PC Translations

New Suzhou Museum

poetically challenged — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 00:41:41 +0000

I recently visited the New Suzhou Museum for the first time, and was completely impressed with what I found there. Designed by world-renown architect I. M. Pei, the structure is absolutely beautiful. It fits right in with the beautiful garden city of Suzhou.

dark ’til dawn

poetically challenged — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 05:19:42 +0000

A Blog Just for Prayers

poetically challenged — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 08:30:52 +0000

My blogging friend has started a new blog called Prayer Corner. You can go there and request prayers, “no strings attached.” Stop in if you are needed a prayer offered on your behalf, or if you’d like to pray for some of the requests listed there.

Migrating

poetically challenged — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 22:55:44 +0000

I have been toying with the idea of abandoning this blog for some time, mostly because I cannot access it when I am staying in China, which I do for 3 months at a time these days. At the same time, I don’t want to abandon it, as I like what it is set up to do.

So, when I received an invitation from Sloth Jockey to begin a blog column for the magazine, I decided to migrate the ideas I usually post here and begin putting them at that site, interspersed with more travelogues than what I generally post here. So, I will, for the time being, discontinue posting here. You can, however, find me over at Tai Shan.

Challenging Reading

poetically challenged — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 10:37:10 +0000

I’ve recently begun reading a collection of China’s best science fiction from the year 2002. I am very excited to be started reading this sort of book in Chinese, and am hoping to push myself to do more reading of this kind very soon. I’ve finished one longish story by He Xi, and enjoyed it moderately well. I don’t think I’ll finish the whole anthology before I have to return it to my teacher, but I am still enjoying it while I can. I’m writing about this some at my science fiction related blog, if you would like to read more about my experiences as I read. I can’t say I have anything insightful to share yet, but I am making a start.

Featured Poet for Nov 2008

poetically challenged — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 14:28:17 +0000

Good news — I am the featured poet for this issue (Nov 2008) of Scifaikuest! I am very pleased about this, as Scifaikuest is one of the best poetry magazines around. If you’d like to have a look, you can visit the Scifaikuest website. You’ll find a link there to order the print magazine, which is where you will find 15 of my poems in the Nov 2008 issue. Also, if you’d like more updates about what is going on in the world of speculative poetry, you can see my regular update on my main blog.

more difficult, but more fun

poetically challenged — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 16:43:27 +0000

My studies so far have proven to be more difficult and a more fun than my previous time here to study. My teacher has not had me writing as many “wen zhang” as before (though I’ve written some for work and she’s helped me improve on those). Instead, she has started reading classical Chinese poetry with me. It is very challenging, and very fun. I’ve been working on some translations, and really enjoying it.

I’ll continue to post the earlier “wen zhang” later (eventually!), and might even post some of the translations at a later date.

the next wen zhang (finally)

poetically challenged — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 20:47:36 +0000

I’ve fallen behind on posting the “wen zhang” I wrote the last time I was in Shanghai for language classes. I should get them posted before starting class again next week.

成为一名出色的老师

当老师不是一件容易的事情。因为除了教书，老师每天都要关注很多东西，还要掌握很多种技术。

要做好的老师，要先做好的学生。没有深厚的知识和学问不能成为出色的老师。所以老师首先要常常读书，要越来越深地理解他所教的科目，然后要不断地吸取新的知识。亚力山大•薄柏曾经说过：“一知半解是很危险的”。我觉得老师要特别遵从他的教诲。仅仅吸取了那么一点点的知识，如果就觉得满意了，可能会误导学生。因此老师应该不断地学习，一直做上进的学生。

另外，老师也应该具备很好的交流技巧。即使拥有非常丰富的知识和学问，如果不能很精确地表达，都没有用。上课的时候，不光要讲得清楚明白，还要讲得引人如胜。如果老师讲得不清楚，学生们就听不懂；如果老师讲得很乏味，学生们就不记得老师讲了什么。

老师的责任不只是讲课，也包括打理他和学生的关系。有时，这正是老师工作最重要的一项内容。如果老师想要好好地维持他和学生的关系，他要深入了解学生们的需求，还要了解他们的处境，成为一个体贴学生的老师。他们要先尊敬他，然后才会愿意跟他学习。

其实，做老师真不是很简单的事情，但我觉得它是很有意思的工作。

******

After this one, just 5 more to post. By that time, I should have new ones from my new term that starts next week.

Children of Huangshi

poetically challenged — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 14:21:01 +0000

I expected to really enjoy the movie The Children of Huangshi. I really like Michelle Yeoh, and enjoy a lot of Chow Yan Fatt’s films too. I thought Yeoh was up to her normal standards, but Chow didn’t quite seem to fit into the role he was portraying, that of a communist fighter in China.

Overall, the film was a little cheesy, but not a terrible way to spend an evening all the same. There were some parts that were quite nicely done, and others didn’t quite fit together. If the film had maintained the standard of those “nicely done” parts, it could be a very nice movie. But it doesn’t quite manage to do that.

All the same, if you have a lazy evening at home and would like to while away a little time, this is the sort of movie with which to do so.

Accuracy of Death

poetically challenged — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 17:03:25 +0000

The Japanese film Accuracy of Death is a little slow moving (or perhaps that is because I saw the midnight show…), but quite entertaining all the same. It is a little bit like Meet Joe Black, though the story takes a somewhat different twist.

I recently read the novel The Book Thief, a story narrated by Death, and this brought the Japanese film to mind again. Death gets a different representation in each of these three pieces, Meet Joe Black, Accuracy of Death, and The Book Thief, and it might be interesting to consider the three in connection and contrast.

Either way, Accuracy of Death is a nice film, with some interesting things to think about. It might be better to watch it a little earlier than I did, though, because its slow pace is harder to follow the further you go into the wee hours of the morning.