Speaking Mandarin Saved Me 25 Cents

This is big news: Speaking Mandarin saved me 25 cents today.

I was at a well known food establishment today (I won’t say the name, but it rhymes with “McFonald’s”). I am practicing my Mandarin (week two of lessons, yeah!) and asked them “How much?”. Then said, “Lower price, is it ok?”. Of course I knew they would say no, after all, it was “McFonald’s”. They were so happy I was speaking Chinese that they actually gave me a free meal upgrade. An upgrade of two MOP, or 25 cents USD. I feel very rich today.

On a sidenote, someone is encouraging me to take a video each week as I study Mandarin to show what I can say. I’ve done one minute videos the first two weeks, and it’s very embarrassing. But you’ll probably see them posted here soon because I think it’s very funny to watch myself try and speak Mandarin. I’m learning to write Chinese too. Fun stuff! (Though I’m admittedly very bad at it).

Selling Tragedy vs. Comedy

I am bewildered on a seemingly simple decision that I believe is common to any writers or creators. Tragedy vs. Comedy; which to create? There was a related article I just read (http://edition.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/Movies/06/11/ew.movies.adults/index.html) that says it’s much more difficult to sell a movie aimed at adults vs. a fun kid’s movie. Here’s a quote from the article:

“Audiences don’t want to be reminded of the darkness in the world,” he says. “They want to laugh, get taken to space, watch things in a museum come to life.”

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Cirque du Soleil founder going into space

Guy LaLiberte

The Canadian Press

MONTREAL — A website that covers NASA is reporting that Guy Laliberte, the founder of the Cirque du soleil, will visit the International Space Station this September.

“NASA Watch,” which has no official links with the American space agency, says it has learned from multiple sources that Laliberte will fly into orbit aboard a Soyuz spacecraft .

Also see: http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20090604/sc_space/acrobattobenextspacetourist

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My First Private Lesson in Mandarin Chinese

I’ve lived in China over a year now and I don’t know any Cantonese or Mandarin. Surprisingly it’s been difficult to find a private tutor for Mandarin. Cantonese is the main language spoken where I live (Macau and Hong Kong), but variations of Mandarin are spoken throughout China. I had an interpreter tell me the best way to learn is to start with Mandarin and then go into Cantonese. Mandarin has four tones and Cantonese has nine.

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Robert Browning Recites His Poem (1889 Edison Cylinder)

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYot5-WuAjE

This is one of the most important historic recording from 19th century. This recording contains the voice of great English poet, Robert Browning (1812 – 1889). Although the recording is very inaudible, it is still worth to hear one of the greatest poet of Victorian era.

It was recorded in a dinner party given by Browning’s friend the artist Rudolf Lehmann, on May 6th, 1889.

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“Bollywood Awards” at Venetian Macau June 11-13 2009

Videocon IIFA Awards

The Videocon IIFA 2009 awards will be televised from the Venetian Macau June 11-13, 2009. This award for the Indian film industry is popularly called the “Bollywood Awards”. Artists from Cirque Du Soleil’s ZAIA show will perform during the ceremony. I am told these awards are televised to 300-500 million people worldwide.

Yes, this is a pretty big deal. I don’t know when the ceremonies are aired in the USA but I’ll add info to this post if I find out before the airing. We’ll have extra shows of Cirque Du Soleil’s ZAIA for attendees of the event – and you can bet that the artists are working VERY hard right now to prepare for this presentation, in addition to their regular show schedule.

And did you know Cirque Du Soleil’s 25th Anniversary is the middle of June 2009? Things are jumping at the Venetian Macau in June!

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ZAIA CD Soundtrack Released

ZAIA - Cirque Du Soleil

The official soundtrack for Cirque Du Soleil’s ZAIA show (Venetian Macau, China) was released on May 26, 2009. You can currently purchase on Amazon.com: ZAIA CD Amazon.com – or go to Amazon.com and search for “ZAIA”. A cut from the CD should also be on the Cirque Du Soleil 25th Anniversary CD which will also be available on Amazon.com late June 2009.

If you follow the Amazon link you can also listen to Mp3 excerpts from the album. I’ve heard rumors there will be a “Making of ZAIA” documentary released that will include many of the musicians and artists involved in creating the CD soundtrack. 

To my knowledge, this is the first Cirque Du Soleil original soundtrack CD that has been recorded by the original show musicians. Most tracks recorded in Macau (SAR) China, string parts recorded in Hong Kong.

Music composed by Violaine Corradi. As a sidenote, I was asked by Violaine to arrange string parts for the CD which were recorded by members of the Hong Kong Philharmonic. That was a very fun project to work on. Hope you enjoy the soundtrack!

Netgear Router Setup on Mac

Add this to my list of stupid tech problems that wasted my time. This one about SIX hours. 

The Netgear router comes with an installation CD for PC only. If installing on a Mac you need to do it manually. I even tried using my VMFusion side with Microsoft XP to install but would not work.

The secret? Clear the cache on your Safari browser! For me it was that simple. Then I was able to connect directly to the router for setup. I hope this helps someone else save many hours.

Calculate Your God Delusion Index

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCX0JJ16dFM

Calculate your God Delusion index. The “God Delusion” is a book by Richard Dawkins published around 2007 (I think). I read it. This video was posted on one of my bible discussion forums. I was interested to note that my answers to the questions in the video were radically different than they would have been five years ago.

And this comment from the original poster of the video: A STUPID video that I found — a quiz that supposedly measures how deluded by religion you are. I’m glad this hateful moron won’t be spending the next trillion years in heaven with Jesus and me!

Would be interested in your thoughts on this video and it’s questions…