荒謬世界香港篇之地鐵禁古箏

早前傳媒流傳一張背著古箏的學生在大圍站被地鐵職員留難最後無法上車的照片，網民指出帶著比古箏更大件如電器傢俱的乘客（疑似水貨客）卻在地鐵進出自如，相當不公平。後來有報導指曾有祖國學生欲攜古箏乘港鐵來港參賽被拒，以及大提琴也在被禁之列，可見受害者不只本地人，也有祖國人；不單中樂器，亦有西樂器，總之音樂人不分彼此。

蕭才子撰文從經濟學：執法成本分析此現象，其實道理極簡單：職員捨難取易也！和水貨客糾纏既費時又費勁，拿著樂器的學生哥如何相比？早幾天又流傳一張城管留難拾荒老婆婆的照片，說為何被趕的從來不是有枱有櫈阻街的電訊公司電視台推銷員？道理也差不多吧。


熱愛中樂的我在中學時代也學過兩種中樂器，幸好笛子和二胡皆方便攜帶，其實我不知有學生會背著體積重量不小的古箏乘搭公共交通工具，這股熱誠實在值得尊重。

Bass music

I heard that some people have the tendency to hum the bass line when trying to sing-a-long and I doubt I'm one of them but I do enjoy bass-centric music a lot. I recommended "The Bridge" by Charnett Moffett and "About Now" by Mark Egan before. The former is a bass solo album. I listened to another today: "Ones All" by Dave Holland. Any non-bass fan should give this a listen: Holland's melodic playing will change your mind. One bass is all you need, but sometimes it's also good to have a saxophone, as in the case of bassist Heiri Kanzig's duet with Chico Freeman named "The Arrival." You would hear the intimacy between two voices, and the listener, which is a very special feeling, especially on the ballads. Last but not least, another album with Dave Holland was his collaboration with flamenco master Pepe Habichuela named "Hands" It started with a producer invited both of them to play in Spain. That's when Dave Holland learned the art of flamenco. And it proves that really talented musicians are capable of mastering multiple styles. It's actually quite rare to hear flamenco music featuring bass (here is a study on this topic by a music school student) I think all instrumental flamenco music lovers will enjoy this work a lot as Dave Holland has added an extra dimension to the style.

E-MU 0404 USB on Windows 8

I bought a E-MU 0404 USB for its DAC (decoding digital music from PC for playback) and headphone amp capability years ago. (Also briefly tried using it as an audio interface of my guitar from the input for recording and guitar amp simulation) Since I had to move it around when using it which was not very convenient, it went out of favor for years until I dug it out last week. My current PC runs Windows 8. And E-MU doesn't officially support it. In fact, the product has already been end-of-life-ed. Well, it's still worthy to give it a try. So I downloaded its "latest" beta driver for Windows 7 64 bit. I "Run as Administrator" on the downloaded executable and clicked through the errors. Voila! The driver is up and running! The output was fed to my Qinpu A3 amp which drives a pair of Paradigm monitor as my bedroom system.

I am curious about the current status of the E-MU line of products and found some discussions that are not very favorable to it, for example, the reliability, which actually matches my experience: my 0404's input 1 started to introduce some noises not too long after I used with my guitars and I gave up on that purpose (When used with Audacity, input 2 is mono, which is still technically usable.) I had a better USB audio interface in my Korg Pandora anyway. From Creative's official pages, it seems that all development has stopped after 2011. So my next DAC will not be a E-MU. 

Back to Ubuntu 14.04

I have been experimenting with different OS on this old Toshiba Core i5 15" laptop since its HD with the original Win7 image became unstable last year. I started with Ubuntu 14.04 (installed via a bootable USB flash drive) Then moved on to Ubuntu Kylin 14.10, which targets Chinese but has quite a bit of errors/crashes for some unknown reasons (the pop-up dialog became annoying!) The Chinese functionality doesn't seem too useful anyway. So I decided to wipe it clean. Ubuntu offers 14.04.3 LTS (The Long Term Support version comes with five years of security and maintenance updates, guaranteed) It's basically usable out-of-the-box but of course I need to install Flash separately: WatchESPN links to Adobe which links to Ubuntu Software Center which cannot find the plugin. Command line is still the way to do (follow these steps)

