g4chavi的部落格

八月底讀到兩篇中時電子報兩篇（請見此與此）關於高學歷與女子高學歷的報導，讓我不禁想著媒體的發達後，報導的客觀性與真實性，還有媒體下標語字眼的聳動性。讓我甚感無奈，並反思台灣近期綜藝節目上刻意誇張性，用字淺詞與許多膚淺的概念，甚至對於影響時下社會大眾。反思媒體的中立性與客觀性，從這兩篇報導上所看到的似乎喪失專業的水準，甚至失去媒體本身存在的重要性，就好像專出張嘴（筆）到處橫性霸道，成了東家長西家短的媒體鄉愿特性。

Quoted from washingtonpost.com: A Voice for Taiwan's Freedom, History
Sunday, August 26, 2007
By Richard Harrington, WASHINGTON, The Washington Post
Not a lot of metal bands appear at both nightclubs and the National Press Club in Washington, but Chthonic will soon be doing just that here. And on Sept. 13, the Taiwanese ensemble will hold a downtown news conference to discuss its "UNlimited Taiwan" campaign and its experience as the first Asian extreme metal act in the Ozzfest tour -- an appropriate showcase for a band called "the Black Sabbath of Asia."
According to lead singer and songwriter Freddy Lim, the September events are particularly important because they coincide with the Sept. 18 opening of the annual session of the United Nations, which Taiwan will once again attempt to join, an effort blocked every year since 1993 by China, which asserts sovereignty over the island.
Chthonic -- pronounced "THON-nic," it's Greek, meaning "of the underworld" -- has recorded a single called "UNlimited Taiwan" and made a short film for the song, protesting their homeland's isolation in the international community.
It's all part of an effort to drum up sympathy and support among younger fans who may not know that Taiwan has been self-ruled since Nationalist forces moved there in 1949 after losing a long-running civil war with communist forces.
It had a U.N. seat as the Republic of China until 1971, when China asserted sovereignty and threatened military action if Taiwan tried to secede. The United States has been trying to encourage a peaceful resolution ever since.
"The things that we can do are not too much," Lim admitted. "We didn't organize this tour for a political reason -- first of all, it's a musical tour -- but as citizens of Taiwan we had to express our political message in the same time when our country needs our support.
"We are just a heavy metal act and we have to fight for our own musical career, but at the same time we want to fight for our country."
Seeking international political recognition while asserting its independence has been difficult for Taiwan, Lim said. "In my opinion, and I think the opinion of all the citizens in Taiwan, they consider Taiwan is already an independent country," he said.
"We have all rights like the citizens of America: We pay the tax to our own government, we vote for our own president, we have our own army. It is for us an independent country, no doubt. That would be the point we want to mention: Accept unlimited Taiwan,' like the song.
"But we don't write anything political in other songs," Lim said. "All our songs are about mythology in Taiwan. I'm a fan of all kinds of mythologies since I was in kindergarten. When I started to write music, I made up my mind to write about things that normally human beings cannot do. I love to write about gods, ghosts, spirits."
Lim says he and his bandmates grew up on Slayer, Anthrax, Deicide, Iron Maiden, Megadeth, Cradle of Filth and Dimmu Borgir, "the bands we liked the most when we first listened to black metal in the mid-'90s, especially their arrangements."
He also cites Emperor and Enslaved from Norway and England's Hecate Enthroned, bands whose complex structures and arrangements sired the "symphonic black metal" movement. England's Cradle of Filth and Norway's Dimmu Borgir wrote about their native cultures after traditional pagan religions had been forcibly replaced by Christianity.
Chthonic incorporates stories tied to Taiwan's culture and history, including the struggle against the Han Chinese, who after assuming control of the island about 350 years ago, subjugated aboriginal cultures.
The band's 1998 debut, "Where the Ancestors' Souls Gathered," is about the original journey across the sea and the Han dreaming about a brighter future in Taiwan. The follow-up, "9th Empyrean," deals with a war between the gods of the Han and Taiwan's aboriginal people.
Chthonic's most recent release, "Seediq Bale," is also inspired by history. When the Japanese ruled Taiwan between 1895 and 1945, they banned traditional aboriginal practices, including facial tattoos. The Seediq, part of the Atayal, one of the 12 officially recognized indigenous peoples in Taiwan, rebelled in 1930, resulting in the Wushe Incident, an infamous massacre.
Chthonic makes dramatic use of facial tattoos, also known as "corpse paint." Painted rockers go back to Alice Cooper and Kiss, and death and black metal bands in the '80s and '90s embraced particularly dramatic, foreboding imagery. Taiwanese folklore had the Eight Generals, painted deities empowered with the eight Taoist spirits to be judges of good and evil.
"The makeup that we have is very traditional," Lim said. "Taiwanese Taoist priests would have to communicate with the gods and ghosts, to let the spirits into their bodies to transcend themselves. ... That kind of makeup lets our fans know about Taiwan, and they become more and more curious about Asian culture."
Chthonic's sound is generally familiar: Guitarist Jesse (the Infernal), bassist Doris (Thunder Tears), keyboardist CJ (Dispersed Fingers) and drummer Dani (Azathothian Hands) deliver machine gun/jackhammer accompaniment to Lim's throat-shredding, guttural screams.
But you'll also notice Su-Nung (the Bloody String) on ERHU, a two-stringed traditional Chinese violin. It's often buried in the tumultuous sound mix but sometimes gets a solo showcase that capitalizes on the sad, morose sounds that have made the instrument a favorite in tragic or melancholy films and plays.
Chthonic has recorded Mandarin and English-language versions, though Lim is clearly more comfortable in his own language.
"Some parts are really difficult to translate from Taiwanese, particularly the ones that are speaking of the gods or the spirits, and I don't want to write in English because it doesn't feel natural. It is not too difficult for us because we work with many writers in Taiwan to do something in English, but I feel like in extreme metal the fans maybe don't really care about the lyrics."
And his own lyrics are sung with such brutal energy that the actual language hardly matters.

