Thursday, 31 December 2015
Monday, 28 December 2015
single board qin made by Hong Chingyan -
qin maker Hong Chingyan made single board qin "banana leaf" style
http://www.ukchinesemusic.com/londonyoulanqin/pictures/20151107_yaji_jiaoye.jpg
http://www.ukchinesemusic.com/londonyoulanqin/pictures/20151107_yaji_jiaoye.jpg
for buyers of guqin: details about how to choose a guqin by Jim Binkley
Jim Binkley I'm going to do this off the top of my head so there may be typos or brain farts but so be it: there is an extreme negative thing which is that if a guqin is sitting in front of you and the top is shanmu - you have no way to judge the eventual sound as it needs at least a year of playin. However you probably can't tell the difference by looking in the big sound hole between Paulownia and/or Shanmu. Some people can tell and the seller may know. Paulownia itself needs about 6 months itself for that matter. On to things you can do.
1. if by some miracle you are facing a wall of guqin go thru them one by one and put one hand clamped on the forehead and then pluck strings 1 and string 7 - tend to pick the ones that have the most vibration.
2. if you know the notes play them all (take your time) on all the strings from hui wai to hui 3 or 4 and listen to the sound and listen for buzzes. If you don't know a note from a hole in the wall - play the hui positions.
3. hold down string 1 at both hui wai and hui 5 and look for *light* underneath it at about hui 7.5. If there is no light - don't buy it unless the sound is fabulous even then I myself wouldn't buy it. Fretless fingerboards need a certain amount of concave-ness under the strings. You should see some light. No light -> more buzzes. Some guqin makers unfortunately don't know about the camber thing but most do.
4. if you are a true nerd you would show up with a ruler that can measure mm - so make sure that at hui 7 the strings are not too high - you should expect that the distance between the top of the qin and the bottom of the strings (doesn't matter what kind of string) is <= 7 mm maybe a little higher on string 1-2 but not much. The Wang Peng guqin I have measured are around 5-6 mm. 5 mm is possible (actually at hui 7 you are measuring a bit of the camber too but oh well - that's fine).
5. last my father-in-law has a rule for buying stuff in general which is called the "cheap charlie" rule (by him) - don't buy the cheapest one.
1. if by some miracle you are facing a wall of guqin go thru them one by one and put one hand clamped on the forehead and then pluck strings 1 and string 7 - tend to pick the ones that have the most vibration.
2. if you know the notes play them all (take your time) on all the strings from hui wai to hui 3 or 4 and listen to the sound and listen for buzzes. If you don't know a note from a hole in the wall - play the hui positions.
3. hold down string 1 at both hui wai and hui 5 and look for *light* underneath it at about hui 7.5. If there is no light - don't buy it unless the sound is fabulous even then I myself wouldn't buy it. Fretless fingerboards need a certain amount of concave-ness under the strings. You should see some light. No light -> more buzzes. Some guqin makers unfortunately don't know about the camber thing but most do.
4. if you are a true nerd you would show up with a ruler that can measure mm - so make sure that at hui 7 the strings are not too high - you should expect that the distance between the top of the qin and the bottom of the strings (doesn't matter what kind of string) is <= 7 mm maybe a little higher on string 1-2 but not much. The Wang Peng guqin I have measured are around 5-6 mm. 5 mm is possible (actually at hui 7 you are measuring a bit of the camber too but oh well - that's fine).
5. last my father-in-law has a rule for buying stuff in general which is called the "cheap charlie" rule (by him) - don't buy the cheapest one.
Wednesday, 18 November 2015
好奇藝術 Kunstkammer 63 : Festival de Guitare International de Paris
好奇藝術 Kunstkammer 63 : Festival de Guitare International de Paris
LES CONCERTISTES DE LA 13ème EDITION :
26 au 29 novembre 2015.
Théâtre Adyar
4 Square Rapp 75007 Paris
4 Square Rapp 75007 Paris
Gérard Abiton, Sergio & Odair Assad, Roland Dyens, Ricardo Gallen, Duo Joncol, Stephan Schmidt, Duo Raphaella Smits et Adrien Brogna, Carles Trepat.
Concerts des 27/11 à 18h et 29/11 à 11h (nouveau)
Tarif unique 10€
Il n'est pas utile de réserver.
