由聰之言

三年

2011-12-04T21:40:00.001-08:00

好容易才望到了再回來　算算已三年

左三年　右三年　這一生見面有幾天?

回程的行李尚在收拾中

先把思念寄回來

"C" You

2011-11-01T21:49:00.001-07:00

Here is my shamelessly plagiaristic attempt to pay tribute to a computing technological visionary who recently passed away after a long battle with cancer. And I am NOT talking Steve Jobs.

Dennis Ritchie (1941 - 2011)

Dennis Ritchie, a true pioneer in modern computing, was found dead on Oct 12th in his New Jersey home at the age of 70. The exact date of death cannot be identified since Mr. Ritchie chose to live alone despite being in declining health in recent years due to prostate cancer. For most of the general public, his name is as alien as Martian. However, anyone self-respecting software developer will tell you that Mr. Ritchie’s contribution to the industry is as monolithic as Steve Jobs’, if not more.

As the chief designer of the C programming language in the late 60s, Dennis Ritchie brought to the world a more sophisticated tool to program a computer for hitherto computer software had been written primarily in assembly language or even machine code, a very low level and cryptic instruction set that are both labour-intensive to write and difficult to decipher. The C programming language, on the other hand, provides a (relatively) closer to human-language syntax and allows programmer to shift the focus from execution level to a more paradigm aspect of a design. The quantum leap of computing advancement the C language brought is comparable to the evolvement of written language from spoken dialog in the linguistic term, and it also paved the way for the more complicated programming languages that we use today.

Together with Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie also co-invented UNIX, the first computer operating system that won widespread acceptance. Today we are so used to having a platform like Windows or MacOS to run our software applications that we might not realize what a monumental concept an operating system was. Flashback forty years ago when dinosaur like mainframe was lauded as the most cutting-edge programmable machine, software programs were installed and run via punch cards since the machine was virtually devoid of an interface between end user and its system resource. Such cumbersome maneuver restricted the device to mainly engineers. The introduction of this intermediate layer between the machine and the user’s program made computer much more user-friendly. And because the UNIX Dennis Ritchie and Ken Thompson built was essentially free, it was easily obtainable and enhanced, indirectly led to the democratizing of computer from primarily corporate and government use to indispensible household appliance.

In all honesty, I can only be considered as a pseudo(哎呀)-techie at best. I reached the legal age for marriage before I first used a computer and my embarrassing discovery that there exists more than one language you can use to program a computer is material made for stand-up comedy. Naturally my experience with C was and is not smooth sailing (remember those dreadful pointer de-referencing?) and every software developer has horror stories to spare about UNIX’s segmentation fault and core dump. While these tools might seem primitive by today’s standard, you have to realize that they played a crucial role in the evolving of what we have taken for granted in computer technologies today. When you put them in this perspective you can’t help but marvel the ingenuity of their creators and what a vision they have.

While being greatly mourned within the industry, Dennis Ritchie’s passing was barely mentioned in the mainstream media and the public remains oblivious to his contribution to their lives. Given that UNIX is the very operating system Mac OS X inherited from and eventually went into various handheld gadgets Apple Inc. sold, the irony is not lost in the tech community when Steve Jobs' passing has been greeted with outpours of tributes but Dennis Ritchie’s is by and large ignored.

I am not born yesterday to not realize that in our society it is the kind of marketing geniuses like Steve Jobs who are celebrated over the nameless inventors like Dennis Ritchie, and I have no intention to discredit Steve Jobs’ achievement either, the world needs both kinds of people. However, as someone who makes a living (or should I say ‘steals’ a living) on the legacy Dennis Ritchie has left behind, I feel obligated to let the uninformed be aware that the lofty pedestal Steve Jobs has been put on, rests in no small part on the shoulder of Mr. Ritchie’s twin towers of invention

感覺完美九十天

2011-10-13T22:23:00.001-07:00

Actually it was only 89 days to be exact but who is counting? For these I have my sister and brother-in-law to thank, a summer of truly perfect memory that would last a lifetime

Momentarily I have toyed with the idea of a quick trip to Hong Kong to see Sandy Lam in concert but, no offense, watching 林憶蓮 MMXI won't even come close to this and I don't want to miss one minute of it.

An angel sent from above

Do you know that when a cranky baby keeps pulling his ear it is likely because he is teething?

You can take me out of Japan but you can’t take the samurai out of me

有得玩水就最開心

I can swim too, I just need a little *push*

感覺多麼完美　都只因有著你

Meet Priscilla Chan

2011-09-23T21:04:00.001-07:00

Not THAT Priscilla Chan

For 老餅 like me who grew up in Hong Kong during the 80s, there is no better way to pass your time by Googling the once superstars from yesteryears' Pearl of Orient. With the ongoing of Sandy Lam's concert, it is only logical for me to dig up the latest scoop on her one-time classmate/nemesis 陳慧嫻. I was expecting images of 傻女 or that lamp shade hat from 秋色 to pop up on my laptop but instead what showed up is none other than Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg along with some Asian girl. 陳慧嫻 might have seen better days but you would have thought she would still be the most famous Priscilla Chan out there.

Well but no but no. Turn out I am obviously a little behind in the dating gossips of Internet moguls. Hot in the news earlier this year was that online networking revolutionist Mark Zuckerberg had come clean with his relationship status when he flipped his own Facebook page to "In a Relationship" with a certain Priscilla Chan whom he has been seeing ever since they were students in Harvard. That shouldn't be of any interest to me if not for one minor detail - I happen to know someone named Priscilla Chan who went to Harvard during the early 2000s.

In truth, to say I know Mr. Zuckerberg's girlfriend (and rumoured fiancée) is a little stretching; we were more like acquaintances through the same part-time job we both had in late 2002 only and I don't expect she would even remember me at all. In fact, not until I saw the hometown and high school in her Facebook page was I certain that she is the person I once worked with.

When I was laid off from my software development job one month after Sept 11, 2001, as the story goes, I went into an extended period of unemployment. On the advice from career specialists, I took up a part-time job in a local office supply retailer, not so much for financial reason but just to keep my spirit up. It is the kind of work mostly for high school students looking for some extra spending money. Although it isn’t something I am keen on repeating again, I still believe it was the right move at the time.

So for the first time in over a decade, I had high school kids as my co-workers and the best part of it was most of them assumed I was their age when I was actually at least twelve years their senior. Among them was a high school senior working at the register named Priscilla Chan, whose name was naturally the first thing that caught my attention. I had once asked her and she freely admitted that she was aware there was a famous singer in Hong Kong who shared the same name but she was quick to point out that she was born a tad too early to be named after 陳慧嫻. Later on I found out she went to the same local high school where I spent one year in before heading to college. So she updated me that Mr. Harrington, the History teacher who had lobbied to take me out of ESL (English as Second Language) into his class, has since retired.

Priscilla lists Cantonese as one of the three languages she speaks in her Facebook page but in the six months or so we worked together I had never heard her speak Cantonese. However, in the couple occasions where a few Cantonese-speaking customers were visiting the store, I could tell she can comprehend their conversation since she figured out what they are looking for. So it could be just that she wasn’t comfortable enough to talk to native Cantonese speakers, just like how I feel about speaking English socially sometimes. Besides, Priscilla was genuinely an amiable person - one thing I remember the most is she always gave another girl in the store a ride home after work. For a long time I just assume they are close buddies from school. Turned out they were from different schools and only got to know each other through work. For those who have never live in North America, you may not realize how huge a favor it is for high school kids to be able to count on someone for a ride when most of them don’t own a car.

Asians in America tend to have the reputation to be the model students who all excel academically and aspire to be doctors or scientists. Priscilla certainly did not disappoint these expectations. With her potential it was only natural for her to be ambitious when it came to her college choices. She has confessed to be feeling guilty about applying close to ten universities at the time because it would cost quite a fortune (the application fee for most colleges is about US$ 70 these days). Having been in the same position before I divulged to Priscilla one of the best kept secrets in Boston - you are allowed to have up to four college application waivers per lifetime, made available to you by The Education Resources Institute (TERI) in the Johnson Building of Boston Public Library. Considering where she eventually went (and whom she had met there) maybe I could claim some credits here myself. That of course is all jest, Priscilla is gifted enough to reach the top without anyone's help, much less mine. In fact, if I am not mistaken she enrolled at Harvard through Early Decision, meaning application for most schools was still open when she was accepted. Chances are she might never need to use the waivers at all.

When the news that she got admitted to Harvard broke a mild buzz of excitement was brought to the otherwise uneventful life in the store. In April 2003, after being out of a full time job for almost a year and a half, I finally landed a real job and back in the high tech. industry. Promptly I quitted my part-time job and I think Priscilla did the same a month before me, probably to get ready for a new life after high school. In the following couple years I occasionally wonder if I would bump into her whenever I pass by Harvard campus on my way to the library but it never happened. As the time passed she kind of faded from my memory, until now. Ever since her relationship with Mark Zuckerberg had become public she had been hounded by photographers and the media but information on her is rather sketchy. Some said she is currently in medical school but other said she is a grade school science teacher. Regardless, I am sure Priscilla will shine in whatever career pursuit she is undertaking. Let’s hope a bright and challenging future lie ahead for her, both personally and with Mr. Zuckerberg.

地震

2011-08-23T11:52:00.000-07:00

Earthquake shakes Boston

There is a first for everything I supposed but it only felt like a rocking boat, thankfully

Heard from the Street

2011-05-23T11:27:00.001-07:00

I can't take credit for these but it is just too brilliant not to share out

"It has been a really tough weekend," Camping said Sunday, after emerging from his Alameda, California home for the first time to talk to a reporter from the San Francisco Chronicle. "I'm looking for answers ... But now I have nothing else to say"

89-year-old Harold Camping's admission that he's "flabbergasted" the world didn't end last weekend

Oh cheer up Harold. We all make mistakes. Its not the end of the world

星光伴我心之中西合壁

2011-05-08T19:17:00.001-07:00

One of my somewhat embarrassing-to-admit interests is old black & white movies. I can never pass the opportunity if I happened to glance an old movie playing on TV when I was flipping through channels. That even included old-fashioned 粵語殘片, much to the annoyance of the people I live with since most of them would sneer at their corniness. Admittedly many 粵語殘片 are dated story and tilted acting galore, some actually are, however, in reasonably high quality (particularly those by 中聯) if only you give it a chance and judge it based on its own context. Naturally it caught my attention when net acquaintance Chris introduce the 粵語殘片 actress 麗兒 in his blog 子貓物語~~附庸風雅

麗兒 (Marianne Quon) is, of course, a ground-breaking Chinese actress in both Hollywood and Chinese movie history. However, what really took me a ride down the memory lane are the two actors in the audience in the above clip:

For those who are novice to 粵語殘片, the one on the left is 鄭惠森, one of his more famous (recurring) roles is 凌雲階 in 關德興’s 黃飛鴻 series. The one on the right is an actor named 馮應湘. His name was more obscure today because he was primarily a character actor and passed away in the mid 50s already. However, seeing 馮應湘 in the clip above has reminded me one of the most unusual 粵語殘片 I had once watched by chance when I was a kid years ago. 馮應湘 was often cast as ne’er-do-well or playboys but in this particular case not only did he play a hero, he actually played a superhero. I only remember bits and pieces of the movie but the part I remember is something like this:

There was a guy who took refuge in 馮應湘‘s house because he was on the run from some kind of (righteous) mission. Unbeknown to this man, 馮應湘 happened to have a jacket that can turn him invisible. As a result, they decide to join force together to carry out the mission...

It was an ensemble movie and 馮應湘 was just one of the many cast members who have super power but his is the one I remember the most. I have never come across this movie again and often I wonder if that actually happened at all. If this movie really did exist, it must be one of the first ever superhero movies in Hong Kong.

Now that my memory of the movie was triggered once again, I set out to locate the movie but even though 馮應湘 died at the relatively young age of 46, he has made a staggering two hundred something movies in his short life and most of them have details missing to say the least. It will need some detective work to find the match, if at all. Fortunately with its unusual storyline, I managed find a movie named 亂世英雄 (A Hero of Troubled Times) in 中國影視資料館 with the following synopsis and list of cast, characters:

新任市長章大朋的真正身份是大盜'迷魂賊', 其妻梅玲則是'野女郎'. 二人軟禁了前市長馬頌潮, 企圖迫他道出國家藏金的所在, 但頌潮一直不肯就範. 由政府首都派來的監察員金萬成正對大朋的舉動有所懷疑, 遂展開追查, 並聯同'女黑俠'呂秀雲施計營救馬市長. 秀雲以歌女身份混入大朋的迷宮, 與萬成裡應外合. 此際梅玲發現了她的勁敵'玉面霸王'史劍青及其妻雪蝶尋至, 便擬先下手為強, 除掉雪蝶. 劍青在逃命期間結識了'隱形博士'戴鐵龍, 二人決定合力除害, 對付大朋夫婦. 各路英雄用不同方法混進迷宮, 皆被識破, 最後萬成巧施催眠術, 加上隱形博士的隱形衣, 終告打敗迷魂賊夫婦, 成功救出頌潮復職, 社會回復太平.

羅品超 .... 玉面霸王史劍青
郭秀珍 .... 野女郎梅玲
姚萍 .... 迷魂賊章大朋
徐人心 .... 女黑俠呂秀雲
鄭君綿 .... 離魂秘客金萬成
馬小玲 .... 周雪蝶
譚子駒 .... 陸隊長
冼江 .... 特務長
馮應湘 .... 隱形博士戴鐵龍
藍菲 .... 馬頌潮
林華 .... 獄卒
佩佩 .... 蕙絲

The plot sounds like a page you ripped off from an episode of the 70s comic book superhero series Super Friends 萬能勇士:

萬能勇士

Remember that American TV program, featuring 正義堂 (The Justice League of America), 雙子少俠 (Super Twins)...? In fact, it is not hard to detect the American influence on 亂世英雄 from the photo still of the movie in 中國影視資料館:

Here we have the hypnotist wearing a sultan outfit that recalls the sorcerers in many old Hollywood fantasy movies like The Thief of Bagdad, an American cowboy and even a blackface, a distinctive (not to mention extremely racist and politically incorrect) piece of Americana.

The only other info I can find on 亂世英雄 is this photo still I came across on a discussion board on Hong Kong nostalgia, featuring "離魂秘客金萬成" (played by 鄭君綿) on the left and "迷魂賊章大朋" (played by 姚萍) on the right:

Even people of my generation would recognize 鄭君綿 since he had acted on TV from time to time until he passed away in 1994. He was famous for impersonating Elvis Presley during his 粵語殘片 days and he was nicknamed “東方貓王”. According to 中國影視資料館, 亂世英雄 was released in 1950, when Elvis had yet to put out a record. Looking at the above photo still, I can’t help but wondering if 鄭君綿 was channeling the famous Spanish surrealist painter Salvador Dalí.

鄭君綿 vs. Salvador Dalí's self portrait
Even though I haven’t found any clip of 亂世英雄, I can’t tell you how excited I was to be able to locate the name of a movie that had lived in my memory for so long. For I have never met anyone who has recollection of such an odd 粵語殘片, even from people of my parents’ generation. Once and for all I proved that I didn’t dream the whole movie up. Next time I am in Hong Kong I definitely will try my luck with 亂世英雄 at Hong Kong Film Archive. In the meanwhile it would be more than welcome to hear from anyone who knows anything about the movie or how to get hold of it.

Wedding Madness

2011-04-28T21:49:00.001-07:00

Not until now did I realize what a big worldwide obsession the British Royal family is

I was in Milan when the news of the engagement between Prince William and Catherine Middleton broke. All day and all night it was Will and Kate on the hotel TV (in Italian naturally). Back in Boston we have been bombarded with every little detail of the upcoming nuptial for weeks (or was it months?). Even a local bicycle enthusiast had become headline news simply because she shares the same namesake with the bride to be:

And I thought the Yanks had fought a war against their former landlord!!

For me all I can say is time and tide – It doesn’t seem that long ago we were witnessing Diana madness when a twenty year old kindergarten teacher walked down the aisle to the arm of a (marginally) dashing prince, and now it is her son’s turn. How quietly the years can creep up on you!

In additions to the well wishing, the press has kept reassuring us that the road ahead for the engaged couple will be much less rocky than their predecessors – they are much closer in age; they have been together for almost a decade; the prince is not pressured into marriage this time; Kate grew up in a happier childhood and is more educated… etc. One particular argument the press like to emphasize is that Kate is far more worldly, confident and sophisticated than Diana was at the time of the wedding, so the verdict is Kate would be more ‘prepared’ for intense scrutiny to come, or is it so?

I have never actually paid much attention to Kate Middleton before but in the midst of the Royal Wedding frenzy I decide to dig up the interviews of both couples before their wedding on YouTube:

William and Kate do look like they are very excited and happy but which engaged couple wouldn’t? You could say the same about Charles and Diana at the time as well and we all know how the latter turned out to be. Diana did sound like ditsy and babbling at times but she was also more straight forward and uninhibited. Kate, on the other hand, appeared a lot more subdue than I expect. Apart from the bit where she said she was grateful that they have split up for awhile because it allowed her to grow and see relationship in a more realistic perspective, she didn’t appear to be particularly perceptive about their union. Especially when she was asked about the difficulty of stepping into the shadow of Diana, which understandably will dog her for years to come, you would expect she must have thought of that and be prepared for questions like this but her response is disappointing and confusing.

However, what a revelation Prince William is, he is supposed to be the one that is uncomfortable and shy from the spotlight but he was quite at ease here. More importantly he was very protective and ready to jump in to dodge the bullet for his future wife when she appeared lost in the question. How reassuring it is to have your prince give you a pat on your lap and said “she will do really well”. No wonder he is one of the biggest heartthrobs of England in his time.

Every marriage will have its problem and no one will know what the future will hold. When you decide go into a marriage you'll need to be brave and I can’t even begin to fathom how anyone can be *prepared* for it to be done in such a public way if you aren't born into it. Well, good luck Kate!

AA制之旅: Going Dutch Part 1

2011-04-19T21:36:00.001-07:00

What do you do when you have the whole house all to yourself and you will have to cook for the entire month? Since a lot of eating out is expected when cooking is never my favorite pastime, I figure out I might just get the double whammy by eating out abroad. There I was, searching for a cheap flight and found a fare to Amsterdam that costs me only a low USD 500. So off I go for a five-day rendezvous in the land of wooden cloggs, windmills and of course weeds.

Flying , it is a low cost airline from Ireland that I have never heard of until this trip; naturally my flight had to connect at Dublin. There was a nearly four and a half hour wait for my connection, I have plenty of time to kill even after a breakfast, so I just did some Duty Free window shopping at Aerfort Bhaile Átha Cliath. One unusual service their Duty Free offers is hair salon:

I suppose that does make senses. There must be plenty of people who want to look their best after a long flight, when their hair just looks like a mess.

Because I felt I was ripped off in getting my Euro during my trip to Italy last November (which I still haven’t blogged yet), so this time I want to make sure I get the best deal by keeping track of the exchange rate at the airport, so here on the right is the rate at Schiphol Airport from ABN AMRO Bank, the biggest bank in Amsterdam, advertised in vs on the left the rate I got at Boston Logan Airport:

If I read it correctly, that means one USD will get me 0.64758 Euro in Amsterdam versus 0.639 Euro in Boston. In the end I didn't get my Euro in either places. Instead I get it through the ATM of my brokerage account at Schiphol airport since they don't charge any fee. After checking my brokerage account statement, I actually get 0.705408 Euro with one USD. So I guess that is a wise move but I must say either I have misunderstood the rates in kiosks at the airports or they are just high way robberies.

Two observations I have about Schiphol airport

It takes a long time go through the security checkpoint but the security checkpoint is done at the gate level instead of the restricted area level. Therefore, as long as you’ve checked in it is unlikely you would miss your flight because of delay in security checkpoint
A more difficult phenomenon to get used to is that like everywhere else, the janitors for public toilets (after living in US for more than 20 years, I needs a more deliberated effort to say toilet instead of bathroom) are held by women but unlike most of the places I have been to, the janitors do NOT shut down the toilet when they work, including men’s toilet. That means when you are using the toilet, don’t be surprised there is a woman standing next to you and it seems everyone is quite nonchalant about that. In fact that seems to extend to the entire Amsterdam where the general close proximity between public men’s and women’s toilets would allow you a few view of interior of either sex (Amsterdam is known to be a very tolerating city where prostitution and marijuana are not outlawed; I wonder what their attitude toward Peeping Toms is). So you might want to stick with the stall instead of urinal if you desperately need your privacy.

Amsterdam Airport Schiphol is about 19 km (roughly 10 miles) southwest of Amsterdam. If you don't know your way in Amsterdam, the best way to get to town from the airport is through the train service offered by GVB, the company that manages all the public transport of Amsterdam, including bus, tram and subway. The railway station conveniently located underneath the terminal complex of Schiphol and you can buy the train ticket in one of the yellow ticket vending machines that can be found at the terminal exit:

These machines supports multiple languages and are relatively easy to navigate but there are quite a few options to choose from: namely the one way or round trip, same day or open ticket, first class (which I suspect no one uses) or second class… Although the ticket vending machine has the capability to accept cash, this option happened to be unavailable in all the machines at the airport terminal when I was there. So I can only pay by credit card. However, credit cards purchase in Europe in general requires you to enter a PIN which does not exist in North American credit cards. I know there is a workaround if you want to use your American credit cards in Europe but that would require human intervention. So you would be out of luck with these machines when they are programmed to prompt you for your credit card PIN. In the end I had to buy my ticket with a live person at the ticket counters just outside of the terminal. The catch of this is the fare will cost you slightly more (maybe half a Euro) but that was my only option, or so I thought – after I paid my ticket I found that at the train station there are plenty more of these ticket vending machines and a few of them did have the pay by cash option available. One final word, there is an extra one Euro fee to pay by credit card, so if you are nickel and dime-ing with your traveling budget the cheapest option to reach downtown Amsterdam is to buy a second class train ticket on a vending machine by cash, for EUR 3.6 one way.

GVB offers a few different lines of train service and even within the same line they don’t always stop at every station. But since Centraal Station is the main hub of Amsterdam’s public transportation, almost every train will indicate whether or not it will stop there on the billboard. For instance, the 1:39 p.m. train below will not:

However, if you are unsure, don't be afraid to ask the people at the platform. The Dutch in general are very friendly people and everyone can speak English in the Netherlands, some are amazingly fluent even.

After years of enduring the subpar services of North American public transportation, it is always a pleasure to take the train in Europe. Notice the scheduled arrival time (left on the billboard) and the actual arrival time (on the right) of the train I was about to take in the clip below:

to be continue...

Reunited at the Oscar?

