50 Ways To Use Twitter

1. Tell people what's blooming in your Garden.
2. Give a little Grandmotherly Love.
3. Use twitterfeed to feed your blog to twitter.
4. Help spread the word about keeping cool dogs out of hot cars!
5. Announce your artwork "Pick of the Week" on Zazzle.
6. Let people know the 411 on ebay.
7. Give 10 Bright Ideas to Make Your Home Energy Efficient.
8. Use Squidcasting.
9. Show people The Funniest Squidoo Lensmasters.
10. Ask who would win in a fight? Kool-Aid Man or Hawaiian Punch's Punchy?
11. Invite your friends to play Moola!
12. Share the life story of your Toyota Truck.
13. Explain why Orlando Attractions are the best Ever.
14. Let people know what Basa is.
15. Invite people to join your Charity Challenge!
16. Tell people that Kenny Chesney is Hot in more ways than one!
17. Show off the Hottest Tattoo Pictures and Designs!
18. Showcase the Top 10 Tiki Bars.
19. Give out some Inspirational Messages.
20. Use twhirl!
21. Support a Presidential Candidate.
22. Sell your Lenses.
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25. Show why Cats are Smarter than Dogs.
26. Sell them a Unique Toilet Seat.
27. Ask a fun question like: If you were a robot, and I knew but you didn't, would you want me to tell you?
28. Introduce people to a cool sport!
29. Show people how they can recycle.
30. Promote a movie!
31. Tell people how much you Love Squidoo!
32. Confess!
33. Share a Recipe.
34. Sell your art!
35. Promote your Blog!
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46. Offer your Squidoo Services.
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48. Share your hobby.
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50. Invite people to follow you on Twitter!
51. Bonus Tip - Let people know who you'd like to win on American Idol!

"The Chinese Connections" Duo Recital

"The Chinese Connections"
Duo recital by Wan-Hing Eugene Pook, clarinet & David Chun-Chim Leung, violin.
Guest artists & piano: Cherry Tsang Chit-Lai & Liu Liu

Featuring premiere works by Chen Yi, Zhou Tian, Victoria Bond, and Jiang Wan-Tong, plus other works by Bright Sheng, Chen Shih-Hui, and Chen Qi-Gang

Time & Venue:
8pm, April 9 2009 (Thursday), Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, 57th Street & 7th Avenue, New York.

I was very happy that my friend Cherry, who is currently a doctoral piano student at Eastman School of Music, invited me to the concert. It was great to listen to these four talented musicians from Hong Kong, China and Malaysia performing contemporary Chinese pieces. I was most impressed by Victoria Bond's "Bridges". It is a quartet for clarinet, bass clarinet, Chinese erhu (Wang Guowei), and pipa (Zhou Yi). Inspired by four bridges, including the Brooklyn and Golden Gate, the work has an accompanying film using historic footage. "Bridges" includes some famous Chinese tunes, and one of them is "Jasmine". It is a really cool piece and it is interesting to know how she got really fascinated by Chinese culture.


I was the page-turner :)


Composers and performers.

The Soloist

As I've mentioned in my previous post, The Soloist will be coming out on April 24. I cannot wait to watch it!

The film is based on a true story of Nathaniel Ayers, a musician who becomes schizophrenic and homeless. Jamie Foxx portrays Nathaniel Ayers, who is considered a cello prodigy, and Robert Downey Jr. portrays Steve Lopez, a Los Angeles Times columnist who discovers Ayers and writes about him in the newspaper. Production of the film began in January 2008 and was filmed mostly in Los Angeles, with some scenes shot in Cleveland.



For more info - http://www.soloistmovie.com/

Make sure you read the book too.

Bow rehair

Due to the need to sound better on jury and recital coming up in May, I went to Nicholas Caraccio's bow repair shop. He finished my bow within 2 hours (including carving & hair changing!!!) and did an INCREDIBLE job. We talked about pipe-smoking (we are both pipe-smoker) and the movie that will be coming out on April 24, The Soloist (Check it out!). He is a fantastic bow maker and I recommend everyone to go to him if you need to get anything done with you bow.



A customer, Steve M., reviewed Nick's service online:

"Nick Caraccio is THE bow man in NYC. He only does one thing - bows, and bows he does extremely well. Rehairs, repairs, appraisals, sales - Hell, he'll even custom make a bow for you to your own specifications. I've been going to him for years now and I've always been way more than satisfied with everything Nick has ever done for my bows. He is the rightful NYC heir to the legendary Jose DaCunha who retired to Florida many years ago.

