| Vacuum's profileI ♥ Kunming more than ev...PhotosBlogLists | Help |
|
I ♥ Kunming more than ever^^Amicus Plato, Amicus Aristotle, sed Magis Amicus VERITAS 2/9/2009 51st Grammy AwardsThe 51st GRAMMY® AwardsSunday, February 8, 8pm et/pt CBS
![]() We all know music moves us. This year's national GRAMMY Awards campaign, titled 'Music Makes Us,' takes that idea one step further by focusing on several of the artists that are making a difference in music today, and paying tribute to the music that influences and inspires them. More than a music show, The GRAMMYs are a cultural event, one that inspires music fans everywhere.
Lil Wayne and Coldplay also win big as Academy kicks off the next 50 with GRAMMY
winners and memorable musical performances.
The Recording Academy presented the 51st GRAMMY Awards in celebratory style in an evening that mixed performances from legendary artists and newcomers across multiple genres.
The formidable duo of Robert Plant & Alison Krauss were the evening's top winners, picking up five total GRAMMYs for Record Of The Year, Album Of The Year, Best Pop Collaboration With Vocals, Best Country Collaboration With Vocals, and Best Contemporary Folk/Americana Album.
Rapper Lil Wayne took home an impressive four awards of his own: Best Rap Album, Best Rap Solo Performance, Best Rap Performance By A Duo Or Group, and Best Rap Song. Coldplay won the coveted Song Of The Year honors, in addition to Best Pop Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals and Best Rock Album.
A host of other diverse artists picked up two GRAMMY wins each including Adele (including Best New Artist), R&B artists Al Green and Ne-Yo, John Mayer, Brad Paisley, and Sugarland, among others.
Music's Biggest Night got off to a momentous start with a thundering performance by U2. Bono and company stormed the stage with their latest single "Get On Your Boots" amid a swirling psychedelic backdrop that electrified Staples Center.
Next, Justin Timberlake ran down his childhood love of Al Green before joining the Reverend himself alongside Boyz II Men and Keith Urban for an impassioned take on Green's soul classic "Let's Stay Together." Green's uplifting vocals — paired with Timberlake's silky voice, Boyz II Men's able harmonies and a superbly improvised guitar solo from Urban — resulted in the type of knockout performance only seen on the GRAMMY Awards.
Coldplay's performance got off to an introspective start with singer Chris Martin poised at a piano to deliver a brilliantly poignant version of "Lost." Midway through, Jay-Z came in for a surprise cameo, name-checking everyone from the Notorious B.I.G. and Jesus to Caesar and Brutus and rapping with his patented cool ferocity. Then leaping from the piano to the stage, Martin joined his bandmates for their GRAMMY-winning song "Viva La Vida." Gliding across the stage, Martin melded with Will Champion's drums and Jonny Buckland's guitar with agility and the sure-fire confidence the band has built its worldwide reputation on.
Urban came back to the stage to introduce his former tourmate Carrie Underwood, who hip-thrusted her way through her girl-gone-bad song "Last Name."
Kid Rock mixed a potent cocktail of rock and soul for a fist-pumping rendition of his "Amen" before segueing into his hit "All Summer Long," an anthem that samples classics such as Warren Zevon's "Werewolves Of London" and Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Sweet Home Alabama." For a third number, Rock marched into "Rock N Roll Jesus" triumphantly loud and proud.
Youth was on full display when 19-year-old Taylor Swift welcomed 16-year-old friend Miley Cyrus for an intimate performance of Swift's "Fifteen." With Swift providing quiet accompaniment on her acoustic guitar, the two starlets poignantly took the audience through the milestones of youth — the first day of high school, a first kiss, a devastating breakup — while singing with a sweetness and maturity beyond their combined years.
Fresh off her GRAMMY win for Best R&B Album, Jennifer Hudson performed an upbeat "You Pulled Me Through" with her trademark bravura. The song showed off her magnetic vocals and her recent triumph over personal tragedies. Toward the end, a gospel choir added to the drama of Hudson's words and, as she finished singing, she waved off some tears.
