayer.swf" pluginspace="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" bgcolor="#ffffff" width="334" height="326" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" flashvars="vu=http://video.ted.com/talks/dynamic/JohnWooden_2001-medium.flv&amp;su=http://images.ted.com/images/ted/tedindex/embed-posters/JohnWooden-2001.embed_thumbnail.jpg&amp;vw=320&amp;vh=240&amp;ap=0&amp;ti=498&amp;introDuration=15330&amp;adDuration=4000&amp;postAdDuration=830&amp;adKeys=talk=john_wooden_on_the_difference_between_winning_and_succe;year=2001;theme=how_we_learn;theme=what_makes_us_happy;theme=master_storytellers;event=TED2001;"></embed></object><br /></p><p><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><span style="font-size:85%;">__________________</span></span></p><p></p><p><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);font-size:85%;"><a target="_blank" href="http://conductorsnotebook.com/" rel="nofollow">Conductor's Notebook</a></span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Taipei, Taiwan<img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10338182-6553212394402373731?l=altonthompson.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Alton Thompson 唐博敦http://www.blogger.com/profile/07152271731942218793noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10338182.post-3518329137635277802010-06-01T18:00:00.004+08:002010-06-01T18:00:06.067+08:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEmono/TSE2010/TSE2010.html"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 308px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_5oMoMBcF8GM/SmfM1w2QEUI/AAAAAAAAAQw/SFCoHbb1RuA/s400/20100711.eclipse.path.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5361479105425445186" border="0" /></a>A total solar eclipse will be visible in the southern Pacific Ocean on <a href="http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEmono/TSE2010/TSE2010.html">2010 July 11</a>. The path of the moon's umbra makes landfall on a few islands and the southern tips of Chile and Argentina.<br /><br />A partial solar eclipse will be visible over a much wider area, including all of Chile.<br /><p>For more information visit <a href="http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEmono/TSE2010/TSE2010.html">the Nasa page for his event</a>.<br /></p><p><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">__________________</span></span></p><p></p><p><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);font-size:85%;" ><a target="_blank" href="http://conductorsnotebook.com/" rel="nofollow">Conductor's Notebook</a></span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Taipei, Taiwan<img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10338182-351832913763527780?l=altonthompson.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Alton Thompson 唐博敦http://www.blogger.com/profile/02592179955798586641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10338182.post-12832751803610549292010-06-01T08:00:00.000+08:002010-07-07T15:15:06.792+08:00<p>The 2010 winter solstice will coincide with a total eclipse of the moon on December 21. The eclipse will be visible across most of the Pacific Ocean and all of North America. Viewers in South America will see the moon set fully eclipsed as it sets. Viewers in Taiwan and Japan will see the moon fully eclipsed as it rises. </p><p>For more information visit the <a href="http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/LEplot/LEplot2001/LE2010Dec21T.pdf">Nasa page for this event</a>.</p><p><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><span style="font-size:85%;">__________________</span></span></p><p></p><p><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);font-size:85%;"><a target="_blank" href="http://conductorsnotebook.com/" rel="nofollow">Conductor's Notebook</a></span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Taipei, Taiwan<img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10338182-1283275180361054929?l=altonthompson.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Alton Thompson 唐博敦http://www.blogger.com/profile/02592179955798586641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10338182.post-5302340832082048662010-05-05T08:00:00.006+08:002011-02-07T14:21:58.636+08:00<i>Moby-Dick</i>, a new opera by Jake Heggie and Gene Scheer, enjoyed a triumphant premier last Friday at the <a href="http://www.dallasopera.org/">Dallas Opera</a>. The show boasts a strong cast: Ben Heppner as Captain Ahab, Stephen Costello as Greenhorn (Ishmael), Morgan Smith as Starbuck, Robert Orth as Mister Stubb, and Talise Travigne as Pip the cabin boy.<br /><br /><a href="http://voices.washingtonpost.com/the-classical-beat/2009/03/about_the_blogger.html">Anne Midgette</a> offers a <a href="http://voices.washingtonpost.com/the-classical-beat/2010/05/moby-dick_premieres_in_dallas.html">detailed review</a> of the premiere in her <i>Washington Post </i>blog <i><a href="http://voices.washingtonpost.com/the-classical-beat/2010/05/moby-dick_premieres_in_dallas.html">The Classical Beat</a></i>. The staging challenges surrounding a sea story with a giant whale were met with skill and aplomb, she reports, as Melville's prose was likewise well handled for sung texts. <br /><br />Other reviews of the new opera include these:<br /><blockquote>Wes Blomster,<a href="http://www.operatoday.com/content/2010/05/heggies_moby_di.php" target="new"><i> Opera Today</i></a><br />Scott Cantrell, <a href="http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/ent/stories/050210dngdmobyrev.4480a44.html" target="new"><i>Dallas Morning News</i></a><br />Brian Holt, <a href="http://outwestarts.blogspot.com/2010/04/belly-of-whale.html" target="new"><i>Out West Arts</i></a><br />Gregory Isaacs, <a href="http://www.theaterjones.com/index.php?section=reviews&amp;id=20100430205812" target="new"><i>Theater Jones</i></a><br />Joshua Kosman, <a href="http://articles.sfgate.com/2010-05-04/entertainment/20883116_1_white-whale-dallas-opera-black-cabin-boy" target="new"><i>San Francisco Chronicle</i></a><br />William Littler, <a href="http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/music/article/809378--moby-dick-a-whale-of-an-opera" target="new"><i>Toronto Star</i></a><br />George Loomis <a href="http://theclassicalreview.com/2010/05/musically-absorbing-but-dramatically-flat-heggies-new-opera-fails-to-harpoon-moby-dick/" target="new"><i>Classical Review</i></a><br />Steve Smith, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/03/arts/music/03moby.html" target="new"><i>New York Times</i></a><br />Heidi Waleson, <i><a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704342604575222100491965876.html" target="new">Wall Street Journal</a></i></blockquote><i><a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704342604575222100491965876.html" target="new"></a></i>__________________<br /><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 85%;"><a href="http://conductorsnotebook.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Conductor's Notebook</a></span><div class="blogger-post-footer">Taipei, Taiwan<img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10338182-530234083208204866?l=altonthompson.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Alton Thompson 唐博敦http://www.blogger.com/profile/07152271731942218793noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10338182.post-31996768093821869222010-04-22T08:00:00.004+08:002011-02-08T00:22:35.063+08:00<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_5oMoMBcF8GM/S9CC_YgJAAI/AAAAAAAAAZg/RQvyJAGguis/s1600/2010.04.27.ntnuconcert.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5463010373421039618" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_5oMoMBcF8GM/S9CC_YgJAAI/AAAAAAAAAZg/RQvyJAGguis/s400/2010.04.27.ntnuconcert.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 400px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 284px;" /></a><br />2010 April 27 Tuesday 19:30<br />National Concert Hall<br />Taipei, Taiwan<br /><br /><br />NTNU Symphony Orchestra<br />Apo Ching-Hsin Hsu, conductor<br /><br />Concert: Rhenish<br /><br />PROGRAM<br /><br />Robert Schumann (1810-1856)<br />Symphony 3 in E-flat Major 'Rhenish', opus 97<br /><br />Ellen Taaffe Zwilich (b.1939)<br />Concerto for Violin, Cello and Orchestra<br /><br />Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Пётр Ильич Чайковский (1840-1893)<br />Capriccio Italien, opus 45<br /><br /><br />Tickets at NT$200, 500, 800, and 1200<br /><br /><br />萊茵--2010師大音樂系交響樂團春季演出<br /><br />國立臺灣師範大學音樂系交響樂團向以充滿活力與專業素質的精彩演出著稱，<br />繼98年12月風靡全場的西城故事後，<br />許瀞心教授將指揮樂團為聽眾帶來德俄兩首經典浪漫作品。<br /><br />舒曼《第三號交響曲》以五樂章的特殊結構，<br />與其所展現的明快和樂觀精神成為這位一代大師的傳世鉅作，<br />柴可夫斯基《義大利隨想曲》於1880年初旅經羅馬所寫，<br />為最膾炙人口的管弦樂作品之一。<br />一向以推展當代頂尖作曲家作品不遺餘力的師大音樂系，<br />也將於本場特邀享譽國際的小提琴家鄭俊騰與大提琴家戴俐文，<br />於台灣首演著名美國當代多項大獎得主，<br />卓越作曲家慈薇莉希（Ellen Taaffe Zwilich）精彩眩技的雙協奏曲。<br /><br />請把握機會身臨此集大師及大作於一夜之音樂饗宴！<br /><br />演出者：指揮／許瀞心<br />小提琴／鄭俊騰<br />大提琴／戴俐文<br />國立臺灣師範大學音樂系交響樂團<br /><br />曲　目：SCHUMANN: Symphony No. 3 (Rhenish) in Eb major, Op. 97<br />舒曼：第三號交響曲<br /><br />ZWILICH: Concerto for Violin, Cello and Orchestra<br />慈薇莉希：小提琴、大提琴雙協奏曲<br /><br />TCHAIKOVSKY: Capriccio Italien, Op. 45<br />柴可夫斯基：義大利隨想曲<br /><br /><br />指導單位：教育部<br /><br />主辦單位：國立台灣師範大學音樂學系<br /><br />贊助單位：國立臺灣師範大學研究發展處、東和樂器（河合鋼琴）、功學社樂器股份有限公司<br /><br />演出人：張國恩<br /><br />製作人：許瑞坤<br /><br />執行製作：林明慧<br /><br /><br />演出日期/Date<br /><br />2010/04/27<br />(二)19:30 　 　<br /><br />地點/Venue<br /><br />國家音樂廳 ( 台北市中山南路21-1號 )<br /><br /><br />票價/Price<br /><br />200,500,800,1200<br />售票請洽兩廳院售票系統、國立台灣師範大學音樂學系<br />本校學生至師大音樂系系辦購票，享75折優惠票價唷！<div class="blogger-post-footer">Taipei, Taiwan<img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10338182-3199676809382186922?l=altonthompson.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Alton Thompson 唐博敦http://www.blogger.com/profile/02592179955798586641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10338182.post-85718320562484579742010-04-22T07:00:00.005+08:002010-05-20T13:56:46.988+08:00<p></p><p>I just saw the fourth headline in as many days using the formula 'One _____ to rule them all.' </p><p>The phrase has too familiar a ring now, fellows. Let's not hobble along with it any further. Bag it.<br /><br /></p><p><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">(Tip of the hat to Bob Thurston)</span></i></p><p><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><span style="font-size:85%;">__________________</span></span></p><p></p><p><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);font-size:85%;"><a target="_blank" href="http://conductorsnotebook.com/" rel="nofollow">Conductor's Notebook</a></span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Taipei, Taiwan<img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10338182-8571832056248457974?l=altonthompson.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Alton Thompson 唐博敦http://www.blogger.com/profile/02592179955798586641noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10338182.post-50040024625176524402010-04-15T17:00:00.003+08:002011-02-08T00:23:29.708+08:00<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_5oMoMBcF8GM/S8bhMbcbmhI/AAAAAAAAAZY/gDmJdChEybE/s1600/alethia.3B.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5460299201874991634" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_5oMoMBcF8GM/S8bhMbcbmhI/AAAAAAAAAZY/gDmJdChEybE/s400/alethia.3B.jpg" style="display: block; height: 400px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 282px;" /></a><br /><br />The music of the iconic 'Three Bs'--Bach, Beethoven and Brahms--will be featured in a concert by the <b>Aletheia Symphony Orchestra</b> on <b>April 21 Wednesday 21:30</b> at Taiwan's <b>National Concert Hall</b>. The orchestra is a division of the Department of Music at the historic <a href="http://www.au.edu.tw/eng/">Aletheia University</a> in Danshui, New Taipei City.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.artsticket.com.tw/">http://www.artsticket.com.tw/</a><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 85%;"><a href="http://conductorsnotebook.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"></a></span><div class="blogger-post-footer">Taipei, Taiwan<img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10338182-5004002462517652440?l=altonthompson.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Alton Thompson 唐博敦http://www.blogger.com/profile/02592179955798586641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10338182.post-47202076000486289302010-04-13T03:00:00.004+08:002011-02-08T00:24:31.648+08:00Congratulations to American composer <b>Jennifer Higdon</b>, winner of the 2010 Pulitzer Prize in Music for her Violin Concerto. The concerto was given its premier by Hilary Hahn and the Indianapolis Symphony on 2009 February 6 and is the first self-published work to win the prize.<br /><br /><a href="http://newmusicbox.org/article.nmbx?id=6335">NewMusicBox </a>has the story.<div class="blogger-post-footer">Taipei, Taiwan<img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10338182-4720207600048628930?l=altonthompson.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Alton Thompson 唐博敦http://www.blogger.com/profile/02592179955798586641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10338182.post-84129281266363595902010-04-10T08:00:00.017+08:002011-02-08T00:34:39.529+08:00My colleagues in the USA tell me that the season is now upon them.<br /><br />You're a pianist who rehearses singers at the opera and performs in a chamber ensemble. To get to this point you've invested countless hours in practice time and thousands of dollars in instruments, scores, tuition and fees. And every year around this time, parents of brides start approaching you. Each set of parents announces that you have been chosen among all other pianists to perform at a very special event: the wedding of their daughter.<br /><br />You thank them and tell them your fee. Two jaws drop. 'We never expected that you'd want <i>money</i>,' they say.<br /><br />You could tell from their expressions alone that the gig was never going to happen. You're okay with that. If it's disappointing to learn your bank account won't get any help from this invitation, at least having the day free anyway will spare you playing your 167th 'Wedding Song' since your last recital.<br /><br />But your knowledge that the encounter is going nowhere will not prevent the conversation requiring a few more minutes to spin out. Before the parents leave they must tell you, gravely, that they had always assumed musicians do what they do out of love for their art rather than the desire for material gain and that the honour of being chosen for such an important event would speak for itself. And now, thanks to you, both of them will walk away forever saddened at the realisation that Our Cynical Modern World Has Come To This.<div class="blogger-post-footer">Taipei, Taiwan<img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10338182-8412928126636359590?l=altonthompson.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Alton Thompson 唐博敦http://www.blogger.com/profile/07152271731942218793noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10338182.post-66231188139386690442010-04-05T08:00:00.002+08:002010-04-07T09:35:24.472+08:00<div style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><a title="green museum by Alton @flickr, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/thompson/4083744370/"><img height="355" alt="green museum" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3492/4083744370_3879615cc6.jpg" width="500" /></a></div><p></p><p></p><br />You are invited! <b><br /></b><br /><br /><b>April 10 Saturday 18:00 (6:00 pm)</b><br /><b>National Palace Museum</b><br />Basement Level, Main Building<br />Taipei, Taiwan<br /><br /><b>NTNU Symphony Winds and Brass</b> <b>of the National Taiwan Normal University</b><br />Apo Hsu, music director<br />Alton Thompson, guest conductor and photographer<br /><br />Admission is free to the public.<br /><br /><blockquote><b>Antonín Dvořák <span class="Apple-style-span" style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal">(1841-1904)</span><br />Serenade for Winds opus 44 in D Minor</b><br />- IV. Finale: Allegro molto<br />Symphony Serenade Ensemble<br />Conductor: Alton Thompson<br /><br /><b>Eugène Bozza <span class="Apple-style-span" style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal">(1905-1991)</span><br />Variations sur con theme libre</b><br />- Theme: Andantino<br />- Variation 3: Allegro<br />- Variation 4: Calme<br />- Variation 6: Allegro vivo<br />Symphony Woodwind Quintet<br /><br /><b>Modest Mussorgsky</b> (1839-1881)<br />Selections from '<b>Pictures at an Exhibition</b>'<br />NTNU Faculty Brass Quintet<br />(images by Alton Thompson)<br />- Promenade<br />- The Old Castle<br />- Interlude (Promenade)<br />- Tuileries<br />- Bydlo (Oxen)<br />- Promenade<br />- Chicks in Shells<br />- Limoges Market<br />- Great Gate of Kiev</blockquote><blockquote>Selected popular pieces<br />NTNU Faculty Brass Quintet</blockquote><br />Performers<br /><blockquote>Symphony Serenade Ensemble (Dvořák):<br />Oboes: Chen Guan-Zhen, Wu Meng-Rong<br />Clarinets: Chen Zun Philip, Wang Yiting<br />Bassoons: Yu Cheng-Huan, Chen Guanrong, Yi 妘<br />Horns: Lam Yi-Chen, Li Huiyi, Zhang Yu-Wen<br />Cello: 萧惠<br />Double Bass: Hui Chien-Min</blockquote><blockquote>Symphony Woodwind Quintet (Bozza):<br />Wu Jianhui, Wu Meng-Rong, Lin Yu-Zhen, Chen Guanrong, Li Huiyi</blockquote><blockquote>Faculty Brass Quintet (Mussorgsky):<br />Wei Manshi, Wang Yang, Lam Yi, Chen Zeng 书桓, Yang Zhaoxiang<br /></blockquote><br /><p></p><p><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,51,51)"><span style="font-size:85%;">__________________</span></span></p><p></p><p><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,51,51);font-size:85%;"><a href="http://conductorsnotebook.com/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Conductor's Notebook</a></span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Taipei, Taiwan<img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10338182-6623118813938669044?l=altonthompson.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Alton Thompson 唐博敦http://www.blogger.com/profile/02592179955798586641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10338182.post-77864789846487952802010-03-23T09:00:00.008+08:002010-03-23T13:42:03.015+08:00<p></p><p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;">Google has pulled some bricks from the Great Firewall of China: the company has stopped censoring search results. Chinese users can now access the same results as users in Hong Kong do. From the </span></span></span><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8581393.stm"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;">BBC report</span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;">:</span></span></span></p><p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; line-height: 22px; "></span></span></span></span></p><blockquote><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 0px; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline- font-size:16px;color:initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;">Google's chief legal officer, David Drummond, said that providing "uncensored search" from Google.com.hk was "a sensible solution to the challenges we've faced - it's entirely legal and will meaningfully increase access to information for people in China"....</span></span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 0px; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline- font-size:16px;color:initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;">"We very much hope that the Chinese government respects our decision, though we are well aware that it could at any time block access to our services," Mr Drummond wrote in the blog post.</span></span></span></p></blockquote><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 0px; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline- font-size:16px;color:initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;">Google's decision to abandon the </span></span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;">google.cn</span></span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"> enterprise, which has been plagued by spying attempts and censorship demands from Chinese sources, signifies a willingness on the part of the company to make a long-term financial sacrifice.</span></span></span></p><blockquote><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 0px; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline- font-size:16px;color:initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;">Analysts said that initially Google's prospects would not be dented by shutting down Google.cn as it is responsible, at most, for 2% of its annual $24bn (£15.9bn) revenue.</span></span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 0px; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline- font-size:16px;color:initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;">"Near-term, not that big a deal," said Tim Ghriskey, chief investment officer at Solaris Asset Management. "Long-term, if this stays in place, it's a negative. China is certainly a great growth opportunity."</span></span></span></p></blockquote><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 0px; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline- font-size:16px;color:initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;">Sacrifices of this sort are rare in the world of commerce where China is concerned. Still, as overseas merchants find China an </span></span><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8581393.stm"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;">increasingly unwelcoming environment for international investment</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;">, more decisions like Google's may be on the way.</span></span></span></p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><br /></span></span></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;">Two weeks ago the Tiananmen Mothers </span></span></span><a href="http://www.hrichina.org/public/contents/press?revision_id=173413&amp;item_id=173406"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;">released a petition</span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"> calling on China's government to respect speech rights and open the flow of information. In one passage (courtesy of <a href="http://hrichina.org">HRIChina</a>) they detailed what the Google experience for Chinese users has been until today. </span></span></span><p></p><p></p><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;">What are the names of the many victims of the June Fourth tragedy? How did they meet their end?... The Tiananmen Mothers and other victims’ family members have labored through great hardships for the past 20 years to clearly record every detail we could find, and we have already made this information public. All this information, however, has been filtered out from the Internet in China by the Internet censors. Even the overseas Internet search engine Google can only operate according to the regulations, having no choice but to clearly indicate at the bottom of the search page: </span></span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;">In accordance with local laws, regulations, and policies, part of the search result is not shown.</span></span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"> This shows that it purposely follows Chinese law and that this [self-censorship] is not its own position. Not only is the information pertaining to the victims of June Fourth filtered out, so is all information about their parents, husbands, and wives; only the people who share their names remain.</span></span></span></blockquote><p></p><p></p><p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;">Google's practice of showing a message that a site had been filtered had represented a step forward. Other search engines in China, such as Yahoo, Microsoft and China's Baidu, made it appear that no pages pertaining to a banned topic existed. Users of Google gained a sense of how much information available to the rest of the world was not reaching them.</span></span></span></p><p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;">The situation for Chinese Internet users was parodied last summer in a </span></span></span><a href="http://www.theonion.com/articles/internet-adds-12th-website,2753/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;">now-classic </span></span></span></a><i><a href="http://www.theonion.com/articles/internet-adds-12th-website,2753/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;">Onion</span></span></span></a></i><a href="http://www.theonion.com/articles/internet-adds-12th-website,2753/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"> article</span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;">.</span></span></span></p><p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;">Now, China's people have access to the information they seek. Will their government allow this to continue? We will see.</span></span></span></p><p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;">Bravo to Google for doing the right thing.</span></span></span></p><p><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">__________________</span></span></span></p><p></p><p><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><a target="_blank" href="http://conductorsnotebook.com/" rel="nofollow"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Conductor's Notebook</span></a></span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Taipei, Taiwan<img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10338182-7786478984648795280?l=altonthompson.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Alton Thompson 唐博敦http://www.blogger.com/profile/02592179955798586641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10338182.post-67492478019799956992010-03-03T09:00:00.001+08:002010-03-23T23:49:32.851+08:00<p></p><p>Dear Apple: </p><p>It sounds ignorant when your music-playing products refer to tracks as 'songs.'</p><p>Please fix. Thank you.</p><p><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><span style="font-size:85%;">__________________</span></span></p><p></p><p><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);font-size:85%;"><a target="_blank" href="http://conductorsnotebook.com/" rel="nofollow">Conductor's Notebook</a></span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Taipei, Taiwan<img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10338182-6749247801979995699?l=altonthompson.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Alton Thompson 唐博敦http://www.blogger.com/profile/02592179955798586641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10338182.post-32333977998662578282010-02-26T22:00:00.001+08:002010-02-27T03:32:15.589+08:00<p></p><p>Riccardo Muti took the helm of the Chicago Symphony this week as its latest music director. Choice quotes:<br /><br /></p><p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFCC;"><i></i></span></p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFCC;"><i><blockquote>Symphony orchestras are the windows of a part of our great Western culture. The big orchestras such as Philadelphia, Cleveland and Chicago cannot close their doors, because if that happens it will be not only a scandal but also a disaster for society.</blockquote><blockquote>In a world full of violence, anger and crime, music can educate people's souls; certainly it can make society better.</blockquote><blockquote>What is vision? I do not see myself as St Francis, offering Chicago my beatific visions. Rather, in my first season, I see myself giving, together with this great orchestra, a panoramic view of the history of music. As we go along, we will try to find new ways to bring more people together, through music.<br /></blockquote></i></span><br /><p></p><p>Read the complete report by the <i>Chicago Tribune</i>'s <a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/chi-100226-cso-muti-new,0,4870525.column">John Von Rein</a>.<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><br /></span></span></p><p><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><span style="font-size:85%;">__________________</span></span></p><p></p><p><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);font-size:85%;"><a target="_blank" href="http://conductorsnotebook.com/" rel="nofollow">Conductor's Notebook</a></span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Taipei, Taiwan<img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10338182-3233397799866257828?l=altonthompson.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Alton Thompson 唐博敦http://www.blogger.com/profile/02592179955798586641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10338182.post-61237445944990043142010-02-23T08:00:00.003+08:002010-02-23T08:32:31.544+08:00<p></p><p>The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam, widely regarded as the world's finest, has been giving concerts in the USA led by music director Mariss Jansons. The performances have featured Dutch violinist Janine Jansen in the Sibelius Violin Concerto as well as Mahler's Third Symphony and Rachmininov's Second Symphony. Here are reviews from <a href="http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/classicalmusic/2010/02/royal_concertgebouw_orchestra.html">Tim Smith of the <em>Baltimore Sun</em></a> and <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/19/arts/music/19jansons.html?src=twt&amp;twt=nytimesarts">Alan Kozinn of the <em>New York Times</em></a>.</p><p>The orchestra offers <a href="http://www.concertgebouworkest.nl/page.ocl?pageid=109&amp;lang=en">ten free downloads</a> on its web site for those who register.<br /><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,51,51)"><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">__________________</span></span></p><p></p><p><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,51,51);font-size:85%;" ><a href="http://conductorsnotebook.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Conductor's Notebook</a></span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Taipei, Taiwan<img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10338182-6123744594499004314?l=altonthompson.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Alton Thompson 唐博敦http://www.blogger.com/profile/02592179955798586641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10338182.post-23340216707854206712010-02-22T13:00:00.005+08:002010-03-20T04:43:04.456+08:00<p></p><p>By all accounts America's famed Philadelphia Orchestra is navigating a difficult transition. The music remains strong in its appeal but issues of money and community have the organisation struggling.</p><p>The orchestra's president arrived only recently. The music director and marketing director have yet to be hired. The Kimmel Center makes expensive demands. The orchestra reports 62% attendance and a looming deficit of US$7.2 million. Peter Dobrin, writing in the <a href="http://www.philly.com/philly/entertainment/84770447.html?viewAll=y"><em>Philadelphia Inquirer</em></a>, reports that the more worrying issue in the long term is the orchestra's relationship with its audience. Philadelphia's music lovers feel increasingly remote from the ensemble that was once their pride. They miss encores, meeting players, getting reliable news. The orchestra has been slow to accommodate commuter schedules with rush-hour concerts and Sunday afternoon concerts.</p><p>It all adds up to a rocky journey for the Philadelphia Orchestra. Time will tell if it ends with a triumphant run up the steps.</p><p>The <a href="http://www.philly.com/philly/entertainment/84770447.html?viewAll=y">full article</a> appears at the <em>Inquirer</em> site.<br /><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,51,51)"><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">__________________</span></span></p><p></p><p><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,51,51);font-size:85%;"><a href="http://conductorsnotebook.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Conductor's Notebook</a></span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Taipei, Taiwan<img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10338182-2334021670785420671?l=altonthompson.