Cartoon exercise #2

 

Fly me to the moon 及其他

這幾天Netflix上的韓劇《魷魚遊戲》爆紅，連此地新聞主播都特地穿上綠運動衣向普羅苦主"99%"魯蛇們致意，害向來一不看連續劇二不看韓劇的老夫破例也追了九小時的劇哩。《魷魚遊戲》是一部典型的反烏托邦類型片，以惡質資本主義帶來的貧富懸殊來舖張人性泯滅的寓言；老實說這部影集的虛擬背景雖然擺在南韓，不過在我看來這幾年來那個具有社會主義特色的中國「盛世」似乎快要走到盡頭，三個世代的中國人被邊緣人共產黨玩了一整個怪圈，那才是貨真價實的超級《魷魚遊戲》呢，就看有心人願不願意拍出新電影了。

《魷魚遊戲》第一集的高潮是魯蛇們被驅迫玩血腥的「一二三木頭人」，其中遊戲主持人在遙控室裡一面看著魯蛇們在生死之際掙扎，一面又同時聽著柔美的Jazz standard "Fly me to the moon"，予觀眾以魔幻般的疏離感受；既殘酷又溫柔的對比參照，這樣的暴力美學對老影迷來說是不陌生的，一個經典的前例是1964年黑色反戰喜劇《Dr Strangelove》的結尾，導演Stanley Kubrick 以英國二戰甜心 Vera Lynn 璗氣迴腸的名曲 "We'll meet again" 來對照人類在美蘇冷戰當中毀滅於自己點爆的核戰之愚不可及，乃神來之筆也。

不過影史上最為經典的 savage irony 恐怕是《Godfather II》裡 Michael Corleone 清理門戶那段，Francis Coppola 用複雜精確的剪輯在五分鐘裡平行舖陳了祥和的小嬰兒教堂的受洗與血腥的黑手黨冷血謀殺，吿訴目瞪口呆的觀眾 Godfather 是如何煉成的--不瞞您說，這個段子害敝人一直到今天在行過旋轉門時還是不禁有些猶豫呢😅。而2006年的港產黑道片經典《黑社會》也曾向《Godfather II》致敬，導演杜琪峰以金嗓子周璇柔美的【永遠的微笑】來襯托醞釀三合會幫眾即將到來的血腥火拚，既溫馨又驚踈。

"Fly me to the moon" 是五零年代的老情歌，唱過的大歌星不計其數：瘦皮猴 Frank Sinatra，Peggy Lee 都唱過；去年新冠疫情大作時六歲的上海女孩Miu Miu的自彈自唱此曲也讓閉關在家的廣大網民窩心不已，巴不得飛出樊籠呼吸屋外並不新鮮也可能不自由的空氣。

談起 "Fly me to the moon" 可不能不提起華人導演王穎1982年的名作《Chan is missing》裡在三籓市金龍大酒家那位台灣來的留學生炒鍋 Henry - who wears a "Samurai Night Fever" T-shirt, drinks milk, chain-smokes, and sings "Fry me to the moon..." all the while he is cooking five orders of sweet-sour-pork. 這位大展破鑼嗓歌喉演活了留學生打工仔的是渾身戲骨的理工男王正方，從此以後戲癮一發不可收拾，乃棄電機工程教授之鐵飯碗大發其拍電影之昏，終於成就一代老頑童。《Chan is missing》是在美華人電影的先驅，當年只在全美各地 Art House小眾戲院放映然後就消失了，只有電影學院的師生們記得，感謝Criterion和YouTube如今吾等普羅大眾都能一睹為快，我以為不論是探索移民身份認同之深刻，或電影語言映像之生動，這部小成本的影片關懷的題材40年來還是歷久而彌新的。

cartoon exercise #1

phantom scare

午後三時辦公樓忽然警鐘大作，這是全員疏散的信號，大伙只好跚跚來到停車場作鳥獸聚。據說是一樓門口有個來路不明的箱子，裏面還有液體哩。來了一堆警察，好像也沒人敢動那個箱子，看來都看過 Die Hard 第二集什麼的。大家都埋怨這恐怖份子也太無聊了，放著對街人潮川流不息的大Mall不去，看上我們星期五下午人可羅雀的寫字樓有啥搞頭？警察如臨大敵折騰了半天，發現原來又是虛驚一場。

