Mstislav Rostropovich RIP

The Mstislav Rostropovich obit in the New York Times is a colourless affair. The Guardian obit much more reflects a giant of a man who lived life with gusto and had such an appetite for life.

In the mid-199os, Mister Bijou had the rare good fortune to meet Slava, albeit briefly, backstage at Hong Kong's Cultural Centre after a mesmerising solo performance.

As Slava started performing in public at the age of eight, he must have shaken hands with thousands of people. And yet again here he was graciously shaking hands.

A man still revved up after the show he had just given, being nice to people he'd never met before and would never meet again. A great bear of a man with thick, muscular, sausage-like fingers.

And when he was introduced to Mister Bijou's then partner, who is a cellist as well as an attractive woman, Slava's smile grew even broader, mischievous even, before he remarked, almost conspiratorially: "Ah, another cellist."

NYT obit
Guardian obit
Rostropovich -- reached out for the music: On An Overgrown Path
Prelude from J S Bach's Cello Suite No. 1: youtube

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Ferry terminal

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Island oasis

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Sunday, village square

Francoise Hardy: Message Personnel

For the weekend, a guilty pleasure.

Françoise Hardy:



Mais si tu crois un jour que tu m'aimes
Ne crois pas que tes souvenirs me gênent
Et cours, cours jusqu'à perdre haleine
Viens me retrouver
Si tu crois un jour que tu m'aimes
Et si ce jour-là tu as de la peine
A trouver où tous ces chemins te mènent
Viens me retrouver
Si le dégoût de la vie vient en toi
Si la paresse de la vie
S'installe en toi
Pense à moi

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Dai pai dong, tableware

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Birdmen

Hong Kong: Legislative Council Questios

Some of the questions (and answers) from the LegCo meeting of Wednesday, 18 April 2007:

LCQ2: Supervision of Octopus Cards Limited
LCQ6: Enhancing road safety at roundabouts
LCQ12: Protection of Chinese White Dolphins

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Saiwan, prayer altar

Hong Kong: I Ching, Book of Changes

Hexagram 46, 升 Shêng / Pushing Upward -> Hexagram 3, 屯 Chun / Difficulty at the Beginning
Source: afpc

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Sonny's hair salon

Thelonious Monk: Straight, No Chaser

For the weekend, a guilty pleasure.



Have a great weekend.

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Friday afternoon, Island Cafe (previously known as Charles Bronson's).

Kurt Vonnegut Jr RIP

Obit: NYT
Slaughterhouse-Five: wiki
Cold Turkey: In These Times
The closing lines of Vonnegut's Requiem (circa 2005):

When the last living thing
has died on account of us,
how poetical it would be
if Earth could say,
in a voice floating up
perhaps
from the floor
of the Grand Canyon,
"It is done."
People did not like it here.

Vonnegut? He's gone. So it goes.

Alan Johnston: a voice silenced

The BBC's petition:

We, the undersigned, demand the immediate release of BBC Gaza correspondent Alan Johnston. We ask again that everyone with influence on this situation increase their efforts, to ensure that Alan is freed quickly and unharmed.

is now closed.

But this one is still open: Free Alan Johnston Petition Thanks, Gavin!

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Dai pai dong, cooked food stall

Hong Kong: lit crit

Canto-culture – Loving a Floating City, by Fred Armentrout: Hong Kong Journal

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Waterfront dim sum restaurant

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Funeral parlour, flights of fancy

Siouxsie and the Banshees: Hong Kong Garden

For this long weekend, a guilty pleasure.



Have a great weekend.