電影

大內密探零零狗

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周星馳的「大內密探零零發」是港產喜劇的經典﹐十多年後導演王晶竟然自己抄自己﹐換上古天樂和徐熙蕾作主角﹐源用舊有故事公式配上王晶式的招牌笑料﹐炒出一碟山寨版「大內密探零零狗」。這次翻拍大內密探﹐很難與周星馳版本作比較﹐反正看王晶的電影不會有任何期望﹐笑足九十分鐘散場便算合格收貨。

故事照舊無聊﹐橋段照舊搞笑胡鬧﹐場面照舊粗製濫造。可惜無復當年的精警對白﹐舊作西門吹雪決戰葉孤城一段﹐每次回想起來也不禁發笑。這套電影的笑料很行貨﹐看了多年港產片的觀眾﹐很容易估到下一個笑位會是什麼。不過橋不怕舊最緊要受﹐這些夾硬逗人笑的點子﹐雖然已經看過無數次﹐使出還是會能令人開懷大笑。

不知香港影壇的男明星去了那兒﹐怎麼我最近看的港產片﹐套套也是古天樂當主角。吳君如其實只是客串演出﹐海報卻把她當正女主角﹐不過她的確是戲中的靈魂人物﹐西宮娘娘比零零狗還好笑。最扺死是她與國舅討論篡位那場戲﹐說當皇帝無錢又無女人﹐不知何解還這麼多人爭著想做。十二大內密探也是戲中焦點﹐肥仔聰演師弟比古天樂還搶戲。戲中其他女星我全不認識﹐反正王晶電影例牌多靚女新人﹐也不用深究那些女星誰是誰。大S用廣東話配音有點怪怪的感覺﹐我寧可聽她說國語。

大內密探系列電影的構思很有趣亦真實﹐在以論武功比高強的武俠世界中﹐完全不會武功不能打的科學家﹐只靠聰明頭腦發明威力驚人的武器﹐輕易地打敗辛苦練功數十年的武林高人。在歷史中以新科技戰勝武功高強的敵人的例子府拾皆是﹐中世紀英國發明十字弓﹐讓沒有受過訓練的農民﹐也可以較易打倒訓練經年的騎士﹐不單讓英國成為歐洲軍事大國﹐亦直接導成騎士的未日。火槍的發明更讓劍術從實戰技巧淪體育運動﹐電影中零零狗最後就是以火槍大破曹公公。可惜電影中的所謂高技術武器﹐只停留在兒戲馬虎的階段﹐若果可以作多些認真科學考究﹐便能做到娛樂與教育並重﹐像日本漫書「亞基米德之鏡」一樣。

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Christmas Dinner Crossword Game 2009

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This year, I and Pat created a crossword puzzle game for the Christmas dinner. The clues are Bible knowledge about the nativity and general knowledge about Christmas. I will publish the answer after Christmas. Have fun.

Across

  1. (Nativity) Fill in the word for “Angels we Have Heard on High-Gloria in excelsis _____”
  2. (General) What is Santa Claus’ Postal Code in Canada?
  3. (General) Which company was the first to use Santa Claus in advertisement?
  4. (Nativity) Bethelem means “House of ______”.
  5. (Nativity) In Joseph’s dream, where does the angel tell them to return home safely?
  6. (General) What’s the name of Santa’s reindeer start with letter V?
  7. (Nativity) What word means “God is with us”.
  8. (General) What color is the Grinch?
  9. (Nativity) Name the song from the verse: “Round yon Virgin, Mother and child”

Down

  1. (Nativity) What did the Three Kings of the East see so that they know where Jesus was born?
  2. (General) Who wrote “A Christmas Carol”?
  3. (Nativity) What is the name of the King who ordered to kill baby Jesus?
  4. (General) What snack is often left out for Santa?
  5. (Nativity) Jesus’ ancestor is King ____
  6. (General) What kind of Christmas does Elvis Presley sings about?
  7. (General) Which ocean is Christmas Island located?
  8. (General) What color are mistle toe berries?
  9. (Nativity) Angel appears and ask Joseph, “Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a ___, and they shall name him Emmanuel”
  10. (Genernal) What is the holiday drink that contains sugar, milk and eggs?
  11. (Nativity) To where does the angel tell Joseph to bring baby Jesus to flee?

