Zoch auf der Hong Kong Toy Fair

Zoch Verlag, a german boardgame company, will be coming to Hongkong for the first time. The exhibition will be held on the 10th-13th January, 2006 in HKCEC.

最近看過的電影

最近兩星期看了三套電影。各自都沒有甚麼好寫（是我懶），不過有一個共通點，就是某程度上是另一套電影的改篇，所以連在一起隨便寫點吧。

The Jacket
主角發現自己有去到未來的能力，並得知自己四天後就要死，要怎做？
看到這個題材就跟上年的The Butterfly Effect相比。去到未來竟然做這種事，自然是立即比下去。
評分：4/10

如果．愛
人生如戲。三個人拍電影，但劇本跟他們的故事一樣。戲，卻一定要拍完！
這部電影看到一半就讓我想起幾年前把Gwyneth Paltrow變成金像最佳女主角的Shakespeare in Love。如果簡簡單單要拍一套浪漫愛情片還好，片中夾雜的歌舞片斷，零碎得像電視MV。
評分：5/10

King Kong
Lord of the Rings成名的大導Peter Jackson說他是King Kong(1933)的影迷，今次打正旗號重拍當年名作。原作沒看過，但以上星期看過新版的觀感，雖沒之前看LOTR的感動，但還不算失禮。
評分：7/10

沒幾多套電影是我會付錢入戲院看兩次的。印像中只The Fellowship of the Ring，The Two Towers跟Shrek 2三套。

Goethe-Institut

Die Zeit, a german newspaper, asks for opinions about Goethe-Institut on her web site. To quote the original message:

The resources for foreign culture and politics, therefore also for Goethe-Institut, is declining. The needs are weak. Should this important organization, who teaches the german language worldwide, spreads the german culture and hence promotes the german image, not receive the support any more?

Some buy stocks; some buy stock markets

From the Economist: Australian bank Macquarie has launched a hostile bid for the London Stock Exchange. Some other U.S. and European financial organizations are interested in that also. The writer suggests that "the era of national markets may be passing." Is this what we want when we talk about globalization?

我還是被李家誠騙了

我一向是個貪便宜的師奶。今天看到早幾天某銀行發來的廣告電郵說信用卡用戶到李氏的網站登記就可得75元現金劵。剛想到不久後要買大量果汁汽水，不如先登記戶口吧。登記完後再看真一點原來的電郵，原來所謂的現金劵，要買400才可以用20元，也就是說只是一個（最多）95折的宣傳技倆。我竟被這種東西騙倒，真白黐！

為甚麼大家那麼喜歡到超市買東西呢？我總覺得是麻煩、費時且浪費金錢的活動。賣的東西全不便宜，且經常要排長長的人龍等前面的大叔或師奶簽信用卡、換優惠劵，跟我喜愛的get-in-get-out模式不合。

例如…

PK&S.COM上說：
　浴室萬潔靈500ml即用裝＝$17.9$15.9
　藍威寶500ml即用裝＝$25.0$19.9
　高露潔MCP(250g)＝$14.9$8.9

上月頭到位於英皇道大街藥房Ａ買清潔用品時的價錢是：
　浴室萬潔靈500ml即用裝＝$13
　藍威寶500ml即用裝＝$17

另一天在橫街的藥房Ｂ買牙膏，價錢是：
　高露潔MCP(250g)＝$8.0

沒有黃色紅色的特價標籤，沒有請明星賣最低價保證的廣告，但價錢卻較便宜。不會刻意將常用的東西放到店最裡面的位置，你要的東西大刺刺放在門邊任你取，且價錢清清楚楚貼在貨品上面，也沒有閉路電視跟保安系統。店員沒有公式的『歡迎光臨』，並不代表待客無禮。可惜因企業壟斷，四處都是便利店、超市，小商店的生存容間愈來愈小，且很多商品在這種地方都沒法買到。

請支持藥房、雜貨店等小商鋪！

How is Google different from Yahoo?

Someone has some observations from their buying stratagies

Antique discovery, part 2

I just got my new bed and book shelf and I finally can afford to "destroy" my old bed, which were 4 large boxes full of books, CDs and other miscellaneous stuff. There I found my battery charger and card reader for my digital camera (which was an antique of its own, by the way). With my camera recharged it is possible to post the history which I carried across the Victoria harbour.

Top Left: a full box of matches, a brand which was only available when gasoline stoves were the norm.
Bottom Left: Lego from the 80s.
Right: The same box of lego, opened to show the contents. The rubber band is still elastic, which demonstrates the production quality of Lego products.

The office might be bad for your health

A Fast Company magazine article by Drew Armstrong says that "employees who felt their supervisors treated them fairly had a 30 percent lower risk of heart disease". Also, Angus Loten revealed to us that a noisy workplace might be dangerous to our health. "A loud workplace can raise the risk of heart attack for men by nearly a third," and "ambient city noises alone, like commuter traffic or air conditioners, may also boost the risk for both sexes -- three-fold for women and up to 50% for men."

Terrible, is it not?

SPL and Creep

I have watched 2 movies this week. The first was SPL, a Hongkong action movie featuring action stars Sammo Hung and Donnie Yen. The second was Creep, another British production showing the Pathé rooster logo.

In Creep, a young lady Kate (Franka Potente, a German actress who also starred in The Bourne Identity) was locked inside a London subway station. She soon found out she had company: an ugly, human-eating monster. What must she do to get out alive?

I was told that they have many unused or retired subway stations in England, and subway ghost stories exist among londoners. However, I am no londoner, and I have problem understanding this film. Blood ran throughout the film, but I hardly find it entertaining. The story was pasted together, people appear without reason. What is good seeing people die in front of me? There may be urban legends about war-time secret experiments in underground laboratories, but I cannot feel the horror, since I live so far away.

Impressions on Creep: 3/10, but I have saved something better:


SPL is about the relentless revenge of a cop in June 1997, a week before the handover of Hongkong. In 1994, Po Wong (Sammo Hung) killed Chung's (Simon Yam) key witness and the wife of the witness. Chung had sworn to protect their kid and put Po in jail. Just before Chung's retirement due to cancer in 1997, he and his colleagues would even temper with evidence and commit murder in order to convict him. Defying the law will do them no good. Instead of completing the conviction, they set him free. Kwan Ma (Donnie Yen), who was the replacement to Chung, must rectify the situation before things got worse.

Bad cop is always a good movie subject. The plot was probably not perfect, but it was good enough for an action movie. The great action stars more than remedied the situation, making it a must-see local movie this year.

It had a strong contrast with another recent movie starring Sammo Hung: Dragon Squad where a couple of very interesting speeches were given: "Each of us has a role in the society. If we rush to avenge our dead colleagues, who protects law and order? Our world will be in chaos," "Give yourself a chance. Drop the weapon and live." The cops in SPL went for a revenge. They sacrificed a lot. They created chaos. Po went too far and did something he regretted at the end. This is perhaps the moral of the story.