Guitares à suivre
Libre participation
Salon de lutherie
Entrée libre
Master class
Actif : 40€ / Auditeur : 10€
Les inscriptions aux Master class en tant qu'actif se font par téléphone.
Il n'est pas utile de réserver en tant qu'auditeur.
Master class Atelier (nouveau)
Actif : 20€ / Auditeur : 10€
(Les actifs devront apporter leur propre transcription)
Les inscriptions aux Master class en tant qu'actif se font par téléphone.
Il n'est pas utile de réserver en tant qu'auditeur.
Réservations et informations :
Par téléphone : 01.46.80.03.53 / 06.29.27.20.83
Par internet : cliquez-ici
Il n'est pas utile de réserver.
Guitares à suivre
Libre participation
Salon de lutherie
Entrée libre
Master class
Actif : 40€ / Auditeur : 10€
Les inscriptions aux Master class en tant qu'actif se font par téléphone.
Il n'est pas utile de réserver en tant qu'auditeur.
Master class Atelier (nouveau)
Actif : 20€ / Auditeur : 10€
(Les actifs devront apporter leur propre transcription)
Les inscriptions aux Master class en tant qu'actif se font par téléphone.
Il n'est pas utile de réserver en tant qu'auditeur.
Réservations et informations :
Par téléphone : 01.46.80.03.53 / 06.29.27.20.83
Par internet : cliquez-ici
Wednesday, 11 November 2015
carbon fiber saxophone neck; trumpet
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7VCIndKqBDoFrom the 2014 Solid Conference: Richard Isaacs's Keynote talk, "Musical Counterpoint in Wood, Bone, Metal and Carbon Fiber".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fBIyVYwPsQ
violinist interview tests
louder, volume,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QyrJ3UeTiqo
Schubert String Quintet Streichquintett C-Dur - II. Adagio, Carbon Fiber Instruments
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCnuXSpwa94
Martin Lewis on his Carbon Fiber String Instruments
carbon fiber saxophone neck
http://www.zencomposites.com/saxophone.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBW0Nh8IdcU
carbon fiber trumpet
Kyle Burgard 9 months ago
Sunday, 8 November 2015
DIY cameras by Miroslav Tichy
DIY cameras by Miroslav Tichy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-jkDwt1Fls
Photographer Snaps Nearly A Hundred Photos a Day With Homemade Camera
Tuesday, 3 November 2015
"李米的猜想" : the equation of love and death ***half 2009, prc, Zhou Xun:: film review
"李米的猜想" ***half 2009
周迅 邓超 张涵予 王宝强 主演电影
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bG6OfP0DngA
About the impossible non-issue of young Chinese people.
The deliquent, not-gd-at-school bunch have little issue.
Even then, some people are kind hearted, inspite of being cheated, tricked, they are still kind at heart and will continue to be polite and kind.
Hooligans, immoral slackers will always be slackers.
Police, peasants as mules for drugs
Poets who commit suicide from over dose delirious - the "hippy" type with new fancy Nike runners.
Zhou Xun the star looks almost like a porcelain doll, why did she choose to be taxi driver as a profession. Little bit puzzling.
But overall, it is the hopeless poetics of modern day China.
A tableau of little folks lives, those with moral and those without.
Linking all these are love stories, how people go mad because of love, and love as the one and only driving, directing force in the almost meaningless lives. Lives without engagment in anything in society. There is only personal love. And when that is gone, or puzzling, that is the thing that makes people tick, and kill and betray, and heart broken.
Windy, grey smoky urban centers. The film takes place in a taxi, in a police office, in an apartment, on the road.
The dusty modern day wilderness of physical dislocation and emotional dislocation.
The taxi driver's persistent love and refusal to acknowledge a break, because she has been receiving all these love letters.
The dealer boy friend is not really a heartless thug, he has been shooting spying on her secretly and making video clips of her day to day lives. And his current girl friend knows it.
Current girl friend is also not heartless, but she knew from that start the dealers born this way, slacker untrustworthy not due to hard core badness - but due to lack of conviction, firmness in character. The dealer is not like the taxi driver, she persists in face of repeated hopeless failure. He, on the other hand, just cannot carry anything out to the end properly.
