Whiteberry Purplecakes Café 白莓香芋咖啡館

To me, music is like when a bee sees honey – there is a remarkable attraction. My parents supported me to learn instruments as a child. Lots of my relatives and friends also love music. For them, music can be a lifelong hobby. However that is not all I want. I want to specialize in music instead of medicine.

For Chinese in the American society, there is not always fair treatment. We need to be twice as strong as they are to be competitive. With the traditional value in mind, many young Chinese-Americans knew what they wanted to do, yet were afraid of letting their parents down. In the end they may not end up with a career of their choice.

People have become more and more appreciative of my music. That's right, I shouldn't call you all fans anymore; it should be friends. And I remember the mainland China fan club is called
"Our Home.” It feels great. Although I don't care how many people appreciate my music, if my music can provide everyone a home, it makes me feel really happy.

My grades were ok in my freshmen year, but I felt forced. This is not what I wanted to do. I know if I put my mind to it, I can definitely finish these studies. But in the process I would have lost my happiness.

That year I had the chance to release an album in Taiwan . My parents were not against it. They looked at it as a part-time job and told me “not to have high expectations.” But my desire for music grew stronger and stronger. For my second album, I wrote 8 songs and participated in the arrangement. I felt excited like a fish back in the water.

In my sophomore year while confirming a major, I built the courage and told my parents I wanted to study music. I told them even if I cannot find a job and have no money in the future, I will accept it because I will be happy. Of course my parents did not immediately agree to such an important decision. They consulted uncle Lee Chen-Fu in detail. Uncle Lee said a lot. In particular he mentioned that “unlike the US , there is no big drug problem among the Taiwan music industry.” My parents felt less concerned and finally agreed.

After receiving my college degree, one day mom said to me, “I can finally stop worrying about you.” She saw that I had found what I wanted, and had some success. I felt relieved since she had done so much for me.

*已經聽了一百遍 怎麼聽都不會倦
yǐ jīng tīng le yī bǎi biàn zěn me tīng dōu bù huì juàn
Heard it for a hundred times already, but still haven’t grown tired of it

從白天唱到黑夜 你一直在身邊
cóng bái tiān chàng dào hēi yè nǐ yī zhí zài shēn biān
Singing from day to night, you kept by my side

如果世界太危險 只有音樂最安全
rú guǒ shì jiè tài wéi xiǎn zhī yǒu yīn yuè zuì ān quán
If the world’s too dangerous, music is the most secure

帶著我進夢裡面 讓歌詞都實現
dài zhù wǒ jìn mèng lǐ miàn ràng gē cí dōu shí xiàn
Engrossing me into a dream, allowing lyrics to be conquered

~無論是開心還是難過 我的愛一直不變
wú lùn shì kāi xīn hái shì nán guò wǒ de ài yī zhí bù biàn
Happy or sad, my love hasn’t changed

不必擔心時間流逝 帶走一切
bú bì dān xīn shí jiān liú shì dài zǒu yī qiē
Don’t worry about time elapsing, taking everything away

無論是 Hip-Hop 還是搖滾 我的愛一直不變
wú lùn shì Hip-hop hái shì yáo gǔn wǒ de ài yī zhí bù biàn
Hip-hop or rock, my love hasn’t changed

所有美好回憶 記錄在裡面
suǒ yǒu měi hǎo huí yì jì lù zài lǐ miàn
All beautiful memories are recorded inside

#這種 Forever Love 那麼深 我們的歌 那麼真
zhè zhǒng Forever Love nǎ me shēn wǒ men de gē nǎ me zhēn
This type of forever love, so deep, our song, so real

無國界 跨時代 再也不會叫我 Kiss Goodbye
wú guó jiè kuà shí dài zài yě bù huì jiào wǒ
No boundaries, new era, never again telling me to kiss goodbye

要每一句能夠動人心弦
yào měi yī jù néng gòu dòng rén xīn xián
Every word needs to pull at one’s heartstrings

^情人總分分合合 可是我們卻越愛越深
qíng rén zǒng fēn fēn hé hé kě shì wǒ men què yuè ài yuè shēn
Lovers always breakup and get back together