Impressions on SPL: 8/10

"Money is just a thing, and things change"

I am very fond of European movies. They always provide me some insight, or perhaps I have seen too many American movies. European movies seem to let me see the world in a different angle, and often comes with an intoxicating beauty. Girl with a Pearl Earring was one of this kind. Also supported by Pathé and the UK Film Council is Millions, a movie directed by Danny Boyle (Trainspotting, 28 Days Later).

The story is very simple, so simple that you probably guessed the ending right after reading the synopsis. However, I must also add that a movie is not a puzzle, so a good script need not (or rather, should not) be complex...

Damian is a young British kid, about the age of 7. After her mother died, he was moving to a new community with his father and his older brother Anthony. Damian was still mourning for the loss of his mother, and he attempted to soothe his own sorrow by imagining her as a saint in heaven. A few days before Christmas, a hugh bag of money fell from the sky. Damian thought it was god who gave him the money. Well educated by his mother, he tried to distribute the money to the poor people, but his brother thought it was a better idea to keep the money to themselves. However, by Christmas the transition to Euro would be complete and any unused British Pounds will be useless. They also have another problem: the money did not come from god. It came from a train robbery.

This simple movie talked about lots of things. What do you get probably depend on what you were thinking at that time. Money is very important in our lives, but should they be? "Money makes it harder to see what is what." More than often, money clouds our judgement costs our children's innocence. Anthony hadn't celebrated his 10th birthday but he is already well-versed in Economy. He knows the exchange rate better than his father. He exploits the death of his mother to get benefits from adults, and is surfing on the Internet for underwear advertisement. Is this what kids are supposed to do?

Damian's saints gave a couple of very refreshing talks. Saint Peter's reinterpretation of the "five loaves and two fish" story might be one of them: Jesus passed the plate to one of his followers. The follower did not take the food, because he had some lamb chops hidden beneath his clothes. Instead he placed some of his lamb on the plate and pretended he took something. Each of the followers did the same, and Jesus himself was astonished when he found the fish and loaves still intact on the plate when it was passed back to him. Saint Peter lied to Jesus and told him it was a miracle. It was not magical. It was sharing out of good faith, but perhaps it was still a miracle. As was what Damian did.

There are more to the movie than what I have written but I believe it is better if I do not spoil you too much before you get a chance to see it. This fairy tale is now showing on selected UA cinemas in Hong Kong.

Impressions on Millions: (first ever) 10/10


You may also find some information from other reviews on the net:

Millions at Rottontomatoes
KDHX Film Review - Millions
Millions is worth the buck

Someone shared similar thoughts too! 爛兔記:電影觀眾不是尊貴客戶

猛龍

昨天總算有時間看電影，首先當然要看很快會落畫的。於是我看了有洪金寶的猛龍。

（注意：有內容）

不知怎的，總覺得看起來很有點過江龍(Martial Law)的影子。劇情方面比較老土，對白是四語廣播（有點多餘），而且有很多漫畫式的人物介紹、回想…但看動作片最主要還是看動作。而錢嘉樂做武指出來的效果還算不錯！電影中段的槍戰跟片尾的刀手格鬥都很可觀，但我覺得片尾吳建豪的槍戰與最後一幕『射鴨仔』是敗筆！

下一套會看的可能是殺破狼。猛龍評分：5.5/10

Dilbert 2005-11-22

How to deal with difficult colleagues? Dogbert has a good suggestion.

Do you do things right?

Recent events often remind me to an old story from Fast Company magazine. It talked about the reason why LEGO® failed in the 21st century, but as usual, my brain, being a renegade, have a different impression of the story.

Godtfred Kirk Christenson said, "If we do all things right, the profit will come." From the writer's perspective, what was right 50 years ago is probably no longer valid now. The society is constantly changing, so one must constantly revise her strategies, or she will face defeats like Lego did in the late '90s. However we can always read things from another angle. This can probably tell us why some industries never make a big profit: If you intentionally or unintentionally rip off customers, and hope that they do not notice or complain, you deserve bad profitability. Talking about profit, revenue, or market place will not bring you to victory. It will only lead you to the end of it.

It is up to you to discover what the legacy of this danish company could tell us. To the original article: Why Can't Lego Click?

今天的神奇午飯

我叫了：
冬蔭功湯金邊粉跟蝦餅、豬頸肉，三色冰。

結果來的是：
清湯檬粉跟蝦餅，椰汁冰。

真的要…囧rz

Dilbert 2005-11-16

Agile programming. Need I say more?

Pickomino

Imagine that you are at a chicken BBQ party, and you need to get some roasted worms for your chicken (yuck). Your goal is to get more worms than everyone else...

Pickomino (also known as Heckmeck am Bratwurmeck) is a small dice game designed by Reiner Knizia, published by Zoch Verlag and Rio Grande Games. It is a little push-your-luck dice game, where you are given 8 special dice when your turn comes. Each time you roll your dice you have to keep all the dice showing one (and only one) of the 6 numbers of which you do not yet have. If you roll a sum of 21-24 you get to keep one of the 1-worm tiles. 25-28, 2 worms, 29-32, 3 worms, 33-36 voila, you get 4 worms at once! If you happen to roll the exact amount someone did, you get his/her worms instead.

On the left is the BSW interface of Pickomino. That was a 4-player game. Unlucky day for me! In the first round someone took the 4-worm tile for 36. Surprisingly, I won that game.

In a glance the game looks very very simple, but after playing a few games online I begin to realize there are lots of decision to make. What do you do when you are lagging behind? The game will end when all the "public" tiles are gone, so you sometimes have to pick an opponent's tile just to prevent the game from ending too soon. That in turn means you have to engineer your dice results to match exactly one of the opponents' face up tiles. No, it is not a game where you roll the dice and hope for the best. Luck plays an important part, but it also requires you to find a strategy and pick your dice so that your strategy work. I would definitely get a copy if it were cheaper.

Merkel’s marriage of inconvenience

Some updates to Germany at the Economist.

Merkel’s marriage of inconvenience

Nov 14th 2005
From The Economist Global Agenda

Almost two months after Germany’s inconclusive election, the proposed “grand coalition”, with Angela Merkel as chancellor, has been approved by the country’s three main parties. But their agreed programme of government is an awkward compromise and may do little to revive Europe’s largest economy

GERMAN media reports say that in recent days, leaders of the country’s three main parties have taken to addressing each other by the familiar “du” form. After weeks of stormy negotiations on a proposed “grand coalition” of centre-right and centre-left, which at several points seemed about to collapse, this was progress. At the end of last week, the improved atmosphere in the talks meant that the leaders of the Christian Democrats (CDU), Christian Social Union (CSU) and Social Democrats (SPD) could finally reach agreement on a programme of government. And on Monday November 14th, congresses of each of the three parties gave their strong approval to the deal. The question is, how long will the bonhomie last once the former rivals have to make the difficult decisions needed to revive Europe’s largest economy?

Under the deal, Angela Merkel, the CDU’s leader, will become Germany’s first woman chancellor—and its first from the former East Germany—while the SPD’s Peer Steinbrück, a former premier of North Rhine-Westphalia, will be finance minister. The parties have agreed that, to bring the country’s large budget deficit under control, taxes will rise. However, there will be only modest labour-market reforms, even though Germany urgently needs more of these to bring down its alarming unemployment rate—currently 11.6%.

