Tsienni's Timespace

Printemps

2012-01-01T03:30:00.005+01:00

Si l'obsession était une saison, elle devrait être l'hiver. Mais déjà, dans les froides ténèbres d'hiver j'ai soupiré pour toi, le printemps. Car il faut du temps pour dire adieu à mon âme passée, la rejetant derrière moi. Toi je te crois. Tout au long du jour.

photobucket.com/splantae

Reeperbahn

2011-12-26T15:22:00.001+01:00

Reeperbahn in Hamburg appears to be more Hornsgatan than Götgatan. Café Lehmitz under the lens of Anders Petersen is nowhere in sight, or is it still extant? Passersby stood rapt as a group of Bier Bikers slid down the avenue with jocund teasings. "The times they are a-changin'." Or not.

Retro Posters

2011-12-26T06:18:00.007+01:00

Random finds -

Cat

2011-12-13T00:42:00.012+01:00

There was once a very lovely, very frightened cat. She lived alone except for a nameless lady. As if greeting me with her usual curiosity wasn't enough, apparently she wished to impress me more by leaving me a gift the other day: a dead mouse at my door side she had captured somewhere nearby.

Hello, how I miss you now, my old neighbor. (flickr.com/photos/tsienni/6353566431)

Edward Hopper

2011-12-13T00:42:00.010+01:00

In an Edward Hopper exhibition held by Swiss Fondation de l’Hermitage last year, you could have the chance to watch Hitchcock films, so here's an idea, why not having a Sven Nykvist retrospective with Ingmar Bergman film screenings here in Sweden?

Hopefully...

Umberto Eco in Stockholm

2011-12-12T04:43:00.004+01:00

[10-12-2011]

Italian author of 'The Name of the Rose', Umberto Eco, signing his new book 'The Prague Cemetery' this evening at Kulturhuset. (http://bit.ly/pg5cNI) An erudite scholar, he told the audience that, in human chemistry, "I'm not interested in geniuses." I took the occasion to ask him about a mystery I've long harbored: why the Kabbalah text in Hebrew was printed upside-down on opening page of the Swedish translation of 'Foucault's Pendulum'. "Since no one seems to have noticed it, was it entirely intentional, with some hidden religious meaning to be inferred perhaps?" "No, no, it appears so only after the Dutch version made a mistake ..."

Meeting Nordic Council's Literature Prize Winner in 2011

2011-12-12T04:37:00.004+01:00

[09-26-2011]

Short story is called "Smásaga" in Icelandic, which literally means "small saga". So I asked Gyrðir Elíasson, a leading short-story writer from Iceland, during his guesting in Nordic literature evening arranged by Stockholm city library, if he considered his writings more of modernized Norse sagas than of elaborated poetry sketches as some interviewers earlier suggested. His response: the body of his work indeed reflected his long-standing love for poetry. An orientation in spirit towards that field wouldn't surprise him. My last question was if he himself was going to pick a favorite book he had written, which one it would be. "Sandárbókin", he paused for a moment and then gave me the answer. (the German translation recently released: http://bit.ly/p8GVNA)

Sigtuna Market Fair 2011

2011-09-11T01:50:00.002+02:00

besökte Sveriges första och kanske mysigaste stad i helgen. (Aug 28, 2011)

▶ Slideshow:
Sigtuna Möte - en marknad i 1912 års anda

Rachmaninoff concerto 1

2011-09-10T23:26:00.003+02:00

Rachmaninoff piano concerto No. 1 in F-sharp minor, Op. 1- Ashkenazy-Previn-Tempo 2

Rachmaninoff composed this Concerto at age 19. I personally find it his most precious piece, if not his most sophisticated composition. Like an unbridled confession, it touches my unsettled self deep down inside. Every time I listen to this, I think of a passage in Boris Vian's novel L'Écume des jours (1947). Exactly why I don't know ...

"À l'endroit où les fleuves se jettent dans la mer, il se forme une barre difficile à franchir et de grands remous écumeux où dansent les épaves. Entre la nuit du dehors et la lumière de la lampe, les souvenirs refluaient de l'obscurité, se heurtaient à la clarté et, tantôt apparents, montraient leurs ventres blancs et leurs dos argentés."

"Before I think where I go"

2011-07-13T17:23:00.005+02:00

"Far, far in the forest, before I think where I go,
Solitary, smelling the earthy smell, stopping now and then in the silence,
Alone I had thought —"

From Walt Whitman (1819–1892) Leaves of Grass (1900)

Stockholm i mitt hjärta

Glad midsommar!

2011-06-25T23:56:00.010+02:00

Another midsummer night's dream:
photobucket.com/florae

Midsummer in Husby

2011-06-19T04:06:00.004+02:00

- Eritrean twin girls celebrating Midsummer in Husby, a suburban area of Stockholm mainly inhabited by immigrants.

I didn't pose them, but upon hearing my request to take a photo, one of them rested her hand on the shoulder of the other girl, with a simple smile that appeared to me most disarming. So everything went on naturally. I was fortunate to witness this unguarded innocence. Just beautiful.

Après le cubisme

2011-06-09T01:30:00.004+02:00

Après le cubisme by Ozenfant

Never a fan of the majority of Le Corbusier's creative works, I personally find him to be greater in articulating rhetoric than practicing architecture. But still, always powerful rhetoric, admittedly... This book is but one example, it almost reads like a manifesto for the emerging spirit of a modern man. So after I finished the book, though it didn't at once convert me to his grand visions, it certainly left me considerably charmed.

View all my reviews

Sibiriens soppkök

2011-05-27T03:18:00.004+02:00

När jag frågade Miriam Zelmerlööw på Sibiriens soppkök hur det var att laga mat som kock, hennes respons gav mig lagom med ledtråd - "Det är roligt." Trots att svaret var så typiskt och ju lakoniskt, troligtvis var det precis som hon redan sagt.

Sibiriens soppkök tipsar om "billig flytande föda":
metro.se/noje/soppa-som-varmer-sibirien/Objgak!14_0529-23

World's Second-Hardest Easy Geometry Problem

2011-05-22T23:12:00.010+02:00

This is my solution in response to "World's Second-Hardest Easy Geometry Problem".

Henceforth I use symbol ≅ to indicate triangle congruence.

Lemma:

In graph 1, suppose that triangle ΔIEH is equilateral, meaning that IE=EH=IH, and if ∠DIH=∠DHI=40°, then we conclude line DE bisects the angle ∠IEH, i.e., ∠DEI=∠DEH=(1/2)*∠IEH=(1/2)*60°=30°.

Proof: From point D, draw an altitude of the triangle ΔDIH which intersects line IH at point O. Since ∠DIH=∠DHI, and ∠DOI=∠DOH=90°, DO=DO, therefore triangle ΔDOI ≅ triangle ΔDOH, so IO=OH. Connects points O and E with a line OE, because IO=OH, OE=OE, IE=EH, therefore triangle ΔIOE ≅ triangle ΔHOE, so ∠IOE=∠HOE. Since ∠IOE+∠HOE=180°, it follows that ∠IOE=∠HOE=90°. So ∠DOH+∠HOE=180°, therefore points D, O, E lie on a straight line. Since line OE bisects the angle ∠IEH, we conclude that the same line DF bisects the angle ∠IEH, too.

Now back to the original problem. Draw a line HB counter-clockwise 20 degrees from line CB and line HB intersects line AE at point I, ∠IBA=∠IBD+∠DBA=∠CBD-∠CBI+∠DBA=30°-20°+50°=60°. Since∠IAB=60°, so triangle ΔIAB is equilateral, AB=AI=BI. Since ∠CAB=∠CBA=80°, triangle ΔCAB is isosceles, so AC=BC, ∠CAE=∠HBC=20°, ∠C=∠C, therefore triangle ΔCAE ≅ triangle ΔCBH, so CH=CE, triangle ΔCHE is also isosceles, line HE is parallel to line AB, ∠EHI=∠HEI=60°, so triangle ΔHIE is also equilateral, therefore ∠HIE=60°.

Since ∠DAB=80°, ∠DBA=50°, so ∠BDA=180°-80°-50°=50°, therefore triangle ΔADB is isosceles, AD=AB, but AB=AI, so AD=AI, therefore triangle ΔADI is isosceles, ∠DIA=(1/2)*(180°-∠DAI)=(1/2)*(180°-20°)=80°

So ∠HID=180°-∠HIE-∠DIA=180°-60°-80°=40°

∠AHB=180°-∠HAB-∠HBA=180°-80°-60°=40°, i.e., ∠DHI=40°=∠HID, and we know triangle ΔHIE is equilateral. From the lemma we proved in the beginning, we conclude that line DE bisects the angle ∠AEH, i.e., ∠DEA=30°

Thus angle x is equal to 30 degrees.

World's Hardest Easy Geometry Problem

2011-05-22T18:26:00.013+02:00

This is my solution in response to "World's Hardest Easy Geometry Problem".

Henceforth I use symbol ~ to denote being "similar" between two triangles; symbol ≅ to indicate triangle congruence.

