On Rye, In Archive

Going Out of Business

2006-02-26T18:19:00.000-08:00

I have moved: http://www.ryankellett.com.

If you have bookmarked or linked to this page, thank you for updating your links with the new address. This does not , however, affect RSS subscription feeds through Feedburner which are automatically switched over to the new site. If you are subscribing with this address: http://on-rye.blogspot.com/atom.xml, please update the feed address to:

http://feed.feedburner.com/onrye

Thanks,

Ryan

Moving Day

2006-02-26T13:25:00.000-08:00

I am currently in the process of switching to a new blog and a new web address. I appreciate your patience as I make the transition. Thanks, Ryan

Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours

2006-02-22T13:27:00.000-08:00

My computer has spent its last two nights with the faithful people at the Tech Help Desk in the Middlebury College library. A bunch of little problems are being dealt with even if I only went in to learn how to access the school servers. It's still being worked on but I have faith it will return in good condition. In other news, I have officially chosen Stuck in the Middle (SIM) to sing with this spring. This a cappella group is a fun, funky, fresh, all-male a cappella group. I had a really tough time deciding between SIM and the Bobolinks. I went to a rehearsal of each to help me gauge the feels of the groups but walked away even more confused. It was awfully tempting to join the Bobolinks since they are recording this spring and have a strong gig schedule. The group has a real professional push with very focused rehearsals. I found their orginazation and mobilization to be superb as well not to mention a very strong music talent (especially their leader, Tim). But I realized that I don't need to record to have a meaningful a cappella experience. Ultimately, it's about the music and the people. I like SIM because it's music is somewhat older and more melodic as compared to the Bobolinks' modern remakes of pop songs. SIM has a greater need for me as well, with only two other basses. The Bobolinks took three other February Freshmen including one other bass.

Nesting

2006-02-19T10:26:00.000-08:00

Cedar Wax Wing3 Originally uploaded by ryanocerosk.

Alas, the rare Cedar Wax Wing has landed in Middlebury, Vermont. These pretty birds have been sweeping by my window all day (a bit distracting for those trying to do work...). I snapped a few photos, click the photo to see a few more shots of this exquisite species of bird.

More info on the birds can be found here, courtesy of Cornell University.

(thanks to Ashley for bringing my attention to this tweetling issue)

Puck You

2006-02-18T10:54:00.000-08:00

To tell you the truth, there isn't a lot to do at Middlebury College. I already miss the ability to go to dinner after eight o'clock or go see a show on a whim. But one pastime that is not found in big west coast cities is a good ol' fashion hockey game. Middlebury is known for its hockey (men's and women's) and people from around the state come to see the team play. While I don't think it was my first hockey game (I remember having a San Jose Sharks stuffed shark so I must have attended a game at some point), I saw Middlebury vs. Hamilton yesterday evening and it was exciting. The game started with the singing of the national anthems: Canadanian and American. Yes, that's right, O Canada was proudly sung by a Middlebury 3rd year. Then again, half the hockey team is from Canada so I suppose it is not that out of place. When the action started, I was impressed most by the speed of the game. The pace of the game was only interrupted by occasional fouls and "jump pucks" (I don't know the real name for it). Two freshmen ('09) were in the starting lineup. Middlebury had nearly twice the amount of shots on goal but after the first period, Hamilton was up 2-0. Nobody seemed too worried though as Middlebury hasn't had less than three goals each game the entire season. The second period brought three Middlebury goals. The last period got very physical yet absent of a gloves-off fight. Two more goals put the nail in the coffin. I was surprised at the turn out for such a game. It seemed the entire surrounding community and their families attended. I saw a lot kids with Middlebury gear and their faces painted with panthers. Every time a goal was scored, a crazy man with a Middlebury flag would run around the stadium and all the kids would run after him. I never knew hockey was such a family sport. One girl, probably around ten years old, kept chanting "Go Middlebury!" every couple minutes and seemed unfazed by 200-pound college students slamming into the boards directly in front of her. The college student crowd was large and rowdy. Heckling the opposing goalie was a favorite activity during the game as well as joining in on a few cheers. EDIT: Actually, there are a lot of activities at Middlebury and free time is indeed limited, but I suppose I meant the first sentence in the traditional sense of "excitement." 5 Degrees Fahrenheit - Sunny

Nacht Musique

2006-02-17T11:17:00.000-08:00

I've spent the last few days in a marathon of auditions at Middlebury College. There are a number of a cappella groups on campus, and I auditoned for all of them that I could (the all-female ones didn't want me for some reason): the Mamajamas (co-ed), the Dissipated Eight (D-8)(all-male), the Bobolinks (co-ed), and Stuck in the Middle (all male). I didn't audition for all of them because my ego is outrageous enough to think I could get into all four but I wanted to keep my options open. I got callbacks for all the groups but I ended up getting into the Bobolinks and Stuck in the Middle. D-8 ended up not taking anyone, and Mamajamas declined as well but took some good girls. I am making a decision right now but these groups seem somewhat cultish so I feel like I should make the right decision... I also auditioned for the classical faculty-led Chamber Singers. I was accepted to the group but I cannot join as there are an overabundance of basses (and not enough tenors). Maybe I'll wait until next year but maybe not. I think folks here at the college need to realize that if students don't get into activities from the pretty early on in their college careers, they could be "lost" forever to other activities. I feel that way about an acting class I was shut out of. If I don't do acting this semester, it could very well mean I get involved in something else and don't do acting for the rest of my time here. Anyway, Mt. Ayres, student madrigal group, accepted me so I can probably still fulfill my classical music passions.

Second Bell

2006-02-14T18:22:00.000-08:00

I went to my final class today: Intermediate Theory Microeconomics. The first thing the teacher says is, "This class is hard. I teach to the mathematical side of economics. You will fall flat on your face if you cannot get over the math of this course." Well, seeing as I fumbled my way through the prerequisite course of Calculus I (or AB) in high school, I wasn't exactly feeling confident after what the teacher had to say. He put a bunch of things up on the board and told us that if we understood, we'd do fine. I understood but now I am still thinking of opting out of the course for my first semester. I now am looking at switching into: MATH 121A Calculus I - The school claims that students that took Calc I in high school cannot and should not take this course because they've essentially already taken it. However, I know several of my classmates that are doing just that. I'd rather review material I didn't get so well the first time and do it right to be prepared for future courses in the Econ field that depend on this requirement. Yes, it may be a waste of a semester but hey, I need to ease my way back into the world of academia. THEA 102A Acting I - This would replace the philosophy course I raved about in the previous post. I simply feel I need to be grounded my first semester here and acting would be a course to do just that. It will get my mind and body in the shape it should be in to "make it" here at school. So I'm playing things a little slower than I planned. I have an overwhelming desire to dive in but I feel I could be over my head quickly seeing as I haven't been in school for the last 8 months (plus any senioritis months second semester senior year in high school). I'm hopeful my more thought-out plan will get me going in the right direction.

First Bell

2006-02-13T17:27:00.000-08:00

I'm a bit ashamed of having not posted in the last three days. I've been busy getting oriented on campus. Today was the first day of classes at Middlebury College so here's my first impressions:

PHIL206 Contemporary Moral Isssues - While the class was overflowing today with people wanting to get in, I think this class is fascinating. I've never taken a formal philosophy course but this seems like a good place to start. In the post-Enron world, I think ethics should be a required course in school so it's about time I get my morals in order. I'm looking to set aside any outside notions and evaluate the question posed by Aristotle: how should we live? This class has debates on abortion, the death penalty, euthenasia, and animal rights.
PSCI103 Introduction to Comparative Politics - I find the topic interesting enough. Analyzing the institutions between similar countries (new democracies with new democracies and post-totalitarian regimes with post-totalitarian regimes, etc.) can be fun if one picks the right things to study. While I am impressed with my teacher's background of comparitive politics in Asia (China in particular), I'm not a fan of his lecture style. He is a relatively new teacher with a fresh Ph.D. from Columbia. I'm going to sit in on another teacher's version of the same class to see how it goes.
FYSE1158 20th Century Indian Literature - We began this class last week, and the reading is already beginning to pile up. I'm intrigued to learn about a culture I know little about but is an up-and-coming force in the world. I think it will be fun but I'll have to wait to get into the meat of the course (several novels including: The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy, The Moor's Last Sigh by Rushdie, and Imaginary Maps by Devi)

I Made It!

2006-02-10T07:22:00.000-08:00

Bi Hall
Originally uploaded by ryanocerosk.

After months of waiting, I made it to Middlebury College. I was expecting blizzard conditions upon arrival but things were lovely (dare I say warm) until late yesterday when a snow storm passed through and turned the above field into a white blanket.

Things are very busy with orientation. I hate organized "activities" because it makes it feel like summer camp (and I'm the camper). However, I know the hand holding fluff will end soon enough. By then, I'll miss it, I'm sure.

I have a million bits and pieces of Midd's orientation to blog about so come back soon to hear more.

Superbowl Sunday Commercials

2006-02-06T10:44:00.000-08:00

Superbowl Sunday is many things to many people. It is the second largest eating event of the year (first prize goes to Thanksgiving) for Americans -- a great thing for chip-makers like Frito-Lay. It is the most watched television event of the year -- a great thing for the ABC network which produced the game this year. It is a giant captive audience for commercials -- a great thing for companies that want to blow that huge advertising budget. Here are my awards for the commercials (most of which can be found on Google Video here): Best Musical Commercial: Ford Escape Hybrid - Kermit Says It Is Easy Being Green (I love Kermit the Frog) WTF: Go Daddy (They want to you to log on to their site to find out that they sell domain names) Best Beer Commercial: Michelob Amber: Touch Football (As manly as it gets?) Most Non-Male Oriented: Dove's Campaign for Real Beauty (Men all over the U.S. had to put up with a little heart tugging) Slap in the Face for Employees: United Airlines: Dragon ($5 Million for one minute when the company just came out of backruptcy?...even if it is a well conceived ad) My favorite Ameriquest commercials ("Quick to Judge") cannot be found on Google Video. But here is a good one from FedEx (hint I would be the one saying "not my problem"):

Word Press

2006-02-03T13:22:00.000-08:00

I've been thinking about moving this blog elsewhere for awhile (don't worry it hasn't moved yet). As much as I love Google's Blogger for its simplicity, I am looking for ways to improve the blogging experience by adding categorization, trackbacks, full HTML editing, etc. One of the necessities of any new blogging tool is the ability to import all of my posts (310+) from Blogger. Wordpress.com recently added that feature and I decided to give it a whirl. Check out the results: http://onrye.wordpress.com/

Swammy Swam

2006-02-02T13:17:00.000-08:00

China's Bold 'Swan,' Ready for Export - NYT I was impressed by this remake of Swan Lake because I attempted the same thing with the musical Pippin, in China. The objective is to take a Western materpiece (although Pippin may exclude the masterpiece part...) and transform it for a Chinese audience. I call it putting a "Chinese twist" on a production. The result is not only captivating for the Chinese, though. It can be "exported," as the article mentions, to other parts of the world where it could be as great or even a bigger hit. I think there is a lot of room for this style of work but I worry that, at some point, the limited number of Chinese conventions runs out. Check out the video and slide show on the NYT site. Pretty impressive...

SnowSide

2006-02-02T13:16:00.000-08:00

Out the Window
Originally uploaded by ryanocerosk.

My roomate, Jon King, at Middlebury sent me this photo of the view outside our window. Jon has been living as a single in a double room for the past semester because his original roomate never showed up back in September. So, I'm the replacement.

I'm definitely excited to be on my way to school in less than a week. I'll admit that I have been bored recently and am itching to get back into the academic setting.

The only class I know for sure I will be taking so far is "20th Century Indian Literature" which has also been titled, "Passages from India," which sounds as close to a Rebecca Whitney class as they come. While this class wasn't my first choice for First Year Seminars (FYS), I think it will be eye-opening to delve into a culture I know very little about.

Stop

2006-02-01T12:19:00.000-08:00

Western Union abandons telegrams - CNET News.com I am a big fan of telegrams, even if I have never sent one. It just seems very proper to send a telegram or perhaps a singing telegram. My favorite telegram of all time comes from Crazy for You, a Gershwin compilation musical. This is what I imagine my mother going through when I get to college:

BOBBY: "Dear Fat-head. Stop" Yep. It's Mom. "Stop this nonsense. Stop. This is your final notice. Stop." Sounds like an electric bill. "Get back here on next train. Stop. Don't stop. Stop. Will stop allowance if you stop. Stop. Stop. Your loving mother. Stop. P.S. Your uncle stopped by." I wish she'd write letters. ... POLLY: Would ya stop this? ZANGLER: Stop? POLLY: Stop. BOBBY: You sound like my mother.

