My friend Raymond

Raymond Yuen, my friend and former colleague, was featured in last Saturday's Classified Post of Hong Kong's South China Morning Post:

Raymond Yuen, an economist at the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (TDC), built a fulfilling career out of an unexpected turn in his life.

水魚照

觀影小記

這兩星期，一口氣看了十多部電影，其中包括影碟、電視的電影台、及按次收費電影，唯缺首輪電影，因為我基本不進電影院的。

可惜，好片甚少，頗好的也不多。

華語：
陳凱歌 《無極》 — 攝影和特技出色，很有神話片的疑幻疑真的感覺。但陳凱歌又犯了《邊走邊唱》故弄玄虛、故作高深的老毛病。 6/10
徐克 《七劍》 — 有大片格局，亦保持徐克昏天黑地無法無天的一貫風格。但冗長，交待不清、張力不足。徐克老矣！ 4/10
小江 《夢影童年》 — 《Cinema Paradiso》式的「電影」電影。健康、感人、流暢、扎實之作。稍嫌平淡無驚喜。 5/10
江澄 《做頭》 — 在不俗的外表下，是一部超低水平之作。 2/10

日語：
是枝裕和 《誰知赤子心》 — 頗佳的社會現象片。但看了以後，就不再責怪梁朝偉在04康城影帝落空後忿忿不平的言論。他的《2046》周慕雲雖然只是《花樣年華》延續，突破欠奉，但《誰知赤子心》中的柳樂優彌表現遊離，不知評審團何以認為他應是該年度影帝。 6/10
行定勳 《在世界中心呼喚愛》 — 看人氣導演行定勳的《大暴走》，已覺得他不過爾爾。本片未能改變我對他的印象。他加插律子一角為故事骨幹，和他沉溺於催淚回憶，均非好導演應為。 5/10

韓語：
許秦豪 《外出》 — 許秦豪令我大失所望，與前作《八月照相館》和《春逝》不能相提並論。他是我欣賞的導演，希望下一部作品回勇吧。 6/10
斐旭浩 《最後目擊》 — 已是01年的探案片。與近年很多韓語片一樣，欠神采，但勝在踏實。 5/10

英語：
Pitof 《Catwoman》 — 以後批評香港爛片多時，應記住荷里活也多爛片，連荷里活大製作也多爛片！浪費時間。 2/10
Christopher Nolan 《Batman Begins》 — Christopher Nolan在《Memento》中一鳴驚人，但其後轉走大路，即無以為繼。《Insomnia》如是，《Batman Begins》也如是。絕對不是Tim Burton級數。 5/10
George Lucas 《Star Wars III》 — 從未看過任何一部《Star Wars》，今次算是開開眼界，也算是不錯的兩小時娛樂。其餘五部，應該不會找來看了。 6/10
Mike Nichols 《Closer》 — 上佳的都市情慾片。雖然處理手法兜口兜面，而且舞台劇味甚濃，但本片是我近日觀看的唯一佳作，較《Sideways》尤得我心。 8/10

法語：
Robert Guediguian 《My Father is an Engineer/Mon pere est ingenieur》 — 理想的追尋、堅持和幻滅。多看這類關於法國低下/移民階層的影片，可中和主流法國片給人軟綿綿、無無謂的印象。 7/10

Digital photos prints

In this age of digital photography, do you still develop most of your digital photos into prints?

For me, making prints is no longer an important part of the photographic experience. Now I derive more pleasure from digitally enhancing the photos and making digital albums for online sharing. I use IrfanView to view photos, Photoshop to enhance them, Yahoo! Photos for online storage, Flickr and Slide for photo management and sharing, and my clumsy hand-written html codes to make travel photo web pages.

Having said that, in response to a recent promo by a large retail electricals chain which charged $0.15 per 6"X4" print, I have just made over 500 prints from my trips over the past year and a half.

One thing I notice is that with the photos optimised for my on-screen viewing, the actual prints usually look quite saturated and hence a bit "unreal". I wonder whether this is a common experience or just my unique problem?

So where the bloody hell are you?

The new worldwide TV ad for Australian tourism features scenes of what Australia offers as a tourist destination and ends with a bikini-clad girl asking "so where the bloody hell are you?"



Exactly. Where the bloody hell are you? Why aren't you coming to Australia to have a bloody good time? You are bloody stupid if you feel offended by this "uniquely Aussie invitation to travel".

Click on the graphics ad above to watch the TV ad, courtesy of the official site wherethebloodyhellareyou.com. See you soon.