Draw a line that bisects the angle ∠CBD - let it intersect line AE at point I and line AC at point P, so ∠CBP=∠PBD=(1/2)*20°=10°. Draw another line that is 10 degrees down clockwise from line AE and intersects line BD at point H. Because ∠IAB=70°, ∠IAH=10°, so ∠HAB=70°-10°=60°, and because ∠HBA=60°, so ∠BHA=180°-60°-60°=60°. Therefore triangle ΔABH is equilateral, meaning that AH=HB=AB.

Draw a line between point D and I. Because ∠DAI=∠IBD(=10°), it follows that the four points D, I, B, A lie on a circle, therefore the inscribed angle ∠IDB=∠IAB=70°, and the inscribed angle ∠DIA=∠DBA=60°. Line PDA and Line PIB are intersecting circle secants, therefore triangle ΔPDI ~ triangle ΔPBA, ∠PID=∠PAB=80°; ∠PDI=∠PBA=70°

and PI/DI=AP/AB (1)

Because ∠CAB=∠CBA=80° triangle ΔCAB is isosceles, CA=CB, likewise because ∠IAB=∠IBA=70° triangle ΔIAB is isosceles, IA=IB. Draw a line that connects points I and H, because AI=IB, and AH=HB, so triangle ΔAIH ≅ triangle ΔBIH, so ∠AIH=∠BIH=(1/2)*∠AIB=(1/2)*(180°-70°-70°)=20°. Draw a line that connects points C and I, because CA=CB, IA=IB, CI=CI, so triangle ΔCAI ≅ triangle ΔCBI, so ∠ACI=∠BCI=(1/2)*∠ACB=(1/2)*(180°-80°-80°)=10°. By symmetry both points I and H lie on the same line that bisects the angle ∠ACB. Also because ∠CAE=∠CBP=10°, ∠ACB=∠BCA, CA=CB, therefore triangle ΔCAE ≅ triangle ΔCPB, so PB=AE, since IA=IB, so PB-IB=AE=AI, ie, PI=EI. Then ∠PCI=∠ECI, PC=CE, CI=CI, so triangle ΔPCI ≅ triangle ΔECI, ∠CIP=∠CIE=∠APB-∠ACI=∠ACB+∠CBP-∠ACI=20°+10°-10°=20°.

Since ∠PDI=70°=∠IDH. Because ∠PID=80° and ∠HID=∠AIH+∠DIA=20°+60°=80°, so ∠PID=∠HID, DI=ID, so triangle ΔPDI ≅ triangle ΔHDI, therefore IH=IP=IE. Further, since ∠PCI=∠IBH=10°, ∠CIP=∠BIH=20°, and IP=IH, therefore triangle ΔCPI ≅ triangle ΔBHI so CE=CP=HB=HA=AB

Since triangle ΔPDI ~ triangle ΔPBA, and triangle ΔPDI ≅ triangle ΔHDI, so triangle ΔHDI and triangle ΔPBA would be similar as well,

so HI/DH=AP/PB
in other words, AP*DH=PB*HI (2)

Because ∠PCB=∠HIB=20°, and ∠CBP=∠IBH=10°, so triangle ΔPCB ~ triangle ΔHIB,
It follows that PB/PC=HB/HI, therefore PB*HI=CP*HB=HA*AB (3)

Compare (2) and (3) we have AP*DH=HA*AB, so HA/DH=AP/AB, but according to earlier conclusion (1), we know that AP/AB=PI/DI=EI/DI,

Therefore HA/DH=EI/DI
Since ∠DHI=180°-60°=120°, ∠DIE=∠DIP+∠CIP+∠CIE=80°+20°+20°=120°, so ∠DHI=∠DIE

Therefore triangle ΔDAH ~ triangle ΔDEI

Therefore ∠DEI=∠DAH=∠PAI+∠IAH=10°+10°=20°

Thus, angle x is equal to 20 degrees.

Horisont

2011-05-03T01:35:00.004+02:00

Det fanns en tid som var varken vinter eller vår. Tiden, som bara hade strömmade ur de gamla tankarna, stod still denna isländska natt i början av maj månad. Under en mycket klar himmel troddes temperaturen utomhus ligga nära fryspunkten. När man kastade en blick åt blånande berg vid öppna havet längs horisonten, plötsligt kändes ens egen existens futtig och osäker. Sen började man erinra sig en världsbild vars innehåll berättade att allting kunde ju inte bli färdigt hädanefter. Den tiden försvann då, men jag fortfarande har dessa tankar i minnet.

Nu saknar jag Island ändå.

Come Undone

2011-04-24T03:51:00.010+02:00

Fragment

Go green

2011-04-21T15:50:00.013+02:00

What do people think of Earth Day, now that it's been a yearly ritual all over the world? Living in an environment-conscious country, when I go to a local fast food chain MAXI, I'm reminded by the burger menu how much CO2 emission would be associated with each meal. I think it's a better call this way than putting forward all the PR-stuffs and diverting the attention from the environment impact of their core product, which is food. On the other hand, isn't the fact that, in term of the amount of greenhouse gases caused by its production, meat ranks the worst offender in all types of food, posing an inherent challenge to a burger restaurant, just like forcing the Tobacco companies to add a health hazard note to each cigarette pack sold would do?

Remembering the Earth Hour? Last year the dairy maker Arla started a public campaign in which their milk packages all painted black during the EH week. What I find interesting is what happens when the campaign ends, and here's one visual testimony:

I'm supporting all the green initiatives, just people need to understand it's not about merely wearing politically correct tags and feeling good but our everyday lifestyle that can make a real difference to tackle the environmental challenges the world is facing. Like now, in springtime, I believe every day is an Earth Day, and everyone can be a TreeHugger. These are my Easter prayers.

P.S. In case you'll take a ride when visiting Stockholm in the summer, aside from taking more rented bikes for transportation, you may wish to try the Eco "Car" that has been introduced to the Swedish capital in the last couple of years:

FxCamera

2011-04-21T02:30:00.009+02:00

TechCrunch reported this week that, on Flickr, Apple’s iPhone 4 is set to overtake Nikon D90 and become the most popular camera used. I'm an Android user, the only thing I envy about the iPhone is its Hipstamatic app which I find great fun to play with. But today I finally found an Android app that could do a similar job as Hipstamatic: FxCamera. It's a free product from Android Market, so worth a try. Here is my first phone camera shot processed by this software. -> Check out the complete gallery: pbase.com/tsienni/mobile

Au commencement

2011-04-13T22:38:00.000+02:00

Au commencement l’homme créa son Dieu. Puis il fut tellement déçu de lui qu'il voulût l'abandonner. Il est maintenant seul, voulant rien qu'un espoir qui le berce, sur la terre comme au ciel.

La fin.

Portrait

2011-03-21T01:20:00.002+01:00

Random encounter in Kungsholmen today. Meet the current owner of Café FIX, Stockholm's oldest café - Razai, an Arabic-speaking immigrant originally from Syria.

がんばれ日本

2011-03-13T23:35:00.003+01:00

小時讀過魯迅的《在仙台》，今天生平第一次看到發自仙台市的電視畫面竟然會是這樣，海嘯漩渦恍如世界末日。讀著這裏各位日本友人的無事報告，突然想起早已失掉聯系的道子，好想能對她說聲保重，気をつけてください ...

Design Week 2011

2011-02-28T23:14:00.008+01:00

During the Design Week 2011 this month, there were a lot of activities going on for Nordic design in the Swedish capital city. The main event, Stockholm Furniture Fair, is said to be the world’s biggest meeting place for Nordic design. If you are interested, here's the slideshow of what I experienced at the furniture fair:
www.pbase.com/tsienni/nordic_design&view=slideshow

I was also at Design House Stockholm's special evening event at the company's Norrmalmstorg headquarter when I happened to stand by the side of Amanda Dameron, from San Francisco-based Dwell Magazine, who was at the time doing a small interview with a young talented Swedish designer Fredrik Färg. They talked about the ongoing exhibition at Biologiska Museum, with a theme aptly called "Design in the Swedish Nature", of which Fredrik was one of the creators and the curators. To check out more of this gorgeous exhibition, take a look at this presentation by Dwell (Link). Out of curiosity, I asked him, since his family name "Färg" really means "color" in Swedish, if Fredrik likes working with colors aside from his obvious professed love of form plays. He answered that, until his latest design product, which is in red, he basically was a black and white guy. Hmm, I guess that preference is perhaps reflective of certain core values of Nordic aesthetics: chiefly, to stay simple, respectful and essential.

Biologiska Museum at Djurgården, inspired by the medieval Norwegian stave churches:

歲暮

2011-02-02T15:07:00.004+01:00

今天終于看到小R的阿毛，小R挺著大肚子在一起吃飯也就一年半載前，一下著就多出一個新的生命，而且生長速度之快真讓我大吃一驚。小家夥看上去好象和我很有緣，拉著我的手不放，那表情我無從去琢磨^^ 生命真的是多麽神奇，只是有一天他感受到喜悅的時刻，離也明白不開心的滋味不遠矣。古時蘇子說水與月，逝者如斯，而未嘗往也；盈虛者如彼，而卒莫消長也。其實是以不變者觀之。生之須臾，人面變異而不自知。不過假如可以回到過去，那些抛擲的流光我想我會一樣放手。

歸心似箭的說，在這個歲暮。

Gorgias

2011-01-10T09:49:00.008+01:00

Je l'ai lu et je l'ai adoré. Peut-être que Socrate aurait pu être un bon économiste? "Si bien que la recherche d'une beauté empruntée fait négliger la beauté naturelle..", comme il le dit. Et si l'on remplace le mot "beauté" par "argent", cela veut-il dire que "l'argent emprunté porte tristesse"? Eh bien, n'est-ce pas sage, cet avis, franchement, sur lesquel l'Etat grec actuel devrait réfléchir un peu?

