TEE: Teki Editorial Everywhere

上星期「受」完「期末試驗」，總算可以輕鬆一番。於是，我與另一位同學去看最近大熱的電影﹣《おくりびと》。關於這齣電影的評論已經汗牛充棟，小弟也無謂在此班門弄斧。不過，這齣電影確實出色感人，值得一看再看，所以不得不在此呼籲：切記入院觀看。 嘩！買票入場？為什麼不在家看dvd或上網收看？除非貴府已有過百呎的大銀幕，加上環迴立體杜比多聲道，屋內四周添黑無光，屋外十里鴉雀無聲，否則你難以觸目到一幕一幕美麗細緻的畫面，沐浴於一襲一襲扣人心弦的音樂。 電影的主線﹣納棺並不是一般道士入殮，也不是在先人臉上點紅點綠，而是「合於桑林之舞，乃中經首之會」。每一部驟，每一細節，即使不是當眼處，都展示著無微不至的關顧與嚴謹苛刻的職人之志。不但電影中的「家屬」看得目定口呆，我們觀眾也感受到每一處都精緻得難以至信。這便是藝術，是視覺的美麗與慎終追遠的情懷之結合。 音樂方面也是另一種極致。一個旋律，不但帶出哀愁，思念，追憶，感悟，甚至喜悅等情感，而且把劇情中不同分線，包括爸爸，工作與死亡，串連起來。當然最為人熟知的便是主角在田野間拉奏那段主旋律，以表達他感悟後的喜悅與釋懷的場面吧。更出色的是，雖然劇中的儀式與情感都是日本傳統的（不是大城市的日本，而是嫏間的日本），但是西方樂器與西方旋律在電影中不但沒有格格不入，而且融會得渾然天成，水乳交融，好讓現今世界，尤其西方世界明白東方嫏間樸實的傳統美。 即使大場面，大製作的電影，看過一次或兩次便會感到厭倦。然而，《おくりびと》絕對不是一般的電影。它好像是一件精美的擺設，吸引你一看再看，百看不厭，越看越出神，越看越有新鮮感。

一九九七年一月一日零時，港生與韻文同遭車禍，死去... 就主題與情感表達而言，姑且勿論演技好與壞，由張婉婷執導的「玻璃之城」確實是上乘之作。該劇把黎明飾演的港生與舒琪飾演的韻文之間，既像透明又易破碎的玻璃之愛表現得絲絲入扣，楚楚淒美，娓娓道來，柔情似水，逝意如風。縱使我因身份與時代不同而未能代入其中，然而當中二人相識，相愛，分別，重遇，舊情復熾，難捨難離，破境重圓，共赴黃泉的一幕一幕，伴隨著香港七十年代至九十年代的滄海桑田，無不教人惆悵興嘆。 電影前半部是製造懸疑及交代主人翁的背景。港生與韻文是七十年代成長的社會精英，在象牙塔生活相愛，對未來有著無限的憧憬，為理想可以犧牲無悔。不過，現實無情。港生負笈法國，獨留韻文在港，結果兩人各自成家立室，金童玉女的童話好像在那時候劃上句號。 時耶命耶？還是無可避免？內地改革開放，把港生拉回到香港這個舞台；再因中英聯合聲明簽署，回歸在即，港生與韻文兩位不諳普通話的精英不約而同修讀同一個普通話課程。結果兩人再次相遇，悄悄地喚起當日的甜蜜回憶。那時候，他倆的故事便真正開始。 他倆起初是欲試還止，直至韻文在電話中聽到救護車的響號，兩人才察覺真愛便在眼前，因為自己掌上的生命線，事業線，愛情線都已經刻上對方的名字了。港生兌現當天的承諾，與韻文一起學習駕駛飛機，要飛越一座一座的橋，因為他們心中有著共同的「康橋」。 雖然他倆是真心相愛，但是事實是他倆各有家室，不容婚外情。他們嘗試面對現實，分手了結。然而，正如韻文所言： 「咁我都希望你記得, 我地分開嘅日子, 你唔喺我身邊, 我先至最愛你。」 當下社會豈容不倫之戀。於是，張婉婷導演給予他倆最圓滿的結局：死亡。只有死亡，兩人才可以真正擁有對方，真正地永不分離。 這齣電影不是轟天動地，而是輕柔，淺淡，細膩，好像是導演自己的感情溶入沖照片的藥水裡。大概因為這齣正是香港大學畢業的張婉婷內心映照，而玻璃之城正是英治香港。回歸前夕，對於七十年代成長的她，英治香港是瑰麗璀璨，卻又像霧裡看花，又易摧毁破碎。當回歸變成鐵一般的事實，她不得不接受這個歸室，感情上卻還依綣著殖民時期。我想，因為這個矛盾，所以她內心一直掙扎。只有死亡，猶如王國維投湖殉清，才能釋懷，讓自己可以永久擁抱那片回憶，儘管現實則是過去已經隨風消逝。 與「 每當變幻時 」相比，「玻璃之城」未必能夠引起大眾共鳴（正如韻文所言，有三分之二的精英已在回歸...

