Nip Tuck This American Life

Simon Schubert-Paper Sculpture

2010-04-10T13:16:00.008-05:00

Simon Schubert (born 1976) is an artist based in Cologne, Germany, his birthplace. From 1997 to 2004 he trained at the Kunstakademie Dusseldorf in the sculpture class of Irmin Kamp. (From here )

(All photos are from online)

No Title

2010-03-01T12:04:00.000-06:00

Wholeness

2010-02-07T18:46:00.003-06:00

1 X 1 = 1

1/2 X 1/2 =1/4

Right or Wrong?

2010-01-28T19:35:00.001-06:00

(Picture from online)

This (highly addictive) site YourMorals.org provides easy-to-complete tests of your ethics, values and morality, with instant results.

Be-long-ing

2010-01-22T22:19:00.002-06:00

belonging
noun
a sense of belonging AFFILIATION, acceptance, association, attachment, integration, closeness; rapport, fellow feeling, fellowship. ANTONYM alienation.

Sand Paiting

2010-01-13T14:33:00.003-06:00

Kseniya Simonova says:
"I find it difficult enough to create art using paper and pencils or paintbrushes, but using sand and fingers is beyond me. The art, especially when the war is used as the subject matter, even brings some audience members to tears. And there’s surely no bigger compliment."

(Video from here)

Blueberry & Walnut Loaf

2010-01-10T20:48:00.003-06:00

1 1/4 cups dried blueberries
2/3 cup boiling water
6 tablesp00n vegetable oil=3/4 stick butter, softened
1/3 cup packed soft light brown sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 2/3 cups self-rising flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
2/3 cup walnuts, chopped

Place the blueberries in a bowl and pour the boiling water over. Stir to mix, then set aside 15 minutes.
Remove the kneading blade from the bread pan. Grease and line the bottom and sides of the pan, and set aside.
Cream the vegetable oil and sugar together in a separate bowl until pale and fluffy, then gradually beat in the egg.
Fold in the flour, baking powder, walnuts, and blueberries mixture, stirring until well mixed.
Spoon the batter into the bread pan and smooth the surface.
Place the bread pan in position in the machine and close the lid. Set the machine to "Bake Only" for 45 minutes.
Press Start.

01/08/2010

2010-01-09T11:52:00.004-06:00

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Sun Dreamer

2010-01-07T20:49:00.005-06:00

Beautiful sun catcher
Dream to shine

This Emotional Life

2010-01-05T10:19:00.004-06:00

This 3-part series represents what television does best. It opens a window into real lives, exploring ways to improve our social relationships, cope with emotional issues, and become more positive, resilient individuals. Hosted by Daniel Gilbert, Harvard psychologist and best-selling author of Stumbling on Happiness.

Airing Jan 4-6 on PBS.

Emotion is not about wrong or right, it's about truth.

Platonic Love?!-FanFan

2010-01-04T00:25:00.002-06:00

Year: 1993
Director: Alexandre Jardin
Cast: Sophie Marceau, Vincent Perez
Country: France

If a platonic love will become timeless, a marriage without sex will really become a romance?

When a platonic love is exist, sexless become a temptation of romance. But, when a platonic love is gone, sexless become a habit...

Most of people has been through the cycle of seeing the initial passion in romantic encounters burn off and having the relationship become routine and boring. Some think that this happens for two reasons: the courtship and wooing dance ends, and mere sex enters the picture. Is anyone determined to prevent this cycle from happening? Or is the burgeoning relationship seriously jeopardized by sexless? Will that end with a platonic love?

The chemistry displayed by these two great performers is rarely surpassed. The movie is about two fall deeply and madly in love each other, but the superbness is that director decided not to show any scene involved with any kind of physical relationship. It's brilliant and funny.

a clip from movie

(Thanks video from here)

a perfume commercial with Sophie Marceau

(Thanks video from here)

(movie post picture is from online)

Old Songs

2010-01-03T00:12:00.003-06:00

Don't know why these songs just came to Elnast's mind. Each song has brought her the special memories...

(Thanks video from Lovelovego2002)

(Thanks video from llaindhouse)

(Thanks video from caerleonborn)
Lili Marleen is a German love song, first recorded by Lale Andersen in 1939, which became popular during World War II. In 1980, British made the film Lili Marleen, the story of Lale Andersen and her version of the song.

