Showing posts with label ENGLISH. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ENGLISH. Show all posts
Encouragement on 6.8.1993
"For most people success won't come easily." It's the encouragement from one of my best friend Dr. Leung Lap Chi that I'd never forget. Thank you Dr. Leung.
Merry Christmas, Darling, December 24
I wish you were with us!
Reference: Carpenter, Karen. KIQQ, Los Angeles, California. Interview, 24 December 1978.
Never Sing A Song The Same Way
American soul singer Ray Charles, "I never sing a song the same way twice; everything depends on how I feel in the moment."
Cover Versions That Weren't Recognised
Pop entrepreneur Pete Waterman went so far as to advance the theory that most of the best and most lasting pop records were rooted in notions of melody and harmony derived from European classical music. He declared, "If you look at the greatest pop writers, whether it be Abba... or Lennon and McCartney particularly, because The Beatles' music was very churchy. It was very classical because of [producer] George Martin, there's lots of classical bits he chucks in where he's obviously shown The Beatles different ways of playing the same chord..."
Waterman had started off trying to write something Abba-like. then he discovered that Abba had borrowed a lot of their ideas from Mozart too. On other occasions, Beethoven has proved a handy source of melodies and chord voicings.
Sweeting, A. (2004).Cover Versions. Great Britain: Pimlico.
Waterman had started off trying to write something Abba-like. then he discovered that Abba had borrowed a lot of their ideas from Mozart too. On other occasions, Beethoven has proved a handy source of melodies and chord voicings.
Sweeting, A. (2004).Cover Versions. Great Britain: Pimlico.
Singing, Much More Than Speaking
"Singing, much more than speaking, requires an awareness of what is happening on a physical and emotional level, inside the head and inside the body."
Keep the Mind Open
"One of the main problems for the record producer is finding suitable material.
This is especially true when you are recording someone like Matt Monro or Shirley Bassey, who don't write their own songs. It is the job of the producer and people in the business know that you record Matt, or Shirley, or Cilla Black, they will send you songs with those people in mind. Even the public sends offerings. But that is not enough. You still have to search. You still have to ring up the publishers' offices.
You might think that they should be smart enough to send the stuff without being asked. But everyone isn't smart all the time. Sometimes, if you push them enough, they may produce something which they have not thought of as suitable anyway, because they tend to send you only the obvious ones. If you have had a hit with Cilla Black called 'You're My World', the next three months' mail will consist of songs exactly like 'You're My World'. It will not occur to anyone that you and Cilla might be interested in 'You've Lost That Loving Feeling' or 'Baby, It's Cold Outside'.
Ideally, the producer should try not to stick to the same thing." (George Martin, 1979)
This is especially true when you are recording someone like Matt Monro or Shirley Bassey, who don't write their own songs. It is the job of the producer and people in the business know that you record Matt, or Shirley, or Cilla Black, they will send you songs with those people in mind. Even the public sends offerings. But that is not enough. You still have to search. You still have to ring up the publishers' offices.
You might think that they should be smart enough to send the stuff without being asked. But everyone isn't smart all the time. Sometimes, if you push them enough, they may produce something which they have not thought of as suitable anyway, because they tend to send you only the obvious ones. If you have had a hit with Cilla Black called 'You're My World', the next three months' mail will consist of songs exactly like 'You're My World'. It will not occur to anyone that you and Cilla might be interested in 'You've Lost That Loving Feeling' or 'Baby, It's Cold Outside'.
Ideally, the producer should try not to stick to the same thing." (George Martin, 1979)
Design Is...
"Most people make the mistake of thinking design is what it looks like. People think it's this veneer — that the designers are handed this box and told, 'Make it look good!' That's not what we think design is. It's not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works."
"You've Got To Find What You Love"
For reasons as I am writing about Steve Paul Jobs recently, who is the co-founder and chief executive officer of Apple Inc. I am glad to know that Steve loves photography and music. For a long time Steve's home was only decorated with large black-and-white photographs. And he describes himself as an audiophile: after he became rich, one of the only pieces of furniture he bought was a US$100,000 stereo system.
Now we start from Steve's early years. After Steve graduated from high school in California, he enrolled in Reed College in Portland, Oregon. As he had dropped out the normal classes of Reed College, he could dropped in auditing a calligraphy class that he interested in. Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country. He said, "I learned about serif and san serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great." He later stated, "If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts." It has a great influence on all the Macintosh line of computers, the iPod, the iPhone as well as the iPad later on. The Macintosh became the first commercially successful small computer with a graphical user interface. He continued, "And since Windows just copied the Mac, it's likely that no personal computer would have them. If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on this calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do."