2011-02-27T18:50:00.001-08:00

The last time I seriously followed the Oscar race Hong Kong was still under the Union Jack. I supposed as one grows older you can’t help but get more cynical about how self-congratulatory these so-called honours are. However, as this year’s race is approaching its frenzy finale I can’t resist sharing a little trivia I have noticed. Coming to the home stretch Colin Firth is no doubt the favorite to win the Best Actor; his George VI in The King’s Speech has all the prestige and momentum for the award. The fact that he lost out to Jeff Bridge last year could only boosts his chance this year even more. Only slightly more suspenseful is the Best Actress race, Natalie Portman has been on a roll in the last couple months: a new husband, a new baby, a number one box office hit, the only thing missing is a statuette which seems inevitable since Annette Bening is the only other serious contender. On the other hand, if everything pans out according to the script, that means once again Bening will play the bridesmaid. Although there is no hard evidence to it, common consensus is that Annette was the runner up in both 1999 and 2004, both times to Hilary Swank.

At 52, Annette Bening has long expired her leading lady time limit and this year will be her last realistic chance to win the Oscar for Best Actress but that dubiously could be her trumping card to pull off an upset, particularly when Natalie Portman is considered still at the dawn of her career. Supposed the Academy did decide to honour the award this year based on one’s career instead of an individual performance, that means it could reunite Colin Firth and Annette Bening at the winner podium. For at the very beginning of their Hollywood careers Firth and Bening co-starred together in an A-list production but with few audience called Valmont.

The first starring role for Bening and the first Hollywood movie for Firth, Valmont was the Czechoslovakia-born director Milos Forman's follow up his Oscar success Amadeus in 1989. Adapting from the Choderlos de Laclos' scandalous French novel Les Liaisons dangereuses about revenge and seduction, Valmont, like Amadeus, is another costume drama set in Baroque Europe. The producer no doubt was hoping that the similar format could duplicate the success of its predecessor. But what was unexpected is that in the middle of the production, rising British director Stephen Frears had announced his first foray into Hollywood should be Dangerous Liaisons (孽戀焚情), the movie adaption of Christopher Hampton’s stage production of the same novel, and its release date beat Valmont by eleven months. Dangerous Liaisons went on to great success during the Award season and firmly established Frears in Hollywood. Milos Foreman is famous for stories about underdogs such as One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, The People vs. Larry Flynt, Man on the Moon and Amadeus (Mozart is the underdog to Salieri within the movie). However, in this case Foreman had become the underdog himself and Valmont would need to be his extraordinary in order to have a chance, and it was not - Valmont impressed few critics, fizzled at the box office and it did nothing to further Colin Firth's career in Hollywood (History will repeat itself when the public largely ignored Infamous, the Toby Jones’ vehicle about author Truman Capote’s research for his book In Cold Blood, one year after Philip Seymour Hoffman won an Oscar for the same story in Capote). Nevertheless, it is always interesting to, given the same sources, compare two movies for the creative difference behind them. In this case, it is also a career starting point of two of this year's award favorites.

Dangerous Liaisons vs. Valmont

For those who are unfamiliar, the plot of Les Liaisons dangereuses revolves around a bet between widow Marquise de Merteuil and notorious womanizer Vicomte de Valmont. Upon learning her lover is deserting her for her second cousin, the young convent-educated Cécile de Volanges, Merteuil suggests her ex-lover Valmont to seduce Cécile in order to humiliate Cécile’s future husband. Valmont instead sets his eyes on Madame de Tourvel, the virtuous wife of a judge who is staying in the châteaux of Valmont’s old aunt. Merteuil then promises Valmont if he succeeds in sleeping with Tourvel she will spend the night with him. In the meantime, Cécile falls in love with her music tutor Chevalier Danceny and the two carry on a secret affair behind Cécile’s controlling mom. Seizing the opportunity, Merteuil and Valmont pretend to help uniting the secret lovers in order to gain their trust so that they can carry out their own schemes…

Benefited from a stage adaption, the dialogues of the movie Dangerous Liaisons were more literate and concise but delivered a more powerhouse punch. Frears casted two theatre veterans (and bigger stars), Glenn Close and John Malkovich, for the two leads in order to be faithful to the stage flavor, even though Close and Malkovich are significantly older than the characters they portrayed. The movie also made strong use of close up and medium shots to accentuate the dramatic effect of the dueling between the various protagonists. (Some also suggests this is to mask the minimal sets in order to keep the movie in a relatively tight budget). Valmont, on the other hand, featured a much younger cast; the five main characters on average are six years junior to the respective actors in Dangerous Liaisons. Featuring numerous extreme long shots and crowd scenes, Valmont showcases its bigger budget on elaborate sets and on-location shooting, even with a more obscure leads.

Glenn Close vs. Annette Bening

As the bitterly scheming Marquise de Merteuil in Dangerous Liaisons, Glenn Close was once again casted in a sexually charged role following her turn as the psychotic female stalker Alex Forrest in the box office smash Fatal Attraction. Although it was implied that she had numerous lovers in Dangerous Liaisons, one gets the feeling that it wasn’t carnal pleasure but revenge that Close’s Merteuil was seeking. Revenge against a male-dominated society where she, as a woman, was condemned to play a subservient part. When asked how she managed to invent herself with the murderous plans she had constantly plotted, Merteuil said:

"I had no choice, did I? I'm a woman. Women are obliged to be far more skillful than men. You can ruin our reputation and our life with a few well-chosen words. So, of course, I had to invent, not only myself, but ways of escape no one has ever thought of before. And I've succeeded because I've always known I was born to dominate your sex and avenge my own"

When Valmont related to Merteuil the erotic bliss he experienced when he successfully seduced Madame de Tourvel into sleeping with him, the look of envy and self-pity on Close' face seemed to suggest Merteuil had never actually enjoyed sexual intercourse in her life. If Dangerous Liaisons was directed by a woman, I wouldn't be a bit surprised Merteuil will be turned into a closeted lesbian. On the contrary, after another round of secret rendezvous in the beginning of Valmont, Merteuil lying naked on the bed unabashedly yearned for the quick return of her lover Comte de Gercourt (a character who didn't appear in Dangerous Liaisons at all even though he was supposedly the primary motive behind Merteuil's bet), unbeknown to her at the time Gercourt was about to leave her for her second cousin Cécile. In fact, when Annette Bening's Merteuil first took Cécile under her wing upon Cécile's mother's request, she actually protect Cécile from the amorous advance of Valmont. Unlike Close's Merteuil, Bening's version did have a certain noble intention in her soul.

It was Stephen Frear who temporarily set Annette Bening’s career back with Dangerous Liaisons. Ironically it was also Frears who righted her course for he casted Annette as one of the double-crossing con artists trio in his next Hollywood movie, the neo-noir The Grifters, for which Annette received her first Oscar nomination and finally put her on the map. She followed that up with the role of Virginia Hill, 40s Hollywood starlet and gun-moll to Warren Beatty’s Benjamin Siegel in Bugsy. Warren Beatty and Annette Bening hooked up during the filming, almost a standard procedure for any Beatty’s movies but Bening managed to have Beatty married her, something none of the luminous list of Beatty’s old flames that includes Natalie Wood, Leslie Caron, Julie Christie, Goldie Hawn and Diane Keaton… had accomplished. They stayed married close to twenty years now, almost longer than all his previous affairs combined

John Malkovich vs. Colin Firth

Half bald, slightly crossed-eyes and looked older than his age, if not for his outstanding stage pedigree, John Malkovich was indeed an odd choice to play the supposedly charming but diabolical seducer Vicomte de Valmont. His renowned for playing creeps, however, gave an extra predatory dimension to the character, such as the time when Tourvel had to flee to her room to recompose herself upon hearing Valmont’s shocking declaration of love for her. The way Malkovich went after Michelle Pfeiffer to her room was like a wild beast toying with his wounded prey: giving his victim a false sense of security with an easy escape but always knows that it is within his grasp. Malkovich’s sadistic trait was never more evident than his callous and brutal brash off of Tourvel by repeatedly saying "It’s beyond my control":

On the other hand, Colin Firth was only slightly better casted himself. With the exception of Mr. Darcy in the mini-series Pride and Prejudice where he did a skinny-dipping, Firth usually played characters that are solid but stoic, dependable but internal and low in charisma, including his turn as the stuttering King George VI in this year’s nomination, which is a long way from the debauchery of Valmont. This is evident even in his first movie Another Country, where he played the intellectual Marxist Tommy Judd while Rupert Everett played the flamboyant Guy Bennett. Interestingly, Rupert Everett would play Vicomte de Valmont himself in a 2003 French TV adaption of Les liaisons dangereuses, and Everett would be a better choice than Firth had the series was made ten years earlier.

As a result, Firth’s Valmont was more playful and joie de vivre than dangerous. Instead of a charming devilish seducer, he was more an immature Casanova who was just unable to commit to one person. While Malkovich’s Valmont will charm a woman just for the sake of ruining her, Firth’s actually did care the woman he wooed, regardless how short that might last. His Valmont sincerely believed that one should only marry for love and not for honour and position and that’s why he openly sided with Cécile to choose Danceny instead of marrying a man she doesn’t love, even before he and Merteuil had declared war against each other.

In fact, Bening’s Merteuil had such an upper hand over Firth’s Valmont throughout the movie that the victor of their duel was never in question, while the pairing of Glenn Close and John Malkovich did at least have an element of tension.

Michelle Pfeiffer vs. Meg Tilly

While Forman presented a gentler, less malicious Merteuil and Valmont in his version of Les Liaisons dangereuses, he also presented a less virtuous Madame de Tourvel. Firth’s Valmont managed to breakdown Tourvel’s defense with all the time-honoured trick of courtship: a little horseback riding, a little picnicking in open garden, a little romp on the dance floor…etc, nothing out of the ordinary any hormone driven male wouldn’t do. Contrasting with the distance John Malkovich has gone: feigning a moral reformation, bribing and then blackmailing Tourvel’s maid, intercepting all Tourvel’s personl correspondence… Surprisingly, there was no hint of Tourvel’s religious faith at all in Valmont (Michelle Pfeiffer made her first entrance in Dangerous Liaisons in a Sunday mass). Michelle Pfeiffer actually turned down the offer of the Merteuil part in Valmont to play Tourvel in Dangerous Liaisons. Considered that she is never known for playing innocent characters, Frears probably cast Michelle Pfeiffer for her iciness than her purity. For the battle to breakdown Pfeiffer’s frigid façade with Malkovich’s connivance had been most dramatically effective

Meg Tilly, on the other hand, was known to specialize in ethereal childlike roles. A very appealing and promising actress during the 80s, Tilly aspired to be a dancer growing up. However a back injury cut her dance career short and so she drifted into acting, following her older sister Jennifer Tilly’s footsteps. She first gained notice in Psycho II, the surprisingly effective sequel to Hitchcock’s masterpiece. She followed that with a part of the ensemble cast in Lawrence Kasdan acclaimed cult dramedy The Big Chill. Her most famous role is the mysteriously impregnated nun in Agnes of God (神蹟奇案) , for which she won an Oscar nomination. Her casting in Valmont was actually a compensation for missing out the part of Mozart’s wife in Forman’s Amadeus. The part was offered to her only to be recasted due to Tilly's untimely foot injury. Although Valmont was not the success as Amadeus, Tilly and Firth fell in love during the filming and she bore him a son shortly after the film wrapped. Meg‘s career couldn’t sustain the momentum in the 90s and sadly she quitted movie altogether in 1995 to concentrate on raising her children and a new career as a writer. One interesting trivia about Meg Tilly: she and her sisters are actually half Chinese and their surname by birth is Chan, Tilly was the surname of their mother they adopted after their parents got divorced. In fact, her sister Jennifer Tilly was casted in a Eurasian part in the Aaron Kwok costume historic drama 白銀帝國

Uma Thurman vs. Fairuza Balk

Keanu Reeves vs. Henry Thomas

The Measure of A Day

2011-02-01T21:58:00.001-08:00

For us Chinese, February 2nd of 2011 will mark the end of the Year of Tiger. However, for American, Feb 2nd of any year will be known as the Groundhog Day. Groundhog is a kind of North American rodent that hibernates in the winter. According to folklore, on Feb 2nd, upon emerging from its burrow after a winter of hibernation, if a groundhog sees its shadow and retreat back to the burrow, it means the winter will extend for another six weeks. Otherwise, an early spring will be just around the corner, or so they say...

If every culture is entitled to have a certain idiosyncratic ritual, such as Mamemaki (豆撒き) for Japanese and Villain Hitting (打小人) for Cantonese, then for American Groundhog Day will be one of those. Although I don’t think many people will actually plan their spring vacation around the prediction the groundhog made, the occasion was greeted with much fanfare across the country, particularly in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, where the tradition supposedly originated from. The whole proceeding receives major coverage from all weather channels every year and it also gave birth to one of his most critically acclaimed movies for comedian Bill Murray, also named Groundhog Day.

Strategically released the week after Groundhog Day and just before Valentine's Day in 1993, the movie Groundhog Day tells the story of a conceited man named Phil Connors who worked as a weatherman in a small local TV station in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. He was, against his will, sent to Punxsutawney to cover the Groundhog festival for the fourth year in a row. Accompanying him was cameraman Larry and producer Rita whom Phil secretly fancied.

However, even the charming Rita could not make the experience any more bearable for Phil and he won’t waste a moment to flee town the minute he perfunctorily finished his coverage. As fate would have it, a massive blizzard that supposedly should detour the area has changed its course and hit Punxsutawney in full blast, causing all the major highways to be closed and everyone had to turn back. Hardly the happy camper, Phil barely dragged through the night but then strange things happened: he woke up the next morning to the same date as the day before, re-encountering the same events with the same conversation all over again. Even stranger, the same thing happened again the day after, and the day after… Before long he realized by some force of nature, he was eternally trapped in a time loop and had to relive the day he detested the most over and over again, Groundhog Day.

Throughout the course of the movie, Phil’s reaction to this unexpected turn of events went through a series of stages – First he was perplexed, then he was elated as he realized he would never need to be responsible for his action when tomorrow never came, but soon boredom crept in which ultimately led to despair and suicidal. Nothing, nevertheless, could alter the fact that it will always be Groundhog Day every day. Eventually, out of desperation, he seeks comfort from Rita by confiding to her with his implausible tale even though he knew no matter how understanding Rita could be, it would all go back to square one when the day was over...

For many, Bill Murray’s Oscar nomination for the more pretentious Lost in Translation is just a belated remedy to his snub for Groundhog Day (and also Rushmore, another under-appreciated work from Bill Murray)

It is possible that the filmmaker never intended the movie to be anything more than a romantic comedy with a fantasy twist to it. Regardless, audience has read many different philosophies into the premise of Groundhog Day: when Phil rhetorically asked an acquaintance ‘what would you do if you were stuck in one place and every day was exactly the same and nothing you did mattered?’, ‘That about sum it up for me’ was the cynical reply and I am sure many audience will concur. For there is a Groundhog Day in each of us and like Phil we are forced to confront the meaning of life when it appears to be just an endless repetition of routines with no consequence. It is this element of existentialism that elevates Groundhog Day from a mere comedy to a cult favorite over the years. It is also one of the few Hollywood movies that received a remake treatment from Europe, reincarnated as È già ieri (literally it means It's Already Yesterday):

European movies have always prided themselves to be more original than their Hollywood counterpart. However, in a rare reversal of norm, an Italian remake of Groundhog Day was filmed in 2004. Briefly showed in some isolated art house theaters in US under the name Stork Day, È già ieri retold the story with Italian TV personality Filippo who was sent to make a documentary about storks in Tenerife, one of the seven Canary Islands archipelagos that belong to Spain. However, after the filming wrapped, the ferry that supposed to take the crew back to civilization broke down and everyone has to return back to the island, thus accounted for the stranded element in the original tale. I have never watched È già ieri but instead of a gray, little east coast town in gloomy winter, Tenerife is actually a sunny, tropical paradise that attracts over five million tourists each year. A lot of convincing the movie will need to do if trapping there is meant to be a curse, the Bossa Nova flavored score certainly doesn’t help.

Bill Murray became famous along with Dan Aykroyd, Gilda Radner, John Belushi, Jane Curtin and Chevy Chase as the original cast members of the phenomenally popular sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live (SNL) during the late 70s. The success of the show allowed Murray to spill over to a movie career and propelled him to a huge box office star with a string of hits like Meatballs (1979), Caddyshack (1980), Stripes (1981), Tootsie (1982), Scrooged (1988), peaking with one of the quintessential 80s blockbusters, Ghostbusters (1984). Groundhog Day continued his winning streak when it became the tenth highest domestically grossed movie of 1993 (Wikipedia said thirteenth but that is only because it was based on the final gross instead of the year-end gross, notice that three movies ahead of it, The Pelican Brief, Schindler’s List and Philadelphia, were released in the last weeks of 1993 and so technically it hadn’t passed Groundhog Day when the year ended)

However, Bill Murray has never been a box office draw in Hong Kong partly because SNL didn't have the same kind of impact there. A search in Internet revealed that Groundhog Day was released under the generic title 《偷天情緣》 in Hong Kong during late 1993 and grossed a mere HK$ 1.25 million, ranked 174 out of 380 released that year. Ranked number one was 《侏羅紀公園》(Jurassic Park) with the then record-breaking gross HK$ 61.9 million. Comparing with a special effect galore is of course unfair, but even measuring against the similar genre 《緣份的天空》 (Sleepless In Seattle) Groundhog Day still appeared to be under-performing when it only grossed one ninth of the former even though it definitely is a much better movie than the sappy Meg Ryan yarn. A common trait among cult movies is that they tend to get overlooked during initial release. Maybe it was high time for you to rediscover this lost gem in this Groundhog/Valentine's Day season

Forever Golden

2010-12-23T22:37:00.001-08:00

Ever since she co-starred as the spunky grandma of Ryan Reynolds in Sandra Bullock's hit comedy The Proposal last year, Betty White has been enjoying a career resurgence that had rarely been seen in Hollywood before. First she was chosen for a hilarious Snickers commercial during the 2010 Super Bowl final, traditionally the most expensive timeslot of the year for commercial airing due to its high viewership

That commercial was voted as best ads of the year’s event which led to a grassroot Facebook campaign that successfully lobbied her to be the guest host of the popular comedy sketch show Saturday Night Live(SNL). At the age of 88, she became the oldest guest host ever for the program, no mean feat considering the target audiences of SNL are primarily in the teen and 20s.

That episode registered the highest rating for SNL in two years and won Betty White an Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actress In A Comedy Series. Striking the iron while it is hot, TV network quickly offers Betty a spot in their new sitcom Hot in Cleveland. As if her comeback didn't gathered enough momentum, fellow cast member of The Golden Girls Rue McClanahan passed away on Jun 3rd this year, leaving Betty as the last survivor of the wacky foursome in the perennial favorite series and the sole receiver of all the residual fan’s devotion. At this rate I wouldn't be surprised Betty will end up as the Entertainer of the Year when December comes.

The Golden Girls was/is one of the best and most successful sitcoms came out in the 80s and it is the series for which Betty White is best remembered for (notice that it received the most applause when The Golden Girls was mentioned during her monologue in SNL). Even though the series has finished its run in 1992, it remains a rating champion on rerun for the last twenty years and continues to win fans who aren’t even born when the show went off the air. This September marked the Silver Anniversary of The Golden Girls and here is my tribute to the beloved series and the four remarkable women who made TV history

The Golden Girls

The Golden Girls was the brainchild of NBC executive Brandon Tartikoff who witnessed how his elderly aunt argued and bickered with her neighbor constantly and yet remained best friend to each other. He gave the idea to TV writer Susan Harris and thus The Golden Girls was born. Susan created a sitcom about four post middle age women sharing a house together in Florida: Blanche Devereaux, the owner of the house, was a vain, man hungry southern belle from Atlanta, Georgia who leased her house after her husband passed away. Answering her ads for roommate was Rose Nylund, a naïve, simple-minded farm girl from the fictional town Saint Olaf, Minnesota who moved to Miami to start afresh after her husband died of heart attack (when they were having sex!), and Dorothy Zbornak, a commanding, no-nonsense substitute teacher whose husband of 26 years dumped her for a stewardess. When the retirement home of Dorothy’s mother Sophia Petrillo, a feisty, spunky Italian immigrated to America from old world Sicily, has burnt down, she moved in with her daughter and completed the quartet. In seven seasons, the girls shared laughter, heartbreak, fights and most of all, cheesecakes, poked fun at everything under the Sun from sperm bank, menopause to age discrimination. Together they shared many riotous adventures such as a TV game show appearance where they shamelessly humiliated themselves for the prize, an inadvertent stint at a nudist camp, a fiercely competitive (with each other) bowling tournament and also this freakingly hilarious sequence in preparing for a romantic cruise in the Bahamas:

The Golden Girls broke new ground because for the first time there is a series with an entirely female ensemble cast. Even more amazing for the youth-dominated medium is that they are all over 50s, vivacious, sexually active and well-groomed. It is one of the rarity that depicted the life of woman doesn't end at 50s and they still date and lead an active life. It is debatable whether Sex and The City is just a blatant rip-off of The Golden Girls but one thing for sure is The Golden Girls featured a much better cast and chemistry. It had some of the most legendary veterans on TV and it is impossible to pick a favorite Golden Girls since each is wonderful in their own way. In fact their chemistry is so explosive that eventually each of them had won an Emmy for the show, becoming one of the only three (All In The Family and Will & Grace are the other) shows in TV history that had won an Emmy for the entire cast. But unlike the other two where each character won for a different category, three of the four members of The Golden Girls were competing in the same category and they each triumphed once. It showed you The Golden Girls was truly an ensemble piece since all four women has moments to shine and no one got overshadowed by anyone

Dorothy Zbornak

Bea Arthur (1922 - 2009)
Bea Arthur was born to a Jewish family in New York as Bernice Frankel, a name she hated and as early as she can remember she called herself Beatrice instead. She started her career as a stage actress in off Broadway during the late 40s. Blessed with a statuesque physique and a baritone voice, Arthur specialized in playing strong and assertive women even though in real life she is very shy and quiet. She eventually worked her way up to the Broadway smash hit Mame in the late 60s. As Vera Charles, the bosom buddies to Angela Lansbury’s Mame Dennis, Arthur won a Tony award and in 1971 she was invited to guest-star in the hit sitcom All in the Family as the outspoken feminist Maude Findlay. It was well received enough to prompt TV producer Norman Lear to spin-off a separate sitcom named Maude, starring Arthur herself. The show is best remembered today for the episode “Maude’s dilemma”, which featured the first ever TV character to have an abortion when Maude found herself unexpectedly pregnant at the age of 47:

Riding the height of the feminist movement in the 70s, Maude became a big success and made Bea Arthur a household name. The show runs for six seasons but in 1978 Bea Arthur decided she didn’t want to continue the role of Maude. After the end of Maude Bea Arthur divorced her second husband and dedicated her time to her family, with only occasional TV guest appearance until the script of The Golden Girls arrived.

In the original script of The Golden Girls, the part Dorothy Zbornak was described as a Bea Arthur type character. It was only after awhile somebody had the genius idea to cast Bea Arthur herself as Dorothy. However, Bea Arthur initially was lukewarm to the idea because she was informed that fellow Maude cast member Rue McClanahan will be cast as the dimwit Rose as well and Arthur felt their characters will be too similar to what they have played in Maude. She only became interested in the project when Rue McClanahan personally persuaded her and it was Blanche Rue would be playing.