State of the Union

2006-01-31T19:57:00.000-08:00

Let the spin game begin now that President George W. Bush has completed his fifth State of the Union speech tonight. I only caught the later half of the speech which focused on domestic issues. Here's what I thought:

At first, I was a bit taken aback by what sounded like a lot of centrist rhetoric of trying to "reach out across the aisle" stuff. But for every concession to the democrats came a slip in of a conservative way of doing things. Take energy reform: Bush says to find new sources of energy (yay!) but also says coal (read: dirty even if it is "clean burning") is a new source. He does mention solar (California has got that one covered with a load of money signed in by Arnold himself) and wind but slides in nuclear energy (read: dangerous like Three Mile Island...) too.
There indeed exists a "false comfort of isolationism" but I thought he ripped a page out of popular pundit book The World is Flat when it came to education, the cure-all to the globalized world. More math and science is great but let's face it, we're pretty darn far behind on that already. I'd go as far as to say we're too late. We have to innovate with other countries in technology and innovate beyond them in other categories.
Social Security: let's study it...again. Let me guess, they'll tell us that there's not enough money.
Bush tied stem-cell research in with human cloning. Very different things. Let San Francisco biotech do some breakthrough research.
Bush's speaking style tonight wasn't bad. He took less pauses in his speech and looked fairly collected. On the other hand, the democrats put up Tim Kaine who looked rather stilted and contrived. God, I hope he's not planning on running for president. Speaking of running, the camera focused on Hilary Clinton every chance it could. Hilary just was in San Francisco earlier this week.
Alito and Roberts were in attendance. That is a conservative court, if I ever saw one. Oh, honorable Sandra Day, what have you done? Hmm...two more white guys with lifetime appointments.
Tim Kaine comes off like it is an SNL sketch. It's too bad. He did a lot of praising "the creator" and repeating the line, "there's a better way." Am I getting the two parties mixed up?

All in all...I liked previous state of the unions better when Bush's speechwriters used those bold images of eagle rising from the ashes of 9/11 or even the scary "axis of evil," etc. Too bad tonight was kinda dull.

Chinese New Year (CNY)

2006-01-30T15:52:00.000-08:00

January 29th, 2006 ushers in the lunar new year. The day is often called Chinese New Year but several Asian cultures celebrate. But specifically for the Chinese, it is now year 4704, and it is the year of the dog (one of 12 animals in a cycle). I followed my mother to three lion dances at the bank branches in Chinatown yesterday. The dances, along with firecrackers, are meant to scare away any evil spirits. Particular to the bank, the lions always go into the vault; I always thought that a particularly good premise for a bank heist in a book or movie. Every year, I am amazed at artistry and emotion that goes into the lion dances. Youth from around the city join these lion dance "clubs" and this is the prime time to show off (along with the Chinese New Year parade on February 11th, this year). The past two nights have consisted of plenty of family and friend dinners. As per tradition, married couples give children (of any age; basically anyone unmarried) red envelopes stuffed with money symbolizing good luck and fortune. This proves to be very "rewarding" for kids (one person has been noted for describing the red envelopes as "free money") but don't even think of asking how I did. New Year's Anecdote: I remember quite clearly as a middle schooler going to a Chinese New Year assembly where a lady taught us the traditional greeting of good fortune at this time of year. I remember being very upset because she taught: "Gung Xi Fa Tsai," far different from what most kids in San Francisco know: "Gung Hay Fat Choy." I was convinced this speaker was saying it wrong until I realized that it was simply a matter of the standard Mandarin versus the SF-spoken Cantonese...

James Frey Fried

2006-01-30T11:33:00.000-08:00

With all the hoopla surrounding Oprah's slam of author James Frey for making up parts of his "non-fiction" autobiographical book, I must say that Frey and the publishers are getting rich on "A Million Little Pieces." I, along with thousands of others, went out and purchased the book within the last two weeks because I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. I found the book captivating but in a Michael Crichton thriller sort of way. Finding the "hero in the victim" is probably what makes it read like fiction (minus the strange formatting, sentence fragments, etc.). Wait...is it fiction? I remember quite clearly the fiction vs. nonfiction debate in a SF University High School class entitled, "The Art of Nonfiction" with teacher Jesse Berrett. Is it the job of the author to write the essence of truth in a non-fiction work or is it to portray exactly what happened? When writing several nonfiction pieces of my own for the class, I often took the liberty to adjust parts of a story to create a distilled "truth." I don't think I made up anything but then again I didn't publish any of my work and sell it to millions of people. Personally, I do not care that he made one fact or a million facts up. I enjoyed reading it as a good story, nothing more, nothing less.

Economics One Billion

2006-01-27T14:29:00.000-08:00

Students Are Leaving Politics Out of Economics - NYT Right now, I am planning on majoring in International Politics and Economics (IPE) at Middlebury College. This article outlines how the field of economics is getting a lot more mathematical (statistics and so on) rather than theoretical and political (with a quote from a Middlebury professor too). While I am interested in the social aspects of economics, I am also drawn more to the political side rather than the number crunching (even if it ends in crazy theories such as those supported in Freakonomics). While I think the IPE major can strike a good balance for me, it is slightly disconcerting to know that my colleagues could be going the super-mathematical route.

Jewish Cuisine

2006-01-27T13:49:00.000-08:00

Very few "new" restaurants come to the Pacific Heights neighborhood of San Francisco (two open in the Mission or SoMa for every one that closes there). So, I was a little excited to eat at the California Street Delicatessen & Cafe today for lunch. While I can't say that I am a hardcore fan of Jewish home cooking (soul food), I enjoy a good matzoh ball soup or some noodle kugel every once and awhile. The restaurant itself is not exactly new. It's an evolved version of Sydney's Home restaurant located at the Jewish Community Center. In fact, the location at California and Presidio has been split into two restaurants: one with the traditional food and another pan-asian place called the (415) Asian Restaurant and Lounge (for the street address and not the SF area code). The backstory can be found by reading this Chronicle article dated January 4th, 2006. The deli (and cafe) has nice, clean decor with the black and white look. I took a bar seat to do some people watching on California street but the inside is pleasant. Just like Sydney's, the place is well-suited for bringing the kids. For late lunch at 1PM, the place was half-full. I had a half sandwich of pastrami on rye and a chicken soup with cole slaw. Having been to Carnegie Deli in New York and even Max's Opera Cafe in SF, I was counting on rather large portions but was disappointed. The pastrami (fatty, but I assume that's the way it is supposed to be) was warm and delicious. The soup was flavorful and had nicely torn pieces of chicken. The cole slaw was light and sweet. But for eight dollars, it doesn't add up. Noah's Bagel would charge under six for the same meal, albeit without the sit-down location. Max's Opera Cafe would provide twice the amount of food for a dollar more. While I like the smaller portions, I would hesistate to pay for it again. Adding on $3.50 for an iced tea (with refills) really killed it, though. Service was pleasant but had a slip ups. The soup arrived without a spoon. The iced tea arrived without sugar/artificial sweetner. My plate wasn't cleared before the check arrived. There was no one to seat me at the door. Overall, I enjoyed the experience but the price seemed to dampen my spirits. Nevertheless, the place should be a hit with gym-goers and Pacific Heights baby-toting mothers. I am waiting for (415) to open:

New Conservatory of Music

2006-01-23T18:56:00.000-08:00

New Conservatory10
Originally uploaded by ryanocerosk.

I went to preview the new San Francisco Conservatory of Music building on Oak and Franklin this evening. While it mostly was a donor affair with wine, hors d'oeuvres, etc., it was still a nice preview of what will be the new home of the music school.

One couldn't really see much at this event anyway since so much work still has to be done to the space. The scaffolding covers everything and acoustics are hard to judge. The new buildings will have a large stage (450 seats), a smaller recital hall, teaching facilities, a recording studio, and much more. In fact, a lot of the "new" building (the one on the left, above) was non accessable at this event. Students of the Conservatory served as guides. Looks promising!

Today's Special

2006-01-23T12:23:00.000-08:00

China Menu1
Originally uploaded by ryanocerosk.

In China, one of things I found funny was the English version of Chinese menus at restaurants. While I never found anything as bad as the above (lifted from a funny email forward, I distinctly remember seeing some crazy items. Sometimes I think they use an online translator...

Going to Cambodia?

2006-01-21T16:07:00.000-08:00

Why Is Everybody Going to Cambodia? - NYT Not only did I go this fall to visit UHS classmate Trent Walker, but my mother went in December with her friends too. The country really is beautiful and full of color. The Times article goes over the revolution in luxury hotels (I stayed very near the Hotel de la Paix which Trent and I stopped into) and rapid modernization (at least for tourist purposes) but I don't think the country is losing any "culture" because of the increased traffic. It's quite the opposite. Tourism and an increase in money (for now) are giving the country a chance to examine their past more closely and bring back much of what was lost during the Khmer Rouge era. Ultimately, I saw only part of what Matt Gross sees in this depiction of Cambodia (for instance, Trent and I stopped into the Dead Fish Tower for a drink one night) but the most accurate point Gross makes is that the Cambodian people are very kind and nice .

Road Trip

2006-01-18T10:42:00.000-08:00

Venice Beach
Originally uploaded by ryanocerosk.

I recently returned from a spur-of-the-moment road trip to Los Angeles with University High School friend Molly Thrailkill. We managed to weather lots of driving both down and up California as we visited USC, UCLA, UCSB, and UCSC. And, most importantly, Molly and I didn't kill each other.

It was a lot of fun. It was good to see friends in their new lives at college.

The iPod is Doomed

2006-01-12T19:17:00.000-08:00

The iPod is doomed - CNET I happen to agree with Sun Microsystems CEO McNealy on this one. While the iPod is all the rage now, people are going to want integration of their multiple electronic devices. Who wants to carry a cell phone, camera, iPod, PDA, keys, USB drive, and a wallet. I suffer the frustration of this every day. But the reality of one devices that does everything well is not here yet. Even devices that come close like the Palm Treo or Blackberry are too expensive for most of the market. Cell phones throughout Asia already serve to integrate the music player, PDA, USB drive, camera, and sometimes even the wallet. When I was in China, I saw very few stand-alone mp3 players.

Core Education

2006-01-09T13:46:00.000-08:00

What Every Student Should Know - NYT This article covers the ever-changing scene of what "general education" should be. This is paramount to liberal arts schools that want to educate beyond a very narrow field of study. While the article mostly outlines Harvard's plight, it drops in a few examples of what other schools have done. Middlebury College, where I'll be headed shortly, has gone the opposite route of the core cirriculum (e.g. Columbia). I must take a first-year seminar focused intensively on writing but the actual course topic is varied both within my class and between years. The idea is that all the students should learn how to write but they have the choice on what to write about. From the liberal arts perspective, I must fulfill a large distribution requirement in seven of eight categories. I must also fulfill courses in four "cultures and civilizations" categories.

Monitoring the Future

2006-01-09T13:29:00.000-08:00

I received a letter today from the University of Michigan's "Monitoring the Future." Last spring, I participated in a survey along with my fellow 2005 classmates on identifying the "changing behaviors, attitudes, and preferences of American youth." They poll from 17,000 8th, 10th, and 12th graders across the nation in over 125 high schools. The preliminary results are out, and here is what they said:

"Alcohol continues to be the most widely used drug among students of all grade levels."
"...by 2005, the number of students in the 8th, 10th, and 12th grades who reported smoking cigarettes was down significantly [from the early 1990's]"
"The importance of a good marriage and family life has remained consistently high [since the survey started in 1975], especially for female seniors."
"In 1976, just about the same number of female seniors rated having a successful career as being extremely important, but in the 1990s, women surpassed men in their emphasis on this aspect of life."
"Since 1976, males have become increasingly more likely to place importance on recreational free time than have females."
79% of respondants agreed with the statement: "People will have to change their buying habits and way of life to correct our environmental problems."
62% of respondants agreed with the statement: "Government should place higher taxes on products which cause pollution in their manufacture or disposal, so that companies will be encourages to find better ways to produce them."
44% of respondants were willing "to consider mass transit or a bicycle rather than a car to get to work."
66% of respondants would be "willing to eat less meat and more vegetables, if it would help provide food for starving people."

Ski Bum

2006-01-06T19:17:00.000-08:00

Ryan Before Going Down Moguls
Originally uploaded by ryanocerosk.

This picture doesn't quite convey how large the moguls and how steep it was in this region. Nice day, though.

Lainee with the Razr in the Helmet, No Hands

2006-01-05T15:24:00.000-08:00

Lainee with the Razr in the Helmet, No Hands
Originally uploaded by ryanocerosk.

This is who I'm skiing with...

Deer Valley, Utah

2006-01-04T19:47:00.000-08:00

I took the 8:05AM flight this morning to Salt Lake City with my "aunt" Lainee. We're going skiing in the Park City area. We got in early enough to cash in the free afternoon lift ticket with same day plane ticket. But other than that, it's an expensive ordeal to go skiing here. Lainee has a place at the Stein Eriksen Lodge; it's a ski-in/ski-out deal as it is located mid-mountain. I met Stein Eriksen himself today while renting skis! Supposedly, he's the multi-olympic skiing medalist from a long time ago. He's 78 now. It's beautiful around here especially with the absence of the holiday crowds. The trees outside are still decorated in holiday lights. Skiing conditions were nice today with the grey skies parting to a sunny afternoon. Did some off-piste skiing (scary as hell since you're so busy avoiding trees). The snow is light and fluffy, just the way it's supposed to be.

