TT's Factory

National Exam Days Again

2011-06-06T22:38:00.007-05:00

Today in China starts the day that determining many young people's life and and ends many young people's suffer. It is the first day of the national college entrance exam, and estimated hundreds millions Chinese students will take this exam on June 7th and June 8th.

The first image is the anxious waiting parents in front of the school gate in Shanghai as I can clearly remember my Mom did many many years ago.

The last two images are in a high school in Shenzhen, students throw off 150,000 piece of test papers in celebration that the exam finally comes (after whole 3 year prep). They cleaned the campus afterwards.

Good luck to all the young students.

Descanso Garden

2011-05-14T14:42:00.000-05:00

Photos taken from the Descanso Garden, Canon A610.

The Wedding Mania

2011-04-26T02:28:00.012-05:00

Even as a person who does not have a television, relying on 10 minutes NPR and several check of Twitter for news update, has finally realized how overwhelming this royal wedding is, in terms of it's media coverage.

The first British Royal wedding in the YouTube age, People magazine already launched a "Royal Watch" iPad app cost 7.99$. But what impressed me is how ambitious traditional media is on the coverage. The Advertising Age reports that and TLC will show 89 hours of oryal-related programming this week, CBS has sent off anchor Katie Couric for three nights live evening news (04/04, 2011). Of course, ABC, NBS, MSNBC, CNN, etc have almost the same extensive coverage.

Surprisingly, I found Chinese press is very low key about it. I cant even find a special editorial session on those portal websites. Only one Shanghai based English channel claims will live broadcast the wedding. Why THE romantic royal fairytale happy ending story was not well covered, even less coverage than a local celebrity wedding in Hainan province?

Just personal speculation: It's still a political event and the media have already received notice to be cautious on the coverage. To further explain, from the coverage of celebrity wedding, it is obvious that people like to read and comment on weddings at this Wei-Bo age. And this year, as the 100 year anniversary of Xin-Hi Revolution, which ended the feudalism and Sun Yatsen founded the historically called Republic of China. So people in Taiwan considers this is a very auspicious year and continuous coverage on the Taiwan celebrity wedding seems never ends. There's no reason the media is so unresponsive to this royal wedding other than special note.

Another thought is generally this culture is not cultivated by the royal tradition like the Europeans or the US ancestor. The event did not resonate too much to the audience since it is too far for day dream than a local celebrity. People do have the happy ending wish but rarely understand the British royal culture and it's meaning. For most people, it's just another luxury wedding and this is what I have read on the news, calculating the finance perspective rather than fantasize the wedding.

However, still, there are some people in China are extremely active on this news. I've read at least three different ceramic manufactures all claim they are chosen by the royal family to manufacture the dishes and gifts for the wedding. UK is not the only country that tries to make money out of this event. The same as Chinese, and even better, without paying anything for it.

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Will Facebook lose face in China

2011-04-18T02:03:00.007-05:00

When the movie Social Network became Golden Globe Nominee and Oscar Nominee, Chinese fans made the following Chinese version poster "Everything happens in this movie is coincidental. All websites mentioned are made-up by the writers, please do not try to access, especially facebook.com." And of course, the movie about a website to many Chinese that never existed will not be released in China. But the website now seems to have a chance.

Last year we saw Mark Zuckerberg's China visit photo all over Chinese SNS, and his guide is Li-Yanhong, CEO of the dominant search engine Bai-Du. It stirred some speculation about the partnership. Now April 2011, rumors come again. Rumor here and there say that Facebook has made a contract with Baidu to enter China market by the end of 2011 the earliest.

How to work with the rigorous censorship, not repeating the same road of Google has been a main concern from US press. But after so many years, I totally believe BaiDu's emergency responding system to delete any sensitive posts. The partnership with Baidu will probably secure Facebook from making any politically wrong mistakes. Plus, I really don't see too many people talking about politics on social network sites as on microblog. My interest is if it can change the content of the SNS in China.

Right now, either Kaixin or RenRen, two major SNS lack original personal content. In the US Facebook is known for its user personality. But in China, most people will only forward (even not copy & past) other people's content, and even worse, most them are gossip news from TMZ kinda websites, just startling titles and sensual photos. Ren Ren might be better than Kaixin from my observation, but still reading the same posts most the time. If Facebook can fundamentally encourage people to share their own photos and thoughts that will change the current SNS quandary. There are many ways, through better mobile interface/site interface or campaign (so many "talented" Internet writers in China). Though it is indeed challenging in a country where no copyright laws (or laws in general) and people are enthusiasm about human powered search and ethic judgement ruthlessly.

Eventually, the worst thing could happen is not Facebook retreats from China mainland market but becomes a GFWed Facebook. The lethal rumor I heard is that Facebook will just make a Chinese version which is not connected to the global database. It will be so disappointing that Facebook completely surrenders to Chinese media censorship and GFW without even trying. That is totally losing face.

6 Reasons China must qualify for 2014 Brazil WorldCup

2010-07-14T02:10:00.009-05:00

Finally get back to track, will keep update regularly, yet can't say how regular it is, targeting a weekly update. But I have the best reason that I was not updating last month, the 2010 World Cup.

It is such a big thing for Chinese, even we've only being qualified for one time in the whole World Cup history, and not because of our strength but thanks to Japan/Korea who were hosting that year, therefore we got one more quote for Asian team. I remember that year I was in high school and we stopped the class to watch the game, which China lost 0-4 to Brazil.

This year, again, China did not advance to the final 32. Seeing all these enthusiasm from fans, just really think China must bear the "if not win go to coal mining " oath to advance in the final 32 in 2014 Brazil for the following reasons:

Promote nationalism. Nationalism is always a core value to promote as seen in any media products controlled by central government, yet this every four year sports event is probably the best opportunity to do so. Especially when World Cup has been interpreted with political references, as a low rank team, if China can compete with traditionally strong European teams or South America teams and even win a game, it will bring the confidence that cant be achieved anywhere else.
Harmonious society. Another core value. During this World Cup month, Chinese media forget the flooding, the drought, the coal mine explosion, all the front pages are covered by World Cup teams, players, their girl friends and wives. So do Internet users. Forget all the social problems, all of us are totally get entertained by the game. This is just what being dreamed by the SARFT.
Economy Boost. The news says Spain's TV rating hits the highest record since the team first time advanced to the Final and won the trophy. The total audience reached about 15.6 million. China, on the other hand, totally not of our business but we contributed 52 million audiences in the month. Imagine if China ever wins the game, how many commercials broadcasters can sell and how many beer we can drink.
Chinese Brand. Even this year, we've seen Ying-Li, this Chinese energy company's ad board in every single game. Imagine if China team gets there, how many companies will be eager to sponsor the game and promote their brand.
Grassroot spirits. Since modern professional football starts from the low-income working class in England, it still shares this grassroot identity and local awareness even though some international clubs are highly commercialized. Football still brings this hard-working spirit. It can inspire some workers in southern Chinese factories, like the Faxconn, to dream something or expect something than hopelessly work the the cents.
Professional League. If some points above are some kinda of joking, this is crucial. Anyhow, the ultimate goal is not just the World Cup but the professional league that can nature talents, bring progress, win fans' respect and make money.

This is my first time watch Word Cup outside China, in a place where very few people have passion for football. It's kinda lonely but the contrast really shows the energy, the passion from Chinese audiences. Hoping China can get into the world cup final groups is kinda wishing all these can be paid back.

Brilliant Parody: The War of Internet Addiction

2010-02-19T01:18:00.011-06:00

Last month’s Wired ran the article “The Lost Boy” by Christopher S. Stewart, about a boy who was identified as Internet addicted by his parents and sent to the recovery camp and died there after only 14 hours.

It is so terrifying that these so called therapeutic centers use electroshock along with other torture to relieve the “addiction”; yet it is indeed happening widely after those professors, doctors and government officials claim that Internet addiction is a clinical disorder threatening young people’s mental and physical health. The article listed the government’s initiatives to control the teen’s use of Internet, especially their obsession with online game World of Warcraft, and the tragic consequence.

This is totally one side of the Internet addiction opinion, and that’s why I highly recommend this fan made machinima “ War of Internet Addiction”. It is definitely a brilliant parody of this whole Internet addiction phenomenon in China and moreover, the conflict of Internet business, and of course, the restricted Internet use in China.

This machinima is based on the news that Blizzard announced changing partnership with The 9th City (previous licensed company for WOW China business) to the Netease in 2009, which brought inconvenience to game players due to their irresponsible transactions. However, after Netease gained the partnership, the GAPP (General Admission of Press and Publication) considers this game is inappropriate and requires Netease to close the server in November, 2009. Back and forth with these American, Chinese corporations, and different government divisions, every party involved in this deal contends for their best benefits and no one cares the players. This video is the outcry of those game players, and essentially the exclamation from millions of ordinary Internet users.

According to the scenario, the parody set up these involved parties with funny nicknames, these game companies, the officials, the Internet addiction therapeutic centers. The protagonist named “Kan Ni Mei” symbolizes a candid, bold game player who wants to fight against all these black forces. In his personal journey against these rulers, the movie refers to tons of sarcastic terms relating to news events in 2009. For instance, Qin Gang, spokesman of Ministry of Foreign Affairs, his famous quote regarding the information control software Green Dam Youth Escort, “do you have a child” is in the line. If you follow these news and the derivative phrases and usages, you will definitely appreciate the humor of this video; therefore, it is a little difficult for foreigners to completely enjoy the story without enough references.

The message of the video is bitter even the video is so hilarious: why Chinese game players can not enjoy the game? Parents and teachers treat WOW players as shame, and international game players contempt Chinese players as gold mine farmers.

However, the message behind the video is inspiring, young people did not keep their mouth shut under the authority. Users as individuals think independently against brain-wash information, work collectively, collaboratively to make the video, and share the thoughts via viral videos.

Finally, here is the video clip. If you can understand Chinese, please go find the original one. This is subtitled, so the resolution is a low. And this is the highlighted part toward the end:

Must Try Apps for Nokia E71X

2010-01-24T20:03:00.006-06:00

When I got my Nokia E71x, I know it's a smart phone but I really did not pay too much attention to how smart it is. Comparing to my old prepaid phone, I am very happy with the Wireless Internet, MP3 player and camera function, despite it actually has some inconvenience accessory wise.

Yet, since Google announced its Nexus One Phone, which really raised buzz around smart phone market again. I think I need to explore my phone before it is outdated soon. It turned out that I am really outdated that I did not actually use phone appropriately in the last four months (mostly because I did not choose the unlimited data plan). Some users have recommend and shared several very help apps, and the following four apps are the most basic ones I installed.

Google Package: This is the one I've been using for a long time. Visit m.google.com from you cell phone , and you can download the package including map, mail, search, youtube, and Picasa. Yet, the the package does not have a E71x version gmail application, so it still takes time to check the html version.
Nokia Email : That is why I tried this email app. From the Nokia Email website, I set up my account, and received a link to download the app to my phone. It reminds me the new email even faster than Gmail in the web browser and the whole interface is really clean and easy. It also allows you to choose when to sync the account, so it will not bother you on weekends. Also, It is free during the trail (but I dont know how long the trail is and how much for the registered version).
Opera Mini: A well-known web browser for mobile phone, it is much faster than AT&T pre-installed browser and more friendly, though I still can not read the full page sometimes. I download it from the official website.
Gravity: This is a Twitter client and it is the first mobile application that I paid for. I think Twitter on mobile is just a perfect combination and this application is so smooth and clean, I like it even more than my web version. It is free for 10 day trail and 10 dollars for registration.

After getting these basic applications, I am getting seriously interested in my phone's capability, which inevitably leads to dealing with the DRM thing again. I don't want to unlock my phone, but I want to read my mom's message in Chinese. I tried Crystal Psiloc Chinese Character, and it really worked very well but the registration fee for $40 is too expensive.

So, that is how it works. I will try to explain how to install Chinese character but I think it will work similar way for other languages and other purposes. In general, it is how DRM is applied to cell phone and people want to get around it.

First of all, these applications need to be signed to only one phone, so I need the authority to sign the application to my phone. The first step is to generate the certificate for the phone by your phone's IMEI number (*#06#). I dont know how to do that but some websites and individuals can help you for free or for donation, searching the latest results.

After getting the certificate, I need the tool to sign all the applications. I tried this DOSPY Sign Tool, very easy. Open the exe file and then you can import the certificate and the key by right clicking. When it is imported, you can freely sign application by right click-sign (the application should be in a separate directory of the sign tool). Then, all you need is the font application and the font. I have the Font router, signed the software and download the Chinese font I like (*.ttf format). When Font Router is installed on my phone, I found a FONT folder on the E drive, just copy the font to the folder and restart the phone, ready for my mom's message.

Other singed applications I tried including MagicKey to map the key for my phone to input Chinese, and the Sensible Sudoku. My contract with AT&T still has a long way to go, so I am glad I realized how to use the phone not too late. I definitely wont say Nokia E71x (especially with the "X" factor) is a super smart phone, but it is worth the price (technically free with 2yr contract online purchase from AT&T) with these add-on applications.

Wikipedia Annual Donation Campaign

2009-12-30T00:36:00.005-06:00

By the end of the year, Wikipedia will kick-off its fundrasing campaign though banner notice on each page to encourage users' donation (you can always choose to hide the notice) . As someone who always plans to edit more entries but fails to do so, writing a check is the best way to technically accomplish the plan (though a very small amount). Later one day, I read a tweet saying why Wikipedia does not keep advertising on each page. In that way, users can choose to view the ad or not, and Wiki dont need to do this donation campaign again and again every time.

It sounds O.K. at first glance because we've already get used to advertising-supported free content, and this turn on/off ad option keeps some voluntary meaning. However, in my mind, I just automatically rejected this idea and did not know why. This week, as I finished the book Predictable Irrational (Dan Ariely, 2008, HaperCollins), I found the answer to my spontaneous reaction.

In this enlightening book, the author conducts all kinds of focus group experiments to study behavioral economics. One chapter is about the cost of social norms and market norms. Sometimes, we put a lot efforts to do something but dont expect the cash pay back, for instance, cooking Thanks Giving dish for the family, the example in the book. This is the social norm. On the other hand, we expect that when we sit in the office for 8 hours (even just browsing Facebook page), we are adding money to our account. This is the market norm.

Researchers did an experiment in a day care center: initially, there was no fine for being late to pick up the children. The parents and the teachers understand the situation based on social norms that people do get late occasionally and they should not do that again to bother teachers. Then, the day care center imposed a fine of being late. Since a pay relationship is involved, the social encounter is being replaced by market norms that parents can choose to be late or not. And the late cases did not decrease as expected. Then, when the center dropped the fine , getting back to the social contract, parents still pick their kids late, even slightly more often. The author concludes from this experiment that social relationship will not be reestablished easily once it is trumped by the market norm.

And, this explains why Wikipedia cant not use advertising, even voluntarily, for funding. Advertising is totally a commercial concept following the market rule; let alone it will break Wikipedia’s neutral point of view, it will also ruin the collective efforts of Wikipedia as a social media foundation. Adding advertising essentially leads to market-value norms, even not for profits; once this market norm being introduced, the social norm, the volunteer spirit of Wikipeida will hardly be impaired.

