I have a confession. I’m addicted to Prison Break. It’s one of the best dramas I’ve ever seen, and is currently being shown on TVB Pearl every Tuesday night (10:30).

The story centres around Lincoln Burrows (Dominic Purcell), sentenced to death for the murder of the Vice President’s brother. We quickly discover that Lincoln is the fall-guy for a vast political conspiracy and, conveniently, his brother Michael Scofield (Wentworth Miller) is an architectural designer working at the company that designed the prison. As you would imagine from the title, Michael takes it upon himself to use his knowledge to break his brother out of prison.

The series starts with Michael holding up a bank, being caught, and sentenced to the same prison as his brother, where he has to deal with an assortment of prisoners, prison staff, and surprising events. Running parallel to this is the story of Lincoln’s ex-girlfriend, a lawyer, who realises that Lincoln has been framed and decides to clear his name.

The story is a wonderful mixture of suspense and unpredictable plot twists that is guaranteed to make your heart beat faster and keep you watching week after week. Both the prison and the political outside world are full of memorable characters, many of which you love to hate.

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People always like new challenges, new ideas, new music, new experiences and new friends. It’s part of our life to make new things happening. It makes us grown up; it makes us long for new experiences tomorrow. It’s the nature in our blood and it’s the things we look forward to living for.

New things enhance your horizon; it opens your eyes; it pulls you out of your own circle; it makes your jump; it makes you feel different and it makes you contribute something to this world. Of course don’t take things for granted, it needs you to make it happen, to make it yours. People are scared of changing or loosing. But we are young. Young people like creating new things; To be personal, I like people changing; I like those always giving surprises and new feeling; I am trying my best to surprise them back as well. I love life to be more colourful, more passionate, more energetic, not only white the black. We only have one life.

Take an example, do you realise the new generation singers on TV always make the same type of music? —boring tune, always sad songs about breaking up with lovers; same music video has a man and the woman chasing each other or posing and making themselves look pretty. I hope new generation singers can use their talent to impress us, not only beauty.

The world is changing; it’s moving; it’s pushing us to walk with it. Daily life is never new at all for us; we wake up, go to work, off to work, eating dinner, watching TV or relaxing at night, then go to sleep; it looks like we are doing machinery job, but this is simple life that everyone experience days and nights. We are repeating the same thing over and over time; it’s true, but if we slightly notice, we know we are contributing things to make this world move faster. The world is moving because we are moving; we are creating new things in our work, in our life, in our technology. This world has what it is because everyone is producing new stuff without noticing.

I will feel bad if I am not learning or create new things in a day; it doesn’t matter that you should make a big change. Could be a new dish, a new idea, or a new look!

Everyday is a new day, a new start, a new life! Let’s have a change of life. Enjoy…

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I missed Sebastian Schunke’s Jazz concert last year, which made me feel sorry for myself. However, their manager recently mailed their fans to announce that Sebastian Schunke and his band will be playing again in Guangzhou, as well as，Shenzhen, Shanghai, and Malaysia, in October 2006. This thrilled me. Here is their MySpace website with some of the band’s music, and lots of information.

Due to their successful performances in 2005, this years tour brings together internationally renowned Jazz musicians living in Berlin and New York. They unify the intense energy from their different home cultures to create a complete new song concept in a jazz environment. This is hip experimental world jazz, with musicians from Europe, USA and Cuba - totally new and unpredictable. In the centre is the new vocal star from Cuba - Olvido Ruiz - is member of the new Cubanian generation. This year they present the new songs for the new cd “Seba meets Olvido” exclusively for China and Malaysia.

To all fans who like this new style Jazz music, don’t miss out on this opportunity!