In an inspired if unexpected collaboration, GRAMMY-winning legend Stevie Wonder joined Best New Artist nominees the Jonas Brothers for a medley that included the Jonases' pop barnstormer "Burnin' Up" and Wonder's classic "Superstition." The JoBros may look the pop part, but they also proved they can give up the funk and, with Wonder and his trademark vocals and keyboard skills on display, the temperature did indeed get hotter.
Following a fun introduction from "Late Late Show" host Craig Ferguson, GRAMMY nominee Katy Perry commandeered the stage from her perch in a giant golden banana to deliver her infectious "I Kissed A Girl" with a special twist: Videos from the finalists to this year's My GRAMMY Moment contest flashed on screens behind her. In a sparkling fruit-themed outfit and accompanied by a cadre of white-suited ladies eager to be the recipients of her curious affection, Perry shimmied with the kind of lustful emotion the song demands.
Kanye West, who picked up two GRAMMYs of his own, then paced his way around a tiny round stage before slamming into his GRAMMY-winning "American Boy" with English songstress Estelle. Dipping into the chemistry that suffuses the song, they bounced their lyrics off each other like a gentle breeze blowing off the stage.
Bathed in a smoky blue light, fun-loving country star Kenny Chesney delivered his heartfelt, introspective breakup song "Better As A Memory." This qualified as one of the night's quieter stunners, plainly delivered on acoustic guitar and every note sung with a touch of aching melancholy.
A clearly pregnant M.I.A. — tonight was her baby's due date — joined a hip-hop all-star team of T.I., Jay-Z, Lil Wayne, and Kanye West onstage for the aptly titled "Swagga Like Us." Stomping, head-bobbing and otherwise cavorting to M.I.A.'s insanely infectious opening beat, West called himself "Christopher Columbus" before handing over the spotlight to Jay-Z and Lil Wayne, who marched around with an authoritative swagga. T.I. tackled spotlight duties last, leaning into his verses with a worked-up fervor.
Seconds later, Sir Paul McCartney rocked it old school with a rendition of the Beatles classic "I Saw Her Standing There" with Foo Fighter Dave Grohl — hair loose and sticks flying — joining on drums. The electric performance not only brought the house down but also proved that the Beatles' music still translates decades later across both genres and generations. Led by singer Jennifer Nettles, two-time GRAMMY winners Sugarland crept up on the emotionally vulnerable with "Stay," a lilting number made all the more memorable by Nettles' crystal delivery. Before listeners had snapped out of the gentle spell cast by Nettles, Best New Artist winner Adele joined in as the group segued into her contemplative "Chasing Pavements." Her understated but intense vocal — combined with surprise harmonies from Nettles — ended the classic soul-flavored song on an emotional note.
GRAMMY nominee Gwyneth Paltrow, in a sparkling strapless dress, then introduced Radiohead — a band that hasn't performed on live U.S. television since 2000. Thom Yorke and friends launched into "15 Step" from their GRAMMY-winning album In Rainbows. Backed by the USC Marching Band and its massive percussion section, the band launched into a song that came across as unclassifiable, underscoring the mysterious genius of Radiohead.
Timberlake came back to the stage with T.I. for "Dead And Gone," a song on which they collaborated. Timberlake opened with a vulnerable vocal as he played piano before T.I. tore off a rapid-flow rhyme.
The next performance paid tribute to Lifetime Achievement Award recipients the Four Tops (one of 12 Special Merit Award recipients acknowledged during the evening), represented by original member Abdul "Duke" Fakir, with a Motown medley of "Reach Out I'll Be There," "Standing In The Shadows Of Love” and "I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch)." Fellow Motown favorite Smokey Robinson assumed vocal duties with his quiet storm trademark alongside Fakir and R&B newcomers Jamie Foxx and Ne-Yo, who both looked and sounded the part. Fakir, tall and dashing, was as sure of voice as he was in his heyday.
MusiCares Person of the Year Neil Diamond, looking like a man who knows sincerity when he sings it, sailed into his chestnut "Sweet Caroline." In crowd-pleasing Diamond fashion, he swayed, smiled and gestured to the audience. Following Diamond's performance and a montage acknowledging those music giants who passed away this past year, Buddy Guy, B.B. King, John Mayer, and Urban — each with six-strings in tow — plucked out a flawless, organic tribute to the late Bo Diddley, who died in June.
