MCGREGOR: Do you believe in God, sir?
HANKS: Father, I simply believe that religion -
MCGREGOR: I did not ask you if you believe what man says about God. I asked you if you believe in God.
HANKS: I’m an academic. My mind tells me I will never understand God.
MCGREGOR: And your heart?
HANKS: Tells me I’m not meant to. Faith is a gift that I have yet to receive.
-- Angels & Demons
* * *
I find the film just so-so , but you've got to love these lines.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Friday, May 1, 2009
給YT
許多年後，當他坐擁甚麼門、甚麼山、甚麼碧海藍天的豪宅時，總有一刻，在夜闌人靜的那麼一剎那，正為一單大deal 、孩子的入學或老婆的囉嗦而心煩的時候，憶起年少輕狂的歲月：在大學時代， 那時還未真正懂得人生的甜酸苦辣，卻曾經有這樣的一位女孩，對自己真心地發過山盟海誓；雖然可能有些一廂情願，但那種純潔堅定，比起身旁熟睡的女人手指上的鑽戒，更來得耀眼 -- 周遭的千萬豪裝和潮服，突然變得庸俗不堪。 午夜夢迴，惆悵往往令人措手不及， 因為，這叫人生。
Out
So, CD-players are "out". Not only out, but they are hardly even available in the shops.
I woke up to this fact when I was trying to look for a small bedside radio-cum-CD-player to replace my old radio. I had in mind those portable ones - perhaps an updated version of those radio-plus-tape-and-CD-playing combos that used to be very popular a few years ago.
I checked a number of shops and, to my horror, none of them had such products anymore! Instead, there were many alarm-plus-radio-cum-i-pod / i-phone-players - what people apparently put on their bedside these days.
It appears then that the market expects everyone to have at least an i-pod or an i-phone. Perhaps that is right - when even the Queen uses i-pod, so should everyone else, shouldn't it. In a recent visit to the UK, Michelle Obama gave the Queen an i-pod loaded with specially selected songs as a present. As Michelle Obama is a fashion icon these days, nothing can be more symbolic of the apparent fact that "CD-players are out" than her choice of present to the Queen.
In the end, I managed to find one radio-cum-CD-player set, of some unknown brand, at Fotomax (!). As I couldn't be bothered to load the contents of all my CDs to an i-pod or an mp3-player or a memory stick, and would quite simply like to play a CD directly, I bought the set. It works fine. However, its existence in my room reminds me, constantly, of the "generation gap" between myself and my own generation. What irony.
And for that matter, I think CDs will also be out before long - we may only be able to buy mp3 songs, probably to be loaded to our i-pods at the shops on payment. CDs go to the musuems.
I woke up to this fact when I was trying to look for a small bedside radio-cum-CD-player to replace my old radio. I had in mind those portable ones - perhaps an updated version of those radio-plus-tape-and-CD-playing combos that used to be very popular a few years ago.
I checked a number of shops and, to my horror, none of them had such products anymore! Instead, there were many alarm-plus-radio-cum-i-pod / i-phone-players - what people apparently put on their bedside these days.
It appears then that the market expects everyone to have at least an i-pod or an i-phone. Perhaps that is right - when even the Queen uses i-pod, so should everyone else, shouldn't it. In a recent visit to the UK, Michelle Obama gave the Queen an i-pod loaded with specially selected songs as a present. As Michelle Obama is a fashion icon these days, nothing can be more symbolic of the apparent fact that "CD-players are out" than her choice of present to the Queen.
In the end, I managed to find one radio-cum-CD-player set, of some unknown brand, at Fotomax (!). As I couldn't be bothered to load the contents of all my CDs to an i-pod or an mp3-player or a memory stick, and would quite simply like to play a CD directly, I bought the set. It works fine. However, its existence in my room reminds me, constantly, of the "generation gap" between myself and my own generation. What irony.