Andas

2011-01-10T09:26:00.015+01:00

Ännu ett år, igen. Dagen har gått i lugnets tecken medan den djupaste själsliga skräcken lurar i mörkret. Ingen fara, för evigheten är blott ett närvarande.

Gallery "City & Nature"

Umbrella Story

2011-01-08T04:38:00.008+01:00

Dunno why, but I thought about this song the whole day. One unjustly forgotten classic from the London Suede, the single wasn't included in Suede's latest compilation "Best of" from 2010. (See Amazon.com listing)

Track No.3 on the single "Obsessions" (CD 2), written by Brett Anderson and released in 2002.

Rainy Day Girl
youtube.com/watch?v=2uLTtvFlk10

Photo taken at Ung08 summer concert at Kungsträdgården. Summer! Arhhhh.

Thoughts of a Snowman

2010-12-23T23:02:00.004+01:00

-25º this evening! Guess I'd better go under Hibernation Mode during the holidays. Zzzzzzzz

When I first read H. C. Andersen's The Little Match Girl story at 7, I remember I couldn't understand why it's important for the girl to strike one match after another to keep the vision of her grandmother alive, and how it's possible for someone to die staying outdoors without a shelter for just one night. But now it's the opposite: I think it's only sensible that children's books contain more truth than what adults would 'seriously' read everyday. At some certain point of my life I felt I stopped growing any more. Or in the words of Thomas Hardy, "every spirit upon earth seemed fervorless as I", he wrote in his New Years Day poem The Darkling Thrush, originally titled By the Century's Deathbed. That's why I appreciate Andersen's fairy tales more and more even as I'm no longer a child - the stories are not just wise, they really read like a blessing if your heart is receptive enough for the messages.

All of a sudden, I thought about the night before Christmas Day when I departed for the Holy Land ten years ago. Life was then like an uncharted sea voyage, full of nervousness but also fun and longings. Only the sweet dreams and didn't wish to wake up again too soon. So, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! :-)

Christmas market

2010-12-22T08:23:00.002+01:00

Traditional Swedish Christmas market (Gammeldags julmarknad) in the historical city of Sigtuna last Sunday.

Merde!

2010-12-12T01:32:00.004+01:00

I have never adequately understood the shopping obsession in Sweden. What amazes me is how relentless this has thrust into the common social life, yet without awareness: to stay in tune with the ever-changing whims of the superfluously correct apparently gets the best of the locals here. When Christmas holiday season is drawing near, you could safely bet the formidable marketing force is now in high gear everywhere in the capital city.

Guess how stunned I was when I saw this clothes brand in Åhléns. Or what better name to summarize the kind of the consumer society we are living in? Merde!

Did you get it? "We are the superlative conspiracy".

Let there be light ...

2010-12-03T23:21:00.008+01:00

This year the winter has started with unusual coldness in Europe. Just this week, the temperature in Stockholm fell to -20 degrees. Outside of my humble abode a string of snowstorms almost shrouded everything visible. If only I could undergo a special type of metamorphosis and become some other animal - while under the hibernation mode, I'm able to withdraw myself in a long long slumber. And when I finally wake up, it's spring time already. Hmm, I grew weary of winter over the years, it appears.

Well, I guess at this juncture my mind might be stuck in something that has to do with the Nordic light - I can sense it has been waning by strength day by day, seemingly all gone by December. Only after a long winter it returns again. How I'm going to miss it in the coming dark months!

In late March of 2007, hoping to rediscover Sweden in a different light than before, I traveled to southern part of the country, first to Varberg, then to Malmö, and finally Karlskrona. Back then, spring's first hint was palpable in the air, as evidenced by the very profusion of the light almost all of a sudden in the open air. My eyes could see it, and my soul was singing the tune: "jag tackar dig, du vårens ljus, för glädjen som du gav." It gave me a kind of joy I could feel from within. I really felt reborn during that period. Let there be light again, soon. I so wish, now.

A myth called Prague

2010-11-10T03:53:00.017+01:00

"Franz Kafka was born into a myth called Prague."

"Imagine a childhood where the I is an enigma and the community is entelechy. A home laid siege to by dead brothers, distant sisters, cold governesses and a caustic cook. A world seen through a veil of fear and guilt..."

These were introductory words that greeted me as a visitor to Franz Kafka Museum in the Czech capital of Prague. The past life of a restless soul, restored in this space to full immediacy and actuality, at once appeared vivid and came to seep into my inner consciousness when I was promptly struck by Kafka's perceived hypersensitive temperament at display here. By his own admission: in this city, every breath was felt to be uncertain. Again, what an actuality for me as well. Upon reading this line from his notebook: "a cage went in search of a bird", I started to wonder if I were in truth a butterfly who forgot my previous life?

I don't think I'll ever know.

Family letter handwritten by Kafka to his father:

Deuxième printemps

2010-11-03T04:02:00.005+01:00

"L'automne est un deuxième printemps où chaque feuille est une fleur." J'avoue que je n'en connaissais pas la source, ni l'auteur, mais j'ai toujours adoré cette citation. Après des recherches rapides sur le net, on peut constater qu'elle est partout attribuée à Albert Camus. Si c'est vrai, dans son écrit Camus me paraît être un vrai poète.

不知路幾千

2010-10-24T23:28:00.001+02:00

上個星期在布拉格去看一位捷克朋友。他告訴我最近他在看李白的詩集，而且異常喜歡的說。當時聽到的時候不禁暗暗稱奇，于是友人介紹了翻譯李白的那位捷克人的故事。據說譯者只是位廚師，很典型的一位波希米亞的放浪者。此公愛好旅遊，後來自學了漢語。既然他能夠讀李白，我猜他的中文水平想來一定不差吧。

“不過，” 我的朋友話題一轉， “不知道爲什麽總是這麽巧，我每次一打開那本詩集，就是那首李白感傷喪子之痛的詩，每次我也因此會很傷感，無法讀下去。現在我都不敢翻那本書了。”

很好奇他說的到底是哪首李白的詩。在網上查了半天，還是不是很確定。不過說道李白, 我一直很喜歡他的這首詞的開頭這一句：

"平林漠漠煙如織，寒山一帶傷心碧。"
--李白.菩薩蠻

即使在這座千塔之城的視野裏去想象，蒼茫悲壯的畫面感可也呼之欲出阿。所謂“傷心碧”，指的是山色轉深。讀李白的文字，我總覺得他對光線似乎有某種特別的敏感。而且不只是象比如“床前明月光”這樣的明寫，他真正卓然不群的地方是從他對生命本體的關懷可以看出李白其實是一位偉大的人道主義者。當他馳騁在自己想象空間裏，絕不止于爲一個外在的唯美景象所拘泥，有點象莊子，但是在實質的精神層面，又可以說他更人性化，所以李白能發出“腸斷非關隴頭水，淚下不爲雍門琴”這樣的感歎。當然這只是我個人對李白的理解，不一定對，我之所以這樣想也許是受了我最近看過的一部日本電影《幻之光》的影響。

題外附上一張照片，這是我的這位捷克朋友打開當天的當地報紙，指著我看一篇有關中國總理溫家寶訪問希臘的報道。

箴言/Zitat

2010-09-30T16:14:00.004+02:00

子日：「學而不思則罔，思而不學則殆。」
(Learning without thought is labor lost, thought without learning is perilous.)
- Confucius

"Denken ohne Erfahrung ist leer, Erfahrung ohne Denken ist blind."
(Theory without experience is mere intellectual play, experience without theory is blind.)
- Immanuel Kant

Välfärdens personligheter

2010-09-26T18:31:00.010+02:00

Professor Karl Gunnar Myrdal (1898-1987) brukade brottas med samhällsvetenskapens "objektivitetsproblem" och således skulle sägas vilja ta in olika icke-ekonomiska orsakssamband i sin ekonomiska analys. Tänk på ideologisk debatt om välfärden i vår tid. Visst är god ekonomi en förutsättning för att säkra god välfärd, å andra sidan anses välfärden i sig skapa arbete och hjälpa ekonomin åt rätt håll. Om frågan ställs så här: "varför gavs väljarna uppfattningen att högerblocket skulle kunna, i dagens läge, förvalta välfärdssaten bättre?" Eller, i stort sett, "har folkviljan varit missförstådd under de senaste åren i Sverige?" Jag låtsas inte vara snabb med bra svar, men tycker dock att, för att tillföra den aktuella diskussionen kring välfärdspolitiken riktiga perspektiv, kan man sannerligen dra nytta av en insiktsfull historieskrivning i den här boken:

Är svensken människa? Gemenskap och oberoende i det moderna Sverige

Encounter with "Alfred Nobel"

2010-09-10T16:33:00.067+02:00

As paradoxical as it may sound, reading a biography of Alfred Nobel, perhaps the most famous Swede to the outside world, does not immediately conduce to conjuring up an image of his being particularly Swedish in our minds. Nobel was undoubtedly an internationalist. Never married, and childless, he spent a large part of his life abroad, in Russia, France, and Italy mostly. Indeed the Prize bearing his name founded in his last testament symbolized the international ideals of this man. Since these ideals transcend all national borders, for a long time I've been wondering how they were received in his native land. When, this summer, I visited the mansion of Björkborn in Sweden where Nobel lived during his final years, I finally got the chance to present the question to our guide at Nobel's Swedish home.

