Friday, March 21, 2025

2025.3.20. Emergence - PNB

3/20, Thursday, 7:30. Went to the ballet.
Dawn Patrol (World Premiere) | Price Suddarth
Afternoon of a Faun          | Jerome Robbins
Mopey                        | Marco Goecke
Emergence                    | Crystal Pite
I actually really like the new work "Dawn Patrol", even though I didn't associate it with fighter pilots before (or even after) reading the program notes. I also really like its music by Alfonso Peduto, fit the dance very well (commissioned for Dawn Patrol).

The middle 2 short works are interesting. Quite different. Especially Mopey, not ballet like, very jerky, but not bad.

Emergence, maybe I had too high expectation. I like the group syncopation. I sat at row H, could hear the dancers counting.

I like today's lighting, even though all too dark, except for "Afternoon of a Faun". I think the guy shouldn't wear white footwear for this piece, which showed the browning/dirt of the floor. Better use skin tone.

Went to the after-show Q&A. Today, we are fortunate to have Lucien Postlewaite who's been dancing with PNB since 2003! Most of his dancing peers now are half of his age. Will see where his long career takes him. Wish him all the best.

Thursday, March 20, 2025

2025.3.20. Daffodil Day - 1st Day of Spring

3/20, Thursday. Anyone can pick up 4 stems of daffodils at Pike Place Market today. Despite of the rain, quite a lot of people. The line is long, but moves swiftly. The yellow paired with the purpil tulips I received last weekend makes the perfect Husky color.

Wednesday, March 19, 2025

2025.3.19. Author talk - The Inner Clock

3/19, Wednesday. 6:30pm. Seattle AWIS hosted a book talk by a local science writer Lynne Peeples on her new book: The Inner Clock - Living in Sync with Our Circadian Rhythms. Some takeaways:
  • make day brighter (bluer light), and night darker (redder light)
  • eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, dinner like a pauper
  • make the time of sleep, eat, excerce more regular per day
  • restricting food intake to daylight (reduce the time difference between the first and the last meal of the day)
  • to reduce jet lag, stimulate with light more towards waking up, rather than closer to going to sleep
Not too many people came. Some were on Zoom. Not all women either. Those who came are very nice. I ended up chatting with an old guy who biked around world ~40 years ago. The president of AWIS, Tracy E. Popowics, gave a short speech. She's not a good speaker. I find the treasurer - Reitha Weeks very nice and she speaks well.

Sunday, March 16, 2025

2025.3.16. Snow Geese and Daffodils at Skagit Valley

3/16, not as rainy as Saturday. Woke up late, headed out ~noon.

Washington state is the wintering ground of snow goose (smaller, orange beak, black wing tip) and trumpeter swan (larger with black beak). These are beautiful white birds scattered in Skagit Valley north of Seattle every winter. I think we are already too late now, maybe only this year, it's too warm. Not many birds. Saw a few small clusters ranging from 2 to ~20 in grassy fields close to I-5. Maybe better at the dusk and dawn. About a month ago, saw a trip report of large flocks in the same area. Went to Skagit Wildlife Refuge (state park Discovery Pass required). Saw quite a few herons, a lot of Avocet, Green-winged Teal, American Wigeon, Mallard, 1 bufflehead, no white birds.

Good timing for daffodils. Found 2 large fields in peak bloom. Just lovely.

Drove to Deception Pass. Walked to Goose Rock's summit first. Not a bad view. A little muddy on the trail. Walk under the highway to get to the other side, in order to walk both ways on the bridge. Always great view here. The water is churning. Saw a seal happily float and swim. He has spots on his skin. Saw a large black bird diving into the churn of water. Cormarant? But it has a cream underside.

Only 3 of the 6 rest rooms at the parking lot were open. One is plugged. One has diarreah all over the garbage can - I don't know how it could be done.

Driving back to Seattle. Pouring around Everett. Clear sky in Seattle.

Saturday, March 15, 2025

2025.3.15. Rite of Spring with Seattle Symphony

3/15, Saturday, 8pm. Seattle Symphony.
Brian Raphael Nabors ---- Upon Daybreak
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Piano Concerto No. 22
                  Piano:  Jan Lisiecki
Igor Stravinsky --------- The Rite of Spring
              Conductor:  Peter Oundjian
The new work "Upon Daybreak" is large, a lot of sounds. Not bad, but neither memerable. Inspired by Maya Angelou's poem "A Brave and Startling Truth". I didn't like this poem. Doesn't rhyme at all. Nor did I like the title of the poem. I do like the title of this music poem, quite fitting to the work.

