nan | 楠木

Sunset Boulevard is Billy Wilder’s classic “Hollywood on Hollywood” film. It’s a satirical, ironic, and tragic story, boasted by great performances and a great black and white cinematography.

The irony starts from the casting – Gloria Swanson, who was a golden star of the silent era, plays Norma Desmond, the lead character who is a forgotten star of the past and living in a virtual world where she is still center stage. Erich von Stroheim plays Max, Norma’s loyal servant, who in a late plot revelation (spoiler) was actually also the director who first discovered her – in real life, he also directed several of Swanson’s silent era films. Then there’s the line of cameos, from Cecil B. DeMille to Buster Keaton all playing themselves.

The story follows a out of luck screen-writer Joe Gillis (William Holden) who becomes the pet of afore-mentioned retired star Norma. He becomes a witness (and an unwilling accomplice) to Norma’s pipe dreams of grandeur, and he endures a struggle between enjoying the good, materialistic life that Norma provides him and living his life with passion – pursuing the girl that he loves and the real career that he wants. However, as the opening scenes of the film will tell you – the whole film is a flashback – his ending is both surprising and tragic.

As mentioned before, there are two things to really look out for in this classic. One is the great acting especially Gloria Swanson’s mesmerizing performance – Norma is a character for which you will feel sympathy, amusement, and disdain, and Swanson really brings out all the facets of this complicated character. Erich von Stroheim is also particularly memorable. The second is the brilliant cinematography – the lighting, the angles, the movement all cumulate into many memorable scenes.

9/10

上上周末在雅加达的最后一个周日，和同事在看奥运之余去了雅加达的独立纪念碑附近转了转。

这里到处都是这样的观光马车。

这便是Monas，独立纪念碑。

在Monas纪念碑的公园里，到处是一家家前来享受周末的人——这里拍的是一些穆斯林朋友在聚会。

Monas旁边便是雅加达最大的一个清真寺，可供十万人一起祈祷。

清真寺的天顶气势恢宏。

右下方的是女士区域，而左上方的是男士——男人要在女人的前面，想来一是因为地位尊卑，二是因为为了清心寡欲。

清真寺的广场，用图案分成了这样的一个个大约1米乘以60公分的格子——每一个格子都是祈祷时的一个位子。

而格子的方向，与这张照片上的指示牌一样，都是指向圣城麦加的方向。

清真寺里的一口大鼓。

鼓前合影——顺带显一下我们参观所必须的穿着。

清真寺的对面则是天主教堂。

P.S. I Love You is a classic example of self-contradiction: it is a romantic comedy, but the plot is about a girl who has lost the love of her life; the core of the story is almost depressingly sad, but the picture needs to be cheerful and optimistic. And to its credit, it actually manages to pull this off.

Hilary Swank (in an unlikely role for this two-time Oscar winner) is the poor girl named Holly whose husband Gerry (Gerard Butler, best remembered as King Leonidas of 300 fame) has passed away due to cancer. Holly still feels that Gerry is around, though, as she frequently receives letters that he wrote before his untimely passing.

The letters (a total of ten) are meant to help Holly make the transition and start life afresh – but to the audience, it’s the story of their love retold. Through flashbacks we learn of how the two met and share some of the most memorable moments of their life together. Of course, beneath all this there is that sadness of inevitability, of knowing that their love is short-lived, but the film mashes this with comedic scenes to keep the general tone uplifting.

There are definite moments of cheesiness, and some of the comedy is much too routine stuff, but thanks to the strength of Swank’s performance (she did, after all, win two Oscars) and the counter-intuitive but surprisingly good chemistry between her and Butler, the film does just enough right to pass as genuine in emotion. Just beware – it’s a weepy film, so prepare the Kleenex.

P.S. I saw this at Singapore airport for free.

6/10

Al Pacino’s latest film, the psychological thriller 88 Minutes is a blatant misfire. The plot is convoluted but confused, and makes about as much sense as the mind of the psycho killer it portrays. Pacino is still his old self, but his typical intensity is not enough to redeem this train-wreck. Avoid.

2/10

Watching The Dark Knight left me depressed, melancholy and heavy-hearted. Multiple thoughts were sweeping through my head and it was difficult to establish coherence and meaning. It’s the typical feeling I have right after finishing any film that could be called a dark masterpiece.

And what a dark masterpiece this is. Christopher Nolan’s second attempt at the Batman franchise outdoes his first try that rebooted the master of the night, Batman Begins, in every measure possible. The film is a crime epic, with more similarity to the likes of The Godfather, The Untouchables and Heat rather than Spiderman, Superman, or this year’s surprisingly entertaining Iron Man.

