Published on 26 July 2007
in Books.
K. was hired by a village as a land surveyor. But when he got into the village, he was told that a land surveyor was not needed and the whole thing was a mistake. The village was governed by the Count in the castle, and it resembled a bureaucratic giant. All villagers followed the rules and customs of the castle painstakingly. K., having nowhere to go, fought hard for his employment by trying to talk to the officials. He encountered all sorts of resistance and some absolutely ridiculous arguments, and he never got the chance to talk to high-ranking officials nor set foot in the castle. This story by Kafka was unfinished, so K.’s ending will forever remain a mystery.
There have been various interpretations of this work by Kafka - religiously, socially and politically. What I see is, through the lengthy and detailed arguments of the villagers, how submissive and unchallenging people can be towards a ruling regime. Regulations and customs that are ridiculous to outsiders have simply been accepted as a fact of life. Those who show the slightest resistance is immediately deemed as outcast.
This book is not easy to read. Not that the words are difficult. It’s just that there are many lengthy paragraphs and every thought and detail so minutely written that sometimes I feel this is too long-winded. But on the other hand it represents how hard everybody are endeavouring to justify and explain the ridiculous happenings.
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Windmills?
- Canals?
- Tulips?
- Cheese?
- Delftware?
- Clogs?
- Van Gogh?
- Rembrandt?
- Vermeer?
- Red-light district?
- Marijuana coffee shop?
- Chic fashion?
- Anne Frank?
- Bicycles?
Amsterdam is an amazing city. It is a small but vibrant and has a lot to offer. There is natural beauty (canals); architecture (museums, churches, and buildings along the canals); tradition and handcrafts (windmills, cheese, clogs and delftware); art (Van Gogh and Rembrandt); human pleasure (ranging from healthy cycling to degrading drug coffee shops, sex window-shopping and stylish casinos). Dutch people speak several languages and they are all nice and friendly to tourists. It’s a city that everyone will find something to do, and not yet spoiled by distasteful hordes like what you encounter in Paris.
Strasbourg, a charming city on the German-French border, is the capital of Alsace. Because of its proximity to Germany and the fact that it had been under German rule twice, traces of German influence can be found everywhere, mainly manifested in the half-timbered houses scattered across the city. These architecture are well-preserved and is a major tourist-attraction, especially those lining up along the canals in Petit France area. The traditional costumes of Alsacian women resemble, in my view, very much those of the Bavarian dirndls.
Despite of these “superficial” German-ness, Strasbourg is undoubtedly French to me. It has numerous luring narrow and winding streets which hides some nice boutiques and cafes. There are many ceramic and antique shops and so it’s fun to wander around in these small streets, getting away from the big crowds outside the church. But the frenchness of the city also means that one has to watch his/her steps, as the streets are full of dog’s dirt. Drivers park recklessly - a normal scene in France but somewhat abhorent in the eyes of Germans (HSBC has an excellent advertisement illustrating this). I was a bit disappointed by the museums. They surprised me by having only French descriptions, not even German (english is of course out of the question).
More photos from here.
As a country of cars German tourism centres on a lot of scenic routes. The most famous one is of course the Romantic Road which starts from Würzburg all the way down to Neuschwanstein.
Bergstrasse (Mountain road in english) is probably less well known abroad. It’s used as a trading route since Roman times, and stretches from southern Hesse to northern Baden-Württemberg. Climate in this area is mild and sunny, and therefore it has a rich production of fruits and wine.
The towns directly along the route are named after the road (e.g. Heppenheim am Bergstrasse). The most important one is Heidelberg. Most of them, like many other typical German towns, have a compact old town centre with half-timbered houses and medieval castles on the mountains.
