这是我第二次看Kronos Quartet的演出（上次是在08年四月），吴蛮则是第一次见到。他们合作演出的是谭盾的《鬼戏》和去年新作《中国之家》。《鬼戏》算是谭盾打入西方现代音乐的重要作品之一，所以充满了所有华人艺术家走出国门时必备的深奥、抽象、故弄玄虚和……无聊。尽管知道是装神弄鬼，但毕竟首次看他作品的现场演出嘛，前卫艺术嘛，就算开眼。谭盾大致想表达的概念——用演出手册上的话来说——就是——以四重奏和琵琶表现的——在水、石、金、纸这四个象限里的——一次巴赫、和尚、莎士比亚和小白菜的——跨越时空的对话。谭盾你就装吧。Kronos Quartet和吴蛮倒是深得要领，类似行为艺术的表演让台下为数众多的大伯大妈不时地面面相觑。只有在他们老老实实拉琴和弹琴的时候，气氛才那么舒展一点点。

第二部作品《中国之家》就好多了，趣味十足。总共四部分：回归，上海，东方红和中国制造，分别讲述宗教传统、毛化前的旧上海、毛化后的中国和邓化后的中国。前三部都是中国人民耳熟能详的曲目，重新编了四重奏和琵琶的曲。吴蛮姐姐其实很PP，扮歌女也扮得很PP，唱个《何日君再来》，嗓音竟然还是白光型的。最后一部分“中国制造”，吴蛮首次用了定做的电琵琶，像电吉他那样弹，并且弹出Black Sabbath的味道，非常凶猛。弹的时候舞台上突然放出一百多个中国产电动玩具，叽叽咕咕满地乱跑。

演出结束有座谈会，俺提了俩问题。散场后继续骚扰吴蛮姐姐，问她有没有想过做一部关于杭州的作品。她说在考虑。再讲了讲听她琵琶的感受。她笑笑。最后说要去听她的个人演出。她又笑笑，说谢谢，谢谢。

来美国后看的第50场演出。是为记。

P.S. Kronos Quartet最知名的可能是为电影《Requiem for a Dream》演奏的配乐。有兴趣的同志们看这里。

X收到一箱书。几本杂文和小说集，还有一叠影印的某报专栏。专栏作者是寄书人的前大学老师，但早已离开了那座南方的城市。X和寄书人曾热烈地交流过这位作家的作品，并为其独特的风格着迷。寄书人细心地在每篇影印稿上注出了时间和隐去的标题。《用记忆画下的黑玫瑰》。《第五幕第一场》。他的字迹优美，微微向左倾斜。书里还夹着一封信。寄书人有个诗意的名字。他在信中简短地提到了他的童年、军队经历以及这些书的故事。他潦草的叙述激起了X的兴趣。很快这种兴趣超过了对书籍本身的阅读。X对寄书人开始有了一些想象。比如他的住所和地址复杂的工作单位，他是不是也会上班迟到，是不是也在百无聊赖的时候看电视。寄书人和那座城市渐渐变得生动起来。X翻看这些书的时候，寄书人也许刚到办公室，泡了杯茶。他在办公的时候发呆。然后他挤公车回家，做饭。看美剧，看书。深夜醒来，可能不知身在何处。琐碎的想象甚至变成了记忆，X俨然和寄书人很熟的样子，似乎他们昨天才在酒馆碰见过，喝到酩酊大醉。

而X并没见过寄书的人。书寄自南方。这是一座在这个国家的现代史中有着指标性意义的城市。除此之外，X对它一无所知。他从未去过那座城市。

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Day -1: 横滨

I’m done with the talk! I’m free now. Actually the conference is not bad with an amazing visual art exhibition, an animation festival, and lots of galleries. Pretty fun to watch. And it finally makes me feel I’m doing something pleasant (to the eye at least).

So I decided to treat myself after tonight’s animation festival and went to a family restaurant. I ordered this fancy ice-cream (kind of Japanese style with sweet red beans, the 芦荟 stuff and the sticky rice stuff. It costs me 500 yen, but yummy.

I’m heading to Sugamo tomorrow afternoon. Still don’t have a detailed plan of what to do yet. Figured I’ll just walk around Sugamo and do some trip planning tomorrow.

Hope you are done with your stuff too. Looks like CU is still freaking cold 🙂

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Day 1: 浅草・上野・皇居・巢鸭

After a very rushed planning (or no planning) I was out on my way checking out THE TOKYO CITY today. I started from 淺草, and continued to Ueno Park and National Tokyo Museum. Then a walk in the gardens of Imperial Palace. By 4:30pm I was back in that 地藏通商店街 just outside of my hotel, hunting for good dessert and food.

All places are cool. Well Ueno Park seems to be a bit surprise to me. It is actually more depressing than I imagined with homeless people wandering around and a huge gathering of old old people (don’t know what they were doing, looks like a religious gatherings or free food giveaway?). 淺草寺 is very fun to visit. A lot of interesting stuff to see. And the palace is unexpectedly quiet. I never thought there will be such quiet places in Tokyo. Then I wanted to go shopping in Akihabara, but found my legs were sore already, so I hopped on a train back to Sugamo.

You know what, so far my favorite place has been the 地藏通 shopping street in Sugamo! it’s hilarious with so many old ppl. And they even have a couple stores that specialize in red underwears! That is so funny. The temple was visited by so many ppl and looks cool with a wall of lanterns. I had my dinner in a random restaurant on the street, and ended up having a random dish ’cause the only kanji in the menu is “北海道” and “定食”. So I figured it might be a fish bento. Waitress don’t speak a word of English. The dish turned out to be pretty good. It was something like the “pork stuff” except pork is replaced by the fish. Was a nice experience eating in a real Japanese restaurant for Japanese ppl. (I expected it to be cheaper ’cause it’s in Sugamo, but unfortunately not. It still costs me around 700 yen). After that I bought some dessert from random vendors, including those 紫芋 stuff and 盐大福. I even bought some strawberries and 柿 considering I didn’t have real fruit for a couple of days.

