Good Night, and Good Luck

Director: George Clooney
Writers: George Clooney, Grant Heslov
Cast: David Strathairn, George Clooney, Patricia Clarkson, Robert Downey Jr.,
Year: 2005
IMDB

Edward R. Murrow: "To those who say people wouldn't look; they wouldn't be interested; they're too complacent, indifferent and insulated, I can only reply: There is, in one reporter's opinion, considerable evidence against that contention. But even if they are right, what have they got to lose? Because if they are right, and this instrument is good for nothing but to entertain, amuse and insulate, then the tube is flickering now and we will soon see that the whole struggle is lost. This instrument can teach, it can illuminate; yes, and it can even inspire. But it can do so only to the extent that humans are determined to use it to those ends. Otherwise it is merely wires and lights in a box. Good night, and good luck."

My Rating: 8/10 

Douglas Kirkland

Catherine Deneuve

Audrey Hepburn

Marilyn Monroe

Elizabeth Taylor

CoCo Chanel

Jack Nicholson

Dennis Hopper

MJ - Thriller

I took some of the photos in the gallery. This is all vanity fair.

飲食男女

導演／編劇：李安
演員：郎雄、歸亞蕾、張艾嘉、吳倩蓮、楊貴媚、王渝文、趙文瑄、陳昭榮
出品：1994

我真的還蠻喜歡這部片的，特別是煮菜的鏡頭。用著中國菜和中國人的飲食文化，配上外國人的荒謬情節，在每一頓飯的時候，宣布自己的"新聞"。李安對於片裡的每個角色也有特別的琢磨，所以就算故事再荒唐觀眾也會因為認同角色，而認同故事裡他們的決擇。這些演員的演出也都很棒，把他們的角色的演得恰當好處。而這"跟著感覺走"的理念，跟伍迪艾倫去年的電影「紐約遇到愛 (Whatever Works)」，似乎有異曲同工之妙。

My Rating: 8/10

Marry Me

It's beautifully well written as usual by John Updike.
However, I found it quite confusing at the end...

Heroes

This song is unbelievably good. The guitar riffs, the synths, the words.

"You can be mean, and I'll drink all the time,
'Cause we're lovers, and that is a fact, Yes we're lovers, and that is that"

Lazy Afternoon Mixtape

這個下午不小心又聽了Weezer，好久沒聽了。聽著聽著發現這些九零年代的搖滾團體還蠻適合這樣的下午，無所事事的慵懶下午。所以決定做一個Mixtape給自己聽，同時也回味以前喜歡的歌。

Simon Larbalestier

these photos are all taken by/from Simon Larbalestier

Horses

i love horses. they are such a beautiful creature. i hope one day i will live in the country in a wooden house, a little lake with some ducks and chicken, a tall tree nearby, and two horses, a mother and a child, eating grass quietly, everything in peace.

Heidi Berry

some say a heart is just like a wheel

when you bend it, you can't mend it...

後現代生活萬歲！

"I think the electronic movement of music was the last great modernist movement. Everything now is kind of post modern, it’s not really going forward it’s looking backwards and taking a lot of influences and taking lots of different genres and mashing them up into attempted new things." - excerpt from OMD interview

這段話的重點在於 - 後現代。活在二十一世紀的我們過的是後現代的生活。不能說現在的人沒有創意，只是感覺好像耗盡了創意，不斷回歷史裡找著那些曾經我們很喜歡的東西，換湯不換藥的再端出來。沒有甚麼事是令我們驚奇的，沒有未來是值得憧憬的。我們過著冰河時期恐龍的日子，吃著其他凍死的動物過日子。

Mamma Roma (1962)

This is all hearts and love. A wonderful film full of true emotions.
Anna Magnani's performance as Mamma Roma is magnificent!
Anna Magnani's performance as Mamma Roma is magnificent!
Anna Magnani's performance as Mamma Roma is magnificent!
Mamma Roma (1962)

The Stranger by Camus

I don't find this book that absurd at all. It's the dark side of the reality, our absurd reality. I like Camus' philosophy of life, ultimately pessimistic and atheism. I was surprised that such a short novel carries so much philosophy, meaning and questions - love, crime, death, justice, friendship, family, marriage, religion, truth... this is a book I'll read over and over again in the future. I found the cartoon quite funny, this scene at the beach, I still can't quite figure why Meursault wants to kill the Arab. Perhaps he has enough "the harmony of the day!"

I especially love how the relationship with Marie was portrayed, I can see a lot of myself in that, except that I care about other people's feeling too much, unlike Meursault. I could not tell those who loved me the true feelings I have, it'd be too brutal. When I read the following passage, I laughed out loud. This cruel honesty has a kind of comical sense to it, because I can understand him so well.

That evening Marie came by to see me and asked me if I wanted to marry her. I said it didn’t make any difference to me and that we could if she wanted to. Then she wanted to know if I loved her. I answered the same way I had the last time, that it didn’t mean anything but that I probably didn’t love her. "So why marry me, then?" she said. I explained to her that it didn’t really matter and that if she wanted to, we could get married. […] Then she pointed out that marriage was a serious thing. I said, "No."