While Dorothy shared many outspoken traits with Maude, the writer did give Dorothy a little softer edge. For example, the fact that she was dumped by her husband for a younger woman and she was always the butt of the jokes for being unattractive gave Dorothy a more vulnerable side. However, Bea Arthur was at her best when she was in charge, such as how she fended off a potential prison brawl when the girls were (wrongfully) arrested for prostitution:

I work in the public school system and it's not that different from this

It is hilarious but it is also somewhat true :)

In 1992 Bea Arthur decided she wanted to leave while the show was still on top, thus ended the run of The Golden Girls. She kept a very low profile from then on but returned to Broadway in 2001 with her one woman show And Then There’s Bea. On Apr 25th 2009, Bea Arthur passed away from lung cancer at age 86. Private to the end the public has no idea of her illness. Upon the news of her death broke, I was surprised by how many women has found Bea beautiful and listed her as their role model, considered that Ms. Arthur was never the conventional beauty with her build and low voice. However, as American had learned from the women’s movement, of which Bea was very much a part of, a strong woman is indeed an attractive woman.

Blanche Devereaux

Rue McClanahan (1934 - 2010)
Rue McClanahan was born Eddi-Rue McClanahan in a small mid-western town in Oklahoma. Despite her small town background, McClanahan hailed from a rather progressive and liberal family where her mom owned her own beauty parlor business. Eddi-Rue herself was already a co-partner in a dance studio when she was still in high school, very unusual for teenagers of her time, much less a girl. Even at a very young age McClanahan was encouraged to realize her full potential and she excelled academically. However, McClanahan loved to perform and after graduating from college, she decided to move to New York to become a professional actress

Despite her obvious talent and love of performing, McClanahan had to go through a long apprenticeship before finding success and financial security in the business. Two things went against her: while her parents had always encouraged Rue to dream big, what they didn’t prepare her is the rough life of big city and McClanahan found her small town value is no match for New York. In additions, her romantic ideal of relationship had imprudently brought her six marriages and numerous affairs, many of which had seriously jeopardized her career and livelihood.

It was only until legendary TV producer Norman Lear, who had saw Rue McClanahan performed on stage before, casted her as the naïve Vivian, best friend to Bea Arthur’s Maude, in the series Maude that Rue finally has steady employment and not to mention income. However, when Maude finished its run after six seasons, Rue’s life was once again thrown back into crisis due to the nasty divorce from husband number four, who asked for half of her earning. Meanwhile she suffered from a near fatal surgical complication during an operation for gall bladder attack. So she kept her finance afloat by appearing as the mousy Aunt Fran in the sitcom Mama’s Family, a part she felt she was wasted in. All these were rescued when the script of The Golden Girls arrived. Rue instantly connected with the part of men-hungry vixen Blanche Devereaux and knew she had a hit in hand. The problem was producer intended to give the part to Betty White instead. Fortunately casting director had the senses to ask Betty and Rue to read each other’s parts during audition. Any indecision on who should play who was quashed and the rest is history

Even though all four characters in The Golden Girls are not shy from romantic pursue, Blanche is by far the most sexually liberal of all and the least socially acceptable for women of their demographic at that point. Rue played the part with just the right combination of aggressive sexuality and emotional vulnerability that the role never sank below good taste. It also allow women above fifty to feel sexy for the first time, that female empowerment has become one of the cornerstone of the show. In additions, The Golden Girls challenged many of the social taboos of its time, such as lesbianism in this classic episode that won the Outstanding Comedy Series Emmy for the show:

It was way ahead of its time when you considered The Golden Girls debuted during the Reagan era, under which one saw some of the most homophobic policies due to AIDS. It will be even funnier if you know who Danny Thomas, perhaps the most famous and beloved Lebanese in America, is. By the way, Danny’s son Tony Thomas was actually one of the executive producers of The Golden Girls. He sure is a good sport to allow the show to make fun of his own father.

The Golden Girls finished its run in 1992 when Bea Arthur decide to leave, the other three tried to carry on in the spinoff The Golden Palace but without Bea the series never found its footing and got cancelled after just one season. Rue thereafter guest starred in a number of series, got married for the seventh time and released her autobiography My First Five Husbands…And the Ones Who Got Away. However, she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1997 and poor health has undermined her subsequent career. On Jun 3rd 2010 Rue McClanahan passed away after suffering from a massive stroke. She was 76.

Sophia Petrillo

Estelle Getty (1923 - 2008)
All the Golden Girls were already a household name before the series started in 1985, except Estelle Getty who played the octogenarian matriarch Sophia Petrillo. That is because Ms Getty took a twenty years detour in becoming a professional actress in favor of doing what was expected of her at the time – raising a family. Estelle was born Estelle Scher to a Polish-Jewish immigrant family in the lower East side of Manhattan in 1923. Though her family was not well off, one luxury Estelle got to enjoy as a kid was the frequent trip to vaudeville her father would take his family to after work. That experience had left a life-long impression on Estelle’s young mind but as with so many of the time her dream of being actress were met with dissuasion. As a result she compromised by taking secretarial jobs during the days once she graduated from high school so that she can audition for parts in the local theatres at nights

In 1947 Estelle met business Arthur Gettlemen and nine months later they were married. The Gettlemen soon started a family when Estelle gave birth to two boys. Even though Estelle continued to finding ways to act in the provincial theatres for the next thirty years, success was understandably limited when she had to stretch between her secretarial job and raising her children.

It was only until 1976 when her children had grown that Estelle could dedicate more her time in pursuing her goal. She met a young struggling playwright named Harvey Fierstein, who was writing a play about a Jewish torch-song singing transvestite’s search for love in New York. Estelle read the play and was smitten with it. She asked Harvey to write a part for her in the play and so he added a third act circling around the mother of the transvestite and the play became Torch Song Trilogy.

Torch Song Trilogy started off extremely modestly in off-off Broadway where the entire cast was made up of amateurish actors who mostly don’t have day jobs or real income. However, good word-of-mouth allowed the play to move to off Broadway within three months and before long it was moved to Broadway in 1982 where immense popularity means tickets had to be booked three month ahead. Eventually Torch Song Trilogy won the Tony for Best Play in 1983 and after plugging along for over thirty years, Estelle finally made it as a legitimate actress.

However, Estelle Getty remained an unknown outside of the small circle of New York theatre but that was about to change. While touring with Torch Song Trilogy in 1984 Estelle came to Los Angeles. She was called in by TV producers to audition for a TV pilot called The Golden Girls. The audition wasn't exactly a smooth ride because producers weren’t entirely convinced when Estelle was substantially younger than the character Sophia Petrillo. No decision were made even after numerous readings. It was only until her manager dressed her up to the part with powder in her hair during the last reading that Estelle had secured the part. Even so, Sophia was not originally designed as a regular cast member for the show. However, the chemistry among the four actresses was too undeniable in the pilot for the producer to ignore. Consequently, an original character, a male servant of the house, was cut after the first episode and The Golden Girls had become a foursome ever since

Sophia Petrillo was written to have suffered from a stroke before, which left her speaking whatever on mind with no inhibition. As a result the writer always gave Estelle some of the raciest lines ever on TV which endured her to millions of fans over all America. At a pint size 4’ 10 ½”, the physical contrast between her and Bea Arthur made Sophia and Dorothy one of the most memorable mother and daughter team. However, it is not just the feistiness that made Sophia such a colourful character. There is genuine affection between her and Dorothy, such as the time when it was discovered that the hospital might have switched the baby and Sophia might not be the real mother of Dorothy:

Interestingly, the writer never bother to resolve the real relationship between Sophia and Dorothy but I believe it is intentional: The show appeal to millions for because, blood-related or not, these four women are a family, however unconventional it might be.

For a few years after the end of The Golden Girls and The Golden Palace, Estelle Getty kept herself busy with various TV appearances and she co-starred in the hit family movie Stuart Little (also the last real hit for Geena Davis). However, in the late 90s she was diagnosed with dementia, a nervous disease that causes the loss of cognitive ability. As her health and mind began to decline due to the condition Estelle had stopped making public appearance. Reportedly she was unable to recall her former co-star when Betty White and Rue McClanahan visited her during her last years. On July 22nd 2008 Estelle died of complications from her disease, just three days before her 85th birthday and making her the first Golden Girl to pass away

Rose Nylund

Betty White (1922 - )
Three of the four Golden Girls are originally from the stage. Uniquely, Betty White’s background firmly rooted on television. The oldest of the cast, Betty White was born on the outskirt of Chicago in 1922 to a household full of love for animal, which has a life-long influence on her. Her family would move to Los Angeles when Betty was only two. Growing up next to the movie capital didn’t not inspire Betty to become an actress. Her foray into show business was only because of her singing in her high school graduation. A producer of radio programming heard the performance and asked Betty if she would be interested in an experiment broadcast called television. Thus began Betty’s legendary television career in 1939, three months after her graduation. To put this in the proper perspective, before World War II the major public broadcast in America was primarily radio. It was only in April of 1939 New York’s World Fair that televisions made its debut in the country. That means Betty White was truly a pioneer of the new medium.

The outbreak of WWII temporarily halted the development of both American television and Betty’s career. In the meanwhile she did what was expected of women to do at the time – got married, first to an Army pilot and later to a veteran turned talent agent. Both marriages ended briefly in part of the fact that instead of being a cookie-cutter housewife, Betty, unusual for women at the time, wanted to have a career and NOT to have children. So by 1949 Betty White became twice divorced. With two failed marriage, a defeated Betty felt marital bliss probably is not in her card and so threw herself into her work in a local Los Angeles TV show. Soon it paid dividend as she was approached to star in and produce her own TV series Life with Elizabeth, making her one of the first female TV producer ever. The success allowed the show to move beyond just Los Angeles area and to be broadcast across the nation. Eventually it won Betty her first Emmy for Best Actress which led to NBC offering her her own daytime variety show on national TV.

Although her variety show ended only one year later, Betty moved on to become a frequent guest panelist in many TV game shows, a programming that has gain tremendous popularity in the mid fifties. One of the game shows Betty often made her guest appearance was Password, hosted by the king of game shows Allen Ludden. Turned out the widowed Ludden has more romantic intention behind her frequent invitation. In 1962 Allen Ludden proposed to Betty White but with her past failures Betty was more than a little hesitant and turned him down. Undeterred, the persistent Ludden put the ring Betty returned upon his proposal on a chain around his neck as a reminder to Betty. After a year of trying, Allen and Betty finally got married.

Professionally Betty also reached a new pinnacle through Allen. Through her relationship with Allen Ludden, Betty became a close friend with Mary Tyler Moore and her then husband Grant Tinker. At the time Mary Tyler Moore was starring in the classic TV sitcom The Mary Tyler Moore Show. Mary suggested Betty to the producers of the show when they were looking for someone to play a new character Sue Ann Nivens, a sweet on the surface but conniving underneath homemaker. Soon Sue Ann Nivens became Betty White’s first classic TV character and won her two Emmy for Best Supporting Actress.

However, just when life with Ludden was at its most charmed disaster struck. In 1980, not long after Betty's enormous success with The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Allen Ludden was suddenly diagnosed with cancer. The cancer was on his stomach which was inoperable. Betty White was devastated when doctor told her that there was nothing they can do. In Jun the following year Allen Ludden passed away, just five days shy of their eighteenth anniversary.

Betty White never found another love like Allen but just as unexpected as Allen’s death, she was on the verge of her greatest professional success. Four years after the death of her husband, due to her previous fames as the home-wrecker Sue Ann Nivens, Betty was approached to play Blanche in the excellent script of The Golden Girls. A last minute switch of character with Rue McClanahan proved to be no challenge to Betty. During the first year of The Golden Girls, all four actresses were nominated for an Emmy but only Betty went home with the Best Actress award, making her the first to win an Emmy for the show. Her character Rose Nylund was written as a total naïve. On a lesser actress the character will appear innocuous but Betty played her with just enough sweetness to be endearing, as evidenced in Rose's moving monologue to her deceased husband back in hometown St Olaf:

Reportedly Betty blew her lines in the scene multiple times by addressing to her real-life husband Allen instead of her TV husband Charles

Betty White remained the most active of the four Golden Girls after the series finished its run in 1992. Even at 88 she is still going strong with numerous guest appearances on TV from The Simpsons to Family Guy to Ugly Betty to 30 Rock. With a TV career that is as long and luminous as hers Betty practically became the TV institution itself. With the passing of Rue McClanahan early this year, she also became the last surviving member of the cast. I’m sure when the new of Rue’s death broke many fans of The Golden Girls were reminded of this eerily prophetic scene:

However, just Sophia said, the ever indomitable Betty White will be able to carry on and keep the memory of The Golden Girls alive. I started this tribute almost three months ago and, due to my procrastination, it wasn’t finished until now. Turned out Betty White was indeed named Entertainer of the Year by Associated Press, and deservedly so. However, even with each new height she soared in the last eighteen months, I can’t help but felt something was missing, something like the magical chemistry among the four actresses that was so palpable in The Golden Girls. For individually they each are a legend in their own right but together, they are Golden

花旗明光社

2010-10-12T21:28:00.000-07:00

A common impression for people in Hong Kong about America is that it is a lot more open-minded and accepting. In their fervent imagination those puritan and controversial stances The Society For Truth And Light (明光社) hold will simply be unfathomable to the American public. Granted sexual minorities tend to have greater visibility, but they are far from having equalities in America. In fact, apart from the major cities along to either sides of the coast, America is actually made up substantially by a vast South and Midwest that could be surprising conservative to people in Hong Kong. Commonly referred as the Bible Belt, this is an area culturally dominated by conservative Protestant churches, some of which have such extremities in their religious belief that they can easily put 明光社 in shame. The notorious Westboro Baptist Church (WBC) that currently making headlines in United States is a prime example.

Based in Topeka, Kansas, WBC is a small virulently homophobic, anti-Semitic hate group. Headed by the pastor Fred Phelps who was also a disbarred lawyer, the church consists primarily the members of his extended family including his equally toxic (and licensed attorney) daughter Shirley Phelps-Roper and her *eleven* children.

The Phelps spawns regularly stage protests around the country, often several times a week. In obvious abuse of the protected freedom of speech, they hold up some of the most obnoxious signs you can ever imagine, picket institutions and individuals they think support homosexuality or otherwise subvert what they believe is God’s law (They have famously proclaimed their intention to picket actor Heath Ledger's funeral because he played a gay character in Brokeback Mountain).

Their extreme view and action has drawn intense criticism and monitoring around the world which eventually led to father and daughter being banned from entering the UK. However, the church obviously relishes the notoriety and attention they are getting, resulted in many of the media ignoring the church in order to deny the publicity the Phelps crave. In response, the church started to push the envelope even further by picketing the funerals of soldiers who perished in the war, where the controversy followed will ensure them staying on the public’s radar.

Perhaps as what the Phelps might have hoped, Albert Synder, the father of a deceased marine whose funeral in 2006 the church picketed, had filed a lawsuit against WBC, citing that their repugnant action has constituted "intentional infliction of emotional distress". The Synder family won the first round in a Maryland court against Westboro Baptist Church and awarded $5 million for the damage. However, that award was overturned during appeal when the court ruled that the protesters were exercising their right of free speech. Last week Albert Synder took the legal battle all the way to Supreme Court where the justices heard the oral arguments from both sides in the case

It is safe to say that I along with 99.9% of the American population would like to see the church pay for their repulsive behaviour. On the other hand, the freedom of speech is too sacred to be compromised for what amount to a household of loons. I wouldn’t be too concerned about the WBS preaching of hatred since their views are so extreme that it could only appeal to people with severe mental issues. However, if I were the authority I would seriously look into issue of child abuse within the church. The children of the Phelps family were fed and bred into their delusional world from day one. They need to be really alienated from reality in order to practice what they believe in. I have tremendous doubt if these children will be able to cope with the rest of the world once outside of such an institution. No matter how much you dislike your own family, you should consider yourself lucky that you weren’t born into this house of wackos!

輓歌

2010-09-18T22:41:00.000-07:00

Since you have only been to my home once, I know the chance is slim that you would come to visit my place. However, I was thinking, you flied thousand of miles only to die in a strange land, would you able find your way home?

Your dad has called me to stop by your apartment last week. Honestly it was with tremendous trepidation that I see your parents since I know your mom is still very much distraught and my mandarin is not anywhere close to be able to console her. Turned out they just want to leave me some of the stuff they originally brought with them for your rehabilitation since they don’t have enough room. By the way, my mom said never in her life had she seen such great 雲耳 like those they brought from China. However, I hate to think that you never got the chance to try what was meant for you. I told your parents a little anecdote of your life in Boston, when I saw how excited they are about every little detail of you I can imagine how tough the road ahead for them will be. They decided to fly back to China on 中秋節, thinking that by spending that day on the plane it will be one less opportunity to mourn the loss of you…

Seeing how you struggled for your life in the last couple months had been a torture. The moment I heard the doctor said you only had weeks left I just felt that there is a clock ticking inside me. And I am not ashamed to say that I felt relieved when you left, knowing that you wouldn’t be suffering anymore. I thought I was prepared for that, but that night I found myself toss and turn through the hours. All the memories were just flashing in front of me, like the time when you ranted about you were out of your wits for the down payment of a house and how you envied me that I already had that taken care of, not knowing that I am in fact a whole ten years older than you. I said when you got to my age you would probably have much more than I do, talk about 一語成讖. Also the time we went to watch Avatar together, it was only last December, how can things changed so fast? It was only then I realized in six years you have never been to a movie theatre in America because you didn’t know that there is no seat number in movie tickets here. Life as a foreigner can’t be easy I supposed.

In retrospect, it might be a good thing that I dragged you to see the film so that you got to experience the 3D gimmick in the only time you went to movie in America. However, if I can do it again I would rather get you to do another thing you have never done in America - to go see a doctor for your annual checkup. Things could be a lot different otherwise.

日本歌星話滄桑之由紀さおり

2010-09-15T21:19:00.000-07:00

A recent post from net friend Wordy reviewed the Morita Yoshimitsu's acclaimed movie 家族ゲーム(Kazoku Game). I am not familiar with Mr. Morita's movies so I don't have much to contribute. However, what caught my attention is the part of mother is being played by the old time singer 由紀さおり/由紀沙織 (Yuki Saori), and I can't resist sharing a classic JPOP oldie I have discovered through the power of Internet.

由紀さおり

Yuki Saori was born 安田章子 (Yasuda Akiko). Together with her older sister 安田祥子 (Yasuda Sachiko) they released a series of children songs. Then in 1965 Akiko went solo but because of her deeply cemented children songs background she only had minimal success with the more mature audience. It was not until 1969 she got her big break with the song 夜明けのスキャット (Yoake no Scat).

Originally written as a jingle for the TBS radio program 夜のバラード (Yoru no Ballad), 夜明けのスキャット was released as a single after lyrics was added to it. Eventually it went to number one in ORICON chart and sold over 1.09 million copies, becoming the best selling single in 1969 Japan. It also hold the record of shortest lyrics for a number one song in ORICON history.

Billed as the first ever スキャット (scat) hit in Japan (日本初のスキャット・ヒット!!), the scat here refers to the style of singing often found in Jazz music where improvised wordless vocables or nonsense syllables being rapidly and repeatedly sung over the music. While it is true that the lyrics of 夜明けのスキャット contains a rather long segment of meaningless words but I doubt many people will consider this as scat singing. Nevertheless it is still a very melodic tune.

After the success of 夜明けのスキャット, Saori spent a few years in the early 70s as one of the top selling artists where she scored another number one hit 手紙(Tegami). However, from 1982 onward the Yasuda sisters once again get back together in the children songs business but with more classical flavor. Here is their haunting rendition of the classic Okinawa folk song 花~すべての人の心に花を~(Hana~Subete no Hito no Kokoro ni Hana wo~) , accompanied with a beautiful piano concerto.

Tall and Mighty

2010-09-06T21:38:00.000-07:00

For fans of the TV hit musical comedy series Glee, the big news last week was of course the Emmy Awards. While it lost out the Best Comedy Series to Modern Family, Glee did win the Best Direction. Although I haven't exaclty followed the series at all, I am thrilled that it snatched the Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for Jane Lynch for her part as Will Schuester's nemesis, the acerbic head cheerleading coach Sue Sylvester.

After years of TV guest roles, Jane Lynch finally established herself as a household name at the age of 50. Standing at six feet, she is also one of the tallest actresses working in Hollywood. But for connoisseur of independent films, Jane Lynch is known as part of the motley crew that includes Michael McKean, Harry Shearer, Fred Willard, Eugene Levy, Catherine O'Hara, John Michael Higgins, Parker Posey, Bob Balaban, Jennifer Coolidge...etc director Christopher Guest often like to cast for his ensemble comedies.

Christopher Guest is a NYC-born Brit who is famous for directing a few repertory-like comedies in a style that comes to known as mockumentary. Guest was first involved in this genre through playing the lead guitarist in the Rob Reiner’s movie This is Spinal Tap, which follows the concert tour as well as faux interviews of the fictional rock band Spinal Tap. The subsequent cult following of the movie prompted Guest to direct a few more features in this rein to spoof a certain sub-cultural phenomenon of the society, such as community theater in Waiting for Guffman, dog show in Best in Show and my favorite, A Mighty Wind, a movie that is both a parody and a tribute to the folk music revival during the 50s to the late 60s

A Mighty Wind chronicle, due to the recent passing of legendary folk manager Irving Steinbloom, a memorial concert in The Town Hall to reunite three folk groups that Steinbloom has guided to stardom: The Folkmen, played by the exact same three actors who disguised as the rockers in Spinal Tap, The New Main Street Singers, a knockoff of The New Christy Minstrels, and the *former* sweet hearts of the folk music scene Mitch & Mickey. Jane Lynch played Laurie Bohner(wink!), an ex-pornstar who, together with husband Terry Bohner, paradoxically fronts the cheesily colour-coordinated and squeaky clean The New Main Street Singers. Here is a clip of Terry and Laurie explaining how they come to reform the ‘neuftet’, as they describe themselves as:

I like the way how Jane looks all sympathetic and comforting as Terry recalled how he was *musically* abused as a kid and how John Michael Higgins looks increasing uncomfortable as Laurie related her former life as an actress in the adult film industry and how she learned to play the ukulele in her last film Not So Tiny Tim

However, unusual for Guest’s mockumentaries since they are ensemble pieces in general, the focal point of A Mighty Wind is without a doubt the one-time lovebirds Mitch & Mickey. Mitch Cohen and Mickey Devlin met each other through a gig at a folk cafe in NYC during the 60s and it was a love at first sight. Soon they hooked up to form the folk duo and released a series of records that soaked with "true love".