紅學為什麼這樣紅？

李公明：紅潮2005
傅國湧：泡沫“紅學”與“窺陰”文化
（鳳凰周刊2006年第2期）

羅梔子/陳維昭：“紅學熱”是泡沫泛起？
（新民周刊）

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村上春樹的中文翻譯水平

我雖愛讀村上春樹的作品，但讀書粗率，又不懂日文，何故又會談論村上春樹的中文翻譯水平呢？

原因是村上的《海邊的卡夫卡》出版後，我弄了一個關於該書的網頁，故有段期間經常閱讀及收集有關該書的文章。

那時候，讀了陳寧在香港經濟日報對《海邊的卡夫卡》的譯者賴明珠的批評：「村上春樹在中文世界當紅情況有目共睹，多年來我們看的版本都是台灣譯者賴明珠的譯筆。出版社好像曾經也試找過別人來譯，但好像都沒有賴明珠那樣成功。要說她的譯文好得無與倫比，倒不如說是她早著先機，率先以她的譯筆確立了村上春樹在中文讀者心中的面貌，也因為村上的風格極具特色，極其突出，這種筆調一旦確立了，也很難擺脫或修正。當大家在沉迷或模仿村上的造字方式，或者說話的口吻，那真是書寫日文的村上嗎？或更多是賴明珠式村上？我讀村上春樹，到後期漸漸有點懊惱，因為我隱隱感到村上已經有所改變了，就連敘事手法亦不同早期；然而，讀賴明珠的譯文，那種帶點「卡哇依」（Kawaii）語感的少女式筆調仍然繼續停留，仍然在瀰漫，好像仍在《聽風的歌》。我讀《海邊的卡夫卡》時感覺最為強烈。聞說大陸讀者讀的林少華譯本也好不了多少。懂日文的，看村上原文，可比較看看。」

我作為一般讀者倒沒有這個感覺，也不太明白她說的「卡哇依」(Kawaii) 語感所指為何（可能是指她在譯文中保留了大量的日式語助詞「噢」「喲」的翻譯吧）。

〔註1：我擁有的繁體村上春樹作品全是賴明珠譯本，唯有《挪威的森林》是例外，是葉蕙譯本〕
〔註2：關於賴明珠作為村上春樹譯者，這篇97年的自述文章可供參考：村上春樹譯者：賴明珠-遇見100%的翻譯者）

村上作品的簡體版，以林少華翻譯的最多和最受歡迎。

曾在一個題為「大陸版翻的村上春樹比賴明珠還像純文學作品」的網上討論版讀到一位讀者說：「大陸版翻的村上春樹比賴明珠還像純文學作品，只是有點像在看大江健三郎耶」，另一位則說：「我個人覺得他翻的文章很忠於原味...也許有人覺得那麼多的語助詞很奇怪 但是原文是這樣的沒錯」。何以說像純文學？林少華自己認為：適當汲取古漢語中有生命力的語匯和行文範式以促進現代漢語的工麗、簡約和洗練，可以說是我一個小小的追求。在翻譯當中也難免──有意也好無意也好──有所表現，致使譯文帶上這種個人化烙印。非我狡辯，沒有個人烙印的純淨水翻譯是沒有的，問題只在於分寸的把握，即如何在打有烙印的同時盡可能傳達原作的風格和韻致。

林少華是怎樣評價自己和賴明珠的翻譯的呢？他說：我自己覺得她的譯文比較粗糙，對於村上原作的韻味表達得那麼淋漓盡致〔註：原文有誤，似乎漏了一個不字〕，當然也不是說我表達得那麼充分了，十個男人九個自負，喜歡自吹自擂，我也是其中的一個。他又在別處補充何謂「粗糙」：賴氏譯本我覺得翻譯得不夠到位，主要是“味”沒有能夠充分地翻譯出來。村上的小說情節固然不錯，但主要不以情節取勝，而是以韻味、情調見長。因此，如果“味”翻譯不出來的話，我覺得就打了折扣。

那麼，賴明珠又怎麼看林少華譯文？她說：我在翻譯他的小說時盡量不用成語，希望保持他的用意和文意，讓中文讀起來仍能感覺到村上的特色。拜讀林先生的譯本，很佩服他的中文造詣比我好。但也感覺如果譯者自己的文章風格過於突顯時，可能會使作者的風格減低。

