大佬愛美麗

Enter the Pheonix 馮德倫是香港發展最多元化的藝人﹐在幕前他曾經與雷頌德合組Dry樂隊﹐可惜他的歌藝平平﹐樂隊最終以拆伙收場。他曾參與多部電影和電視劇的演出﹐同樣他的演技也不甚出色﹐只靠賣靚仔怎樣也紅不起來。除了業餘表演魔術做得比較出色外﹐他看來沒有什麼觀眾緣。他在幕後倒有不錯的成績﹐他為很多紅歌星擔任唱片監製﹐不過我認為他最勝任的工作是當導演。他是少數能夠拍出叫好又叫座電影的香港新一代導演。「大佬愛美麗」是馮德倫第一套執導的電影﹐當年上映時票房不俗。他在照顧商業需要之餘﹐還展現出一些導演的個人風格。讓人意想不到的幽默橋段﹐大眾但不低俗的搞笑點子﹐奠定了馮德倫日後作品所走的路線。

單看片名中大佬二字﹐就知道「大佬愛美麗」選用是港產片最熱門的題材﹐黑社會。那年流行法國電影「天使愛美麗(Amelia)」,愛美麗二字顧名思義代表女性化﹐兩者合組起來就成為這齣搞笑黑幫片的名字。故事講述黑幫大佬去世﹐欽定在海外留的兒子當接班人。飾演兒子的吳彥祖不想插手社團事務﹐他的好友陳奕迅則自細發夢要當大佬﹐誤打誤撞下被誤認是接班人﹐吳彥祖於是陪陳奕迅回港讓他一償心願。劇情編排特別的地方﹐就是原來吳彥祖是同性戀者。於是一個基的真大佬﹐一個扮基的假大佬﹐捲入一場瘋狂惹笑的江湖仇殺中。諧星杜文澤與羅家英在戲中飾演黑幫高層﹐忠心為主替大佬保守性取向的秘密﹐他們在戲中有很多機會發揮爆笑威力。莫文慧是競爭對手社團的千金﹐對方大佬想用政治婚姻加強兩幫的合作﹐一邊廂女主角愛上真基佬﹐想盡辦法幫他回復正常。另一邊廂假基佬愛上女主角﹐但又要欲拒還迎以免被識破扮基的身份。劇中溤德倫也一過戲癮飾演反派﹐他的戲份不多﹐主要功用只是向一眾主角尋仇﹐好讓打敗壞人來個大團員結局。老實說他真的不懂演戲﹐還是專心當導演好了

同性戀與黑社會這兩個慨念好像格格不入﹐社團中人只會聯想起無惡不作的紋身大漢﹐又或者古惑仔主角的型仔師哥﹐絕不會與娘娘腔的基佬扯上關係。江湖漢子間很著重講義氣兄弟情﹐每每兄弟如手足﹐妻子如衣服﹐比自己的老婆還重要。可是當他們當中有同性戀出現﹐仿忽就會污染肝膽相照的關係﹐越過那一條禁忌的底線﹐在純潔的情義中蒙上黑點。大家一同去按摩焗桑拿肉帛相見會尷尬是小事﹐心理上承受不了被同性愛慕才是大件事。奇怪的是他們可以為兄弟上刀山入火海﹐有今生無來世連命也可以不要﹐卻不能夠接受兄弟的同性愛慕﹐可以為他去死﹐但寧死也不做他的人。所謂的情義其實並不是真心對兄弟好﹐只不過英雄形像的自我意識投射﹐命也可以不要﹐錢也可以不要﹐不過是用來滿足自私的虛榮心罷了。雖然同性戀是這齣戲的主題﹐但劇中吳彥祖除了說話硬裝陰聲細氣外﹐他左看右看也不似基佬﹐未能拍出同性戀者在黑社會中遇到的處境。反而在「江湖救急」中﹐替大佬梁家輝擋了槍的保鏢﹐倒在大佬懷中作愛的告白﹐那個反錯喜劇效果的震撼力則強大得多。

