Make a Wish

Kiyomizu-dera

It is definitely one of the best known sights of Kyoto, with its stage on the half of the mountain dating back to 798. (as wikipedia say) The popular Japanese expression "to jump off the stage at Kiyomizu" is the equivalent of the English expression "to take the plunge". I think the height here is pretty high for everyone, thus it must be difficult to build. This site is also the longest duration we visit in Kyoto, about almost 3 hours.
After arriving the san-nen-zaka, we have to climb through a village filled with slopes and stairs. Then we could see the the main gate in front of us, and pay the ticket about 400 yen for entrance fee. Here firstly we could see the famous site, Torii of Jishu-jinja, a matchmaking shrine. We could see the lovestones and make a wish for matchmaking.
And the we could go through this huge stage step by step to see its various faces in different directions and distances.
Finally, we could see the Otowa-no-taki, the waterfall where visitors drink for health, longevity, and success in studies.

With Prof. Tsuhan Chen (CMU)

Prof. Tsuhan Chen (from CMU, also graduated from NTU since 1987) gives the first Keynote Speech titled "Unsupervised Discovery of Objects and Object Hierarchy in Video: Content Extraction Made Easy" at MMM 2008. After that, we three members from NTU talk with him.

Finally, we reference the abstract from his talk here:

Based on the bag-of-words representation, statistical models have recently become a popular approach to object discovery, i.e., extracting the "object of interest" from a set of images in a completely unsupervised manner. In this talk, we will outline this approach and extend it from still images to motion videos. We will propose a novel spatial-temporal framework that applies statistical models to both appearance modeling and motion modeling. The spatial and temporal models are integrated so that motion ambiguities can be resolved by appearance, and appearance ambiguities can be resolved by motion. In addition, with statistical modeling we can extract hierarchical relationships among objects, completely driven by data without any manual labeling. This framework finds application in video retrieval (e.g., for YouTube or Google Video) and video surveillance.

Just Asking The Girl Where to Go

I think it may be my personal habit to ask cute girl where I should head for even the target is just presented. That's the cleverest way to socialize with them and could be well treated as a foreigner. Besides, you could always see tiny and special local product everywhere you go in Japan, for saving money and space, I always buy them in the last minutes.

Back of Geisha

When I was naive to see this world, I always think Geisha is just a dancing girl with thick make-up. However, since I really contact with them in the MMM 2008's banquet, I found that Japanese tradition has its own splendid, just like other traditions, Sumo, Gagaku, and Tea ceremony.

Today, the traditional make-up of the apprentice geisha is one of their most recognizable characteristics, though established geisha generally only wear full white face makeup characteristic of maiko during special performances.

The traditional makeup of an apprentice geisha features a thick white base with red lipstick and red and black accents around the eyes and eyebrows. Originally the white base mask was made with lead, but after the discovery that it poisoned the skin and caused terrible skin and back problems for the older geisha towards the end of the Meiji Era, it was replaced with rice powder.

The application of makeup is hard to perfect and is a time-consuming process. Makeup is applied before dressing to avoid dirtying the kimono. First, a wax or oil substance, called bintsuke-abura, is applied to the skin. Next, white powder is mixed with water into a paste and applied with a bamboo brush starting from the neck, up. The white makeup covers the face, neck, and chest, with two or three unwhitened areas (forming a "W" or "V" shape, usually a traditional "W" shape) left on the nape, to accentuate this traditionally erotic area, and a line of bare skin around the hairline, which creates the illusion of a mask.

Kinkaku-ji

What an amazing and memorable Historical Site, it has been my wallpaper for a long time. Golden building seems more valuable and mysterious, just like the secret. I think Japanese keep this site well, and preserve it from the unwitting disaster. The peaceful lake elegantly fuses the inverted image and the environment.

