Unbalanced Vision

Keeping Fit

Last Saturday was Shakespeare's birthday, did you wear a party hat in honour of the man? I have a poster of him jogging in Central Park, NY with his dog; you can stick it on your wall too by going to the Polish Poster Gallery. On that date some chose to see Julius Caesar at the Barbican. When Cassius said to Messala, 'This is my
birthday, as this very day was Cassius born', the audience gave a knowing laugh. As far as the perfomance is concerned, I'm not used to a frisky Ralph Fiennes jumping about on the stage, but his riot speech was pretty impressive. After the intermission the modern battle scenes seemed incoherent and I would prefer period costumes.

If a writer or artist passes away, his/her book will get days of fame in our window display. In February it was Hunter S Thompson, this month it's Sir Eduardo Paolozzi--I feel closer to him because of the Newton sculpture at the entrance of the British Library.

Happy Tulips

The flowers in my room are blooming like madness, look at them, showing-off as if no other bulb is around. This was last Saturday, now they've had their days and are sitting in the vase waiting to die. How did tulips end up in my room? I've noticed that my flatmates have always had the habit of displaying flowers, which was rather sweet and it does cheer up the space. T gave me some because he had a huge bunch, certainly not due to romantic reasons. He got them from a girl who didn't give them for romantic reasons either. People that receive flowers from me in London are ones who cook yummy food and invite me to their flat; that will be you Z!

My parents sent me some pictures of where they spent their spring vacation--Lijiang, a hidden gem in southwestern China Yunnan Province. Does this not bring to mind of 「桃花源記」 (Accounts of the Peach Blossoms Encounter)?

晉太元中，武陵人，捕魚為業，緣溪行，忘路之遠近，忽逢桃花林，夾岸數百步，中無雜樹，芳草鮮美，落英繽紛，漁人甚異之，復前行，欲窮其林，林盡水源，便得一山，山有小口，彷彿若有光，便捨船，從口入。

初極狹，纔通人，復行數十步，豁然開朗，土地平曠，屋舍儼然，有良田、美池、桑竹之屬，阡陌交通，雞犬相聞，其中往來種作，男女衣著，悉如外人，黃髮垂髫，並怡然自樂，見漁人，乃大驚，問所從來，具答之，便要還家，設酒、殺雞、做食。村中聞有此人，咸來問訊，自云：先世避秦時亂，率妻子邑人來此絕境，不復出焉，遂與外人間隔。問今是何世，乃不知有漢，無論魏晉。此人一一為具言所聞，皆歎惋，餘人各復沿至其家，皆出酒食，停數日辭去，此中人語云：不足為外人道也。

既出，得其船，便扶向路，處處誌之，及郡下，詣太守，說如此，太守即遣人隨其往，尋向所誌，遂迷不復得路。南陽劉子驥，高尚士也，聞之欣然規往，未果，尋病終，後遂無問津者。

Yesterday HY had his braces removed. Around two years ago he was complaining to me about a minor ache at his jaw, the dentist adviced that wearing braces was necessary, so there follows the life of a man in his late 20s regressing to teenage appearance. Upon the announcement of this new teeth gear, I said an awful joke about his mouth looking like a horse's, which made him rather upset. But yesterday, HY was pleased with his new look. So long elastic bands and hannibal gear! Braces do make a difference to one's profile. Now he is suggesting that we both use electric toothbrushes. I, on the other hand, have a negative view towards this device; it's the worst sign of a modern human being who is too lazy to even brush his/her own teeth. Who knows what we'll have machines do for us next?

Festen was a disappointment. Though the Lawrence Olivier Award (2005) did not favour it over the other productions, they must have liked it enough to nominate the play, and so does Michael Billington and various friends. Based upon these reviews, and that the story was adapted from a cult movie about a madhouse, I was looking forward to the performance. Yet the issue of child molestation is not really a subject I'd like to explore on a Saturday evening; I'm sure it isn't yours either. The audience could tell that the sounds of children's laughter and water dribbles seek to create an uneasy atmosphere, but the long pauses and moments of people running disorderly on stage became dull and did not make sense. I hoped that there would be an unexpected twist towards the end, but no, the core of the story was revealed at the very beginning. Sitting besides me, HY wasn't enjoying it very much. Judging by the selection of plays I recommend him to see, he now considers literature majors a sick bunch: a male teacher touching his students (The History Boys), an architect falling in love with a goat (The Goat, or Who is Sylvia?) and finally a father who has sex with his children (Festen). I once read an article about the decadence of Danish literature. The Danes have a dearth of wit to produce quality works, for their society is advanced and civilised, life is smooth and they have nothing to worry about. Good writing requires a bit of angst. Perhaps the writer did not see Festen.