And for that matter, I think CDs will also be out before long - we may only be able to buy mp3 songs, probably to be loaded to our i-pods at the shops on payment. CDs go to the musuems.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
絕對
教對聯的老師道，對聯是茶餘飯後有趣的話題，並即場示範，在白板寫了一道上聯：
一輪明月
叫我們猜猜下聯看。同學們靜默半晌，老師施施然寫出下聯：
三級艷星
班上頓笑作一團，拍案叫絕。對得多麼工整，卻又那麼狡猾！
老師又謂，對聯歸根於中國人的思維模式：凡事講相對而非絕對。道德標準是先有父慈才有子孝，天地萬物又是陰陽相對，自《易經》已有之。不禁失笑，心想小弟正同時報了貴校的《易經》入門，可真是巧合之極。想到八卦，乾坤震巽離坎兌艮，確又真的是自成四對，暗暗為那皮毛的所謂融匯貫通而沾沾自喜了一會。
中國人有時真是聰明過頭，反被聰明累 -- 早熟地悟出了萬物互相制衡的道理，而過份順應自然，窒礙了科學的發展；文學上講究對仗，令文人窮畢生的精力雕琢造句，留下令世界驚艷的美文，卻走上八股之路。在相對的思維裏追求「絕對」 -- 令人叫絕的對仗 -- 這是自古以來中國人的命運，有時真叫人感到心疼，卻又怪不得誰。
一輪明月
叫我們猜猜下聯看。同學們靜默半晌，老師施施然寫出下聯：
三級艷星
班上頓笑作一團，拍案叫絕。對得多麼工整，卻又那麼狡猾！
老師又謂，對聯歸根於中國人的思維模式：凡事講相對而非絕對。道德標準是先有父慈才有子孝，天地萬物又是陰陽相對，自《易經》已有之。不禁失笑，心想小弟正同時報了貴校的《易經》入門，可真是巧合之極。想到八卦，乾坤震巽離坎兌艮，確又真的是自成四對，暗暗為那皮毛的所謂融匯貫通而沾沾自喜了一會。
中國人有時真是聰明過頭，反被聰明累 -- 早熟地悟出了萬物互相制衡的道理，而過份順應自然，窒礙了科學的發展；文學上講究對仗，令文人窮畢生的精力雕琢造句，留下令世界驚艷的美文，卻走上八股之路。在相對的思維裏追求「絕對」 -- 令人叫絕的對仗 -- 這是自古以來中國人的命運，有時真叫人感到心疼，卻又怪不得誰。
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Oxford? Cambridge
NIXON: We've sat in chairs opposite one another, talking for hours, it seems - days on end - and yet I've hardly gotten to know you. One of my people - ah - as part of the preparation of this interview - did a profile of you, and I'm sorry to say - I only got around to reading it tonight. There's some interesting stuff in there. The Methodist background, modest circumstances. Then off to a grand university. Full of richer, posher types. What was it? Oxford?
FROST: Cambridge.
NIXON: Did the snobs there look down on you too?
FROST: I ... I ...
NIXON: Of course they did. That's our tragedy, isn't it, Mr. Frost? No matter how high we get, they still look down at us ...
* * *
Not so much about the snobs but the fine distinction between Oxford and Cambridge...the correction by Frost in the film is so familiarly awkward that I question myself the need for it whenever I make one. And then I question myself why (I questioned myself). Ah I hate the feeling - such much ado about nothing - yet I can't help feeling that tinge of awkwardness.