As I finally figure out this puzzle, another question came to my mind. As social media becomes so overwhelming, how do we justify the “social meaning” when it is advertising supported? Is it another situation where social norms collide with market norm?

China Shuts down Major P2P Servcies

2009-12-10T17:25:00.006-06:00

Last brilliant idea from Chinese government regarding Internet development was the Green Dam filter software, and this time is the massive shutdown of P2P services based file share websites, such as VeryCD.com and BTChina. The officials who issue the notification are the infamously well-known SARFT and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT). According to them, these websites have to be shut down because they don’t own the “Information Network Broadcast Audio Visual Programming Permission Certificate".

From the BTChina website: (BTCHINA was notified by the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) that because of the absence of audio-visual broadcasting license, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of PRC is to delete our record number and shut down the site. As for my personal safety, once again to prove rumors on the internet are untrustworthy, especially the news is the most unreliable, translated by Chinahush)

Initially, I doubt that it was the pressure from copyright holders oversea so the government has to take some action and these small websites become targets due to their huge popularity like the Pirate Bay case. Yet, after reading SARFT's regulation and blogger analysis, I realize this is not simply because of copyright infringement and censorship, it is still the question about who control the Internet content in the coming years. The SARFT definitely want to demonstrate their authority by then end of another year challenged by growing Internet activists.

This decision reveals the conflict of interests between two government departments the SARFT and MIIT. The popularity of these video sharing websites in some way humiliates SARFT since most of them promote cultural products from other countries, and SARFT want to defend their territory and control these websites as they do in traditional media. Yet, because these websites are not authorized by them but by MIIT, so SARFT has to compete with the clout of MIIT . This time, it is SARFT’s regulation forces MIIT to withdraw those websites’ licenses. As some bloggers have noticed, SARFT and MITT’s conflicts can be traced back to the development of IPTV and mobile television, anything between the media content and information technology. Two departments have not decided the disciplines and those service providers will be suffered because of these changing regulations.

I think fundamentally it is SARFT’s fear of lose the grip of media control that drives this shut down. According to government website (Chinese), the website should be state owned or state funded in order to be eligible for the Internet program permission certificate. Chances are rare that those fans organized private P2P share websites could meet this qualification. Therefore, it becomes clear that SARFT still wants to control Internet content especially as they see the threat of growing video streaming and video sharing business. Essentially, the crackdown of P2P share websites is another attempt to against the decentralized Internet trend.

References:

Made in China Campaign

2009-12-07T22:40:00.004-06:00

Today, both LA Times and PR Weekly mentioned that Chinese government has hired western background media companies to burnish the image of Chinese government and Made in China products.

The government hired Hill& Knowlton as its PR firm three months ago and now announced DDB Communications ( of Omnicom Group) for its advertising agency. The tag line of the 30 sec ad, which debuted on CNN, is Made in China is Made with the World. LA Times analyzes that it is the government’s attempt to relieve the intense trade relationship between China and western countries.

I agree that the main objective is to recover from those negative images, such as poisonous toys, or contaminated milk powder scandals, in investors’ minds and invite them back to China. During this global economy recession, many outsourcing manufacture factories in China have closed because of less needs in global market. Also, the ad campaign at the holiday season, is sending the message to bring consumers’ confidence to made in China toys and clothes since some consumers will avoid (quite impossible to completely eliminate ) made in china labels.

Besides the message of the ad, I think it is interesting to see they choose CNN for the commercial debut. For a long time, Chinese government and its media have taunted CNN for fabricated news and manipulated editing, which have constantly dignify the image of Chinese government (even with a website anti-cnn.com ). However, the government now picks up CNN for publicity. It seems the officials finally realize that business relationship is better than hostility with western media. The government has expanded its media outlets, such as XinHua News Agency, CCTV, etc. to reach western audiences, which I think is really useless, just thinking the stereotype ( or the fact) of Chinese mainstream media. And this business relationship serves the purpose better since mainstream media will not say too much bad thing about their big advertisers.

The LA Times article ended with several cynical quotations, doubting the cost and result of the campaign. I just want to recognize it as a positive sign that the government realizes the urgency to address this issue and is trying new approaches. And, I wish it is also a sign that the government develops a liberal view toward western media. Finally, here's a peak of the commercial (I have not found it on YouTube).

Still BBS: China SNS Development Report 2009

2009-11-19T16:42:00.009-06:00

iResearch along with China’s popular Bulletin Board System developer Comsenz (developer of Discusz!) together launched a report on 2009 China’s Social Networking Sites (SNS) development. After reading the summary of the report (Chinese), though I doubt the methodology, I think it reveals the very unique feature, one essential question that I’ve been wondering, why BBS still plays an irrevocable role in SNS in China.

The Methodology: The report takes both user survey and industry interview approach for data. For the user survey part, the company displays survey link on 45 targeted websites and 324 smaller size SNS sites from July to August in 2009, asking users to fill in the survey voluntarily, ended up with 7462 samples. From the summary part, it did not analyze who took the survey, which raises the question if it has fair amount of diverse samples to illustrate the real situation. Therefore, when the reports says over 13.8% of people spend over 8 hours on BBS sites and 11.2% of people reply more than 15 posts every day, I tend to think that those who answer the survey are more likely to be heavy BBS users. With these findings, this report defines SNS as a BBS centered platform (threaded discussions), with functions such as announcements, group discussion, networking and value-added services.

Figure 1.0 How often do you reply a post everyday? 11.2% say they reply 15 posts everyday and 12.8% say between 10-15.

The findings: As a commercial report, the research goes to discuss how to effectively use BBS for viral marketing, branding and e-commerce in China market, etc. Currently, however, most SNS websites admit that advertising is still the major revenue. It could be the reason that forces BBS centered SNS system to embrace other services, like games, virtual goods, micro-blog in order to get various revenue sources.

Figure 2.0 2008-2009 China SNS Revenue Sources

One major finding of the reports is that these BBS centered SNS have the tendency to be more social: 53.3％ users saying they are using other social networking functions of the BBS, 30% say not yet but would like to try and only 10% are indifferent to new functions.

Actually, I think BBS should not be categorized as SNS if SNS are used for sites like Facebook, Twitter or RenRen (Chinese version of Facebook among university students, literally mean everybody), Kaixin (Facebook among white collar, literally mean happy). It probably is the same share culture, but for some reason that I have not figured out, the sharing concept is different in BBS context than in SNS context. Popular BBS system like Tianya.cn or Maopu cant nor be SNS, so does smaller specific BBS sites; and Kaixin, RenRen still need the links from these sites for content.

Then goes back to the essential question in the beginning, why BBS culture is so dominant, not only in China. Is it a cultural thing? That people would like to join an organized community and set the ranks, gain reputations and exchange opinions anonymously. Or is it a technical thing that it is just easy to use? Or, it is a GFW thing that people have no other option so BBS is a relatively safe harbor for information exchange (still some unfortunate guys were caught by Internet police for their posts). If I had sorted this question, I would have write a paper about it. I think it will be an interesting study to recognize the indispensable role of BBS in China's Internet culture.

For the report: Chinese English (China Internet Watch Blog)

Google Music US v Google Music China

2009-11-06T16:41:00.005-06:00

Google lunched official music search Discover Music at the end of October 2009, which claims to give more accurate search results of songs as well as providing direct streaming link from content partners, including MySpace, LaLa, Pandora, etc. The ultimate goal is inevitably to gain traffic by the search syndication and share commission fees by redirecting users to buy songs. Especially, if certain promotional content were placed in the search results as this article suggests, this service is more like a marketing tool for music labels and music websites.

Actually, it is not Google’s first step in music search; Google China has already launched Music service to China mainland users (mainland China IP only) in March 2009. As we all know, Google China has a different motto than “don’t be evil” in order to accommodate to China market, the music service is also completely different from elsewhere due to the unique Internet policy and Internet economy.

Google China Music is partnered with a start-up Internet music service company Top100-CN, whose investors includes Chinese NBA player Yao Ming, to provide free music streaming and music download. This company negotiates the copyright with major music labels, including EMI China, Sony Music, Warner Music, Rock Records and Tape, Taihe Rye Music, etc and provides streaming and download for users totally free, though with DRM protection. The business model is almost completely relying on advertising support and it will share the ad revenue with contracted labels. Sohu reports that after 7 months of launch, the company’s revenue reached approximately $3.7 million, with a 29% market share (Baidu is still the dominant player in music search/download market with a 61% share), and the company is still expecting more advertisers in the coming months. For Google, the situation might be better. At least, it increases music search traffic and sells advertising on these music pages without worrying about copyright and content source.

Though the company’s business is staggering, it seems the only way to do music business in a place where no one buys intellectual property. It is like a myth in china market: almost all global brands, especially luxury brands and urban life style brands/products see the emerging needs and markets in China, only cultural products see the market but can not penetrate it.The difference in Goolge US and China music service reveals the weakness of China Internet economy due to lacking intellectual property awareness. It once again reiterates the question where's digital economy in China (except online game).

Entries for 2009 Oscar Best Foreign Language Film (East Asia)

2009-10-09T01:50:00.025-05:00

The Academy Award officially released the full list of 82nd Academy Award Best Foreign Language submissions this week, totally 65 entries. The nominations will be announced on February 2, 2010 and the Oscar will be held on March 7, 2010 , by ABC. The full list is here.

Luckily, in this long list of name, I found two movies I have watched this year, and of course they are East Asia films. I am interested in the entries of Taiwan, Hong Kong, S.Korea, Japan and Mainland China. Actually, every year, the press in China always put a lot attention to the Oscar entries ambitiously, though never succeeded in the past. I watched the Nobody Watch Over Me from Japan and Forever Enthralled from China, and honestly, I dont think they have too much chance.

Forever Enthralled (China, Chen-Kaige)
This is a story about the legendary Beijing Opera Artist Mei Lanfang, from his talented early years to the turbulent life during the 1930-1940s in Shanghai and Beijing, the Second-Sino Japanese War. This is not the first movie of director Chen-Kaige to depict an opera artist protagonist. In his well-known movie Farewell Concubine (1993), he successfully turned a novel about a gay opera artist's tragedy into a sensitive and touching movie, with Leslie Cheung's splendid performance. Though I know this time it is a autobiographic story, I cant help comparing two movies, and this new one is really disappointing. The story put to much emphasis on the patriotic side of the character stubbornly, which makes his life dull and rigid for a movie. Especially for audience in China, who have already read enough patriotic stories from the textbooks to newspapers to websites, why we have to pay another 5 dollars to see the similar story again? In terms of the cast, this movie invited internationally well-known actress Zhang ZiYi and also popular Beijing Born Hong Kong start Leon, but I did not see the sparks between them at all. Yet, I totally understand why China choose this one for Oscar, among limited Chinese movie last year, this one perfectly qualifies the propaganda theme.

Nobody to Watch Over Me (Japan, Ryoichi Kimizuka)
This is the first movie I've watched that boldly addresses the consequence and the moral issue of Internet users' online discussion when involving curse, condemn and privacy toward other people. This has been a common phenomenon in HongKong, China and Japan, when someone suddenly becomes the target of all the Internet users when he/she probably did something ethically wrong and the legal system has not caught him/her. In this movie, the police believed the little girl's brother is liable for murdering two kids, so the whole family was exposed to the media unexpectedly. The girl has to suffer all the resents and curses, and no one can help her. The movie won the best screenplay at the Montreal Film Festival this year. For me, the theme is definitely very important and enlightening, but the story telling was not impressive enough for a movie.

Prince of Tears (Hong Kong, YonFan)
This is a quite art-house movie, and the reviews I have read so far did not say too much good thing about it. Still, I would like to watch it since I like the director's previous movies Bishonen and Peony Pavilion. Interestingly, the director Yonfan is actually from Taiwan, and the story is about a unique situation in Taiwan; only the investors are from Hong Kong. This movie tells a love and betray story happened during the 1950s, a politically sensitive period of Taiwan, where the five people share some secrets in the past and are confronted with other secrets now. I watched the trailer on Youtube, the scenes are as beautiful as usual, but the actresses make the lines sound like reciting a childish poem.

No Puedo Vivir sin Ti (Taiwan, Leon Dai)
Though with a Spanish title, it is a very local Taiwan Movie, based on a news story. The news that a father wanted to jump off a bridge with his beloved little daughter, triggered the interests of the director. The movie uses a documentary storytelling to record the injustice, the prejudice against the vulnerable group and the apathy of the society behind the accident. In the interview I read, the director says that he is not intended to draw sympathy toward the father-daughter but to raise the general awareness and concerns toward the issue in the society.

Mother (Korea, Joon-ho Bong)
This is a very dramatic and bloody murder story like the director's previous movies Memories of Murder and The Host. It tells the estranged relationship between an over-protective mother and a mentally disabled son. I have not watched this one, and probably will not watch it according to my experience. The last Korean movie I watched is The Old Boy, for me, it is so depressing. Nevertheless, it seems some critical movie fans like the movie a lot.

Finally, hope some of these movies will find distributors in U.S.

Hulu: What's Next?

2009-09-25T14:28:00.016-05:00

Rumors here and there indicate that Hulu will launch subscription based service soon, not RSS subscription but cable subscription model. Previous rumors said Disney will be part of the joint venture, and soon we watched Ugly Betty and Grey’s Anatomy on Hulu. Personally, I think it is quite reasonable for Hulu.com to move forward to that direction as long as it is not subscription only service.

Reason One: Competitors are working.
A few months ago, we might still think Hulu is competing with other video streaming websites, such as Joost, which now is busy with its lawsuit against former President and CEO Mike Volpi. Actually, the increasing popularity of Hulu has already threatened traditional cable providers. Starting from July, ComCast announced a trial that offers its subscribers to streaming HBO and Cinemax shows through Comcast.net and Fancast .com, an effort of ComCast and Time Warner to enter video streaming business. In U.K., Sky TV has already launched a similar service for subscribers to watch TV program on PC by downloading their software. Confronting with the initiatives from cable providers, Hulu definitely does not want to get behind those competitors, ComCast already has customers but Hulu still needs some efforts to convert and educate its users. Maybe the desktop remote is a start.

Reason Two: No Television sets in the future
From consumer behavior perspective, many years ago, Nicholas Negroponte already said that the future is not about HDTV but no TV set at all after all information is digitized (Bing Digital, 1996). The prediction has not being completely proved but it is on the way. Hulu is definitely at the right spot to welcome all the viewers who turn away from television set but still need content, and would like to pay a little for that if it is user-friendly enough. Also, according to L.A. Times, HDTV sets guzzles energy and state like California is working on the energy efficiency plan to set stand for that. So, watching television on Hulu could be greener than watching it on the HDTV sets.

Yet, I hope Hulu will not go completely subscription only, which will be too cruel to its fans who just want to watch 30 Rock weekly and really does not need that much cable program. And, I saw more big advertisers, such as VISA and Macy's, so the ad-supported model is still working for both parties.

Law of Attraction: The Secret (2006)

2009-09-22T15:16:00.005-05:00

My landlord is a very nice old man. Seeing my struggling with job-seeking, he insists that I should watch the documentary The Secret (2006), and he is going to kick me out of the house if I don’t watch it, which he describes as a life-changing movie.