Melding the distinct genres of hip-hop, R&B and jazz in a tribute to the still-recuperating city of New Orleans, native sons Lil Wayne, Allen Toussaint and Terence Blanchard, along with Robin Thicke, took the stage for a medley of "Tie My Hands," "Big Chief" and "Feet Don't Fail Me Now," backed by the Dirty Dozen Brass Band. While Hurricane Katrina footage flashed behind Lil Wayne and Thicke on "Tie My Hands," the two exchanged raps and R&B verses amid Blanchard's trumpet stylings and a brilliant piano solo from Toussaint.
In the night's final performance, angel-voiced Krauss and classic rock hero Plant took the stage with producer T Bone Burnett and eased into "Rich Woman." Standing just inches apart at their microphones, they sang quietly together. Then, when the band kicked up for "Gone Gone Gone (Done Moved On)," the duo broke out hip-shaking moves reminiscent of Plant's Led Zeppelin glory days. Clapping their hands and circling Burnett, they were exuberant — a pair of sophisticated pros who also showed they know how to have fun.
Wonder appropriately closed the show with "All About The Love Again." The uplifting tune struck an inspirational chord and drove home the notion that America is indeed at the beginning of a new era. It was a wonderful conclusion to an evening that once again proved that music can provide not only entertainment, but also a powerful backdrop to a nation in the midst of change.
2/5/2009 Career You'll be Fit for?^^I just do it^^
![]() 老头童鞋在blog上贴了一个测评,偶刚刚去做了^^大家有兴趣可以一试
WHAT MAJOR IS RIGHT FOR YOU?
偶的结果:
You Scored as Biology/Chemistry/Geology
You should strongly consider majoring (or minoring) in Biology, Chemistry, Geology, or related majors (e.g., Biochemistry, Environmental Science, Forestry, Fisheries and Wildlife, Genetics, Marine Biology, Zoology). It is possible that the best major for you is your 2nd, 3rd, or even 5th listed category, so be sure to consider ALL majors in your OTHER high scoring categories (below). You may score high in a category you didnt think you would--it is possible that a great major for you is something you once dismissed as not for you. The right major for you will be something 1) you love and enjoy and 2) are really great at it.
Consider adding a minor or double majoring to make yourself standout and to combine your interests.
Mathematics/Statistics 100%
Biology/Chemistry/Geology 100% English/Journalism/Comm 100% Education/Counseling 94% HR/BusinessManagement 81% History/Anthropology/LiberalArts 81% Psychology/Sociology 81% French/Spanish/OtherLanguage 75% Physics/Engineering/Computer 69% Nursing/AthleticTraining/Health 69% Religion/Theology 56% PoliticalScience/Philosophy 56% Accounting/Finance/Marketing 44% Visual&PerformingArts 44% 前几天看到2张很搞的图,偶觉得其实差不多也就是这样滴。慢慢熬,说不定能熬成阿香婆^^HOUSE M.D.已经在不知不觉中100Ep了,前个星期DH也已经100Ep,时间过得好快啊,5年就这样在不经意间倏地过去了,自己也在长大,之前Trace说他已经步入奔3的行列,那时偶才真正意识到自己身在何处,再也没有年轻的本钱了。GA开始了,今天是和Private Practice的2小时交叉集,今晚就看电视了。
![]() ![]() 12/6/2008 PhD Thoughts^^must be harder and harder^^
![]() 这几个月以来一直什么都不想写,每天打开电脑面对几乎就是ISI和百合的界面,除此之外,闲下来会恶补下几部在追的美剧,生活也就这样慢慢简单下来,也许看上去很程式化,机械得呆板,但是时不时会找到很多乐趣。WOS真的强大到让我爱不释手,看似异常简单的检索,每每发现一篇文章的价值,不经意间找到作者之间有趣的千丝万缕,分析过之后从中获取的精要,总能让偶时时兴奋。
