Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Deserts

* The Black Desert (Egypt): the desert with black stones



Located 100km northeast of the White desert, the Black Desert is a region of volcano-shaped mountains with large quantities of small black stones. The stones lie out across the orange-brown ground, so that it is not quite as black as many people may hope for. Especially after visiting the White Desert, which has formations that are really white, many will imagine a desert as dramatic as this. Climbing one of the many soft peeks, the view from the top is really nice, with similar peeks continuing on into the haze. The Black Desert is uninhabited.

* Antarctica: world's driest and wettest desert




Antarctica is a land of extremes. It's not inhabited year round by humans because it's simply too freezing cold. In 1983 scientists recorded extreme cold temperatures as low as -129 Fahrenheit. It's also the wettest place on Earth, but simultaneously the driest. The reason it's the “wettest” is not because of rainfall; since Antarctica is covered by 98% ice, it's technically very wet. However since it's also the aforementioned coldest place in the world, it gets very little precipitation – less than 2 inches a year. Which makes Antarctica a desert. A brutally cold ice desert with a massive trench full of even more…ice. Three for the price of one!

* Sahara (North Africa): world's largest desert



The Sahara, with a size of 8.6 million km², is the world's largest desert, covering large parts of North Africa. Around 4 million people live there. Its maximum length is 4,800 km, running from west to east, and up to 1,200 km from north to south. Sahara covers most of Mauritania, Western Sahara, Algeria, Libya, Egypt, Sudan, Chad, Niger and Mali, and touches Morocco and Tunisia.

* Simpson Desert (Australia): the red sand desert





Australia is home to four large deserts, popularized by Mad Max: Sturt's Stoney Desert, Tanami Desert, the Great Victoria Desert and the Simpson Desert, which is also known as 'The Big Red' due to the presence of dunes of red sand. The Simpson Desert is an erg which contains the world's longest parallel sand dunes. These north-south oriented dunes are static, held in position by vegetation. They vary in height from 3 metres in the west to around 30 metres on the eastern side. The most famous dune, Nappanerica, or, more popularly, Big Red (named by Simpson Desert traveller Dennis Bartell), is 40 metres in height.

* Namib (Namibia): the only desert with elephants






South of Africa lies the Namib desert. which is less vast than the Sahara but just as impressive. It forms part of the Namib-Naukluft National Park with neighbouring Angola. The Sossusvlei sand dunes are the highest in the world, some towering at 300m high and if you are lucky enough, you can stumble across desert elephants-the Namib is the only desert in the world to have elephants. Apparently the oldest desert in the world, myriad species of plants and animals can only be found here. The Namib has fascinated geologists for years but it remains very little understood to this day. Off the coast, strong southerly winds with fogs and strong currents cause sailors to lose their way; the north coast has been named 'Skeleton Coast' due to the amount of shipwrecks found there, some of which can be found as much as 50m inland, as the desert slowly takes over the ocean as it moves westwards.

* Taklamakan (Central Asia): a desert covered with snowfall






Taklamakan is one of the largest sandy deserts in the world, ranking 15th in size in a ranking of the world's largest non-polar deserts. It covers an area of 270,000 km2 (100,000 sq mi) of the Tarim Basin, 1,000 kilometres (620 mi) long and 400 kilometres (250 mi) wide. It is crossed at its northern and at its southern edges by two branches of the Silk Road as travelers sought to avoid the arid wasteland.

In 2008, China's biggest desert experienced its biggest snowfall and lowest temperature after 11 consecutive days of snow. Snow is rare in the desert that covered 337,600 square kilometers, never before had the whole desert been covered.

Saturday, August 22, 2009

19 August 2009







Today, I had lunch together with clients and colleagues at Darby Park hotel near my working place. We took lift to reach The 39 Restaurant which is located at 39 floors. It offers dazzling skyline views to me, thus, I quickly grab the chance to take some photos at the balcony.

Friday, August 14, 2009

扑火



午夜的钟声刚敲过
当我的情绪
跟随着月亮
暗地里潮涨
渐渐淹没了仅有的理性
混乱的思绪不断地冲击着我
像火一般灼热我的身体
令心窝更是烦乱
宁愿多喘一口气
也不想暗自叹息
原来爱上了您
像飞蛾的宿命
像堕落的定律
像毁灭的绮丽
致命的吸引力
勾引我的灵魂
不顾一切扑火
享受焚身快感
不惜为爱捐躯
继续为爱殉道
我只要您爱我
就算化为灰烬
也都无怨无悔

關淑怡煩音辣㷫俞琤 13.08.2009

[壹週刊]

06年重返樂壇後,關淑怡( Shirley)先後開過兩次有口碑但無票房的演唱會,並於 07年加盟「星娛樂」做一姐。
近日推出廣東新碟《 Shirley's Era》,但外界反應一般,鍾意玩性格走偏鋒的關淑怡卻將責任全歸咎唱片公司宣傳不力,甚至打電話到各大電台,投訴播放率低,因而觸怒商台的俞琤,一度下封殺令。
包拗頸