Besides being an amazing artist, Nick is one of the nicest guys you'll ever meet and he'll personally go that extra mile for you simply because he's such a good guy. Knowing Nick, it would never even cross his mind to do anything but. Just this morning, he woke up sick as a dog and rather than stay home from work (as he SHOULD HAVE), he went straight from the doctor to his shop to finish a rehair job for me all because he had promised it to me today. Only after I picked it up did he go home to bed! A true man of honor. He did an exemplary job to boot!

Whether you play violin, viola, 'cello, bass, gamba or for that matter even the musical saw, Nick Caraccio is the man to go to for all things bows. Period."

Perfect day

woke up without an alarm clock ringing by my bed


brunch at a diner


wear dorky glasses and make a goofy face


stroll around the loop


intrude private property on campus
watch those beautiful horses skip
indulge in the sunshine







go practice.



ditch dorm food. make a wonderful dinner.


:)

Exorcism on Aisle Five

Exorcism on Aisle Five
April 2, 3, 4 at 8 PM
Purchase College Humanities Theater


An original zombie musical, “Exorcism on Aisle Five,” was premiered last week at Purchase. The piece, written and directed by dramatic writing sophomore Kris Wellman and jazz piano sophomore Andy Roninson, had three performances from April 2-4, in the Humanities Theater.


The musical is about a large corporate chain, Sprawl-Mart, opening their 10,000th supercenter. The opening preparations, including the spinning of the press and the subduing of the liberal protestors, are all complete and the new store is set to open on Black Friday. However, Sprawl-Mart was built on top of a cemetery, so two employees have to fend off not crazy shoppers, but zombies.


Roninson said that his musical inspirations for the project ranged from George Gershwin to Ben Folds, Bob Dylan, Stephen Sondheim, and Randy Newman. “Dylan’s the most subliminal one,” said Roninson. “No one’s gonna get it.” Most of his songs have a kitschy charm, as a musical satire about Walmart and zombies clearly should. “It’s All Over Now,” is the show’s central tune, and it is rightfully very catchy. My favorite though is “Exactly Like Him,” a trio where three of the central women characters reveal their insecurities, but mostly their wishes, about love.

If the plot synopsis doesn’t give it away, the show features its fair share of liberal-minded right bashing, at a variety of times poking fun at everything from social conformity, consumerism, corporate America, Christianity, and Republicans. “It’s not trying to offend, it just kind of does now and then,” said Roninson.


The whole cast seems comfortable with their parts, and they derive a good amount of humor by exaggerating the characteristics of the types they’re playing: a nebbish pharmacist, a struggling widow, a nihilist, a corporate power-head, and (of course) zombies. Christine Schmidt as Melanie is particularly hilarious as the crass and obnoxious super-liberal activist. Her character is incredibly annoying, in the way that super-liberals often are. She nails the part. Among the comedy, there are some scenes of surprising tenderness, mainly during the scenes focusing on Alice, the widow (Mallory Kinney), and Brandon Beck’s pharmacist Howard. Beck (for plot points I won’t divulge) alternates between two characters – one a dweeby pharmacist and one a husband that hasn’t yet evolved from his dude-bro phase. He excellently plays both parts.



Exorcism On Aisle Five: A New Musical from James Madejski on Vimeo.

info from the purchase brick

IT IS SUCH A GREAT MUSICAL! I'M SOOOOOOO GLAD I WENT :)

Purchase Faculty String Quartet (II)

Violin I:
Laurie Smukler
Violin II:
Calvin Wiersma
Viola:
Ira Weller
Cello:
Julia Lichten

-----

So it was a Friday night, I could see slight hints of tiredness in our teacher's eyes. Nevertheless, they managed to stay coherent and incredibly energetic throughout the 100 minute long performance. The members of the quartet take breaths together and used body language greatly to "communicate" with each other. Even when there were tempo or sudden rhythmic changes, the quartet had no problem to play perfectly together. Not to mention that they have only rehearsed for less than 5 hours. Calvin did a brief introduction about the background of Shostakovich String Quartet no.3, Op. 73 when it was written. Great that we got to know more about the piece before listening to them play! It was a brilliant concert (and explains why there were long lines waiting to greet these great musicians and teachers afterwards)! I'm so happy to be in the Purchase Conservatory, where teachers are not only superb players but also caring mentors.