Quack, quack quack. Little ducks are crossing the road. Everyone stops and let them go!
All posts by hevangel
Toastmaster ATM#4 – Bobby
“Dr. Jacob, I have a bad news for you. Starting today, the company will discontinue all financial support to Bobby.”
Dr. Jacob does not give up, he try his best to convince the CEO to take back this decision. He tries to make the CEO recall the good memory he had with Bobby. He tells stories how Bobby brings love and joy to the workers in his lab. He tells how important Bobby is to him and Bobby is the meaning of his life. Dr. Jacob keeps pleading and begging, but the CEO is not moved. The CEO just states coldly that the decision has been made. The earning is not looking good this quarter and the company can not afford to spend any more money on Bobby. The CEO urges Dr. Jacob to accept the fact and move on. While Dr. Jacob is making himself heard, he is getting more and more excited. He raises his voice and starting waving his fist. At the end, Dr. Jacob is pointer his fingers to the CEO, yelling at him, and says “What you are doing is killing. You are killing Bobby. You murderer.” At this point, the CEO feels his personal safety is in threat; he calls in the security at once, telling them “Please take this man out of my sight.” Dr. Jacob is still screaming and kicking when he is dragging out of the CEO’s office by the securities.
At last, the office door is close again, the room returns to quiet. The CEO takes a few moments to collect his thoughts. He just wonders to himself, why Dr. Jacob makes such a big deal about terminating Bobby, it is just a genetic modified dog after all.
Rataouille 五星級大鼠
自從Toy Story開始﹐Pixar每年也會推出一套新的動畫電影﹐我每次都心甘情願地買飛到戲院捧場﹐每次完場時也讚口不絕﹐熱切期待明年新的一套電影。「五星級大鼠」是Pixar給迪士尼收購後的首部作品﹐大慨迪士尼給與Pixar高度自治的創作自由﹐電影沒有給傳統迪士尼的老土風格污染﹐依然保持Pixar一貫的清新幽默﹐暖流窩心﹐暗藏大智慧的靈氣。近幾年迪士尼已經完全沒有製作平面動畫﹐聽聞它的繪畫製作組也給解散了﹐未來將是立體電腦動畫的天下。
從純技術的角度去看﹐這套電影的動畫效果比舊作更上一層樓。「海底奇兵」的突破是造出迫真的水﹐「五星級大鼠」的突破則是造出了迫真的火。火與水的特性很相似﹐不是實質的固體﹐光線的反射和穿透涉及大量計自算﹐很難用電腦模型去繪畫出來﹐但戲中廚房火爐噴出的火焰﹐拍得像真的一樣﹐不禁令人佩服。其實看了這麼多年的電腦動畫﹐我早已給畫面上的特技效果寵壞﹐視那些幾可亂真的鏡頭為理所當然的事。電腦動畫不能再只是虛擬現實世界的畫面﹐而是要創造出一個超越真實的世界﹐完全釋放觀眾的幻想。
「五星級大鼠」的故事溫馨感人﹐一隻鄉下小老鼠有天賦的入廚天份﹐他受到電視烹飪節目中肥佬名廚啟發﹐決定要走進人類社會﹐不甘心做一隻吃垃圾的老鼠﹐創造出天下最美味的菜色。這套是合家歡電影﹐全片笑聲不絕﹐老鼠仔故然生動可愛﹐他的人類拍檔也搞笑有趣。老鼠仔躲在廚師帽裏面﹐扯著頭髮像操控木偶一樣﹐讓不懂煮菜的掃地小子﹐搖身一變成為巴黎市的大廚新星。人鼠合力保著肥佬名廚老牌餐廳的招牌﹐從苛刻老闆手中取回餐廳的股份﹐還追求靚女師父贏得美人歸。詳細的戲情在此不多說了﹐戲中每個場面的編排別出心裁﹐細心欣賞保證有意外驚喜。
看這套電影不禁令人聯想起日本動畫「伙頭智多星」和周星馳的「食神」。以前我們常常笑「伙頭智多星」中﹐那些食客品嘗味吉陽一的美食後﹐那大呼「好好味呀」的跨張表情。同樣是表達食物的味美﹐「五星級大鼠」的方法則充滿藝術感。藉著富有法國情調的爵士配樂的變化﹐加上畫面流暢的描像符號擺動﹐觀眾有感受到銀幕上食物味道的錯覺。「食神」中最美味的食物﹐不是名貴的山珍海錯﹐而是一碗平凡的叉燒飯﹐勾起食客心中的回憶。「五星級大鼠」小老鼠最後戰決刁嘴食家的菜色﹐名稱與戲名相同叫Ratatouille﹐只是一道平凡不過的法國家常小菜﹐卻令食家重溫小時候母親的溫暖﹐溶化了他那顆冰封冷酷的心﹐讓他記起美食的真正意義。
劇中人鼠建立深厚的友情﹐人類動物一家親大團員結局。可是現實中的老鼠不懂烹飪﹐只會吃垃圾傳播病菌。就如劇中的老鼠爸爸說﹐老鼠是人類的天敵﹐人類只會用捕鼠器毒藥把牠們趕盡殺絕。老鼠大軍在廚房中煮菜只會在動畫中出現﹐老鼠並不受人類社會歡迎﹐坑渠才是牠們屬於的地方。電影中的老鼠仔只有老鼠的外表﹐內裹其實與一個人沒有分別﹐因此才可以與人類建立感情。老鼠家族在結局中脫離坑髒的坑渠﹐在樹頂上過著高檔優雅的新生活﹐暗示動物如要在人類社會生存﹐就得適應人類定下來的規則。我不知道動物權益支持者會怎樣看這套電影﹐他們會不會說這電影宣揚大人類主義﹐不尊重動物的原始生活文化﹐人類霸權在剝削小動物的生存空間呢﹖希望不會有人看完電影後﹐天真地認為人鼠在城市中可以和平共存。
Magazines in Chapters
I was early for dinner with friends, so I check out the Chapters next to restaurant to kill some time. In the front of store, there is the magazine rack. Chapters carries over 500 magazine titles, including magazine for any obscure topics you can think of. I always wonder who would have time to read all those magazines. Every week, millions of words are written in all those magazine. The articles are consumed by the readers and then forgotten. Who would care about an interview of a not so famous player of a niche sport 10 years from now? On the second thought, I consume many useless information myself too. Most people won’t be interested about the news I read on anime, toys or religions, just like I am not interested in sports. I guess we modern man like to consume junk information as we do for junk food, taste good but low on nutrition value.