9.10. Guangzhou, BackStreet, Jazz Club, 21.45 -23.45
10.10. Guangzhou, Back Street Jazz Club, 21.45- 23.35
11. 10. Xinghai Konversatorium, 19.00

塞柏斯顿•舒特，出生于1973年的德国塞柏斯顿•舒特从小就学习古典钢琴， 12岁便开始接触拉丁爵士音乐，音乐受到Eddie Palmieris，Chick Corea, Gonzalo Rubalcaba等音乐家的影响；包括他吸收了拉丁美洲的旋律，特别添加到他的爵士音乐中。舒特去了纽约，被多种文化的融合迷住了，并开始从事创作自己的音乐，把现代美国的拉丁爵士与欧洲的传统音乐结合一起。他不仅熟悉运用了拉丁音乐的旋律，创造出自己的爵士曲风。

2005年曾来中国香港/广州/上海/深圳演出；因自己错过德他们首次在广州的表演爵士乐队的表演而感到遗憾，昨天收到他的经理人对广大爵士歌迷的宣布：10月份Sebastian Schunke终于再次到中国，广州，深圳，上海和马来西亚表演。这次到10月9号在广州大使馆表演，11号在广州的后街爵士餐厅表演，我一定不会错过的。如果你想知道他们在其他城市或国家表演的时间表，给我留言，我会在这里告诉你。

What are your principles? You may not have thought about it so directly. Principles are what you think is right and wrong. They are the rules that guide you. They are what tells you if it’s right to steal, even though no one will ever know. Whether it’s right to cheat, even though no one will ever find out. Whether it’s right to hurt someone just because you can.

Principles are not only for yourself, they are for your family, for your society, and for your country. I’ve read in the news that China’s economy is becoming stronger and that our life is getting better and better, but when people in other countries still think that our products and our reputation is cheap; that we copy everything, make fake products, pirate DVD, then I wonder how much credibility we really have.

I am positive that our country and some people have made tremendous contributions to China. Take Haier and Shanghai Tang as examples. They’ve both become international Chinese brands. China needs more enterprises like these, more to increase not only our economy, but also our standing in the world.

Sometimes I feel bad about the way we are perceived. A lot of the time the problem is one of principles. People like the easy way to make more money; to make their life more enjoyable; to not work so hard like others. Some people think it’s the smart way, and they believe it’s the most efficient way. They lose their principles or faith when they face the temptation.

Principles also affect our everyday life. Do you work hard because you want to succeed, or do you secretly hope that someone will come and rescue you so you don’t need to do anything? What make your life not empty, so that you are not like someone who has lost their faith and just joins the big crowd? Principles can make you not just like toys or animals. They can make you feel like you have a brain and wisdom to think what is right and what is wrong.

To be in this new generation brings with it new responsibilities. We have better education, a more international culture; we have our own thoughts and our own dream to pursue. We can do better than our parents. However, should we focus only on material gains? Is a new car, house, or TV the road to happiness? Our principles may cause us to ask ‘what can I do for my country?’ As well as taking from the country we need to give back to it. We need to ensure that while we grow economically strong it is not at the expense of reputation. Life is not just about taking; it’s also about giving.

I will try and make sure I stick to my principles.

（生活的原则）

生活的原则是什么？这个问题你可能没有问过自己。原则简单的定义是:你相信什么真理是对,什么是错，然后在你一生中鞭策着你成长，不只是道德原则，是自己的待人处世的准则；比如说考试不作弊，不要因为别人工作偷懒你就偷懒，不要因为赚快钱而去做违法的事，不要因为没耐性就插队或不要报复他人因为别人伤害了你。也许听起来比较可笑，因你觉得不值得这样做，做一个正直的人，在这个世界上它不可能出现或不现实，但请相信自己的原则，象坚持四项基本原则一样，不动摇。

有没有生活的原则，这小到个人道德的问题，再到你家庭教育的问题，大到影响到中国社会的原则。虽近年来，中国的经济实力增长无可否认，人民生活水平也有所提高，但说到中国的名声及产品，给外国人的第一印象还是产品不精致，便宜，仿冒，造假，盗版光碟及信用度不高等；像最出名的（Google-谷歌）中国的版本(Baidu-百度) ICQ变到中国几亿人口都在用的腾讯QQ；站在我们的角度，不是说提倡中国版本不好，外国版本中国化，改装到更适合中国人喜欢的版本，更贴中国人的心；但对外国人来说，不仅是侵犯到他们的版权及名誉问题，还盗用他们的研发劳动成果。

