Just pick whichever blueberries look interesting. I picked those that looked ripe, those that came off easily as you brushed against the bush (cos it means that the plant is willing to relinquish those berries). And guess what? Some of them were actually very tasty!
Others around me had huge, humongous berries. Why pick the large ones? They don't necessarily promise much flavor.
In any case, I ended up with a huge container of lovely blueberries, and then proceeded on to get some peaches (I didn't pick these myself). The peaches were gorgeous, bursting with summery, light yet rich, flavorful rays of stunningly sweet flesh. Golden orange, with coral red streaks patterned in a spidery crawl all over its smooth surface. Yummy and fantastically ephemerally beautiful. YUM.
In any case, I'm happy now! I just hiked for 3 hours at Sleeping Giant yesterday! Thought very little, and just concentrated on putting my next foot in front of my current foot. My hiking compatriot seemed to be nonchalantly hopping around, but unlike most people, I do not possess dextrous feet (have you seen how many scars I've collected over the decades??!).
So, life is very much like that. Just walk, stomp, crawl, hop, slither, or fly on, depending on your mood. Oftentimes, it doesn't even give a hoot about your mood. You just have to go with the times, change accordingly, be flexible, and try your best to move on. Woohoo!
My lab experiments are working! YAYYAYYAYYAYYAY.
Sunday, July 22, 2007
Sunday, July 8, 2007
I sniff, therefore I am
Few things in this world evoke memories more vivid than that triggered by the sense of smell.
Smell can trigger evil – in the case of the protagonist in Perfume: the Story of a Murderer, his exquisite sense of smell and quest for the perfect fragrance drives him to commit 12 murders. Such an impassioned plea for perfection overrides justice, as it turns out that his executioner, the papal state, and the masses fall for the promise embedded in his fragrance-loaded handkerchief, which he had flourishingly swept through the air at the gallows.
When I opened the medicine cabinet in the 2nd-floor bathroom this evening, I smelt a familiar smell: had I been here before? I knew exactly where I had smelt it – when I was around 13, and in my grandmother’s house. Kind of makes sense, given that these folks are true blue Asians and my grandma’s cabinet is rather Asian, except that I don’t see how Indian and Chinese items can smell similar. Perhaps this represents globalization on the run.
In any case, have you ever suddenly “lost” your sense of smell such that you cannot smell anything around you? No, it is not the flu or black gold. Rather, as you inhale, you get intoxicated with a very strange déjà vu sensation. This happens around twice a year, and I have come to treat this as a sort of hint that something major is about to happen in my life.
That is just a short diatribe on the sense of smell. It might seem unimportant, but imagine, if you worked in a lab, and were surrounded by phenol-chloroform fumes, wouldn’t you be glad to know in advance that you are being poisoned or choked by those fumes? Without smell, by golly, you’re dead meat. And for mosquitoes, the sense of smell is essential: you smell living flesh, criss-crossed with huge veins through which delicious nutrient-rich fresh blood rushes. Imagine the joy surging through each mosquito as it pierces through the thick epidermis and reaches the *exact* spot where the optimal blood pressure for sufficiently inflating its little belly lies. The sense of smell (and of course, the ability to monitor heat distribution) matters a lot. Unfortunately, you cannot help but curse evolution, and the resulting selection for better mosquitoes with more efficiently blood-searching mechanisms, when you’re the victim, as I was. I am now nursing huge lines of mosquito bites – these lines delineate the blood vessel distribution of my entire circulatory system.
Now of course, I am exaggerating. Don’t worry, mom & dad!
Saturday, July 7, 2007
French vs. German
References:http://www.centrelink.gov.au/internet/internet.nsf/languages/fr.htm (French text)
http://www.centrelink.gov.au/internet/internet.nsf/languages/de.htm (German text)
http://people.westminstercollege.edu/faculty/mmarkowski/212/5/colis.html (Roman Coliseum)
http://faculty.evansville.edu/rl29/art105/img/greek_paestum.jpg (Greek Paestum)
http://www.josephkaynephoto.com/ (for the photograph)
http://mollishka.blogspot.com/2006/05/universe-chandelier.html (the amazing, gorgeous, and scientifically-accurate aluminium/glass sculpture of the universe; of course, it's limited by science itself.)
Teach me.
Humanities class: Roman architecture vs. Greek architecture
Lang class: French vs. German
Art class: Photography vs. Sculpture
I can't decide!
What do you think? Tell me which to take. All seem equally exciting!
I found this very interesting article/blog entry at:
http://mollishka.blogspot.com/2006/05/universe-chandelier.html
An article on the sculpture "The End of Modernity" (an awful title) appeared this past Sunday in the New York Times art section. The sculpture, currently on display in New York City the Andrea Rosen Gallery in Chelsea (no clue where that is), is basically a sculpture of the universe. The article tells the story better than I can, but basically, the artist, Josiah McElheny, was in residence at Ohio State, and decided he wanted to make a scientifically sound sculpture of the Big Bang. So he called up our resident cosmologist, David Weinberg, and once David realized that this guy was serious, they began to design the thing.