A fortnight ago, the coalition talks seemed on the brink of collapse, following the resignation of Franz Müntefering as the SPD’s chairman. He quit after his party’s executive committee rejected his candidate for the SPD’s number two position. This prompted the leader of the Bavarian-based CSU, Edmund Stoiber, to declare that he no longer wanted to be economics minister in the new government. A carefully stitched deal to build a three-party cabinet suddenly looked like coming apart.

But things were soon patched up after Matthias Platzeck, the highly regarded premier of Brandenburg state, was nominated to succeed Mr Müntefering as SPD chief, and Michael Glos, the CSU’s parliamentary leader, took Mr Stoiber’s seat in the proposed cabinet as economics minister. Mr Müntefering, despite giving up his party role, still looks likely to become vice-chancellor and labour minister.

The programme of government thrashed out by the three parties runs to hundreds of pages. Overall it is a compromise, and not a very good one, between proposals the CDU/CSU and the SPD had presented in September’s election. On some matters, such as reform of Germany’s federal system, it goes into great, perhaps excessive, detail. But it is disappointingly thin on such vital matters as reforming the labour market and health system. In one area where it does go into specifics—planned increases in tax—it has caused dismay among business leaders, who fear the package may damage Germany’s anaemic economy instead of reviving it, as intended. They are particularly annoyed at the CDU, which had talked of tax cuts, not rises, in its election campaign.

To try to reduce the government’s budget deficit to 3% of GDP or less—as laid down in the widely flouted rules for countries in the euro currency area—there will be increases in both the value-added sales tax (VAT) and in income taxes. The VAT rate will rise from 16% to 19%, while (at the SPD’s insistence) the top rate of income tax, for those earning over €250,000 ($290,000) a year, will rise from 42% to 45%. Those on lower incomes will suffer the loss of several tax breaks; and workers will also have to make slightly higher contributions towards state pensions.

Businesses will gain a modest cut in their social-security contributions and a little more flexibility in hiring and firing: in future, new employees will undergo a two-year probationary period before gaining job security, instead of six months, as is typically the case now. But these small concessions that Ms Merkel has wrung out of the SPD fall far short of what many business leaders believe are needed to liberate Germany’s labour market and thus encourage firms to create jobs. And they do not compensate for the negative effects businesses expect from the tax rises.

The German economy is expected to grow by just 0.8% or so this year and the government’s panel of economic advisers predicted recently that next year’s growth might be no more than 1%. The threat of tax rises the year after seems likely to make gloomy German consumers tighten their belts even further. Thus a fiscal squeeze without structural reforms may simply push the economy back into recession, making it harder, not easier, to close the budget gap.

Although the grand coalition will nominally enjoy a crushing majority of over 280 seats in parliament, it is still unclear how closely the new government will follow its programme after taking office, on November 22nd. No such coalition of left and right has been tried since a short-lived and not terribly successful attempt in the 1960s, in what was then West Germany. The big policy differences between the parties mean the agreement may not last: the CDU had wanted more ambitious reforms of the labour market; the SPD had wanted to spend its way out of economic stagnation instead of bringing the deficit under control.

More important than what is written in their policy programme is whether the traditional rivals can build the trust that is needed to govern a country badly in need of a new direction. Only time will tell if they can. If the coalition does fall apart, fresh elections may have to be called. This could in theory lead to a clearer outcome, in which the CDU and CSU would form a more coherent, and reformist, government in coalition with the smaller, market-friendly Free Democrats. But it could just as easily drive voters away from the mainstream parties into the arms of more hardline parties to their left and right.

Antique discovery, part 1

Digging into age-old rubbish of an old woman, you will never know what you can find. I recently moved house and there in the old home I found lots of things my oma stockpiled, some of which more than 20 years old.

An old supermarket shopping bag which I thrown away after having it photographed. From what I found inside it is probably from the 70s or 80s. Do you recognize the brands promoted on the bag? I don't. Searching on the Internet, those brands still exist, but they are probably no longer available in Hong Kong. KWV Brandy is produced by KMV International, a South African Company. Hungry Jack is an American firm selling pancake materials. Local supermarkets may still stock them, but I do not make pancakes so I am not sure.

More to come when I unpack the stuff...

Corpse Bride

Tim Burton's creations always intrigue me in a bizzare way. Yesterday I finally had time to go for Corpse Bride, his newest movie.

The story is based on a Russian folklore. Victor the shy kid was forced to marry the young and beautiful Victoria, the daughter of a declining family. They fell in love immediately after seeing each other, but there is always something waiting to go wrong. After make a mess out of the rehearsal, Victor went for a little practice in the dark forest at night, and accidentally married Emily, the corpse bride.

Like the rest of Tim Burton's movies, the world we see is so different from the world we live in, yet it reminds us continuously of your very own life. In the story he portrayed two worlds. The land of the living is dull and without colour with people all living like zombies and working like robots. The land of the dead is however very colourful, with the dead having an happy (after)life underground, singing and dancing every day and night.

[minor spoiler alert]

The story began with a blue butterfly. Bright and colourful, it served as the introduction of the boring human world: People breathe, and their hearts beat, but they do not feel life and even chased the butterfly away. The same butterfly also appeared again later to visit the lonely corpse bride, but the reaction it got was very different. Sadness did not prevent her from adoring the butterfly and the life it represented. The full moon was beautiful, but only in her eyes. Perhaps sometimes we pay attention to the beautiful things in life only after we lose them? The nature, a dead pet, Too often we learn the way of life through loss and regret.

Some say that the story ended abruptly, but the final scene was so beautiful it made me weep. I wonder if the butterfly was the afterlife of another beautiful lady?

Impressions on Corpse Bride: 9/10

The songs are very nice, making the soundtrack a must-buy item. Following is an excerpt from "Tears to shed", a song Emily sang with the black widow and the maggot:

If I touch a burning candle I can feel no pain
In the ice or in the sun it's all the same
Yet I feel my heart is aching
Though it doesn't beat it's breaking
And the pain here that I feel
Try and tell me it's not real
I know that I am dead
Yet it seems that I still have some tears to shed

Funny mascots

I keep seeing brilliant pieces of artwork recently.

Olympics


Above is the mascot for the 29th Olympic Games. Do they look like super-deformed characters from TV shows such as Power Rangers? Some people also say the black one look very much like PANDA-Z.

FIFA World Cup


The official World Cup 2006 logo. It is so special. It gives me unimaginable "happiness" whenever I see it.


Sometimes, art can be real difficult to understand.

打機：Ｚ高達DX

咁大個仔打機一向都好水皮，所以好少玩格鬥類遊戲，免得丟人現眼，但高達是一個例外，但因遊戲實在做得好，且算易上手。而由於新居樓下剛更新了四部Ｚ高達DX，我近來又重新迷上…

今日第一次挑機挑贏人，用MARASAI對Z高達。原來復活是很勁的，哈哈哈哈哈！

PS 如果有便宜的Virtual On 就好了

Christmas is near!

