2010 Cinema

12/29 1655 @ IMAX Megabox - Tron : Legacy
12/24 1610 @ Broadway Cinematheque - Le Concert 
11/14 1000 @ Palace IFC - Due Date 
11/09 1925 @ Palace IFC - Confessions 告白
10/30 1605 @ AMC Pacific Place - Men in the City
09/13 2130 @ Agnes b. Cinema - Vidal Sassoon The Movie
08/08 1110 @ Broadway Cyberport - Inception
07/29 1110 @ IMAX iSquare - Toy Story 3
06/18 1310 @ AMC Pacific Place - A-Team
06/01 1950 @ AMC Pacific Place - Greenberg
-- HKIFF --
04/06 1030 @ Cultural Centre - Fais Moi Plaiser!
04/05 1800 @ Cultural Centre - A Serious Man
04/04 2100 @ HK City Hall - Le Refuge
04/04 1800 @ HK City Hall - Persécution
04/04 1100 @ Cultural Centre - World Animation I
04/03 2100 @ HK City Hall - The Time that Remains
04/02 1500 @ HK City Hall - I Killed My Mother
04/01 2000 @ Cultural Centre - Metropolis (Restored Original Cut 2010)
03/27 1515 @ Agnes b. Cinema - The Ghost Writer
03/23 1915 @ UA Cityplaza - London River
-- HKIFF --
03/04 1450 @ IMAX Megabox - Alice in Wonderland (IMAX 3D)
01/09 1420 @ The Grand Cinema - New York I Love You
01/06 1540 @ IMAX iSquare - Avatar (IMAX 3D)

一雙剪刀改變世界

前陣子看了 Vidal Sassoon 的 documentary。在此以前，我認知的 Vidal Sassoon 不過是洗髮水護髮素，亦從來沒有深究為什麼會有以人名命名的洗髮水。

Vidal Sassoon的傳奇，奇在一雙剪刀可以改變世界。

他自小為了幫補家計，在沒有選擇下媽媽介紹他到理髮店工作。雖然他想當建築師，但環境未容許他離開理髮店。他想：既然如此，剪髮也可以闖一番事業吧。

鍾情建築的他，受當時的Bauhaus影響，研究如何將簡潔的幾何線條應用於理髮上。漸漸研究出一套理論，以比例為不同面形的女性塑造時尚簡單的髮型。當時女性的髮型，很難打理，每星期都要到理髮店長時間整理才能保持。Sassoon的突破，讓女性得到解放，讓她們輕易地就能保持chic的形象，有更多時間留給自己。

堅持獨有的剪法十年，終於改變了時尚文化，Sassoon闖出了名堂，繼續理髮之餘推出護理產品，以 ’You don’t look good, we don’t look good’ 為口號，成功踏遍世界各地。

Sassoon並未將理論成為祕方，他辦了理髮學校，希望學生能將之更加發揮，讓這改變能更廣傳開去。這種胸襟，不是所有大師都擁有。

以理髮影響世界對時尚的定義，影響萬千女性的生活方式，未必是他預見的，但是他做到了。成功，源於他忠於自己。

一雙剪刀可以改變世界。一個建築不應該可以做更多嗎？建築設計單單為了symbolism、spatial experience就夠了嗎？Thesis除了有趣，是否也應該帶一個message給這個世界呢…

看來，Vidal Sassoon做不成建築師做了理髮師，是他的福氣。 

一片渾沌

這個學期有一個順利的開始：又一次被分到first priority的tutor，在沒有想選的elective的情況下，殺出了Carlow和Weijen的Independent Studies，又有幸被選上。

一早就已想到，在這麼得意的時候，現實一定比預想的差。沒錯，暫時的這階段，雖然不忙，但沒有丁點有趣的事在進行中。這刻，我什麼都不願做，眼前沒有看見任何有意義的事。

在看關於thesis的書，卻遲遲未能下決定。我斷不想做一些有趣但沒意義的東西，已有太多無聊的垃圾存在於這個世代了。於我而言，始終是與現實緊扣的才稱得上thesis。無奈自己懂的實在太少了，真切的感覺到 書到用時方恨少。聽著同學討論thesis，一個個找到了自己的thesis，雖然都不是我想做的方向，但莫說沒有壓力。

一個月過去了，思緒處於渾沌的狀態。不過其實有哪一次的中段不是這樣的？
 唯一是有點空虛感，欠了一些人的支持。在studio的感覺，比以前大不同。

最想見一些non-archi人，抽離一下。

First Entry in My Moleskine Film Journal

Inception is a great start!
Matrix presented a concept of an inter-connected system between people's minds. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind visualized 'dreams'. Inception has the qualities of both. Despite the great directing by Christopher Nolan, these precedents are also essential for his success. I think it would take a long while until the next movie with similar topic be that successful again.