So he films himself to tell her, if she becomes bored, and if its any good at all, maybe she could look at these footage, but they probably and is v likely cannot go back.
The girl friend finds it frightening as the dealer seem to have no heart, she leaves him and leaves her savings in a safty deposit box for her because as least this money is clean she said.
Dealer ends up w nobody. He probably knows also that the taxi driver is too good for him and he doesnt want to drag her into the mud.
Taxi driver gives a monologue telling how she met him, that he was a childhood highschool friend, became lovers. She loves / loved him.
The peasant thug, the young one wants to find his girlfriend and it will be hard, because girls as he describes - they are so common, how could anyone find anyone in the sea of mass anonymity?
There is a scene where Zhou Xun mimicks these sweet girls. Zhou Xun is good!
Quality of Qins : 9 virtues
The 9 virtues which distinguish the Qin quality 辨琴之九德
明 高濂的遵生八牋提到的辨琴之九德: 1, Qi (Remarkable) which means Qin (light) Song (free, not held) Cui(clear) Hua(smooth). Qin indicates that the wood is light. Song indicates that the sound is not held. Cui indicates that the sound is clear and venerable, because of the old tong wood. Hua indicates that the sound is sweet and mellow, because of the wood was grown near water. 一曰奇 輕鬆脆滑是也 輕謂材輕 鬆謂聲透 脆謂聲之清老 老桐木也 滑謂聲之澤潤 近水材也 2, Gu (Ancient) which means simple, pure yet contains the rhymes of bell and chime. 二曰古 淳淡中有金石韻也 3, Tou (Penetrated) which means an old qin where the adhesives and lacquer are dried and the sound quality is clear bright and not held. 三曰透 年雖久遠 膠漆不敗 清亮而不咽塞 4, Jin (Quiet) which means that there is no buzzing sound to influence the proper sound quality of the Qin 四曰靜 謂無(先文)飒以亂正聲 5, Run (Moist) which means that the sound quality comes out not dry and the rhythm stays longer. 五曰潤 謂發聲不燥 韻長不絕 6, Yuan (Whole) which means that the sound and rhythm stay as a whole without breaking up 六曰圓 謂聲韻渾然而不破散 7, Qin (Clear) which means that the sound of the qin comes out clearly as the sound of a big bronze Duo bell in wind. 七曰清 謂聲如風中鐸也 8, Yun (Even) which means that all the sound qualities, open string, press down string and harmonics from each of the seven strings has to be regular, steady and smooth. 八曰勻 謂七弦無三實四虛之病 9, Fang (Fragrant) which means a good qin the more its been played the better the sound quality, like a pleasant fragrance which stays long and doesn't lose it's flavor. 九曰芳 謂愈彈愈發 久無乏聲 | ||
Monday, 2 November 2015
好奇藝術 Kunstkammer 62 : Poetic body movements of dancers, athletes, and everyday gestures. Trisha Brown
好奇藝術 Kunstkammer 62 : Poetic body movements of dancers. Trisha Brown
Poetic body movements of dancers, athletes, and everyday gestures
http://www.dansercanalhistorique.fr/?q=content%2Fla-derniere-danse-de-trisha-brown
Body movements
Poetic body movements of dancers, athletes, and everyday gestures
http://www.dansercanalhistorique.fr/?q=content%2Fla-derniere-danse-de-trisha-brown
Body movements
Tuesday, 27 October 2015
Airstream roof top hotel;South Africa
http://www.momondo.fr/inspiration/rooftops-epoustouflants/?utm_source=SocialMoovFacebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=rooftops-epoustouflants&source=disp-Facebook-General.blog-promo
Rooftop camping – Cape Town, Afrique du Sud
Les caravanes Airstream sur le toit du Grand Daddy Hotel © Grand Daddy Hotel
Les hôtels sont très créatifs lorsqu’il s’agit de tirer parti du meilleur de leur toit, et notamment le Grand Daddy Hotel de Cape Town. L’hôtel a importé sept caravanes de type Airstream, rutilantes et vintage, directement des USA et a établi un camping très cosy sur son toit, où vous pourrez loger. Très original!
http://www.tracygallagher.com/2010/06/hotel-of-the-week-scooooore-with-a-novel-hotel-in-south-africa/airstream-bar2-2/
One fun place to stay is the Grand Daddy Hotel…but specifically check out the Airstream Penthouse Trailer Park located on top of the hotel. Yep, it is exactly how it sounds – Seven highly designed Airstream trailers are parked up on the roof for guests to stay a night or two or three…
Each trailer has hot and cold water, toilets and showers..so it is not your “daddy’s campers” at the Grand Daddy hotel. It is definitely for the traveler who has seen it all. The hotel group behind this likes to have fun and invoke humor into their boutique hotels. Each trailer has a unique design from different local designers. Some rooms are pretty whimsical, adding to the fun ambiance.
