to be colorful

I always admire how Japanese do their TV shows. For this one, it says about the story happening in a fancy restaurant in Tokyo and the things among chefs. Therefore, there're many professional knowledge about food-making. From this show, I can see every detail regadring a restaurant's operation, and how to make Italian foods. From the materials, the kitchen, the chefs, the waiters, I can feel vividly how will it be like to work  in a big restaurant. And, the tempo of the show is fast showing the tense feelings to work in the kitchen. With a nice story and good actors, "バンビ～ノ！" is unquestionably an excellent show to me. We all once were bambinos when we were new to a job. So, how to become an expert from a bambino would depend on how hard we work on it. And that is the very point the show would like to tell us.

An Italian Restaurant: "Beata te"

This Monday, I had a chance to dine in a high-class restaurant called “Beata te”, an Italian restaurant located in the famous “Bellavita”, which is known as the only-for-rich-people shopping mall. So, I dressed up for the special dinner and wondered how “Beata te” would be. As I walked in the restaurant, I felt an elegant atmosphere in there. There were beautiful music and candle lights and comfortable sofa. And every Monday and Friday, they have live music show during dinner times. As I looked over the menu, the prices were, not surprisingly, expensive to me. For a dinner set, the price is from 1200 to 3000 NT dollars. So, we ordered the “cheapest” set, which was NT1200. The waiter introduced every dish clearly. I ordered a beef knuckle set (not sure if the name is correct). This set had breads, soup, appetizers, main dish (beef knuckle), drinks and dessert. The most delicious one for me was “breads”. The breads were very fresh and juicy. And they had many kinds of breads to choose- French bread, sesame bread, bread sticks etc. The tastes were so good that I couldn’t help eat a lot, and therefore, I was already quite full after the bread part… And I like the soup as well. The soup was asparagus soup- sweet and tasty.

If you’d like to enjoy a high-class dinner, “Beata te” would be a good option for you.

I've always wanted to write about this movie because it is really a weird one. When I was an exchange student in the US, I went to see this "cult movie" with my friends and really found it, well, weird. It said a couple have a breakdown in an isolated area and stay in a house where have many bizzare people. They sing and dance and wear abnormal costumes. As I said, it is a so-called cult movie, so when I was in the theater, the whole audience could sing along with every line in the movie! Furthermore, some of them dressed like the actors in the movie! There were hosts during the show and they'd have interactions with the audience! It should be so far one of my exciting experiences. So, if there's a chance to join this kind of cult movies, please do try it. It is fun!

I don't know if the popularity of the song is because of the movie "Notting Hill". But, it is definately a great song. Very sweet and deary. I've been to some weddings and they chose the song to play- simply to admire the beauty of the brides. Actually, I don't like "Notting Hill" very much because the story of it seems not gonna happen in a real life. But, I do like the two stars of the movie- they're both pretty and good actors. After seeing this moive, I just wanted to visit English towns. I guess I'll have to save more money for so many places I want to visit.

She                                                                                
                                                                               
She may be the face I can't forget

I heard it from "Ally Mcbeal" the first time. Then lately heard it from the movie "Sex and the City". I must say Al Green sang it so well that this song is definately with feelings. I watched "Ally McBeal" again and understand that there are many great songs in it. Songs by Barry White, Al Green etc. Should I say I'm an old-song-lover? Or an old-movie-lover? Well, so far I guess I am. Sometimes I feel the advanced technology brings too many seasonings to the movie and the original feeling of a movie just can't show off. Anyway, back to this song, it is a song for lonely people, again.

How Can You Mend A Broken Heart
                                                                               
I can think of younger days when living for my life

It is an easy and sweet song. Not complicated or hard to understand. I simply like the melody of it. It's simple and comfortable. We can always hear this song from a jazz bar. Sounds like best for a relaxing time after work- especially for those who are so diligent that have to work like more than 12 hrs a day. So wanna be relaxed? Go for a nice jazz bar and listen to some nice songs!

Fly me to the moon                                                      
                                                                             
Fly me to the moon

Honestly, I am not a book lover or read lots of books. But this book is interesting to me, especially the campus life part. I didn't have the chance to study MBA in the US, but from this book I can know every detail of the MBA life. The author has a talent to write everything in a funny and appealing way- I've always liked fun stuff. I've studied abroad as an exchange student for one semester and that's partly why I like the book because some situations the author says in the book can be imagined vividly by me. I couldn't help smiling all the time while reading this book. Even though I haven't finished it all, it is a useful book for those who would like to study abroad- not because it will tell you where to do the grocery shopping, because it humorously and loyally describes the MBA life in the US.

It's sad for me to write about this tv show, though it's a very good one, because my situation is a bit like the main character in the show- already 30, no bf, no dating in current life. Sad. I believe if you've seen this show, it's easy to understand what I mean, as quoted by Ally "What could be worse than being alone..." Yes, being alone is sad. And what is sadder is that we can't accept to compromise with the reality and be together with someone we don't love that much. Is being alone sad? Or is being with someone we don't love sad? I don't have the answer. Though, I do hope I could be with someone I really love. Oh, by the way, for the show, season one and two are the best. After those two, the story seems not that good.