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Alton Thompson 唐博敦http://www.blogger.com/profile/02592179955798586641noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10338182.post-41854786675606952082010-02-09T06:00:00.004+08:002010-02-09T06:06:24.377+08:00<p><a href="http://www.ipernity.com/doc/alton/7256625"><img border="0" alt="Alton's Interview" src="http://u1.ipernity.com/14/66/25/7256625.b6ba84be.500.jpg" width="500" height="173" /></a></p><p>I enjoyed a recent discussion of photography with Carrie Marshall Kellenberger. Her blog <em>My Several Worlds</em> covers aspects of Asia-Pacific living and travel. </p><p><a href="http://www.myseveralworlds.com/2010/02/08/msw-interviews-alton-thompson-global-educator-musician-and-photographer/">Catch the interview here</a>. Many thanks to Melody Hsiao for providing the interview photos.<br /><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,51,51)"><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">__________________</span></span></p><p></p><p><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,51,51);font-size:85%;" ><a href="http://conductorsnotebook.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Conductor's Notebook</a></span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Taipei, Taiwan<img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10338182-4185478667560695208?l=altonthompson.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Alton Thompson 唐博敦http://www.blogger.com/profile/02592179955798586641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10338182.post-85864299793769874292010-02-04T19:00:00.006+08:002010-02-10T05:34:25.010+08:00<p align="center"><a title="grail by Alton @flickr, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/thompson/3643598680/"><img alt="grail" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2436/3643598680_f747736d3f.jpg" width="430" height="500" /></a> <div align="center"><span style="font-size:85%;"><em>Grail<br /></em></span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-size:78%;">Kaohsiung, Taiwan<br />2007<br />Alton Thompson</span></div><br /><br />You are invited to join us for the Taipei Artists inaugural exhibit. The exhibit opens at the historic <strong>Taipei Mayor's Salon</strong> on <strong>February 9</strong> Tuesday and runs through <strong>February 27</strong>. Daily open hours are from <strong>11:00 to 18:00</strong> (6:00 pm).<br /><p>The show features work by eight Taipei artists working in a variety of media. I'm one of two them, with colour photographs on display. Other media represented include oil painting, black-and-white photography, watercolour on paper and watercolour on wood.</p><p>A special reception, open to the public, takes place on February 12 Friday 14:00-18:00 (2-6 in the afternoon). I hope you may be able to join us for this event as well.</p><p>More information about the venue, including directions and contact information, appears at the Mayor's Salon <a href="http://www.mayorsalon.com.tw/">official site (mayorsalon.com.tw)</a>.</p><p>More information about the exhibit may be found at the event's <a href="http://www.facebook.com/alton.thompson?ref=profile#!/event.php?eid=273279451630&amp;ref=mf">Facebook page</a>.</p><p><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,51,51)"><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">__________________</span></span></p><p></p><p><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,51,51);font-size:85%;" ><a href="http://conductorsnotebook.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Conductor's Notebook</a></span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Taipei, Taiwan<img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10338182-8586429979376987429?l=altonthompson.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Alton Thompson 唐博敦http://www.blogger.com/profile/02592179955798586641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10338182.post-91856206347730197252010-01-20T09:00:00.013+08:002010-01-24T17:44:26.987+08:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_5oMoMBcF8GM/S1stwjVxfII/AAAAAAAAAYo/0GzGdU7I8Jc/s1600-h/20100117.strav.cards.0572a.jpg"><blockquote></blockquote><blockquote></blockquote><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 182px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_5oMoMBcF8GM/S1stwjVxfII/AAAAAAAAAYo/0GzGdU7I8Jc/s400/20100117.strav.cards.0572a.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5429984087868800130" /></a><p></p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><i></i></span><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><i><blockquote></blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">The Devil (Alton Thompson) and Soldier (Yi-An Chen) play cards to determine the soldier's fate in </span></i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">The Soldier's Tale</span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> by Igor Stravinsky. The production by conductor Chia-Hsuan Lin event was the work's premier at the National Taiwan Normal University. </span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">(Photo by Melody Hsiao)</span></i></blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"></span><p></p><p><br />I had a rollicking good time in <i>The Soldier's Tale</i> Sunday night. Playing the archetypal villain helps, of course. You don't have to concern yourself much with your character's arc. You just take each scene as a new opportunity to torment your prey while making everyone in the room want to slap you. It's easy enough work for anyone who grew up with siblings.</p><p>I was delighted to learn that this production, produced by conductor Chia-Hsuan Lin, was actually the premier of the work at the university. From the outset Ms Lin brought ideas to the piece that made her <i>Soldier's Tale</i> a true ensemble work, for the actors as for the instrumentalists. Each character, like each player, had his or her moment. This wasn't one of those shows that one actor steals while the rest of the cast acts as foils. To begin with, no one steals anything from talented actress Yi-An Chen. The violin major at NTNU played the title role with zest and ginger, which is pretty much how she does everything else, too. Kris Falk used his Narrator spot as a springboard to create a kaleidoscopic array of distinct characters. Cipher Kao's images, in both publicity and on stage, drew knowing inspiration from Stravinsky's neo-classic priorities, including his savvy humour.</p><p>The high point of the show was exactly where it should be but often isn't: the ballet depicting the rendezvous of the Soldier and his bride. The scene was danced imaginatively by Yi-An Chen with Mr Ta-Wei Wang as the Princess. To have both Soldier and Princess played by actors of the opposite sex makes a playfully novel effect, but as the Soldier and Princess danced, this casting paid off in the increased sense of intimacy that develops between the two characters. Not only do they meet and get acquainted, but they inhabit each other's personas.</p><p>All of us in the cast are also musicians. We often remarked to each other in rehearsal that we were noticing details in Stravinsky's music in a new way. His music frequently alludes to some aspect of the setting or of a character, or to physical action. The references leap at you when you are involved in the work dramatically.</p><p>I was delighted to see friends there, like my classmates from the NTNU Mandarin Training Center and language exchanges who came. My sweetheart, Melody, got lots of good pictures for us and did us the favour of acting a bit part at the same time. </p><p>Congratulations to the company, especially to conductor Chia-Hsuan Lin and her adviser Apo Hsu. Great fun. And a distinct honour. Thank you.</p><p><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><span style="font-size:85%;">__________________</span></span></p><p></p><p><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);font-size:85%;"><a target="_blank" href="http://conductorsnotebook.com/" rel="nofollow">Conductor's Notebook</a></span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Taipei, Taiwan<img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10338182-9185620634773019725?l=altonthompson.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Alton Thompson 唐博敦http://www.blogger.com/profile/02592179955798586641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10338182.post-29522092834209598172010-01-14T09:00:00.000+08:002010-01-16T10:55:16.756+08:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_5oMoMBcF8GM/S06khOKsWyI/AAAAAAAAAYg/NfugfkIZTSw/s1600-h/%E5%A3%AB%E5%85%B5%E7%9A%84%E6%95%85%E4%BA%8B%E5%B0%8F%E9%9B%BB%E5%AD%90%E6%AA%942010-01-17.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 282px; height: 400px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_5oMoMBcF8GM/S06khOKsWyI/AAAAAAAAAYg/NfugfkIZTSw/s400/%E5%A3%AB%E5%85%B5%E7%9A%84%E6%95%85%E4%BA%8B%E5%B0%8F%E9%9B%BB%E5%AD%90%E6%AA%942010-01-17.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5426455491673611042" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial, sans-serif;font-size:130%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size:14px;"><div><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">2010 January 17 Sunday 19:30</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> (7:30 pm) </span></span></b></div><div><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></b></div><div><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Igor Stravinsky</span></b></div><div><b><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Octet for Winds</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The Soldier's Tale (L'histoire du Soldat)</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /><br /></span></b></div><div><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Taipei Chamber Players<br />Chia-hsuan Lin, </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">conductor</span></span></b></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">NTNU Historic Auditorium<br />National Taiwan Normal University<br />Taipei, Taiwan<br /></span></div><div></div><blockquote><div><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Soldier:</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> Yi-An Chen</span></div><div><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Devil:</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> Alton Thompson<br /></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Narrator:</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> Kris Falk<br /></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Princess:</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> Ta-Wei Wang</span></div></blockquote><div></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Admission is free to the public.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">________</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">台北室內樂演奏家樂團 即將推出室內樂經典系列之一 ---- 史特拉汶斯基</span></div><div> </div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">曲目:木管八重奏 Octet for Winds</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> 音樂戲劇--士兵的故事 The Soldier's Tale</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">時間:2010年1月17日 晚上 7:30</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">地點:國立台灣師範大學禮堂</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">演出者:台北室內樂演奏家樂團 Taipei Chamber Players<br /></span><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">陳羿安 Yi-An Chen（飾士兵, The Soldier）<br />唐博敦 Alton Thompson（飾惡魔, The Devil）<br />克里斯˙福克 Kris Falk（說書人, The Narrator<br />王大維 Ta-Wei Wang （飾公主, The Princess）</span></blockquote></div><div> </div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">台北室內樂演奏家樂團</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">2009年由青年指揮家林佳萱帶領師範大學音樂系演奏家組成，</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><wbr>同年10月舉辦古典現場音樂會，頗受好評。</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">2010年，將以室內樂為主題，帶來現代音樂重要的作曲家---</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><wbr>-史特拉汶斯基的經典室內樂作品。</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">誠摯的邀請您！</span></div></span></span><p><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><span style="font-size:85%;">__________________</span></span></p><p></p><p><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);font-size:85%;"><a target="_blank" href="http://conductorsnotebook.com/" rel="nofollow">Conductor's Notebook</a></span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Taipei, Taiwan<img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10338182-2952209283420959817?l=altonthompson.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Alton Thompson 唐博敦http://www.blogger.com/profile/02592179955798586641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10338182.post-41309872986917288522010-01-13T16:00:00.000+08:002010-01-16T12:17:20.067+08:00<p></p><p>This week I've been preparing for a role in a performance of <i>The Soldier's Tale</i>. The theatre piece, drawn from a European folk tale, shows a person of essentially good character making an ill-advised pact with the devil. He soon learns that the acquisition of wealth is cold comfort for the price he pays. He learns that he can get out of the deal, but only by renouncing everything of the devil's he has acquired. </p><p>Interestingly, the news this week has presented a real-life enactment of the tale. Google, in party by taking the measure of the devil with which it has been dealing, has decided it doesn't like the deal, either.</p><p>Google has announced <a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/01/new-approach-to-china.html">a 'new approach to China'</a>. In the process it publicly exposes a rampant amount of spying and hacking originating inside that country. The spying is intensive and is not limited to users of Google. The Internet giant has announced that it will no longer filter news content in <i>Google.cn</i> as China's government has insisted. If it cannot offer the kind of open internet service in China that it does elsewhere, Google will leave.</p><p>Google opened <i>Google.cn</i> in 2006. Like other search engines operating in China, the service proved spectacularly unhelpful to China's citizens in locating a number of sites available to most people around the world. These include weblogs such as this one, social sites such as Twitter, human rights organisations such as Amnesty International, Reporters Without Borders and Freedom House, and articles on subjects such as dissent inside China, Tibetan and Taiwanese nationalism, the Dalai Lama, the Falun Gong, and human rights topics in general. A search on the 1989 student protests at Tiananmen Square produces around <a href="http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=protest+tiananmen+square&amp;hl=en&amp;btnG=Google+Search&amp;start=0">442,000 results</a> on <i>Google.uk</i>; it produced no results at all on <i>Google.cn</i>. </p><p>But it will now. Google is now having discussions with the Chinese government about how to operate a more open service within the country. If the results of those talks are not fruitful, Google is ready to leave.</p><p>The move places China's government in a dilemma. The Communist Party that rules China is committed to filtering news that reaches citizens. But it is also committed to, and depends on, attracting foreign investment. It is especially eager to attract technology and communications companies. It is now faced with making a substantial shift in its approach to speech rights or, thanks to Google's exposure, establishing itself more prominently in the yes of the world as an enemy of privacy and the free exchange of information, even for people who live beyond China's borders.</p><p>A dilemma also faces Microsoft and Yahoo, two companies who have likewise cooperated on censoring content in oppressive ways in order to gain market share in China. They are now being called upon not only to defend their willingness to help an oppressive regime oppress its citizens for the sake of profit, but to explain what they intend to do to guarantee privacy for members' accounts.</p><p><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8455712.stm">BBC News</a> presents the news concisely.</p><p><a href="http://news.cnet.com/8301-30684_3-10433745-265.html?tag=mncol;txt">CNet</a> offers a detailed look at how cyber-attacks operate and the implications of Google's move.</p><p><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2010/jan/12/google-china-ends-censorship">Guardian UK</a> examines the story in a series of articles.</p><p><a href="http://news.cnet.com/8301-30684_3-10433745-265.html?tag=mncol;txt">Taiwan News</a> offers observations by a dissident now working in Taiwan.</p><p>Reprinted below is the complete text of the announcement as it appears in <a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/01/new-approach-to-china.html">Google's official blog</a>.</p><p><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><span style="font-size:85%;">__________________</span></span></p><p></p><p><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);font-size:85%;"><a target="_blank" href="http://conductorsnotebook.com/" rel="nofollow">Conductor's Notebook</a></span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Taipei, Taiwan<img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10338182-4130987298691728852?l=altonthompson.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Alton Thompson 唐博敦http://www.blogger.com/profile/02592179955798586641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10338182.post-69801178606144809292010-01-13T14:00:00.002+08:002010-01-16T12:21:34.606+08:00<p></p><p>Reprinted below is the complete text of the announcement in <a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/01/new-approach-to-china.html">Google's official blog</a>.<br /><br /></p><p><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" color: rgb(204, 102, 0); line-height: 36px; font-family:Arial, sans-serif;font-size:26px;"><a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/01/new-approach-to-china.html" style="display: inline !important; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(204, 102, 0); font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; "></a></span></p><blockquote><p><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" line-height: 36px; font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/01/new-approach-to-china.html" style="display: inline !important; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; "><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFCC;">A new approach to China</span></span></i></a></span></p><p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFCC;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;font-size:16px;"></span></span></p><div class="post-body"><div class="date-header" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFCC;">1/12/2010 03:00:00 PM</span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFCC;">Like many other well-known organizations, we face cyber attacks of varying degrees on a regular basis. In mid-December, we detected a highly sophisticated and targeted attack on our corporate infrastructure originating from China that resulted in the theft of intellectual property from Google. However, it soon became clear that what at first appeared to be solely a security incident--albeit a significant one--was something quite different.<br /><br />First, this attack was not just on Google. As part of our investigation we have discovered that at least twenty other large companies from a wide range of businesses--including the Internet, finance, technology, media and chemical sectors--have been similarly targeted. We are currently in the process of notifying those companies, and we are also working with the relevant U.S. authorities.<br /><br />Second, we have evidence to suggest that a primary goal of the attackers was accessing the Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights activists. Based on our investigation to date we believe their attack did not achieve that objective. Only two Gmail accounts appear to have been accessed, and that activity was limited to account information (such as the date the account was created) and subject line, rather than the content of emails themselves.<br /><br />Third, as part of this investigation but independent of the attack on Google, we have discovered that the accounts of dozens of U.S.-, China- and Europe-based Gmail users who are advocates of human rights in China appear to have been routinely accessed by third parties. These accounts have not been accessed through any security breach at Google, but most likely via phishing scams or malware placed on the users' computers.<br /><br />We have already used information gained from this attack to make infrastructure and architectural improvements that enhance security for Google and for our users. In terms of individual users, we would advise people to deploy reputable anti-virus and anti-spyware programs on their computers, to install patches for their operating systems and to update their web browsers. Always be cautious when clicking on links appearing in instant messages and emails, or when asked to share personal information like passwords online. You can read more </span><a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/11/next-steps-in-cyber-security-awareness.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFCC;">here</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFCC;"> about our cyber-security recommendations. People wanting to learn more about these kinds of attacks can read this </span><a href="http://www.uscc.gov/annual_report/2009/09_annual_report.php"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFCC;">Report to Congress</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFCC;"> </span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFCC;">(PDF)</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFCC;"> by the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission (see p. 163-), as well as a related </span><a href="http://www.uscc.gov/researchpapers/2009/NorthropGrumman_PRC_Cyber_Paper_FINAL_Approved%20Report_16Oct2009.pdf"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFCC;">analysis</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFCC;"> </span><span style="font-size:14px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFCC;">(PDF)</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFCC;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFCC;">prepared for the Commission, </span><a href="http://www.nartv.org/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFCC;">Nart Villeneuve's blog</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFCC;"> and </span><a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/13731776/Tracking-GhostNet-Investigating-a-Cyber-Espionage-Network"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFCC;">this</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFCC;"> presentation on the GhostNet spying incident.<br /><br />We have taken the unusual step of sharing information about these attacks with a broad audience not just because of the security and human rights implications of what we have unearthed, but also because this information goes to the heart of a much bigger global debate about freedom of speech. In the last two decades, China's economic reform programs and its citizens' entrepreneurial flair have lifted hundreds of millions of Chinese people out of poverty. Indeed, this great nation is at the heart of much economic progress and development in the world today.<br /><br />We launched Google.cn in January 2006 in the belief that the benefits of increased access to information for people in China and a more open Internet outweighed our discomfort in agreeing to censor some results. At the time </span><a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2006/02/testimony-internet-in-china.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFCC;">we made clear</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFCC;"> that 'we will carefully monitor conditions in China, including new laws and other restrictions on our services. If we determine that we are unable to achieve the objectives outlined we will not hesitate to reconsider our approach to China.'<br /><br />These attacks and the surveillance they have uncovered--combined with the attempts over the past year to further limit free speech on the web--have led us to conclude that we should review the feasibility of our business operations in China. We have decided we are no longer willing to continue censoring our results on Google.cn, and so over the next few weeks we will be discussing with the Chinese government the basis on which we could operate an unfiltered search engine within the law, if at all. We recognize that this may well mean having to shut down Google.cn, and potentially our offices in China.<br /><br />The decision to review our business operations in China has been incredibly hard, and we know that it will have potentially far-reaching consequences. We want to make clear that this move was driven by our executives in the United States, without the knowledge or involvement of our employees in China who have worked incredibly hard to make Google.cn the success it is today. We are committed to working responsibly to resolve the very difficult issues raised.<br /></span><b><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFCC;"><br /></span></i></b><span class="byline-author" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFCC;"><br /></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFCC;">Posted by David Drummond, SVP, Corporate Development and Chief Legal Officer</span></i></span></div></blockquote><p><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><span style="font-size:85%;">__________________</span></span></p><p></p><p><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);font-size:85%;"><a target="_blank" href="http://conductorsnotebook.com/" rel="nofollow">Conductor's Notebook</a></span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Taipei, Taiwan<img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10338182-6980117860614480929?l=altonthompson.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Alton Thompson 唐博敦http://www.blogger.com/profile/02592179955798586641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10338182.post-69090740041732226952010-01-12T09:00:00.001+08:002010-02-23T01:13:31.034+08:00<p></p><p>Have you ever met an audiophile who pays high prices to get the very best connection cables? Who wants all the ultrasonic frequencies? Who swears that vinyl records remain unsurpassed for fidelity?</p><p>In <em>Skeptic</em> magazine this week, a sound engineer examines the superstitions and pseudoscience that circulate in the world of high-fidelity audio. The <a href="http://www.skeptic.com/eskeptic/10-01-06">article</a>, by Ethan Winer, shows how audio consumers are led astray by sales pitches, misunderstandings and placebo rewards. In the process, he offers an excellent primer in the way high-fidelity audio really works.</p><p>Audiophiles who prefer vinyl to digital playback are, of course, as correct as anyone can be about what they prefer. But it turns out that what they prefer in this case is not fidelity, as they claim, but distortion. Finding distortion pleasing is certainly allowed as an aesthetic choice. Rock musicians have lived by distortion for years, just as art enthusiasts exist who liked the Sistine Chapel ceiling better when it was dirty. One is entitled to one's tastes, but it does little good to justify these preferences by appeals to fidelity. What one loves is not fidelity to reality but the distortion of it that one has come to regard as an improvement.</p><p>The entire article may be viewed at <em>Skeptic</em>'s <a href="http://www.skeptic.com/eskeptic/10-01-06">reading room</a>.<br /><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,51,51)"><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">__________________</span></span></p><p></p><p><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,51,51);font-size:85%;" ><a href="http://conductorsnotebook.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Conductor's Notebook</a></span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Taipei, Taiwan<img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10338182-6909074004173222695?l=altonthompson.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Alton Thompson 唐博敦http://www.blogger.com/profile/02592179955798586641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10338182.post-70963153770153828812010-01-11T12:00:00.002+08:002010-01-16T12:39:50.610+08:00<p></p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">You know you're spending too much time on the computer when your dreams have pop-ups.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">I was dreaming this morning and the pop-up came on and told me it was time to wake up. It was. My alarm was set to ring only a minute later. </span></span></span></span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CCCCCC;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Not a bad 'feature,' actually.</span></span></span><p><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><span style="font-size:85%;">__________________</span></span></p><p></p><p><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);font-size:85%;"><a target="_blank" href="http://conductorsnotebook.com/" rel="nofollow">Conductor's Notebook</a></span></p></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">Taipei, Taiwan<img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10338182-7096315377015382881?l=altonthompson.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Alton Thompson 唐博敦http://www.blogger.com/profile/02592179955798586641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10338182.post-40344095146062104902010-01-08T08:00:00.009+08:002010-01-12T10:58:54.768+08:00<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/thompson/4224321696/" title="privé by Alton @flickr, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2598/4224321696_c436e85ee6.jpg" width="354" height="500" alt="privé" /></a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Danshui, Taipei CountyTaiwan</span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">台灣 新北市 淡水<br />2009.12.27<br /><br />Model: Cherry Chen<br />Makeup: Lunarlu Chen</span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">©Alton Thompson 唐博敦</span></div><div> <a href="http://altonimages.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Alton's Images</span></a><p><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><span style="font-size:85%;">__________________</span></span></p><p></p><p><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);font-size:85%;"><a target="_blank" href="http://conductorsnotebook.com/" rel="nofollow">Conductor's Notebook</a></span></p></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">Taipei, Taiwan<img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10338182-4034409514606210490?l=altonthompson.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Alton Thompson 唐博敦http://www.blogger.com/profile/02592179955798586641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10338182.post-61598927721536172082010-01-06T09:00:00.002+08:002010-01-07T03:19:00.693+08:00<p></p><p>With the arrival of 2010 the <a href="http://www.americanorchestras.org/">League of American Orchestras</a> has begun making its professional magazine, <i><a href="http://www.americanorchestras.org/symphony_magazine/symphony_magazine.html">Symphony</a></i>, available on the Net. Bookmarking this page provides access to all future issues of <i>Symphony</i>:</p><p><a href="http://www.americanorchestras.org/symphony_magazine/symphony_magazine.html">http://www.americanorchestras.org/symphony_magazine/symphony_magazine.html</a></p><p>Features are displayed as they appear in the print publication. The interactive web page provides easy scrolls, text zooms and page turns. The first issue, 2010 January-February, is already posted.</p><p>Thanks to my colleague Apo Hsu for the tip.</p><p><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><span style="font-size:85%;">__________________</span></span></p><p></p><p><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);font-size:85%;"><a target="_blank" href="http://conductorsnotebook.com/" rel="nofollow">Conductor's Notebook</a></span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Taipei, Taiwan<img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10338182-6159892772153617208?l=altonthompson.