No Title

2010-01-02T00:16:00.003-06:00

(Photo by Elnast's friend)

Happy New Decade!

2010-01-01T00:00:00.002-06:00

Best wishes for 2010!

09 Keywords

2009-12-31T00:15:00.004-06:00

2009 Keywords: Understanding, Forgiveness, Kindness, Appreciation, Patience, Content, Happiness, Peace, Love.

Life can only be understood backwards. It must be lived forward.

---Danish Philosopher Søren Kierkegaard

(Costa Rica, Winter, 2009)

(Beijing, Winter, 2009)

(Chinese Spring Festival, 2009)

(Chicago, Spring, 2009)

(Los Angeles, Spring, 2009)

(San Francisco, Spring, 2009)

(San Diego, Spring, 2009)

(Chicago, Summer, 2009)

(Beijing, Summer, 2009)

(Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, Summer, 2009)

(Inner Mongolia, Summer, 2009)

(Fenghuang, Summer, 2009)

(Beijing, Autumn, 2009)

Flowers

2009-12-30T00:31:00.005-06:00

No matter what color is, big or petite, heavy or slim, nature is beauty.

These flowers are dedicated to those who suffered from cosmetic surgeon or any fake beauty matters in 2009.

Year 2009

2009-12-29T00:25:00.016-06:00

Food or drug?

America spends more on health care than on food. About 47 million uninsured, and some more millions who were underinsured.

There is an invisible veil on American woman's body, which is the restriction from health insurance on mammogram, pap smear and abortion.

(Photo from Sina)

What is a new relationship between US and China?

One guy from Kenya married a girl from Henan in China. But this foreign guy in Shenzhen, China is not just a guy who came from a country in Africa. Mark Ndesandjo did share a same father with President Obama. But, they do not share a same last name. Otherwise, the girl from Henan will be "Mrs. Obama" too.

It seems China will be the last savior for this world in movie "2012". Now, President Obama has a Chinese half-sister-in-law.

(Photo from online)

Non-royalty meets royalty

American are so worried about President Obama's bowing behavior. President Obama's bow to the Japanese Emperor is a sign of culture understanding. Japan is the one of bowing courtesy country. It is just a proper Japanese greeting between equals. On the other hand, Japanese Emperor is not a real leader of Japan.

War and Peace in 21 century

President Obama wins Nobel Peace Prize. He sends 30,000 more troops to the war. Teen beaten to death in his state. May this "Peace" means "be quiet"!?

Every existing thing is born without reason, prolongs itself out of weakness, and dies by chance.

---Jean-Paul Sartre

Weaver

2009-12-28T00:18:00.004-06:00

Miao minority

(Fenghuang, Summer, 2009)

Miao woman weaving waistband and kerchief fabric.

The Miao are found in the Guizhou, Hainan, Hubei, Sichuan, Gansu, Guizhou, Qinghai, Hunan, Guangdong, and Yunnan Provinces and the Guangxi Autonomous Region in China. They are part of the Hmong-Yao language family linguistic group. The Miao language has three main dialects, but there was no unified written script until 1956. Religions include nature and ancestor worship and Christianity.
Dispersed from southern China across northern Vietnam, Laos, and into Thailand, the Miao (also known as the Hmong), vary in dialect, styles of farming, and designation: Black, White, Red, blue, Flowery, and Cowrie Shell Miao among others. Forced southward by the Han, often despised and exploited, many settled in distant mountains, raising millet and buckwheat by slash-and-burn farming, their diet supplemented by domestic animals and hunting
(Info from here )

Document Voice-Your Best Listener

2009-12-27T00:50:00.003-06:00

BBC is having a program to build up an Outlook montage of your images with your best listener.

Who listens to you? Who's your favorite person to sit down with for a good old chat?

Sending your photos to outlook@bbc.com.

An organization called StoryCorps wants people across the United States to record a conversation with someone important to them-a friend, a family member or a colleague. It is all part of one of the most ambitious oral history projects ever undertaken in the US.

(photo via BBC)

Craft-pinch dough

2009-12-26T00:50:00.011-06:00

Craft-pinch dough

(Hohhot, Summer, 2009)

Dough, also known as Mian Su, is a production of simple but highly artistic folk crafts. It uses flour, glutinous rice flour as the main raw material, combined with color, paraffin wax, honey and other ingredients, after a crack anti-mold processing, made of soft colored dough.