In addition to the cleverly decorated and slick Airstream trailers, the rooftop has a tented sky bar for guests, complete with couches and heaters to enjoy the nighttime sky.
The Grand Daddy is making sure guests have a cozy place to watch all the World Cup action this summer (but remember when you travel..it is winter there.) Think comfy couches, a fully stocked bar, and big screens.
Sunday, 25 October 2015
rainbow tree from seeds
How to Grow Rainbow Tree Eucalyptus deglupta Mindanao gum seeds Part 1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Taf2_qZACR8rainbow tree
How to Grow Rainbow Tree Eucalyptus deglupta Mindanao gum seeds Part 2
PAPER TOWEL METHOD OF SEED GERMINATION - EASY & FAST
www.larksperennials.com
Saturday, 24 October 2015
pitch shifter
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qagGStK0L4I
EFFECTS 101: Pitch Shifter
Pepe - BOSS PS-2 Digital Pitch Shifter / Delay Demo
Friday, 23 October 2015
好奇藝術 Kunstkammer 61 : Graphic Novel : "Unflattening", doctoral dissertation in graphic novel form by Nick Sousanis
好奇藝術 Kunstkammer 61 : Graphic Novel : "Unflattening", doctoral dissertation in graphic novel form by Nick Sousanis/ Harvard University Press
http://mostlysignssomeportents.tumblr.com/post/130485371991/doctoral-dissertation-in-graphic-novel-form
http://mostlysignssomeportents.tumblr.com/post/130485371991/doctoral-dissertation-in-graphic-novel-form
Thursday, 15 October 2015
gem corn harvest
compare to Indian Corn bought at City Hall Farmers Market, Toronoto on 14Oct2015:
The Indian corn has v beautiful colors, they are matt and opaque. The vendor says they are from Mexico.
Some of the gem corn from GemCorn Heritage seeds are also opaque, but some are glass like, thick translucide coating.
Ready for harvest, more gem corn grown from 1st April.2015:
Tuesday, 13 October 2015
好奇藝術 Kunstkammer 60 : Poetry: "Slow Mountain Train" by Roger Greenwald
好奇藝術 Kunstkammer 60 : Poetry: "Slow Mountain Train", book of poems by Roger Greenwald
Poetry opens up a timeless space.
And I would have been gently taken into an airy private free zone.
Books, pictures, films, poetry, sculptures, gardens, music, fashion, food, people, having tea with someone, a sun filled corner with a sofa, and so many endless sources of visual audio sensual streams coming slowly and suddenly : poetry is here.
On : "A Thing You're Saying"
The poem speaks of a situation where we are protected by a special magic shield, the shield of a foreign language. A foreign language is not something that you could translate word for word, it is a total world in itself. It is a punctual instant subtle privacy part of another system, another world.
All because of our capacity to speak another language.
Delicately, its not hiding, a foreign language is a glossy shield, we could see out and others could not see in.
You can be as open and direct as you choose, the protective shield would always be there.
Even the most private moments, in the closest physical space, the words and its worlds are delicately shielded.
In a loud and public place, in the privacy of your home with social and intimate friends, you are magically shielded.
And you are in your poetic precious quiet space, where you could be looking out and no one could look in, they cannot catch this part of you.
By Shuengit Natasha Chow
---
p16
A Thing You're Saying
When you speak another language you can say 當你會一种外語時, 你可以講
exactly what you feel 你真正的感覺
in the middle of a subway car 你可以在地鐵裏講
and no one will understand you. 也沒人會聽懂
When you speak another language 當你會一种外語時
no one will understand one word. 沒人會聽懂, 連一個字都聽不懂
You can stand in your living room 你可以站在自家客廳裏
and speak and no one understands. 在講啊講而又無人會聽懂
You could gather your friends around you 你可以把你的朋友聚集起來
at the table 圍在枱邊
and lift your glass 舉起你的酒杯
and say whatever you wanted 你說你想講的
and they wouldn't understand a word. 而他們會一個字都聽不懂
a thing you're saying. 一點都聽不懂
Poetry opens up a timeless space.
