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)

Friday, after Work, with X100

A homage to Lang Shining, but I could only find one horse.

This is a very old blind horse, who was left in a corner, separated from the other horses. I felt sorry every time I passed by her (him?) so I decided to compose a few photos with the horse inside. A photo is my way to say "I see you".    

The light was truly amazing, but very difficult to shoot hand held. 

The contour of the horse reminds me the Lascaux cave painting.