.. the snow is singing ..

John Mayer 2011 Clinic – “Manage the Temptation to Publish Yourself”

Shirley — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 17:04:24 +0000

Some nice insights on music and the industry from John Mayer:

John Mayer 2011 Clinic

at Berklee Performance Center.

Danny Elfman & Cirque Du Soleil’s IRIS

Shirley — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 07:20:32 +0000

Watched Cirque Du Soleil’s act IRIS (prounced: e-leeese) at the renowned this past weekend, I was blown away. I’m glad this act has residency at Kodak Theater in Hollywood as I’ll definitely go back again (and maybe again and again). Aside the wonderful stage decoration and design, the meticulously tailored costumes, the jaw-dropping acrobatic moves, the elegance in the camera projection usage and the ingenious angle of presenting life through the lens of cameras, there’s the captivating music written by the respected Danny Elfman! My ears were having a treat right from the very beginning, when the eerie yet beautiful theme is played through the piano keys alone. It reminded me a lot of Vincent’s piano solo in The Corpse Bride.

Read an interview with Danny Elfman on the music-making for IRIS.

The CD can be pre-ordered now:

I can’t wait to unwrap the CD and immerse myself back in the beauty bath of such wonderful music.

It’s hugely generous for Cirque Du Soleil for us to enjoy the music via streaming before the CD goes on sale.

Highly recommending Cirque Du Soleil’s IRIS for an exciting theatrical experience.

Mobiles by Alexander Calder

Shirley — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 17:31:24 +0000

I discovered Alexander Calder when I was in a museum in Washington D.C. a few years ago. I fell in love with his wonderful mobiles instantly. The balance of these art pieces is amazing, how the weight of the different sections in the mobile support one another is clever and meticulous, and how each section spontaneously dances with the air is captivating, just like how a drop of ink dissolves into a glass of water, silky and just flows with the current, very beautiful.

Kudos to today’s GoogleDoodle for featuring Alexander Calder’s mobile (happy 113th birthday!). Look at the detail of the doodle, even the shadow underneath the search box moves as the mobile moves! (doesn’t work in IE8 though, please use Firefox or Chrome or Safari for the cool animation).

Alexander Calder's mobile is featured as Google Doodle on July 22, 2011

弱水三千 – Juno 麥浚龍

Shirley — Sat, 09 Jul 2011 03:21:28 +0000

最近愛上了麥浚龍的一曲「弱水三千」。

如詩如幻的一首歌，以水為題，惋歎愛情，於 2009 年面世，我竟在數天前才遇上。

詩般的詞－「混雜絕望後便是淚水衍生出心碎」, 「汗滴在血海紅不紅，散聚後味道如茶濃不濃」；字句美麗之餘又能表達出完整意境，令我沈醉於夢般畫面。

和音令人動容，聽下去像是像是在嘆氣，又像是一層霧正昇起往天空飛去，令意境更迷幻；配合於動人的旋律，加強凄美感，帶我遊歷內心世界，游過弱水。

編曲亦有著出色的編排，配合水之形態萬千變化，有起有伏－開始的空蕩蕩像是大海的虛無，慢慢地化作水滴後的漣漪，後來洶湧如世事及愛海的波濤，最後看透混亂，回復平靜，身輕如雲如霧，「得到青空」。

此作品在各方面也有著令人贊嘆的出色，實屬廣東流行曲中一難得佳作。

愛上了。

Juno’s blog post on 弱水三千

弱水三千 – JUNO 麥浚龍 from Sillything Visuals on Vimeo.

弱水三千
曲：馮穎琪
詞：林夕
編：張亞東
監：麥浚龍 / Jerald

三千春江水　暫住寂寞天空
逛夠了世界　撇進了春風

*活著自活著　萬象在逝水中暢泳
偶爾愛上過　一些倒映
流年流成河流留過幾度名勝
浪停下像拿著鏡　難辨舊日風景
山水非山水　凍了變雪堆
山水本山水　遇熱若霧水
混雜絕望後便是淚水衍生出心碎
葡萄若化水醉了會再醉
會跌進漩渦太虛
擠於渠裡　浸於浴裡
同樣落自春水

