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Sunday, November 14, 2010

one chinese poetry about kite-一首与风筝有关的诗歌



《风鸢图诗》

[明] 徐谓

江北江南低鹞齐,线长线短回高低。
春风自古无凭据,一伍骑夫弄笛儿。


extended meaning of high & low in Chinese literature-高和低在中国文学中的引申含义

阳春白雪 ("雅")-"Spring Snow", means highbrow art and literature

下里巴人 ("俗")-"Low class", means popular literature or art

《下里巴人》和《阳春白雪》最早是说诗歌的,用来形容“雅”和“俗”。
《下里巴人》是民间讴唱的曲子,《阳春白雪》则为达官贵人知识分子们所欣赏。

"Low class" and "Spring Snow" that was first used to describe the "elegant" and "vulgar" poetry ."Low class" is  being sung in the folk , "Spring Snow" was appreciated by intellectuals and nobles.

the Selfish Giant -巨人的花园

by Oscar Wilde

Oscar Wilde's classic children's tale about how a selfish giant's life is transformed by the arrival of a special child who teaches him about love and friendship...


Saturday, November 13, 2010

well-known chinese philosophical poetry in Song Dynasty-中国宋朝著名哲理诗



《题西林壁》

[宋] 苏轼

    横看成岭侧成峰,远近高低各不同;
    不识庐山真面目,只缘身在此山中。

Written on the wall at West Forest Temple

By Su Shi

Lu Shan looks a long range from the side,
But from one of the ends it looks a peak.
From near or far, and from high or low,
Mountain Lu Shan looks not the same.
You can’t see the true face of Lu Shan,
Because you are lost whthin it yourself.
So things must be observed objectively
From points of view as many as possible.

Friday, November 12, 2010

introduction of a media art group-一个媒体艺术组的介绍

integrates high and low technological materials, processes, and cultures.
Their primary aim is to engage different audiences in designing and building their own technologies by situating computation in new cultural and material contexts, and by developing tools that democratize engineering...

high necks by Amedeo Modigliani

 . Amedeo Modigliani, Jeanne Hébuterne, 1918
. Amedeo Modigliani, Portrait of Lunia Czechowska, 1919
. Amedeo Modigliani, Portrait of Lunia Czechowska, 1919

Amedeo Modigliani (July 12, 1884 – January 24, 1920) was an Italian artist who worked mainly in France. Primarily a figurative artist, he became known for paintings and sculptures in a modern style characterized by mask-like faces and elongation of form. He died in Paris of tubercular meningitis, exacerbated by poverty, overwork, and addiction to alcohol and narcotics.
His paintings are characterized by long and stretched figures, with particular high necks.




Thursday, November 11, 2010

food & cultures-食物与文化

. Carlo Mollino's Tavolo Reale for Zanotta, 1946
. Typical japanese low table

In Japan, some restaurants and private homes have low tables and cushions on the floor, rather than Western style chairs and tables. These are usually found on tatami floors: traditional tatami  (畳) rooms have an alcove (tokonoma) in which a hanging scroll (kakejiku) and a flower arrangement (ikebana) or piece of pottery is displayed. The room entrances are sliding paper doors (fusuma) and sliding paper screens (shoji) which can be removed completely. 

Most Westerners are not used to sitting on the floor, however, in Japan sitting upright on the floor is common in many situations. For example, meals are traditionally held on a tatami floor around a low table. Sitting on the floor is also customary during the tea ceremony and other traditional events.
The formal way of sitting for both genders is kneeling (seiza) as shown on the picture below. People who are not used to sit in seiza style may become uncomfortable after a few minutes. Foreigners are not usually expected to be able to sit in seiza style for a long time, and an increasing number of Japanese people themselves are not able to do so either.
In casual situations, men usually sit cross-legged, while women with both legs to one side. The former sitting style is considered exclusively male, while the latter is considered exclusively female.
The most important guest sits on the honored seat (kamiza) which is located farthest from the entrance. If there is a tokonoma in the room, the guest should be seated in front of it. The host or least important person is supposed to sit next to the entrance (shimoza). 