The Day After Tomorrow is a sci-fic movie about Global Warming. In the movie, Global Warming changed the weather and cracked polar ice shelves. The melting of icebergs disrupted the ocean current, as a result, the temperature dropped down rapidly and the world went to Ice Age. The above is the plot of the sci-fic, yet the same plot happens in the reality. It happens not in the real world, but the financial world. Because of the financial crisis (or so-called Financial Tsunami) due to overexpansion of loans and derivatives, banks restrict their loan applications and cut companies' overdrafts. Therefore, many companies, especially for SME, suffer from capital turnover trouble. It leads weaker companies to bankrupt and the bankruptcy makes others worse as a domino effect. Perhaps we have entered the ice age of finance or another Great Depression.

因為家妹的功課選擇陳奕迅、楊千嬅主演的「每當變幻時」為題，所以我也順道一同觀看這齣劇名聽來驟似無聊愛情劇的電影。一看之下，竟然產生意想不到的共鳴。有感而發，遂作此評。 「每」的劇情其實十分簡單：當魚販的陳奕迅在其經營的街市「富貴墟」遇上為父還債而賣魚，年近三十的楊千嬅，十年來經歷回歸後香港的風風雨雨。他倆從冤家到相愛，後來又分開，最後重遇卻仍不能成為情侶。隨著「富貴墟」的清拆，曲終人散，各自生活， 留下的只有絲絲的惋惜。 與其它回歸慶劇一樣，「每」都有加插不少回歸十年的集體回憶。例如：連鎖超市入侵街市、連鎖餅店倒閉、傳銷騙案、ＳＡＲＳ肆虐、七一大遊行等。就算最後清拆「富貴墟」的一幕，也有清拆天星碼頭事件的影子。就重播集體回憶這方面來說，「每」不是拍出特別出色。幸好也沒有濫播，反而更能夠帶出本身的主題。 表面來看，「每」是陳奕迅與眾街坊在「富貴墟」的故事。我卻認為，楊千嬅的十年人生歷程才是「每」的主題。雖然楊因為家境而被迫屈就街市，一個於賒來的時間借來的地方，日以繼夜工作，但是她沒有因為自己身處的劣境而放棄對生活及愛情的要求。正如她選擇錢包一樣，她不會退而求其次去選擇現有卻不是自己的理想目標。她對理想的執著最終得到回報，成為蜚聲國際的化粧師。 可惜，楊的執著卻成為她愛情的絆腳石。她在街市的時候已被餅佬、豬肉佬和陳奕迅追求；當她事業有成的時候更是不乏條件優秀的選擇。然而，經歷多年的尋尋覓覓，她發現原來什麼條件、什麼標準都不是最重要；原來一個喜歡自己而又自己喜歡的已是「一個值得嫁的人」。 不過如果主題是這一點，「每」只不過是一齣老掉牙的愛情劇而已。重點是楊本身是一個典型七十年代（香港經濟飛躍的開端）出生的香港女子，當她踏入她人生的黃金時期，香港卻由黃金時期急轉直下跌落一蹶不振的深淵。身處大時代的巨變，作為小市民的楊在事業與愛情都顯得進退失據。這種反應不是因為她個人的性格缺陷，而是因為面對巨變的她不懂得如何調整心態。可是，調整心態倒不是容易的事情。她曾經嘗試改變，嘗試改革街市，嘗試投靠豬肉佬，嘗試傳銷。然而，每人心中總有一條底線，不會想變就變，如果可以變便已經不再是她自己了。最後，楊得到妥叔的幫助，離開街市，開創自己的事業。 然而感情不像事業，錯過了未必可以回頭。回歸十年，楊事業有成，機緣際遇讓她再遇上陳。多年不見，陳對楊依然關懷備至，楊也一直使用陳送給她的普通錢包。然而情...