#汗滴在血海紅不紅
散聚後味道如茶濃不濃
那是快感還是痛
深海裡永遠看不通
靜靜地浮遊在青空
一轉身可以化進了杯中
口乾了便喝盡那密雲
像喝掉如夢如幻信不信

repeat*#

三千春江水　暫住寂寞天空
逛夠了世界　撇進了春風
(清水苦水一樣暫住半空)
水中不起花　萬物靜默不動
碎了這塊鏡　照見了洶湧
眉頭才震動

repeat#

水漫漫　飄色於天空
水漫漫　將萬物玩弄

活著若是夢　是夢蝶讓水色震動
撇夠了冷雨　得到青空

Dust of Snow

Shirley — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 21:42:37 +0000

Stumbled upon this beautiful poem by Robert Frost -

Dust of Snow
The way a crow
Shook down on me
The dust of snow
From a hemlock tree
Has given my heart
A change of mood
And saved some part
Of a day I had rued.
- Robert Frost

So real and subtle, like the quiet ripples that form when a dragonfly touches the surface of a pond. No metaphor, just simple images and a true-to-the-heart feeling, and it provokes beautiful imagery and emotions. This reminds me that lyric writing should be like this, keep it true, keep it simple, keep it close-to-the-heart.

Guitar Google Doodle – Les Paul

Shirley — Sun, 12 Jun 2011 08:49:49 +0000

Thanks to the Les Paul Google Doodle for the marked decrease in productivity and self indulgence broken loose. Here’s my humble interpretation on a few tunes on the steel guitar doodle:

Bell Tower (a piano song I learned as a kid)

Lullaby (Johannes Brahms – Op.49 No.4 Wiegenlied)

在沙灘時會想起的歌…

Shirley — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 04:37:41 +0000

別讓我步過 – 王雅文

痴情意外 – 陳慧嫻

藍色的愛麗絲 (痴情意外原版) – 玉置浩二

剪愛 – 張惠妹

沙灘 – 陶喆

沙堡壘 – 容祖兒

聽海 – 張惠妹

思憶季節 – 張學友

浪淘沙 – 羅文 + 華星新秀 (莫鎮賢、歐陽德勛、林楚麒、戴蘊慧、蘇永康、張衛健、杜德偉)

幾許風雨 – 羅文

人生何處不相逢 – 陳慧嫻

Object Writing with Pat Pattison

Shirley — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 22:41:52 +0000

A bit tardy on this post, but there’s still lots of time to do object writing with Pat Pattison – starting March 9th, for 40 days, not only can you brush up your object writing skills – how to tap into your senses and really expand on the details of things, get your brain into gear, but also the chance of having your writing being picked for Pat’s new book on object writing!

Write on~

http://objectwriting.com/

Pat Pattison, inventor of object writing, is in the midst of a new book. This new book, Songwriting without Boundaries: Lyric Writing Exercises for Finding Your Voice, sets out a series of 14 day challenges constructed to improve both your object writing and your ability to discover and manipulate metaphor. The book will contain two examples for each of the object writing and metaphor prompts. Each day for the next 40 days, starting on March 9, we will post a new object writing prompt. You are invited to submit your responses here and Pat will be selecting from your responses for possible inclusion in the new book.

update: one of my object writing pieces is picked by Pat to be included in his new book! Can’t wait to see the book published!

Beautiful Oops!

Shirley — Sat, 26 Feb 2011 01:53:43 +0000

I was in the bookstore alone for an hour. Upon leaving, a book having a yellow cover with simple graphics and an interesting title caught my attention. The book is titled “Beautiful Oops!” (by Barney Saltzberg).

Being a fan of children’s book, I began flipping the pages. It put a smile on my face by page 2.

Turn little mistakes into heart's delights

There’s a torn on page 1 – half page down, from the right edge to the center of the page; when you turn the page, the tear becomes the big, cheerful smile of a cute crocodile.

Each page features a “mistake” – a crease, a crumble, a cut or a stain, but each turns into a heart-warming delight.

You can decide to let little mistakes ruin your day, or put a smile on your face – it’s all perspectives and attitude.

This children’s book is a wonderful read for children, yet insightful for all.

And what makes it more beautiful is that the author is a fellow singer-songwriter!

Beautiful Oops!: http://www.barneysaltzberg.com/?q=node/103

Barney’s Myspace: http://myspace.com/barneysaltzberg

Hello, Again ～昔からある場所～

Shirley — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 09:02:58 +0000

Two different approaches on the same song -

I really like this new ballad version by JuJu. I think the strings plus the video really brings out the heartachingly beautiful aspect of this song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IB5ws9IK70&feature=player_embedded

The original by the Japanese group My Little Lover