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.
* 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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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? 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? :-)
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.
I am a Hong Kong Chinese living in a rather dull but fulfilling existence in Boston as a software engineer. I have come to United States for over 20 years already but in many ways I still feel like I am "fresh off boat" and I am afraid I will continue to be so. A friend of mine has once told me I am very unique, I guess what he really meant is that I am very odd. Although I found myself nothing out of the ordinary, being brought up in a different country and culture does tend to make you stand out. Yet I believe variety is the spice of life. In the final analysis, I like to say I am stubborn and uncompromising, neurotic and overly sensitive, brutally frank and lack in social grace, introverted and slow-burning. Despite all these, I think I am a nice person and do try to be the best person I can be.
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