noochan

在選擇普通nook還是nook color的時候，猶豫過。
nook color是BN家的新寵，最新一代，全屏彩色、全屏可觸摸操作、網絡功能更強大，操作更便捷，所以一開始，是被nook color吸引的。相比之下，普通nook有點土土的，笨拙的感覺，只有創口貼大小的觸摸屏幕，閲讀部分是黑白的，網絡功能相對沒有那麽完善。

但是鬼使神差的，竟然比較喜歡普通nook。看到nook color，我會想到蘋果家族的那些很潮的、很炫的、很未來感的電子設備。但是看到普通nook，我會想到在老舊的、年代久遠的、
藏書豐厚的、家具全是木頭的、燈光全是柔和的大圖書館的地下室一角看微縮膠片的感覺。之所以會想到微縮膠片，是因爲現在e-reader使用的e-ink技術，讓讀電子書和讀印刷圖書的感覺幾乎是一樣的，使用e-ink技術的屏幕是沒有光的，所以不像在電腦上讀書，讀一會兒就會感覺眼睛疲勞，但也像印刷書一樣，必須在有光亮的地方讀。我想買的並不是一個tablet computer，而只是一個老老實實本本分分的電子讀書器，所以，nook color的那些加分的賣點，反而在我這裡減了分，而普通nook雖然在網絡方面比較遜色，但是電子讀書的整套流程還是非常穩健的，所以在想清楚了這點之後，就毫不猶豫掏了荷包。

我像每天攜帶我的觀音庇佑卡一樣（yeah, i have such a thing）攜帶我的“noochan”。很慶幸當初選擇了wifi + 3G的版本，使得幾乎在哪裏都可以隨時到BN的網上書店去瀏覽。網上書店有很多免費的圖書，可供隨時下載；nook有一個每天更新的文學博客，已經成爲每天必讀；喜歡在薄薄的一小本裏面儲存了諸多喜愛的書籍的感覺，2G的容量大概可以儲藏超過1000本（或許這輩子也讀不了這麽多書）。由於節省了紙張，節省了物流運輸，因此電子購書的價格基本都比印刷書要便宜，而且似乎每星期五，BN會免費送nook owner一本書。

想到一件有趣的小事。在地鐵上讀實體書，我總會有意無意的不要太讓書的封皮曝露的太明顯，雖然也不是在讀什麽見不得人的書，但是潛意識裏並不想讓車廂裏其他人看到我到底在讀什麽，覺得這是個awkward exposure of privacy。我一直覺得這是我個人的一個可笑的idiosyncrasy。但顯然並不完全如此。据統計，電子讀書器開始普及以來，購買二、三流言情小説（the type where two people embrace and expose much skin in a rather befuddling fashion）的人數急劇上升！這是多麽有趣的發現啊。看來nook是對privacy的一種有效保護，是它的又一大優點。

one other thing，剛剛在noochan上嘗試顯示pdf文件，非常好用。有時候在網絡上看到有趣的文章或者討論，但是篇幅太長，一時看不完，可以先存到word裏面，在轉換成pdf格式，就可以在nook裏面閲讀了。這樣就不再需要使用紙張把這些文件打印出來了。我想電子閲讀器的普及，應該或多或少的可以減少樹木的砍伐吧。這或許也能算一個優點。

The Art of Yuan - during the reign of Khubilai Khan

There was no earthly reason that I should be feeling out of sorts on this sunday.  The weather was dreadful, there was an overcast, and a curious gossamer mist hovered over the now sooted snow.  But I wouldn't blame it on the weather.

Mom wanted to see the Art of the Yuan exhibit at the Met, and this sunday happened to be the last day of this exhibit.  I had seen the exhibit twice, and was at first reluctant to go, but on second thought, how could I possibly turn down anything asked of by mom, she doesn't ask much of me.  Besides, how could I say no to a visit to the Met.  I never realized it till this sunday that I could traverse a good portion of the Met with such ease as if it were my very own secret garden! 

Anyways, I didn't expect this third visit to the special exhibit on the world of Khubilai Khan to turn up anything new, but it certainly did.  If it were up to me to name one center piece for this exhibit, I'd unhesitatingly point to the roof-ridge ornament in the shape of a legendary creature, the chiwei or chiwen(dragon's snout, 螭吻).

chiwei - roof-ridge ornament

It was sunday, so naturally, there was a larger crowd.  Visitors milled about the gigantic stone sculptures of Yuan officials, bowls and plates made of pure gold and silver, and hand-sewn silk garments for women of the noble class, all securely and squarely placed behind thick plate glasses.  There was an unintelligible murmur coming from the crowd, which was made up mostly of middle-aged visitors on events-packed trips from China, and Gandalf-like gray haired locals.  The chiwei had always had my attention, from the first time I laid eyes on it.  It sat in the center of one of the three exhibit halls.  Size-wise, it was gigantic, though in the black-and-white photo next to the real thing, it seemed negligible sitting atop the roof of Yonglegong, the Daoist temple where the chiwei was originally found and rescued.  I wondered what had happened to the Daoist temple, and to the other chiwei (the photo showed a pair of creatures, decorating the two protruding tips of the roof respectively).  But of course I knew the answer, or rather, I shouldn't be too far off from the right answer if I guessed that the temple had burned down sometimes in the past during one of the timeperiods of turmoil, or that it was destroyed during the cultural revolution, or that the temple was recently demolished to make way for urbanization. 

The chiwei's animated features were captivating.  The silent wrath which emanated from its ragged teeth and bulging eyes created such a powerful presence that I thought it was too loud for the seemingly spacious exhibit hall.  It had not occurred to me during my previous two trips to this exhibit, but it did during this last trip -- I think it was around the time when I was perusing the patina covering the chiwei's glazed surface that a feeling of heaviness began sinking in.  The chiwei has always been portrayed as a terrifying looking creature because it is a guardian of a sort.  It is a creature that supposedly wards off evil and protects the people that reside in the household on which it sits.  But here it was, sitting tamely in the center of an exhibit hall, with no roof to sit on and nothing more to protect.  If ever there is something worth protecting or preserving... ... if ever there is something deserving the name of "evil", it is the intangible force sweeping across that ancient land (which inexplicably prides itself in its five millenium of rich history) as it relentlessly tears down, pulls apart, chops off and blows up the last genuine vestiges of the history and past of that land.

As we wandered around the halls from relic to relic, this woman came up to us.  I thought she looked like a tourist with one of the tour groups from China.  She heard us speaking in Chinese and thought we might be able to answer her question.  It turned out that she couldn't for the world recall which ancient Chinese artist with the surname "Yuan" had had such high accomplishment during his lifetime that a whole exhibit was now dedicated to him at the Met.  Now it was my turn to look confused.  But I immediately realized the lady had a firm grasp of exactly two pieces of information, that she was at an art museum, and that the special exhibit was titled Chinese Art in the "Yuan" Dynasty.  Having understood exactly one word from that title, she drew a logical conclusion.