And I would have been gently taken into an airy private free zone.
Books, pictures, films, poetry, sculptures, gardens, music, fashion, food, people, having tea with someone, a sun filled corner with a sofa, and so many endless sources of visual audio sensual streams coming slowly and suddenly : poetry is here.
On : "A Thing You're Saying"
The poem speaks of a situation where we are protected by a special magic shield, the shield of a foreign language. A foreign language is not something that you could translate word for word, it is a total world in itself. It is a punctual instant subtle privacy part of another system, another world.
All because of our capacity to speak another language.
Delicately, its not hiding, a foreign language is a glossy shield, we could see out and others could not see in.
You can be as open and direct as you choose, the protective shield would always be there.
Even the most private moments, in the closest physical space, the words and its worlds are delicately shielded.
In a loud and public place, in the privacy of your home with social and intimate friends, you are magically shielded.
And you are in your poetic precious quiet space, where you could be looking out and no one could look in, they cannot catch this part of you.
By Shuengit Natasha Chow
---
p16
A Thing You're Saying
你在說的事
When you speak another language you can say 當你會一种外語時, 你可以講
exactly what you feel 你真正的感覺
in the middle of a subway car 你可以在地鐵裏講
and no one will understand you. 也沒人會聽懂
When you speak another language 當你會一种外語時
no one will understand one word. 沒人會聽懂, 連一個字都聽不懂
You can stand in your living room 你可以站在自家客廳裏
and speak and no one understands. 在講啊講而又無人會聽懂
You could gather your friends around you 你可以把你的朋友聚集起來
at the table 圍在枱邊
and lift your glass 舉起你的酒杯
and say whatever you wanted 你說你想講的
and they wouldn't understand a word. 而他們會一個字都聽不懂
You
could tell them word for word 你可以一個字一個字地解說
what
your truelove said once 你心上人以前說過的
in
your bedroom 在你的睡房
while
you were kissing 當你在親吻
her
stomach. 她的肚子
And
they wouldn't understand one word. 而他們會一個字都聽不懂
You
can talk out loud at four in the morning 你可以四點早辰大聲講
lying
alone in bed 獨自睡在床上
on
your back 臥着
and
the downstairs neighbor will hear you 樓下的鄰居會聽到你
but
won't understand 但會不懂
a thing you're saying. 一點都聽不懂
Poetry: "Slow Mountain Train", book of poems by Roger Greenwald
(Tiger Bark Press, 2015).
Sunday, 11 October 2015
好奇藝術 Kunstkammer 59 : Man on the Moon, Project Apollo Archive
好奇藝術 Kunstkammer 59 : Man on the Moon, Project Apollo Archive
https://www.flickr.com/photos/projectapolloarchive/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/projectapolloarchive/
Thursday, 8 October 2015
Experimental garden #3 : Bing Cherry Tree
Experimental garden #3 : Bing Cherry Tree
https://organicviewsbyjackie.wordpress.com/organic-places-in-ontario/
Growing cherry tree from a pit
Bing Cherry tree.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbKS8HDwOdM
https://organicviewsbyjackie.wordpress.com/organic-places-in-ontario/
Growing cherry tree from a pit
Bing Cherry tree.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbKS8HDwOdM
http://www.arborday.org/trees/treeguide/TreeDetail.cfm?ItemID=809
Bing Cherry
Prunus avium 'Bing'
When it comes to cherries, the Bing variety tops the list in terms of popularity and production. This hallmark of cherry trees grows in both a standard and dwarf form and can be a major producer once mature. In fact, a standard Bing cherry tree can provide as much as 50–100 lbs. of cherries per year!
The cherries are large and heart-shaped with a firm, meaty, purplish-red flesh and a semi-free stone that is easily removed—making them ideal for fresh eating and preserves.
Hardiness Zones
Tree Type
Mature Size
Growth Rate
Sun Preference
Soil Preference
Attributes
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