Oscars 2011

YAY!!!!!

我喜歡的都贏了大獎!!!

Best Picture: The King's Speech
Best Actor: Colin Firth for The King's Speech
Best Actress: Natalie Portman for Black Swan

YAY!!!!!!! 好開心

Another Year

Another Year (2010)
Director: Mike Leigh
Starring: Jim Broadbent, Ruth Sheen, and Lesley Manville

SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT!
如果你有打算看這部片的話, 不要往下看.

很喜歡這部電影! 我在跟朋友推薦這部的時候花了很長的時間決定如何形容我對它的評價. 是 fantastic 嗎? 不適合. 是 brilliant 嗎? 也不適合. 也不是 amazing. 最終我決定, 應該是 great, 跟這部電影才適合--great 這個字出現的太平凡了就像 unique 這個字一樣, 使得它本身的意義也變平凡了, 可是我覺得這樣反而才是對的形容詞, 因為它本身跟這部電影還有我喜歡它的原因一致. 關於平凡的一年的電影, 平凡的不平凡. 就像這部片子像是一個淡淡但舒服的茶, 我也很喜歡它, 所以淡淡的愛它.

基本上, Another Year 的情節是一對老夫老妻的又一個平凡的一年, 有上有下, 可是哪一年不是這樣? (Gonna sidetrack now: so I think Netflix is so wrong to describe it as a "tumultuous year") 通過他們平凡但快樂的生活看見了他們周遭朋友及家人的不幸. 沒有人真正經歷了什麼大事, 也都算是平凡, 但是各有平凡人的苦惱跟問題. 雖然好像這對夫妻是主角, 但是我覺得真正的主角反而是Mary, 一個 sad, upsettingly pathetic, and desperate 角色.

Mary is in denial about her unhappiness and the state of mess she's in, but nobody's fooled, not even herself. She's lonely, kind of a bitch, annoying, makes all kinds of social faux pas, way too clingy, and she's a joke to others. But that's what's so sad and upsetting about watching how pathetic she is and how desperate she's trying to escape her life and problems. Nothing significantly traumatic happened to her. Just life. Life happened to her, c'est la vie. She didn't aspire to end up that way--nobody does. That's why it's so painful to watch her make a fool of herself, get laughed at and mocked by others, providing comedic moments to the audience when they're actually moments of incredible pain and sadness for her. It's not her fault she's the way she is, using Tom and Gerri's family as a stand-in for her own. Life happened. It's easy for me to judge and sneer at how pathetic and tragic of a person she is, but really it could be any of us and it might already be one of us. 最後只能說, 就是命呀, 沒法度. That last shot of Mary was heartbreaking.

Anyway, the acting was stellar and believable, the movie was so organic and natural i almost felt like a fly on the wall getting a glimpse of a average family during an average year. You feel and understand every emotion the characters have. It's like one of those movies that try to give you a-day-in-the-life-of-blahblahblah, but succeeding at it. It's not trite or artificial. Because the acting was so good, their character interactions and feelings and emotions felt so true. The emotions they've felt are ones the audience have felt before, so you can understand where the characters are coming from emotionally and really connect. The characters remind me of events, people, and relationships in my life, but that's just it--it's just another year in an average person's life, it could've been mine.

The movie was so at peace with itself and content about what it is, it's not pretentious, or trying to make some social commentary or call to action, it's not neat and tidy. It's another year, period.

inspiration with a lower case "i"

inspiration: 靈感, 鼓舞, 啟發, arousal of the mind, (這是一個working definition)

已經超過半年沒有更新這個blog了, 但是今天突發奇想, 要改變這個blog或是加入一個新的元素: 記錄任何會給我帶來 inspiration 的東西: 電影, 廣告, 書, 照片, 經驗, 人, quotes, 等等. 不只是分享給大家, 也算是給自己整理/收集吧. 所以我現在開始會使用tags--真不知道為什麼以前都不用這個方便的玩意兒.

為什麼是inspiration with a lower case "i"? 怎麼解讀它就見人見智吧.

以下為什麼是用數字排列, 並不是重要性, 而只是根據於我先想到什麼/剛剛看了什麼而排的. 並且, 我在description 方面都不會用上句點, 因為這些是evolving experiences.

1. New York Times Magazine 的 Fourteen Actors Acting.
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/12/12/magazine/14actors.html#index
下面的連接有點像幕後花絮吧:
http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/12/08/actors-create-14-decisive-moments/

非常非常有意思! 我覺得對於每個video的看法跟interpretation都反映了每個人不同的attitude, value, background 等

2. New York Times Magazine 的 Great Performers by Paolo Pellegrin
http://www.nytimes.com/packages/html/magazine/20090205-great-performers/

Paolo Pellegrin, 非常厲害的photojournalist

3. OneClub 的 Best of the Digital Decade: Top 10
http://www.oneclub.org/digitaldecade

近十年來最棒的interactive work. 我個人的最愛是 HBO Voyeur

4. Sum: Forty Tales from the Afterlives by David Eagleman, a "possibilian"
http://www.eagleman.com/sum

我最愛的書之一: 不同角度的可能性; 死亡給予生命意義 (還是 死亡給予生命的意義?)

In the same vein...
5. The Fountain by Darren Aronofsky

Trailers really don't do movies justice.

6. Black Swan by Darren Aronofsky

Instinctively intrigued, but I can't quite articulate the reason(s) yet

7. Brand Bowl 2011
http://brandbowl2011.com/

是個奇妙的網站, 通過測量人們在Twitter上對於某品牌在 Super Bowl 2011 裡的廣告討論的次數跟喜愛程度, 加以計算, 然後打分跟排名. 今年的總冠軍是Chrysler 的 "Imported from Detroit" campaign, 最多人討論的是 Doritos 一系列低笑點的粗俗廣告, 最受人喜愛的是 Volkswagen 的 "The Force" 廣告--我也超愛這個的.



該去做功課了.