And do you know what's the best part of it? Lots of delicious stuff are only available in Christmas time. Have just been to Pret and found that the Hazelnut Praline Eggnog ($23) is back. Also available is the tasty Bieu and Cranberry sandwich ($34). You have got to try them when you have time.

Cracks appear in Germany's grand coalition

Below is a news clipping from the Economist. Now I know why Euro fell this week. To the original post

Cracks appear in Germany's grand coalition

Nov 2nd 2005
From The Economist Global Agenda

A key member of Germany's nascent grand coalition has resigned as chairman of his party, while another has decided to stay in Bavaria rather than serve as a minister. If the Christian Democrats' Angela Merkel cannot hold things together, new elections may be called next spring

AMID much fanfare, Dresden’s famed Frauenkirche was formally reconsecrated last weekend. Rebuilding the landmark Baroque church, which Allied bombers turned to rubble in 1945, has been a task of enormous complexity spanning more than a decade. Though it may not take that long, the job of cobbling together a “grand coalition” to run Germany following a snap election on September 18th is proving similarly monumental.

For days after the election, Chancellor Gerhard Schröder refused to admit defeat, even though his Social Democrats (SPD) had won fewer seats than Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU) and her Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU). Yet he eventually yielded, a new cabinet drawn from both sides was agreed, a coalition deal was under construction—and the scene seemed set for Ms Merkel to be elected Germany’s new chancellor on November 22nd

But this week, two of the grand coalition’s main architects resigned—at least partially. On Monday October 31st, Franz Müntefering, the chairman of the SPD, unexpectedly announced that he would step down, after his party’s executive committee rejected his candidate for the SPD's number two position. A day later, Edmund Stoiber, leader of the CSU, declared that he would prefer to remain Bavaria’s premier rather than join the new government as economics minister. Yet both say they intend to continue leading their respective negotiation teams for the coalition and Mr Müntefering still wants to be Ms Merkel's vice-chancellor and labour minister. The question now is whether the entire edifice of the grand coalition may collapse, meaning that the country could head for fresh elections, probably next March.

Even to insiders, the latest turn of events has come as a surprise. Germany had settled into a negotiation routine. The coalition-building machine seemed to be running relatively smoothly. Once or twice a week, the main delegations would meet to talk about the big picture. In between, 16 working groups would get together to hammer out more detailed proposals. In total, nearly 200 politicians have been directly involved.

Predictably, there were many leaks, which helped to fill the papers and create a sense of increasing controversy. But the emerging coalition’s inner circle—which besides Ms Merkel, Mr Stoiber and Mr Müntefering includes Mr Schröder, Peer Steinbrück, the designated SPD finance minister, and Roland Koch, the CDU premier of Hesse—seemed to have developed a measure of trust and good working relations. Last week they agreed on a savings package of €35 billion ($42 billion) to push Germany’s public deficit below the EU-stipulated limit of 3% of GDP by 2007 (though Ms Merkel has since said a bigger cut may be needed). And this week they agreed on how to reform Germany’s federal system, and on a corporate-tax cut.

Yet just as the Frauenkirche needs strong pillars to hold up its dome, a grand coalition needs disciplined parties to support the government. In other words, the SPD can’t be both in government and in opposition. This is why Mr Müntefering insisted on installing his trusted right-hand man, Kajo Wasserhövel, as the SPD’s general secretary, rather than leaving this important job to Andrea Nahles, unofficial leader of the party’s left wing, who thinks that the SPD should be re-establishing its credentials as a people’s party to improve its appeal and fend off the Left Party. Though Mr Wasserhövel had been expected to win, the party’s executive committee voted 24 to 13 for Ms Nahles. Shortly after the vote, Mr Müntefering declared that he would not stand for re-election as party chairman at the SPD’s next congress in mid-November.

Mr Müntefering’s abrupt decision almost spun the party out of control. Most members of the executive board were visibly shocked; one resigned, and more are expected to follow. Ms Nahles has let it be known that she may not want the job after all. Only with the quick nomination of Matthias Platzeck, the premier of Brandenburg, as candidate for SPD chairman, did a semblance of calm return. Even the CDU welcomed the choice of an eastern German premier who heads a grand coalition in his own state. He is popular without being populist and is widely touted as a prospective SPD chancellor of the future.

In the meantime, Mr Stoiber announced his decision to stay in Bavaria—officially because he thinks the SPD is no longer a reliable partner after the resignation of Mr Müntefering, with whom he gets on well. But most see this as merely an excuse. Mr Stoiber has been in a huff since failing to get the “super ministry” he wanted; after a series of petty power games, he is no longer taken all that seriously; and a battle over his succession in Bavaria threatens to split the CSU. After the dust settled, Michael Glos, the head of the party’s parliamentary group, emerged as its new pick to become Germany’s economics minister.

Running out of time

Even if the turbulence passes, this week's events have made the birth of the grand coalition more difficult. The SPD’s left wing has shown itself much less willing to accept compromises in order to stay in government. It is now a lot less likely that a grand coalition will attempt to go beyond mere repair work—such as reducing the deficit and reforming federalism—and tackle more far-reaching reforms. Optimists, however, argue that the in-fighting has reduced the SPD’s chances at any new election, so it may yet prove readier to agree to a deal with Ms Merkel.

The pressure of time doesn’t help. Next week will be crucial. The parties have set November 12th as the deadline for an agreement—just in time for the SPD’s congress, which has to endorse the grand coalition. But there is also much pressure on Ms Merkel to reach a deal. She has scheduled a party conference on December 5th to discuss why the CDU did less well than expected in the election. If she is not inaugurated as chancellor by then, critics and rivals within the party might switch to attack mode. Many fault her personally for the disappointing result.

In more than one way, indeed, the CDU and CSU see themselves as facing the same strategic challenge as the SPD: do they want to remain big-tent people’s parties or will they push for necessary but painful economic reforms that might strip away some of their backing? Ms Merkel stands for the second approach, though many in her party prefer the first. If the negotiations on a grand coalition fail and Germany heads for a new election, it is not clear whether she would again be the opposition’s candidate for chancellor.

If this week’s events reveal anything, it is that Germany’s big parties are in their worst crisis since the second world war. Even though it will be painful, their best chance for a lasting comeback may be to form a grand coalition and make it work. Otherwise, even more voters will opt for the competition to their left and right.

Germany: VAT

Just tuned to some Internet radio station and immediately got some bad news: The government decided to have a tax increase despite poor economic situations. If you could trust my listening skills, Mehrwertsteuer (Value-Added Tax) will be increased from 16% to 18%.

When will they understand that VAT does not even work at all.

Is programming a form of art?

Have any of you seen Mona Lisa Smile? Overall it is a boring movie, but it had some of the most talented actresses, as well as insightful ideas. In this movie, Ms Ann Watson the teacher (Julia Roberts) and Betty Warren the student (Kirsten Dunst) had this conversation:

Watson: What is art? What makes it good or bad? And who decides?
Warren: Art isn't art until someone says it is.
Watson: It's art!
Warren: The right people.
Watson: Who are they?

