The Alien Saga (2002, Movie)

The Alien Saga is an interesting and mostly well done documentary of where the Alien series started and came to be where it is today. It's main focus is definitely on the first film with over half of the documentary on Alien itself, including some interviews with cast members and production team. After Alien, it continues on with Aliens, giving some nice insight into the film, although not nearly to the depth and scope that it covered the first Alien film. However, after its coverage of Aliens, the documentary falls apart as it ties up the last 20 minutes with 'documentaries' on Alien 3 and Alien: Resurrection.

But like the quadrilogy, it starts out amazing and fascinating but by the time the film gets to Alien 4, it's hard to still care.

行草三部曲 (Cursive Trilogy, Dance, 2001)

Flying Ink line "Dance", with the body brush

「行草貳」 是林懷民繼「行草」之後，再度由書法美學汲取靈感而作的舞蹈。 「行草」以充沛的力道著重於濃墨，而「行草貳」以冥想的基調探討淡墨，引出宋瓷的寧靜之美。行草介於行書與草書間的字體，相較於行書比較草率，但相較於草書又較易辨認。

竹夢 (Bamboo Dream, 2003, Dance)

『竹夢』是一齣沒有劇情，沒有特定角色的抒情之舞。 『竹夢』美麗如畫，魅惑人心，是林懷民最傑出，最別出心裁的作品。不以情節敘事，而託『晨霧』、「春風」、「夏喧」、「秋徑」、「雨霽」、「午夜」、「冬雪」等舞段，抒論飄邈意象，乃雲門林懷民又一靈感泉湧之作！

嚴寒之下，修竹挺俊，長青如玉：中國自古以此喻君子氣節，譬之以凜然風骨，傳之以高妙神韻！竹林化境，似夢超遠，既有觀音大士，如意自在悠坐，更見魏晉南北之竹林七賢，清談玄學於其間。

The Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan interprets one of composer Arvo Part's paeans to the mythology surrounding bamboo in Asia. In Eastern folklore, bamboo features in many stories and symbols, and choreographer Lin Hwai-min has composed some vigorous and dynamic expressions to accompany the Staatorchester Stuttgart, the Twelve Strings of the BPO, and the improvisations of Chinese flute player Huang Sheng-Kai (黃聖凱).

Moon Water (水月, 2003, Dance)

Moon Water is a modern dance piece by Lin Hwai-Min. It is danced by members of the Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan, They proceed to do mostly slow elaborate movements that flow into each other, often very tai-chi like. The music is Bach. I focused on tai-chi in addition to modern dance.

水月Moon Water, 是當代舞團雲門舞集的一齣作品。也是林懷民的「靈靜之旅」系列的第二個作品。這個作品的靈感來自於佛偈｢鏡花水月皆成空｣。1998年11月18日於台北國家戲劇院公開演出。這齣作品企圖在水與鏡中找出生命周而復始，皆盡成空的美感。在舞台運用上，運用了相當多的水和鏡子，在舞者服裝上，僅用白色的舞衣來代表水的意象。水月是一齣沒有中場休息的舞作。

整個舞蹈融入了根據熊衛先生所創「太極導引」的原理發展成形。也有西方芭蕾舞的動作，在如伏過水面的輕盈當中，有著沉穩的力量。至於配樂則使用了巴洛克時期音樂家巴哈的無伴奏大提琴組曲。

林先生將太極導引的動作延伸轉化為意義豐富的舞蹈語彙，是一項絕頂傑出的成就。整齣舞作能量不斷流動，在重複的肢體起落之中，綴以武術動作。

「水月」象徵一場身心靈的淨化之旅。在這齣引申自太極導引的出色舞作當中，林先生完全在象徵的層次上表達意念。他利用這種流過全身的能量放空身體，再從頭找出一種全新的舞蹈語彙。

在今天這個靈修盛行的時代，許多人應當都能瞭解「水月」當中心靈與肉身的結合。舞者的專注力令人動容。他們望似陷入恍惚狀態，卻都是現代舞的專業舞者，深知如何在表演中偶爾小露一手瑪莎‧葛蘭姆的仰倒動作，而又不破壞整體節奏的流暢節奏。

舞者柔軟的肢體動作，恰與他們充滿稜角的身姿形成強烈對比：突出的臀部、彎曲的手肘，放鬆的手腕帶出張開的手掌，有時又屈膝做出蹲跪姿勢。重心的變換是主要的功課。

Remember the Titans (2000, Movie)

How the Goal Line Came To Replace the Color Line

It's striking how many of the images that capture America's struggle to overcome its legacy of racism come from the world of sports. Based on a real-life drama that played out in Virginia, it uses football to tell a bigger story about the American South going through the growing pains of desegregation."Remember the Titans" is a parable about racial harmony, yoked to the formula of a sports movie. Real life is never this simple, but then that's what the movies are for--to improve on life, and give it the illusion of form and purpose.

Denzel Washington and Will Patton are the stars, two football coaches, one black, one white, whose lives are linked for a season, even though neither wants it that way. Yoast's white players say they won't play for a black coach, but Yoast doesn't want them to lose college scholarships, so he swallows his pride and agrees to be Boone's assistant, leading the whites back to practice.

All of this is said to be based on life, and no doubt largely is, but life was perhaps harder and more wounding than the film.

Those training camp scenes include the usual identifiable types (the fat kid, the long-haired Californian, the "Rev") who first clash, then bond.

The movie is heartfelt, yes, and I was moved by it, but it plays safe.

Mom's Birthday Dance (Aug 2009)

From Misc. 2008

Desert Garden at Huntington Library_092009

Another half day spent at Huntington Library under the fair weather. We chose to visit the 12-acre Desert Garden on a cool morning. It has the world's largest group of mature cacti and other succulents, arranged by continent. It's hardly a desert, though most of its plants are from dry regions. Planted here are over 5000 different species of xerophytes - succulents, trees, and shrubs that are adapted to arid environments. Though they come from disparate areas of the world and may be un-related, many xerophytes appear similar, having evolved similar strategies for survival in dry habitats.

Kaiser Friends gathering_092009

This is a farewell luncheon to Yogi Shah and Jay Barrios, as the last layoff wave.

Participants: Audrey Belandres, Ron Tan, Yogi Shah, Jay Barrios, Moses Chu, Perry Gibson, Frank Bereznay, Keli Esser, Robert Suchoski, Rex Avendano, Steve Marks, Todd Evans, Gil Oh, Daniel Liang, Vivian, and me

Where: Newport Seafood Restaurant

High School Memories (1970)

Thanks to Sandy Teng's (甘錦露) effort of compiling those yellowish pictures into modern digital frames. Even scanning those fragile ones was a big endeavor. Now we have something to look at, talk about and laugh together. This is a treasure box stored deep in our heart, forever.

人到老年，可以領悟到人生最實質、最內在、最主體的內容，可以把美麗的花朵和豐收的果實糅進生命的脈絡，滋養人生，豐富人生，實現人生。