Nostalgia

I got ad email from National Express from time to time. Usually I read everyone of them before deleting, even I've never got a chance to book a ticket to Edinburgh or Bristle or Birmingham.

I guess I miss London, I really do.

My sister was once vexed by my wining about how I wish I were in London, and asked, 'What do you exactly miss in London?'

Suddenly I hesitated.

Probably everything, probably nothing but simply the city named London and hunted past.

Those good old days, I would say.

眾聲喧嘩 首部曲 Lipsynch part 1 2010 Taipei Arts Festival 台北藝術節

我想我把五年份的好戲都在這一次看完了。
（今年份的看戲預算也是，都用完了。）



有關於「眾聲喧嘩」的相關介紹

"The must-see theatre event of the year. Masterful...any serious theatregoer would be well advised to try and grab a ticket!"

-Toronto Star

"It's mind-blowing, heart-breaking, hilarious and beautiful beyond words......Mandatory viewing."

-The Independence, UK

看完首部曲的那個當下，我就知道沒有辦法不為這部戲寫篇文章，否則從昨天晚上演出結束後到現在那股滿滿的情緒還在全身上下流竄，時而激昂燥動時而沈靜舒坦，完完全全的超乎想像。

不論看電影、聽音樂或觀賞戲劇，最好的觀眾或聽眾其實是處於一種不受任何成見任何評論影響的安穩狀態下進入一齣好戲、一位好導演想要帶領你漫遊的世界。感謝天，沒有劇評、沒有節目單、沒有任何預設與想像，我是這樣進入Robert Lepage的世界，得到了一段驚喜而回味無窮的遊歷回憶。

眾聲喧嘩的首部曲由三段不同的生命經歷所構成，整齣戲用了四種以上的語言（英、德、法，部分義大利語），五種以上不同的音樂片段（歌劇、搖滾、爵士、聖樂，還有一種難以形容的純聲頻音樂），我想表達的並不是這部戲有多麼地多元或兼容並蓄，而是說故事大師Robert Lepage和他的編劇團隊們用一個個看似片段離析、多元素混雜的寫實人生，呈現了一部超寫實的生命史鉅作。


流動感。

首部曲中由三個相互連結的獨立故事所串起來的劇情架構，不像電影Paris Je'taime那十多個碎片式敘事卻每每到了結尾卻回想不起來的敘事結構，意外地充滿了流暢感。一位無法正視養子出身的聲樂家、一位陷入科學與神學、感性與理性交戰的腦神經科學醫生、一位試圖找回童年聲音記憶的酒吧駐唱歌手，三段截然不同的人生，英語、德語與法語交錯的對話，其實串起這些故事的，就是這些角色們時空的流動。



短暫停留維也納與法蘭克福，加拿大蒙特羅和魁北克，以倫敦為中心，三位故事的主角們說著不同的語言，但巧妙的舞台與燈光設計卻成功地創造出機艙、地鐵車廂等讓人們流動於城市之間的場景，在空間的流動時，時間同樣地流動，將語言的轉換、語言的差異以及情緒上的矛盾全都揉雜同一個不斷流動變化的時空之下。我會說這是一個新的世界觀。


音樂、語言、記憶與認同。

Ada是個享譽國際的女高音，對因緣際會下收養的Jeromy有滿滿的愛，在聲樂家與母親兩個角色之間選擇了後者，而身為聲樂家的身段卻難以放下，隨著時間轉化為對Jeromy的期待，成長中的Jeromy從合唱團到搖滾樂團，到最後終究逃離了音樂圈，也因此讓Ada無法諒解，母子之間逐漸產生了難以跨越鴻溝。

Thomas是腦神經科學的專家，人類大腦就是他遨遊的世界，他一生無窮無盡的追求，因為他相信上帝所要傳達的訊息藏於其中，但是在面對一個個臨床病例，還有精神導師去世的消息，讓他對自己的生活、與Ada的關係無所適從，連他對腦神經科學的信仰都逐漸動搖。

Marie是個具有天籟嗓音的歌手，也是Thomas的病人，開刀後患有暫時性的失語症，因為對聲音的高敏感度而成為兼職的配音員。Marie有個精神狀況不穩定的妹妹Michelle，她對經常製造困擾的Michelle感到無奈，卻又羨慕妹妹可以輕鬆地回憶起父親的聲音，那是Marie開刀以後失去而竭盡全力想要獲得的片段。


不同的生命不同的語言，在聽覺、影像的流動下串起一個動人的故事，還有從不讓觀眾疲乏的驚喜，這就是眾聲喧嘩，這就是Lepage>


還沒去看的人，快去吧。

今天晚上城市舞台見！

A Taste of London would be just enough

This exactly what I need for the summer: detective series, a little bit thriller style, and a great deal of  the life of Londoners.