Steve loves The Beatles. He has referenced them on more than one occasion at Keynotes. He has also described his business model as The Beatles in the magazine 60 Minutes. But his favorite musician is definitely Bob Dylan, whose tunes he played throughout his youth with his guitar at home. He would discuss the lyrics with his friends. In an unauthorized biography, The Second Coming of Steve Jobs, Steve dated Joan Baez during the late 1970s and early 1980s. A number of sources have stated that Steve had considered asking Baez to marry him. Some people believe he dated Joan Baez mostly because she was Dylan’s ex. I remember when I had to record the song "Diamonds And Rust" that was originally sung and composed by Joan Baez, I had just noticed about that.
"I'm convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You've got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle."
So, "keep looking until you find it."
Now we start from Steve's early years. After Steve graduated from high school in California, he enrolled in Reed College in Portland, Oregon. As he had dropped out the normal classes of Reed College, he could dropped in auditing a calligraphy class that he interested in. Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country. He said, "I learned about serif and san serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great." He later stated, "If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts." It has a great influence on all the Macintosh line of computers, the iPod, the iPhone as well as the iPad later on. The Macintosh became the first commercially successful small computer with a graphical user interface. He continued, "And since Windows just copied the Mac, it's likely that no personal computer would have them. If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on this calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do."
Steve loves The Beatles. He has referenced them on more than one occasion at Keynotes. He has also described his business model as The Beatles in the magazine 60 Minutes. But his favorite musician is definitely Bob Dylan, whose tunes he played throughout his youth with his guitar at home. He would discuss the lyrics with his friends. In an unauthorized biography, The Second Coming of Steve Jobs, Steve dated Joan Baez during the late 1970s and early 1980s. A number of sources have stated that Steve had considered asking Baez to marry him. Some people believe he dated Joan Baez mostly because she was Dylan’s ex. I remember when I had to record the song "Diamonds And Rust" that was originally sung and composed by Joan Baez, I had just noticed about that.
"I'm convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You've got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle."
So, "keep looking until you find it."
As Time Goes By
"Popular songs don't often get a second chance, especially when they fail the first time around. Its inclusion in one of America's best loved movies transformed "As Time Goes By" into one of our most popular songs twelve years after it initially flopped."
Herman Hupfeld wrote "As Time Goes By" for a Broadway musical play in 1931. In the original show, it was sung by Frances Williams. "As Time Goes By" had been part of the story from the original play. When Warner Bros. turned the play into a movie, they kept the song because Warner owned the publishing rights. The song was re-introduced in 1942 in the film "Casablanca", it was sung by Sam (Dooley Wilson) in the movie, but Wilson could neither play piano nor sing. Warner considered giving him lessons but eventually decided to let him sing only and dub his piano playing by pianist Elliot Carpenter. Composer Max Steiner, hired to write the movie's score, thought "As Time Goes By" was weak and conviced the producer to let him write his own composition to replace it, but the actress Ingrid Bergman had already cut her hair short for her next role in another film and could not re-shoot the scenes which incorporated the song. "As Time Goes By" survived by the timing of a haircut.
Herman Hupfeld wrote "As Time Goes By" for a Broadway musical play in 1931. In the original show, it was sung by Frances Williams. "As Time Goes By" had been part of the story from the original play. When Warner Bros. turned the play into a movie, they kept the song because Warner owned the publishing rights. The song was re-introduced in 1942 in the film "Casablanca", it was sung by Sam (Dooley Wilson) in the movie, but Wilson could neither play piano nor sing. Warner considered giving him lessons but eventually decided to let him sing only and dub his piano playing by pianist Elliot Carpenter. Composer Max Steiner, hired to write the movie's score, thought "As Time Goes By" was weak and conviced the producer to let him write his own composition to replace it, but the actress Ingrid Bergman had already cut her hair short for her next role in another film and could not re-shoot the scenes which incorporated the song. "As Time Goes By" survived by the timing of a haircut.
Dots 點滴
Steve Jobs, "You can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards."
你不能把生活的點點滴滴在這刻串連起來；只有當你在未來時回顧，你才會明白那些點滴是如何串連在一起的。
你不能把生活的點點滴滴在這刻串連起來；只有當你在未來時回顧，你才會明白那些點滴是如何串連在一起的。
The Wizard of Oz
Title character of the 1900 book by L. Frank Baum, who tells the Tin Woodsman, "A heart is not judged by how much you love but by how much you are loved by others."
Accuracy - Punctuality
"Accuracy is everything when the nearest hospital is three days away."
~ Dr. Christopher Hillman
~ Dr. Christopher Hillman
We Are Still Alive!
Some people say that she is still alive! Nice to have 'Facebook' to let people know that we are still alive!
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