Do art exist in the computer world, among us working in the industry, among those watching porn late at night, or those net-addicted people sending instant messages across the Internet to complete strangers? Can programming be classified as a form of art?

There are lots of tools with which you can create a piece of art: pieces of metal, clay, cloth, paint and canvas, or even shades of light. Like art, there are lots of tools to complete your work. Different programming languages have different characteristics and styles, which you must choose carefully to present your work. There are always many different ways to write even the simplest programs. Looking at them casually without reading in detail, a well written program can be fairly similar to a poem. The word "program" even rhymes with "poem". Plus, we have writer's block, too.

However, unlike art, there are discreet criteria where programs can be judged. A program is not intended for display in its source form: they almost always serve real purposes, and there are commonly known good and bad styles.

So am I an artist? I do not know. The only thing I am sure is that I will be happier if I consider myself an idealist pursuing an unreachable perfection, than a nitpicky cheap labour finishing projects that could not be. It can also be used as an excuse for my bad temper.

Impressions on Mona Lisa Smile: 6/10

新居的第一晚

唯一認識的是由舊屋移來的老舊氣味…
面前著一個陌生的環境，一箱兩箱的漫畫、書、衫，我選擇的竟是半夜一點走回只一分鐘路程的公司。

我有預感這幾天我會經常留在這裡…

黑社會賺錢高招

是說杜sir的黑社會，不是賣四仔的。

在電影新聞組看到這條連結，很有意思，故節錄部份內容如下：

……

其中有一幕是梁家輝（飾演想搶黑幫龍頭地位的老大）捉了那些在選龍頭時沒為他出夠力的頭目到山上，在糟躓他們之餘，蹲在那塊可以俯瞰城市景觀的大懸石上，用手提電話約其他頭目晚上聚集談判，很有實感的大大聲講出約定見面的酒家名。

……

很有交代，打電話給一個頭目說一遍，有的聽不清楚又要勞氣說一遍（這是很合理的，在山頭野嶺嘛，電信公司覆蓋不好，信號不清），約一大堆人，酒家名便一而再的在一個很有氣勢的位置給喊出來。

這酒家名正是全力贊助這套電影的字號，我是出錢贊助的，又或電影公司的老闆，一定會看得聽得很開心，為導演的交代而滿意。

不論市道好不好，既是商品，開多點門路賺錢天公地道，只要不會讓觀眾覺得突兀討厭便好，他們也該會審慎行事，避免造成反效果。

像這一次便是很好的示範，……

原文： 杜琪峰《黑社會》賺錢高招

名字的由來

hokuto是誰？間中也會有不認識的人問這個問題。要猜好像一般都會猜是『北斗之拳』。實情當然不是。那其實是一個漫畫女角的名字…我也曾經是半個動漫迷，而當時最喜愛的作者一定要數CLAMP，而CLAMP的作品中最喜歡就是『東京巴比倫』。

CLAMP是一個四人集團（人數曾經較多），畫的漫畫都是比較華麗的類型，在很多角川（以前）跟講談社（現在）的漫畫雜誌都有連載，較多人認識的作品有『Ｘ』、『聖伝』、『Card Captor Sakura』等。CLAMP的作品經常有一個特點，就是好人不像好人，壞人不一定做壞事。

「你知道為甚麼櫻花是紅色的？因為樹下埋了屍體。」

『東京巴比倫』是一個七期完的中篇，以上是故事中多次出現的名句。講的是兩個陰陽師：皇昂流（主角）跟櫻塚星史郎（殺手／壞人）的故事。七期漫畫大部份都是不完全相連的短篇，講兩人與身邊不相識、路人的事。（這方面跟新作XXXHOLiC有點像）

那北都是誰？她其實是主角昂流的胞姐。配角，簡單來說是二打六。但這個二打六跟其他漫畫的不一樣，她對兩個主角的影響十分深遠。她不像胞弟或星史郎有強大的靈力，但事實上整個故事會發生，星史郎會跟昂流會成為朋友，結局之所以會變成這樣，甚至關連到『Ｘ』中部份事情都是她所做成的。如果昂流是一個明明無能為力但時刻想救人的悲刻人物，那星史郎就是替昂流決定放手的人。北都則是將兩人連在一起，感化兩人的旁觀者。可能她是由昂流跟星史郎的肋骨造的吧？沒了她，兩人都不再完整…


問題：死也不會說CLAMP畫的是少女漫畫，但應如何分類呢？

追加：死之花是朋友網站的其中一頁。也有提到TB哦！不妨猜猜是誰 ^_^

Circus Flohcati

（友人說寫中文較好，所以今天轉中文台）

Circus Flohcati 是一個很簡單的紙牌遊戲，作者是Reiner Knizia。我想都沒有哪個還在玩圖版遊戲的現代人不知道他是誰吧？他是一個德國出生的數學博士。我不清楚他主修哪科，不過從他對骰子的著迷程度－－他寫了一本書講骰子的，叫Dice Games Properly Explained－－應與或然率有點關係吧？他設計的遊戲怕超過100，肯定是產量最多的一人。但產量多不代表質素參差，相反很多都是高質素的作品，例如最近再版的Ra 就是。想知更多可到wikipedia 找Reiner Knizia 的簡介。他寫的遊戲也沒有特定的觀眾，其中有幾分鐘能玩完、消磨時間用的家庭遊戲，也有要玩長時間、花腦力的重型遊戲。

Circus Flohcati 就是一個十分簡單的遊戲，全盒只有多種語言印製的規則跟89張卡片，可供三至五人同玩。卡片分十種顏色，０至７各一張，另九張特別功能牌。早幾天友人新買了一盒，當然先拿來玩一下。規則很簡單，到你的時候選一張卡拿上手，如果沒有合意的卡則可以抽卡放在枱上，直至有你想要的卡為至。但要留意，如果你抽的卡跟枱上的顏色相同，你的回合則立即完結。當遊戲完結時你手上的卡每種顏色最高分的一張加起來就是你的分數。那拿０不是沒有人會拿？遊戲當然沒這麼簡單，還有一種特別的計分方式：只要把三張同數字的牌丟到枱上，不管面值多少都變成10分。

跟Can't Stop一樣，Circus Flohcati是一個簡單的push your luck遊戲。規則雖簡單但要思考的其實也很多：枱面上有三張１、一張２、一張４，你要拿牌還是再開下去？如果拿的話，要拿１、２、還是４？自己手上的牌跟已知對手手上的牌對你有影響嗎？這要留玩者自己思考了。


以中文寫一些不是中國人的東西實在很麻煩。問題：push your luck 中文怎譯？

黑社會

上周五在沒大期望的情況下看了黑社會。

故事是很簡單的黑社會爭上位遊戲，大Ｄ與樂爭做和聯勝龍頭大哥，各區話事人因不同原因各執一詞，各不相讓。要避免警方介入，應如何處理？

之前看新聞說會『教壞細路』，我看完這種感覺卻不強烈。要說教壞，之前的古惑仔系列不是更嚴重？片中多次說明，所謂的愛兄弟不愛黃金都是騙人，以香港電影來說都不能算是美化黑社會了。反而是很多對白都刻意影射時局，甚麼最重要是安定繁榮，大社會選大佬比選香港人選特首早一百年，不同人看應會有不同感想…

