"There is no solitude greater than a samurai's unless perhaps it is that of a tiger in the jungle.'' - Openning quote in Le Samurai (1967).  If you find this opening comment COOL, then you should see this one, which is the"embodiment of COOL". I find the style of the film interesting. The "samurai"/hitman is  a cold, calm and COOL guy, who doesn't talk much, or show any emotions, no damatic action, even when killing or under interogation. He is more like a calculator that plans everything precisely, and most importantly - he is supposed to be so COOL. The reason I'm emphasizng this C word so much is simply because everything is so stylized in this rather old movie, that I can't help cracking out through out the movie. But... still it's fun to watch! Oh, and btw, you can see Frech people are not too fond of police.

吃了10个草莓，竟然有8个是空心的，而且越是大的草莓，越容易是空心的。原来草莓也会徒有其表，内心空虚。。。不喜欢虚伪的草莓

 

Adia发给我一个好可爱的msn emotion icon - 一只扭屁股的小海豚. 于是欢喜的每每有机会就会用。。

 

可爱的妈妈又发明了一个新的理论。当我想她complain肚子上日渐增长的肥肉名信誓旦旦的发誓要游泳减肥时，不但没有得到鼓励，反而得到一个有趣的理论“游泳不会减肚子，你看我们家养的那些鱼，整天游来游去，肚子还是大大的。”   我语塞。。但是鉴于科学严谨的精神，我觉得应该有control variable才好，所以决定说服妈妈让我们家的鱼每天看电视，说不定肚子会更大大的！！

 

和Edu一起看电影好棒， 目前work on 的是 one of my favorite director's - Kieslowski 's "The Decalogue". 然后应该是 Werner Herzog 的"the wrath of god"　－可以看到klaus kinski的表演. 在接下来，应该是我孤独但是快乐的回顾 Francois Truffaut 的片子。Edu 的另一大好处是买了新的电影的书，可以让我抢来先读，开心。

 

HC介绍的Jazz都好和我的口味 - Antonio Carlos Jobim, Astrud Gilberto, Charlie Byrd. 另外Laurence Juber 的古典吉他很好听。

 

突然意识到，今天晚上我格外的grateful, huh huh..

 

 

This time, it's "Emir Kusturica mania"

1.Crna macka, beli macor ( Black Cat White Cat) (1998) 

2. Underground (1997)

3. Zivot je cudo (Life is a Miracle ) (2004)

4.Arizona Dream (1993)

 

Send me an email, if you want to join! Movie company is always welcome.

Well, today is the last day of being "officially" sick. Since last wed, I have had this perfect excuse to totally relax and not to do any serious work, and watch movies :-).  This week, I finished 5 movies. Besides the two HK movies borrowed from great friend - HC, there are 3 other really interesting ones : The dreamlife of Angels, Behind the Sun and Capote. The "dreamlife" is really stunning. It's about the friendship and conflict between these two quite different young girls, and their persuits of dreamlife and acceptance of what they have. While the complications are in between two distinct indiviuals, I can not get my mind off from imagining the inner-struggle of a single person with the splited two personalities. Imagine her go through the double life of the two girls, while struggling with herself. She could be warmhearted and optimistic as part of her nature, but bitter and self-centered when irritated or offended. She could be carefree and rational, but insane and crazy when falling hard for someone. It'll be interesting.. The "Behind" is quite stylized and the performances by non-professionals are extraordinary. "Capote" is heavy, but great!  The long shots of dreadful scenes, the tempo of the movie, the minimalistic music, ... quite an emotionally demanding one. A smart movie, I have to say in the end. Oh, and really impressive acting by Philip Seymour Hoffman.

