User Comments - otomik
otomik
Posted on: Learning the Lei Feng Song
July 03, 2009, 07:22 AMThis is one of my favorite lessons. Please don't shy away from 20th century chinese history, I quite enjoy it. I also enjoy books like Jonathan Fenby's Modern China which can supplement ones understanding with viewpoints from outside the mainland.
We could talk about other periods of modern chinese history with songs like The Story of Spring and DaDao March.
Karaoke with Pete?
Posted on: June Will Be CPod's Greatest Month Yet!
June 07, 2009, 09:49 PMI'm glad that they extended the promotion for june with the added bonus of what that premium subscription can do with the iphone app. but I tend to put my green eyeshades on when I'm about to buy a year of something.
12+6 months for 13.27USD a month or "supersize" it to 24+6 months at 13.30 USD a month.
I know this isn't mathpod but thats a funny offer. You probably want to encourage people to commit to a longer term with a lower price point.
hint hint: give the 24-month offer 2 six month vouchers.
Posted on: Trip to the Vegetable Market
September 14, 2008, 06:07 AMXuchen, this is a gentle cover of XTC's "Making Plans for Nigel", 1979. XTC damaged my hearing! Whatever happened to Nigel, he didn't have a "future in British Steel", as the song suggests. A once great company, now a minor part of the mighty Tata, of India. In 1979, nobody would have imagined that could happen. As Bob Dylan sang "the wheel's still in spin..."
I really like the song too.. does anyone know who the artist is?
nouvelle vague is the cover artist
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nouvelle_Vague_(band)
I particularly like their cover of "In a Manner of Speaking" and "This is not a Love Song"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URunMI2CoB8
Posted on: Language is Music
July 22, 2009, 10:23 AMI was watching this movie called Dumplings directed by Fruit Chan with the famous cinematographer Chris Doyle
Chris Doyle is a very interesting guy. A friend of his Gus Van Sant was speaking at my college and I had the opportunity to discuss his work a bit. He is a very interesting guy as an Australian who built his career in China.
Chris is fluent in cantonese and mandarin. It reminds me of that famous dictom from William Burroughs that, "language is a virus from outer space." Chris has this stop and start rhyme like he's imposing tones on english. He sounds more naturalistic when he's not speaking english. It's very reminiscent of the technique used in Enemy at the Gates by Ed Harris and in The Reader, where instead of using a full german accent a person will just use english but with a very german cadence.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cymothoa_exigua
Cymothoa exigua or the Tongue eating louse is a parasitic crustacean of the family Cymothoidae. It tends to be 3 to 4 cm long. This parasite attaches itself at the base of the spotted rose snapper's (Lutjanus guttatus) tongue, entering the fish's mouth through its gills. It then proceeds to extract blood through the claws on its front three pairs of legs. As the parasite grows, less and less blood reaches the tongue, and eventually the organ atrophies from lack of blood. The parasite then replaces the fish's tongue by attaching its own body to the muscles of the tongue stub. The fish is able to use the parasite just like a normal tongue. It appears that the parasite does not cause any other damage to the host fish.[1] Once C. exigua replaces the tongue, some feed on the host's blood and many others feed on fish mucus. They do not eat scraps of the fish's food.[2] This is the only known case of a parasite functionally replacing a host organ.
"Language is a virus from outer space." - William Burroughs.