但也不是全部企业都喜欢外国版本中国化，我敢肯定来说我们很多人民对中国有着巨大的贡献，也有很多让我们骄傲的国际化的中国企业，例如（海尔）进入到美国，或中国唯一的时尚服装（上海滩）等。但中国太需要像他们这样对企业有着信心，然后坚持不懈地精神的人或企业，让更多的中国版本外国化，或把中国更多的品牌走进国际化到全世界；说得容易但它的却需要时间，金钱，耐心及最重要我们现在说的：对企业前景的信心及企业原有的原则，不因诱惑而放弃自己的准则。

有时候当你想到有些人为了快速地达到自己的欲望而放弃他们的原则时觉得可惜，有时甚至变成一种氛围，每个人做一样东西，大家在后面就跟上去，恐慌你会落后；多少次我们放弃了原则，让欲望控制我们，做了苯小孩，但结果一样是你来承担。

人总喜欢赚快钱，有钱就可以享受更奢侈的生活；所以有些人放弃了原则去赚快钱，因它来得易，你就不会再想象其他人一样去努力拼搏奋斗；那些人觉得能赚快钱的人才聪明，才有效率，但当他们面临诱惑的时候，他们失去了自己的原则和信念；当然人总有欲望，总有面队诱惑的时候，你一动摇你的信念，你就成了诱饵了。

原则它影响着你每天的生活，当你置身于外人的身份去想一想这些人的时候，问问自己是否也做了人云亦云的人？是否为了想成功而自己去努力过？是否常为了别人要你做而你不想做的事而浪费时间？是否总坐在这里等待机会的出现而不去创造让它出现？是否知道我们到底要的是什么？

作为新人类的你我，都受过更好的教育背景，甚至成长在国际文化中，我们都有自己的思想， 自己的梦想去追逐。我们要做的比我们父母那一代更好。当我们有了自己的事业，自己的财产，不只是关注在你的物质和消费上，现代的文化迫使我们成为一个追逐物质文化的机器，新衣服，新电视，新车，新房子，原来幸福只是建立在购物上。我们对这个社会，这个地球贡献了更多的什么？

我们需要多点为中国作贡献，让它成为强国，不只是让它经济成为强过， 还要建立好它的生活氛围，它的文化，它的信誉，它的诚信，让世界各地的人都尊重中国，觉得用中国东西好，质量高，可以依靠，给世界的人知道中国的美德，五千年的美德它留下很多让我学习，也留下很多成为我们的包袱；我们要取其精华，去其糟粕。

究竟什么使我们生活充实有意义，不人云亦云呢？惟有自己有方向，有信念，有梦想，有原则才使你和动物区分出来，这才是上天恩赐给我们大脑的作用，运用你的智慧去区分这世界什么是好或坏，对与错。这不是说说而已，要去行动上要去给予，去奉献的，社会养育了我们，我们又给与它什么呢？在每个人的生活中不只是一面的领取，而也是要去给予的。

我会努力去遵守我的原则和建立我的信念。

Yesterday I finished watching the last episode of HBO’s Six Feet Under - Everyone’s Waiting. The soundtrack was amazing and I am now trying to find the song ‘Lonely Little Petunia’, by Imogen Heap’s. While looking I discovered she had a MySpace website with some of her music, and lots of information.