The film opens with a crime scene that serves as a fitting introduction of the Joker. In the next two and a half hours, we witness the chaos and destruction that this one character brings to Gotham City, and how Batman tries to stop him. The Joker as portrayed by the late Heath Ledger is no doubt the most complicated film villain in any comic book adaptation, and is on par with legendary antagonists such as Hannibal Lecter and Norman Bates.

The Joker is maniacal, cunning, and driven not by greed but instead the simple motivation to see chaos and disorder. “Some men just want to see the world burn,” the ever-reliable Alfred duly notes. The Joker obeys no rules and will cross any line, and uses this to his advantage – the difference between Batman and him is that for Batman there is that line which he cannot cross, and because of that, the Joker has the upper hand in every encounter. The dilemma that Batman faces is the very same one that the whole world faces today – when you’re up against terror, will you uphold your moral principles – which means you’ll often suffer disadvantages – or will you sink to the level of your enemies for the sake of defeating them? But if you’ll stop at nothing, what is the point of “winning” if you have become exactly the same as what you’re fighting against?

“You complete me,” the Joker says to Batman, almost like an expression of love. This reminded me of Unbreakable, M. Night Shyamalan’s underrated film on comic heroes – just as that film’s protagonist (Bruce Willis) and antagonist (Samuel L. Jackson’s “Mr. Glass”) were the opposites of each other, Batman and Joker are also opposite but complementary to each other philosophically.

While the Joker can be tersely summed up as anti-humanity, the frailty of humanity is painfully obvious and exposed at great length. (Joker quote: “You’ll see, I’ll show you, that when the chips are down, these uh… civilized people, they’ll eat each other.”) Throughout the film, the deeds of the Joker set the stage for what are essentially social experiments – what lows can people willingly succumb to, if given the right pressure? And while the film is uncharacteristically (and surprisingly) optimistic in one of the climactic scenes – truly a sole candle of hope in a long and dark night – there is indeed little to be joyful about. We realize how shallow, selfish and myopic people generally are, and that’s not just in this dark and bleak film.

On a parallel front, the story of district attorney Harvey Dent aka Two-Face is told, though disappointingly this sub-plot is put to a hasty conclusion and doesn’t do the character justice.

Justice, by the way, is what Harvey Dent, Batman and Lt. Gordon are after. The fall of Harvey Dent from the white knight (as he is called by Bruce Wayne) to Two-Face has Greek tragedy written all over it, but unfortunately the film does not spend enough time to fully explore this in the final act.

On a side note, I’m shocked that the MPAA actually gave this a PG-13 rating. Certainly there isn’t the blood and gore you’d expect from a zombie flick, but as Hitchcock would probably say, the most powerful image is one of suggestion instead of actual depiction, and The Dark Knight is often chillingly sadistic and twisted. Definitely not a film for the young.

To end this long list of random comments, The Dark Knight is a flawed but defiant masterpiece, and it is, like its protagonist, a master of darkness – if only to remind us how beautiful light is.