这几天生病，便整日里昏睡，偶尔睁开眼，上网，练吉他，添点东西在腹中。白色的杜鹃花，很奇怪的几个花蕾竟然在没有开出来之前就发了黄色。 狠心把他们摘除，整个花束就又呈现纯净的白 -- 自欺欺人，我心里更狠狠地念。想起2年前的一个片子 - goldfish memory, 虽然至今还没有看。据说goldfish has only 3 second memory. 也就是说，当它从鱼缸的一端游到另一端在回转来的时候，就已经开始他另外一次新的旅行了- 他已经不记得上一次的旅行中发生了什么。所以，它可以总是保持着新鲜的心情，欢天喜地的重复曾经的错误。。。 可是转念一想，大概对goldfish 来说，这个世界也不存在什么错误吧。如果记忆只有3秒钟，对错误的记忆应该更短。 可是如果对伤害的感受持续的比记忆久，就会比较麻烦。有一天，它可能会自言自语-“我觉得还是很痛，但是就是怎么也记不起来到底发生了什么。。。”   我就正好相反，很多事情都记得，但是突然没有什么感觉了。。。（ 不知道是不是应该庆贺一下）

It's funny that now I start to have my own wish-list too, maybe under the influence of HC. I used to put wishes immediately into actions, but now I'm learning to be more patient :-).

My wish-list of foreign movies want to see next two weeks:

1. La Vie Revee des Anges (The dreamlife of angles) (1999)

2. Gegen die Wand (Head on) (2004)

3. Tillsammans (Together)(2001)

4. Lilja 4ever (Lilya 4-ever) (2002)

5. Vozvrashcheniye (the return) (2004)

A few things I discover lately:

1. There are always big or small shocks come out of nowhere, sorta substantially disturb my life and switch it to some unexpected track. Sometimes, I'm too lazy to think of why and put it as if it's the destiny. Some destinies are pleasant sweet surprises, others can be very disappointing. This week, I was turned down by a photography class lottery first, then another film study class got cancelled. J said it's a pretty strong act of fate that I'm not supposed to do them and focus on research. Maybe that is right...

2. People need to examine and possibly understand themselves better. And choose what can make them happy and stop living in a conflicted world. A girl who keeps falling in love with bad guys should realize that is possibly the type of guys that can make her happy. Then she should try to care less when he is not faithful. - a pessive suggestion for a friend's friend.  Human beings are wonderfully, well, also sadly, complicated. It's hard also unfair to discipline others. Work on yourself.

3. M recommends Imogen Heap. Since I like her band Frou Frou. Now I really enjoy "Speak For Yourself".

4. Opinionate people can be amusing.

5. I tend to get really serious whenever I like something very much. Otherwise, feel not respectful. Friends ask about travelling to Europe again. Decide to wait until I will have a chance to live there for a while. Being a tourist is not a very respectful act for a place I fancy so much. - if I care about it, I would want it all, or nothing.

6. I like Wang Kai-wei's early movies better: Fallen Angel, Chongqing Express, Days of Being Wild.

 

 

 

I was rereading Tarkovsky's "sculpting in Time" yesterday. When he talks about people's goal of going to film schools in Russia, he mentioned that many film makers believe in order to have enough energy and funding to make their ideal films, they have to make movies that give them great profit first. He further argues that "... Someone steals things maybe for the sake of no stealing in the future, but he is always a thief. Nobody who betrays his own principle can maintain a pure relationship with his later life..."  How much has everyone of us compromised in our life? Everyone seems to have a dream, which by definition, seems hard to be realized. At one point in our life, we feel idealistic. But on the second thoughts, we get used to tell ourselves - I'll just compromise for the time being, and later on, I'll be able to do whatever I really have passion for. But under that thoughts, there is vagualy another feeling that - it's a lie, yes, i know it is. Doesn't it sound familiar? And when is the end of compromising. And if one keeps doing that, what can be left for him to defend his principle and guard his belief? I'm just wondering...

容我们这么说：

一种心灵现象之所以有意义，全然是因为它超越了自我的局限，表现并象征着某种精神上更为宽广，普遍的东西。一个完整的情感和思想世界，在其内适切地体现-那便是衡量其意义的标准。

--Thomas Mann "the magical mountain"

For a while, I have been thinking of this question: what is the function of art? But should art be a function at all, or it's a form? I used to have a discussion with J, he believes art is about technique - how it is made, and I think art is about experience and belief - where it is from and how it is perceived. In other word, "where it is from" refers to the creater's experience and belief, and "how it is perceived" is certainly related to the views' experience and belief. Well, experience and belief, from my point of view, should be the way to identify one's individuality (not by the type of clothes he wears or the type of music he listens to, because those characters are just too easy to follow, to mimic, to fake). And it's the most humanistic way, in my view.