這套電影不是精緻的藝術電影﹐只是一套笑位計算得十分好的商業電影。可是單憑大佬變基佬這條絕橋﹐加上充滿喜劇細胞的導演和演員﹐就已有足夠吸引觀眾收看的魅力了。

Professional sport

I met a professional tennis player over the weekend.  He ranked number 120 in the world and he plays in open competitions.  I thought with his ranking, he would get at least some sponsors.  The reality is tennis is not a very well off professional sport.  Other than his racket, T-shirts, shoes, bags, he does not get any sponsor’s money in his pocket.  There are not much money in tennis.  Individual sport’s pay out is not as good as team sport.  Think about how much money number 120 hockey player or soccer player will make.  Golf got the most sponsorship money among all the individual sports.  The reason is the sponsors get to play golf with the professional players.  Probably golf is the only game the armature can play with the professional at the same time, actually although they are in the golf course at the same time, they are really playing their own games.  When I have kids, I will select carefully on what sport to train him on to maximize the return.  Look at all the professional sports, probably baseball has the best return.  Soccer or hockey player has to retire early, and tends to get lots of injuries, but baseball player can still stay in the field even they well into middle-age and have a big tummy.  Look at how much an average professional tennis player makes, tennis training is not a very good investment on the children.

Disconnected weekend

This weekend I am disconnected.  No internet, no cell phone, no computer, no TV, no radio, no newspaper, nothing that connect me to the rest of the world.  I went to a retreat in Rosemary Height in Surrey.  It is a very beautiful place far away, about an hour drive from Vancouver.  The site is built for the sole purpose of hosting retreats.  It is surrounded by trees, it has lots of greenery, we even see a deer outside our the building.  This retreat is not those cheap retreat or youth camp I used to go to, I no longer have to cramp in a room with 8 other people, we have single rooms with comfortable bed.  The quality of the food is surprisingly good, we even got my favorite dish, roast beef, for dinner.  It is nice to have a relaxing weekend once a while, remove yourself from daily troubles, search deep inside your self for a quiet reflection.  Boring, maybe, but when your schedule is packed solid tight 7 days a week, boring time that you have nothing to do, you cannot do nothing, you don’t even have to think about anything else is a welcome break from the busy life.

Music experiment

I am studying philosophy of art this term, I have been learning difference aesthetic theories from different philosophies. Some think art has universal value that can be appreciated by anyone, some think the value of art is merely how it is framed.

Washington Post has carried out an experiment trying to find the answer. Let’s stripe the frame from the art and see how many people can still appreciate art as it is. The Post arranged the best violinist, Joshua Bell, with his $3.5 million Stradivari violin, be a street performer at a subway exit in morning rush hour. During his one hour performance, 1097 people walked pass the subway exit.  Guess how many people slow down to listen the music and how much money he earn?

The Post would expect there at least a small crowd in front of Bell, his concert ticket costs at least $200, he is really good.  In the end, out of the thousand people walked by, only 7 people stopped to listen and he made $32.17, in which $20 come form the only person recognize who he is.  Yes, someone gave him pennies, but no one applauded.  Almost everyone simply ignored him, filtered out his music as background noise and move on with their own life.

What this experiment tell us?  There are different aspects to analyze the experiment.  Maybe urban people are just too busy to slow down and listen to good music.  Maybe it gives the answer to the age old Zen question: if a great musician plays a great piece of music but no one hears, is he really good?  Maybe it is a good experiment for Bell as a lesson to be humble.  He may worth $1000 a minute in concert hall, but he is just a no body without his fame.  Maybe an art without a frame is not really an art.  What is art?  Really?

The full article can be found here.  It is a bit long, but very thought provoking piece of journal worth spending time to read.