9/10

应ct的要求。接着点老舍友吧，超哥，马沙·华莱士，和同事Terry。。。题目好多啊。

1. 你觉得一个人成熟的标志是什么？

遇事可以先思考而不是行动。

2. 面对一个你喜欢却不喜欢你的人，你会怎么做？

或许除了默默关注没有什么办法，但我会忍不住让她知道我的想法吧。

3. 说出你自己最大的缺点。

虚荣。

4. 你喜欢和什么样的朋友交往？

有正经也有不正经的时候的人——懂得幽默是终极智慧！

5. 现在的你，怎么看待曾经的理想和当下的现实呢？

背道而驰，但或许一条直线也是封闭曲线。

6. 你最想去哪个地方？为什么？

南极。人生就是为了经历。

7. 觉得自己什么地方最不正常？

都挺正常的吧。。。

8. 说出点你名的人的3个优点（不可删除题）

有文学青年的气质。通情达理。有自己的想法。

9. 你对你的现状满意吗？

及格。有时候挺不满意的。

10. 你相信命运吗？为什么？

其实人定胜天就是冥冥中自有天意。很多事情的过程总是让人慨叹。

11. 你会因为什么理由选择不跟你爱的人在一起？

意识到自己无法给予她应得的生活。

12. 如果可以，你希望拥有什么超能力？

Save / Load大法。。。那样人生就真是游戏了。。。

13. 怎样的生活或者状态能算得上是幸福的呢？为什么？

觉得自己没有在浪费时间，活得充实。因为人生就这么一回啊。。。

14. 你在为了你的理想而奋斗么，那又做了什么？

也许在吧，参考答案5。。。

15. 你觉得怎样的人生才精彩？

经历丰富，波澜壮阔。

16. 大家想几岁结婚，为什么？

35岁以前都不算太晚。生活是要体验的，不必太早进入下一个阶段。

17. 不考虑现实因素，你最近幻想从事的一个职业是什么？

登山运动员。。。

18. 你有感觉迷茫的时候吗？怎么面对？

时常。。。除了白日梦没有解决办法。。。

19. 你想成为怎样的人？

成熟（参考答案1），有责任心。

20. 如果你有一天锒铛入狱，最有可能因为什么罪行？

ct出的很贼的题目。。。嗯，一定是因为我对ct不爽去爆打了他一通进而“扰乱社会治安”。。。

 

把第7题去掉，改为：

上大学的时候你最想揍/赏一耳光的人是谁？为什么？

The 2.0 software upgrade for the iPod Touch finally unleashes the mobile computing potential in this great piece of hardware.

With native support for Chinese locales (and great pinyin as well as handwriting input systems), the mail app finally can correctly render Gmail in Chinese.

The App store is nothing short of a box full of candies, and it will only get better. WordPress, Last.FM, and tons of games are just a tip of the iceberg, and this platform will grow to some serious size very soon.

Of course, the hacking community hasn’t been idling about either – 2.0 has already been pwned, both on Mac and Windows, and the new “Installer” Cydia looks equally powerful, though I’ve not really played around with it. I did install Quake for iPhone, and while the game was not fun to play due to the lack of a good input system (I wasn’t able to find strafe, which is a killer…), it definitely does give any iPod Touch owner a lot of bragging rights.

So, with 2.0 up and running, Touch is now a serious piece of mobile computing hardware. The iPod part seems to be less and less important – I use it much more to browse and play games rather than listen to music nowadays…

Last time it crashed on me… Let’s see how it goes this time!

【虚构】

MSN上约好了晚上吃饭的地点，定在了三里屯的一家云南餐厅。很多人说这家餐厅不好找，也时常在网上抱怨绕了一圈又一圈才找到。倪冬有了前车之鉴，知道从三环过来东直门外大街往西，过了三里屯路的那个路口，下个路口右拐就行。

倪冬付了的钱下车，看到林琳在餐馆门口正翻弄着手机。她穿着黑色的大衣，天蓝色的围巾衬着肤色，颇有些雍容华贵的味道。

“哈喽，不好意思我迟到了。”

“没关系，”林琳笑道。

“到了多久了？怎么不进去坐着等？”

“我也刚到……而且今天天气很好么，在外面站着挺舒服的。”

两个人进门，上楼。餐厅的装饰古色古香，有些发旧的木楼梯踩着吱吱作响，墙壁上则是充满民族风情的云南照片。到了二楼，桌椅都是非常厚实的木制，而敞开的大厅也有着别有洞天的意味。

“来这儿吃过吗？”倪冬问道。

“没有……这家餐厅看起来还不错嘛。”

“是，好像还有些名气。”

在点菜的问题上二人推脱了一番，最终还是倪冬负责，点了一个凉菜，两荤一素三个热菜，外加一小份米线，最后又点了一竹筒米酒。

“来北京做项目？”倪冬边把菜单递给服务员边问道。

“嗯，其实这次在北京呆得挺久的，11月就来了。”

“多久回上海一次？”

“两到三周吧……其实每次都是飞成都，我在上海一个人住，回去也没什么意思。”

“哦对，你家是在成都的。那你上海租的房子岂不是很闲？”

“是啊，就当是为经济做贡献啦……其实本来是跟大学的好朋友合租的，后来人家要结婚了，就重色轻友啦。”

“这么年轻就结婚了？真有勇气。”

“年轻什么啊，二十五、六的女孩子不正是结婚的好年龄？只不过我们大多无暇顾及啦。”林琳的表情略显失望。

倪冬于是顺水推舟——“那我能问你一个私人问题吗？你现在有男朋友吗？”

“猜你就要问。本土人现在单身。倪先生您一定身边不乏美女相伴吧？”

倪冬无可奈何地双手一摊：“令你失望了。没想到离开了清华这么久，我还是处于‘我很帅，但是我很无奈’的地步。”

“这话怎么说？”

“呵呵，这是当年校园里流行的顺口溜啦，嘲笑清华男女比例失衡的，‘我很丑，但是我很抢手；我很帅，但是我很无奈’……其实是对清华女生很不公平啦……清华的美女绝对不会比其它学校少，只是大多数癞蛤蟆都是吃不到天鹅肉的。”