Marbled Chocolate Loaf Cake

2009-12-25T11:14:00.005-06:00

(This recipe is for delicious home baking with your bread machine.)

1 1/2 sticks butter, soft=12 tablespoons vegetable oil
3/4 cup packed soft light brown sugar
3 eggs, beaten
1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
2 ripe bananas, peeled and mashed with lemon juice
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder,
(plus extra for dusting if you like)
2 teaspoons milk
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
sifted confectioners' sugar for dusting if you like

Remove the kneading blade from the bread pan. Grease and
line the bottom and sides of the pan and set aside.

Cream the butter and brown sugar together in a bowl. Gradually beat in the eggs. Sift the flour and baking powder over and fold in, mixing well. Fold in the bananas.
Place half the batter in a separate bowl. Sift the cocoa powder over, add the milk, and fold together. Stir the ground ginger into the plain banana batter. Place alternate spoonfuls of each batter into the bread pan, then gently swirl a sharp knife or skewer through the mixture to create a marbled effect.

3. Place the bread pan in position in the machine and close the lid.
4. Set the machine to "Bake Only" for 55 minutes.
5. Press Start.

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-24T14:06:00.008-06:00

when snowflakes kiss a tree branch

Let's make a movie in New Zealand.

2009-12-23T12:39:00.002-06:00

This is a good opportunity for an individual movie maker. ( All info comes from here )

If you dream of being a great filmmaker, this could be your big break. Capture the spirit of 100% Pure New Zealand in a 3 minute short film and win the attention of Academy Award winning director Peter Jackson.

Mail Carries Sentiments

2009-12-22T18:31:00.013-06:00

Stamp, envelope, handwriting came along with scent and love.

Touched by her, sealed by her and possibly kissed by her.

Evergreen notebook...

A raining snowing day, but...

2009-12-18T21:43:00.021-06:00

A friend accepts us as we are yet helps us to be what we should.

Thank You!

(Even we did not see each other for 14 years.)

No Title

2009-12-17T17:57:00.078-06:00

__________________________________________________________________

The Age of Reason by Sartre

2009-12-16T00:18:00.008-06:00

Series: The Roads to Freedom
I The Age of Reason, 1947
II The Reprieve, 1947
III Troubled Sleep, 1951

Jean-Paul Sartre was born in Paris in 1905. He graduated from I'Ecole Normale superieure in 1929 with a doctorate in philosophy. He taught in Paris before and after in prison for nine months during 1940. He is one of the leading figures in modern philosophy and major contributors to Existentialism.

In 1964 Sartre declined the Nobel Prize for Literature. He died in 1980.

This is one of those books that cover everything. It's heavy, but not in a depressed way. The heaviness will make you thinking deeply. There is SO much here about the decisions we have to make in life, and whether or not we can actually be said to make them ourselves.

What is to reflect on my life of failure and declares that I have indeed reached the age of reason?

"Everything has been figured out, except how to live."
"Every existing thing is born without reason, prolongs itself out of weakness, and dies by chance."

---Sartre

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Coincidence!

Helpless Love-Elegy

2009-12-15T10:55:00.001-06:00

Year: 2008
Directed: Isabel Coixet
Written: Nicholas Meyer, based on the novel “The Dying Animal” by Philip Roth
Director of photography: Jean-Claude Larrieu
Cast: Penelope Cruz , Ben Kingsley, Dennis Hopper, Patricia Clarkson,
Peter Sarsgaard

I found the movie extremely compelling for it's dialogue and the powerful command of emotional expression displayed by Kingsley and Cruz. The movie is about neither a love story between student and teacher nor an affair between a beautiful young girl and an old professor.

Love can be happened at any place, any time, any situation. Even it's in a helpless situation, but people still want to love, just love. The movie is also about sex and death in an aging way.

The review of this film should be written from the perspective of the man thinking of responsibility about love and marriage. It is outrageously beautiful to see the truth behind the lack of commitment most men struggling from.

The story is banal, the ending is too simple, but the movie filled with visual moments and easily a dozen memorable quote to recall in conversation after watching. The acting is decent.

The movie is very personal. From one point of view, you can tell it's a female director film.

I found it is bloody interesting about the interpretation about an affair discussed between a father and a son.