認識你 讓我的幸福如此悅耳
rèn shí nǐ ràng wǒ de xìng fú rú cǐ yuè ěr
Meeting you has made my happiness so harmonious

能不能不要切歌 繼續唱我們的歌
néng bù néng bú yào qiē gē jì xù chàng wǒ men de gē
Is it possible not to stop the song? Continue singing our song

讓感動一輩子都記得
ràng gǎn dòng yī bèi zi dōu jì de
Allow this touching moment to be remembered forever

Repeat *, ~, #, ^, ^

星期六晚上 哪兒都不想去 也無法入睡
xīng qī liù wǎn shàng nǎ ér dōu bù xiǎng qù yě wú fǎ rù shuì
It’s Saturday night, there’s nowhere I want to be nor can I fall asleep

看著電視機 持續在發呆 喝了七分醉
kàn zhe diàn shì jī chí xù zài fā dāi hē le qī fēn zuì
Staring at the TV, carrying on in a daze, 70% drunk

閉上了眼睛 試著不想你 但已來不及
bì shàng le yǎn jīng shì zhù bù xiǎng nǐ dàn yǐ lái bù jí
I close my eyes, trying not to think of you, but it’s already too late

忘了如何讓眼淚停止流下
wàng liǎo rú hé ràng yǎn lèi tíng zhǐ liú xià
Forgetting how to stop tears from falling

還好沒人看見 沒人會說話
hái hǎo méi rén kàn jiàn méi rén huì shuō huà
Luckily no one saw, no one will say anything

*星期六深夜 我想起了你
xīng qī liù shēn yè wǒ xiǎng qǐ le nǐ
Late Saturday night, I thought of you

沒什麼特別 只是回憶
méi shén me tè bié zhī shì huí yì
Nothing special, just reminiscing

你讓我自由 我很感激
nǐ ràng wǒ zì yóu wǒ hěn gǎn jī
You set me free, I’m very appreciative

星期六深夜 永遠不會有任何人能代替你
xīng qī liù shēn yè yǒng yuǎn bù huì yǒu rèn hé rén néng dài tì nǐ
Late Saturday night, no one can ever replace you

星期六晚上 哪兒都不想去 也無法入睡
xīng qī liù wǎn shàng nǎ ér dōu bù xiǎng qù yě wú fǎ rù shuì
It’s Saturday night, there’s nowhere I want to be nor can I fall asleep

看著電視機 持續在發呆 喝了七分醉
kàn zhe diàn shì jī chí xù zài fā dāi hē le qī fēn zuì
Staring at the TV, carrying on in a daze, 70% drunk

閉上了眼睛 試著不想你 但已來不及
bì shàng le yǎn jīng shì zhù bù xiǎng nǐ dàn yǐ lái bù jí
I close my eyes, trying not to think of you, but it’s already too late

*在哪裡 他到底在哪裡
zài nǎ lǐ tā dào dǐ zài nǎ lǐ
Where, exactly where is it

太陽會出現 只要給一次機會
tài yáng huì chū xiàn zhī yào gěi yī cì jī huì
The sun will rise, just give it a chance

心情一飛沖天 帶你的煩惱
xīn qíng yī fēi chōng tiān dài nǐ de fán nǎo
Emotions soar into the sky, taking away your worries

每一次在谷底跌倒 來一點高潮
měi yī cì zài gǔ dǐ dié dǎo lái yī diǎn gāo cháo
Every time you stumble at the bottom, get on a high tide

*Baby 想給你愛的鼓勵
Baby xiǎng gěi nǐ ài de gǔ lì
Baby I want to give you love’s encouragement

在你需要的時候 加油打氣
zài nǐ xū yào de shí hòu jiā yóu dǎ qì
Cheering for you when you’re in need

Baby 想給你愛的鼓勵
Baby xiǎng gěi nǐ ài de gǔ lì
Baby I want to give you love’s encouragement

雨後還能有彩虹 別放棄
yǔ hòu hái néng yǒu cǎi hóng bié fàng qì
There might be a rainbow after the rain, don’t give up

太陽出現了 感謝你給我機會
tài yàng chū xiàn le gǎn xiè nǐ gěi wǒ jī huì
The sun’s out, thanks for giving me a chance

心情哼出來是一首歌
xīn qíng hēng chū lái shì yī shǒu gē
Emotions hummed a song

2007/10/05: 'Lust, Caution' not only shows skin, it gets under it

By Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
October 5, 2007

IT'S unnerving to see "Lust, Caution" as the title of Ang Lee's provocative new film because these states, each capable of obliterating the other, exist at the opposite ends of the emotional spectrum. They can never be reconciled, and characters who are forced by circumstance to live on the knife's edge between them not only endure unbearable tension but risk savage emotional destruction as well.

