多事之年

今年真是多事，希望赶快过去。

我的岳父

“做人要心胸宽大，与人相处哪有不起冲突？事事计较，日子还过不过？一家人，不容易，是缘分，要珍惜。好了，去吃饭去。“ 在我岳父去世后，每当我想念他时， 这话就在我耳边响起， 仿佛岳父还在世，还在向我说话。 而我常常想起这句话。

那是几年前的事了， 安白刚出生。那天，我为了一些现在也想不起来的事，和我同样脾气鲜明的岳母杠上，我独自正躺在床上生闷气，岳父迈进来，同我说了那些话。

Metaverse

It is quite exciting to surf on the waves of computing revolution. A wave after another wave brought us different ways of exploiting computing technologies. Keeping updates would be a problem, but not mine. I like to learn, anyway.

Virtual collaboration or virtual society is getting real. In early 1990s, there was a sci-fi novel, Snow Crash. In the novel, a metaverse is depicted. Metaverse is not a game, but a society in which people interact one another not physically, but virtually. The point is that everything in the metaverse is represented in 3D as objects in our real world. Now, a system, Second Life, is made based on the concept of metaverse in Snow Crash. Dr. Dobbs, a programming magazine, plans to have a 'hall' or a booth in the Second Life. Like we read the magazine to learn, avatars in the Second Life go there to gain programming knowledge. By the way, avatar is the representation of a user in the Second Life. You, as a user in real, are incarnated as an avatar in the Second Life. Hard to understand? Read Snow Crash or play Second Life.

Focaccia

I made focaccia bread today. The result is shown below in the photo. Unfortunately, I can't record its taste into the photo. However, you shall be able to imagine how tasty it is if a critic, as picky as Wenlei, said "it tastes so good."

艋舺龍山寺 不變台灣情

我好吃，重吃，享受吃， 无日不想吃。记下此篇，以飨自己。来日访台，按图索骥。
艋舺龍山寺 不變台灣情

余秋雨与冯骥才

刚刚看完杨澜访问余秋雨和冯骥才，在二者中，我厌恶余，而欣赏冯。两人高下立判，差距如此大，使我讶异。 我对他们的作品，也是维持冯高余低的印象。（我没有读过余的“文化苦旅”，可能“文化苦旅”
还不错。）

在访问中，余秋雨始终给我一种防卫的态度， 这或许是因为他的脸庞些许上扬的缘故。主持人问他是否快乐，他皱着眉回答"越来越快乐“，也让我为之一乐。访问中，“文化”是出现最频繁的词， 但也是最定义不清。闹半天，我还是没明白，文化到底是啥东西，可能是俺没文化之故。

访问冯骥才时，没问他是否快乐，只听他讲如何冒生命危险， 为文革里的小人物立传；如何藏那些传记纸片； 如何纪录民间艺术； 如何卖画挽救周庄； 如何为天津城立传留纪录； 如何为构思一小说的细节而感到兴奋。我明显感到他乐在其中。虽然不提文化一词，我倒是好像有些明白“文化“了。

余秋雨是个卖“文化”的商人；冯骥才是个行“文化”的文人。

梅雪争春

殷正洋在今天的“殷媛小聚“中演唱一首艺术歌曲”梅雪争春“。曲听着耳熟，词瞧着眼熟。但实在想不起来何故。只从词义中了解这是民初的作品，很像是徐志摩风格。

歌词全文如下：

南方新年裡有一天下大雪
我到靈峰去探春梅的消息
殘落的梅萼　瓣瓣在雪裡掩
我笑說這顏色還欠三分豔

命運說你趕花朝節前回京
我替你備下真鮮豔的春景
白的還是那　冷翩翩的飛雪
淡梅花是十三齡童的熱血

南方新年裡有一天下大雪
我到靈峰去探春梅的消息
殘落的梅萼　瓣瓣在雪裡掩
我笑說這顏色還欠三分豔

命運說你趕花朝節前回京
我替你備下真鮮豔的春景
白的還是那　冷翩翩的飛雪
淡梅花是十三齡童的熱血

我感到整首词主题并非梅花与雪景，而是那字里行间无可奈何的悲愤。 殷正洋在介绍蒋安的花卉工笔之后演唱， 我感到突兀。

我好奇是谁写的词，为何而写。作词者很容易找，正是徐大诗人。Google“梅雪争春”，答案自然浮现。为何而写，可能难找些。十三龄童不是京剧名角吗？“十三龄童的热血”从何而来？ 查找“十三龄童”，也没有头绪，只有他的生平简介--十三龄童生于1933，是绍剧名角。（原来不是京剧) 。可是徐志摩死于1931。可见此十三龄童非彼十三龄童。既有悲愤，就有对象。 民初动荡，惨案连连，莫非与此有关？把”惨案“加入”梅雪争春“一同查找，果然有些头绪--此诗与三一八惨案有关！此诗发表于《诗镌》的“纪念三一八”专号上。再查找“纪念三一八”，一段文字提供了解答--1926年3月18日，段祺瑞枪杀请愿群众，死伤二百余人，连十三岁儿童也惨遭杀戮。诗人悲愤，化而为诗！

我的直觉是对的，这歌的确不适合在花卉工笔的介绍后演唱。

Story telling

What can my sons inherit from me? Perhaps lots of stories.

I am glad to see that Anbo developed a habit of making up stories from the toys he played with. He did not just make up stories, but he would make sense out from his stories. For example, if you ask him why the airplane he assembled has a big belly, he would answer that it is a garbage airplane, which collects garbage. It needs a big space for that purpose. If you keep asking: however, would not that big belly affect how the airplane flies? He answered that the airplane is propelled, so it is OK to have a big belly. He would further point out that the airplane features with night-lights, wheels, wings and guns. It is very interesting to see such a little guy reasons.

Not only does he make up stories, but also he seeks for stories from me anytime, anywhere. Sometime, I am out of materials. Nonetheless, I feel telling stories is the best way to implant anything I wish him to learn. I don't care if he can comprehend or not. As long as the stories are interesting, he would remember them. One day, he would comprehend.

Now, I want to systematically perform this story-telling task. The first thing I would like to implant is the Greek and Rome mythology. The stories will come from Edith Hamilton's classic "Mythology". These stories would give a clear picture of what the people were like from whom comes a major part of our spiritual and intellectual inheritance. Since my sons will be raised up in the western society, this is applied to them, too. I will inject the Chinese part into their blood later.

Amadeus

Finally, I watched Amadeus, the movie I have been waiting for since my high school. Both Wenlei and I enjoyed it. I particularly like Salieri's expressive and slightly exaggerating performance.

It is hard to believe that the movie was made in 1984. After two decades, the charm of the film does not fade at all, and the radiant quality of the movie is still dazzling. This movie marks the apex of film art.