I agree with the idea behind the movie, not the implausible “law of attraction” but the habit of positive thinking. To certain extend, the movie reminds me of also the best-selling book The Alchemist, through a boy’s pursuit of personal legend, the book tells that when you really want to fulfill something, “the whole universe conspires to help you”. It sounds very much like the lines in this movie and the famous saying from Aladin: “You wish is my command”. Coincidently, in the Alchemist, the boy has two stones, Urim and Thummim, to help him overcome frustrates and feel good. In the documentary, one interviewee mentions that he puts a stone in his pocket, feeling grateful for something when he touches it. Still, I like the novel better. In the book, the boy experiences up and down, and tries every possible way to achieve the personal legend, not just imaging he found the treasure while sitting in the dessert. The movie could mislead by repeating "ask, believe and receive”. This idea contradicts to Chinese philosophy which I grow up with that no working, no fruits. Overall, the movie used a more straight-for-word and aggressive to tell positive thinking, no, to sell it.

This design of the documentary is quite business-oriented and it is indeed a marketing success. As Wikipedia noted, the major selling point of the movie is the secret of “how to enhance wealth”. Therefore, it has a great hook, a popular way of narration (citing historically famous people), and a clear message. It once again proves the power of world-of-mouth selling. In certain way, the documentary projects the ideal middle class life and indicates people can achieve it by thinking. (Is it the reason the documentary becomes so popular on those talk shows?)

For me, it is just too far to believe the “law of attraction”, especially being presented in this way. I will rather go with the simplest saying, “dream big, work hard”. BTW, I think Wikipedia really does a good job in The Secret (2006) article in English.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Secret_%282006_film%29

Visiting the JANM Museum

2009-09-03T01:40:00.009-05:00

Last Saturday is my second weekend in Los Angeles. Honestly, I went to Little Tokyo just for grocery shopping. Even true, I was looking around because I cant find the store I used to go. Then, I saw the posters hanging in front of a museum like building: “Kokeshi: From folk art to art toy”. Well, I just could not go away when I see creative toys. (So, all the photos are from my cell phone.)

The building actually is the Japanese American National Museum, which holds two new exhibition currently, the Glories Excess by Linkin Park member Mike Shinoda and this toy exhibition. I will say both are worth visiting.

Though I listen to Linkin Park’s songs sometimes, I am not familiar with individuals of the band. So, I am surprised to see this kind of reflection on celebrity culture by a member of such a well-known band. Shinoda’s exhibition has two sections, which are Glories Excess (born) and the Glories Excess (death). The first part was held last year and this second part will be shown in the museum from August 30 to October 4. Under the death theme, he uses skeleton to symbolize the excess and illustrates its relationship with fame, money, sex and other tempting things. Comparing to his paintings, for me, the notes on the wall are more meaningful. He explained his initial interests in this project and explains his understanding on this excess. All the things we are experiencing are actually short and temporal which can not be over-used but we never pay attention to the excess until it is too late. I also like the meaning behind the exhibition, a celebrity’s awareness on the celebrity phenomenon and I think this critical expression should be appreciated.

The toy exhibition is on the second floor, no photos, sorry. Kokeshi (こけし), is a traditional Japanese doll, which usually has two parts, the head and the body. These dolls are all hand-made and painted by local artists. The evolution of the pattern and shape of the doll also convey the historical changes and the expression of the artists. The whole collection includes all sizes of Japanese traditional Kokeshi but also some creative Kokeshi by contemporary artists, a nice combination. I did not buy any Kokeshi souvenir when I visited Tokyo but I got two from the museum store this time.

For more information about the museum and the exhibition, please visit:
http://www.janm.org/exhibits/gloriousexcess/ (August 30~October 4, 2009)
http://www.janm.org/exhibits/kokeshi/ (July 11~October 4, 2009)

What if you can not find your valet program button

2009-08-13T16:40:00.007-05:00

The remote control of my Mitsubishi Galant has been broken (cant attach to the key chain) for a while, so I have to use it carefully and elegantly by putting it in a small purse. I finally decided to buy a new one before I move to Los Angeles, where I need to use the car everyday. The remote is associated with the security system provided by Viper, so I thought I just buy exactly the same model and replace it.

It never goes that easy as I thought but also not that complicate as those professionals told me.

So, I got the new Viper remote with the manual, which says I need to re-activate the valet program button in my car and press it several times in order to set the system. So, I Googled and Googled and Googled, to see where is the valet program button of my car. Still, I cant find it according to those answers (around the dashboard area). I bought the car from someone who is now in Taiwan, so I have to figure it out by myself now. Then, I took it to Walmart auto center, people there cant help me, another local auto center, neither. Either of them can locate the cute valet program button. They suggested me to call StereOne, a dealer of Viper. The StereoOne in my town says they no longer deal with Viper but can take a look at the car, charging $65 for finding the button, totally disappointed.

Well, after this whole complain, here comes the idea. I thought, since I actually only need the shell of the remote, what if it is just a whole chip inside, I just can replace them, not touching the system. So, I opened it, yes, it is exactly a whole chip. Finally, I saved the $65 and still dont know where's the valet program of my car, but, successfully replaced the old broken remote with a new one. So, if its just something wrong with the remote, maybe opening it and replacing the chip is a lot easier than trying to find the activate button of the car.

[Movie]I've Loved You So Long

2009-07-12T12:37:00.004-05:00

《I've loved you so long》(Il y a longtemps que je t'aime)，是法国和德国合拍片，58届柏林影展竞赛单元入围作品，中文译作《爱你长久》，女主角是《英国病人》的美丽少妇Kristin Scott Thomas。

去年看预告的时候，就对影片整个灰蓝色的基调和流畅的音乐很有印象，终于有机会看了这部片，是一个悲伤而美丽的故事。看完觉得Kate Winslet要分一半的金球奖给Kristin，因为她把女主人公的神秘、憔悴、不安、以及坚强的每一个层面都表现出来了，非常感人。预告打的是悬疑牌，一个因为谋杀而入狱15年的女人突然出现，进入妹妹一家人平静的生活，好在故事没有朝着惊悚阴暗的方向走，而是讨论一个带着异类标签的女人，如何重新融入社会以及生与死与道德的问题，是一个充满社会关怀的故事。

IMDB显示，这部片是Philippe Claudel的电影导演处女作，他之前都参与一些电视制作，一上来就能够如此细致刻画女性情感，相当了不起。这部片没有获得那年的金熊奖，但是被授予了 “Prize of the Ecumenical Jury”，这是个有点宗教色彩的奖项，有译作“天主教人道精神将”，由世界天主教传播协会赞助，主旨是鼓励那些能够带来心灵、人性、社会价值探索的影片。
以下有微雷，不过不涉及核心秘密。

电影一开场的2分半钟，真的很适合拿来做分镜头分析，姐姐/字幕/妹妹之间的交叉镜头，马上就把两人的互动表现出来了。在机场休息室的姐姐 Juliette面容憔悴，失神地抽着烟，妹妹Lea急匆匆地从停车场一路奔来，见到了姐姐，现在远处停顿了一下，走近，两人相识尴尬地笑了笑，姐姐起身，妹妹上前拥吻，果真是熟悉的陌生人。

相对姐姐的坎坷人生和背负的巨大的悲伤，其实我更容易站在妹妹Lea视角来看这部影片，妹妹Lea是一个文学老师，面对姐姐被称为是谋杀犯，妹妹其实也是一个受害人，在讨论陀思妥耶夫斯基作品的课上，论及人们对于谋杀犯的看法，Lea就几乎情绪崩溃，没有经历过的人，要如何理解杀人犯/杀人犯的亲人。与父母的冷漠不同，Lea长大以后，选择了包容，相信和支持姐姐，I've love you so long，不仅仅是女主人公Juliette的独白，也是妹妹Lea对姐姐的表白，这句话就像支持姐妹两人自我救赎的主题。

不过影片中也有让我看不太明白的地方，就是负责监察Juliette生活的那位警察的故事，就算他觉得孤单寂寞，可是他仍然有梦想，为什么就这样抛弃梦想自杀了呢?虽然有一个悲伤的影子，本片基调还是温暖的，就像灰蓝色一样，虽然不是明亮的颜色，可是让人觉得平静温和。

The Death of a Super Star in Web2.0

2009-06-27T00:38:00.010-05:00

I talked with my elder friend about MJ's sudden death today. She described how popular he was in India at that time. For me, it seems he is not the iconic pop music star for my generation in China. Yet, I don't know who else could be the legendary supers star for my generation. When I started to know pop culture by television or Internet, he has been the"love of tabloids" rather than the "king of pop".

But, I am still completely shocked when I learned it from New York Times' News Alert. When I rushed to my Twitter page, his name has been all over the trending words. At the noon, Farah Fawcett was the headline for the news; later in the afternoon, MJ's name has occupied all the evening news. I am still more interested to see the reaction from the web.

CNN has an article, " Jackson dies, almost takes Internet with him", which describes the phenomenal outrages of several popular websites last night. The first sentence says "How many people does it take to break the Internet? On June 25, we found out it's just one -- if that one is Michael Jackson." Totally agree.

When I searched MJ on Wikipedia this morning, it says "Database Error". Maybe too many people were editing the page at the same time.

Also, I noticed Twitter's trending words disappeared last night. I am not sure if it is because system was too busy to respond. A picture by Raul Oorzco portrays what Twitter is experiencing by replacing Twitter's famous under maintenance whale by MJ.

Besides fans and Internet users' huge responses, websites also responded much quicker than televisions.

Time Warner's gossip website TMZ is reportedly the first media to release the news and has continued to offer exclusive updates. It also has experienced several outrages since last night, according to the CNN news. Meanwhile, YouTube has already highlighted MJ's channel on front page, and even Chinese video streaming website, Tudou.com, has featured MJ on the front page.

There's one backlash of Twitter, Blog and other web 2.0 applications that these platforms make it too easy to spread rumors without responsibility. Yet, this time, web 2.0 is the most convincing way to demonstrate the influence of an international legendary super star.

Michael Jackson (1958-2009) R.I.P.

Trible-Win Deal of Susan Boyle

2009-06-15T01:29:00.008-05:00

Two months after YouTube user "BritainsSoTalented" uploaded Susan Boyle's performance at Britain's Got Talented 2009, the video has accumulated 67 million hits, currently 14th of the top viewed video worldwide. It took "evolution of dance" , almost three years to reach 121 million hits and the No.1 place, while Susan made it in an amazing speed just as her voice.

Off YouTube's honor, however, she lost in the final. A Times article is saying that both YouTube and the production company, owned by judge Simon Cowell lost as well, since they failed to reach an agreement on sharing the advertising revenue from YouTube exposure. This article says that ITV wants YouTube to redirect users to their website rather than sharing advertising revenue with YouTube because they can get better offer from domestic advertisers on their own websites. I am not sure how they negotiated eventually. Now, YouTube puts a text layer ad on the top viewed Susan video( user uploaded ) and ITV is running a Britain's Got Talented show channel as a partner, without ad banner around it, just promotion of the show

Scholars have already predicted that one advancement of video streaming websites is that it can distribute content internationally with no geographic limitations. Then, the interesting question is , who really benefits from the instant global distribution when website as YouTube achieved this capability?

In Susan Boyle's case, definitely, the performer does; rumor says she is going to sing in U.S. soon. Though YouTube , ITV and the production company did not get the financial profits initially, they are still benefiting from the video. YouTube now could once again tell its advertisers that only YouTube has the ability to make you over-night success, which might be helpful to transfer YouTube's reputation into into actual profits, which it needs indeed now. For ITV, the success proves that for reality show format, Idol is out and really Talent is in. They probably can sell the format for a better price. So, all of them definitely get something from this YouTube phenomenon, maybe not exactly what they want, but contributing to their reputation.

My question is, then, how do the content owner outside U.S., can really make money out of YouTube's global distribution ability? Thinking about how many Indian diaspora, Chinese diaspora are there, how can Indian television station, Taiwan television station, Hong Kong television station, make some ad revenue from YouTube? As far as I know, those users who are uploading Chinese programming on YouTube are very popular, always among the most subscribed users, contributing top viewed videos. We as audiences need such content, and YouTube makes it so easy to distribute the content, then why the content owners are hesitating to set a partner relationship with YouTube? It is not only an extra revenue source but also a way to educate your audiences. I know Hong Kong's ATV and RTHK are uploading some of their programs now, and I just can not think about any pros of doing that.

Finally, Susan is really popular in Greater China area, here's a picture of a Taiwan parody show, ( in someway like Saturday Night Live), where the actor is impersonating Susan.

[HK Movie]Those were the Days (1997)

2009-06-07T00:12:00.017-05:00

王晶电影之恶搞，我这一代人，真的是从小看到大的。不过，这部以恶搞之名向香港早期粤语片致敬的喜剧，我真的是第一次看，王晶再度使用“不是女人”为名作编剧，打造这部从头到尾kuso至极的香港电影史诗片。

1937上海沦陷后，上海的电影资源逐渐转向香港，1940-1960间，香港的粤语电影和国语电影并济，国语片主要由绍氏兄弟出品作品类型主要有浪漫音乐剧和史实片，例如李翰祥导演的《江山美人》；而粤语片的制作成本相对较低，出名的有武侠片《黄飞鸿系列》以及一些描写现代生活的戏剧（melodrama），还常常会加入一些粤剧唱词，也被称为粤语长片。而这部《精装难兄难弟》就以香港电影人独有的态度来怀念那个粤语片的辉煌时代。我印象里另一部向粤语长片致敬的是刘镇伟导演的《92黑玫瑰对黑玫瑰》，也非常经典。

这部片讲的是获得法国金牛奖的大导演王晶卫对于粤语电影出言不逊，于是被粤语片导演楚活游（大导演楚原本人扮演）活活地从电视里伸出手把他拉到30年前的 1967年，让他拍出一部让人称赞的粤语片才放他回1997。于是，王大导演在片场就遇到了那些日后成为粤语片大牌的演员们，和他们一起混阿混，终于混出了几部作品但却不成功，在临死之前被一个胖胖小男孩王星（暗指王晶）夸奖，终于回到1997。全片的主题是，几乎每个人物原型都是响当当的电影人，但是剧情却90%是虚构，10%是基于事实的恶搞，相当KUSO。

暗指的演员：
王晶卫（剧情）--王家卫（真人）--黄子华（演员）
谢源 -- 谢贤 -- 吴镇宇
李奇 -- 吕奇 -- 罗嘉良
牛达华 -- 曹达华 -- -- 陈百祥
绍芳芳 -- 萧芳芳 -- -- 舒淇
程宝珠 -- 陈宝珠 -- 张可颐
秀秋姐 -- 于素秋 -- 陈法蓉
家燕 -- 薛家燕 -- 陈阎行

