Cherry Blossom Festival in the City
May 21st, 2012 § Leave a Comment
When I was visiting Japan, a friend from the US who is living in Tokyo had planned to take me to an Indian restaurant. I suppose he was looking forward to this meal because he was a bit tired of Japanese food. It was cold and I did not bring enough covering for the unexpectedly cold air. By the time we walked to the very small restaurant at dusk, it was 7:30p.m. and the restaurant would not have a table for us until 9:00p.m. So we walked on. My friend was hoping to find a good Italian restaurant, but I requested to settle on the first noodle place we passed since it was dark and I was cold and hungry. The dinner was not so tasty. Tokyo-style soup broths are really not as good as Osaka ones; they’re just a bunch of soy sauces.
We started to walk back to my hotel and had gone about four blocks when all of a sudden a street filled with rows of cherry trees in full bloom, their blossoms light up for the night, appeared in front of us. « Read the rest of this entry »
Dear X:
February 14th, 2012 § Leave a Comment
You are heart broken so I send you a song to sooth your pain. This is belated and maybe you are not sad anymore, if so, then … oh, yes, it is Valentine’s Day, Happy Valentine’s Day.
“I Wish You Love” sung by five singers:
A Letter to Jascha Heifetz
February 10th, 2012 § 2 Comments
I like Noh theatre and Japanese music. This morning while driving to work, instead of having my CD play, the WFMT radio station got turned on by mistake, and violin music flew out in such a passionate and expressive way that it stopped me from switching back to the music I had intended to play. I was awed by the impact made by the contrast: while my mind was ready for the stoic theatre of the east, the powerful music and the violinist’s prowess seized me. I stayed in the parking lot to finish the concerto just to find out who was playing. It was Jascha Heifetz playing Tchaifovsky’s violin concerto in D major with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the 1957 RCA recording.
Ah, yes, Heifetz, one of the greatest violinists of all time. I wrote to him once, his identity unbeknown to me. « Read the rest of this entry »
Story of Diary Notebooks
January 20th, 2012 § Leave a Comment
It is hard to love art but only one kind of art. So it is hard for me to just put efforts into one type or form or media. My major was oil painting and print making but I spent a lot of time on other types of visual arts such as calligraphy. I like the everyday objects that we use, see, handle to be beautiful, love to read beautiful handwriting, and therefore love practicing to make my own handwriting beautiful. (Consider as an example the handwriting of a scientist in the 16th century, the respected Galileo Galilei. Click for image.) « Read the rest of this entry »
Same Moon
December 14th, 2011 § Leave a Comment
This past summer when I took a Japanese composition class, my Japanese teacher was a Japanese American. She has been supporting a group of psychologists in Tokyo who run a social program to help counsel the Tsunami victims. At the end of the semester, she brought little knick-knacks to the class to fundraise for the program. The money is used to buy “American” candies or toys for the children when they come together.
 Program Event (bottom right) |
 Program Event (right side) |
Steve Jobs
October 20th, 2011 § 2 Comments
Stanford Commencement Address
The recent outpouring of grief dedicated to a business leader demonstrates that the admiration of celebrities has diversified over time. Say 50 years ago, weren’t singers and movie stars the ones who had fans? Later, there were sports figures, and now anyone can have fans: a princess, a politician or a businessman. It is all about publicity. Jobs appeared frequently in front of the press, developers and the public in general to introduce new products and expound upon his vision for the future. He became a public personality who followed his dream, the combination of whose talent and story became an icon to many people worldwide.
The commencement speech Steve Jobs gave at Stanford in 2005 is worth publishing in many places to inspire all of us. I will just quote some of it here: « Read the rest of this entry »
New World Symphony
October 17th, 2011 § Leave a Comment
I remember when my older boy Leo was in high school; he would have his string quartet practice at our house. Leo invested in a bunch of Antonín Dvořák’s string quartet sheet music, and the quartet played gigs throughout their senior year. The sheet music was expensive, and they had just earned enough to cover the investment when they split up to go to college.
It just so happened that I had to remodel my house during my sons’ adolescent years, and I built a light maple floored room with a 14-foot pitched ceiling. The room reflected sound so well when it was completed that the boys used to call it the Echo Room. However, the room provided a good venue for their music practices and I got to listen to live music. They were no professionals, but they were good enough for my amateur ears. I enjoyed those pieces and was pleased to discover and learn more about Dvořák. Before, I had only known of his symphony no. 9, the New World Symphony. « Read the rest of this entry »
Sportswear Exhibition
September 7th, 2011 § Leave a Comment
After the Alexander McQueen show, I stayed one more day in New York. I had never visited the Fashion Institute of Technology, so I did. Their museum was featuring a sportswear show called ‘Sporting Life.’ The first piece on the left at the entrance of the exhibit was my favorite. Fashions always came late to Korea, and I remember wearing those balloon pants in gym class. They were a short version like the sketch on the right but with a white shirt without a sailor collar or ties … a faint memory of the old days. « Read the rest of this entry »
Going to the Met
August 12th, 2011 § 1 Comment
Four days before the Alexander McQueen exhibition ended,
the morning of August 4th, I came to New York just for the show. Having left early in the morning, I was on the Lexington line on my way to the Met by 11:00a.m. I tried to recall what stop the Met was at, and at the 59th street stop, I asked both of the guys on my right and left side. Neither one of them even knew what the Met was. « Read the rest of this entry »
Young and Innocent
July 19th, 2011 § Leave a Comment
I took a Japanese course this summer at the Oakton Community College. The teacher asked me why I wanted to learn Japanese. I couldn’t really tell her why. I wanted to do something crazy when I turned 50 but could not find anything crazy enough. I think learning Japanese can qualify for my wish on my 50th birthday. « Read the rest of this entry »