Varese Sarabande 25th Anniversary Celebration

經過一連串的收集電影配樂以及閱讀了大量的文獻, 比較確定了研究方向將邁向電影配樂的情緒與語意分析來進行了, 最近買了這張唱片, 發現裡面有好多電影都是未曾看過的, 以後也可能沒有太多時間去看, 不過絲毫卻不影響我對於他們的表面理解, 透過短短的主題, 至少我可能推測出來一些電影情節的蛛絲馬跡, 對於這樣的推測, 我仍覺得相當有趣, 畢竟我們已經不經意地聽了太多的音樂, 這個社會已經植入了大量的訊息在我們腦裡, 無論是喜歡或是不喜歡, 我們都已經是如此, 以後只會更加複雜.

So Cute!

姑姑和 Uncle 在 Santa Cruz 的玩樂畫面! 超可愛的小鬼...

Topics

Project 的 Title 遲遲未能決定, 因此方向也不能夠很明確的鋪陳出來, 還記得大三下第一次開始研究的心情, 那時候什麼都不會, 所以會有初生之犢不畏虎的膽識. 一路也懵懵懂懂地理出了一番頭緒. 如今, 見識過了相當多卓越的研究, 也漸漸地明瞭自己的本領, 對於提計畫的焦慮不減反增, 過往的經驗反而成了一個絆腳石. 而且會常常陷入一種迷思, 我做研究究竟是為了什麼, 能對人類帶來多少幫助? 我如果領了經費, 能否不愧撥錢給我的單位嗎? 越想越多, 於是就卡住了, 上腦果然是很要不得的.

Nightmarket 2007

夜市, 我們所創造的叢林, 讓置身其中的一切, 有了截然不同的聽覺體驗. 鬧哄哄的夜市喧鬧, 迴盪不已的自身耳語, 都是新鮮的一次感官歷程. 五花大綁的裝置藝術, 隧道提供了絕佳的擺設條件, 讓等待釋放的聲波, 享受無比自由的碰撞. 作品與士涵, 仲理, 珮茵, 芷瑄一同完成, 也獲得台灣國際兒童電視影展負責人王耿瑜邀請參加明年的影展. 檔期相當尷尬...不過仍然值得期待~

MMM 2008

"Probabilistic Estimation of a Novel Music Emotion Model" is my new accepted paper and will be presented in the 14 th International MultiMedia Modeling Conference @ Kyoto, Japan, on 9~11, January 2008. I believe I will hold this chance to contribute my idea on topic "Music and Emotion" in this conference.

尚青春否?

搜尋電影配樂文章的同時, 偶然看到這篇文字特別有感觸, 而且網頁的配樂是情書
http://blog.pixnet.net/kytu/post/1942176 順道拿出了電影重新咀嚼一番, 戴了好的耳機, 電影裡的未曾察覺的聲響格外逼真, 校園電影就是有青春的魅力, 如同不能說的祕密一番, 逝往的情懷總是詩篇般地美, 這半年來, 親眼目睹了兩個年輕人的發光發熱, 而我卻是停留在原地許久許久
我, 很想用力, 心卻無法提起精神, 是憂鬱了吧, 是憂鬱了吧, 是憂鬱了吧,那種無間道的惡循環心情, 每天每夜似乎沒有什麼不同的罪惡感受揮之不去, 以前總是滿滿的行程, 那種陽光般的精彩, 就像印和闐的魔力被馬車奪去般, 巴不得回到那個沒有犯錯的時間點, 讓每日在沙發上疲憊睡去的淚痕能拭去, 巴不能回到那個沒有暖化的, 沒有汽機車的, 沒有電腦網路的, 沒有謾罵的, 沒有利害衝突的, 沒有第四台的, 沒有數不盡的表面進步的, 姑姑寄了張我小時後的照片給我, 真愛這種泛黃的美感, 一下拉的好遠好遠.距離遠了，心也遠了，然而，唯一不變的是偶而想起。時空的魔力, 還有後續的威力, 持續上演中, 誰也無法避免年華老去. 重要的是, 這個曾經存在過的靈魂, 有沒有讓他自己曾經深信不疑過自己.

Amazing Kenting!