Imogen’s first album, I Megaphone, was released in 1998. It took her another seven years to follow up with 2005’s ‘Speak For Yourself‘. The British vocalist was far from idle during the interim, having formed Frou Frou with Guy Sigsworth. I then realised that the song ‘Let Go’ (theme to the movie Garden State) is also by her. Amazing! This album, like Frou Frou’s electronica / pop hybrid, also carries a more sweeping and dynamic singer/songwriter aesthetic and presents Heap’s bold-yet-breathy vocals lounging on a bed of electronic effects. Some songs have been used in the popular series The O.C

Heap is an amazing talented composer, singer, and producer as well. Her music is a beautiful work of art; the songs become more and more addictive the more you play them. Her music makes me think. If I travel on a journey it’s the best CD that to pick. She has a dreamy, light, soft voice, before she blasts you with drums and guitars that slowly turn up the volume. It opens your imagination; it opens your inspiration; it brings your memories - sadness, joyful, bitter of life.

Thanks to Imogen Heap for giving us all these remarkable albums and her contributions to music. “Music can be like perfume,” suggests a Frou Frou. “It’s almost a scent, you know, where the right smell changes an environment and makes life more bearable.” So right.

昨天刚看完（六尺之下）的专集看到Imogen Heap’s 的歌曲，上网找了她的歌曲，最终在她的空间听到她的4首歌，首首都很精彩，Imogen 原来是英国乐队Frou Frou其中的主唱，1998年出了个人专集 I Megaphone，事隔7年2005年出了专集‘Speak For Yourself‘’，这张专集真是精品，有点流行电子风格，带有轻快摇摆，柔美，Launch的风格，它那天使般的声音和独特的风格，美国电视剧常拿她来做插曲象明珠台的The O.C…

她的音乐才华是种艺术，自己作词作曲包监制。 听她的这张CD让我沉思，让我沉迷，去哪里旅游我一定带上它。她的音乐让你感到自由，让你飞翔，打开你想象之窗，给你生活的灵感，让你体验到生活带给你的喜和悲。感谢她对音乐的创作，就像Frou Frow其中一员说：音乐如香水 - 一种气味, 适当的气味可以改变环境,且让生活显得更可忍受一些。（或音乐几乎就是一种香水，散发着迷人香味，改变您的环境，让您的生活更加美好）

Everyone is excited about Keane’s new album due to their successful last album (Hopes & Fears), which was a big hit. I gave the album Hopes and Fears 4.5 out of 5 as it was a near-perfect album, with every song being immediatley likable. This one I give 4 stars, as it takes longer for you to like certain songs. However, there are still many songs that stand out, with my favourites being:

• “Nothing in my way”
• “Crystal ball”
• “Hamburg song”
• “Try again”
• “Broken Toy”
• “The Frog Prince”

经过Keane 上张专集《希望与恐惧》大热之后，喜欢Keane 的音乐的朋友都纷纷期待这张新的专集《在铁海之下》，风格还是Keane的英伦格调。这张前个星期听后，让我需要多点时间去慢慢投入音乐的铁海中，要反复去听才深深的喜欢上这张碟，不像上张，一听钟情；上张我给4. 5星，铁海这张我给4星。大家可以买来听听，有什么感受我们都可以在这里分享的。

There are only 2 jazz bars in Guangzhou. One is the Blue Note, where my friends band has been performing for several couple years (although they had to perform in the Garden Hotel - everyday I can listen to live jazz music between 6pm – 7 pm). The other one is the Backstreet Jazz Bar, situated in the lovely surroundings of Guangzhou’s Ersha Island. Around the corner is the Xinghai Concert Hall, and at the end of the street is the Pearl River. You can’t be any better situated. And also it’s one of the few areas where you can enjoy a walk in peace.

The bar is a two storey glass building set inside a bamboo forest. A lower ‘Jazz’ floor opens out into a small upstairs restaurant area, and the two are joined together, and with the outside world, by a complicated series of stairs, bridges, and sliding doors. The decor is dark, metallic, and subdued, with lots of glass and mirrors. Look very modern, fancy, and you feel naked, like you are walking in the air. Pretty cool.