關淑怡加盟「星娛樂」後,唱片公司實行一連串力谷計劃,為爭取曝光,先主唱無綫劇集《同事三分親》和《珠光寶氣》主題曲。即使○六年的回歸樂壇的演唱會反應麻麻,公司仍於○八年為她再開兩場演唱會。可是,性格飄忽,經常包拗頸又唔妥協的關淑怡同公司關係始終無改善,更影響到出唱片計劃。
拖足兩年,關淑怡的新碟《 Shirley's Era》終於在今年六月中面世,校正在她和唱片公司兩年合約期屆滿前推出。但唱片推出以來,無聲無息又缺乏宣傳,主打歌《地盡頭》在電台的播放率亦偏低。
相比下,同公司的鄭融近日推出精選碟,電視廣告日日播,宣傳和聲勢,完全兩回事。

自己嚟

相隔十四年再出碟,關淑怡十分緊張,明知唱片公司不會幫她搞宣傳,惟有親自出馬。
「 Shirley自己打電話俾三個電台嘅負責人,叫人播多啲佢嘅新歌,本來無乜問題,不過佢成日打電話去嘈人哋,又話無理由佢首歌上唔到第一位,有次仲嘈到去俞琤度。」知情者說。
Shirley的新歌《地盡頭》早於五月初已派上各大電台,在新城的勁爆榜連續五個星期都榜上有名,而她跟古巨基合唱的《男左女右》亦上榜,不過在商台的播放率則偏低。「梗係啦,個次佢嘈到咁高層,投訴唔播佢首歌,人哋嬲到封殺佢。」知情者說。
雖然,關淑怡同唱片公司合約屆滿,但唱片唔賣,公司始終無着數,有指最終由「星娛樂」出手,將封殺事件擺平,關淑怡的新歌才重現商台。

自作自受

一度在樂壇銷聲匿跡的關淑怡, 06年復出開演唱會並再簽唱片公司,但性格影響命運,三年來事業毫無起色,點谷都冇用。

上週四(六日)下午,邊行邊聽音樂的關淑怡,由愉景灣寓所行到商場餐廳歎茶。

Monday, August 3, 2009

Backstreet Boys





Album: Backstreet Boys
Category: R&B, Dance-pop, Pop
Label: Jive
Release Date: May 6, 1996
Singer: Backstreet Boys
Members:
~ Kevin Richardson (Left the group on June 23, 2006)
~ Nick Carter
~ Brian Littrell
~ A.J. McLean
~ Howie Dorough
Website: www.backstreetboys.com
Vincent's favourite songs: Anywhere for You, I'll Never Break Your Heart, Quit Playing Games (With My Heart), Every Time I Close My Eyes

Track list:
01. We've Got It Goin' On – 3:44
02. Anywhere for You – 4:45
03. Get Down (You're the One for Me) – 3:55
04. I'll Never Break Your Heart – 4:52
05. Quit Playing Games (With My Heart) – 3:56
06. Boys Will Be Boys – 4:09
07. Just to Be Close to You – 4:54
08. I Wanna Be With You – 4:10
09. Every Time I Close My Eyes – 4:00
10. Darlin – 5:36
11. Let's Have a Party – 3:53
12. Roll With It – 4:44
13. Nobody but You – 3:06

Bonus Track:
14. Lay down beside me – 5:26

I went to buy cheap CD again at One Utama last Sunday (2/8/2009) after I had enough rest on that day. I went to client office to work from 10.30pm on 1/8/2009 and back home at 6.30am the next day. I didn't sleep for the whole night, it was essential for me to rest well at home.
This is the first album for Backstreet Boys. I still can remember that one of my classmate borrowed this album to a girl in order to develop relationship with her as lover. My cousin sister also brought this album to my house. Thus, I had a chance to listen all the songs performed by them. I really like most of the songs in this album and they started to become popular and well known worldwide. I am happy to buy this album because it give me full of sweet memories. I was used to recall my teenager time when listening to this album. I was studied form four in secondary school at that time.

Sunday, August 2, 2009

潮流特區:連身戰衣 Jump得起 01.08.2009

Jumpsuit在本季大行其道,夾過或是心有靈犀也好,各個品牌如 Chloè、 Stella McCartney等都一窩蜂推出 jumpsuit。顧名思義, jumpsuit賣點是方便靈巧,可供閣下跳彈彈,百花齊放的情況下,有牛王工人 feel的、有性感的如露背、低胸、露肩的,加一條皮帶在腰間作上下身的分水嶺,跳脫 jumpsuit立時加強女人味。褲腳款式也立體變化多端,四個骨或摺腳的有一份 casual動感, full length bell腳的則有 contemporary feminine,各適其適, You Jump! I Jump!

關淑怡 爽朗型格

冷面加天籟歌聲,再配上瘦削形的 sex appeal,造就關淑怡型格的中堅位置,彈性高強的 jersey jumpsuit,令她可闊步行走舞台,與她遼闊的歌聲成漂亮正比。