My sister found online (indeed you can find everything online thousands miles away, legally or not) the latest  the BBC one series of Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson's Adventure in the 21st century London and told me with pretension that she's 'absolutely gonna love it'.

Well, sort of. I was indeed excited by their typical Londoner's life and the yearning English accent and the adaption of the classic detective works of all time at the first sight. Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson in modern London would definitely be a very intriguing topic. Yet the 21st century Holmes seemed not as omnipotent as the Victorian one. Also, the inference and the logic of the story is not as brilliant either. The comparison between the Victorian Holmes and the contemporary adventure is fun in many ways. The 221b Baker Street and its interior remained Victorian style and classic British (and messy as well), Holmes and Dr. Watson dress coat and wear scarf and talk and behave in a typical English gentlemen's manner, you won't even aware it's 21st century until iPhone rang. Yet the Scotland Yard was turned into a whole new ugly skyscraper and some of their clients became bankers (new vocation since the early 20th century). Anyway, you'll find lots of stories from the adaption and how the director interpret the new (and a bit high-tech) adventure.

It's a good series no matter what.

But I miss everything in London, and this explains everything.

staff's structure of brain:

staff's structure of brain:

1. raise
2. what's gonna have for lunch
3. promotion
4. vacation
5. when's off
6. kill the boss
7. murder the clients
8. waiting for the weekends
9. romantic relationships in the office
10. gossips in the office

Valentine's Day of the lunar calendar

Yes, miserably for the singles ones we do have two Valentine's Days in a year. One is off course on 14/2 and the other on the 7/7 of the lunar calendar. 


Do people still believe in true love and soul mate? 


There's a interesting survey indicating that despite the skyrocketing divorce rate in the United States, approximately 80% of people believe in true love. How ironic. 


I remember quite well what my mentor lectured when I was in the university, 'to find soul mate, you got to have SOUL first.' This is so true. For some, they believe in fate and destiny much more than in themselves. That explains why psychics or fortunetellers are never out of date. 


As a matter of fact, everyone believes true love in their own way. Therefore there might be true love for two years, or more than one soul mate in one's own life. Life's short, so why not be more open minded to love? 


I feel confused occasionally when people talk about love and how they get along with their loved ones. I guess I am a bit inexperienced to lecture or criticising them that 'He's not the one',  'what's the point if you're not in a relationship with your soul mate', or, what's worse, 'you don't even have soul to be in pursuit of a soul mate',


I don't get it. Love's perplexing. For most of us, the journey to find the right one never ends. Sometimes it's good to have faith in something without know what it would be like, if it's healthy. As, the story in the movie Under the Tuscan Sun said, 'Signora, between Austria and Italy, there is a section of the Alps called the Semmering. It is an impossibly steep, very high part of the mountains. They built a train track over these Alps to connect Vienna and Venice. They built these tracks even before there was a train in existence that could make the trip. They built it because they knew some day, the train would come.'


'Unthinkably good things can happen even late in the game. It's such a surprise.'

The couple, my boss

In the project I am working on, there are three professors, who is also my bosses. Two of them are consultants retired from the Chinese University of Hong Kong. It’s such a shame that I cannot find a better word (or as a matter of fact there are too many) to describe how special they are and how interesting and inspiring to work with them.

Prof. Jin and Prof. Liu were the Senior Research Fellow of the Institute of Chinese Studies and Jin was the Director of the Research Centre for Contemporary Chinese Culture at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. After they retired, they decided to live in Taiwan (there’s an interesting news article about why they chose to stay in Taiwan rather than HK in China Times) and teach in the National Cheng Chi University.

Both Prof. Jin and Prof Liu are the living legendary couple in the contemporary Chinese academia. They are basically inseparable. You google one of them, and you always find another. Both were from the mainland China, born and grew up in the communist China of late 40s. It is interesting to mention that both of them were trained as scientists in their early life, Jin studied chemistry while Liu studied physics in the Beijing University. In the Cultural Revolution, however, they became interested in humanities and social sciences and therefore published a series of work ranging from history to literature. They were namely one of those active intelligentsia in the 80s China. I have no clue how they survive the infamous Cultural Revolution and mysteriously I find little information as well. They seldom talked about it.

