A song titled as 'Film'

Listening to a song by Aphex Twin called 'Film'.

Searched it on youtube and found many people use this song to accompany their personal edited clips. 
This song is really good as a score for a real life flim.
Yeah yeah... I know it is explicitly stated in the name of the song already...

Redefine 'Stupid'

What is smart? What is stupid?
There is no absolute answer.

Stupidity, is what a government want in their people, so no one would disagree.
Stupidity, is what a corporate want in their customers, so they would never stop buying.

'Get Stupid' is the hidden slogan.
Stupid means to have an empty mind.

Don't be stupid. Think, speak and act.



But then, what is being smart?
In the capitalist world we are living in, being smart means being efficient.
If everyone is 'smart', everything is gonna be pure boredom.

Certain level of stupidity, may result in better decisions.
We may be 'stupid'. But that's why we are having fun.

(This is bullshit, just watch the videos.)

HKIFF 2010 - The Ghost Writer

03/27 1515 @ Agnes b. Cinema - The Ghost Writer

說是懸疑片，懸疑的是氣氛而不是劇情。情形有點像《Eyes Wide Shut》，畫面和人物拼湊出一點點的神秘感覺，故事的解謎部份卻簡單真接。若能得出不錯的效果，都歸功於導演說故事的能力，編劇寫的不過是簡單的一個故事。

我喜歡這部戲的畫面、配樂多於劇情本身。每個畫面都是簡單專注，沒有多餘的細節。電影最後一幕亦是我頗喜歡的。

一向喜歡看 Ewan Mcgregor 的戲，喜歡聽他的口音。在這部戲驚喜地看見Kim Cattrall (SATC 的Samantha)，雖是大配角，但也很搶眼。

HKIFF 2010 - London River

03/23 1915 @ UA Cityplaza - London River

一個毋親，在倫敦7/7巴士爆炸事件後， 不能與在倫敦的女兒取得聯絡，情急之下隻身走到倫敦尋女。到達時只見女兒空無一人的住所，於是四處嘗試不同的辦法尋找女兒。一張尋人告示，令她遇上另一位正在尋找兒子的男人，他們發現，自己的女兒和兒子原來在交往並同居。傳統的媽媽不能接受自己的女兒與一個穆斯林的黑人交往，把這位同病相憐的人拒諸門外……

表面上這是一個尋找失蹤親兒的旅程，其實是「接受現實」的心路歷程。經過漫長的尋找過程，希望一點一點地幻滅，可是一日沒有證據，一絲希望始終留在心中。後來出現了一個小推測，將正面思想無限發大，讓她深信女兒平安，並在法國遊歷。但推測敵不過科學證據，警察在爆炸的巴士上找到女兒的DNA，女兒不但死了，屍體亦已粉碎。由充滿希望頓變徹底絕望的安排，編劇未免太殘忍。還幸接受的過程中有同路人（陌路人）相伴，至少，絕望時有手臂可以依靠。

Kings of Convenience in Hong Kong

這星期工作一浪接一浪，frustration一個接一個。唯一的娛樂就是Kings of Convenience這晚。

Opening Act有熟口熟面的Jin Wong，原來在雙年展的Bring Your Own Band見過。這次比上一次唱得好一點，也許上次在西九實在太冷。最後一首歌的演譯令我想起Stevie Griffin自彈自唱的唱腔，有趣。

Kings of Convenience曾經在Myspace發出告示要求觀眾專心聽歌，不要拍照。要拍也不要用閃光燈，也不要用單鏡反光，會制造噪音。對音樂認真的人，對聽眾也會有要求。不過為了滿足觀眾，30分鐘後他們擺 pose 讓大家拍照，連環閃光燈的效果有點像記召，有點誇張。

說實在，我並沒有很熟他們的歌，我只是個半桶水的fan。站在黑漆漆的人群裡，寧靜的空氣，兩把吉他，加上他們的歌聲，即使是沒有印象的歌，都足以把你的心神牢牢的抓著。前半段是較soft，後半段是比較好玩。Erlend 在後段整個人都 hyper 了，跳了他的照牌舞。數到我最喜歡的歌，始終是'Homesick'。

全企位的格局，累得要命，如果所有人都肯坐在地上會多好。

Sex On Fire

As you may know, Ole Scheeren is my tutor in this semester. We haven't met him in a while. Last Friday was his first time to look at our research stuff. We are pretty messed up and need to improve quite a lot.

No time for anything other then studio work.

Well, but music never stops even when I am working. Recently fell in love with another cover by Alex Cornell. Kings of Leon's Sex on Fire. His cover is nearly perfection.

When architecture meets shoes...