Over of all those 500 magazines, out of my surprise, I couldn’t find any magazine on firearms. There is exactly one hunting magazine remotely talk about firearm, but only on rifle, not handgun. Although shooting is not a very popular sport, there are still a sizable number of gun lovers to sustain a market for gun magazines. Moreover, most of magazines are published by US, a gun loving nation, which should have lots of gun related magazine ready to import. I don’t think it is not a business decision not carrying gun magazine in Chapters. I think the executives in Chapters are trying to make moral judgment for us, censor us from receiving information that they think is wrong. It is just an example of how powerful private business erode the liberty of the society.
基督教思想史第一部 – 第二章﹕早期教會的神學發展
在耶穌由選出來的十二門徒加聖保羅相繼去世後﹐早期教會接著進入奠定後來大部分基礎教義的教父時代。早期教父活躍的時間比新約成書還要早﹐他們的思想影響著二百年後教會欽定新約的決定。在宗徒時代的教會依賴聖靈顯現的直接指引﹐但在教父時代教會認為依靠不甚可靠的聖靈顯現是危險的事情﹐教會不再強調來自聖靈感動超自然現像﹐慢慢發展出以主教權威代表聖靈指引的教會。在權力的自然規律下﹐必定發展至由一位特定主教擁有教義的最終權威。
這個時期的教會還未有完整神學系統﹐雖然教會已採納使徒信經﹐洗體﹐神自有永有﹐從虛無創造萬物﹐全能神等等慨念﹐但這些教義只定留在信仰和禮儀的層面﹐主要作用區別基督徒與猶太教徒﹐或基督徒與異教徒。在Igantius of Antioch出於對失落的恐懼發展下﹐救贖的觀念也初步形成﹐不過對於耶穌道成肉身的問題仍未解決。跟據Igantius的救贖觀﹐耶穌的工作有雙意義﹐一就是真理﹐二就是生命。在救贖觀中說的這個真理﹐並不是我們現在所理解﹐源於希臘哲學關於客觀世界的真理﹐而是認知上對投入基督﹐大慨與彿家的頓悟類似。在生命的方便﹐早期並不認同靈魂不滅的說法。靈魂並不是永恆的存在﹐靈魂死在天堂享永福是出於神的恩典。
除著早期教會日益發展﹐教會受到當時來自不同方面的攻擊﹐護教運動挺身保障教會的生存空間﹐回答來自四方八面的指控﹐神學就是誕生於護教的需要之中。在眾多攻擊中最嚴重的分別是﹕1. 基督教危害羅馬帝國的安全﹐2.基督教只是無稽的迷信。哲學家Celsus是攻擊基督教的代表人物﹐他對基督教的質疑一直沿用至今天。他是第一個從歷史的角度去質疑新舊約的真確性﹐並指出聖經中互相矛盾的地方。他指出耶穌自導自演的釘十架戲多此一舉﹐神只派獨生子來一趟世界不合常理。面對這些嚴重的指控﹐護教運動主要有三個策略。第一點先要與反對者找出共同的語言﹐討論必須基於一些雙方也接受﹐可以視為基本真理的準則。第二點要指出對方宗教上的不足之處﹐進而第三點說明基督教正好提供那些問題的解決方法。不過現實中護教通常卻流於兩個極端﹐只是重覆申述對方所知道的自由派﹐和頻道不對台對方根本完全聽不明的基要派。
Justin Martyr是眾多的護教者當中最重要的一位﹐他把基督教從宗教提升至哲學的層面。他認為基督的道理是普世性的﹐理論上沒有任何人類已知的真理不在基督教當中。但這不是說基督教已手握直理﹐或只有基督教徒才何以發現真理﹐而是說基督教在本質上與真理相容。因此早期的神學家建設基督教時﹐可以很自由地吸納希臘或東方哲學的精萃。另一論調是基督的教導合乎道德和真理﹐對羅馬帝國不會有危險性﹐反而有利社會的穩定。面對有關神屬性的問題﹐護教者則發展出一套道(Logos)的神學去回應。道是一個十分難明的慨念﹐恕我天資愚魯﹐把那章來回看了幾次也看不明白﹐為免誤導讀者只好略過不寫。
若追溯基督教思想至神學的源頭﹐不難發覺很多我們今天在教會中﹐常常聽到那些習以為常的道理﹐與早期教父最初的版本有所差異。到底是教義經歷二千年的進化﹐教義變得更接近真理﹐還是經過二千年的歲月﹐教義因訛傳訛而被歪曲了呢﹖基督教面對天主教歷史悠久的傳統時﹐總是很喜歡祭出早期教會這塊檔箭牌﹐說天主教歪曲了早期教會的教導﹐他們才是失落宗徒了的傳人。可是基督教中有多少人會去深究﹐他們自己的教義是否乎合教父時代的教義呢﹖