所暗指的这些明星，当年都是超级大牌。现在我们比较熟悉的，有谢霆锋的老爸谢贤，现在72岁了还保养的那么好就可推算当年的模样（电影里说他将来的儿子叫谢柠檬XD）；今年香港电影金像奖终身成就奖获得者萧芳芳（女人四十、还有方世玉的搞怪老妈）；薛家燕人称好姨，也常在TVB出现；陈宝珠，出身粤剧世家，这两年也有在香港登台表演。比较不熟的就有武打明星曹达华，其实他后期都还有在港片中客串，贴张照片就知道了；而吕奇也是个传奇明星，早年也走小生路线，和陈宝珠是荧幕情侣，后期转型投资拍摄三级片，息影后在台经商，《92黑玫瑰对黑玫瑰》中梁家辉扮演的那个警察吕奇也是暗指他，有点娘的气质外加很独特的嗓音。这几位演员都演得很好，尤其是吴镇宇，真的非常神似。

就像所有穿越时空的故事一样，王晶卫也要证明自己真的来自1997年，他的方法之一就是盗版VCD，方法之二是提出“建设性建议”，于是粤语片开始流行吊钢丝，怪兽出现，奶油小生等等（灵感每次都来自于惨痛经历），他自己也拍摄了《飞佬正传》、《黄飞鸿之春光乍泄》、《东蛇西鹿》，可惜还是没人看得懂。影片重现了很多粤语片的场景，就像我们现在看一部电影，里面如果穿插了大量周星驰电影的片段，也会马上被认出来理解为恶搞笑点。最后当王晶卫遇到小王晶的时候，小王晶对王晶卫说，我很喜欢你的电影，但是王晶卫对小王晶说，不要，你多去蹲蹲厕所，“屎尿屁”将会成为你电影的精髓（王晶果然从不忌讳低俗两字，只要卖座）。影片最后还附赠《差佬故事》、《金猪肉叶》、《古惑佬》短片，部部爆笑。

除了恶搞好笑之外，这部戏浓缩了香港电影的两个时代，一个就是当年的粤语片时代，孕育了80-90年代中港片的黄金时期，一个就是90年代到，无厘头小市民的香港商业片从鼎盛逐渐走下坡，也算是一代电影人对上一代电影人的致敬。也许再过10年，就有一部kuso周星驰、刘德华的电影出现了，算是80后、90后对童年电影的致敬。

June Fourth, After 20 Years

2009-06-03T18:03:00.005-05:00

June 4th,2009, in China, Internet becomes Intranet. A bunch of mainstream western media (HK media, too) which are identified as "anti-Chinese" were once again blocked by GFW, including newbie Twitter, and Microsoft's new search engine, BING.COM (poor guy, only one-day old in Chinese market), flicker, etc. Another bunch of Chinese websites voluntarily closed for maintenance between June 3rd and June 5th (to avoid unnecessary conflicts), including Chinese twitter, Fanfou, Douban, etc. What is left on the Intranet then? Probably only CNN's interview with pop stat Edison Chan about his photos .

The over-reaction is just the fear of what happened 20 years ago.

I was less than 5-year-old in 1989 when the protest happened, and during my entire school education and family education, no one has ever told me anything about the protest. I learned the information from the Internet (no wonder they fear). I really would use June Fourth rather than Tiananmen Square Movement, or Tiananmen Square Massacre in memory of the students or the soldiers died that time. It is really important to recognize the date it happened, it is 1989, June 4th, the year which is 70-year anniversary of The May Fourth Movement for Science and Democracy, 1919 (the first student movement in Modern China history); the date exactly one month later. This is a tradition of young generation to pursue democracy with their true passion and idealism, that my generation will never ever have.

In a less developed society, the history is written by the ruler; but in a open and democratic society, the citizen should at least know what happened, and they will have their own justification. We know better that history is not black and white, so what the government is hiding.

This is a music video in memory of the 20-year anniversary of the June Fourth Movement of 1989 from Hong Kong. Hong Kong will hold an annual candlelight vigil on this day at Victoria Park for June Fourth. This song is by a Hong Kong rock band, Beyond, the name is War of Resistance for 20 years, perfectly matched.

[Reading] Who Controls the Internet (2006)

2009-06-01T10:56:00.010-05:00

Though written by two law experts, this book on Internet governance and related civil rights, copyright, and cyber criminal issues is written in a humor and light style. Especially the first few chapters, which introduce the early history of the Internet development, contrasting to the current situation, is like a adventure of Utopianists fight with state machine. The early experts' forecast of the Internet is full of idealism, but still inspiring, especially the story of the root authority, Jon Postel , which is referred as "the god of the Internet" in this book. Culturally, Internet definitely brings the grass-roots spirit to the world, even in the Central-controlled country; yet, realistically, it is a tool, a commercialized tool, initially for national defense purpose, it is impossible to avoid the impact of the commercialization and government interference.

The book is divided into three chapters, first part is about the early history of Internet, and the second part includes governments' involvement in the past years while the third part discusses the future and the global law. I think there should be an update of the book: when talking about the MGM v Grokster case, the book only traced back to 2004, when the court still recognizes the technological innovation over contributory infringement of Grokster, so the book quoted "the death of copyright"(pp112). Actually, Grokster eventually lost the case in 2005, Gorkster is ruled as liable for infringement.

In the government control chapter, the authors devote a chapter for China, which makes me have to say something. The China chapter makes two point, the stringent control and the CPC uses Internet as a tool to raise nationalism. I totally agree with the two facts.

Looking at how the mainstream media online treat the 512 Si Chuan earthquake has demonstrated both points. Right after 2008, May12, the earthquake, the portal sites, such as SINA , SOHU, gave tons of information about the survivors, the casualty, the rescue team, which united the whole country by the efficient information flow. Now, a year later , we still dont know exactly how many students were buried during the earthquake and why those school buildings so easily crashed. Any negative news one 512 earthquake is sensitive information that is blocked by the GFW and by self-censorship of media. Independent blogger, Ai WeiWei, who conducted personal survey of the earthquake, has been 'invited' to talk to the police (Gong An), and his blog on SINA has been wiped out. Moreover, citizen journalist in that area (Wen Chuan, SiChuan Provence) were more or less targeted by the police (according to Ai weiwei's blog). With the coming 20-year anniversary of June 4th, no need to bother the GFW, the internal control of service providers and mainstream websites are sufficient, for instance, Baidu's university bulletin boards no longer allow users to post articles, you can just read but not comment; and some popular websites among youngsters also have deleted more information than past months by the end of May. And,Blogger has been completely blocked by GFW in May, 2009.

The authors have expressed deep concern of the censorship and the effective control of Chinese government. I am just wondering how effective it really could be. Though being censored again and again, we now are able to hear Yang Jia's case or Deng Yujiao's case that we would otherwise never know and never pay attention to discuss. The really terrifying thing is not that they are blocking and censoring things, but they are threatening your safety and family safety in a lot cases since no legislation to protect citizen in these situations till now. The well-know government control of China's Internet actually mirrors the fragile legislation and litigation system in China.

[Movie]Angels and Demons (2009)

2009-05-17T16:21:00.002-05:00

已经知道了大魔王是谁的读者，可以把这部影片当作是灾难冒险片来看；还没看过小说的影迷，不用担心背景知识不足，剧情简化了推理部分，也可以当作是一部灾难冒险片来看；看过小说又忘记了具体情节的读者，跟着感觉走，更适合拿来当灾难冒险片看。

我一直觉得《达芬奇密码》的小说偏“文”，拍成电影不一定好看，外加预告里Tom Hanks的扮相实在和想象力里的Langdon教授差太多，所以我一直还没看电影版。《天使恶魔》这部小说就正好偏“武”，将近千吨炸弹的威胁，连续不同地残忍杀人方式，限于24小时内的追踪，还有大批围观群众（聚集在梵蒂冈的那些信众）和媒体聚焦，基本上就是好莱坞灾难片的情节了。而且，这次Langdon教授扮相有改进，还有小说中强调的特别帅的神父，以及众所周知的罗马建筑和意大利帅哥警察 (XD) ，使得我对这部片好感大增。

小说的两条主线就是Antimatter即将爆炸和销声匿迹的Illuminati 成员是否真的重出江湖，参与了谋杀科学家，毁灭梵蒂冈的计划。小说花了很重的笔墨来铺垫科学和宗教之间长久以来的纠葛，电影则力求淡化这一敏感主题，于是加快故事进度，一上来10分钟之内就已经宣布了Antimatter的巨大威胁和Illuminati的秘密，除了必要时候提及伽利略的经历以外，尽量避免讨论天主教和当代科学之间的矛盾，Langdon教授则凭借在宗教符号学方面的专长，逐一定位4个被抓走的主教并找到Path of Illumination。他不能完全阻止惨剧发生，不过因为影片是PG-13，所以特效不算太血腥，爆炸场面还够火力。除了特效，好莱坞大片还是需要笑点的，所以在神圣的梵蒂冈档案室里，总是意外不断，这里可以看到Langdon教授幽默的一面以及女主角的露脸。女主角Vittoria是个称职的花瓶，虽然不是小说里那个瑜伽功夫了得的高手，整部戏都踩着高跟鞋到处跑也算是女中豪杰了。

为了不得罪以梵蒂冈为代表的全世界天主教势力，电影虽然涉及了教皇之死以及密宗会议这样的内容，但基本上还是保持了很强大的宗教气场，梵蒂冈的圣彼得广场以及红衣主教集体出席会议，都气势非凡。电影甚至改编了小说中最后的身世之谜之梗，不知道是求能够和平上映还是因为时间不够。据Variety介绍，梵蒂冈这次的反应就是低调，不想给这部片制造更多的曝光率。

这部戏应该就是典型的Runaway Project, 英国、德国、意大利、瑞典的演员都有参与，女主角甚至是以色列的美女，当然不可少意大利政府的支持，看完这部戏真的很想去罗马城一游。

[Web2.0] Good for YouTube Bad for GFW

2009-05-04T01:30:00.002-05:00

As the saying goes "there are two sides of the same coin", two approaches to Internet are the centralism and the decentralism, and I prefer the latter one.

Decentralism is mainly because of the user participation and collective intelligence, which is a good excuse for YouTube's liability to infringement but a miss for the China's Great Fire Wall
project.

According to DMCA1998, if the service provider could prove 1) does not have the constructive knowledge of infringing activity; 2) cant control the infringing activity and does not benefit directly from the infringing activity; 3) remove the infringing content promptly once receive the copyright holder's notification, the service provider could be exempt from injunctions. YouTube has been actively practicing the third provision, both falls into gray area of the first two. It is really difficult for YouTube to clean up all the infringing content because of users' effort. Some of clips are infringing; some could be fair use; and some of the clips dont have the identification tag that the system cant automatically detect them; and even YouTube moves them from on account others can secretly continue upload. Also, some users come to the site are just looking for user generated content, in such circumstances, YouTube is benefiting directly from non-infringing content. So, the user participation gives excuses, at least, enough arguments for the Viacom v YouTube case.

As for the GFW project, though the censorship is getting worse (YouTube is completely blocked by end of the April), users' collective intelligence and participation efforts make it possible to break the GFW. Users still can try proxy and VPN services to pass GFW to access foreign websites, and for domestic uses, users have developed many new words to avoid sensitive words block. The ironic thing is we all know GFW blacklist for sensitive words is unpredictable, yet, users intelligence to develop new words for reference is weigh more unpredictable and innovative. Therefore, GFW can never completely stop the access. Sadly, they will try physical violent ways then sometimes. Still, the decentralism makes it not that strong.

Here's a video that describes one of the latest popular Internet slang in China, and an article that explains how the GFW function, a nice piece. And, they are both in Chinese..
Interpret the GFW and Break the GFW
http://course.ccert.edu.cn/blog/dingxuan/2009/04/30/gfw/

[Food] Singapore Fried Rice Noodles

2009-05-02T01:41:00.003-05:00

It's always potluck time by the end of the semester. Sometimes, people have the expectation for international students' exotic dishes; sometimes, too exotic that people dont want to try it.
This is one of my favorite potluck dish to bring, the basic ingredient is Chinese style but the taste is like Southeast Asia. I like the like the flavor and the text of it.

Singapore Fried Rice Noodles (From rasamalaysia.com, a pretty luxury one)
Simple Singapore Fried Rice Noodles, the taste relies on the rice noodle an the curry, so I usually add whatever I have at hand.

Ingirendent:
1 large yellow onion
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2-3 slices of ginger
2-3 green onion
1/3 box of ground beef
15 shrimp
1.5 cup spring sprouts
1 pk, 12oz Wai Wai brand rice noodle

Sauce:
1tbs cooking wine for marinade the beef
4tbs soy sauce
3tbs oil
1cup chicken broth
3tbs curry powder
some sugar depends

First, heat the oil and fry the onion slices, ginger, and garlic, till the onions are translucent golden. Second, add the ground beef.
Third, add the rice noodles, soy sauce, chicken powder, curry, and sugar, cook until the rice noodles are tender.
Forth, finally add spring spouts and green onions, stir and turn off the fire.
Serve as side dish or main dish.
Another good reason to bring for potluck is it is dry food that is easy to carry.

The Pirate Bay Case

2009-04-19T21:13:00.002-05:00

今天，又有一家BT服务商受到了”正义的制裁“ 。

CNET， Wired，Lifehacker 这些主流的IT博客都报道了瑞典著名的BT下载网站 Pirate Bay （海盗湾）官司一审的结果（终于有一件比Ashton Kutcher和CNN推特大战有意思的新闻了）。包括索尼音乐，华纳兄弟，EMI，哥伦比亚制片等主流媒体公司告这家Bittorrent服务商协同侵权（Contributory Copyright Infringement），一审的结果是Pirate Bay的四位创办人被判各入狱一年，并且罚款360万美金（3.6 million）。据Wired介绍，此次协同罪成立的原因是原告律师提出1963年的一桩案例，当友人在打人的时候，帮友人举着外套的一名被告被判有罪，同理，帮着万千网民下载的Pirate Bay也有罪。

这自然让我想到了当年的P2P音乐分享软件Napster 的案子。一样也是媒体公司告网络服务商，目前来看，结果一样，Napster输了，宣告关闭，现在被收购，转为所谓合法下载分享软件，但是声势不如从前了，也做不过收费的iTune和Amazon。

事实上，对于P2P服务而言，侵权的文件并非存储在服务商的服务器上，而是各个用户的本地盘，网站运营者很难被定为侵权。就美国的法律来说，根据1996 年通信法(Telecommunication Act of 1996)以及1998年的DMCA（Digital Millennium Copyright Act），网站可以通过safe harbor条例来免责，就算侵权的内容存在该网站的服务器上，如果是用户上传的，服务上也不用负权责。但是在Napster的案子就已经定下了先例，法官认为，Napster这样P2P的服务，本身不符合Safe Harbor的条件，其次，Napster主页上提供了被侵权的歌曲的名字，显然Napster知道网友有侵权行为没有阻止，因而被判 Contributory Infringement（现在Viacom 和Youtube的案子，也是这个罪名）。
结果呢，一个Napster倒下了，P2P音乐分享却好好地活着。
一个Pirate Bay被袭击了，还有大把的BT下载的根据地可以燎原。网站创始人也很幽默，针对审判结果，他们在网站上说，就像所有好莱坞电影演得一样，好人会是最后的赢家。所以他们会上诉。（”But as in all good movies, the heroes lose in the beginning but have an epic victory in the end anyhow. That's the only thing hollywood ever taught us.“）
这些IT 博客都很谨慎地报告了案情发展，没有多加评论，这个舆论可不能乱导，所以只见网友评论口水乱喷。

我可以认同媒体公司希望版权被承认的做法，毕竟知识产权保护法的初衷是鼓励创作，尊重版权是鼓励更多创作的基本原则。但是我不认同这个审判结果，好像是杀鸡儆猴，抓不到P2P的下载的网友，只好抓服务商。就像Lawrence Lessig一直强调的，当这一代年轻人把P2P作为分享文化的时候，媒体和政府却把它作为犯罪，这两者之间的矛盾如何协调才是需要着重强调的。媒体公司是不是应该开放更多的渠道提供内容，而不是一路追杀限制渠道呢？

Thoughts on Twitter

2009-04-07T22:09:00.009-05:00

photo courtesy to The Hollywood Reporter Website

I've been using Twitter since last spring though less than ten people follow me and only three friends actually interact with me. I still enjoy twitter with myself and use it keep news links when for my writing records. Since I follow Howard Rheingold on Twitter, I've read some discussion on twitter, blog, the social media and the public media. Besides that, since Twitter is getting popular, the business value is getting more attention.