 

I remember that once I read somewhere that there is this one film theorist argues the best way to evaluate a film is to make a ten year old boy (for action ) and fifteen year old girl (for romance effect) to watch it, since generally few things have happened in their lives to affect their reactions and emotions. They are blanc pages, and yes, you can be as manipulative as you would like to be. I just can not agree with him. Manipulation just doesn't fit well with the function of art. But I also can not judge it. Just as "art is something  you can't define", so may be its function.Well, emontional stimulation could be good and I'm sure everyone of us has appreciated it more or less, once in a while. We all remember how much laugh we had with a comedy and how much tears we shed with a romantic drama and how scared we are by a horrorible movie (although as many know, i am the least sensitive when watching a scary movie),  and how delightful it is after solving a puzzle embedded in a twisted movie and ...blah blah. These are all good. The problem is if the film makers focuses on challenging audience' nerves, exciting them with all kinds of tricks, it's hard to keep film as an art. As an economist, well, actually the only philosophy i believe in Economics is Demand and Supply. Film is an expensive art (if you still believe it's a form of art). If the audience are kept fed with effectively emotionally manipulative movies, they start demand those more and more. Then in the equilibrium, I'm afraid, it may end up that only those types of films can survive, with higher box offices profits, and bigger budget, and more sophisticated cinema skills with more advanced techonologies. Is this necessarily bad? Well, I don't know. But to some point, I'm concerned.  Shouldn't one of the functions of art at least be to respect and keep one's individuality? As a viewer, as an individual, has an input in the process of appreciating a film is important. And as a creator, there should be room in a good film for the audience to add in. Some movie shouldn't just give the audience a roller-coaster kind of experience, but mature enough for the viewer to identify themselves and connect themselves with it at some point. I guess, this is why, whenever someone asks me - what is the best movie you saw. In my mind, there always appears either this long shot from "Nostalgia" when the exile poet standing infront of his bed, with his window half closed, raining slowly and a lonely chair by the door, or as in "Bleu" the blue candy wrap held by the kid outside the car window before the car crashed, or the anxious look on this 6 year old boy in "bicycle thief"...

It had been a while that I believe a strong person should be able to have a strong mind to lead the action - action should follow one's mind. As long as one is truthful with him/herself, be able to stand up for whatever he/she did and be courageous enough to accept the consequences, action following mind is the respectable way to go. However, lately I discovered the other way round - letting mind follow action- in many cases is a more effective way. Self-indugence might be humane, but forcing one's mind to be strong when it is not ready is not. So try to go to do something first, and let the mind catch up later. You might find how pleasant the mind would feel in that case.

I figured out it doesn't take too much for me to say that.  Two David Lynch's movies + great historical Castro theatre + not authentic but really good Chinese food + wonderful company and a lot of laughs ... How could one ask for more??? :-)

 

I like the extremely dark, dramatized actings, the contrast of sickness with the peaceful superface, the romantic soothing music during the most violent scenes. The missing pieces makes the story more mysterious. At some point, it feels like when the director edited the negative, he just randomly cut some part of it. Generally, I don't like the movies that deliberately challenge the audience nerves, but Lynch's movies are as fun as challenging in many ways. I like them!!

when watching a great movie, the heart feels the warmest.

 

old movies remind us of what a difference a great combination of basic elements of films can make.  It challenged hollywood's smooth, seamless profesionalism.  why does a film need a more complex and intelligent hollywood elements to be enjoyable?...

there are some other pretty good movies I have seen recently- Good night and Good luck (2005), Swing Girls (2004) (Japanese, when girls meet jazz. Oh, btw, I don't discriminate against Japanese films. I believe, there is no place for nationalism in art), Runaway Jury (As a big fan of Ratchel Weisz, what can I say???!)