-"Not too well, I must say."
-"Oh.."

After he stunned me by suddenly standing up from the dinner table when the doorkeeper just welcomed me in (I initially thought this guide was a wax figure as he appeared almost a Nobel look-alike), his answer came as a second surprise. "At first, the King, the Royal Academy, as well as Karolinska Institute, all hesitated." They did not want to have anything to do with the Nobel Prize; but gradually, taking a long-term view, they started to realize the instituted prize, the first truly international Prize, would eventually prove to be a pride for this country. Or, in my unqualified thoughts, precisely because it's so international, it becomes very Swedish.

Although, an interesting historical anecdote may serve as a counter note when ideals meet the reality. There arose a dispute between Sweden and France shortly after Nobel's death with regard to executing Nobel's testament. Since Nobel often visited his Paris home towards the end of his life, the French government deemed France as Nobel's home land. The French court overseeing the case differed and opined that where the man had his horses should his home be located. It turned out that Nobel had at the time several Russian stallions in his Björkborn mansion, so this place was decisive for legally ratifying Nobel's last will in Sweden and subsequently bringing his grand vision to fruition.

Watch the man himself narrating the story:
youtube.com/watch?v=iXnxkpRYao0

A virtual tour of Björkborns herrgård -

Favorite fish soup

2010-09-10T05:35:00.007+02:00

In Swedish, using the letter W instead of V is considered as an archaism. However, some old names, yet still commonly used today, contain just the letter W instead of V, suggesting their Germanic linguistic origins. For instance, in probably the best-preserved Swedish medieval town, Visby of Gotland, take a promenade along the cobblestone-covered streets, you might spot "Hotel Wisby", "Wisby cheese shop", etc. That's hardly surprising given the city's past link to the German Hanseatic League in history. Another example: Wasa flatbread originally was one particular product called Vasaknäcke, but on the package cover it's marketed as "Wasa"; the company had been even renamed to Wasabröd AB. Anyway, it's Wasa Knäckebröd (in Sweden) or Wasa Knaeckebrot (in Germany), not that much different in spelling.

Not meant as a serious comparison of version Swedish versus version German, fish soup, I imagine, might offer an interesting perspective. In the following photo, can you guess which is Swedish made fish soup, which is German made? :)

Soutenons les Roms

2010-09-10T05:19:00.001+02:00

The Gypsies... sorry for my rant.. silence is killing me. There's something really insidious about the way how the Gypsies have been treated throughout history. They perished in the German Nazi concentration camps because they were considered as sub-human - extermination was the way to force them out of sight for good. What do we hear about the Gypsies nowadays if they are talked about at all in the media? I'm not pretending I'm knowledgeable enough about those big social issues. But still.. Gypsies are a special case considering that they never have had their own country; few interest groups would help defend their rights and plead their cause if they were mistreated in the host country. You can't just tell them "go back to India" and expect their wandering caravans will head for the East. When I visited one local Roma family, guess what, I saw they settled down in a modern apartment, just like you and me. The younger son studies industrial engineering at KTH while the older son already works as a self-employed IT consultant. So no, they are not all thieves and beggars, not even accordion and violin players bent on entertaining you for an unseemly purpose.

All of us who hate to see the Gypsies are being kicked around like a football, please, Soutenons les Roms !

Värmland

2010-07-24T22:16:00.020+02:00

Värmland speaks to me so much more than Småland, just like Selma Lagerlöf touched my heart in a way Astrid Lindgren didn't. Not just the cultural landscape of Värmland we normally talk about in Sweden, but there's something perhaps more personal, I don't know what, like, about this little country road through the forest leading to Selma's Mårbacka home that I find just lofty. Then, all of sudden, I started to think about one of Gustaf Fröding's poems which contains these lines:

"Den drömmen, som aldrig besannats,
som dröm var den vacker att få,
för den, som ur Eden förbannats,
är Eden ett Eden ändå."

— Gralstänk

Does it sound odd, thoughts fly out of mind in mid-air?

山鬼

2010-04-25T04:23:00.019+02:00

四月，殘酷的四月走到結尾，冰雪消融，萬物復蘇。一季輪回重生的開幕。高原曠野上我對自己說，記憶的包袱也許是時候將它拋諸腦後。去爬山的衝動再次被喚起。通往山頭的小脛消失在不遠前的濃霧裡，週遭不見人煙。峰回路轉後，視野突然間開闊起來，前方一望無際。極目遠眺江河入海處 - 乃瞻天地黯然，宇宙荒蕪；雖然恣意吾心，俯仰之間，又為陳蹟。

"餘處幽篁兮終不見天，路險難兮獨後來。

表獨立兮山之上，雲容容兮而在下。
杳冥冥兮羌晝晦，東風飄兮神靈雨。
留靈脩兮憺忘歸，歲既晏兮孰華予。
採三秀兮於山間，石磊磊兮葛蔓蔓。"

- 《九歌》

"九歌"是傳說中的一種遠古歌曲的名稱。戰國時楚人屈原根據民間祭神樂歌加工改作而成《楚辭·九歌》篇。

請聽冰島國漁夫 Steindór Andersen 的這段吟唱： (文字是史上維京時代流傳下來的北歐古聖歌，音樂則是冰島樂隊 Sigur Rós 的配樂。)

Úr mansöng 1. rímu.(ferskeytt)

"Fjöll í austri fagurblá
freista dalabarnsins.
Ungur fylgir æskuþrá
upp til jökulhjarnsins.

Sveimað heimahögum frá
hef ég vors á degi,
víða stíða þræddi þá
þunga hraunavegi.

Heiðin breiða hugumkær
hvetur viljann ofar.
Leiðin seiðir, fráum fær,
fögrum sýnum lofar.

Gangan sækist öruggt enn
urðarróti móti.
Einatt hlutu heiðamenn
höggvinn fót á grjóti.

Hver, sem ofar á að ná,
einskis metið getur
þótt í fangið fái sá
fjúk og hretið betur.

Anda heitum yndi nóg
unaðsreitir geyma.
Seinna leitar þráin þó
þinna sveita heima."

Portrait of a city

2010-04-05T12:40:00.005+02:00

Super summer

But icy winter ...

Living statue

"Johnny Cash was a friend of mine"

2010-03-02T00:23:00.012+01:00

Over the course of an acquaintance spanning several decades a Swedish fan, who went by the name Lars, had been a life friend of Johnny Cash until the Man in Black passed away in 2003. Years ago, out of his own personal collection Lars organized a small memorial show here at a Hard Rock cafe in Stockholm, where a large number of documentary photographs, clothing, accessories, personal items were on display.

Following the wood stairs I walked up to the second floor of Hard Rock. Fortunately I was the only visitor that day so the host had the chance to stay a bit chatty with me while presenting his exhibition. Though he appeared to me a bit reserved at first, but once he started talking, he really seemed to be a nice decent guy who knew well Cash and his family in the US. It was very interesting indeed to hear Lars narrate many of his stories and anecdotes - how he got to know one of the most influential musicians of last century and how the quintessential "father and son" relationship lasted throughout the years.

Something that just caught my eye, among the exhibited stuffs, was a hand drawing by Johnny Cash in his late life while he was terminally ill. Lars told me that it was a gift from Cash deeply cherished. Kind of surprising for me to see this artistic side of Johnny Cash. The creation itself didn't look overtly sophisticated, and yet, upon closer examination, you could feel unmistakeably a certain tension of the frailty as opposed to the strength for each stroke, as if in a perennial conflict between sorrow and redemption within the confines of human psyche.

"As sure as night is dark and day is light."

Varnhem to Stockholm

2010-02-24T05:21:00.031+01:00

For the past several months I've been accustomed to awakening most of the nights at about 4 a.m. and getting up only to drink something. I always thought coffee was the culprit, but today, after picking up Mark Obama Ndesandjo's novel "Nairobi To Shenzhen" and spending the last hour reading along, I was just stunned.

"It was the angst that roused him from sleep." Ohhh, that drumbeat of unease has struck me lately, too. It's weird at such moments the mind tends to become so alert, hardly befuddled by the immediately precedent period of slumber. Memories "ebb and flow, enter and exit the consciousness". Talking about the verses from my own high school that suddenly leaped out of obscurity and are as clear to me now as yesterday, it's Thomas Gray's musing from year 1750:

"Now fades the glimmering landscape on the sight,
And all the air a solemn stillness holds,
Save where the beetle wheels his droning flight,
And drowsy tinklings lull the distant folds:

......

Far from the madding crowd's ignoble strife,
Their sober wishes never learn'd to stray;
Along the cool sequester'd vale of life
They kept the noiseless tenour of their way."

It's 6:10 in the morning now. Everything seems to have stopped.