Mozart's Piano Concerto 22 has a very melancholy but pretty 2nd movement, a very familier and equally pretty 3rd movement. The pianist today, Lisiecki, is very skillful, and full of dynamics. However, he stares at the audience half of the time, very unnerving. Maybe he just wants to show off that he didn't need to look at his fingers.

I'm getting more and more comfortable each time I hear The Rite of Spring. Started to enjoy it, especially the first half. Today, the preconcert talk by the artistic director at Rainbow City Orchestra, made the work easier to understand. He also made us try to tap on the mark with a string of 3/4/5 beats, to appreciate the difficulty of dancing to this music.

Friday, March 14, 2025

2025.3.14. Guiding Star art installation at Space Needle

3/14, Friday, 7:30-9:30pm. Wa Na Wari commissioned and presented “GuideStar”, an immersive laser light installation by artists Mendi + Keith at Space Needle on March 14. To be honest, I totally missed the point. Saw 5 people dressed in white, walking slowly in the dark around International Fountain, with no particular order nor rythm, looking like floating ghosts. 4-5 people in black carrying video cameras with large microphones. It's simucasted on Youtube. A tented audio-visual station broadcasted music and controlled laser on top of Space Needle. Loudspeakers were placed close by. Advertised 30 lasers were not all visible. I never was able to count more than 10. The light of the laser doesn't draw any patterns, only a line of color shining to the dark clouds. Some pulsating, but no movement.

It's slow, and getting a bit boring pretty soon. There were spectators, not many. Walked around Seattle Center, noticed these colors when the laser shone into tree branches. Maybe diffraction of the water drops on the trees?

Afterwards, a few gathered at Seattle Opera building for a Q&A, and served some drinks and empanadas. Only then, I was told that, these 5 ghosts were singers from out of state, and the songs were carefully chorephraphed. The commission may have cost about $300K. With such a small attendance, not sure if it's money well spent.

2025.3.14. Brady Black - mural artist

3/14, 2nd Friday Belltown Art Walk. I only went to Slip Gallery and Basecamp #1.

Brady Black had his solo show in a larger space at Basecamp #1. He has his studio here. I talked to him before on my occasional visits on 2nd Fridays. I knew about his work because some of them are on Monorail's supporting posts. Today's show is worth noting: these 2 images of Trump are fun. According to him, they were taken down only few minutes after him putting them on.

In the gallery, there are photos of his murals. Some survived for months, some less than an hour. In Austin, Bagdad, Seattle. Interesting to hear about their fate.

Thursday, March 13, 2025

2025.3.13-14. Blood Moon Total Eclipse

3/13 Thursday evening, Friday morning. Lunar eclipse. I went to the roof ~10pm to see the eclipse. It just started, but to my eyes, the moon still looked full and bright. The progress is so slow, and I went home.

Around 11:30pm, went up again. This time, a few more people. Almost fully covered by the earth shadow. Took a couple of photos with my phone. The moon was pink. The totalily lasted over an hour. I didn't wait long. Went back to my warm apartment.

An hour later, I went up again. This time, only briefly saw the moon shrouded in clouds. Soon, completely covered by thick clouds.

Saturday, March 08, 2025

2025.3.8. Sun Top Lookout + Snoquera Falls

3/8, Saturday. Overcast. I didn't take my bike this time, rode the lightrail, because it was drizzling when I left home, and lightrail was running for a 6am meetup. 6 people showed up. Picked up one more (a Brit who just arrived in Seattle a week ago) in downtown Seattle... if I knew...

Starting from Sun Top snow park off Hwy-410, crossed the yellow gate, walked almost all the way on FS-7315 to the lookout. Only maybe half a mile is on trail, which goes to a different TH. Snow level was at ~3800', and solid from 4000'. We carried snowshoes all the way, never used them. Snow was compact, not sinking much. I'm probably the slowest in the group apart from the new comer, but I cut a couple of zigzags and reached the lookout first.

The lookout is completely bolted shut. I was told that this is one of the only 2 working lookouts in WA. By the time everyone arrived, it was only 10:30am. We hung around waiting for the sun to show up (supposed to be partly sunny in the afternoon). One tested his drone. It's so noisy.

