Life of Brian

Dragon Riders of Avatar for Kaye

One of many many reasons that I am absolutely certain that my daughter Kaye will absolutely love Avatar, especially as we plan to see it in 3D, is that the Na’vi seem to be Dragonriders, rather Banshee riders in which Banshee look a heck of a lot like Dragons.

This clip is from Cineplex is a new scene where Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña) introduces Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) to her Banshee.

Yep.  If that Banshee were blue and white, Kaye would be on the next wormhole to Pandora in a jiffy.

All the best,
Brian

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Brian David Phillips, PhD, CH [brian@briandavidphillips.com] 
Hypnotist, Hypnotherapist, Intuitionist, Trance Wizard 
President, Society of Experiential Trance
Associate Professor, NCCU, Taipei, Taiwan

Happy Thanksgiving to my friends and family and strangers who celebrate the holiday and to those who do not.

Happy Thanksgiving to my friends and family and strangers who celebrate the holiday and to those who do not.

I am still very much under the weather and since Kaye is not home from school dorm life until Friday night, our Thanksgiving dinner will be then.

All the best,
Brian

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Brian David Phillips, PhD, CH [brian@briandavidphillips.com] 
Hypnotist, Hypnotherapist, Intuitionist, Trance Wizard 
President, Society of Experiential Trance
Associate Professor, NCCU, Taipei, Taiwan

Out of Commission for a Bit or H1N1 Blues

My daughter Kaye came down with H1N1 and so she's been home for a week in self-exile in the home and away from school.  Unfortunately, as she got better, I came down with a fever and went into the hospital and lo and behold I've got the blasted thing.  Lorraine went in and tested positive the next day.  I am very sure that I gave it to Lorraine.  While I could have gotten it from Kaye who got it at school, it is more likely I caught it from one of my students as Kaye was very good about staying in self-exile in the home when she was diagnosed.  Of course, where one gets it is far less important than getting rid of it or not catching it in the first place.

Kaye is back to school today as her quarantine period is over.

Lorraine and I both have been taking our drugs.  Lorraine seems to be on a faster recovery track than me but that makes sense as she's always had this uberpowerful immune system that normally just laughs in the face of illness (so this thing hitting her the way it did shows it's a strong-ass virus) and I've got some pre-existing respiratory issues that kind of get in the way (one reason I've been hoping I didn't catch the blasted beastie).  I've severe allergies and a partially collapsed lung that make respiratory ailments particularly crappy.

However, I do seem to be headed firmly in the direction of getting better rather than worse so that's a big plus . . . okay, make that an ubermegawow plus.

In any case, I'm mostly offline for the week as I sit on my butt at home . . . I know, one would think I would be online more but I just don't feel up to it as much as usual so no online bonus at the moment.

We have house guests so we're kind of self-quarantined on the third floor of our home so we don't infect our guests (my computer room is on second floor so mostly I use the little notebook computer which is a pain in the ass for me with it's Chinese interface and tiny hard-to-see screen).

So . . . if you email me or message me and I don't reply . . . there's a reason for it.  Please be patient, when all returns to normal healthwise, I will get back to you.

All the best,
Brian

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Brian David Phillips, PhD, CH [brian@briandavidphillips.com] 
Hypnotist, Hypnotherapist, Intuitionist, Trance Wizard 
President, Society of Experiential Trance
Associate Professor, NCCU, Taipei, Taiwan

Happy Double Ten

Happy Double Ten!

All the best,
Brian

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Brian David Phillips, PhD, CH [brian@briandavidphillips.com] 
Hypnotist, Hypnotherapist, Intuitionist, Trance Wizard 
President, Society of Experiential Trance
Associate Professor, NCCU, Taipei, Taiwan

My Father on Youtube?

Sometimes a video is posted to the internet that is so powerfully inspiring that you absolutely have to watch it, transfixed by its awesomeness . . . this is not one of those videos . . . but . . . you will still find yourself transfixed, seriously . . . once you press play below, you will be transfixed . . . talk about a fixation hypnosis induction . . .

No, sorry, it's not really my father . . . not that I would have any great issue against him consensually doing such a thing, it's just not him this time around . . . but . . . it is someone else's father . . . although, I suspect it't not really James Gunn's father either, despite his getting upset about it (http://www.jamesgunn.com/2009/09/26/my-dad-is-fucked-up) but it would kind of be funny if it were.

This Mistress Rachel seems to get around and inspire some youtube videos that are beyond the typical fare . . . http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4gT99i-x1c . . . well, it could be the same Mistress Rachel or some other Mistress Rachel or few runnin' around . . . the first may be a viral ad (hopefully, at least), I don't think the second is so much.

All the best,
Brian

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Brian David Phillips, PhD, CH [brian@briandavidphillips.com] 
Hypnotist, Hypnotherapist, Intuitionist, Trance Wizard 
President, Society of Experiential Trance
Associate Professor, NCCU, Taipei, Taiwan

Kaye Elizabeth Phillips plays Schubert

On 5 Sept. 2009, we took in the recital for students of Kaye's piano teacher . . . here is Kaye Elizabeth Phillips performing a piece by Schubert (Impromptus op.90 d.899 n.4) . . .

If you can't see the video embed in your stream, then go to my main blog at http://briandavidphillips.typepad.com/brian or you can go straight to the youtube page for the video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2LHavc-BFo and be sure to watch it in high definition.

Kaye has just begun her first year in a music specialty high school program at Tamkang High School (yes, the school where Jay Chou went; also the setting for the fantasy film "The Secret"). This is the oldest music specialty high school program in Taiwan and actually has been noted for having much more music emphasis and coursework for students than other schools with similar programs.

Kaye entered the program with a major in piano and a minor in cello but from the get-go her intention has been to drop cello and switch to a major in music composition and minor in piano (dropping cello which she is the opposite of strong in like a hot potato). 

Last week, Lorraine and I visited the campus and chatted with the supervising music instructor and told her of Kaye's plans (we wanted to make sure she could take some extra instruction to prepare her for the transfer). Kaye's dream is to be a professional composer and she's been writing original piano music since she was thirteen. We were asked to have Kaye prepare a submission packet of sheet music for some of her compositions and an audio CD (I put together a new CD for her with her newer compositions rather than use her first audio CD which some of you are familiar with). On Monday, Kaye submitted her packet and on Tuesday the music instructor told her she did not need to attend cello class and last night she told me she's definitely switching to composition - although we're not yet sure if they are starting her at a composition minor to get a feel for it or as a major right away . . . either way, she's more than a little happy (as are we as this is her talent and the sooner she follows that bliss, the better).

She has some of her older compositions on her webpage at http://www.kayephillips.com (although that page tends to stand dormant at the moment with no updates in quite some time - it's a myspace thingie and I imagine eventually, we'll move it to a more fully fledged beastie).

All the best,
Brian

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Brian David Phillips, PhD, CH [brian@briandavidphillips.com] 
Hypnotist, Hypnotherapist, Intuitionist, Trance Wizard 
President, Society of Experiential Trance
Associate Professor, NCCU, Taipei, Taiwan

Beatles . . . Rock Band . . . TODAY

Today is 09-09-09 and for those who understand the workings of the universe, that is the BIG DAY as today is the day that BEATLES ROCK BAND is released.  Lorraine's been as excited as a human can be about a video game on this one.  I used to think I was an uberbeatles fan but my loving wife is about as obsessive of things beatlemania as one can get.  I suspect our daughter has one of the most comprehensive Beatles educations a fifteen year old can get and would not be shocked if she were the only teen in Taiwan with the level of knowledge and exposure she has grown up with.

