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A loosely sorted and lightly annotated catalogue of through the music posts on this blog.

Conducted by Edwin Outwater, with soloist Sara Davis Buechner, the Grant Park Orchestra performed Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1. The evening also offered a pleasantly modern program: Jimmy López Loud Lou Harrison Symphony No. 2 (“Elegiac”) Amy Woodforde-Finden Kashmiri Song Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1 The orchestra has a lovely sound and plays as a tight, well-coordinated ensemble. The pieces are a nice surprise — very well-curated. Even so, I wasn’t especially looking forward to the Tchaikovsky — this is a festival, and a free concert at that (bravo!) — since the concerto’s solemnity asks for a certain seriousness rather than a cheerful summer spirit. But the first three pieces eased the audience nicely into the mood. ...

I participated in Model United Nations during high school — I was then lotteried to represent Antigua and Barbuda. For a 100% geography idiot, I am proud to say that I happen to know this country well — climate, economy, geography etc. Now the world seems to be doing the same thing with Cape Verde, according to Google Trend — the time line June 15 vs. Spain (0–0 Draw): Cape Verde kicked off their tournament by completely shocking heavyweights Spain, holding them to a scoreless draw. This was likely the first major spike where people collectively googled, “Where is Cape Verde?” June 21 vs. Uruguay (2–2 Draw): Proving the first game wasn’t a fluke, they went toe-to-toe with Uruguay in an absolute thriller. June 26 vs. Saudi Arabia (0–0 Draw): Tonight, they capped off their group stage with a gritty draw against Saudi Arabia in Houston. Soccer fans around the world realized this tiny team went undefeated against top-tier global talent, query (Google Trends) related to Cape Verde is skyrocketing right now. ...

Creator 滤镜粉碎机 (Filter Crusher) on Bilibili undercovered one-month inside agencies that offer Gaokao (National College Entrance Examination) counseling and registration services. Parents pay thousands of yuan¥ to hire someone with zero credential to help their kids make the biggest decision of their life and career. These lucrative business do: Fabricated Credentials: The professional certificates and qualifications claimed by the “expert” counselors are frequently photoshopped or completely fabricated. Faked Experience: The extensive industry experience advertised to anxious parents and students is entirely made up to build false trust. AI-Generated Plans: Instead of receiving personalized, expert-driven guidance tailored to a student’s lifelong career goals, the actual college application and registration strategies are mass-produced using AI tools. It’s hard to predict job market and industry trend a few years away from now. Parents are partially buying for the information asymmetry, but also for their anxiety — just a piece of mind in face of uncertainty.

I’m not the biggest Chopin aficionado, but Tchaikovsky adored him — and I think he got a point. Chopin’s music is so layered that musicians can pull a lot out of it. In the right hand, every note carries their meanings. You hear the pianists themselves through their playings: Deutsche Grammophon wrote good caption: Music made in the present moment, unique and unrepeatable, is all that matters to Grigory Sokolov. Critical acclaim and audience ovations underline the humanity and compassion conveyed by Sokolov’s work, reflected not least in reviews that speak of his “genius” and status as a “living legend”. Grigory Sokolov’s charismatic artistry holds the power to cultivate the concentration necessary for audiences to contemplate even the most familiar compositions from fresh perspectives. In recital, he draws listeners into a close relationship with the music, transcending matters of surface display and showmanship to reveal deeper spiritual meaning. His latest release, a double album, comprises a selection of live recordings from three recitals given in the summer of 2019.

A while back I wrote a series on the divertissement in Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker. The character dances — “fillters”, have some of the most under-appreciated writing in the repertoire, top-tier in color, melody, and orchestration, with almost nothing to set beside it. The complete ballet would never be staged in the United States until 1944, in San Francisco, and it didn’t harden into a Christmas fixture until Balanchine’s New York production in 1954. ...

Debussy wrote a Sonata for Flute Viola and Harp — a piece full of French spirit: Its ambiguity of harmony and form, fragmented, halting phrases, and almost pointillistic use of color bear striking resemblance to earlier orchestral works such as La mer and Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune. Its opening harp arpeggio is joined by flute acrobatics; viola sneaks in in unison with the flute and introduces a disjointed, dreamy, watery theme. ...

Send Help is a 2026 American survival horror thriller film directed and co-produced by Sam Raimi and written by Damian Shannon and Mark Swift. The film stars Rachel McAdams and Dylan O’Brien as an employee and her boss, respectively, who become stranded on a desert island after a plane crash and attempt to survive while tension rises between them. (Wikipedia) No romance, the movie is a pure colosseum featuring the battle of unleased, dark humanity. People can be selfish, malicious and deceptive to the worst extent. The movie reminds me of poet Wen Yiduo’s 死水 (dead water). A very cooked world: ...

Here’s a very cool theory paper I came across online. A theory of multihoming in rideshare competition. Bryan KA, Gans JS. *J Econ Manage Strat.*2019;28:89–96. https://doi.org/10.1111/jems.12306 It takes a messy, important, real-world phenomenon and find the minimal model that isolates the key force. Here’s my note on part of the paper: Disclaimer: all mistakes are mine. all rights belong to the author and publisher. Two firms $i \in \{1, 2\}$ sit at the two ends of a Hotelling segment $[0, \ell]$, where $\ell$ indexes demand density. Each firm chooses an idleness level $\delta_i \in [0, \ell/4)$ at convex cost $c(\delta_i)$ (with $c(0) = 0$, $c' > 0$, $c'' > 0$), then a price $p_i$. ...

It’s my favourite time of the year, and today is the Dragon Boat Festival (of 2026)! For this year I want to quote ‘同舟而济’: 夫吴人与越人相恶也，当其同舟而济，遇风，其相救也如左右手。《孙子兵法·九地》 Then the men of Wu and the men of Yüeh bear one another enmity; yet, should they cross the same river in one boat and be caught by a storm, they will fly to each other’s aid as the left hand succours the right. — Sun Tzu, The Art of War, Chapter XI (“The Nine Situations”) ...