暴力鏡頭以三級片來說實在是非常的少，要不是有黑社會入會儀式的鏡頭，應該都不會成為三級片。片中角色眾多，幾乎清一色是男生。由於開始時人物介紹部份沒細心看，中間搶旗時認人名還有少許困難－－如果你打算看記緊要留心。一般來說出鏡的演員都是有實力的演員，整體演出都可以。主角方面，任達華做得出色，而梁家輝能做出大Ｄ的惡，不過好像做得太過火了。配角方面林家棟演的東莞仔應是演得最好的一個吧…

黑社會評分：7/10

再早幾天看過Flightplan（港譯：高凶三萬尺）。故事大綱有趣，不過犯駁之處不少。有幸演員出色不救回不少分數。
Flightplan評分：5.5/10

（自己寫的文章好像愈來愈短了…）

以下私自轉載舊同事寫的黑社會影評。有部份說得還算有意思，希望不要見怪。

杜琪峰的確是當今香港影壇的重要人物，他執導或監製的電影都能緊握著香港觀眾的口味和市場的觸覺，而男性警匪電影更加是杜Sir近年專攻‘科目’，由＜鎗火＞，到＜PTU＞，甚至劉德華的＜大隻佬＞，警與匪的對立都像電影中的燈光手法一樣黑白分明，今次＜黑社會＞可說是開宗明義，將全男班黑幫兄弟一個一個擺上檯，甚至推出康城影展‘曬冷’之作！

有＜無間道＞珠玉在前，＜黑社會＞勝在擺脫了最濫情的臥底橋段，甚至連一幕旗鼓相當的黑白兩道大鬥法的場面（e.g. 曾志偉 vs 黃秋生的一幕）也沒有，反之是樸實無華地描寫一次黑幫話事人選舉交棒的腥風血雨；正因為沒有太多情節上的出人意表，因此更添劇情的感染性和張力，這亦是最 考編劇功力的地方。當然，有人認為龍頭棍的爭奪有點脫離現實甚至乎過份漫畫化，但我認為這正是全片最畫龍點睛的一個意象符號！當任達華第一次看見龍頭棍，說出一句：「我都係第一次見！」他為權力著魔的表情，就令觀眾更容易明白杜琪峰以黑社會為題拍電影的弦外之音！

兩大男主角任達華和梁家輝撐足全場，無論造型和角色設計上梁家輝都佔盡優勢，他的角色其實是＜江湖救急＞中任因久的兄弟版，演繹方面難度較小，金馬提名最佳男主角只有家輝入圍，任達華落馬實非戰之罪；天林叔的老戲骨獲提名最佳男配角實至名歸，而一眾黑道男人個個搶戲，最討好的當然要數杜sir愛將林雪，他的戲份不多，但幾句對白卻是電影中最重要的關鍵所在；張家輝和張兆輝都略嫌over了一點，但可能只是角色設計所累，相反古天樂演得沒精打采，與其他人演技上仍有點距離，個人認為演得最恰到好處的男配角是林家棟，短短的一場戲不愠不火，交足功課。
散場之後第一個感覺是，咦，點解無黃秋生呢！有就perfect喇！
（影評：葉瀚）

無題

我不知道我在朋友間的印象如何？我覺得自己像個自閉青年。有甚麼事都喜歡收在心中，情緒化，不合群，想法負面，沒甚麼自信，甚麼self-esteem 全都沒有。也不是沒有，只是好像從不知何時埋在不知何處，在某些不適當的時候才會展現出來。

這份工做了近六年，工作經驗沒多少，人生經驗反而好像更多。識了幾個能夠分享秘密的朋友，也結了不少仇家。好像成長了不少…（成長了才是這樣子，成長前是不是很可悲）

不知大家有沒有看明珠台做的Las Vegas？第二季最後的『大爆炸』跟我們的情況有點像。只是不知事實會不會如第三季一樣發展…

Christina Stürmer

The blog is not only for movies. If time allows I will also write about the games I played and music I listened to. I have written a little bit about Denise Ho. I believe I should also write about Christina Stürmer, to whom I listen almost every day.

Stürmer is an Austrian singer. Only 25 years old, she had already won twice in the Austrian Music Award, as the best Pop/Rock female singer. Brilliant, is she not? She does not have a pretty face, but she sings quite well. Reminds me of Denise Ho in the old days.

If you know me in real life you should have known that I have been learning German for more than 2 years. I think it helps if I listen to german songs, so I went searching at Amazon.de. There I found names such as Nena, Juli, 2raumwohnung, and of course Christina Stürmer. One of her CD covers look quite nice so I went to get mp3 of some of her old CDs at The Torrent Galaxy. Quickly I grow addicted to her music. Unfortunately her best CDs are already sold out.

She is now having a Germany tour. I would have gone there if not for the recent events! (Above: she doing soundcheck with her band before a show)


To the Official homepage (Germany)
More about Christina Stürmer at Wikipedia
At Yahoo! Musik you can find some of her music videos.
(all in german)

What makes a great doctor?

What makes a great doctor? HOUSE may give you a clue. The first season of this Fox TV series is now showing on AXN (In US they already have a season 2).

Dr House (Hugh Laurie) is an infectious disease specialist with a broken leg. In each episode he and his team of talented doctors take on a new case. He however does not skip on any chance where he could insult one of his colleagues or patients. This behaviour may seem anti-social, but as the series proceeds, we eventually find him possessing every trait that a good doctor should have. Most people do not understand that behind his taunts lies a kind heart. To him being a doctor is not a job, but a way to save lives and to teach his patients how to live better.

In episode 9 (the latest on AXN) we starts seeing it in more detail. John Henry, the wheelchaired musician who had no will to live because he can no longer play his horn, discovered that he and Dr House are the same type of people. They both have this "thing" inside them. This thorn, the desire to do better, had them sacrificed a lot for their achievements as musician and doctor. Through the treatments Dr House made John understand that music may be his most important part of life, but not the only reason of life.

House, the official web site

World in War: Axis and Allies revisited

Time for some game reviews and session reports.

I am not really a big fan of Axis and Allies but I have seen some very positive review on spielfrieks, which also influenced my decision to buy Antiquity. The system of World in War: Combined Arms 1939-1945 seems innovative enough for the big money it costs. Three weeks ago I received the big parcel from Delayed Reactions including World in War and a couple of other games I bought. Surely I must give them a try, so I brought them to the last two saturday gatherings at Poly University of Hong Kong.

It turns out I have keen instincts judging games. In the last two weeks we have played 4 games. The first three were more like a mess, but with a more sensible opponent, the fourth was a blast.

