Listen to BBC radio 5’s song lamenting England’s defeat by Germany at World Cup 2010.
Blame the referee. Blame the Premier League. Blame Capello. Blame everything and everyone.
Those who believe that if the disallowed goal was counted England would have won are just too naive.
Why not just face the reality, admit your deficiency, swallow the bitterness, and move on?
Written by Richard Yates. It’s a story set in 1950s about an US middle-class couple, April and Frank, who was bored with their suburban lives and decided to move to Paris. It ended up in betrayal and tragedy.
The story lingers in my mind for a very long time after I finished reading the book. I keep thinking how much it resonates my life, or even lives of people around me. We are bored by our surrounding and our neighbours and our jobs, we want to make some change but have no courage, and we don’t know how to love. We are never getting anywhere.
A very good read.
Directed by Andreas Dresen. The film was about a beloved actor Otto whose alcoholism made him missing the filming of a new movie. This led to the producer hiring a younger actor Arno to shoot the scenes twice as Otto’s backup. Competition on and off screen between Otto and Arno, and one was bound to lose… Whiskey and vodka should never be mixed…
The movie was a bit boring and actors / actresses not particularly appealing. The story was also so-so.
Directed by Rob Marshall, starring Daniel Day-Lewis, Judi Dench, Nicole Kidman, Marion Cotillard, Penélope Cruz, Sophia Loren, Kate Hudson and Fergie. The story is about an aging film director, Guido Contini, who is experiencing mid-life crisis. He loses his creativity and can’t come up with a script for his new movie, and finds himself entangled in relationships with different women.
I have not watched the original musical and so I cannot compare the movie with it. Undoubtedly this is a star-studded film and every one gives their best performance. To me the most oustanding ones are Marion Cotillard and Penélope Cruz. But no matter how good every actress is, somehow I feel some of them (like Nicole Kidman) just don’t quite fit into the overall picture. The result is a bit disappointing.
Koyasan (located near Osaka) is the monastic centre founded 12 centuries ago by the priest Kukai (Kobo Daishi) for the study and practice of Esoteric Buddhism. Before I went there I thought there was only a temple, but actually the place was a complex of temples, pagodas, Buddhist statuary and a cemetary of some of the most famous Japanese people.
There were mainly Japanese tourists and a handful of foreigners. The place was tranquil and serene, and strolling along the temple-filled streets was spiritually-refreshing. The cemetary was located deep in the woods and the graves were safely guarded by tall big trees. When I was there I felt extremely relaxed and peaceful, which was a state of mind long-missing when I am in HK. It seemed like all worldly troubles have gone away.
Unfortunately I only had time to do part of the Koyasan, hopefully next time I can stay in a temple there and make a full round trip among all the temples, and do some meditation there.
I guess it’s no surprise that Shanghai’s arts scene is much more flourished than what we have in Hong Kong. There are a couple of artist clusters like 田子坊, which unfortunately has become a bit too commercialised. And the city government is doing a good job in turning deserted industrial buildings into museums and art galleries, for example 紅坊 where you can find Shanghai’s Sculpture Space and the Minsheng Art Museum. Apart from the above I also visited the Arts Museum and the Contemporary Arts Museum after I escaped from the heat of the World Expo.
Over the past few years I have had the opportunity to see quite a number of works of some modern Chinese artists at various exhibitions in Europe and Hong Kong. My general impression is that these works lack originality, and the artists’ techniques are not particularly outstanding. There are exceptions of course, like the one in the above photo, but so far I have yet to encounter a piece of work by a Chinese artist that touches me.
Frankly I wansn’t particularly keen on visiting the World Expo, but as it’s held in Shanghai somehow we all felt ‘obliged’ to go there and have a look.
No doubt a lot of efforts have been put into it and the event is overall speaking well organised. However, as it’s held in the most populated country in the world, one should come fully prepared to meet crowds of loud-speaking people who may sometimes have little respect to the queqeing system and care more about collecting stamps than looking at the exhibits.
I was quickly turned off by the long queues everywhere and escaped the action scene very soon. A few comments on some of the pavilions I visited:
1) Africa
A huge hall which houses almost all the African nations. From their exibits one can easily tell the economic conditions of these countries. Quite interesting for those who know little about Africa like me.
2) Belgium
Diamonds and chocolates and smurfs plus a nice restaurant serving authentic Belgium beers, everything famous from Belgium are there.
3) France
Disappointing. Large screens showing sceneries in France, a few paintings, and finally a LV section, which obviously is there to appeal to the mainlanders.
4) Denmark
The little mermaid statue is a major attraction to me but it’s hidden in the middle of a small pool which is unaccessible. What a pity.
5) China
Didn’t expect to visit China pavilion but managed to get in after a long wait. The stunningly enormous animated 清明上河圖 made the wait worthwhile, and is probably the most impressive exhibit in the whole Expo.
I have wanted to visit Germany and Hong Kong, but there were too many people…
Another Goethe Institute’s initiative which feature German movies shot outside Germany. Tangerine is directed by Irene von Alberti, with Sabrina Ouazani, Nora von Waldstätten. The story is about Pia and Tom and their musician friends who went to Tanger to look for the root of rock and roll. Pia and Tom’s love were falling out, and they encountered a wild local girl, Amira, who wanted to make use of the Germans to get away from her traditional family and go for her dreams.
The movie was boring, the plot was weak, and there was no chemistry between the actors and actresses. The film tried to capture the “exotic” Arabian feel, like Pia wandering the markets and streets aimlessly, which made no sense to the audience. Von Alberti was trying too hard to show how chaotic things are in Morocco, as contrast to the orderliness of the Germans. And the effect was showing to the world how the affluent westerners had nothing better to do but to travel to exotic areas messing up with local people’s lives.
The first movie under Goethe Institute’s German Film Forum Real Life On Screen. Directed by Kai Wessel. With Heike Makatsch, Dan Stevens, Monica Bleibtreu. It’s a biography of Hildegard Knef, one of Germany’s biggest post-war stars.
Both biography movies of divas, to me Hilde is much better than Edith Piaf. The film is more coherent in terms of the portrayal of the ups and downs of her career, as well as the changing political scene in Germany that affects her life. Heike Makatsch’s perforamance is most impressive.
Fell in love with song Für mich soll’s rote Rosen regnen (quoted part of the clip of Heike Makatsch’s singing in the movie below)
Directed by Emmanuel Mouret. With Emmanuel Mouret, Judith Godrèche, Déborah François.
A french love comedy about a couple trying to cheat on one another. Frankly speaking the plot is not very original and feels somewhat like the 80s Hong Kong comedies. But anyway, it’s a nice past time.
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