Anyway it was just a chillin’ day with sightseeing and wandering around. Tomorrow I plan to throw myself in Harajuku and Shibuya for shopping and sightseeing and probably a couple museums in Harajuku area. If I’m still able to walk by the end of the day I’ll just have a look in those areas at night. After tomorrow I’ll hit Shinjuku for a whole day’s shopping. If that still doesn’t kill me I’ll maybe go to Akihabara for my last afternoon in Tokyo (I’m leaving evening 22nd).

Great experience. And end of my report, day 1. 🙂

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Day 2: 涩谷・原宿・东京塔

So 2nd day was not as fruitful. I went to Harajuku and Shibuya in the hope of seeing teenage gangs in weird costumes. But I was out of luck. I went to the Meiji Shrine nearby, visited a 浮世绘 museum where you had to take off your shoes, some indie record stores, and had a walk in 竹下通. Harajuku was oh so crowded. Being a Chinese I thought I was immune to crazily crowded places, but this time I was still surprised. I have never have seen so many people on a normal sunday afternoon.

Then I went to Shibuya for some random shopping. And it turns out things sold at those dept stores are either crazy in price or crazy in style. I guess I’m too old for Shibuya (BTW I did see a few girls with overly done eyelashes/liners and jawdropping outfits in Shibuya). I just bought a scarf in Muji.

At night I thought I should go out see Tokyo at night (that’s what the city is famous for, isn’t it). So I hopped on the loop train and got off at the station close to Tokyo tower. Turns out it was not as spectacular as I’d expected. So I rambled for a while and went back.

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Day 3: 新宿

The third day was fun again. I went to Shinjuku solely for shopping. And I ended up carrying three huge bags back to the tiny little apartment I was staying at. It was way over my budget, but I think it was worth it (See, how happy a person can be when he completely emerges himself into consumerism). Also got theskincare stuff to satisfy my mom.

Shinjuku looks amazing at night. It’s been a while since the last time I saw neon light flash like crazy. Was nice back in a real city again.

As a side note, today I did find someone that speaks understandable English. It was the Shiseido rep at a pharmacy. She even described to me what the skincare stuff is like and how popular it is in English. Interesting. But today’s English speaking award goes to a waitress in a random restaurant. She asked me “eat in or take out” and then “here is the menu in English” with very little Asian accent! Just as I secretively wowed, she started to talk to her fellow waitress in Chinese…. So she must be a college student doing her part time job I guess. And college students should at least speak some English. And most ppl I interacted with are waitress, front desk staff, random highschool girls and cashiers. And most likely they are not college educated. Does my theory make sense?

Alright, time to pack up (again). Got to get up early tomorrow. The checkout time is at 10am (ahh…). The hotel is nice and cozy, I like it (well except for the early checkout time). Did I mention I’m lovin’ Sugamo too?

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Day 4: 上野・巢鸭

I was wondering where to go. And out of the blue I was taking a stroll in Ueno Zoo. Surprise surprise. 🙂 It was fun! I haven’t been to a zoo for like 20 years. It brought me sweet sweet memories. I love the unexpected ending to my trip in Japan.

Then I went back to Sugamo to pick up my luggage. I had one last visit to that 地藏通 shopping street. I saw smiling buddhas, burning incense, travelling monks, and so many grandmas pass by. All of a sudden nostalgia was in the air. I thought of all the young girls with heavy makeups talking and laughing in Shibuya. One day they’ll end up in 地藏通 saying their prayers to Buddha, shopping for a lucky red underwear. It’s only time.

是邮箱里丰收的季节。我妈的护肤品已于今晨率先抵达。

连续几晚占用了自己毫不宝贵的干活时间，我研究来研究去，最终决定买一个比较便宜的耳放。同志们参见下图。亮晶晶的工作图可以参见这里（盗链他人的图片我很羞愧，ack一下，一切权利归 barbutti）。左边拉风无比的就是这电子管和晶体管的混合放大器，Little Dot I+。右边性感无比的就是AKG K701耳机，俺已经有了。

俺目前最想要的除了放大器，还有一对草泥马（再次盗链，懒得ack了）。

最后两礼拜，尽管是死猪，不怕，开水，烫，但总得再坚持一下。

学校群发两次信了。GEO的网页则是黑白交错，摆足了极左工人先锋报刊的派头。双方的争议焦点在于 “研究生免学费” 上，但令我感到奇怪的是双方都有意无意在宣传里回避了该问题的具体标准和统计数据。这是为什么？

另：校报对GEO罢工示威的最新报道里，GEO是一副极端自负的嘴脸，不知真假。

看了两则吃人的人的报道。一则是德国人Armin Meiwes，他找到了一个有志被活体切割再吃掉的志愿者，并且如愿吃掉了他。另一则是美国人Jeffrey Dahmer，他在数量上取得了绝对优势（17人），逐个肢解，腐蚀，头骨用来做纪念品。美国人的事就发生在 Milwaukee，不远。纪录片里分析出来的原因是寂寞、热衷于小动物解剖，以及同性恋在青春期的致命并发。德国人是由于有一个强悍的母亲以至他本人不得不靠臆想出一个英俊的金发弟弟 “Franky” 来安慰自己，并且幻想以吃掉他的方式来合二为一。其实德国事件我倒是对志愿者更感震惊。任何情感和行为的最高境界总是令我叹为观止。