猜猜箱子裏到底是什麼玩意呢？原來是個模型人頭，法號 drive test phantom head 是咱公司用來作in vehicles for over the air mobile device performance 的測試用的。假腦袋裏還灌了膠質來模擬人的 tissue。測試組的同志行街回來還沒收拾家伙呢就被不曉得哪位警覺性特高的路人舉報到911去了。Osama bin Laden 先生的頭七還沒過，類似的虛驚恐怕還要在各地繼續上演好一陣子哩。

對了，你假如對這款phantom head有興趣的話可以去這裏選購典藏
http://www.indexsar.com/drivetest.html

Molly Ivins Remembered

As I witness this defining moment in American history unfolds, the words echoing in my mind are Gerald Ford's 1974 speech: "Our long national nightmare is over." Certainly it's far from over yet, as this time it is longer than Watergate and W's legacy crime is far worse and more consequential than Dick Nixon's, but looks at least we can have hope now. I could not help myself thinking of the late Molly Ivins, who, as a political columnist in Texas, in 2000, long before most Americans have any clue what character George W. Bush is, or will be, wrote the most informative book on then candidate Bush, with revelation like how W was helped every step of the way in his life by wealthy and influential friends of the family, how he has always been good at rounding up powerful players to bankroll a variety of ventures, including political campaigns. It certainly sent chills down to my spine, made you wonder what would happen if such character could ever be President of United States? Well, after 8 long years, most Americans (and the whole world) sadly knew by now, at what New York Times aptly put as "the utter failure of government to protect its citizens".

Here is an excerpt from a review of "Shrub : The Short but Happy Political Life of George W. Bush":

"Behind the down-home style and tasty jokes, Ivins and DuBose (who edits the Texas Observer) lay out plenty of well-documented dirt on GWB's career--though it isn't nose candy they're after: instead, the authors make a case that the affable governor has climbed ladders, traded favors, bent rules and enriched himself, without doing much for the people he governs. W.'s oil ventures "lost more than $2 million of other people's money," netted him $840,000 and tied him to international banking scandals, say the authors."

Molly Ivins died in 2007 at age 62.

Obi-Wan Krugman

Ever since I watched Paul Krugman's highly entertaining talk he gave last year at Google about the ensuing financial crisis than I began to read his NYT column regularly. So it was a pleasant surprise to learn this year's Nobel Economic Prize is awarded to Mr Krugman this past Monday, amid the downward spiral of economics calamity now, which made this particular recognition acutely poignant (or even vindictive for like minded Bush-Republican critics). If you never watch it, here it is:



The best lines of this talk:

"(Fed's bailing out Wall Street firms) gives you a feeling of re-arranging deck chairs on Titantic"
"we now have fair trade with China: they sell us poisoned toys and we sell them fraudulent securities"

BTW, if you are like me watching my retirement fund melt away fast in the past weeks and still confused by what the heck is liquidity, solvency, MBS, CDO, moral hazard, debt deflation, TED spread, you can certainly hit wikipedia for answer, but the best explanation about this mess we are in that I've read (technically, heard) so far is from NPR's "this giant pool of money" (here is its transcript)

BTW, Obi-Wan Krugman also have this to say on America's another bubble health care crisis and actually have some nice words about Taiwan's health care system (see also here in his blog)

Update: Charlie Rose interviewed Krugman on PBS at Oct 23

為了忘卻的記念

又是六四了，看了馬英九莫名其妙的感言，只能說 “wtf”。又想起這兩段話來：

"No one may speak for the dead; no one may interpret their dreams and visions. I have tried to fight those who forget. Because if we forget, we are guilty, we are accomplices.... We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormenting, never the tormented."
--- Elie Wiesel

"If I am not for myself, then who will be for me? And if I am only for myself, then what am I? And if not now, when?",
--- Jewish saying

We must always take sides.