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電影

竊聽風雲

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零二年麥兆煇和強聯手編劇﹐創造出「無間道」的港產片奇蹟﹐還給荷里活買了版權回去翻拍﹐令我對他們二人再次合作充滿期望。這次「竊聽風雲」仍然以警隊的故事為骨幹﹐有劉德華和梁朝偉兩大影帝﹐三個男主角換好戲之人﹐劉青雲﹐古天樂和吳彥祖。電影的氣氛緊張捉摸到觀眾心理﹐有幾幕天台的場面帶著「無間道」的影子。可惜故事主線反駁之處太多﹐為迎合大陸審批結局十分牽強﹐令這套電影的可觀性大太折扣。

老中青三個男主角隸屬警察監聽組﹐在竊聽一宗商業罪案時﹐無意中聽到內幕交易的機密。三人私下刪除監聽記錄﹐借消息來炒股票圖利。怎料內幕交易出了亂子﹐他們要在身為警察的正義感與保本離場之間作出決擇。以為想到一個兩全其美的方法﹐怎知一個新的錯誤掩飾舊的錯誤﹐一個謊言衍生另一個謊言﹐事情越鬧越大越發不可收拾。

在電影的預告片中﹐不繼重覆「呃﹐就要呃到底」這句台詞﹐或許只是呃還不足夠﹐要壞也要壞到底。原本他們計劃可以暵天過海﹐怎料得知內幕交易中的殺人陰謀。若上報警方可以防止殺人﹐但股價必定大跌令他們損失慘重。如果詐看不見就手傍觀﹐他們便可以搭便車賺大錢。古天樂便說反正死的也是壞人﹐又不是他們親手殺人不關他們事。劉青雲便搬出警察的責任心出來﹐說好歹也是一條人命。原本這是一個很有思考意義的道德難題﹐見殺不救與殺人是否有相同的道德責任﹐可惜編劇為舖排後來劇情的發展﹐讓他們出作最愚蠢的選擇﹐親身犯險介入事件綁架救人。

他們的道德底線像一般人一樣﹐認為偷幾個錢沒有大不了﹐搞出人命便會良心受責。到後來他們被點相尋仇大難不死﹐古劉二人要報滅門之仇﹐繞過法律去動用私刑制裁大壞蛋﹐又把警察的責任心和人命的價值丟到九宵之外。悲劇的產生除了出於他們的愚蠢﹐不聽陸叔話買內幕貼士股票不能留過夜﹐綁架行動不先查清楚目標數目﹐又犯下大忌自我暴露容貌被人點相外。更深層的原因是他們沒有完整的道德價值觀﹐不加思考只懂按本能作出反應﹐令內在價值前後矛盾影響判斷能力。如果他們讀過道德哲學﹐能夠清楚理解moral agent與causality的關係﹐便不會因良心受責作出胡亂的決定﹐當然這也沒有戲唱下去拍不成電影了。

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Flexible hours

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Last year, I was invite to give a talk to grade six student on career day about my work. A student asked me what is the working hours like. I told him engineers work flexible hours. They don’t understand what’s flexible hours, so the teacher explained to them that I can come to work any time I like, go home any time I like and take breaks as much as I want. The idea of flexible hours seems novel to the students and they all say that’s cool. Then the teacher use the chance to teach them the importance of time management. Maybe I should tell the students, flexible hours is not cool in reality.

Flexible hours does not mean shorter hours, in fact it is often longer hours. Engineers’ work is project based, as long as we meet the dead line and show up in the meeting, to some extend we have the freedom of when and where to work. In other nine to five jobs, they have day in day out tasks. If you take a day off or have a sick day, someone have already covered your work for you. But in our job, if you take a day off, your tasks are still sitting there waiting for you come back and finish them. I end up working extra hours before my vacation so I can get all my the tasks out of my way. The only time I enjoy flexible hours is down time between projects. I can take the benefit of flexible hours by having a shorter work day if I don’t have much to do.