Now, with Seoul

2006-01-03T18:22:00.000-08:00

China's Youth Look to Seoul for Inspiration - NYT While I don't know of any Shantou University students that take direct cues from South Korea but I only somewhat agree with the idea that Chinese youth are looking for a protected way to adopt "western" culture. Sure, it's hard for Chinese youth to accept Sex and the City as American culture directly but what happens when a University sponsors a controlled environment to learn about the show. The future of direct acceptance has to come within the educational system because it provides the safety for students to be okay with feeling uncomfortable. The chinese will be misinformed by viewing a culture second hand.

Come Together

2006-01-03T17:58:00.000-08:00

Even at Concert Halls, It's Location, Location, Location - NYT While most of this article points out that it matters where you sit when you view a performance, this article also explores the fact that a concert experience is not necessarily communal even though a lot of people are all sitting in the same hall. This performance is an individual sharing of emotion between the performers and each individual audience member. How, then, do you create a communal performance (an oxymoron?) where the audience collectively engages? Seven Characters Not in Search of a Director - NYT A show without a director? The idea of the collaborative of actors coming together to teach each other is a little idealistic if you ask me. Then again, seven is a number small enough to pull it off, if it is indeed possible. Pipe Down! We Can Hardly Hear You - NYT One of the decisions that a director would be necessary for is whether to mike a show. Opera would say, "we don't need no stinkin' mikes" (SF Opera ad campaign many years ago...). How then can one justify miking the latest SF Opera production of Doctor Atomic? The answer: Style. It's a modern opera and therefore, as its predecessors did, it should reflect the culture and times. Our culture and times tell us: we're not ashamed of amplification. The Classical Crossover Conundrum - NYT In general, I am all for "crossover" music because it can provide a unique and unexplored texture to music. However, when it comes to classical crossover, I cannot stand it. Maybe I'm just a classical purist but the sound of crossover is weak in this case. It's as if all the opera dropouts get plunked into this category where they can't quite make it happen. Notice how very few individuals cross from another genre into classical, it's always the other way around. It's time for Harvard student Samuel Brondfield to prove to me why I should like this crossover genre.

Winter Storms

2006-01-03T15:47:00.000-08:00

IMG_2204
Originally uploaded by ryanocerosk.

California has been hit by some harsh weather recently. It seems as if the rain never stops. Even here in cozy San Francisco, we've had our fair share of problems. For instance, the acacia tree across the street came down New Year's Eve day and took down a few power lines. It also blocked the street for the better part of a day as well as wiped out someone's car.

Best of luck to those who are cleaning up from the mess. Be careful... forecasters say more rain to come!

Touring Circus

2005-12-29T14:32:00.000-08:00

Christmas eve was spent at a Julia Hsiao's house, a family friend. Six months ago in June at a similar gathering, Julia offered for me to come to Shantou University (STU) in China to produce a musical. This time, we had lots to laugh about reflecting upon the crazy production of Pippin. Julia Hsiao dropped another idea this time around: TOUR STU's Pippin to Guangzhou and Macau for recruitment efforts of the University. I couldn't help but laugh a little. This idea seems twice as outrageous as the first go-around. I can think of a hundred reasons why that it is difficult to do this, only a few of which has to do with the fact that it is in China. That's not to say I wouldn't do it but any producer in their right mind would never attempt touring a show that has already been concluded. The question is, am I still in my right mind?

The Day After

2005-12-29T14:04:00.000-08:00

Ah, tis the season for shopping. I hate shopping, but I went bright and early on Monday morning (the day after Christmas) with the family. Most stores are zoos. The "ultra-hardcore," as I call them, line up outside the doors for the first dash into the store. They time the store openings so that they can attend multiple openings. Some of the best Pacific Heights mothers use their smarts to attain this "ultra-hardcore" status. I estimate that they must park their Mercedes station wagons (the mini-van kid/dog mover for the upper class) at approximately 8AM in preparation for the days events. The second tier shoppers are what I call the "smart and scared" crowd. They get up early because they are deathly afraid of crowds but still want to cash in on the bargains. So, they come in the flux time between the "ultra-hardcores" and the masses. They don't ever wait in line for a store opening but get in and out as fast as possible. The third tier shopper are "masses." They straggle in around 10 or 11, after prep-ing themselves at home with a big breakfast. They get some good deals, eat lunch at 2PM, and shop until 5PM. They feel tired but satisfied at the end of the day. The Winners: Most crazed store on Dec. 26th: Gump's (a.k.a. everything you never needed for a Pacific Heights home). Most civilized crowd: Burberry (they only allow a certain number of people in the store at one time) Most worthless: Macy's Holiday Leftovers (wrapping paper, ornaments, giant santas) Most likely store to find Geoff Shaw of School Council President of SF University High School: Brooks Brothers Least amount of things actually on sale: Ferragamo Most Diverse Shopping Population: Banana Republic Most Interesting Sight: Giant Menorah in Union Square

Tech Support

2005-12-29T13:42:00.000-08:00

I called Dell tech-support for the first time in my life yesterday. My laptop went through a failure of sorts in China (but don't tell Dell because if they hear the problem occured outside the country, they won't fix things for me!). Basically, my laptop does not recognize that it has a CD-RW/DVD-ROM drive. I operated for two months in China without any disk play support. After feeling my way through several call center menus, I was put on hold until the next hardware operator was available. Ten to fifteen minutes later, I talked to John (or that's at least what he called himself) who was, judging by the accent, located in India. I don't know about the stories where people call and can't understand a word due to thick accents but John had reasonable English but maybe I am a bit more adept at picking out English after talking to ESL students for a semester. We navigated the steps to resolving the problem but after 1 hour and 17 minutes he said that Dell would simply replace my CD-RW/DVD-ROM drive. Somehow, that was sort of a letdown. I kind of was waiting to be pissed at the company or have some really good call center story to tell. But alas, that was it -- tech support at its most common level.

Happy Holidays

2005-12-24T10:28:00.000-08:00

I'd like to take the time to wish everyone a wonderful holiday season. May you be blessed with the best of health and times during this season and through into 2006. For good measure, check out Elf Bowling! Hooty hoo!

To Stomach

2005-12-24T10:16:00.000-08:00

When I got to China, I was expecting to at least spend some time getting used to the food and water. It sometimes can throw even experienced travelers for a loop. I was lucky to never have any problem with food or water at Shantou University. Ironically, upon my return home to clean and beautiful San Francisco, I have experienced some sickness. Whether it is linked to food and water, I don't know, but the center of my woes seems to be around my stomach...so much more for a scrumptuous Christmas dinner.

Chinaman

2005-12-22T07:45:00.000-08:00

Am I more "Chinese" now that I have just lived in China for three months? I boarded the plane in Hong Kong in a Chinese-style suit while holding an er hu, a traditional Chinese instrument most often called the "two-stringed violin." That's leaving Asia in style, if I must say so myself. The U.S. immigration officer couldn't help but comment upon the arrival of my flight back in San Francisco: "Do you know how to play that thing [pointing to the instrument]?" he said. "No." "Do you play the violin?" "No." "Do you know what the interval is between the two strings?" "No." "Are you going to learn how to play it?" "Maybe. I am actually a singer." "Oh, I knew there was something creative about you. I love those blue glasses." "Thanks." He stamped my papers, and I proceeded to enter my home country. My father stated it frankly: "You've been over there [in China] for so long. You'd think you'd come back a chinaman." My first reaction was that maybe I have come back more "Chinese" or at least in touch with my Chinese half. There is no denying that I have learned a great deal. But the more I think about it, the more I am convinced that my adventures have actually taught me more about America. On a personal level, my Chinese language skills are only slightly better since I was not intensively studying the language nor intensively practicing it since rehearsals were conducted in English. Culturally, I came into China with a relatively high level of understanding of traditional practices and moral principles. What I really saw was a modern China through the eyes of the next generation of leadership. After all, it's these university students that will become the country's premier diplomats, thinkers, artists, managers, and innovators. Instead of finding a country looking onto its glorious past to find its way in the future, these students are looking toward something entirely different: America and "the west." As an aside, I noticed that just as "Asia" is a popular term to group an entire region of the world into a vague term that has no value added except for geographical location, "the west" is used just as often on the reverse end with the same fundamental word-choice issue. China, as all the pundit books say (but perhaps not forcefully enough), is looking to America. It is amazing to see a society try so hard to be a reflection of another. And therein lies my newfound understanding of America and what it means to be American. Being American means you are always in the spotlight. You're always being watched, analyzed, squeezed for every last decision you make. You are the marker. Others are looking to take what you do and do it better. In many ways, I was at Shantou University to teach a course not in the arts but in America. As any good teacher knows, one only understands something once you've taught it.

I Am Home

2005-12-20T10:33:00.000-08:00

I am home! It feels just a little strange returning to San Francisco and the picturesque victorian on the hill. In many ways, it feels as if I am returning from a business trip but things are slightly altered. Albeit strange to me, I am getting used to the fact that life went on without me while I was in China. My father bought a car to fit the Mango, the dog. My mother installed a new kitchen sink and got a fake tree for the first time. The store up the block, American Pie, is no longer there replaced by a sleak boutique selling more yuppie home furnishings or something. When I left home, I took a snapshot of what I saw around me and expected it all to be the same when I came back after a quick trip. But it's not the same. I suppose that is what happens when one moves away from such a grounded life environment, even if for just a few months. I was born and raised in San Francisco. That's 19 years of my life. Maybe I should be finding a new place to call "home."

Early Decision/Action Time

2005-12-18T02:49:00.000-08:00

I'd like to extend my congratulations to those high school seniors that got into college on early decision/action. I recently received some of that good news via email in Hong Kong. For those who haven't been "taken care of," as I like to say, don't worry! Everything works out in one way or another. I got firmly rejected in the early round and had to file the rest of the applications (all 13 of them) by January 1. While I can't tell you how much I love Middlebury College since I have yet to step foot on the campus as a student, I am satisfied as of December 18, 2005. So, congrats again to those who have completed the college process! NOTE: I applied my "don't ask, don't tell" about college approach in this posting. That is why it is so vague without specifics to people or what college they have been admitted to.

World Trade Organization Meeting in Hong Kong

2005-12-16T03:03:00.000-08:00

The latest news from Hong Kong, of course, has been all the World Trade Organization (WTO) talks and following protests. Ever since the mishap in Seattle many years ago, protests of the WTO have been closely scrutinized for treatment of the protesters by the police. So far, there hasn't been anything too dramatic here in Hong Kong although there has been lots of hoopla surrounding the South Korean protests. When I first arrived at the airport, the taxi driver was relieved that I was not headed downtown to Central, where the majority of protests are happening. Over the past few days, I've seen plenty of protesters on the subway (MTR) here but for every protest group, police came by the dozens to ensure things remained peaceful. TV cameras were stationed outside the U.S. consulate today, witnessed as I passed by. The protesters seem to be giving out a great deal of reading material to the Hong Kong public. I saw several pamphlets of material being read on the MTR today, all explaining the plight of the South Korean farmer. The argument seems to be that many South Korean farmers will lose their livelihoods should the WTO find a way to cut domestic agricultural subsidies and limit import tariffs. South Korea would be flooded with American/developed nation agriculture (mostly rice, apparently) ruining any chance that the local farmers could compete on the global economy. On the other hand, any WTO deal would mean making a trade off giving the developing nations access to sell other different products to developed nations. Brtain/the European Union and the U.S. have different plans to address the issue but the real key is getting the developing nations on board. EDIT: From what I have seen on television news, you'd think the South Korean protesters are having a little too much fun at their protests because they are always depicted as dancing and singing in the streets.

The Urban Dream Capsule

2005-12-16T02:43:00.000-08:00

Two nights ago, I saw some great performance/reality/installation art in a local Hong Kong mall where I ate dinner. They call their project the Urban Dream Capsule. Four guys live in a enclosure for a month or so as they display their lives for shoppers to see. They "perform" all day by taking showers, communicating with on-lookers via whiteboard, and generally goofing around. When the mall closes, viewers can log on via webcam to watch the four. I consider it the ultimate reality show. It's a lot of fun, and I don't have real concerns about it because it's billed as a performance. The four guys are making people happy with their performance. The "free" art is funded by the mall which tries to get people to shop at their location.

Christmas Spirit

2005-12-15T17:28:00.000-08:00

On Wednesday, I finally made my exit from Shantou University, after a few goodbye parties and accumulated-stuff-from-my-apartment giveaways. It was a pretty quick two days after the final performance of Pippin. I am grateful for the flurry of positive feedback for the show both from outsiders and from those within the University. Students involved in the production had wonderful things to say to me upon my departure. The most touching comments were those that focused on the musical helping a student learn English or at least gain confidence in English. I am quite relieved to be back in a large city. The winter chill, which I never have felt in Hong Kong before this trip, makes for quite the Christmas feel to it all. Hong Kong is awash in the Christmas spirit with lights out everywhere. It's great to feel lost among the masses of the city again. It's not that Shantou wasn't a city, it that it's missing the culture of a city. I have been reintroduced to variety in dining again. It helps that my mother is in Hong Kong to take me out to eat. I will be returning to the U.S. early next week. Yay!

Interviews

2005-12-12T20:07:00.000-08:00

Yesterday evening, Pippin made Shantou TV news. Sure, I could understand almost nothing of what was actually said about the show but there were some great clips with the band and cast. They had an interview with Dr. Jun Liu, the Executive Director of the English Language Center here at Shantou University.

