ゴジラ 2014

  Unknowingly, surprising myself a little bit, I've become a fan of this gargantuan mega-beast, an "ultimate weapon" - a notion familiar from my Final Fantasy heyday, and one that, as far as I know, is unique to the Japanese ethos.  And from the beginning, I somehow knew I would be rooting for the beast.  When I first saw this official poster, I thought there's something sad, even heartbreaking about this shot of Godzilla from behind.  And I suspected a different approach may have been taken in the latest rendition of the Godzilla franchise, which turned out to be the case.  So much screen time is used paving the way for "the advent of his lordship" -- recounting history, creating contexts, building up human characters and showing the terrors and devastation caused by the other two kaiju (beasts) who are the real bad apples -- that this film almost feels like an "Off-Hollywood" production.  Even when the much anticipated overlord of monster movies finally appears, the film continues to tease and whet our appetite by giving us scanty few crystal clear and full-frontal camera shots of Godzilla.  Instead, what we often get is seeing the rapid incoming crest of a huge wave, the submerged hulk of Godzilla in the ocean revealing only its jagged razor-like spine, or its dark silhouette roaring against an apocalyptic sky.  Of course, eventually the film builds up to the climactic showdown between Godzilla and his enemies and we are not robbed of seeing its legendary "atomic breath".  

  The subtle approach of the film is uncharacteristic of "the norm" of summer blockbusters, even less so in a monster film where audience expects to be quenched of the thirst for senseless wrecking, bashing and much raw and crude brawling with brawny muscles.  But after all, Godzilla is the child of Japanese imagination, and to embrace the indirect and subtle approach is probably to be faithful to the original, to attempt to return to its root.  It is exactly due to the "hōga feel"(邦画/日本國產片) supported by the flawless CG technology available today, that makes the 2014 Godzilla stand out among many of its peers.  Audience who expect to see more screen time of Godzilla, though, will certainly disagree.  But for those more attuned to a longer build-up or suspension, this film will not disappoint.  

Habitually, I look for deep morals in seemingly silly narratives, which I have to say is far from the case in the Godzilla franchise.  Moviegoers who refuse to look beyond the surface hurly-burly will still get to enjoy all the fun, but Godzilla is much more interesting when it's more than just a meaty, powerful, senseless "reset button".  Since it's birth, Godzilla was an physical embodiment of nuclear terror, despite its physically comical presence.  I find it hard to take the 1954 Godzilla very seriously: the clumsy, bumbling monster with puppy eyes and a big head.  It reminds me of "Denver, the Last Dinosaur", an 80's cartoon I watched in China while I was in grade school.  But the 2014 Godzilla means business.  The latest Godzilla is almost twice the size as its 1954 senpai.  Its movement is still slow, yes, but it is no longer clumsy or wobbly.  Instead, there's grace and composure in the way it moves.  And the almost slow-motion moves of Godzilla succeeds in adding authority and makes me wonder if it's thinking some deep, sober thoughts.  

The sentient angle, intentional or coincidental I can't be sure, gives this Godzilla more depth.  Is it feeling sad and/or tired that it has to return to the surface again to clean up our follies?  Is it able to defeat the real bad guys this time?  It looks like an old king unwillingly waging his last battle while in his heart wanting nothing more than some peace and quiet.  And those fiery, beady red eyes, instead of making me shudder, only make me sad.  I think the film succeeds in creating a deeply impressive allegory about follies, monstrosity, and end of time.  The humans in the film follow a predictable story line, and sooner or later you no longer pay much attention to them.  The "real us" are the monster now, terrifying, with the ability to annihilate and devastate.  But maybe the film is trying to say we've had enough, of ourselves.  And we just want it all to end.

Godzilla 2014 may be a bit lacking in the "action" department as a qualifying summer blockbuster, but I enjoyed it tremendously.  I recommend that you see the film without carrying any mental baggage.  And wait for the ending blast.  Oops.  