In was a 2-player game. In that game I was playing Germany with the suggested variant of an extra Western Powers submarine. My opponent decided very early that France cannot be defended, and would instead carry out a sea blockade on every port his ships could reach. The game ended at turn 4 (or perhaps it was turn 5) because it was already midnight with a dozen hungry eyes watching us play. When we pack the game, Germany had about 19 production points and Allied around 15. I already had control of the whole central-western Europe and is pushing towards Russia, but the supply lines are long and I had no control of the sea. I probably cannot attack fast enough before UK could regroup and dump units in western Europe in the future turns.

The outcome was surprisingly close to real history. Western powers occupying the sea while German troops are roaming freely in Europe. I should have built more submarines to break out of the blockade and Russia was harder to defeat than expected. How would the game have played out? God knows. I only know that I would persuade most of my A&A friends to try this game.

The gameplay is very dynamic; one must constantly adjust strategies and tactics in order to gain the upper edge. There had been many A&A websites with discussions and articles on A&A strategies. I wonder if there are web sites focussing on strategy for this game? Please let me know if you have found any.

Wait 'Til You're Older

I am not a big fan of Andy Lau, but the company I work for is a sponsor of the movie. Many colleagues went to the premiere show and came back with very positive comments. The movie looked promising enough, so I went anyway.

With no gangsters, crimelords, nor gamblers, I am surprised to see such a high calibre Hong Kong movie like this one. Years ago, Kwong's mother commited suicide because his father fell in love with another women. Since then the kid had been living with the stepmother, and refused to communicate with his parents. He hated his parents. He wanted to be free from them. He wanted to grow up. One day he met an old alchemist in the park and witnessed the effects of the old man's new invention: a magical growth potion. He stole the potion and became an adult after just one night's sleep. How could he live in his new shell? Could he forgive his parents for the mistakes they made? Or, could he ask the forgiveness of his parents for his childishness?

Families and friends, misunderstanding and forgiveness. These are not common themes in local movies, but it had been wrapped up very well. They might have borrowed a few ideas from Big Fish, I guess. Your parents but not tell you every truth, but if they don't, they are probably doing you good. Not that I would change my attitudes towards my father though.

Impressions on Wait 'Til You're Older: 7/10

"I don't believe!"

Watched The Skeleton Key last Thursday.

Spoiler alert - but I would try to keep it minimal

The story: Young nurse Caroline (Kate Hudson) is moving in to Ben and Violet's (John Hurt, Gena Rowlands) house to take care of the old man, who recently had a stroke and have only a month to live. She soon realised that the house is perhaps haunted by a couple who practised "Hoodoo" magic in the house almost a hundred years ago. The ghosts may also be the cause of Ben's stroke. Caroline decided to learn the arts of Hoodoo and save the old man, but could her magic skills save herself? Truth is perhaps the last thing she should know.

It is not really a thriller, but more like The Sixth Sense, a horror/drama with a sudden twist at the end. The plot had certainly been thought over, and is much more logicial than most other movies of similar genre. There are not many frightening scenes, but a creepy "Hoodoo" atmosphere runs throughout the movie but was perhaps too disturbing for me.

I don't know what I should add without spoiling too much, so I'd just stop here. Impressions on The Skeleton Key: 6.5/10

Question: what was the chicken soup supposed to do?

梁祝下世傳奇 by 何韻詩

何韻詩的新大碟終於出了。我這個小蕃薯知道後當然立即買一張。89大元，很貴。

何韻詩在自己的blog上說是自己最滿意的大碟。總的來說也是不錯－－最主要還是其他人的歌太過慘不忍睹。不過我還是覺得她在華星年代的歌比較精彩，可能因為我骨子裡還是比較喜歡Pop/Rock音樂吧。

對近來在香港流行的故事式概念大碟不太喜歡，因我其實都只是將CD 轉成mp3 來放，一段一段半分鐘的音樂放在library 裡很難辦！還好，這張CD壓成128kbps的音樂檔還可以放得下一張64MB 的SD card，否則要將一張CD 分兩次聽實在太可憐了。

哪首歌比較好呢？我覺得『長不大』比較好，『有人跟蹤我』也不錯。『化碟』的鋼琴版聽起來也是很順耳。

評分：自知聽的歌種實在有限，評分也不會中肯。所以不評算了

「舊愛」講完了，「新歡」要數來自奧地利的Christina Stürmer。走的也是Pop/Rock 路線。我開始聽何韻詩的時候她剛25歲，今年Christina Stürmer 也是25歲，真巧。

Spieglein, Spieglein an der Wand, wer ist die schönste im ganzen Land

"Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of them all"

It is probably the most famous quote from Snow White. It is in Christina Stürmer's song, "Spieglein". It is also in The Brothers Grimm, a 2005 Miramax title. Yes I went for this movie today after seeing the trailer in Apple's web site a few weeks ago despite poor reviews from IMDb.

In this purely fictitious story, smokes and mirrors were about only what the brothers knew. They were two con-men who made money out of unknowing villagers by "killing" fairy tale monsters which they themselves have created. Wilheim (Matt Damon) never believed in fairy tales or scary monsters, but deep inside Jakob's heart (Heath Ledger) he had strong faith, that such fairy tales exist, that some day he would find authentic magic beans, that he would climb high up the sky, meet giants and find the gold that would have helped their family when they were young. Without giving them a choice, fate soon forced them into a real fairy tale. It was with Jake's faith, that gave them a chance to forge their own happy-end by bringing out true love and genuine courage from within themselves.

Overall I find the movie ok. It was funny, but I would not call it good, and there are moments when I find it boring. The idea behind the story was very interesting, but the execution was not. They picked a number of famous Grimm fairy tales, Snow white, Hansel and Gretel, Little Red Riding Hood, Cinderella, and many more, but other than the main plot, the fairy tale characters were just shallow paste-ups. Fairy tales provided colourful costumes for the characters, but other than that, they were just patch-work and served no real purpose. Even though the movie was allegedly a British-Czech production, it looked very like a Hollywood show. Lots of visual and sound effects, lots of witty dialogues, little plot. With so many fairy tales weaved together, the story still looked empty and could probably be condensed a bit. The effects where ok but is common in current American movies. Nothing new. It is not on par with other shows which redesign fairy fales. The Shrek series were much more hilarious. Remember that quote "... and they lived uglily ever after"? Did it make you laugh, that they placed a godzilla sized gingerbread-man in Shrek 2? The gingerbread in the movie was disgusting. Jack and the Beanstalk: The Real Story was one very good TV series which had been shown locally on both TVB Pearl and ATV World. Jack's ancestor stole something from the giants. He must correct that mistake before his 40th birthday, or he would perish like his father and grandfather. Or perhaps you would like to try Sleepy Hollow by Tim Burton, whose feel is completely different, but the story backbone surprisingly similar.

A colleague told me there is a place where you can find lots of Fairy Tales by the Grimm Brothers. There are different editions, with original german versions, and also english translation.
And I believe it was called Prussia, not Germany, in early 1800....

Impressions on The Brothers Grimm: 5/10.

My ratings formula

When I make movie recommendations to friends, either because they asked me about advices, or if I was selling some movies that I thought too good to be missed, I am often asked what does a "8-point" movie mean.