有时也很迷茫,接下来该怎么走,实验中碰到的一个个问题,经历的一次次失败,仪器的每一次校调,试样的每一次置换,换做以前是一定会心烦的。也许是随着时间的流逝,性格中那些楞楞角角都被磨平了,现在看待问题好像都能平心静气去解决。也曾经有过疑问,后来也索性不去管它了,是消极中的积极还是其它什么。刚来这边的时候,面对一切都是崭新的,慢慢适应一段时间后,偶总在告诫自己保持好奇心,否则这么快就变老,心有不甘。前几天还在幻想,当周围的人都在讨论他们自己的小孩上学、找工作、买房子的时候,还能有人跟偶一起玩橡皮泥、过家家的游戏那该有多好,表要笑话偶啊!^^
这周的HOUSE、GA都很有意思,大叔牛到最后让偶雷得不行,Izzie的人鬼情终于快要告一个段落了,Christina和军医的排气孔之约很浪漫啊! 曾经看了发腻的PB也渐入佳境,不过最后这一季编剧总该让观众有点盼头吧。上周24小强的先行回归,也让等了2年偶们解了馋。但愿过了这个冬歇,春季回归时每一部剧都有更加精彩的表现。等待ing ! 到年底了愿大家都多多保重啊! 下了,上课去了!
![]() 9/9/2008 Sex and the City^^New Line Cinema^^
![]() ![]() The Girls Are Back in Town
By MANOHLA DARGIS
Published: May 30, 2008 A little Botox goes a long way in “Sex and the City,” but a little decent writing would have gone even further. A dumpy big-screen makeover of that much-adored small-screen delight, the movie was written and directed by Michael Patrick King, one of the guiding lights and bright wits of the original series, based on Candace Bushnell’s newspaper columns and subsequent book. Once again, Sarah Jessica Parker has stepped into the dizzyingly high heels of Carrie Bradshaw, that postmodern Lorelei Lee — a hardly working New York writer with a passion for men and Manolos — but this time she’s taken a terrible tumble.
Fans of the show were accustomed to Carrie’s falls, metaphoric and literal (as in her spectacularly horrible trip during her catwalk promenade); they were crucial to the show’s appeal, softening its hard, brittle edges. Then in her mid-30s, Carrie was one of New York’s most fearless of the zipless It Girls, able to leap tall men in a single bound without batting a single mascaraed eyelash, but as the show’s nifty opening credit sequence reminded you, episode after episode, she wasn’t above getting muck on her tutu. Her vulnerability — and that of her girlfriends — was the badly kept secret of the show, the glue holding together the froufrou, the lunches, those absolutely fabulous and ghastly clothes and all that muscly man bait.
The froufrou and the lunches are back, as are, kind of, Carrie’s three girlfriends, Miranda (Cynthia Nixon), Charlotte (Kristin Davis) and Samantha (Kim Cattrall), all tricked out with their customary accessories (men, children, handbags). Also back and in and out of Carrie’s bed is Mr. Big (Chris Noth), the longtime lover and habitual heartbreaker with whom she had (hallelujah) reunited during the show’s bitter and sweet finale four years ago. Written by Mr. King, that episode opened with Carrie wandering Paris in a funk and then stumbling into bliss by literally falling to the ground with Big. At once melancholic and defiantly hopeful, it was the kind of rueful happy ending that didn’t make you choke on your own tears.
“Sex and the City” delivered the television goods for six seasons, no small thing in the pop culture annals. That should have been enough or at least plenty for all concerned, but Ms. Parker apparently felt compelled to go big screen, making good on a project that had started to come together in 2004, only to fall apart over money issues and Ms. Cattrall’s reluctance to climb aboard. I wish Ms. Parker had let that bee in her bonnet go silent, because the movie that she and Mr. King have come up with is the pits, a vulgar, shrill, deeply shallow — and, at 2 hours and 22 turgid minutes, overlong — addendum to a show that had, over the years, evolved and expanded in surprising ways.