For online marketing, it seems new media companies, or any companies that intend to tap the young generation, the three must have are Twitter, Facebook and YouTube, as The Hollywood Reporter exemplifies.

Streaming media has become an essential part for online marketing, it looks good on your company's website and it also could be a hit on Youtube if it is interesting enough. Media company could put movie trailer, interview clips, music video on YouTube for promotion and branding. Even non-media companies, could put commercials, promotional materials or throw up a contest on Youtube. People used to say the young generation believe something if they can find it on the website, and now they will believe something until they see it in the video with user comment.

Facebook, has been another tool for marketing and branding, especially the becoming a fan function. If a brand gets endorsement from your best friend, the potential for you to like it probably will be higher. Also, I am wondering, this fan thing might allow the company to get access to users information and therefore mine the valuable data of their target consumers.

And finally, Twitter, it is a even more peer-to-peer and personal for online marketing. Take Boxee as an example, their twitter guy is the founder of Boxee, which establishes its technological savvy brand image but also enables a small independent company to talk to its consumers with least cost. Some companies use twitter just for official announcement, which is not as effective as the interpersonal tweets, but at least, it shows the company's changing marketing strategy. And, in a business world that only rating and unique visit matter, I am curious that how companies will evaluate the effect of Twitter. (Do they use google analytics?)

Besides business, celebrities (or their agents) also embrace Twitter now. Celebrities rely on the press to spread the word and now they can do it on their cell phone. I guess Paris Hilton really need to have a twitter account for her exposure anxiety. Currently, Lance Armstrong and O'neal are known as Twitter Pro, and Hugh Jack just launched his account.

Nancy Baym, scholar on fandom and virtual community, also had a recent blog on Twitter, which she compared blog and twitter and summarized several points about the special twitter (http://www.onlinefandom.com/archives/blogs-vs-twitter-its-the-interactivity/). I especially agree that Twitter fills our curiosity to watch someone's life and its a causal talk, banter, easier than IM or Email to follow.

Finally, I am using Firefox adds-on power twitter for updates. It can automatically shorten the link and upload images. Pretty awesome.

[TV Series] 30 Rock S3 EP15-16

2009-03-29T13:08:00.006-06:00

本周的30 Rock，又让我从头到尾一直持嘴角上扬状态；上周的EP15，the bubble 也不错，所以又开始断断续续地写recap。

S3 EP15 The Bubble
这集的主线就是Liz的帅男友Dr.Drew，套句俗话，就是“人正真好”，警察舍不得给他开罚单，餐厅服务员给他特别优惠，走在路上Calvin Klein问他要不要去给CK做内衣模特，照他自己的话来说，学校演出Prince Eric（迪斯尼动画小美人鱼里面的王子）都是按照他的样子设计的。Liz发现所有人都因为Drew的外表而对他格外呵护，令Drew一直生活在一个自以为很全能的幻境中。Liz无法忍受，决心要戳破这个幻境，结果Jon Hamm就变成了前男友。另一方面，Tracy的合约到期了，Jack主动抗下跟他续约这个任务，结果不小心搞砸了，还是需要Kenneth出马才挽回 Tracy；Jenna方面，她的“注意力渴求症”持续发作，这次想到了捐头发给慈善机构来获取注意力这一招，但是她捐头发的那个机构实在很特别，特别到要去查google然后才脸红地知道意思 XD。
Liz戳破bubble这条线还蛮好笑的，我还特地去比照了以下PrinceEric，结果真的相似度有85%，真的是尖下巴的王子脸.

重点来说，本周的16集，Apollo Apollo ,线索比较多条：

Jack要过50大寿了，举杯，得益地回顾人生，发现自己10岁时候的愿望基本都达成了，甚至包括hit mom with a car，S2或者是S3里面的确有这个情节，只差一个就是和Adam West ，当年的蝙蝠侠扮演者吃饭，当然以Jack现在的身份，一个电话就搞定了。结果他发现自己最怀念的是小时候打开礼物时，兴奋地呕吐的画面（我以为只有我家猫咪吃太多才会这样），于是就决心要弄明白当时那份礼物是什么。Tracy方面，继续活在自己想太多的世界里，这次想到了要做宇航员，害的整个TGS的工作人员要运用特殊效果骗他把摄影棚当作是宇航员训练基地，XD。Liz和Jenna两根线这次交叉了，关系相当复杂，Liz的某任前男友Dennis，负责管理咖啡自动售卖机的那位，原来和Jenna也有关系，Liz口头上说这次不会影响两人的友情，却还是小小地邪恶了一下，害Jenna从空中掉下来。作为道歉，Jenna可以把Liz早年的丑闻揭出来。我以为Liz当年geek的样子我们都已经看光光了，想不到还有shock，这次是她当年以geek造型装sexy为某个特殊服务电话专线拍的广告，继续套句俗话，很雷人。

本集的笑点之一，分别展示了Kenneth，Tracey和 Jack眼里的世界，Kenneth的世界看出去大家都是小木偶，呆呆傻傻的，超级可爱；Jack眼里的世界都自动附上价格标签，目光扫过，这个货色多少钱就一目了然；Tracey的世界，人人都跟他一样的调子，我觉得还蛮吓人的，XD。
这是Kenneth眼里看到的Liz Lemon，我想买，可惜NBC的周边都只有杯子和衣服。（photo courtesy to muppet wiki）

还有Jack为了弄清10岁生日时盒子里装的礼物，特别请了当年的送礼人还有唇语专家来，结果人家一来开口就是“I thought it was a job interview” 。这年头约人，这个借口真的很好用。

最后Liz的广告曝光的过程也很好笑，Jenna冲去跟制作组的那些Geek们宣布这个消息，话音刚落，Geek1号就说那一定在Youtube上面可以看到，Geek2号就说，我有连线可以把电脑和电视连起来，Geek3号就把电视搬来了，Liz还没反应过来，她扮演的Bijoue已经开始在电视上搔首弄姿了。如果有Geek4 号的话，应该马上去twitter把YouTube视频的地址贴上去。

好笑归好笑，在我看来，这集也有点点无奈了，大人总是渐渐lose your wonderland，要像Kenneth一样有大人的脸，小孩的心也不容易啊，XD。

Broadband access for more

2009-03-21T18:23:00.003-06:00

I just watched President Obama on Tonight Show with Jay Leno yesterday, where he talked about AIG biailout and AIG Bonus. I am a little surprised to see a president on a late night talk show. The show just reminded me of an another show, where China Prime Minister Wen Jiabao had an online chat with Chinese netzens recently.

One question is how the government will help millions migrant workers who were laid-off from small manufacture factories due to the global recession. And he answered that the government will encourage migrant workers to develop their own business, and will give training and tax discount. This reminds me of an article from Keso's blog, talking about Baidu, China's most popular search engine showed profits in the agriculture sector last year and indicated the promise for further growth. He mentioned that its important for such websites go help the farmers to benefit from information technology and to mitigate the information gap between cities and rural areas. I also learned from a recent lecture that Indian government's top down E-governance project to help village entrepreneurs. Even in Obama's stimulus plan, 7 billion is allocated for broadband infrastructure when everywhere needs the money.

I personally believe it will be worth the price. At least, it is much more valuable than spending the resources on building the Great Firewall. In China, Internet could be a significant tool to solve the education and economic development gap between cities and rural areas.

Preview of Obama on Jay Leno show, and you can watch the full episode on Hulu.

[TW Drama] 波丽士大人 ( Police et vous)

2009-03-15T15:49:00.004-06:00

很少有偶像剧不是主打“偶像”而是主打导演的，《波丽士大人》的宣传就强力主打王小棣导演作品，力压演出阵容里的蓝正龙，林佑威、桂纶镁。王小棣导演在台湾电视圈很受尊敬，蔡康永、豆子导演、《光阴的故事》的Mag编剧还有若干演员，提起她都用很敬佩的语气。可惜，我这种被速食文化养大的观众，看她的作品总是看不下去，有时候觉得太理想化，有时候觉得太写实。

第一次是若干年前的《大医院小医师》（原作是候文咏，演员有蓝正龙），那些年轻的医生们要学会承担一条条人命的责任，觉得压力好大，看不下去。第二次是《我在垦丁天气晴》，有我喜欢的演员李康宜，可是剧中另一个女主角很是多愁，又让人觉得压力很大，一集都没看下去。第三次就是这部《波丽士大人》，刘汉强这样的警察过于理想化了，在桂纶镁的戏份结束后就没看
下去了（腐女请接着看），直接跳到到本周的最终回（不过我有读过剧本的小说版）。

本剧通过描述这一对警察兄弟，林俊维（林佑威）和刘汉强（蓝正龙）从警察学校、到地方警员、到专案组的成长经历，反映了台湾社会警察生活的现状，反思了媒体和政治体系的弊端。全片的宣传语是“如果你的敌人，是你最好的朋友”，我的解读是民众和公仆的关系，到底还可不可以信任警察，信任媒体，信任政治家？我的答案是NO NO NO，这部片还是希望带来一点信心。
最终回EP24，内容很紧凑，基本上每个画面都是很有意义，其实我真的有很多地方没看明白，不过我的乐趣是看PTT高手的解读和YouTbue的评论，这样就刚刚好。
以下剧情雷，结局雷，慎读。刘汉强，充满正义感以致于总是一根筋，正直地可以害死人（气死人），在最终回终于正气大爆发，害死了最最亲近的人。
林俊维，从小很自卑却也让他明白要圆滑处事，最后却失去平衡，倒在了最亲的人怀里。
林国璋，俊维的堂哥，一心想要让“检察官驻点计划”的法案通过，可是政客又怎么可能让一个不利于他们的法案轻易通过呢? 在一条自己以为是鞠躬精粹的路上走到了官商勾结的绝路。

在枪战现场，林俊维对着汉强喊，“我哥是清白的”，对着林国璋喊，“我知道你是清白的，你不要动汉强。”他俩边都想保护。
他死都要保护汉强，因为刘汉强就是他的另一个自我，一个坚持着警察理想的自我，保护刘汉强不仅仅是保护兄弟，更是让那份他自知已经无法完整的理想继续下去。
他也要誓死保护他堂哥的清白，因为堂哥就是他的现实，早已经被利益心熏昏了头却还要用是非心来做借口。
结果，他哪一方都救不了，只有牺牲了自己。因为，他只是一个小警察。

当时枪战现场的其他角色，请允许我全部忽略，Jennifer这个角色从头到尾就让人觉得很假，另外冒出来的那个黑社会老大明明是毒贩外加军火商，有羁绊可以理解，却突然表现如此亲民，不合逻辑。

影片最后，Key了很长的一段话。我在想，导演在这部戏里面想要表达的东西真的太多，要对基层警察付出致意，要揭露媒体暴力，要反思立法体系的不足，一股脑的都要塞在一部片里面，也知道观众会消化不良，这一段话是为了帮助消化用的。至少我看了，能够明白这部片的用心之处。无论如何，在这样的媒体环境之下，有导演还是那么坚持地相信用电视来改良，很难得。

[TW Drama] 光阴的故事

2009-03-09T16:51:00.003-06:00

因为这部戏在Youtube上面很红才好奇地看了一下，接着Wiki和Ptt了一下，继《白色巨塔》以后第二部要推的台湾电视剧就是《光阴的故事》了。这部的风格就没有那么沉重，整个相当的欢乐和励志，而且请了一群偶像剧的演员，卖相也很好。

看了编剧Mag的Blog，是她有了这个idea再给制作人王佩华和王伟忠的，一拍即合。故事描述地是60年代出生的孩子，发生在70年代的故事（这些人现在应该都40-50岁了），勾起了很多人童年的回忆，最终要的是，那种纯朴的风情，不管隔了多久看，总是能够触动人心的。

我印象里的台湾的眷村文化，源于白先勇的小说，一群大陆人，有写不得已的，有的被逼的，跟着国军到了台湾，飞行员、落寞的妇人之类的，模模糊糊的。后来认识的台湾友人，恰巧是在眷村长大的，照她说，她长的就是一幅外省人的样子，说话也没有台湾MM那么细声细语的，到现在还在怀念山东籍的奶奶包的饺子。看完这部《光阴的故事》，对眷村有了进一步的了解，套一句戏里面角色孙家爸爸的话来说，“那儿是故乡，这儿是家，不一样了“。那些带着乡音和乡愁，在台湾一个新的环境重新开始的一代人和他们的下一代人，有着属于他们的独特的故事。当然，这部戏之所以能够那么受欢迎，不仅仅有独特的眷村气息，也有一个时代的影子。

因为这是一个村子的故事，而且有整整54集，可见人物之多以及不可避免地会有一些比较狗血的内容，所以我又是配合网友讨论和Youtube跳跃式观看的，具体每一家人家，陶家、孙家、张家、冯家、许家、朱家这些人家的人物，可以参考WIKI上面的介绍，每一家都是有笑有泪的，只是孙家笑声多一点，张家笑声少一点的区别。我就挑印象比较深的角色（演员）来说了。

孙家，河南人孙玉章在买酱油的路上被拉到了台湾当兵，然后娶了台湾本土人阿好以后组成的家庭，一美、再美和家柱分别是长女、次女和长子，因为有鸡婆的妈妈和女儿以及极度务实的老爸，所以这个家庭就相当的和谐欢乐，孙一美后来和许毅源结婚，配成网友热烈讨论的”美元配“以后，就更甜蜜温馨，非常地讨喜。演员也相当的棒，黄嘉千真的很适合这种快言快语的角色，多年以前看她演的咪咪将就印象深刻，这次把一个讲台湾国语的热心欧巴桑演得真是入木三分，更厉害的是扮他的丈夫的樊光耀，竟然可以把河南老兵演得那么传神。