My weekend

It's that time of the year (free cake, free cake) again. We had a night-out the weekend before at the Mission Street in SF (foreigncinema for drink and Lolinda for Argentinian steak) already. So this weekend was to be with friends and family. The Saturday started with EPL as usual: very happy to see Chelsea fell to Crystal Place. Then it's time for the San Francisco International Pen Show. I arrived ~10:15 and immediately headed to Susan Wirth's seminar. Very educational and entertaining (checking out other people's pen testing samples) After playing with many pens and ink, we left for K&L Wines. The excuse was to pick up my 3 bottles ordered last year. And of course we didn't miss the Sat afternoon tasting there. The theme was Chilean and Argentinian wine. Some were surprisingly good. Dinner time was all to myself. I originally wanted to try the Habit burger and picked the one in Daly City (Serramonte) The line was way long (not expected) so I had Boston Market instead (also had a line! But not as long) Next, it's party at my friends place (thanks to the Tangs!) Awesome ribs :) And we all had fun trying out new bottles of ink (with the cheap plastic pen branded "Dollar", rightfully so)

The Sunday started with EPL as well: very pissed to see Man U fell to Swansea. Also watched the pre-recorded Arena bowl victory of the mighty San Jose Sabercats (which was 17-1 in regular season. We went to one of those 17!) I finally got to try the Habit burger at lunch time. It's indeed pretty good (and not pricey) Glad that we beat the line by arriving before 11:45. The next activity was people (and new products) watching at the Valley Fair mall (when it's so hot, no one wanna play outdoors with me) I often told my son that as much as we don't enjoy shopping, we don't wanna be ignorant about what's out there either. Then it's preparation for cooking the celebration dinner ("So steak" and "So shrimp", named after my cooking instructor!) And watched more sports of course: Juan Pablo Montoya let the IndyCar title slipped away by crashing with teammate (and defending champ) Will Power. "Mr. Consistent" Scott Dixon ended up winning his 4th title. The MotoGP race at Silverstone was also won by an veteran driver and former champ, Valentino Rossi. It was close between him and Marc Marquez for many laps but the latter fell. This season of MotoGP has been good so far with lots of competitions, lead changes, and polesitter being overtaken at the start! What a happy ending to the relaxing weekend.

Guitar music

I felt that I wrote too much about saxophone music lately. I actually still play my guitar and still love guitar-centric music. Here are a few I listened to recently (some during those July trips)

• Rüdiger Krause: A Guitar Named Carla. Not sure if the guitarist really named one of his guitar Carla (referring to pianist/composer Carla Bley here) but the songs on this album were written by Carla and re-arranged for various instrumentations (solo acoustic or electric guitar, guitar + bass, or guitar/bass/piano.) Carla Bley herself played on the last piece.  
• Andreas Kapsalis and Goran Ivanovic: Blackmail. This was reviewed by an old (2013) guitar magazine that I "gave away" during the trip. Both are (nylon) acoustic guitarists with awesome techniques and it's a treat for all fans of guitar, especially those all enjoy world music. You can find more music of Ivanovic here. He has collaborated with other great guitarists like Fareed Haque as well.
• Nick Colionne: Influences. I first learned about this smooth jazz guitarist from the Epiphone newsletter (so I guess it's always good to be associated with a big brand name) Compared to saxophonists, there aren't as many smooth jazz guitarists out there (other than Norman Brown or George Benson) And Colionne is a versatile one judging by the last blues rock tune (Sting Like a King B) on this album and his videos demo-ing Epiphone Broadway guitar.
• Mark Egan: About Now. Saw the ad from an old jazz magazine about this release by a jazz bass guitarist. If you enjoy fusion and melodic bass playing (as lead and accompaniment) like I do, you must check it out.

I Wished on the Moon

The local jazz station played Billie Holiday's version yesterday morning and grabbed my attention immediately. To be honest, I usually switch away from the channel as soon as I hear one syllable of vocal (of course, there are exceptions, when the singer sounds anything like Billie, Ella, Patricia Barber.......) Very simple yet elegant lyrics (even though I don't completely understand what they meant: something to do with wishing beautiful things to happen. Who doesn't?) Added more to it was the superb instrumentalists playing on it, especially the saxophonist. Turns out it's from the Verve Silver collection. Now my next question was: what was the original Verve release that contained the song? And after a little bit of research, I found out it's from "All or Nothing at All," (MGV 8329) a studio album recorded in 1956 and 1957 and released by Verve Records in 1958. Turned out the saxophonist was Ben Webster. And the other musicians included guitarist Barney Kessel (his playing was tasteful as usual) and trumpter Harry "Sweet" Edison. The same lineup had recorded several sessions and the tracks were released by Verve many time. Another album from the sessions was "Songs For Distingué Lovers," which contained 6 tunes originally. This 15-song digital edition (also containing "I Wished on the Moon") is offered by Amazon for only $5.99. What a great deal (even though some reviewers thought the extra tunes added by the 1997 re-release didn't fit in with the original 6 in terms of the mood and style)

