Looking forward 2014

What a year 2013 is! If 2012 is my year of learning machine learning, 2013 is my year of learning Scala and listening to operas. It's a bit rocky (two job changes), but never boring. Now I can hardly wait to see what I can make of 2014.

Opera High

Noticing that I had been in a kind of super euphoric state for more than two weeks, my best friend started to worry I would crash land from my opera "high" after the holiday season end.

"How about doing something to deflate it a little bit", my best friend sheepishly suggested.
"Like what?" I said. "Cara Speme" was humming in my head.
"How about doing something you used to do before the holidays? What did you do at work then?"
"Well, I was doing Scala programming", I said.
"OK, how about reviewing some Scala stuff?"
"But I don't want to review Scala, I want to go to La Scala, to listen to operas!!!" I protested.

My best friend sighed, "yeah, we all do".

Sta nell’Ircana

Three different versions of one of my favorite Handel arias: Sta Nell'lrcana. My personal favorite is Coote's interpretation. (Though I think Handel's personal pick would be DiDonato. Her embellishment would definitely be approved by the composer.) Her slower tempo shows a more ambivalent Ruggiero, who is mustering all the courage he can to help him making the decision to pursue his duty, knowing he may die soon. I also like the syncopation. It's almost like you are hearing his heart beats. I can hardly wait to hear Coote in person in January.

The young Alice Coote. This was her breakthrough role. The comments on youtube are so much fun to read.

Santa Cruz Sunset

Santa Cruz Sunset from Jiunjiun Ma on Vimeo.

My Two Favorite Mezzo-Sopranos

Alice Coote and Joyce DiDonato are my two favorite mezzo-sopranos (how lucky we Handel junkies are to live in a time of Handel revival, with so many great mezzo-sopranos singing the trouser roles). Interestingly, I noticed both because of their great performances in Handel's Alcina (with DiDonato singing Alcina and Coote singing Ruggiero in a totally different production). I once jokingly thought if I would ever see them in the same Alcina production. Well, that hasn't happened yet, but I was more than happy to discover that they did perform one opera together, that is Massenet's Cendrillon (with Coote singing Prince Charming and DiDonato singing Cinderella). And their youtube videos are all very fun to watch.

P.S. Two performances of Coote and DiDonato singing of "Cara Speme" below. Each sang to their own strength and each gave a wonderful performance. 

Here is Coote's recent Met performance of Cara Speme. Coote dark timbre makes her a perfect mezzo-soprano for Mahler's work. Her BBC Prom performance totally changed my thinking about Mahler's vocal work.

Joyce DiDonato plays Francesca Cuzzoni

I can't stop laughing when I watch this video, just too hilarious.

Ano Nuevo State Park

First elephant seal encountered. 

According to our docent, when you can see their belly buttons, they haven't reached adult hood yet.

Elephant seals are extreme distance swimmers but are very clumsy in land.

For some reason, it feels like they are singing opera duets.

A young female, a sleeping beauty.

Cannot afford a safari, this is as good as it gets.

Ano Nuevo Island.

Afternoon in Shoreline Park

Our Lady of Peace

Every time I drove by Mission College in Santa Clara, I noticed this giant statue, but I had never stopped to take a look. Today, after a heavy lunch, I decided to walk from my company to the statue. The statue was located in a small park. I was surprised to see so many flowers brought by people underneath the statue. There was a lady walking around with a rosary in hand. A couple embraced each other in the shade. The whole atmosphere indeed felt very peaceful. 

Evening Walk Around Shoreline Park

My First Time Lapse Video

The video is only 8 seconds but it took me 20 minutes to shoot. It was freezing cold in Shoreline Park but I couldn't get back to my car to fetch warm clothes once the shooting started so I had to jump around to keep warm. That 20 minutes felt soooooo loooooong. However, when I saw the final result, all pain was forgotten.

Joyce DiDonato's "Drama Queens - Larger than Life"

Joyce DiDonato speaks to Classic FM

Out-of-business Borders in Downtown Palo Alto

Banjo Player in front of Apple Store, Palo Alto

I guess this can be considered my first street photo.