I took this picture before I submitted my Ph.D thesis. It was a big mess. I feel like living in the rubbish field. I put my dishes aside after finishing it and only washed it when I took a break, which could be 2 days after. My daily workload were very heavy and intensively working on my thesis--14 hours minimum a day. I didn't have time to clean my room over 1-2 month. Journals and clothes are here and there. I couldn't find time to walk out of my room posting a package home. I only got out of room once a day (but not even get out of my flat door). No wonder whenever my colleagues saw me, they commented that I was so alienated and absent-minded.

I can't wait to see this film! Actually, I should say that I am so excited about seeing Adrian Brody's performance. He is my favourite actor! In addition to Holly Wood movie--King Kong, I prefer his acting in other individual films, such as: The Jacket. Although he pulled off a brilliant performance in The Pianist (2002) as the youngest actor ever to win the Best Actor Academy Award, I am very impressed by his performance in the film, The Village . Well, I've to admit that I am attracted to his artistic charisma even though he is not a typical good-looking guy.
Last year I was looking for a magazine which contained 3-page interviewing with Adrian, I went WHSmith and many supermarkets to buy that magazine, yet I still missed the chance to buy that magazine. I asked Oscar to find that issue for me. He was quite surprised at my motivation since I am not really a magazine reader and not really interested in dirt or show business. He was asking me how come I suddenly pay interest to a specific magazine. I said, "because that magazine has an interview with Adrian Brody." Then he teased me as a loser since I start paying much attention to another man. hahaha~ Indeed, Indeed. He rarely got a chance to tease me since I am a big bully to him. I gave him a lot of compliments about how great he could do the housework and said, "well, this particular task--housework will be your future task; e.g. laundry, washing dishes, setting bed, tidying things, cooking meals; etc." He questions me, "If I need to do all of those, what would you do at home?" I responded immediately, "well, I am the manager so I make commands and you follow my instruction." I know I must be very cheeky to say so, but he gets used to my cheeky behaviour. Well, my flatmates who share a house with me before could tell how bossy I could be. I hope they won't find me too bitchy to them. :P

引用老爹貼的網路文章：到底要什麼？直說嘛！

有時候自己對這種要啥也不直說的人特別沒轍，短時間可以忍受忍讓，但時間一久，要人猜測時，我大概自己就先來場退避三舍，或甚至閃人逃避，不是不關心對方，而是每個人都有不少要花心思之處，貼心別人的同時，為什麼也不讓別人清楚知道自己到底要啥，直說或許就會讓事情處理上或許多少能正中紅心，單純的就事處理。