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Alton Thompson 唐博敦http://www.blogger.com/profile/02592179955798586641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10338182.post-46904730456229511022010-01-01T01:01:00.002+08:002010-01-02T15:36:19.798+08:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_5oMoMBcF8GM/Sz73TYQooAI/AAAAAAAAAYQ/WbZ8pkNeznk/s1600-h/20100101.fireworks.061.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 224px; height: 320px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_5oMoMBcF8GM/Sz73TYQooAI/AAAAAAAAAYQ/WbZ8pkNeznk/s320/20100101.fireworks.061.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5422042913702453250" /></a><br />Here's wishing you joy, peace and abundance in all the days ahead.<div><br /></div><div>From Taipei, Taiwan: happy new year!</div><div><br /></div><div><br /><p><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-size:small;">__________________</span></p><p></p><p><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);font-size:85%;"><a target="_blank" href="http://conductorsnotebook.com/" rel="nofollow">Conductor's Notebook</a></span></p></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">Taipei, Taiwan<img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10338182-4690473045622951102?l=altonthompson.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Alton Thompson 唐博敦http://www.blogger.com/profile/02592179955798586641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10338182.post-11859217608346569402009-12-07T18:00:00.005+08:002010-01-15T04:43:56.121+08:00<p></p><p>The Taiwan Railways Administration has announced that the following city names will retain their familiar romanised spellings rather than be converted to the New Phonetic System (shown in parentheses) that is now standard:</p><blockquote><strong>Changhua</strong> (Zhanghua)<br /><strong>Chiayi</strong> (Jiayi)<br /><strong>Hsinchu</strong> (Xinzhu)<br /><strong>Hualien</strong> (Hualian)<br /><strong>Kaohsiung</strong> (Gaoxiong)<br /><strong>Keelung</strong> (Jilong)<br /><strong>Pingtung</strong> (Pingdong)<br /><strong>Taichung</strong> (Taizhong)<br /><strong>Taipei</strong> (Taibei)<br /><strong>Taitung</strong> (Taidong)</blockquote><p>The spelling of some place names, such as <strong>Tainan</strong> and <strong>Taoyuan</strong>, will remain the same because the spellings are identical in the new system. </p><p>This news item will strike readers living abroad as prosaic but the clarity is welcome to those of us living in Taiwan. Standardisation has been lacking for a long time. As you can see from the results shown in parentheses above, the New Phonetic System (called Hanyu Pinyin in China) yields at least two ugly, user-hostile spellings for every elegant one. Still, it's a standard. Individual choices are preserved in Taiwan for the spellings of personal names.</p><p>Thanks to the <a href="http://bradttaiwan.blogspot.com/2009/12/spelling-of-stations-and-towns.html">Bradt Travel Guide</a> for sharing the news.</p><p><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,51,51)"><span style="font-size:85%;">__________________</span></span></p><p></p><p><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,51,51);font-size:85%;"><a href="http://conductorsnotebook.com/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Conductor's Notebook</a></span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Taipei, Taiwan<img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10338182-1185921760834656940?l=altonthompson.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Alton Thompson 唐博敦http://www.blogger.com/profile/02592179955798586641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10338182.post-19448455912800568822009-12-01T20:00:00.028+08:002010-05-07T01:15:24.484+08:00<div style="TEXT-ALIGN: left">Wherever conductors gather you can expect shoptalk. That was the case recently when Apo Hsu and her NTNU conducting class took visiting conductor Mark Gibson to lunch earlier last week in Taipei. Three questions came up that offered welcome grist for the blog. </div><blockquote><ul><br /><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#ffffcc;">Which work qualifies as The Great American Symphony?</span></li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#ffffcc;"><br /></span><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#ffffcc;">Leonard Bernstein and Herbert von Karajan were icons of the Dionysian-Apollonian dichotomy. What conductors alive today can compare?</span></li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#ffffcc;"><br /></span><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#ffffcc;">Who wins your award as The Person Least Likely to be Engaged as a Narrator for Aaron Copland's </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#ffffcc;">Lincoln Portrait</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#ffffcc;">?</span></li><br /></ul></blockquote><p>My own responses follow. Feel free to share your own. A link to create a comment appears at he bottom of this post.<br /></p><br /><p><i><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:130%;color:#ffffcc;">Which work qualifies as The Great American Symphony?</span></b></i></p><p>The question is a poser because no consensus has yet emerged on this. Great works are composed, but you can't just name The Great American Symphony the way you can The Great American Rhapsody for Piano and Orchestra or The Great American Elegiac Work for Strings. Not if the symphony has to be by an American, that is.</p><p>Aaron Copland staked a claim with his Third Symphony. The general sense at the table was that, appealing though the work is, it hasn't carved a place for itself that compares, for example, to the symphonies of Shostakovich or Sibelius, two of Copland's contemporaries. </p><p>(But isn't it often that way? Works by eastern European composers, such as Gubaidulina, Pärt and Górecki often bear a formidable weight of experience. Someone has endured something and needs to tell you about it. Their American contemporaries are as likely as not to be basing works on comic books, rock drum riffs and the music of Desi Arnaz.)</p><p>The symphonies of Roy Harris and Charles Ives have their champions, as do works by Barber and Hanson. And with the likes of Corigliano, Zwilich, Rouse, Larsen, Danielpour, Higdon, Adams, Tower, Jones and Kernis making music on the American landscape, it may well be that the symphony already exists that will, in time, gain the consensus.</p><p>Until a consensus emerges on a work by an American, I submit that The Great American Symphony has been staring us in the face for years. It just wasn't written by an American.<br /><br /></p><blockquote>Antonin Dvorak (1841-1904)<br />Symphony no. 9 in E minor, opus 95 'From the New World'</blockquote><p>Dvorak had a program in mind for the symphony that drew its inpiration from the popular poem <i>Hiawatha</i> by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. The famous slow movement was inspired by the funeral of Minnehaha.</p><p>Dvorak's symphony is instantly recognised around the world. It is an icon of American culture as surely as the Statue of Liberty is. Let it be noted that, if Dvorak's symphony is not the work of an American composer, neither is Lady Liberty the work of an American sculptor. And what could be more American than to care about the content of a person's ideals over the circumstances of their ancestry and place of birth?</p><p>Dvorak's 'New World' sets the standard. It represents The Great American Symphony until a work by a native composer emerges to dislodge it, or at least share a spot with it on the pedestal.<br /></p><p><br /></p><p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left"><span style="FONT-STYLE: italic; FONT-WEIGHT: bold" class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:130%;color:#ffffcc;">What conductors alive today can compare to Leonard Bernstein and Herbert von Karajan as giants in their field and icons of the Dionysian-Apollonian dichotomy?</span></span></p><p>This question was likely rhetorical. When someone asks 'Who compares?' it's usually a safe bet that the speaker thinks no one does. Offering a straight reply spoils the party simply by being a straight reply. One has rejected the implied premise. </p><p>If that's true in this case, so be it. Bernstein and Karajan never stood head and shoulders above their major-league contemporaries as musicians, and they don't now. They possessed remarkable talents, yes. But the competition is too fierce to concede to them the lead. Their contemporaries? Carlos Kleiber, George Szell, Bernard Haitink, Pierre Boulez, Riccardo Muti, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Dmitri Mitropoulis, James DePriest, Klaus Tennstedt, John Eliot Gardiner, Günther Herbig and many more. Each one of these individuals represents a formidable talent in his own right.</p><p>One can be a fan of any conductor one chooses. But on the matter of musicianship we are faced, speaking realistically, with a case of 'any given Sunday.' Which repertoire? Performed at what stage of the musician's career? Which ensemble? How are we to rate the worth of an iconoclastic, idiosyncratic vision of a work? How are we to rate the value of versatility? How to rate fidelity to the score?</p><p>If Bernstein and Karajan seem to stand out for 'star quality', it is not because as musicians they outperformed, say, Carlos Kleiber. It is because they outperformed Kleiber in the realm of becoming media darlings. They stood head and shoulders above their colleagues in their ability to generate press hype.</p><p>The ability to make a celebrity of oneself is not the same thing as musical ability. A number of non-musical skills are involved. Celebrity standing primarily measures the ability to give journalists what they want: access, good copy, and just the right amount of controversy. It measures one's ability, and to a large extent one's determination, to appear on front pages. It measures the ability to structure contracts and work markets in a way that nurtures the desired media image.</p><p>Many people like to feel that some correlation between talent and celebrity exists. We don't like feeling that stars are stars mainly because business leaders have decided it is more lucrative for them to sell these individuals to us rather than other individuals of equal or greater merit.</p><p>Many fine musicians don't run the marketing race. Kleiber never sought to make himself ubiquitous in the record stores. He was exceedingly fussy about records with his name on them and let very little go out. Karajan intended to flood the bins and arranged his contracts with labels to ensure that he did. George Szell had little patience with the press and was no one's idea of a media pretty boy. Still, in the minds of many musicians he is <em>the</em> standout conductor of his generation among those leading American orchestras. Haitink has always gone toe-to-toe with Karajan for versatility. But he did little guest conducting for most of his career outside of Europe, with consequent results for his celebrity status overseas. When asked why he didn't do more conducting in the States, Haitink wondered aloud how jet setters get any meaningful score study done. Haitink, though nearly as prolific as Karajan in the recording studio and more prolific than Bernstein, shunned press hype. He wanted substance. If people saw him on television, it would be because he was conducting a televised concert, not giving an interview.</p><p>This is a big reason why success in marketing cannot be naively equated with success in musicianship. Too many superb musicians don't excel and marketing, and don't care to.</p><p>Karajan and Bernstein were the media darlings of their day as Toscanini and Stokowski were for the generation before theirs. A nostalgic glow attaches itself to past celebrities in times that seem lacking in such 'star quality.' But the difficulty we have identifying comparable 'stars' today is no reflection on the quality of our generation's musicians. It is partly due to the human tendency to forget the warts on exalted figures of the past so that only the glow remains. This pattern that repeats itself every generation. But a key reason for the difficulty today is that today's musicians live after the revolution. The record industry that made Karajan and Bernstein into stars no longer exists. The journalism that supported that industry no longer exists. Ours is a new landscape.</p><p>We still have plenty of conductors today who can serve as exemplars for anyone demanding exemplars. One has only to look. Apollonian ideals? Abbado. Dionysian forces? Dudamel.</p><p><br /></p><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 204px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5409622557125487538" border="0" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_5oMoMBcF8GM/SxLXDeZnq7I/AAAAAAAAAXc/X-E2KVyv1sU/s320/dudamel.jpg" /> <div style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#cccccc;">'C</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#cccccc;">atch the moon, one-handed catch!'</span></span></span></div><p></p><p><br /><b><i><span style="FONT-STYLE: normal; FONT-WEIGHT: normal" class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#ffffcc;">Who wins your award as The Person Least Likely to be Engaged as a Narrator for Aaron Copland's </span></i></b><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#ffffcc;">Lincoln Portrait?</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#ff9900;"><br /></span><br /></p><p>Kim Jong-Il of North Korea.<br /><br /><br /><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 152px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 200px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5409625344539392578" border="0" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_5oMoMBcF8GM/SxLZluU4ekI/AAAAAAAAAXk/iQnZoP0P5Yg/s200/kim.jong-il.jpg" /></p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#cccccc;">'You toil and work and earn bread, and I'll eat it.'</span></div></span><p><br />Though the <a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=19320170">New York Philharmonic</a> might still give him a tryout.</p><p><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,51,51)"><span style="font-size:85%;">__________________</span></span></p><p><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,51,51);font-size:85%;"><a href="http://conductorsnotebook.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Conductor's Notebook</a></span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Taipei, Taiwan<img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10338182-1944845591280056882?l=altonthompson.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Alton Thompson 唐博敦http://www.blogger.com/profile/02592179955798586641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10338182.post-61436608030671646192009-11-25T10:00:00.005+08:002009-11-25T17:16:20.510+08:00<p></p>This week musical organisations in Taipei play host to <a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.ccm.uc.edu/faculty/facultyProfile.aspx?facultyid=33">Mark Gibson</a>, professor of conducting at the <a href="http://www.ccm.uc.edu">College-Conservatory of Music</a> at the <a href="http://www.uc.edu/">University of Cincinnati</a>, USA. Conductors in training know him as the latest contributor to the <em>The Modern Conductor</em>, a standard text for conductors in training that was originally authored by Elizabeth Green. Gibson will visit the <a href="http://www.ntnu.edu.tw/">National Taiwan Normal University</a> (NTNU, 'Shida') and <a href="http://www.fju.edu.tw/">Fu Jen Catholic University</a>.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">11.26 Thursday</span><br /><br />14:10-16:00<br />NTNU Masterclass with Opera Singers<br /><blockquote>林中光 Giuseppe Verdi: 'Son io, mio Carlo… O Carlo, ascolta' <span style="font-style: italic;">(Don Carlo)</span><br /><br />黃怡璇 W. A. Mozart: E 'Amore un ladroncello' <span style="font-style: italic;">(</span><i>Così fan tutte</i><span style="font-style: italic;">)</span><br /><br />余姵儒 Giuseppe Verdi: 'Caro nome' <span style="font-style: italic;">(Rigoletto)</span><br /><br />張瑜芳 Vincenzo Bellini: 'Oh! quante volte' <span style="font-style: italic;">(I Capuleti ed i Montecchi)</span><br /><br />簡妙如 Gaetano Donizetti: 'O luce di quest'anima' <span style="font-style: italic;">(Linda di Chamounix)</span><br /><br />陳緯晨 Johann Strauss II: Csárdás 'Klänge der Heimat' <span style="font-style: italic;">(Die Fledermaus)</span></blockquote><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">11.27 Friday</span><br /><br />14:00-16:00<br />NTNU Conducting Seminar (with Prof. Apo Hsu)<br />視二 Piano Four-Hands and String Quintet<br /><ul><li>Beethoven: Symphony No. 2</li></ul> 16:15-20:00<br />NTNU Conducting Masterclass (with Prof. Apo Hsu)<br />演奏廳 NTNU Symphony Orchestra<br /><ul><li>Beethoven: Symphony No. 2</li></ul><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">11.28 Saturday</span><br /><br />8:00-9:30<br />NTNU graduate level lecture series, 3F 音聽–<br />'Prima la parola: The importance of text for the opera conductor'<br /><br />11:00<br />Fu Jen Conducting Conference Presentation<br />'Clarity of Intent, not Clarity of Beat'<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">12.01 Tuesday</span><br /><br />15:30-17:30<br />Fu Jen Symphony Orchestra (with Prof. Liao Chia-Hong)<br /><ul><li>Tchaikovsky: Overture <span style="font-style: italic;">1812</span></li><li>Mendelssohn: Overture <span style="font-style: italic;">Fingal’s Cave</span></li></ul> <p><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">__________________</span></span></p><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);font-size:85%;" ><a href="http://conductorsnotebook.com/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Conductor's Notebook</a></span><div class="blogger-post-footer">Taipei, Taiwan<img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10338182-6143660803067164619?l=altonthompson.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Alton Thompson 唐博敦http://www.blogger.com/profile/02592179955798586641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10338182.post-51436333934240822122009-11-20T08:00:00.000+08:002009-11-25T17:06:47.774+08:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEmono/ASE2010/ASE2010.html"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_5oMoMBcF8GM/SmfMbpmodeI/AAAAAAAAAQo/3FxYvdGO2zI/s400/20100115.eclipse.path.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5361478656804287970" border="0" /></a>Those making holiday plans in the Eastern Hemiphere may want to catch the annular solar eclipse that will be visible on <a href="http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEmono/ASE2010/ASE2010.html">2010 January 15</a>. The path of the moon's shadow will move through central Africa, the Indian Ocean, and a swath of Asia that includes India and China.<br /><p>An annular solar eclipse, though dramatic, differs from a total solar eclipse. The moon is farther from earth during an annular eclipse. Its shadow does not completely obscure the sun and <a href="http://images.google.co.uk/images?hl=en&amp;q=annular+solar+eclipse&amp;um=1&amp;ie=UTF-8&amp;ei=xctnSpPSDI2YsgO7rLCnBw&amp;sa=X&amp;oi=image_result_group&amp;ct=title&amp;resnum=6">a ring of light remains</a>. The sun's corona is not easily viewed as it would be during a total eclipse.<br /><br />A partial solar eclipse will be visible over a much wider area, including Taiwan.<br /><br />For more information visit <a href="http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEmono/ASE2010/ASE2010.html">the Nasa web page for this event</a>.<br /></p><p><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">__________________</span></span></p><p></p><p><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);font-size:85%;" ><a target="_blank" href="http://conductorsnotebook.com/" rel="nofollow">Conductor's Notebook</a></span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Taipei, Taiwan<img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10338182-5143633393424082212?l=altonthompson.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Alton Thompson 唐博敦http://www.blogger.com/profile/02592179955798586641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10338182.post-60400077826249038852009-11-14T17:00:00.028+08:002009-11-17T19:58:28.593+08:00<em><span style="font-size:85%;">What work I have done I have done because it has been play.</span></em><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">- Mark Twain</span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/history/apollo/apollo-12/apollo-12.html"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5361497248418858994" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; WIDTH: 283px; CURSOR: pointer; HEIGHT: 274px" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_5oMoMBcF8GM/SmfdV0w9h_I/AAAAAAAAARI/NUGeQT5INiA/s320/conrad.bean.jpg" border="0" /></a>Today marks the fortieth anniversary of the launch of <a href="http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/history/apollo/apollo-12/apollo-12.html">Apollo 12</a>. Fittingly, the anniversary is passing unheralded in the shadow of news that <a href="http://news.cnet.com/8301-19514_3-10397711-239.html?tag=rtcol;pop">water ice has been discovered on the moon</a>, just as this second landing in <a href="http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/history/apollo/apollo.html">the Apollo program</a> has always existed in the shadow of the first. Network commentators remarked on the air at the time that Apollo 12 had an odd feeling of 'routine' about it compared to the event that had transfixed the world only four months earlier. Yet the flight merits our notice, not only for the bravery and discovery it represents in its own right, but for the accomplishment represented in that very feeling of being ordinary. With Apollo 12 the epic became the expected, the miraculous natural.<br /><br /><div><p>Apollo 12's crew was as exuberant and fun-loving as <a href="http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/history/apollo/apollo-11/apollo-11.html">Apollo 11</a>'s crew had been taciturn. The solemnity of the previous mission gave the wisecracking crew of 12 the perfect foil. When commander Pete Conrad, not one of the tallest astronauts, stepped onto the moon his first words were 'Whoopee! That may have been a small one for Neil but it was a long one for me!' </p><p><a href="http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/history/apollo/apollo-12/apollo-12.html"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5404914548730942690" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 189px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 183px" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_5oMoMBcF8GM/SwIdJUZy1OI/AAAAAAAAAW0/t7bUds00ZCg/s400/Apollo12.jpg" border="0" /></a>Alan Bean's steering of the lunar module <span style="FONT-STYLE: italic">Intrepid</span> marked Project Apollo's first precision landing. The landing of Apollo 11's <em>Eagle</em> had sent mission specialists scrambling to learn exactly where the astronauts were. Apollo 12's demanding flight plan called for a precise descent that would bring the <em>Intrepid</em> down within walking distance of Surveyor 3, an unmanned soft lander Nasa had sent to the moon a few years earlier. The precision landing was achieved. Conrad and Bean walked to the Surveyor craft as planned and collected samples.</p><p>Apollo 12, with two moonwalks, tripled the time Armstrong and Aldrin had spent on the surface. Enhancements in the lunar lander and space suits enabled a longer stay.</p><p>Mission planners included a few surprises in the multi-page task list taped to the arm of Conrad's suit. As he turned pages he found Snoopy cartoons and drawings of naked women with suggestions for areas to explore. Conrad, whose every word was going out on international broadcast, laughed as he turned pages and made oblique quips to mission controllers.</p><p><a href="http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/history/apollo/apollo-12/apollo-12.html"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5404922198926748322" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 251px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 323px" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_5oMoMBcF8GM/SwIkGnmm6qI/AAAAAAAAAW8/GFX0Cjp8iYc/s320/apollo12.saturnV.jpg" border="0" /></a>The video cameras of Apollo 12 offered the first colour images from the lunar surface. Soon after stepping onto the surface, though, Alan Bean pointed the camera at the sun. The result: no more live video. The public experienced most of the Apollo 12 moonwalks through audio broadcast. The lunar surface images we see today, such as the raising of the flag, are usually still images that went unseen until the astronauts returned to earth with the film cannisters.</p><p>The next mission, <a href="http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/history/apollo/apollo-13/apollo-13.html">Apollo 13</a>, reminded the public that sending human beings to the moon was still far from a routine endeavour. This near-disaster raised concerns among goverment officials that played a role in the decision to reduce the number of moon landings. Planned flights for Apollo 18, 19 and 20 were cancelled.</p><p>Pete Conrad retired from Nasa. He later died, in his 60s, when he tried to take a corner too fast on his motorcycle.</p><p>Alan Bean went on to serve as commander of a Skylab mission that set new records for longevity and productivity in space. After leaving Nasa he <a href="http://www.alanbeangallery.com/">became an artist</a>.</p><p>The third crew member, Dick Gordon, piloted the command module <em>Yankee Clipper</em>. This role, the same as that filled in Apollo 11 by Michael Collins, kept Gordon in lunar orbit during the time his crewmates explored the surface. Gordon was uncomplaining, but Conrad and Bean regretted that this necessity prevented their friend from joining them on the moon. In a painting Bean was later able to create <a href="http://www.alanbeangallery.com/Fantasy-story.html">the portrait they really wanted</a>: all three men standing together on the moon, with the <em>Intrepid</em> in the background. Gordon exults in center stage; Bean, on the right, holds up two fingers behind Gordon's helmet.</p><br /><p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/history/apollo/apollo-12/apollo-12.html"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5361484649592189906" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; WIDTH: 352px; CURSOR: pointer; HEIGHT: 224px" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_5oMoMBcF8GM/SmfR4eem89I/AAAAAAAAAQ4/o87tmXfH2FM/s400/apollo12.eclipse.nasa.jpg" border="0" /></a>On the return trip the Apollo 12 astronauts were the first human beings ever to witness a <a href="http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse.html">total eclipse of the sun</a> by the earth. The 'diamond ring' effect was spectacular.<br /><br />The period of totality was too dark to photograph well. Bean later <a href="http://www.alanbeangallery.com/eclipse1-new.html">painted the scene</a>. A thin rainbow-coloured ring circled the darkened earth as sunlight filtered through the atmosphere. As their eyes adjusted to the darkness the astronauts could see a band of dim light at the equator. They recognized this band of light as lightning. A spot of white light glowed at the centre of the darkened planet, though, that had them mystified. They mentioned the white spot to a scientist when they returned. 'The full moon was behind you,' he said. 'You saw its reflection on the ocean.'<br /><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,51,51)"><br />________</span></p><p><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,51,51)"><a href="http://conductorsnotebook.com/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Conductor's Notebook</a></span></p></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">Taipei, Taiwan<img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10338182-6040007782624903885?l=altonthompson.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Alton Thompson 唐博敦http://www.blogger.com/profile/02592179955798586641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10338182.post-59239260654003824342009-10-31T01:00:00.006+08:002009-10-31T18:38:39.083+08:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/sleepless-in-america/200809/incubus-attack"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 304px; height: 400px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_5oMoMBcF8GM/Suklh-WAFMI/AAAAAAAAAWA/gOGa6ONKZ5o/s400/succubus.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5397886893981439170" border="0" /></a><br />Shaking chandeliers,<br />rattling windows, slamming doors:<br />ghosts lead a dull life.<br /><br /><br />A werewolf is like<br />a weretiger or werebear,<br />except it's a wolf.<br /><br /><br />Slinky succubus<br />sucking my body of brio:<br />what a way to go.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Alton Thompson</span><br />© 2009</span><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size:78%;"><br />Image: <a href="http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/sleepless-in-america/200809/incubus-attack"><span style="font-style: italic;">Psychology Today</span></a>, 2008.09.08</span><br /><p><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><span style="font-size:85%;">__________________</span></span></p><p></p><p><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);font-size:85%;" ><a target="_blank" href="http://conductorsnotebook.com/" rel="nofollow">Conductor's Notebook</a></span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Taipei, Taiwan<img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10338182-5923926065400382434?l=altonthompson.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Alton Thompson 唐博敦http://www.blogger.com/profile/02592179955798586641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10338182.post-82150846408424744892009-10-28T09:00:00.018+08:002009-10-29T13:32:21.205+08:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://search.espn.go.com/florida-panthers/nhl/48"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 295px; height: 400px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_5oMoMBcF8GM/SukerBRi-gI/AAAAAAAAAV4/PRnEV_wrrUk/s400/nhl.panthers.espn.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5397879352805489154" border="0" /></a><br />The visitors score<br />five goals in seven minutes:<br />the home fans throw beer.<br /><br /><br />Alliteration<br />aside, hockey and haiku<br />make an awkward match.<br /><br /><br />Zamboni on fire<br />melts ice in the arena:<br />now I see the floor.<p><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Alton Thompson</span><br />© 2009</span></p><p><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /><br /><span style="font-size:78%;">Photo: Kevin C Cox / Getty Images, 2008 / <a href="http://search.espn.go.com/tomas-vokoun/photo/8">ESPN</a></span><br /></span></p><p><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><span style="font-size:85%;">__________________</span></span></p><p></p><p><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);font-size:85%;" ><a target="_blank" href="http://conductorsnotebook.com/" rel="nofollow">Conductor's Notebook</a></span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Taipei, Taiwan<img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10338182-8215084640842474489?l=altonthompson.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Alton Thompson 唐博敦http://www.blogger.com/profile/02592179955798586641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10338182.post-65090368603523734572009-10-21T20:00:00.003+08:002009-10-29T12:52:27.985+08:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=151571708666&amp;ref=share"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 226px; height: 320px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_5oMoMBcF8GM/SuCTCsI8QHI/AAAAAAAAAVA/qiKnGQRRp5s/s320/lee.ntnu.2009.10.23.