潮汕說唱

早前看網上直播有潮汕女主播在rap潮州話，方知有潮汕說唱的文化，除了女主播當日翻唱的Tizzy T，重要人物還有AFinger壹指團體（那是潮州版大懶堂了），以下是一條介紹潮汕hiphop的紀錄片：

葉子說到潮汕人祖先去馬來西亞謀生那段特別有feel, 我也從中認識了汕頭這個感覺上很親切但從未去過的地方。

Followups

I followed up my Starbucks cappuccino and Gesha coffee posts last week. This time I am following up some other old posts:
- the one about X-Men: First Class. I found a better clip of Moira and Frost.
- the one about the Fyre festival. It has been 3 years since the fiasco happened but the media keeps the stories going. Netflix (and Hulu too!) released documentary about the "founder" Billy McFarland and the fraud last year. Then more news at the end of the year: McFarland was writing an autobiography (that no one wants to publish except himself) and planning a Fyre Festival 2.0 while he is serving his 6-year sentence in prison.

機上娛樂-過年篇

來回港美共廿幾小時的航程又是看電影的好機會，最近幾年多了看香港和亞洲電影，可能心底的本土情感被召喚上面了（當然美國英雄片也看過太多遍了）以下是今次由頭看到尾的三套電影（有一兩套中途棄了）

作家的謊言：筆忠誘罪 這是又一套從向西村上春樹小說改編的電影，去年初看了《西謊極落之太爆太子太空艙》已十分欣賞，雨僑演一樓一鳳姐相當出色；今次的主角是一位搞外情的作家，女主角由何佩瑜（Jeana Ho）飾演，沙律也有客串兩個鏡頭，算是蕭定一/HMV/Viu TV這個「主流」以外的班底吧。出自向西村上春樹的故事情節當然有一定水準，本土值得支持。

首相失憶了 這是同學前幾天在聚會介紹的日本電影，講一個相當不受歡迎兼行為卑劣（似曾相識？）的日本首相因遇襲失憶「從新做人」的故事，當然有不少超現實的情節，好笑得來也令人看得心頭暖暖。

信用欺詐師JP：香港浪漫篇 又是日本電影，女主角是「聽過個名唔知乜樣」的長澤正美，講一班「老千」鬥智的故事，原來是一個日劇系列的「番外篇」，頗多戲份在香港拍攝，當然看得有感情；而很少看日劇的本人，不太會估劇情，所以整體上也很有娛樂性。

The movies that made us: Dirty Dancing

個人認為Netflix最吸引的影片還是紀錄片，無論是別人還是自家的製作，均有很多佳作，例如The ??? that made us這個系列，這次是以電影為主題，深入探討的幾套電影入面，我最有興趣的是Dirty Dancing，當年熱潮席捲全球時我還是香港一個中學生，記得是在朋友家觀看鐳射影碟(LD)，以我英文水平基本上不知故事講甚麼，不過有連場熱辣辣貼身舞的電影總不會差到那裡去！原來這套票房十分成功，堪稱一代經典的作品，當年各大電影公司均不願投資，最後肯出手的是一家一直製作direct to VHS（即只透過錄影帶發行不在戲院上映）的公司，打算以本片作為進軍真.電影業的頭炮，可算是一擊即中（可惜無以為繼，以倒閉收場）更搞笑的是千辛萬苦找來兩位很適合做男女主角的演員，兩人卻有前嫌，製作人花了不少心機調解！由於成本極低，找配合那個時代的跳舞音樂也費了很多功夫，男主角Patrick Swayze也貢獻一首自作自唱的作品She's Like the Wind（電影上映後當然成為大熱）值得一提的是他角色是一位跳舞高手，Swayze真人原來跳舞相當有根底但有傷患，為了電影效果多番重覆有難度的動作，可見他相當敬業。請欣賞本片原聲大碟：

倚天1994

最近瘋狂追2019版倚天接近尾聲，發覺被改動得體無完膚，禁不住罵了一句「黐線」，網友肯定說劇情暴走了。

不過無意中看了這一集1994台視拍的（對，就是2019滅絕演1994她徒兒芷若），我才真的啞口無言：

我以為2019的丁敏君已真不吸引，原來台版更嚇人！我想大家比較下兩版娥媚弟子就會同意整容不是罪過了。
喜歡書法的朋友記得留意16分鐘左右有宋青書的墨寶，喜歡詩詞的朋友更要聽聽老闆介紹杜甫詩哀江頭
看本集編劇作了一個新角色，是個愛宋青書的村姑，她的下場真慘呀！
最後想提的是2019版由周華健主唱的主題曲，原來是他重唱自己1994版的歌！