Photography of the movie did an exquisite work . The color/tone of the movie is gray. Gray is a tone of bitterness and sadness, but gray in happiness made you feel the deepness of love.

Hidden Protest

2009-12-14T12:20:00.006-06:00

(No political views of this.)

A junk mail. Such a dark humor. It would be a hilarious scene if it happens...

"WALK NAKED IN AMERICA DAY

Don't forget to mark your calendars. As you may already know, it is a
sin for a Muslim male to see any woman other than his wife naked. He
must commit suicide if he does. So next Saturday at 4 PM Eastern Time,
all American women are asked to walk out of their house completely naked
to help weed out any neighborhood terrorists. Circling your block for
one hour is recommended for this anti-terrorist effort.

All patriotic men are to position themselves in lawn chairs in front of their house to prove they are not Muslims and to demonstrate they think it's okay
to see nude women other than their wife and to show support for all
American women. Since Islam also does not approve of alcohol, a cold
6-pack at your side is further proof of your anti-Muslim sentiment. The
American government appreciates your efforts to root out terrorists and
applauds your participation in this anti-terrorist activity.

God bless America!

Also, it is your patriotic duty to pass this on. If you don't send this
to at least 5 people, you're a terrorist-sympathizing, lily-livered coward and
are in the position of posing as a national threat."

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Liu Bolin's Art
(This guy paints himself, no kidding, no trick photography he just paints himself.)

This talented Chinese artist has taken blending in to a whole new level in these incredible photographs. These photographs depict a man who paints himself in such a way that he appears to blend into the background to such an extent that he is almost invisible.

Liu Bolin - "The invisible man" was born in Shandong, China in the year 1973. In 1995 Liu Bolin completed his graduation from Shandong Art College and in 2001 he earned a MFA degree from the Central Academy of Fine Arts.
But these photos isn’t just in spying the artist, but in the visual thrill produced by the deftly conjured effect of his spooky gossamer presence; he looks less a figure covered in paint than a ghost, defined by shadow. Liu has said that his work is a statement on the artist’s outsider status in modern society, and the government’s attitude in his native country (Chinese authorities shut down his studio in Beijing in 2005). But simply as a display of wit, precision and surreal effect, they’re worthy of a quick look. But not too quickly, you might not want to miss the thoughts he brought to you.

(A human chameleon)

(The Chinese characters saying-Beijing Welcome You-a sign for 2008 Beijing Olympic Game)

(This traditional Chinese character is Unity & Spurt.)

(All photos come from online. )

Green the materialistic

2009-12-13T18:49:00.017-06:00

Buy new coats for kids who don't have this Winter

Every minute of every day we are bombarded with slick advertising campaigns on television, radio, billboards, and websites enticing us to buy, buy, buy. Our materialistic society has fallen into the planned obsolesce trap-don't fix it if it's broken. Don't wait until it wears out. Get a new one. A better one. We are obsessed with money and with stuff.

Green your Christmas (handmade paper locks and newspapers)

Soul Cake

2009-12-12T15:12:00.023-06:00

What a nice album from Sting. It's just right for this winter, I think.

I can't believe Sting is almost 60 years old. I wonder how he really thinks about Tantric sex at this age.

(Picture is from http://stingwintersnight.com)

In this album, there is a song called-Soul Cake. Love it!

Go down into the cellar
And see what you can find
If the barrels are not empty
We’ll hope that you’ll be kind

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Banana & Honey Loaf
(This recipe is for delicious home baking with your bread machine.)

8 table vegetable oil = 1 stick butter, softened (I usually do not use butter in my baking.)
1 1/2 cup packed soft light brown sugar *

1/3 cup honey *

2 eggs, beaten *
1 2/3 cups self-rising flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon or nutmeg
2 large bananas, peeled and mashed with a little lemon juice
(*used organic product.)

Remove the kneading blade from the bread pan. Grease and line the bottom and sides of the pan.
Place the vegetable oil, sugar and honey in a bowl and beat together until light and fluffy.
Gradually beat in the eggs, then fold in the flour and cinnamon or nutmeg.
Fold the mashed bananas into the batter until well mixed.
Spoon the batter into the bread pan and smooth the surface.
Place the bread pan in position in the machine and close the lid.
Set the machine to "Bake Only" for 60 minutes. Press Start.

Tip:

* You can use a fine skewer or knife inserted into the middle of the loaf to check
if it comes out clean.