Daily Scribble

US election

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After a full day of bombardment of the election news, the US finally got a new president. I am so tired of the US election. There are endless news coverage everyday since the beginning of the primaries almost a year ago. The Americans take really long to make up their mind. The Canadian election system is much more efficient. We only take a month from beginning to finish. The longer the campaign, the more the candidate talking about non-sense and contradicting himself. It does not take much time for the voters to read the policy and get to know the candidate. Throw in a couple of debates among the candidates should give the voters a very clear idea on whom they should vote for. The extra months spent in the campaign are just spending empty wheels going no where. The election news morph into something like a TV drama that everyone follows. Instead of serving its function to select our government, the election degrade to some kind of entertainment.

Obama has won, just as everyone expected. If I were an American, I would vote for him too. Not because I like his policy, given that the The US policy is pretty much bounded by actual domestic or foreign constraints. The president may dress the policy with different rhetorical, but the content can’t deviate too much from the reality. I vote for him because he is black. It is cool to see a black US president. A black man gain the top job in America would be the perfect illustration on the end of racial discrimination. It shows the meritocracy system that is the founding US ideology really works. Obama shows the foot steps to the blacks about how to raise to the top. Forget about the so-call black culture, embrace the mainstream elitism culture. Other than his skin color, there is no cultural difference between Obama and the traditional ruling elite. A minority become the president is only feasible in American’s melting pot cultural policy. In a country with multicultural policy, a minority will always be a minority because he is encourage to become part of the mainstream.

電影

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull 奪寶奇兵之水晶骷髏國

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Indiana Jones 4 一連兩天都寫福伯夏理遜福的電影﹐昨天評論過他二十多年前的舊作Blade Runner﹐今天評論他最新的作品《奪寶奇兵之水晶骷髏國》。《奪寶奇兵》三部曲可以說得上是冒險電影的經典﹐今次佐治魯卡斯與史提分史匹堡再度攜手合作﹐讓我對《奪寶奇兵》第四集有很大期望。沒錯這套電影依然是《奪寶奇兵》﹐有鐘博士的招牌動作﹐ 有驚險刺激的追逐大場面﹐特技鏡頭和場面設計悅目好看。福伯雖已年過六十仍然打得睇得﹐比在戲中飾演他兒子的靚子更有型。可惜與以前的《奪寶奇兵》相比﹐今集的故事失色過份牽強胡扯﹐成為鐘博士重出江湖的一大敗筆。

故事內容實在太過無聊﹐鐘博士先忽然跑了個兒子出來﹐又忽然跑了個老相好舊情人出來。年輕時鐘博士的對手是納粹德軍﹐年老了則換上冷戰時期的蘇聯。美國軍方的保安寬鬆得過份﹐那個基地的貨倉看來堆滿寶物﹐竟然連衛兵也沒有多個﹐任由整隊紅軍自出自入。電單車橫衝直撞那一場戲﹐非常有史匹堡的風格﹐讓我聯想起《回到未來》那場滑板追逐戲。最精彩那場動作是阿馬遜大逃亡﹐單是看那十幾分鐘的場面已值回票價。鐘博士一行人和蘇聯美女博士﹐從美國到南美追了半個地球﹐只不過是為了個外星人留下來的水晶骷髏頭。嚴格來說這次鐘博士不是去尋寶﹐而是要把寶物物歸原主。到了結尾解開謎團時﹐我差點以為自己是在看衛斯理而不是看鐘博士﹐虧魯卡斯想出南美古城藏有外星人的飛船這種老套的橋段﹐這種級數的故事給X-Files也嫌無聊過時。外星人的飛船看似威力強大﹐怎樣這麼多年什麼也不做﹐就是在乾等個有心人把水晶骷髏送回來。不見了個骷髏頭﹐不會自己派機械人去找回來嗎。人家好心把失物送回來﹐連多謝也不說一聲就走人﹐這些外星人真的很沒禮貌。

以前幾集《奪寶奇兵》的故事﹐不止是尋寶冒險這麼簡單。第一集的約櫃傳說力量﹐第三集保護聖杯的騎士團﹐皆與尋寶的過程有密切關係。寶物本身是吸引觀眾的重要元素﹐從電影開場便佈下伏線﹐讓觀眾跟隨著鐘博士一路解開寶藏的謎題。今次的寶藏與電影故事本身沒有連貫性﹐電影中段忽然出現的水晶骷髏﹐結尾又忽然出現的太空船﹐讓觀眾完全摸不著頭腦。當寶藏變成一個可以任意取代的符號﹐成為讓導演賣弄動作場面的藉口。這個外星人水晶骷髏頭寶藏﹐比Nicolas Cage《國家寶藏》系列的寶藏還不如。《國家寶藏》的寶藏雖然很被動地躺在那裏等人找到﹐至少能恰如其份作一個寶藏應有的功用。其實《奪寶奇兵》一直也是尋找聖經寶藏﹐先後然摩西的約櫃和最後晚餐的聖杯﹐與其故弄玄虛攪外星人的水晶骷髏﹐倒不如繼續源用聖經寶藏﹐尋找刺十架上耶穌的朗基努斯之槍﹐至少有關這槍的傳說比無厘頭的水晶骷髏引人入勝多了。

電影

Blade Runner 銀翼殺手

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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。

Daily Scribble

A break from blog

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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.

書評

The Peter Principle – Lawrence J. Peter and Raymond Hull

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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。