完美小姐進化論

Yamato Nadesico 若果只看宣傳海報和故事簡介﹐少女向唯美主義的角色設計﹐四男一女的典型愛情線佈局﹐醜小鴨變天鵝的老土橋段﹐我一定會以為「完美小姐進化論」只不過是另一套漫畫改篇的少女動畫﹐不值得看。儘管這套動畫的表面證供叫男生敬而遠之﹐內裏其實是男女老幼皆宜的瘋狂爆笑喜劇。這套兩季完二十五集的中篇作品﹐改篇自早川智子的人氣漫畫﹐是套低成本的製作。劇中的配樂來來去去也只是那幾首﹐每集只是很刻板重覆播出﹐是編曲混音去配合劇情也欠奉。最初片頭的只是剪輯併貼劇中鏡頭﹐到了中期才有全新製作的主題曲音樂影像﹐不過也只是拍攝定格圖畫。這套動畫的畫面質素倒很平均﹐沒有外判工序導致人物走樣的問題。製作公司省錢的方法頗有創意﹐很多場面改用簡單線條的Q版人物﹐甚至連樣子也沒有的一舊雲人形也起用﹐節省成本之餘亦建立這作品的獨特風格。這些製作上的缺點絲毫沒有影響欣賞這作品的意慾﹐因為這動畫吸引人的地方﹐是其天馬行空的故事內容﹐幽默抵死極端無厘頭的笑料。我每個星期也下載追看﹐每個星期也有半個小時開懷大笑﹐暫時把生活煩惱忘掉。

「完美小姐進化論」的日文原名是「大和撫子七變化」。大和撫子是日本完美女性的典範﹐亦是女主角中原須內子要改造的目標。須內子原本是個美女﹐因為初中是示愛被拒絕﹐而從此自暴自棄﹐不修邊幅。她的嗜好十分嚇人﹐喜歡恐怖的東西﹐愛收集死屍骷髏骨標本等等﹐加上她長髮披面的打扮﹐常令人誤會她是貞子化身。她的姨姨跨張地有錢﹐擁有一橦大宅租吸四位絕世師哥﹐姨姨決定把須內子她送入大宅內﹐以一年免租去利誘那四位美男子﹐將須內子訓練改造成為絕色淑女。每集的劇情一是圍繞淑女訓練計劃﹐不過每次也都失敗而回﹐一就圍繞是那五人的生活瑣碎事情﹐不過每次也會暴走發展失控﹐結果完全出乎意料之外。除了主角五人外﹐常來串門的還有兩位師哥女朋友的美女﹐將須內子與她們平排一起﹐簡直是天堂對地獄的分別﹐滑稽感特別強烈。這動畫花很多心思在逗觀眾發笑﹐刻意穿插只負責搞笑閒角﹐令人過目不忘是鬼怪蘿莉四人組﹐她們與故事亳無關係﹐只是師哥的追隨者﹐永遠在不適當地方出現﹐做令人汗額的古怪行為。最搶鏡的角色是須內子的好朋友阿博﹐不過阿博是須內子收藏的等高人體解剖模型。每集中間還有搞笑小劇場「通往淑女之路」﹐那兩個打鼓的非洲土人﹐每集也不同裝飾﹐不是出誰的鬼靈精主意。

自舊西片「窈宨淑女」以來﹐絕份大部份醜女變美女的故事﹐也逃不出那個典型公式。男主角與女主角初時時互相鬥氣﹐改造成功搖一變成美女爭回一口氣﹐最終男女主角日久生情墮入愛河大團員結局。開始時「完美小姐進化論」看似得膚淺地強調﹐女孩子要當淑女才有人要的傳統思想﹐因此要把須內子調教為男人心中的完美女人。不過劇情發展下去﹐卻完全反轉這個公式﹐帶出咖一個相反的中心思想。四位師哥費盡心機去改造須內子﹐不單沒能夠成功改造她﹐他們還慢慢地接受須內子的本性。不再盲目地追求虛假外在美﹐發掘出須內子內在美的優點。也許很多人只著看重表面漂不漂亮﹐可是到要相處下來一起生活﹐最重要的還是內心的美麗。帥哥不一定要配美女﹐萬人迷也有萬人迷的煩惱﹐只要真心喜歡關心對方﹐為什麼不可以揀平凡﹐甚至有點古怪的女朋友呢﹖