Magic Bear likes Poirot

It has been a long time since Magic Bear is weaned off television series such as "Magic's Biggest Secrets Revealed". But recently, he fell in love with Poirot.

The PBS masterpiece series "Agatha Christie's Poirot" is indeed a very good one for a child to watch:

- The episodes are elegant theatric plays in the British movie tradition.

- Each one is a complicated detective story challenging a child's understanding.

- Although the content is about solving crimes, the scenes are usually not too scary or violent.

- Actor David Suchet portraits the character with great style.
- There is always a sense of humor.  (In the episode "The Disappearance of Mr. Davenheim", Poirot studies how to play some magic.)

- It is on PBS, so no time wasting advertisements during the show.

The whole series is listed here on wikipedia or imdb. You may read about some episodes on Poirot Investigates as well.

Magic Bear, the writer

Magic Bear likes to write.

I don't recall when it started but he likes to put his scribbles on paper. And he likes to do this on his own.  There are some many bits and pieces, everywhere: Pooh stories in a notebook, draws of various inventions in a binder, newspaper and puzzles he posted on the walls of every room ...

During his first grade, he wrote a letter to a TV station to inquire about the schedule of his favorite show ("Magic's biggest secrets revealed"). Now the copy and the reply from the station manager stay in a laminated page inside a ring binder.  The binder also hosts his collection of inventions, many inspired by A Geisert's "Lights Out" book which has been one of his favorites since Kindergarten.  Recently he is drawn into poems; you will find his Halloween series on his blog. Now there will be Pooh stories on his blog too.

Magic Bear, the Pianist

Magic Bear has been practicing the following pieces for more than four months now: 

• Prelude No. 5 of first twelve short preludes in "J.S Bach's 18 Short Preludes"
• Sonatina No. 2 by Clementi
• No. 10 Tender Flower, No. 17 The Chatterbox of "Burgmuller 25 Progressive Pieces"

He still needs improvement in the most difficult passages. I get the feeling that he is too romantic and soft on the keys; some of the comments I recently heard from the teacher are:

• No. 5: "... the whole section needs to be forte".  
• No. 2: "Do not sing. Try a little bit faster."  "loud! louder!", "do not shy to be strong".  "Practice at 108 tempo. Work super slow on all sixteenth notes".
• No. 10: "emphasizing the talk notes."  "Be bright!  Be loud on the loud notes!"

Although he won't be in the competition this weekend, Magic Bear has improved a lot since beginning lessons one and half year ago. To hear him playing is really enjoyable. I hope he would practice more and make progress everyday.  It is just like swimming. The technique won't come without patience and practice. Sometimes there is a lot of struggle. But once it is learned, it seems so effortless.