My photo gallery of Sweden at Pbase:
pbase.com/tsienni/sweden

雪国

2010-02-13T06:11:00.009+01:00

川端康成的《雪国》我在每天往返的火車上斷斷續續將它念完。恰好這段時間北國的大雪一直接連不止地飄落著，整個月份都被一種靜謐的氛圍籠罩，好似時間又被拉回到聖誕那天，就此停下腳步。 “穿過縣界長長的隧道，便是雪國。夜空下一片白茫茫，火車在信號所前停了下來。” 每次我一翻開書，就是開頭這一句。透過車窗，外面天空廣闊，風中揚起一片片雪塵，白色的樹林在身後流動。

離開家鄉來到這片土地是在一個年初，記憶也總會在冬季的某一天突然蘇醒過來。一層淡淡的煙灰，帶著溫熱，會從生命的某個角落徐徐升起，時而隱沒，時而顯現。

川端康成的世界裡，也許一切最終都是徒勞的。但是對于流亡者，確是福音。釋懷的春天，就在冰雪融化後。

Curves

2010-02-09T20:20:00.008+01:00

I hated boxes. There are still so many things in life that have the potential to box me in. Reading Oscar Niemeyer this evening makes me feel good. "It is not the right angle that attracts me. Nor the straight line, tough, inflexible, created by man. What attracts me is the free, sensual curve." I can safely say "ditto" to him! Well, if I could ever go back to my teen years and choose what to study in college, I think I'd definitely wish to become an architecture student with all those sweeping curves tangoing on my own design sketchbook for sure. Don't you love it? ;)

"God has no recent posts"

2010-02-09T20:01:00.009+01:00

Humans do curious things and harbor curious thoughts. Just today I got pointed to a Facebook fan site called "Getting a text as soon as you pick up your phone and feeling like Jesus", under the page category "Other Business". Meh blah. Typically Facebookish, the system at times feels just like writing on sort of a dry-erase marker board. It easily ends up overly indulgent in its execution.

But I got to say, amidst the constant flow of those little snippets of mundane lives, there's a chance to take a deep breath once in a while - even in a virtual cyberspace. That's what gave me pause when I ran into this FB page:
facebook.com/pages/God/10141208299

The first thing I read there: "God is on Facebook". Woah. :) Some of us mortals might remain skeptical, but hey, see, computers could simply leave no doubt whatsoever. Immediately next follows a gentle Facebook reminder, that in order to connect with God, all you need to do is to sign up. Not complicated at all.

And the most stunning. What appears to be a machine-generated statement in the middle of the blank. Revealed as such.

"God has no recent posts"

Not since Kierkegaard have I ever read anything similarly profound as what was said there, or more accurately speaking, what's really been unsaid. Now comes the ONE.

Me definitely not a religious type. Just when the long holidays are drawing near, spirituality tends to ring in my little world.

I wonder if David Hartman was right when he quipped: "to say that God's thoughts are not human thoughts is only to admit the limits of human understanding".

Two

2009-12-21T14:38:00.013+01:00

One plus one equals more than two.

24 hours in Östersund

2009-10-17T18:27:00.020+02:00

Just on the spur of the moment I managed to make a trip to "Republiken Jamtland" on my off day. At first I received an email that morning from SAS about the bargain deal they offered, then I called the hostel in Östersund and was told they had a free room for the night so I went straight to the airport after breakfast. Haven't been backpacking for years, it surprised me how uncomplicated the whole trip turned out to be. Perhaps I'm not very keen for planning in general, improvisation once again made my day.

The hostel was really cozy in a typical Nordic wood house. Plus, I was the only guest at my floor, so I felt quite at home. The hostel manager was a super nice Swedish lady who told me the local tales of Jämtland, including of course the monsters in the lake Storsjön. Later I took a promenade along the lake myself, not seeing anything unusual, though, only the lovely forests wrapped in a white mist. The atmosphere was really idyllic here.

If you visit Östersund one day, you shouldn't miss the moose farm at the outskirt of the city, which I only knew about after I left. Wish I could have stayed longer.

Jamtflaggan, the flag of Republic of Jamtland, by the side of the national flag of Kingdom of Norway, in Sweden!

Amsterdam - Hamburg

2009-10-14T02:11:00.046+02:00

Although my first-time ever visit to Amsterdam was brief, once I was there I almost instantly fell in love with the Dutch type - their laid-back, outgoing personalities most impressed me.

Without knowing beforehand anything about this city I had booked a hotel very close to Leidseplein. It turned out to be a good choice. The location was abuzz with vibrant nightlife. Pretty refreshing to pass through thongs of crowd down a street packed with different kinds of restaurants still remaining open at 1 am on a weekday.

Check out my online album:
pbase.com/tsienni/september

When I reached Hamburg by train, it was exactly ten days before the German General Parliamentary Election. One curious find I encountered was this graffiti inscription that was seen left on a candidate ad for Guido Westerwelle, the leader of Free Democratic Party, Chancellor Angela Merkel's new governing partner. Not sure if it's because the liberal-leaning of the pro-business Free Democrats caused consternation among some die-hard German nationalists. "Stop Islam", that's what it reads in public near Hamburg Hauptbahnhof.

"Utanförskap"

2009-08-01T17:34:00.002+02:00

Eritreanska midsommarfirande i Husby, den omtalade "utanförskapsområden". Många reagerar på begreppet strukturell diskriminering men när jag var där, jag såg en annan sida av de marginaliserade som bor i miljonprogrammet.

Reportage Gallery

Where is my Iranian vote?

2009-07-02T23:33:00.010+02:00

Anyone who has watched Nahid Persson Sarvestani's documentary "Drottningen och jag" from last year, a surprising tale of encounter between a communist girl and the Iranian exiled empress, would perhaps be less surprised to find both the Iranian communists and royalists coming together to demonstrate against the alleged vote rigging in Iran's current presidential election.

On June 23rd, hundreds of overseas supporters of Iran’s defeated presidential candidate Mirhossein Mousavi, many of them wearing masks, turned out in Stockholm to began an almost daily protest for Iranian democracy and press freedoms, culminating in the break-in and storming of the Iranian embassy in Stockholm several days later.

Some dissenting voices were also heard during the open demonstrations. While I was attending a rally at Sergel's Square, at its conclusion all of a sudden a few pro-government old guards started to yell at a young female protester, who, then, angrily retorted: "I'm not going to be shut up by you orthodox zealots!" Luckily with the police standing by, the argument didn't descend into violence.

I was asked why most of the slogans were exclusively in English, but how many of us could actually tell the difference of Farsi from Arabic just by looking at the written signs? There are other plausible reasons as well, or does it really matter?

My new baby

2009-06-10T20:25:00.004+02:00

Thanks to the jerk who stole my D300 in downtown Stockholm the other day, I finally come back to tinker with films - not that bad, huh?

The good deal I found at tradera.se gave me a mint conditioned Contax G-1 plus Carl Zeiss Planar T* 45mm f2, costing less than 3,000 SEK in total. I wished it was a G2, but I actually liked the older version more, which felt more right in the hand, a great back-to-basics I should add. The Zeiss planar is said to the sharpest 35mm lens ever made, but nay, more relevant for me is its "normal" focal length I'd like to accustom my eyes to.

Last evening I shot my first Tri-X roll, how neat! Mastering the rangefinder focus is a wild guessing game, though. I assume I missed roughly 50% of all the exposures. An alright start.

That's what happens when you lose motivation or ambition, feel stuck or slow forward - just unlock the shutter and press on.

Although, a dream camera like this one still my heart pause!
Leica I Schraubgewinde (Modell A, 1930)

Navigator of the Seas

2009-03-14T16:57:00.006+01:00

Stockholm with its natural harbors and access to the Baltic Sea has naturally seen many visitors coming here by waterways. The biggest, as far as I know, must be MS Navigator of the Seas, ranked among the largest passenger cruise ships in the world. She's really HUGE, I remember in 2007, when she was about to arrive here, the Port of Stockholm made a special arrangement just to make sure she's fine to dock here.

Another memorable visitor was Götheborg, a replica of the historic vessel bearing the same name from the eighteenth century, coming to Stockholm in 2008. One year before Götheborg just returned to Sweden after its much celebrated 20-month voyage to China. You could see her in the background of this picture, with the sails visible.

Chopping Women

2009-02-24T03:02:00.004+01:00

"Women over 50 who chop and stack 20 cubic metres of wood, throw axes and make waffles."

Dorte Olesen’s installation 'Women Chopping Wood'.
Sergels torg, Stockholm, December, 2007

Celine Dion in Krakow

2008-11-11T19:10:00.013+01:00

Caught a glimpse of her unexpectedly when I took a stroll through the Main Market Square in Kraków during my conference break in June. The enthusiasm was palpable in the greeting Polish crowd.

More photos, please visit pbase.com/tsienni/krakow.