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5395474028007538802" border="0" /></a>The Department of Music at the National Taiwan Normal University celebrates the eightieth birthday of violin professor <span style="font-weight: bold;">Lee Shu-Te</span> this Friday with a special concert. The first half features the <span style="font-weight: bold;">NTNU Symphony Orchestra</span> led my music director <span style="font-weight: bold;">Apo Ching-Hsin Hsu</span>. The second half features chamber music performed by NTNU faculty artists.<p></p><blockquote style="color: rgb(255, 255, 204);">Lee Shu-Te Eightieth Birthday Concert<br />2009 October 21 Friday 18:00<br />NTNU Hall<br />Admission free to the public.<br /><h3 style="font-weight: normal;" class="UIIntentionalStory_Message" ft="{&quot;type&quot;:&quot;msg&quot;}"><span class="UIStory_Message">讚頌李淑德老師80大壽校園音樂會<br />這項活動計劃於 2009年10月23日 18:00<br />在師大大禮堂. 進行.</span></h3></blockquote><p></p><p>Many professional string players from Taiwan have had Professor Lee as a mentor. Today her students may be found in concert halls throughout the world, bringing music to new generations.</p><p>More information appears on this concert's <a href="http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=151571708666&amp;ref=share">Facebook events page</a>.<br /></p><p><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><span style="font-size:85%;">__________________</span></span></p><p></p><p><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);font-size:85%;" ><a target="_blank" href="http://conductorsnotebook.com/" rel="nofollow">Conductor's Notebook</a></span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Taipei, Taiwan<img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10338182-6509036860352373457?l=altonthompson.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Alton Thompson 唐博敦http://www.blogger.com/profile/02592179955798586641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10338182.post-50734990966557894632009-10-20T21:00:00.018+08:002009-11-20T01:14:19.539+08:00<p>We often wonder why things are as they are. It is rarer, yet often more helpful, to consider what we're missing and ask 'Why not?' Tim Smith, music writer for the <span style="font-style: italic;">Baltimore Sun</span>, is doing the latter. In the process he is doing music lovers a service.<br /></p><p>Smith, in his <span style="font-style: italic;">Sun</span> blog <a href="http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/classicalmusic/">Clef Notes</a>, has embarked on a series of articles about <a href="http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/cgi-bin/mt/mt-search.cgi?IncludeBlogs=330&amp;search=%22music%20we%27ve%20been%20missing%22">music we've been missing</a>. Each post focuses on a body of work that has been unjustly neglected in the concert hall. Each features a casual introduction to the music and provides links to media and more information.</p><p>The art music scene in the Baltimore-Washington region of the USA provides the locale for Smith's discussion. Since the 1980s this region has emerged as one of the most intrepid in the country for new and rare music. Even so, says Smith, the occasional odd gap occurs. Many compelling works await a hearing. Why not hear them?<br /></p><p>Smith launched the series with a discussion of the music of <a href="http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/classicalmusic/2009/07/introducing_a_new_feature_musi.html">Gerald Finzi</a> on 2009 July 14. This week's feature, coinciding with the 135th anniversary today of the birth of <a href="http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/classicalmusic/2009/10/music_weve_been_missing_part_1_2.html">Charles Ives</a>, represents the twelfth in the survey. Links to his posts are provided here. I plan to update this list as the series continues.<br /><br /></p><p><a href="http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/classicalmusic/2009/07/introducing_a_new_feature_musi.html"></a></p><blockquote><a href="http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/classicalmusic/2009/07/introducing_a_new_feature_musi.html"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Music we've been missing</span><br /><br /></a></blockquote><p></p><blockquote><p>14. <a href="http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/classicalmusic/2009/11/music_weve_been_missing_part_1_4.html"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Florent Schmitt</span></a><br /></p><p>13. <a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/classicalmusic/2009/10/music_weve_been_missing_part_1_3.html">Alexander Borodin</a><br /></p><p>12. <a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/classicalmusic/2009/10/music_weve_been_missing_part_1_2.html">Charles Ives</a></p><p>11. <a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/classicalmusic/2009/09/music_weve_been_missing_part_1_1.html">Franz Schmidt</a><br /><br />10. <a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/classicalmusic/2009/09/music_weve_been_missing_part_1.html">Jean Sibelius</a><br /><br />09. <a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/classicalmusic/2009/09/music_weve_been_missing_part_9.html">Alexander Scriabin</a><br /><br />08. <a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/classicalmusic/2009/09/music_weve_been_missing_part_8.html">Olivier Messiaen</a><br /><br />07. <a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/classicalmusic/2009/08/music_weve_been_missing_part_7.html">Edward Elgar</a></p><p>06. <a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/classicalmusic/2009/08/music_weve_been_missing_part_6.html">Heiner Goebbels</a></p><p>05. <a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/classicalmusic/2009/08/music_weve_been_missing_part_5.html">Second Viennese School</a></p><p>04. <a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/classicalmusic/2009/08/music_weve_been_missing_part_4.html">Howard Hanson</a></p><p>03. <a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/classicalmusic/2009/07/music_weve_been_missing_part_3.html">The Latin Connection</a></p><p>02. <a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/classicalmusic/2009/07/music_weve_been_missing_part_2.html">French Fare</a></p><p>01. <a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/classicalmusic/2009/07/introducing_a_new_feature_musi.html">Gerald Finzi</a></p></blockquote><p></p><p><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">__________________</span></span></p><p></p><p><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);font-size:85%;" ><a target="_blank" href="http://conductorsnotebook.com/" rel="nofollow">Conductor's Notebook</a></span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Taipei, Taiwan<img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10338182-5073499096655789463?l=altonthompson.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Alton Thompson 唐博敦http://www.blogger.com/profile/02592179955798586641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10338182.post-34456986767407895312009-10-20T18:00:00.005+08:002009-10-23T02:00:41.547+08:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_5oMoMBcF8GM/SuCa_oJfAuI/AAAAAAAAAVQ/_s0d2MGIg0E/s1600-h/Ives.1945.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 165px; height: 261px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_5oMoMBcF8GM/SuCa_oJfAuI/AAAAAAAAAVQ/_s0d2MGIg0E/s320/Ives.1945.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5395482771489489634" border="0" /></a>Today marks the 135th birthday of composer Charles Ives (1874-1954).<p>Ives did not shy from clangs and bangs but he was a romantic at heart. That's what makes his music so American. As Walt Whitman was for poetry, Ives was for music.</p><p>Biographer Jan Swafford <a href="http://www.charlesives.org/02bio.htm">describes the composer's philosophy</a>:<br /><br /></p><p style="color: rgb(255, 255, 204);"></p><blockquote><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 204);">For Ives, music is not mere sound but the underlying spirit, human and divine, which the sounds express even in the inexpert playing and singing of amateurs. Thus the paradox of Ives's music, echoing his paradoxical person: he could be realistic, comic, transcendent, simple, complex, American, and European, all at the same time. If some of his music seems crowded nearly to bursting, it is a vibrant and entirely realistic portrayal of his conception of life, his sense of democracy in action, and of his own all-embracing consciousness. As Ives once said, 'Music is life.'</span> </blockquote><p></p><p><br />The <a href="http://www.answers.com/topic/charles-ives"><span style="font-style: italic;">Music Encyclopedia</span></a> puts the matter succinctly: 'The only consistent characteristic of this music is liberation from rule.'</p><p>Everyone has been to a parade and heard a marching band pass, playing a quickstep march in E-flat, while another band a block away is striking up a circus march in F and 'Turkey in the Straw' jingles from an ice cream truck around the corner, all as crowds cheer and children shout and fireworks pop. We've all been there.<br /></p><p>Ives's idea of giving us that scene in music wasn't to sand corners and varnish everything to a gloss. He sought to render it more as life hands it to us in the wild. He invites us to notice how very much is going on all around us, to take it all in as best we may and come to a deeper appreciation.<span class="text_exposed_show"><br /><br />He heard America singing. He helped it find its voice.<br /><br /></span></p><p><a href="http://www.charlesives.org/"><span class="text_exposed_show"></span></a></p><blockquote><p><a href="http://www.charlesives.org/"><span class="text_exposed_show">Charles Ives Society</span></a></p><p><a href="http://www.charlesives.org/02bio.htm">Jan Swafford: 'Charles Ives: A Life with Music' (Ives Society)</a><br /><a href="http://www.answers.com/topic/charles-ives"><br />Charles Ives (Answers.com)</a><br /></p><p><a href="http://www.schirmer.com/default.aspx?TabId=2419&amp;State_2872=2&amp;ComposerId_2872=764">Ives biography (Schirmer)</a></p><p><a href="http://www.schirmer.com/default.aspx?TabId=2476&amp;State_3010=1&amp;composerId_3010=764">Ives recordings (Schirmer)<br /><br /></a></p></blockquote><p><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><span style="font-size:85%;">__________________</span></span></p><p></p><p><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);font-size:85%;" ><a target="_blank" href="http://conductorsnotebook.com/" rel="nofollow">Conductor's Notebook</a></span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Taipei, Taiwan<img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10338182-3445698676740789531?l=altonthompson.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Alton Thompson 唐博敦http://www.blogger.com/profile/02592179955798586641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10338182.post-68688039839732030242009-10-18T08:00:00.003+08:002009-10-19T05:53:15.699+08:00<p><a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://www.lostlaowai.com/">Lost Lowai</a> reports that, the wishful thinking of Olympic officials notwithstanding, <a href="http://www.lostlaowai.com/blog/china-tech/the-great-firewall-longer-higher-meaner/">The Great Firewall of China has been made thicker and longer than ever</a> in the months since the Beijing games. <a href="http://www.lostlaowai.com/blog/author/steven/">Steven</a>, a regular <span style="font-style: italic;">Lowai</span> contributor, reports that these social networking sites are among the many sites now blocked in China:</p><p></p><blockquote>Bebo<br />Bit.ly (URL shortening service)<br />Blip.tv<br />Blog.com blogs<br />Blogger blogs<br />Facebook<br />Fileden<br />FriendFeed<br />Google Documents (in and out)<br />Google: image search results (frequent re-set connections)<br />Google: Picasa albums (log-in appears but images blocked)<br />LiveLeak<br />Opera blogs<br />Orkut<br />Post.ly (URL shortening service)<br />Tumblr<br />Twitter and related tools<br />- Dabr.co.uk<br />- iTweet.net<br />- Twitzap<br />- Dabr.co.uk<br />- TwitterGadget (iGoogle)<br />Typepad blogs<br />Vimeo<br />Wordpress free blogs<br />Yahoo Meme<br />YouTube</blockquote><p></p><p>In-and-out censorship of photo sites like Flickr continues, of course, as does the blocking of BBC news stories, rights sites (Reporters Without Borders, Amnesty International, Human Rights in China, Free Tibet), and sites with the <span style="font-style: italic;">.tw</span> national extension.<br /></p><p>A writer in China recently remarked that the country no longer has the Internet; it has LAN. 'An apt description,' says Steven, 'of how insular and freaky it’s getting.'<span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">__________________</span></span></p><p></p><p><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);font-size:85%;" ><a target="_blank" href="http://conductorsnotebook.com/" rel="nofollow">Conductor's Notebook</a></span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Taipei, Taiwan<img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10338182-6868803983973203024?l=altonthompson.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Alton Thompson 唐博敦http://www.blogger.com/profile/02592179955798586641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10338182.post-16110259560638221502009-10-14T12:00:00.010+08:002009-10-21T13:10:14.041+08:00<a href="http://www.ted.com/talks/alain_de_botton_a_kinder_gentler_philosophy_of_success.html"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5392471685088136562" style="margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px; float: right; width: 254px; height: 191px;" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_5oMoMBcF8GM/StXobVMHzXI/AAAAAAAAAU0/qljrZOHOBO0/s320/alain.jpg" border="0" /></a>Open societies say anyone can achieve any goal. This credo implies a corresponding negative: anyone at the bottom of society deserves to be there.<br /><p><a href="http://www.alaindebotton.com/">Alain de Botton</a> notes the profound shift that has occurred when cultures that once spoke of 'unfortunates' now speak of 'losers.' In a talk recorded on video, he proposes a <a href="http://www.ted.com/talks/alain_de_botton_a_kinder_gentler_philosophy_of_success.html">kinder, gentler philosophy of success</a> that makes room for the complex universe all of us actually navigate.<br /><br /></p><p style="font-style: italic;"></p><blockquote><p style="font-style: italic;">Again I saw that under the sun the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to the intelligent, nor favour to the skilful; but time and chance happen to them all.</p><p><span style="font-size:85%;">(Ecclesiastes 9.11 NRSV)</span></p></blockquote><p><br />De Botton is the author of <a href="http://www.alaindebotton.com/literature.asp"><em>How Proust Can Change Your Life</em></a>, <a href="http://www.alaindebotton.com/status.asp"><em>Status Anxiety</em></a>, <a href="http://www.alaindebotton.com/philosophy.asp"><em>The Consolations of Philosophy</em></a>, <a href="http://www.alaindebotton.com/travel.asp"><em>The Art of Travel</em></a> and <a href="http://www.alaindebotton.com/work/"><em>The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work</em></a>. Last year he helped launch <a href="http://www.alaindebotton.com/pages/about/index.asp?PageID=199">the School of Life</a> in London.<br /></p><p></p><p><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><span style="font-size:85%;">__________________</span></span></span></span></p><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);font-size:85%;" ><a href="http://conductorsnotebook.com/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Conductor's Notebook</a></span><div class="blogger-post-footer">Taipei, Taiwan<img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10338182-1611025956063822150?l=altonthompson.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Alton Thompson 唐博敦http://www.blogger.com/profile/02592179955798586641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10338182.post-45930736359537717102009-10-14T09:00:00.001+08:002009-10-14T14:45:38.430+08:00<p><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1498834/"><span style="font-style: italic;">Prince of Tears</span></a>, a film set in 1950s Taiwan, draws on the experiences of two natives of Taiwan who have since made their careers in Hong Kong. Joyce Hor-Chung Lau saw the film in Venice last month and offers a <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/14/arts/14iht-YONFAN.html?pagewanted=1&amp;_r=1">detailed review this week<span style="font-style: italic;"> </span></a> in the <span style="font-style: italic;">New York Times</span>.<br /><br /></p><p><span style="font-style: italic;"></span></p><blockquote style="color: rgb(255, 255, 204);"><p style="color: rgb(255, 255, 204);"><span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 255, 204);">Prince of Tears</span> the film 'by Hong Kong-based director Yonfan (who goes by one name)... is the first major movie in 20 years to explore the “White Terror” that followed Taiwan’s separation from China in 1949. In Taiwan, the ruling Kuomintang, or Nationalist Party, staged anti-Communist witch hunts that killed thousands. The gorgeously crafted film, set in the 1950s, refers only obliquely to larger politics. Instead, it focuses on daily life in a remote Taiwanese village where anyone—a schoolteacher, a housewife, a soldier—could commit a political faux pas and be sent to the execution squad.</p><p><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 204);">The project originated with the real-life story of the actress Chiao Chiao, a longtime friend and collaborator of Yonfan, whom she met in Hong Kong when she was a starlet there from the ’60s to the ’80s. The actress, who uses only her surname, grew up in Taiwan, but hid her childhood memories of the White Terror for years until she found a confidant in Yonfan, who also grew up in Taiwan in the 1950s. Several years ago, they decided to make a film based on her memories.</span><br /><br /></p></blockquote>The story is drawn from tragic real-life events which, characteristically of this period in Taiwan, were kept secret for many years.<br /><br /><p></p><blockquote style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153);"><p> <span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 204);">“I never spoke of my past until I found someone I trusted,” Chiao Chiao said of Yonfan. “I was so young when it happened and children back then were not allowed to ask questions.” </span></p><p style="color: rgb(255, 255, 204);">The film opens with a scene of a perfect-looking family in Taiwan: a handsome air force pilot, his pretty, doting wife and their two girls. </p><p style="color: rgb(255, 255, 204);">But, after Kafkaesque political complications, the parents are dragged off and the father is killed in a field. As the executioners fire their shots, his daughters hide in the tall grass in a desperate attempt to get one last glimpse of him. </p><p style="color: rgb(255, 255, 204);">. . . .<br /></p><p style="color: rgb(255, 255, 204);">The younger sister — the character representing Chiao Chiao — is sent to live with an eerie and physically scarred government agent nicknamed Uncle Ding, whom she suspects is the informer who turned in her father. In a strange turn of events, her mother is released from a prison camp and—under pressure to resume a normal family life and support her girls—gives into advances by Uncle Ding, whom she marries. </p></blockquote><p></p><br />The full review may be read at the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/14/arts/14iht-YONFAN.html?pagewanted=1&amp;_r=1"><span style="font-style: italic;">New York Times</span> site</a>.<br /><br />This year has seen the release of two films about the White Terror period, Yonfan's drama <span style="font-style: italic;">Prince of Tears</span> and <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1121786/">Adam Kane's thriller <span style="font-style: italic;">Formosa Betrayed</span></a>. Both coincide with the 20th anniversary of <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096908/">Hou Hsiao-Hsien’s <span style="font-style: italic;">City of Sadness</span></a>, the highly acclaimed film that first picked up the subject of Taiwan’s White Terror only two years after martial law was lifted.<br /><p><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><span style="font-size:85%;">__________________</span></span></p><p></p><p><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);font-size:85%;" ><a target="_blank" href="http://conductorsnotebook.com/" rel="nofollow">Conductor's Notebook</a></span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Taipei, Taiwan<img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10338182-4593073635953771710?l=altonthompson.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Alton Thompson 唐博敦http://www.blogger.com/profile/02592179955798586641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10338182.post-22238085342899588582009-10-08T05:00:00.002+08:002009-10-08T05:41:51.727+08:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_5oMoMBcF8GM/Ss0Ki8VZ4oI/AAAAAAAAAUo/-ZjO_6YtUXU/s1600-h/chia-hsuan.%E6%B1%BA%E5%AE%9A%E6%B5%B7%E5%A0%B1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 286px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_5oMoMBcF8GM/Ss0Ki8VZ4oI/AAAAAAAAAUo/-ZjO_6YtUXU/s400/chia-hsuan.%E6%B1%BA%E5%AE%9A%E6%B5%B7%E5%A0%B1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5389975924460085890" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;">Taipei Chamber Players</span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Chia-Hsuan Lin</span>, conductor<p>2009 October 11 Sunday 19:30</p><p><span>NTNU Concert Hall</span><br />National Taiwan Normal University<br />162, Section 1 Heping East Road<br />Taipei, Taiwan<br /><br /><br />Conductor Chia-Hsuan Lin and the Taipei Chamber Players, an ensemble of elite musicians from the National Taiwan University, will present a program this weekend of two iconic works:<br /><br /></p><blockquote><span style="font-weight: bold;">Mozart:</span> Symphony 40 in G minor, K 550<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Beethoven:</span> Symphony 5 in C minor, opus 67 </blockquote><br />Admission is free to the public.<br /><p><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><span style="font-size:85%;">__________________</span></span></p><p></p><p><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);font-size:85%;" ><a target="_blank" href="http://conductorsnotebook.com/" rel="nofollow">Conductor's Notebook</a></span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Taipei, Taiwan<img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10338182-2223808534289958858?l=altonthompson.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Alton Thompson 唐博敦http://www.blogger.com/profile/02592179955798586641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10338182.post-79662883562042670112009-09-15T09:00:00.007+08:002009-10-21T13:19:14.750+08:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_5oMoMBcF8GM/Sl6FJG60gzI/AAAAAAAAAPI/8UkNy6Wws6E/s1600-h/Talk_Like_a_Pirate_Day.png"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 320px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_5oMoMBcF8GM/Sl6FJG60gzI/AAAAAAAAAPI/8UkNy6Wws6E/s320/Talk_Like_a_Pirate_Day.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5358866998140109618" border="0" /></a>September 19th is comin' upon us like a nor'easter, mates. Ye'd best be gettin' yer selves ready for International Talk Like A Pirate Day.<br /><blockquote><p><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Talk_Like_a_Pirate_Day">Wikipedia</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.talklikeapirate.com/">Official Holiday Site</a></p><p><a href="http://www.hobotrashcan.com/2007/09/13/getting-to-know-international-talk-like-a-pirate-day/">Interview with Founders and Crew</a></p></blockquote><p><br />Google and Facebook can deck ye out with a proper <a href="http://blogs.zdnet.com/weblife/?p=190">language settin'</a>. And if ye know some scurvy rats who'll be makin' it a religious holiday, pay a call on the <a href="http://www.venganza.org/">Church o' the Flyin' Spaghetti Monster</a>.<br /></p><p>This here's a 'oliday dear to me 'eart as a Florida native. We've played host to many scoundrels and louts over the years. And we've got the <a href="http://gasparillapiratefest.com/">Gasparilla</a> every year in Tampa, doncha know. The next one'll be a-comin' round on January 23.<br /></p><p>A swig for ye then. Drink up, me 'earties, yo ho!</p><br /><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><span style="font-size:85%;">__________________</span></span><p></p><p><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);font-size:85%;" ><a target="_blank" href="http://conductorsnotebook.com/" rel="nofollow">Conductor's Notebook</a></span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Taipei, Taiwan<img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10338182-7966288356204267011?l=altonthompson.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Alton Thompson 唐博敦http://www.blogger.com/profile/02592179955798586641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10338182.post-16489810535817333582009-09-05T00:43:00.003+08:002009-09-05T00:49:04.711+08:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://altonsimages.com/"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 244px; height: 400px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_5oMoMBcF8GM/SqFEE-JwUxI/AAAAAAAAATY/Vu0frgClWtQ/s400/20090904.nude.vg.018.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5377654282251162386" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Taipei, Taiwan 台灣 台北 </span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">2009.09.02</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">©Alton Thompson 唐博敦</span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><a target="_blank" href="http://altonsimages.com/" rel="nofollow">Alton's Images</a></span><br /></div><p><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><span style="font-size:85%;">__________________</span></span></p><p></p><p><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);font-size:85%;" ><a target="_blank" href="http://conductorsnotebook.com/" rel="nofollow">Conductor's Notebook</a></span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Taipei, Taiwan<img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10338182-1648981053581733358?l=altonthompson.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Alton Thompson 唐博敦http://www.blogger.com/profile/02592179955798586641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10338182.post-84195554173298999112009-09-04T08:00:00.003+08:002009-09-10T13:24:13.638+08:00<span style="font-size:100%;">As schools open and concert series begin, here's a look back at a season that, for all the turbulence it contained, was not completely lacking in charm.</span><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://altonsimages.com/"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 262px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_5oMoMBcF8GM/SqiDXMZOKDI/AAAAAAAAATw/YtMdyya8Moo/s400/20090815.orange.juice.002.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5379694189381298226" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://altonsimages.com/"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 254px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_5oMoMBcF8GM/SqiDWhJT6YI/AAAAAAAAATo/T1XuEMSCRuE/s400/20090816.glider.or.181.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5379694177771841922" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://altonsimages.com/"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 273px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_5oMoMBcF8GM/SqiDWAX6PtI/AAAAAAAAATg/imXWgQ2qfgU/s400/20090816.mel.beach.343.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5379694168974704338" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><blockquote><span style="font-size:85%;">©Alton Thompson 唐博敦</span></blockquote></div><p><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><span style="font-size:85%;">__________________</span></span></p><p></p><p><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);font-size:85%;" ><a target="_blank" href="http://conductorsnotebook.com/" rel="nofollow">Conductor's Notebook</a></span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Taipei, Taiwan<img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10338182-8419555417329899911?l=altonthompson.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Alton Thompson 唐博敦http://www.blogger.com/profile/02592179955798586641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10338182.post-55693216959406448552009-09-03T08:00:00.003+08:002009-09-10T13:14:53.417+08:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.dalailama.com/"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 330px; height: 220px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_5oMoMBcF8GM/SqiIBYOK8QI/AAAAAAAAAUQ/zpHoSw_CnI8/s400/dalai-lama.reuters.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5379699312157192450" border="0" /></a>By all accounts the <a href="http://www.dalailama.com/">Dalai Lama</a>'s visit to Taiwan has been a healing experience for those who were hardest hit by the <a href="http://www.conductorsnotebook.com/2009/08/typhoon-morakot.html">recent typhoon</a>. The Tibetan leader led prayer services and encouraged those in grief to seek peace. He encouraged care of the planet by all the world's peoples and the continuing nurture of democracy in Taiwan.<br /><br />Highlights of the Tibetan leader's visit are described in these stories.<p><a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125172425717072275.html?mod=rss_asia_whats_news"><span style="font-style: italic;">Wall Street Journal</span>: Dalai Lama holds services for victims, 2009.08.31</a><br /><a href="http://www.etaiwannews.com/etn/news_content.php?id=1045598&amp;lang=eng_news"><span style="font-style: italic;">Taiwan News</span>: Dalai Lama urges Taiwan to preserve its democracy, 2009.09.01</a><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1rh9LqALS8&amp;feature=related">Video: The Dalai Lama's speech in Taiwan<br />(in English, Chinese translation), 2009.09.01</a><br /><a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2009/09/02/2003452594"><span style="font-style: italic;">Taipei Times</span>: Dalai Lama moves thousands at ceremony, 2009.09.02<br /></a><a href="http://www.etaiwannews.com/etn/news_content.php?id=1047492&amp;lang=eng_news"><span style="font-style: italic;">Taiwan Headlines</span>: Dalai Lama contributes <span style="font-size:85%;">US</span>$50,000 in aid, 2009.09.02</a><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">__________________</span></span></p><p></p><p><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);font-size:85%;" ><a target="_blank" href="http://conductorsnotebook.com/" rel="nofollow">Conductor's Notebook</a></span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Taipei, Taiwan<img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10338182-5569321695940644855?l=altonthompson.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Alton Thompson 唐博敦http://www.blogger.com/profile/02592179955798586641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10338182.post-69789579129116397032009-09-02T09:00:00.003+08:002009-09-02T12:09:24.861+08:00<p></p><p>The film <a href="http://formosathemovie.com/"><span style="font-style: italic;">Formosa Betrayed</span></a> has its international premier in Montréal this week, with additional screenings pending at major film festivals. The film is based on an American official's memoir about events in Taiwan at the onset of the White Terror period in 1947.