"High Voltage", AC/DC


Well you ask me 'bout the clothes I wear
and you ask me why I grow my hair
and you ask me why I'm in a band
I dig doin' one night stands
and you ask me why I do my thing
all you gotta do is
plug me into high
well gimme high
high voltage rock 'n' roll
high voltage rock 'n' roll
well gimme high voltage
well gimme high voltage
gimme gimme high voltage rock 'n' roll
gimme rock 'n'roll

and you ask me why I like to dance
and you ask me why I like to sing
and you ask me why I like to play
got to get my kicks some way
ask me what we're all about well
I just wanna hear you shout
high
well gimme high
high voltage rock 'n' roll
gimme high voltage rock 'n' roll
gimme high voltage
high voltage
well gimme high voltage rock 'n' roll
gimme high voltage rock 'n' roll

well gimme high

high voltage rock 'n' roll
gimme high voltage rock 'n' roll
gimme high voltage
high voltage
well gimme high voltage rock 'n' roll
gimme rock 'n' roll

high voltage rock 'n' roll
high voltage rock 'n' roll
well gimme high voltage
well gimme high voltage
well gimme high voltage rock 'n' roll
gimme rock 'n' roll

"High Hopes", Pink Floyd



 Beyond the horizon of the place
we lived whe were young
In a world of magnetes and miracles
Our thoughts strayed constantly
and without boundary
The ringing of the division bell had begun
Along the long road
and on down the causeway
Do they still meet there by the cut
There was a ragged band
that followed in our footsteps
Running before time took our dreams away
Leaving the myriad small creatures
trying to tie us the ground
To a life consumed by slow decay
The grass was greener
The light was brighter
With friends surround
The nights of wonder
Looking beyond the embers
of bridges glowing behind us
To a glimpse of how green
it was on the other side
Steps taken forwards
but sleepwalking back again
Dragged by force of some inner tide
At a higher altitude with flag unfurled
We reached the dizzy heights
of that dreamed of world
Encumbered forever by desire and ambition
There's a hunger still unsatisfied
Our weary eyes still stray to the horizon
Though down this road
we've been so many times
The grass was greener
The light was brighter
The taste was sweeter
The nights of wonder
With friends surround
The dawn mist glowing
The water flowing
The endless river
Forever and ever
Forever and ever

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Wuthering Heights-呼啸山庄



Wuthering Heights is a 1939 American black and white film directed by William Wyler and produced by Samuel Goldwyn. It is based on the novel, Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë. The film depicts only sixteen of the novel's thirty-four chapters, eliminating the second generation of characters. The novel was adapted for the screen by Charles MacArthur, Ben Hecht and John Huston. The film won the 1939 New York Film Critics Award for Best Film. It earned nominations for eight Academy Awards, including for Best Picture and Best Actor. The 1939 Academy Award for Best Cinematography, black and white category, was awarded to Gregg Toland for his work.
In 2007, Wuthering Heights was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". 

Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights was a 1992 feature film adaptation of Emily Brontë's novel Wuthering Heights. Paramount Pictures was forced to use the author's name in the title of the film as Samuel Goldwyn Studio (later sold to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer) owned the rights to the simple title Wuthering Heights due to the copyright on their 1939 film version of the novel. The film stars Ralph Fiennes as the tortured Heathcliff and Juliette Binoche as the free spirited Catherine Earnshaw. The role of Heathcliff opened up doors for Ralph Fiennes to play Amon Göth in Schindler's List. American director Steven Spielberg claimed he liked Fiennes for Göth because of his "dark sexuality".

"High and Dry", Radiohead-高而干,电台司令



Two jumps in a week, I bet you think that's pretty clever don't you boy.
Flying on your motorcycle, watching all the ground beneath you drop.
You'd kill yourself for recognition; kill yourself to never ever stop.
You broke another mirror; you're turning into something you are not.