紅顏彈指老，剎那芳華

2008-10-27T03:11:00.023+01:00

秋光奏鳴曲

走到地鐵的入口處正待踏上下行的扶梯那個瞬間，眼界裡忽然閃出一抹紅來。我停下腳步, 原來是街邊櫥窗裡置放的變葉木在這個深秋時分改換了的容顏。在葉子紅到極至的時刻，這個城市的白天也就要一點一點被襲來的黑暗所吞噬。佛說：“一花一世界，一葉一如來。” 我的腦海裡突然一片空白, 心靈卻是一片馳騁的天地。

隔著斷裂線的窗玻璃，這盆植物透著些落寞－週圍匆匆的行人大約鮮有把目光投放到這邊的角落。美麗自無量，卻是殘酷。如同殘留在我心靈深處的那份執著，也許只不過是不想撕開那些塵封已久的記憶。

我沒有繼續在此駐足，恐怖的陰雲開始籠罩著我的心。

Un Jour à Paris

2008-02-22T00:56:00.047+01:00

Tu as envie d'un café différent à Paris? L'important, c'est la possibilité d'y trouver une carte en anglais? Évidemment le Dizengoff Café sera heureux de t'accueillir.

Et oui, une fois de plus, Paris me manque déjà.
Galerie de la Fête de la Musique 2007

Commencé au Musée d'Orsay

Puis au Centre Pompidou

Proche des Champs-Élysées, mais attention: marché de l'énergie :)

J'ai eu l'occasion de visiter la Fondation Le Corbusier (la villa La Roche, en effet) dans le 16e arrondissement. Pour voir l'Exposition "Construction – Composition / Le Corbusier – Lucien Hervé".

La chambre de Marcel Proust, l'auteur d'un seul livre (!) « À la recherche du temps perdu ».

à l’intérieur du Panthéon

Ah, Notre Dame de Paris, enfin !

Sur la Seine, une chouette soirée comme ça...

Au final, Quartier Pigalle. ^^

Bonne nuit et au revoir !

Linnéjubileet

2007-10-29T21:09:00.016+01:00

(2007-05-25) 1700-talsfest kring S:t Eriks torg i Uppsala. Under 2007 firades Carl von Linnés 300-årsdag i hela Sverige.

Tanks in History

2006-12-26T02:07:00.015+01:00

The alley leading to Pansarmuseet was an ordinary country lane tucked away in a typical Swedish landscape, relatively low, ultra flat, dotted with red wooden barn houses. "Don't worry, we are on the right path." My companion, Henrik, told me in a sympathetic voice. No street address was available for the tank museum, our final destination, in the middle of an arduous walk after we got off at Varhem, where three Medieval pagan monarchs from the House of Eric, later Birger Jarl as well, the founder of Stockholm, and Count Magnus Gabriel de la Gardie were all buried in the well-marked historical Varnhems klosterkyrka.

Soon I found out why officially but a succinct road description existed for Pansarmuseet - because we were heading for a protected military base, in which the museum currently lay. According to a 1990 law, we were forbidden to outline the environs in verbal terms. No photos either. Once inside the museum, curiously enough, photographing was however permitted, the museum assistant rather readily assured me. As a retired military man, he was obviously delighted to see visitors dropping in. The day before, we were told, there had not been even one guest coming.

[No Picture]

Pansarmuseet was founded in 1969 by a special initiative of Rudolf Paleman, Henrik's late grandfather. An admittably young museum, it has steadily grown from a collection of 27 fighting vehicles at its inception to more than 100 nowerdays. Spending one afternoon in this treasure house would be a terrific experience for all lovers of tanks. I surely made a field day of this opportunity to be allowed close access to the tank components for a detailed view. Here every vehicle appeared in good conditions. Had it not been for lack of spare parts, they could have had us take the tanks for a real drive. The helpful guide confirmed my surmise with a yes.

Carden-Loyd Mk V, England 1928
1.4 tons, 2 men. British pre-World War II tankette. I almost mistook it for a water carrier. It was indeed reminiscent of the first tanks in history.

Renault NC 27, France 1927
8.5 tons, 2 men. Didn't work properly right from the start, the assistant said ruefully. That's quite French. lol. But does it happen to appear artistique? Like one of those animated toys in a ... Jan Švankmajer film? Héhé..

Panzerjäger Marder II ausf C, Germany 1942

Bad news for the Nazi army then, the tank motor got sabotaged in Norway in the Second World War. The Panzer eventually made its way to Sweden.

M4 Sherman, USA

Cruiser tank. Old-fashioned; but looks starkly familiar.

M3 White Scout Car, USA.

So someone painted down his belle Olga love on this patrolling car amidst the war chaos.

Churchill Mk III, England 1942
Infantry tank, a low angle view:

m/42 VKP, Sweden 1944

UN bought 15 of this type for its Indian and Irish battalions after the car went popular for missions in Congo.

m/39, Sweden

Sweden sold 13 of this type to Dominican Republic in 1958. It was reported that some of them were on the market for sale in 2004, around $30,000 for each.

m/40, Sweden (1940). Interior views:

Swedish M series on display:

Strv 103 C Sweden

Developed by Bofors AB in 1967-71. 42.3 tons, 3 men. No turret. Suitable for water operations. The fence was believed to be an innovation. Designed with the USSR in mind during the Cold War era.

Invincible tanks. Apparently they were not there in the north of Canaan, July, 2006. ;)

Judges 1:19 "And the LORD was with Judah; and he drove out the inhabitants of the hill-country; for he could not drive out the inhabitants of the valley, because they had chariots of iron."

While I was checking out the hulking juggernauts, Henrik's attention mostly went to the silent plastic tank models neatly lined up along the wall shelves. They were the old pastime work on display of his grandfather. "Impressive. How long did it take your grandpa to get each one done?" I asked him.

"On average, I think couple of weeks were normally needed." He paused a moment before he answered. "I was 8 years old when my grandpa passed away. When I see the tank models now, I can't help visualizing him working on these in his free time. I still have vivid family memories, but what I wished most to connect with after I became an adult person was his inner mind. Something possibly too complicated for an 8-year-old child to adequately understand at that time."

In a country with public sentiments traditionally going strongly anti-war, the points of view on weapons, or for that matter military establishment in general, are diverse and often in conflict. Sometimes it can cause formidable divergence of opinions even within a family. Henrik's father was said to hold an "orthodox" pacifist position, but down to the third generation, there's a notable curiosity from Henrik's part to appreciate more his grandfather's military background for an atavistic reversion. When I thanked him for his guidance as we departed, he responded just with visible contentment.

"You know, coming back again is a groovy thing. When was the last visit I paid here? Well, years years ago." For a throwback like him, alas, probably there won't be another time, given the fact that Pansarmuseet is going to move to a new home on the other side of the country and the present location is to close down in the new year.

I guess only a bike such as this one would remain staying there out of the same roadside obscurity.

- Off note as of 2008/05/30

According to an updated SvD article, the entire tank regiment P 4 in Skaraborg, which was grounded in the year of 1631, would have to be abolished under the government's current plan. This Swedish regiment has seen action most recently in Afghanistan. Read how locals reacted here.

Outside it's dark and cold

2006-12-24T09:40:00.010+01:00

The first time the true spirit of Sankta Lucia found me as a receptive mind was during a St. Lucia Day celebration I took part in at Svenska teologiska institutet in Jerusalem on December 13, 2002. The setting of the Holy Land rendered the original religious meaning of the holiday particularly edged. Until then I didn't even know that St. Lucy had been a martyr from Sicily and the tune of the melody Neapolitan. But the fact that the name of the saint meant "light", hence "the way of light" through "in Lucy", and the fact that the fête was around the very day of the winter solstice, when outside it's dark and cold in the far North, made the Scandinavian trait of this tradition distinctly appealing to me. As an outsider, I wished someday I could even have a personalized experience of the Nordic land.

This year I witnessed the St. Lucia procession at Habo Church near Jönköping in Sweden. The building was built entirely in wood, and was "one of four churches whose pictures were reproduced by the Swedish Post Office Christmas stamps abroad" in the same 2002. Four years have passed, my life is again at a crossroad. Again I hear "natten går tunga fjät". The night walks with heavy steps.

More photos you'll find in my gallery on St. Lucia celebration:
Click Here

Two Hands

2006-09-29T20:05:00.004+02:00

Traveling can be a wearing experience. During my last voyage on an InterCity train, I had two big cumbersome suitcases with me, which proved unwieldy travel companions. There wasn't enough room near my seat, however, so I had to leave them down the aisle and keep an open eye. On the other hand, two merry neighbors sitting next to me seized the rest of my attention. This was more fortunate as a casual chat with them made the time spent on the journey less a pain. In the end I decided to make some fun. I asked them to be my make-shift models and got their permission promptly. As you see, in such a situation the two happy travelers were just glad to lend me a hand, or two. Literally.

Elle

2006-09-29T04:00:00.003+02:00

I was strolling down a sidewalk in town when I passed our 2006 Youth Summer Festival scene. The voice of a local singer on the stage almost instantly captivated me, so I stopped and listened. It reminded me of that of Tori Amos. Ben oui, évidemment elle semblait avoir du chien... Luckily I remembered my camera was with me just when needed. I did a small exercise of photo shooting in the next 4 minutes and felt real good.

I was quite ashamed by the fact that I couldn't find out her name afterwards. If someone delivers me an F grade based on my lack of journalistic acumen, oh, I have to accept that.

Now only her tunes count for me, I think.