The restaurant ostensibly serves Latin-American styled food, although it borders on the generic American Italian. The prices are high and portions are small. Drinks, although available in a wide array of forms, are equally served in small quantities. Ask for a glass of wine and you’ll think yourself the butt of a joke; drink it fast otherwise the meagre serving will evaporate.

The staff are nice and friendly, and some of them are from other countries of Asian who speak English only. The restaurant is focusing on attracting foreign people in Guangzhou so English speaking staff is necessary. The food itself is very tasty.

At around 8.30 a quartet of musicians arrive on the tiny downstairs stage, boasting musicians from Canada, Russia, Brazil, and China. Quite a mix. A smooth talking Geraldo Lucio sings, trying his best to draw the small crowd into the music. Herein lies the main problem with the Backstreet: it’s too big and the crowds are too small. The music is excellent, and Lucio prowls the audience trying to get some feedback, but they are too thin and from a very different cultural background to provide him what he wants.

To cut a long story short, we enjoyed the food and the new jazz band. The band only stay here for 2 months. So if anyone who like jazz and want to experience different music passion, I highly recommend it’s worth to be there and enjoy the music.

Show this month

Backstreet Jazz invited Sebastian Schunke on October 2007 to perform in GZ. Jazz fans, don’t miss this chance

9.10. Guangzhou, BackStreet, Jazz Club, 21.45 -23.45
10.10. Guangzhou, Back Street Jazz Club, 21.45- 23.35

在广州爵士吧只有两间，一间是“蓝调”在淘金路，一间在二沙岛的星海音乐学院的隔壁，叫“后街爵士餐厅& 酒吧”，在一个很隐蔽的地方，外面都是绿色的灯和竹子为起来的，只是看到“后街”用大红色的灯格外突出，楼进门的楼梯都用玻璃做成的，再由一道自动的铁门进入，里面的装修很有品位和时尚，里面基调都是红色和透明的玻璃的结合，连过道都是一道磨沙玻璃连接起来的，二楼是餐厅，7-8张桌子，后面是一个长长的调酒吧台，陈列和几百种酒；楼下是一个摆放Live的乐队的乐器，和10几张吧台和很 Cozy的沙发，装修来说，无懈可击，就想JAZZ 一样充满鲜红的热情，象玻璃一样能看穿人们的心理…

我们周末去那里吃饭听爵士，因为刚在花园认识了新来的一只乐队，所以去捧他们的场，东西很贵，从头盘50块不等，主食150—400不等，当然拉，这样的装修需要差不多的价格的，再说，听说老板希望以高档的餐厅为主；酒水都是55—100一杯不等，所以两个人下来就要差不多500了，说到服务人员，几个是说外籍服务人员，从其他亚洲城市来的，餐厅为了吸引多些外籍人事，所以花了比较多精力在管理里面，服务还不错；亲切和附带笑容；

说到重心点：一只好的爵士乐队才是餐厅的灵魂，9：30乐队才开始演出，钢琴手从加拿大请来的叫Doug Louie (douglouie.com) 后来和他们成为好朋友之后我才知道人家的来历都还不小呢，想过来这边看看中国，还有一个多重国际的巴西人事Geraldo Lucio，和一个刚从上海请来的鼓手Tom Lee, 大提琴低音是由我朋友现在在花园酒店表演中跳选过去的，算是一个很难得的结合；我之前因为朋友生日，去过“后街”一次，说是澳大利亚来的女歌手，真是一般再一般啊；因为我在上海希尔顿听过很专业的爵士再说这么多年对爵士的热爱，你就会知道什么是好，什么是不好；所以，这次他们的新组合真的很棒！真希望广州能多点爵士听众！长话短说，可惜这只乐队在这里逗留的时间仅限两个月；所以“后街”这只新的乐队是值得大家去听一下的，感受不同音乐带来的给你不同感受•

这个月的表演嘉宾：
2005年曾来中国香港/广州/上海/深圳演出；因自己错过德他们首次在广州的表演爵士乐队的表演而感到遗憾，昨天收到他的经理人对广大爵士歌迷的宣布： 10月份Sebastian Schunke终于再次到中国，广州，表演。这次到10月9-10号在广州的后街爵士餐厅表演，我一定不会错过的.