There are no surprises in the movie, at least not good ones. On opening, all the peas are in their designer pods, from Carrie and Big cooing in his swank New York digs to Samantha and her boy toy, Smith (Jason Lewis), sunning in a seaside Los Angeles perch. Charlotte and her husband, Harry (Evan Handler), are nesting in Manhattan; Miranda and her husband, Steve (David Eigenberg), are bunking in Brooklyn. All is right in this carefree world until Big casually asks Carrie if she would like to get married, a question that leads to the usual luncheon postmortem (oh my gawd, he proposed) and then the usual rom-com clothing montage and a staggering number of product placements. (Louis Vuitton co-stars.)
Somehow it all goes lugubriously south. Carrie is let down Big Time, and she licks her wounds down Mexico way, accompanied by her amazingly accessible gal pals. Jokes about Montezuma’s revenge ensue (really), along with hard laughter and free-flowing tears and yet more clothes (and clothing montages) and jokes and jokes, most of them flatter than Carrie’s steely six-pack. Unlike the show, which allowed the men to emerge occasionally from the sidelines with lines of actual dialogue, the male characters in the movie stand idly by, either smiling or stripping, reduced to playing sock puppets in a Punch-free Judy and Judy (times two) show. I’m all for the female gaze, but, gee, it’s also nice to talk — and listen — to men, too.
I guess size does matter after all, if not in the way that the sex-addled Samantha might assume. On television and in tasty 30-minute bites, the show "Sex and the City" managed to entertain and sometimes even enthrall with self-consciously glib morality stories about love and desire in the modern world. Everything scaled nicely to television’s modest dimensions, from Ms. Parker’s Cubistic face to Patricia Field’s costumes. Kooky and at times insanely unflattering, the clothes caught your eye instantly, directing your attention to the itty-bitty figures, exactly what they were supposed to do. But those same loud outfits, mugging faces and picayune dramas just don’t translate when blown up on a movie screen, which makes all that small-screen stuff seem even punier.
There was something seductive about the bubble world that the show created back in 1998, in the fantasy that all you needed to make it through the rough patches were good friends and throwdown heels. That was a beautiful lie, as the show acknowledged in its gently melancholic return in the wake of Sept. 11. Back in Season 3 Carrie asked, “Are we getting wiser, or just older?” The ideal, of course, is to do both. There is something depressingly stunted about this movie; something desperate too. It isn’t that Carrie has grown older or overly familiar. It’s that awash in materialism and narcissism, a cloth flower pinned to her dress where cool chicks wear their Obama buttons, this It Girl has become totally Ick.
“Sex and the City” is rated R (Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian). Sex in the city. 9/7/2008 First Trip LA![]() ![]() ![]() LA的天气跟昆明差不多,早晚有温差,阳光灿烂,UCLA的校园很漂亮,虽然没有Berkeley的梦幻,但是随处的南加味道也能让人感到兴奋。开始在Pasadena的生活,开始PhD的艰苦生活,开始一段新的生活^^ 8/17/2008 Life is too short to give in^^I'm the master of my fate,
I'm the captain of my sole^^
![]() Cause sometimes you feel tired, feel weak, and when you feel weak, you feel like you wanna just give up. But you gotta search within you, you gotta find that inner strength, and just pull that shit out of you, and get that motivation to not give up, and not be a quitter, no matter how bad you wanna just fall flat on your face and collapse. 8/8/2008 SUMMER VACATION^^BEIJING OLYMPICS OPENING^^
![]() 今天好像全中国都在过春节似的,貌似很多单位下午就放假了,路上行色匆匆的人们都在赶赴一场宴会。尽管之前的几天开幕式被韩国强行走光,但心中还是希望亲自去感受梦想实现的刹那。网络中心的电视注定要卡死的,索性早早就去食堂直接看电视了。对开幕式的文艺演出其实很满意的说,只是女主播的解说和导播镜头的切换垃圾了而已。色彩、气氛安排调动得都很成功。莎拉穿透金属的天籁和刘欢擎击鼓乐的稳重中,那一张张笑脸瞬间给我了一个惊喜。在这个夏末初秋的夜晚,李宁用中国的元素点燃了奥运的激情,这一刻祝福北京,祝福每一个人! |
||||
|
|