Blade Runner 銀翼殺手

Blade Runner 在百大經典電影的排行榜上﹐總有些我一直想看的舊電影﹐可是看完後卻會質疑它是否譽過其實。《銀翼殺手》被譽為一代經典科幻電影﹐可是在差不多四分一個世紀後才初看﹐卻覺得這套電影不外如是﹐不明白為什麼可以在電影經典名冊上佔一席位。這套電影由夏理遜福當主角﹐與近期的《奪寶奇兵》第四集比較﹐當年後生的他可比現在瀟洒有型多了。我想《銀翼殺手》所以成為經典電影﹐大慨大半是歸功於其佈景設計﹐朔造出一個十分陰暗無助的未來世界﹐有別以往科幻電影那種光明的未來世界。滿街穿梭往來的飛天車﹐繁華大廈外牆佈滿電視廣告﹐對比地面街道的烏煙瘴氣﹐成為一代黑暗系未來科幻電影的先驅。

電影故事本身很簡單﹐話說未來世界製造大量複製人﹐去從事危險的外太空開發工作。可是由於基因改造的問題﹐複製人只有四年的壽命。有四個複製人從太空逃亡到地球﹐複製人殺手夏理遜福接到任務要消滅他們。那四個複製人到地球的目的﹐是要尋找延長壽命的方法。他們逐個被福伯追殺﹐但複製人的頭領終於通過重重障礙﹐見到製造他們的科學家。可是因為複製基因的限制﹐複製人始終難逃四年的大限。頭領殺了科學家洩憤﹐回到巢穴時遇上前來追殺的福伯。福伯決戰頭領拖戲拖了十多分鐘﹐不過實況其實是福伯只是不停逃命。當頭領正準備送福伯上西天時﹐他忽然大限將至﹐無厘頭諗了首詩就倒下﹐於是福伯拾回一條小命。在追殺複製人的過程中﹐福伯遇上了個新一代的複製人美女。新一代的複製人被植入記憶﹐讓他們以為自己是正常人。當主角遇上美女﹐在電影公式的大前題下﹐他們自然會談戀愛。複製人殺手愛上一個複製人﹐很老套的典型浪漫橋段。完場前福伯接到最後的任務﹐要他殺死複製人美女﹐導演沒有交待結局﹐鏡頭只是影著他們兩人逃走就完場了。

有關這套電影的網上評論一般都很正面﹐除了讚賞電影營造那個未來世界外﹐還有很多說這套電影探討什麼是人這個哲學問題。若果因為複製人沒有成長的記憶不算是人﹐那若把記憶也同樣複製到他們腦中﹐複製人與正常人還有沒有分別呢。電影中分辨複製人與正常人的方法﹐是用類似心理測驗的方法﹐問問題找出複製人感情異常的地方。片中最受爭議之處是在心理測驗中﹐複製人對弱小動物顯出同情心﹐反而正常人則對弱小動物冷漠無情﹐看起來複製人比正常人更有人性。在戲中的複製人也不是大奸大惡﹐他們不過是追求延長生命﹐這是出於任何生物的求生本能。複製公司製造複製人看似不人道﹐不過若果不把複製人當作為人看待﹐他們和製造機械人沒有什麼分別。大慨複製公司的最大罪行﹐是產品質素檢定出了大漏洞﹐售賣只有四年有效日期的產品﹐販賣次貨應該向消費者委員會投訴。有些電影評論質疑福伯的角色其實也是複製人﹐因為戲中他曾對自己的身份感到迷惑。不過我認為這個可能性不高﹐戲中的複製人身手敏捷力量強大﹐平凡身手的福伯看來似是正常人多些。如果福伯真的是複製人﹐恐怕他只是複製公司生產出來的次貨﹐看來不能勝任殺手這個工作。

A break from blog

I haven’t write a single blog entry for the past week. It is not that I am getting lazy or getting tried of blogging. It is that I just move in with Pat and I am so busy trying to make myself home in the new place. Packing everything into boxes only the weekend before the moving day is quite rush and I have to get rid of the extra furniture in very low price. If I could have start selling my furniture earlier, I could get a better price. On the last weekend before the move, what I care is someone remove the pieces, so I can return an empty apartment. Getting some extra money from the furniture sell is my secondary concern.

The move on Monday is pretty smooth. This time I hired a Chinese moving company. Two middle age guys came instead of the young guys from English moving companies. I found older guys is more reliable then young guys. Maybe I am getting old and start not to trust people under 30. It only took them 4 hours to move all my stuffs. The rate is much better than English moving companies. It is almost 50% cheaper than my move last time.

After the move, the living room is full of boxes. Charlie, Pat’s dog, hardly has a piece to move. He is confined to a small area in front of the Kitchen. The bedroom is not much better, all my clothes are still store in my suitcase. The only thing I had set up is my desk and my computer. I found that moving is too overwhelming for me to get some quiet time to blog every night. Writing a blog entry only takes 15 minutes of quiet time, to rethink about what had happened during the day that worth writing down. Having with boxes every where, I spent all my 15 minutes unpacking and settling down. Maybe I should relax and listen to Pat. She said moving is not a project you have to finish with a deadline, while it is a process for you to reconcile with your past. Although my place is still full of boxes, my life should get back to normal. If I can life off with two suitcase in India for two months, I can life off with most of stuffs packed inside two dozens of boxes.