Last night we went to Xinghai concert to watch Max Raabe & Palace Orchestra . Max Raabe, as lead singer of the group, got his ultra-smooth baritone voice singing German music in a 1930’s style. His ensemble, the Palace Orchestra, includes a gowned violinist. Their performance combined a sense of humor with up-tempo and down-tempo songs, and Raabe’s face always had the mysterious smile when he was singing.

Raabe presented a rainbow of 26 songs, ranging from old soundtracks, jazz songs, and even two Chinese folk songs (”Small River is Running” and “Jasmine Flower”), both of which were performed in Chinese. This surprised the audience and caused a big applause.

We did enjoy this concert. It was a very nice performance, and broke our expectations of it just being traditional jazz. Living in the big city means you have more chances to explore different musical cultures.

昨天晚上我们去星海音乐厅观赏德国宫殿乐团经典爵士音乐会1987年他与12位成员成立“宫殿乐团”，德国著名歌手马克思·哈勃与他的宫殿乐队，世界著名轻音乐团之一。

马克思·哈勃他穿着笔直的燕尾礼服，梳着光滑的大背头，面带神秘的微笑，带着娱乐性的怀旧感觉，歌唱着全球二三十年代经典的怀旧歌曲。他们选择的歌曲十分特别，没有旧歌重复再重复的感觉；哈勃将自己置于一种完美的不可思议的幽默的梦幻式的场景，他们的音乐包括主打歌和对句，古巴的伦巴，让人振奋的狐步舞曲以及典雅的探戈。所有这些歌曲带着难以名状的严肃性，既有轻松，也带着淡淡的哀愁.

马克思·哈勃以轻快的方式演唱德国的经典爵士歌曲，他非常的渴望用他那富于变化的男中音演绎一些独特的音乐。他们以自己得方式创造出独特的爵士音乐，一首Check to Check, 一首中国云南名歌（小河趟水）让全场掌声响起， 到最后各个都要 Encore.

最让大家印象深刻就是以每个人拿着铃钟，每一个人敲一声来组成的一首爵士乐，曲中以幽默独特的表演，逗得大家都乐了。

连John一个只喜欢英伦音乐的人都在这场音乐会所感染，可知道他们的魅力，是个难得的机会接受不同音乐文化的交流，的确，住在大城市就有多点机会熏陶世界各地的音乐会。

日本文化的神秘、古怪，
日本人的单眼、娇小，
日本的名胜古迹及自然风光，
日本为背景的电影日益盛行，
国外对日本的好奇和向往，
的确日本是一个值得观光的国家，
而日语…

一直对日语比较抗拒，虽日语像潮汕话
鞠躬，大男人主义，刺生还是不适合我，
喜欢无束缚，平等，大大咧咧的我，
对日本文化和语言甚不感兴趣，
因学一个国家的语言就等于学习它的文化遗产，之后会潜移默化。

对自己说，人生苦短，
为何强逼学自己不喜欢的东西；
到最后才知道，吃亏的还是自己；
其实换个角度想想，也是一门学问；

可能自己设置太多的条条框框；
有时候机会就这样的失去的；
虽多一门学艺，但语言不练就忘，郁闷！
学，要精，学问，要广，知识要渊博

Infinity is limitless
What is infinity?
Infinity is brave
is providence
is creativity
You need to break the tradition
and walk out to the comfort zone
Continually to find the changes
Challenge tradition
Subvert the moment.

Infinity就是无限
什么是无限
无限就是勇气
就是远见
就是创造力
要敢于破旧立新
走出Comfort zone (舒适地带)
不断求变
挑战传统
颠覆现状.

(中文来自周末画报,英文翻译来自Carmen亲笔，图片来自adventure.howstuffworks.com)