山河不足重，
重在遇知己。

～ 鲍溶

每每造访xwacky和koredump总是获益匪浅，此行自不例外。

( 酒 ... )

I'm American.

~ Nicholas Brody

With the penultimate episode of Season 2, Homeland ushers in the beginning of the end to several two-season story arcs. The title In Memoriam​, a politically-correct substitute for the original, The Motherfucker with a Turban, is far more fitting for an episode that wound up being a reminder of the emotional ( Read more... )

Until we know for sure,
everyone's a terrorist.

~ Saul Berenson

My only accomplishment over the Thanksgiving weekend is to infect xwacky and koredump with my Homeland insanity. Hee!

xwacky, in her ever-perceptiveness, commented upon seeing all of Season 1: there must be another level of machination besides the obvious CIA vs. Jihadists. And that got me thinking ( Read more... )

It's the lies that undo us.
The lies we think we need to survive.

~ Carrie Mathison

For the last a couple of months, I have been following Homeland on Showtime.

By following, I don't merely mean "I watch this TV show on Sunday night." I mean DVR ready, phones off, plopped in a favorite seat, riveted to the screen, "OMG! I can't believe they did ( Read more... )

Almost all serious stories in the world
are stories of failure with a death in it.
But there is more lost paradise in them than defeat.
~ Orson Welles

I was born in Communist China to a pair of physicists. They were the political underclass, primarily due to their misfortune of being born to a banker and a judge in the pre-Communist ( Read more... )

翰因见秋风起，乃思吴中菰菜、莼羹、鲈鱼脍，说：
人生贵在适志，何能羁宦数千里以要名爵乎！遂命驾而归。
~《世说新语》

父亲常回苏州，近些年居然联络到了一票中学校友，于是每每返乡，总会和诸多七旬翁妪聚会茶楼饭肆。一段日子下来，颇有心得，嘱咐我应该去潘儒巷的吴门人家吃苏帮菜，而且一定要点吴门虾仁。

( 吴门人家 ... )

食不厌精，
脍不厌细。
~《论语》

我的父亲是苏州人，虽然从十七岁进北大起就一直住在北京，饮食起居终是不改南方人的习惯；母亲是天津人，虽极能干，但在餐饮方面的座右铭却是“有营养就好”。所以，从小到大，吃过不少父亲掌勺做的苏帮菜。

( 细说苏帮菜 ... )

诗有可解，不可解，不必解，
若水月镜花，勿泥其迹可也。
~ 谢榛

前几日拉拉杂杂地读了一些书，起因是友人 yhenryz 君在 闲谈时，提到张中行现今远比杨沫吃香，以至于北京衡量文化人的标准，是有没有读过这位国学大师的著作。我自忖虽非资质鲁钝之辈，但在金融界混迹多年下来，孤陋寡闻却是当之无愧---不知道张中行何许人也，更不懂和杨沫有什么好比的。于是，连忙找来张大师极负盛誉的几本《负暄》拜读，细细品味之余，又把杨女士的《青春之歌》找来重看了一遍。本意只是想从侧面了解一下国人心态，但如此这般株连蔓引，竟搞得一发不可收拾。

杂书看多了，感触自然不少，此处按下不表，且说最最让我想念的，却是朱自清先生优美的文笔。今天把小时候学过的《匆匆》翻出来，重新欣赏一番， ( Read more... )

Rain rain go away,
Come again another day.
~ Nursery Rhyme

When I was young, I liked Scarlett O'hara. Liked the vanity and willfulness of her youth, the pride and determination of her adulthood. Later on I learned her Achilles' Heel being a lack of introspection - she never understood, nor did she care, other people's feelings for ( Read more... )

The best laid schemes o' Mice an' Men,
Gang aft agley
~ Robert Burns

The early snow in New England this year made some spectacular showing of Autumn colors but otherwise the leaf-peeping was generally unspectacular. A lack of cold air and an overabundance of moisture early in the season caused leaves that were ready to turn to get ( Read more... )