I attended 30th Anniversary Concert of Albert Au (區瑞強) last evening. He is not hit but his folksongs are long lasting. They are relaxing and make audiences think of the past. They have attracted many Hong Kong people who lived in the Golden Days of Hong Kong (80s - 90s). ．．． 朋友 不要淚垂 人生本多失意 競爭 開始了 追不到也是要追 ．．． Albert Au said he knew many artists, who got to the peak of career but have become legends, within thirty years. He is right. So does Hong Kong. After Cold War, the world goes peaceful. The united Germany and the capitalized China have become stronger and stronger. Nations which lands are small with small population would have less competitiveness. Hong Kong will join the fast track if it is fully embeded into the growth of the Greater China Region, otherwise just becomes the memory of the last century. From the full booking of his concert, it seems that many people would still prefer memory rather go ahead. So does the prospect of Hong Kong.

上星期在西洋菜南街行人專用區遇到 好戲量 的街頭宣傳。我接過他們的宣傳單張，介紹重演的 「吉蒂與死人頭」 。這齣講述一對男女曖昧地徘徊友誼與愛情之間的話劇，不禁觸動我懷緬過去的神經，於是今天我便入場欣賞。 因為這一齣算是實驗劇，所以應該理解其佈景，音樂，燈光等硬件不會很細緻。我只會從對白，情節和思想三個大方向分析該劇。 潘惠森先生曾說這齣話劇之所以吸引他是它的語言運用。這一點我是贊同的，因為楊秉基先生確實成功地把時下年青人的語言融入話劇對白和表達的思想，令年青的觀眾更不期然地代入劇中情境，自然地產生共鳴。 情節符合三一律也是該劇成功的一個因素。時間只是一晚之內，地點只發生在甜品店，演出只有吉蒂與死人頭之間的一條主線，這使觀眾更容易理解劇情，留心人物的心理變化。然而，該劇未能夠把握三一律所給予的時間空間的制約，未有把更細緻的描述，更深層次的感觸放入劇情之內，反而浪費於描述兩人友好的玩樂之中，但是其玩樂只局限他倆之間的獨特回憶，觀眾未必能夠領略他倆的快樂之處。另一方面，主角的心理變化是該劇的最重要的環節。可惜他倆的心理變化看來不像一天之內能夠發生的事情，被放在三一律的框架下便有點突兀。 思想是該劇的另一個致命傷。從開頭到結尾，主角都高喊著「溝通」二字，似乎溝通是劇中衝突所在。我看不見簡單的高喊有什麼說服力，未有進一步的探討和帶出不同角度的觀點，使其二字變得無力和流於空泛。再著，作為過來人，我有理由指出溝通不是其衝突的主要原因，相信其它觀眾也不會同意這個作為該劇的重點。另一方面，該劇的開放式結局給予觀眾的思考空間實在太小，似乎未能夠把衝突成因，心理變化和結局發展三者串連緊扣，未能夠形成一個清晰的中心主題。 我覺得吉蒂與死人頭的結局應該如何？

Recommendation: please read the original novel series Earthsea before you watch the movie (Japanese: ゲド戦記, meaning the Story of Ged's Battles), otherwise you'd sleep very well in the cinema. I left some comment about this movie in other blogs , here is its English translation: I don't think that the problem of the movie is the fault of the plot, because the director Goro Miyazaki (Japanese: 宮崎吾朗) is not the author of the novel and the novel is an award-winning piece. The problem is that he selected a wrong media to express his own vision. First of all, the novel is not popular in Chinese society. Few people would spend hours to finish the books before watching the movie. The director selected to start the movie by the third book of the series, however. It would make audiences lose their way. This is because much background information has been described in previous book, say Tenar's experience in The Tombs of Atuan. Unlike his father Hayao Miyazaki (Japanese: 宮崎駿) as t...