Just such a situation is the heart of Lee's intense, psychologically intricate and sexually explicit film fleshed out by his longtime collaborators Wang Hui Ling and James Schamus. They worked from a short story by influential Chinese writer Eileen Chang about a disturbing love affair set in China during the years of its World War II occupation by the Japanese.

A brooding meditation on the unnerving power and terrible cost of emotional and political masquerades, the Chinese-language "Lust, Caution" gets under your skin with its examination of what qualifies as love and what does not. The reconciling of seeming opposites is evident not only in the title but also in almost every aspect of the film, starting with the casting of Tony Leung, one of the biggest stars in Asia, against the relatively unknown actress Tang Wei.

While the nearly 2-hour, 40-minute "Lust" is as deliberately paced and as determined to take its time as the most rarefied art film, its story is an unapologetic wartime melodrama, centering as it does on spies, assassination plots, adultery and several kinds of betrayal.

As melodramas go, however, this is an unmistakably adult one, as Lee has been careful to bring subtlety and sophistication to these undeniably pulpy premises. But yet again, though he cares deeply about character and psychology, about what goes on in the mind, the director has also been body-conscious enough to understand that this story needed the kind of unembarrassed, acrobatic sex that earned "Lust, Caution" an unapologetic NC-17 rating.

Those three relatively brief sexual encounters are the distillation of 154 grueling hours of filming in front of only the director, top-drawer cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto and two assistants, a period that was so hyperintense that one crew member called it "11 days in hell."

Yet existing alongside this focus on what went on in small spaces behind tightly closed doors is an interest in epic, panoramic history that led to the construction of a full-size replica of a sizable stretch of a 1942 Shanghai street, a standing set that encompassed 182 dressed, stocked and aged storefronts. Noted Lee, who has "Sense & Sensibility" among his credits, "re-creating Jane Austen's era was easier."

The existence of that street underlines that what is really significant about "Lust, Caution" is not its NC-17 rating but that it is Lee's first Chinese-language film since "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" (2000) and his first anywhere since winning the best director Oscar for "Brokeback Mountain" in 2006.

Clearly it would take a story that wouldn't let him go to bring back the filmmaker, and Chang's tale, which she revised again and again for more than 25 years before it was published in 1979, has been on Lee's mind for quite some time. It also allowed him to explore a critical period of Chinese history, the years of the Japanese occupation, which the rest of the world has all but forgot- en.

Though it's longer than the story that became "Brokeback Mountain," Chang's narrative is so sparely written that the screen credit might have been "suggested by." "Lust, Caution's" script turns hints into incidents and deepens the story's emotions while smartly teasing out the implications of what is on the page. "We just had to fill in the spaces she laid out," Lee has said, but there is more to it than that, including a change in emphasis and tone in the denouement that is critical.

"Lust, Caution" begins in Japanese-occupied Shanghai in 1942, inside the residential compound for high officials of the Chinese collaborationist government, a well-guarded enclave where the soothing click of tiles punctuates a mah-jongg game among the wives of the powerful hosted by Yee Tai Tai (Joan Chen).

Her husband, Mr. Yee (Leung), makes a brief appearance at the game. He is an opaque, taciturn presence (the opposite of the charming types Leung often plays) whose vaguely sinister edge fits with his occupation as the head of the intelligence service of the collaborationist regime. The merest hint of a look passes between him and another of the wives at the table, the svelte and sophisticated Mak Tai Tai (Tang Wei), but this is the kind of film where looks of any kind are significant.

