2022年6月22日星期三

Scary Place: China

  1.  NYtimes has posted this report on the Chinese government's surveillance technology.  It's scary.  
  2. The video is 15 minutes long, but it tells you the dimension of China's surveillance state today.  
Watch out here: Link

For other surveillance reports on China, check here: Link

2022年6月3日星期五

The Kingmaker (2019)

It's so sick to watch this documentary, this woman, this country ...And it's even worst is looking at my own place --  Hong Kong is approaching being like it. 

//“Look, I am no longer the first lady.  I am not even allowed to go around the world anymore.  They prohibit me. … I have money in 170 banks and deposits of assets.  I cannot even have them.  And I, even at this stage, even at my age, I can go around the world and bring world peace.  I befriended all of them.  Gaddafi was a friend.  Um, Saddam Hussein.  Mister, um …Mao Tse-tung. I just gave respect to him.  He looked at my hand and kissed it.  In five minutes, he said, “Mrs. Marcos, you started the end of the Cold War.  In five minutes - Mao! So, who is Imelda? ” // 

// “Martial law, that was the best years of Marcos because that was when he was able to give the Philippines sovereignty, freedom, justice, human rights.”//


Review: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/dec/12/the-kingmaker-imelda-marcos-philippines-documentary-lauren-greenfield




2022年5月27日星期五

頤和園 Summer Palace (2006)

  1. 真的很好看。一定是第六代導演最佳電影。
  2. 郝雷表演精彩,為這部電影增添更多色彩。
  3. 群眾演員之多,一個年青導演可以拍得這麼緊湊,真的是天才。
  4. 全片兩個多小時,沒有多餘的一個鏡頭,沒有多餘的對白。竟然還想他再拍長一點,說多一點。
  5. 音樂也很配電影的節奏、情緒。
  6. 好像真的是完美的電影。
  7. 余紅對待愛情永遠超前一步,來得快去得也快,總是讓自己很痛苦,最終卻依然執著一段錯過的愛情。這是不是有點在照鏡子?


2022年4月16日星期六

Journey From The Fall (2006)

  • It's heartbreaking to watch this film! 
  • The boat people and the victims in the re-education camp! 
  • People in Hong Kong are having similar experiences, although in a less harmful way - still, it's heartbroken.  
  • Did the communist regime ever do good to their people?  





2022年4月5日星期二

Rudyard Kipling - If 假如

 If

假如

Rudyard Kipling


If you can keep your head when all about you

假如舉世倉皇失措,人人怪你,而你能保持冷靜;

Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;


If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,

假如舉世見疑,而你能相信自已,還能原讓他們的懷疑;

But make allowance for their doubting too;


If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

假如你能等待,而不怕等得累,

Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,

或受謗時不屑以牙還牙,

Or, being hated, don't give way to hating,

或被恨時不怨天憂人,

And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

然而別看來太好,話也別講得太聰明;

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;

假如你能作夢——而不成為夢的奴隸;

If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;

假如你能思考——而不只以思老為目的,

If you can meet with triumph and disaster

假如你能面對勝利和慘敗,而把這兩個騙子一視同仁;

And treat those two impostors just the same;


If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken

假如你聽到你講的真話給壞蛋歪曲了去陷害蠢人,卻仍能泰然自持,

Twiseted by knaves to make a trap for fools,


Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,

或者你看到你曾拼命維護的珍貴東西破碎了而仍能彎下腰用陳舊的工具去修理;

And stoop and build 'em up with wornout tools;


If you can make one heap of all your winnings

如果在你把你贏的一大堆錢全部孤注一擲而不幸輸掉,

And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,


And lose, and start again at your beginnings

但仍能從頭幹起,並對你的失利三緘其口;

And never breathe a word about your loss;


If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew

假如你能強迫你的心、勇氣和體力,

To serve your turn long after they are gone,

在它們早已枯竭時為你效勞,

And so hold on when there is nothing in you

因此當你一無所有,

Except for the Will which says to them: "Hold on!";

只剩下吩咐它們:「撑下去!」的意志時,你就這樣撑下去;

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,

假如你能跟群眾講話而仍保持你的美徳,

Or walk with Kings -nor lose the common touch;

或者與帝王同行而不忘群眾,

If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;

假如敵人或摯友都不能傷害你,

If all men count with you, but none too much;

假如人人都依賴你,但沒有一個期望過奢;

If you can fill the unforgiving minute

假如你能用相等於六十秒的奔跑來填補毫不容情的一分鐘,

With sixty seconds worth of distance run -


Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,

地球和它所有的一切,就是屬於你的,

And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son!

