Unbalanced Vision

New flat does not have Internet yet--see you on Monday.

Shades

Night vision

A new type of make-up

My digital camera is evidently ill, as shown in the pictures it produced. I am actually very fond of this piece of metal. Since 2002 it has recorded lots of happy moments, and most often than not adding a natural glow to the images, it made me look prettier than reality. 50i also comes with a mp3 player but I've never took advantage of this function. Now it's time to part with 50i and move on. My heart desires Nikon D70s, but a) I cannot afford it, and b) HY says he will get jealous if I get one. I think a Fujifilm FinePix F10 enough will make me a happy bunny.
PS. The pix are taken at the MotoExpo 2005.

Bear's Visa

Bear just received her HK e-visa, and is looking forward to the trip in mid-July; it will be her second visit since the 1997 handover. She has not started to study the Fragrant Harbour guidebook, for the most important task at present is to work on Bear's first conference paper. However, she has found an article about Cantonese restaurants, and also showed it to Bear's best HK friend, HY. HY looked at the report with disdain, 'You won't get an authentic HK experience by following this'. Instead, HY has written a HK intro. himself. To download, please donate £1.00 to the Support Scholarly Bear Foundation. Thank you.
Download file

Brome on the language of love--he says it well:

Sir I haue consider'd
Before, and in your speech, and since; and cannot
By all that can be said remoue a thought.
I lou'd him not for words: Nor will I vse
Words against yours: 'twere poore expression
Of loue to boast it. Tis enough I know it.
Boasters of loue, how can we Louers call,
When most of such loue one no more then all.
The Northern Lasse I.vii

Window that says 'London Pride'

Black Out

It has been scorching hot since Friday afternoon, for a moment I thought I was in Taiwan. The heat brought everyone outdoors--yesterday I met up with S at bars near Hoxton Square. She was determined to find the little alley with lots of pubs and people standing on the streets, which really is the sceney everywhere, but I could settle with anything as long as I have my cold Guinness and rest my aching feet. The pictures were actually taken at the same spot--why we turned into pink and green lines is beyond me.

A revival of Chinese lit in the West, read me:

Great Leap Forward

Crash Course in Chinese Whispers

The Bard Goes Global (Taylor has interesting references to the historian Huang Ren Yu.)

My mum would certainly make fun of me if I start reading English translated versions of our Chinese novels.

After a visit to the Art London summer fair, nothing has been added to my bedroom wall, however, HY managed to get two catalogues by pretending to be a potential buyer. I dare say that most of the works are too awful to give a second look. However, once in a while you do spot something special. There are two artists I am interested in: Veronica Bailey and Patrick Hughes; both have chosen books as their subject matter. HY likes Bailey's photographs especially when the viewer cannot tell it's really the fore-edge of a book in the picture, I prefer lines showing the curvy pages that do tell me it's a photograph of a book. The titles of the tomes are also indicated. Hughes' piece can be seen at the BL near the cloak room. Today I still like to walk slowly pass the artwork and see how the shelves magically move before my eyes. If there's a good reason for me not to hang their works on my wall (financial reasons aside) is that Hughes doesn't seem to paint the blocks himself--he has a team of painters at his studio doing the job and the other paintings seem to lack delicacy. As for Bailey, photographs are easily mass produced. We ended up fighting over the two catalogues--I keep one, HY keeps the other. Note: When HY says something is 'ours' it means it is 'his'. It's an only child term.

S, B and I will be living in the heart of Bloomsbury beginning from the end of June. I liked the place immediately because plenty of sunlight was shining through the windows on the property viewing day, and a beautiful dome-shaped building filled our window view (not St Pauls). Walk a few seconds, you shall find a tiny secondhand bookshop and, I reckon, at least two hospitals. Then you will reach the not-so-famous-but-famous-enough Lamb's Conduit Street--I accidentally found the queen of chick lit bookstore, Persephone Books, Oh, joy! Of course I won't indulge myself on the gastronomic pleasures on that street too often, for the main reason to live there is because of its proximity to the British Library, haha. By the way, Russell Square is close by, too--a park just the right size for cement-loving city dwellers. Rent is horrendous--I must get my doctorate soon to pay off my enormous debt.