Heppenheim’s old town is small and picturesque. What makes it more interesting than the other towns is the Laternenweg (The Lantern Way). Throughout the lanes surrounding the town centre lamp-posts with specially-cut-out graphics are put up. These artistic and fascinating lanterns illuminate the way for 150 legends of Hesse, including fairy tales, love and ghost stories. Tour guides dress as witches will escort tourists to wander around the mysterious and romantic corners of the town at night to explain the myths under the yellowish lights…
Once every decade, the world’s most prestigious arts events aligned together, giving artists, art lovers and dealers an headache in planning the Grand Tour route in Europe. The tour comprises of visits to four major arts events:
All these events started in June and except Art Basel, the others extend way till autumn, giving people enough time to plan the trips. I missed Art Basel already, but with some luck I should be able to visit the other three.
Published on 9 July 2007
in Germany.
I suppose most people in the world have been deceived by Frankfurt before their arrival. As one of the world’s major financial and transportation hub, they (including me) expected Frankfurt to be a big cosmopolitan. But in reality Frankfurt is only a small town. Yes, a town - with a population of less than 700,000 people, over half of which are non-Germans. One can finish touring the major attractions (excluding museums) of this little place in less than 2 hours. So for tourists, Frankfurt has not much to offer.
Yet this little town has a very good mixture of business and arts. It houses Europe’s second largest airport, one of the world’s major stock exchange markets, the headquarters of a large number of major firms, and the European Central Bank (ECB). The big Euro sign is, to me, the real symbol for Frankfurt that one should not miss. Besides business, the city also boasts itself as a major cultural centre, with heavy government subsidy and corporate sponsorship on the arts scene and a high proportion of museums / galleries per capita. And of course, it’s the birthplace of the greatest German litterateur - von Goethe.
So that’s why we have such a geographical cluster in the centre of Frankfurt: The ECB is 5 minutes away from the Hauptbahnhof (main station). On the right of the ECB is Frankfurt Shauspiel, the new opera house for major cultural events. And on the left of ECB, mere 50 steps from the big € sign, there is the von Goethe statue in a little park which is surrounded by Dresdner Bank, Commerz Bank, Japan Bank and Deutsche Bank.
Perhaps the city government sensed that even Goethe is over-shadowed by the powerful € and the surrounding financial giants, and it’s probably inappropriate to put the son of Frankfurt in the centre of the commercial centre. The statue will soon be moved to somewhere near Goethe’s house, which is in the shopping district. Hopefully more tourists will be able to see Goethe, not just the bank employees.
Published on 6 July 2007
in Movies.
看舒琪寫Jacques Demy，忽然想起這篇爛尾稿… 