I have given numerous interviews in the last several days following the first performance. Student journalism associations on campus were interested as well as several media outlets outside the school. I sent off a few e-mail interviews, two of which went to big city media (somewhere in Guangzhou and 21st Century in Beijing). I met with a Shantou city journalist several times, the first of which was over a week ago after a press conference at the University. He just kept on coming back. I ended up doing two TV interviews and one personal interview over lunch.

I also spent a few moments with students from the Shantou Beat, the English student newspaper on campus. After the interview, the student emailed me the transcript. I was surprised that what was written was nothing of what I said. It brought my high thoughts of English language work at the school back down to earth. As much as I think most students here can understand me in English, that's not always the case.

Below are my email answers to a few questions asked of me by Michelle at 21st Century:

Are you a fan of musicals? When did you first get to know musicals? How?

I am huge fan of musicals because they have the power to reach people in unassuming ways. Behind the spectacular music, sets, and lights there lies simple truths. I got to know musicals when I was quite young by both seeing touring Broadway shows or going to New York to see shows. In high school (secondary school), I had the opportunity to take part in musical productions for first time.

How did you get involved in Pippin?

I was brought here by Shantou University Vice-Chancellor Julia Hsiao. After much persuation to come to China, of all places, I accepted work here on something fantastically new and different.

Why did you pick Pippin?

I chose Pippin because it is one of the most flexible musicals ever written. It does not have to be done a certain way, like many traditional American musicals, for it to be a success. Our production has taken advantage of this flexibility by adapting the show to a Chinese audience as well as scaling the show to size of the University and the strengths of our students. The message of Pippin also fits really well with an educational institution. It examines a problem that faces all graduates of higher education: what to do when one leaves school and walks out into the scary world. The show ultimately shows the audience to follow your heart not what others tell you.

Pippin is originally a Broadway musical. Is there any “Chinese” or “Campus” element in your Pippin? Please specify.

Pippin is originally set in medieval Europe. That is a far away time and place for an audience of Chinese students in the digital age. I wanted to reach them not by shocking them into liking something entirely foreign in time and place but to bring a Chinese aesthetic to the show that would please their eyes. Therefore, the sets and costumes of the show reflect that choice to add what I call the "Chinese twist" to the show. On top of that, we also adjusted some of the lines in the show to truly make it a comedy for audience. For example, "good food" was changed to "good Shantou food," making for a good local laugh. Customization was key to keeping the audience engaged.

What’s the most challenging part for the actors and the director? Can you give us an example?

The most challenging part for the actors was likely the fact that they could not simply just memorize the lines, they had to understand what they were saying. That's really hard for English as a Second Language speakers. A line toward the end of the show requires the chorus to yell "comprimiser!" Well, for the longest time, the chorus did not know what that meant. Only when they understood did their acting come alive. The hardest part for me as a director was making it clear that this production was not just something to have fun with but something to be taken seriously. I pushed my students hard because I had high expectations for them. They ultimately had to realize that this was not just another fun event on campus, this was a big deal.

What do you enjoy most of directing the musical? Can you give us an example?

I really enjoyed working the students here. They have great energy and willingness to learn. Since they had no experience, I had the pleasure of building a theater community from the ground up. Unlike many other college-age actors in the U.S., they are not jaded or scarred by years of previous musicals. Students here loved every moment on stage without fail.

Crowds

2005-12-11T22:19:00.000-08:00

Crowds
Originally uploaded by ryanocerosk.

Above is a look at what the audience looked like on opening night. It was packed.

Sunday afternoon wasn't quite as popular even as a bunch of people showed up at the door without tickets. We ended up seating everyone who came but not overcapacity like on Thursday.

Truthfully, the show was not as good on Sunday but who could expect it to be after two days off. It was a valiant effort for the cast especially since I warned them of the dangers of taking two days off between performances.

Everyone celebrated afterwards at a party outside the Academic Conference Center. The barbeque went off without a hitch. I am thinkning of bringing things to a close with the cast this evening.

I am leaving for Hong Kong this Wednesday and back to SF nearly a week later. I will be sad to be leaving such a wonderful group of people here in Shantou.

Proud Parent

2005-12-09T21:55:00.000-08:00

There I stood at the back of the Great Hall as the proud parent of Pippin, a production put on by students that are by far not the best singers or dancers in Shantou University. What I realized was that these students may not have the natural talent but they have what it takes because they are risk-takers. Three months ago, they were bold enough to audition. Two weeks ago, they were bold enough to not give up. One day ago, they were bold enough to put themselves out there for the entire school to see.

Their risk paid off, big time. The cast loved and owned every moment on stage. Students and teachers from all of the different departments here are buzzing about a production that blew them away. Hell, people are still buzzing with joy and laughter. It didn't even matter that at least half the 1800 people in the audience probably didn't know a third of the English words used in the show. The audience sat there (and 150 stood, despite the auditorium being WAY overcapacity and the fire marshall threatening to shut us down) captivated for upwards of two hours. Only one cell phone went off during the show, a miracle in itself. Under fifty people left sometime during the show, another miracle in a community where all students leave after half an hour of any non-class-required event. To top it off, the audience laughed, a lot. They got the jokes, even some that weren't even written in. They fell in love with the characters, even the mean ones. They clapped, even after the curtain closed.

The show wasn't only the first Broadway musical in Shantou, it was an educational first for a lot of things. Supertitles were perhaps the best English as a Second Language (ESL) tool I've ever seen. I heard students whispering to one another (during the show) about what certain words meant. They wanted to follow the story so they had to learn from one another. English learning aside, the students were blown away by the edginess of a kiss on stage (a big deal, here) followed by the characters getting in bed with one another (an even bigger deal). The abrupt, non-traditional ending, forced the audience to feel the message of the show in the silence that ends the show.

So, there I stood at the back of the Great Hall as the proud parent of a three month old show that exploded off the stage with enough energy to send the Chinese to the moon. For slightest moment the perfectionist in me ceased to exist, and I was utterly happy.

Not a Moment Too Soon!

2005-12-04T07:36:00.000-08:00

I looked up from writing my notes to see something astouding. For the first time, I could feel that the students in this production of Pippin really got it. They felt what it meant to really perform for the first time. It was only for about a minute or two on stage but they felt it. I hope that is just enough for them to get a taste and want more.

Wow. The power of theater, finally, after many months and not a moment too soon.

Production Photos

2005-12-04T00:33:00.000-08:00

Metaphor
Originally uploaded by ryanocerosk.

Check out the newest production photos of Pippin at Shantou University. This time with lights, costume, and makeup.

The photo above is pretty representative of the show's message.

Pippin, It's Time

2005-12-03T21:50:00.000-08:00

I have received a lot of support recently in light of technical difficulties of Pippin posted in the last two posts. Thanks for the words of encouragement.

Lighting is going much better with lights hung and focused. The show has been lighted and cues fixed. We have a lot of nice looks but scene changes are still difficult since I am bent on having the scene changes take place quickly and without blackouts on stage. Lighting designer, Claudia Chan, left this morning just as quietly as she came here to Shantou University. She left as much knowledge as she could in one lighting design student who will likely receive a "certification" to operate lights in the Great Hall theater at the end of the show. Certification was requested by the adminstration since it's not a common practice to let students operate theater equipment.

Sound is the up and coming issue. A sound design expert is being shipped in from Hong Kong at the 11th hour. Musicals are inherently hard to mix because so many microphones are necessary (body mics, stage mics, and band mics) and the show moves quickly. We're counting on the experience to make the show go smoothly without too much feedback.

The acting is improving although admittedly not at my doing. Julia Hsiao, the vice chancellor, has taken the leading actors and actresses to spice up their acting and movement. She has directly given them exact orders of what to do for each and every lyric and line. I suppose that is necessary for a group of brand new actors especially in the Chinese culture, but I would have hoped that they would have made some creative choices by themselves.

There are still are a bunch of dead spots in the show. All of them are correctable except for perhaps the singing. Singing, of course, makes or breaks the show.

Let There Be Light

2005-12-01T07:45:00.000-08:00

Lo and behold, I walk into the theater this morning to be greeted by a lighting board. I thought, "dang, they shipped it overnight from Guangzhou..." But I soon found out that the theater was holding out on us. It was an "old" light board (they said 3-4 years old...) from the era before they installed moving lights in the Great Hall. We plugged it in and it worked! Amen.

For every victory, there was a stunning defeat. Not all the channels in the theater work so we had to manually test 192 channels to see if we could even plug a light in. When we finally plugged a light in, the students made great progress in hanging and gelling (putting color in to) the lights. However, we soon discovered that the ends of the plugs and the sockets were different (15 amp vs. 30 amp). When we finally got all the light plugs figured out, we realized that the theater had no Genie (an industry term for a cherry picker machine that can lift an individual up to focus lights way above the stage floor)! At that point, Claudia Chan, the lighting designer almost lost it. She could not believe that we had no way to focus the lights. Alas, we figured out that the theater has moveable scaffolding that could reach the lights. We assembled the scaffolding and began focusing.

All that in 11 hours. What will tomorrow bring?

Big Gaping Opening

2005-11-30T07:35:00.000-08:00

Zach Lipton of SF University High School asks:

So you've got about a week before the big opening. How do you plan to spend your time between now and then? Any last minute areas to work on with the cast? Technical trainwrecks to sort out? Do you plan to threaten to cancel the opening? ;-)

Funny you ask, Zach, because I am sorting out one of the largest technical trainwrecks I've ever seen. First things first, sound is a mess. The stage regional microphones are useless, the wireless body mics are cumbersome, the band can't get dual output on their personal amplifiers as well as over the overall system, and monitors can only be run from the stage left. Since I no longer have confidence that a student can mix the show without any experience, I am looking for a sound operator. So far, no luck. Three sources (via Tseng Sun-Man, executive producer of Pippin) in Hong Kong have said no. However, if worse comes to worse, I'll mix the show myself, if I need to. I know the show well enough and have a good enough ear to at least keep things rolling along.

Lighting is the real headache. It was determined two weeks ago that the lighting board cannot record light cues (fyi, each "cue" corresponds to a static look on stage with each change to another look requiring a new "cue"). After repeated attempts to get it fixed, we still have yet to see a representative from the lighting board company based in Guangzhou, China. It is still up in the air whether they are coming tomorrow to have a look and, of course, there is no guarentee that they will be able to fix it on the spot. My fallback plan also has been rendered invalid because the faders (each "fader" is a sliding knob that can be programmed to bring up a group of lights at one time by manually pushing the knob up) also cannot be programmed. What currently is programmed in those faders, and cannot be changed, is useless for this production. So, at a meeting with Project Management, the lighting designer, Tseng Sun-Man, and me, we decided we must rent a light board. The catch with that being that it would need to be available tomorrow. So we are currently researching various sources within China for a plain and simple lighting board. We already determined that we cannot rent from Hong Kong which has theaters and lenders aplenty because of the customs process for that lighting board may take days.

So with a week to go, I have no viable lighting and no sound engineer. The set looks nice, though.

Home Sweet Home (Sorta)

2005-11-28T23:30:00.000-08:00

Elena Butler of SF University High School asks:

What do you miss most about San Francisco / the U.S.?

I miss San Francisco's diversity culture -- pretty much the flavor of the city. As interesting as it is to be a foreigner living and learning about a different culture. Here in Shantou, it is a singular culture that I see everyday. In San Francisco, one can see the cross sections of many cultures all the time. This is best evidenced by food. There simply isn't much variety in cuisine here. Sure, there are a few places (one Japanese restaurant, a wine and cheese shop, etc.) sprinkled throughout the city but I truly miss being able to walk down the street and have five very different choices for lunch. Perhaps I'm missing the type of variety that is here: regional cuisine within China could be seen as different types of food. However, the difference isn't large enough for me.

There is not much I miss about the U.S. because I can find most comforts of home here (for a fraction of the cost, most of the time). My quality of life here at Shantou University is quite good as well. Some folks say that people go to Europe to learn about America. Well, I guess one cannot apply that to going to Asia since I haven't learned a lot about America since I've left.

This is part of a series where I take questions from readers and answer them on this blog. Feel free to post questions in the comments section of these posts or email me here. There is no question too broad or too specific. Ask away!

Demanding R-E-S-P-E-C-T

2005-11-25T00:00:00.000-08:00

I've been spending a lot of time with the band members of Pippin recently. I've had to keep them happy since some of them are not being paid but have had to come to a lot of rehearsals. And so, I've been hearing about their teaching woes as band teachers. It's one thing to teach English but it's entirely another to teach music here at Shantou University. They adopt a fairly common American teaching style of being pretty relaxed (joking, laughing, etc.) and then stiffening up when it comes time to "buckle down." However, these teachers claim students here (well, I'm convinced anywhere) don't respond to them when they get serious. They only respond to Chinese teachers that are super strict. The American teachers claim racism is at play because even the Chinese band teachers joke around but they get respect and attention when they get serious. Chinese teachers get respect when foreign teachers just get a smile.

I began wonder how I make do in the teaching arena. I try to keep rehearsal light but often shout to bring things back in focus. However, I do it with mixed results. Students are quiet when I talk but I am unsure if they are actually listening. The students respect me to a certain degree but is it because I am half Chinese (and could possibly understand what they are whispering about in Cantonese behind my back)? or is it because of my teaching style?