After an hour, we gave up waiting. The Brit didn't bring enough clothes and was getting cold. Back to the parking lot before 1:30pm. Too early to go home, even though we did ~10 miles RT, 3000' gain.

Drove to Camp Sheppard on the other side of Hwy-410, and hiked a loop to see Snoquera Falls. The Brit didn't come along. It's all on trail. Needs a bit of scrambling to get close to the waterfall. It's quite tall, but thin. Still pretty. We relaxed here for ~half an hour. Blue sky as the forecast said. Back to the car. Passing many cabins and structures of the campground. Almost 5 miles here, 900'.

I got dropped off at REI, where the Brit had to return his rental snowshoes. I walked home, still in day light.

Sunday, March 02, 2025

2025.3.1. Hidden Lake Lookout

3/1, Saturday, blue sky. 8 of us met at 5am, so early that no bus goes there yet. I rode my bike and downloaded the BikeLink app to store it in a bike locker. I reserved for 15 hours, expect to be back by 8pm.

This year, the snow was so little, we were able to park right at the start of the scramble. (My last 2 trips here, we had to park 1 mile out). The lower section in the woods is quite steep. Once clear of the trees, only one short section is steep. But the snow is in excellent sticky condition, very stable.

I've been to Hidden Lake Peak in winter twice, but this is my first time to the lookout in winter. More or less the same all the way to the saddle, which has an excellent view of the lake and the peaks beyond.

We waited for the 2 skiers to catch up for a long time, and gave up on them. No one expect this little snow. They had only ski boots, which is terrible on the steep forest slope.

Got down from the saddle, traverse a semi steep slope (thanks to the thick snow) to the ridge beyond the cornice, so we could go up. Reached the lookout a little after 12:30pm.

Great view from inside the lookout too. We were surprised to find many provision inside. The door was jammed open by snow. Two in my group loved it so much, that they tried to convince the rest of us to stay the night here. We started cleaning up the snow, so we could close the door. Filled 3 buckets with snow, and set them by the window to melt in the sun. It's above 60°F inside!

There's a big rock next to the lookout, which marks the highest point here. Some of us scrambled up to take photos. Great view looking down all the way to the saddle, where we found 3 more people there. An hour later, 2 showed up. I happened to have met one of them before. They prepared to sleep in the lookout, had all the gear for the night, except for tent. They also informed us that the 2 skiers in my group gave up just above tree line, didn't even make to the saddle. Soon, another person arrived. He brought a tent, so pitched it under the rock. There's cell signal at the saddle and at the lookout. We sent message to the 2 skiers in our group, but didn't hear from them. They were probably already below the treeline, no more signal.

I brought a chair out to sit in the sun. We waited for the sunset. Those who were prepared were melting snow, cooking dinner. We had nothing. Getting hungry. I ate all my food, except for one bar (for tomorrow). Someone found a bag of trail mix and a bag of cashew in the lookout. I ate quite some salty cashew. My legs were cramping up. Need salt and more drink. I put some cash in the envelope in the lookout, read the log book for comments, while away the time. Later 4 young hikers arrived, one on ski. They cowboy-camped to the south of the lookout, only one of them had a bivy. The sunset was somewhat disappointing: thick clouds to the west blocked the setting sun.

In the lookout, the 6 of us arranged to spend the night. 4 on the bed, lying cross sideways. Can probably fit one more. There were 3 quilts, 2 sleeping bags. The mattresses are wet, so we put one quilt above the mattress. 2 share one quilt on the bed. 2 on the floor in sleeping bags. The 2 of the other group had their own sleeping bags and pads. They stayed on the floor. We can probably fit one more on the floor, still leaving a path to walk to the door. By 6pm, it was dark. The 8 of us played a game using the paper from the log book. It was hillarious.

The stars were great. Could see light pollution both to the north and south. No moon. I had trouble sleeping, with all the noise. But I must have slept, because the next morning, I wasn't too sleepy.

3/2 Sunrise was surprisingly pretty. We didn't expect anything, because the forecast called for overcast, if not rain. The clouds shifted in and around, made it quite mystical. 40°F inside the lookout.