In one of their signature songs, A Kiss at the End of the Rainbow, it featured a stage kiss that comes to symbolize their devotion to each other. Mitch and Mickey are brilliantly played by Eugene Levy and Catherine O’Hara, who are perhaps better remembered as the dad in American Pie and the mom in Home Alone respectively. Both hailed from Canada, Eugene and Catherine actually dated all the way back to the 70s in a sketch comedy show called SCTV (Second City TV), sort of like a Canadian version of Saturday Night Live which unfortunately has overshadowed SCTV. Because of their long history, Christopher Guest like to pair Eugene Levy and Catherine O’Hara together in his movie and the result is often hilarious, even when both Levy and O’Hara play it straight.

However, as the relationship between Mitch and Mickey started to unravel and finally broke down, they parted way and Mitch went on to a couple poorly received solo releases with increasingly dark tone. It all eventually led to a mental breakdown and a stint at the hospital. As a result, the same kiss comes back to haunt both of them

Now the big question is will Mitch and Mickey be able to bury their differences to reunite for one night? Will they be able to handle the memories brought back by performing together? Will they reenact the kiss when they sing A Kiss at the End of the Rainbow?

Remarkably, while the movie is played for laugh, all the songs featured in the soundtrack are original and genuine folk music. Even more amazing is that they are all written and performed by the cast who also played their own instruments themselves. I bet a lot of listeners would believe they are authentic folk groups if they haven’t been told otherwise. Admirers accustomed to Christopher Guest’s mockumentries are often surprised and moved by the sincerity of the Mitch & Mickey story, of which the song A Kiss at the End of the Rainbow no doubt has added to its poignancy. In fact, it has touched enough people to win the movie an Oscar nomination for Best Original Song

It is an unexpected nomination for a small budget comedy like A Mighty Wind and naturally the cast was thrilled. Much like Mitch & Mickey in the movie, people are anxious to see how Eugene Levy and Catherine O’Hara would appear on Oscar night now that the stage had been set for them to perform the song. Eugene even quipped that they might pull a wardrobe malfunction stunt a la Janet Jackson, where he will rip Catherine’s dress only to get stuck…. While he didn’t exactly do that but their rendition was definitely a highlight of otherwise yet another dull Oscar show. Unfortunately the Academy is very stringent with their copyright. So even though I have the performance on avi, I cannot post it to YouTube lest they should close my account. But leave to the fans in Asia (Taiwan I believe) who managed to sidestep the legal right by posting the Oscar broadcast on STAR movies. Notice that Eugene and Catherine performed the song in characters, even the announcer introduced them as Mitch & Mickey. I like the way Catherine all choked up with emotion and said “I can’t” when Eugene made his move to kiss her. Comedy at its most sublime

As a tradition, all Christopher Guest’s mockumentaries always end with a "six month later" segment where it will catch up with all the major characters half a year after the event that bring them together. A Mighty Wind is no exception; turned out everyone except Mitch and Mickey themselves took their reunion much more seriously than it actually was.

Well they certainly had us fooled :-)

When lyrics were still good and affirmative

2010-08-29T19:43:00.001-07:00

For someone who is forever trapped in a time warp, anything that is post-1988 is as good as new. It was only when I Google online did I realize it was over 18 years old. No wonder it doesn't sound like anything written out there these days. I particularly like the line "回望時我也笑得温婉". There is so much aftertaste to it.

仍感激相愛了一年 - 林帆
曲:陳容森詞:周禮茂編:盧東尼

渡過一天還又有一天終於心不掛牽
但這一刻超出了預算與你邂逅重見面
挑不起的心亂再湧現但比想的少了點
熱烈問候亦只感覺微*暖默默又讓你掠過身邊

仍感激相愛了一年仍感激走過了一段
還是回頭期望你繼續流連
仍感激相愛了一年仍感激走過了一段
回望時我也笑得温婉

没有許多還是有許多講不出的眷戀
但也心知不可再越線過去了是場紀*念
關不起的心又再紛亂亦比想的多了酸
熱烈話别亦只感覺微*暖默默又讓你掠過身邊
　
仍感激相愛了一年仍感激走過了一段
還是回頭期望你繼續流連
仍感激相愛了一年仍感激走過了一段
回望時你已眼中飄遠
　
仍感激相愛了一年仍感激走過了一段
還是回頭期望你繼續流連
仍感激相愛了一年仍感激走過了一段
回望時我眼已濕千遍

* I never manage to find the lyrics of this song online. The above was only deciphered through listening. In the song "感覺未暖" and "是場記念" are what it sounds like but based on the context, "感覺微暖" and "是場紀念" would seem to make more sense.

星光伴我心之魚目混珠

2010-05-11T20:55:00.000-07:00

People always like to say the quality of TV programs (in particular TVB's) isn't what it used to be. However, things always look better when you glimpse it through the flitering lens of memory. Not to defend the creativity (or the lack of it) in TVB's production, do we really remember what TV was like back then?

During the dawn of public television broadcasting in Hong Kong, TV programs understandably relied heavily on foreign productions due to the limited local resources. One such example was the Saturday night broadcast of dubbed foreign movies that are marketed as some kind of five star cinema. Being at my pre-adolescence I of course had no idea what movies or stars have been featured. Among the bit and pieces I remember is an absurd image of a screaming and wailing woman being strapped in a bathtub that was covered with a canvas, with only her head was above the tub. Later she tried to use her toe to tear open the canvas from underneath but once she succeeded her wailing has turned into a howling of agony...

I don't remember anything else from the movie (except a brief snapshot of a joint wedding) but this scene stayed with me because it was so bizarre to me at the time. Then fast forward thirty years later, to take advantage of living in America, I was exploring the many great and not so great filmdom got to offer. Unexpectedly I stumbled across the same scene again

This scene is from a movie named Valley of the Dolls. The rediscovery of the scene also leads to the realization of how TVB managed to get away with the kind of movie they passed as five stars cinema, for Valley of the Dolls is a movie known to be infamous rather than famous.

Until Mommie Dearest came along, Valley of the Dolls was the undisputed champion of Camp Cinema, which had wrecked the career of the aspiring starlets and stigmatized the legend starred in it. Its strong pop culture following is sustained merely because of its camp appeal and no serious film program will choose Valley of the Dolls as part of their repertoire. 'The Best, Funniest Worst Movie Ever Made', here is how the stars of the movie aptly summed it up thirty years later:

Adapted from one-time Broadway hopeful Jacqueline Susann's trashy bestseller of the same name, which chronicled three young women trying to make their ways in showbiz only to end up getting hooked on pills, affectionately known as Dolls, thus the book’s title. Filled with sex, drugs and schlock in the entertainment industry, the book was and meant to be scandalous, outrageous and sensational since such lurid inside stories have hitherto been the best kept secrets in Hollywood. However, as the old studio system crumbled in the sixties, Hollywood was scrambled to find what used to be taboo subject matters as inspiration in order to stay in touch with the young audience. Valley of the Dolls the movie was one such misguided attempt.

Hell bent on shocking the audience, the movie went all out with such way over the top kitsch and scene chewing performances that what intended to be a outrageous inside look at show business became a laugh riot of backstabbing caricature and unintentional humor (Reportedly the audience response was so hysterical during the movie première that Jacqueline Susann had to leave in tears). Highlights, or should I say lowlight, include:

The Gillian Girl Montage. A Classy, Radcliff graduated good girl, Anne Welles is really an idealized version Jacqueline Susann had of herself. Not contented to be the blissfully married New England housewife yet, Anne set out to see the world by working as the secretary of a theatrical lawyer in New York; and from there she stepped into the glitter world of false eyelash, tacky splendor and hair that defies gravity of supermodeldom, simply just by walking into her boss office taking shorthand

Before Anne can practice her catwalk sashay, she would need to prove her secretary competency by delivering contract to brassy, over-the-hill Broadway legend Helen Lawson, who had been around the business long enough to understand the secret of staying on top is to cut off anyone near who is better than you("The only hit that comes out of a Helen Lawson show is Helen Lawson, and that’s me, baby") such as Neely O’Hara, played by Patty Duke

But fear not for the poor ingénue. The very same night Helen had her kicked out of her show Neely O’Hara landed herself a gig in a charity telethon where she belted out a god-awful song, aptly named “It’s Impossible", and soon enough she was on her way to stardom, heaven knows why. Patty Duke lip-synced the song as if she was giving birth, with her pelvis constantly thrusting to you. Even more surreal is at one point her beads just cupped her breast, talk about impossibility. In the Broadway spoof of the movie Theatre-A-Go-Go’s Valley of the Dolls, the actress who played Neely O’Hara had to tape her beads to her sweater in order to recreate the same effect.

As if challenging for the most nonsensical musical number, Helen Lawson in her true grand dame fashion up the antics by barking out an even more horrendous tune called I’ll Plant My Own Tree. Without a doubt this must be one of the worst songs ever on film, with idiosyncratic lyrics like:

It’s my yard so I’ll try hard
to welcome friends I have yet to know
Oh, I’ll plant my own tree
and I’ll make it grow
They sure don’t write lyrics like these anymore, if they ever did. Adding injury to insult is the plastic translucent Calder mobile-like set decor that keeps spinning around Susan Hayward on stage. Combined with Hayward's own demon-like facial expression and preposterous posture where her upper torso and lower torso seem to inhabit in two different zip codes, it is a number needed to be seen to believe.

Hardly coincidental, Judy Garland was originally signed on to play Helen Lawson, in what would be her last movie. But by that time of her career she had become so unreliable that it was practically impossible to work with. One week into shooting she was increasing uncomfortable with the movie, probably because of the similarity with her own story according Barbara Parkins who played Anne Welles. Garland simply just walked off the set and never come back, and took with her all the costumes the studio made for her part in the movie. That left 20th Century Fox with no choice but to fire her and Susan Hayward had to step in. However, Miss Hayward agreed to play Helen Lawson only if Judy Garland can keep her salary. That of course was a very noble gesture of Susan and she most definitely didn’t expect Valley of the Dolls would advance her career but even she wouldn’t expect the movie will skid so badly toward trash

Now we have come to the most notorious scene of the entire movie. As Neely’s star rises (not to mention her addiction), Helen Lawson’s is fading. Despite the fact that it was open to poor review, Helen brought her latest show on the road anyway with just a little *fine tune*. Smelling blood even a Continent away, Neely showed up at the opening gala of the show uninvited. Soon spark flied between the two, not to mention catty and trashy dialogue:

Look, they drummed you right out of Hollywood, so you come crawling back to Broadway. Well Brooooadway doesn’t go for booooooze and dope.

What better place for such rotten dialogue than the ladies’ room? It is a scene All Above Eve failed to deliver to the fans of campy soaps like Dallas and Dynasty. What make it all more delicious is that it was between not one but two Oscar winners: Susan Hayward won an Oscar for the jailed prostitute in I Want To Live but almost all her other best roles she played a singer: Smash-Up: The Story of a Woman, With a Song in My Heart, I’ll Cry Tomorrow, and she was Oscar nominated for all of these. Unfortunately, rather than joining the former three, Valley of the Dolls fell into the same league as The Conqueror, her other So Bad It is Almost Good movie that featured John Wayne as, get this, Genghis Khan (成吉思汗). I would urge you check out The Conqueror too if you want to have a good laugh.

But on a more serious note, the movie The Conqueror played the unfortunate role of the puzzling clue in an American episode of China Syndrome: The movie was filmed on location in a Utah dessert. Unbeknownst to the public at the time, the site was a near a nuclear testing grounds. The crew even shipped some of the sand back to Hollywood to complete the studio shoot. An unusually high percentage of the cast and crew eventually developed cancer and died relatively prematurely, including Hayward herself.

Patty Duke won an Oscar for her role as Helen Keller in The Miracle Worker five years before she starred in Valley of the Dolls, making her the youngest Oscar winner at the time. With her own popular TV show “The Patty Duke Show” she became the hottest adolescent star in America during the sixties. However, when "The Patty Duke Show" ended in 1966, like most successful child stars, she was desperate to shed her wholesome image. Relishing the opportunity to play spunky Broadway upstart turned alcoholic, pill-popping, foul-mouthed diva Neely O'Hara (a character supposedly based on Judy Garland) Patty went way over the top, chewed every single scene she was in and her reward was having her movie career killed in the process.

As indispensible in any cautionary tale is the fallen from grace scene. After a brief stink in the rehab Neely quickly relapsed back into her old vice but this time she found herself alone in the back alley, with all her friends and ally deserted her. You have to hand it to director Mark Robson, even in the supposedly downtrodden finale he was still going for broke. For lack of better idea of conveying the character’s anguish, he just simply had the heroine screaming her name at the top of her throat. I can easily imagine the camp audiences in the theater will screams God... Neely?...... NEEEEEEELLLLLYYYYYYY O HARAAAAAAAA!!!! (and laugh) with Patty Duke during this scene.

Patty Duke's personal life was as tumultuous as Neely O'Hara’s. For years she had been struggling with bi-polar disorder, which had not been diagnosed until she was in her late thirties. At 23, she romantically linked with Desi Arnaz, Jr, the 17 year-old son of sitcom queen of American Television Lucille Ball, much to the mother’s disapproval. Distraught over the broken relationship, she embarked on an affair with actor John Astin and found herself pregnant. To escape the stigma of being an unwedded mother, she reckless married to Michael Tell, a rock promoter she just met and the marriage lasted all of thirteen days. After the marriage was annulled she rekindled her relationship with John Astin and the two got married with John adopting Patty’s son. Because of the timing of the birth, there had been speculation in the public that her son was actually Arnaz’s but for years Patty believed he was Astin’s. It was only until her son was in his early twenties that it confirmed through paternity testing that the actual father was Michael Tell. Despite of these marital messes, her son Sean Astin turned out to be quite normal and became a modestly successfully Hollywood actor, most famously as Samwise Gamgee, the faithful sidekick to Elijah Wood’s Frodo Baggins in The Lord of the Rings trilogy

Mother and son, Patty Duke and Sean Astin. Can you see the resemblance?

Completing the Unholy Trinity with Anne Welles and Neely O’Hara is Jennifer North, played by the then rising star Sharon Tate. A sexy bombshell who self confessed that all she had is a body, the way for Jennifer to make it in the business is by doing bust exercise. While she might have no talent, but what Jennifer had is a heart of gold. She yanked all the rich sugar daddies going after her to marry for love – in the form of the struggling crooner Tony who was under the tight control of her half-sister manager Miriam, played by Lee Grant.

Turn out there was a reason for Miriam’s reticent toward Jennifer. Tony was an unfortunate victim of Huntington’s chorea, an incurable heredity disease that would eventually lead to mental and physical degeneration. In another word Jennifer was married to a vegetable in the making. This part of the story might sound familiar to you because TVB has totally ripped this off for their series《大亨》. For those who are not “seasoned” enough to remember, 《大亨》was TVB’s own cautionary tale about how four young men get to the top through some honourable and unhonourable means. The four main characters were played by 鄭少秋, 劉松仁, 盧海鵬 and the mostly forgotten Shaw Brothers (邵氏) actor 林偉圖. The subplot of 林偉圖 involved him being infatuated with a young but naïve singer played by 容惠雯, much to the disapproval of her manager sister 蘇杏璇. It was only after they are married that 蘇杏璇 revealed to 林偉圖 of her sister’s illness.

In Valley of the Dolls, eventually Miriam had to pimp Jennifer to a French director to make ‘art’ film (a.k.a nudies) over Europe in order to support Tony’s medical expense. Now I do wish TVB had the nerve to steal this part of the plot as well, particularly if you remember how 林偉圖 looks like

林偉圖

Because of its reputation, everyone involved in Valley of the Dolls has long been the target of ridicule. The public in general, however, is a little kinder to Sharon Tate. It isn’t so much her performance is better than everyone else but more because of her real life tragedy as the victim in one of the most horrific homicides ever in American history

Sharon Tate (1943 - 1969)

Sharon Tate started out as an extra in Hollywood before getting notice in the TV sitcom The Beverly Hillbillies. Discovered by producer and mentor Martin Ransohoff, she was recommended to director Roman Polanski for his first Hollywood Movie The Fearless Vampire Killers. Polanski and Tate fell in love during the filming and soon they were married in 1968. With both careers on the rise they seem to be the 'It' couple in Hollywood

Sharon Tate's wedding to Roman Polanski

After wrapping the comedy 12 + 1 in Italy, Sharon put her career on hold and flied back to her LA home to expect on her first child, with Polanski joining her in about three weeks for the birth. Unknowingly, Tate has become the target The Manson Family, a quasi-commune of alienated, confused, social misfits drawn to the Hippie movement and drug culture in the late sixties, all but eventually brainwashed by the extremely charismatic, manipulative yet dangerously disturbed and anti-social Charles Manson.

Charles Manson

Charles Manson was a child of an unwedded prostitute who rejected him. Until he was in his thirties Manson spent much of his life in and out of reform schools and prison. It was in prison that he learned how to play guitar and developed an interest in music. After he was released from prison in 1967 Manson soon settled in San Francisco. Through the power positive thinking skill he acquired in prison, he turned a legion of flower children that fled to the city at the time into his fanatic followers. Meanwhile he wrote songs and made acquaintances with people inside the music business. However, his view of the world turned increasing twisted with his lack of success in the industry. He told his followers that the song Helter Skelter from The Beatles’ White Album was a coded message of an impending apocalyptic race war, and they would need to follow his order in order to survive. That included breaking in the former home of record producer Terry Melcher, now shared by Sharon Tate and Roman Polanski, and ‘totally destroy everyone, as gruesome as you can’…

I don’t want to go into the grotesque detail of the crime for the tone would deviate too much from the rest of the article. Suffice to say that it is very unnerving to hear the testimony of how Sharon begged for her life so that her son, who was two weeks away from being born, could be spared. In the end, both were denied mercy. Had her son lived, he will be my age. May both mother and child rest in peace.

Two From The Heart

2010-04-24T09:11:00.001-07:00

In a blink of eyes it has been twenty years

About the only thing I look forward to before moving to Boston back in May of 1988 was – MTV. For years we had to settle with music videos of cliché galore TVB had chunked out, filled with tiresome images of either strolling on the beach or breaking glasses or dry ice overloaded or all three. I was more than hungry for production with some real quality. Unbeknownst to me at the time, MTV is actually a cable network and you will have to pay for it, something not every struggling new immigrant family can afford, such as mine. By the time we are settled enough to enjoy such extravagance, I was already on my way to college and stay in the dorm. It was not until the Christmas/New Year break in year one I finally got the chance to catch the elusive entertainment. One of the very first music videos I watched was Don Henley

Don Henley made a name as a founding member and the drummer of the 70s country-rock band The Eagles. But in 1980 when the partnership ended in acrimony all the members went on to their own solo careers. As with many super-bands that have for years established themselves as a joint entity, it took Don Henley sometimes to re-invent himself. However, when he scored it big in 1985 with his second solo album Building The Perfect Beast, which featured the Top 5 hit Boy of Summer and won him a Grammy Award for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance Don Henley became the most commerically successful of all The Eagles. Little did we know the best from Don Henley had yet to come

When he released his third solo album, The End of the Innocence, not only did it become his best selling album in his career, but also one of the most critically acclaimed of the year and the decade. Released in the last months of 1980s, the album took on many social phenomenon of the Reagan era: from lost of the small town attitude (the title track) to the blatant Reaganomic materialism (Gimme What You Got) to the Pat Robertson/Jerry Falwell religious fanatics (Little Tin God). But for those like me who didn't live under the Reagan administration, the biggest impression is probably two VERY heartfelt ballads in the album

The Last Worthless Evening was released as the second (some sources said third) single after the title track. At 6:03 it is a rather long running song but with its earnest lyrics it hardly feels dragging at all. Though it would not be something I recommend, you can't deny there is a certain nobleness in being so enthusiastic to be the rebound guy. When going through a painful breakup, can you not be moved when someone "walk up to you and say this is the last worthless evening that you'll have to spend"? By the way, it is from this song I learned the term "sink or swim", a darn good phrase to describe a desperate situation.

The Last Worthless Evening by Don Henley

Despite the success of the album, Don Henley went into litigation with Geffen Record and its owner David Geffen over breach of contract soon afterward and The End of the Innocence remains the last original album Don Henley released under Geffen Record. Maybe because of the dispute, all the music videos from the album posted to Youtube tend to get removed. It is only through Yahoo Video that I can find the one for The Last Worthless Evening. It probably will take a bit longer to load but bear with it.

The Last Worthless Evening @ Yahoo! Video

There isn't much frill in the video but it makes good use of colour to create a very soothing ambience that is just right for the song. I particularly like the bridge "Time Time Ticking, Ticking Away" when the video juxtaposed the image of a fading flower and the heroine's shock discovery of how wasted away she had become. A side note: before she made it big with All I Wanna Do, Sheryl Crow was working as a backup singer for various artists including Don Henley. Reportedly one of the backup singers in the video is her. I will let you be the judge.

Don Henley followed this up with an even better ballad. As the very last track of The End of the Innocence, there can't be many better 'wrap up' songs than The Heart Of the Matter.

The Heart Of The Matter by Don Henley

Although The Heart Of The Matter was a big hit at the time, it never cracked into the Top 20 in Billboard Hot 100, which is the chart most in Hong Kong used to gauge popularity. So I suspect this song might not be that well known in Hong Kong. If you have never heard of it or pay attention to its lyrics, I would urge you to check it out, it has some of the best lyrics ever written out there:

There are people in your life who've come and gone
They let you down, you know they hurt your pride
You better put it all behind you baby; cause' life goes on
You keep carryin' that anger, it'll eat you up inside, baby

I wish ballads in Hong Kong could have more lyrics like these instead of the endless rant of 爛泥\垃圾\壞人\好心無好報. Don't they understand clemency and redemption can be far more emotionally poignant than perennially dwelling on self-pity?

The subject matter of The Heart Of The Matter is much more abstract and thus lot harder to visualize. Though inexplicable in part, the music video for The Heart Of The Matter does manage to convey a sense of regret toward the past and emancipation in moving forward, much in the same vein as the song conceptually, if not faithfully. It also has some good fading in, fading out of lighting. Unfortunately, the video is even harder to find than Last Worthless Evening. What you can find in Youtube is usually the India Arie's cover. So you might want to catch the original before YouTube takes it down

On Borrowed Time

2010-03-25T21:45:00.001-07:00

It's no use reminding yourself daily that you are mortal:
it will be brought home to you soon enough

Albert Camus

For me, it has certainly been brought home in the last month

Reminder 1
An uncle who is still at a relatively young age has unexpectedly passed on during a trip to China by himself. Even with a history of heart problem, the abruptness has caught the entire extended family by surprise nonetheless, particularly when it was last than a week before we had our long distance Chinese New Year greeting on the phone. The irony is my uncle already has a procedure (an LVAD implant I believe) scheduled in a month time as a precaution to the major heart operation he had had fifteen years ago. It is always tempting to second guess in situation like this - what if the appointment was schedule just a wee bit earlier? What if family member has accompanied him during the trip? What if...? However, the cold fact is what happened did happen. In retrospect, it had been suggested that he might not have survived the operation he had fifteen years ago. You can argue that he had managed to bargain an additional fifteen years from death already. It is just that human are naturally greedy. When you have an extra fifteen years spared to you, who wouldn't ask for a sixteenth year?