<br /><br /></p><blockquote><p><span style="visibility: visible;" id="main"><span style="visibility: visible;" id="search"><em></em></span></span><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span><span style="visibility: visible;" id="main"><span style="visibility: visible;" id="search"><em></em></span></span><span style="font-weight: bold;">Montréal</span> <span style="font-weight: bold;">World Film Festival</span><br /><span style="visibility: visible;" id="main"><span style="visibility: visible;" id="search"><em></em></span></span>Montréal, QC, Canada</p><p>Quartier Latin Cinema Complex, Venue 13<br />September 3 Thursday 19:20<br />September 4 Friday 12:20<br />September 5 Saturday 14:40<br /><br /><a href="http://www.ffm-montreal.org/">www.ffm-montreal.org</a><br /><br />Ticket purchase: <a href="http://www.admission.com/html/home.htmI?l=EN" onmousedown="'UntrustedLink.bootstrap($(this)," target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://www.admission.com/html/home.htmI?l=EN</a><br />Enter "L13.03.5 .*FFM" in the search box for Thursday<br />Enter "L13.04.2 .*FFM" in the search box for Friday<br />Enter "L13.05.3 .*FFM" in the search box for Saturday</p></blockquote><p></p><p><br />On September 14 <a href="http://formosathemovie.com/"><span style="font-style: italic;">Formosa Betrayed</span></a> will screen on <span style="font-weight: bold;">Capitol Hill</span>. The American Congress is back in session; Americans who want to encourage their representatives to view the film may write, fax, e-mail or call senators and legislators. <a href="http://formosathemovie.com/getinvolved.html">This site</a> provides contact information and a sample letter.<br /></p><p><br />Tickets are already on sale for the screening at the <a href="http://www.sdff.org/">San Diego Film Festival</a> on September 26. Actor James Van Der Beek is in the running for the festival's Best Actor award.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span></p><blockquote><p><span style="font-weight: bold;">San Diego Film Festival</span><br />San Diego, Californisa USA</p><p>Gaslamp Theater<br />September 26 Saturday 20:00<br /><a href="http://www.sdff.org/">www.sdff.org</a><br />For tickets visit <a href="http://www.sdff.org/boxoffice.html" onmousedown="'UntrustedLink.bootstrap($(this)," target="_blank" rel="nofollow">www.sdff.org/boxoffice.html</a></p></blockquote><p><br />Screenings of <a href="http://formosathemovie.com/"><span style="font-style: italic;">Formosa Betrayed</span></a> are also scheduled for these festivals:<br /></p><blockquote><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">DC Asian Pacific American Film Festival</span><br />Washington DC USA<br />October 3 Saturday 20:00<br /><a href="http://www.apafilm.org/">www.apafilm.org</a><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival</span><br />Philadelphia, Pennsylvania USA<br />October 10 Saturday, time TBA<br /><a href="http://www.phillyasianfilmfest.org/">www.phillyasianfilmfest.org</a><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Sao Paulo International Film Festival</span><br />São Paulo, Brazil<br />October 23-November 5<br />Day and time TBA<br /><a href="http://www.mostra.org/32" onmousedown="'UntrustedLink.bootstrap($(this)," target="_blank" rel="nofollow">www.mostra.org/32</a><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Saint Louis International Film Festival</span><br />Saint Louis, Missouri USA<br />November 12-22<br />Day and time TBA<br /><a href="http://www.cinemastlouis.org/">www.cinemastlouis.org</a></blockquote><br />The film's official web site contains more information, including trailers, photo gallery and cast bios.<br /><a href="http://formosathemovie.com/"><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Formosa Betrayed</span><br />formosathemovie.com</a><br /><p></p><p><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">__________________</span></span></p><p></p><p><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);font-size:85%;" ><a target="_blank" href="http://conductorsnotebook.com/" rel="nofollow">Conductor's Notebook</a></span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Taipei, Taiwan<img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10338182-6978957912911639703?l=altonthompson.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Alton Thompson 唐博敦http://www.blogger.com/profile/02592179955798586641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10338182.post-29848109106205510422009-09-01T20:00:00.002+08:002009-09-03T02:03:04.113+08:00<p>A <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203550604574358892939590708.html?mod=wsj_share_facebook">letter to the editor</a> appears in the <span style="font-style: italic;">Wall Street Journal</span> today that offers an unusually cogent description of America's position on Taiwan. The letter by <span style="font-weight: bold;">John J Tkacik</span> illustrates the price that America and Taiwan both pay for America's general reluctance to state its view plainly.</p><p>America's official position is that Taiwan's status remains <span style="font-style: italic;">undecided</span>. The agreement America reached with China in 1972 was not that Taiwan was part of China, but acknowledgement only that the Chinese government thought so. In effect, it was agreement to disagree.</p><p><strong style="font-weight: normal;">Mr Tkacik </strong>writes:<br /><br /></p><p style="color: rgb(255, 255, 204);"></p><blockquote><p style="color: rgb(255, 255, 204);">As a US foreign service officer I worked on China and Taiwan affairs for 20 years, and I can attest that the US has never subscribed to China's territorial claims on Taiwan. Nor did President Richard Nixon ever publicly articulate such a policy. <a name="U10131839305DBD"></a></p><p style="color: rgb(255, 255, 204);">.... Nixon's public policy was 'dual representation' in support of UN seats for both Taipei and Beijing. To this day, official US policy eschews recognition of China's claims to Taiwan. As recently as June 2007, the State Department's response (drafted by the Office of the Legal Advisor) to citizens concerned about Taiwan was that the U.S. has 'not formally recognized Chinese sovereignty over Taiwan and [has] not made any determination as to Taiwan's political status.' </p> <a style="color: rgb(255, 255, 204);" name="U10131839305PYH"></a><p style="color: rgb(255, 255, 204);">In 2007, the US became alarmed that the UN Secretariat had issued documents asserting that the UN considered 'Taiwan for all purposes to be an integral part of the PRC.' US diplomats informed the secretariat that 'while that assertion was consistent with the Chinese position, it is not universally held by UN member states, including the United States.'</p> <a style="color: rgb(255, 255, 204);" name="U10131839305BJC"></a><p><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 204);">The US Mission then 'urged the UN Secretariat to review its policy on the status of Taiwan and to avoid taking sides in a sensitive matter on which UN members have agreed to disagree for over 35 years.' They warned that 'if the UN Secretariat insists on describing Taiwan as a part of the PRC, or on using nomenclature for Taiwan that implies such status, the United States will be obliged to disassociate itself on a national basis from such position.' The UN Secretariat has indeed ceased to assert that Taiwan is an integral part of China. </span><br /><br /></p> <a name="U101318393050CE"></a><p></p></blockquote><p>The full text of Mr Tkacik's letter appears at the <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203550604574358892939590708.html?mod=wsj_share_facebook"><span style="font-style: italic;">Wall Street Journal</span> site</a>.<br /></p><p><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">__________________</span></span></p><p></p><p><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);font-size:85%;" ><a target="_blank" href="http://conductorsnotebook.com/" rel="nofollow">Conductor's Notebook</a></span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Taipei, Taiwan<img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10338182-2984810910620551042?l=altonthompson.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Alton Thompson 唐博敦http://www.blogger.com/profile/02592179955798586641noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10338182.post-79325955578296576642009-08-27T13:00:00.002+08:002009-09-10T12:50:21.203+08:00<p></p><p>The Associated Press reports that the Dalai Lama has accepted in principle an invitation to come to Taiwan to comfort typhoon survivors.</p><p><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 204);"></span></p><blockquote><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 204);">On Wednesday, leaders of seven municipalities recently hit by Morakot issued a joint statement inviting the Dalai Lama to visit storm victims from August 31 to September 4.</span> (source: <a href="http://www.salon.com/wires/ap/world/2009/08/26/D9AAUDGO0_as_taiwan_dalai_lama/index.html"><span style="font-style: italic;">Salon</span></a>)</blockquote><p></p><p>Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou quickly signalled his willingness to allow the visit. The move represents a climbdown by Ma and his party, who in deference to China's rulers had opposed such visits until now.<br /></p><p>This will be the third visit of the Dalai Lama to Taiwan in the past twelve years.</p><p><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><span style="font-size:85%;">__________________</span></span></p><p></p><p><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);font-size:85%;" ><a target="_blank" href="http://conductorsnotebook.com/" rel="nofollow">Conductor's Notebook</a></span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Taipei, Taiwan<img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10338182-7932595557829657664?l=altonthompson.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Alton Thompson 唐博敦http://www.blogger.com/profile/02592179955798586641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10338182.post-16452001636771457232009-08-11T19:00:00.051+08:002009-09-05T19:45:47.108+08:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.etaiwannews.com/gallery.php?category=41&amp;highlight_id=3025193#slideshow_top"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 133px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_5oMoMBcF8GM/Solbej1P0yI/AAAAAAAAATI/X4Lf5y5-WPs/s200/buried.roof.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5370924611188806434" border="0" /></a><span>Many people are asking how they may provide volunteer help and donations for the devastated areas of southern Taiwan. This post is for you. The information here is updated regularly as more details reach me.<br /><br />Resources appear under two headings: <span style="font-style: italic;">Immediate Assistance</span> (contribution of goods and volunteer time) and <span style="font-style: italic;">Financial Assistance</span>.<br /></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Immediate Assistance<br /></span></span><br /><strong></strong><strong></strong><a href="http://www.etaiwannews.com/gallery.php?highlight_id=3013042&amp;category=40,41,981,1177"><img style="margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px; width: 300px; float: right; height: 400px;" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5368686567352609554" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_5oMoMBcF8GM/SoFn_Q12qxI/AAAAAAAAASI/RABvuLNNCCw/s400/khh.morakot.vol.cna.jpg" border="0" /></a>The <strong>Kaohsiung City Government</strong> has created a regional emergency response hub to accept and distribute aid to typhoon victims across southern Taiwan. Relief workers are calling for the following items:<blockquote><p>cooking oil (食用油)<br />bottles water (水)<br />rice (米)<br />instant noodles (泡麵 / 方便麵)<br />milk powder (奶粉)<br />waterproof canvas (防水帆布)<br />mosquito nets (蚊帳)<br />clothes (新或二手衣物)<br />blankets (毯子)<br />buckets (水桶)<br />cookware (廚具)<br />flash lights (手電筒)<br />radios (收音機)<br />cleaning supplies (清潔用品)<br />- brooms to detergents (掃帚到洗滌劑都可以)<br />batteries (電池)<br />gloves (手套)<br />garbage bags (垃圾袋)<br />sanitation masks (健全衛生口罩)<br /><br /></p></blockquote><p>Deliver or ship items to:</p><blockquote>Kaohsiung City Hall<br />Attention: Typhoon Relief<br />No. 2 Sihwei 3rd Road<br />Lingya District<br />Kaohsiung City 80203, <span style="font-size:85%;">TAIWAN<br /></span>80203 高雄市苓雅區四維三路2號<br />(捐贈屏東縣政府以及南部其他縣市救助水患災區使用) </blockquote><p>Telephone:</p><blockquote><em>International -</em> 886.7337.3375<br /><em>Taiwan </em>- 07337.3357</blockquote><p>The Kaohsiung relief centre takes donations each day until at least 21:00 (9:00 pm).<br /></p><p>Additional collection points have been set up in the locations listed below. All locations plan to accept donations through the remainder of August or longer.</p><p><br /></p><blockquote><p>TAIPEI<br /><br /></p><p><em>Deliver or ship:</em><br /><a href="http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=116078623165">World Vision c/o The Brass Monkey</a><br />166 Fuxing North Road<br />銅猴子 台北市復興北路166號<br />Telephone: 02.2547.5050<br />E-mail: <a href="mailto:max@brassmonkeytaipei.com">max@brassmonkeytaipei.com</a></p><p><em>Deliver or ship:<br /></em>Shih Lin Catholic Church<br />No. 264 Zhongzheng Road<br />Shilin District<br />Telephone: 02.2832.4270</p><p><em>Deliver or ship:<br /></em>No. 74-1 Jinsi Street<br />Datong District<br />(Near MRT Shuanglian Station)<br />Telephone: 02.2557.0658</p><p><br /></p><p>CHIAYI</p><p>Púzĭ (Putzi) City Administration<br />No. 34, Guangfu Road<br />Putzi City, Jiayi County<br />嘉義縣朴子市光復路34號 朴子市公所<br />Telephone: 05.379.5102 /34</p><p><br /></p><p>TAINAN</p><p><em>Deliver to:</em><br />Zhongzheng Hall<br />No. 36 Minzhi (Minjhih) Road<br />Xinying (Sinying) City, Tainan County<br />(中正堂，新營市民治路36號)<br /><br /><em>Ship to:</em><br />Social Affairs Department<br />No. 36, Fuxi (Fusi) Road<br />Xinying (Sinying) City<br />(新營市府西路36號) 社會處收<br />Telephone: 09.8053.7516 <em>/</em> 06.511.5692</p><p><em>Deliver or ship to:<br /></em>World Vision Tainan<br />8F, No. 243,<br />Section 1 Minquan (Mincyuan) Road<br />Tainan<br />(台南市民權路一段243號8樓 黃雅詩)<br />Telephone: 06.2215.8004<br /></p><p><br /></p><p>PINGTUNG CITY</p><p><em>Deliver daily until 17:30 to:</em><br />Dapeng Bay Tourist Information Center<br />(大鵬灣旅客服務中心)<br />No. 69, Dalian Road<br />Pingtung City near Millennium Park<br />(Qiānxī Gōngyuán 千禧公園旁) 屏東市大連路69號)<br />Telephone: 08.736.5600 / 08.736.5012</p><p><em>Deliver or ship to:<br /></em>World Vision Pingtung City<br />Attention: Mr Huang<br />No. 124, Xingfeng (Hsingfeng) Road<br />Pingtung City<br />(屏東市興豐路124號 黃伯翰)<br />Telephone: 08.737.0483</p><p><br /></p><p>PINGTUNG COUNTY: CHAOJHOU</p><p><em>Deliver or ship to:<br /></em>No. 60, Jieshou Road<br />Chaojhou Township, Pingtung County<br />屏東縣潮州鎮介壽路60號王南英督導<br />Telephone: 08.7806.7165</p><p><br /></p></blockquote>The<strong> </strong><a href="http://typhoon.adct.org.tw/donation/"><strong>Morakot Internet Disaster Centre</strong> </a>(莫 拉克災情網路中心) is hosted by the Association of Digital Culture Taiwan (台灣數位文化協會). The site, in Chinese, has information for those wishing to donate goods or cash. The Association publishes news updates at Plurk through the user name <a href="mailto:t@taiwanfloods" modo="true"><em>@taiwanfloods</em></a>.<br /><br />A detailed <a href="http://typhoon.oooo.tw/index.php"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Breakdown of Needs</span></a>, in Chinese, is maintained by concerned Taiwanese citizens. The table provides precise contact information and the specific nature of aid being requested in each area.<br /><br />The <strong> </strong><a href="http://dpp0808.blogspot.com/"><strong>Democratic Progressive Party</strong> </a> hosts a that provides <a href="http://dpp0808.blogspot.com/2009/08/blog-post_09.html">contact information for support centres</a> in Chinese and donation information in both Chinese and English.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.worldvision.org.tw/en/news-090814.htm">World Vision Taiwan</a>, a Christian charity organisation, seeks 'relief resources, rescue cars and volunteers.' Details are available at the web site.</div><br />The <a href="http://www.dharmadrum.org/index.aspx"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Dharma Drum Mountain</span></a> Zen Buddhist monastery seeks volunteers to help clean flooded homes.<br />Telephone: 02.2895.8300<br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></span><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://taiwancenter.org/"><object width="320" height="266" class="BLOG_video_class" id="BLOG_video-1b673a910310ea32" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/get_player"><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF"><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true"><param name="flashvars" value="flvurl=http://v24.nonxt3.googlevideo.com/videoplayback?id%3D1b673a910310ea32%26itag%3D5%26app%3Dblogger%26ip%3D0.0.0.0%26ipbits%3D0%26expire%3D1330205733%26sparams%3Did,itag,ip,ipbits,expire%26signature%3D47412CCA329A487C929CBCE63EDFD45BA65D8169.68E423F390DE2DE41F6C6029A0B5FA7EA8E878B6%26key%3Dck1&amp;iurl=http://video.google.com/ThumbnailServer2?app%3Dblogger%26contentid%3D1b673a910310ea32%26offsetms%3D5000%26itag%3Dw160%26sigh%3DLBrym-33kzBuLzDOIRR64bk7h1w&amp;autoplay=0&amp;ps=blogger"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/get_player" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"width="320" height="266" bgcolor="#FFFFFF"flashvars="flvurl=http://v24.nonxt3.googlevideo.com/videoplayback?id%3D1b673a910310ea32%26itag%3D5%26app%3Dblogger%26ip%3D0.0.0.0%26ipbits%3D0%26expire%3D1330205733%26sparams%3Did,itag,ip,ipbits,expire%26signature%3D47412CCA329A487C929CBCE63EDFD45BA65D8169.68E423F390DE2DE41F6C6029A0B5FA7EA8E878B6%26key%3Dck1&iurl=http://video.google.com/ThumbnailServer2?app%3Dblogger%26contentid%3D1b673a910310ea32%26offsetms%3D5000%26itag%3Dw160%26sigh%3DLBrym-33kzBuLzDOIRR64bk7h1w&autoplay=0&ps=blogger"allowFullScreen="true" /></object></a><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Dharma Drum Mountain's call for volunteers.</span><br /><br /><br /><br /></div><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Financial Assistance</span></span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.etaiwannews.com/gallery.php?category=41&amp;highlight_id=3025193#slideshow_top"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_5oMoMBcF8GM/SolZNMd553I/AAAAAAAAASw/dO378jfVTkw/s400/morakot.relief.02.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5370922113835853682" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="http://www.us.tzuchi.org/">Tzu Chi Foundation</a></span> , Taiwan's largest charity, is collecting donations for <span style="font-weight: bold;">Relief for Victims of Typhoon Morakot</span>. The organisation is <a href="http://www.taiwanheadlines.gov.tw/ct.asp?xItem=164973&amp;ctNode=5">building up to 1,000 'green' homes</a> for families who have lost their homes. Donations may be made at the site through Google or PayPal.<br /><br />The<strong> </strong><a href="http://dpp0808.blogspot.com/"><strong>Democratic Progressive Party</strong> </a>has set up a special fund set up for disaster victims. The <a href="http://www.helptaiwan.blogspot.com/">English-language blog</a> features a widget for the <span style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/www.helptaiwan.blogspot.com">DPP Typhoon Morakot Disaster Relief Fund</a></span> at the upper right.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.unitedway.org.tw/en/howtogive.asp"><span style="font-weight: bold;">United Way Taiwan</span></a> allows online contributions allocated specifically to typhoon victims.<br /><br /><a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.worldvision.org.tw/en/news-090814.htm">World Vision Taiwan</a> has a special <a href="http://ei-payment.worldvision.org.tw/offering.php">donation page</a> for Typhoon Morakot help. Phone and e-mail contacts are provided.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="http://www.pct.org.tw/english/enGnS.htm">The Presbyterian Church in Taiwan</a></span> requests checks payable to <span style="font-style: italic;">The General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan</span>. Specify 'Attention: typhoon relief.' Contributions may also be made by direct deposit and wire transfer.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="http://taa-usa.org/">Taiwanese American Association-USA Donation Drive</a></span> requests donations to <span style="font-style: italic;">TAA-USA</span>, <span style="font-style: italic;">Attention: Typhoon Morakot Donation Drive</span>. Send contributions to:<br /><blockquote>Mrs Ling Ling Huang, Treasurer<br />TAA-USA<br />199 Bluejay Drive<br />Columbus, Ohio 43235<br />Telephone: 1.614.888.6501 </blockquote><span style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="http://taiwancenter.org/">Taiwan Center in LA</a></span> requests donations through an online <a href="http://taiwancenter.org/fileDownload2.php?uid=200908111730508&amp;fid=14">donation form</a>. Financial contributions to the Taiwan Center are tax-deductible. (Tax ID: 95-4679702)<br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><br /></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><em>Thanks to Ho-Chie Tsai, </em></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><em>Cecilia Ciou, Vivian Tsai, </em></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><em></em></span><a href="http://blog.taiwan-guide.org/2009/08/typhoon-morakot-flooding-update/#more-5014"><span style="font-size:85%;"><em>David Reid</em></span></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><em>, </em></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><em></em></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><em></em></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><em>Dragonbones, and Melody Hsiao. Also to </em><span style="font-style: italic;">their colleagues at </span><a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://www.taiwanho.com/talk/viewtopic.php?f=8&amp;t=5380"><em>Taiwan Ho!</em></a><span style="font-style: italic;">, </span><a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=116078623165">Facebook</a></span>, <span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">and the </span><a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://taiwaneseamerican.org/">Taiwanese-American Association</a><span style="font-style: italic;">.</span></span><br /><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">___________________<br /></span></span><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><br /><a href="http://conductorsnotebook.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><span style="font-size:85%;">Conductor's Notebook</span></a></span><div class="blogger-post-footer">Taipei, Taiwan<img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10338182-1645200163677145723?l=altonthompson.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Alton Thompson 唐博敦http://www.blogger.com/profile/02592179955798586641noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10338182.post-47079354990245984412009-08-11T06:00:00.055+08:002009-09-08T03:17:14.999+08:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.nrlmry.navy.mil/TC.html"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 400px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_5oMoMBcF8GM/SoJDU_D-MhI/AAAAAAAAASg/nS2j63tynUU/s400/morakot.space.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5368927733583589906" border="0" /></a>Morakot, a vast, slow-moving tropical storm packing heavy rains, blew through Taiwan on August 8 Saturday. The record-breaking volume of water it dropped on the island, <span class="blogText bigText">2.5 meters (100 inches), was the highest in five decades. Southern areas of the island encountered more rainfall in one day than they normally absorb in one year. </span>The result has been colossal flooding in central and southern areas from Taiwan. The storm has left a trail of devastation in both coastal and mountain areas. This morning rivers continue to erode their banks, bridges and roads remain out, and homes lie buried in mudslides or vanished in floods. Rescue workers struggle to locate the missing as the vast toll taken by the storm on human life and property is assessed.<br /><br />At the end of the weekend the <a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2009/08/10/2003450812"><span style="font-style: italic;">Taipei Times</span> had this report</a> (italics mine):<br /><br /><div><div><blockquote style="color: rgb(255, 255, 204);">The highest accumulated rainfall from Morakot as of [Sunday] was in Alishan, which had received 2,654mm of rain. The weather bureau estimated that mountainous areas in Chiayi County would receive an accumulated 2,900mm of rain, while mountains in Kaohsiung and Pingtung counties would see 2,700mm of rain and Nantou and Tainan counties 2,200mm. <span style="font-style: italic;">Rainfall on Friday and Saturday alone in Kaohsiung City and County and Pingtung County was around the annual average in those areas.</span> Average annual rainfall in Hengchun (恆春), Pingtung County, for example, is 2,017mm.<br /><br />....<br /><br />In Tainan City and County, running water was disconnected to 280,000 homes because the county’s Nanhua Reservoir (南化) had been contaminated as a result of the rains.<br /><br />Also in Tainan County, the banks of the Tsengwen River (曾文溪) collapsed in several areas, flooding townships including Shanhua (善化), Jente (仁德), Yongkang (永康), Tanei (大內), Guantien (官田), Houbi (後壁) and Beimen (北門). Flooding in some of the townships was three stories deep.<br /><br />Morakot’s rains have also wreaked havoc on public transportation and infrastructure, with the Ministry of Transportation and Communications reporting 123 damaged sections of road as of 6pm yesterday. Twenty bridges, including the Dajin (大津) and Liukuei (六龜) bridges on Provincial Highway 27, Shuangyuan Bridge (雙園大橋) on Highway 17, Sinciwei (新旗尾) and Mingtzu bridges (民族) on Highway 21, No. 1 Bridge on Highway 24 and Ciwei Bridge (旗尾橋) on Highway 28, were either damaged or washed away.... Taiwan Railway Administration (TRA) express trains along the west coast could not go south of Chiayi yesterday because of the floods in Tainan, Kaohsiung and Pingtung counties. The TRA also suspended services on the South Link (南迴鐵路) because of flooding in Taitung’s Taimali Township and Pingtung’s Linbian Township (林邊). TRA trains on the east coast had to stop at Chishang (池上) in Taitung County after the Luyeh River (鹿野溪) broke its banks, preventing them from continuing on to Taitung City.<br /><br />....<br /><br />Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊) said at a city government meeting that 81 officials, 24 lifeboats and three ambulances were headed to Tungkang (東港), Kanding (崁頂) and Chiatung (佳冬) townships in Pingtung County, and Cishan Township (旗山) in Kaohsiung County as of 10am yesterday, adding that five lifeboats would also be dispatched to Tainan. The city’s Social Affairs Bureau had also arranged for food, drinking water and thousands of towels and sleeping bags to be sent to flood victims, Chen said.<br />....<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);"><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 204);">The Kaohsiung City Government [has] created an emergency response center to accept donations of necessities such as water, food, medicine and flashlights for flood victims across the south. Those who wish to donate items can contact the center at (886) 7 337 3375 or deliver items to Kaohsiung City Hall at No. 2 Sihwei 3rd Road, Lingya District, Kaohsiung City.</span> </span></blockquote><br /><a href="http://blog.taiwan-guide.org/wp-content/uploads/2009-08-09-taiwan-rain.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px; width: 400px; float: right; height: 400px;" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5368696720413761442" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_5oMoMBcF8GM/SoFxOP8RH6I/AAAAAAAAASY/jch0NF7J-Rg/s400/2009.08.09.taiwan-rain.jpg" border="0" /></a>The Taiwan press reports that a mudslide has buried a village in Kaohsiung County, possibly <a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2009/08/11/2003450893">trapping hundreds of residents. </a>(The name of the community is Romanised variously as Shao Lin, Xiaolin and Hsiaolin.) Road conditions and severe weather make it difficult for rescue workers to reach the area. Tuesday's <a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2009/08/11/2003450893"><span style="font-style: italic;">Taipei Times</span></a>:<br /><br /><blockquote style="color: rgb(255, 255, 204);"><p>Hundreds of residents of Xiaolin Village (小林), Kaohsiung County, were still missing yesterday after landslides caused by Typhoon Morakot devastated the area. Rescuers said yesterday morning that at least 180 residents out of around 600 had survived the mudslides. Another 76 had been moved to safety as of yesterday afternoon. </p>One of the survivors, Lin Chien-chung (林建忠), told cable news channels that the village had been wiped out, including Xiaolin Elementary School, Chunghwa Telecom communications equipment and the health center. Lin said he feared most of the 600 residents had been buried alive.<br />....<br /><br />The emergency center said that Liukuei Township’s (六龜) Tsaonan (草南) and Chunghsing (中興) villages were also feared destroyed by mudslides or floods. Reports had yet to be verified, the center said.</blockquote><br />The <a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://www.etaiwannews.com/etn/news_content.php?id=1029419&amp;lang=eng_news&amp;cate_img=logo_taiwan&amp;cate_rss=TAIWAN_eng">Taiwan News</a> described the situation as viewed by satellite cameras (images appeared a day later in the <a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2009/08/13/2003451023">Taipei Times</a>):<br /><span class="fullstory" id="fullstory"><p> </p><blockquote style="font-family: verdana; color: rgb(255, 255, 204);"><p>One of the most stunning images obtained by the Center for Space and Remote Sensing Research (CSRSR) under <a href="http://www.ncu.edu.tw/e_web/">National Central University</a> was the explosive expansion of the Taimali River in Taitung. The images showed that the upper stream of the river, which originally was barely more than 10 meters wide, spread to more than 800 meters as large amounts of mud were washed down the mountain by heavy rainfall.</p><p> Chang Chung-pai, an associate professor at the center, said the mudslides observed in this typhoon have been the largest on record both in terms of length and scale.</p></blockquote><p></p></span><br />The eye of Typhoon Morakot left Taiwan on Saturday evening and made landfall in China on Sunday. On the same day residents of Japan faced deadly flash floods from Typhoon Etau, a storm brewed in the northwest Pacific.<br /><br />Links to detailed news reports appear below. I will keep this list updated as events progress.<br /><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8192633.stm"></a><blockquote><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8192633.stm">BBC: Deadly Storms sweep eastern Asia, 2009.08.10</a><br /><a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2009/08/10/2003450812"><span style="font-style: italic;">Taipei Times</span>: Downpour continues to pummel south, 2009.08.10</a><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8192633.stm"><span style="font-style: italic;"><br />Taipei Times</span>: Twenty-three dead in wake of Morakot, 2009.08.11</a><a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2009/08/11/2003450893"><span style="font-style: italic;"><br />Taipei Times</span>: Hundreds missing after Xiaolin mudslides, 2009.08.11</a><a href="http://www.etaiwannews.com/etn/news_content.php?id=1027888&amp;lang=eng_news"><em><br />Taiwan News</em>: Rescue efforts intensify across southern Taiwan, 2009.08.11</a><a href="http://www.etaiwannews.com/etn/news_content.php?id=1028465&amp;lang=eng_news&amp;cate_img=49.jpg&amp;cate_rss=news_Society_TAIWAN"><em><br />Taiwan News</em>: Typhoon relief helicopter crashes in Taiwan's mountains, 2009.08.11</a><br /><a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2009/08/12/2003450973"><span style="font-style: italic;">Taipei Times</span>: Aid workers race against time; 700 found in Xiaolin, 2009.08.12</a><br /><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8196314.stm">BBC: Washed away by the typhoon, 2009.08.12</a><br /><a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2009/08/12/2003450957"><span style="font-style: italic;">Taipei Times</span>: Survivors tell of narrow escapes and landslides, 2009.08.12<br /></a><a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2009/08/13/2003451023"><span style="font-style: italic;">Taipei Times</span>: Satellite images show power of natural forces, 2009.08.13</a><br /><a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125008822051326081.html"><span style="font-style: italic;">Wall Street Journal</span>: Outcry grows in Taiwan as death toll rises, 2009.08.13</a><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/13/world/asia/13taiwan.html?