Doctor Zhivago

This is epic, in terms of cinematography, music, costumes, setting design.
It's just a very very beautiful film to watch.
The cast is quite something too. Omar somehow reminds me of Marcello. Julie Christie is simply amazing, blonde hair with blue eyes, what a beauty she is. Also Rita, who can forget her youthful look with those huge eyes (the other film I saw her was A Taste of Honey).

Doctor Zhivago (1965)

Come Back From San Francisco tab

Recently, this lovely song by The Magnetic Fields has stuck in my head, and I tried to play it on my acoustic guitar. But I couldn't find any proper tab, so I did my own version of the song. This is definitely not exact as how it was played, but sounds okay to me. By all means, I am far from a good guitar player, and this is my first tabbing, so... feel welcomed to variate yourself or correct my mistakes.

But after seeing this cover on youtube, I feel so ashamed to even post my tab, so i shall hide it...

Life is a Mix Tape Vol 8: Blue

鬱卒歌單。

Barry Morgan from the World of Organs

兩本書

兩個月前看完了村上春樹的這本關於跑步的回憶錄。差不多兩個禮拜前，看完了 Robert Altman 的 Short Cuts。自然而然的就會想去找 Raymond Carver 的作品來看。村上這本書的書名也是取自 Raymond Carver 的小說 What I Talk About When I Talk About Love。這本我還沒看，因為圖書館裡沒有。所以先找了電影原本的小說來看。書跟電影差的還蠻多的，但是兩個作品都很棒。不過我想 Robert Altman 真的有把 Raymond Carver 書裡的精神拍進電影裡。那精神就是描寫市郊區的生活，在關著窗戶後的每一戶人家過著甚麼樣的生活。我很喜歡 Raymond Carver 用的極簡文字，光是幾句話就可以把複雜的情緒說得一清二楚。我好想看村上的新作品 1Q84。還有好多書要看啊！

You you you you you you...

My favourite slow jam.
By Janelle Monáe and Scar

Splendour In The Grass 2010 Part IV

Day Three:

酒吧音樂

暗巷裡的酒吧，霓虹燈一閃一閃著 Ric's Bar，外面只有一顆燈泡在門口上微弱的亮著。坐在門口的老伯靠在牆壁上打瞌睡。我小心翼翼的開門進去，試著不吵醒老伯。

酒吧裡的客人只有三個，一個穿著黑色大衣中年男子，抽著菸喝著威士忌。另外兩個是對情侶，很明顯的，這個男生才剛認識這個女生，說著所有他能想到的事情只為了逗那位年輕的女生笑。

我走到吧檯，點了杯啤酒，問了酒保今晚有沒有表演。他微笑著不回答我，像是知道了我不為人知的祕密般似的。我接過酒保的啤酒大大的喝了一口，一陣冷顫串過我的身體。我應該點威士忌的，至少天氣這麼冷可以暖暖身子。

鋼琴聲響起了，我轉過頭往舞台看。Tom Waits 坐在鋼琴上彈著非常慢的曲調，菸還夾在他的指間。燈光照在他身上，嘴裡吐出一團團的煙霧，漸漸散開，融入了周圍的黑暗。在旁的貝斯手和薩克斯風手，隨著鋼琴的節奏慢慢的加入。嘻笑的情侶也安靜下來，這個世界都安靜下來，只剩下湯姆等待先生的歌聲，和他的酒吧音樂。

The Magnetic Fields - 69 Love Songs

這世界上只有The Magnetic Fields可以做出這樣的事 －

發行一張 69 首關於愛的歌曲的專輯。

Does Not Suffice

It does not suffice to merely lie beside each other

As those who love each other do

只是像那些相愛的人，躺在彼此身旁是不足夠的

And everywhere I tried to love you

Is yours again and only yours

到處我試著愛你，我是你的，只屬於你的。

I Vitelloni (1953)

Sometimes magic happens. 
Just like how I watched this film.

I Vitelloni (1953)

Ran (1985)

Pierrot le fou (1965)

Godard said of Pierrot Le Fou that "it is not really a film, it's an attempt at cinema. Life is the subject, with [Cinema]Scope and color as its attributes...In short, life filling the screen as a tap fills bathtub that is simultaneously emptying at the same rate."

That Obscure Object of Desire (1977)

Basically, this is kind of what I have been through myself in real life. Even though the girl I encountered didn't appear with two different faces, but deep down she has two sides of her - one saying she loves you so much; another side teasing you. Although she isn't as bad as Conchita in this film, and I'm not as rich or old as Mathieu, however from the male point of view, when she's doing these things to you, it all feels very much similar. The title "That Obscure Object of Desire" says it all. What do your desire when you're in a relationship? Eternal love? Physical pleasures? Money? It's all very obscure. What do you want? What I want? How do we fulfill or compromise with each other? Luis Buñuel shows these problems, disturbs our reality with his surreal visions, forces us to questions ourselves. This is a very remarkable achievement by someone who has been doing that for all his life. Enough said, it is often not a pleasurable viewing experience with his films.  If I never have personal experiences, I wouldn't relate to this film as much, and like it as much.

That Obscure Object of Desire (1977)