2025’s Oscar opening is amazing. Ariana Grande sang “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”: The performance is classy. A lot of information is hidden in the references. Particularly, at the very beginning before everything starts, the Orchestra tuned (on the key A). I think this is a remarkable and important signal that showcase realness and nostalgia. And of course, flashing cash like “yeahhh we oscar hires a live orchestra”…

Chopin was born March 1st, 1810. Happy 215th birthday to this brilliant composer-slash-pianist! Chopin was an exclusively piano composer (almost all of his works involve the piano, either solo or with accompaniment). He composed around 230 pieces, and his music is mostly categorized into 9 main genres: Études (27 pieces) – These are technical studies that go beyond mere exercises and are full of musicality (e.g., Revolutionary Etude, Black Key Etude, Winter Wind)....

I have Tchaikovsky’s Polonaise from Eugene Onegin (Op. 24) on repeat in my playlist. Since it’s such a grand waltz, I decided to look up its corresponding ballet choreography—only to end up watching the entire Eugene Onegin ballet without ever hearing the piece. Here’s why the Polonaise isn’t featured in the Onegin ballet. A Breakdown of Onegin’s Different Versions Novel and Opera Eugene Onegin’s portrait by Pushkin, Wikipedia. Eugene Onegin (also spelled Yevgeniy Onegin) is a novel in verse by Alexander Pushkin....

Why Ballet? Maybe it comes down to personal taste—I’d say most girls and women, at some point in their lives, fall in love with ballet for its captivating femininity and artistry. But beyond that, ballet is a great way to invest your time—whether through practice, watching live performances in a theater, or even just playing YouTube videos in the background while doing laundry. Because ballet is both art and fun. It originated in Italian Renaissance in the 15th century, and developed into structured art by the passionate dancer King Louis XIV of France through establishing the Académie Royale de Danse in 1661....

I’d love to keep track of all the classical pieces and composers I’ve written about—whether from concert reflections or deep-dive listening sessions that make me curious about a piece’s background. Music taste is hard to align, but I hope this list offers a practical glimpse into mine. Maybe you’ll find some insight—or even a new favorite piece. So here’s the list: From Shostakovich to Synths | A Quick History of Film Music (Der Karajanuskopf) What’s in Karajan’s Head?...

The song Part of Your World is a song from the movie The Litte Mermaid (1989). Interestingly I think it fits so close to the state of mind where an undergrad aspiring for a PhD: “Even if we aren’t literally mermaids/mermen wanting to be human, there are some goals or things we want in life that are just as seemingly impossible. So while the song is specific to Ariel’s situation, it’s incredibly accessible to every audience member” (Howard Ashman, lyric writer who collaborated with Alen Menken to write the song)....

I went to a movie-soundtrack concert, and here’s the notes. Music has been a critical component of movie experience since its very beginning (1985). In the silent film era, live music was essential, with pianists and small ensembles performing alongside screenings. improvising and enhancing the on-screen action. Fun fact: Dmitri Shostakovich, before becoming a legendary composer, worked as a silent film pianist in Soviet Russia. With the arrival of synchronized sound, film scores became pre-recorded, often performed by full orchestras....

Stylistic choices when writing an academic document — by Jordan Boyd-Graber. While I don’t agree 100% with one of the author’s advice—using Beamer for creating poster—all others are remarkable cool and makes perfect sense. Whoever organized these advices is wise, generous and has really good taste!

Bike sharing is a great topic, it’s green and has lots of data. A relevant study: Understanding intra-urban human mobility through an exploratory spatiotemporal analysis of bike-sharing trajectories Wenwen Li et al. (shortened abstract) This paper presents a data-driven framework analyzing bike-sharing trips in Shanghai, the world’s largest bike-share city. It integrates multiple data sources—transport networks, road characteristics, and urban land use—to study short-trip mobility patterns. Findings highlight usage trends, trip distribution, and route choice factors, offering insights for city planning, bike-sharing operations, and sustainable transportation development....

Adobe Flash Player was retired by Adobe and major browser vendors since the beginning of 2021. By the time of 2025, major browsers (Chrome, Edge that works on Chromium core, and Safari) all DON’T support Flash. Which makes some interactive operations inapplicable. But if you ever have the misfortune to still need the Flash function. Here’s how to do it (works on Mac, guess similarly you can make it work on Windows too)....