而且——更重要的是——

兒啊!你將是個男子漢。

2022年4月2日星期六

The Criterion Challenge 2022 經典挑戰2022 [Keep Updated]

2021 年很失敗,只完成了三星期,然後什麼也沒有跟。2021年的challenge list ,在這裡看。

2022年,我決定再跟這個list,再來一次,可以的話,再補回去年的。


Helpful links:

The Complete Criterion Collection

The Criterion Collection by Spine Number

Every Film Available on The Criterion Channel

1. Watch a movie from the year you were born.  -IN THE REALM OF THE SENSES (Jan 2, 2022) ★★★★★

2. 1920s - The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog (1927) (Jan 7, 2022) ★★★★★

3. 1930s - The 39 Steps (Jan 8, 2022) ★★★★★

4. 1940s - Rope (1948)  (Jan 30, 2022) ★★★★★

5. 1950s - No Way Out ★★★★ (Jan 9, 2022) 

6. 1960s - Torn Curtain (1966) ★★★ 1/2(Jan 22, 2022) 

7. 1970s - Family Plot (1976) ★★★★★ (Jan 19, 2022)

8. 1980s - 

9. 1990s - The Virgin Suicides (1999) ★★★★★ (Jan 30, 2022) 

10. 2000s

11. 2010s - 

12. Genre: War

13. Genre: Science Fiction

14. Genre: Musical/Music Themed

15. Watch a film by a director whose work you haven't seen before

16. Directed by Chantal Akerman (Directed by Chantal Akerman)

17. Directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder (Directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder)

18. Directed by Wong Kar-wai (Directed by Wong Kar-wai) - Days of Being Wild ★★★★★ (April 1st, 2022) 

19. Directed by Claire Denis (Directed by Claire Denis)

20. Isabel Sandoval's Top 10 (Isabel Sandoval’s Top 10)

21. Bill Hader's Top 10 (Bill Hader’s Top 10)

22. Ana Lily Amirpour's Top 10 (Ana Lily Amirpour’s Top 10)

23. Richard Linklater's Top 10 (Richard Linklater’s Top 10)

24. Made in the United States - Marnie (1964) 

25. Made in Poland

26. Made in Iran

27. Made in Mexico

28. Made in Senegal

29. Watch a film that has an out of print physical release (Out of Print Criterion Releases)

30. Watch a film from the "America Lost and Found: The BBS Story" collection (America Lost and Found: The BBS Story)

31. Watch a film with a spine #1-100 (Criterion Collection by Spine Number)

32. Watch a film with a spine #500-600 (Criterion Collection by Spine Number)

33. Cannes Film Festival Winners (Cannes’s Big Winners)

34. Midnight Madness: Watch a cult classic (Midnight Madness)

35. Growing Pains: Watch a coming of age film (Growing Pains)

36. Stage to Screen: Watch a stage adaptation (Stage to Screen)

37. Out at Criterion: Watch an LGBTQ film (Out at Criterion)

38. Watch a film on the Summer Travels list (Summer Travels)

39. Watch a film on the Hollywood Classics list (Hollywood Classics)

40. Watch a film from the Animation Before the 2000s list (Animation Before the 2000s)

41. Starring Catherine Deneuve (Starring Catherine Deneuve)

42. Starring Anna Karina (Starring Anna Karina)

43. Starring Jeanne Moreau (Starring Jeanne Moreau)

44. Paul Dano's Closet Picks (Paul Dano’s Closet Picks )

45. Ethan Hawke and Jonathan Marc Sherman's Closet Picks ( Ethan Hawke and Jonathan Marc Sherman’s Closet Picks )

46. Michael K. Williams’ Closet Picks (Michael K. Williams’ Closet Picks)

47. Sean Baker's Closet Picks (Sean Baker’s Closet Picks)

48. Amy Heckerling's Closet Picks (Amy Heckerling’s Closet Picks)

49. Agnes Varda's Closet Picks (Agnès Varda’s Closet Picks)

50. Random number generator (Google random number generator, set values from 1 to whatever number Criterion has listed last here. This number will change as more releases are announced so please keep up to date by using the link I have provided as I will not be updating each time Criterion makes announcements. Watch whatever movie corresponds to the spine number you are given.)

51. Watch a film featured in any of the Essential Art House box sets (Essential Art House Films)

52. Any Criterion film on your watchlist - Rear Windo (1954)