Either way, students definitely respond to people who are in positions of authority. If you have the title of director or chancellor, you immediately gain full respect and attention. Not so, in the United States. High positions have to prove themselves to students in America to gain respect. Once again, that is proof of the old communist way.

Q & A in China

2005-11-24T01:20:00.000-08:00

Hollis Wear of Seattle University asks:

How are you doing?

Well, Ms. Hollis, I am doing alright. I am growing a bit fatigued at this production. I haven't had a real day off in a week or two but I suppose that's because my life revolves around the production of Pippin. A lot of my work is teaching and, as a Summerbridge teacher knows, teaching becomes one's life, pretty much. It's a lot of fun, though, to work with non-jaded students even if I must explain everything down to last detail. I live a simple life here in an foreign teacher apartment. I try to stay healthy. The weather is beautiful and reminds me of San Francisco. I will be home soon enough in late December in time for Christmas!

This is part of a blog series where I take questions from readers and answer them on this blog. Feel free to pose questions in the comment section of these posts or email me here. There is no question too broad or too specific. Ask away!

Blogs in China: Let Freedom Ring?

2005-11-24T01:19:00.000-08:00

A Party Girl Leads China's Online Revolution - New York Times This is a great article about how blogs have potential to "free" China. I particularly enjoy this quote from Xiao Qiang: "People have often said you can say anything you want in China around the dinner table, but not in public. Now the blogs have become the dinner table, and that is new." Here in Shantou, people know about blogs but still very few use them. Then again, personal expression isn't exactly the hottest item on the Shantou University campus. The extent of expression of one's own ideas here is talking about the population boom or environmental degredation in a Speech Contest. There are no open mics or newspaper opinion pieces...yet. Students show signs that they do have their own ideas but they are sticking to person to person expression for what they believe in, for now.

Program Cover

2005-11-23T05:25:00.000-08:00

Program Cover
Originally uploaded by ryanocerosk.

This is a program cover draft that Julia Wynyard, an ELC admin staff, did for the show. I am going with the whole New York, Broadway thing since that is the most common knowledge, if anything, of musicals in general. I want to reach an audience that is interested in the idea of something spectacular but has never really seen a musical (basically, the entire school and city of Shantou). I figured out today that I am the only person in the production that has actually done a musical before (well, maybe a few other foreign teachers who did it when they were in high school... but they're not working on the musical directly).

Questions and Answers

2005-11-22T18:45:00.000-08:00

With the number of my days here at Shantou University dwindling, I want to spend a week answering some of your burning questions about China, Shantou, the University, Pippin, etc. Feel free to submit questions as comments to this post or email questions here.

The first question comes from Jon Shia of University College London. He writes:

Given the impossibility of my actually attending a performance of Pippin, will there be a DVD available? Because after reading about all of your work for so many months, I'd like to see the end result.

The performance will be videotaped with two cameras from different angles on two separate nights. I don't know about a DVD but perhaps a low-quality version may be put up online in Windows Media Player or Real format. Obviously, the production work for the film will have to be done once I leave the University so getting a physical copy to bring back home immediately may be a bit difficult.

The second question comes from Lorna Strand of San Francisco University High School. She writes:

When will you open this memorable peice of theatrical wonderment [Pippin]?

Pippin has two performances on December 8th and December 11th at 7PM and 2PM respectively. There is a private preview performance on December 7th as well as a "Meet the Press" engagement on the 5th.

When Band and Cast Meet

2005-11-21T20:30:00.000-08:00

The cast of Pippin is really struggling with a live band. This week I put two elements together: cast and band. Normally, with a semi-professional band, I think it's better to wait until pretty close until the performance to unite the two sides. It allows for both groups to know their material really well before attempting to adjust to one another. However, I felt that here at Shantou University, the band and cast were such that we needed to practice early and often, if we were to ever get it right. This past weekend proved exactly my point. Cast members, incredibly reliant on the CD, were thrown for a loop with the band. They had no sense of the key nor rhythm. They had no idea when to enter or how long to hold a note. It was the largest guessing game. The band had difficulties themselves with cues and staying with the soloists. Part of the issue has to do with the language barrier. The show is in English and the conductor/music director doesn't speak English. So cues that are based on lines in the show are insanely difficult to coordinate. I am introducing a bi-lingual, music student who will begin working as the go-between prompter for the band during the show. Not much I can do for students who can't pick out the key from the band. It's further proof of karaoke syndrome where students can perform great with recorded backup that they've heard a million times but can't hack it with live music.

Life Size

2005-11-21T18:41:00.000-08:00

preview
Originally uploaded by ryanocerosk.

You have to have an audience. So, the Pippin publicity campaign continues here at Shantou University. Jack Ngan, the publicity manager, came up with this funky fresh idea to do life sized cardboard reprentations of the characters. So a few days ago, we did a photo shoot of some of the characters and now we're printing them up. The character boards are placed around campus so that the whole school gets to "meet" them. They also change locations every few days so that they stay fresh in people's minds.

Chinese Chess, The Epic

2005-11-19T05:30:00.000-08:00

I played Chinese Chess today in somewhat of a impromptu game with Pippin band member, Warren. I haven't played in many years. I quickly relearned the game but occasionally had to ask which pieces could go where.

The game involves similar piece movements to traditional chess with pawns, rooks, knights, a king, etc. My favorite are the "elephant" pieces that move two squares diagonally. There are some more complicated rules with the additon the ability to skip and not skip over pieces. Nevertheless, the main objective is the same as regular chess: trap the king so he must surrender.

I enjoyed myself. Many students and passer-bys came to watch our epic game between the white guy who can speak Chinese, and the Chinese (-looking) guy (me) who can't speak Chinese. My favorite was this old guru of sorts who came over to help me since I was struggling with remembering where the pieces could go.

By the way, I won. Beginner's luck? or do I have a career ahead of me?

The Trouble with Commitment

2005-11-19T04:30:00.000-08:00

It seems that the Chinese have a different idea of commitment. To me, commitment means doing something full-out, without holding back, taking risks, and pushing yourself every step of the way. I'm not sure that's the case here at Shantou University.

Today, I had a rather bad rehearsal. I was very close to loosing my composure several times. Last night, I text messaged the cast telling them to be there at 9AM. Since they have been working with me for awhile they know I cannot tolerate two things: tardiness and cell phones. So, they were on time. However, the off-stage chorus shows up at 9:30AM to 9:45AM, even after spending a lot of time with the off-stage chorus directors in a meeting the week before agreeing that the off-stage chorus would come early to work with the cast. A miscommunication? or just another example that the music directors do not really care for this show?

I could handle a 9:30 start but alas, there was no band. So, I talk and attempt to fill time as I pray for the band to show up. Two members of the band arrive by 9:50AM (they were supposed to be ready to play at 9:30). Oh wonderful! Then, we must, of course, set up the instruments. By 10:15, we're at least rehearsing, be it slowly.

10:45 - the drummer decides to join us. The drummer is a professional musician. I pay him out of my budget to play for this show. I can't decide not to use him because he's the only drummer in town that can read a drum score. He probably knows that I can't get rid of him.

I should stop to say that three more members of the band and several members of my cast did not show up, period. No calls, no messages, just no shows. Upon calling these folks, they had "something to do." Obviously.

Tardiness and absence without cause or notice are like saying, "I don't care." The worst part is having students tell me, after missing a rehearsal without letting me know, that they do care and are "committed." It's probably easiest to write this off as students not making a priority of the musical (I won't even go to talking about professional musicians). However, this happens with school (which supposedly is an important thing to a student) as students are late or absent to class all the time. If they're not devoted to rehearsal nor devoted to school, what are they devoted to?

My brain wants to tell me that the Chinese are the stereotype of the hard working, devoted individual. But I don't see it. I see students who get a kick in the butt one day and work hard and then the next day fall back to showing up late. There is no long-term commitment and dedication to fulfilling each step, no value in the details. From my observations of folks here so far, commitment is saying one is committed and that is about it. It's unfortunate. Don't say what you're going to do. Do it

You Know You're Going to Middlebury When...

2005-11-18T06:55:00.000-08:00

I was greeted with this priceless morsel in a school-wide email:

This is a reminder that hunting seasons are currently open throughout Vermont. Visibility is an important precautionary step you can take to improve your personal safety while enjoying outdoor activities. Bright clothing in colors such as blaze orange or bright red should be worn when your activity takes you into the rural, wooded areas. Being highly visible can decrease your chances of an accident.

Oh, Middlebury.

Getting Things Done

2005-11-17T01:30:00.000-08:00

I have been swamped recently with work. No, it's not of the homework variety that has been so commonplace over my last 13 years of schooling. It's real, honest-to-goodness, work. With a million things to get done, I have been revaluating how efficiently I get things done and what system I use for day to day items. Drawing my inspiration from this post via Lifehacker, I have compiled my way of Getting Things Done (GTD) system.

GMail, like woah. Some claim that GMail is quirky and not as slick as Yahoo's to-be launched email system. I disagree because GMail is invaluable when it comes to keeping track of "conversations" that sometimes can have over 12 replies a day to a single topic. I am a forgetful person that can't keep track of the titles of emails. Search is wonderful, should I need to look things up too.
Newsgator. This is my RSS feed reader and it saves me a lot of time in reading news which keeps me in touch with the world all the way over here in China. It brings together all the news I want from headlines of the New York Times to tech news from CNET to personal blogs I read.
Superman Notebook. This allows me to record different items, ideas, events, etc. when I am away from the computer. I manually transfer things from the notebook to the computer when necessary. This seemingly mundane task of transferral allows me to review what I need to do.
Google Desktop. I keep my to-do list always in view along with a electronic notepad ("scratch pad") for longer notes to self.
Mozilla Sunbird Calendar. I have been trying this utility out to keep track of appointments and meetings. Since I don't need to forward items to my cell phone, email, or IM, this plain and simple calendar application works just fine.
Blog. The blog helps me keep friends and family updated as to what is going on over here in China. It does not necessarily replace emails to individuals, though. It is a good way to document my experiences and organize my thoughts.
Cell Phone and SMS. Exchanging quick messages via SMS is essential to remembering meetings and following up on details. I send messages out as reminders and for simple questions that may need immediate responses.
FTP Server. I host a bunch of songs and videos for my cast to check out. They work on the "musical style" by listening and viewing materials.
Google Groups. Similar to the FTP, I can archive all my messages and attachments to the cast so if they lose a document like a schedule or letter, they can go find it themselves. It also serves as a mailing list so I can distribute info to my cast and crew quickly.
Flickr. Photo posting for the Ryan fan club, enough said.

There you have it, my way of GTD. That said, I am thinking of adding a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) to the mix but I am figuring that carrying another electronic device (cell phone, mp3, camera) would be burdensome. Integrated solutions (smart phones/PDAs) that can do it all are expensive though.

Publicity Madness: Poster Child

2005-11-16T03:56:00.000-08:00

Poster on Gym
Originally uploaded by ryanocerosk.

I have been through a lot of meetings in the last week discussing publicity for Pippin. From postcards to posters, I have been through it all. Some of the highlights include: two giant posters (one posted on the theater, one on the gym), several thousand post cards, a walking tour of characters in costume, and an outdoor concert version of Pippin songs.

It's amazing how cheap color poster printing is here. However, the downside is that every club and organization on campus launches eye-catching material all the time. The main street is filled with banners on every tree. It's like real-life pop-ups ads everywhere you go.

Pandora's Box: Online Radio

2005-11-15T03:00:00.000-08:00

If you're looking for a great tool to explore new music or simply stream some tunes to your computer, take a look at Pandora.com. This no-nonsense Flash app is great. Just go to the website and type in a name of an artist (or song) that you like and it will cue up similar music. I tried Pandora awhile ago but found the $10 price tag a little much for a fledgling radio station. Now, it's free so give it a whirl for awhile. As it turns out, the free version says that it is ad-supported but I have yet to see an ad yet. Registration is simple as pie too. [via Lifehacker]

Licensing Tech, Musicals, the World

2005-11-14T20:15:00.000-08:00

A few days ago, I posted on how the folks here at Shantou University only know Microsoft products. CNET's News.com recently published an article on how China is attempting to move away from purely Microsoft to open source. As part of the World Trade Organization, China can no longer continue to use pirated Microsoft software in its government offices. So, they're going Linux... Come to think of it, I'm pretty sure every student and teacher at this University has Microsoft Office. I'm also pretty sure that they are all un-licensed copies of Office. Students here would never have the money to buy real copies of the software. Some students, like my graphic designer and publicity coordinator, even have high-end graphics suites from Adobe and Flash suites from Macromedia. Students here know that the software is pirated but do not care, for the most part. They seem to think that the software should be cheap and content free when it comes to movies and music downloaded online. That's probably why licensing a musical was such a strange concept when I first proposed it in August.