_r=1"></a><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/13/world/asia/13taiwan.html?_r=1"><br /></a><a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2009/08/13/2003451028"><span style="font-style: italic;">Taipei Times</span>: Ire over government rejection of foreign help, 2009.08.13<br /></a><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8199213.stm">BBC: In Pictures, Taiwan's misery, 2009.08.14</a><br /><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8200821.stm">BBC: 'Devil' typhoon leaves Taiwan reeling, 2009.08.14</a><br /><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8202316.stm">BBC: Hopes fade for Taiwan survivors, 2009.08.14</a><br /><a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125024051949031733.html?mod=rss_asia_whats_news"><span style="font-style: italic;">Wall Street Journal</span>: With a roar, a mountain buries a village, 2009.08.15</a><br /><a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2009/08/16/2003451250"><span style="font-style: italic;">Taipei Times</span>: Foreign aid pours in after government eases restrictions, 2009.08.16</a><br /><a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2009/08/16/2003451266"><span style="font-style: italic;">Taipei Times</span>: Friends, families hold rituals for Morakot victims, 2009.08.16</a><br /><a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2009/08/16/2003451251"><span style="font-style: italic;">Taipei Times</span>: Experts call on government to ban risky towns, 2009.08.16</a><br /><a href="http://www.etaiwannews.com/etn/news_content.php?id=1033661&amp;lang=eng_news&amp;cate_img=logo_taiwan&amp;cate_rss=TAIWAN_eng"><span style="font-style: italic;">Taiwan News</span>: U.S. sends heavy-duty choppers to Taiwan for relief work, 2009.08.17</a><br /><a href="http://www.taiwanheadlines.gov.tw/ct.asp?xItem=164973&amp;ctNode=5"><span style="font-style: italic;">Taiwan Headlines</span>: Tzu Chi Foundation to build 'green' houses for typhoon victims, 2009.08.20-21</a><br /><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/24/world/asia/24taiwan.html"><span style="font-style: italic;">New York Times</span>: Taiwan's president faces anger over storm response, 2009.08.23</a><br /><a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125172425717072275.html?mod=rss_asia_whats_news"><span style="font-style: italic;">Wall Street Journal</span>: Dalai Lama holds services for victims, 2009.08.31</a><br /><a href="http://www.etaiwannews.com/etn/news_content.php?id=1045598&amp;lang=eng_news"><span style="font-style: italic;">Taiwan News</span>: Dalai Lama urges Taiwan to preserve its democracy, 2009.09.01</a><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1rh9LqALS8&amp;feature=related">Video: The Dalai Lama's speech in Taiwan (in English, Chinese translation), 2009.09.01</a><br /><a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2009/09/02/2003452594"><span style="font-style: italic;">Taipei Times</span>: Dalai Lama moves thousands at ceremony, 2009.09.02<br /></a><a href="http://www.etaiwannews.com/etn/news_content.php?id=1047492&amp;lang=eng_news"><span style="font-style: italic;">Taiwan Headlines</span>: Dalai Lama contributes <span style="font-size:85%;">US</span>$50,000 in aid, 2009.09.02</a><br /><a href="http://www.taiwanheadlines.gov.tw/ct.asp?xItem=166232&amp;ctNode=5"><span style="font-style: italic;">Taiwan Headlines</span>: National mourning ceremony for typhoon victims set for Monday, 2009.09.04</a><br /><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/08/world/asia/08taiwan.html"><span style="font-style: italic;">New York Times</span>: Prime minister of Taiwan quits over typhoon response, 2009.09.08</a><br /><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/13/world/asia/13taiwan.html?_r=1"><br /></a></blockquote>A compelling <a href="http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/08/typhoon_morakot.html">photo story by Alan Taylor</a> has been assembled for the <span style="font-style: italic;">Boston Globe</span> from a variety of sources. The images give a sense of the conditions now being faced by residents of Taiwan and the coastal areas of south China.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSBSUtSm3CA">This excerpt from Taiwanese television</a> shows a hot spring resort area in Taitung County located at a bend in the Jhihben River. The swollen river eroded its banks, washing away buildings and felling the the six-story <span class="textmiddle">Jinshuai Hotel. </span><br /><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/pSBSUtSm3CA&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><br /><br /><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/pSBSUtSm3CA&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="344" width="425"></embed><a class="kmuiwpqpywroqxhhaegz" href="http://www.youtube.com/v/pSBSUtSm3CA&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;"></a><a class="awejidqmudwlbtmdrtjo" href="http://www.youtube.com/v/pSBSUtSm3CA&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;"></a><a class="awejidqmudwlbtmdrtjo" href="http://www.youtube.com/v/pSBSUtSm3CA&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;"></a><a class="rhatebechyqnoywdyriw" href="http://www.youtube.com/v/pSBSUtSm3CA&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;"></a><a class="rhatebechyqnoywdyriw" href="http://www.youtube.com/v/pSBSUtSm3CA&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;"></a><a class="hfjwfumftdxhkwlfcoup" href="http://www.youtube.com/v/pSBSUtSm3CA&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;"></a><a class="xxsxxhecnegrrowgipsa" href="http://www.youtube.com/v/pSBSUtSm3CA&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;"></a><a class="xxsxxhecnegrrowgipsa" href="http://www.youtube.com/v/pSBSUtSm3CA&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;"></a><a class="xxsxxhecnegrrowgipsa" href="http://www.youtube.com/v/pSBSUtSm3CA&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;"></a><a class="xxsxxhecnegrrowgipsa" href="http://www.youtube.com/v/pSBSUtSm3CA&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;"></a><a class="pjdrabzwmmbezkkbdsye" href="http://www.youtube.com/v/pSBSUtSm3CA&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;"></a><a class="pjdrabzwmmbezkkbdsye" href="http://www.youtube.com/v/pSBSUtSm3CA&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;"></a><a class="pjdrabzwmmbezkkbdsye" href="http://www.youtube.com/v/pSBSUtSm3CA&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;"></a><a class="pjdrabzwmmbezkkbdsye" href="http://www.youtube.com/v/pSBSUtSm3CA&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;"></a><a class="pjdrabzwmmbezkkbdsye" href="http://www.youtube.com/v/pSBSUtSm3CA&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;"></a><a class="pjdrabzwmmbezkkbdsye" href="http://www.youtube.com/v/pSBSUtSm3CA&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;"></a><a class="pjdrabzwmmbezkkbdsye" href="http://www.youtube.com/v/pSBSUtSm3CA&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;"></a><a class="kcjspbnkiddlfubsiafu" href="http://www.youtube.com/v/pSBSUtSm3CA&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;"></a></object><br /><p></p><br /><p><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">__________________</span></span></p><p></p><p><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);font-size:85%;" ><a href="http://conductorsnotebook.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Conductor's Notebook</a></span></p></div></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">Taipei, Taiwan<img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10338182-4707935499024598441?l=altonthompson.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Alton Thompson 唐博敦http://www.blogger.com/profile/02592179955798586641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10338182.post-70173996458383616232009-08-08T05:00:00.004+08:002009-08-11T18:07:16.324+08:00Images from Taiwan's north coast as Typhoon Morakot approached on Friday.<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/thompson/3801041120/" title="tempest by altons images, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3516/3801041120_67913a458f.jpg" alt="tempest" height="320" width="500" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/thompson/3799164148/" title="arrival of the typhoon by altons images, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3596/3799164148_63ebff8680.jpg" alt="arrival of the typhoon" height="279" width="500" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/thompson/3799165674/" title="typhoon by altons images, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2584/3799165674_a162833d04.jpg" alt="typhoon" height="316" width="500" /></a><br /></div><br /><br />Jiufen, Taiwan<br />台灣 九份<br />2009.08.07<br /><br />©Alton Thompson 唐博敦<a target="_blank" href="http://altonsimages.com/" rel="nofollow"><br />altonsimages.com/</a><br /><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><span style="font-size:85%;"><br />__________________</span></span><p></p><p><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);font-size:85%;" ><a target="_blank" href="http://conductorsnotebook.com/" rel="nofollow">Conductor's Notebook</a></span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Taipei, Taiwan<img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10338182-7017399645838361623?l=altonthompson.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Alton Thompson 唐博敦http://www.blogger.com/profile/02592179955798586641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10338182.post-76261848325279664702009-07-25T07:00:00.005+08:002009-08-16T21:50:07.766+08:00<p>The fortieth anniversary of the first moon landing invites looks ahead. When will we again leave earth orbit and explore the solar system?</p><p>America's current plans are to return to the moon and move on to Mars in <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/constellation/main/index.html">Project Constellation</a>. The <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/externalflash/Vision/">Vision for Space Exploration</a> sees the establishment of bases on the moon as a means of learning to sustain extraterrestrial bases for for extended periods while conducting research and living off the land. This will be the springboard for journeys to Mars.</p><p>The <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/constellation/main/index.html">official site for Project Constellation</a> offers news, specs, images, and video.<br /></p><p>The BBC interviews the designers of <a href="http://www.facebook.com/ext/share.php?sid=125740368335&amp;h=eVXFP&amp;u=Yn9v_&amp;ref=mf">the next generation of lunar landers</a>. Called Altair, the lander for the Constellation missions improves on the Apollo original in a number of ways. At the same time it bears a family resemblance to its predecessor. In other words, this new lander is no pin-up, either.</p><p>Two of the Apollo 11 astronauts have expressed their desire to see higher priority given to the <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8160209.stm">exploration of Mars</a>. Michael Collins says 'I worry that the current emphasis on returning to the moon will cause us to become ensnared in a technological briar patch needlessly delaying for decades the exploration of Mars - a much more worthwhile destination.'</p><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><span style="font-size:85%;">__________________</span></span><p></p><p><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);font-size:85%;" ><a target="_blank" href="http://conductorsnotebook.com/" rel="nofollow">Conductor's Notebook</a></span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Taipei, Taiwan<img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10338182-7626184832527966470?l=altonthompson.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Alton Thompson 唐博敦http://www.blogger.com/profile/02592179955798586641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10338182.post-75683357400033740412009-07-23T22:00:00.002+08:002009-07-24T09:53:38.003+08:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.wretch.cc/blog/RichnChiung/12038612"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 320px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_5oMoMBcF8GM/SmkTTsO-H0I/AAAAAAAAARo/GSyGOSDUeyo/s320/chang.joyce.2009a.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5361838060373679938" border="0" /></a>Violinist <span style="font-weight: bold;">Joyce Chiung-Yin Chang</span> (張瓊尹) will be performing in recital this weekend.<p> <span>2009 July 25 Saturday 19:30</span><br />Taichung, Taiwan<br /></p><p></p><blockquote style="font-family:verdana;"><br />Beethoven: Sonata for Piano and Violin no. 3<br />Schumann: Sonata for Piano and Violin in A minor, opus 105<br />Ysay<span style="line-height: 115%;font-family:&quot;;font-size:11pt;" lang="EN-US"></span>e: Sonata opus 27, no.6<br />Chausson: <span style="font-style: italic;">Poe</span><span style="line-height: 115%;font-family:&quot;;font-size:11pt;" lang="EN-US"></span><span style="font-style: italic;">me</span>, opus 25<br />Tchaikovsky: Waltz- Scherzo, opus 34<span style="font-size:100%;"></span><p></p></blockquote><p></p><p><br />Ms Chang, a native of Taiwan, is currently a resident of Baltimore, Maryland USA. She is a graduate of Taiwan's Soochow University and is now completing a graduate degree in violin performance at the <a href="http://www.peabody.jhu.edu/">Peabody Institute</a>.<br /></p><p><br />For more information:</p><p></p><blockquote><p><span style="font-style: italic;">Telephone (Taiwan):</span> 0919 088 746<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Telephone (International):</span> 886 9 1908 8746</p><p><span style="font-style: italic;">E-Mail:</span><a href="mailto:lemon0407@gmail.com"> </a>lemon0407 AT gmail.com</p><p><span style="font-style: italic;">Web</span>: <a href="http://www.wretch.cc/blog/RichnChiung/12038612">RichnChiung blog </a>and<a href="http://www.wretch.cc/blog/RichnChiung/12038612"> </a><a href="http://www.wretch.cc/blog/RichnChiung/12038612"> </a><a href="http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=120526325347">Facebook events</a></p></blockquote><p><a href="http://www.wretch.cc/blog/RichnChiung/12038612"></a><a href="http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=120526325347"></a><a href="http://www.wretch.cc/blog/RichnChiung/12038612" onmousedown="'return" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"></a><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">__________________</span></span></p><p></p><p><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);font-size:85%;" ><a target="_blank" href="http://conductorsnotebook.com/" rel="nofollow">Conductor's Notebook</a></span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Taipei, Taiwan<img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10338182-7568335740003374041?l=altonthompson.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Alton Thompson 唐博敦http://www.blogger.com/profile/02592179955798586641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10338182.post-1926776990706078922009-07-23T13:00:00.000+08:002009-07-23T22:21:30.195+08:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/23/arts/music/23roberts.html?ref=music"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 246px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_5oMoMBcF8GM/Smhv0Z9nztI/AAAAAAAAARY/-z7UlQ6fms8/s400/robertstrio.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5361658302497803986" border="0" /></a>It's always a pleasure to see <a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://marcusroberts.com/">Marcus Roberts</a> (hats off to another <a href="http://music.fsu.edu/">Florida State</a> grad) getting the press attention his musicianship warrants. This week <span style="font-style: italic;">New York Times</span> reporter Nate Chinen cites the '<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/23/arts/music/23roberts.html?ref=music">warm balance of mind and heart</a>' evident in the playing of the Marcus Roberts Trio at <a href="http://jalc.org/dccc/">Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola</a>, Frederick P Rose Hall, Jazz at Lincoln Center. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Jason Marsalis</span> performs on drums and <span style="font-weight: bold;">Rodney Jordan</span> fills in for <span style="font-weight: bold;">Roland Guerin</span> this week on bass. The full review appears at the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/23/arts/music/23roberts.html?ref=music"><span style="font-style: italic;">New York Times</span> web site</a>.<br /><br />The Marcus Roberts Trio is engaged at <a href="http://jalc.org/dccc/">Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola</a> through Sunday. Sets are at 19:30 and 21:30 with 23:30 sets added on Friday and Saturday. For ticket information call 1 212 258 9595.<br /><p>Marcus Roberts recently released a new album, <a href="http://marcusroberts.com/music_store.cfm?nav=store"><span style="font-style: italic;">New Orleans Meets Harlem, Volume 1</span></a> on the J Master Records label. A new album, <a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://marcusroberts.com/music_store.cfm?nav=store">From Rags to Rhythm</a>, is due for release on the same label later this year.<br /><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">__________________</span></span></p><p></p><p><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);font-size:85%;" ><a target="_blank" href="http://conductorsnotebook.com/" rel="nofollow">Conductor's Notebook</a></span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Taipei, Taiwan<img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10338182-192677699070607892?l=altonthompson.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Alton Thompson 唐博敦http://www.blogger.com/profile/02592179955798586641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10338182.post-80655086747119770792009-07-23T07:00:00.001+08:002009-07-24T15:17:34.688+08:00<p><span style="font-style: italic;">The Onion</span> reports that its entire news organisation <a href="http://www.theonion.com/content/columnists/well_ive_sold_the_paper_to">has been sold </a>to a <a href="http://www.yuwanmei.com/">conglomerate in China</a>.</p><p>Content is being revised to reflect the concerns of the new owners. A sampling of headlines from <a href="http://www.theonion.com/content/index/4530">the latest issue</a>:<br /><br /></p><p></p><blockquote><p> <a href="http://www.theonion.com/content/news/internet_adds_12th_website?utm_source=a-section">Internet Adds Twelfth Web Site</a><br /></p><p> <a href="http://www.theonion.com/content/news/potato_faced_youngster_lauded_for?utm_source=most_pop_dugg">Potato-Faced Youngster Lauded For Memorizing Primitive 26-Character Alphabet</a></p><p> Sports: <a href="http://www.theonion.com/content/news/potato_faced_youngster_lauded_for?utm_source=most_pop_dugg">Yao Ming!<br /></a></p><p>Photos: <a href="http://www.theonion.com/content/from_print/clear_american_sky_a?utm_source=newsinphotos_china">Clear American Sky a Constant Reminder of Industrial Inferiority</a><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></p><p>Opinion: <a href="http://www.theonion.com/content/opinion/american_children_like_me_are?utm_source=c-section">American Children Like Me Are Lazy And Insolent And Must Try Harder<br /><br /></a>Opinion: <a href="http://www.theonion.com/content/opinion/american_children_like_me_are?utm_source=c-section"></a><a href="http://www.theonion.com/content/grave_error">The Internet Allows for a Free Exchange of Unmitigated Information</a></p></blockquote><p><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">__________________</span></span></p><p></p><p><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);font-size:85%;" ><a target="_blank" href="http://conductorsnotebook.com/" rel="nofollow">Conductor's Notebook</a></span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Taipei, Taiwan<img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10338182-8065508674711977079?l=altonthompson.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Alton Thompson 唐博敦http://www.blogger.com/profile/02592179955798586641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10338182.post-7930348015502874502009-07-22T10:30:00.016+08:002009-07-23T10:14:34.776+08:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://altonsimages.com/"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 270px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_5oMoMBcF8GM/SmaCcHA2IEI/AAAAAAAAAP4/nD4mkirdVA0/s400/20090722.eclipse.alton.00.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5361115825861697602" border="0" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Crescents</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">National Taiwan Normal University<br />Taipei, Taiwan<br />台灣 台北 國立臺灣師範大學<br />© Alton Thompson 唐博敦 </span><span style="font-size:85%;">/ <a href="http://altonsimages.com/">Altons Images</a></span><br /><br /></div><p><span style="font-size:100%;">A <a href="http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse.html">solar eclipse over Asia</a> this morning produced crescent shapes when the trees filtered sunlight.</span><br /></p><p><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">__________________</span></span></p><p></p><p><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);font-size:85%;" ><a target="_blank" href="http://conductorsnotebook.com/" rel="nofollow">Conductor's Notebook</a></span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Taipei, Taiwan<img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10338182-793034801550287450?l=altonthompson.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Alton Thompson 唐博敦http://www.blogger.com/profile/02592179955798586641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10338182.post-67227842340193220502009-07-21T01:00:00.006+08:002009-07-22T20:06:42.285+08:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/8133835.stm"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 226px; height: 170px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_5oMoMBcF8GM/SmQIgj_Z8tI/AAAAAAAAAPw/WF-u2tT8JB8/s400/armstrong.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5360418811987751634" border="0" /></a>Here are glimpses of <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/8133835.stm">Neil Armstrong</a>, <a href="http://www.esquire.com/features/what-ive-learned/ESQ0103-JAN_ALDRIN">Buzz Aldrin</a>, and <a href="http://www.space.com/news/090720-apollo11-40th-michael-collins.html">Michael Collins</a>, courtesy of the BBC, Esquire magazine, and Space.com respectively.<p>Armstrong rarely makes public appearances, but the Smithsonian Institute was able to secure him for a speaking engagement at the recent <a href="http://www.nasm.si.edu/events/apollo11/">John H Glenn Lecture for 40th Anniversary of Apollo 11</a>. Armstrong shared some cogent observations about the celebrated <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8158476.stm">'space race' between the United States and the Soviet Union</a>.</p><p>Don't miss <a href="http://hammerandfeather.wordpress.com/2008/10/25/neil-armstrong-interview/">this engaging <span style="font-style: italic;">60 Minutes</span> interview</a> with Armstrong at the Hammer and Feather blog. The Apollo 11 commander is unusually candid and gregarious in this video. Special moments abound, such as the moment Armstrong and Walter Cronkite are brought together to watch a recording of the landing broadcast.</p><p>This <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8152161.stm">video from the BBC</a> looks back at the journey taken by Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins.<br /></p><p><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">__________________</span></span></p><p></p><p><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);font-size:85%;" ><a target="_blank" href="http://conductorsnotebook.com/" rel="nofollow">Conductor's Notebook</a></span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Taipei, Taiwan<img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10338182-6722784234019322050?l=altonthompson.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Alton Thompson 唐博敦http://www.blogger.com/profile/02592179955798586641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10338182.post-60000079814469389462009-07-20T06:00:00.007+08:002009-07-22T20:06:00.761+08:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.ticf.tw/index_en.html"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 170px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_5oMoMBcF8GM/Sl4WxFI1VOI/AAAAAAAAAO4/eRpofOYQFX8/s400/chorus.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5358745639066096866" border="0" /></a>The ninth annual <span style="font-weight: bold;">Taipei International Choral Festival</span> will soon be under way. This thrilling event, hosted each summer by the <a href="http://www.tpf.org.tw/">Taipei Philharmonic Foundation</a>, is <a href="http://www.ticf.tw/history_en.html">always a highlight</a> on Taiwan's busy musical calendar. Outstanding choirs come to Taiwan from all regions of the world for a series of concerts and events.<br /><p>The festival's organisers have a gift for discovering outstanding performers and composers who excel in areas far beyond the usual media haunts as well as bringing in iconic groups that are well known to all. <a href="http://www.ticf.tw/groups_en.html">This year's festival features</a> the <span style="font-weight: bold;">Ateneo Singer</span>s from the Philippines, <span style="font-weight: bold;">Philomela</span> and <span style="font-weight: bold;">Club for Five</span> from Finland, the <span style="font-weight: bold;">Choir of King's College</span> from Cambridge in the UK, the <span style="font-weight: bold;">University of North Texas A Capella Choir</span> from the USA, and the <span style="font-weight: bold;">Taipei Philharmonic Chorus and Chamber Choir</span> of Taiwan.<br /></p>The festival features daily concerts in the <span style="font-weight: bold;">National Concert Hall</span> beginning on <span style="font-weight: bold;">July 26 Sunday</span> and concluding on <span style="font-weight: bold;">August 2 Sunday</span>. Details about <a href="http://www.ticf.tw/groups_en.html">performers</a>, <a href="http://www.ticf.tw/index_en.html">programs, schedule</a> and <a href="http://www.ticf.tw/ticket_en.html">ticket purchases</a> appear at the <a href="http://www.ticf.tw/index_en.html">festival web site</a>. Inquiries may also be made here:<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Telephone:</span> 02 2773 3691 (International: 886 2 2773 3691)<br /><span class="content"><span style="font-style: italic;" class="content">E-Mail:</span><a href="mailto:ticf@tpf.org.tw" class="content"> ticf AT tpf.org.tw</a></span><p></p><p><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">__________________</span></span></p><p></p><p><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);font-size:85%;" ><a target="_blank" href="http://conductorsnotebook.com/" rel="nofollow">Conductor's Notebook</a></span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Taipei, Taiwan<img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10338182-6000007981446938946?l=altonthompson.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Alton Thompson 唐博敦http://www.blogger.com/profile/02592179955798586641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10338182.post-43104854740681121502009-07-20T00:11:00.006+08:002009-07-22T19:02:30.469+08:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.apolloarchive.com/apollo_gallery.html"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 396px; height: 400px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_5oMoMBcF8GM/SmNsO3mZfXI/AAAAAAAAAPg/o4lrXcJw4II/s400/apollo11.firstphoto.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5360246984199994738" border="0" /></a><span id="profile_status"><span id="status_text"><span style="font-style: italic;">Once a photograph of the Earth, taken from outside, is available−once the sheer isolation of the Earth becomes known−a new idea as powerful as any in history will be let loose.</span><br /></span></span><blockquote><p><span id="profile_status"><span id="status_text">− Sir Fred Hoyle, British astronomer, 1948</span></span></p><p><span class="text_exposed_show"><span style="font-style: italic;"><br />It suddenly struck me that that tiny pea, pretty and blue, was the Earth. I put up my thumb and shut one eye, and my thumb blotted out the planet Earth. I didn't feel like a giant. I felt very, very small.</span><br /></span><span id="profile_status"><span id="status_text"><br />− </span></span><span class="text_exposed_show">Neil Armstrong</span></p></blockquote><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Forty years ago today beings from the planet earth first set foot upon the moon. They came in peace for all mankind.</p><p>The image above, captured by astronaut Neil Armstrong, is the first photograph ever taken on the surface of the moon.<br /><br /></p><blockquote><p><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/externalflash/apollo40/"></a><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/sci_tech/2009/moon_landing/">BBC Special Report</a> &amp; Features<br /></p><p><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/externalflash/apollo40/">Apollo 11 Fortieth Anniversary</a></p><p><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/apollo/">NASA Apollo Missions Site</a><br /></p><p><a href="http://www.nasm.si.edu/collections/imagery/Apollo/AS11/a11.htm">Apollo 11 Gallery at the Smithsonian</a></p><p><a href="http://www.apolloarchive.com/apollo_gallery.html">Apollo Image Gallery</a><br /></p><p><a href="http://www.facebook.com/ext/share.php?sid=98439019541&amp;h=X5B7E&amp;u=UG4HP&amp;ref=mf">Apollo Landing Sites viewed by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter</a></p><p><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8P5ujNwEwM&amp;feature=related">Origin of the Moon</a> (YouTube video)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/constellation/main/">Project Constellation: Return to the Moon</a></p><p>Richard Hollingham: <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8158347.stm">'Why go back?'</a> (BBC)<br /></p></blockquote><p><br />The Apollo missions changed forever the way we view our planet, our universe, and ourselves.<br /></p><p><br />Until Apollo the idea of a spherical earth meant, for most people, that the earth had no edges. A journey on its surface could go on forever. The traveller would encounter an ever-renewing land-and-seascape with no boundaries, edges or drops. In the popular imagination, a round earth meant an endless earth.<br /><br />All that changed with the Apollo missions. For the first time human beings could look back and see their home world complete. In an instant everything changed. Our home planet now appeared finite, and fragile, and beautiful.</p><p><br />The bonanza of information yielded by the common missions continues to generate new discoveries. At the time the Apollo missions were planned, two theories prevailed about the moon's origin. One, called the 'twin' theory, said that the earth and moon formed at the same time. The other, called the 'adoption' theory, suggested that the moon was a wandering body that had been captured by earth's gravity. Geologists were eager to learn more about the moon's composition so a winner between the two theories could be declared.<br /><br />The <span class="text_exposed_show">materials returned from the moon contained surprises. The moon, it turned out, is rich in material found in earth's crust, like basalt, but poor in heavy metals, like iron, which are abundant in earth's core and in asteroids. These discoveries threw cold water on both scenarios. If the twin theory were true, both the earth and the moon would be made of similar material in similar proportions. If the adoption theory were true, the moon would have more iron than it does.