冯家，主要是一个一心想回上海的而得了心病的妇人，人称等船的冯妈，和一个总是讲错话的儿子冯拍雄，偶尔入镜的冯爸。冯妈这个角色虽然不是主角，却是灵魂人物；虽然大多数时候神志不清地在等船，天气好，神志清楚地时候说出来的都是金玉良言。我很喜欢她对一美说过的一句话，” 你不是不自私，只是再自私也是有是非之心的，知道什么事该做什么事不该做（EP17，摘自PTT中视讨论版精华区）“；也喜欢她对茜茜说过的那段很有哲理的话” ‘难道我们再怎么努力都拼不过命运吗？（茜）’。傻瓜，命运要怎么拼呢？你没看到那些逆流的鱼，都伤成什么样子？命运要顺著它流。只有顺著它流，才能找到上岸的力量。" (EP26, 出处同上) “

其他家也都很有特色，陶家的大嗓门夫妇和朱家的大喇叭妈妈等等，都不一一赘述了。感情方面的主线则比较清楚，就是美元配和邦茜配，前者走温情路线后者走苦情路线，正好互补，贯穿整部感情戏的则是孙一美的至理名言“祝福也是一种爱”。我比较喜欢邦茜这条线（外贸协会会员是原因之一），主要是他们的故事点像《甜蜜蜜》里面的李翘和黎小军，不仅仅最后的画面格外像，经历也有点相似。大多数人可能就因为生活所迫，应差阳错地就分开了，可是电影电视就是有这样的魔力，把那些彼此心底里的影子拉到你身边。扮演着两对情侣的都是年轻偶像派演员，演得很出色，不过风头还是被那些厉害的妈妈、爷爷、叔叔们抢去了不少。

最后推一下这部戏的音乐，片头是罗大佑的《光阴的故事》，插曲有很多很复古的老歌，我喜欢《为何梦见他》这一首，真的是像一首小诗一样的老歌。片尾则是张震岳和林芯仪的《回到过去》，很有张的风格。

[Food] Chinese Style Beef Stew

2009-02-21T15:41:00.009-06:00

I like beef stew with curry or wine, but my favorite one is this Chinese style beef stew, which we have it as a main dish as well as for noddle soup base. It tastes sweet and spicy. Here's the recipe:
Ingredients:
1 pound stew beef (if you can find beef flank will be better); 2 medium size tomato, 1 large onion, 6 carrot.
For the flavor:
6 slices ginger, 4 cloves garlic, 4 dry red pepper, some green onion ( make a knot so you can easily take them out later) , 5 aniseed, 1 spice food package, 2cup chicken broth
For the marinade sauce:
2.5tbs chill bean sauce, 2.5 tbs Chinese soy sauce, 1.5 tbs rice wine,

The spice food package is very helpful for all kinds of Chinese dish, tea egg for example.

Steps:
1. Put the beef in boiled water quickly and marinade it with soy sauce, chill bean sauce, rice wine, for about 15minutes while preparing the vegetables.
2. Heat the pan with 3 tbs oil, fry the onion, green onion, ginger, garlic and red pepper for flavor first, and then put the beef and the marinade sauce, tomato, and carrot, fry a little bit. Add 2 cups chicken broth, spice food package, and aniseed for the stew. Take out the green onion, pepper when the they are burned and cook for about 35-40 minutes.

4. Add crystal sugar as you want and cook another 5 minutes until the sauce is a condense, or you can add a little corn starch. Serve.

[Food] Cardamom Cake

2009-02-15T13:50:00.006-06:00

今天，终于发现了比Cheese Cake、Tiramisu、水果蛋糕都简单而且健康的蛋糕，那就是香料蛋糕（Spicy Cake ），其实这个名字是我自己取的。因为室友的介绍就迷上了Cardamom （豆蔻）这种香料，他们饮红茶或者是做牛奶配料的甜点，都会加一点来增加香味。于是就搜了一个豆蔻蛋糕的食谱出来，非常的light，很适合下午茶的时候吃，一点都不会腻。这是食谱是从Pittsburgh Needs Eated这个blog翻来的，基本照抄，部分原料代替。

煮牛奶的Cardamom是绿色的，我用的是粉末。

食谱：
先准备蛋糕的部分：
粉末部分
2cup all-purpose面粉
2tsp（小匙，下同）苏打粉
1/2 tsp 盐
1 1/4tsp 豆蔻粉
1 tsp 速溶咖啡粉
===========
2/3 杯糖
2tbs（大匙）桔子皮屑（orange zest) 我不太会用我家弄屑屑的那个工具所以只有放少许橘子皮
这样两方在一起捏一下，让桔子皮的味道可以释放出来
==========
1根黄油溶化后
2只鸡蛋
1/2 杯牛奶
1/2 杯咖啡
1 香草精
以上，把干的粉末和湿的粉末混合，达到糊状就可以了。
=================
蛋糕屑（crumb）的部分：
1/2 杯面粉
2/3 杯燕麦片
1/3 杯 brown sugar
1tsp 桔子皮
1/2tsp 咖啡粉
1/2 tsp 豆蔻粉
2/3根黄油不要溶化，室温
把这些材料放在一起，捏一下，有很小的小块就可以了。
我用的是长方形的烤盘，如果有厚度更深一点的烤盘，效果会更好。
烤箱预热350度，因为我家的是gas 烤箱，所以要40分钟左右，电的可能只要30-35分钟即可。
因为我很喜欢肉桂、豆蔻这种香味，所以很中意这款简单的蛋糕，准备下次多弄点orange zest再试试看。

[Moive] The Reader (2008)

2009-02-14T14:59:00.012-06:00

上周去影院看了《The Reader》, 喜欢这个故事，但并不是很喜欢这部电影前半部分的手法。
很少看一部电影，前5分钟女主角就露大腿，10分钟就开始激情戏，就算剧情需要，也没有必要把前20分钟弄得如此sensual吧,毕竟影片主题是年少时的这段暧昧牵扯出的法律、道德还有忏悔交织的故事。

以下剧透：

一看预告就被吸引了，一方面男女演员我都很欣赏，另一方面的确很好奇，这个女人到底有什么秘密？看完电影才意识到，这个女人的秘密不算是什么，真正让人揪心的是，二战过去那么多年了，大屠杀的记忆慢慢模糊的时候，经历过战争和没有经历过战争的人，要怎么面对这对历史。

Wiki了一下，原作者Bernhard Schlink是学法律的，本身就是法官而且擅长写侦探小说，所以这个故事就是一个谜一样的女人，她的秘密背后，是一个法律判不清，道德也辨不明的经历。二战后，Michael还是个高中生的时候，曾经和一个年长他很多的女人Hanna有过一段情，说不清那是爱情还是被认同的满足。Hanna很喜欢听他朗读各种故事，有一天，这个女人突然匆匆消失了。若干年以后，Michael再见她的时候，是Hanna在法庭上讲她的故事，Miachel作为法学院的学生听众席上听。Hanna纳粹党卫队的一分子，工作是奥斯威辛集中营的警卫，间接害死了很多无辜的犹太人。作为被告，Hanna在庭上没有露出一点忏悔的意思，没有承认罪行只是在最后一刻，当法官要求她签名比照字迹的时候，她畏惧了，一个人认了所有的罪，被判终身监禁。只有Michael和Hanna知道的秘密就在这一刻，让两人都都低下了，Hanna其实是文盲，不会读书不能写字。

关于这桩审判，Michael的导师、同学都有不同的意见，可惜在教室里争论一段，我有点听不清楚。我的理解是，当一个国家的政治、经济、媒体全部都被纳粹独裁控制的时候，对于那些没有接受过教育的普通工人来说，能够要求他们有多少觉悟？又能够要求他们承担多少责任？描述欧洲二战中个体的影片，无论是集中营里的父亲（Life is Beautiful, 1997），或者是流亡的钢琴家（The Pianist,2002）亦或者是学生运动的领袖(Sophie Scholl, 2005) ，焦点都是在被害的这一方，但这次的主角Hanna不同，她是大屠杀帮凶，但也是这场战争被害者，是专制的结果，没有教育的悲哀。

剧中，Hanna很喜欢很认真地搓洗身体，也许因为隐隐觉得罪孽深重，却怎么也洗不清。她真正地自我救赎，还是要从监狱中开始。整个电影我最喜欢的部分，就是这里。长大后的Michael，重新拿起录音机开始为Hanna朗读，而Hanna受到启发，开始识字。最后的结局，还是有点感伤，却如此地合乎情理，和《肖申克的救赎》里面的老人一样，这么多年监狱的生活，刑满的这一刻就是完成救赎的时候，夫复何求。

这么沉重的片，我大概不会再看第二遍，即时有Ralph Fiennes那么深情地表演和Kate Winslet如此献身的专业精神。但是推荐对历史感兴趣的人，觉得值得看一遍。我自己还是那句老话，有机会把英文版小说找来看看，传说中纽约时报读书榜上第一次荣登榜首的德国小说。

这部片在奥斯卡上也获不少提名，但是因为其他提名影片我都还没来得及看，没什么发言权，凭Variety上面的分析和个人兴趣，我还是投Kate Winslet一票，其他对手，Angelina Jolie的那个妈妈的角色从头到尾几乎都是在撕心裂肺的叫；层面不够；Anne Hathaway第一次转型还太年轻；Meryl Streep已经可以直接往终身成就奖迈进了；Melissa Leo的那部影片本身就太冷门；而Kate提名多次改轮到了吧，只是她在戏中到底是Supporting role还是Leading，其实有点难讲，因为金球奖颁她凭这部戏入围的就是最佳女配角。上周日的NYT也有一篇文章，是Little Children的小说作者写的，也直夸Kate的天然不做作是人见人爱。

贴一下Kate在金球奖上凭《Revolutionary Road》拿下最佳女主角的片断，足见她有多么天然了。听到得奖的是她的时候，第一反应是要自动消音的那个词，XD，另外上台是还特别感谢男主角Leo，表白说“我已经爱你13年了”，真是贴心。

Superbowl Commercial 2009

2009-02-09T22:18:00.003-06:00

今年超级碗杯的结果，已经是旧闻了。关于超级碗杯八卦倒还是有一个，当天的google热搜关键词是，Bruce Springsteen到底几岁，XD（顺便推他唱的Wrestler的主题曲）。重点还是超级碗杯的广告传统。

今年广受好评的最好笑广告是Career Builder Website的广告，抓狂的女同事：

我觉得比较好玩的是HULU.COM 首次登上小屏幕。今年的超级碗杯是NBC转播的，自然不能错过这个Cross Promotion的好机会，这则广告的名字叫Alec in Hululand。主演是Alec Baldwin（顺便还可以再推销30Rock），他来到hulu的实验室，在这个实验室里面人人都看hulu看上瘾了。我觉得处处有黑衣人的影子，可是老外想的更多。CNet的记者觉得，这个是争对HULU的竞争对手Youtube的后台Google著名的Dont be evil的座右铭来的，就是“邪恶”又如何。不过我也看到评论说，其实这个广告太自作聪明了，毁了HULU简单好用的形象，人家40、50的观众可能真的被邪恶的外星人吓倒了，不知道葫芦里卖的是什么药。我在等有没有新闻说hulu的点击率在瞬间猛增。

关于这两则广告的相同点，就是都在电视上为网站打广告。之前问过本地电视台的广告经理，有没有觉得网络盛行给本地电视台广告收入带来很大压力，他说影响还是有的，可是前景还算乐观，一方面网站或者网络服务（手机服务）还是需要电视增加曝光率，另一方面他们也在经营自己的网站，放上独家的本地新闻，也在逐渐拓展网络收入。

就算网络再盛行，从整合营销的角度看，电视广告还是不能忽略的。

关于今年广告的另一则八卦是，快餐连锁店Denny's的广告是2月3日那一天的早上6点到下午2点的FREE Grand Slam Meal，包括2个pancake，2个鸡蛋，2个香肠/培根肉。这一场campaign，广告加上食物的花费大概有5百万美元（from here）结果真的各地的Denny's都爆满，大排长龙。不知道将来会不会出现在教科书上成为学习的案例。

30 Rock Ep10

2009-02-07T02:03:00.006-06:00

没有太大的悬念，30Rock横扫2009年度金球奖电视喜剧类奖项，Tracy的发言很有30 Rock的feel。不过第三季追下来，客串的明星里面Steve Martin还算不错，后来的6、7、8集都不怎么出彩，一度怀疑Salma Hayek是来当supersize的花瓶的，好在第9和第10集又回到了30 Rock的感觉。尤其是EP10，really brilliant。

第九集说Liz陪Jack去参加总裁座谈之类的活动，最后Liz完全不顾形象地帮助Jack。Tian Fey不愧是优秀的喜剧演员，才色具备；另一方面Jenna被wikipedia上面的条目整了一番。

重点来说本周的第10集，Salma Hayek扮演的波多黎各裔的护士终于起到了重要作用。一直觉得30 Rock精彩的一点就是多元化，黑人，白人精英（Jack），白人中产阶级（Liz），南方乡下来的打工仔（Kenneth），geek & gay (从剩下的员工里面慢慢找)，这一集又盯上了拉美裔以及很受欢迎的类型片Telenovela，也就是在墨西哥，巴西，阿根廷等西班牙语/葡萄牙语国家非常流行的肥皂剧，Betty La Fea (ugly betty）为近期风靡全球的代表，剧情往往围绕家庭恩怨/感情纠葛。

EP10依然保持30 Rock剧情多线平行发展的风格，主线两根分别说Liz遇上了一个令她心仪的新邻居( Jon Hamm) 以及Jack要讨好Elisa那个喜欢看telenovela的祖母，副线是Tracy不服老逞强，穿针引线地道具就是肥皂剧以及Rohypnol，俗称 roofy，是 date rape pill.