Vocal Coaching

2005-11-14T02:45:00.000-08:00

The End of the Great Big American Voice - NY Times Friday, last week, I worked with students who had qualified for the Shantou University Intercollegiate Singing Contest. These pop stars came to a workshop led by myself and two other foreign teachers. My class was called, "Movement and Expression on Stage." However, I made it a point to link movement and physical action with the voice itself. At one point, I demonstrated "throwing" your voice and body together from the diaphragm. I think I blew them away with sheer supported sound. None of them could understand what and how to do what I was doing. Ultimately, students questioned why they needed to sing loud at all since they will be amplified out the wazoo. Well, maybe in the Singing Contest they can rely on micorphones but in Pippin, I won't let that happen. Mircrophones will reinforce the sound only. The above article points to the continuing trend of recording-voice singing. The light and unsupported sound tickles our ears with headphones on but fizzles out come time for the mainstage. I agree with the article entirely. The first time I heard Andrea Bocceli, I couldn't escape the lack of power in his voice even on the CD! I miss opera but at least there is hope at Middlebury where I can "skip the conservatory and get a liberal arts degree, learn languages and study voice on the side."

Information Technology: Ticketing

2005-11-13T23:30:00.000-08:00

Today, I visited Shantou Univeristy's "Network Center." I had a vague notion that this group was a few programmers locked away in some shack on the east side of campus. However, I was pleased to find a miraculous building that looked a whole lot like Microsoft headquarters (which I visited two years ago). Inside there were tens of workstations with people typing away, using Skype, using QQ, etc. The first question I had was, "what do all these people do?" As it turns out they work in teams to develop, launch, and maintain the University's information techology systems from email to the website. However, I don't really see very many tangible things they work on so I had this preconceived notion that IT doesn't really exist at this school. I visited the Network Center to look into the possibilities of online ticketing for Pippin. I met with some group leader who seemed rather confident at taking a 1700 seat theater and mapping it out for a ticketing interface in the matter of a week or two. While originally I was told about the possibilities of simply having reserved seats, I introduced the notion of assigning single user/audience member to single seat. That seemed very feasible to the group leader but we had a hang up on the fact of how to do seat confirmation. I recommended having an email confirmation sent to the user which he would print out and use as a "ticket" at the door. The problem with that was that student users often don't have printers here. The IT folks pushed the idea of a text message confirmation which didn't strike me as particularly great as I envisioned people showing their cell phones to ushers. Eventually, I settled upon going without confirmation and no hard tickets, since this is a free event. The online ticketing is more to get an idea of how many people are coming and how many seats are free. We decided upon doing a cross-check confirmation just in case someone forgot their seat number. We would look up their student ID or cell phone number to look up their seat number. The IT group is currently putting together the details of the proposal, ready by later this afternoon!

The Next of Text: SMS in China

2005-11-11T00:55:00.000-08:00

Text messaging is everywhere (except the U.S.), and the media is reporting the viral way this
messaging can create bad news for governments. In France, text messaging is being used to encourage rioting. Large anti-Japanese demonstrations here in China were said to be helped along my mobile messaging.

So, the Chinese government sees this and decides to curb text messaging by pressing action against anyone who uses the technology to incite unrest.

Just as that news is released, I have learned that Shantou University is starting a new mass text messaging system on campus. Students register their cell numbers so they can send and receive mass SMS (Short Messaging System = text message) messages. For instance, if a student group wanted to invite the other students to a special lecture taking place in a half hour, they could SMS the prompted invite out to encourage attendance. If the number of students using the service grows from the current 88, I plan to do just that with Pippin. The power is great because the cell phone is the technology god in China. According to some stats, China has the largest amount of cell phone users of any age in the world. First priority for people above computers, email, mp3 players, and instant messaging is a cell phone. Text messaging keeps the cell phone affordable while keeping the person reachable at all times.

I find that it is far more effective when I want to reach someone to SMS them than to email them.

Drapery Design

2005-11-11T00:25:00.000-08:00

Drapery Design
Originally uploaded by ryanocerosk.

I am pushing Pippin to start coming together technically alongside the work of the cast. A great tech crew really makes the show and so far, I think I have reliable people to do the job. Above is the drapery design divided into seven moveable parts that can be raised and lowered at will. Does it look "loosely medieval with a Chinese twist?"

The Land Where Nobody's Heard of Apple

2005-11-09T00:55:00.000-08:00

Monday night, I went to a conversation series with Mary Meeker, a fairly well-known internet analyst with Morgan Stanley. She was dubbed "the queen of the 'net" by Barron's during the dot-com boom. She proved an interesting speaker especially for Shantou University students who came by the hundreds to hear her speak. The place was so packed that I was sure that the conference room would turn into the running of the bulls if someone just sneezed. While I'm sure she is quite good at her job, I have heard a lot of what she had so say already from staying on top of news and technology especially in relation to China. Mary mentioned Apple and the iPod several times and, at one point, I heard another student turn to another and say, "What's an Apple iPod?" Apple is not open for business here with no iTunes store meaning no iPod sales. The truth is, China is a PC-dominated and Microsoft-dominated market. Everyone runs Windows with Office, Explorer, and Windows Media Player. Servers all run Microsoft's dot NET. Obviously, this makes things a bit easier when transferring files and exchanging work. However, no one knows any different. I proposed a bunch of ideas to the English Language Center for supporting their teachers using a few tools I've seen used at San Francisco University High School as implemented by Richard Kassissieh. I made recommendations of easy-to-use class websitesas well as the benefits of blogging along with community calendars. The technical folks had to do some research to find out what in the world I was talking about when I mentioned things like Apache and PHP. And I'm not even the IT guy!

Unsustainable Workloads

2005-11-08T07:20:00.000-08:00

I knew I would be out of my element when I accepting a directing position here at Shantou University for the production of Pippin. While I have found great pleasure from working with students on acting, it's not the directing itself that I enjoy. It's my inner teacher that is being fufilled. However, my energies of directing have meant a cloudiness on my production skills. Adding in the fact that I am the patch-work tech director as well, my mind is racing with a million facets of the show. It's been a real test of how sharp my mind is as I try to juggle all kinds of folks. For now, it's meant having to give up the detail that I ususally insist upon. I can only deal on the higher plane. Normally, this would be fine because the folks implementing my decisions would find the right way to do it. However, I feel I must micromanage to a certain degree because no one here has ever done a full-blown musical or even a good sized play in any language. Currently, I lack a knowledgeable team to make sure the details reach the students that want to learn. It seems that the spread-thin syndrome is not unique to the musical. The English Language Center teachers are asked not only to teach up to five classes, but they are also required to support extra cirricular activities on campus. While the living standard here is good for foreign teachers, it's often hard to retain them because the teaching life here is unsustainable even if it is temporarily rewarding.

Touchy (Feely?): Sexual Scenes in Pippin

2005-11-08T06:45:00.000-08:00

Upon choosing Pippin for Shantou University, I knew that the rather sexual and in-your-face scenes would be difficult to do. Sure, there is certain amount giggling that comes with the semi-taboo, but it goes far beyond that here in China. There is a cultural aspect that shies away from overtly sexual. There exists no media empire bearing down images of scantily clad off-pitch women or music-video oriented rappers. Here, the pop icons are clean, cool, and wholesome. The family values support that as parents shield their children as if they never grow up. The biggest scandel on campus is when two students do anything slightly more than holding hands. So, upon showing some of my students the DVD of Broadway version of Pippin, they were quite taken aback by pantless costumes and hippie dance sequences. Today, I found out that one of the dance teachers declined my original request for her to be the choreographer because she wanted to avoid doing the choreography for the sexual scenes. I have already taken on a few scenes of blocking and, in particular, one song which involves a lot of women tempting the main character of Pippin. I have taken the tack of keeping it cute and funny. Although I am teaching the Modern American Musical, I am not out to shock and awe my cast into being afraid. I am trying to slowly loosen them up. I have been met with varied success. For some, progress is getting girls to stand with their legs more than a foot apart. For others, progress is getting boys to bend their knees. But ultimately, I can't break the culture (nor should I break the culture). I must simply show them something new and different.

Ad-dition

2005-11-07T01:45:00.000-08:00

Following Zach Lipton's lead, I have begun testing one ad on my blog. I hate advertisements on web pages even if they are targeted ones but this time I don't feel like a traitor because, even though I get paid upon a download of Firefox with Google Toolbar, I am promoting an invaluably good product that I use often. But does this signal the end of the web as we know it, if every lowly blogger averaging 40 visitors a day puts an ad on their website? Whatever happened to good wholesome content? Is the web just a huge overflowing pot of advertisements that are each vying for your attention everyday? I may opt for a smaller ad, but let me know if you have any comments for now. Update: I have removed the ad from my site. The more I looked at it, the more I couldn't stand it. I'm not blogging to make money anyway...

Rehearsal Photos

2005-11-04T22:14:00.000-08:00

Pippin, The Musical
Originally uploaded by ryanocerosk.

With all this complaining I have been doing with Pippin, I think it's time to lighten the mood a bit. I have posted a number of pictures from rehearsals last weekend. Some are for publicity material to be distributed within the University but some are just good rehearsal action shots. Take a look!

Part 3: Ugh, War

2005-11-03T04:40:00.000-08:00

I'm beginning to believe it's characteristic of the Chinese culture to rush to implement something without thinking it through and then realize there is a lack of support for it. These last few days have been the classic example. The push to have the off-stage chorus up and running had brought us to a Monday-evening rehearsal, exactly one day after the decision to even have an off-stage chorus. I was impressed because I was expecting to have a hand-selected group that was ready to jump in and learn the music. I was entirely wrong. The quick move was to call an audition for that evening. I was left out of that loop so I arrived at rehearsal planning on working on singing skills with the cast. Instead, an audition took place right in front of the current cast's eyes. The cast was looking on terrified as they thought they would be fighting with the auditionees to keep their parts (which was not the case). How's that to break the cast's confidence? Not only do I tell them I'm bringing in backup but then Mr. Liu, the Pippin music director, auditions people right in front of them. Then, to my absolute horror, I heard the auditionees. They were as bad as my worst singers in the current cast. Where did we find these forty students? Weren't these singers supposed to be such good singers that they would be a quick boost to the music in the show? No, I was informed that these singers were taken from the Singing Contest website (i.e. not classically trained singers that can read music and hold their part). Bad call, whoever dreamed up that one. The Singing Contest is like a gigantically bad and over publicized, elementary school talent show. Before I knew it, Mr. Liu proceeded to pick 15 from the group for the off-stage chorus. The next day, I objected to bringing these non-trained singers aboard since our purpose was to raise the quality of singing. Mr. Liu countered that Ms. Jiao, the choral teacher and head of the arts department, was being difficult by blocking any access to the higher-trained singers. So, what to do? I had a late night meeting with Mr. Liu where we discussed "where do we go from here?" We determined that we weren't going anywhere by getting trained choral singers. We wanted belters that felt the groove of the music. That was all good and well until tonight where the adminstrative support fell through with only 11 of 20 off-stage chorus members showing up for rehearsal and Ms. Jiao taking back some of the students she had sent off to work with us. Just when I think I've layed it down, straightened things out, and made sure everybody was on board, something goes haywire. I guess that's what I get for not sticking to the cast (like I had an option...). It's going around in circles, and I am working to bring this saga to an end soon.

Business Opportunities Weblog | How Much Is My Blog Worth

2005-11-02T18:05:00.000-08:00

From the looks of it, this blog is a bit overvalued. [via Freakonomics Blog]

My blog is worth $6,209.94. How much is your blog worth?

Part 2: Let's Get Together, Yea, Yea, Yea

2005-11-02T03:30:00.000-08:00

The rehearsals and emergency meeting left me exhausted. I went to bed early hoping to revitalize by sleeping in on my self-imposed day-off. However, I received a wake-up call at 8AM the next morning; so much for sleeping in. My team took Shantou University Vice-Chancellor Julia Hsiao's words to heart and already had begun to mobilize. Rain called to ask me about instating more rehearsals starting that very evening.

One thing I have learned while here in China is that things are done either very quickly and very slowly. This was a case of the former because I knew that I could email the students that morning and expect every one of them in attendance that evening for rehearsal. That's not possible in the U.S., you have to give people time and notice.

Stumbling over my words having just rolled out of bed, I managed to ask why the team thought it necessary to have extra rehearsals especially the rehearsal planned for that evening. Rain relayed a message from Liu Da Wei, the music director, that he wanted to have skill-based singing rehearsals where students would be going "back to basics." In fact, Liu had asked Ms. Jiao, a choral instructor and Arts Education Center Department Chair, to lead exercises for the cast. I was happy to move forward on such a positively collaborative effort. I was also told that the "supplementary" group of chorus members would be there too so I would get to meet them.

So, I gave the approval to the leadership team and sat down at the computer to draft up a letter to my cast of students explaining the changes in the path ahead. Here are some highlights from what I wrote:

We [the leadership team] all agreed that you, the cast, are working hard but perhaps without the knowlege of how important this show is to this University. It is meant as a showcase for this University displaying a combination of liberal arts (music, dance, drama, english, technical expertise, western culture). No university in China except this one can provide such an opportunity to participate in such an event. This is bigger than you can imagine, and it's time for you to take ownership this production.

