Just got back to Beijing from Shanghai last night. Thanks to my super girlfriend, Leafy, I went to Tan Dun’s concert at the beautiful Shanghai Grand Theatre. The entire performance was dedicated to two major themes, water percussion and orchestra and paper percussion and orchestra. Inspired by organic elements from nature, Tan Dun creatively and cleverly incorporated water and paper into the production of what he calls the ‘organic music‘. It is pretty mind blowing how many different ways these simple elements in life can be used to make sounds, and very different sounds. How to use the water, what to use the water with, movement in the water, or simply exploring the different ways of water drip can create very different sound effects. It is enlightening and inspirational.
Aside from the pure creative and technical inspiration, I especially enjoyed his narrative and photo slide show on his journey to find the source of paper making in a small village in GuiZhou. I went to a similar village just a few weeks ago, also in the same area. It is both refreshing and self-comforting to know that there are still places and people that live life the authentic way they know, without the pollution from modern developments. The process of making paper is amazing. It’s both an art and a skill that most of us don’t think about nor appreciate. I’m glad Tan Dun found inspiration in such simple yet beautiful things in life. The many different ways of using paper as an instrument has also excited the teacher in me, hopefully one day, I can share these simple instruments in the classroom. 
Tan Dun Concert in Shanghai October 22, 2007
Discovering HDR August 31, 2007
Somehow, I decided to explore my long time interest in photography today. And HDR (High Dynamic Range) imaging is what I discovered this morning… I never realized how beautiful and true to life photographs can be. In fact, I feel somewhat amazed that for so many years I did not realize the incredible difference between the image that our eyes capture and those captured on film. The images we see with our eyes, are so much more vivid, more colorful and more real than even the most beautiful photographs from coffee table books. Yet, I’ve never consciously realized the difference until today. This realization brought me concerns. Are our perceptions really that heavily influenced by what is available to us? This is a scary thought, because in the case of imaging, we really do have the best available tools to anchor that perception, our eyes!
Anyhow, thanks to thanks to a fellow blogger, I feel awakened. From his blog, Memoirs on a Rainy Day, I learned about, and even attempted to make my very own HDR images.
Note: My first time HDR experimental attempts below do not even come close to the actual beauty that HDR is capable of capturing. To do it justice, I will attach a more skillfully captured HDR image of Manhattan at the end of this post.
* believe it or not, it took these 5 photos to make the 1 HDR imaging below
* the same view after HDR
*and it took these photos to make the HDR image below
* this HDR image is more dramatic because the 3 original images were not shot with the exact same position, to embrace the difference, i decided to give it a even more dramatized finish
* from flickr, photographed by Automatt
Asian Art Museum & Astro Boy August 29, 2007
I like visiting museums, but for whatever reason, I don’t go as much as I would like to. So when I finally do go, it’s a huge treat. Thanks to my friend Meli, I went to the Asian Art Museum last night. Although, I didn’t get a chance to walk through all the exhibits, I did get reacquainted with my childhood wonder, Astro Boy…
Aside from being surrounded by art and creative inspiration, museums are great because I always end up learning something new. This time I got educated on one of the most influential Manga masters from Japan, Osamu Tezuka san. Aside from the well-known comic series of Astro Boy, he was also the creator of Phoenix, Kimba the White Lion, Black Jack, Ambassador Magma, Dororo. As great as he may be, I must say that I don’t understand why most of his central characters must come from tragic backgrounds and live in disturbing and dark story lines. To someone, like myself, who prefers the sunny side of life, it is truly difficult to comprehend why someone so clearly talented, skilled and cutting edge in the manga universe would inspire so much of his life long devotion from such dimmed views toward the world. Perhaps a tough childhood? World War II? Or simply stuck on the shady side of the street?
* live amateur mangaka attempts, not bad!
* manga artifacts in their most capitalized forms… nonetheless, cute!
* all the colorful toys are bringing out our silly bugs ;o
* ohh.. its getting late.. gotta say good-bye to my astro boy once again…