Rem D. Koolhaas, 不是我們熟識的OMA掌舵Rem Koolhass，而是他的侄子。

他開始設計鞋的故事很有趣，於1999年當他還在攻讀建築碩士課程時，他的女朋友離他而去，為了忘記傷痛，他把自己的一切改變過來，連建築設計都放棄了，開始嘗試設計鞋（？）。他第一件作品的靈感，來自 Mies van de Rohe 的 Barcelona Chair。這個設計成為了他在2003年成立的品牌United Nude裡的Mobius系列。

Koolhaas 的業務夥伴是 Clark 家族的 Galahad Clark，設計多由Koolhaas包辦。基於他讀建築出身，他的設計充滿著建築帶給他的想法。品牌的鞋以優雅簡約見稱，以鞋的結構配合簡單幾何和色調，不用添加裝飾的設計已甚具風格。Koolhaas 現在長居於廣州，並於上年春季在廣州開設United Nude的旗艦店。

一個活生生的見證。將建築融入時裝，得出賞心悅目的效果。比Zaha Hadid 設計像 Crocs 一般的膠鞋要出色得多。偶像，或者我應該跟個 Architect 改下個名。

官方網頁：http://www.unitednude.com/

No Distance Left to Run

Blur... 他們在2000年推出的精選大碟，封面上四個Julian Opie的肖像吸引了我，那時開始我才知道Blur的存在。不過始終沒有太注意他們的音樂，畢竟在他們紅透半邊天的時候，我不過是一個小學生。那時候我聽的不過是迪士尼的soundtracks，頂多就是BSB和Spice Girls那種pop group。

近年越來越對他們感興趣。當然，這和他們2009 reunion有關，宣傳和曝光都多了，自然引起注視。但更重要的，似乎是因為我到了20多歲，正正到了他們寫音樂時的那種年紀。聽著他們的音樂，聽到年輕人與年輕人之間的共鳴。無論在哪個年代，年輕人總要追求夢想，過程中難免有各種掙紮。

2009年，他們再度夾band，做了最後一場演唱會。過程被製作了這段記錄片《No Distance Left to Run》。很好的名子，完美的句號。

Almost Alice

At the end of the movie 'Alice in Wonderland', I heard that Avril Lavigne's song. It gives quite a contemporary rock feeling to the film. But her voice is quite annoying indeed.

I later found that there's a project called 'Almost Alice'. They invite a group of musicians to reinterpret the story by their music. Musicians include Franz Ferdinand, All-American Rejects, Plain White T's and some other indie bands. I am now listening to it and it is quite nice.

Give it a try, don't be fooled by the impression Avril Lavigne gave you. Her song is the worst on that album.

Making Fun of Movies

Recently read an article on Collegehumor, it is called 'Honest Movie Titles L Oscars 2010'. They gave different titles for these oscar films. Some are really brilliant and make you laugh.

Here is another video by FunnyorDie, called 'Movie Poster Floating Heads'. A 'movie poster designer' talked about his works. Hilarious.

Alice in the Fashionland

Found a set of photos taken by Vogue in Dec 2003. It is a set of photos of 'Alice' with a bunch of fashion designers. The designers play roles in the story or take part in certain scenes. Tom Ford as the White Rabbit, falling into the rabbit hole with Alice. John Galliano as the Red Queen, getting angry with someone stealing her tart. Marc Jacobs as the Caterpillar, giving out wise advise. Jean Paul Gaultier becomes the Cheshire Cat, with those stripes on his body.

The best one is Tweedledum and Tweedledee, guess who play the role? Viktor & Rolf got it and they look nice.

I guess fashion designers like the story too.

Pet Shop Boys

一直對Pet Shop Boys並不熟悉，名子倒有聽過，卻從未有留意。幾年前身處倫敦時見到他們的演唱會海報，身邊好友雀躍地表示若可以親身到場就好了。雖然有好友熏淘，但對於接觸新音樂，多數要自己親身發掘才會提起興趣。

要至2009年他們的最新專輯《Yes》推出，才第一次認真聽他們的音樂。再要至2009年的Brit Awards，看到他們和Lady Gaga和Brandon Flowers(The Killers) 的表演才真正知道他們的音樂和表演是怎樣一回事。這個年齡仍充滿活力迄立不倒，就知他們的功力不簡單。

單單看著他們的大碟Artwork，就知他們的演唱和舞台一定精彩。

My Favourite Youtube Musician

When you search for a song on Youtube, usually a lot of unofficial videos come up. A lot of them would be cover versions of the song. I found this musician when I searched for ‘Alicia Keys – No One’.

I have listened to his others covers and find that we share similar musical taste, which makes me even enjoy his music more. He usually just plays one simple instrument such as guitar or keyboard. His voice is incredible, a bit John Mayer like.

The best part of it, his mp3 can be downloaded at iLike and his homepage.
Try 'Cannonball' and 'Human' too. They are really nice.

His page: http://www.alexcornell.com/
Enjoy!