忘記我自己Fingerstyle

和各位本blog讀者（如果有的話）「久別重逢」第一個帖當然齊集我至愛的topics: 音樂、Hana，還有結他；介紹一條令我拿起已完全走音結他來彈的片：

倚天熱

自少（小五左右）我就是金庸迷，每一套小說都讀完再讀，依然津津有味；當然，十多年前推出的新修版，又為一眾金迷注入新的動力：比較新舊版及品評金老所作的改動是好是壞！

其實這十多年來兩岸電視台把金老多部名著拍完又拍，不過年前才開始「再度」追劇，所以趕上2019的倚天熱，發現買了多年的新修版倚天原來未讀完！於是趕快「刨書」，由於新修版之前一版（即「新版」）讀過太多次，金老的改動不難察覺，大部份都令情節更合理，唯一不喜歡的只有結局：我認為寫得太著跡了。對於沒時間做比較的朋友，可以看這懶人包。

至於2019版的電視劇，我想最為人討論的話題是這兩個：（一）周海媚由年青時飾演周芷若到今天「升呢」飾演師父滅絕，（二）女主角們大「撞樣」，我花了不短時間才分得開芷若和趙敏！原因不難想到。

回到以前

再介紹一下我很欣賞的Hana菊梓喬，她之前曾以Haley XC為藝名，是樂隊Pleasure Garden的成員：

去年推出的「回到以前」是她在Haley XC年代在SoundCloud發表過的作品（部份歌詞為配合劇集改動過），另一首「轉」亦相當出色。

Hana曾用真名陳曉怡參加台灣的歌唱比賽，14年就有人點名讚賞過，此文有她當年的視頻。

下一站天后

寫這篇文章，預了給人家說我是打手，就當我是打手好了。是緣上星期六無線頒了勁歌金曲最受歡迎女歌手給我目前最喜愛的女歌手Hana菊梓喬，之後各大小專欄作家論壇網民紛紛撰文批評，看得最多的是「誰是菊梓喬？」其次是「怎能和梅艷芳比較？」還有「她在其他頒獎禮沒有獎」我姑且逐一回應。
不知何時開始，人們開始以無知為榮？「忘記我自己」一碟曾登上唱片銷量榜冠軍，如果真心有留意香港樂壇，總會聽過碟中作品吧？
我要承認我很喜歡梅姐多首作品，而她天后之名實至名歸，但大家要明白她當紅那個年代大眾娛樂不及今天的多，電視台影響力亦大得多，如果說Hana深受無線力捧，靠劇集歌上位，其實大家又記得梅姐當年也是一樣？其唱片公司華星和Hana所屬的星夢一樣是無線之附屬唱片公司，梅姐第一首作品「心債」就是電視劇主題曲，其後大紅作品「赤的疑惑」「交出我的心」「飛躍舞台」等皆是（Hana第一兩首派台歌反而不是）。以歌論歌，Hana首兩張唱片18首歌沒有一首我不喜歡；反而梅姐的作品當中有部份我是一聽必轉台的。客觀地說，梅姐出道三年首奪勁歌金曲最受歡迎女歌手時，她已唱過「似水流年」及「夢伴」這些經典中的經典級數作品，得獎的「含金量」無可否認是高的，不過我相信當時也有人會說她江湖地位不夠吧。
最後想講講其他頒獎禮的認受性（BTW，新城頒獎禮Hana有一曲得獎），近年叱咤算是比較有代表性，不過也有網民數這個獎（及商台）多年以來的「罪狀」。其中我最想講的是商台95年的（中文）原創歌運動，連中文歌壇泰山北斗黃霑叔也曾作出以下評價：

需求忽然增加，求過於供，水準就會低降。香港市場狹小，創作人才本來就不多，市面上忽然每年需要，多於平時一兩倍，歌曲水準自然難以保持。其實，創作是不需要鼓勵的。有創作天賦的人，自然有不能遏止的創作衝動，非滿足了之後不會停下來。作品量多，很可能，質就降低。在短期效果看，市場需要，忽然激增，創作人自然收入頓升。但作品多了而水準下降，時日一長，就會變成惡性循環，令顧客停止享用不夠水平產品。以今天的香港市場狀況，回顧當天，本文作者敢說，95、96 年商台的「原創歌運動」，頗有椻苗助長之嫌，後果接近「好心作壞事」。

無論怎樣，作為一個樂迷及業餘獨立音樂人，好的音樂我一定繼續支持，不會受來自那間唱片公司影響。

丹布朗小說

作為一位（偽）文青，實在不應承認自己讀過丹布朗如此商業化的作品，原來他寫過七部小說，我竟然讀了兩本半（《達芬奇密碼》、《地獄》、及正在閱讀的《起源》，亦認識了他的創作公式：
必以某個歐洲名城為背景：包括達芬奇密碼的巴黎，地獄的佛羅倫斯，起源的巴塞羅娜。
必和某個歐洲著名博物館建築物有關：包括巴黎的羅浮宮，佛羅倫斯的聖約望洗禮堂，畢爾包的古根漢藝術館。
必以某驚世秘密開始，然後花極多篇幅兜圈及放大此秘密。
必定雷聲大雨點小般結束。
所以，每本書首本部都讀得停不了手，然後50-75%有點等待完結，最後25%是因為已經讀了很多而覺得棄之可惜才讀完；直覺《起源》也會是這樣，且拭目以待！

Is hot dog a sandwich?