<br /><br /></span><span class="text_exposed_show">Neither theory worked. The surprising likelihood: the moon is actually earth's <span style="font-style: italic;">child</span>, born of <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8P5ujNwEwM&amp;feature=related">an ancient collision</a> between an infant earth and an object the size of Mars.<br /><br /></span></p><p>Today, in preparation for the return of our species to the moon, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter is now mapping the lunar surface. <a href="http://www.facebook.com/ext/share.php?sid=98439019541&amp;h=X5B7E&amp;u=UG4HP&amp;ref=mf">The Orbiter has already managed to glimpse five of the six Apollo landing sites.</a> These historic photos are our first look at the moon bases since we left them. Higher resolution images are soon to come.</p><p>The goal of the Orbiter, though, is not to document the past but to help us plan the future. The detailed images of the lunar surface its cameras provide will help scientists to choose sites for future exploration. <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/constellation/main/">Project Constellation</a> is America's plan for returning to the moon and journeying beyond to Mars.</p><p><br /></p><p>A toast to Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, Buzz Aldrin, and the entire team on this anniversary. Here's to first steps, and to new worlds.</p><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><br />________</span></p><p><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><a target="_blank" href="http://conductorsnotebook.com/" rel="nofollow">Conductor's Notebook</a></span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Taipei, Taiwan<img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10338182-4310485474068112150?l=altonthompson.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Alton Thompson 唐博敦http://www.blogger.com/profile/02592179955798586641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10338182.post-31729611966177815342009-07-16T09:30:00.003+08:002009-07-22T19:03:57.014+08:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.apolloarchive.com/apollo_gallery.html"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 287px; height: 400px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_5oMoMBcF8GM/SmNun3wu8RI/AAAAAAAAAPo/m6jrVjtgZzk/s400/apollo11.crew.walkout.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5360249612763328786" border="0" /></a><br /><p></p><div style="text-align: center;">The Apollo 11 crew crosses the access walkway on the day of launch, 1969 July 16.<br />(NASA)<br /></div><p><br /><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><br />________</span></p><p><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><a target="_blank" href="http://conductorsnotebook.com/" rel="nofollow">Conductor's Notebook</a></span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Taipei, Taiwan<img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10338182-3172961196617781534?l=altonthompson.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Alton Thompson 唐博敦http://www.blogger.com/profile/02592179955798586641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10338182.post-40791142311177413292009-07-15T23:00:00.001+08:002009-07-22T19:03:30.494+08:00<p>The <a href="http://asiatromboneseminar.com/">Asia Trombone Seminar</a> hosts an all-day trombone festival this weekend at the historic NTNU hall in Taipei. Admission is free to the public.<br /><br /></p><p><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span></p><blockquote><span style="font-weight: bold;">7.19 Sunday 9:00-21:30</span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Asia Trombone Seminar: Recital Festival</span><br />Concert Hall, <a href="http://www.ntnu.edu.tw/">National Taiwan Normal University</a><br />Taipei, Taiwan<br /><br />9:00 - <a href="http://pigx5.com/ats2009/bio/olin/">James Olin</a><br />10:45 - <a href="http://music.ku.edu/music/faculty/davidsonmichael/">Michael Davidson</a><br />12:15 - <a href="http://pigx5.com/ats2009/bio/sung/">Kuang-Ching Sung</a> Showcase<br />13:00 - <a href="http://pigx5.com/ats2009/bio/seay/">Ryan Seay</a><br />14:45 - <a href="http://www.unaitrombon.com/biography.html">Unai Urrecho</a><br />16:30 - <a href="http://www.hey.ne.jp/%7Ehisato/ko-official/category/biography.html">Ko-Ichiro Yamamoto</a><br />19:00 - Alexander Nyankin<br />20:30 - <a href="http://pigx5.com/ats2009/bio/pollard/">Denson Paul Pollard</a></blockquote><br /><a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://pigx5.com/ats2009/bio/lee/">Shyan-Jer Lee</a> is principal trombonist of the <a href="http://english.taipei.gov.tw/tso/index.jsp?categid=2979">Taipei Symphony Orchestra</a>, Taiwan.<br /><a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://pigx5.com/ats2009/bio/sung/">Kuang-Ching Sung</a> is principal trombonist of the <a href="http://nso.ntch.edu.tw/">National Symphony Orchestra</a> of Taiwan.<br /><a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://pigx5.com/ats2009/bio/terry/">Terry Shiu</a> is associate principal trombonist of the <a href="http://nso.ntch.edu.tw/">National Symphony Orchestra</a> of Taiwan.<br /><a href="http://pigx5.com/ats2009/bio/tsai/"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Huai-En Tsai</span>, </a>artistic director, is a graduate of Soochow University in Taiwan and the <a href="http://www.peabody.jhu.edu/">Peabody Conservatory</a> in the USA.<br /><a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://pigx5.com/ats2009/bio/seay/">Ryan Seay</a> is a graduate of the Curtis Institute, USA.<br /><a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://pigx5.com/ats2009/bio/olin/">James Olin</a> is the principal trombonist of the <a href="http://www.bsomusic.org/">Baltimore Symphony Orchestra</a>, USA.<br /><a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://music.ku.edu/music/faculty/davidsonmichael/">Michael Davidson</a> is the trombone professor at <a href="http://music.ku.edu/%7Esfa/">the University of Kansas</a>, USA.<br /><a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.unaitrombon.com/biography.html">Unai Urrecho</a> is trombone professor at <a href="http://en.suwon.ac.kr/">the University of Suwon</a>, South Korea.<br /><a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.hey.ne.jp/%7Ehisato/ko-official/category/biography.html">Ko-Ichiro Yamamoto</a> is principal trombonist of the <a href="http://www.seattlesymphony.org/">Seattle Symphony Orchestra</a>, USA.<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Li-Chung Chang</span> is former principal trombonist of Taiwan's <a href="http://nso.ntch.edu.tw/">National Symphony</a> and lecturer at the <a href="http://www.music.ntnu.edu.tw/">National Taiwan Normal University</a>.<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Alexander Nyankin</span> has appeared as a concerto soloist with the <a href="http://www.kcso.org.tw/">Kaohsiung City Symphony</a>, Taiwan.<br /><a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://pigx5.com/ats2009/bio/pollard/">Denson Paul Pollard</a> is the bass trombonist of New York's <a href="http://www.metoperafamily.org/metopera/">Metropolitan Opera</a>, USA.<br /><br />The featured composer is <a href="http://www.minghsiuyen.com/"><strong>Ming-Hsiu Yen</strong></a>, a native of Taiwan. Ms Ming is a two-time winner of the <a href="http://www.music.umich.edu/">University of Michigan</a> Concerto Competition. Featured pianists for the festival are <span style="font-weight: bold;">Chao-Wen Cheng</span> and <span style="font-weight: bold;">Ming-Chin Wu</span>.<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><br />________</span></p><p><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><a target="_blank" href="http://conductorsnotebook.com/" rel="nofollow">Conductor's Notebook</a></span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Taipei, Taiwan<img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10338182-4079114231117741329?l=altonthompson.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Alton Thompson 唐博敦http://www.blogger.com/profile/02592179955798586641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10338182.post-46080287897158123842009-07-15T22:00:00.001+08:002009-07-22T19:06:23.403+08:00<p>The next outdoor performances in the <span style="font-weight: bold;">Taipei International Jazz Festival</span> will take place on <span style="font-weight: bold;">7.25 Saturday 19:00-22:00</span> at <span style="font-weight: bold;">Da'an Park</span> in Taipei.<br /><br />More information is available from <a href="http://www.swingisland.blogspot.com/">Taipei Swing</a> at their <a href="http://www.swingisland.blogspot.com/">main site</a>, their <a href="http://www.facebook.com/reqs.php#/event.php?eid=94434017293">events page at Facebook</a>, and at Chinese-language blogs <a href="http://album.blog.yam.com/show.php?a=tijs2009&amp;f=6181708&amp;i=8486022&amp;p=0">here</a> and <a href="http://blog.yam.com/tijs2009">here</a>. Also contact:</p><p></p><blockquote>0988 556 606 (Internationally: 886 988 556 606)<br />taipeiswing@gmail.com</blockquote><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><br />________</span></p><p><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><a target="_blank" href="http://conductorsnotebook.com/" rel="nofollow">Conductor's Notebook</a></span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Taipei, Taiwan<img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10338182-4608028789715812384?l=altonthompson.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Alton Thompson 唐博敦http://www.blogger.com/profile/02592179955798586641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10338182.post-5712778338388403882009-07-15T21:00:00.003+08:002009-07-22T19:05:56.813+08:00<p>A brawl that erupted among workers in a Guangdong toy factory on June 25 sparked mass protests in Xinjiang on July 5. Over a hundred people have lost their lives and over a thousand have been arrested. Dru C Gladney, in an informative essay, explains the complex reality that churns behind the facile myth of a 'harmonious' China.<br /><br /></p><p style="color: rgb(255, 255, 204);"></p><blockquote style="color: rgb(255, 255, 204);">Foreigners and the Chinese themselves typically picture China’s population as a vast Han majority with a sprinkling of exotic minorities living along the country’s borders. This understates China’s tremendous cultural, geographic, and linguistic diversity—in particular the important cultural differences within the Han population. Across the country, China is experiencing a resurgence of local ethnicity and culture, most notably among southerners such as the Cantonese and Hakka, who are now classified as Han.</blockquote><p></p><p><br />Gladney notes that 'it has become popular to be ‘ethnic’ in today’s China.' But even the majority ethnic group, the Han, is not as myth represents it.<br /><br /></p><p style="color: rgb(255, 255, 204);"></p><blockquote style="color: rgb(255, 255, 204);">The supposedly homogenous Han speak eight mutually unintelligible languages (Mandarin, Wu, Yue, Xiang, Hakka, Gan, Southern Min and Northern Min). Even these subgroups show marked linguistic and cultural diversity. In the Yue language family, for example, Cantonese speakers are barely intelligible to Taishan speakers, and the Southern Min dialects of Quanzhou, Changzhou and Xiamen are equally difficult to communicate across. The Chinese linguist Y. R. Chao has shown that the mutual unintelligibility of, say, Cantonese and Mandarin is as great as that of Dutch and English or French and Italian. Mandarin was imposed as the national language early in the 20th century and has become the lingua franca, but, like Swahili in Africa, it must often be learned in school and is rarely used in everyday life across much of China.</blockquote><p></p><p><br />Much more turbulence may lie ahead for China's leaders. 'Cultural and linguistic cleavages,' says Gladney, 'could worsen in a China weakened by internal strife, an economic downturn, uneven growth, or a struggle over future political succession.'<br /></p><p><br />The full essay appears at the <a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://hpb.online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203547904574279952210843672.html">Wall Street Journal</a> site.<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><br />________</span></p><p><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><a target="_blank" href="http://conductorsnotebook.com/" rel="nofollow">Conductor's Notebook</a></span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Taipei, Taiwan<img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10338182-571277833838840388?l=altonthompson.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Alton Thompson 唐博敦http://www.blogger.com/profile/02592179955798586641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10338182.post-1071568326385511032009-07-15T06:00:00.002+08:002009-07-22T19:07:44.830+08:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2009/07/14/2003448653"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 222px; height: 320px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_5oMoMBcF8GM/Sl4lIOOEl4I/AAAAAAAAAPA/G14kIozf0Lw/s320/bao.pu.ap.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5358761429803767682" border="0" /></a>The memoirs of <a href="http://www.answers.com/topic/zhao-ziyang"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Zhao Ziyang</span></a> (趙紫陽) have now been published. This is a boon that was achieved against long odds indeed. Zhao, once the Chinese Communist Party general secretary, supported Beijing's student democracy activists in 1989. He spent the rest of his life under house arrest. Even after <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/2989335.stm">his death in 2005</a>, public mention of his name remains taboo in China.<p>The <span style="font-style: italic;">Taipei Times</span> published a two-part interview this week with <span style="font-weight: bold;">Bao Pu</span> (鮑樸), who helped make Zhao's memoirs available to the world.<br /></p><p></p><blockquote>Interview Part 1: '<a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2009/07/14/2003448653">Zhang's tapes tell his side of the story</a>'<br />Interview Part 2: '<a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2009/07/14/2003448627">History of Tiananmen Massacre still alive</a>'</blockquote><p></p><p>When asked about the state of 'progress' on human rights in China, Bao observed: 'The reform process practically ended in 1992 after Deng Xiaoping’s (鄧小平) southern tour [of China] because the debate was over and China was on its course — that is, a commitment to free market and also a renewed sense of authoritarian autocracy. So there was no more debate, no more packaging or proposals for political reform...'</p><p>Zhao's memoirs have been published in English translation with the title <span style="font-style: italic;">Prisoner of the State: The Secret Journal of Premier Zhao Ziyang</span>. Amazon makes the book available in <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Prisoner-State-Secret-Journal-Premier/dp/1439149380/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;s=books&amp;qid=1247682479&amp;sr=8-1">paper</a> and <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Prisoner-State-Journal-Premier-ebook/dp/B002AJ7Y6C/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&amp;s=books&amp;qid=1247683650&amp;sr=8-2">electronic</a> formats.<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><br />________</span></p><p><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><a target="_blank" href="http://conductorsnotebook.com/" rel="nofollow">Conductor's Notebook</a></span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Taipei, Taiwan<img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10338182-107156832638551103?l=altonthompson.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Alton Thompson 唐博敦http://www.blogger.com/profile/02592179955798586641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10338182.post-86891801562576382832009-07-03T13:00:00.002+08:002009-07-22T19:08:44.630+08:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2009/07/02/the_least_free_places_on_earth"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 188px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_5oMoMBcF8GM/SlgvmvGij7I/AAAAAAAAAOw/w_JmNRHbHvs/s320/nkorea.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5357084099282636722" border="0" /></a>'As the United States celebrates its Independence Day, <a href="http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2009/07/02/the_least_free_places_on_earth">here's a look at some places with nothing to cheer about</a>.'<br /><br />Indeed. Today millions of people throughout Asia, Africa and Oceania find themselves still living in constricted circumstances enforced by sociopathic leadership. Bravo to <a href="http://www.freedomhouse.org/">Freedom House</a> and <a href="http://www.foreignpolicy.com/"><span style="font-style: italic;">Foreign Policy</span> magazine</a> for this <a href="http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2009/07/02/the_least_free_places_on_earth">compelling photo essay</a> that offers glimpses into The World's Bottom 21: our planet's least free societies.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.freedomhouse.org/">Freedom House</a> is a non-profit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to providing a clear voice for democracy and human rights worldwide.<br /><p><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><br />________</span></p><p><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><a target="_blank" href="http://conductorsnotebook.com/" rel="nofollow">Conductor's Notebook</a></span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Taipei, Taiwan<img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10338182-8689180156257638283?l=altonthompson.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Alton Thompson 唐博敦http://www.blogger.com/profile/02592179955798586641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10338182.post-44835822651353135122009-06-30T23:00:00.005+08:002009-07-22T19:06:51.753+08:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_5oMoMBcF8GM/SkpWVsZyOLI/AAAAAAAAAOo/rfoegXg5CGk/s1600-h/liao.chiaohan.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 252px; height: 320px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_5oMoMBcF8GM/SkpWVsZyOLI/AAAAAAAAAOo/rfoegXg5CGk/s320/liao.chiaohan.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5353186037779806386" border="0" /></a>Music lovers in Taipei were treated to a splendid and versatile solo piano concert earlier this evening courtesy of <span style="font-weight: bold;">Chiao-han Liao </span>(廖皎含). Ms Liao attracted a large audience to the grand hall in Taiwan's National Concert Hall. The audience was also, in many cases, strikingly young. Taiwan's most youthful concertgoers are clearly as excited about the music of this distinguished artist as the rest of us.<br /><p><br /></p><p></p><blockquote><p><span style="font-style: italic;">Program</span><br /><br /></p><p><span style="font-weight: bold;">Johann Sebastian Bach</span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Italian Concerto in F Major, BMV 971</span><br />- [Allegro]<br />- Andante<br />- Presto</p><p><span style="font-weight: bold;">Robert Schumann</span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Humoreske</span> in B-flat Major, opus 20</span><br />- Einfach: Sehr rasch und Leicht-Wie im Anfang Hastig<br />- Einfach und zart-Intermezzo<br />- Innig: Sehr lebhaft. Mit einigem Pomp.<br />- Zum Beschluss: Allegro<br /></p><p style="font-style: italic;">~ Intermission ~<br /></p><p><span style="font-weight: bold;">Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart</span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Piano Sonata in C Major, KV 330</span><br />- Allegro moderato<br />- Andante cantabile<br />- Allegretto</p><p style="font-weight: bold;">Enrique Granados<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Valses Poeticos</span></p><p style="font-weight: bold;">Franz Lizst<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Les jeux d'eau a la Villa d'Este</span></p><p style="font-weight: bold;">Sergei Rachmaninoff (arr. Kreisler)<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Liebsleid</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Liebesfreud</span></p></blockquote><p></p><p><br />Wagner spoke of each piece of music having its <span style="font-style: italic;">melos</span>, its unique inner melody. The essence of the interpreter's art, he said, is to find and convey this melos. It is inextricably bound into the musical character of a work and, by nature, escapes printed notation no matter how much effort the composer puts into efforts to communicate it. A century later Duke Ellington would frame the matter this way: 'It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing.'</p><p>Chiao-han Liao excels at finding the inner melody. She makes it swing.<br /></p><p>Bach, in her hands, is a dancer as much as a thinker. His suite never loses its roots on the dance floor and each musical gesture becomes an aural counterpoint of a physical, graceful and stylish, move. So vital is Ms Liao's performance that it is easy to overlook the homework she has done on eighteenth-century style. She has absorbed not just the letter but the spirit of the era's performance practice, with all the creative latitude it offered performers even as it had its priorities. The same may be said of her way with Mozart's sunlit sonata. The lyrical middle movement sang so convincingly that it may as well have been an aria from a lost opera; the energetic finale put us right back on that eighteenth-century dance floor.<br /></p><p>The Schumann was sublime. A poetic, penetrating performance.<br /></p><p>The extended duple-meter introduction of the Granados comes as a jolt to audience members whose expectations are formed by the title. Ms Liao enjoys the joke and makes the most of it, teasing out the last few bars. When the first waltz actually arrives, it invites a smile from both the performer and the listener. From then on each segment has its special mood and colour, and Ms Liao steers each one tellingly through its light and shade and dappled shadows, its fluid moves through gravity and lift, doing justice to both words in the title.</p><p>The Liszt made an excellent contract in its cinematic extroversion and physicality. Ms Liao held nothing back in conveying the dramatic shape and grand gestures of the work. At the same time she held the line constant: the flow of the fountain never hesitated or broke.</p><p>Her choice of encore, begun without an announcement, was Beethoven's <em>Für Elise</em> (Bagatelle in A minor, WoO 59). The opening bars drew a chuckle from the audience. Taiwan residents are all too familiar with the brutal mechanised treatment the melody gets from city garbage trucks, which excels even the trials the piece endures worldwide in the hands of piano beginners. What a delight to hear it played by an artist as a living, breathing piece of real music. Ms Liao played it with lyricism, style and perception, confident as always of her hold on the <span style="font-style: italic;">melos</span>.<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><br />________</span></p><p><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><a target="_blank" href="http://conductorsnotebook.com/" rel="nofollow">Conductor's Notebook</a></span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Taipei, Taiwan<img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10338182-4483582265135313512?l=altonthompson.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Alton Thompson 唐博敦http://www.blogger.com/profile/02592179955798586641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10338182.post-20189220027482172342009-06-18T09:00:00.002+08:002010-04-28T02:16:57.566+08:00<div>Thanks to Melody for the portrait! Made at Le Rouge at the reception opening the summer photography exhibit.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_5oMoMBcF8GM/S9co2Pf7eTI/AAAAAAAAAZo/7E_QJUVtwEg/s1600/200906.altonthompson.hsiao.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 400px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_5oMoMBcF8GM/S9co2Pf7eTI/AAAAAAAAAZo/7E_QJUVtwEg/s400/200906.altonthompson.hsiao.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5464881585175886130" /></a><p></p><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Alton Thompson 唐博敦</span></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">New Taipei City, Taiwan</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">台灣 新北市</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">2009</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">© Melody Hsiao 蕭聿婷</span></div><p></p><p><a href="http://altonsimages.com/">Alton's Images</a></p><p><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><span style="font-size:85%;">__________________</span></span></p><p></p><p><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);font-size:85%;"><a target="_blank" href="http://conductorsnotebook.com/" rel="nofollow">Conductor's Notebook</a></span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Taipei, Taiwan<img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10338182-2018922002748217234?l=altonthompson.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Alton Thompson 唐博敦http://www.blogger.com/profile/02592179955798586641noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10338182.post-64398858234357786332009-06-12T16:00:00.004+08:002009-07-22T20:11:14.406+08:00<div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://altonsimages.com/"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 232px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_5oMoMBcF8GM/SjIZuZmT9bI/AAAAAAAAAOQ/4vP8rBEHLA0/s400/20090507.melody.0664.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5346363992578454962" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:78%;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Melody at the Monastery<br /></span></span><br />Nung Chan Monastery, Qiyan District<br />Taipei, Taiwan<br /></span><span style="font-size:78%;">© 2009 Alton Thompson 唐博敦</span><br /></div><p><br />Le Rouge restaurant in Banciao will be celebrating its <a href="http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=114246682666&amp;ref=share">second anniversary</a> with a photo exhibit tomorrow night (June 13 Saturday). Some of my work will be displayed along with images by other Taipei area photographers. The exhibit runs from 21:00 to midnight with free wine and appetizers the first hour. I hope you can join us.<br /></p><p>The evening will also feature the opening of Le Lounge on the restaurant's Mezzanine level. Owner and chef Francis Beauvis promises 'comfortable couches, chill music, and soft lighting' and a wide-ranging drink menu. Le Lounge will henceforth be open every Thursday, Friday and Saturday night from 19:00 until 1:00.</p><p></p><p></p><blockquote><p>MRT Xinpu Exit 1<br />Banciao<br />Wenhua Road Section 1, 419-6, 1F</p><p>0222 552 861</p></blockquote><p>If you miss the anniversary celebration, feel free to step in later and enjoy some of their tasty calzone. The photography will remain on exhibit all summer.<br /></p><p><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">__________________</span></span></p><p></p><p><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);font-size:85%;" ><a target="_blank" href="http://conductorsnotebook.com/" rel="nofollow">Conductor's Notebook</a></span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Taipei, Taiwan<img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10338182-6439885823435778633?l=altonthompson.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Alton Thompson 唐博敦http://www.blogger.com/profile/02592179955798586641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10338182.post-89209201429169210962009-06-11T20:00:00.001+08:002009-07-22T19:08:11.549+08:00<p></p><p>Three artists from <a href="http://www.peabody.jhu.edu/">the Peabody Institute</a> (two faculty, one alumnus) will soon be making a tour of Taiwan.<br /> - Dr <a href="http://www.peabody.jhu.edu/397">Stanley Cornett</a>, Voice Faculty Member<br /> - Ms <a href="http://www.peabody.jhu.edu/396">Eileen Cornett</a>, Director of Masters Program in Ensemble Arts<br /> - Mr <a href="http://www.peterwenchihlee.com/">Peter Lee</a>, MM Voice, MM Early Music<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Schedule</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">6.17-18 Taichung</span><br />Tunghai University<br /> 6.17 14:00 - Introduction to the Peabody Conservatory<br /> 6.17 15:00 - Voice master class with Stanley Cornett<br /> 6.18 14:00 - Voice accompanying master class with Eileen Cornett<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">6.20 Kaohsiung</span><br />National Kaohsiung Normal University<br /> 13:00 - Introduction to the Peabody Conservatory<br />14:00 - Voice master class with Stanley Cornett<br /> 16:00 - Voice accompanying master class with Eileen Cornett<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">6.26-27 Taipei</span><br />ROC Singers Association<br /> 6.26 14:00 - Introduction to the Peabody Conservatory<br /> 6.26 15:00 - Voice master class with Stanley Cornett<br /> 6.27 14:00 - Voice accompanying master class with Eileen Cornett<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">6.29 Taipei</span><br />National Recital Hall<br />19:30? - Gi-Gi Chan recital featuring Eileen Cornett and Peter Lee<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">7.03 Tainan</span><br />Chang Jung High School<br />Peter Lee recital featuring Eileen Cornett<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">7.06-07 Kaohsiung</span><br />7.06 - Kaohsiung Opera Company: coaching by Eileen Cornett<br />7.07 - Kaohsiung Concert Hall: Peter Lee recital featuring Eileen Cornett<br /><br /><br />For more information, visit this link:<br /><br /> <a c29783010a65f293829="true" href="http://www.peabody.jhu.edu/taiwan09" target="_blank">http://www.peabody.jhu.edu/<wbr>taiwan09</a><br /></p><p><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><br />________</span></p><p><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><a target="_blank" href="http://conductorsnotebook.com/" rel="nofollow">Conductor's Notebook</a></span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Taipei, Taiwan<img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10338182-8920920142916921096?l=altonthompson.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Alton Thompson 唐博敦http://www.blogger.com/profile/02592179955798586641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10338182.post-9629135633176488872009-06-06T13:00:00.004+08:002009-07-22T19:25:03.964+08:00<p></p><p>This year marks the tenth anniversary of the <a href="http://www.goldentrailers.com/">Golden Trailer Awards</a> given by the Directors Guild of America in Los Angeles. (Yes, trophies exist in Hollywood even for previews.) The list of this year's winners may be <a href="http://www.goldentrailers.com/gta9.html">viewed here</a>.<br /></p><p>Naturally, a celebration of film previews is, at its heart, a celebration of promotion. This aspect of the task is most candidly acknowledged in the Golden Fleece Award. This audience favourite goes to the trailer that does the best job of making a stinker look good. In seeking nominees the committee looks for films that were badly reviewed but had good opening weekends and sank out of sight thereafter. Any time that happens, the credit (or blame, depending on your point of view) goes to successful promoters. It's likely that the film's trailer made it look promising. And it's likely that the producers of the trailer did not find the task easy, given the material they had to work with. Studio execs appreciate the wizardry, as that opening weekend revenue is pretty much all they have to show from the loss.