Don't leave me high, don't leave me dry
Don't leave me high, don't leave me dry

Drying up in conversation, you will be the one who cannot talk.
All your insides fall to pieces, you just sit there wishing you could still make love
They're the ones who'll hate you when you think you've got the world all sussed out
They're the ones who'll spit at you. You will be the one screaming out.

Don't leave me high, don't leave me dry
Don't leave me high, don't leave me dry

It's the best thing that you've ever had, the best thing that you've ever, ever
had.
It's the best thing that you've ever had; the best thing you've had has gone away.

Don't leave me high, don't leave me dry
Don't leave me high, don't leave me dry

an up-thrown architecture-一座拔地而起的建筑

. La centrale elettrica, 1914
. La Città nuova, 1914

Antonio Sant'Elia (April 30, 1888 - October 10, 1916)
was an extremely influential Italian architect. He was born in Como, Lombardy. A builder by training, he opened a design office in Milan in 1912 and became involved with the Futurist movement. Between 1912 and 1914, influenced by industrial cities of the United States and the Viennese architects Otto Wagner and Adolf Loos, he began a series of design drawings for a futurist Città Nuova ("New City") that was conceived as symbolic of a new age. 
The manifesto Futurist Architecture was published in August 1914, supposedly by Sant'Elia, though this is subject to debate. In it the author stated that
"the decorative value of Futurist architecture depends solely on the use and original arrangement of raw or bare or violently colored materials".
As described in this manifesto, his designs featured bold groupings and large-scale disposition of planes and masses creating a heroic industrial expressionism. His vision was for a highly industrialised and mechanized city of the future, which he saw not as a mass of individual buildings but a vast, multi-level, interconnected and integrated urban conurbation designed around the "life" of the city. His extremely influential designs featured vast monolithic skyscraper buildings with terraces, bridges and aerial walkways that embodied the sheer excitement of modern architecture and technology.




a famous tower...一座著名的高塔



The Tour Eiffel is an 1889 iron lattice tower located on the Champ de Mars in Paris that has become both a global icon of France and one of the most recognizable structures in the world. The tallest building in Paris,it is the most-visited paid monument in the world; millions of people ascend it every year. Named for its designer, engineer Gustave Eiffel, the tower was built as the entrance arch to the 1889 World's Fair.

high elephants-长腿大象

. Temptation of St Anthony,1946
. The Elephants, 1948
. One Second Before Awakening from a Dream Caused by the Flight of a Bee Around a Pomegranate, 1944

Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí i Domènech, Marquis of Dalí de Púbol (May 11, 1904 – January 23, 1989), commonly known as Salvador Dalí, was a prominent Spanish Catalan surrealist painter born in Figueres.
In these paintings appears several times the figure of the elephant, with a particular attribute: it has very high legs.

height depends on the occasion!-高度取决于场合!


A very high wedding cake and the italian Sbrisolona, a typical cake of Mantova.

Cake is a form of food, typically a sweet, baked dessert. Cakes normally contain a combination of flour, sugar, eggs, and butter or oil, with some varieties also requiring liquid (typically milk or water) and leavening agents (such as yeast or baking powder). 

From the wedding cake, generally composed by different levels, to a typical cake of the north of Italy, the Sbrisolona: a very low cake made with almonds. The height of the cake generally is related to the occurrence.


Tuesday, November 9, 2010

low Alice becomes high -爱丽丝漫游仙境


The White Rabbit is a fictional character in Lewis Carroll's book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. He appears at the very beginning of the book, in chapter one, wearing a waistcoat, and muttering "Oh dear! Oh dear! I shall be too late!" Alice follows him down the rabbit hole into Wonderland. Alice encounters him again when he mistakes her for his housemaid Mary Ann and she becomes trapped in his house after growing too large. The Rabbit shows up again in the last few chapters, as a herald-like servant of the King and Queen of Hearts.

