Summer Break (Revised and Reblogged from SEP 2012)

I went to Kansai again last month! This time it’s mainly for the music festival that I wanted to attend, Summer Sonic. My companions were not enthusiastic about it though, they just wanted to relax. Turned out the music festival was alright, not very exciting because the musicians weren’t the powerful live band type. That included The Cardigans, Garbage, Rihanna, Kesha… Luckily I still had Foster the People and they were great! We also had some near death experience.. The weather was so bad and we could clearly see strokes of lightning happening near us with dramatic scream from some Japanese girls.. And people were packed in a stadium just like refugees.. Other days were so great.

My friend drove us to some place that I’ve never been to. We went to 和歌山 and had very nice grilled seafood at 黑潮巿場. We also went to 丹後, which is on the north of Kyoto near the seaside.  久美浜 had some really nice beaches and hotspring. And 天橋立 is famous for it’s white wine and soba. The trip was relaxing. I like the countryside of Japan more than the cities. Kyoto was still fine, just a little boring for me now. Its contemporary side was more attractive to me this time.

Head South (Revised and Reblogged from AUG 2012)

Last month I had a brief weekend break to Singapore with our colleagues. It is actually more like a site visit for work but I would like to consider it a relaxing weekend instead. I quite enjoyed spending time with my colleagues, so I had fun in this trip.



We have this nice theatre commercial complex project in Singapore (bottom right image). Although I did not take part in its realization, I am quite proud of our team for achieving this.

Dex and Em (Revised and Reblogged from AUG 2012)

One Day, is probably the only film that I watched after I read the book. And I realized now why people always say the same comment about adapted film, ‘The book is way better than the film.’ Still, I know it’s a bit unfair to say that, since people read the book before the film, and people only watch the film because the like the book. So it’s difficult for the film to meet the reader’s expectations. An adapted film is just a way to publicize a good book.

I’ve wanted to write something about One Day for a while. But I did not have the time to tidy up my thought… I still don’t. So this would be quite random.

When I was reading the book, I realized, the more you care and trust someone, the more fragile you appear in front of that person. I’ve experienced that recently. But it’s kind of a blessing to have someone to show your fragile side to.

Jason Mraz (Revised and Reblogged from JUL 2012)

Last weekend I went to Jason Mraz’s ‘Tour is a Four Letter Word’ concert. It was full house but I got 2 tickets on the forth row with my best friend! Feeling lucky.

His songs are very good for weekends, chilled and relaxed. I also like his simple and truehearted lyrics. There’s nothing pretentious about him, which is difficult to do when you know you are popular.



There are some very positive and cheerful songs in his latest album. ‘The Freedom Song’, ‘Living in the Moment’, ‘Everything is Sound’, ‘Frank D. Fixer’ etc., these are some nice attitude to live our lives.
He also performed a few old songs, ‘Remedy’, ‘You and I Both’, ‘Mr. Curiosity’, ‘Bella Luna’, ‘Lucky’, ‘I’m Yours’, ‘Make It Mine’, ‘Only Human’, ‘A Beautiful Mess’ etc.



It was so so great! Probably one of the best concerts I’ve been to. He may not be as entertaining as Jamie Cullum, or as charming as John Mayer, but he is so down to earth and truehearted. I guess that’s why he is so popular in Hong Kong. We were stuck in this pretentious world every day. His music helps us to escape from it. No matter how short that time is, it still helps.

Oh, one more thing, Jason and the band kept throwing their guitar picks to the audience as souvenirs. I got one too. Gonna frame it.. haha

Cherry Blossom (Revised and Reblogged from APR 2012)

It’s been a long time since my last entry... Life is busy in these few months: work, exams, and life itself. I have made some significant move in my life…

I’ve traveled to Kansai with my parents in the Easter holiday. I can’t even remember when’s my last time to travel with parents before that. The trip is quite nice. I just hope I didn’t make the trip too rush for them.

 

We didn’t plan to go there for Sakura. The cherry blossom was a total surprise to us! My parents went crazy and took so many photos of the flowers. It was the whole purpose of the trip, to make them happy. There was this great Sakura tree in the Imperial Garden. We took our only family portrait in the trip.

 

I’ve been to most of the places before this trip: Osaka, Kyoto, Uji and Nara. But there’s also some new experience for me. I went to 嵐山 and 龍安寺 for the first time.  And we went to Gion to see Maiko dance. It was a bit hilarious. Since it was the cherry blossom period, 清水寺 was opened at night. It was nice in spite of the bad weather. we were cold and wet but overall it's still enjoyable. I spent a night in the capsule hotel, 9 Hours. I loved it there.