Not sure if I've heard this debate before but a Ford pickup commercial mentioned it. In the commercial the guys ask "Alexa" (the voice-activated assistant made by Amazon) integrated to the truck whether hot dog is a sandwich. Alexa replied yes. However, I got different answers from Google! I guess either side has supporters and valid arguments. To me, hot dog deserves its own category.

Why Elvis Presley Isn’t the King to Millennials

The title came from a post by the History channel. Well, the question might as well be "Why should Elvis be the King to Millennials"? I guess the writer didn't have anything better to write on the 40th years after Elvis died. He wrote "Elvis. King of Rock and Roll, but not of Spotify" which did get me curious about who the top artist on Spotify is. For the record, Elvis ranked 331st as of 8/16. It turns out Spotify doesn't provide an easy way to see the whole ranking. Someone posted this in the forum. And this was from February.  I guess you could call Ed Sheeran the King of Spotify?

Superhero comics as a reflection of social movements

I watched a documentary aired on the History Channel called "Superhero decoded." At a first glance it was kinda like a promotion for the new Wonder Woman movie! However, I actually learned quite a few surprising facts from it. For example, I have no idea that Stan Lee created the X-Men as a reaction to the African American Civil Right movement! The message was that American shouldn't look down on others because they were different. He also joked that he was lazy to come up with backstories for each Superhero how they acquired the superpower so they were all just born with it :) And the peace-loving Professor X (Charles Xavier) and the aggressive Magneto also represented two schools of thoughts from the two African American leaders: MLK Jr and Malcolm X. Still, the first Marvel black superhero were created a bit latter. That would be the Black panther, a prince from a fictional African country. Then the first African American superhero appeared: Falcon, who was the crime-fighting partner of Captain America.
Back to Wonder woman: She was first created around the WWII as a warrior with superpower from the Amazon. However, as the American society became more conservative, her role also changed in that direction: renouncing her power in order to get a boyfriend! The demand for equal rights by another social group, the women, was reflected in the transformation of Wonder woman, who was once again the mighty hero who beat up bad guys. They showed a few clips of the TV show starring Lynda Carter. She was great in that role. Also reminded me of the childhood days when it was aired on Hong Kong TV.
Another surprising fact for me was that Iron man was created during the Cold war era. Tony Stark was a weapon manufacturer making big bucks but was injured and captured by the enemy and ended up creating the Ironman suit to save himself. The story was "refitted" for the war in Afghanistan after 911, which drew a lot of comparison to the Vietnam war: heavy casualties of US soldiers overseas evoked antiwar sentiment.
Yeah, maybe comic books could be used as supplementary textbooks for Social Studies!

Fyre Festival

Like it or not, when a music festival makes the news, it's usually not good news. The Fyre festival is yet another example. (If a music festival ever become a "real" cultural/seminal events, it will only be talked about in many years after, IMO) When my friend told me about it (during a hike!), he first showed me the promotional video of the festival, i.e, the now "infamous" one with lots of pretty hot ladies in swim suits hanging out at a luxurious-looking island (think Hawaii) Well, well, well. The reality was nothing like that. When the guests arrived in the Bahamas island, they saw a bunch of tents, some with mattresses soaked wet, because of the rain/storm a night before the festival started. Another famous pic from the event was the supposed-to-be-high-quality food: a Styrofoam box with some bread, salad and cheese. The big name musical acts did not show up either. The whole thing ended up "postponed." The ticket price was reported to be from close to $1000 to way-way above that. It's understandable that several lawsuits were filed about the organizer. The festival was co-founded by a "tech" guy Billy McFarland and rapper Ja Rule. McFarland apologized and admitted that they were "a little naive" while others thought it's more like a money-grabbing scheme. I'm interested to see how the organizer would follow up: will people get their money back? Will there really be a "replacement" festival down the road for those who bought tix? To be honest, if this happens 20 years ago and it featured metal or jazz, I might have been one of them :P

Disney goes Metal?

像我這樣的老牌金屬友，聽過見過不少甚麼甚麼goes metal的唱片或視像，也很欣賞像Beatallica這樣把Beatles音樂Metallica化的樂隊。 不過聽到迪士尼竟然也gone metal就有點難以想像和接受，在我心目中迪士尼一直走討好家庭顧客的路線，連他們也玩metal，可能證明metal revival has peaked. Maybe it has nowhere to go but down? 無論如何，Metal Disney一碟的音樂人完全一本正經（或者說是剎有介事）地用正宗power metal手法去演譯這些迪士尼經典歌曲，值得一讚。
老老實實，Disney goes Jazz感覺比較合理。我以前也介紹過。無獨有偶，剛剛Spotify又彈出一首完全無關的Beauty and the Beast!