Secret

不能說的秘密, 心情其實錯綜了那個寒假的臨演, 過去幾年的懵懂回憶, 暑假兩訪淡水的遊歷...
還有對於周董才華的羨慕, 黃秋生的演技及尊敬, 杜篤之的配音與後製, 當然...第二女主角很可愛...親自見證了一個明日之星的崛起...

Gödel's friendship with Einstein

Gödel had a most distinguished coach for his citizenship exam: Albert Einstein, who had earlier earned his own citizenship and who was concerned that his friend's unpredictable behavior might jeopardize his chances. Einstein accompanied Gödel to the hearing. To everyone's consternation, Gödel suddenly informed the presiding judge that he had discovered a way in which a dictatorship could be legally installed in the United States, through a logical contradiction in the U.S. Constitution. Fortunately, the judge, who was apparently a very patient person, took this in good part and awarded Gödel his citizenship. (See [1][2] .)Einstein and Gödel had a legendary friendship, shared in the walks they took together to and from the Institute for Advanced Studies. The nature of their conversations was a mystery to the other Institute members. Economist Oskar Morgenstern recounts that toward the end of his life Einstein confided that his "own work no longer meant much, that he came to the Institute merely…to have the privilege of walking home with Gödel". (Rebecca Goldstein, ISBN 0393051692, p 33)

Atrabilious

1 : given to or marked by melancholy : gloomy
*2 : ill-natured, peevish

"Atrabilious" is a somewhat rare word with a history that parallels that of the more common "melancholy." Representing one of the four bodily humors, from which it was once believed that human emotions originated, "atrabilious" derives from the Latin "atra bilis," literally meaning "black bile." The word "melancholy" derives from the Greek "melan-" and "chole," which also translates as "black bile." In its original sense, "atrabilious" meant "melancholy," but now it is more frequently used to describe someone with an irritable or unfriendly temperament. A word with a meaning similar to that of "atrabilious" is "splenetic," which is named after the organ in the body (the spleen) once thought to secrete black bile.

Performance listening

When performers listen to works that are part of their own repertoire, they may experience a form of vicarious performance. For conductors, instrumentalists, and vocalists, arms, fingers, and vocal cords may subliminally re-create the gestures and performance actions involved during actual performance. In such cases, listening may be mediated by an acute awareness of the listener's body. For example, musical passages that are difficult to execute may evoke a heightened sense of tension -- whether or not the sonic gesture conveys some musical tension.

Kinesthetic listening

This form of listening is characterized by the auditor's compulsion to move. Feet may tap, hands may conduct, or the listener may feel the urge to dance. The experience is not so much one of `listening' to the music, as the music `permeating' the body. Kinesthetic listening is best described as `motivation' rather than `contemplation'.

Emotional listening

Emotional listening is characterized by deeply felt emotion. The music engenders feels of sorrow or joy, resignation, great satisfaction. Occasionally there will be overt signs of emotion, such as the sensation of a lump in one's throat, imminent or overt weeping, or smiling. The emotions may be related to current events in the listener's life, but the feelings are more apt to seem non-specific and to arise `from nowhere'.

Ecstatic listening

The term `ecstatic listening' is meant here in a very concrete and technical way. On occasion music will elicit a sensation of "shivers" localized in the back, neck and shoulders of an aroused listener -- a physiological response technically called frisson. The frisson experience normally has a duration of no more than four or five seconds. It begins as a flexing of the skin in the lower back, rising upward, inward from the shoulders, up the neck, and sometimes across to the cheeks and onto the scalp. The face may become flush, hair follicles flex the hairs into standing position, and goose bumps may appear (piloerection). Frequently, a series of `waves' will rise up the back in rapid succession. The listener feels the music to have elicited an ecstatic moment and tends to regard the experience as involuntary. Goldstein (1980) has shown that some listeners report reduced excitement when under a clinically-administered dose of an opiate receptor antagonist, naloxone -- suggesting that music engenders endogenous opioid peptides characteristic of pleasurable experiences. Sloboda (1991) has found evidence linking "shivers" responses to works especially loved by subjects.