  

看戯看認真了 - 看《鳳還巢》有感

《鳳還巢》是一部傳統京劇。

我對京劇一直喜愛，但也談不上懂，連票友的資格也不夠，只能說是湊湊熱鬧。

最近又零零散散地看了些段子，經常看的《二進宮》、《四郎探母》選段再次回顧，還是很好看。這回還看了一段《鎖麟囊》，記住了“張火丁”的名字，覺得她扮相極好，眉梢眼角滿滿的風情，唱腔稍許偏啞，初聼不習慣，愈聼愈有味道，她似乎是程（硯秋）派唱法。

其餘幾段，我看的都是李勝素版的，喜歡她的扮相美艷，唱腔甜。我只是憑外行的感覺說的，至於流派什麽的，那真是不懂。

最近看了一出完整劇目，即《鳳還巢》，據説這是一出生旦淨丑都有，十分熱鬧討喜的戯，也確實如此，對於表演本身，那還有什麽說的，自然看得十分着迷，表演精彩詼諧（詼諧二字，專指“呈雪雁”），看完十分過癮。我看的是“豪華版”，最後壓軸的穆居易洞房求寬恕一出戲，是梅葆玖先生親自飾的雪娥，之前的雪娥都是李勝素扮演。

不過想來卻又感到些許忿忿，這個故事或許“有趣”，但説白了難道不是教人以貌取人嗎？當然，我們不能忘記二小姐雪娥既有貌、又才德兼備，但這個設定本身 -- 美麗的人必定才德兼備，醜陋的人必定無才無德--就很有問題嘛！相貌來自父母，自身如何控制？其實大多數人的相貌都屬中平，不算太出彩，也不至於太不堪，我們判斷一個人，難道不是看品行、個性及其他方面嗎？再説，我覺得故事裏的雪雁是個挺可愛的女孩，她或許不符合封建禮教對於女孩立下的種種規矩，但率真自信，放在現在倒非常與時俱進，:)  周璞飾演的雪雁真是故事裏的開心果呀，臺詞又那麽現代，真讓人大掉下巴，不得不說有點瞬間出戯（京劇裏出現“yes”，“sorry”還是頭一回聼到呢），但實在太令人捧腹了。

不過最讓我討厭的是穆居易這個人，兩個字，虛僞！四個字，道貌岸然！明明就是自身嫌棄雪雁相貌，卻口口聲聲說是雪雁要與你私奔，況且，你責怪人家姑娘不識禮數，半夜來敲你的房門，但你自己既然識得禮數，就應該堅持不開門才是呀，你不還是把門開了嗎，如果換作是雪娥來找你，還不知道怎麽歡喜呢，鐵定不會說人家姑娘不識禮數了。説到底還是喜歡漂亮的，雪娥真應該讓這個僞君子多跪幾天！

呵呵，不過這真的是看戯看認真了。下面貼兩張美美的戯照吧~~~

李勝素 -飾 程雪娥

周璞 飾 程雪雁 （其實真的挺可愛的呀）

廢寢忘食讀“霸唱”

謎蹤之國：《霧隱佔婆》、《樓蘭妖耳》、《神農天匭》、《幽潛重泉》

[可能有SPOILER!]

這幾年讓我讀到眼睛酸痛也不停歇的中文書，算來只有天下霸唱的成名作《鬼吹燈》和這次的《謎蹤之國》。這應該已經算是對故事的褒揚了吧，是，但也有些抱怨。

霸唱的書滿足了我們這些嬌生慣養的小兒女們的探險心，舒舒服服地窩在被窩裏，一邊吃著零食/喝著熱咖啡，一邊手捧著書，就可以跟著霸唱的想象力，飛到無比兇險詭異的境地，去挖掘千年前的神秘王朝掩埋的驚天動地的秘密。這可能正是霸唱的書那麽暢銷的原因之一。

說故事要說圓了，這是我評論小説好壞的標準之一。這一點是霸唱的優點。兩套書的故事綱架設計得不錯，基本能夠自圓其説，鬼吹燈2還沒看，據説是把尚未交待清楚的部分全部說清楚。但其實鬼1的四本書，也可以完全獨立，不存在太多遺憾。至於謎蹤的故事則比較簡單，就是要揭開“綠色墳墓”的真相，所有人物也是以這個為最終目標，故事一直直綫發展，不過到第四部揭開真相時，還是有些超出了我的想象力，被小小震驚到了。如果做個比較的話，“綠色墳墓”讓我想到電腦編程語言裏面使用的global variable，懂的人如果看過這套書大概能知道含義，關鍵在於“一通則全通”，這就是真相。