「講黎講去三幅屁」出處？

今日我同老友吹水，我笑佢「講黎講去三幅屁」，咁佢問我呢句話既典故，真係問到我口啞啞，咁梗係要Google下，揾到有人在FB度寫：

廣州話「講來講去三幅被」來自這句話—「講來講去三幅被，量來量去二丈四」。過去民間織造業有一慣例，每一幅被的長度是八尺，三幅被即二丈四。這句慣用語現在用作比喻人說話重複，沒有新意。例：呢個上司無料嘅，講來講去三幅被。（這位上司沒有才學，說來說去一個調子）

今次真係鬧交學中文！

Bright Lights, Cool Minds

最近因為某種不明原因，看的電視節目、讀的書和參觀的展覽不約而同地有著微妙的連帶關係。從Netflix看到的英國BBC一連三集紀錄片Bright Lights Brilliant Minds:每一集主持人介紹他認為廿世紀三個西方史上重要年份及城市組合，分別為：

• 1908維也納：那一年在維也納，對多位來自不同範疇的專家藝術家及政治人物，均是一個重要里程碑，心理學家佛洛依德發表他的戀母情意結理論，音樂家Schoenberg創作無調性音樂，包括前無古人的二號弦樂四重奏（後半部加入人聲），畫家Klimt畫了他最著名作品Kiss，但那個浮華的表面其實暗藏危機：例如該市貧富懸殊，妓女數量極多。而希特拉當年嘗試考入藝術學院不果，最終踏上從政（或成魔）之路。該年波斯尼亞新納入奧匈帝國，亦正是第一次世界大戰的導火線（費迪南大公在當地被暗殺）
• 1928巴黎：這一集講及該年代最耐人尋味的新藝術思潮：超現實主義（Surrealism），那是令我最著迷的現代藝術派別，Dali的畫作別具震撼力。原來該派的誕生源於一位作家Andre Breton，這位「祖師爺」後來又把Surrealism散播到墨西哥以及北美洲。看完這一集不久，我就有幸在史丹福大學Cantor美術館參觀一個超現實主義如何影響各地各年代藝術及藝術家的展覽。那個年代的巴黎的確和美國相當有關係：美國作家海明威、音樂家Gershwin及Cole Porter都在那𥚃取得成功，很多美國人和他們一樣帶著美金在當地自在消費，不過隨著美國股市崩潰（大蕭條），一夜之間富貴化為烏為的美國人唯有紛紛回國。
• 1951紐約：該年聯合國選擇在紐約成立總部，標誌著西方文化政經重鎮從那時開始由歐洲「搬遷」到北美洲，爵士樂及Beat文學那一年在紐約發揚光大，Thelonius Monk及Jack Kerouac分別發表其名作，而瘋魔萬千影迷的巨星如馬龍白蘭度及占士甸均在那年代學習方法演技，也就是周星馳在喜劇之王一片提及的史坦尼斯拉夫斯基影響所生的一派。在看此節目之前我剛巧讀了"The Birth (and death) of the Cool"一書，正正就是討論以上提及的各種演藝文學文化（所謂「Cool」的態度）如何主導著美國潮流（包括電視電影廣告等等）達數十年之久；其「沒落」只是近十幾年的事。其實亦僅是反映風水輪流轉，任何誇張的事物總會回歸基本務實之路，直至下一浪來臨為止。

Topic of the day: South Park mocked Disney

Whether you like "South Park" (the animated TV series) or not, you gotta admit these guys "get" pop culture. They know what buttons to push to create controversies. Their parody of Tom Cruise and his "religion" is certainly legendary. The episode that made fun of High School Musical was also hilarious. And the latest one that I couldn't stop laughing was about Jonas Brothers and the stupid purity rings that they wear to symbolize the fact that they won't have sex under marriage. It was said in the episode that the purity rings were pushed so that the company could sell sex to teenagers! You might wonder why it isn't the opposite. I thought so for a second but then I understood! Let's face it. All these teen boy bands have was their good looks, in other words, sex appeal (don't tell me it's their talent) What could make them more acceptable to parents than "purifying" the appeal? It was a clever idea but it is also too superficial. Just think about what happened to all those teen idols who vowed for no sex until marriage. How many of them got pregnant before marriage?

And I want to give more credits to South Park by putting the blame on the company rather than the performers (Jonas Brothers in this case. They don't look that bad in that episode) You could watch it on their website. It is the first episode of the 13th season.)