After over 24 hours of flying, finally I arrived at the Vancouver International Airport. The long flight from India to Canada is though, taking off at 3a.m. make it even worse. Usually when I take vacation, I will fly away from home and spend my times off in some where else. This is the first time I fly back home for vacation. I have a 2 weeks break in between my 2 months India assignment. Life would be quite miserable if I have to stay there for 2 months continuously. Actually it is not really a vacation, I still have to come to work in the head office. However, comparing to working in India, going to work in Vancouver already seems like a vacation to me.
Yearly Archives: 2008
Paprika 紅辣椒
隨著上一代的動畫大師如宮崎駿﹐大友克洋等相續封筆退出江湖﹐今敏可謂動畫大師的新一代接班人。「紅辣椒」是今敏執導的第四套動畫電影﹐前作 Perfect Blue﹐「千年女優」和「東京教父」等﹐叫好又叫座﹐曾奪得無度日本年度動畫大賞﹐這套「紅辣椒」自然也不會例外。今敏的動畫電影完全展現出動畫的魔力 ﹐鏡頭表達出真人電影沒可能拍攝到的超現實意境。
電影的主題是夢境與現實交錯﹐畫面的表達上完全沒有限制。片頭女主角在畫中畫裏左穿右插﹐戲中不斷重覆出現的嘉年華巡遊﹐男主角穿越一個又一個的夢境﹐每一組鏡頭的運用﹐每一個場面的交接﹐均為觀眾帶來全新的視覺體驗。平沢進創作的配樂風格華麗﹐完全配合著奇異眩目的畫面﹐把觀眾帶進疑幻疑真的電影世界。「紅辣椒」把動畫從單純娛樂的層面﹐提升至視覺藝術的層次。
雖然「紅辣椒」的藝術含金量極高﹐但不等於這套一定是導演花巧賣弄鏡頭的悶藝電影。電影主線十分是扎實的科幻故事﹐女主角和天材肥仔男友發明了讓人進入別 人夢境的機器﹐讓醫生進入病人的意讓中進行深層心理治療。女主角的一個身份是在現實地界中的冷艷心理醫生﹐另一個身份則是在夢境中化名為紅辣椒﹐為病人進 行心理治療的開朗少女。電影情節發展緊湊懸疑性強﹐開場不久發生夢境機器失竊事件﹐接二連三出現夢境被入侵而變成神經錯亂的受害者。女主角不斷追查偷走夢 境機器的元兇﹐揭發盜夢者背後的大陰謀。
可惜我不是讀心理學﹐不懂容格(Carl Jung)的夢境理論﹐不然看這齣電影時必定會很有趣﹐可以分析角色夢境與現實的關係。戲中每個角色也有不同的夢魘﹐最後他們都能在夢境中找到出路﹐解開 他們多年內心中的困繞。女主角在現實與夢境中擁有兩個截然不同的性格﹐一個她心底裏其實喜歡肥仔男友﹐但另一個她沒法接受男友三百磅的身型。在夢境與現實 交錯的時空﹐兩個她整合成為同一人﹐讓她解開心結接受肥仔男友的愛。肥仔男友雖然是天材科學家﹐但心境則像一個長不大的兒童﹐於是在夢境中他化身為巨型玩 具機械人。女主角對變機械人肥仔告白那一場戲﹐與開場時肥仔給夾在電梯那一場戲首尾呼應﹐讓肥仔明白到身為成年人應有責任。戲中第三個主要角色是本來是紅 辣椒病人的警探﹐無辜給牽涉入這盜夢危機當中。他不斷受到同一個惡夢的纏擾﹐是他年輕時朋友死亡留下來的陰影。他闖進盜夢者的夢境勇救女主角﹐補完當年沒 法完結的電影故事﹐亦從過去的陰影中走出來。
有些人會說這齣電影的故事太複雜看不明白﹐其實只要明白導演的思路﹐夢境與現實沒有明確的分界線﹐兩者可以互相交錯的重覆畫面﹐就不難跟隨理解劇情主線的 發展。「紅辣椒」在藝術性和故事性兩方面都拿取滿分﹐不喜歡或不俏看動畫的人﹐說不定看完後會改變對動畫的偏見﹐發現動畫不只是哄小孩子的卡通﹐也可以是 與電影分庭抗禮的藝術。
Goodbye Bangalore
Tomorrow night, I will be flying home leaving this stinky (literally) city. This is the end of my first month work assignment in Bangalore. It is an eye opening experience. I see many new things and learn to look at the world from a different prespective. Although I am not interested in any of them in particular. It is just totally out of my imagination that a whole country or culture can be this screwed up. My India experience confirms my believes that some culture are indeed better than others. We can actually measure the evolution progress of different cultures by measuring how advance they are.