1387
'A party of 29 pilgrims assembles at the Tabard Inn in Southwark, preparing to travel to the shrine of Thomas Becket in Canterbury. After supper, the host proposes that they enliven their joumey by telling stories. The following morning the tellers of Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales begin their journey'.

Get your very own literary calendar now.

A new discovered library close to Chancery Lane tube station--Kings College's Maughan. It's a formidable building, has a nice courtyard, friendly staff, organised humanities section, and is open on Sundays! (Gosh, I sound very sad.) As part of the University of London affiliation, you will be able to use this facility by showing your college ID card. Also on 29 April, there will be a 'Using Early English Books Online seminar' held here; go register.

I was going to encourage you to go to The Turks exhibition at The Royal Academy of Arts yesterday or earlier today, but was sidetracked by something else. Anyways, it's too late now; the show is over. It was brilliant, brilliant. Silly of me to book a ticket for 17.00 when the museum closes an hour later; I had to glance around 50% of the display when each one of them deserves more attention. There were an exciting collection of fur coats, carpets, drawings, books, chests and plates... A familiar painting was shown before my eyes: the earnest Chinese pilgrim Xuan-Zhang with a tiger at his side--our history textbooks, remember? Read this as well.

Recent bits and pieces of information about the academia nicked from research student blogville:
1) News on research slaves in Taiwanese institutions. (By way of Wan Yu)
2) Choices. (By way of Silent Dreams) AT came up with a similar quote, "Choose only two: research, family, significant others, or social life".

If you are going to borrow Ira Clark's Professional Playwrights: Massinger, Ford, Shirley, and Brome at the Senate House, please turn to the Acknowledgements page:

'I owe general thanks, perhaps too often silent, to scholarly interpreters of history and literature, who will appreciate my society of books. I owe particular thanks to social scientists, undoubtedly some unidentified, who may wonder at my apparently nonsocial, impractical applications of their disciplines to a society of texts. Both groups will understand my thanks to critics who took the time and effort to make this a better work than it would have been; they should not be held accomplices to its waywardness...'

'All these scholars will share my special thanks to...'

'I thank future scholars. They will venture, I hope, to redress the inescapable abstraction of scholarly criticism which I have compounded into overgeneralisation because of current lacks...'

Blah, blah, blah. Enough of this 'scholarly bull'; someone already jotted down in pencil on the margin, 'This is a horrible, self-satisfied dedicatory/acknowledgements page'. Hehe.

After a fortnight hiatus, I've packed my bags and am on the road again. OK, this is me trying to use allegory: 'my bags' are the books for research, 'on the road' means that I'm heading towards the goal of pursuing a degree. So long working suckers who have cash, pensions, weekends and holiday breaks. I'll try not to be tempted by your sweet voice on the speaker device that is the mobile phone asking me to go out, for Bunyan says, 'there is nothing of Christianity got by idleness'.

For the Easter holidays I went to a bookshop opening at the famous quaint town of bookshops, Hay-on-Wye, located only a few miles away from the Welsh and English borders. Once we drove across the border, the Welsh skies welcomed us with its typically dramatic heavy showers. I looked out of the windows in awe of nature, for only minutes ago the weather was beautiful. And now, a quiz for you. Rank these objects according to its quantity in Hay, the largest number first: Sheep, Human Beings, Books

A: I dunno. Well, I'm guessing books go first, sheep come a close second and then us the ones with two legs. Gosh, there're so many sheep grazing in the fields here, every square inch of the land is occupied by these creatures. Thankfully, their biggest virtue is that they are harmless and mind their own business. Human beings, on the other hand, are not that easy to ignore. The size of this town allows everyone to know each other. You'd be trying to have breakfast in a discreet corner of an unnoticeable cafe, and then an acquaintance comes in, and before you know it, you'd be eating at the same table.

One must act as Pocahontas or Eskimos once in Hay--canoeing and kayaking are popular activities here. On first glance the troubled waters make you feel like you are in an episode of I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here. But don't be afraid, judging by the strength of my arms, the canoe moves like the speed of a snail, and on a sunny day the scenery is just wonderful.

Graveyard for Books

I Like to Eat You

Call Me Canoeing Genius