Monday, February 28, 2005

Scientific Love: Comic Poems

Relativistic Love

Two lines come close, go apart
come and united, go apart,
come and united, go apart,
almost come to be united, go apart,
go apart further and further,
come to a soft touch, and go apart...
What shapes do
your and my world lines
have beyond this?

Boolean Love

You OR I,
this is union.
You AND I,
this makes intersection.
Which do you like?
I like the latter,
'cause I love you so deeply.

Wednesday, February 02, 2005

Serenades Played with Erhu

A young friend of mine, Yoro, is running a small company to make and sell CDs in Ebetsu, Hokkaido. Last week I ordered him a CD [1] made in China and sold by his company. It is a collection of serenades played by Zhu Changyao with an erhu by the accompaniment of the Orchestra of the Music and Dance Troop of Jiangsu Province of China. Zhu Changyao is a popular Chinese erhu virtuoso and composer. The erhu is a traditional Chinese string instrument with two strings.

The CD arrived this afternoon. It includes "English Serenade," Schumann's "Traumerei," Dvorak's "Humoresque," Schubert's "Lullaby," De Curtis's "Come Back to Sorrento," Brahms's "Lullaby," etc. Listening to those well-known pieces of music played with an erhu in quiet and nostalgic tone, my heart, being hurt by dark pieces of news these days, was much soothed and warmed, though it was terribly cold today.
  1. "Zhu Changyao's Art of Erhu No. 4: Serenade" (Jiangsu Culture Audio and Video Publishing House, China; sold by Booxbox).