Waiting forever for punters

This year's Olympia Book Fair, were you there? My mission was to spot Jeremy Paxman (who sentimentally wrote in the event pamphlet that secondhand bookshops provide accidental delights in comparison to Internet book orders), and treat myself with one of those delicious blueberry muffins offered last year. Paxman was no where to be seen (SR saw him on Thursday), but the muffin was just as yummy. We shared a stand with a bookseller who deals with books about the North and South Pole, yet nothing in between. Can't think of anything particularly interesting or annoying, except a middle-aged man who wore red sneakers sat in my chair, took a book from our shelf, and started looking at it from page 1 till the index, and after making himself comfortable in our 'reference library', he started from the introduction again. Did he generously take out his cheque book? Of course not. I often wonder why booksellers bother sitting hours at the fair selling a few books and finally packing and carrying more heavy tomes back to the shop again? One bookseller, however, had a much easier life. Specialising in writers' autographs and letters, he simply had to take the thin pieces of paper down the shelf and put them safely in his briefcase, and off he went in style.

Super Advance

Description: This advance purchase Standard class single or return ticket is available on selected journeys over approximately 70 miles. At peak times, there will be limited or no availability.
Train Operator: Most Train Operating Companies.
Booking Deadlines: Must be booked by 1800 hours on the day before outward travel, subject to availability.
Discounts: Child fares and most Railcard discounts apply.
Refunds: If cancelled before booking deadline then full refund minus a GBP10.00 cancellation fee.
If cancelled after booking deadline but before outward journey date and time then 50% refund. If cancelled after departure date then no refund.
Changes to Travel Plans: Allowed provided origin and destination are unchanged. May be brought forward by up to 7 days, or put back provided return date is not later than original return date. If request is made before booking deadline and SuperAdvance accommodation is available, GBP 5.00* per ticket. If requested after booking deadline, or SuperAdvance accommodation is not available, upgrade to cheapest appropriate walk-up fare plus GBP 5.00* administration fee.
Conditions: Reservations are compulsory and must be made at time of booking. Return journey must be within one calendar month of the outward journey. Once booked, outward and return journeys are only valid on the date, times and seats shown on the ticket. Ticket only valid together with reservations.
Break of Journey: No break of journey allowed, except to change between trains, as shown on the ticket.
Availability: Quota controlled ticket with limited availability on reservable trains.

By way of GNER.

After a period of absence from ULL, I went to hunt down some books there today only to find that a) I have a sweet 15+ quid fine and b) they still have not fixed their archaic lift which was promised to be done by February. I feel quite angry when I get fines like these, knowing that I can spend the money on books to keep, damn! (Waterstones has titles I've chosen for the 3 for 2 deals: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, The Magic Mountain and The Magus.) And don't even think about talking your way out of it in the library.

I read Henry VI part III attempting to find traces of King Henry VI dressed as a pilgrim, as recorded in The Miracles of Henry VI, but instead I found him:

Richard of Gloucester:
'I that felt neither pity, love, nor fear.
Indeed, 'tis true that Henry told me of,
For I have often heard my mother say
I came forward into the world with my legs foward.
Had I not reason, think ye, to make haste,
And seek their ruin that usurped our right?
The midwife wondered and the women cried
'O, Jesus bless us, he is born with teeth!'
And so I was, which plainly signified
That I should snarl and bite and play the dog.
Then, since the heavens have shaped my body so,
Let hell make crooked my mind to answer it.
I had no father, I am like no father;
I have no brother, I am like no brother;
And this word, 'love', which greybeards call divine,
Be resident in men like one another
And not in me--I am myself alone.'
V.vi.68-84

Great stuff--be very afraid if your baby arrives with teeth!