古人言蒙一飯之恩尚殺身為報（薛仁貴征遼事略），今人一戲之恩當何以報？ *** 有人曾說：「看完 寶貝計劃 之後，我覺得成龍做主角先扣分，ＢＢ做戲再扣，不知什麼料子的ＴＲＡＩＬＥＲ又扣的情況下，竟然還覺得好好看，而且我是真心地覺得!」 這類溫情喜戲確實一如既往，ｔｏｏ　ｓｉｍｐｌｅ，ｓｏｍｅｔｉｍｅｓ　ｎａｉｖｅ，說的不外乎「為人子，止於孝；為人父，止於慈」的道理。然而，何其ｓｉｍｐｌｅ，何其ｎａｉｖｅ的事情，問誰有能做到？

I watched an old VCD last night. This VCD is called Audit Before Fall (Chinese: 秋前算帳). This records a standup comedy performance of Dayo Wong (Chinese: 黃子華) in 1997, just before Hong Kong handover. His standup comedies were full of hard criticism. This one is no exception. He incisively criticized the Chinese Communist Party in this performance. He used his personal story to bring out the idea of boiling a frog. His recent performances become less incisive after the handover, likely because of his career development in the mainland or even because of the China censorship. Anyway, you will find his predictions before the handover have become true. Here are some examples: "Think of danger in safe time" is "Be no more stable". 居安思危... 你地安極有限啦老友 The Individual Visit Scheme 自由行 Even some Gang guys are patriots. 黑社會都有愛國 In addition, he collected many material to support his comedy. They included a book of Scar literature (Chinese: 傷痕文學) and a set of newspaper clippings. ...

I watched the movie Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest this evening. It was an exciting movie with sense of humor. My friend complained my laughing was so loud. After I watched the movie, I suddenly felt that I found myself again. Again I realize what I want. What I want is freedom. I love challenges. Adventure is my destiny.

You alone can make my song take flight. Help me make the music of the night. The Phantom Of The Opera comes back Hong Kong again 11 years after its first visit in 1995. The world has changed after a decade but its attraction remains unchanged with great background, exciting gestures and special effect, gorgeous dressing, romantic story and touching music. The musical has been performed since July 11 in Grand Theatre, Hong Kong Culture Centre (Chinese: 香港文化中心大劇院). I watched it last night and share my opinion about the last night performance here. Audience Hong Kong audience should be the most qualified in South East Asia because of their English standard and previous British governance. I still remind you again, Don't take picture inside the Theatre anytime. Grand Theatre is equipped with a pair of Caption Machine. Yet they are vertical, suitable for Chinese, Korean and Japanese only. The authority should consider whether it violates Racial Discrimination. Shopping is a habbit of H...

Mathias Woo (Chinese: 胡恩威) is a famous local drama director in Hong Kong. He has joined Zuni Icosahedron (Chinese: 進念．二十面體), an important local culture organization of HK, since 1988. His outstanding theatre works include East Wing West Wing (Chinese: 東宮西宮) and 1587 - A Year of No Significance (Chinese: 萬曆十五年). He is good at utilizing some social elements of local HK style in comedy to reflect some unfair, unjust and unreasonable phenomenon of the society. His latest work is Three Letter Opera (Chinese: 三字經歌劇 《孔巨基》). The drama consisted of five acts and lasted for 90 minutes. It was a solo show by a famous local drama actor Chan Ho Fung (Chinese: 陳浩峰). Chan acted a private tutor, a computer user, a maid, a mother, a father, a son, a daughter and an idol by himself only. The actor weaved up his dialogue and lyrics by some jargon and slang of Confucianism, Hong Kong Education and youth, especially net generation peers. He gave a direct speech to express the situation of HK education in...

Greed and fear are two main enemies of investors, as saying goes. This idiom also applies to inter-racial relationship. Crash, the best picture winner of 78th Oscar, unveils these two sources of the suspended problem. Comparing between two, the effect of fear is more obvious. Anthony and Peter feared the power of the White, Jean feared the black severely after being kidnapped, Christine feared being molested, Ryan feared his father's poor health, Farhad feared the treat to his store and Rick is a master of politics, who played between the fear of the black and that of the white. Some suggests racism is due to ignorance or misunderstanding of other races. Yet the movie likely rejected this excuse. Jean is the wife of a District Attorney, Ryan and Hanson are detectives, Cameron is a director. They are well educated but tend to racism in various levels. Some fear is due to ignorance, but fear mostly comes from emotional status rather than intelligent one. People usually fear losing w...

