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動漫

Persona Trinity Soul 女神異聞錄

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Persona Trinity Soul 近年多看著重觀能刺激的動畫﹐不是瘋狂爆笑便是打到飛起﹐竟然不習慣看一些描寫細膩的動畫。本來每個星期追看《女神異聞錄》﹐可惜這套動畫與《高達00》和《反逆R2》同季﹐看罷那些充滿映像刺激的動畫﹐再看這套要用心感受的動畫﹐實在忍受不了緩慢的風格是只好暫擱下來遲些再看。早陣子有空把這套動畫翻出來﹐由頭到尾一次過細心品嘗﹐心無旁鶩可以培養情緒﹐投入動畫的世界靜心欣賞﹐興幸沒有錯過這齣很有韻味的作品。

這套動畫改篇自PS2的著名遊戲系列﹐不過故事獨立完整與遊戲沒有直接關連。雖然這齣動畫的角色可以召喚有念獸作戰﹐但打鬥並不是這套動畫的重點﹐不要冀望每周一怪式的動作場面。動畫上半部甚至看不清楚念獸的樣子﹐打鬥通常很快便一招了斷。這套動畫擅長描寫人物心理﹐並佈下懸疑詭密的氣氛﹐與觀眾一起去發掘十年前那事件的真相。主角是神鄉慎帶著弟弟洵﹐搬回出生地的小鎮居住﹐寄居在當警察局長的長兄諒的家中。慎回到小鎮後﹐原來平靜的小鎮接二連三發生怪事。先有受害者被不知名力量從體內開撕死亡﹐再有受害者著靈魂出竅般離奇昏迷。這一切事件統統也指向諒﹐當警察局長的他恍忽有不可告人的秘密。謎一樣的紅衣女孩出現在慎和洵面前﹐慎因受擊而喚醒體內的念獸。而這一切又好像與他們三兄弟死去的父母戶寫﹐一本關於鯨魚羽毛的童話書有關連。

每個重要配角均詳細描述﹐他們有足夠的戲份發揮﹐每條支線也很豐富感人。看這套動畫不只是看故事主線的發展﹐而是看屬於每個角色白故事。看著他們十年前那事件的因﹐如何影響十年後今天的果。又因為主角慎把他們串連起來﹐解開的十年前留下來的死結。弟弟洵有很微妙的雙重人間﹐他的另一個人格是死去的孿生妹妹祈。在十年前那事件中﹐他們一個腦受重創﹐另一個身體受致命傷害。在兩個只能活一個的情況下﹐長兄諒同意用祈的腦袋去修補洵腦袋受損的部份。慎在學校結交幾位朋友﹐拓朗是天生的熱血型﹐常常與紅髮女孩美加吵嘴鬥氣﹐不過兩人倒是結合成一對歡喜冤家頭。拓朗與美加也與慎一樣擁有念獸﹐拓朗只是想變強保護護身邊的人﹐美加則因為念獸帶來童年陰影﹐變得很抗拒使用念獸。另一個藍髮女孩鳴與慎是一對﹐原本只是個很文靜不起眼的女孩﹐想不到竟然是念獸事件的關鍵人物。最後她在慎懷中死去那一幕﹐雪落在慎身上因體溫會融化﹐但飄雪卻積聚在身體漸冷的鳴身上﹐那一抹哀愁讓人留下深刻印象。

這套動畫的導演的拍攝手法很有詩意﹐有時鏡頭會映著靜止的觀境數秒﹐隨了用來間開故事的兩個段落﹐給觀眾一點時間去感受角色的心情﹐消化劇中壓下來的情緒。動畫的音樂亦能配合導演的表達手法﹐用簡潔悅耳的調子作伴奏﹐營造出緩慢而沉重的氣氛。雖然有時用靜止畫面減低製作成本﹐但畫功製作絕不馬虎﹐人物繪圖更很細緻亮麗。特別一讚是這動畫的人物設計﹐兩位女主角沒有很虛偽地用萌屬性隨意拼貼出來﹐但她們卻仍然流露出天然萌的氣質﹐在今天人工萌泛濫的日本動畫界實在難能可貴。若果要說這套動畫有什麼缺點﹐就是主線解謎的表達過份唯美﹐最後一切化身漫天羽毛隨風飛揚﹐配上聽懂與不懂之間的感性對白﹐大慨要明白背景的遊戲玩家才可以解讀清楚。不過這套並不是用腦去思考故事﹐而要用心去感受故事的動畫。

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Hunter-gatherers – Noble or savage?

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The environmentalist should learn that the only way for sustainibility is keep moving forward.

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Daily Scribble

Nutcracker

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Nutcracker

I watched Nutcracker with Pat tonight, to be exact, I was sleeping next to Pat when she was watching the ballet. Originally I wanted to write an review about Nutcracker, then I realize I didn’t watch much of the show. My eye lid already felt heavy after the opening dance. I struggled to keep myself awake, trying hard to appreciate the movement on the stage. The dance is all about meaningless ponite toe spins and random arm movement. I gave up soon after I failed to make any sense out of the dance.