Reminder 2
Despite my valiant effort of clean living which includes daily swimming, light diet AND 100% smoking and alcohol free, my blood pressure just refuses to go down. My diastolic reading has consistently hit over mid-ninety, a rather fearful number for someone my age. As much as I hated to concede, it seems I have no choice but to cross the point of no return - take up the advice of my physician of medication and just try to put the unnerving notion that likely it will be for life out of my consciousness. Maybe the thought that my maternal grandmother and now her son have both met their early end will make it easier to bear.

Reminder 3
A co-worker who has been complaining about stomach pain for awhile had checked himself into hospital three weeks ago. Only last week it was confirmed to be cancer. Being a working visa holder, he has no family whatsoever in US at all and as a non-relative the hospital did not have the permission to reveal the detail to me. All I know is from what he is willing to divulge but he appeared to be upbeat about the situation...

The biggest blow came when I have to visit him for some paperwork he needs me to fill out for him two days ago. Having just completed his first round of chemotherapy, gone was the cheerful optimism. What remained seems to be a wreckage of flesh that somehow survived the onslaught of chemical corrosion. He looked under-nurtured even when he was healthy, now he is just downright anorexic. When I see how alarmingly prominent his collarbone has become I tried my best to feign unperturbed but even I can tell I didn't succeed. Years ago when I read 《死亡, 別狂傲》 by 蘇恩佩, a point she made is the treatment sometimes is even more frightening than the disease itself. That sentiment no doubt was dancing in my mind. He told me the doctor is putting him under observation for now to see if he would need a second round of chemotherapy. I just swallowed my question about whether his frail body can take that.

When I walked out of the hallway of the ward to the elevator I can't help but feel death has brushed me by. You got to wonder how would that do to one’s spirit by prolong staying in that habitat, regardless how spacious and nicely decorated it is. Even worse is when I looked at date of birth on the completed form he wants me to send, I realized he just spent his 30th birthday in that room...

The tough part is he has asked me to keep his condition a secret at work and he prefers not to receive guests at the moment. It is understandable why - with the portable toilet that situated next to him and the dark fluid coming out periodically through the tube tucked into his nose, it is not just the worry brought to the visitors but also the indignation he didn't want to face. However, it is not easy to hold back your emotion answering people's inquiry of his well being, when all the images of his skeletal frames are flashing before your eyes. The sad truth is covering it up is really the only thing I can do for him now and I didn't even do that well. It is only when we are faced with the crisis in life that you realized how powerless human are, how powerless I am.

To Curl Is Human; To Watch Is Divine

2010-02-27T14:14:00.000-08:00

Ever since the top management of my company decided to be extravagant and installed flat screen TVs in the office last year, we have been bombarded with 24 hour financial headline news at work. As our CFO said, it is to show the visiting clients our dedication to our business by staying up-to-the-second updated with the industry. Funny since all the TVs in the office have been, understandably, muted, does it mean being able to read lips is also part of the professionalism in our business too? So far the crew have been well behaved and the channel stayed mainly in CNN but that might have more to do with the remote control is being under the Facility Manager's supervision. However, with the on-going Winter Olympics game the temptation is too much and thus we were treated with full week coverage of --- Curling (冰壺)

It was only three Olympics ago that curling had become an official competing event. Even for a sport crazed country like U.S. curling is not big a sport. The coverage we have this week probably could last us a decade and most of the folks in the office have never played the game before. However, all the real athletic events (such as ice dancing) will have to be saved for prime time TV, so in the office we will have the settle with curling. Fortunately curling is a relatively fast moving sport and rather easy to follow, if not to play. The goal is to place the curling stone (a.k.a. rock) closest to the circle at the end of the game. It is sort of like the combination of pétanque you see in European public gardens and air hockey kids used to play in amusement park.

The Vancouver game marks the first foray of China into curling. Just like almost all non-traditional Chinese sports, the Chinese women team outperforms their male counterpart by winning the bronze. The only match of the Chinese men I got to watch is the round robin match against host and defending world champion Canada. The Chinese team was blown away right off the bat and trailed Canada 0-4 in the first end. To give them some slacks this match is a dead rubber which means by then the Canadian has already confirmed advancing to semi-final (as the top seed) and the Chinese is eliminated regardless the result.

While the match is far from being competitive, it still good to get the (rare) chance watching the Chinese team in action. Comprised of 王奉春, 徐曉明, 劉銳 and 臧家亮, the entire team hailed from, unsurprisingly, Heilongjiang (黑龍江)

Chinese men curling team member 王奉春

Chinese men curling team (l. to r. 臧家亮, 徐曉明, 劉銳)

Particularly pleasing in the eyes is second thrower (二壘) 徐曉明. Some Chinese online news and forums have erroneously listed him as 徐小明, probably due to the English name Xu XiaoMing in his Olympics profile

In recent years Chinese national athletes are getting more and more star build-up to promote both the sport as well as personal endorsement. For an obscure sport like curling exposure would be limited around the world. In a city like Hong Kong where the temperature hardly ever dips below five degree Celsius, winter sport will be a hard sell to say the least (I must confess before moving to Boston I didn't even know there is such a thing called Winter Olympics). However, if you get bored with the posters of 陳一冰, 林丹, 田亮 or 王皓 one day you might want to check out 徐曉明

If 徐曉明 is to get star makeover he will really need to do something about his hair, which always looks like just getting off from the wrong side of the bed

If all the photos have wetted your appetite for some real action, the bad news is due to copyright you won't be able to find any clip of real Olympics competition in Youtube. Fortunately Vancouver Island News had done a segment on the Chinese Curling team just before the Olympics when the team had chosen Vancouver Island as their pre-Olympic tune-up destination. Stay with the clip, toward the end you will see 徐曉明 in motion, if not exactly in action

What's in a Name

2010-02-20T21:48:00.000-08:00

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet."

Juliet, Romeo and Juliet

It was a few days ago I read from online news that former football star 尹志強 has passed away. I have never been a fan of football or (until I immigrated) any sport but it is a pity for anyone to go at a relatively young age. On the brighter side is he is in a better place and free from the pain now. However, what really caught my attention to the article is the name of the reporter - 誦言(meaning eloquent speech). Even more inspiring is that her (it is a 'she', I have googled the name) surname is 談, 談誦言. All three characters are under the radical '言', and she got into working in journalism. I don't know if this is her realname but even if it is a pen name you have to give her the credit for combining it with her surname, which is not easy since not every Chinese surname has meaning.

During the 粵語殘片 era there was a comic actor named 伊秋水, obviously derived from the phrase 秋水伊人 (A beauty with enchanting eyes). I've always thought this is a stage name since '伊' doesn't sound like a surname but then he has a son named 伊雷 who was also an actor. For years I wonder if he named his son's name after his own stage name. Turn out, according to Chinese wikipedia, '伊' is indeed his surname and his real name is 伊景榮. By the way, whoever wrote that entry has been very professional, it lists all newspaper reference and even page number, a rarity in Chinese Wiki.

A few years back it had been a public outcry for lack of supervision when it came to adult content being printed in Hong Kong mainstream newspapers. Some kind of committee was pushing for law to regulate adult material in mass media. Heading that movement was a guy named 黃克廉. Someone quipped that he was born to play that part.

Just because combining the surname to give an extra meaning is not necessary a good name. 亦舒 is a writer I never warm up to. One of her more famous novels, 《玫瑰的故事》, happened to be one I dislike the most. It is contrived even by her standard. Basically it is about how a woman destroys the lives of the men who cross her path with her devastating beauty. If that reads like the wet dreams of some airhead bimbos it is because that is exactly what the book is. And such shamelessly trite story has to be repeated four times because the book is divided into four different stages of the heroine's life. 亦舒 named her 玫瑰, as if that is not nausea inducing enough, her surname is '黃', 黃玫瑰. Thanks god 亦舒 is not my mom.

My surname is 梁, which is one that has a meaning because 梁 is actually what 樑 was in the ancient time. So if I want to take advantage of my 'meaningful' surname to name name, the obvious will be 梁作棟 but 作棟 would be the butts of endless jokes. Alternatively I can go for 梁上君, how is that for a little black humour? :-)

Blessed Are The Forgetful?

2010-02-15T21:55:00.001-08:00

電影回顧: 情人節首選《無痛失戀》

How happy is the blameless vestal's lot!
The world forgetting, by the world forgot
Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind!
Each pray'r accepted, and each wish resign'd

Alexander Pope, Eloisa to Abelard

From Vertigo to L'Année dernière à Marienbad to Blade Runner to Twelve Monkeys to Memento, memory has always been a subject that fascinated filmmakers. Our perceptions of reality are molded as much by our memories as by facts. It has been said that memory tends smooth out the edges of a rough history. However, getting there often means a painful ordeal. If memory would eventually obscure truth over time anyway, wouldn't it be easier just erase it to begin with?

If there is one movie that perfectly blends the enigma of memory and Valentine's Day it is Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. With its specific time frame setting, it is a movie people who had been in love or through a break-up can relate to on the special day. After all who wouldn’t share the same pain and longing Joel had after the love of your life left abruptly without sufficient reason.

Heavily influenced by, by director Michel Gondry's own admission, a rarely watched Alain Resnais’ movie Je t’aime, je t’aime, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind also shares the subjectivity and mutability of memory theme that permeates throughout Resnais’ films.

Nevertheless, what separates Gondry's movie from Resnais' is the injection of an aura of romance and warmth. Instead of overwhelming us with an intriguing but alienating study of the complex relationships between time and memory, audiences are invited into the Joel’s world and to share his affection for Clementine, the regret of his impulsiveness and his longing for a second chance.

"Remember me" as Clementine told Joel, an advice came just a little too late

Through Joel’s memory we saw the intimate moments Joel and Clementine shared together. We felt sorry for Joel’s impetuous decision to erase Clementine from his memory. We rooted for him to somehow revert the procedure through his sheer will. We cheered for Joel following through the promise he made to Clementine to meet her in Montauk through the new memory he created during the operation, in spite of the inexplicability on Clementine fulfilling her part of the deal to show up for the rendezvous because we believe they are meant for each other

However, I felt that audience who are so quickly sold on the fact that Joel and Clementine should belong together might have romanticized their relationship a little too much to notice that most of these intimate moments only exists in Joel's head. Moments such as Joel takes up Clementine’s suggestion to hide her in his memory of humiliation, or when Joel and Clementine seek refuge in a painful childhood episode where Clementine comes to Joel’s rescue. These moments of heartfelt intimacy never actually appear when they are together. The exception is when Clementine asks Joel if she is ugly.

We can see why Joel yearn for Clementine since he believes she had him pegged (By the way it is from this movie I learned the phrase "pegged". It meant Clementine had Joel figured out). However, it is hard to argue what in Joel that appeals to Clementine. Except in this sequence where it shows Clementine needs Joel as much as he needs her, if only she could remember this when she decided to erase Joel as a lark. Interestingly according to the DVD commentary with Michel Gondry and writer Charlie Kaufman, in the original script Clementine was supposed to quote a passage of The Velveteen Rabbit in this scene instead but somehow it didn't work and so they changed her dialogue. I wonder if they realize how much this change affects the dynamic between Joel and Clementine in the movie.

It could be argued that it was only Joel's yearning for Clementine that is being projected onto Clementine in his imagination. We never really sure if Clementine actually want to stay in his memory. The truth is in their actual relationship Joel and Clementine never really communicate with each other. None more evident than the scene when Clementine complains about Joel not opening up himself to her

He said/She said: Sharing is what intimacy is but constantly talking isn't necessarily communicating

I like the way how Jim Carrey stole a glance at Kate Winslet when he inferred that she constantly babbled while she was looking away but then quickly closed his eyes to feign sleeping while she was looking at him. It underscores the fact that Joel cannot look at Clementine eyes to eyes to express his feeling (good or bad) to her while Clementine cannot accept criticism with an open mind. These moments are indeed the actual events in their relationship. In fact audiences are so smitten with the quirky chemistry between Joel and Clementine in Joel's imagination that they tend to overlook or ignore the third act of movie – the history between Mary and Howard.

Those who think the Mary/Howard subplot is unnecessary probably think their past has no place in the intrigue whether Joel and Clementine will get back together but the truth is Mary/Howard’ story is as much as Joel/Clementine’s. Just like Joel and Clementine, Mary believe erasing unpleasant chapters in one’s life allows them to move forward, ‘to let people begin again’ (Mary compares having memory erased as a pure, clean baby while adult is a mess of sadness and phobias). But what Mary failed to realize is that it is only through sadness and pain that one comes to learn from his mistakes, as she herself fall for Howard once again after she had his memory erased. In the monologue in his imagination as the erasure process comes to a close, Joel confessed that now he wished he’d done a lot of things because he had learned his lessons.

And so Joel goes, but not before taking one last look at the memory of, um, just a girl.

Sadly when he woke up in the morning all the lessons will be gone with the memory with Clementine. If Mary’s story is any indication, history will repeat itself with Joel and Clementine even when they did get back together second time around.

If sunshine was eternal then you would never remember it since you wouldn't notice it in the first place.

加藤和彦 (1947 - 2009)

2010-02-07T15:08:00.000-08:00

This tribute has been in my mind for months already but due to my procrastination it is not completed until now.

Kato Kazuhiko (1947 - 2009)
On Oct 16th, 2009, musician Kato Kazuhiko was found hanged at Karuizawa hotel after the hotel was unable to contact him and called the police in the morning. According to the police, a suicide note has been left at the site. Reportedly Mr. Kato has been suffering from depression in recent years. The coverage of his suicide in Hong Kong media, if any, only mentioned that Kato Kazuhiko was the composer to the theme song of Macross, 愛・おぼえてますか. However, Kato Kazuhiko’s place in Japan music industry is remembered more for fronting two very influential but diverse bands, ザ・フォーク・クルセダーズ (The Folk Crusaders) and サディスティック・ミカ・バンド ( Sadistic Mika Band), than his music for a long running Manga anime series. Both bands are before my time but thanks to YouTube and Internet I have the privilege to appreciate and enjoy Kato’s work that are otherwise unavailable to us through mainstream media. In light of the recent tragic turn of event I would like to take the opportunity to share my discovery from my cyber exploration. But first I must confess that I don’t speak Japanese and information of such bygone era in English is unreliable to say the least. Any feedback and corrections are most welcome.

The Folk Crusaders

The story begins in 1965, when the Civil Rights Movement and the War in Vietnam had fueled the folk revival with protest music in college campus around America. Such resurgence in the genre has spilled over to Japan. Kato Kazuhiko, then a student at Ryukoku University, had placed an ad in the magazine recruiting members for a folk group. Four other college students, Osamu Kitayama (北山修), Yoshio Hiranuma (平沼義男), Mikio Imura (井村幹生) and Maki Ashida (芦田雅喜) had responded and a band was formed. It was a time when mainstream success and career ambition took a second seat to the love of performing and getting their voices heard. Although Mikio Imura and Maki Ashida would soon drop out, the other three continued to be active in the Kansai (関西) underground scene.

l. to r. 平沼義男, 北山修, 加藤和彦

Eventually in 1967 they decided the group has run its course and all good things must come to an end, so they (independently) recorded and produced an album named ハレンチ (Harenchi) as a souvenir to their time together.

ハレンチ (Harenchi)

Originally only a modest 300 copies were slated to be released, ハレンチ was not expected to reach any widespread recognition if not for the song 帰ってきたヨッパライ(The Return Of The Three Drunkards). (Unconfirmed) Sources said through a freak accident, “Kaette Kita Yopparai” were recorded with an increased rotation which resulted in bizarre and psychedelic feel. Such a gimmick paid off and the song became a favorite among midnight DJs. The sudden exposure has prompted EMI to sign the group but by then Yoshio Hiranuma has decided to go his own way. Therefore Osamu Kitayama invited Hashida Norihiko (端田宣彦) to fill his place and the hitherto nameless band was reborn as ザ・フォーク・クルセダーズ (The Folk Crusaders).

ザ・フォーク・クルセダーズ/The Folk Crusaders (l. to r. 端田宣彦, 北山修, 加藤和彦)

Back by the corporate push 帰ってきたヨッパライ was formally released as a single, went to number one in ORICON chart and eventually sold 1.31 million copies, one of the most successful singles in the pre-CD era of Japan.

Maybe because of the zany energy of 帰ってきたヨッパライ, the iconoclastic cult director Nagisa Oshima (大島渚) was inspired to cast the three non-actors in his next movie of the same name. Considered a minor piece among the renowned director’s works at the time, 帰ってきたヨッパライ(Three Resurrected Drunkards a.k.a. Sinners in Paradise) the movie nonetheless received some favorable reviews worldwide and its reputation has grown ever since(Sadly I missed the opportunity to catch the movie when the Oshima retrospective In the Realm of Oshima was making its round in the art house circuit two years ago).

Three Resurrected Drunkards (a.k.a Sinners in Paradise)

With its anarchic setting and quirky humor featuring an ‘in’ musical group that often drawn comparison to the Beatles’ own cult classic ‘A Hard Day’s Night’, 帰ってきたヨッパライ centered around a trio of trio of hapless college students who have their clothes stolen while cavorting in the sea and mistaken for Korean stowaways. It is a biting satire of the racist and chauvinist assumptions of postwar Japan. Below is a snippet of the movie where the three heroes are belting out the tune イムジン河 (Imuji Gawa), another hit song from the album ハレンチ

As big a hit as 帰ってきたヨッパライ was, what first caught my attention of The Folk Crusaders is really イムジン河 but it turned out to be one of the most controversial songs ever in Japanese pop history. In Chinese イムジン河 will be translated to 臨津江, a river that divided North and South Korea. It was originally a folk song from North Korea that conveys the longing for reunification between the two countries. Because of its soothing melody the group has covered the song with Japanese lyrics in their album ハレンチ initially and become a hit. After they have been signed by EMI, イムジン河 was scheduled to be released as the follow-up single to 帰ってきたヨッパライ and the group even taped a TV appearance performing the song. However, in the last minute it was deemed that the song is too politically sensitive and was pulled from both sales and public airing. Subsequently イムジン河 was missing from the re-release of ハレンチ but by then the song had so been ingrained into the public pop culture already that its omission is just an unimportant technicality. Thirty four years later, the ban of the song was finally lifted in 2002 and so is the TV performance of the song

While it is pity that イムジン河 was pulled from circulation, its replacement, 悲しくてやりきれない (Unspeakable Sorrow), is equally memorable and it has become yet another classic of the group's repertoire. It had been covered by various artists numerous times over the year but I am partial to the arrangement of the original, particularly the melancholic string conclusion that suggests a certain the Sun has set on you feeling, very scenery and cinematic. Written by Kato Kazuhiko himself, the song has sounded even more profound after his suicide.

悲しくてやりきれない - ザ・フォーク・クルセダーズ (The Folk Crusaders)

After a very whirlwind year where they released eight singles (seven if you discount “Imuji Gawa”) within a twelve-month span, The Folk Crusaders announced their split on Oct, 1968. That itself shouldn’t be a surprise since their album ハレンチ was produced to ‘commmemorate’ their union in the first place. Had the unexpected success of “Kaette Kita Yopparai” not happened it is highly likely that they would be disbanded long before that.

Hashida Norihiko

Of the three, Hashida Norihiko had the most commercial success as a performer after the demise of The Folk Crusaders. One year after the breakup, he formed another folk group はしだのりひことシューベルツ (Hashida Norihiko and the Shoe Belts) with 越智友嗣, 杉田二郎 and 井上博. Their first single, Kaze (風) , was a huge success and went to number two in the ORICON chart.

はしだのりひことシューベルツ/Hashida Norihiko and The ShoeBelts (clockwise from top left 越智友嗣, 杉田二郎, 端田宣彦, 井上博)

風 - はしだのりひことシューベルツ (Hashida Norihiko to The ShoeBelts)

風 sold over half a million copies and won them the coveted Best New Artist award in 1969. The song was later covered by the 70s JPop idol キャンディーズ (Candies) and also by our own 民歌王子 Albert Au 區瑞強, also named 風.

Unfortunately the success of Hashida Norihiko and the Shoe Belts was short-lived because 井上博 died in the spring of 1970 and so はしだのりひことシューベルツ had to disband. But in 1971 Hashida Norihiko scored another number one hit, 花嫁 through the group はしだのりひことクライマックス (Hashida Norihiko and Climax), which he formed with 藤沢ミエ, 中嶋陽二 and 坂庭省悟

はしだのりひことクライマックス/Hashida Norihiko and Climax (clockwise from top 藤沢ミエ, 中嶋陽二, 端田宣彦, 坂庭省悟)

花嫁 - はしだのりひことクライマックス (Hashida Norihiko & Climax)

After that Hashida Norihiko continued to front various groups including はしだのりひことエンドレス (Hashida Norihiko and Endless) and はしだのりひことエンドレス(Hashida Norihiko and the Margarettes) before finally turning solo. In recent years he made headline news for being a house husband to nurse his ailing wife

Kitayama Osamu

Kitayama Osamu decided to go back to graduate school to study Psychology after the breakup of The Folk Crusaders. Today he is a Professor of the Department of Clinical Psychology and Community Service of Kyushu University (九州大学) and a prominent figure in the field of Psycho-analysis in Japan.

However, Kitayama continued to contribute greatly in the Japanese music industry as a lyricist. From the late 60s to the early 70s he has penned a series of hits in which more than a few has become classics. Among those are the two hits, 風 and 花嫁, for Hashida Norihiko and also the break-out hit in Japan for ベッツィ&クリス (Betsy & Chris), 白い色は恋人の色 (Shiroi Iro Wa Koi Bito No Iro).

Betsy Curtis (left) and Chris Rolseth (right)

Betsy Curtis and Chris Rolseth were part of the Kaillua High-School Madrigals who toured Japan singing Hawaiian folk songs in the late 1960s. While they were there, Denon Columbia Japan was so impressed by the girls that they offered them a record deal singing Japanese folk music. Their first single is a beautiful folk song (in Japanese) 白い色は恋人の色 written by the foremost folk creative team at the time Kato Kazuhiko and Kitayama Osamu. It reached number two in the ORICON chart and sold over 522,000 copies, the eleventh best selling single in 1970. Because of their impressive Japanese skill the duo enjoyed a very successful career in Japan for the next five years, one of the first foreigners who broke into the country by singing in Japanese, predating 歐陽菲菲, テレサ・テン (鄧麗君) and our own アグネス・チャン (陳美齡). Ironically they couldn’t seem to find the same kind of success in their home country US.