Jewish Berlin

2006-09-28T22:11:00.005+02:00

Recently while on a trip to Berlin, I was rereading in a night train one of Haim Hazaz's short stories, "The Sermon", which had been a subject for our discussion in a Jewish History seminar. I glanced through the pages and ruminated at some length. Repeating the platitude can be a bore. Then, all of a sudden, this line caught my eye: "The talk is over! Boys, go out and play football."

As I set off to Berlin, the ongoing event of World Cup rendered me a feel of fresh excitement. Surely Berlin was a place brimming with historical poignancy and I had expected my first-time visit to the city to be an experience delved mostly into the past. It's hard to imagine, indeed, history could be in any way eschewed in Berlin. But still, I began to sense the inexorable pull of time right here and wondered aloud how man should properly advance in a different playfield than erstwhile was the case.

Many thoughts linger on my mind. For now I share with you some snapshots of Jewish Berlin that I hope you find interesting.

1. The New Synagogue in Oranienburger Street. The main hall is no longer there nowadays. Really impressive façade at the street front. On the Kristallnacht the synagogue remained undamaged because "a courageous German police officer preserved it being burnt down".

2. Jewish Museum Berlin by Daniel Libeskind. Had a tour of the current show on Freud. What a great museum! I wished I could have more time to explore the collections inside. Libeskind's architectural statement was way too strong for me, though. I wasn't so sure I agreed with him.

3. Denkmal für die ermordeten Juden Europas or Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. Close to Brandenburg Gate. Many football fans from the globe stopped by and appeared curious.

4. A wall painting in the middle of the city. The turbulent 1930s.

5. Jewish community house not far away from Kaiser Wilhelm Church. I didn't get in.

6. Moses Mendelsohn's tomb. I really liked the tranquil atmosphere in the area although the historical reality couldn't be more different.

7. The statues stand in the same yard as 6. I didn't manage to figure out who was the sculptor but you could easily guess what was the theme. Nearby there are two apartment houses whose walls bear several memorial plates. These two houses were parts of one same building in the past. The separation in between as we see today was due to the Allies' air raids during the war era.

8. The location for Führerbunkern (Hitler's Bunker) was just marked publicly by the city government.

Reclaim the streets

2006-08-22T15:44:00.003+02:00

Reclaim the Streets (RTS) is a term used to denote a type of political action. According to Wikipedia online, it began "in the United Kingdom in the 1990s and the idea was quickly taken up as a form of protest around the world."

Actually they call it a street party. Some others phrase this festival as an outside-of-parliament session of the Invisible Party (Osynliga Partiet), a leftist youth movement, which is said to enjoy no conventional organization. Yet members have been called up via blogging or mobile phones to start a new type of class struggle, right at the heart of the city.

This is what I witnessed in the streets of Stockholm in Sweden on the first of May, 2006. Rather a festive mood all around. Only the next day after I read the local newspaper did I know that a riot broke out somewhere else and around 130-140 persons were in police custody consequently. Two of them later were formally charged.

That the left lost in the Swedish general election of this year after having governed the country for a long period was a fairly recent event.

Hélène Grimaud 音樂會

2006-08-22T15:29:00.006+02:00

Hélène Grimaud除了是鋼琴大師，另有特別處:

１. 她給Vogue做過模特。

２. 她養狼，對，你沒有看錯，她家的寵物是... 狼。

３. 她去年出版的書"Leçons Particulières" 裡談音樂感受居然引出我們的《列子.湯問》

"文非弦之不能鉤，非章之不能成，文所存者不在弦，所志者不在聲，內不得于心，外不應于器，故不敢發手而動弦。"

Le vrai classique du vide parfait, Lie Tseu

«Ce n'est pas à bien pincer les cordes, ni à obtenir de beaux sons. Ce que je cherche, je ne l'ai pas encore trouvé dans mon cœur. Comment l'instrument pourrait-il me répondre à l'extérieur?»

４. 據說，她還是聯覺人。能感受音樂中色彩。聯覺(synaesthesia)乃跨越感官的能力， “統計上來講，平均兩千人之中才有一個具有如此這般在不同的神經感覺之中出現交錯現象的人。”

５. 好象還有，想起來再補充。

自勉說

2006-07-05T00:43:00.003+02:00

今天再讀唐朝韓愈寫過的一篇“原毀”，不禁生出些題外的感想。韓愈從待人、對己兩方面作對比，探究毀謗歪風的由來。我捫心自問，若以言詆毀他人的行為吾未曾有之，是否可以說本人就無需自責了呢？非也，韓愈文章點出寬以待己，嚴于律人的源頭最終在一個“怠”字。其實懶惰的想法在凡人的頭腦裡大都或多或少萌生過，這不奇怪，只是潛在的危險在于“怠者不能修”。產生不平衡後，于是給自己找借口保護自己，自然是其中的一種手段了。根源仍然是本身不追求上進罷。君子之道，在自尊，其是之謂乎。

引文 - 《全唐文/卷0558》

“原毀”節錄 (韓愈)

今之君子則不然。其責人也詳，其待己也廉。詳，故人難于為善；廉，故自取也少。己未有善，曰： “我善是，是亦足矣。” 己未有能，曰： “我能是，是亦足矣。” 外以欺于人，內以欺于心，未少有得而止矣，不亦待其身者已廉乎？其于人也，曰： “彼雖能是，其人不足稱也；彼雖善是，其用不足稱也。” 舉其一，不計其十；究其舊，不圖其新。恐恐然惟懼其人之有聞也，是不亦責于人者已詳乎？夫是之謂不以眾人待其身，而以聖人望于人，吾未見其尊己也。

暗夜中的舞者

2006-07-04T23:59:00.007+02:00

I.

以色列Batsheva舞團指導Ohad Naharin今年三月份被邀請到現代博物館參加“文化無邊界”現場討論，看著滿場在坐觀眾，他開始提議道，大伙不妨都跟他站起來活動下身軀。 “動之悅”， Ohad同時解釋他的舞蹈理念， “無非如此而已。想象衝澡時冷水剛打到身上那刻的反應... 感受到了麼?”

Ohad的Furo首演在編舞上我沒有看出更多的特別處。好比早晨的淋浴，雖以求清爽, 到底仍不過是每天重復的功課。但他長于再構舊題材, 通過細節的另處理表達出新意。

Furo 的動畫部分取自年輕的日本藝術家Tabaimo五年前的作品“公共澡堂”。曾經讀過Tabaimo的訪談錄，她自述小時便有才氣，中學在校成績卻是急況愈下。後來醒悟作一介常人，似乎也因此找到自身的藝術方向。日本傳統社會的有序外表下，維持常態的努力成為她發揮幽默的源泉。 “公共澡堂”的例子極典型－像市郊到點的火車站，映出社會運轉獨特的縮影。日本人進“”，意在泡澡，搓、擦、洗全在入池前。還有那些要注意的條條框框， Tabaimo的調侃沒有把外國人驅趕出來，相反，把背景本不同的都本能地吸了進去。

其中最精彩的一場：公共浴室裡的青年被顯示脫下衣服後，觀眾都以為賣點結束。冷不妨他繼續拉開他的皮膚拉鏈, 一層接一層三分鐘沒停下來。爆笑後，馬上能立即感覺到在現實世界掩藏真實身分的隱義。印象深刻。

II.

和Ohad Naharin一樣， Virpi Pahkinen在專注舞蹈之前是音樂生。在台上最初一瞥，我突然懷疑她來自未來。

或許這是一個信號，未來的音樂是神秘主義的音樂。

今年音樂界的保拉獎得主之一是來自俄羅斯的Valery Gergiev，一位俄羅斯經典音樂的全球大使，零七年起倫敦交響樂團新的首席指揮。向他致敬的一台“白夜之星”晚會週末在

斯德哥爾摩上演，和聖彼得堡市正開場的年度音樂節相呼應。 Virpi Pahkinen的獨舞是其中的一部分。當晚詩和音樂佔了重份，這從Brodsky, Mandelstam, Akhmatova v.s. Shostakovich, Prokofiev, Stravinsky

的一排名字可見。最有趣的發現則是投影到音樂廳頂的綠色章魚錄像和著Isaac Grünewald的壁畫，有創意的古典與現代的會聚。

* 巧克力糊的做法

2006-07-04T23:56:00.007+02:00

這個方子做出來的巧克力糊可以供四人量的爬提做甜點。

原料：

2.5dl 牛奶

100g 黑巧克力

最好用cooking chocolate 如果你可以直接在超市買到的話，把它事先弄碎

3個雞蛋黃做法是把蛋殼打開，蛋黃留在內，把蛋清瀝出

50g 糖

1茶勺香草糖(vanilla sugar)

1.5dl 忌廉我用40%的whipping cream

步驟：

１把牛奶倒入鍋裡，加入巧克力。將鍋置于爐上中火加熱攪拌至巧克力完全熔化。去火。

２把蛋黃，糖，香草糖加入１l 的容器內，攪勻。加少許玉米澱粉(corn starch) 用處是讓巧克力糊更稠。

３將盛有巧克力(已熔化)和牛奶的鍋加熱至巧克力奶開始沸騰, 將鍋移開火，立刻將步驟2調好的雞蛋糖倒入鍋中，攪勻。現在重新把鍋上中火加熱, 攪拌直至沸騰。繼續攪拌5秒鐘，到你可以感覺巧克力糊結住為止。這是成敗關鍵，如果早了只是巧克力牛奶液，晚了則會弄焦。我用的辦法是讓攪拌器接觸鍋底，開始粘鍋時立即將鍋移開火。倒入碗中。自然或者攪拌冷卻約1小時。再放進冰箱冰冷下後取出。