Then I try stay awake by thinking whether ballet is an art using art theories I learn form my atheistic class. Tchaikovsky created the music, it’s definitely an art. The plot of Nutcracker is adapted from a children story, which is also an art. However are there any arts in the ballet dancers? Undoubtedly, there are strict technical skills a dancer has to master in ballet, but they are just the puppets of the director. The dancers did not create anything new in the process, they can be replaced by robots that can dance the same movement precisely without affecting the artistic value of the show. I was thinking and thinking, my mind wandered further and further away from the stage, eventually I doze off in the middle of the 2nd scene. I slept through the whole act II after the intermission, only briefly awake when I heard the familiar Nutcracker theme music.

After I came home, I did some research on the history of ballet in Wiki. It started in Renaissance Italian as performance and developed by the French King in 17th century to become today’s complex system. My hypothesis is ballet is not an art, it is merely an trade to serve the royals and the nobles. Since monarchy is obsoleted in modern society, as a symbol of the past, ballet should also be discouraged or even abolished. I am still formulating my arguments to support my hypothesis. One day I will able to justify why no one should go to watch a ballet ever.

Daily Scribble

Nevus of Ota

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The son of my friend got this rare “Nevus of Ota” disease. It start with a small birthmark on the face and it grows bigger as the boy grows. My friend is worrying about the condition of his baby. Luckily, according to my other doctor friend, the condition is cause by the pigment under the skin goes wrong. It won’t affect the health of the boy, except the appearance. I feel sorry for my friend, yet he shows how a loving parent will accept anything from his child. I accept the fact that his boy may not be cute, but still love him and never give up the hope of finding a cure.

I remember I had a friend in university with similar problem. Half of his face is much darker than the rest of his skin. When I know him, I am old enough not to make fun of his appearance. He is a nice guy and reasonably good in school and sports. Actually, after we get to know him, we quickly overlook the mark on the face, and treat him just like any other one of us. I think he even manage to get a girlfriend in school. Ok, he is a bit ugly, but so what? Guys should not worry too much about his appearance. For guys, it’s what underneath the face hide inside the skull counts. I am not too worry about my friend’s boy. Maybe he will have a few harsh years in kindergarten or elementary school. But once he survived that stage and develop a healthy personality, he will be on equal foot with another for the rest of his life. On the other hand, if a baby girl got this “Nevus of Ota” disease I can’t image how miserable her life will be.

Daily Scribble

Photography

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I am pretty late to join the DSLR bandwagon. I just bought my first DSLR two months ago. In fact, it’s not even my camera, it’s the birthday present for my wife. When I first got it, I took some snapshot to make sure it works fine. Then camera hide itself behind the boxes when I moved and I just rediscover it this week. So I took some serious photos to explore the function of the new camera.

I am not new to photography, I had a have a film SLR camera lens in high school. I was the photographer with the best camera for the school year book, even better than the teacher adviser’s of the photo club. I was not that interest in photography back then. I got into photography because my best friends got a SLR and taking portrait is a cool excuse to ask the girls out. I didn’t touch the SLR since I got my very first digital camera in university. I always boast to my friends who get into DSLR in recent years that I was using SLR long before them. I know the use of shutter, aperture, ISO and filters and how they can affect the photo. However, it quite a shame that I never truly understand theory of photography.

This time when I pick up the DSLR again, I decide to have a complete understanding of photography. I bought a beginner photography book, read it from cover to cover, but still couldn’t get a very clear understanding. I still get the same fuzzy concept I know since my high school days. At last, I decide to learn it hard way. I log on the internet and read how DSLR works. I get to the root of the problem, understand the physics and optics of a SLR. Vola! Suddenly all the pieces fit together and I can link up all the photography knowledge I already know to form a big picture. The technical part of taking a perfect picture is simple. There is only two things you need to care about: exposure and color.

Exposure is controlled by three parameters, ISO, shutter speed and aperture. Shutter speed is the easier to understanding, it’s how long the shutter stays open. In film camera, ISO is the photo sensitivity of the film. In a digital camera, ISO becomes the signal to noise ratio amplifier. Aperture controls how much light arrive the sensor. Choose the right value of the three parameters allow the the senors collects the right amount of photons, so the image will not be too bright or too dark. The histogram is a handy tool to examine the exposure of your photo. The trade off between these three parameters is the artistic part and each one has its pro and con. The higher the ISO, the nosier the image. The slower the shutter speed, the more ghost in the image. The effect of aperture is the hardest to understand. Knowing how depth of field (DoF) works is some real hard physics. It took me almost two hours to completely grasp how the human eye’s field of confusion (FoC) determine the DoF of a given aperture. Color is not a pure optics effect, it is how the thermo-properties of light source affects the sensor. In a film camera, we use color filter correct the color, so a white object will show up being white in the image or we use the temperature of color to introduce mood to the image. In a digital camera, we can simply tweak the RGB algorithm in the sensor to correct the color of the image.

I found one advantage of DSLR over SLR. It is much easier to learn photography using a DSLR. The camera setting is saved with the photo and the image are ready to review instantly. I can take many pictures with different setting and compare the effects side by side. Most important, take photos is virtually free, so I can practice as much as I like. Unlike in the film camera days, buying film is expensive and you have to wait patiently for the film to develop. No wonder we have so many armature photography these days. DSLR really lower the learn curve to become a decent photographer.