相關閱讀：
- 賴明珠與林少華關於村上的翻譯
- 村上春樹版本比較

------------------------------

其實，就村上春樹作品翻譯問題，也有不少討論是環繞 Jay Rubin 和 Alfred Birnbaum 英譯孰優孰劣（可參看The fine art of translation）。

如果不是村上春樹，那就沒意思了

打開2005年《紐約時報》「年度十大好書」榜，村上春樹去年剛在美國出版《海邊的卡夫卡》（Kafka on the Shore）赫然雀屏中選。本書不僅出版時得到約翰．厄普戴克的盛讚，也是《紐約時報》BEST 10中唯一的亞洲作家作品。

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民主、獨裁與經濟發展──亞洲四小龍給我們什麼啟發

台灣經濟日報總主筆馬凱認為：

是高效能且有力維持安定局面的政府，促成了經濟的高速發展。但當政府匯集國內菁英，其聰明才智遠非民間能力足與抗衡時，在落後國家中即自然出現威權統治的表面現象。是故，威權統治與經濟奇蹟兩者皆是政府效能遠高於民間時的後果，兩者之間並無互為因果的關係存在。這是過去解讀這一段歷史者未加深究而尋出的錯誤推論。

What "looks really nasty" ?!

Whenever there's a comment on my blog, I would receive an email notification from Blogger.com showing the comment, the name of the commenter, and the time it was posted. However, the email would not show where (i.e. which blog entry) the comment was made.

Usually it is not difficult to guess: it would most likely be a comment made on a recent blog entry, and the comment itself usually gives a clear indication about the subject matter.

However, today I received this email notification:

that looks really nasty......

--
Posted by Anonymous to joetsang@downunder ... and the living is easy at 2/20/2006 01:42:11 PM

At first, I thought it must be a comment on my recent revolting photo "新一代型男典範！！！" posted a few days ago. But it was not. Then I thought, may be the sea infested with sharks "looks really nasty" to the commenter. Again I was wrong. Finally I checked all my entries on the front page of the blog (whcih extend back to late December last year) but could not locate the comment.

What "looks really nasty"?!

It's intriguing.

陳維昭批評"舊紅學─新紅學─小說批評學"演進論

陳維昭：胡適的“新紅學”與余英時的“紅學革命”

第一，很多人把紅學史描述為“舊紅學──新紅學──小說批評學”的演進過程，這種描述並不符合紅學史的實際情形。

第二，了解了“新紅學”與索隱紅學之間的交叉、互涵關系之後，我們就能明白，為什麼索隱紅學一直以來不斷地受到猛烈的抨擊，但始終並沒有銷聲匿跡；相反，索隱紅學癒演癒烈，長盛不衰。

第三，對於紅學史的反省，我們不要把“實錄”觀念、“本事考証”所造成的弊端算到“考証”方法的頭上，不要因此而不恰當地宣稱：考証紅學應該功成身退。今後 的紅學並不是什麼“回歸文本”，而是應該把《紅樓夢》放在一般的文史研究領域裡進行常規的研究，遵循科學性原則去研究它的作者和版本問題，遵循文藝規律去 闡發它的意義。這就足夠了。

我曾在幾本新購紅學著作中，談到我對余英時的“紅學革命”的粗淺看法：

初讀時，對「典範危機」及「兩個世界」之說，真有大開眼界之感。如今重看，只覺考證派紅學這個典範的危機，其實可以長時間存在，新典範未必會即時出現。余氏 寫「紅樓夢的兩個世界」，當然是希望為新典範交出示範作。但時間證明，雖然該文在紅學佔有一席地位，但如果說「廣義的文學批評」可成為紅學的新典範，則言 過其實。因為這類紅學研究，二百多年來一直存在，只是隨出色著作的多寡而浮浮沉沉而已。

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一篇屬於“回歸文本”陣營的紅學文章：

胡文彬：紅樓夢那些讓人扼腕嘆息的女子

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吳冠中畫作題識由左向右直書

吳冠中的丈二大幅〈鸚鵡天堂〉在去年11月的拍賣會中以過3000萬人民幣成交，創下華人在世畫家作品最高的拍賣紀錄。

吳冠中是我非常欣賞的畫家（請參看我的吳冠中的「筆墨等於零」論網頁）。〈鸚鵡天堂〉賣價多高我不感興趣，令我感興趣的反倒是該畫的題識 - 「鸚鵡前頭人語喧，誰人不敢言，一九八八年游新加坡戲禽公園，憶伴遊友人，寄語鸚鵡畫圖中。吳冠中。」 - 以反傳統的由左向右直行書寫。



-- 橫寫直寫 向右向左 左翻右翻 沒完沒了 --

Skype with video, try it out

We have always enjoyed using computer phones to talk to relatives in different parts of the world. The calls are free, setting up conference calls is easy. Very importantly, video calls are possible, making the "talk" a much more rewarding experience.