I filled my water bottle with the melting snow in the pots, ate my one last bar. We headed down. The snow is firmer. We followed our own steps out, because, at time it was whiteout. One of us stayed behind with the guy in tent, so he could get a ride back. The other 5 of us barely could fit in one car with all the gears. It was straightforward. Took only 2.5 hours to get back to the car. Didn't glissade at all. At the car, there was a note left by our 2 skiers. They waited for us until 7pm.

Our driver was so hungry, that we stopped at 2 restaurants before landing at Moe's in Darrington. They were closed this early on Sunday. Moe's had a very nice backyard, with view of Whitehorse. By then, the clouds were gone, another seemingly nice day ahead.

Back to the P&R. I was more than 16 hours past due for my bike. At least, the lock was still locked. Fetched my bike without any issue (a small penalty to pay).
Total less than 7 miles for 2 days! About 4000' EG.

Wednesday, February 26, 2025

2025.2.26. Magic Flute

2/26, Wednesday. Seattle Opera presents Magic Flute, a unique production of the Komische Oper Berlin (by "1927"'s Suzanne Andrade and Barrie Kosky). Co-Produced by Los Angeles Opera (costume) and Minnesota Opera (set). It is like watching a silent film, accompanied by singing and live orchestra, plus a lot of very funny animation. I'm not sure that I like all operas to go this direction, but for once, it's refreshing, and well done. This production has been around for over 10 years. First time I see something like this.

The added printed words help me understand the complicated (but silly) plot. The stage is very dark (I even dozed off for a few minutes). All characters are in black and white, completely 2 dimensional. I like beautiful sets and colorful customes in traditional opera productions. The animation is very clever and funny. The laser light is choregraphed nicely with the music and story.

So impressed, I stayed for the Q&A after the show. Duke Kim (Tamino) and Ariana Wehr (First Lady) joined the Q&A. They commented on how different to sing without moving, so no acting, but on ques to synchronize with the light projection. They are hoisted on the wall, standing on a narrow ledge. So they couldn't see what's on the screen. They also commented on how good the makeup team in Seattle Opera is. 12 people did the job instead of 35 in San Francisco. 2 hours before performance, thick white makeups on everyone. Another noteworthy is the conductor Christine Brandes, a former soprano, who has a deep instinct with the singers.

Seattle Opera has a new artistic director, James Robinson. I'm looking forward to what else he'll bring to the stage.

Sunday, February 23, 2025

2025.2.23. Hamilton - the musical

2/23, Sunday, 7pm. I managed to forget the tickets to tonight's Hamilton. Ran back home to fetch the tickets.

I had wanted to watch Hamilton for awhile. It's now on N'th tour. Still almost full house. Maybe my expectation is too high. I'm a little disappointed.
negative
  • Only one stage set.
  • Costumes, almost just one, with or without the overcoat.
  • Voices are not very good, maybe because they are performing too many times in a row (twice today)
  • Songs are not very memorable
positive
  • lighting design
  • Dance choreograph
  • Very energetic
  • Acting
Overall, entertaining and engaging.

Thursday, February 20, 2025

2025.2.20. The Future of JavaScript with TC39

2/20, Thursday, hosted by Docusign.

I've been the Seattle Javascript meetup a few times, but this one is worth noting.

TC39 (Technical Committee of ECMA for Javascript. ECMA = European Computer Manufacturers Association. TC39 is convening in Seattle this week, so a special meetup was setup to have the TC39 meeting goer talk about TC39 and share some of the new features of Javascript. Talks
  • Intro to TC39 by Rob Palmer
  • Recap: This Week's TC39 by Linus Groh
  • Temporal: Modern dates and times in JavaScript by Philip Chimento
  • import defer: What it is and when to use it by Nicolò Ribaudo
  • Why your web app needs internationalization by Shane Carr
  • Faster TypeScript compilation with ts-blank-space Ashley Claymore
  • Hardened JavaScript by Mathieu Hofman
  • Free the JavaScript trademark by Luca Casonato
Lots of work going to standardizing and advancing a technical language. I also learned that Javascript TM is owned by Oracle, and TC39 is trying to get USPTO to release the trademark.

Monday, February 17, 2025

2025.2.16,17, Oscar Shorts

SIFF Uptown screens Oscar short film nominations in 3 categories. Went to animation on 2/16, and documentory on 2/17 for 2025.

