充實的周末

在家附近發現了一條森林小徑，專供健身者騎車、跑步和走路。小徑的起點是一個棒球場，終點也是一大片用於開展團隊體育活動的綠地，全程大概3英里，蛇形盤繞在鬱鬱蔥蔥的樹木裏，因此鍛煉的人幾乎從頭至尾都可以被樹蔭庇護。偶爾，樹木間會有一個豁口，露出清晨的陽光。小徑兩側有茂密的灌木，各種野生植物，時不時靜靜開放的山野花朵，會讓你產生真的身處深山中的錯覺，不過其實，小徑的兩側往往是住家的後院，只不過樹木高大茂盛，遮得嚴嚴密密罷了。

在小徑上跑一個來回，大概6英里，去的時候尚有些氣喘疲憊，如果能堅持到終點，折返的時候，心律已經調整完畢，回程的跑步就十分輕鬆。一趟下來，汗如雨下，身心輕鬆，像要飛起來的感覺。

我喜歡我所居住的城市，原因很多，很重要的一條就是，即便是在這樣一個寸土寸金的金融文化中心，也會如此奢侈的到處都規劃出供市民開展各種體育活動的場所：綠地、運動場、足球場、棒球場、森林小徑、自行車道等等。即便是生活在鋼鐵林立的都市，也讓我們永遠都找得到自然，找得到一個呼吸氧氣、揮汗如雨的場所。跑步本身是一件比較枯燥的運動，一個人跑步常常需要聼耳機就是為了打發無聊，不過如果是這樣，又無法聽見鳥叫蟲鳴。和朋友一起跑步，不但不會很累，也可以互相加油，我們在小徑上跑步的路途中，對面不斷有很多老頭往反方向慢跑或走路，其中有好幾個都友好地跟我們打招呼，有一個長得好像愛因斯坦，還遇到了各種品種的狗狗，真的是十分愉快的早晨。

星期日去了植物園。這大概是這麽多年來去植物園感覺最好的一次，因爲園子裏的人稀奇的少，大概早晨的天氣預報原本報導有雨，讓很多人卻步。但周日其實是個大晴天，陽光十分慷慨充足，使我終於曬黑了（oh yeah）。

雖然玫瑰園的玫瑰大半已凋敝，我們卻看到了多年來看到過的最美的荷花和蓮花池。盛夏看荷與蓮，正是季節：胭脂粉、臘梅黃、錦緞紫、雪膚白，夏風中輕擺搖曳，無風時則矜持端莊。但比起矚目的花，我卻更愛荷葉，怎麽也看不夠荷葉的種種姿態：愛那綠色飽滿，葉片肥厚，曲折翻卷的葉邊，在風的逗弄下，更展現婀娜風姿。如在雨後，葉片成大盤，中央匯聚著晶瑩的雨珠，則似躍出畫絹的工筆佳作。愛荷葉者，雖愛夏荷，但愛秋荷更勝之。夏盡秋始，綠意漸退，螢黃與焦紅慢慢暈染葉邊，池中低垂頸項，送夏遠，迎秋至，迎來那肅殺前最後的絢爛季節。黛玉說，李商隱所有的詩中，唯一喜愛的，只有一句“留得殘荷聼雨聲”，讀後便不能忘。

看了莎翁的The Merchants of Venice的電影（Al Pacino as Shylock, Jeremy Irons as Antonio），竟然那麽好看。前段時間看了Ian McKellen的King Lear話劇版，覺得很吃力，所以原本以爲這次也會看得很吃力，但其實看得很投入，有些片段甚至很動容。這幾位演員臺詞和演技之出色毋需贅述，而因爲是電影，因此場景和道具都十分華麗，拍攝手法也起到一種指引作用，對我這樣的莎翁初學者十分有幫助，而臺詞應該也是依照原劇本，十分古雅，卻又並不難理解。記得有兩段篇幅很長的monologue聼得我十分投入，一段是Shylock控訴the mistreatment of Jew (hath not a Jew eyes 那段)，還有就是Bossanio和Portia在酒會上互訴衷曲的兩段（飾Portia的Lynn Collins演得很好也很漂亮，男裝竟然也很亮麗）。

Brothers

This film blew me away. I remember when I first saw its poster at the subway station closest to my office, I thought this looked like a good film, not just because of its head-turning, beautiful cast (Toby McGuire, Jake Gyllenhaal, Natalie Portman), but also that the poster exuded something like a powerful undercurrent. There was certainly a pulling force.


Sam Cahill (Toby McGuire) and Grace Cahill (Natalie Portman) are happily married with two lovely daughters, the image of a poster-perfect family. Aside from having a beautiful wife and children, Sam is a strong-willed, responsible marine captain, eager to serve his country, and loves his fellow soldiers. In short, he is the son that makes all parents proud. Along comes “Uncle Tom” (Jake Gyllenhaal), Sam’s younger brother, the black sheep of the Cahills who can’t seem to get his life in order and has a strained relationship with everyone in the family, except his brother Sam, who genuinely cares for him.