 

The last bit of our trip is a visit to 桂離宮. It was the best Japanese architecture we saw in the whole trip. It inspired modernist architects in last century and it’s probably still influential. The garden and buildings are full of surprises. Your perception of the garden changed with every step you took along the path. The spaces, partitions, columns, are all clean and with some graphical quality in it. Every bit of it gives a little trace of modern design, which makes me believe, this can be the origin of modern architecture.

  

2011-2012 Cinema

2012

10/16 2150 @ Broadway Olympic City - Thermae Romae
10/11 1940 @ Palace IFC - Ted
09/30 1735 @ Palace IFC - Starbuck
09/18 1940 @ Palace IFC - Moonrise Kingdom
09/11 1940 @ AMC Pacific Place - The Intouchables
09/10 1920 @ AMC Pacific Place - To Rome With Love
07/21 2150 @ AMC Pacific Place - The Dark Knight Rises
07/14 1920 @ Palace apm - The Amazing Spider-Man
04/xx 1930 @ UA Cityplaza - The Hunger Game
-- HKIFF --
03/29 2130 @ UA Cityplaza - Take The Waltz
03/27 2130 @ City Hall - Elena
03/26 1900 @ UA Cityplaza - Breathing (Atmen)
03/25 1030 @ UA Cityplaza - First Position
03/24 2130 @ The Grand Cinema - Oslo, August 31st
-- HKIFF --
03/03 2205 @ Palace IFC - The Artist
02/28 2150 @ Cinematheque - Hugo in 3D
02/02 1940 @ UA City Plaza - The Ides of March
01/22 2110 @ Broadway Cinematheque - A Happy Event

2011

12/22 1715 @ AMC Pacific Place - Sherlock Holmes : A Game of Shadow
12/03 2140 @ UA iSquare - 50/50
11/09 2130 @ AMC Pacific Place - Crazy Stupid Love
10/16 1400 @ Broadway Olympian City - 3 Idiots
09/17 1320 @ Palace IFC - Pina 3D
08/27 1400 @ Broadway Cinematheque - Life in a Day
08/25 1800 @ UA Times Square - Horrible Bosses
-- Summer IFF --
08/23 1930 @ The Grand Cinema - Midnight in Paris
08/12 1930 @ Agnes b. Cinema - Ninja Kids
-- Summer IFF --
08/03 1545 @ Broadway Cinemathegue - Soul Kitchen
06/08 2005 @ Palace apm - X-Men: First Class
05/28 1530 @ Palace IFC - Animal Kingdom
-- HKIFF --
04/05 2115 @ Agnes b. Cinema - Waste Land
04/03 2125 @ Cultural Centre - Submarine
04/03 1030 @ Cultural Centre - Oceans
04/02 1430 @ Cultural Centre - Mysteries of Lisbon
03/29 1430 @ UA iSquare - How I Ended This Summer 
03/28 1915 @ Cultural Centre - Inside Job
03/24 1730 @ UA Times Square - The Illusionist (L'illusionniste)
-- HKIFF --
02/26 1125 @ AMC Pacific Place - Black Swan
01/29 1805 @ Broadway The One - The Kids Are All Right
01/19 2130 @ UA iSquare - The King's Speech
01/11 1530 @ Palace IFC - Love and Other Drugs

Random

記得中學時期不時做心理測驗。有些是網上的消磿時間的玩意，有些是由學校提供讓學生了解自己，繼而知道自己大學想選什麼科，未來想走怎樣的路。

記得每次的結果都是’右腦主導’ ‘理性多於感性’ ‘邏輯力強’ 等等，而我自己亦認同，但無論親疏的朋友都會異口同聲說：’錯了吧，你不都是靠感覺行事嗎？算是感性吧？’ 

這疑團我今天想到了解答。我算是喜惡分明的人，喜惡雖可表譯為’感覺’，但我對人和物的喜惡皆有我的原因，這部分可算是我個人的’理性分析’。若某事物我不能以理性的邏輯去分辨喜惡，大概我對它亦沒有感覺。所以說我理性凌駕於感性之上，我以為一點不假。 

像我一般懶於用言語去解釋自己想法的人，意見往往濃縮至對事物最後的’喜惡’，沒提及中間的邏輯，使得朋友都以為我憑感覺行事。 

這篇只為記下這突如其來的想法。其實我想什麼，別人知不知道都不打緊。

Guy Friendship

也許因為喜歡的事不大與普遍男孩子的喜好接近，自小已是較易和女孩子交朋友。以至向來渴望有close的guy friends。身邊本應較熟絡的男士朋友，走的走，忙的忙，有女朋友的又不好意思打擾。最近的一些事，又引起獨處時間太多的我思索了這件事。