It's a powerful song. It was sung by Gloria Gaynor in the 70s. And till now, it's still a popular one used in many movies and tv serieses. I remember it because of the tv show "Ally McBeal", one of my favorite shows. I don't remember in which part this song was played, but, it really is a powerful and encouraging song which can give people strength. As I googled the singer Gloria Gaynor and realized she had a tough time before this song was released. And, she survived. She sang this song perfectly. Share with you.

I Will Survive

At first I was afraid I was petrified
Kept thinkin’ I could never live without you be my side;

It's a japanese tv series describing women of four blood types- A, B, AB, O. Actually the blood type issue is quite popular these times. As one korean comics author published one book about blood types and it becomes a best-seller (actually my bro bought one too). Is there really that many differences between the four blood types? Maybe there's some. But, I think every person has his/her own very characteristics. The specialty of each person is obvious. This tv series just points out the big differences, but it doesn't apply to all people. If anyone is interested in blood types, it surely is a good introduction. 

As I went to Beijing for few days in the end of July, I'd like to write down some interesting things abou Beijing before I forgot,

1. the massage: Massage stores in BJ are very popular. Tourists can easily see them everywhere. The special thing is we can call the masseuse to do the massage in our apartments even though it's very late in the night! I actually tried around 11:30pm for massage, and the masseuse did come and did a good one.

2. the people: People there work hard and learn fast. I went to a famous market for fake and cheap products for foreingers and I could hear BJ people there speak English fluently in order to sell goods- most of them didn't go abroad, they just learned at school or by themselves. Should I say they are talented? I don't think so. I think they just work really hard to learn everything.

3. the restrooms: The restrooms in BJ are horrible..., especially the ones in famous places, such as the Great Walls. People there don't use the restrooms well. Most of the restrooms were not clean and didn't have tissues. I didn't want to use them at all when I was outside. It was such a relief when I came to apartments becuase the restrooms were a lot more clean!

I went to Beijing few days ago and realized how Chinese people are- or I should say Beijing people. Firstly, they work hard and are competitive. Secondly, they express themselves very well. Thirdly, their food is really oily... Well, since it's all about China, I want to introduce the movie "Shianghai Blues", one of my favorite Chinese movies- even though it's not a story in Beijing, it's in Shianghai. I've been to Shianghai a year ago and feel that Shianghai is a lot different from Beijing. Well anyway, I was gonna say I love the movie, especially the theme song "Night Breeze" (sung by Sally Yeh). The song was played in the part when the actor practiced the violin. The atmosphere is very breezy. It feels like night breeze is there. At that moment, I was totally drawn to the scene and believed the director and the song writer were geniuses. Their work was just fabulous. This is a good movie that shows and expresses how the city Shianghai is.

晚風 

晚風中有你我的夢　風中借來一點時間緊緊擁　擁的那個夢
像一陣風　像一陣風　猶有愛在風中輕輕送　我心的愛是否你心的夢

I heard this song a lot but couldn't remember where I heard it from at the very first place. It was sung by different singers, the most memorable one to me would be the one sung by the HK singer, Karen Mok- I like her special voice. And the one sung by Carpenters would be the most popular. This song sounds a bit lazy and slow, but the atmosphere is very good. It feels smoky and wavy. Even though I don't remember all the lyrics, the melody could drown me, because of the beauty of the waves. Quite nice to hear it when we have a lovely dinner with our lovers or tea time alone in some peaceful afternoon.

Close to You

Why do birds suddenly appear
Every time you are near

To be honest, while I first heard this song, I didn't realize what it meant (actually till now). I heard it from the movie "Sleepless in Seatle", which was quite a popular romance movie 17 years ago- wow, time flies. I was attracted to this song basically because of the singer's voice- I just realized it's from Nat King Cole. And, I found out I was attracted to many of his other songs, all because of his beautiful voice. He's got an incredible voice which can make most of us feel calm and drunk. His voice was born for performing music, especially jazz. Is it called "old-fashioned"? Nope, it's "classic".

Stardust
By Nat King Cole

And now the purple dusk of twilight time

I've been back to my grandpa's house for several days and started to watch the popular taiwanese tv series- 夜市人生… I have to say it’s a quite interesting and dramatic show. It describes stories among more than 20 (or even more?) characters! It’s much more complicated than any show I’ve ever seen. If we draw a map to describe the relationships among the characters, we need a really big map! The relationships are so complicated I can hardly remember who is whose son/daughter and who is whose ex or husband/wife… However, my eldest aunt can amazingly memorize them all! She could easily explain to me which one and which one has a history and which one hates (or loves) which one… I felt she’s admirable.

Anyway, I only saw the three episodes so far and found it quite fun and the story is amazingly difficult to understand, because there’re two generations and they all have some secrets or some hidden relationships with others. I truly think the screenwriter must be a person who has a lot of experiences in his/her life so that he/she can come up with the story. Although I haven’t seen the previous tv sereies 娘家 (I heard it’s more popular), I believe it must be as complicated as this one. Now I understand why taiwanese drama could have high tv ratings, because with all the dramatic stories, audience just love it!