“你们清华的还真有意思……我们公司那几个清华的也都跟你一样，说话挺逗的。”

“不过我敢打赌他们没我帅是吧……这是在残酷的环境下磨练出来的生存本领。”

“呵呵。嗯，倪先生，我看你长得也有几分姿色，又这么才华出众，难道没有女孩子追吗？”林琳的眼角里带着略带挑逗的笑。

倪冬大笑，“林小姐你说话也很风趣啊。嗯，曾经有过一些邂逅，然而毕竟无缘无份。”说到这里，他脑海里不自主地闪过了一张面孔，一个场景，一个片段，那主角曾经是他，而如今却仿佛只是一部陌生的电影的节选——

林琳似是察觉到了他的若有所失，也恰好，服务员此时开始上菜，她便借机换了话题：“嗯，说正经的，你觉得你的工作怎么样？”

“工作？呵呵，咱们是同行啦，工作反正就是那么回事……”倪冬夹了口菜吃，又说道：“公司的同事很好，工作比较累，薪水还可以——听说比你们要差一些呵呵。”

“我听说，你可是你们公司的明星员工哦。”

“你听谁说的这么不负责任的话……是说我是我们公司出了名的差员工是吧。”

“别谦虚了……我有个同事，女友是你们公司的，我对你们公司还是比较了解的。”

“哦，原来是她啊。我知道你说的是谁了。嗯，那你工作怎么样？”

“跟你说的差不多吧，还能怎么样，就那个样子吧。公司挺好的，同事也不错，就是有时候不太清楚自己究竟想要什么。”

“嗯，果真天下的咨询顾问都是一样的迷茫。我有个好朋友，女同事，经常跟我探讨‘我长大了以后要做什么’的问题。”

“呵呵，难得还这样积极向上……那么，你长大后想做什么？”

“我想周游世界，然后，在一个荒岛上和一个美女共渡余生。”

林琳差点没把嘴里的饭喷出来，“看不出来，你还真是有追求啊！”

倪冬故作严肃地说：“其实这个世界上，百分之九十九的男人追求的无非是金钱、权力和女人。倘若在一个荒岛上，金钱和权力都只是粪土，只有美女是有意义的，这正合我意，我可以全身心地去爱这个美女。”

“呦，你还真是会煽情啊。那么周游世界呢？”

“在把握的生命奉献给这位幸运的美女之前，我需要确认这个世界上没有另一位比她更适合我全身心投入的美女。”

林琳噗哧笑了出来：“你还真是头狼啊。”

“好色其实就是懂得欣赏……算了，不跟你没完没了地开玩笑了……那么，你长大后想做什么？”

“我？我很无趣的，希望可以在某个时候认识一个合适的人，让他养我，结婚，生孩子。”

“不是吧。我感觉你事业上很上进啊。”

“唉，这只是没有遇到合适的人而已。我并不讨厌这份工作，甚至并不讨厌没完没了的加班、出差。我对自己的事业挺满意的，也想在事业上更进一步，但是，我知道这并不是我生活中最渴望得到的。”

“那么，你为什么不做出改变呢？”

“怎么改变？我不可能辞掉工作去满大街的相亲吧？”

倪冬倒是被这句话给噎住了，顿了一下才默默说道：“嗯，的确，生活是自有它的惯性的，或许我们本来有很多选择，然而，一旦我们之前做出了一些选择，我们就会沿着一些既定的轨迹前进，而其它看似仍然存在的选择则早已对我们关上了大门。”

两个人一时默然，过了片刻倒是林琳笑道：“行了，大哲学家，饭菜都凉了……”

 

付完了账（在倪冬的坚持下——“请尊重我作为男人的权利”——是他埋单），两个人一同走出餐馆。

“这边不好打车，我们往那边走走？”倪冬提议。

“好啊。”

北京的冬夜，干冷的空气贴面。倪冬不经意地伸手扶了下林琳的肩问道，“不冷吧？”

“还好，”林琳转过脸来，那个片刻恰好四目对视。倪冬觉得她的眼神很亲切。

 

把林琳送上了车，倪冬自己又等了会儿才打到车。

刚上车，就收到她的短信——“谢谢请我吃饭哦，下次我请客！”

倪冬本想回句搞笑的话——“啊！？还有下次啊？”——最终却回了条意味深长的短信。

“不知怎的，我感觉好像已经认识了你很久。”

等待林琳的回信的时间仿佛有整个冬天那么长，然而其实不过几分钟。

“我也一样。”她说道。

倪冬看着手机上这条同样意味深长却又留有余地的短信，嘴角泛起了微笑，思绪却不自觉地陷入了回忆。

【待续】