By the order of screening. Here's the list of Animation Shorts: Here's the list of Documentary Shorts: I liked the first 2 animations, didn't like any of the documentary shorts. However, the comparison of the fact between "I Am Ready, Warden" (a reborn criminal put to death) and "Death by Numbers" (a hardhead mass shooter without remorse, saved from death sentence) is shocking, and baffling of the US judiciary system.

Friday, February 14, 2025

2025.2.14. Valentine Day in Seattle

This pink telephone was posted in front of Amazon HQ a week prior to Valentine Day.
On 2/14, a large tent with tables and chairs. A lot of colored markers, stickers, and cut-out plastic for you to trace a pattern. Anyone can pick a post card, and decorate it yourself. It will be mailed for you.

Today is 2nd Friday: Belltown Artwalk. No tour today. Public Display setup a "party room" in Basecamp 2's 2nd floor, next to the art studios: snack, drink and DJ. A photoshoot stage, a guy dressed in a large red velvet heart. Notably, Partner in Print set up a letter press station at the shop next to Basecamp 1. The theme today is "Love Is". You decide what it is, and pick different fonts. They'll ink it and press it. People are quite creative.

Thursday, February 13, 2025

2025.2.13. Seattle Youth Symphony + Seattle Symphony side by side

2/13 Thursday. Benaroya Hall. Side-by-Side with Seattle Youth Symphony Orchestra (SYSO). By "side by side", it's really one professional sat next to one kid sharing the same sheet music.
  • Maurice Ravel - Mother Goose Suite, Seattle Symphony
  • African American Spiritual - Follow the Drinking Gourd, Seattle Symphony + SYSO's Junior Orchestra
  • Aaron Copland - The Red Pony, Seattle Symphony + SYSO's Youth Orchestra
  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (arr. Jamin Hoffman) - Allegro con brio from Symphony No. 25, SYSO
  • Joseph Haydn - Moderato from Cello Concerto No. 1 in C major, SYSO with concerto competition winner Jaeha Lee on Cello
  • Alexander Borodin - Polovtsian Dances from Prince Igor, Seattle Symphony + SYSO

Wednesday, February 12, 2025

2025.2.12. Super Bowl Ad Review

2/12, Wednesday. Tech Bowl at Seattle University is an annual fun event hosted by business school's marketing department. 3 professors and a guest breakdown the ads shown during Super Bowl over the principals of ADPLAN framework (attention, distinction, position, linkage, amplification, net equity). Then, we voted between 4 sets of ads, and then voted for the winner of the 4. For today, Google's AI ad won this room of students and teachers. I didn't like this ad at all. For what's shown today, I like OpenAI's ad the most. This is my 2nd time attending this ads analysis. Will return next year.

Sunday, February 09, 2025

2025.2.6+8+9. Events at Seattle Art Museum

3 recurring events at Seattle Art Museum.

2/6, first Thursday: free entrance, short artist led tours. Checked out the juxtoposed exhibition of "Following Space: Thaddeus Mosley & Alexander Calder". Not bad: rustic natural bulky wood stumps of Mosley vs Calder's delicate metal and string.

Another interesting exhibition is Bethany Collins' At Sea. Odessey, Moby Dick, graphite on Somerset paper, then use eraser to remove part of the sentences. Symbolizing the loss in translation, in time.

The museum was taking down the big tree hanging from the ceiling. Looking forward to what is next. I asked someone there, and was told the tree will be on view at a different location. Afterwards, it'll be decomposed in the forest.



2/8, 2nd Saturday, Body Mind Activity Day, part of SAM Body and Mind series.
I got up too late, missed the "dance charch". When I arrived, it was silent reading. I went into the activity room. Northwest Creative & Expressive Arts Institute (NWCEAI) set up 2 tables. One is collage: cut colorful magazine pages and tape them on a car. The other is watercolor. We were told to outline on paper without looking down the paper, and then fill in with color. Drawing without looking what I drew is very difficult.

Everyone left the activity room and did this "sound bath" by Biom. I've only heard of sound bath, this is my first participation. Many people brought their yoga mats and lied on ground. The lady made soothing sounds over jars of water, pan of pebbles. Not sure why people had to come to a session. This can be easily done at home.



2/9, a Sunday. Seattle Women's Jazz Orchestra at SAM, with an intermission. Not bad, however, nothing extraordinary. There're 2 men. I like its conductor. This Jazz series is part of SAM Performs.