Polyphemus the cyclope-波吕斐摩斯独眼巨人



"We sailed hence, always in much distress, till we came to the land of the lawless and inhuman Cyclopes. Now the Cyclopes neither plant nor plough, but trust in providence, and live on such wheat, barley, and grapes as grow wild without any kind of tillage, and their wild grapes yield them wine as the sun and the rain may grow them. They have no laws nor assemblies of the people, but live in caves on the tops of high mountains; each is lord and master in his family, and they take no account of their neighbours."

"'Strangers, who are you? Where do sail from? Are you traders, or do you sail the as rovers, with your hands against every man, and every man's hand against you?"
"I then gave him some more; three times did I fill the bowl for him, and three times did he drain it without thought or heed; then, when I saw that the wine had got into his head, I said to him as plausibly as I could: 'Cyclops, you ask my name and I will tell it you; give me, therefore, the present you promised me; my name is Noman; this is what my father and mother and my friends have always called me."

"But the cruel wretch said, 'Then I will eat all Noman's comrades before Noman himself, and will keep Noman for the last. This is the present that I will make him."


Polyphemus (Greek: Πολύφημος, Polyphēmos) is the gigantic one-eyed son of Poseidon and Thoosa in Greek mythology, one of the Cyclopes. Polyphemus plays a pivotal role in Homer's Odyssey.

ancient chinese mythology -中国古代神话


Nu Wa as a creator -女娲造人


In Chinese mythology, Nu Wa is the goddess of order who created humans and saved the world from destruction. According to legend, Nu Wa came to earth before there were any people.
Nu Wa became lonely and decided to make copies of herself from mud in a pool. The figures she created came to life and wandered off to populate the earth. After a while, Nu Wa realized that it would take too long to fill the earth with people if she made each one by hand. So she took a rope, dipped it into the mud, and flung the drops of mud in all directions. Each drop became a separate human being. The people Nu Wa created by hand became the rich and powerful people in the world; those she flung as drops from the rope became the poor and the weak.

     Animation of Nuwa Patch Up Sky:
    (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvbwAjdPNeI

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

a voyage to Lilliput: high Gulliver in the land of the low Lilliputians -在小人国的旅行


Gulliver's Travels 
(1726, amended 1735),  is a novel by Irish writer and clergyman Jonathan Swift that is both a satire on human nature and a parody of the "travellers' tales" literary sub-genre. It is Swift's best known full-length work, and a classic of English literature.
In particular, on his first voyage, Gulliver is washed ashore after a shipwreck and awakes to find himself a prisoner of a race of people one-twelfth the size of normal human beings, less than 6 inches (15cm) high, who are inhabitants of the neighbouring and rival countries of Lilliput and Blefuscu.

about giants: high people -和巨人有关的...

The Life of Gargantua and of Pantagruel (in French, La vie de Gargantua et de Pantagruel) is a connected series of five novels written in the 16th century by François Rabelais.
It is the story of two giants, a father (Gargantua) and his son (Pantagruel) and their adventures, written in an amusing, extravagant, satirical vein.

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

dancing in the upper way-在空中的舞蹈(踩高跷)



 Chinese traditional folk art-stiltwalking.


Stilts are poles, posts or pillars used to allow a person or structure to stand at a distance above the ground. Walking stilts are poles equipped with steps for the feet to stand on, or straps to attach them to the legs, for the purpose of walking while elevated above a normal height.

alphabet...字母表...

and now our alphabet:
 
A...aircraft

B...belfry

C...cliff
D...dwarf

E...elevator

F...flag

G...giant

H...heel

I...iceberg

J...jumping
K...kite

L...latitude

M...mountain

N...Nederland

O...Oscar prizes
P...plateau

Q...queen

R...rocket

S...skyscraper

T...tower

U...UFO

V...volume

W...waist

X...xuánliáng (悬梁) : hang oneself from a beam.

Y...Yao Ming (姚明): a Chinese man,who is tallest person in Shanghai.

Z...Zhan Shi Chai ( 詹世钗): a Chinese giant in history.