"The moment's passed. Whatever I do I can't change this moment."

For the controversy of the ending, I preferred to believe the ending is the reality. But the evidences prove the other way round.

The ending is too close to perfection, and what is Michael Caine doing at the airport? And since all the kicks from all levels are gone, how can they come back to reality? I think the actual story is the old Saito killed Cobb in limbo, which put him into a even deeper level in his mind. In that deepest part he has that perfect ending that he always want. And at the end, although he still doubts if that is the reality, but eventually he just doesn't care anymore. That's why he does not pay attention to the totem.

What do you think?

又一個學期 — 倒數畢業尚餘一年時間

做完Elaine的包，一個學期又畫上句號。這個學期時間上較長，亦比較辛苦。事情總是拖拖拉拉的，沒完沒了。

早於sem break的時候就聽聞Ole Scheeren會教studio，在不能選擇Carlow的joint studio的情況下，就疊埋心水看看這starchitect會帶來什麼inspirations。

「Core Values」是這個studio要研究的事。Ole說他跟朋友說會來HKU教，朋友都不解，說HKU學生只重presentation和efficiency，悶得很。於是他便想到了用這個可說是建築設計裡最悶的一個部份給我們做，看我們真的如此悶蛋，還是可以將它變得有趣一些。他亦覺得畢竟core將會是我們建築生涯裡經常會接觸的事，何不把它帶入學府研究一番？

第一份功課，用10分鐘自我介紹，形式不限。有人剪片、有人自彈自唱、有人說故事、有人畫畫。那一刻，團隊中的多元性和各人自身的特點令人想像之後的team work應該有很多有趣的input，可惜往往事與願違。

11人的隊伍，一方面太多，一方面又太少。以組織和分工來看，要每人也自發地工作很難，要大家都有共同的thesis更難，結果兜兜轉轉也沒有什麼presentable的成果，以此看來人實在太多。以題目的範圍而言，世界上有數之不盡的towers，幾乎每一棟都有它的core，每一個core都是design specific，要在浩翰的資料裡找出有用的，再歸納出我們的見解並不是11個人在一兩個月能夠做到的事，由此看來人手實在不足。最後research的結果強差人意但因時間緊拙唯有繼續到下一階段。

Design開始才是真正和Ole有交流的時候。說實在，當初我看他北京的CCTV和曼谷的MahaNakhon，不過是玩form。可是從他的對話中，會知道他要求的多於建一棟iconic building。他和我們分享的經驗，不是從普通的tutor口中可以聽到的。不時可以聽見他說要珍惜做學生的時間，工作後便沒有機會做自己想做的事。有時會感到他的無奈，會覺得他所做的，不完全體現到他自己想做的。（我想這也是他其中一個離開OMA嘗試自己開公司的原因吧。）

他對於建築的看法，很多我也認同。他不喜歡用設計去force一些事發生，覺得結果只會適得其反，應該用設計去「讓」那件事發生。在我的design裡，我也嘗試營造一個讓住戶和鄰里自發地活動的地方，而不是改變他們的circulation pattern來強制他們相遇。

至於對做人和做architect，他覺得最重要是有DESIRE。不知不覺間我自己也將這個字放在心上。對！沒有desire做什麼也沒有意義。

Desire是很個人的事，學杜鵑說：「討好別人的設計，很多人正在做，何不真切地做自己認為對的？」這個世界需要的是不同的聲音，做自己真正想做的事，對自己對整體也是好事。



這年學到的很簡單，大概就是忠於自己的想法。

在堅持己見的同時漸漸悟出了自己的建築設計哲學，自己的語言不佳，借Justyna的一句：「Minimum Effort, Maximum Result. 」Minimum Effort不是指懶得就懶，也不單單是要economic efficiency。設計作為interventions，是以最簡單最「小」為目標，融入此時此地，令環境、社會能從設計中得到最大的益處。換言之，就是「pee-poo」bag比將整個城巿鏟起重新建一個eco-city好吧。

久違了的LEGO

從NYC帶回來的Toy Story LEGO，是適合6-12歲的玩意。我超齡一倍有多，但又何干？在乎的不是放它在手上把玩的感覺，要的不過是擁有的感覺罷。Materialism這回事又沒有年歲之分。