The New York Times asks if the Beatles can revive the gaming industry with this one - http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/08/AR2009090800567.html - and we care less about that rather important question than on getting the ol' grubbies on the game itself.

We don't actually have Rock Band, we have Guitar Hero World Tour for the family rockfest but . . . assuming that the Beatles version of the game actually goes on sale here, we may just get the platform to play the game (although, we're assuming that our Guitar Hero equipment should work fine for the X-Box version, we'll have to see if it actually ships here).

In any case, we're vicariously going to enjoy other people's enjoyment of the game as we stew in our primordial green slime of envy.

All the best,
Brian
http://www.briandavidphillips.com/workshops/wakingbliss.html

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Brian David Phillips, PhD, CH [brian@briandavidphillips.com] 
Hypnotist, Hypnotherapist, Intuitionist, Trance Wizard 
President, Society of Experiential Trance
Associate Professor, NCCU, Taipei, Taiwan

Home Sweet Home

We are home . . . back in Taiwan.  It's easy for me to tell when I am back in Taiwan . . . other than the Chinese signs saying you're in Taiwan at the airport . . . within two minutes of stepping out of the departures lounge and heading to the shuttle pickup I was coughing my guts out from the pollution.  As some of you know, I've a partially collapsed lung which along with my severe allergies contributes to bouts of coughing . . . not fun and it certainly gets in the way of travelling comfortably, but we manage and the grand success of the recent Walkabout Trance Beach Resort Getaway and eXperiential Erotic Hypnosis seminars in Los Angeles was well worth the extra hassles even if we are now running on fumes for the time being . . . I seem to be particularly susceptible to polluted air (often noticed around car exhaust and cigarrette smoke).  The air around the university where I work is particularly filled with happy little invisible thingies that cause me to cough non-delightfully for a day or two after being on campus.

Ah, home sweet home . . . odd points . . . this year, the Los Angeles trip proved to be for the most part no problem for my lungs . . . albeit I confined most of my visit in and around the Redondo and Hermosa Beach area.  Actually, I coughed more in Honolulu in the Waikiki area - mostly along busy roads - in our decompress after the big LA events.  Of course, returning to Taiwan, I got hit hard with the coughing right away.  Ah, the joy of it all.

All the best,
Brian

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Brian David Phillips, PhD, CH [brian@briandavidphillips.com] 
Hypnotist, Hypnotherapist, Intuitionist, Trance Wizard 
President, Society of Experiential Trance
Associate Professor, NCCU, Taipei, Taiwan

Headin' Home . . .

Lorraine and I will be headin' home to Taipei in a couple hours.  The flight is out of Honolulu this morning with a stop in Tokyo (unfortunately, they won't be letting us off the plane for the short stop so I won't be able to rush out and snarf up a Fuji Real 3D W1 at some random shop - will have to wait for that puppy like everyone else).

At least it sort of breaks up the looooooong flight.

I very much enjoyed the trip to Los Angeles and theWalkabout Trance Beach Resort Getaway and eXperiential Erotic Hypnosis events went wonderfully.  I did manage to catch a sore throat but that seems to pretty much always be the case when I travel, especially rushed trips like this one where we literally arrived at the venue the day before the event.  Never really learn those lessons we should be learning for future events (actually, couldn't have helped the rush this time around).

Honolulu has been nice but not enough time.  Will have to come back some time and do it right . . . and we will.

Okay, this is me signing off until we meet again in Taiwan.

All the best,
Brian

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Brian David Phillips, PhD, CH [brian@briandavidphillips.com] 
Hypnotist, Hypnotherapist, Intuitionist, Trance Wizard 
President, Society of Experiential Trance
Associate Professor, NCCU, Taipei, Taiwan

Greetings from Hawaii . . .

We're in beautifully Hawaii for a few days, decompressing on our way home to Taipei (breaking the long flight home a bit as well). Lorraine and I walked down to Waikiki Beach this morning . . . here's a photo of some new friends we made . . .

Obviously, this photo has found itself on the ol' notebook computer as the new desktop.

One thing we have definitely discovered is that we will most certainly be returning to Hawaii again . . . albeit, next time wewill absolutely have daughter Kaye in tow.

We'll be heading back to Taipei in a couple days and then back to the grind.

All the best,
Brian

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Brian David Phillips, PhD, CH [brian@briandavidphillips.com] 
Hypnotist, Hypnotherapist, Intuitionist, Trance Wizard 
President, Society of Experiential Trance
Associate Professor, NCCU, Taipei, Taiwan

Leaving On A Jet Plane . . . off to LA

All our bags are packed, we're ready to roll . . . so . . . while I've a few autoposts in the queue on the blog, I may or may not have reliable internet access for live updates and the like within the next few days as we travel across the - hopefully - clear blue skies over the ocean, hopping from airport to airport and sitting around waiting for flights a LOT, as we wind our way from Taipei to Los Angeles for the mega-kool events this weekend (finally, WALKABOUT TRANCE and EROTIC HYPNOSIS events are THIS WEEKEND).

We leave Taipei this afternoon and have a looooooong layover in Honolulu before shifting and getting on a flight to Los Angeles where we will arrive on Friday morning, early . . . yes, it's the travel schedule from hell but it's what Lorraine could get worked out at the time.

Those we are leaving in Taipei, we look forward to returning to you soon . . . in a week.  Those in Los Angeles, we look forward to having a wonderful weekend with you.

Those of you on the various mailing lists I run . . . uh, hang in there.  Most of the email lists have working co-moderators . . . some don't.  So bear with things if list traffic gets affected.

Peace be with thee,
Brian

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Brian David Phillips, PhD, CH [brian@briandavidphillips.com] 
Hypnotist, Hypnotherapist, Intuitionist, Trance Wizard 
President, Society of Experiential Trance
Associate Professor, NCCU, Taipei, Taiwan

Cats Train Humans Better than Humans Train Cats

This piece from io9 explains sooooo much . . . http://io9.com/5313766/cats-can-train-humans-better-than-humans-can-train-cats . . . research from the University of Sussex demonstrates so very well exactly what's been going on in our house for years and years and years.

All the best,
Brian

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Brian David Phillips, PhD, CH [brian@briandavidphillips.com] 
Hypnotist, Hypnotherapist, Intuitionist, Trance Wizard 
President, Society of Experiential Trance
Associate Professor, NCCU, Taipei, Taiwan

The Haircut

Edit:  Since originally posting this, I have since added the Haircut Redux video to this post as per special request-slash-suggestion-slash-command from Lorraine who feels the longer video will have fewer folks reading the end credits with the pointers to the music source page which she seems to think is more important than the actual video itself and she might be right as the music is by Kaye Elizabeth Phillips (http://www.kayephillips.com).

This morning, I posted a tweet on my twitter (http://twitter.com/meiguolangren) that was echoed on my facebook (http://www.facebook.com/briandavidphillips) that I was about to do something very silly . . . a few folks asked me whatever in the world that silliness would be . . . this photo might be a clue . . .