很久沒回家了，大概一年半左右了，上次回家因為蒐集資料的關係（哇，一年半前還在收集資料，現在畢業論文繳出去！），所以因公藉故待家裏很久的時間，我現在一直考慮，我到底要不要先回家一趟呢？機票好貴，簽證才剛辦，若又買機票回家一次，荷包不就大失血了（上次回家拿學校的錢，花的很快樂；這次沒辦法拿學校的錢了！）？！？！還是我要撐到口試過了之後再回家呢？！一堆問號！
老爹老媽的新照片，媽媽的新照片眼睛腫腫的。

【您知道為什麼馬拉松選手不得癌症嗎？】
德國體育醫學龍頭艾倫斯特〈譯音〉博士發現，所有運動選手當中，唯獨馬拉松選手沒有罹患癌症的病例。因此艾倫斯特博士為了找出不得癌症的原因，不斷的研究，結果發現了一項驚人的事實。艾倫斯特博士採集了每天跑步 30 公里以上的馬拉松選手的汗水，分析其汗水的成份，結果發現汗水中含有鎘、鉛、銅、鎳等之重金屬物質。

這個夢境大概是一兩個月以前的夢境，我手寫草記在期刊紙上，今天大大整理房間時，突然想到這個夢境以前要登在網路上，因為忙著畢業論文，遲遲一直都沒登錄，其實還有個導火線動機是今天早上睡覺時，半夢半醒間一直聽到旁邊有個日本人在我耳邊不停的說話，我半聽半猜，一半聽得懂，很多聽不懂，直到意識到對方摸著我的手臂時，說：「なたが好きでしょう！」（我喜歡你唷！），我氣憤的推開棉被，用日文大喊：「なたが嫌い。」（我討厭你。）其實自己懂得日文已經記得不多了，我只知道我很憤恨的推開，醒來時，心臟劇烈跳動，有點像是有人說脫水症狀，昏昏沉沉，似乎一直處在地動天搖的狀態。棉被蓋在地上散亂的期刊上，撿起棉被，突然看到手寫在期刊的夢境日誌，所幸時間空了，我好把這個夢給登上，希望這樣就可以擺脫這個糾纏不清的夢境了。
牽著氣球的斷頭女孩的這場夢境其實是夢境中一個片段，只是我對著這個場景印象很震驚。我記得我夢境一開頭就是戰亂場景，在一個不知名的露天火車站，大排長龍，很多人攜家帶眷地趕著火車，想企圖逃離這塊戰亂地區；火車站也佔據著人潮、攜槍士兵與軍隊，很多士兵都是帶傷士兵，有人斷手有人斷腳，眼瞎的瞎，身上幾乎都有人包紮著傷口。我走在月台上，我最後車廂走去，是反著月台的方向，而不是進入月台的方向，不過傷患人潮都是往著月台方向湧入，我依稀印象中，只記得往月台方向進入的人都是半殘人，軍隊中有不少士兵都是往我的反方向走入，看著他們大概也知道非死即傷的軍團，也知道往月台方向走入，大概是我不同世界的環境了。

Hadrian's wall is a magnificent monument of the glorious Roman Empire, spanning 73 miles of some of the most beautiful countryside.
I took some pictures of cows and the view of Hadrian's walk path. The scenery there was really impressive. Ariel and I were lucky to have a good sunshine day to visit this historical landmark, which is one of the English Heritage sites along the wall, chronicling a time of Roman rule in England. Roman around the ruins and absorb 2,000 years of history. Standing there made me feel as if I was vividly involved in this ancient world by exploring the Roman forts, turrets, mile castles and reconstructions that span the wall. It's quite good to visit countryside once awhile. I am so glad that Ariel picked up a good place for both of us to visit there.

繼續貼照片，去了Carlisle的教堂內部，其實很壯觀（但仍沒有約克大教堂壯觀），不過裡頭的氣氛，風琴倒是很搶眼，相當莊嚴肅穆，雖然進入的時候已經差不多教堂要關門，不過裡頭的警衛人還是很和善，仍讓我們猛拍照，一點也不催促，最後出門時，還是很紳士的幫我們拉了教堂大門，客客氣氣的，真是英國紳士的特性都在教堂出現了。下次有機會還是要跟Ariel出遊，她是個探索家，也是個旅遊玩家！