Not long time ago, in a city close close to us, there was a comedy between a lady and an introverted boy. On 14 March 2004, the boy left a message in a 2ch BBS to say that he saved a lady from harassment of a drunk guy on a tram and a few days later the lady gave him a pair of Hermès cups to thank him. Since he used to escape from social activities and be addicted to computer games, comics and animations (such people are well known as Otaku 御宅族 in Japan), he did not know how to get along well with a lady and felt shy to face a lady. He asked for help in the BBS. Therefore other BBS users taught him various HOWTOs. Eventually on 9 May, the boy claimed his success of chasing the lady in the BBS and then the BBS users gave him congratulation. What an unbelievable fairy tale. In fact, the story was captured from messages of the 2ch BBS (Japanese: 2ちゃんねる, URL: http://www.2ch.net ). It is known as Densha Otoko (Japanese: 電車男). I think it is meaningful to watch this TV program in Easter. Th...

The movie Touch (Japanese: タッチ) is released after its original comics (created by Adachi Mitsuru, Japanese: あだち充) has been ended 20 years ago. Fans of Touch expected that they would be touched again by the movie but some of them are disappointed. I am disappointed too but I understand the director Inudo Isshin (Japanese: 犬童一心). This is because transforming a hundred-episode cartoon into a two hour movie is a huge challenge. In addition, the style of Touch which is known as low-paced and implicit increases the difficulty of the transformation. There have been three OVA cartoons that summarized the whole series but they are usually considered as unsuccessful. Personally speaking, this movie is a good trial. In order to grab hold of the comic soul, it is necessary to understand the title Touch. What does Touch mean? In my opinion, there are three kinds of meaning. The simplest meaning is any activity in the ballfield. It can be either a touch of a baserunner to bases, that of a baseman to...

"Yamato: The Last Battle" (Japanese: 男たちの大和) strongly hits the box-office record of Japan. The movie has likely reached six billion yen box-office as the highest grossing film of Japan since opening on Dec 17 2005. Yamato (Japanese: 大和) was the largest battleship ever built in World War II, more than 260 meters long and 64,000 tones heavy. Its final mission was to destroy the US forces off Okinawa (Japanese: 沖縄) and to prevent an invasion of Japanese mainland. On April 6 1945, under a few hours of attack by 390 US planes, it exploded and sank off the coast of Kyushu (Japanese: 九州) with the loss of all but 300 of its 3,000 crew, most of whom were teenagers. The movie tells the final mission of the teenagers. This movie has provoked anger amongst China and South Korea because of its sympathetic portrayal of the battleship's military crew, especially in this cold winter between Japan and China freezed by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi (Japanese: 小泉純一郎)'s repeated visit...

"Crying out love, in the center of the world" (Japanese: 世界の中心で、愛をさけぶ), which novel has been sold over three million copies and adapted to movie and TV with numerous awards, has just become my candy since it showed in TV last Monday. The pretty main female character, the bittersweet romance, the pure innocent love and the fresh farm environment weaved the love story between Aki Hirose, who eventually died from leukemia, and Sakutaro Matsumoto, who cried for her death and their love in the Ayers Rock that is so-called the center of the world. Interestingly, in a shot of the TV, a Chinese poem was shown on the back of a photo owned by Sakutaro's grandfather. The poem is known as Dolichos (Chinese: 葛生) from Book of Odes (Chinese: 詩經). This shot reminds me the earliest romance. Book of Odes, published three thousand years ago, is the earliest Chinese poem collection. Authors of the poems have been unknown. In the section of Lessons From The States (Chinese: 國風), poems are mos...

Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom Of The Opera is evergreen. You can get a long list of links related to this musical and its movie in Google. Topics include its songs, its characters, its special effects and so on. I watched the DVD of the movie three times last week. The story is simple but touching. What can shock me in the movie is the last scene that Raoul found a piece of rose with Christine's engagement ring on the side of her grave when he sent the Phantom's monkey music box to her grave. This scene is additional to the original plot of its musical, while the musical ends with the Phantom's disappearance and his mask only. The musical's ending is typical comedy ending while the movie's ending highlights the true meaning of love. In the ending of the musical version, Christine kissed the Phantom so that he released them because of accepting their solid love. This is well known as a happy ending of Raoul and Christine over the tragedy of the Phantom. This ...