Almost immediately Mak Tai Tai makes an excuse to leave the game. She goes to a cafe in downtown Shanghai, where she makes a phone call to a group of men, sits down at a table and begins to remember the past, specifically events in Hong Kong four years earlier, that the film then extensively flashes back to.

Mak Tai Tai, then called Wong Chia Chi, was, as were many Chinese at that time, a refugee, a young and innocent freshman at a university where she meets the idealistic and handsome theater director Kuang Yu Min (Chinese pop star Wang Leehom). Impelled by her crush on the director, Wong Chia Chi attaches herself to his dramatic troupe. It turns out that she is a natural actress, emotional enough to cry at movies but possessed as well of a gift for improvisation and dissimulation. When Kuang wants to move from theater to actual political action, she of course goes along.

Kuang's idea is to set a trap for and then assassinate Mr. Yee, already a top collaborator. An entire fake life is to be constructed for Wong Chia Chi, assigned to remake herself into the wealthy young wife Mak Tai Tai, who is to befriend Yee's wife with an eye toward becoming Mr. Yee's mistress, the easier to lead him to his death.

Wong Chia Chi falls easily into this impersonation, and Mr. Yee is unmistakably attracted to her. But once this point is reached, nothing goes simply, nothing happens the way anyone anticipated. Kuang and his troupe of tyro assassins are younger and more in over their heads than they realize, and things get emotionally and operationally out of hand with a rapidity that is stunning.

Yet, fatefully, this is only the beginning of the story. Coincidence places Mr. Yee and the woman he thinks of as Mak Tai Tai in each other's orbits three years later, and again this woman, more mature, not as naive or idealistic as she was before, agrees to restart the plot.

The relationship between Mr. Yee and this woman with a divided identity is the central dynamic of "Lust, Caution," and it is especially compelling because both participants are playing roles within roles, engaging in intricate double and triple games that get so complex they become ensnared in entanglements neither one anticipates or wants. Mutual deception, it turns out, has consequences on all sides of the equation.

The one place the protagonists are naked, both literally and psychologically, is when they make love, and the sex scenes in "Lust, Caution" are both explicit and essential to understanding character and motivation. Though the sex is graphic, it is by no means loving; in fact the hostility of the first encounter recalls the sexual initiation in "Brokeback Mountain." While they might not admit it, this appears to be the only place where the protagonists are honest with each other, where the complex, tortured, ever-changing relationship between them plays itself out.

Leung, used to emotional complexity after six films with director Wong Kar Wai, is excellent, but the film's breakout performance is by Tang Wei, who brings a shocking intensity and a remarkable range of emotions to the table. The 27-year-old actress has worked in theater and television, but the fact that Ingmar Bergman is her favorite director has stood her in good stead here. Tang Wei so connected with this tormented woman that by the end of shooting, she says, "the character wanted to hold me, like the roots of a tree."

The tree that supported her, and the whole film, through an exhausting 118-day shooting schedule was Lee, whose mastery of the filmmaking process increases with every project and who felt especially close to this one. Surrounding himself with an excellent team, including his longtime editor Tim Squyres, composer Alexandre Desplat and production/costume designer Pan Lai, Lee has made a film of ambition and accomplishment, one that is both a summation of all he knows and a promise of even greater achievement in the future.

愛在哪裡 – Where’s Love?

Album: 改變自己 Change the Way I am

Composed by: Leehom
Lyrics by: Leehom

*在哪裡 他到底在哪裡
zài nǎ lǐ tā dào dǐ zài nǎ lǐ
Where, exactly where is it

終於知道我給的太少 我的寶貝在哪裡
zhōng yú zhī dào wǒ gěi de tài shǎo wǒ de bǎo bèi zài nǎ lǐ
Finally I know I gave too little, where’s my baby

好可惜 像是場夢而已
hǎo kě xí xiàng shì cháng mèng ér yǐ
It’s ashame, seems like it was just a dream

醒來以後發現他卻走了 不回電 不回信
xǐng lái yǐ hòu fā xiàn tā què zǒu le bù huí diàn bù huí xìn
After waking up, discovered she was gone, not returning calls or letters

~告訴我 愛在哪裡 找過高 找過低
gào sù wǒ ài zài nǎ lǐ zhǎo guò gāo zhǎo guò dī
Tell me, where is love, I’ve searched high and loow

