I want your blood while you drink mine. What a thirsty world...


**Today's the B-day of Harry Houdini, a notable magician who rocked many people's minds duirng early 20th century and after. He died at the age of 52 but his legacy and inspiration surely outlived his short life. The photo is from McManus-Young Collection

**Journal of Nature (One of two most respected academic journals in life science) newly published an article on the genetic and neurological mechanism on sexual orientation. The researchers are Chinese, proudly to say. I haven't found the original article so couldn't comment further on this subject. News source: NPR, RedOrbit. The research subject is mice and the project focused on the previously established link between Serotonin and sexual preference.

**People talk about aliens quite often but in the meantime they may also consider such idea alien and remote. Recently, space-enthusiasts and NASA scientists have discovered dozens of earth-like planets out of the solar system. See space.com for more details. And, those planets might be habitable to our similar kinds. So, watch out for your Mr/Ms. Right for he or she might come out of "blue" and guide you into a completely different sphere without human wars. In case you ran into the same confusion regarding certain scientific terms, stars are not planets.

Maybe we CAN fly, in certain places on earth, when the gravity reaches zero. You don't need wings to do so. Just tiptoe, with eyes closed, and jump slightly if necessary...Wait, you may want to use the restroom facility first before you take off...

Here is the link for a guardian video
http://gu.com/p/2z64v
It says the scientists have already mapped "precisely" the gravity variation of our planet. Different gravity fields are marked with varying colors indicating the strength of force. Earth shape shown in this video is not the actual look of the globe, according to what's explained. They digitally resurfaced the planet while homogenizing the gravity at all points.

The image is from ScienceDaily.

The line between the escort and prostitution probably is never loose or blurred, when it comes down to people's true awareness. To me, those two professions are the same, except the "sound" is different---one is tidier, more "discreet", humane, caring or even "artistic".

Today I came across an article drooling over a hot reality show--Gigolos, about several studs or hunks who earn their living by providing intimate good times to ordinary (and lonely) female professionals. Gigolo is not a brand-new "man-job" (well, it's beyond blowing), and male prostitutes had been around for decades and possibly centuries (yes, I said possibly, otherwise it would appear as "like I know"). I haven't watched such programme and least likely would. Reality shows or any related fuss is something I usually pass up. Note worthily, this one is a first, among the TV junk, to show male prostitutes' hook-up with their clients and "more" action afterwards.

The TV industry ostensibly got desperate and ran out of imagination and started turning to the crudest matters for creativeness.

The image is from TVblend, what's shown is one of male escorts in that reality show. To make it clear, I am in no position to judge, belittle, condemn or disparage those actors or males, though in my belief that "profession" is by no means decent.

If watermelons are having mass suicide, those vegeta-balls must have watched too much Renji movies…Who said Renji liked committing mass suicide?! Can’t watermelons learn from Renji to bear or hold longer in order not to explode? Voice---does Renji mean 忍的者 (a person who bears)?
I saw the news several days ago about the watermelon incident and am still thinking about it. Take-home message: when the plant growth hormone is misused, watermelons boom.

After the tornado touched town in Joplin, Mo, the destruction has been tremendous. The rage did spare a grand piano though, when it unroofed a residence that the beautiful music used to “rise” from. It reminds me of the movie, pianist. Another survivor, apparently, because of music.

Attached is a picture showing the craftsmanship of the wind force during the tornado strike.  The image is quite subtle. That’s probably the complex nature of nature.

In Beijing, on a side street next to the Beijing Hotel, two sexy and well-dressed Japanese young ladies were walking down an isle, one of them got so drunk that she did not want to keep upright. Another one, lucid apparently, dragged the drunken girl and yelled at her to force her to move on. Quite a scene.

30 minutes later, these two young ladies were both resting at the curb---One was lying on her back snoring, another one squatting next to her waiting for her to wake up. Inches away, there was a puddle of dirty stuff vomited from one of them. They were both wearing white and loose short skirts that visually do not compensate their sleeping and squatting position very well, in public.

Passers-by asked them if they needed any help, but it seemed they were OK and just wanted some privacy in public. One nutty lady stared at them for a while then rolled on, talking to herself, “such pretty girls with the peachy flesh. So f..king dirty. So f..king dirty”

Will these two Japanese girls behave the same in their home country? Who knows, and who knows?

An unrelated news article "prompted" me to discover this painting (nothing needs to prompt me in this timeless world...maybe...maybe not). It's an oil panel-painting and titled The Garden of Earthly Delights , done by the 15th century Dutch artist, Hieronymus Bosch .

Among what appeals me most, this historic painting---a work from the 15th century, with a religious background or influence---embraces the equality of race and gender. There are many nude people in its harmonious and joyful setting that’s shown in the central panel, and some of those figures are either Africans or people with similar complexion. As you may tell, there are also some inter-racial "intimacy"/"courtship" going on, explicitly or suggestively.

