Tribute to a Chinese Legend: The Hat-Wearing Diva Feng Fei Fei

Photo taken from whatsonjinan.com

While the world was mourning for the international singer Whitney Houston's death, the Eastern Part of the world was also mourning for a well-known Taiwanese singer's death. The singer was Feng Fei Fei (鳳飛飛), an award-winning legend also known as the hat-wearing diva. She died of lung cancer at age 58.

She died on January 3, 2012, but news of her death was only announced several days after. Before her death, she insisted to her lawyer to not let him disclose about her death until after Chinese New Year, which was celebrated on January 23. She did not want her fans to be saddened by her death during the New Year celebration as she believed it would bring bad luck.

I wasn't aware of this wonderful legend's name until I started seeing her tributes being shown on most Chinese TV stations. As her songs were being played, I realized that those familiar songs I heard were after all sung by her. She was indeed very famous and well-known among my mother's generation. Her songs were so famous that many mainstream artists performed her songs onstage, including the song in the following video.

My mom was of course saddened by this loss. Feng Fei Fei songs were already deeply ingrained within Chinese music. And to know about Chinese music is to know about her songs. Kudos to Feng Fei Fei for her contributions to the music industry. Her songs will surely remain in the hearts of her fans.

More Songs by Feng Fei Fei 

Let's All Feel the Love On Valentine's Day

Photo by phanlop88 via Freedigitalphotos.

Love is such a complex feeling that has inspired a myriad of researchers to study about it. On the physiological level, it has often been studied in relation to brain scans and neurotransmitters. On the sociological level, dating and marriage patterns are analyzed in order to decipher this complicated phenomenon. Even in literature, there is almost an infinite number of works depicting different perspectives on love.

Despite the complex nature of love, one thing is for sure: it is universal. Yet, it is expressed in different ways. The differences depend on the person's personality and culture. Some express it so openly as if they wanted to shout their feelings to the world. Others are more subtle. What's romantic depends on the person's country of origin. For instance, carrying a lady on the man's back is romantic in Japan and Korea, as it signifies that a man will take care of the woman forever. However, this same behavior is considered, if not offensive, childish to the Western counterpart.

It's Valentine's Day, and I'm quite sure that different people have different feelings on this day. I'm quite sure that even those with lovers would sometimes dread V-day as it is the time when expectations and pressures are imposed upon them. In our social networking era, lonely single people would feel even lonelier due to the continuous V-day related posts that appear on their feeds. Posts such as flowers and gifts received are very common in the news feeds around this time. Some are even very frank about their loneliness as could be seen in their status updates. I feel bad for them. This special day is not supposed to make people lonely.

Valentine's Day is so commercialized and highly focuses on romantic love. Yet, I believe that everyone is entitled to have their share on this celebration. After all, romantic love isn't the only form of love. Families and friends alike could also spend their time together during this special moment. May everyone feel the love today. Happy Heart's Day to you all!

Today I Learned #1: You Can Make Potato Chips Using a Microwave

**Author's Note: If you're familiar with the social bookmarking site called Reddit, then you've probably heard of a popular subreddit named TIL: Today I Learned. Under this category, you just provide a single sentence indicating a thing you have just learned about. In addition, you add a URL pointing to the source of your recent discovery. Anyway, I've been long gone to Reddit. And I've just come up with an idea to instead start my own TIL series within my blog (check out for the "Today I Learned" labels), and instead of putting it in a mere sentence, I would like to elaborate it in a paragraph or two.

So for my very first Today I Learned Post:

Today I Learned #1: You can make potato chips using a microwave.

Photo by Master isolated images via Freedigitalphotos.

I love potato chips. Whenever I go to the grocery stores, there is always a large bag of potato chips inside the push cart. However, I know that these treats are high in saturated fats. Some brands even contain too much salt and MSG. Although I'm aware of these unhealthy ingredients, I still buy the chips anyway. I just couldn't help it.

And then I came across an article where about making potato chips at home. Nope, you're not going to need a deep-fryer for that. In fact, the source I've found teaches an easy method that is a lot healthier than frying: through a microwave. Sounds simple right? I was awed to learn about this and was excited to try it as soon as I am able to buy some fresh potatoes. Click the link below where you could find the recipe located at the lower portion of the article.

http://shine.yahoo.com/shine-food/7-unexpected-uses-microwave-164800328.html