I was forced to take a somewhat harsh tone in the letter even if I didn't think this was the appropriate time to come down hard on the students. It's true that the cast needed to take the show much more seriously but I was coming off a good rehearsal and this was a bit of a reversal. I was very worried of confusing students instead of motivating them to higher level of work. The reality, which is not presented in the letter, is that the pressure is on. School board members and even billionaire and private donor Mr. Li Ka Shing is expected to watch this performance.

You must take responsibility for what happens in this show and how you prepare for this show. You cannot count on teachers and others to forcefully make this show great. YOU must make it great, not anyone else.

The idea of self-motivation in China is really interesting. I was told flat out that Chinese students would not self-motivate themselves to do any kind of work. I was told that I had to provide consequences for everything, that everything had to be imposed upon the students from those with authority. I was told that I could never play "bad cop" because I did not hold a title of authority, and therefore I was not afforded a high level of respect. That matter I considered to be made even worse by the fact that I am younger than most of my students. Some of them know it, some of them don't believe it, and some of them have no clue. I refuse to believe that students here cannot self-motivate. I've seen them do things all on their own. My production manager, Camille, literally had a list of thirty students willing to take part in the production before I even stepped foot on the campus here in September. That is self motivation because she didn't have to lift a finger but she did anyway because she was excited to see this production take flight. I was asked today what the consequence would be if the cast failed to meet the "off-book" or memorization deadline for lines and lyrics. The best answer I could come up with was: a good yelling at. There is no consequence because failure is not an option.

You are college students and we are aiming for college theater. Our level of work is nowhere close to where it needs to be. If this show is to come anywhere close to college standard, we must push harder and further. I have no choice but to bring in help. We will be bringing in two new groups of students: one set of singers, one set of dancers.

This was my weak attempt at justifying to the cast why a bunch of newbies would be joining them for chorus rehearsals that evening. I had nothing else to go on, and this option seemed to do the least damage to the trust between the cast and the director. The issue of trust is unheard of in China. No teacher trusts their students here. The school does not trust its students to run the lighting and sound equipment in the theater. Teachers do not trust their students to self-motivate. Funny because theater is all about trust. If you cannot trust that actor to deliver the line, the techie to execute the cue, and the band to play loud, you might as well not do the show.

Part 1: ER Visit

2005-11-01T08:30:00.000-08:00

I have been putting off a post about the status of Pippin for several days now because things have been moving at lightening speed. The following series of reflections will happen over several posts... In other words, it's a long story, so I'll break it up into chapters for you. This past weekend, I pushed to block two fairly complex scenes. Vice-chancellor Julia Hsiao came to see the first one of the two rehearsals that weekend. She gave her two cents to the cast telling them that they needed to "look alive" and "be an actor at all times." In typical Chinese fashion, the students clapped at the end of her "speech." The next day she visited a singing rehearsal and that is where the "evaluation," if one can call it that, took a nose dive. Julia noticed that the singing, for lack of a better word, sucked. She immediately mobilized an "emergency" meeting for that afternoon between the key folks involved in the show. At this point, I must point out that Julia Hsiao instills panic among the people here at Shantou University. Days before her arrival, word gets around and things get done to accomodate her. She sweeps through on her one week visits and attempts to make the necessary major changes at the institutional level. They call her the "reformer" here because her job is to make the University function increasingly like a Western educational institution. She cuts any program or practice that uses the justification of "it has always been done that way...." As such, what Julia wants, Julia gets. So when an "emergency" meeting is called, people know there in for some "reforming." That said, it's slightly difficult to reform a musical of which there is no precendent. Our meeting was focused around two questions: 1) Why aren't there more talented singers and dancers in the musical? and 2) How can we salvage the musical considering our past mistakes? As for question one, it became very obvious that it boiled down to auditions. I took the best 25 students from the 51 that auditioned. Julia's questioned why no one stopped to think that the people cast were not the best in the school. She came down hardest upon Rain, my day-to-day adminstrator, because she knows the students well enough to know that the ones that auditioned weren't that good. In all honesty, I thought auditions went fine; I was prepared to work with the best of those who auditioned as any director must do. Since this is the first time this school has put on a musical, only the adventurous students auditioned, not the good singers and dancers that wanted to take part in well established activities on campus like classes and contests. As for question two, I was quite taken aback by the verb to "salvage" because I was under the impression that the effort wasn't half bad. Students were working diligently. I was pretty much on track with blocking. Tech stuff was moving along. But Julia wanted to kickstart a redoubled effort to improve the quality of the show. She is right in the fact that I can only teach so much; students have a starting foundation level of ability and it's my job to build on top of that. She wanted to give me new students who have a greater foundation so that the show will naturally go further. However, it's a little late for new students. I'm not going to give up my current cast even if a quarter of them can't really sing or dance. So I lobbied so that none of my cast would be replaced. So the edict was put forth: have supplementary singers and dancers, an off-stage singing group piped in over the sound system and a dance group just for a few dance breaks. Although that doesn't exactly give the current cast much confidence, it's somewhat of a solution to improving the quality of the show. I was promised four-part singing and advanced dancing choreographed by a real-live teacher. I could handle a strong surge of greater dedication and hard work. Who could ask for anything more, right?

Climb Every Wall

2005-11-01T03:00:00.000-08:00

A New Weapon for Wal-Mart: A War Room - New York Times This article outlines how Wal-Mart is setting up a "war room" to monitor the company image which has been taking a beating recently. It's interesting to know that no one even has even heard of such an argument of Wal-Mart being a big-business bully in Shantou, China. Locals here love Wal-Mart because they normally buy from small mom-and-pop stores near their houses. But now with every Chinese middle-class family owning or planning to own a car, Wal-Mart is always within reach. The irony is the underwear I see in the Shantou Wal-Mart was made locally, just down the road... Funnies: JibJab Big Box Mart

Something Foul in the Air

2005-10-30T18:55:00.000-08:00

China's Next Big Boom Could Be the Foul Air - New York Times This article talks about the huge environmental problem facing China. I see the problem every day here in Shantou. It's incredibly bad in the city center and along roadways. I would consider getting a surgical mask if I went in the city any more often than I do now. The beautifully refreshing winds of Shantou University quickly change on the busride into the city where partially cloudy can turn into smoggy. The English Festival last year featured the Speech Contest final on "Economy and the Environment." I think that's a great topic since it's not the economy "versus" the environment because the two can go hand in hand. This year's Speech Contest topic is "Growth and Stability." Try that on for vague.

Ministry of Freedom

2005-10-27T23:00:00.000-07:00

Earlier this week, I attended an English Language Center (ELC) faculty meeting. I got the opportunity to update all the teachers on Pippin and how the students are doing. However, for the rest of the three-hour meeting, I sat and listened. What I heard was a department (half of which are foreign teachers) struggling in the Chinese education system. Dr. Jun Liu, the director of the ELC, had good and bad news. The good was that TESOL (Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages) would hold it's international symposium in China for the first time and the location chosen was none other than Shantou University. The bad news was that the University would also be up for Ministry of Education review next year and that would mean having to jump through a lot of hoops. Dr. Liu suggested the ELC would likely be a targeted department by the Ministry and therefore, all teachers would have to submit all unit and lesson plans for the rest of the year. That means for every class taught, one would have to submit a lesson plan so it would be available for the Ministry to review. Teachers griped about it but understood.

This article entitled, "China Luring Foreign Scholars to Make Its Universities Great" from the NY Times today outlines some of the issues that foreign teachers and a loosely-adminstered department here face. Shantou University is separating itself from the rest of China by hiring foreign teachers not to lead math and technology but to lead teaching English which spills over into the liberal arts. In fact, the other departments here have very few foreign teachers. I've only met two foreign teachers outside the ELC.

China must increase its flexibility with in speech and expression. There is no way around it, should they still want to achieve the goal of a country of many world-class educational institutions. There are bright students everywhere here, but I've yet to meet one that is an extraordinary thinker. There is not ample academic freedom here yet. Even in producing a musical, I encounter all kinds of issues from wanting things to be done at lightening speed without giving it proper thought to believing the way it's been done in the past is the only right way to complete a task.

Road Trip: Outer Shantou

2005-10-27T02:55:00.000-07:00

Alleyway Originally uploaded by ryanocerosk.

Anne Chow, a friend of my mom, is in Shantou both to visit Julia Hsiao (a vice-chancellor here at Shantou University) and to see the region where her family is from. I went with her as she went to the "Chow" village where pretty much everybody is a "Chow." Being the first relative in her generation to make it back to the hometown, Anne was greeted warmly by relatives. Her grandfather built a primary and secondary school in the area which we also visited. Check out the photos from today's adventures.

English Festival Goes Live

2005-10-26T07:30:00.000-07:00

This is the English Festival (EF) logo for 2005. Pippin, of course, is part of the Shantou University English Festival. Apparently, though, lots of schools in China have English Festivals. All along I was thinking this university was special. The English program here is special but alas not the exclusively english festival.

The buzz on campus right now is the Singing Contest online as part of the EF. If you go here (and you use Internet Explorer on a PC), you can experience the online voting system used to qualify the contestants into the next round of the competition. There are quite a number of pop stars at the University. However, even the Chinese are prone to a good joke and this time it falls on the song "Only You" currently ranked fourth on the top ten. If you still remember William Hung from American Idol, this may as well be the same thing. But this guy is well known on campus now because of his stunning (bad) performance. Give it a listen and try not to
laugh or cringe to much...

Blogs Without Boundaries

2005-10-26T05:20:00.000-07:00

Rarely do I like to talk about this blog on my blog. I figure it's one thing to even have a self-promoting, snooty blog so why hit people over the head with it again with a post that just talks about how great the blog is. So forgive me as I indulge today.

I received an email of one Amy Eldridge of Love Without Boundaries (headquartered in what appears to be Edmond, Oklahoma), a non-profit working with orphaned children around the world. Coincidently, they have a chapter here in Shantou, China. And even more amazingly, Amy by way of an internet search for all things Shantou, came upon my humble blog. She found it irrisistable to request that some of her older orphaned children in Shantou come see my production of Pippin here at Shantou University.

Sure, I can do that. I invited the older children to come see the preview performance of Pippin on Tuesday, December 6th. And all of this comes from some director's blog complaining about the troubles of finding a choreographer? Heh, I guess good things come from blogging.

Face It: Facebook

2005-10-25T01:30:00.000-07:00

I got Facebook today. Described as "MySpace for the educated," the Facebook social networking tool links college students with one another. And yes, the service is just as addicting as MySpace but for slightly different reasons. What you notice immediately in searching for people you know is that most everyone is using their real name. You can actually find people and real information about them (email, phone, address, birthday, etc.). Also, the number of total friends matters much less than on MySpace because no total number of friends is displayed on the main page. That's not to say it entirely avoids people trying to run up their friend counts. What makes Facebook really special is it is a universal information directory to keep in touch with people. There is no excuse for not checking in with people on a regular basis. Sure you still can spend countless hours updating profiles and commenting on people's pagess but it still makes for less "wasted time" than trying to keep track of so many people that would otherwise need to be emailed, phoned, etc. In actuality, the wasted time is in virtually communicating too much with people you see on a daily basis. When you are half way around the globe, Facebook is a miracle. For instance, I'm not going to call Joe Smith in Maine from Shantou, China just to see how he's doing because I don't have the time for that. However, it's absolutely necessary to have some real connection or history with the people you add as your friends.

A recent NYTimes article said today's college students make up the "Facebook generation." It's true. Within an hour of signing up, sixty people had confirmed being my "friend." I bet if I sent an email to those sixty people, I would only get replies from ten within the hour. Students are checking their Facebook more than their voicemail and email.

Taking a cue from Zach Lipton, the next step really is syndication in some form of RSS. You can't check sixty people's profiles of Facebook everyday. You need a central location to gather information. Facebook syndication should be like the alumni newsletter: when someone makes a big change in their life, the reader should be informed. I don't know when Jane Smith adds the latest James Bond movie to her favorite movies listing. I do want to know when Jane transfers schools, gets a job, or stars in her school musical.

Pippin Logo

2005-10-23T20:05:00.000-07:00

This is the new Pippin logo:

It's revised from the original audition logo.

Days of Yester: The DeYoung

2005-10-23T09:15:00.000-07:00

This is a picture from the closing of the DeYoung Museum on December 3rd, 2001. If you look closely, I am in the front row (second from the left) with a bunch of San Francisco Boys Chorus kids (I was quite big at this point, on the very tail end of my SFBC work...not the little choir boy of yore). I actually remember quite vividly that performance that day. It was incredibly crowded and loud in Herbst Hall. We had a holding room where we sat for a long, long time drinking the water provided and reading the extensive program. I remember viewing some of the art in the hallway near the holding room and being led down the long hallways only to sing with most people not taking much notice. I suppose the Chronicle took notice because even their article published today includes a line or two about the chorus performing.

Too bad I wasn't there to celebrate the re-opening! I definitely want to see the transformation for myself upon my arrival back in SF.

Warren's Magic

2005-10-23T04:09:00.000-07:00

Warren's Magic
Originally uploaded by ryanocerosk.

Tell me this isn't insane how one of the Pippin band members is playing the piano and flute at the same time. When I give a speech to my cast about really using your time wisely, this is what I mean.

Birds of a Feather, Flock Together

2005-10-22T03:15:00.000-07:00

Normally, I don't quite consider myself an early adopter of technology. I usually jump into things that get good press after a core group of users make a product widely accessable. For instance, my forrays into tech recently have been: flickr and skype, both of which got bought out by big companies.