Lorraine did the honors (as always), stepping into her role of Delilah to my Samson without any sort of hesitancy. This is not the longest my hair has been before cutting so it's not the biggest style change I've seen in that regard (I once had near-waistlength hair cut to a GI buzz on television for a role in for which I appeared on stage in The Biloxi Blues for a mere thirty or so seconds - I was the assistant director and stage manager for the show and a number of the actors, particularly the leading man, were bitching and moaning about getting their hair cut so I told the director I'd go first to shut 'em up and they didn't have much room to moan after my soft curly locks started falling to the floor - by the way, my scene was in almost total darkness and I was mostly nude but unseen so I actually didn't have to have my hair cut but did so as I'm a bit odd that way - it is fun to change things up every once in awhile).

It's been a long while since I did any stage work (although that's my professional training with undergraduate and graduate degrees in theatre) and I do miss it sometimes. Back in the day, more than a few of my training directors, coaches, and teachers said that male actors should keep their hair long as it's a whole lot easier to have it cut for a role than it is to grow it out. Of course, that was back in the day when hair extensions and wigs were pretty damned easy to spot . . . oh, they still are today.

Here's the video we made of the cut for those who wish to see the images. Enjoy . . .

THE HAIRCUT REDUX
Abbreviated Chronological Version

This version of the video is the short and sweet no-fuss-no-mess chronological version of the piece. If you're not reading this at the Life of Brian (which you should as the original post there includes the video embeds for your viewing convenience), the youtube is at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8nNOWn_VLs.

THE HAIRCUT
Long Artistic Non-Linear Version

This version is the original long artistic non-linear rendering. If you're not reading this at the Life of Brian (which you should), the youtube is at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LauJrZpbGM.

Yes, I used different music for both versions of the video. Both songs are original compositions and performances by our favorite musician/composer on the planet, Kaye Elizabeth Phillips (http://www.kayephillips.com). These are relatively early pieces for her but I like them.

When Lorraine held up my braid, I did the whole "no you cut to much" fake panic thing but she wasn't buying it. Kaye can't figure out why in the world I would want to have it cut, but she's used to it. I have been finding today that every once in awhile, I have been moving my hand to the back of my neck to adjust the position of my braid as has been my habit . . . phantom hair, that is.

It will take a while to get used to it . . . but by then I wouldn't be surprised if I've started growing it back.

All the best,
Brian

(If you are reading this blog post via a stream, go to http://briandavidphillips.typepad.com/brian/ to access the full post with any videos or photos included.)

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Brian David Phillips, PhD, CH [brian@briandavidphillips.com]
Hypnotist, Hypnotherapist, Intuitionist, Trance Wizard
President, Society of Experiential Trance
Associate Professor, NCCU, Taipei, Taiwan

My Birthday Mind

Yesterday was my birthday (yes, I am indeed yet another year older, funny how that happens every year).  For the last five or so years, my birthday celebration has usually been a Summer family blockbuster cinema excursion with Kaye and a bunch of her friends but this year there was no big family blockbuster opening for us to see (I know, readers in the US have their Land of the Lost and UP funtimes but neither of those films open in Taiwan for some time, heck we don't even have The Hangover yet, although that will come soon).  So, we spent the morning at Kaye's school for her to register for the draw on high school programs with special music classes.  Kaye and I then went comic book and video game snarfing at Shimending (yes, we had lunch at Kaye's favorite restaurant, Moe Point, cosplaying French Maid costumes and all) while Lorraine had a meeting at work.  Kaye and I spent money on "stuff" . . . evidently more money than humans should spend in such a short time.  When Lorraine finally met up with us, I told her to ask me what I had bought myself for my birthday while pointing my finger at the empty space on the table in front of me . . . then I told her to ask me what I bought Kaye for my birthday . . . pointing to a rather sizeable pile of graphic novels, doodads, a hat, and some X Box games she's been drooling after for months . . . quite a good haul on her part (no, not really for "my birthday" . . . let's call it graduation loot). We went home and had pizza and watched my pick of DVDs . . . yes, I chose This is Spinal Tap for its musical goodness . . . and so should you.

A friend sent me an SMS text message wishing me a happy birthday and asking how the big-three-oh felt. As I hit the big-three-oh many many many moons ago, I can't really remember how it felt. However, I can give you an inkling of whatever big-oh-my-god-I'm-old is feels . . .

Okay, maybe that's not exactly how I feel . . . as I'm neither Fred nor a youngster of forty . . . but the sentiments hits home. For those unfamiliar with the joys of annoyance of Fred, see the real Fred's youtube stream at http://www.youtube.com/fred and you'll get the reference, the rest of us don't need the reference as the midlife crisisian wakeup has just enough reality in it.

All the best,
Brian

(If you are reading this blog post via a stream, go to http://briandavidphillips.typepad.com/brian/ to access the full post with any videos or photos included.)

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Brian David Phillips, PhD, CH [brian@briandavidphillips.com]
Hypnotist, Hypnotherapist, Intuitionist, Trance Wizard
President, Society of Experiential Trance
Associate Professor, NCCU, Taipei, Taiwan

Blueberry Girl . . .

Hear the poem by Neil Gaiman with beautiful illustration in the embedded video . . .

Go to the webpage with the fascinating backstory of the piece at http://webcontent.harpercollins.com/images/om/sz/blueberrygirl-mothersday.htm.

It's a lovely piece.

All the best,
Brian

(If you are reading this blog post via a stream, go to http://briandavidphillips.typepad.com/brian/ to access the full post with any videos or photos included.)

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Brian David Phillips, PhD, CH [brian@briandavidphillips.com]
Hypnotist, Hypnotherapist, Intuitionist, Trance Wizard
President, Society of Experiential Trance
Associate Professor, NCCU, Taipei, Taiwan

Good Luck, Kaye!

Today, my daughter, Kaye (http://www.kayephillips.com) begins a three-day intensive examination process as she takes the Joint Music Specialty High School Examination.  She's finishing junior high school this year and Taiwan has an education system that requires that kids take a unified entrance examination for high school to compete for spots in the schools (basically, kids end up going to the high school that accepts kids within the score range - so, kids want to do well to get into the better schools).  Kaye's dream is to get into a high school with a music specialty program and so she's been doing extensive intensive study to prepare for the music exam this weekend (the general unifed exam is later in May).  This is the big weekend.  Today, she has theory and history exams along with listening and singing exams.  Tonight and Sunday she has review sessions in piano and performance exams in piano (her major instrument) and cello (her minor instrument) on Monday.  It's a big deal and very stressful for her . . . but . . . this is what she's been dreaming about and focusing a lot of work into for some time.

Wish her well.

Good luck, Kaye, I love you!

All the best,
Brian (aka, Daddy)

Snarky Tofu on My Several Worlds (Joshua Samuel Brown interview worth the looksee)

One of my favorite writers and friend Joshua Samuel Brown (http://www.josambro.com) - the link is also in the "favorite authors" sidebar on my blog - is a difficult person to pin down, not that I would really want to engage in same-sex semi-nude wrestling with the guy in order to pin him, I gave that sort of thing up in high school.  He's a delightful person with an amazing number of facets and is a very witty writer, albeit with a bizarrehumorstreak that takes some getting used to for some but for those who "get" him, he's delightful.  Josh has just been interviewed by Carrie Marsall at My Several Worlds (http://www.myseveralworlds.com) and it's a very worthwhile interview well worth your looksee, as is the rest of Carrie's blog.  Carrie was first exposed to Josh's writing through his Snarky Tofu blog (http://josambro.blogspot.com) - you can find both blogs in the Taiwan blog connection on my own blog's sidebar, although I'm including all the relevant links here anyway so you can click away and enjoy.