４用機器把忌廉打成奶油，如果你沒有專門的機器就直接買那種可以噴擠出來的現成奶油。加在巧克力糊表面中央。

接著上桌。

身体而行

2006-06-04T16:01:00.002+02:00

有一種媒體意見認為，二零零五年在巴黎發生的暴亂已經創造歷史。依靠互聯網和手機短信，反叛來自郊區，下邊和外面。它的發展沒有一個清楚的方向, 也沒有一個可看見的想法。其實，不只在法國，現實裡諸多城市的現代派夢想不過淪為加劇的社群疏遠。我們現在需要的因此不應該僅是好的街道或公共交通工具，更需要好的DJ，社會DJ以求融合。

這是一個新的問題，利茲·科恩(Liz Cohen)給了她的一份回應。本來缺乏汽車知識的她在亞利桑那一家汽車修理廠研習了一年。目標? 她要將一前東德Trabant轉型成一部美國的El Camino。德國功能主義國民車變為美國墨族移民文化的低底盤兜風車。與此同時，藝術家也作著社會賦予她的主體“身份”的改造。每天，她訓練她的身體，準備實現更改象征男權的汽車。

在原廢棄工廠舊址建起的新藝術展廳裡，利茲說，她作為南美移民後代在美國長大，有如轉化車一般的文化認知過程。 Bodywork的展廳本身，汽車修理廠和體操室于一體，我們進來不久很快也能同被感染。無疑，最後的Trabant無論怎樣被改造，都不會成為真正意義上的El Camino，因為Trabant的歷史總在那裡。 “轉型需要時間”，她坦白地說。然而，正是這段認知並且積極再創造的過程的歷史才朔造了今天的她。換個角度看，有豐富經歷的改裝El Camino恰恰也更是對整體的社會貢獻。

經濟思想史上瑞典學派領袖人物之一的赫克歇爾(Eli Heckscher)是猶太人，他的兒子Gunnar Heckscher按猶太律法則不是。盡管不是，處于當時的反猶社會環境下Gunnar對自身的猶太血統仍然接受困難。這也表現在， Gunnar改換父親的政治顏色，六十年代直做到瑞典右翼黨主席。然而在一封私信中自陳，雖然他不算是猶太人，但仍完全不能從他的猶太背景中解放出來，因為自身身份的正付定位的矛盾。有意思的是，到第三代，左右選擇再度轉換。 Sten Heckscher乃社會民主黨員，在九十年代社民黨政府中出任工業部長。

飄洋過海闖新世界的人們隨身帶著箱子。有人說，那箱子是包袱。又有人建議，箱子裡裝著財富。從利茲的世界走開，不免想快些打開我的隨身箱看看，或許在路上發現潛在的機會，更新自己。

母親節的禮物

2006-06-04T15:58:00.002+02:00

這段時間和自己的媽媽有些誤會，有些日子沒有打電話聯系。覺得過結還在那裡，奇怪的很，但是發現現在自己已經開始有自責。不過，一如既往，我沒好意思直接對她表白。

母親節到了，拿不定主意買什麼禮物才能表達自己的心意恕罪。在五味讀到紅霏的文章《與母親夢中有約》，一下驚醒。原來我很幸運，我的母親還健在，無需在夢裡相見。上次離開家的時候，記得在最後一刻猛然發現她的身形在我肩膀中間變得那般瘦小－她每天忙碌的都是家務事。生活中又是個認死理的人，有了委屈只能自己咽到肚子裡。表現在外貌上，比同齡人總顯得老。這些的影響，又都不能比我這個獨生子離開家給她的打擊更致命。上車前，她抓住我的手不放，看著我，更象在自言自語，最終什麼也沒說。

今天穿過市集看著娃娃們迎著熱烈的陽光慢條斯裡的啃著冰淇淋，心眩處突然被某個記憶觸動。遲疑會，打開手機。接通一陣後，沒人接。又試了一遍，還是沒反應。

接下來間隙的時間變得很難過。各種以前從未想過的念頭擊打著心頭，我只盯著手表看。再試，每一次迪響都在默數數字，居然通了！

一個再熟悉不過又好似全新的聲音:

“喂。”

“是我... ”

沒等我張嘴開始解釋老久沒給家裡打電話的原因，我就被打斷。

“喔，剛才是你打的電話嗎? 我還在開門就聽到了，猜到就是你。”

電話那頭的喜悅把我想買禮物的思慮衝到無影無蹤。

但是最好的禮物，我想，是能夠把心底下的問候當面說出口，如果還不是太遲。

感謝紅霏。

我的初中老師

2006-04-17T23:41:00.004+02:00

幾天前讀到朋友寄來的一篇徐利治先生回憶他的老師華羅庚先生的文章(原文附後). 看後不禁也想起自己的初中老師. 我對數學真正啟蒙是入初中之際. 其時正值華先生去世不久, 而後的舉國數學競賽熱倒也煥發了許多中學學子學習數學的激情. 我所在的班級更以”華羅庚金杯班”冠名, 雖然班上的同學不是都參加過華羅庚金杯邀請賽的, 比如我未曾有過.

諸如此類的”杯班”各地都有, 並不見稀奇. 但對我個人而言, 意義特殊. 我的語文老師兼班主任喻老師對學生期望極高, 譬如嚴父. 今天我深為感激的是他育人的良苦用心. 既是育人, 學生的那一段年齡的身心成長才是根本. 喻老師對此有他自己的教學看法, 然後便投入. 如果我們同學成人後能對自己時刻有望上進的要求 -- 縱然擁有的不過是平常的生活 -- 我想應該是得益于老師身傳言教的影響的. 可惜當時的師生間關系比較機械. 喻老師下發的任務, 事無巨細, 多半只能點頭後馬上要去做的. 我就有了往日裡消級怠工了無所畏的印象.

我的數學老師姓嚴, 聽說現在已是中學裡的嚴校長了. 我其實習慣的依是十五年前的嚴老師. 原來他不常談笑, 遠遠的看去謙然脫塵的樣子. 我能跟著學習數學, 是我的幸運. 先生教書, 首要的是先生自己把書弄透. 好像這不過是起碼的要求, 現實中卻難得. 先生也有先學後教的階段. 如果學時只是知其然而不知其所以然, 不算得上是真明白. 每次聽嚴老師講課, 他對講義所持有的清晰思路總是最強烈的感受. 我大膽猜想老師當年念書的時候便有在用功琢磨各個數學定理的來龍去脈. 嚴老師常愛強調學數學概念務必先理解清楚, 若概念不清則思路不清, 乃至數學解題中身陷蕪雜公式不能輕易走出. 他自己在黑板上的演算形式之條理可側見其諧和于心. 有時我忽然覺得從嚴老師那裡學到的不是數學本身, 而是思維的架構力. 能把復雜的東西回復到簡單, 唯有清人方可自清.

學習數學與研究數學的情趣到底不盡相同. 當年班上用的數學教材屬實驗性質. 傳統教材初看上去應有的都有, 然一一羅列材料, 無異于教條. 數學理念俱是先驗, 探索精神的培養有營養不良之痛. 實驗教材特點是不惜篇幅, 凡引入全新概念, 先必追究問題的由來, 探討涉及的相關背景. 其中啟示數學思想的細描, 總給予做起好的數學所需直覺滲透式的滋潤. 自然, 體會風格如斯需要時間. 但假如開始接受的便是研究式的訓練, 領悟數學之核心的過程相反會縮短. 我不太肯定嚴老師是否著意挖掘了這一層面. 舉例而言, 于我, 二年級教科書中提及的Eudoxus構造無窮圖列推演正五邊形對角線與邊長不可公度這樣一個聯接幾何直觀與算術顯式, 飽含深意的證明已無有在嚴老師的課堂上曾被詳盡闡述的刻印.

想來我雖存有興趣, 終未能專修數學, 根本原因還在于自己. 上高中後隨成長注意力轉移, 對人生社會諸多疑問獨不能解. 考試成績日見平庸而無作為.不知有沒有讓老師得出一個失望的最終結論. "塵緣相誤, 無計花間住." 還有別的方向嗎? 數學不僅僅邏輯訓練而已, 它使我性靈變得好奇, 因此反從此走開. 只求對自己誠實, 道路漸變得更加漫無頭緒, 大概是那時學校裡的老師無法輕易的與我溝通的根由.

其他的初中老師也都個性分明, 直至今天, 記憶仍是鮮活的. 假如不是在校園相逢, 我猜想他們會去當律師, 軍官, 商人, 演說家… 之有的共同特點是他們的敬業精神. 伴著光陰的流逝感受愈來愈加深.

二零零三年復活節

後記: 我的一個中學同桌讀了上面這段文字, 補充道: “清代才子紀曉嵐看老師，當時老師眼已盲，給學生出了上聯：盲人看牡丹，心中富貴；紀曉嵐心裡十分難過，知道老師是想考自己，于是答對下聯：啞巴讀左傳，腹內春秋.”

徐利治先生的原文