At first, we used Yahoo! Messenger since it had everything. Then came Skype, with superior sound quality. We changed to a mixed mode, with voice through Skype and video through Yahoo! Messenger. It was a bit clumsy, and this arrangement did the job quite nicely.

Last night, I updated Skype to V.2 with video. Since then, I have made two testing calls, and the video quality was superior to that of Yahoo! Messenger. As soon as all my relatives have installed the latest Skype, I think we will abandon Yahoo! Messenger altogether.

Sharks force Gold Coast beaches to close

Having just spent several days in Gold Coast earlier this month (see Living the high life in Gold Coast and Some photos from the Gold Coast trip), I was surprised to hear TV news announcing that several Gold Coast beaches were closed over the weekend when dozens of sharks chasing a big school of bait fish moved too close to the shore for safe swimming (read Sharks packs alert).

(photo from Sunday Mail/Channel 9)

新一代型男典範！！！

紅痴史迷

紅痴史迷 - 最新文章：《石頭記》和《紅樓夢》。

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A new era of classical music on the web

Anne Midgette of the New York Times chronicles the life and death of several pioneering classical music websites and discusses the present state of classical music on the web. She concludes that "classical music is thriving on the Internet. It is just that ... it is not thriving in the form people in the 1990's or early 2000's expected it to take."

In particular, digitised classical music sells! It is estimated that classical music accounts for 12% of iTunes sales, compared to a 3-4 market share in album sales. Billboard magazine reports that the downloading of digital albums rose by 94% in 2005, compared with a 15% decline in album sales.

Perhaps sensing the rise of an alternative channel for selling classical music, the usually conservative Gramophone magazine has added a new column on downloading since mid-2005.

Classical labels are, not surprisingly, experimenting with ways to sell their albums through downloading (e.g. Chandos).

Naxos, the budget label, is also offering its music library as web radio channels for subscription.

Deutsche Grammophon has just signed a deal with the New York Philharmonic, allowing listeners to download live recordings by the orchestra. Other similar deals may offer webcast as well.

樂極生疲

到訪的太座姐、弟今天離開。過去三週，終日吃喝遊玩，樂極、但亦身心俱疲。如今又重回懶閒日子了。

Tokyo most expensive no more

Tokyo is no longer the most expensive city to live, according to EIU. After occupying the top spot for 14 years, it has just been overtaken by Oslo in the latest Worldwide Cost of Living Survey.

Seoul (13th) and Hong Kong (14th) are the most expensive cities in Asia after Tokyo and Osaka (4th).

Hot trends in digital camera features

Pixel counting joins film in obsolete bin (David Pogue, The New York Times, 4/2/06)

Some photos from the Gold Coast trip

-- All Gold Coast photos --

Lotus in different colours

Living the high life in Gold Coast

Staying at the 53/F of the tallest residential building in the world has been quite an experience.

We have been to Gold Coast quite a few times already. Walking along the never ending beach on top of the silky sand is a most pleasurable activity, but the crass commercialisation of the city can be off putting.

With Cindy's sister and brother here visiting us, I was tasked to book a Gold Coast accommodation for 2 nights for 3 households.

My online searching told me that I wouldn't have too many choices. 3-bedroom apartments were few and far between, and Gold Coast accommodation tended to have a 3-nights minimum requirement.

One of the few choices was Q1, the world's tallest residential building and which was only ready for moving-in in December 2005. The room rate was high, but not outrageously so. Moveover, I was told all 3-bedroom apartments were at least 200 square metres in size, located at 47/F or above, and guaranteed beach view.

Sounds great!


Driving along the Gold Coast Highway, and once you are near Surfers Paradise, you can't help but notice its formiddable presence.

The wow factor reveals once you enter the apartment. In front of you is a wall of windows with unobstructed views of the long stretch of beaches, the riverways, and buildings in between. The same view at night, from such a height, is breathtaking.

Yes, the fittings and furniture are just OK, and the service level leaves a lot for improvement. But staying at a room with such a view has made the short trip a memorable one.

小白不辭而別

住在我家對面，經常來bird bath喝水的cockatoo「小白」，約在十天前搬家了，去向未明。念甚。