The interview is nicely done and captures both Josh's engaging style and a bit of his fun personality.  I also reccommend both blogs as worthwhile adds to one's regular blogroll.

Go forth and read and enjoy.

All the best,
Brian

(If you are reading this blog post via a stream, go to http://briandavidphillips.typepad.com/brian/ to access the full post with any videos or photos included.)

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Brian David Phillips, PhD, CH [brian@briandavidphillips.com]
Hypnotist, Hypnotherapist, Intuitionist, Trance Wizard
President, Society of Experiential Trance
Associate Professor, NCCU, Taipei, Taiwan

Kaye's Birthday Sarah Brightman Experience

The Clan Phillips, Taipei Branch, had a rather busy busy day yesterday. Well, actually, Kaye had the very busy day while Lorraine and I were busy ferrying her all about the city from appointment to appointment.

April Fourth is Kaye's birthday and yesterday she turned fifteen years of age. However, rather than celebrating all day on a Saturday, she had classes nearly all day but we did do something special in the evening.

As many of you know, Kaye is a bit of a maniac when it comes to music (yes, my daughter is a Music Maniac see http://www.kayephillips.com for some of her original music) and she's been busy this year, like all wouldbe junior high school graduates in Taiwan, preparing for the high school entrance examination. Kaye has her heart set on getting into a music specialty program so that means study, study, and more study . . . not only for regular classes but also more music than you can shake a stick at.

Since her music theory bushiban has a practice music specialty exam today, yesterday, her birthday, was spent going to all of her regular music classes with an ear toward preparations both for the practice exam but really toward the real thing which happens in two weeks.

So, we got up early and headed off to her Cello class and then we shuttled over to Music History and Theory tutorial and then to her Piano class . . . but, that's actually a typical Saturday . . . we had more . . . something special . . . it is her birthday, after all . . . we went to the Taipei Arena for the Sarah Brightman (http://www.sarah-brightman.com) concert! The Symphony Tour has come to Taiwan and we were there for it! Kaye enjoys Brightman's work and so this was a big deal birthday experience. All day she was fatigued and had a headache but when it came time for the concert, she was on the edge of her seat enjoying the experience the entire time.

BIRTHDAY DINNER AT OUTBACK

Lorraine and Kaye share a mother-birthdaydaughter moment in Outback, the Australian restaurant at Asiaworld as we chow down some good food before the concert. The food was very good, if a bit slow coming for our needs (we now know to show up a whole lot earlier rather than right before we need to rush off to a show). I definitely want to go there again.

KAYE IN A SEA OF PEOPLE

This concert by Sarah Brightman was Kaye's very first major concert experience. We've been to concerts before but mostly those are classical musicians in much smaller venues. This was Kaye's first chance to see a world class performer in a large arena so it was a very new experience. Great to see, but the intimacy is gone as you are just another dot in a sea of humanity. However, that carries with it an amazing positive energy (such as the audible gasp of delight that flowed through the crowd as the opening notes of Phantom thundered from the stage). I told Kaye that I truly believe that some day her music will be played to crowds of this size (there were well over four times as many people in this single space than live in my home town back in the States). Of course, I also told her - this time half-jokingly - that when that happens, she can buy dear-old-dad a simple house like Mariah Carey's new one-hundred-twenty-five-million-dollar palace.

A VIEW OF THE STAGE

Yes, we were in the nosebleed section . . . although tickets even that high up in the stratosphere were not cheap. However, Kaye had good binoculars for when she wanted to really get in close to the action and Lorraine had some crappy binoculars for her experience (nope, I didn't get any but then I often can't work the blasted things anyway so it was good). Even this high up, the show was visually amazing and aurally just plain ol' wow, wow, wow. Some folks were there to hear the popular pieces while others were there for the virtuoso sets. Kaye drank in the entire experience (and her critical ear was very satisfied). Brightman is one of those performers who sounds amazing live and not just on audio CD where the editors and producers rework anything and everything to make even the most mundane of voices sound golden. She's a true voice musician. We have a couple of her CDs that get frequent plan in the car CD player during our regular commutes (although at the moment we're getting a lot of Angel Voices and Libera on those commutes as Kaye has discovered a passion for boy choirs - not typical adolescent fare like manufactured boy bands like other teenagers are duped into worshiping via the plastic altar, but choirs - once more, more about the substance and skill than the flash).

THE ACTION

Obviously, we did not bother taking more than a couple test photos during the actual concert and certainly no video . . . we have the DVD and audio CD for getting in close. However, this gives you an idea of the stage setup which turned out to be an amazing setup indeed. The mirror bits were wonderful and the visual experience was awesome. I told Lorraine it seemed as if the show's designers have been dating magicians as some classic magician's optical illusions serve as center pieces to some of the show visual effects, put to very good use.

YUMMY . . . BIRTHDAY CAKE

We got in late and it was a very very long day . . . but . . . the birthday girl still got some cake, although, in fairness, it was after midnight and technically no longer her birthday but such technicalities are silly when in the face of actual birthday cake ready to be devoured. No, she's not fifty-one, the candles say fifteen, I was just on the wrong side of the blasted thing taking the photo.

And . . . of course . . . here is a special bonus . . . while outside Outback, we came across something that immediately made us think of one of our very very favorite episodes of Dr. Who, Blink (one of the pieces adapted by the same author from a short story). Some of you will get this, others won't but Kaye and I simultaneously came up with the same idea . . . so . . .

DON'T BLINK . . .

"Don't blink, don't even blink, blink and you're dead! They are fast, faster than you could believe. Don't turn your back, don't look away, and don't blink! Good Luck."

―The Doctor

There you have it . . . April Four, Two-Thousand-and-Nine. Kaye's fifteenth birthday. Of course, the weekend's not yet finished and she's still a very busy girl. She stumbled out of bed early this morning to head back to the music specialty cram school for an all-day simulation test for the music specialty high school entrance examination. Tired, but satisfied. Two more weeks and she has the real music exam at which time she will drop her special music classes and concentrate on regular studies intensively for the regular course part of the regular high school entrance examination.

For those of you back home . . . nope, kids don't just go to the closest high school here in Taiwan. They take a general test and then get admitted into the high schools appropriate to their scores. Most kids want to go to the best schools and competition is fierce. We've never pushed Kaye the way most of her classmates have been pushed (only two students in her class don't go to cram school for academic courses every single day). We have arranged extra music courses for her this year because of the pressure but have held off on most of the other bits of the hamster-wheel, although she does have a math tutor now as well.

I wish kids could just be kids and that learning could be about joyful discovery all the time and at the pace and level and interest of the child, but practical pressures of idjit government planning and misguided idjiocy get in the way of developing well-balanced happy individuals.

However, that's neither here nor there or, rather, it's everywhere. Happy Birthday, Kaye. We love you.