白い色は恋人の色 - Betsy & Chris

Besides commercial success Kitayama Osamu also won critical praise for his lyrics for the song 戦争を知らない子供たち (Senso wo Shiranai Otokotachi) from ジローズ (Jiros)

Jiros is one of the many groups spawn in Japan during the late 60s and early 70s folk bloom. Fronted by college student 杉田二郎 (one of the Hashida Norihiko and The ShoeBelts quartet), it went through two incarnations. 戦争を知らない子供たち was released during their second life in the midst of Vietname War in 71. Though Japan wasn't directly involved in the conflict, the country allowed the stationing of American troops on Japanese soil, a decision met with tremendous criticism from the country's intellectual elite and university students, who upheld deep rooted anti-war sentiment because of their experience during WWII. As a result, 戦争を知らない子供たち became an unofficial anti-war anthem for the young generation and reached number eleven in the ORICON chart. It also won Kitayama Osamu the Best Lyrics Award in the 13th Japan Record Awards

In fact, because of the intelligent meaning and pacific message in his writing, Kitayama Osamu’s lyrics speak to the first post-war Japanese generation like no other. The collection of his work has become some kind of a memorabilia of their youth for Japanese in their 50s and 60s now.

In 2002, Kitayama Osamu made one of the rare appearances in front of the microphone after the breakup of The Folk Crusaders for their reunion concert. True to their pacifist folk root, they released the album 戦争と平和. Unable to join them due to his duty of caring his wife, Hashida Norihiko’s place was taken by Sakazaki Kounosuke (坂崎幸之助) of ALFEE fame

戦争と平和

However, my favorite of all his concoctions is the one he devoted to Kato Kazuhiko's marriage to Fujii Mika (福井ミカ) in 1971, あの素晴しい愛をもう一度 (Ano Subarashii Ai Wo Mouichido)

Kato Kazuhiko

One night in the late 1960s, a quirky but charismatic girl crashed into the backstage of Kato Kazuhiko’s performance. Proclaimed herself as a great fan of his, she simply blurted out for guitar lessons from Kato Kazuhiko. Impressed with her straight-forwardness, a courtship has sown. The girl’s name is Fujii Mika (福井ミカ) and in July 1970, Mika and Kazuhiko are married. As a nuptial present, Osamu Kitayama has dedicated the lyrics he has just written to the newly wed, which later Kato Kazuhiko provided the melody for.

The final result is the song あの素晴しい愛をもう一度 (Beautiful Love Affair Once Again), which was released as a single in April 1971. One of the rare Kato/Kitayama collaborations where the music came after the lyrics, あの素晴しい愛をもう一度 eventually reached number ten in the ORICON chart and became the most commercially successful song in Kato Kazuhiko’s post-The Folk Crusaders career as a singer. With its cheerful up-tempo, it is always the crowd pleaser in any live concert, the reunion concert of The Folk Crusaders in 2002 is no exception.

That no. 10 peak position actually belied the popularity of the song. If you do a search in Youtube you can easily found twenty different versions of the song, one of which is contributed by me

The performer in the video is Hiroko-san, who sings in the Porter subway station in the Boston area every Sunday. I've enjoyed her performance for months and I finally gathered up the courage to request あの素晴しい愛をもう一度 from her. She said she actually had made a mistake (of course my Japanese isn't good enough to notice) and offered to sing it again but my train has arrived already and didn't get the tape it the second time

Sadistic Mika Band

Turned out the influence Fujii Mika had on Kato Kazuhiko is more than just personal. A year after their marriage, with Fujii as the lead vocal, Kato Kazuhiko has recruited Takahashi Yukihiro(高橋幸宏) and Tsunoda Hiro (角田ひろ) to form a band named 'Sadistic Mika Band', Tsunoda was later replaced by Takanaka Masayoshi (高中正義) and Ohara Ray(小原礼) completed the line-up(over the years there would be other members rotating in and out of the band) to record their self titled debut album.

The band's name is an obvious parody to John Lennon's own "Plastic Ono Band" after the breakup of The Beatles (Legend had it that Kazuhiko called Mika sadistic because she always forced him to eat her experimental cooking). However, it also undermines the fact that Kato Kazuhiko is comparing the inspiration of Fujii to him as Yoko Ono to John Lennon.

Sadistic Mika Band (l. to r. 高中正義, 福井ミカ, 加藤和彦, 高橋幸宏, unidentified)

What is surprising about their debut album is that it dared to break away the pleasant but conservative folk music which has made Kato Kazuhiko famous. Instead they forayed into the thus far uncharted area in Japan of hard rock while still retaining a distinctive Japanese flavor.

The public reception to the album was best described as bewildered since this was not the kind of sound they expected from a local band. However, their progressive sound attracted the attention abroad and the album was released in UK with some enthusiastic reviews. Eventually the band has won the fan in Chris Thomas, a record producer for Pink Floyd, Roxy Music and other famous bands in UK at the time. Fueled by this unexpected adulation, the band decided that their next album should be recorded London and Chris Thomas volunteer to produce it. The result is the album Kurofune (黒船), their undisputed masterpiece.

Kurofune

Kurofune was actually a concept album. It based on the Japanese byword for the vessels that arrived Japan from the West between the 15th and 19th centuries. In particular it refers to US fleet under the command of Commodore Matthew Perry that sailed to Japan on July 14th, 1853 and eventually opened the country to the Western world, an obvious comparison to the album’s ambition. Kurofune was released in to only modest commercial success but received great critical accolade in UK, which tremendously boosted their stock back home, including nods for number one band and album of 1974 from the Japanese edition of Rolling Stone.

In 1975, they were invited to join Roxy Music for touring around Britain. The exposure turned them into some kind of a cult band in the West. To these days they still enjoy some following among the English speaking audience who aren’t the usual Japanese music followers. They might never have heard of who Nakamori Akina, Utada Hikaru or even Southern All Stars are but they still know about Sadistic Mika Band.

Just when it seems the international market that has long been elusive to Japanese musician was finally about to be broken through, Kato Kazuhiko abruptly quitted the band and returned to Japan the following summer, alone! Shortly afterward Kazuhiko and Mika divorced and Mika has stayed in England with Chris Thomas…The band tried to forge ahead without Kato but whatever synergy it had, it just evaporated with Kato/Mika’s marriage. Eventually Sadistic Mika Band called it a quit in 1977

It is a pity that we will never know how far Sadistic Mika Band could have gone had they stayed together. However, the band has no doubt sown the seeds in Japanese rock scene as several of the members have eventually grown into megastars in Japanese music industry: Takahashi Yukihiro has joined Sakamoto Ryuichi (坂本龍一) and Hosono Harumoi (細野晴臣) to form YMO (Yellow Magic Orchestra) to earn his own share of international fame. Takanaka Masayoshi has come to be regarded as the topmost guitarist in Japan. He also wrote the music for 十戒（1984）, one of the biggest hit of Nakamori Akina. Kato Kazuhiko himself has turned to producing and writing music for many of the pop singers in the 80s, most noticeably is Ai Oboedeimasuka (愛・おぼえてますか), the theme song for the Manga series Macross.

Over the years Sadistic Mika Band has reunited a few times. As each of the former members has become the who’s who in Japanese music industry, the prestige of the band continues to grow and it becomes some kind of honor to be involved. In 1985 Yumi Matsutoya (松任谷由実) and Sakamoto Ryuichi joined former members Tsugutoshi Goto (後藤次利) Kato Kazuhiko, Takanaka Masayohi and Takahashi Yukihiro for a one night union performance as the ‘Sadistic Yumi Band’

Then in 1989 four of the five original members reunited once again except understandably Fujii Mika, who is replaced by Karen Kirishima (桐島かれん). An album featuring new material, Appare, was released, followed by a tour. The ablum eventually reached number 3 in the ORICON chart

Finally in 2006 the band reunited once again as Sadistic Mikaela Band because this time it is with Kaela Kimura (木村カエラ, whose own album Scratch has reached number one in ORICON in 2007 ) as the lead vocal. They released the album Narkissos which peaked at number six in the ORICON chart

It has been a very long journey and I sincerely grateful for your patience if you manage to read through my rambling. I would like to conclude my tribute to Kato Kazuhiko with the original version of my favorite of all his songs. I hope that if you would remember Mr Kato it would be the relentless upbeatness of this song.

あの素晴しい愛をもう一度 - 加藤和彦, 北山修 (Kato Kazuhiko, Kitayama Osamu)

麥田守望者

2010-01-30T21:48:00.001-08:00

You learn something new everyday

I only realized a few days ago that《麥田守望者》 is actually the Chinese translation of "The Catcher In The Rye". The phrase 麥田守望者 has popped up here and there ever since I started hanging out in Chinese cyberland. For some reasons I always thought it was a song, maybe by 王菲.

Of course the revelation came because of the recent pass away of J. D. Salinger, the author of “The Catcher in the Rye”. I’m only slightly above average in term of reading diligence and far from being well read, as famous as “The Catcher in the Rye” it remains in the “to be conquered” category for me. However, I did enjoy reading the two short stories in J. D. Salinger’s ‘Nine Stories” during my first year in America. Like many new immigrants who are in their teen, the high school experience can be described as culturally shocking at best. My English class was one of the few bright spots in a day because I got the chance to expose to material that I never knew before, such as the reading of "A Perfect Day for Bananafish" and "For Esmé - with Love & Squalor". By the way, although I love the stories, it was years later before I found out they were written by Salinger

A Perfect Day for Bananafish

"A Perfect Day for Bananafish" is about the encounter between a disoriented, confused man and a young innocent girl on a beach when he was vacationing with his wife. The man appeared very bewildered and his conversation to the girl was often inexplicable. For instance he told the girl about a certain unusual species of fish called Bananafish. After their chance meeting the man went back to his hotel, seeing his wife sound sleeping in her bed he pointed a gun to his temple and shot himself.

The part of “A Perfect Day for Bananafish” that stays in my mind the most is the girl’s repeatedly saying “See More Glass, See More Glass”. At first I thought she meant she was seeing glasses in the beach water. Turn out she was actually referring to the protagonist because his name is Seymour Glass, one of the Glass family members that recurrently appeared in many Salinger’s work.

Because of the story title, I would imagine Bananafish here would mean suicide. However, there is no clear explanation what the motive is except we can infer that Seymour Glass is suffering from some severe mental anguish through his behavior. It is the kind of story that is open to different interpretations. Since “A Perfect Day for Bananafish” is the first in the short stories collection "Nine Stories" I like to draw my own interpretation through another story in the collection - "For Esmé - with Love & Squalor"

For Esmé - with Love & Squalor

Unlike “A Perfect Day for Bananafish”, the narrative of “For Esmé - with Love & Squalor” is the protagonist, an unnamed Army Sergeant, himself instead of the omnipresent author. He recounted the meetings he had with a young girl named Esmé at three different points of his life: First the present when he was sending his blessing to her (for her upcoming wedding if I remember correctly) in writing, then he flashbacked to their first encounter many years ago just before he was sent into combat, and finally on the verge of nervous breakdown during the midst of battle, he received a letter from Esmé just at the nick of time, which helped him to endure the trauma of war and eventually brought the narrative back to the present.

It is through this story I first came to know the word Squalor because it was with Love and Squalor that the protagonist was sending his blessing to Esmé, thus the story’s title.

Squalor – n. A filthy and wretched condition

Normally squalor is not something you would like to send someone your love with. However, in this case there is just something really endearing in it because of all the difficult time they have gone through. Next time if you want to send your regard to someone you have long history with, you may want to keep the word Squalor in mind.

Suna no Utsuwa (砂の器)

2010-01-19T21:17:00.001-08:00

Back in secondary school, at the beginning of each term we were given a reading list that we were required to write a book report for every month. One year the list included Seicho Matsumoto (松本清張), thus marked my introduction to the great Japanese detective novelist. Admittedly my first with Seicho Matsumoto was all in the name of a school grade and it failed to leave a very favorable impression in me. For his stories usually involved mundane events of unexciting characters, it lacked the colourful heroes that you would find in Sherlock Holmes or 衛斯理. Little did I know that that is precisely his works's claim to fame.

“Suna no Utsuwa” (砂之器) reportedly was one of the three most famous works by Seicho Matsumoto (松本清張), whose place in Japanese’s literature was assured for introducing ‘socialism’ into the detective story genre. In that regard I think “Suna no Utsuwa” succeeded. However, in term of the intriguing clues and clever revelation that mystery-novel buffs have come to expect, I am afraid the book is a disappointment. Not that the hero, Inspector Imanishi, is not a meticulous investigator. On the contrary he is very methodical when it comes to his trade. However, the evidences he collected, and they are in abundance, are so far-fetched and relied on conjectures and coincidence that you will need to be Spider-man in order to leap over the gaps from one to another. For instance, one of the most important clues he has are the blood-stained shredded cloths he painstakingly collected along a train track three months after the crime. Let’s suspend our disbelief that he can collect the said (untainted) evidence after such a long period of time has elapsed, the fact that it was left behind by a girl he has never met in person, whose sole description he has is that she bears a resemblance to the legendary actress Mariko Okada (岡田茉莉子) (Incidentally, I’ve met Ms. Okada in person last year when she and her director husband Yoshishige Yoshida (吉田喜重) were invited to a local university for a revival film series of their movies and she had something interesting to say about fellow legend Setsuko Hara (原節子) but that is a different story) , and the subsequent death of the said person means there is no solid link that the evidence found is indeed left by the girl in question. Furthermore he never managed to establish a connection between the girl and the suspect. With facts as disparate as these it will require an extreme stretch of imagination in order to connect the dots.

The book ends abruptly with the police closing in to arrest the suspect. There is no confession from the accused or reenactment of the actual crime. It could argue that because the Seicho Matsumoto wanted to show his sympathy for the suspect since he himself is also a victim of circumstance. However, the better explanation could be that the murder is solved not so much by the hero’s investigation but because that is what the author told the reader so and we just have to take it as a leap of faith. The truth is even if all the evidences collected were laid on the table, the case still wouldn’t build under cross examination unless the author himself testifies in the courtroom.

I don’t want to give the impression that I am knocking the book because as a criticism of the deep seeded discrimination within a rigid and hidebound society, as a depiction of the struggle in a culture where one’s success isn’t so much decided by talent and hard work but by pedigree, as a social commentary on the value clash between the old and the new in the post-war Japan, “Suna no Utsuwa” is not without its merit and should be judged by its own standard. It is just that the morality part of the story doesn’t integrate with the detective mystery framework as sound as it could have.

"Suna no Utsuwa" the novel was published in 1961. Over the years it has been adapted to TV multiple times but just once, in 1975, it was made into a feature length movie. "Suna no Utsuwa" the movie was directed by Yoshitaro Nomura (野村芳太郎), who was critically acclaimed in his native country but relatively obscure outside of Japan. Thus even though his version of Suna no Utsuwa was considered locally a masterpiece in Japanese cinema, it has not been in circulation in U.S. after its initial release. Thus it was to my surprise a library in a neighboring town actually carries a DVD copy of the movie.

From the spec of the DVD, the original aspect ratio of the movie is supposed to be 1:61:1 but it obviously has been modified for the DVD:

Notice that the bar waitress being interrogated has been completely edited out of the frame.

The DVD seems to be manufactured in Hong Kong and that might explain the spotty translation for the Chinese subtitle. For instance, when Inspector Imanishi investigates the background of the murder victim, the subtitle has changed the name of an old acquaintance of the victim from Kirihara (桐原) to Kahara (華原).

By the way, the actor who played Mr. Kirihara is the very prolific character actor Chishû Ryû (笠智衆), who has appeared in almost every major Japanese movie during the sound era up to his death but he is most famous for the part of the father (later widower) in Yasujiro Ozu's (小津安二郎) Tōkyō Monogatari (東京物語).

Playing the movie's hero Inspector Imanishi is international superstar Tetsuro Tanba (丹波哲郎). Perhaps most famous in US for the role of Tiger Tanaka in the James Bond franchise “You Only Live Twice”, the young Tamba could be a dead ringer for 陳豪.

Around the same time of “Suna no Utsuwa”, Tetsuro Tamba also starred in the Shaws Brothers epic adaptation of 《水滸傳》 as 盧俊義. The Chinese Wiki has it that Tetsuro Tamba is ethnically Chinese and descended from 漢靈帝. Curiously such information is missing in any other language of Wiki that I am aware of. Chances are this tidbit is just an urban legend and should be taken with a grain of salt. In "Suna no Utsuwa" Tetsuro Tamba ditched his tough guy persona to play a more low key, dedicated workhouse (notice how the director has Inspector Imanishi constantly sweats throughout his exhasutive inquiry) who is ultimately unrewarded and underappreciated, a common theme in Matsumoto’s novels.

Another discrepancy is when Detective Imanishi investigate the hotel the murder victim has stayed, the hotel hostess clearly said that the victim has visited Toba (鳥羽) but the Chinese translation said Chiba (千葉)

DVD quality aside, one thing “Suna no Utsuwa” the movie improved over on the book is tightening up many of the (implausible) loose ends in the story. For instance, it has added the confrontation scene below between Reiko, the aforementioned girl, and Detective Yoshimura, assistance to inspector Imanishi. By having an actual personal contact between the pursuer and the pursued, it gives something tangible to the investigation.

Reiko is actually a composite of two characters in the book. By combining them into one character, the movies has shortened the degree of separation between the suspect and Inspector Imanishi, further improve the credibility of the investigation. Reiko was played by Yoko Shimada (島田陽子), famous in US as the female lead in the US-Japanese collaboration of the TV mini-series "Shogun". Detective Yoshimura in the movie is a much bigger part compared with the book. It was played by Kensaku Morita (森田健作), who might be remembered in Hong Kong for the 70s Japanese series おれは男だ! (女校男生).

Kensaku Morita is one of the rare examples of showbiz-celebrity-turn-politicians in Japan. Today he serves as the governor of Chiba, the Prefecture my sister is living in.

What truly distinguish “Suna no Utsuwa” the movie is its extended flashback sequence that details the history of the suspect. Intertwined throughout the performance of a piano concerto, this mostly silent forty minutes passage serves to explain how the murderer comes to the where he is now. With its melancholic and broody melody, the movement is written to tug your heartstrings and it is also the major reason for the movie’s popularity. Titled Shukumei (宿命, or Destiny), the piece has a character of its own and provides the murderer an opportunity to present his side of the story, which was otherwise denied to him in the book.

Completed with a tearful farewell, the sequence took the extreme measure to ensure that no dry eyes have been left in the audience

Probably because the mystery aspect of the book is weak, the script writer has removed the ubiquitous mystery clichés of a red herring in the form of a fellow artist from the book; instead much of the drama are invested in background of the suspect (When there is just one suspect, there is really no whodunit). I have mixed feeling about the elimination of this character. While it does weed out some of the unnecessarily and unconvincing diversions in the book, it also removed a subtle point Seicho Matsumoto made: in the book both the suspect and the red herring hailed from the poor region of the country, a fact both are trying to hide. Both are young artists set out to conquer the status quo of the established norm, both have to make sacrifice of personal happiness along the way. In a sense both are escaping a ‘destiny’ that is handed to them by birth. By wiping out this character the movie has shifted the focus of the injustice to the under-privileged in the society to solely the prejudice against a disease. While it doesn’t exactly alter the theme, it does become lesser than the whole.

浮生三影

2010-01-10T07:22:00.000-08:00

中天飛渡我重來. There could never be a more apt inscription. Dorothy this one is for you

觀音堂, 澳門 circa 1984

My sister had this picture of her taken when she returned to Macau during her secondary school days. Not until she flipped through some old family photo albums one day did she realize that she actually had her picture taken at the exact same spot over ten years before

觀音堂, 澳門 1972

Ever since then that spot has occupied a special place in her heart. Some twenty years later, she took another picture at the same spot again when she took her two kids to Macau for Christmas vacation

觀音堂, 澳門 2009

Instruction to record video in Colour Accent mode in G11

2010-01-09T21:52:00.000-08:00

Someone has emailed me in YouTube on how to record video in Colour Accent mode with Canon G11. Since I only have the G11 to do video recording, I will have to demontrate that by photo

1) Set the Mode Dial to Movie mode

2) It will go to whichever recording mode you last used when you power on the camera at this point. Mine is the standard mode

3) Notice that all objects appear in their natural colour in standard mode

4) Turn the function dial to Colour Accent mode, all the objects will appear in black and white except those in the pre-selected accented colour. In my case the pre-selected accented colour is white

5) Notice that there is an eyedropper on the LCD display, next to the DISP text. That means you activate the eyedropper tool by pressing the DISP button below the function dial

6) A white square will appear in the LCD after you activate the eyedropper tool. The eyedropper is a tool to select the colour you want to accent

7) You select the colour to accent by placing the white square to the colour within the LCD image and then press the left side of the function dial. Here I select the colour blue to accent. Notice colour box in the status bar inside the LCD screen has changed from white to blue

8) Exit out of the Eyedropper tool by pressing the DISP button again and now you can record video in B&W except those in colour blue

Hope this help

Fain In Spain, Stay Mainly In...El final

2010-01-08T22:13:00.001-08:00

So we have come to the end of the journey and there are still some pictures I would like to share. They don't belong to a specific itinerary and so I would just lump them together.

Food. I have always been a conservative eater. Epicurean experiment is just not my forte and likely even less so when I am on my own but I had made a conscious decision to be adventurous during this trip. So I am proud to report that I hadn’t had one single meal of Chinese food or sushi during my entire stay, just once I had committed the offense of fast food and that was only because I need to gulp down a meal within fifteen minutes to meet my schedule.

My first stab at Spanish gourmet took me over ninety minutes of roaming back and forth to make up my mind. Fortunately thanks to their grand tradition of siesta Spaniards tend to have late supper, it is not unusual to have dinner at ten or even eleven at night. It was with great trepidation that I stepped into the above restaurant but that small step for me is a giant leap for mankind, I hope!

No waiters can speak English and there is no English menu but I managed to get myself some cold salmon

I have no trouble resisting the sinful temptation of booze, water is always my choice of drink but unlike America where it usually is free (probably because they are tap water), bottled water is served in Spain and they come with a charge.

It was a late supper once again the second night but it had to do with the late arrival for the Flamenco show. This time I just picked a restaurant from the guide book

This restaurant has a bar section and a dining section. The bar section is right at the entrance but you need to pass through the kitchen in order to get to the dinning section. How many restauranteurs in Hong Kong have the gut to let their patrons see what their kitchen is like before being seated?

I want to have something light because of the late hour. Besides, escargot (snails) is what the guide book recommends

Proof that it is the restaurant's speciality, even their register is in the shape of a snail

Next is probably my favorite of the entire trip. Even though it located in the tourist area (Barri Gòtic) and it does come with an English menu (a sign of catering to visitors), all its diners are actually native when I was there

Keeping the spirit of variety, I went with duck confit (油封鴨) after a night of fish and a night of escargot.

In true European neighborhood restaurant fashion, there is only just one waiter. In equally European dining fashion, I spent a whole hour to devour that duck leg of mine but it certainly was tasty. I wouldn't mind being a repeat customer

Originally I planned to go out with bang for my final meal in Spain but I was turned away by the fancy restaurant of my choice because I didn’t have a reservation, so I had to settle with this down-to-earth bistro, well at least it doesn’t look terribly touristy to me. However, what really sold me with this restaurant was their flat screen TV showing the ATP World Tour Final match between Rafael Nadal (who else?) and Robin Soderling.