The astronomy department took a bit of a field trip over to the Wexner Center sometime during winter quarter when the sculpture was still on display there. David and Josiah were both there to explain and discuss it. I must say I was pleasantly surprised by the whole thing. I'm not usually one for art; I often find myself wanting to feel something, but simply not being as affected as I'd like to be. Then there are the times when I feel as if the artist is trying to hard to add meaning that just isn't there; they know I should be strongly affected by good art, but they just can't get me there. They're trying too hard. Anyhow, I was highly impressed with Josiah. At a first impression, he's a stereotypical artist in many ways; he's short, speaks with a bit of a high-pitched voice, and kind of "off" as compared to normal people. Whereby normal people, I mean, astronomers, which isn't a fair comparison at all. But he had actually learned a great deal of cosmology, actually poured himself into this project, and was quite clearly deeply passionate about art and beauty and, most importantly, trying to leave an impression on people through art. I respect that, and, somehow, having respect for the artist helped me love the sculpture even more.
The sculpture itself is more representative of the Universe than of the Big Bang. Structurally, it's based on chandeliers from the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. Made entirely of aluminum and blown glass, the central aluminum sphere hangs from the ceiling at about 5 feet above the floor (approximately my eye level). This sphere represents the "surface of last scattering," or the time at which atoms first formed in the universe and light wasn't banging into charged particles left and right anymore, and so could stream freely throughout the universe for the first time. When you hear people talking about the cosmic microwave background, it is the light that has been going along its merry way until hitting our detectors that they are talking about. Basically, it's as far back as we can see in the universe, because before then, the universe was opaque. So that's the sphere in the middle. Distance from the center of the sculpture represents time; the further out from the center, the later the time. The lightbulbs represent quasars (incredibly bright found at the centers of some galaxies), and the glass pieces represent galaxies. The glass pieces come in groups at the end of the sticks, accurately representing the clustering of galaxies at different points in time. There are two shapes of glass pieces: the disks represent spiral galaxies (like the Milky Way) and the spheres represent elliptical galaxies. One of the really cool parts of this sculpture is that the number and clustering of lightbulbs (quasars) and glass pieces (galaxies) at different redshifts (distances from the center) is based on science. It's not just some guy saying, hey, it'd look nice like this, but rather, David's code saying, hey, you should put the pieces on like this. It became a difficult, and interesting, problem when the fact that this thing has to hang from the ceiling without falling over. Very cool indeed. Orginally, it was going to be made out of chrome (Josiah knew of some guys who like to make big sculptures out of chrome and glass---go figure), but, uhm, chrome is kind of heavy. The other fun part is the fact that you've got all these clusters of galaxies (okay, bits of glass) coming off of all of these rods, and you need to position them in such a way that they don't touch each other.
Personally, as art, I was fairly affected by this sculpture. It's huge. It's hanging in a room with plain white walls---there it is---the entire universe. That's the thing I want to understand, to know. One of the unexpected side effects of having all of the metallic parts be shiny aluminum is that you can see your reflection in it. And the central sphere? It curves away from you, so your reflection looks terribly small and far away. And insignificant. I liked sitting on the floor ten feet away from the sculpture, staring at all the bits, and my little reflections, until I felt as if I needed to scream or else I'd fall off the earth. Now that's being affected by art.
More Sea, Me, Friends, a Flag, Random Folks, and a Mailbox
Brit flag - I'm still colonized at heart.
Morose-looking sweet lady who can't sell her art.
Durian!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YUM.
View from Neuschwanstein.
Countryroad.
View from hike up mountain.
Me by a calcium-carbonate-saturated lake, on the way to Neuschwanstein.
Obernach.
Obernach.
Obernach - I went swimming with ducks!
Obernach.
Rose-covered mailbox.
Sunday, June 24, 2007
Art Project
I'm currently working on an art project that fuses sound and light. If you have any ideas, please throw them my way!
Perhaps sound, with its series of compressions and relaxations (since it's a longitudinal wave, rather than a transverse one), can be harnessed to catalyze a series of molecular motions that I hope to somehow capture in the form of light, giving an optical play. What you see today on Windows Media Player uses this idea, basically. Hence that's not a truly original idea. However, if I can come up with an experimental setup that can showcase this, without the use of any computational software, that will be fantastic.