All the best,
Brian

sometimes things SUCK more than a lot

I am as sick as a dawg right now, sicker than.  Lorraine left for a few days in Hong Kong to attend the film market, starting yesterday.  So, as one would expect for such things . . . the evening before I had a slight upset stomach, by the time Lorraine boarded the airplane I was suddenly hit with stronger nausea and some chills, by the time her plane touched down in Hong Kong, I was running a fever with bone-shaking chills then the throwing-up of all sorts of nastiness began.  I know, I'm usually down and out when separated from Lorraine but usually it's an emotional separation anxiety that gets to me, not a physical full-on physical deterioration.  The timing is coincidental but it sure does have a touch of synchronicity in there.  I had to call in sick from work today and I absolutely hate having to do that, especially since the students were supposed to present speeches, but there was just no way I could make the drive from Keelung to Mucha.  This morning, I felt a bit better but then got hit with it again.  Hopefully, after two rest and liquids and rest and the like I will be fit enough for classes and ubermeetings on Thursday, but for now, feeling lousy and missing my woman.  Kaye has been great about getting me water and hot lemon and putting on more covers when the chills hit me.  It freaks her out a bit having to take care of me, I can tell but she has demonstrated an ability to take on responsibility when needed (of course, like her father, she prefers it when she's not the one who has to shoulder those responsibilities).  I am counting on being on the mend from this thing, whatever the devil it is, soon.  Other things are looking up though.

All the best,
Brian

(If you are reading this blog post via a stream, go to http://briandavidphillips.typepad.com/brian/ to access the full post with any videos or photos included.)

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Brian David Phillips, PhD, CH [brian@briandavidphillips.com]
Hypnotist, Hypnotherapist, Intuitionist, Trance Wizard
President, Society of Experiential Trance
Associate Professor, NCCU, Taipei, Taiwan

Ticked, Miffed, Pe-oed, and on Peevish Pout regarding computers and whatnot

The unjoys of not being a happy camper.  Saturday morning early, my family was set to go on a trip down to Taichung and environs as Lorraine and I didn't get a chance to celebrate our sixteenth wedding anniversary proper as that's the day I returned from my long stay in India for the latest hypnoteaching tour.  So, we're all set to go and I check my email one last time and my virus scanner gives me an update message saying I need to reboot for the new data and program changes to take effect so . . . I reboot and the whole damned system dies.  No more reboot, no system screens just blinking cursor death.

Not a happy camper indeed as I had not yet checked my new emails (if you emailed me within the last weekend I may not have received the mail) and we have to hit the road.

So, the computer sits on the dining room table for an entire weekend plus as we are out of town.

Now that we're back in Taipei it will take a few days before I can get the blasted thing to a shop and then who knows how long before I get it back.

This is a double grrrrr time thingie.  There's stuff I NEED on that machine, stuff I could not access and address while I was in India that needs taking care of now . . . but it languishes on the dead machine.

I can check webmail for now . . . so, new correspondence is coming in.

If you have pressing matters, be patient.

Of course, those who need to sign up for courses or the free workshop or order materials can still contact Lorraine's address . . . no problem.  You are fine.  Speaking of which, if you have not signed up for the free workshop on Feb. 22 http://www.briandavidphillips.com/workshops/ecstacy.html then you need to do that now.  Lorraine needs you contact info so she can send you the venue info.

The trip?  Some ups and some downs.  I was bummed about the computer in my obsessive compulsive way but still managed to have some nice moments . . . and some awkward ones I do not wish to repeat again.

All the best,
Brian

Lost Luggages Lazily Lofts its way . . . home . . .

As noted earlier (http://briandavidphillips.typepad.com/brian/2009/02/back-home-in-taipei.html), I made it back home to Taipei after some odd shifts and strange airport encounters in Mumbai with a fairly brisk transfer in Hong Kong.

Unfortunately, my luggage managed to get lost in the shuffle.

Well . . . my luggage has finally made it home.

That is a tremendous load off my mind as I was forced to check my computer and hard drive in at the last minute and so was very concerned particularly regarding my hard drive which had a whole lot of proprietary material that has not yet been copied to a backup system.

All is now safe and working and well at home.

All the best,
Brian

Back Home in Taipei

I have left India and am back in Taipei . . . safe and sound . . . well, I'M back . . . unfortunately, my luggage has not yet made the trip back.

The joys of air travel . . . the baggage handling process has eaten my luggage . . . the airline has misplaced my bags.  Evidently, my bags are somewhere between Taipei and Mumbai . . . the guy I spoke to assumes they are lounging somewhere in Hong Kong, having missed the connecting flight that I was on.

The airport folks said that I should feel rest assured that they will get the bags to me soon and that I should very likely expect them to be delivered to my home tonight.

Well . . . tonight ain't gonna last forever so my stress levels are at a nice gentle roar.

I had a sinking finger that something wretched would happen to my bags ever since the morning and made a point of it to check with the girl who checked me in that I would not need to claim my bags in Hong Kong but that they would be transferred to the same Cathay Pacific flight I was on at the time (I was assured that the bags would absolutely reach Taipei with me and on the same flight).

Uh, nope.

I am hopeful but the ever vigilant sceptic (I say practical sceptic and you say raving pessimist) within me has more than a few doubts about the intended or unintended lack of veracity of that statement.

However, I also have my fingers crosses.

I've got a ton of intellectual property in there along with some really kool material for which there are not copies, leaving me hanging high and dry.  While I have some of the material on backup hard disks

While one can certainly understand why Mumbai would have an extensive security system in place and the need to cross the t's and dot the i's becomes a very real part of who one is.

The sexual behavior one really let go and just teach some ghetto kids for the skill sets.

Of course, we had to limit the nujmber or times

Pall Mall.

All the best,
Brian

(If you are reading this blog post via a stream, go to http://briandavidphillips.typepad.com/brian/ to access the full post with any videos or photos included.)

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Brian David Phillips, PhD, CH [brian@briandavidphillips.com]
Hypnotist, Hypnotherapist, Intuitionist, Trance Wizard
President, Society of Experiential Trance
Associate Professor, NCCU, Taipei, Taiwan

Happy Anniversary, Lorraine

Lorraine, it is hard to believe that we've been married for sixteen years now . . . and I love you just as much today.  I knew when I met you twenty years ago, something special was happening and that special feeling has never dimmed.

I love you,
Brian

Off to India . . .

Early in the morning, I will be heading to the airport for a trip to India where I will be spending a couple weeks teaching various hypnosis courses.  Then I'm off to Hong Kong for a short vacation.

So, my internet connection may or may not be stable while I'm away . . . depending upon the various hotels I will be staying in.

The various comoderators of the email lists I own will need to pick up the slack on moderation, if not, please be patient.

If I'm not able to say it then . . . have a wonderful Chinese New Year!  This will be the first CNY I have spent away from my wife and daughter . . . ever.

BTW, for those of you on Facebook, I was logging on to update my page and found out my account's been disabled.  As with all things Facebook, they don't tell you why.  No warning and as far as I can tell none of my activities violate the terms of service.  Although, there is a possibility that I went over quota on friend adds or that someone mistook the Erotic Hypnosis course info for pornography (which it is NOT).  I use facebook for my university courses and to keep in touch with folks (many of whom I do NOT have email addresses for) so I am hoping they reinstate the beastie but one never knows.  Wish me luck on that end.

All the best,
Brian

(If you are reading this blog post via a stream, go to http://briandavidphillips.typepad.com/brian/ to access the full post with any videos or photos included.)

 HYPNOSIS VIDEO COURSES
http://www.briandavidphillips.com/products/shop.html
    Hypnosis Shows, Sessions, Training . . . and MORE!
See http://www.BrianDavidPhillips.com for details

Brian David Phillips, PhD, CH [brian@briandavidphillips.com]
Hypnotist, Hypnotherapist, Intuitionist, Trance Wizard
President, Society of Experiential Trance
Associate Professor, NCCU, Taipei, Taiwan

Sick as a Dog

Such and odd expression: "Sick as a Dog."  Whether it actually makes sense or not, I certainly felt that way last night.  I got hit hard with bone-shaking chills and fever last night which continued well into the wee hours of the morning.  The fever finally broke and the chills stopped so now I just feel the regular nausea and upset of a rather flu or cold or somesuch nastiness.  I will say this though . . . the folks who are frightened of marriage need to have an evening like the one I just had.  I am so very very thankful that I have Lorraine, not just for the good times, which are very good indeed, but for nights like last night.