上次砌LEGO應該是在初中的那些「D&T」課堂，也不記得要透過這些積木學什麼，只記得那婆媽的老師極度憂慮我們會弄丟一兩塊LEGO，嚷著：「不見一塊要賠一盒！」使得整件事變得壓力極大，一點也不有趣。心想：「超，咁緊張就唔好要我地砌啦，又唔係未砌過。」

真的擁有LEGO就要算小學了，現在家中還有兩箱不捨得丟掉的。搬屋搬了很多次，很久都沒有打開過。箱裡有很多海盜和太空系列，全都亂七八糟的，應該沒有可能拼回「應有」的模樣。不知道以前為何總是買海盜，我不覺得自己特別好歷險。現在讓我選，我一定要城市系列，因為那是最原始和基本的LEGO，將LEGO當磚塊一塊一塊砌出來的建築物，才是我心目中的LEGO。

Ole在《君子雜誌》的「年度君子」訪問中，用砌LEGO比喻他在新加坡的The Interlace的設計。猶記得自己當年選HKU Archi時的自薦信和面試中皆有提過，自己的建築師夢早就建基兒時砌LEGO的那一刻。有點誇大，但追溯回去，大概大家對Space、Form和Tectonic的認知，都是源自LEGO吧。

PS. 謝謝遠道而來的手信，辛苦了。

New Concept of Digital Music

 (information from www.yankodesign.com)

That’s a “Playlist Player,” made by designer Martin Skelly to bring the digital back to the roots of the tree, the vinyl record. I’m not going to sit here and tell you how much better vinyl sounds than other music, or how much more awesome records are than anything else. You already know that! What Martin Skelly is here to tell you is – listen to your music start to finish, in a record player setting, with the ability to spill beer on it. That is the gosh-honest truth, for real!


In the words given to us at YD, Martin Skelly lets us know specifically that this project is “based on the rich interactions of vinyl records and turns digital playlists into physical objects that you can touch, treasure, drop, lose or spill beer on.” This is awesome.

What this project actually is composed of is a (special) record player and five different color covered records, also of a special nature. Playlists of music are made by you on your computer, (Skelly suggests iTunes,) they are synced to the player with a memory stick, and are then ready to play. Each record represents a playlist. As the record is placed on the box, so too is the corresponding list ready to play.

Here’s where it gets weird or awesome, depending on your specific political view on how music should be listened to. When the music plays, a band of light can be seen emitting from the box and through the translucent record. The light advances from the outer rim toward the middle of the record, just like a pin would playing a real bit of vinyl. This light, however, represents the time left on the list rather than the track being played. Also the light shows you where you are, but the temptation to skip tracks, fast forward, or rewind, are eliminated by the lack of being able to do so. The idea is that just like a record, there are less distractions from the music due to the lack of ease in changing tracks.

Wild enough for you?

Definitely TRON-approved, in my book I’d say. Martin Skelly himself decrees the design reference to be “retro professional” and the materials to be “reminiscent of Seventies hi-fi design.” Spot on, good chap.
Keep them wheels a spinnin.

Designer: Martin Skelly

HKIFF 2010 - Fais Moi Plaiser!

04/06 1030 @ Cultural Centre - Fais Moi Plaiser!

I have watched a film directed by Emmanuel Mouret in HKIFF 2008. The film is about a married lady who met a perfect stranger. When the guy want to kiss her, the woman stopped him and told a story about her friend's kissing experience, which led to a disaster. The film is called 'Shall we Kiss?' It is humorous and romantic. Makes you fantasize about French life.

This film has the similar quality, even similar way of narration, with a bit more drama and humor. This film is great for relaxation, a nice match with afternoon tea.

HKIFF 2010 - Le Refuge

04/04 2100 @ HK City Hall - Le Refuge
Another film by Francois Ozon. After all those films about death, death of marriage, death of a life, Le refuge is about a birth after death.

The Ozon films are my general impression of French films. It is always about things happening right now, not the past nor the future. It is so natural, so normal. Nothing too dramatic. And you can always know the characters so well by looking at their faces and gestures. You feel like these are real persons, not frictional characters.

That's why I like French film so much. (Of course, French actors and actresses are always beautiful too)

HKIFF 2010 - Persécution

04/04 1800 @ HK City Hall - Persécution
Sonia said, she has always been another Sonia when she was with someone else. A Sonia that loves different things, says different things, and has different life. It was her first time to really be herself, the true Sonia. And she feels selfish.



... what person should you be in a relationship.