I’ve just watched Fingersmith ,a 3-hour BBC TV drama, which brought me much more enjoyment than the other forgettable dvds I saw these days. I’m grateful that its plot didn’t follow the path I imagined and undoubtedly the casting is amazing, the three actresses in particular. I was looking forward to watching Imelda Staunton’s Vera Drake, because I’d been impressed by her expressiveness when I saw a few scenes of that film on TV, but the dvd I got had lousy Chinese subtitles. So this time it was very nice to watch her powerful performance with another two talented actresses, I was attracted by the chemistry between them.

The first scene in it reminded me of another interesting question, when London people paid for a good position for watching a hanging, I thought about Lu Xun’s famous description about Chinese peoples’ bad traits, especially when they numbly watched the prisoner’s execution. So is it only the Chinese who are so brutal?

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After the failure of that day, I had another try and things are looking better (I like the feeling when I touch it— tough), I’m not putting on this picture with that angle deliberately, simply because it’s the only clear picture I took about that :P

The subjects of ReportⅠ and ReportⅡ are under progress, but I won’t show them until they’re done. Of course you guys can still see the stages— adding new layers of paint, just like making moves in chess, I don’t expect every move is smart because I’m always trying to find any ways to be kind to myself…

Oh, don’t miss this cute fish. This one was the liveliest in the tank. Perhaps she was showing off her hairdo.

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I was smoking, sitting on the steps outside a bookshop (“the uneducated is cheated by the educated, the educated is cheated by printed matter�), chatting with my friend. A young guy came running over to us and breathlessly asked:

�“Could you lend me 2Y for a bus fare?�

�“No.�, I said after a moment of hesitation

�“I’ve heard people here can take the bus for free…?�

�“If you’re ‘lucky’.� Said my friend.

Then he turned back and went on running. Looking at his receding figure, my friend said:

�“He’s kind of like British beggar.� (Advance with times?)

�“Yeah…Mencius believed the basic goodness of human nature could be explained as ‘heart of compassion’, which was the instinct reaction when man encountered the pathetic things or people. But many beggars made up their stories to cheat people, in a sense, it’s not because I’m cold-hearted, it’s them to kill my compassion�

�“Look, this is your nature, you often shift the blame onto others instead of yourself!�

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Hey, my snowball, are you still struggling with your paper? I know tomorrow is the deadline, but we’ve been through so many deadlines together I know it will be ok – you’re always so damned lucky.

Anyway, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SWEETIE! Now you can start saying things like "when I was young…". It's cool~~, past, present and future, oh, we're so rich!

As for the birthday greetings, I'd like to pass on a slogan a gorgeous girl told me and I believe a flirt like you is bound to like it.It used to be said "生命��,战斗�止(While life remains, our struggle continues)" but nowadays it's been adapted as "生命��,flirt�止" (the gorgeous just told me it's her saying only, so it's copyrighted!)

l’ve been listening to Floating Landscape as I wrote this. I remember making you listen to it when I first heard it in the movie, not just because it was shot in Qingdao. Probably just for "I'm here, as for where you are, it doesn't matter", to make you miss me more (don't you think I look like Lam Kar Yan, the cute actress in this picture, and sound similar too?!), to make you love me more (because I know you will be angry when girls have long hair , I had it cut today! )

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We had Xinjiang food tonight, one of the surprises we got was to meet this cute kid, the son of the restaurant owner. He is one and a half years old and much fatter than other kids his age. He enjoyed sucking his dummy everywhere, but his weight made him walk more like a grandpa than a grandson. He might make a good actor, because as soon as I pointed my camera at him, he couldn't stop smiling (not that official smile, he looked like a people's artist who truly loves his audience), but what a shame he waved his hand to say no when I asked him for a kiss. The other picture is another kid who looks cute too, I really admire how clean these kids are, they can 100 percent to enjoy the color, sound, scent, everything is fresh and pure.

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We used to mix emulsion and lithopone (original gesso?) as a ground for oil painting, it wouldn’t spend much time to finish it. Unlike making the base layer of what I’m painting, it needs more time and I tried to be lazy so I got failure that day.

The foundation was made by gelatin and the powder of shell, but not simply mixed them together, I took a few pictures, take a look if you’re interested. A Japanese artist told me another ground which easy to apply-- acrylic gesso, but my teacher who’s been in Japan warned me not to use it, he hates acrylic, he thinks it’s just like the plastic bottle of mineral water, so there’s no any values of painting, I’m not sure whether or not this is his bias against acrylic (it’s nature, who dares to say he/she doesn’t have bias, if so, I’m afraid he/she will lead himself/herself around in circles), but I like his works, so I trust him. In fact, I seldom use acrylic which made my clothes dirty.

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Today is the 10th anniversary of Teresa Teng’s passing. A decade has gone since we were shocked by her death. My dad was her fan, so naturally luckily I grew up with her heavenly voice filtering through the house. I first heard and learnt the English word “love� from her song “Good Bye, My Love�, the subtle feelings of love in her “Xiao Lu (path)�, one of songs in the film Story of a Small Town, made me feel what the most intoxicating part of love is, and “Story of a Small Town� always brings me peace and calmness.

When I was in school, once a teacher asked us to bring our favorite song. I took her "When Will He Come Again", and then something ridiculous happened. Since Teresa’s song was criticized as decadent music, a class 'ganbu' took me out of the classroom and asked me to delete the song, perhaps she thought it’s too bourgeois and also be afraid I was on a road to promiscuity, I just thought she’s funny at that time (but now I felt sad for her, what environment she grew up under) and said no, I just remember how quiet the classroom was after playing that song... By the way, we never allowed snowball to sing this song, only let her “say� the aside in it, then she could imagine how charming she was and we could laugh behind her back.

she looks like her voice sounds sweet, pure, sensitive, graceful as if she never lived in this dusty world. A kind of person who makes you feel you’re so far behind her and seems never keep up with, such as Melanie in Gone With The Wind. That’s why people memorize her more, she put her soul and heart into her songs and warms up your heart. Her works are not simply performances, or creations, or even just ideas, she is incomparable, her voice is timeless and her songs are treasures.

As we thought of her, the unforgettable moments and tenderness she brought us are more than the sadness, she is still there.

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I just wasted two hours (Edison would contradict me with� every wrong attempt discarded is often a step forward� ) and was a little sad for 10mins. It’s not a big deal compared to my past experience, it only took 2 hours, not 2 weeks or more time.

Sometimes it’s very troublesome to make Chinese traditional painting, I remember I almost freaked out when I first copied fine brushwork (detail brushwork), I even had to hold my breath when I put the color (罩色) and tried to calm down when I painted the face part, I tore up many papers and cut the class to paint at home quietly (luckily the teacher didn't tell me off, in fact he gave me extra time to hand in the homework, like I asked ).

Of course I have more terrible experiences, I won't mention them as it will discourage me, I know it happens to everyone though.

As for this time, it’s a piece of rubbish already, I know what mistakes I made and will try later. I’m not sure if someone will laugh at me, because for the Chinese traditional painter, it’s just a tiny skill but I screwed it up.

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