這算是一種obesssion嗎？一直以來都愛看關於guy friendship的電影：Crazy Stupid Love, Hangover, Due Date, I Love You Man, My Best Friend, Toy Story，最終極的當然是Sherlock Holmes。Sherlock Holmes 2上畫時，有朋友要找回和他看Sherlock 1的要好guy friend看，心裡是有點羡慕吧。

其實兩年前在這個blog已寫過Sherlock & Watson，不再多提了。

可笑的是，很多時候有朋友接近時我會避，現在角色有點轉換了。Karma，心裡不住響著’What goes around comes around’的歌。

See You in Heaven

星期天到星期三，我們幾天都在醫院等，嫲嫲終於在我們離開時上了天家。

最後幾次見她她見到我都是笑的，兩星期前我還對她說我畢業了，要和她影畢業照，她大聲說好。這陣子都很少聽她那麼爽快說好的..不過不清楚她明白多少，她問：’碩士呀？’我說是。她說：’你小時候都沒有想過你會做得這樣好的！’之後她說了江澤民周恩來、水好靚什麼的，又說起我們小時候帶我們，說我最喜歡益力多和麵包棒。走時我還跟她先自拍了兩張，就叫我走了。

隔天畢業袍都預先準備好了，就是沒有遇到適合的時間去拍。不能說是遺憾吧，至少讓她知道了，開心了。

上星期最後一次見她清醒時，在鬧情緒。雙手交疊放在胸前，爸媽就只有無奈地站在床邊。嫲嫲就嚷着要回家，待在醫院幹嗎。當時她都沒有吃什麼了。我拿她的水壺給她，她都已經不會吸，只是不停吸空，啜不到水。不到一會又嚷着要我們走。

回想起來，可能她只是想回家過最後的日子。

星期天護士來電着我們到醫院探她，到醫院時，嫲嫲都幾乎沒有知覺了。之後她短暫地睜開了眼，當時只我一人在看她，我忍不住走到一旁放聲哭了。接著幾天，親朋戚友來來去去，氣氛實在有點像拜年。爸媽連續幾晚都通宵守候在醫院，過了幾天嫲嫲仍留著和我們一起，間歇有較快的心跳和微微張眼，身體都在震動，似有話要說。在第四天，姨婆著我們離去晚飯，我們留著，嫲嫲會不捨，會勉強自己不走。結果在我們晚飯時，嫲嫲就走了。也許她幾天來想跟我們說的，就是叫我們走，繼續自己的生活，她就可以安心離開了。

她的床頭放了我送給她的新約聖經，裡面夾了一段放大了的金句：「要常常喜樂，不住禱告，凡事謝恩」。簡單的幾句，包含了無窮的信心和堅毅，也是我心目中嫲嫲的寫照。

中途站

剛過去的幾星期，發生了知道了大大小小的不快事件，聽到同學在面對thesis之餘，亦面對著個人和家庭的種種難關。上星期在準備Second Review之際，日本地震。不禁又令人(我)質疑，這些虛擬的建築設計，意義何在？當世界發生著各種各樣的危難時，我們卻閉門埋首於這些被強行賦予意義的project。

當然這不過是霎時的氣憤之言。即使放下手上的事，我又可以去令核電廠脫危嗎？緊守自己的剛位，才能令自己微弱的力量仍然有其價值。

不過這些事件的確讓我在迷失於thesis的渾沌之中，得到一刻的解脫，一刻的清晰頭腦去重新思索了thesis的意義。

之前3個semester學到不少，來到最後最重要的一個semester，反而覺得自己虛渡光陰。首先自己決定選兩個迤的選修科以預留更多時間做thesis，結果浪費了6個credits的學習機會。至於thesis，不像之前的studio有目標要學什麼，thesis彷彿不過是一份show off的功課。

想清楚點，Show是show，但不是show off diagrams有多立體，rendering有幾詩意，個model又有幾反地心吸力(‘鏞’這個字，於我而言等於沒有意義的華麗，是一個貶得不能再貶的字。) 要show的，是你作為建築師，你想透過建築設計想做到什麼。你和你的設計的價值又在哪裡。讓人(和自己)知道，你5年來得到的不只technique和吹水能力，你得到的是屬於你自己的一套想法。

最後你的project做不做到你最初定下來的目標，我認為不是最重要，Thesis的結果是怎麼也不重要。重要的是你在這個過程中有思考過作為建築師的role，而你亦找到了你想做一個怎樣的建築師，做一個怎樣的人。

說到尾還是做自己想做的設計好。做設計若為討好別人，別人不喜歡，就變成total failure。做自己真心想做的，即使別人不喜歡，至少對得住自己。始終別人喜不喜由不得你控制，何苦讓自己迷失於那個深淵裡。

Thesis時間上過了一半，但工作量上只不過仍徘徊於起點。後面會更難走，我們一起好好走過去吧。