I know the Spanish words for soup (sopa) and fish (pescado), so I was expecting something like fish chowder when I ordered from their Spanish menu. It turned out to be crab (not crab meat) soup. That is not a problem; the problem is that it seemed I am supposed to eat with fork and knife (I had noticed that Europeans even eat pizza with forks and knives, a rare sight in US). The women next to my table gave me this shocked look when she saw me eating the crab with the only way I know how – with my hands

After a relatively elaborate soup, the main course, sirloin steak, seemed a little anti-climatic

Both Madrid and Barcelona are haven for street performers

He is having the puppet play the violin for him. I think that is a pretty cool trick. By the way, there was a street performer playing erhu (二胡). Another sign of Yellow Fever?

I cannot believe how many people actually buy that she was suspended in the air when I show them this picture

如有雷同實屬巧合

The Sant Jordi Film Award of Barcelona is one of the few film festivals that gave its nod to Wong Kar-Wai's 2046. Here is another evidence that the movie has an audience in Spain

Toy figure from the 70s Japanese cartoon series 'おしえて' (飄零燕), how retro! Dig out the treasure underneath your bed, you might find something that worths a fortune on eBay

Bollywood is taking over the world

A subway resident that is not unique to Boston only

Table tennis is actually being played in the public park. I don't think I have ever seen that in US. The kids aren't shy by the way, they waved to me when they saw me filming them

Coffee in Spain is not as strong as what I found in Paris. Also when you ask for milk, they actually give you warm milk, unlike in US where it is usually refrigerated

AFTERWORD

As I have alluded to at the beginning, this trip is part personal because it was, to a certain extent, motivated by the sudden passing of a net acquaitance, whose (unrealized) dream is to visit Barcelona. Although we have never met in person, I hope by bringing his wish into fruition is somehow validating his legacy, for one person’s unfulfilled goal is another person’s inspiration

Fain in Spain, Stay Mainly In... Biking

2010-01-03T07:03:00.000-08:00

Barcelona is very biker-friendly city; there are designated biker lanes for most of the major roads in the city. Even for those without, bikers often received priority over car drivers

Bicing, a bike renting chain store, is available all over the city. What's more it is semi-automated. The instruction is in Spanish and Catalan only but from observation, it seems the chain provides a Octopus(八達通)-like pass that allows bikers to load/unloaded rental bike wherever they want.

Bike parks are also available for the socialists who prefer not to slave to big corporate but you will need to have you own lock.

After two pleasantly warm but cloudy days, my third and final day in Barcelona was blessed with some sunny weather

I decided to rent a bike to take advantage of the sun and the biker-friendliness of the city. However, as my part of the anti-globalization effort, I bypassed the big corporate Bicing and rented instead from a small business, which charged me only six Euros for two hours, beating the price in my guide book.

And the six Euros rental fee came with a lock too!

For the city-slickers who found biking in downtown too daunting or GPS-challenged, you won't go wrong by taking the beach route along the Waterfront.

Besides, you'll get the chance to visit Port Olímpic, built specifically for the 92 Barcelona Olympic Games

But if you prefer to see something more lighthearted, Sand art could be your thing

Did the pigeon mistake the sandcastle as its birdhouse?

三匹の猿, the Japanese proverb for "see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil"

The gambler in me take up the challenge of the city and do a little people watching with my bike. One thing I noticed is that in Spain you often see post-middle age couples holding hands in public. Of course in Hong Kong being affectionate has long been a sole privilege for the young but even in America it actually is not as common as you might expect

Fain In Spain, Stay Mainly In...La Sagrada Familia

2010-01-01T19:27:00.000-08:00

The premier attraction bar none in Barcelona, La Sagrada Familia (Expiatorio de la Sagrada Familia in full, meaning the Expiatory Church of the Holy Family) is the epic Modernista church designed by Antoni Gaudí. It is easily accessible by the Metro (station Sagrada Familia). As soon as you get out of the station, you will be treated with the mammoth presence of the church.

Actually the entrance to the church is to other side from where you get out of the metro station, with the slanted columns and cubically sculpted Biblical figures in the façade

The construction of La Sagrada Familia is over a hundred years in the making with the work still in progress. Gaudí began the design as early as 1883 and dedicated the rest of his life (exclusively for a substantial period) to the completion of the project. Unfortunately Gaudí was struck down by a tram in 1926 and died. Thus the work had to be continued by various architects over the year. Today the project had endured two World Wars, a Civil war and almost forty years of dictatorship and is still not expected to be completed until at least 2020. Its construction period had dragged on for so long that it must be one of the few landmarks in the world that has become a tourist attraction even when it was still being built.

Because of its fame understandably La Sagrada Familia has attracted pilgrims in thousands each day but their admission booths at the entrance manage to keep the line moving rather smoothly and promptly. The admission, however, doesn't include the show-stopper of the church, the spindle-shaped tower.

The tower to Barcelona is what the Eiffel tower is to Paris. To get to the top you have to pay an extra two Euros and the elevator is the only way to go up but you have the option to go down by the stairs or the elevator, obviously because the elevator is where they charge you for that extra fee. Because there are only two elevators and each can contain twenty people at most in one time, it'll take much longer waiting time (about forty-five minutes) to get to the tower. Fortunately the line is just to the side of the church's nave, so you can appreciate the magnificent interior while you are waiting.

Truth to be told, because of all the contruction going on, the above picture is the best view you can get of the interior. If I zoom out just a little you will see all the scaffoldings there.

I must admit the long waiting line is worth it not so much for the view at the top but for the views, both internal and external, as you walk down the stairs (Needless to say I would highly recommend you NOT to take the elevator down)

高處不勝寒?

Looking down inside the spindle

Looking up inside the spindle

As breathtaking an experience as the trip to the tower is, if I could do it again, I would visit Schools building of the church before going up the tower because there is a reconstruction of Gaudí's workplace and an exhibitation focusing on the geometry he used for the church. That way you can appreciate all the symbolism and inspiration he adopted in his design

The above is the picture I am most proud of during the entire trip. It was a shot I took looking down from the spiral staircase at the bottom of the tower. After I took this picture I saw an exact same image in the Schools building. The reason is to showcase Gaudí’s idea of modeling the spiral staircase after the spiral pattern of how plants grow, a common motif of Modernisme to reference Nature. So turn out I do have a little bit artistic eye :)

The same shot but looking up this time, stalling the descending line by the way

Fain In Spain, Stay Mainly In...Alley

2010-01-01T06:17:00.001-08:00

My visit to Barcelona focused mainly on the Southern part of the city that leads up to the Waterfront. Among the attractions is the Barri Gotic district, also known as the Gothic Quarter and is the area in which the old town of Barcelona is situated. In a lot of way this reminds me of the Macau when I was a kid, with a lot of small (irregular) back alleys that you are stunned to found out cars are allowed to drive through

Even some of the most famous and breathtaking landmarks in Barcelona are located in some back alley, such as El Palau de la Música Catalana.

El Palau de la Música Catalana is a Modernista style concert hall built in the beginning of last century. The early twentieth century saw the rise of Modernisme movement in Spain, or in specific among the Catalans in Spain. For those who are unfamiliar with Spanish history like me, Catalonia is one of the seventeen Autonomous Communities of Spain. The Modernisme movement is an expression of the Catalan nationalism where the Catalans strived to establish themselves as a culture and even nation apart from the Spanish. Even to these days there are two separate languages spoken in Barcelona, Catalan and Spanish, and Modernisme the word itself is Catalan for Modernism.

Modernista style architecture often references to the Medieval Age, the time when the Catalan culture started to develop its own identity.

The interior of El Palau de la Música Catalana is equally out of this world in particular the Stained-glass skylight of the stage. Unfortunately there is no photograph allowed in the interior but you can find its photo from the net.

One regret I had for this trip was that I didn't get the ticket to La traviata, which was being performed in El Palau de la Música Catalana that Sunday during my stay. It is particularly unfortunate because being a Catholic country, most shops are closed on Sunday in Barcelona anyway. What better way to spend a Sunday with a night at the opera?

For a spectacular construction, El Palau de la Música Catalana is difficult to frame due to its location. There isn't too much room on these alleys for you to capture the structure in its entire glory.

That actually is a common problem for many of the tourist attractions in Spain, such as La Seu Cathedral

or Museu Picasso de Barcelona

These alleys are so spatially challenged that often I had to crawl on the floor in order to take the picture. In this particular alley the building on the left is so tilted that it even looks like what we used to find in Kowloon Walled City (九龍城寨) in Hong Kong

The picture doesn't quite do the tilt of the building justice but neither does the video

Unlike Macau or Kowloon Walled City, if you made a turn in one of these back alleys, very often it would lead you to a separate court. That kind of looks like the Siheyuan (四合院) in Beijing

One difficulty of traveling by yourself is to take photo of yourself. I was playing with the timer of my digital camera when I took the above picture. The couple in the lower left corner offered to take a picture of me after they saw me keep running around. So the picture below is about the only decent picture of me in this trip

Fain In Spain, Stay Mainly In...Waterfront and Flamenco Show

2009-12-30T06:20:00.000-08:00

By the time my train arrived Barcelona it was almost six o'clock in the afternoon already. It took another half an hour to reach my hotel, which located in the Waterfront area.

Compared to the hotel in Madrid, this one looks like the kind of hotels you will find in Miami Beach and caters more to the 'hip' crowd, people like Paris Hilton or Britney Spear. Not necessary a good sell for me somehow

The room itself is in the open Studio style where the bedroom, bathroom and a mini office (desk) all combined together into one single unit.

Facing the bed is a full window view of the beach and the indispensable flat screen TV.

But the thing I appreciate the most is the IPod adapter that allows you to recharge your IPod as well as plug it to the stereo in the room so that I can sleep to the music I want

My plan for the night was to have dinner in one of the local restaurants that provide the celebrated Flamenco Show. However, I was delayed due to a 'bathroom malfunction'. The draining system obviously was not working when I tried to freshen up in the shower. All the yuppie design of the room has come to haunt you since the water actually leaked to the living room as well

It took a good half hour before the maintenance guy arrived. He was friendly and helpful but by the time I managed to get to the restaurant dinner was already over and the show was only five minutes away from starting. So the only thing I have was a drink. The restaurant has a dining section and separate stage room for the show. The stage room is cozier than I expected but the atmosphere was intimate. I was seated close enough to tape the first ensemble number.

It seems a full figure is a prerequisite for (female) Flamenco dancers. Women right activists could consider popularizing the art of Flamenco to counter eating disorder and unhealthy weight loss.

Flamenco is generally considered to be a style unique to Spanish culture. The show I watched comprised of five dancers, three guitarists and three singers. Not being able to speak Spanish I of course had no idea what the singers were singing about but I got the feeling that all the singing are ad-lib. In fact it felt more like conversing (between the singers themselves and between the singers and the dancers). The dancers are typical Latino spitfire passionate and the singers often seemed to echo the emotion of the dancers. Here is the a solo section of one of the dancers who appears to be an Asian, probably Filipino. Spain has a sizable Filipino population for historical reason

More so than the hip, Flamenco is a strenuous exercise to your feet. Here is a perfect example

I wonder if all Flamenco dancers are Footsie enthusiasts

The show lasted slightly less than an hour. Upon returning to the hotel I discovered, half expectedly, that they had switched my room due to the drainage issue. The new room is just right across the hall of the old one but that also means I got a different (less desirable?) beach view

My hotel is actually a good twenty minutes walk to the closest metro station, Barceloneta. However with the temperature in the upper teen degree (Celsius) even in the evening and the breeze from the sea, it was a very pleasant twenty minutes and no compliant from me.

Fain in Spain, Stay Mainly In... Madrid

2009-12-20T20:18:00.000-08:00

The objective was to escape from the New England winter, Barcelona was chosen for its mild weather. Better still is that November is considered slow season in Spain so there is some bargain to hunt. While in Spain there is no reason NOT to visit the capital city. Besides what better excuse to take European train again, a favorite of mine since you don't get to travel on train in America very often, than a continental commute. However, if you are going to both cities it is always better to fly to Madrid than to Barcelona because the round-trip train fare between Madrid and Barcelona will be the same regardless which way you go but you will have to pay more to fly from Boston to Barcelona than Madrid

Instead of going East directly, my flight actually had to stop at Philadelphia before crossing the Atlantic Ocean

The luggage claim at Madrid Barajas airport for flight from Philadelphia. Notice how the two "Ph"s of Philadelphia are spelled in Spanish

Like most European cities and Hong Kong, the public transportation system in Madrid is much more reliable and accessible than its counterpart in U.S. It only takes about 40 minute’s metro (subway) ride from AeorPuerto station at the Airport to my hotel

Notice that unlike London or Hong Kong, the doors of the subway trains in Spain (and Paris too) don’t open automatically. Rather each door has an individual button that you need to push before the door will open. That is something I often forget and almost miss my stops.

The closest Metro station to my hotel is Banco De España (Bank of Spain) and you can guess that it is right in the middle of their financial center.

The neighborhood of the hotel is currently under construction so it was a bit chaotic. Inside the hotel room it is nicely furnished but there is really not much of a view to boast

On paper I was staying in Madrid for two days, in truth it was four half days combined together. If you take away the time to commute to and from the aiport, the hotel check-in, the actual visiting time is pitiful. After settling and taking a shower in the hotel, my first stop is El Palacio Real de Madrid

El Palacio Real de Madrid is the official residence of the King of Spain but that remains official only because the King and Queen actually stay in a more modest estate, El Palacio de la Zarzuela. Today the palace is mainly open to tourists if it isn't reserved for State ceremony, which is not necessary announced ahead of time. So you will need to try your luck if you plan to visit there. My luck had been good and bad. Good is that it was open to visitors; Bad is that upon arrival I found out I could've got in for free with my Portuguese passport had I come one day earlier for the Palace is free admission for any EU passport holders every Wednesday!

According to Wikipedia El Palacio Real de Madrid is the biggest palace in Europe but personally I found it dwarfed by Château de Versailles in France, probably because the palace is only partially open to public. Unlike Château de Versailles, the internal of El Palacio Real de Madrid (and most tourist attractions in Spain) does not allow being photographed, except Plaza de Armas

It was in Plaza de Armas that I bumped into three Hong Kong guys who are currently working as an intern in Ireland. They found me look familiar and so struck a conversation with me:

We even swapped email addresses but sadly I have left it in my hotel when I left for Boston. 八神 if you happen to read this please drop me a message.

The only other place I visited in Madrid is El Museo Nacional del Prado, one of the three major museums in Madrid.

Due to my sense of orientation, or the lack of it, a ten minutes walk from my hotel had wasted me almost forty minutes in order to locate the museum, if only I started in the right direction. It will be way too overwhelming to visit all the exhibits in El Museo Nacional del Prado but fortunately the museum provides visitor a quick guide to their masterpiece collection in their floor plan:

El Museo Nacional del Prado is famous for its Goya and Velázquez collection.

None more famous than Las Meninas by Velázquez but unfortunately no photograph allowed so a picture snatched from the net is all I can do

After a swift two hours browse of El Museo Nacional del Prado I quickly left for Atocha station to catch my train to Barcelona

There are two railway train stations in Madrid, Atocha and Seville. The latter is supposedly more breathtaking and worthy to visit but I will have to save it for next time. It took about two hours and forty five minute to reach Barcelona. The land between Madrid and Barcelona is not particularly scenic but movie is available. Below you can see "Ice Age: The Meltdown" was being showed during my ride

Fain In Spain, Stay Mainly In...Canon PowerShot G11

2009-12-13T08:40:00.001-08:00

The trip to Spain is an impromptu decision, partly personal and partly pragmatic – need to exhaust the vacation time cumulated before it expires at the end of the year, and the relatively mild climate of Madrid and Barcelona seem to be a good getaway from the New England winter.

I’ve specifically upgraded my digital camera for this trip. Correctly speaking, I was advised by a friend who is a connoisseur in photography to try out Canon PowerShot G10 almost a year ago after I complained about my camera didn't handle night photography too well. As the ever careful consumer it took me a year and a trip to make up my mind but by then Canon has already released the next model of Powershot, the G11. After considering the pro and con between the two I decide to go with the better night shooting enhancement of G11 over the extra mega pixel of G10.

The front of the camera

The back of the camera

One neat thing about G11, at least to me it is neat, is the tilt/swivel LCD monitor. By tilting/swiveling the monitor it allows you to take shots that are hard to frame with the fixed LCD panel provided by the G10 model. The down side of it is the size of the panel has to be reduced to 2.8 inches diagonal from 3.0 inches of G10

The LCD monitor in the back can be flipped open to 180 degree

And it can be rotate about 90 degree downward and 180 degree upward

After you flip open the LCD Monitor to 180 degree, turn it upward 180 degree and then close it, you have the whole monitor in the back just like most standard digital cameras.

This design provides you a large preview during filming but also the protection of a hidden LCD moniter while the camera is not in use.

When I was reading some online reviews of the camera during shopping, many of them have stated that G11 doesn't allow zooming during video recording. That of course is a turn-off but I decide to go ahead due to the reputed improvement in night shooting. Then to my surprise, G11 actually does allow zooming in video recording:

Above is a clip I tape in the backyard of my house

G11 provides three different modes of video recording. In additions to standard mode, there is Colour Swap mode which will swap one colour of your choice to another. It is this non-standard recording mode that doesn't allow you to zoom but for a trickery like this I doubt it matters.

Here I swapped the color light grey to red in my backyard. The effect is only passable but you got the idea.

G11 also provides a Colour Accent mode which allows you to keep one single selected colour and turn the rest to just black and white.

Here I accented the pastel yellow of my backyard

All these colour enhancement would probably work better on a static photograph than the dynamic video clip. OK enough of the gadget, next will be the actual trip. Stay tuned.

電影回顧: 萬聖節首選《倩女幽魂》

2009-10-30T20:59:00.000-07:00

A landmark in Hong Kong movies that spawned two sequels, an animated movie, TV series and countless imitations, “A Chinese Ghost Story” 《倩女幽魂》 combines traditional supernatural folklore, fantastic wiring, aesthetic cinematography, elaborate sets (by Hong Kong standard) and breath-taking stunt work to showcase the strengths of Hong Kong film industry. Furthermore, with a universal story devoid of historical background and minimized cultural reference, it is also one of the most accessible Hong Kong movies to the western audience (I always think with each distinctively costumed character and spooky setting it will be a great addition to any Halloween party). It might even appeal to the hip-hop demographic when the Taoist priest 燕赤霞 belted out a rap-like rendition during a drunken rampant. In fact, chances are many western connoisseurs will confess that “A Chinese Ghost Story” was the movie that initiated them into the Hong Kong movies

James Wong's rap-like rendition of 《道》 had attracted fans as far away as Argentina

However, many of the English synopsises for “A Chinese Ghost Story” I came across has Ning Tsai-shun/Ling Choi-sun 寧采臣 as a tax collector while in truth he is a debt collector. This to me is a small but significant difference because by being a tax collector, it would mean he will be working for the court which would give him a certain privileged position in the society while a major plot device of the movie is the fact that Ning Tsai-shun is a person of no importance

“A Chinese Ghost Story” opens with Ning Tsai-shun on the road to collect money. Quickly we see this is no easy feat because the road was ambushed by bandits. However, the fortune of the bandits took a wrong turn as they picked the swordsman 夏侯 to rob and got slaughtered instead. Later we found that the swordsman’s luck is no better as he bumped into the tantalizing ghost Nieh Hsiao-tsing/Nip Siu-sin 聶小倩 and met his own demise. However, the ghost in turn was controlled by the thousand-year old tree demon 姥姥 and forced to seduce traveling men.

As the alluring ghost Nieh Hsiao-tsing/Nip Siu-sin 聶小倩 Joey Wang 王祖賢 had her best moments on films. A former member of Taiwanese national basketball team, 《倩女幽魂》 accentuated her best feature, her long legs, in various scenes

What “A Chinese Ghost Story” presented us is a dog-eat-dog world that is in a state of constant chaos and lawlessness, where each in power (mortal or undead) is vying for the control over all those who are powerless. It is a world run rampant with monsters, ghosts, beasts (Ning Tsai-shun was first haunted by the wolves in the wood) and, above all, human: The well-to-do Nieh Hsiao-tsing fall into the hand of the tree demon only after her and her father were framed and persecuted by corrupted officials (Nieh Hsiao-tsing told Ning Tsai-shun that sometimes humans are even more frightening than ghosts).

The victim-preying Nieh Hsiao-tsing was a victim herself

A previously honest court marshal himself, 燕赤霞 had grown weary of the sleazy mortal world that he chose to lead a hermit-like life and keep the undead as company (the Taoist priest from the original Shaw Brothers version 《倩女幽魂》, “The Enchanting Shadow”, was much less cynical).

The mysterious, menacing Taoist priest 燕赤霞 was revealed to be a cynical former court marshal

In a world like this it is unlikely for someone with such meager means like Ning Tsai-shun to come out of it unscathed. But unlike the Taoist priest, our hero did NOT back away from life. Instead he took on a job that he was well aware of the peril involved without any bitterness (He told the inn-keeper how his predecessor was killed on his way return as-a-matter-of-factly) because he understood while fate could be ever unpredictable and ugly, one’s fortune is ultimately up to one’s own hand. It might seem pathetic for the hero of an action movie to implore for help when Ning Tsai-shun asked the Taoist priest to escort him to return Nieh Hsiao-tsing‘s ash back to her hometown. However, what I found interesting is the pleading occurred when it did.

When Ning Tsai-shun discovered Nieh Hsiao-tsing was actually a ghost, he was told to flee the haunted temple right away. However, at that point he didn’t entreat for the Taoist priest’s escort even though the way was full of danger. It was only after he promised Nieh Hsiao-tsing’s reincarnations that he begged for help because on his own he wouldn’t complain any misfortune befall on him. He would just take that as part of one’s fate, part of life itself. Ning Tsai-shun might be bubbling, he might be anti-hero but he is no coward. When you consider the last thing he said to Nieh Hsiao-tsing is to be a “good human”, that is surprisingly life-affirmative for a horror movie.

The screenplay of “A Chinese Ghost Story” was written by Yuen Kai Chi (阮繼志) when he was only twenty-six. It won him a Best Adapted Screenplay at the Golden Horse Film Festival. (Ironically the screenplay was the only major category the movie failed to nab a nomination in the local Hong Kong Film Award. Could it be too galling for the Award committee to take the screenplay of a supposedly action-oriented movie seriously?). Life after “A Chinese Ghost Story” has not been all smooth-sailing though. In 1989 he was involved in a serious car accident that left him partially handicapped. However, this had not deterred his zeal for life. It was during his recuperating from the accident that he got acquainted with his current wife, who was the nurse in the hospital at the time. Today he continues to write screenplay and teach script writing classes in local universities. In 2005 he received the “Top Ten Regeneration Warriors” award... Coming from someone who wrote the screenplay for “A Chinese Ghost Story” somehow I am just not surprised.