The story begins with Sam about to be dispatched again to Afghanistan, and Tom on parole from serving his time in prison for assaulting a woman (I think). At first it took a little bit of getting-used-to to see the three of them taking on the roles of parents and uncle. But they are very convincing, comfortable in their roles.


Something goes terribly wrong in Afghanistan, Sam is assumed killed in action, but is in fact captured by the enemy and imprisoned in a dark cell for months. The family grieves, and all of a sudden, Tom “grows up” and steps up, lending a shoulder and comforting presence to the devastated Grace and the two girls. Just when the long time strained relationship between Tom and Grace seems to take a turn for the better, and a spark of affection materializes between them, Sam is found and rescued, and he comes back.


But he comes back a changed man, a ghost of his former self, scarred for life from physical and mental tortures endured during his captivity. For me, from this point on, the “real” drama begins. And Toby McGuire BLEW ME AWAY with a gripping performance, delivered with such jarring, and sometimes terrifying force. Of course, both Portman and Gyllenhaal are stellar, but it’s McGuire that really makes this film take off. I could hardly believe my eyes how very different he looks after he comes back. His face almost distorted, his gaze unfocused but intense at the same time, his eyes glassy, and his limbs wiry (a sharp contrast to before), and his gait unnatural. All of his physical changes effectively echo a deeply wounded and suffering soul. He becomes unreachable and almost like a shadow, whereas Tom becomes a bit too comfortable assuming the central male role of the family.


The two little girls deserve a special applause! They don’t pale at all, acting alongside McGuire, Gyllenhaal and Portman. The scene of Isabella’s birthday dinner, oh gosh, I was holding my breath throughout that entire scene, just waiting for her to drive Sam over the edge.


The only thing I felt debatable is the ending. It felt too abrupt, almost like the filmmakers cut off the real ending and decided, “ok, we will just end here.” But everything that builds up to that point is just amazing.


The story of “Brothers” is not original; the film is an American remake of a Danish film. The Danish film, from what I’ve heard in filmmakers’ commentary, seems to have a slightly different take, focusing more on the illicit relationship between the Tom character and the Grace character. The American version probably toned it down, shifting the focus to family. But whether this film intended to or not, it does send a powerful anti-war message, what war could do to a man. A film is a wonderful thing when good looks and good acting are aligned.

Match Point

It is interesting watching Match Point right after watching Brideshead Revisited (2009).  In Brideshead Revisited, Charles Ryder (Matthew Goode) reminds me of someone I know, but there is no resemblance whatsoever with that same person upon seeing his performance as Tom Hewitt in Match Point.  This indeed proves Goode is an excellent actor.  But he merely plays a supporting role in Match Point.  It is through him that the real protagonist Chris (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) is introduced to a lifestyle of luxury and comforts, his career and future secured by marriage to the all-too-common (but sweet) Chloe Hewitt.  But of course, this is all too good to be true.

Meyers delivers a satisfactory performance.  Its his solo show, really.  But overall, the film suffers from a rather commonplace plot, IMO.  About half way through, I thought, please let there be a murder, or else it would just be such a boring story.  And I was not disappointed.  I rapped my desk with glee (not decent, I know) when the scene came up where Meyers starts fumbling in his father-in-law's shotgun room.   I can't explain why but I was rooting for him to get away with the whole clumsy murder of Nola -- the victim of every man's lust.  I think its because he's such a mediocre and pathetic person that he deserves to get away with it and live his rather mediocre and pathetic (though rich) life into his ripe old age.  I find no one particularly likable in this film.  The Hewitts strike me as careless, heartless and stupid people, living naively and unintentionally, robbed of sensibilities only those who climbed up from below could understand.  Nola is a hapless tragedy who always has everything to lose, and who just can't seem to cling to something better.  And Tom (Goode) is mostly just in the background, serving as a contrast to Meyers, who has to juggle a dozen things at a time to hang on to his hard earned place.

Meyers is the only interesting character, comparatively speaking.  But he is not the first of his kind and he won't be the last.  He stands to lose everything, just like Nola.  The only difference between him and Nola is that luck seems to be on his side. 

At some point in the film, Meyers confides his problems to a friend, and he talks about his feelings towards the two women, Chloe and Nola, calling one "love" and the other "lust".  There is certainly a lot of lust in the film.  But I didn't find an iota of love, not from Meyers, not from Tom, not from Nola.  There is no genuine affection in this film, only a chockfull of greed, vanity, stupidity and smallish people.  Though Chloe's feeling towards Meyers may be genuine, but she is just too a-dime-a-dozen to be likable, a sweet and simple little thing, having everything and anything she desires only because she has the right papa to secure her happiness.