Luckily for me, I met a sound technology engineer (irony: I didn't want to use any computational software; but I can live with that) on my summer engineering program, here in Germany. He's now on board and I now have three people (including myself, and a NYC-based sculptor, whom I met on the train while returning to NewHaven from NYC, when I went for Singapore Day @ the Grand Central Park in April) on the team. The project (and hopefully, exhibition) is going to be great *if* we work well together. I can't wait to see what's going to evolve from this rather random collaboration.
Wien (Vienna)
At the café across the street from the King’s Palace, I had topfelstrudel, a startlingly good confection made with vanilla and white cheese, whose variety remains unbeknownst to me. Of course, its price was ridiculously high but the experience was worth the cost – entire walls sheathed with silver mirrors that reached the floor, sleek ebony furniture, translucent curtains that allowed a few lucky rays of the late afternoon sun into the classically designed yet stylish (in modern terms) room. As usual, I checked if the flower on the dining table was real. It was! A lovely, fresh flower in bright yellow and muted pink tones, with its green but drying stem dipped in a small pool of water that was in a porcelain vase. It looked slightly out of place in the room, though; I had expected black flowers with either white stripes or gray polka dots. Whatever – it is merely a matter of personal taste. The topfelstrudel was good.
My newly minted friends then whirled me off to a multitude of places, whose names I can unearth but do not care much about. Hence, I will describe the places, and you will know their functions and appearances, but not their names. If you absolutely must know, please e-mail and I will find out for you!
A post savings bank (something like
It was gray, imposing, and dull-looking. However, move a little closer and you will see the aluminum studs encased within small concave hemispheric hollows that had been carved into the marble. It looked like a punk-turned-architect had gotten hold of the blueprint after it had been submitted and accepted.
A charming Hundertwasserhaus, designed by Hundertwasser, an architect with a truly creative streak in him:
It was exploding with a multitude of shades, tones, and textures. None of the walls was straight, and the tiles were uneven. Symmetry was disallowed in that space. The entire house looked like a mess that emanated with beauty – the sort of beauty that emanates from a kindly old grandmother with a crooked nose that she broke when she was just a little girl.
The
Beautiful oil paintings created by Claude Monet and Gustav Klimt (creator of the infamous The Kiss, a painting that had aroused the ire and angst of the public when it was first exhibited); stunning sculptures of docks men and Venus, shrouded by her mist of mystery and beauty.
Check it out at: http://www.belvedere.at/jart/prj3/belvedere/main.jart
The Wiener Staatsoper Opera House, Werther:Watched and cried! The soprano was crazy. Staggering on the stage, committing suicide – all the works of a typical opera, even seemingly as degenerate as a soap opera on TV. HOWEVER, the soprano made all the difference. All the notes and tangible emotions were executed with perfection. The most impressive feature was how he made every intangible emotion raw, intensified, and unbelievably sincere. Sincerity is the keystone that is lacking in many operas. This opera, Werther, overflowed with sincerity.
As a passing remark: The street outside the opera house was filled with pests, dressed in beautiful, well-fitted, shimmering, but ridiculous outfits from the Baroque period. Why ridiculous, you ask. Those men (non-performers) were selling tickets for that evening’s concert/ballet/opera, performed by groups of relatively untalented individuals dressed in a similar fashion (as I perceived from the photos that those salespersons had thrust in my face). Why untalented, you ask. If the musicians/performers were talented, they would not need to dress up in ridiculous outfits and pretend to be fine gentry engaging in musical endeavors. Nein! They were charlatans, dressed up like clowns to attract unknowing tourists.
The Vienna street/music festival at the Donau (
I loved the street culture. Excellent music, though I must say that the Viennese cannot really dance well. Alternatively, perhaps it was that they were not drunk enough since the night was still young. I left quite early at 11.10pm, since it was just throngs of people who were not doing anything effective. At least dance! You get to burn calories!
The fireworks reminded me of…
Returning to fireworks: the fireworks seemed so close, as though you could touch them if you wanted to. Just like many things in life.
Stephansdom - the tallest church in Austria, established in 1147, building was completed in 1570. St. Stephen's Cathedral (German: Stephansdom) in Vienna, Austria, is the seat of a Roman Catholic Archbishop, a beloved symbol of Vienna, and the site of many important events in Austria's national life.The day I went, many important luminaries were present (asides from me, of course...). Turned out that it was the funeral of the previous president of the Austrian Republic (Republik Österreich). You might have seen the funeral on TV; it was huge news in Austria and the funeral was even screened in the subway station.
Kurt Josef Waldheim (21 December 1918 – 14 June 2007) was an Austrian diplomat and conservative politician. At the time of his death from congestive heart failure at age 88,[1] Waldheim was the oldest living former Secretary-General of the United Nations and the oldest living former Austrian President, having served in these roles from 1972 to 1981 and 1986 to 1992, respectively. While running for president in Austria in 1985 he attained international notoriety because he falsified in his memoirs both the duration and the nature of his service as a Wehrmacht intelligence officer during World War II.