First, have to say something unrelated to this title here. Sorry for being pessimistic and dumping my dark thoughts here the other day. I guess it's natural to have some high feelings after breaking up, although these days, I realize I should stop indulging myself with those "TRUE" feelings.  I'm actually FINE now and getting stronger!!! Thanks everyone for calling/ leaving msg/ emailing me after reading the last entry. I'm really touched. You guys are great friends ! :-)

 

One thing came up to my mind today is - why was I sorta obsessed with one thing / one specific thoughts sometimes. Why do I have to think over things again and again? Why do I feel being haunted by the bad feelings? There is actually a simple answer - "only a puzzle awaiting a solution can engage one's attention for so long." Sometimes, one can not let go a certain feeling, it's because there is something unfinished, something unresolved, something may still be misunderstood. And if one really wants to feel at peace, she might have to let go the puzzle...Because, many puzzles in our life are never able to be dissolved. Not everything has an answer lying somewhere...

 

And how did I get this answer?  Mulholland Drive (2001)- a remarkable surrealistic thriller. I was surprised with how much my mind can be occupied by this fantastically strange film after seeing it. (for exactly the same reason  - "a puzzle awaiting a solution can engage one's attention for so long"). The movie is a puzzle.  The plots seem to be fragmented, although apparently you can see there are threads embedded here and there, but amazingly, the thread itself is fragmented too. The first part of the film is extremely dream-like, the still pics, weird interaction between people, faky expressions, silly action and jumpy logic. In a sense, it's also very real, as people's dream/fantasy often times share the same characteristics. The second part is intense, engaging, dramatic, but it's actually the real story.. When I see the two different versions - the fantasy and reality - parallel presented and complicatedly entangled, I realize what a wonderful job David Lynch made. For me, the movie is very real, even thought it is extremely surreal in form.  It makes me think how much we fantasize things in our real life, without noticing it, or even we know it, we still unconsciously repeatedly dream about it. Of coz, besides that, the story itself is very interesting too. Again, strongly recommended!!

A few days ago, I found a trick to get a happy dream for myself (yes, for a couple of times, i even woke up laughing). That is ..to  read something or think of something or make up something - funny- before hitting the sack! If you are bored, read genius Kevin's thoughts on bathroom deeds (the blog on OCt 25th) http://www.xanga.com/zhugekungming

Perry Van Shrike: You're an idiot. You know that. You know if you looked in the dictionary next to the word "idiot" you know what you'll find?
Harry Lockhart: A picture of me?
Perry Van Shrike: No! The definition of the word "idiot". Which you are.

-----------

Perry Van Shrike: This isn't good cop, bad cop. This is fag and New Yorker.
-----------

Harry Lockhart: Don't worry, I saw Lord of the Rings. I'm not going to end this 17 times.

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Perry Van Shrike: [about his derringer] I call it my "faggot gun," because it's only good for a couple of shots and then you have to drop it for something better.
---------

Perry Van Shrike: [to the audience] Thanks for coming, please stay for the end credits, if you're wondering who the best boy is, it's somebody's nephew, um, don't forget to validate your parking, and to all you good people in the Midwest, sorry we said fuck so much.

A week ago, decided to keep the new 27-year-old me busy, every part of me busy!

 

1. Watched a funny basketball game played by extremely drunk Econ people! Have you ever seen nerdy econ grad half naked running around and making fun of themselves?

 

2. Had my first ride on a motorcycle on a local freeway,  in short skirt! The traffic was significantly slowed down... :-P

 

3. Went shopping at a local thrift store and bought 7 items with only $50! (NO, i didn't buy socks)

 

4. Everyday after 7pm - if I'm not at Coupa Cafe, I'm on my way to the Coupa Cafe.

 

5. Unfortunately, only watched three movies last week.

 

6. Dining out, dining out.

 

7. Enlarged my collection of music - Sufjan Stevens, Patrick Wolf, Olivia Tremor Control, Le Tigre, James Blunt, Kinks, hot hot heat, Iron and Wine, the microphones...

 

8. Went to an ballroom dancing club. Got hit on by a warm-hearted Indian guy, who offered to "teach" me slasa, Rumba, Hustle, Two steps, Chacha. Only wish he was better at those dancing...

 

9. keep buying, wearing and then returning cool earings. :-) (this could be my potential new hobbie - if spending money can be called as a hobbie - collecting earings).

 

10. Start reading a new book!

 

11. Got upset with someone.