You might be able to see the enlarged/detailed version by clicking the actual image at the link pasted below,
  
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:The_Garden_of_Earthly_Delights_by_Bosch_High_Resolution.jpg

Joan Chen (Chen, Chong) and Liu, Xiaoqing were both media darlings in China in the 1980s. Decades later, these two are still active in film making and show no sign of retiring. Though I rarely indulge in celebrity admiration or tabloid news, I find any update on these two actresses hard to ignore, if their names are in my sight by chance.

The filmography and professional status of Joan Chen and Liu, Xiaoqing fascinate me for certain reason---To me, each of this two actors strongly reflects an evolving culture environment, through her unique way of expression and adjustment. As actors, they are both trapped in also detached from the media currents in China, while either one’s style or profile differs from each other and even the rest of female Chinese actors.

In comparison, Joan Chen has been more successful or thriving in terms of acting career. At least, there is much more social value and significance in her roles she has played up to present. As to Liu, Xiaoqing, her talent and potential might have been buried, destroyed or compromised by the mundanely superficial atmosphere of contemporary entertainment coated with empty desire for attention/fame/fortune, which she is obsessed with and struggles to break or get on top of.

Hardly getting by, not unique to Liu, Xiaoqing, the post-procedure wrinkleless face often makes a mature woman appear sad, hollow and lost. That is a true opinion from a male observer, so, love your wrinkles, ladies, because that is beauty bestowed by the fading physical youth. Nature has to be natural.

One female friend mentioned another day that she was going to do something to her face in a couple of years. I so much wanted to tell her, please do not turn a human face into a plastic mask.

There are many things people give/donate to others. Blood, is a precious gift among them.
Last Tuesday, June 14, is the World Blood Donor Day that celebrates and honours this simple and selfless act.
Have you ever participated in any un-organized blood donation (not sponsored or motivated by campaigns) before? Or, are you a habitual taker in many paths of life but hypocritically worshipping excuses?

(The image is from Getty Image)

June 21, 2011.

Today's front page image at google.com is also interesting. About a week ago, there was an interactive guitar playette in memory of the musician, Les Paul. That one's creative and mind-grabbing.

The doodle put up today is a drawing by the Japanese writer, Takashi Murakami, whom many of you are very familiar with. This picture is used for summer solstice that lies on today, and the artist portrayed a rabbit and a tiger both having a wide open bloody red mouth. Since it's a doodle done by a surrealist writer, it's not sure what its implication is. Nonetheless, it's an thought-full image to look at. And, have a long day, as it is said today has the longest daylight duration in the entire year. Right, forgot to say, on earth.

Eurozone unveiled it's environment-friendly design of a new "high-speed" plane, saying it would have no pollutant emission while thrusting at hypersonic rate. To offer a better sense how fast it can travel, the designing/engineering team estimates the flight time would be less than three hours from Paris to Tokyo. However, they also project the time of its realization---when the plane would become commerical-available---to be 2050...

I thought ocean ships would be capable of traveling double that speed by then. If it still took more than two hours---just flight time---from Paris to Tokyo in 2050, Robinhood might think it's a great adventure, but as for the rest of modern "hey-lazy"s, 30 mins for such trip might be a norm in 40 years.

By the way, is 40-year span a long time?

Jay Leno's late night talk show has those random jokes through the whole program. On TV last night, he satirized the current economy situation and uttered a few "the economy is so bad that..." sentences on different "reality" circumstances.

One of them is, quote---the economy is so bad that we see more ladies with fake Gucci bags but real breasts---end quote.

Why are all those jokes-bound talk shows called late night show and what's the rationale behind it to broadcast it in such wee hours?

Illusions are beautiful (I guess), otherwise people would not be intrigued by mirage or "dreams". There have been quite some visual artists---renowned or potato-type---who have embedded the "false" view into their works. What is false and what is true? It's up to the beholder, probably. Is deception a true revealing?

Attached below is an acrylic painting from artist Rob Gonsalves.

Darkness attracts many and scares many. Whoever appreciates the dark/shadow is not necessarily a dark-minded person. Lanruo/兰若 once introduced a renowned poet, Gucheng/顾城 to my virtual desk. That's the past winter when I first knew his notoriously tricky quote about the darkness and light. Actually, the image below might just reflect the similar thoughts as the late poet (to many readers, he never died, so...)

The artist for the picture is Demon Hunter (not a real name, I suppose)

2018 Winter Olympic Games will be held in Pyeongchang (Ping Chang, in pinyin), South Korea. By looking at its landscape photographs, it is a remarkably beautiful city. Japan held the 1998 Winter Games and that will be 20 years apart between these two Olympic events in Asia.

2014 Winter Games hosting city is Sochi, Russia. Though not so many countries participate in Winter Games as in Summer Olympics, the competition on snow/ice might be more artistic and adventurous.

The picture is from visitKorea.org

A group of researchers in China are contesting the conventional belief that archaeopteryx is the earliest form of bird on Earth.

They have been studying a “feathered” fossil donated by a local dealer, and the profile (i.e. size, shape and body structure) of the fossil turning from an extinct creature bears close similarity to the archaeopteryx. For the story-rich rock they possess, scientists claim it’s a dinosaur instead.