我覺得霸唱後來的書在文字上有些問題。我喜歡鬼吹燈的前幾本，第一套的1至3的文字感覺都不錯，所謂“不錯”是指隨意性，霸唱不是寫作出身，我對他的文筆其實沒有像對很多作家的要求，只求讀起來通順，舒服，有些像口頭講故事那樣是最好的。他一開始的寫法就是這樣，而且在主綫故事之外，偶爾穿插一些小插曲，很有些像一群人圍在一個特別會講故事的人身邊，天南地北地聼他東拉一句，西扯一句，顯得很自然。許多人不喜歡霸唱這種鬆散的行文方法，不過這倒是我很喜歡霸唱文字的原因之一。但霸唱後來的書，這種鬆散風格越來越淡，匠氣越來越重，在我看來這正是避長揚短。匠氣太重，再加上生澀的詞、生澀的概念又很多，大把大把的“重量級”形容詞堆積在一起，讀起來非常吃力，讓人喘不過氣，讀得人暈暈的，這正是《謎蹤》文字的最大問題。其實謎蹤的故事很不錯，最後“圓”的也很精彩，許多一開始抛出來的綫索，後來都有了解釋。但礙于文字過於沉重、密度太高，閲讀的過程不像讀鬼吹燈那麽舒服。例如：詭異、神秘、驚恐、恐怖、聳人、震驚、這一類的詞藻出現的頻率太多了，反而越讀越沒有感覺，對於地形地貌的描寫也可以再精簡清晰一些，畢竟大部分讀者不懂地質，過於複雜繁瑣的描寫只能起到反效果。另外，所有遇到的生物一定是遠古的、應該滅絕的、個頭都是巨大的、性情都是兇猛的、這招到後來也變成公式了。

我一直懷疑謎蹤這套書有湊字數的嫌疑，許多明明可以精簡的地方，卻反復重復，比如武器的全稱，飛機的全稱，潛艇的全稱，只需要一開始的時候交待一兩遍就可以了，何必每次提到的時候都說一遍全名？例如：“英國皇家空軍蚊式特種運輸機”，在知道是指它的情況下，每次只要說“運輸機”不就可以了嗎，何必每次都說一遍“蚊式特種運輸機”？諸如此類的問題不勝枚舉。不過這可能不是霸唱本人的問題，我非常懷疑是爲了湊篇幅，才盡可能加字。但這樣反而降低了整體行文質量，讀起來非常儸嗦。

我從來不挑剔霸唱在科學方面的“瞎編”，這些故事本來就是瞎編，霸唱在自然科學方面可能屬於“票友”吧，或多或少有一些了解，但要是以專家的水平來要求，那就很搞笑了。也不可能有人靠讀鬼吹燈或謎蹤學習地質、古生物或時間匣子之類的高深科學。

不過，不管他的書有再多不足之處，還是給我帶來了不少美好的閲讀時光，算是我的guilty pleasure之一吧。

Micro

★★★☆

[SPOILER ALERT]

This is a fun book to read for when travelling by train or for idling away a couple of days on the beach.  Come to think of it, I really should read Michael Crichton more often since I am partial to the bio/syfy genre.  I have read the Jurassic Park years ago so my memories of it are very fuzzy.  But I suspect Micro isn't quite on par with Crichton's best efforts.  It is a shame he passed away before completing this task because I truly think the central concept of this story is fascinating.  But the writing just falls short of my expectation.  Nevertheless, I read it with gusto.  Overall, I enjoyed it.

Shrinking people and anything material to the size of insects -- the idea isn't new.  I immediately thought of the movie "Honey I Shrunk the Kids".  I thought one hurdle the authors had to overcome is the comedy overtone of the idea of zapping people to toy soldiers and narrating their adventures of battling giant ants and spiders, and flying corkscrewing little airplanes.  It sounds like one of those safety-guaranteed-thrillers where the characters, oftentimes kids, find themselves dealing with what in reality are life-and-death situations, yet they manage to beat impossible odds while surviving till the end unscathed.  Micro has all the right setup.  A group of seven bright grad students, rising stars of tomorrow, are given a tempting job offer, an once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to potential fame and fortune.  They arrive in Hawaii for their job interview and things start spiraling downward from there at a blinding speed.  Before they had a clue, they find themselves stranded in the middle of a jungle, surrounded by enormous trees, boulders, buildings, and people of murderous intent, as well as life-threatening and fascinating lifeforms of endless variety, any one of which could and would have them for juicy snacks without hesitation.  