In 1984 they published series of influential and controversial works including Towards the Future. Soon after it was banned, they were not allow to stay in the mainland China after the Tiananmen Square Protest in 1989, hence they had to live and teach in the Chinese University of Hong Kong for 20 years before they left for Taipei.

Some named the two decades in HK ‘the chill-out epoch’ for the two and indicated how their works changed from politically revolutionary to relatively neutral. Nonetheless their journal ‘Twenty-First Century’ became the major forum for intellectual debate after it was launched and established their status as their status as one (or two) of the most influential scholars of the Hong Kong academia. On the other hand, the journal certainly caused the tension against the Chinese government and Prof. Jin’s name and his works remains political sensitive today.

(to be continued)

Conscripted

My brother was conscripted yesterday morning, a few days after his 23rd birthday. All my family sent him to the government office where they were called up. I wasn’t there, and was told my mother and my sister cried after watching him walking into the huge glum building.

I didn’t expect that things would be serious like this time. My mother is not an emotional person at all. I can still recall how surprised I was when I saw her tears in my grandpa’s funeral, and that was the only time she shed her tears. I know it’s huge. The only son in my family is called up, and will have to face his new yet unprotected life from now on. But I would really like to say, ‘Come on! He’s in “substitute military service”, not in army or navy or air force! Stop fussing around, he’ll be fine.’

Indeed military service in Taiwan has changed tremendously these decades. It’s not an unpredictable and dreadful experience one would try everything he could to avoid. (Although they still do, such as gaining weight.) The length has been reduced from more than 3 years during the civil war to less than 12 months these days. Also, military is becoming more ‘humane’ in many ways. The soldiers can keep their mobiles can contact their family quite often. And they have much more days off duty than they used to do. For those in the ‘substitute military service’, days are even easier. They are basically office workers, working 8 hours a day, 5 days a week and get paid monthly. How nice! Especially in the critical time such as the credit crunch these years.

But I guess it still fretting when any of your family was called up. News about military service is never delighted on TV. Parents and girlfriends went to the temples (or churches) to pray for their loved ones to be safe and sound. In the face of the conscription, both soldiers and their family become superstitious. I heard some funny stories about painting an eye on the hand in order to get the better option in the drawing procedure (in order to decide which part of armed force you would be called up in).

No matter what, military service is part of manhood and the collective memory for male of every generation. They call the military service ‘the second round socialisation’, indicating it’s time when boys become men. Some reckon guys will be strengthened both physically and psychologically in the military service. After all, it’s a place of different rules and regulations to obey. For others, military service is totally a waste of time, a place where people do not use their brain and do ridiculously meaningless things without asking. I know exactly why they thought this way.

According to the constitution, every adult young man after 18 shall be conscripted only if they are students. Therefore it would be quite annoying if they planned to study overseas. Even though the abolition of conscription in Taiwan has been in debates for years, it will survive for the next few generations once the tension between Taiwan and China remains.

All the best to my dearest brother. I love you.

second job

Few months ago, I began my second job in another university. This time I got lucky. I was hired as a editor assistant of a database project in the History of Ideas in Modern China. My major is not in Chinese history, but modern history connects each other in a sense that modern histories of various countries interacted with one another.

The project is interesting as to its research part; however, my job was much more than that. There are so many clerical and administrative chores such as writing official documents and managing fourteen part-time students that I got exhausted quite easily. Research is fun though. Especially there are two legendary, renowned professors in the project, supervising the graduates. They were born and grew up in mainland China in the 50s. They met in the University of Peking, got married and were prosecuted during the infamous Cultural Revolution in the 1960s. They survived

They are the intelligentsia of contemporary China.

One of the reason they hired me was my research background. They need something new. Nearly all of their students work on Chinese history or major in Chinese literature, chiefly in classic Chinese literature. I study European/ British history, and this provides some new point of view, supposedly. They want me to work as an assistant and be part of the research team as well. Therefore I am both a full-time assistant and a part-time graduate.

Another reason that I work here is its goal, constructing a database of the history of ideas of modern China. I reckon it worth doing and I am willing to be part of the great work. There are few useful academic databases in Chinese history, either classical or modern history.

All in all, this is a rather interesting work and I enjoy it a lot. I believe I’m gonna have a great time this year.

:)