I started logging and rating movies at IMDB since 2004. I have now rated 64 titles. I intentionally scale my ratings such that the median score is not higher than 6. I try also to be as objective as possible, but movie is a form of art. I am never good at arts, and I believe there is always a personal preference in deciding what is good and bad, and it could not be purely objective.

The ratings here might be slightly different to the rating on IMDB because IMDB does not allow half point scores. So, my rating system:

• 10 points means "perfect".I have never given any movie this score.
  
• 9 points: exceptionally good. There might be some very minor flaws, but it must have a good cast, a good and often unusual plot, nice music, and the cinematography must be visually appealing. I may consider viewing the movie again if time and money allows. I would also start persuading everyone to see it.
  
• 7-8 points: good to very-good. There are often some very strong merits. On my recommended list if someone so asks. I may also talk about it to closer friends.
  
• 5-6 points: not-so-bad. I found that I have a stronger temper than before. As a side effect my emotions against movies are also stronger, and I have been giving fewer movies this rating. This may change.
  
• 3-4 points: mediocre. I don't really usually regret having seen it, but it is something that I would have watched only if I had lots of time.
  
• 1-2 points: it was a mistake watching it. Since I am not a film critic I am not obliged to see bad movies, and I would usually avoid them at the first place. Mistakes do happen from time to time, however.
  

There is usually a minor penalty if I don't speak the language they use in the movies.

What movies got what ratings?
For different reasons, Matchstick Men, Girl with a Pearl Earring and Finding Neverland scored 9. Recent movies which deserved 8 include Sin City and Tian xia wu zei (天下無賊). I gave 4 to Land of the Dead and House of Wax. The Touch was the only movie that had such a low rating as a 2.

P.S. I wanted to take an arts appreciation course at the Arts Centre when time allows.

Girls meet Jazz!!!

I am not fond of Japanese movies, but in a bad mood I wanted to see something funny with a happy end, so I went for Swing Girls anyway. It had the exact same formula as Waterboys, a previous movie by the same director. However in this movie there are lots of cute girls instead of boys, and the music is rather good. I wonder if the girls performed the music themselves?

The story: A group of students accidentally food-poisoned the school orchestra. As a compensation, and also as a means to escape from summer school, they formed a Jazz band to perform in place of the orchestra, when none of them had any interest or love for music. Without them realizing, passion began to grow inside them, and they were very upset when forced to disband. Their passion soon brought them back together, and you probably guessed the ending already.

The actors and actresses are all very good and fit their roles nicely. No more 30-year-old men posing as high school kids. Or perhaps Japanese people look younger than americans at the same age? Like the predecessor, there are lots of comical singing and dancing. Very funny, very entertaining, and visually appealing as well. Did I also say the music was nice?

The story was very warm and touching. The plot is simple and straightforward. For me, simplicity is always good. There are no sudden twists and nothing was very illogical, if you care about logic in film plots. It was too similar to Waterboys, but it is still a very good choice if you want to see a comedy and are sick of cheap US B-movies full of dirty jokes, or Hong Kong movies full of nothing. That and if for whatever reason you do not like love-comedies.

First impressions on Swing Girls: 7.5/10

It was the best of youth

It did not make me weep.

More about "The Best of Youth"

I have first seen reviews of this movie in a local magazine. Milk, or perhaps it was East Touch. It looked promising. I couldn't find any good movies in Hong Kong lately, so I decided I would give it a try. I spent the whole afternoon on this movie, skipping the usual saturday boardgame gathering and one of my best friend's birthday dinner party.

It was really a nice movie. I didn't feel it at first. It did not make me weep. There were no violent or erotic scenes, or dramatic events, or any things that charms me. Nothing special that I could remember from the music. I could not even understand Italian, nor have I a passion on Italian history. But I just could not get it out of my head. Four days later I am still thinking about it. It was just that good. So I decided I would write a short review, or my feelings, about this six-hour monster, even though I was never good at writing.

It was about this Roman middle class family of Carati: Nicola (Luigi Lo Cascio), his brother Matteo (Alessio Boni), their family and their friends, with forty years of Italian history weaved into their lives. Just before a trip to northen europe after exam, Matteo met this little girl Giorgia (Jasmine Trinca) in an asylum. Trying to protect this girl from being mistreated, he rescued her. With the help of his smarter brother Nicola they tried helping her to find her father, but the father already had a new life and did not want the mentally-ill daughter any more. This girl changed their lives. Matteo wanted power to correct the world. He dropped out of school and joined the armed forces and later became Riot Police. The more liberal Nicola wanted to heal the girl and continued his education in Psychiatry after the long trip. They crossed each other's lives at unexpected moments, sometimes in opposing identities. Nicola, as a volunteer to help in the Florence flood, saw his brother on the street, a soldier. Demonstrator's close friend and riot police who almost killed one of the demonstrators in Torino....

The movie turned out to be very touching. It was 40 years of life condensed in a 6 hour show. New lives arrive while family members passed away. Different sorts of family problems. Different attitudes leading into different ways of life, causing family members to stand of opposing sides in an argument.

There was also a little something that took me a few days to realise. Still photo cameras, not the brothers, were the key to the movie. I was really surprised how the story linked different characters together through photographs. It was Matteo's photos that started it all, that showed Nicola to Giorgia and changed their lives forever. It was Mirellas' camera who helped her and Matteo met. Photos from the very same female led the brother to the widow, the grandchild to the Oma. It took me a few days to realize that these photographs played such an important role in the movie. I was so dumb.

Impressions on The Best of Youth: 9/10

Red Eye

I watched Red Eye tonight. Rachel McAdams is so cute, and Cillian Murphy sexy. What else do you want from a B-movie?

More about the movie and the plot: It's just 80 minutes, fairly short for a movie these years, even for a thriller. The plot is not very good but also not bad. I have seen worse this year, say, House of Wax and Cursed.

Half of the movie is about the Lisa (McAdams) and Jack (Murphy) sitting in the plane cabin. Thanks to the two brilliant actors, I can really feel the tension and the emotions. What I hate the most about teen-horror movies are that the actors usually sucks. Lots of blood, lots of screams, and that's all.

[Spoiler alert]

Back to the plot. When the boy said he lost a pen, I would have expected something smarter. Maybe Lisa wrote hints on a piece of toilet paper, in addition to writing on the mirror? Perhaps the smart-looking little girl went to the toilet and told her mom about the mysterious writings he found in the toilet? None of them happened. The director spent lots of time shooting the many characters who had nothing (nothing important, at least) with the plot, that's not very good. After getting off the plane things get straight-forward. The usual kill-him-or-die stuff. It is however already much better than the bunch of thrillers. And I love thrillers.

Cillian Murphy is also in 2 of my favourite movies: 28 Days Later and Batman Begins. He is a talented young actor and will be on my watch list. McAdams is surely a much better actress than the usual "chicks" in thrillers. They both did a good job, and I look forward to seeing them in future movies. By the way I think she looks a little bit like Jennifer Garner in this movie.

First impressions on Red Eye: 7/10

I also watched the Best of Youth last week at Cine Art Cinema. Impressions on the Best of Youth: 8/10