無常

2009-10-13T23:56:00.000-07:00

對已經多年沒有執筆書寫的中文, 寫這一篇時心裡實在猶豫了很久。再加上從來也沒有學會中文輸入法的我, 就更是一大挑戰。為了對故人的尊重, 我但願自己能堅持到底, 能在Donald化煙前完成我對他的悼念, 個人方面亦希望能藉此平靜多夜來不安的思緒。

如果記憶沒錯的話, 到訪Donald的網誌始於他一篇向當時剛過世的Robert Altman致敬的文章。那時我剛轉到目前的工作, 新的崗位佔去了我絕大部份的時間, 看網誌彷彿就成為我唯一的娛樂。剛開始看Donald的電影網誌時只覺過於重一大堆錦上添花的獎項, 及口味對我來說是大路了一點。然而口味是否認同並不重要, 重要是對電影熱誠的認同, 這是每一個自認電影癡的人必須的首要條件。這一方面Donald是不容置疑的

為了電影Donald可以每星期都往電影院一躺

為了喜歡的電影Donald可以多次重看也樂此不疲

為了更能溶入喜歡的電影Donald可以決心學習西班牙語

他對電影的熱情相信所有看過他網誌的人都能感染到的。但更令我感動的是Donald樂於分亨的性格, 不論是生活的一點一滴他都毫不吝嗇, 看到各方網友在知道他離世後的留言, 不就證明這是Donald處世成功之道? 這亦是一向內向, 被動的我應該學習的。08年初回港前鼓起最大勇氣接觸Donald, 當時答應一星期後再電話聯絡見面, 但當電話沒法接上時潛伏於腦海的遲疑又不禁作崇, 最後還是錯過了這次機會, 沒想到我亦錯過了這唯一的機會…

有人說互聯網只是一個虛疑的世界, 但當惡耗傳來的時候我多麼渴望這只是個虛疑的訊息。如今仍不禁每天到訪習以為常的網誌, 但見到唯一更新的只會是最後上載日期的倒數, 彷彿在告訴我走了的人只會越走越遠。我從來對宗教沒有太大的深思, 亦沒有想過人死後會否去到另一個世界。但若我們有緣碰上的話, 這次我一定不會遲疑, 上前跟你打過招呼。

時光倒流二十年

2009-08-30T20:41:00.000-07:00

Winter 1988

Camp 歌女皇 (80年代10大西歌投票之回響)

2009-03-10T19:56:00.000-07:00

Until she hit it big with the theme song of 《上海灘》, the Canton pop career of Francis Yip (葉麗儀) was practically non-existent. However, once she made that breakthrough, with the exception of a few duets with Johnny Yip (葉振棠), she spent the rest of her career building up a repertoire of high camp that was as bloody and epic as 《上海灘》 the TV series itself. Dashing out overblown lyrics with much admired aplomb, Francis sings through the corniness and tackiness with a straight face. Regardless whether she is a real pro or just simply has no sense of humour, you can always count on her to give a performance that could make any drag queen proud.

Granted I haven’t quite grasped the definition of 西歌, but given the sheer outrageousness in Francis’ anthology it won’t convince me that you can’t find one single spawn somewhere in her compilation that should make the list of net friend Chi’s 80年代10大西歌投票. Well to correct this gross oversight, let’s pay our tribute to Francis’ monumental contribution to Hong Kong camp culture:

1. 女中豪傑

What appeared to be an undistinguished TV theme song was elevated to camp status, all thanks to a single line of lyrics: 俏嬌娃一呼千里響. 《女中豪傑》 was the theme song for 《雙葉蝴蝶》, a gender reversed follow up to capitalize the popularity of the TV detective series 《C.I.D.》. The aforementioned line obviously was inspired by the US program 《神探俏嬌娃》 (Charlies’ Angels). Instead of Sabrina Duncan, Jill Munroe and Kelly Garrett, 《雙葉蝴蝶》 gave us 黃淑儀, 楊盼盼 and a very mannish 葉德嫻, at least the director didn’t have the 俏嬌娃 jiggle their breasts to us.

2. 紅顏

There is only one thing you need to know about 《紅顏》: 無力挽　無力再挽. Let’s just say 一切盡在不言中

3. 紙醉金迷

What a grave injustice! Deanie Yip covered Grace Chang’s (葛蘭) 《我要你的愛》, 《我要》 finished No.8 in 80年代10大西歌投票結果. Francis Yip covered the equally flamboyant 《說不出的快活》 from the same singer, 《紙醉金迷》 didn’t even get mentioned. All I can say is 此葉不同彼葉

4. 女黑俠木蘭花

Poor 趙雅芝, not only did the TV series made her character look like a bimbo next to 高翔 (in the book, 木蘭花 is way smarter), they also made her wear that hideous outfit (in skirt!!) even the 夜行衣 of 雪妮 fifteen years before for the same role looked cooler.

If there was any consolation, at least 趙雅芝 landed herself a husband from the series. Too bad Francis never filmed a MV for this camp classic with delicious lyrics (木蘭花美麗豪放) only she can deliver, one could only guess what impact the image of Francis in that outfit and pointy eye mask could have brought, completed with some high karate kicks no less.

5. 巾幗英雄

Following 《女中豪傑》 and 《女黑俠木蘭花》, the Amazon Heroine theme continued with 巾幗英雄, once again it was a theme song from TV series (《十三妹》) and once again it had 楊盼盼. Had Lisa Wang somehow turned down playing 穆桂英, I know for sure it would be Francis who belted out 英姿煥煥煥煥煥…發… On the other hand, 《巾幗英雄》 failed to live up to its predecessor, either because the formula had far too many outings, or it was just a tough act to follow. Seriously, how can anyone top 《女黑俠木蘭花》?

6. 大豪客

Adapting “Hey Big Spender” from fellow belter Peggy Lee, 《大豪客》 has long been considered a Hall of Famer in Hong Kong commercial history. Technically it was never released as an album cut but thanks to YouTube, the image of Francis sashaying down the stairs will forever live on. Unfortunately the version with 曹查理 dressing up like some kind of head honcho (a sight never fails to delight camp audience) is nowhere to be found.

Growing Pain (Afterword)

2008-06-28T20:14:00.001-07:00

This has concluded my “Growing Pain” series and also my first dabble in blogging. Partly inspired by Chi’s wonderful concoction, Come Back To Love, the idea to compose this series has been a brainchild of mine for quite some times. However the actual course of creation had been in fits and starts and likely it will be a long while before I make another attempt again. Through this process I have come to appreciate even more the dedications of people like Chi have to keep their blogs going. I can’t count the number of times I have thought of giving up. My biggest concern had been the fact that I can write mostly in English only because I don’t know how to do Chinese text input (other than cut and paste of course). The question was would there be an audience – for those who would be interested in my subject matters, would they be interested in reading it in English? In the end I decide to see it through because each of them has been a fond memory of mine. Regardless how dim a footnote they might be, they deserve a small corner in the universe of World Wide Web. After all, 誰曾燃亮我的心始終一生在心內逗留.

Growing Pain (Part VII)

2008-06-28T20:08:00.001-07:00

卻見我影身邊說 話我不孤單

Marketed under the obvious belief that the sum is greater than the parts, EMI released this compilation album named 新歌 Encore in 1983 probably just to fulfill contractual obligation. Headlined by such “chart topper” acts like 李龍基 and 葉麗儀, it featured galore of classic non-hits such as 無謂令我半天吊, 世界仔 with names that aptly completed the picture. Among all these insipid titles are two new songs, 過去．現在．將來 and 影子, by the comeback artist 特樂樂隊 that, if under better circumstances might have some potential.

Delegating 特樂樂隊 to the ensemble cast of a Z-grade compilation album belied their impact on Hong Kong pop music. Although 新歌 Encore marked the first time they had recorded materials in Cantonese, D’Topnotes, as they were known back then, has released many English records back in the 60s, when English pop ruled the rooster in Hong Kong, and they even reached certain amount of international success. In fear of dreading into area that is completely out of my element, I will refer those who are interested in D'Topnotes to Muzikland, someone more knowledgeable on the HK poineer pop artists

With its cheerful and upbeat melody that brought back memory of their 60s heyday, 過去．現在．將來 naturally enjoyed more airplay, and it was even plugged on 勁歌金曲. However, it is the melancholic lyrics of 影子 (particularly 縱見滿街也是人亦覺得孤單) that stayed with me throughout the years. Never released in CD as far as I know, my version of 影子 was ripped from vinyl record and that is as good as it can get!

The comeback of 特樂樂隊 never rises above the occasional musical guest appearance on EYT, and 新歌 Encore remained their last foray into Cantopop. Obscure among the generation grew up on Cantopop, D’Topnotes, and particularly lead vocalist/bassist/keyboardist Christine Samson, still enjoyed some loyal followings today. A search on YouTube resulted in an unexpectedly numerous clips of their TV appearances. None more surprising than this rendition of Alan Tam’s 最愛的你, when Christine even sang a segment of Kurahashi Ruiko’s (倉橋ルイ子 ) Japanese original, Last Scene ni ai wo komete (ラストシーンに愛をこめて)

Growing Pain (Part VI)

2008-06-28T20:00:00.001-07:00

凡事渴望永久的 何故不能長伴我

為何曾共我一起的 像時日總未逗留

Two of the most memorable classics in Hong Kong pop history in term of lyric writing, today 當天那真我 and 追憶 have endured the test of time to become the fan favorites. However, it is easy to forget that upon their release, neither one is considered the major plugs by the record company. Released in the album Elisa Chan 陳潔靈 in 1986, 當天那真我 was passed over by 誰令你心癡 in order to capitalize the unexpected chemistry between Elisa Chan and Leslie Cheung in their previous duet 只怕不再遇上. Included in 林子祥創作歌集 in late 84, to ride the wave of his own Christmas box office hit movie 《貓頭鷹與小飛象》, the theme song 誰能明白我 was the first plug of the album followed by the even bigger hit 每一個晚上, George Lam went on to host concerts in Hong Kong Coliseum for then record-setting thirteen straight nights – he was simply at the peak of his career. In fact 當天那真我 and 追憶 were so overshadowed that neither was plugged in 勁歌金曲 and their lasting popularity is purely through word-of-mouth and, above all, their timeless lyrics.

Both are penned by 林振強, 當天那真我 and 追憶 each has its own following but people seldom put them together. However, for me they are distant cousins of one another: both span from childhood to adolescence to adulthood, both are episodic, both consist of three anecdotes of life and both convey the sense of loss in growing up… With writing as good as these, there isn’t much I want to add lest it would distract from the lyrics. A quirky hobby of mine is translating my favorite Chinese lyrics into English but I have always been too embarrassed to show to people. However, just in case there will be non-Chinese speakers stumble onto this blog, I am putting my lamentable translation here just so that people can appreciate Richard Lam’s haunting lyrics. This is in my very small way a tribute to a very prolific (see 林振強作品列表 for complete list) and sorely-missed lyricist in Hong Kong pop history

當天那真我/ The Real Me of That Day

曲 : 綱倉一也

Music: Amikura Kazuya

詞 : 林振強

Lyric: Richard Lam

記起那天　*尚束孖辮那一天

Remember the day when I was still in my ponytail
我家中的那隻鳥兒無聲的死去
The bird at home had died without a sound

我叫嚷著　哭得心都碎
I wailed and cried my heart out

望著籠兒　頭兒垂不捨去
Staring at the empty cage, my head dropped and couldn’t let go

星　曾在晚空望我問　問我淌淚為何　
The star has once given me his regard, asked me why I am crying

我　我說我甚難過凡事渴望永久的　卻總要飄過仿似歌

I said I am so heartbroken. Why does everything I wish to last have to pass like a song?

我記起在青春中那一天
I remember one day in my youth

*有個不知天高的女孩隨風衝去
There was a naïve little girl followed the wind to chase after her dreams

要去獨力改變一切

Vowed to change the world single-handedly

並罵成年人無聊　諸多不對
And sneered at the adult world as banal and meaningless

歲月令許多不滿擱置在旁邊
Time has brushed aside many discontents

有太多妥協教夢兒無聲的粉碎
Too many dreams have been crushed by too many compromises

不很清楚當天那真我在何年和何時偷偷死去
Never quite sure exactly when the real me of that day has secretly died

星　曾在晚空望我問　問我淌淚為何　
The star has once given me his regard, asked me why I am crying

我　我說我甚難過凡事渴望永久的　何故不能長伴我

I said I am so heartbroken. Why couldn’t anything I wish to last stay with me?

我記起在秋之中有一天
I remember a day in one autumn

你似風中的一片葉兒曾經飄過
You drifted into my life like a leave in the wind

你到現在都居於記憶裡

Till these days you still live in my memory

但為何時辰從來不可倒退
But why is that time would never turn back?

星　曾在晚空望我問　問我淌淚為何
The star has once given me his regard, asked me why I am crying

我　我說我甚難過凡事渴望永久的　何故不能長伴我

I said I am so heartbroken. Why couldn’t anything I wish to last stay with me?

星聽了　跟著變沉默

The star heard me, and then turned silent…

*When Anthony Lun covered this song in 1993, these are changed to 尚很矮小那一天 and 有個不知天高的少年隨風衝去 respectively in order to make it less gender-specific

追憶/ Reminiscence

曲 : 林子祥

Music: George Lam

詞 : 林振強

Lyrics: Richard Lam

編︰鍾定一

Arrangement: Danny Chung

童年在那泥路裡伸頸看　一對耍把戲藝人

Once in my childhood I stretched my neck on a muddy road to watch a pair of troupers

搖動木偶令到它打觔斗　使我開心拍著手

Maneuvering a puppet to tumble around which cheered me to clapping my hands

然而待戲班離去之後　我問

Yet after the troupe left I asked

為何木偶不留低一絲足印

Why did the puppet leave without a trace?

為何為何曾共我一起的像時日總未逗留

Why is everyone who was once with me like time that could never stay?

從前在那炎夏裡的暑假　跟我爸爸笑著行

Once in a summer I was having hearty chat with my father

沿途談談來日我的打算　首次跟他喝啖酒

Together we talked about my future plan and for the first time shared a sip of wine

然而自他離去之後　我問

Yet after he passed I asked

為何夏變得如冬一般灰暗

Why is summer grey and dark like winter?

為何為何曾共我一起的像時日總未逗留

Why is everyone who was once with me like time that could never stay?

從前共你　朦朧夜裡　躺於星塵背後

Once was with you, in a hazy night, lied under the starlight

難明白你　為何別去

Could never understand why you part

留下空空的一個地球

Leave me with just an empty Earth

＊徘徊悠悠長路裡　今天我知道始終要獨行

*Wandering in the long road of life I realized eventually I will have to walk on my own

閑來回頭望去追憶去　邊笑邊哭邊喝啖酒

Once in awhile I would stop to reminisce amidst the laughter, tears and sips of wine

然而就算哭仍暗私下慶幸

Yet even in tears I am still secretly grateful

時日在我心留低許多足印

For time had left a lot of footsteps in my heart

從前從前曾共我一起的仍然在心裡逗留

Whoever was once with me has still stayed within my heart to these days

重唱　＊ Repeat *

從前誰曾燃亮我的心始終一生在心內逗留

Whoever has once lighted up my life will continue to stay within my heart

Growing Pain (Part V)

2008-06-28T19:08:00.000-07:00

你說這叫長大 我說多麼的費解

One year after she immaculately reinvented herself from Shirley Wong but another year away from becoming 王菲, Faye Wong could do no wrong in 1993. Following up to the success of 容易受傷的女人 with 執迷不悔 at the beginning of the year, Faye proved herself to be not just a flash in the pan. Handpicked by Wong Kar Wai later that year to star in his groundbreaking cult hit, 《重慶森林》 did to Faye what “A bout de soufflé” did to Jean Seberg in the sixties - as the figurehead of La Nouvelle Vague. In between Faye released 十萬個為什麼？in that late summer which confirmed she had caught up with, if not knocked out, reigning Hong Kong divas Sandy Lam and Sally Yeh.

What is significance about 十萬個為什麼？ is that it is a transitional phase in Faye’s singing career, from the straight R&B flavor to the more European influence. To bring the gap, producers Alvin Leong and Stanley Leung cooked up a theme of a child’s inquisitiveness in order the milk the most out of Faye’s ethereal voice. Surprisingly, even with a duel version (Chinese and English), what appeared to be the cornerstone of the album 長大 actually didn’t receive at much attention as the more showy 冷戰, 流非飛 or the mainstream ballad如風.

It might just as well because the melody of 長大 had left much to be desired. It is not helping matter that for a song about growing up, the lyric of 長大 is competent but not terribly remarkable and the lyric of the English version “Do We Really Care?” is so corny that it borders being pretentious. Still, by contrasting “天空永恆幻變　多麼奧妙” at childhood with “猜想以後　不改只有遠遠的星宿” at adulthood, 陳少琪 did at least manage to inject a sense of irony into the song.

Growing Pain (Part IV)

2008-06-28T11:01:00.000-07:00

但昨天沒法等 像昨天的風箏

The release and subsequent success of Prudence Liew’s debut album 劉美君 had all the makings of a legend: Hailed from the newly established record company Current, it was David the small independent label versus the Goliath the big corporate publicity machine and, against all odds, won it. With amazing longevity that buoyed by each successive individual hit song, the album stayed on the upper echelon of the chart for over eight months and spawned not one but two extended remix EPs. It was pushed to the front of the queue for all the year-end award contention, only to come to a rather ugly end.

I could never shake off the memory of the pissed-off look on Prudence when she realized her 最後一夜 was shut out from the year-end top ten 勁歌金曲 (rumour had it that 最後一夜finished eleventh) even when her album has just scooped the Best Album award. Her disappointment is understandable because she never came close to that élite level again. However, it would be a shame if she felt she was slighted for the best album was definitely the worthier win between the two. In additions to the underdog victory, what made the success of the album so special is the fact all the songs are original except 最後一夜, a bold feat in the 80s and even bolder for a new artist. Even more remarkable is the variety of styles in each of the creation - 隔, 霓虹鳥, Mind Make Up and my favorite 亞熱帶少年, none of them fall into the mainstream genre of its time. Prudence might have emerged as the shooting star from her debut album but for me the production is the true champion here.

Prudence’s persona has always been someone who has been around the block, even as early as the knocked up teenager in 《江湖再見》, long before she established herself as a singer. Among the many goodies in her debut album, naturally it was songs like 午夜情 or 最後一夜 that got the public’s fancy the most. The more on the refreshing side 清晨 would never come to my attention had a classmate not introduced it to me. My classmate has become a first-time father last year. Twenty years has passed since this song was released, I doubt 清晨 will cross his mind very often these days but I wonder if he would take his new born son go kiting some days

Growing Pain (Part III)

2008-06-22T15:28:00.000-07:00

愿你多珍惜 每分好感受

A forgotten chapter in Hong Kong pop music history.

From late 70s up to about 1983, one of the major forces that drove new blood to Hong Kong music industry was no doubt the folk movement. Caught on wave created by Taiwanese artists like 劉文正, 齊豫 and megahits 橄欖樹 and 蘭花草, teenagers across the city rushed to pick up guitar playing. RTHK joined in the fun and hosted the first ever 城市民歌公開創作比賽 in 1981. Exactly who the winners are has been lost in time but a few songs did emerge from the competition and became the favorite of many school music contests: every student was guaranteed to at least one treat of 問, 昨夜的渡輪上 or 為甚麼 each year and these songs remain the indispensible selection for the endless reincarnation of “Best Folk Songs Collection” even to these days.

Sadly the same cannot be said about the people who sang them. Their names are either never mentioned in any of the countless Hong Kong pop history look back brought up by the so-called 集體回憶 (collective memory), or other like 黃敏華 and 李麗蕊 whose folk root are completely omitted. With the exception of 林志美 (because of her cross-over success), few people would be remotely interested in the whereabouts of 李炳文, 區桂芬, 何國禧, 許炳森 or 陶贊新, the singer of this song:

Written by 孔憲雲 (anyone out there knows who he is?) with lyrics by 劉向明 and 陶贊新 himself, 童真 starts off with a very captivating piano trill, an introduction that never fail to make me drop everything and lost myself in reminiscing of a bygone past. As a singer, the voice of 陶贊新 is a little unpolished but somehow it fits perfectly with the naiveté of the song.

Obscure though he definitely was (the last I read about him is a 1983 interview with 好時代 when he was promoted as one of the six new artists in the EMI release 我哋既), 陶贊新 actually is still somewhat active in the music industry today – he penned the lyric for Joey Yung’s theme song of the movie Toy Story 2, 像昨天她喜歡我.

Growing Pain (Part II)

2008-06-22T15:06:00.000-07:00

凡每個夢也要實現　管它有多麼遠

After achieving unprecedented success in Hong Kong music industry together in the 70s, Sam Hui parted way with Polydor amicably in 1983 and signed with a relatively new local label Contec Sound Media. Founded in 1982, Contec only had one artist up to that point, Paula Tsui, but her first record with them had received phenomenal promotion, including a never before TV commercial for an album release that featured her monster hit 隨想曲.

Contec was equally no expense spared their first collaboration with Sam Hui 新的開始. Released in late 1983, it was also the year music video has officially arrived as the new outlet for pop music. Banking on Sam Hui’s enormous popularity, Contec themselves, instead of letting TVB churn out run of the mill products, filmed a series of music videos for some of the songs in 新的開始 and booked an half an hour time slot in TVB to launch each of the videos.

Compared with the standard of its time, Contec’s music videos have much higher production budget and more sophisticated cinematography. For instance, part of 風中趕路人 was filmed in an empty MTR train. The filming of 氹氹轉 is a no-brainer, with its subject matter the boat ride in 荔園 comes as a second nature. The only problem was that the boats are only big enough for those whose age has yet reached double digit. So the public is thankfully spared from the image of Sam Hui cramping himself into that tiny raft. Instead the boat ride was filmed as a miniature toy with Sam’s figure superimposed onto it. As the song draws to its conclusion, the tempo of the video picks up and the image was shrunk and tiled over the screen, rivaling the extravagance of some Busby Berkeley musical. Such elaboration has rarely been attempted again in Hong Kong music- videodom. It is a shame that Contec’s music videos have never been available to public and are seldom seen again after their initial release.

In retrospect, Contec’s confidence on Sam Hui might have a little overstated because by then Sam was almost imperceptibly but surely slipping. The song 氹氹轉 was revered for the philosophical lyric “世事又好似船船係最尾又變在前前既也定會落後面不必眼光太淺”, which enabled it to rise above a mere children song. It was also strangely prophetic – within less than six months after the video was broadcast, Alan Tam would have released two mega sellers, 霧之戀 and 愛的根源, and dethroned Sam as the numero uno in Hong Kong music scene.

One side note, net friend Terrence in his blog entry 《憶蓮》盒帶 [G-cassette] mentioned that The CBS original G-cassette had only been used in 憶蓮, 灰色 and 因你別離 three releases in Hong Kong music history. However, judging from the look of it, CBS seemed to steal the concept from Contec and packaged it as G-cassette themselves. What do you think?