Having exposure to oversea outsourcing management is an asset nice to have. However only time can tell whether it worths sacrificing two months living alone in a strange city away from loved ones. My main objective is accomplished in the first two weeks of my trip. The rest of the time, I am just sitting there answering stupid questions. Ok. There are a few real questions, but most of the questions are just plain dumb or can easily deal with over the phone or via email. At the same time I am trying to get my own work done at 50% productivity or less. I am sure I would be much more efficient staying in Vancouver than in Bangalore.
It seems my life in Bangalore is so pointless than the only highlight of my day is to go out for a nice dinner. I am trying out all the expensive restaurants in town. I bet I have been to more non-Indian restaurants than most local people. I am already suffering from having Indian food for lunch, I got have some real food for dinner. I am sure the company had saved a lot of money from outsourcing to India, so I am just helping the company to utilize some of the saving.
Sigh. I have to come back for another month after two weeks break back home. Let’s see how can I make my next stay in Bangalore less unpleasant.
Dine out Bangalore
There are many nice restaurants to have good food in Bangalore. I have been trying out new restaurants every night after work. The company has save a lot of money by outsourcing to India, I figure I should help them spend some of the saving on gourmet food. It is nice when you can expense your dinner to the company account, you don’t have to worry about whether the dish worth the price, you only have to worry about whether the food taste good or not.
Eating local food in Bangalore is very cheap. A very nice Indian dinner is only 200 rupee, about $5. However, having real food in Bangalore is relatively very expensive, the price is still slight cheaper than Vancouver. It cost $30 to have dinner in a fine dining restaurant and $50 in a 5 star hotel. The average daily wage in India is 100 rupee, so my dinner costs an Indian’s salary for the whole month. Well, the company is paying for it, who cares about the price?
In Bangalore, most restaurants only open for dinner after 7p.m., some restaurants won’t even open until 8p.m. The guest house is located in the out skirt of the city, so it is about 30-45 minutes away from most of the good restaurants. Even though I have to spend an extra hour stuck in traffic to have some nice food, the long journey definitely worth the long journal.
Here is the record of my quest for good food, highly recommend to all business travelers to Bangalore: I only list the name of the restaurant and my comment here. Please look up the address and phone number in Google, it should be easy to find.
Blue Ginger in Taj West End Hotel – Taj West End Hotel is like a forest inside the city. You can enjoy real South East Asia food sitting next to a beautiful lagoon under the tree. The air quality in the hotel is really good, you don’t suffer from the pollution on the street.
Mainland China at Church Street – This is probably the best restaurant in Bangalore you can find real Chinese food, instead of crappy Indian-Chinese food.
Mandarin Room in Grand Ashok Hotel – Another restaurant with real Chinese food. It is on the top floor of the Grand Ashok Hotel overlooking the whole city. Very nice view.
Sunny’s at Lavelle Road – Nice French and Italian cruise. I had my first steak in Bangalore here.
Windsor Grill in Windsor Manor Hotel – Pool side BBQ in a luxury hotel. Yes, you can also order steak here.
Zen in Leela Palace – Leela Palace is the most luxurious hotel in town. Go figure.
Fiorano at 100 Feet Road – Nice Italian restaurant close to the Forum Mall, which is next to the guest house.
Via Milano at 80 Feet Peripheral Road – Another nice Italian restaurant close to the Forum Mall.
I.T.Alia in Park Hotel – Probably the best Italian restaurant I had so far. It is very small, don’t forget to make a reservation.
Bangalore Bistro – This roof top restaurant offer an unique dining experience with close-enough French cruise. The tables are carved out of stone and have a peddle of water in the middle with floating rose paddle and candle. It is very hard to find, better call them to ask for direction.