All the best,
Brian

Joining the Chorus of Happy Hypnotic New Year!

Everyone else and his dog is saying "Happy New Year" so it's my turn . . . except, I will say "HAPPY HYPNOTIC NEW YEAR!"

The end of the year started off a bit off, I had surgery on Christmas Eve to remove a small benign tumor (got the biopsy report on New Year's Eve).  It was an outpatient procedure and went very well.  Had my stitches out New Year's Eve and while it's protective strips over the wound for the next couple months, all is going well and that's a very good thing indeed.

Since Christmas, the Phillips Family has actually been playing video games together, all three of us on different instruments for Guitar Hero World Tour.  Lorraine picked up a microphone stand so that Kaye can sing while playing a musical instrument which has the added benefit of giving Kaye some practice with English reading and singing (who woulda thunk it, Guitar Hero as English Tutor, the folks who do all those high fallutin' language pronunciation webpages really need to look into musical modules).

My New Year looks to be busy, especially the first few months.  We've had to adjust the schedule a number of times, the downside of working with event partners who have floating schedules but things look settled now and Lorraine's taking student bookings for our solo courses and appropriate persons are doing so for the partnership packages.

I hope all is well with YOU and YOURs and that in the New Year you find your dreams fulfilled and your heart's desires satisfied . . . within reason, that is.  Keep your Karma on the positive side and be good to one another.

Have a Happy HYPNOTIC New Year!

All the best,
Brian
and family in Keelung

Guitar Hero World Tour Funness

For Christmas, we got Kaye the full band set of Guitar Hero World Tour for X-Box and it's amazing to watch her rock out to classic and contemporary rock songs with no problem.  She actually picked up the sticks to play the drum kit and ended up playing better her first time ever holding sticks than I ever could after years of being a drummer in junior high school and high school.  She's got a gift for music and is a product of the modern age of video and computer games so for her the synthesis is perfect.

She wanted this version of Guitar Hero because she wants to play with her friends and because it has a music studio where she can put in her own songs and then eventually upload them to share with others.  For her actual music, see her webpage at http://www.kayephillips.com . . . she's currently working on her second CD of original songs.

Merry Christmas.

All the best,
Brian and family

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to those who celebrate it and happy holidays to those who don't and howdy to those who prefer it.

Last night, we opened presents and Kaye had a couple pleasant surprises (the Twilight novel and juggling balls) and, of course, THAT BIG BOX she's been waiting to open forever which was absolutely no surprise but eagerly anticipated.

She insisted that she get to hook it up and play a bit despite it being a school night and having tests all day today (yes, the joy of Taiwanese school life, massive banks of exams on Christmas).

So, Guitar Hero World Tour seems to be quite the hit.  Kaye wailed on the guitar while Lorraine and I took turns on the microphone.  We left the drums in the box as I am still hurting from my surgery and can't rock out (I played drums long long ago and was never really very good at it but it is my instrument still and I do have some sticks and a pad in my office for when I'm bored).

I told Kaye I think her game is broken as the microphone seems to be way off . . . according to the game, I can't sing.  My daughter, who I know loves me in her own way, laughed in my face as if to say "it's not the game that's broken."  I have an unfortunate sneaky suspicion she may just be right.  Back in university days I was in the musical Grease (I majored in theatre so was in every performance I could get my grubbies into).  Well, I was playing the nerdy Eugene and when I went to private singing coaching explained that I was supposed to be a bit off and not a good singer to which the coach exclaimed that if I was supposed to suck then I was doing perfectly.  I did get better coaching in graduate school when I was in Three Penney Opera but can honestly say that while I do have the talent required for professional acting and the skill for professional directing, musical theatre will never come knocking on my door.

For those of you in the States who live with American rock all around you, there are a LOT of songs in the Guitar Hero world that have no meaning to my daughter who considers Beethoven, Chopin, Mozart and the likes to be where it's at musically . . . it was pleasant to see she was able to pick up the guitar and play perfect games to rock songs she had never heard before.  She even recognized a couple tunes . . . but not in contexts others might get (for instance, there's "the song from the end of Twilight" and there's "the song that Dean pretended to sing in the end of an episode of Supernatural" . . . songs she'd heard once but could immediately bring up from her memory store . . . she has no problem remembering misc. songs from odd places but can't for the life of her remember certain homework facts and figures . . . I turned to her and said "what is wrong with this picture?" which gave her a chance to learn an American idiom and then go back to her intense concentration at not paying attention to me).

We had a nice time for Christmas Eve.  Subway sandwiches while watching Terminator then Guitar Hero World Tour.

Merry Christmas.

All the best,
Brian, Lorraine, Kaye, Quanah, Midee, and Elric

Merry Christmas, holiday surgeries

It's Christmas Eve so what would one do on a Christmas Eve morning . . . hmmm . . . let's see . . . get up really early so we can drive the forty minutes it takes to take Kaye to school and then turn right around so we can make it back to our neighborhood and get to the hospital for an 8:30 am appointment to have a small benign tumor removed from my side.  Nothing like a Christmas surgery to brighten one's holiday spirits.

Actually, all went well and I'm just staying in today to rest a bit.

The actual procedure went well and the doctors and nurses at Cathay Hospital in Shijr have very good bedside manner (much better than some places I've been).

About a year ago, I had an incident that popped a blood vessel in my side . . . not the most relaxing moment when I noticed a small stream of blood jetting out of my gut spraying the wall.  Got it under control, sounds worse than it actually was but I've been living a year of paranoia about the damned thing popping open at some random moment again.  However the wound never really healed and because of the location - right at the waistline - my various trousers or pants or whatever would aggravate it and so the blasted thing was always inflamed and infected.  After the last bout, I decided to go to the hospital here instead of to the clinic near the university where I normally go for such things.  The doctor diagnosed it as a benign tumor that would continue to get infected and recommended surgery and it seemed like a good call so today we went in and did the deed and all seemed to go well and has certainly helped to lower my anxiety levels about the thing.

It shouldn't adversely affect getting to work or anything like that (yes, we work on Christmas, no holidays on this side of the planet).

Tonight, after Kaye gets home from Cello class, we will open some presents and say Merry Christmas.  Kaye already knows what she's getting and is very excited about it and has invited some of her friends over for New Year's Day to play with the beastie (she's getting the full set for Guitar Hero World Tour on x-box . . . she's especially interested in the music composition and sharing tools . . . speaking of her music, she's working on her second CD and the music sounds quite beautiful . . . lots of compositions inspired by dragons and Arthurian concepts . . . see http://www.kayephillips.com for some bits from her Debut CD).