一开场，Jack就给Liz介绍新来的一群实习生：刚刚从华尔街上的投行被裁下来的银行家们，然后挑明自己最新的困扰，Elisa的祖母不喜欢欢他，可是在波多黎各，年纪大的女人是很受最尊敬的，顺带放冷箭"You should go there, lemon, they love you“。祖母为什么不喜欢Jack呢？以下剧透。EP10：Generalissimo

因为Elisa祖母热衷的这部肥皂剧，主要角色那个十恶不赦的大将军，就是翻版Jack Donaghy，祖母因此迁怒于Jack。 Alec Baldwin扮像活脱脱就是午间剧场肥皂剧走出来的土霸子，辛苦他的部分就是他要多次一把抬起戏里的女主角。

Liz方面，她”不小心“地看了新来的邻居的信件，对方是一个医生，热衷慈善组织，喜欢看电影，刚离婚，家里有一个ice cream maker而且擅长baking，重点是长的像动画片里面的飞行员，应该Liz喜欢的类型。她正在苦恼怎么出手。

Tracy那里，他不服老，因为他担心变老的喜剧演员就只有去演一些严肃的角色（他真的永远都想太多XD），所以就故意和新来的那群Intern混在一起开party，结果误食了roofy，昏倒在地上对liz，Jena和kenneth说”you can do whatever you want now“。众人落荒而逃，XD。

身为NBC的CEO，Jack的解决肥皂剧困扰的方法很简单，买断。播放肥皂剧的这个频道，Telemundo本身就是NBC Universal旗下的西班牙语频道，是仅此于Univision的第二大西语频道，制作播放的telenovela收视向来很好，在这里出现应该算是cross-promotion吧。剧中，Jack就买下了这个电视台，让Liz去修改剧本，让这个将军从剧中消失。

Elisa帮Liz把剧本翻译成西班牙语，告诉她删掉了所有Star Wars reference（XD，30 rock的编剧真的是狂热的星战迷）。

结果，liz的剧本没有什么用，反而Liz从这个大将军的邪恶念头里获得了不少灵感，决定继续偷看邻居的信而且还假装举行party来骗邻居入室。Jack只有亲自去和那个扮演将军的演员"super gay" 的Moreda对质，第二季里面害Liz误以为怀孕的墨西哥零食Sabor de Solidad在这里又出现了。Moreda保证接下来的剧情一定会让波多黎各的老年妇女爱上这个角色，”seduction is never impossible for a Generalissimo“。这位将军获得老年妇女芳心的方法就是：现陪人家看小孩儿的照片，再陪人家坐在那里刮乐透，最后去麦当劳只点一杯咖啡坐着。概括地也太精辟了。

结果，Jack就这样获得了Elisa祖母的好感，而Liz一如既往地搞砸了约会。

回应Liz，邻居也看了Liz的邮件：cheese of the month club, steak of the month club and the vegetarian times，果然是Liz的胃口。结果liz就回了一句I am a flip-flopper，不愧是Liz Lemon！如果有什么奇迹发生的话，我们还可以再约会，医生邻居最后说。

电视里面，主播宣布重新雷曼兄弟重新开业，老板是Tracy；接着是一群拉丁裔小孩的图片（<---祖母的意见）。可怕的奇迹。我就喜欢看Liz和Jack的互相尖酸刻薄地对话，喜欢看Jenna自以为是，Tracy想太多（上一次是一直想他的小孩要谋杀亲父），还有Kenneth乱热心，这一集差不多都有了。 EP10完整Recap走这里：TVGUIDE
附赠Jack的大将军扮相：

[JP Movie] 20th Century Boys Chapter One

2009-02-01T13:37:00.007-06:00

2009年1月31日，《20世紀少年·第二章 ·最后的希望》才在日本公映，TVBT就非常应景地推出了第一章（2008年8月30日公映）的字幕版（http://www.mytvbt.com/viewthread.php?tid=97692&extra=page%3D1），纯粹出于对2008年的话题作的好奇，去下载了。

基本上，我绝非漫画迷也不是科幻小说迷，细菌战争，微生物武器，世界毁灭，X国人拯救地球是我最讨厌的类型片。但是，这部片《20世紀少年第一章》我只看了20分钟就决定要看下去了，纯粹从一个电影观众的角度来说，看完第一章还是相当期待第二章、第三章。之前，我对这部片的印象就是一群少年20年再相聚展开和怪兽搏斗、地球保卫战之类的（奥特曼留下的阴影），后来把中日文wiki对照着研究了一下，终于把剧情脉络了解清楚了，其实时空跨度很大，出场人物很多，除了科学探险，还加入了摇滚乐的元素，怪不浦泽直树凭这系列作品获奖无数。故事大概是说，1970年代，在一起混的一群小学生，会在他们特设的秘密基地里面记录一些天马行空的念头，其中包括对于20年后的世界的幻想，例如生物抢，地球毁灭，然后这几个朋友在一起拯救地球。到了90年代，差不多已经饱经沧桑地这些孩子们早已经不记得当年的预言了，开便利店的，文具店或者是荞麦面店都有，可是随着只有她们这几个基地同伴知道的那个“朋友”标记地频繁出现，所有当年他们随口说说的毁灭性地预言都成真了。一个所谓“朋友”的组织势力席卷全日本，于是男主人公健児就要一手背着心爱的吉他，一手抱着姐姐留下的婴儿，和朋友们一起对抗“朋友”的邪恶势力。日文的 wiki上面有非常详细的注解，如果没看过漫画又不想被剧透的慎读；中文版有人物介绍而且暂时没有剧透。

影片第一章从“朋友”组织已经控制日本的20世纪开始倒叙（2000年后），主要是1990年代的事，配合了健児的朋友落合長治在狱中的回忆。片长约140分钟左右，我自己也觉得奇怪，为什么我这种没有热血的非少年也可以看得下去？

原作巨大的光环，加上堤辛彦导演，福田靖编剧这样的组合，外加唐泽寿明，丰川悦司，长盘贵子这种卡司（这三个名字就足以撑起90年代日剧的半边天了）；还有黑木瞳、香川照之、小日向问世、佐佐木藏之介、生濑胜久等也都是每个季度都看得的长年绿叶代表，就足以诱使我点击下载键。

第一章里面悬念这个梗也铺的很好，20年前的那些记忆慢慢浮现，到底为什么所有的预言都成真了？明明只有这几个死党知道的暗号，为什么会被利用成为新的恐怖势力的暗号？这个戴面具的领导人是不是就是当年的朋友之一，动机又是什么？这个念头吸引我一直看下去，并且去Google 和Wiki。

而且这部片里面的热血也不是那么狗血，虽然也有天降大任于斯人的这种模式，可是故事的引子是捍卫友情，这样的执念比拯救地球更容易感动我，看到这群年事已高的欧巴桑、欧吉桑依靠童年时代的友情，和打着“朋友”旗号的势力对抗，自然不希望“朋友”这么温暖的一个词被恐怖组织这样亵渎。因为这样的设定，故事也有很浓的怀旧情绪，第一部片里面穿插了很多70年代的记忆，赤着脚在街头跑的少年，巷子里阿婆开的杂货店，黑白电视里阿姆斯特朗登月的镜头，漫画里的角色看起来也有很朴实的感觉，果然人年纪越大，越喜欢念旧。

当然，还有最重要的一个原因就是KUSO。我觉得通篇对于政治的嘲讽就是最大的KUSO，山田花子客串友民党CM，铺天盖地的友民党的海报还有“实事真相不会出现在教科书，报纸上的”这样的结论，简直就是再现当代政局。当然主人公健儿本身也是一个相当kuso的人，早年是摇滚乐手，后来成了不盈利的便利店的老板，接着突然就要去拯救地球了，表情就只有一脸错愕或者干脆带着兔子头/墨镜看不见脸，XDXD，他的朋友里面オッチョ也很另类，第一次看丰川悦司扮演这么有型的角色。

第一章目前最大的悬念就是“朋友”的老大到底是谁？目前唯一知道他的长相的老警察已经死去了，第二章里面他的外孙（藤木直人饰演）即将登场，长大后的カンナ也要发挥神力，外加更多有特殊才能地人物登场，内容好像比第一章交待缘由要多很多，另外第三章也将于2009年8月29日公映，慢慢等。

[JP Movie] After School (2008)

2009-01-27T23:58:00.005-06:00

据Variety杂志报道，2008日本本土电影显示了崛起的好兆头，票房十大里面六部都是日本电影，其中包括了宫崎骏的Ponyo，电影版《花样男子》、《嫌疑人X的献身》。我在网上搜到的版本则显示十大里面有7部都是日本的片子，其中还有三谷幸喜导演的《Magic Hour》（私心推）、《相棒》（我也想看）、《口袋妖怪》、《二十世纪少年<》等。以往日本电影给人的感觉就有点偏向Art House，曲高和寡，可是这两年来，例如《松子不幸的一生》、《东京铁塔，妈妈和我有时还有爸爸》、《有顶天酒店》、《Always 三丁目的夕日》都是有笑有泪有票房的商业电影。日剧和动漫的成功还是可以带动日本电影产业的，今年卖座的这些片子，多少都要感谢电视和漫画的预热，好像只有宫崎骏和三谷幸喜导演的作品是原创。但另一方面来说，忧虑在于依赖电视/动漫带动起来的电影产业不知道可以持续多久，有多少观众愿意看了漫画，再看日剧，看完日剧再看 SP，看完SP再看映画版？而且，这样流水线操作，避免投资风险的做法，可能会影响一些原创/独立制作的电影。

这个圈子绕的有点远了，要推的是2008年《电影旬报》十佳电影之一的《放课后<》[アフタースクール After School]（猪猪的新闻/种子）。

看到大泉洋站在海报中间，我就觉得这部片应该是喜剧，他的卷毛实在太有喜感了。但是看的过程中，我一直觉得我可能弄错了，这次他就是演一个好心的同学而已，可是最后又发现，啊，果然有喜感。这样被唬弄了90分钟，就是看这部片的乐趣。

整部片是非线性的叙事手法，而且每个角色其实都是双重角色，不知道是不是呼应放课后这个意思，反正观众就是被耍的乐呵呵那个人。重点在于，整个梗都铺的很好，头尾呼应，而且逻辑上来讲也还算过得去。

佐佐木大叔这次扮演的是一个混混侦探，接了一个案子就是要找到公司职员木村（雅人大叔），于是找到木村学生时代开始的好友，神野（大泉洋）入手，自称也是他们的同学。他们要追的这个案子是平日里看起来斯文的职员木村好像和黑社会老大的女人有染，携款出逃。神野，身为负责任而又平凡的人民教师就是这两个人之间的平衡，制造效果。这三个大叔的表演看起来很过瘾，我觉得好笑的桥段包括从罗莉控大伯那里骗取情报的一段还有最后吃乌冬面的一段，整个噗嗤噗嗤笑个不停。私心格外推一下雅人大叔的表演，一贯不温不火，像是《秘密花园》里面那种，有话都不直说，但这次加了点喜感还不错。

另外，当然还是要推一下配乐，要营造kuso感觉的时候，有节奏感又怪异的配乐会适时出现，要抒情的时候也有慢节奏的，片尾曲也很好听，整部片就是很有笑果。

[读书]《野火集》

2009-01-02T09:40:00.009-06:00

2005年文汇出版社发行了《野火集：二十周年纪念版》，收录了龙应台在1985年返台的所见、所闻、所思、所想和其他人对野火系列的评论。2008年末，在野火系列文发表24年后，我才读了这本书。二十多年前让她心痛地台湾社会的方方面面，历历在目，就在上海，就在我身边。

“ 为了多赚几毛钱，有人把染了菌的针筒再度卖出，把病毒注入健康人的身体里去。为了物质享受，有人制造假的奶粉，明明知道可能害了几百个婴儿的性命。为了逃避责任，有人在肇事之后，回过头来把倒地呻吟的人瞄准了再碾一次。我们的子女坐在教室里，让毒气给轰倒。我们的朋友喝了伪劣的酒而失明。我们的兄弟，被车撞断了腿，每天拄着拐杖，一跛一跛上学。而我们自己，心平气和地吃喝各色各样地化学毒素，呼吸污浊的空气，在横行霸道的车辆间仓皇怯懦地苟活。

要遭到什么程度你才会大吃一惊。

《生了梅毒的母亲》原载于1985年1月4日’中国时报‘，收录于《野火集“二十周年纪念版》PP14-18”
龙应台把苏格拉底或是卢梭的故事都讲的很简单，也只选卖菜卖肉的老头老太或者是的哥的故事，意在让整个社会都能够接受，认真地思考。例如”难局“这一篇，讨论的是关于是做守法的受难者还是违法的反抗者，就让我想到了08年的杨佳案。他这个事件，事关制度问题，当他不相信制度可以保护他的时候，他还有什么选择来保住自己？在一个文明的法制社会，这本应该引起更多的重视和讨论，如今却只闻草根讨论。

不过，让我感触最深的是”美国不是我们的家“和”欧威尔的台湾？“这两篇。

前一篇说，17岁的读者寄信给龙应台，理直气壮地说”反正没有用！我要到美国去”。我跟一些出国的朋友讨论起来或者是在mitbbs上看起来，也或多或少感受到这份无力感。也曾跟来千里迢迢跑来上海参加公务员考试地外省同学说，我不是对你没信心，只是。。。唉。这份无力感是谁造成的？这种无力感会让多少人宁愿留在美国也不回国？我其实没什么信心。
后一篇事关教育和大众传媒，读来更加感慨。
“欧威尔的台湾？”这一篇是写在《新闻周刊》（Newsweek）在1985年8月5日刊登了一篇报道台湾政府严厉地言论控制的文章之后，龙应台反思台湾到底有没有言论自由，到底要不要言论自由。她说，没有言论自由地后果就是年轻一代变的非常地疑事(cynical，犬儒主义)，矫枉过正的结果就是对于政府/媒体的不信任，而这只是一个方面，教育也受影响。一方面学校教育我们要实事求是，另一方面老师说作文不能太偏激，校报说这个题目不适合，家长说有些东西你还是不要问不要说。拿媒体的话说，“80后，90后”都冒起来了；拿我妈的酒后真言来说，希望就在你们下一代，可是一代又一代都是在这样的教育和媒体环境之中，何时才能有独立思考的能力，Chang在哪里？
说实话，我就是一个不会生气，从小被“明哲保身，能忍责忍”的处世哲学教育长大的人，事隔这么多年读这些文章，犹感惭愧。大俗人一个，不管这本书里收录的评论多么精辟，我就只有四个字，说得真好。这本书也有点缺点，书里面有一些评论是些客套话，另有多篇文章结尾处属“本篇略有删节”，不知道这个“略”字是什么程度，什么原因。

[读书]白夜行

2008-12-18T04:08:00.006-06:00

感谢cherry同学提供货源和线索，一回家就看了东野圭吾的《嫌疑人X的献身》( 2005)以及《白夜行》(1999)。其中《白夜行》是2008年9月由南海出版公司出版的，由台湾独步出版社的版本翻过来的，虽然已经被电视剧虐过一遍了，合上书，还是悲从中来，难以自拔。

读书的时候必然受到了电视剧的干扰，好处是有画面感，缺点是难以扎抓东野圭吾真正想要表达感情。电视剧是着重了亮和雪穗的纯爱剧，柔化了很多阴暗面，加上了亮与母亲的感情，亮与典子的感情，甚至最后借亮的孩子之手给全剧一点温暖。小说则是步步为营的犯罪推理小说，亮和雪穗之间的关系是引导，1973年到1992年之间日本社会的变化是大的背景。东野圭吾本身就是大阪人，大学时代学的就是工科（大阪府立大学工学部電気工学科,wiki），所以描绘起70-80年代的大阪以及亮司犯下的那些计算机类的罪行很顺手，外加上严密的布局和复杂的作案心情，真的是推理佳作。

小说的局很妙，通篇都没有正面描述亮和雪穗的接触，最多也是借图书管理员之口说，可能是照片上这个男孩（亮）和雪穗一起在图书馆看书，男孩还剪纸给她，剩下的都是两人分工行动，屡屡犯罪，只为了生存下去的共同利益。亮从事着各种黑色交易，基本没有失手过；而雪穗则从大家闺秀变成少妇、老板、贵妇，合情合理；只是在此期间，7个直接或间接与他们有关系的人消失了，外加源头1973年桐原洋介之死，结局桐原亮司之死，总共9条人命外加4个被夺去灵魂的女孩（雪穗、江利子、藤村都子、筱冢美佳）让亮和雪穗永远只能在白夜中行走。推理小说之妙在于，这个9个人之死都可以变成独立的短篇小说，不管是亮还是雪穗其实都用了不少心机，不过作者很懂得取舍，有些地方则揭开了犯罪手法（和友彦有染的华冈夕子之死以及侦探今枝之死），很有逻辑性；有的地方（松浦之死和雪穗母亲之死）只是一笔带过，让读者自己推理，不寒而栗。更妙的是，在追踪这一个个独立的案件的过程中，箭头都指向当年在大阪的那幢破楼里发生的那件命案，于是故事就游走在现实和过去之间，亮和雪穗两人的生活中，不断有人遇害，通过相关证人的回忆，当年案件的真相越来越清晰，罪恶之源若隐若现。

至于亮和雪穗之间的情感，通篇都没有描写到两人之间的情愫，但是我的正面解读为他们为了希望而不断犯罪所以格外可悲。

亮司和唯一的朋友园村友彦在告别的时候，曾经说过，“我的人生就像在白夜里走路”（pp240）。我在ptt日剧版看到过一篇评论说亮对雪穗的感情和《嫌疑人X的献身》里石神对邻居的感情有点相似，都是牺牲自我，我很同意。亮一开始轼父的动机很复杂，也许他也早已发觉了父亲的也许只是一时怒火，但是他后来的所有一切都是想让雪穗过的好一点，一半愧疚一半爱慕，他都用情很深。

至于雪穗，在大阪店最终开幕的时候，也曾对店员说，“我的天空里没有太阳，总是黑夜，但并不暗，因为有东西代替了太阳........凭借着这份光，我偏能把黑夜当成白天...” （pp452），不过她也对筱冢一成说过，我不懂得怎么爱男人，不知道她是真的爱亮司还是利用他，她对筱冢也抱着复杂的感情。

最后附一笔，故事里也提到了第一代宅男（otaku）不良代表宫崎勤的案件，除了布局精妙，感情复杂，这部小说也充满了时代性和社会性，故事选择雪穗这样经历的女孩，也算是对这类弱势群体的一种关注。

The War between Youtube and HULU?