</p><p>The legend among Golden Fleece Award winners is <span style="font-style: italic;">Pearl Harbor</span> (2001). The trailer is every bit as compelling a piece of cinema as the film itself isn't. Yours truly was among the fleeced that year. The experience taught me never to step out the door without first checking <a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/">Rotten Tomatoes</a>.<br /></p><p>Speaking of legends, though: I'm delighted the Golden Trailers renamed the Best Voice Over Award in honour of the late Don LaFontaine. Known as 'The Voice of God' in the industry, LaFontaine never had a name most moviegoers recognised. But everyone knows the voice.<br /><br />Imagine an action film preview. Over jagged scenes of explosions, mayhem and badly shaven guys wearing tense, grim facial expressions, a narrator intones:<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"></span></p><blockquote><p><span style="font-style: italic;">In a world gone mad...</span></p><p><span style="font-style: italic;">one man...</span></p><p><span style="font-style: italic;">stands alone...</span></p><p><span style="font-style: italic;">heavily armed.</span><span class="text_exposed_hide"><span class="text_exposed_link"></span></span></p></blockquote><p><span class="text_exposed_show"><br />You know that voice. Everyone knows that voice. It's Don LaFontaine.</span><br /><br /><p><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><br />________</span></p><p><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><a target="_blank" href="http://conductorsnotebook.com/" rel="nofollow">Conductor's Notebook</a></span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Taipei, Taiwan<img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10338182-962913563317648887?l=altonthompson.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Alton Thompson 唐博敦http://www.blogger.com/profile/02592179955798586641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10338182.post-19225222124967879482009-04-09T13:30:00.003+08:002009-07-22T19:24:34.386+08:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.conductorsnotebook.com/2009/04/music-at-exhibition.html"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 282px; height: 400px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_5oMoMBcF8GM/SdySkaf24dI/AAAAAAAAAK4/zerMgA6HYGU/s400/2009.04.09.twe.poster.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5322290013930971602" border="0" /></a>Some new publicity features have appeared since <a href="http://www.conductorsnotebook.com/2009/04/music-at-exhibition.html">my original post</a> about the <a href="http://www.conductorsnotebook.com/2009/04/music-at-exhibition.html"><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Pictures at an Exhibition</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> concerts</span> this week</a> (Taipei and Taichung, April 9 and April 12). The concerts feature guest conductor <span style="font-weight: bold;">Apo Hsu</span> and the <a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.wretch.cc/blog/twwe">Taiwan Wind Ensemble</a>. An exhibit of my Taiwan photographs will be featured in the second half of each concert in tandem with the live performance of Mussorgsky's music.<br /><ul><li><a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.travel-web.com.tw/Show/Style1/News/c1_News.asp?SItemId=0271030&amp;ProgramNo=A000203000003&amp;SubjectNo=69490">TNews</a> has a feature in English and Chinese. The photo shows the Taiwan Wind Ensemble's music director, Ms <span style="font-weight: bold;">Wen-Wen Chou</span>, at the podium.<br /></li><li><a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=516055135&amp;ref=profile&amp;nctrct=1239190808139#/group.php?gid=2225258311">Taiwan Music Professionals</a>, a Facebook group, hosts <a href="http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=516055135&amp;ref=profile&amp;nctrct=1239190808139#/event.php?eid=61399442601&amp;ref=mf">this events page</a> in English and Chinese. </li><li>And my favourite, for sheer ambience, is this charming Chinese-language <a href="http://www.wretch.cc/blog/lorita/20956968">blog entry</a> by <span style="font-weight: bold;">Lorita Hsu</span>.<br /></li></ul><p>You are invited to join us!</p><p>Tonight's concert takes place in <span style="font-weight: bold;">Taipei's National Concert Hall</span> at 19:30 (7:30 pm). Sunday's concert takes place in <span style="font-weight: bold;">Taichung's Zhongxin Hall</span> at 14:30 (2:30 pm). Full details appear in English <a href="http://www.conductorsnotebook.com/2009/04/music-at-exhibition.html">here</a> and in Chinese <a href="http://www.wretch.cc/blog/twwe">here</a>.<br /><br /><p><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><br />________</span></p><p><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><a target="_blank" href="http://conductorsnotebook.com/" rel="nofollow">Conductor's Notebook</a></span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Taipei, Taiwan<img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10338182-1922522212496787948?l=altonthompson.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Alton Thompson 唐博敦http://www.blogger.com/profile/02592179955798586641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10338182.post-88411059970537426432009-04-09T13:00:00.000+08:002009-04-09T13:00:00.850+08:00<p>Today marks the fiftieth anniversary of the announcement of America's original seven astronauts.<br /></p><p><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/">Nasa</a> itself had been created <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_1139.html">less than a year earlier</a>, beginning operations on 1958 October 1. After rigorous testing of hundreds of candidates, the seven astronauts for <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/mercury/missions/program-toc.html">Project Mercury</a> were chosen on 1959 April 1. The <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/mercury/missions/manned_flights.html">Mercury Seven</a> were introduced to the world in a <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_1139.html">press conference</a> in Washington DC on April 9.<br /></p><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_5oMoMBcF8GM/SdyED516-CI/AAAAAAAAAKw/yYZZ96cYa58/s1600-h/mercury7.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 223px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_5oMoMBcF8GM/SdyED516-CI/AAAAAAAAAKw/yYZZ96cYa58/s400/mercury7.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5322274062246541346" border="0" /></a><p></p><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Back, L to R:</span> Alan Shephard, Walter Schirra, John Glenn<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Front, L to R:</span> Gus Grissom, Scott Carpenter, Deke Slayton, Gordon Cooper<br />(NASA)<br /></span></div><br /><br />Ohio's <span style="font-style: italic;">Zanesville Recorder</span> observes the fiftieth anniverary with an <a href="http://www.zanesvilletimesrecorder.com/article/20090405/NEWS01/904050302/1002">exclusive interview with John Glenn</a>. 'I can't believe it's been that long,' Glenn tells reporter Holly Richards. 'The experience back then of being selected and participating in the early flights is so vivid to me, it seems like this all happened a couple of weeks ago.'<br /><br /><p></p><blockquote style="color: rgb(255, 255, 204);"><p>"I was on test pilot duty with supersonic aircraft for 3 1/2 years when the space program started and they were looking for this new word 'astronaut,'" he said. "When I was a kid in New Concord, there was no word like that. It was in the realm of test flying, and <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_1139.html">President Eisenhower</a> decided he wanted military test pilots.[...]</p><p>"There were a lot of tests; it was everything they knew how to give," Glenn said. "This was a brand new experience and they didn't want people to freak out in this new experience of space."</p></blockquote><p style="color: rgb(255, 255, 204);"></p><p style="color: rgb(255, 255, 204);"></p><blockquote style="color: rgb(255, 255, 204);"><p>. . . .<br /></p><p>"The early flights got so much attention because they were open to the world, they were not secrets," Glenn said. "When the Soviets sent up Gagarin, the data and information was secret. We had international press at the Cape for the launch, and the Soviets hadn't had that; it wasn't permitted. President Eisenhower decided he wanted the program open for the whole world; he said we were going to succeed or fail with the world watching, and I think that was a good decision."</p><p>. . . .</p><p>"I thought this was not just a stunt; I looked at it as we were seven people starting a new service, like the Army or Air Force, that would continue for a long time and be important for the country. I'm proud of that, but more than that I feel I've had some wonderful opportunities. [...] Most people have similar opportunities in different areas of their lives. The thing is to be as trained as you can and to make the most of them."</p></blockquote><p> </p><p><br />Nasa observes the anniversary with a special <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/externalflash/50th_announcement/">interactive web site</a>.<br /></p><p><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);">________</span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Taipei, Taiwan<img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10338182-8841105997053742643?l=altonthompson.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Alton Thompson 唐博敦http://www.blogger.com/profile/02592179955798586641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10338182.post-62937469557378305532009-04-02T20:00:00.004+08:002009-04-08T00:33:06.904+08:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_5oMoMBcF8GM/SdO9E8uTeWI/AAAAAAAAAKo/wz9yegqZqNY/s1600-h/2009.04.09.twe.poster.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 282px; height: 400px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_5oMoMBcF8GM/SdO9E8uTeWI/AAAAAAAAAKo/wz9yegqZqNY/s400/2009.04.09.twe.poster.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5319803477572155746" border="0" /></a>Come join the <span style="font-weight: bold;">Taiwan Wind Ensemble</span>, with guest conductor <span style="font-weight: bold;">Apo Hsu</span>, for a special presentation of music and images. The concerts take place on <span style="font-weight: bold;">April 9 Thursday 19:30</span> in National Concert Hall, Taipei, and on <span style="font-weight: bold;">April 12 Sunday 14:30</span> in Zhongxin Hall, Taichung.<br /><blockquote><p><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">PROGRAM</span></p><p><span style="font-style: italic;">Fiesta</span> by Philip Sparke<br />節慶 菲利浦‧史巴爾克<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Children's March</span> by Percy Aldridge Grainger<br />兒童進行曲 帕西‧阿德利基‧葛仁傑<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Sea Drift</span> by Anthony Iannaccone<br />海上漂流 安東尼‧艾納康</p><p><span style="font-style: italic;">Pictures at an Exhibition</span> <br />by Modest P. Moussorgsky<br />arr. by John Boyd (after Ravel)<br />展覽會之畫 莫德斯特‧穆索斯基 / 約翰‧柏依德 編曲<br /><br /></p></blockquote><p>Both concerts will feature a photo show designed by me to accompany live performance of <span style="font-style: italic;">Pictures at an Exhibition</span>. The show interprets the images, narrative, themes and motives of Mussorgsky's work in images of modern Taiwan.<br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Tickets may be purchased through <a href="http://www.artsticket.com.tw/CKSCC2005/home/home00/index.aspx">Arts Ticket</a>:<a href="http://www.artsticket.com.tw/CKSCC2005/home/home00/index.aspx"><br /></a><a href="http://www.artsticket.com.tw/CKSCC2005/Product/Product00/ProductsDetailsPage.aspx?ProductID=hx0fZA09nGcTyLAGAUAOXQ">www.artsticket.com.tw</a><br />02 3393 9888<br /></p><p>Visit the main site of the <a href="http://www.wretch.cc/blog/twwe">Taiwan Wind Ensemble</a> for more details.<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);">________</span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Taipei, Taiwan<img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10338182-6293746955737830553?l=altonthompson.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Alton Thompson 唐博敦http://www.blogger.com/profile/02592179955798586641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10338182.post-42526344854940578302009-04-01T01:00:00.009+08:002009-04-01T21:31:02.946+08:00<p><span style="font-size:100%;">'Juilliardy'</span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">from </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >Through the Theory-Class</span></span><br /></p><p>by Alton Thompson, Peabody grad<br /><br /><br />'Twas brillante; the sliding tones<br />did grandioso in the glee;<br />all mambo were the saxophones,<br />and modal rags in key.<br /><br />'Beware the Juilliard, my son!<br />The jaw-harp’s bite, the monotone!<br />Beware the Jubal bird and shun<br />the flageolet Bombardon!'<br /><br />He took his Vorspiel sword in hand—<br />long time the minim foe he sought—<br />then rested he by the timpani<br />and stood a while in thought.<br /><br />And as in opus thought he stood,<br />the Juilliard, with eyes of flame,<br />came riffing through the tango wood—<br />and dupled as it came!<br /><br />One two! One two!—and through and through,<br />the fipple flute went Sturm und Drang!<br />He left it dead, and took its head<br />and sang da capo song.<br /></p><p>'And hast thou slain the Juilliard?<br />Come to my arms, my Beecham boy!<br />Cecilia’s Day! Cello! Bourrée!'<br />He yodeled 'Ode to Joy.'<br /><br />'Twas brillante; the sliding tones<br />did grandioso in the glee;<br />all mambo were the saxophones,<br />and modal rags in key.<br /></p><p><br /></p><p><span style="font-size:85%;">(with apologies to Lewis Carroll)</span><br /><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);">________</span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Taipei, Taiwan<img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10338182-4252634485494057830?l=altonthompson.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Alton Thompson 唐博敦http://www.blogger.com/profile/02592179955798586641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10338182.post-23381726417079078032009-03-21T11:00:00.004+08:002009-03-23T15:56:23.350+08:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_5oMoMBcF8GM/ScdAINj6WyI/AAAAAAAAAKY/zzs-xq83oBw/s1600-h/purcell.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 279px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_5oMoMBcF8GM/ScdAINj6WyI/AAAAAAAAAKY/zzs-xq83oBw/s400/purcell.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5316288394957576994" border="0" /></a>Five leading composers - George Benjamin, Elliott Carter, Oliver Knussen, Steve Martland, Colin Matthews - discuss the continuing influence of Henry Purcell in a feature for the <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2009/mar/20/henry-purcell"><span style="font-style: italic;">Guardian UK</span></a>.<br /><p>Columnist Tom Service sets the stage:<br /></p><p></p><blockquote style="color: rgb(255, 255, 204);"><p>England knew what it had lost when Henry Purcell died aged 36 years on 21 November 1695. His funeral at Westminster Abbey, where he worked for 16 years as organist, was on the grandest scale, a composer colleague described him as "the greatest genius we ever had", and a collection of his songs published shortly after his death was called "Orpheus Britannicus" - the British Orpheus.</p><p>In his vocal music, Purcell set the English language with a sensitivity no one had matched before or since (only Britten, who loved Purcell's music, has come close). In his instrumental music, Purcell gave the arcane form of the Fantasia its final flourish, but as a true modern, he was among the first to exploit the possibilities of orchestral colour. He mixed influences from ancient counterpoint to the latest French dances and Italian vocal acrobatics, and yet the result is always pure Purcell.</p><p>That's why he still inspires composers today, and why musicians from Elliott Carter to Colin Matthews have turned to his music as a creative catalyst: if you can fuse flawless technique with poetic expression like Purcell did, you're doing something right.</p></blockquote><p></p><p><br />The full discussion appears at the <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2009/mar/20/henry-purcell"><span>publication's web site</span></a><span style="font-style: italic;">.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);">________</span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Taipei, Taiwan<img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10338182-2338172641707907803?l=altonthompson.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Alton Thompson 唐博敦http://www.blogger.com/profile/02592179955798586641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10338182.post-1052795258294948882009-03-19T20:00:00.002+08:002009-03-22T13:09:05.004+08:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.hbo.com/thewire/"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 269px; height: 287px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_5oMoMBcF8GM/ScXHMcLCIiI/AAAAAAAAAKI/NViMHhROIGc/s400/snoop.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5315873951715566114" border="0" /></a>Do you think it's the best show on television? If so, would that be the best show now, or ever<span style="font-style: italic;">?</span><a href="http://www.hbo.com/thewire/"><br /></a><p><span>These are the kinds of questions being asked about </span><span style="font-style: italic;">The Wire</span>, a crime drama series set in Baltimore and directed by David Simon. The series concludes its final season this year. Viewers find a variety of pleasures in the show but all agree that its appeal demonstrates the wisdom of acquiring the best writers you can get. Reviewers compare the experience to reading a good novel, so far does the series overwhelm the normal expectations one has of its medium.</p><p>Here's a roundup of sites and essays that explore the impact of <span style="font-style: italic;">The Wire</span>.<br /></p><p><br /></p><p><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"></span></p><blockquote><p><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">The Wire</span><br /></p><p><a href="http://www.hbo.com/thewire/">Official site</a> of the series.<br /></p><p><br /></p><p style="font-weight: bold;">Guardian UK</p><p><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/tvandradioblog/2007/jul/21/thewireisunmissabletelevis"><span style="font-style: italic;">The Wire</span> is unmissable television</a><br />John Wilde offers ten reasons why.<br />2007.07.21<br /></p><p><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/jonathanjonesblog/2009/mar/18/wire-art"><span style="font-style: italic;">The Wire</span>'s verbal originality is its ar</a>t<br />Jonathan Jones examines the way the show's language creates its world.<br />2009.03.19<br /></p><p><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/jul/20/television.irvinewelsh">Is this the best TV series ever made?<br /></a>Professional crime writers consider the show's appeal.<br />2008.07.20</p><p><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2009/mar/19/battlestar-galactica-review">Is <span style="font-style: italic;">Battlestar Galactica</span> better than <span style="font-style: italic;">The Wire</span>?</a><br />Richard Vine looks at another show reaching its last season.<br />2009.03.19</p><p><br /></p><p style="font-weight: bold;">The Atlantic</p><p><a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200801/bowden-wire">The angriest man in television</a><br />How David Simon's frustration with <span style="font-style: italic;">The Baltimore Sun</span> fuelled his creativity.<br />2008.01</p><p><br /></p><p style="font-weight: bold;">Slate</p><p><a href="http://www.slate.com/id/2149566/">Why <span style="font-style: italic;">The Wire</span> is the best show on television<br /><span class="byline"> </span></a><span class="byline">Jacob Weisberg examines ingredients of the show's success.</span><br />2006.09.13</p><p><a href="http://www.slate.com/id/2181449/entry/2186331/">TV Club: <span style="font-style: italic;">The Wire</span> Final Season</a><br />2008.01.07 ongoing<br /></p><p><br /></p><p style="font-weight: bold;">The Telegraph <span style="font-size:85%;">(UK)</span><br /></p><p><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/3664992/Why-Ill-miss-The-Wire.html">Why I'll miss </a><a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/3664992/Why-Ill-miss-The-Wire.html">The Wire</a><span style="font-style: italic;"><br /></span>Shane Richmond explains why it's the best show on television.<br />2007.05.22<span style="font-style: italic;"></span></p><p><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"></span></p><p style="font-weight: bold;">BBC</p> <p><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7940061.stm">BBC Two to show <span style="font-style: italic;">The Wire</span></a><br />2009.03.12</p><p><br /></p><p style="font-weight: bold;">The Nerve</p><p><a href="http://www.nerve.com/screeningroom/tv/thewire/"><span style="font-style: italic;">Wire</span> Fire</a>: <a href="http://www.nerve.com/screeningroom/tv/thewire/">TV's bleakest drama is also its hottest</a><br />Sarah Hepola says the show is sexy.<br />2007<br /><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);">________<blockquote></blockquote></span></p></blockquote><div class="blogger-post-footer">Taipei, Taiwan<img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10338182-105279525829494888?l=altonthompson.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Alton Thompson 唐博敦http://www.blogger.com/profile/02592179955798586641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10338182.post-14534142558433951522009-03-18T18:00:00.004+08:002009-07-22T19:09:47.194+08:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/culturecritics/geoffreynorris/5000666/Bernard-Haitink-and-The-Royal-Concertgebouw-Orchestra---review.html"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 250px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_5oMoMBcF8GM/Sb_cCNTx0zI/AAAAAAAAAJw/FXtdiZ5f2cg/s400/haitink.2009.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5314208015810941746" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;">Bernard Haitink</span> celebrated his <a href="http://www.conductorsnotebook.com/2009/03/haitink-at-80.html">recent birthday</a> with an enthusiastically received pair of concerts at the Barbican, conducting repertoire for which he has earned plaudits with <a href="http://www.concertgebouworkest.nl/">the ensemble one still naturally associates with him</a>. Geoffrey Norris has a review in the <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/culturecritics/geoffreynorris/5000666/Bernard-Haitink-and-The-Royal-Concertgebouw-Orchestra---review.html"><span style="font-style: italic;">Telegraph</span></a> <span style="font-size:85%;">(UK)</span>.<br /><br /><p> </p><blockquote style="color: rgb(255, 255, 204);"><p>[Bruckner's] Ninth Symphony set the seal on this superb pair of concerts in which Bernard Haitink, who recently celebrated his 80th birthday, conducted the orchestra of which he was in charge for more than a quarter of a century until the late Eighties, the Royal Concertgebouw of Amsterdam. </p> <p> The reading of the Ninth was vintage Haitink: spacious, visionary, powerfully executed and wholly enveloping. As always, his gestures of hands and eyes were economical, but the instrumental detail was proportioned with masterly perception, and the breadth of symphonic argument was compelling. </p> <p> The scherzo's austere incisiveness was allayed by the airy lightness of the trio; the adagio, with darkness intensified by a quartet of Wagner tubas, embodied a fusion of solemnity, radiance, torment and resignation that could scarcely have made for a more affecting envoi to Bruckner's creative career. </p></blockquote><p><br />Concert repertoire also included works by Mozart, Beethoven, Schumann and Debussy. <a href="http://www.murrayperahia.com/"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Murray Perahia</span></a> performed as a soloist.<br /></p><p>Erica Jeal makes this observation in the <a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2009/mar/17/rco-haitink-review">Guardian</a> <span style="font-size:85%;">UK</span>:<br /></p><p></p><blockquote style="color: rgb(255, 255, 204);"><p>If proof were needed that the greatest orchestras have an identity of their own beyond that of the individual players, this pair of concerts by the Concertgebouw supplied it. Most of the players on stage will not have been in the orchestra in 1988, when Bernard Haitink completed his 25-year stint at the orchestra's helm. Yet Haitink, 80 this month, has only to raise his baton to renew the connection.</p><p>Perhaps that is partly because the Concertgebouw's distinctive, plushly expansive sound has precision at its heart - and if there's a word that sums up Haitink's conducting, it's precise.<br /></p><p>. . . .</p><p>The personnel may be different, but the Concertgebouw is still Haitink's orchestra.</p></blockquote><p><br />The complete reviews may be read at the <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/culturecritics/geoffreynorris/5000666/Bernard-Haitink-and-The-Royal-Concertgebouw-Orchestra---review.html"><span style="font-style: italic;">Telegraph</span></a> and <span style="font-style: italic;"> </span><a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2009/mar/17/rco-haitink-review">Guardian</a> web sites.</p><p>More stories about Bernard Haitink, with links, will be found in <a href="http://www.conductorsnotebook.com/search?q=haitink">these blog entries</a>.<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><br />________</span></p><p><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><a target="_blank" href="http://conductorsnotebook.com/" rel="nofollow">Conductor's Notebook</a></span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Taipei, Taiwan<img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10338182-1453414255843395152?l=altonthompson.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Alton Thompson 唐博敦http://www.blogger.com/profile/02592179955798586641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10338182.post-87740638266975063182009-03-18T01:00:00.001+08:002009-07-22T19:13:06.094+08:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.music.indiana.edu/department/composition/Recordings/Freund/Freund.shtml"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 193px; height: 230px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_5oMoMBcF8GM/SbwYtl-HeUI/AAAAAAAAAJg/GMhdl5nEi4k/s400/freund.don.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5313148831956171074" border="0" /></a>American composer <a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.music.indiana.edu/department/composition/Recordings/Freund/Freund.shtml">Don Freund</a> visits Taiwan this week. Dr Freund, a professor of composition at the <a href="http://www.music.indiana.edu/">Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University</a>, is the winner of numerous composition awards. A graduate of the <a href="http://www.esm.rochester.edu/">Eastman School of Music</a>, Dr Freund has served as composer-in-residence at the <a href="http://www.anam.com.au/">Australian National Academy of Music</a> and lectured at Royal Conservatories in <a href="http://www.kcb.be/eng/">Brussels</a> and the <a href="http://www.koncon.nl/">Hague</a>, the <a href="http://www.ram.ac.uk/">Royal Academy of Music in London</a>, the <a href="http://www.prgcons.cz/eng/">Prague Conservatory</a> and the <a href="http://www.mdw.ac.at/"><span class="textblock">University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna</span></a>.<br /><p><br />I first met Dr Freund at <a href="http://www.memphis.edu/music/">the University of Memphis</a>, when he served as chairman of the composition department, conductor of the university symphony, and director of the university's international New Music Festival.<br /><br />Here are some of the events where Dr Freund will be performing and discussing music during his visit. His tour culminates in a concert in Pingtung on March 26 Friday 19:30.<br /><br /></p><p></p><p><span style="font-weight: bold;">3.18 Wednesday 16:00 - Taipei</span><br /><a href="http://www.ntnu.edu.tw/">National Taiwan Normal University</a><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Lecture recital: Music of J S Bach</span><br /></p><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">3.19 Thursday 19:30 - Taipei</span><br /><a href="http://www.idc.scu.edu.tw/scu2007/">Soochow University Recital Hall</a><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Lecture recital: Music of J S Bach</span><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">3.20 Friday 19:30 - Taipei</span><br /><a href="http://www.idc.scu.edu.tw/scu2007/">Soochow University Recital Hall</a><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Lecture recital: Music of Don Freund</span><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">3.24 Tuesday 08:00 - Kaohsiung</span><br /><a href="http://w3.nknu.edu.tw/">National Kaohsiung Normal University</a><br />08:10 <span style="font-style: italic;">Lecture recital: Music of J S Bach</span><br />10:10 <span style="font-style: italic;">Composition Master Class</span><br /><br /><p></p><p></p><span style="font-weight: bold;">3.26-27 Thursday and Friday - Pingtung</span><br /><a href="http://web.npue.edu.tw/">National Pingtung University of Education</a><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">International Composition Conference<br />Don Freund, clinician</span><br /></span><blockquote><span style="font-style: italic;"><br /></span><span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-size:100%;">3.26</span> THURSDAY</span><br /><br />8.10-8:40<br />Registration<br /><br />8:40-9:00<br />Welcome Speech by University President<br /></span>劉校長慶中<br /><span><br />9:00-10:50<br />Lecture Recital 1: <span style="font-style: italic;">Music of J S Bach</span></span><br />曾主任善美翻譯<br /><span><br />10:50-11:10 Tea Break<br /><br />11:10-12:00<br />Piano Master Class and Coaching</span><br />陳教授藝苑 翻譯：簡郁珊<br /><span><br />12:00-13:30<br />Lunch Break<br /><br />13:30-15:20<br />Lecture Recital 2: <span style="font-style: italic;">Music of J S Bach</span></span><br />李教授震恬翻譯：馬定一<br /><br />15:20-15:40<br />Tea Break<br /><br />15:40-16:30<br />Piano Master Class / Chamber Coaching<br />王教授雅萍翻譯：吳明杰<br /><br />19:30-21:30<br />Concert: <span style="font-style: italic;">Music of Don Freund and J S Bach</span><br />演出人：Don Freund 本系師生<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"><br /></span><span><span>3.27 <span style="font-size:85%;">FRIDAY</span></span></span><br /><span><br />8:40-9:00<br />Registration<br /><br />9:00-10:50<br />Lecture: <span style="font-style: italic;">From Idea to Audience</span><br /></span>伍院長鴻沂翻譯<br /><span><br /></span><span>10:50-11:10 Tea Break<br /><br />11:10-12:00<br />Composition Master Class with NPUE Students<br /></span>葉教授乃菁翻譯：馬定一<br /><span><br />12:00-13:30 Lunch Break<br /><br />13:30-15:20<br /></span><span>Lecture Recital 3: <span style="font-style: italic;">Music of J S Bach</span></span><br />胡教授聖玲翻譯：簡郁珊<br /><br />15:20-15:40 Tea Break<br /><br />15:40-16:30<br />Composition/Piano Master Class<br />黃教授勤恩翻譯：林君瑤<br /><br />16:30-17:00<br />Discussion / Q&amp;A<br />與會專家學者<br />曾主任善美翻譯：林子珊</blockquote><span style="font-style: italic;"><br /></span><blockquote></blockquote><p></p>Audio files of Dr Freund's music can be heard at the <a href="http://www.music.indiana.edu/department/composition/Recordings/Freund/Freund.shtml">Indiana University music site</a>.<br /><p><br /><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><br />________</span></p><p><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><a target="_blank" href="http://conductorsnotebook.com/" rel="nofollow">Conductor's Notebook</a></span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Taipei, Taiwan<img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10338182-8774063826697506318?l=altonthompson.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Alton Thompson 唐博敦http://www.blogger.com/profile/02592179955798586641noreply@blogger.com0