Happy Holidays,
Brian

THIS looks very very familiar . . .. . . the joy of the confusion of high school admissions

This year, my daughter Kaye is going through preparation-for-high-school-entrance-exams-hell fun and so this article about Even an Expert's Resolve is Tested by High School Admissions Process - http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/09/nyregion/09apply.html - is very very familiar.  Yes, even the woman who wrote THE book on high schools and getting into the good ones in New York is confused and confounded and confabulated and frustrated uberstyle regarding going through the process with her daughter.  Here in Taiwan, Kaye would like to test into a special talent music program for high school and so while she has a wonderful gift for piano and composition (see http://www.kayephillips.com) she seems to be constantly taking more classes (she has piano, extra piano, music history/theory, and cello classes, all in addition to her normal school work).  It's her dream so we support her.

All the best,
Brian

The Price

All the running around we did on Saturday with two shows - the first at Crystal's private party and the second The Next Hoorah in an open air venue that turned out to be on the chilly side for Lorraine and Kaye - and then Sunday making up for the music classes Kaye missed on Saturday with more running around . . . Lorraine is down with a cold and we suspect Kaye is also a bit on the lethargic side.

The shows were a lot of fun but the weather and the running around may have been more than we needed at the moment.

Luckily, Lorraine usually bounces back pretty fast from colds (while they lay me to waste for a very long while).

All the best,
Brian

Thanksgiving Gallery

The Phillips Clan, Taipei Branch, spent Thanksgiving evening with friends in the home of Michael Cheng.

Having at the food.

Delicious.

Photos by Kaye Phillips, full gallery at http://public.fotki.com/briandavidphillips/special_events_birt/2008-11-27-thanksgiving.

Happy Thanksgiving to all.

All the best,
Brian

Music Studio in Guitar Hero World Tour

One of the reasons my daughter Kaye (http://www.kayephillips.com) is excited about Guitar Hero World Tour - besides the continuation of Guitar Hero funness - is that the new game has a music studio built in that allows folks to share their own original compositions.  Since Kaye is a composer (albeit, focused on piano rather than the rock instruments that GHWT has - following the Rock Band model and not adding a keyboard which would totally be wonderifous).

We're not even sure that GHWT will make it to Taiwan with all the peripherals.  Rock Band did not - we've seen the original game twice in shops in Taipei and they were old edition and for the US model and not the local models - so we're not sure if GHWT will make it this way.

Anyway . . . as Kaye craves the beastie, I found some vids on the music studio.

ONE: LAYING THE FOUNDATION
Guitar Hero World Tour Music Studio

See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iulkKzW4fAE for the youtube.

TWO: DEVELOPING THE SONG
Guitar Hero World Tour Music Studio

See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RdXRTaxwRw for the youtube.

THREE: FINISHING TOUCHES
Guitar Hero World Tour Music Studio

See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gt3I395ZGQA for the youtube.

Now, let's see if the beastie actually comes to Taiwan so Kaye can put her compositions up (see her music webpage at http://www.kayephillips.com).

All the best,
Brian 

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Brian David Phillips, PhD, CH [brian@briandavidphillips.com]
Hypnotist, Hypnotherapist, Intuitionist, Trance Wizard
President, Society of Experiential Trance
Associate Professor, NCCU, Taipei, Taiwan
http://www.BrianDavidPhillips.com

Musical Warmth

My daughter Kaye (www.kayephillips.com) has begun reporting to her mother and myself that when she plays the flute or the piano she has been noticing that her "head gets hot" . . . the room may not be particularly warm but she notices a particular warmth in her head after she finishes playing.  She loves music and as readers of Life of Brian know, she has always been particularly focused when playing piano which might as well be an extension of herself.  The other day she took an exam for flute at school and scored one hundred percent and so that has evidently slipped into her focus aparatus as well.  It's an interesting way of experiencing "the zone" that so many of us strive to attain, a warmth or hottness in the head.  BTW, Kaye has finished a few new compositions.

In other musical notes, the other day I showed Kaye a video of a very young Osmonds performing Crazy Horses (my favorite Osmonds song from my youth - I played the original album so much way back then that I actually ruined the vinyl and had to buy a replacement).  She never saw them before and so the dance moves seemed comical (well, they are) . . .

. . . see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MyRiNZDb5EY for the video.  She had no clue who they were other than knowing Donny as "Joseph" from the DVD of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, a much older Donny.  So, I put in my Ultimate Osmonds CD (yes, I do indeed have such a collection sort of beastie) for the drive to and from school yesterday and she was singing along with a few of the songs
which I noted and we talked about the difference between writing pop music and classical sort of material like she normally writes.  We then watched the DVD of the Osmonds Fifty Year celebration in the evening (yes, I have that too and, yes, I was a bit bummed that I didn't get to go to their concert when they hit Taipei last Summer, we all have quirks and the Osmonds are one of mine, among many many others . . . so there) which allowed her to see them as "old people" as she characterizes anyone in their late forties or beyond (quite a few of the screaming girls in the front row of the concert had white or silver hair). It was interesting that we noticed right away that the earlier versions of the songs had very strong and clear vocals and simple straightforward musical performance while the new versions have a whole lot of sound going on that sometimes makes it difficult to hear the vocals which are less steady or strong in quite a few places (albeit enjoyable).  The clips on the DVD of the various Osmonds as young people were  a bit more inspirational to Kaye I think as they talked in interviews about writing their own material.  As a youthful music-obsessed songwriter herself, such inspiration has great meaning and value.

All the best,
Brian 

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Return . . . back and happy

The Clan Phillips (Taiwan Branch) had quite a wonderful time in India for my three-city tour of hypnosis trainings (Delhi, Mumbai, and Bangalore) and then we visited Hyderabad for a few days.  We will most definitely return!  Now, we're back in Taiwan . . . Kaye is working hard at catching up on the two weeks of missed classes and I am prepping like a madman to get ready to start teaching my university classes this week.

All the best,
Brian

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Brian David Phillips, PhD, CH [brian@briandavidphillips.com]
Hypnotist, Hypnotherapist, Intuitionist, Trance Wizard
President, Society of Experiential Trance
Associate Professor, NCCU, Taipei, Taiwan
http://www.BrianDavidPhillips.com

Off to India for a ton of Hypnotic Fun

My family and I are off to India as I will be doing a bit of a whirlwind speed hypnosis teaching tour in New Delhi, Mumbai, and Bangalore as well as taking some time to see some sites and visit (for those wishing to join us, see http://www.briandavidphillips.com for details and the link to Pradeep's pages for signups).  We've never visited India before so naturally we've been looking forward to this trip a great deal.  Cameras are charged and memory cards at the ready!

We're not sure what our internet access will be like once we get there but are pretty sure it's going to be spotty as we are moving around a lot and we will be doing a lot of activities.  I will be super busy once the course tour begins.

After India, we'll be in Hong Kong for a few days visiting family (as many of you know, my wife is from Hong Kong and so every once in awhile we welcome the opportunity to stop by and visit - I absolutely love that city).

We will be out of country (Taiwan, that is) from Aug. 26 to Sept. 16 . . . so . . . so, we don't yet know what our internet connection will be like in the various locales we're to be visiting. Please be patient . . . however, in my absence, please feel free to continue discussions.  That's what the list is here for anyway.

We should be back to regular schedules on the 16th when we return to Taiwan.

Look for some very kool special announcements very shortly after our return.

All the best,
Brian

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Hypnotist, Hypnotherapist, Intuitionist, Trance Wizard
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Presidential Hopefuls

Well, he certainly has my vote.

All the best,
Brian

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Hypnotist, Hypnotherapist, Intuitionist, Trance Wizard
President, Society of Experiential Trance
Associate Professor, NCCU, Taipei, Taiwan
http://www.BrianDavidPhillips.com

Psychic Kids . . .