Text courtesy of: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurt_Waldheim
Stephansdom I
Vienna Secession - Marks the change in phase of art, style, academia, and administration in Vienna. The inscription goes: to every age its art; to art its freedom. If you ask me, I think that "To every age its science; to science its freedom/shackles." also makes great sense. Lovely golden dome. It's nicely termed "golden cabbage". Just as The Esplanade in Singapore is called the "durian".
The Vienna Secession (also known as Secessionsstil, or Sezessionsstil in Austria) was part of the highly varied Secessionism movement that is now covered by the general term Art Nouveau. It was formed in 1897 by a group of 19 Vienna artists who had resigned from the Association of Austrian Artists, housed in the Vienna Künstlerhaus. The first president of the Secession was Gustav Klimt.
The Vienna Secession was founded on April 3, 1897 by artists Gustav Klimt, Koloman Moser, Josef Hoffmann, Joseph Maria Olbrich, Max Kurzweil, Otto Wagner, and others. The Secession artists objected to the prevailing conservatism of the Vienna Künstlerhaus with its traditional orientation toward Historicism. The Berlin and Munich Secession movements preceded the Vienna Secession, which held its first exhibition in 1898.
Text courtesy of: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vienna_Secession
Österreichische PostsparkasseAustria's savings bank. Built in 1903, designed by Otto Wagner; it's an 8-storey brick structure featuring a thin Sterzing marble skin (hmm... It's like Yale's Beinecke Library), studded with aluminum. Inside, the main hall rises to a curved, frosted-glass ceiling, pierced by its supportive iron columns, while the floor consists of ultra-thick glass blocks, allowing light to flood into the administrative heart below.
Text courtesy of: Wallpaper* City Guide, by PHAIDON. Beautiful pictures and descriptions in this series of travel books. For the modern (and rich) person. I could not afford anything that was recommended in this book! Maybe... 10 years later?
Stephansdom: Funeral procession for Ex-president Kurt Waldheim; born 21 December 1918 in St. Andra-Wodern; diplomat, minister, representative to the UN, president. Died 14 June 2007. If you click on this photo, you can download a larger version, in which you can see the Viennese flags with the coats of arms of important blue-blood families emblazoned on them.
Stephansdom- blazing with lights that had been installed by the media.
Stephansdom - The gorgeous, complex altar.
Stephansdom - Gothic Cathedral
Donau Street Festival - View of Donau (Danube) River from Bridge
Donau Street Festival - The Sunset. Gorgeous.
Donau Street Festival - You can see a rainbow at the bottom right hand region.
Hundertwasserhaus - See the crazy design? Trees all over the place. Multitudes of colors.
A beautiful altar, Orthodox church.
Sunset - With a few rays of sunlight illuminating the famous Hochhaus Neue Donau, which is the tallest residential building in Vienna. It was designed by Harry Seidler.
Sunset - I could not help but fall in love with it! In the foreground, you see white tents and specks of white, glowing lights: They're part of the street festival!
Cafe Griensteidl - opened in 1847, it was the meeting point of literary men such as Hermann Bar, Arthur Schnitzler, Karl Krauss, Hugo von Hofmannsthal or composers such as Hugo Wolf or Arnold Schoenberg; birth place of Viennese literature. People could live out their notions of decadence; pulled down in 1897; reopened in 1990, the old atmosphere has been replaced by a modernised version.
Courtesy of: http://www.univie.ac.at/Very-Vienna/magazin/artikel/36/sechsunddreissig.html
Staatsoper Opera House - The beautiful chandelier. I love chandeliers.
Staatsoper Opera House - watched the opera, Werther: the most unbelievably sincere (how ironic this sounds) opera I've been to. I'd say that the Wiener Staatsoper is superior to the Metropolitan Opera in NYC.
Random pond. Focus on the interplay between light, water, and the algae on the pond surface.Thursday, June 21, 2007
Obernach - Where I lived! The turquoise lake is a mere 20 meters away.
At the Opera House
Deutsches Museum - porcerlain/china display in the materials section. How scientific.
Karlsplatz I - City Center. There was a huge McDonald's sprawled right across the fountain, with the signs written in multiple languages! Globalization... ah.
Karlsplatz II - The setting sun was accompanied by a superb group of talented buskers, playing the cello, violin, viola and fiddle. I was on cloud #10.
Obernach - Where I stayed for 4 days. See the turquoise color? Even my inept 2 megapixel camera captured that mesmerizingly tantalizing shade of cyan.
Obernach - From the top of the mountain on which I hiked.
Obernach - The scenery was fabulous.
City Center. I liked the streetlamps, and am posting this picture on the pretense that these lamps have a historico-cultural relevance to Munich's history, which I am sure they do but about which I have no clue.
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