Thanksgiving Morning

When you drive by a place like this, you know you got to stop and take some photos.

Palo Alto at Night

A Beautiful Fragement (Details of the Babbage Difference Machine)

Last Days of Autumn

One day, I will paint this by throwing colors at a blank canvas.

Pascadero State Beach

Farewell, Deer Creek

Tomorrow I will be working at a new location. Though I only worked at the Deer Creek campus for a month, I will always remember the trails, and the horses.

Blue Is the Warmest Color

I did a quick review on FB after watching the movie yesterday. Knowing anything on FB would soon be flooded out, I decided to post it here (with minor modification), just for keeps:

"Blue is the Warmest Color" turns out to be as good as all the critics have claimed (and the sex scene is definitely not for everybody). What I didn't expect, is it is also very intellectual* (after all, it's a French movie). Some of the dialogs definitely require a second viewing (and probably some reading on Art History and Existentialism).

For the style, A.O. Scott was right, the director shot tight. More than 50% of the movie scenes are close ups. (I kept analyzing if the DP was using a 50mm or 85mm lens.) It is also very raw, often gives me the feeling that I am a reality TV camera following the lead character in her journey, up close and personal. It is a sort of voyeurism, but not in an exploitive way.

Before watching the movie, from the interviews of the two lead actresses, I knew the director took tons of takes for even a single scene. For example, the scene the two characters first saw each other, a simple cross the street scene, took more than 100 takes and a whole day to shoot. The attention to details pays. That simple scene is one of the best in the movie, really catches the essence of love at first sight (and the disorientation of it). Well done.

As for the famous (or infamous) sex scenes, let's just say it's very Klimt and Schiele inspired (more Klimt than Schiele), hats off for the two actresses to carry it out (especially because it's not choreographed and neither of them are lesbians). Frankly speaking, I don't think any actresses older than 30 can pull it off since it requires some Olympic gymnastics and is very back breaking. OK, enough hints.

The most emotionally charged is the break up scene. So real, so true. (I almost missed it out due to a bio break. Tip: use the restroom before the 3 hour movie starts.) Most movies will go down hill after such a climax, but Blue never loses its grip. In fact, the loneliness of Adele after her break up truly touched me. In the scene where she passed by the bench where her lover used to draw her, I barely had the heart to watch. When they met again in a cafe, I truly hoped they would be together. Alas, even a movie adapted from a comic book knows better. Love comes and goes. Life goes on. Heartbreak stays. And you grow.

P.S. what I remember most from the movie is not the 10-minute sex scene, but the glance (the hesitation, the expectation, the desire in Adele's eyes). It is something hard to describe.

* Notes
Here are some good questions from the movie "Blue Is the Warmest Color"(I was too busy reading the subtitles and watching the movie to reflect on them). Those are questions asked by Adele's French teachers or appeared in the dialogues of the movies.

- Do you think love at first sight is more like losing something or gaining something? (I think the whole movie the director was trying to answer this question.)
- Is there something called chance? Do you believe in destiny?
- What is tragedy? Why is it timeless? (The teacher was talking about the Greek Tragedy "Antigone".)
- Is our life defined by our actions? What is true commitment?
- Klimt vs Schiele, is Klimt only decorative? (The director gave us his answer through the character Emma.)

Some unrelated thoughts:
Did Emma exploit Adele? Did Emma stay with Lise because with Lise as her Muse she finally got her work exhibited? Is their class difference the major cause of Adele and Emma's drifting apart? (OK, I confess I can't quite get over the ending yet.)

The movie is probably the best coming of age story I have seen in years. What kind of impact it would have on me if I were watching it when I was a teen, when I was unsure and confused about so many things just like Adele?

Immediate thought: bad, the sex scene would be too shocking for the "young and innocent", the breakup would be too "unromantic". I would not have the patience for the details, etc. In short, I would think it's a terrible movie instead of appreciating it. Being "older and more experienced" does make my life richer.

This Is California

Kite area in Shoreline Park, Mountain View.

Mountain View, California

Waiting for the Bright Future.

The Two Faces of Facebook

On Assignment (Photographing Google)