The Peter Principle – Lawrence J. Peter and Raymond Hull

The Peter Principle 這次我去印度工幹﹐放週未時逛書店﹐竟然給我遇上了這本商管奇書《彼得定律》。這本小書只有百來二百頁﹐你不會在MBA看到這本書的內容﹐但書中所描述卻是職場千古不變的真理。可能真相實在顯淺得太過尷尬﹐一般商管書籍索性避而不談﹐當作這個真相並不存在。不過讀者也不要過份認真讀這書﹐始終這本書不是學術著作﹐沒有深奧的理論或數據支持﹐只憑作者的直覺分析﹐得出一個令人恍然大悟的結論。彼得定律的邏輯很簡單﹐就是在一間公司或機構中﹐大部份員工都是無能。因為有能力的員工可以升職﹐直到他們因能力所限不能再住上爬﹐於是每個人都滯留在不能勝任的職位。

這本小書水份甚多﹐簡單的幾個論點可以說上幾十頁紙。作者在申述論點之間﹐加插大量道聽途說的小故事。雖然那些小故事讀起來十分有趣﹐不過立旨內容免未過份冗長重覆。書中除了說明彼得定律外﹐還詳細地分析這條定律對工作的影響﹐以及如何運用這條定律。一個機構不論是公司﹐學校或政府機關﹐其存在意義的並不機構的服務理念﹐而是以機構的繼續存在作為其最終目的。太過無能的員工會被開除﹐因為會直接影響到機構的運作﹐但太過能力出眾的員工也會被開除﹐因為會威脅到機構賴生存的潛規則。不過大部份員工也不屬於這兩個極端﹐稍具能力的員工會被升遷﹐直到超出他的能力笵圍為唯止。至於那些升到無能崗位的員工﹐由於他們對機構並沒有重大威脅﹐所以在一般下情況會被容忍存在﹐不過當然就升職無望了。

當明白沒有機構逃得過彼得定律﹐我們便可以發明對我們有利的應對策略。彼得定律助我們理解升職的潛規則﹐明白從上面拉比從下面推更有效率。所以我們想要升職﹐首先要觀察上司是否已經到道彼得頂點﹐他還沒有升遷的希望。若果不肯往上爬的路給堵塞了﹐便要技巧地向橫發展﹐開拓新的升遷空間。若我們已不幸到達彼得頂點﹐書中教我們保持心理健康的方法﹐不要被工作上的錯敗感打跨。書中亦提供方法防止到達彼得頂點﹐明言拒絕升遷對工作有壞影響﹐所以要很有技巧地防止自己升職。最佳的方法莫過於在重要的工作上勝任讓機構繼續在這個位置重用你﹐但在小事情上糊塗讓上級沒有信心把你升上去﹐這就可以保持工作帶來的滿足感了。不過我認為作者的方法行不通﹐工作的最大滿足感是出糧﹐升職後當然會加人工吧。只要不是太過無能而被公司開除﹐在不能勝任的高職位收多些人工﹐總比在勝任愉快的低職位收少些人工好﹐反正書中有方法教導失敗者保持心理平衡。升至無能的職位便順其自然地無能好了﹐一般無能與公司的生存方針沒有衡突﹐反正受害的只是公司的客人﹐和沒有實際意義的工作效率統計數字。

Possessions

Possessions are different than assets. Asset has monetary value. It is very liquidate, you can turn your asset back into money in no time. Possessions are simply something you own, you may value them very much, but it may worthy nothing to other people. I am moving in with Pat, so I am clean my apartment. I am surprise by amount of things in my little apartment. I have accumulated lots of things over the years. My life in Vancouver is in big contrast with my life in India. I have so many things here, but I am able live off with only two suit cases in India. Sometimes, I wonder how much thing a person really needs, probably not much.

In some African tribes, people don’t have any possessions. They only value things that can be carried with them from one place to another. Human start to have possessions when we settle down in a place and have the means to take all our belongs with us everything we move. In modern society, people love to have many possessions. We just love to own stuffs We keep accumulating furniture, clothes, books, CDs, DVDs, collectibles in our home, although we probably won’t use all of them in foreseeable future. Strictly speaking, possessions are useless things somehow make us happy. I guess all we want is just a sense of ownership.

Canon 450D

Canon 450D

I have been resisting the temptation to get a DSLR camera for a long time. Finally I gave up and bought a DSLR camera, Canon 450D. I used to have a film SLR camera when I was in high school, so I am not new to photography. I just have too many other hobbies such that I could not afford to spent any time or money in picking up photography. Well, the camera is not for myself, it’s for my wife. She lost her pocket camera and she want to get a DSLR like her friends, so I buy her a Canon 450D for her birthday present. I compare quite a few of entry level DSLR cameras. I rule out brands other than Canon and Nikon at once. For DSLR camera, there are the top two brands with most support in term of lens and accessories. Then I narrow it down to the choice of Canon 450D and Nikon 90D, since I don’t want to get last year’s model. In the end, Canon is cheaper than Nikon, so I go for the Canon.

I just take a few test shots using the camera. It is quite light. The body is not too big. It fits my wife’s small hand better than the more professional models with bigger body. The kit len is pretty decent. It is a 18-55mm zoom len with image stabilizer. The only complain is the aperture is not big enough, only F3.5. I haven’t take serious photos for many years, so I have forgot most of my photography skills. So I also bought a book on how to become a good photographers using 450D in 7 days. It has lots of illustration on how to use the camera. I guess the only way to become a good photographer is to practice more.

Since the camera is for my wife, I bought her a nice purple camera bag, which is her favorite color. Somehow she think the camera bag is blue, although it says the bag is purple in the tag. I can’t really tell whether the bag is purple or blue, it’s kinda in between. But if the tag says it’s purple, it must be purple.