Jacques Demy大概算是法國新浪潮導演中比較「易明」或「易接受」的一位。他的電影，我只看過「秋水伊人」和「柳媚花嬌」。「秋水伊人」(The Umbrellas of Cherbourg) 可算是電影經典，全片所有對白都是唱出來的。內容是一個老掉牙的故事 - 年輕戀人(Catherine Deneuve & Nino Castelnuovo) 一夜風流後，男的去了當兵，期間受傷並與女友失去聯絡。女的發現懷孕，欲通知男友但對方卻音訊全無，在傷心徬徨的情況下選擇嫁給深愛她的有錢商人。數年後男的回家，發現女方已婚，悲痛欲絕，後來終與青梅竹馬的友人結婚，成了一個油站東主，並誕下一子，生活美滿。一個下大雪的晚上，女方駕車路過油站並停下入油，兩人重逢，閒話數句，女的始終沒有說出隨行的孩子是屬於男的便離開。 電影引人的元素有很多，包括流暢悅耳的音樂〈Michel Legrand實在厲害，你只要想像一下所有對白都是旋律就知道並不容易〉、色彩極度鮮艷華麗的服裝及佈景裝飾、年輕美艷的Catherine Deneuve …片中的結局最堪回味。兩人相遇，大家客套一番，沒有重提太多舊事，沒有留下聯絡方法。最後一幕Deneuve駕車向黑暗的公路駛去，沒有回頭…觀眾看著，只感到絲絲惆悵。彼此真的已無愛無恨了嗎？還是知道往事不堪回首，要珍惜身邊人？Castelnuovo看到雪停後跟Deneuve說 “I think you can go”是想表示他已經可以let her go？ 
相比「秋水伊人」，「柳媚花嬌」(The Young Girls of Rochefort) 比較像一套媚俗的荷里活歌舞片，講述兩姊妹追尋愛情，最後發現「那人卻在燈火闌珊處」。片中穿插多場歌舞，並貫徹Demy華麗風格，又有Catherine Deneuve & Gene Kelly主演，觀賞角度是一流的，只是論劇情我覺得「秋水伊人」稍勝一籌。
如果有機會很想看Demy 的第一套電影Lola。去年在Nantes到過拍攝實景，在「柳媚花嬌」中又閃過一個小片段，可惜在德國我還未找到有英文字幕版的DVD…
正打算重看《無痛失戀》 (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind)，卻看到以下的新聞…
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【明報專訊】電影《無痛失戀》的情節成真！美國及加拿大的研究人員成功利用藥物幫助人們忘掉不快記憶，以後要「無痛失戀」，毋須像戲中主角占基利般光顧洗腦公司，只需吃一片藥即可！
原用於治高血壓心絞痛
加拿大麥吉爾大學及美國哈佛大學的精神病學家利用一隻名叫「propranolol」的藥物，成功「抑制」心理創傷病人的部分記憶，但其他記憶則不受影響。「propranolol」普遍用來治療高血壓及心絞痛，副作用是會令病人失去部分記憶。
研究人員找來19名意外或強姦受害者分成兩組接受研究，要求其中一組一邊憶述10多年前的可怕經歷，一邊服用「propranolol」。10天後，研究人員發現服藥的一組受害者回憶起可怕經歷時，心跳沒有那麼快，少了緊張的徵象。
「毋忘記憶 免不快情緒吞噬」
麥吉爾大學的納德教授解釋說：「回憶往事時，我們腦部會從記憶庫中存取及復元舊記憶。我們的做法是在病人復元記憶的過程期間，給病人吃藥，以減少記憶帶來的情緒作用。藥物只會影響記憶的情緒部分，不會影響到記憶的意識部分，因此病人會記得所有細節，卻不會被回憶帶來的情緒吞噬。」
研究人員認為，記憶的運作好比製造玻璃，玻璃製造時先經過高溫融化階段，降溫後才成形。記憶也一樣，回憶往事時，記憶先經過一個不穩定的「融化階段」，後才成形，故可用藥物「干擾」記憶重新成形過程。
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「藥物只會影響記憶的情緒部分，不會影響到記憶的意識部分，因此病人會記得所有細節，卻不會被回憶帶來的情緒吞噬。」
咁神奇?一片藥有效幾耐?是對所有記憶生效還是只針對單一記憶?停藥後會記起些負面情緒嗎?快樂的情緒又可以留住嗎?…(下刪300條問題)
Today’s BBC special programme HK:10 was about the handover day ten years ago. The show was hosted by Chris Patten, who recapped the ceremonies held on that day in Hong Kong.
Ten years ago on 30 June I was in Osaka. As I was tired and didn’t have much mood for the handover saga, I didn’t even bother to switch on the TV to watch the news or live broadcast on the events in Hong Kong. Ten years later, I met a Japanese in Germany who told me that he was also somewhere near Osaka on 30 June 1997, and he found the handover of Hong Kong such a significant event in history that he stayed up the night to watch the ceremony. After hearing this, I was feeling a bit ashamed of myself for my own apathy towards our own history.
That’s why tonight I sticked to the TV to watch the HK:10 programme, trying to, a decade later, learn what had happened on thay day. Patten’s speech at the farewell ceremony was excellent, I must say. Blunt but precise. Prince Charles’ speeches were careful but boring. Jiang Zemin was a bit over-excited. As expected, watching all these failed to stir up any emotions in me, be it sadness or joy at the return of Hong Kong. Afterall, ten years have passed. As Patten said, what makes history is what happens before and after the specific day. What’s on my mind was all the chaos and struggles that we went through in the last decade. If you ask me I would say 1 July 2003 was far more significant than 1 July 1997, for obvious reasons.
Patten hasn’t changed much, still as chubby as before. By the way, he’s now Lord Patten. So for bilingual Hong Kong people we must remember that “千古罪人” is now “my Lord”.
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