一些無關緊要的小事

原來壽岳章子也已經下世了啊

Peter Hessler和Leslie Chang為人父母了，有了一對雙胞胎女兒。不知道爲何有點感動

原來我家後院是有螢火蟲的，天黑之後如果仔細觀察，會看見灌木叢中和樹枝之間有它們偶爾閃亮的蹤影

[轉載] Han Han - A Derailing Nation

原文不出所料，已被和諧，特此轉載存檔留念。

韩寒：脱节的国度 / 和谐号动车追尾

　　　　

你一直问，他们何以如此的丧心病狂，他们却觉得自己已经非常的克制忍让。

你一直问，他们何以如此的颠倒黑白，他们却觉得自己已经非常的公正坦率。

你一直问，他们何以如此的包庇凶手，他们却觉得自己已经非常的愧对炮友。

你一直问，他们何以如此的掩盖真相，他们却觉得自己已经非常的透明开放。

你一直问，他们何以如此的生活腐化，他们却觉得自己已经非常的艰苦朴素。

你一直问，他们何以如此的骄横傲慢，他们却觉得自己已经非常的姿态低下。

你觉得自己很委屈，他们也觉得自己很委屈，他们认为，在清政府的统治下，老百姓连电视机都看不上，现在电视机已经走进了千家万户，这是多大的进步。

他们觉得，我们建了这个，我们建了那个，你别管过程中发生了什么，也别管这是给谁献礼，至少你用到了吧。你以前从上海到北京火车要一天一夜，现在只要不被雷劈，五个小时就到了，你为何不感激，为何充满了质疑？

偶然发生一个安全事故，中央最高领导都已经表示了关心，我还派人来回答你们记者的问题，原来赔17万，现在赔50 万，甚至撤职了一个兄弟，事情都做到这份上了，你们为什么还抓着一些细节不放呢，你们的思想怎么反而就这样不开放呢？你们的大局观都去哪里了呢？为什么要我谢罪呢，我又没犯罪，这是发展的代价。迅速处理尸体是我们的惯例，早签字多发奖金，晚签字少拿赔偿，这是我们的兄弟部门在强拆工作中被证明了行之有效的手段。掩埋车厢的确是当时一个糊涂做出的一个决定，况且是上头叫我们这么做的。因为上头觉得任何可能引发的麻烦都是可以就地掩埋的。错就错在大白天就开始施工，洞挖太大，而且没有和宣传部门沟通好，现场的摄影记者也没有全控制住，准备工作比较仓促。这次事故最大的教训就是以后在就地掩埋的时候还是要考虑到物体的体积和工作的保密。还是低估了。

他们认为，总体来说，这次的救援是成功的，及时的。调度合理，统筹规范，善后满意。唯一的遗憾是在舆论上有点失控，他们觉得这就不是我们的责任了，舆论不归我们管。

他们认为，从大的来说，我们举办了奥运会，我们取消了农业税，这些你们不赞美，老是抓住一些细枝末节的东西，这是什么居心。我们本可以在政治上比朝鲜更紧，在经济上比苏丹更穷，在治国上比红色高棉更狠，因为我们拥有比他们更多的军队，但是我们没有那么做，你们不感恩，却要我们谢罪，我们觉得很委屈。这个社会里，有产者，无产者，有权者，无权者，每个人都觉得自己很委屈。一个所有人都觉得委屈的国家，各个阶层都已经互相脱节了，这个庞大的国家各种组成的部分依靠惯性各顾各的滑行着，如果再无改革，脱节事小，脱轨难救。

国家为什么不进步，是因为他们中的很多人一直在用毛泽东斯大林时代的他们来衡量自己，所以他们永远觉得自己太委屈了，太开明了，太公正了，太仁慈了，太低姿态了，太不容易了。他们将科技裹着时代向前走的步伐当成了自己主动开放的幻象，于是你越批评他，他越渴望极权，你越搞毛他，他越怀念毛。

有一个国家机器朋友对我说，你们就是不知足，你这样的文人，要是搁在四十年前，你就被枪毙了，你说这个时代，是进步了还是退步了。

我说，你们就是不知足，你这样的观点，要是搁在九十年前，早就被人笑死了，你说这个时代，他到底是进步了还是。

小貓的報恩？

前兩天，在後院石板地上忽然發現一坨肉乎乎的東西，猛一看嚇一跳，還以爲是什麽小動物死在那裏。再仔細一看，發現有個小魚頭，還有像是油炸過的肉類的東西。由於天氣悶熱，已經叮了不少蒼蠅，怪噁心的。

這坨東西哪裏來的呢？不太可能是從飛鳥嘴裏掉下來的，附近這些種類的鳥應該不會一次叼這麽多東西。想來想去，大概是那幾只小朋友叼來的吧。最有可能的解釋，是從別人家喂貓的飯盆裏叼來的殘羹剩飯吧？也就是說，是叼來“送給我吃的？”

結果，我們把小貓的好心當肥料埋在了泥土裏。第二天，竟然又在後院發現貌似肉類的一坨東西。哈哈，貓朋友看來還是有點良心的啊。