律政新人王2
聖誕回香港旅行期間﹐無線正在播「律政新人王2」﹐晚上沒有上街時﹐偶然也會看一集半集。我沒有看過舊一輯的「律政新人王」﹐無從比較新舊兩輯的分別﹐不 過從劇情介簡看來﹐除了其中一位男主角(還是配角﹖)相同外﹐兩輯沒有直接關連﹐是完全獨立的新故事。劇中有關法律的情節照舊兒戲失實﹐律師的角色會忽然腦殘﹐犯下些連 大學法律系一年級生也不會犯的過失。算了﹐反正這套劇集是標準的無記貨色﹐掛著律師的外表﹐實質是買愛情輕喜劇。我也不再浪費口水批評劇中的法律問題了﹐ 只希望無記不會誤導市民﹐以為現實中法律是用可以用些白痴招式去操控。
撇開法庭戲不談﹐這劇集是環繞兩對男女主角的愛情故事。一對是馬國 明和官恩娜上演的小姐與流岷﹐另一對是陳健峰和李詩韻上演的現代陳世美驚雲。劇集中段陳健峰替官恩娜父親打工﹐馬國明開解失戀的李詩韻﹐我還以為會變成玩 交換伴侶﹐怎料什麼事情也沒有發生﹐打工的正正經經打工﹐開解的更是一對出場去開解別人。這套劇集很反常地完全沒有三角四角戀﹐兩對情侶都從一而終﹐幾許 風雨後有情人終成眷屬。
陳鍵峰和李詩韻這對沒有什麼特別﹐除了陳鍵峰初段未復牌出庭時英明神武﹐後段復牌後則越來越白痴﹐連辯護律師漠視 當事人利益的責任﹐刻意輸掉官司當作復仇的屎橋也想得出。我反而喜歡看馬國明和官恩娜這對歡喜怨家﹐一個是不良少年苦學成材的窮律師﹐另一個是億萬富豪千 金大小姐律師。雖然這配搭原本是很老套的陳腔濫調﹐不過加上中途殺出的馬國明私生女﹐讓這套愛情添上新鮮的完素。官恩娜與馬國明原本火星撞地球﹐屬於兩個 不同世界的人。剛巧馬國明的女兒出現﹐激發起官恩娜的母性。看見馬國明對女兒那份父愛的偉大﹐正是愛情至上主義者官恩娜撞景著的好男人。官恩娜雖是嬌生慣 養的大小姐﹐但她除了愛洗錢外天性不壞﹐甚至因為一直在溫室中長大﹐加上讀法律的關係﹐對真理和公義有一份很天真地執著。馬國明不要富貴追求公義的性恪﹐ 正好吻合官思娜心底的理想。馬國明被困遊艇跳海游回岸那一幕﹐他寧願不要美人也要堅持公義﹐足以讓官恩娜為他傾倒。
到了官恩娜宣告與馬國明結婚﹐父親認為馬國明配不起女兒而反對婚事。她父親其實也沒有資格說三道四﹐自己不也是和助手兼女兒的好友搭上搞不倫之戀。說起來 官恩娜自己已是超級有錢女﹐根本不希罕其他公子哥兒的身家。又不用怕結婚後要挨窮﹐揀個可以吃得他死死的馬國明做丈夫﹐比揀個可能會包情婦的有錢公子更幸 福。馬國明雖然窮﹐總算是個律師﹐也不算太失禮。他生活簡樸不愛花錢﹐不怕給人說吃軟飯﹐老婆的錢頂多是自己用來買衫。這對小姐與流民的組合看似沒有可能 走在一起﹐但細心分析兩人的性格﹐這段感情發展得很合理。當然馬國明女兒從中作扯線﹐作紅娘攝合爸爸媽媽很鬼馬有趣。雖然嚴重違反法律常識﹐但用案件帶動 兩人的感情發展﹐創作示愛救婚結婚那三場法庭戲的編劇值得一讚。
「律政新人王2」只有二十集﹐劇情主線集中水分不多﹐沒有多餘的無聊家人線。其他角色劇情的分枝戲份﹐最後也會合﹐成為小姐與流岷愛情故事的伏筆。馬國明 完全不靚仔﹐演起戲來比其他靠買樣的小生﹐讓觀眾看得舒服。陳健峰的戲份倒淪為悶場﹐不如乾脆刪掉讓劇情更清爽明快。總體來說這劇集不錯﹐達中上準﹐不妨 一看。