Sometimes, it just sucks to not live in the US . . . othertimes not so much.  However, it sure would be nice if we had some of those kool networks you folks back in the "beautiful country" (hint, America in Mandarin is Meiguo which literally is the words beautiful and country together).

The Family Phillips has been watching old episodes of Ghost Whisperer of late - we just finished season two from DVD and plan on tackling Medium . . . Kaye really enjoyed Most Haunted and Ghost Hunters . . . think you can figure out at least some of our ol' television programming tastes?

Well, I just saw the link to the new A&E show in the US that would be perfect for my daughter . . . Psychic Kids: Paranormal Children . . . http://www.aetv.com/psychic-kids . . . unfortunately, we don't have A&E here and since it's a brandspanking new show, we won't be able to see it for some time, if at all since non-major channels don't usually distribute too well on this side of the planet.

The show really does look perfect for my daughter Kaye though as it has psychic phenomena (heck, we even faux nightvision cam women running around screaming at themselves bumping in the dark from Most Haunted entertaining) and the principle subjects are young people, a number of them the right age range for Kaye who is fourteen.

Anyone out there see this show?  How is it?

All the best,
Brian

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Hypnotist, Certified Hypnotherapist, Trance Wizard, Intuitionist
President, Society of Experiential Trance
Associate Professor, NCCU, Taipei, Taiwan
http://www.BrianDavidPhillips.com

Chapman, Kansas . . . we are thinking of you

I didn't even know there had been a tornado in my old stomping grounds until I checked my email and there was a series of photos from my sister showing some of the damage, extensive, over 80% of the buildings in the town are damaged, a good number are pretty much gone.  See here and here.

There's a shelter in my home town, Abilene, for the displaced folks.  We grew up a stone's throw away.

Our thoughts and prayers are with all of you.

- Brian, Lorraine, and Kaye

Facebook Notes and Blog Posts

Those of you who are my Facebook friends will notice that I've begun importing my blog posts into my notes there so you may get a couple repeats (if it works out, I will no longer need to doublepost some info).  However, the Facebook notes do NOT have the video or images that the blog has (the import tool doesn't take 'em) so for some posts you will want to take 'em as headsup to come over to the blog at http://briandavidphillips.typepad.com/brian for the full deal.

This note is being posted to the blog so we'll see if it crosses over alright.

BTW, if you aren't one of my Facebook friends, then go to http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=871950595 and add me now.

- Brian

the JOY of Sh@tty Computers

Sorry for the lack of onlineness . . . once again, experiencing the joy of computer crash. My computer is in the shop and so i'm using a spare which doesn't have most of the stuff I need on it . . . so, for now, relying upon incomplete records and slooooooooow response time in a computer that does not make me happy.  Hopefully, we will get my proper computer back soon but the shop has a track record of saying a day or two when they mean weeks.

- Brian

Happy Birthday, Kaye!

Happy Birthday, Kaye!

It is my daughter Kaye's birthday today!  She is fourteen.  Listen to her music at http://www.kayephillips.com and be sure to let her know how much you enjoy it.

All the best,
Brian

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Tornado trashes Atlanta - CNN.com

Our thoughts and prayers to friends in Atlanta . . . Tornado trashes Atlanta . . . well, actually to anyone and everyone affected by the tornado. Having grown up in Kansas, I saw more of those beasties in person than one could ever wish to see and I would not fancy seeing any more.

All the best,
Brian

Kaye Elizabeth Phillips plays Schubert's Impromptu Op. 90 No. 2

Kaye Elizabeth Phillips plays Schubert's Impromptu Op. 90 No. 2 in recital on 1 March 2008 in Taipei, Taiwan. See http://www.kayephillips.com for more of Kaye's music (including original compostions).

I'm in proud father mode!

Kaye Elizabeth Phillips . . . debut . . .

Sometimes a father just has to dote . . . Kaye has recorded a number of her original compositions and created her Debut audio CD.  Head over to http://www.kayephillips.com for clips and more.

At thirteen, she's well on her way.

Kaye, I love you.

All the best,
Proud Father

Have a Happy HYPNOTIC New Year!

Dating a “crazy cat lady”

Worthwhile advice from a guy who only dated a crazy cat lady . . . Dating a “crazy cat lady” . . . personally, I didn't just date one, I married one and spawned another.

NOYB . . .. . . what's your religion?

At the end of one of my lectures at the university, a student came up to me to ask if I wouldn't mind taking a survey on the campus radio station.  I told her to go ahead and fire away and ask her questions.  Well, at the end of the survey, she said she had one final question and that was "What is your religion?"  I looked her straight in the eye and said, "put down NOYB . . . None Of Your Business."  She was taken a bit aback by this as the idea of privacy in terms of religious practice was a bit alien to her.  I then told her that for me my religious beliefs are a private matter and that even if I told her what they were the list of possible choices on her survey didn't have the "correct" choice for me as I'm not Christian, Buddhist, Taoist, Agnostic, Athiest, Muslim, Satanist, or any of the other -ists usually listed for such things.  Most folks here assume that I must be Christian as the default assumption is that any random white person living in this country is probably Christian and that Americans are extremely likely to be Christian and if they are not then they're probably Budhists studying Chinese.  Since I teach a university course in Bible & Literature which I pursued with zeal, the assumption is even more so that I must be Christian (after all, I did attend a church-affiliated university and earned a minor in religion as an undergraduate and I guarantee that I know more about scripture than most of the folks walking around claiming to be Christian).  However, while I was indeed a Christian during most of my formative years and my first vocational choice as a boy was a dream to one day become a preacher and I certainly would have made a pretty damned good one . . . today, I am most definately no longer a Christian . . . that monkey sailed long ago.  I enjoy religious studies, particularly comparative religion.  However, I don't put my relgious views out there when I teach the material nor do I wish others to make assumptions that are erroneous.  So . . . when the question comes up, and it does, quite often, my response is usually NOYB . . . although, once in awhile, I will indeed be honest and open and tell some folks what my views really are . . . but those are usually the folks who don't push it and who are naturally within my comfort zone.  Hint . . . there are no ritual chicken sacrifices but there is a great deal of personal experiential bliss and communion involved (no, not that communion, no flesh-eating cannibalism or blood thirst satiation) . . . n . . . o . . . y . . . b.

Facebook Pages for Brian David Phillips

Well, in an effort to make a distinction between my "public" and "private" personae, I've opened up a facebook pages profile . . . Brian David Phillips . . . this is not the same as my private profile where I have to approve friend requests. This public page does not require that I approve you if you wish to become a "fan" or not. This is where I will begin posting free content and keep folks posted on professional goings on. So, if you're on facebook already, go ahead and click on the "fan" link in the upper right. You will not regret it as we've got some nice things in motion just for the folks who use that system. We have nice stuff in motion for everyone else too . . . but, some particularly nice bits for the facebook fans are in play.

All the best,
Brian

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to all my friends and family back in the US and elsewhere. Heck, Happy Thanksgiving to anyone and everyone else too! We didn't celebrate today (the joys of living in a foreign land - albeit, it does have perks). However, we will be celebrating our Thanksgiving by seeing Beowulf in 3D at the IMAX theatre on Saturday. In preparation, we watched a short cartoon version of the story with Kaye tonight (the same version I showed my students at the university) and then after the glorious bloodfest on Saturday, we'll probably find some time for her to see The Thirteenth Warrior as that's a nice version too.