Sunday, March 1, 2009
走訪諸葛亮
剛讀完這本遠流出版的《走訪諸葛亮》。編者謂這是他們頭一趟出版採訪歷史現場的傳記，我也是第一次讀這樣的書，感覺挺新鮮的。書本敘述諸葛亮的一生，而採訪者就一路追蹤其生平故事發生的地點，拍攝遺址和古跡的現貌。圖文並茂，既是傳記，又像旅遊書，讀來津津有味。
三國時代，英雄輩出，其中諸葛亮尤為後世所頌；除受無數的民間祠廟供奉，還有歷代文人以詩詞推崇：有杜甫的「功蓋三分國，名成八陣圖」、「三顧頻煩天下計，兩朝開濟老臣心」，蘇軾的「人也，神也，仙也，吾不知之，真臥龍也」，多不勝舉。
但也許真的是「故國神遊，多情應笑我」，讀畢本書，發現諸葛亮很多流傳千古的故事，甚麼草船借箭，借東風，空城計，經對比其他史料，編者斷定多半是假的；當中精彩細膩的情節，還靠《三國演義》定形。即使是歷史遺跡，亦備受爭議，如隆中及臥龍崗，均有所謂的孔明隱居古跡，令兩地鬧雙胞案。
編者說明要對諸葛亮去神化，並總括其人好完美主義，做事巨細靡遺，神經緊張。雖然其鞠躬盡瘁，死而後矣精神，仍獲認同，但這難免跟傳說的神機妙算，舉重若輕的形象有出入，令我有點失望。然而，編者沒有反駁《三國志》說其「少有逸群之才，英霸之氣，身長八尺，容貌甚偉，時人異焉」，總算為後人留點想像空間。（未知諸葛先生若知道自己的電影角色，最近由金城武飾演會有何感？）
本書還載有其他有趣資料，如諸葛亮的妻子，據載是個醜女。另又附有岳飛書《前出師表》的全文，印刷精美，氣勢不凡，讀來賞心悅目。除卻一些句法令人不習慣外（大概因為由臺灣及內地人編寫），此書為走訪歷史作了不錯的嘗試。
三國時代，英雄輩出，其中諸葛亮尤為後世所頌；除受無數的民間祠廟供奉，還有歷代文人以詩詞推崇：有杜甫的「功蓋三分國，名成八陣圖」、「三顧頻煩天下計，兩朝開濟老臣心」，蘇軾的「人也，神也，仙也，吾不知之，真臥龍也」，多不勝舉。
但也許真的是「故國神遊，多情應笑我」，讀畢本書，發現諸葛亮很多流傳千古的故事，甚麼草船借箭，借東風，空城計，經對比其他史料，編者斷定多半是假的；當中精彩細膩的情節，還靠《三國演義》定形。即使是歷史遺跡，亦備受爭議，如隆中及臥龍崗，均有所謂的孔明隱居古跡，令兩地鬧雙胞案。
編者說明要對諸葛亮去神化，並總括其人好完美主義，做事巨細靡遺，神經緊張。雖然其鞠躬盡瘁，死而後矣精神，仍獲認同，但這難免跟傳說的神機妙算，舉重若輕的形象有出入，令我有點失望。然而，編者沒有反駁《三國志》說其「少有逸群之才，英霸之氣，身長八尺，容貌甚偉，時人異焉」，總算為後人留點想像空間。（未知諸葛先生若知道自己的電影角色，最近由金城武飾演會有何感？）
本書還載有其他有趣資料，如諸葛亮的妻子，據載是個醜女。另又附有岳飛書《前出師表》的全文，印刷精美，氣勢不凡，讀來賞心悅目。除卻一些句法令人不習慣外（大概因為由臺灣及內地人編寫），此書為走訪歷史作了不錯的嘗試。
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Inspiring
Just a short note on an inspiring story I read in the local newspaper the other day.
At the peak of his career, Lau was a giant in the printing industry, owning 5 factories, 10 homes, 3 Mercedes and a junk. Hit by SARS in 2003, his firm went bankrupt overnight. He was unemployed for 4 years until he did street cleaning last year. Salute to his ability to put aside his ego to take up a perfectly respectable job but which he probably never dreamt of doing before.
When he tried to apply for jobs with other printers, his former industry competitors thought it was a joke. Not computer literate, he took the trouble to learn from scratch and can now send e-mails. He secured an opportunity with a printer in the Mainland by e-mail.
I think of Churchill's quote during World War II: "If you are going through hell, keep going.". Lau has done it.
At the peak of his career, Lau was a giant in the printing industry, owning 5 factories, 10 homes, 3 Mercedes and a junk. Hit by SARS in 2003, his firm went bankrupt overnight. He was unemployed for 4 years until he did street cleaning last year. Salute to his ability to put aside his ego to take up a perfectly respectable job but which he probably never dreamt of doing before.
When he tried to apply for jobs with other printers, his former industry competitors thought it was a joke. Not computer literate, he took the trouble to learn from scratch and can now send e-mails. He secured an opportunity with a printer in the Mainland by e-mail.
I think of Churchill's quote during World War II: "If you are going through hell, keep going.". Lau has done it.
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