Today, I went the early adopter route and gave a new product a test run: Flock. Okay, I'll admit it, I just wanted to try this web browser because I enjoy their product name. It's based on the Mozilla Firefox platform but attempts to add some functionality, mostly for bloggers. I was intrigued by the blogging tools but was ultimately unable to set up my blogger.com account using what appears to be a fine tool to tightly integrate browsing with blogging. Loading up my flickr was easy as apple pie, though because all I needed to do was type in my username and voila, my pictures appeared. Flock also perfectly supports direct bookmarking (or favorites as Flock will call it) to del.icio.us, a "social bookmarking" tool which is becoming more popular.

So far, I am keeping my Firefox but Flock's worth a whirl if just to see it's pretty buttons.

"That's Why I Need Your Help"

2005-10-21T02:20:00.000-07:00

This gives me hope for this show:

Dear Ryan, I'm Daniel. I really know how bad I did in practising the chorous. But I don't think I can't do it well, because Mr. Liu never gave me confidence and he just expected we should do it perfect at the beginning, which makes me nervous and scare me. So when I wanted to sing it right, unfortunately, I found it even worse. Actually, I appreciate him very much because he still want me to do it well. So, If it is possible, would you arrange the extra time for me to improve my singing skills? and I hope you can teach me. Just teach me how to repeat the notes from the piano, because I don't want to waste other guys' time for waiting me to sing right the notes, especially Mr. Liu's time. I don't want to do the same stupid mistakes again and again, that's why I need your help. Best wishes, yours truly, Daniel

Lines: Dead or Guide

2005-10-20T08:20:00.000-07:00

I was reminded today, as I am every day, that China is not America. Chinese students need pressure and deadlines. American students need space and guidelines. Chinese students need straight lines. American students need best fit lines. Chinese students need to be scared. American students need to be befriended. Chinese students need intensive work. American students need "review." Chinese students need to watched. American students need to be "supervised." Everything needs to be super specific for these Chinese students. There is no such thing as "feeling things out." Everything is black and white. The bottom line is that there are deadlines and that everything in life can fit on a to-do list or schedule. I think it's sad but they don't know any other way.

How to Teach Music in China: No Notes

2005-10-20T08:00:00.000-07:00

I expected another horrifying singing rehearsal today with the cast of Pippin, and I got my "want-to-tear-my-hair-out" quota of half hour in. But then Liu Da Wei, the music director, went to work on the whiteboard. He mapped out the song the chorus was to learn in the Chinese simple notation. It involves writing scale degrees in beat for beat, bar by bar. It eliminates the complications of key signatures by putting everything on a sliding scale. What happened next was amazing. Almost everyone in the room simply just read (for the most part) what was on the board. No guessing for notes or trying to listen for the interval. They just knew the notation. One boy even raised his hand and corrected Mr. Liu on a rhythm mystake on the board. Sometimes I could bearly understand what the rhythm markings in the system were. Later, a student explained to me that most students learned the simple notation in primary school. I can finally understand why it's so hard to transfer the music program at this school to western notation. Western notation involves key signatures and specified pitches all of which are irrelavent in the simple system. What I do not quite understand yet is how instrumentalists at the school learn on the simple system. Singers are natural-born transposers because you don't need to change the fingering to change the scale; there are no fingers. Instrumentalists must change the fingering with different scales. They must learn scales by rote memory and simply have a named starting pitch. Wow, so this is how you teach music in China.

Stories That Aren't Even True: Back to Novels

2005-10-20T04:10:00.000-07:00

One thing I did pack in my single bag when coming to China was a bunch of books. Malcolm Gladwell's The Tipping Point got me hooked on sub-genre of sociological non-fiction a few years ago and my non-academic reading selections (well with my last English class at University High School being "The Art of Nonfiction" with Jesse Berrett, my academic reading applies as well) have been set in that direction ever since. So, when I packed for China, I aimed for mixing it up and brought a few (gasp!) novels. One of those novels I completed a few weeks ago was Snow by Orhan Pamuk. I actually had been waiting to read this book for a long time, and it was magical indeed. The description is so rich and real that you feel are actually walking the streets of Kars (Turkey) with the omnipotent narrator. Pamuk begins by systematically hammering in the weather details into the pages but eventually it becomes a fine weave with the complicated plot. Images unfold slowly one by one and then are brought together in a whirlwind to conclude the novel. But what I thought of as the central themes of religion and terrorism slowed the pace of the book because I continually tried to pull conclusions after each chapter only to realize that those topics switch directions each chapter. Religion and terrorism are a means to an end for the book. They turn out to be less of the meaning of the book and more the plot. The meaning comes from the viewing the society created as a whole in conjunction with the landscape of the town of Kars. The Dogs of Babel by Carolyn Parkhurst is a fun read but not exactly the best work of literature. There are some nice allusions and metaphors as well as some stunningly good one liners. The characters are well crafted. It's even funny but don't look to take away any mind-blowing ideas or feelings. It comes to a nice conclusion but the "staggering emotional wallop" that Holly J. Morris of U.S. News reports to have felt, wasn't there for me. It was more of a winding murder-mystery with a relationship twist. Lots of fun, though. It's good to have a suspense ending that you don't find in most nonfiction work. On deck: How Soccer Explains the World by Franklin Foer (Nonfiction) The Genius of Language edited by Wendy Lesser (Essays) The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon (novel)

Pippin Update: "Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet"

2005-10-18T23:50:00.000-07:00

"I hear you worked the musical students pretty hard this weekend," said Betty, an English teacher. "They ain't seen nothing yet," said I to myself said I. Things are really taking off at light speed with the production of Pippin here at Shantou University. This weekend was the first intensive round of blocking or staging with the cast where I begin crafting the movement on stage. I felt good getting through scene one, albeit a short scene, in its entirety and even moving on to scene two by Sunday. I had to force students to write down blocking notes in their scripts because I know they will forget over time. I feel a real mixture of emotion when directing. When I know what I am doing, the rehearsal flows well but sometimes I'm at a loss specifically of what to do, what skills to emphasize, which scenes to block, which numbers to review. I don't have anyone to tell me how to fill in these mental gaps in my rehearsals. I've officially turned over the chorus rehearsals to Liu Da Wei (the Chinese version of University High School band teacher Tim Price). He is not a choral teacher by heart so he struggles a lot of with the group. Then again, any choral instructor would struggle because the cast can not really sing. There are a few individuals that have good ears but the majority of the cast need a year or two in now-departed University High School chorus teacher Tim Krol's chorus. The boys especially need work as they are practically tone deaf (unable to match a pitch to one played for them). I've added a series of evening weekday rehearsals to supplement the weekend rehearsals. It was interesting to hear at least some progress Monday night as the students used the CD recordings of the show to help learn their parts. However, Tuesday night was rather abysmal when Mr. Liu's computer didn't work and the students had to sing on their own without a CD to back them up. I am worried about this portion of the show. I watched the band rehearse today. My initial jubilation that the band could learn and play this show was much more subdued this time because three of the musicians were missing. The brass player, I am told cannot make any of the twice-a-week Wednesday or Saturday rehearsals. Plus, the director is taking cell phone calls and is interupted every five minutes.

Job Hunting with a Shantou Degree

2005-10-18T01:30:00.000-07:00

I've felt a little lost recently as my right-hand-woman, Camille, has gone to Guangzhou to complete testing for a job. Marina, in my cast, also is going to Guangzhou as she interviews with make-everything giant Proctor and Gamble (P&G). It's facinating to hear about the job hunt in China especially from student's of Shantou University. This school is located in the bustling Guangdong province, known for being incredibly productive due to its proximity to Hong Kong. However, the University is not in an international city. It's no Shanghai, Beijing, or even Guangzhou. It's a paradox of being big by U.S. standards (8.3 million people in Shantou and surrounding areas) but I guarentee that even some people in China will never have heard of it. I wanted to learn more about the subject of employment in the Shantou region and from the University. Due to a news article on how "Google Opens 8 Sites in Europe, Widening Its Books Search Effort," I tried Google Print for the first time. Searching "Shantou University," I was met with a book entitled, Work and Employment in a Globalized Era: An Asia Pacific Focus. Editors Yaw A. Deborah and Ian G. Smith divided Shantou University's graduates into those coming from the Shantou area and those from other provinces. They found a correlation: Shantou-area students are most likely "management stream" (MG) students and students from other provinces are most likely "international business" (IB) students. From data taken from University grads, the editors went on to say,

It appears that Chaosan [Shantou-area] students have self-selected a more stable, predictable stream of study in anticipation of secure, well-paying management jobs. On the other hand, IB students seem to be aspiring for adventure, citing "travel" and "learn more things" more often than their MG friends. ... IB students are somewhat more internationalized in their outlook, with 39% saying they would choose to work with foreigners (compared to 15% of MG students).

The captivating stats go on supporting the fact that other province IB students are the most "relatively internationalized." But what I have seen on campus is a push to change that: the school wants all its students to learn English and set out for the international scene even if billionaire "Li [Ka Shing]'s businesses are...hiring (through recruitment exerciese in the University) some of the top graduates for its various China-based interests including hospitals, real estate, roads, and bridges." The western companies have yet to come into this region as "the only notable...investments are the Kodak industrial film manufacturing plant [film is so out of style] and two competing dairy products manufacturers from Australia and New Zealand respectively." It's interesting to delve further into the job search strategies for graudating students. 72% of Chao-san (Shantou-area) region students relied upon family members for job introductions. It's a sizzling 76% of Management students that relied upon family members for job introductions. Students from other provinces rely heavily on employment fairs (82%) to find jobs. So what is it about this region that fences in its residents? How does Shantou University educate graduates clearly going two seperate ways after they leave? Most of my students speak decent English but I wonder what path they will choose and if it coresponds to what part of China they're from.

Close to Home

2005-10-16T19:55:00.000-07:00

You don't realize what you miss about home until you leave and then come back. Okay, so I'm not back in SF yet (in fact, I have another many weeks) but this weekend I did have a taste of the homeland. On Saturday evening, I was invited to meet Marynicole Nazarro as she hosted a teacher potluck at her apartment. This is her second year at Shantou University and she teaches at the Journalism school so I hadn't met her. I learned that she specializes in sports journalism and recently graduated from UC Berkeley. Her get-together was supposed to include a South Park marathon but everyone took the opportunity just to chat with one another. As I bit into a cracker with cheese, I immediately realized that this party was the closest thing to California I had come into contact with for the last six weeks. The Ella Fitzgerald songs that I could hum along to, the impressive book collection, the variety of non-Chinese food, the wandering conversations, the evening breeze. I even brought fresh fruit (melon and grapes) to the potluck as if they were freshly picked from the fruit-bowl of the world that I know too well. I soaked up the sensation as much as I could because California is not often spotted in this neck of the woods. As an added bonus, this weekend brought the first fog (or some variation of fog, smog, etc.) to Shantou. I've felt the kind Marin County temperatures around here but with the slight added touch of humidity that being closer to the equator always brings.

EF-ing

2005-10-16T07:45:00.000-07:00

English Festival 2005 Website! I am working with the designer, Jack, on putting up the Pippin portion of the site. But I'm impressed by the overall design so far as well as the programming work. I told Jack I wanted pursue alternative (or non-traditional) advertisement on a campus where promotion is dominated by posters. We will be launching a Pippin logo as well in the near future. The entire English Festival is gettin t-shirts but I think I may want either seperate ones or differently printed ones for our show.

News in Brief

2005-10-14T23:17:00.000-07:00

Classes in Chinese Grow as the Language Rides a Wave of Popularity - New York Times This is yet another article on how Americans are (and should be) learning Chinese while the Chinese are learning English. Whatever happens, just don't drop french because even if it may be not so useful, it's so fun to learn compared to other languages. In fact, Shantou University has just started an experimental course in teaching French. Pierre and Pilaar, China is beckoning you to come teach here... Teenagers Star in the Story of Their Lives, Painful Details and All - New York Times Well I'll be damned, this sounds a lot like THE FUSE: a chain reaction except someone went out and auditioned a whole lot more kids for the roles. The show is set in Vermont? I would think city kids would know a bit more about writing about an "urban" setting. George Watsky, it's time to take the show on the road while you still got the time. Going for Cozy Glamour in San Francisco - New York Times I really want to see it for myself! After all, it's quoted here as "a notch below perfection" (I think we should take that as a compliment...).

In Da Club

2005-10-14T06:05:00.000-07:00

The name is "Ryan Kellett" is not exactly synonymous with "party." But there is a higher probability of that association after I execute my latest plan: In order to foster production bonding, I will be hosting a weekly party for those involved in the various aspects of Pippin to better get to know each other. It will be potluck style for food and drink since lord knows my budget can't cover such expenses. All-american music streaming from my computer to external speakers should do the trick to make it more of an event. I'm working on an outdoor space that is far enough from the residential area. This was inspired by a candle-lit party I saw up by the reservoir tonight where a whole group of students brought dinner and more to bask in the moonlight. They lit their extravaganza by lighting candles placed in large plastic buckets plus lanterns... Party, Chinese-style.