2008-11-22T00:50:00.006-06:00

最近浏览Youtube，觉得广告日益增多。例如首页上的apple横幅广告，视频旁边总有flash广告在那里闪，之前还曾经有看过视频的下方多了一层，跳出广告字样。作为Google家族的成员，Youtube已近尝试了各种方式来增加广告收入以证明自己的价值。终于，最近人家骄傲地宣布 Youtube广告创新技术：Sponsored Videos
例如，某个生产家用游泳池的小型企业拍了一个介绍游泳池的广告，就可以参与竞标“游泳池”这个关键字，在一个自动的竞标系统中竞价。如果某日有幸标中“游泳池”三个字，那么用户搜索“小甜甜游泳池 MV”的时候，其广告就可以出现在搜索结果页面，不过是在旁边一栏标明Sponsored Videos。现在在Youtube搜索Holiday Recipe，就可以看到卡夫食品的赞助商广告了。我应要掰游泳池是因为Google的CEO之前在年度财报里也硬掰了个游泳池的案例来介绍Google Adword的好处，其实现在这个赞助商视频的概念和Adword真的很像。

Google最近的另一项创举是宣布和米高梅合作（MGM，目前的两大股东是Sony美国分公司以及美国有线电视巨头Comcast），上传完整的影片。消息是放出来了，但是我今天去搜还没看到，只有搜到MGM早年的节目Amercian Gladiator。对于MGM来说不错赚，等于把回收站的老片资源拿出来再利用；对于Youtube来说，是否意味着Youtube到头来还是需要版权所有的商业视频来获得广告收入，光是用户制作的内容（User Generated Content）不可能成为一个成功地盈利模式？CNET的记者就写了一篇Youtube进入新世纪的文章来讨论这个问题。

对Google而言，草根文化是其次，广告收入才是当务之急。Youtube还是视频分享网站的头牌，可是金融时报(FT)上人家已经预言Hulu的广告收入即将超越Youtube。Hulu作为两大传统媒体巨头NBC Universal 和Fox联合拥有的网站，优势就是拥有大量的最新的电视剧以及海量的经典电影。试想一下，大牌的广告商当然还是很注重品牌形象的。一边是30 Rock的版权所有的内容，一边是一个疯狂的Tina Fey粉丝那里叫嚷我爱Tina Fey的DV画质视频。对他们来说，Hulu短短30秒广告当然更有价值。

其实，这场视频网站之争有点像新旧媒体之争。一方面Google算是IT媒体的代表，另一方HULU是传统媒体的代表。Youtube有技术优势和草根支持，可是HULU很快就把技术学来了而且真正有“料”。说到底，内容才是王道，尤其是美国这样内容掌握在少数媒体巨头的手中的情况。Youtube现在明显地有向这些巨头倾斜地倾向，Disney，NBC，CBS，FOX的老板们应该可以得意地拍拍Google的两位老板的肩膀说,see, Youtube finally is Ourtube。

另：keso老师之前也写了一篇关于国内视频网站的文：http://blog.donews.com/keso/archive/2008/09/18/1347710.aspx

[TV-Comedy] 30 Rock

2008-11-13T21:10:00.005-06:00

《30 Rock》（超级制作人）第三季终于在10月底回归了，有多座艾美奖在手，本身就已经够闪了，外加超级豪华的客串阵容，一定要推一下。第三季EP01 客串的是Karen（自己high~）~就是《Will and Grace》里面那个有点bitch的贵妇~Karen（Megan Mullally），因为Liz想要领养小孩，她是来审核家庭情况的。EP02客串的是名嘴Oprah~，她在里面扮演自己。EP03就是今晚，客串的 Jennifer Aniston，她扮演Jack的疯狂仰慕者，看预告觉得很有火花。目前透露的客串名单中还有Steve Martin以及沙尔马·海耶克，我就等着Hulu的更新了。

我觉得这部喜剧的笑点就在于一贯的自嘲风格。编剧兼主演Tina Fey自己就在Saturady Night Live这样的剧组做了那么久，这部戏描述一个音乐喜剧类节目剧组多少有点SNL剧组的影子和她本人的影子，她写出来的剧本不是那种让人哈哈大笑，也不需要罐头笑声来捧场，可是就可以让人从头到尾嘴角抽蓄。

目前看来被嘲对象第一名就是General Electric，NBC的大老板，GE横跨家用电器，生物、核武器………这么多行业，但NBC可算是不能放手的掌上明珠。结果，30Rock从头到尾就在嘲GE，印象里第一季有Friends里面的Roth客串的那集，就是GE要赶时髦弄绿色GE结果吃力不讨好；到了第二季最后Jack被调去华盛顿的时候，他要脱身的理由就是要回去拯救GE，要不然我们就没有电灯泡用了，结果他手边那盏灯就是用蜡烛的。然后第三季第一集，入赘女婿Devon夺取NBC的大权后，号称想到了让公司获利的最好方法：就是先把GE关掉两年，到时候全球电灯泡都缺货，GE再开门就绝对大赚。最后还对Jack说“It’s just G now Jack. I sold the E to Samsung. They are now Samesung” 。

NBC本身也不能放过，这一季第一集上来就是，NBC为了收视率，假造了两个项目让美国队夺冠，双人同手同脚跑步，XDXD。当然，以上可以理解成坚决地置入式行销。
以下剧透：

第三季的EP01，两根线发展的剧情，一方面就是Liz要领要小孩，另一方面就是Jack要牺牲色相来获得新的CEO，那个沉迷于童话和肥皂剧的Kathy 的信任（是在嘲Disney么）。我觉得第一集的笑点有点生硬，还好第二集马上就变生动了，辛苦了Tracy，Jenna这对活宝，他们两个打赌，到底是黑人男性辛苦还是白人女性辛苦，结果一个去染黑，一个去漂白，扮相真的惨不忍睹，最后Jack从中调和，白人男性也不容易。可能我想太多，我觉得正好跟这次大选吻合。然后，Liz在飞机上吃药后把邻座的黑人女孩硬生生地当成了Oprah，所以Oprah才有机会出现。接着就狠狠地嘲了一把美国女性对 Oprah极度崇拜，订阅O杂志，抢购Oprah年度最喜欢的东西之类，Oprah也真是够气度的。

希望这一季可以一直都这么好笑，然后千万不要变成Liz和Jack有染的剧情，会让人疯掉的。如果最后可以找来Sarah Palin来客串那就最妙了。（忍不住偏离主题八卦，大选结束后有人整理了twitter当晚十大名言，其中一条就是，obama当选，你有没有想过以后哪些模仿的喜剧演员要怎么办？）
最后强行置入 30 Rock 第三季的Promo：

[Hong Kong Movie]Papa Run Papa

2008-11-08T11:52:00.012-06:00

不知道为什么国内要把《一个好爸爸》翻译成很和谐的《我们这一家》，这样应该会给盗版商们造成小小麻烦吧。其实《一个好爸爸》跟香港版的预告片很配：
十个蛊惑仔，九个衰到底。
他是半个好兄弟，半个好儿子，半个好情人，但他只想做一个好爸爸。

剧情有点仓促，因为整部影片从李天恩小时候初出江湖然后杀出一片天地成为“虎头恩”，再到和女主角美宝（刘若英）快三秒的生子、结婚、生意萧条、外遇、丧母，女儿长大成人出嫁全部演到了，不过通过李天恩自己的旁白加上对偶尔对镜头的自我独白，故事是快节奏的悲喜交加，不会觉得不连贯。
比较好笑的桥段比如美宝着复古造型出登场和李天恩在警察局相遇的时候，我真的以为刘若英这次要走花痴小女人路线了，那么可爱；结果到了后来她还是一贯的大气知性，尤其是抓外遇，她眼睁睁地开车横扫李天恩的那个桥段，她的笃定和李天恩慌张的内心独白，真的很有火花；还有离家出走，丧偶，女儿出嫁这几场戏她都有哭戏，哭都哭得很有大嫂的风范。让我觉得酸酸的部分就是李天恩的老妈去世的那个部分了，他一辈子就哭过两次的那段独白。
其实李天恩面对的作为儿子，丈夫，父亲，工作伙伴（而且还是服务业）不同社会角色间的冲突对于中年男子来说应该是很普遍的，只不过这部戏的黑社会老大的角色设定更加增添了戏剧张力，李天恩身陷女人堆（妈妈，老婆，女儿）和男人堆（黑社会同僚）要做出一个决定真的不容易，更不容易的故事没有把这么惨的情况弄得很辛酸，反而还留了一个愉快的悬念。
这部电影有入围45届金马奖最佳导演*(张艾嘉)，最佳男主角（古天乐），最佳女配角（苗可秀），希望可以有所斩获，虽然入围即得奖。

[Taiwan Drama]The Hospital 白色巨塔

2008-11-03T19:34:00.010-06:00

Theme Song Download:
曾经太过年轻-蓝又时
作词：方文山作曲：黄韵玲编曲：钟兴民
原作：候文咏

偶然之间听了蓝又时演唱的<曾经太过年轻>，非常好听。于是去youtube搜了一下，本来只想看fanvid的，结果有好心人把全部39集都传上去了，感动。我又拿出修炼多年的快速看电视法，先去wiki看了人物介绍和剧情介绍，再去爬了下文，跳着跳着就把整个戏算是看完了。
蔡岳勋导演（《流行花园》，《名扬四海》、《战神》、《痞子警察）的这部《白色巨塔》是根据台湾作家候文咏的同名小说改编的，这位作家本身就是麻醉科医生，所以写医院题材很是拿手，还有部作品《大医院小医师》也有被改成偶像剧，王小棣导演的作品。虽然和山崎丰子的著作《白色巨塔》同名同题材，但是内容不太一样。候文咏的作品，国内的译文出版社出版了。
以下大雷：

医疗题材我基本上就看不下去，但这部戏动手术和奇怪的症状还不算多，最主要的还是把医院当成一个社会来讲，所以还看的下去。而且，这部戏走偶像剧的风格（我看得下去的主要原因），感情是一条很重要的线索，比起权利斗争和社会阴暗，我觉得电视剧强调了感情的得与失。之前和 roomate和她的朋友讨论《Flannel Pajama》，2006年的一部独立制片的电影，故事很简单就，是一对恋人结婚到离婚的过程，结论就是感情是不可以用对与错来评判的。
所以，当我很想用大错特错来骂关欣的时候，我忍住了，她有她的理由。
虽然她口口声声对苏怡华说，你去追去你的幸福的时候真的很残忍，但是她已经被一段感情纤绊了10年，眼前的一切都预示着和院长女儿结婚这一幕又要重演，全身而退就是她的选择。EP38最后分别的时候，她也承认自己不够勇敢，我只希望这是她选择离开的唯一理由。
因为要和眼前这个苏怡华在一起，真的需要很大的勇气，也许只有院长千金才有这个魄力。他的确是心地善良可是这是乱发好人卡的结果就是性格懦弱，他给关欣编织了多少美好的画面，上山开医院，照顾小童，可是他根本就不可能下真的离开这个医院。就算当日山上那个医院招人，他递了辞呈，经过院方一劝再劝，他一定还是会留下来的。升任外科主任，院长又一定要把女儿嫁于他，依照苏怡华总是顺水推舟的个性，就接受了吧。也许就是这样的个性，他才会这么念旧情：心中总是有那份痛和爱，可是总是很容易地就被现实磨平了。他自己不经意间都说了，“下辈子，换你喜欢我”，这辈子，以他的个性他们真的很难在一起。
这两个角色是整部戏最戏剧化/罗曼蒂克化的角色，其他角色倒很实在，尤其是领导层面的纠葛，再度加深我对医院的偏见，白色和黑色，总是在一起。
然后终于要说到演员的部分，说穿了，看下去的主要原因就是苏医生和邱庆成医生，XDXD（很入戏）。
戴立忍（邱医生）不愧是影帝，完全把这个医生演活了，我很难找到一个词来形容这个角色，因为每个面都被他表现出来了。虽然这个角色有很多阴暗面，轻狂，自大，过于算计，可是却完全不让人讨厌，看到最后还觉得和他一起心痛。
言承旭（苏怡华）真的没有变呢，主要是说他的笑容。其实自从《流星花园》第一部以后基本上就没则么追过他的戏了，可是竟然发现他笑起来还和那个时候一样感人（戏里面的台词说，苏怡华笑起来像太阳般温暖拿来形容都不为过）。演技的部分，应该也有进步吧，而且这个角色感觉和他本人的调调就很搭，很单纯的总是有点犹犹豫豫于是看起来就有点不敢不脆。
女主角方面，没什么意见，想想也没什么可以和言搭档的年轻女星来出演医生了，只有找来没什么演戏经验却有书生味道的张均甯了，因为她本人就是台湾某国立大学的研究生。这个角色本来就不是走眼前一亮的路线的，所以抢眼的就是那些人妻/师母了，尤其是唐医生的太太，从美国赶回来的那一位，超级有气质又得体。和戴立忍搭档的两位演员，也都很赞，那位马记者很有熟女的味道，他的太太则很有大将之风。
最后推我个人很喜欢的一个片断：EP 28的时候，两人在天台上，5分42秒的时候，关欣自由落体，苏怡华把她接住，XDXD。