The idea could be as ground shaking as Jurassic Park, if executed with finesse, care and a lot more details.  But unfortunately, the writing falls short in Micro.  Readers would be experiencing vicariously all the bewildering sensations and events through the grad students, but I just didn't experience the "initial impact" of getting shrunk.  The story feels rushed, the characters way too ready for this adventure.  The writing is almost like a synopsis of a more complete version. 

As a side note, Micro aroused my interest in doing some further readings on plants and insects.  I think I will enjoy the plant books more, unless I could overcome my inherent queasiness for bugs.  But hey, I actually thought the insect steak the grad students ate in the book could be really tasty.  When a bug is the size of a cow, you'd probably feel like you are eating a cow anyways. 

On The High Road to China

★★★★☆

On The High Road to China (Kate Teltscher)


George Bogle, the Panchen Lama, and the First British Expedition to Tibet

It’s difficult finding a point of breach when writing response to a book like The High Road to China. For the past few years or so, one of the focuses of my reading can be described loosely as “the backcountries of China”, the sweeping region around the Himalayans, and ancient roads as conduits of cultural, religious, and economic transport and exchanges. The root for my interest lay partly in my trip to Yunnan over ten years ago with my friend, and partly in my curiosity in Tibetan Buddhism and their austere and spiritual-centered way of life in general.

The High Road, written primarily from the British perspective, carries a pervasive tone of nostalgia and sympathy. Though quite upfront in laying bare the internal workings and power struggles within the East India Company, the author paints a rosy picture of one of the central characters of the book, George Bogle, and hails the genuine friendship built between Bogle and the Third Panchen Lama, narrating their story with a care and heartache almost as if cradling a beautiful but fragile thin-shelled egg.

It might very well be Fate that this tenuous friendship ended on a sad note with the untimely death of both the Panchen Lama and George Bogle. According to the author, their death may have delayed the presence of British representation and business activities in China, a point I find unlikely.

Among other things, what I found especially revealing and interesting is the chapters on the Qianlong Emperor. Seen from the British point of view, Imperial China and its monarch are cast in a manner that Chinese readers might find slightly at odds. The description of the Emperor, though none of which first hand, is especially fascinating to me who has grown up watching television adaptations and reading historical fictions and more serious writings on the Qing imperial anecdotes. I am aware some of the notions and impressions about Qing monarchs and monarchs of other dynasties I have grown up knowing are deeply entrenched and shaped by cultural contexts, and even more so, political ones. This makes reading English sources on such subjects a refreshing experience. I couldn’t help but wonder if it weren’t for the yawning gap in ideologies between Imperial China and Britain, maybe some common grounds could be found, connections established, and exchanges in multiple realms realized. The British, being far superior in technology, both civil and military, was an ideal player to provide China with much needed machineries and technologies to boost its civil and defense aspects, and China in return, could export tea, porcelain and other much coveted goods to British merchants. But imperial China looked upon traders and trading itself with contempt and saw no need whatsoever to learn from a remote island. Well, such false and blinding pride and pompousness would prove fatal in a hundred years or so.

One other thing the High Road leaves me with is a more clear understanding of the complexity of the pan-Himalayan region in the cultural and political contexts. The present day clashes and conflicts have their roots deeply embedded in the past. Going out on a limb and just speaking from a gut sense, I wonder if the argument on territorial dispute involving Tibet really just comes down to picking a side, because I have a deep distrust in justifications from any side. Certainly at some point in history, Tibet, along with several other kingdoms in the Himalayan region, felt to me like puns in a “Game” played by more powerful players (which I suspect still rings true today).

Finally, the profession of the “gosain” is interesting. This could be a source of inspiration for some bigger project. Wandering monk cum trader cum envoy – the life journeys of gosains echo with the “romantic jini” in me.