愛在哪裡 一直尋尋覓覓
ài zài nǎ lǐ yī zhí xún xún mì mì
Where’s love, searching and searching

愛在哪裡 如果看到他
ài zài nǎ lǐ rú guǒ kàn dào tā
Where’s love, if you see it

說我還 說我還在這裡
shuō wǒ huán shuō wǒ hái zài zhè lǐ
Telling it, tell it I’m still here

#告訴我 愛在哪裡 找過東 找過西
gào sù wǒ ài zài nǎ lǐ zhǎo guò dōng zhǎo guò xī
Tell me, where is love, I’ve searched east and west

愛在哪裡 仍然無聲無息
ài zài nǎ lǐ réng rán wú shēng wú xí
Where’s love, still no sound, no news

愛在哪裡 我好想念
ài zài nǎ lǐ wǒ hǎo xiǎng niàn
Where’s love, I miss it

他能回 快點回來 因為愛在那裡
tā néng huí kuài diǎn huí lái yīn wéi ài zài nǎ lǐ
It’ll return, hurry and return, because where is love

Repeat *, ~, #

找過高 找過低
gào sù wǒ ài zài nǎ lǐ zhǎo guò gāo zhǎo guò dī
Tell me, where is love, I’ve searched high and loow

愛在哪裡 一直尋尋覓覓
ài zài nǎ lǐ yī zhí xún xún mì mì
Where’s love, searching and searching

愛在哪裡 如果看到他
ài zài nǎ lǐ rú guǒ kàn dào tā
Where’s love, if you see it

說我還 說我還在這裡
shuō wǒ huán shuō wǒ hái zài zhè lǐ
Telling it, tell it I’m still here

Repeat #

我愛你
wǒ  ài  nǐ

不完整的旋律 - Incomplete Melody

Album: 改變自己 Change the Way I am.
Composed by: Leehom
Lyrics by: Leehom & Chen Zhen Chuan

心裡有個旋律 不完整的歌曲
xīn lǐ yǒu gè xuán lǜ bù wán zhěng de gē qū
There lies a song with an incomplete melody in my heart

你是否聽得出來我拖了一拍
nǐ shì fǒu tīng de chū lái wǒ tuō le yī pāi
Can you tell that I dragged out one beat?

最近世界有點奇怪好像缺了一塊
zuì jìn shì jiè yǒu diǎn qí guài hǎo xiàng quē le yī kuài
Recently the world has been peculiar, as if lacking something

心裡那個旋律 未完成的情緒
xīn lǐ nǎ gè xuán lǜ wèi wán chéng de qíng xù
The sentiments of an incomplete melody in my heart

如果你在傾聽 是否打動了你
rú guǒ nǐ zài qīng tīng shì fǒu dǎ dòng le nǐ
If you are listening attentively, does it touch you?

說實在我也不確定 這樣比較好聽
shuō shí zài wǒ yě bù què dìng zhè yàng bǐ jiào hǎo tīng
Honestly I’m not certain that this sounds better

*不完整的旋律 沒什麼結局
bù wán zhěng de xuán lǜ méi shén me jié jú
An incomplete melody has no ending

卻是我真實的聲音
què shì wǒ zhēn shí de shēng yīn
Yet its my true voice

不完整的旋律 勇敢的唱給你聽
bù wán zhěng de xuán lǜ yǒng gǎn de chàng gěi nǐ tīng
This incomplete melody, I sing for you bravely

填滿你我不完整的感情
tián mǎn nǐ wǒ bù wán zhěng de gǎn qíng
Cramming in our incomplete emotions

想寫一個旋律 沒修飾的痕跡
xiǎng xiě yī gè xuán lǜ méi xiū shì de hén jī
Want to write a melody, one with an unadorned vestige

一聽就立刻明白我找到了愛
yī tīng jiù lì kè míng bái wǒ zhǎo dào le ài
One that straightforwardly expresses my finding of love

即使別人覺得奇怪 不需要再更改
jí shǐ bié rén jué de qí guài bù xū yào zài gèng gǎi
Though others find it strange, alterations aren’t necessary

Repeat *, *