荒謬世界三藩市篇之鬼祟加價

早一排很少出三藩市金融區，最近連出兩次，感覺實在一般：幾條街道及部份建築物在進行維修，嘈吵又塞車。東西越來越貴，反而是意料中事；今時今日在SF吃個午餐，budget是十元或以上。要便宜最好去唐人街，十二年前吃越南（牛角）包三元有找，對上一次吃是$3.75，早幾天去見餐牌還是寫同一價錢，但老闆收我$4，抱歉地說餐牌還未更新價錢。今天外賣印度飯盒，餐牌也是舊價$8.75，收銀收我$10.4，我想稅沒有那麼重吧，原來餐牌上新加：所有食品均加收10% service charge! 那應該把餐牌全部加10%才對呀，老實說明碼實價$9.6也不算過份，巧立名目更令人反感。其實SF街頭的流動餐車（香港政府說要引入那種）很多午餐都標價$10。講開又講，這種餐車好像越來越多，今天發現一架賣雞的，以前未見過。

荒謬世界香港篇之保育大戰

近期幾單熱門新聞均和保育有關：中西區般咸道四棵石牆樹一夜間被當局全數斬伐。有八十年歷史的灣仔地標、三級歷史建築、港島唯一一間街角弧形騎樓式唐樓的「同德大押」被清拆中，工人早前漏夜展開拆卸工程，位於一樓外牆寫有「同德大押」四個大字的牌匾已被移除，部分牆身石屎已被削去。一間由前政府中人主理的顧問公司指電車佔用中區3成路面，要求城規會修訂中區分區計畫大綱圖，希望刪除涉及範圍道路內的「電車」用途。似乎一切殖民地時代留下的事物，建制人士均欲除之而後快。

如果將這些人的想法實施在羅馬的話，為了維持興建當地地鐵的進度，所有在挖掘過程發現的古蹟均無需經考古專家評估，照剷如儀!

California Audio Show 2015

 我是一個樂迷,也是半個音響發燒友,雖然(幸好)沒有金耳朵,去音響展聽聽貴價器材播放像真度極高的音樂,實在是賞心樂事,今年在三藩市灣區舉辦的加洲音響展已是第六屆!我則是第二次去.踏進機場Westin酒店地下,即會場第一層,就發現了好幾款值得聽聽的器材:

• UFO DSD DAC Headphone Amp: 便携式的外置USB數碼音響解碼器,近年頗為流行,對慣用電腦板腦手機聽音樂檔的人士十分方便,此產品的賣點是除了PCM更可以為DSD解碼,有數碼音樂店出售以DSD編碼的音樂檔,介紹該產品的Blue Coast Records就有出售自家錄製的作品,包括爵士鋼琴高手Vijay Iyer的鋼琴獨奏,詳細報告請看此文.
• Audeze LCD-XC headphone with ATOLL electronique preamp (HD120) and streamer (MS100): 代理Audio Vision SF展出了HifiMan及Audeze多款headphones,都是雜誌及郵購目錄力推的產品,比較之下我最喜歡的是Audeze LCD-XC, 一同demo來自法國的ATOLL electronique 慳地方亦感扎實.
• Pono portable digital music player:因該公司由Rock友Neil Young主理,Pono在推出時曾被大事報導,賣點是支援高清數碼音樂檔,理論上比一般賣的MP3或AAC(蘋果)質素為高,正如iDevice有iTunes store,Pono也有配合的高清數碼音樂售賣平台,至於player硬件方面亦採用由高檔音響製造商設計的高質素零件.不過也有測試指一般用家未必聽得出分別.
• Comply Foam tip:這是我唯一即場購買的硬件,$20實在很值得花,為甚麼如此吸引?我把原本用的$10廉價JVC in-ear headphone的tip改為Comply Foam tip後,由於更fit耳孔,隔聲度提高,亦提升了音質至接近$100的headphone的水平!

接著是上三樓及二樓逐間代理或廠商房間試聽,講講比較印象深刻的幾個品牌/型號:

• ZU audio的座地揚聲器Omen Mk II
• Burwell & Sons的號角揚聲器,他們房大聲大,實在有優勢
• Serene/audio的Talisman powered speaker,細細粒可直駁電腦無需amp, 已經能發出不俗的聲音,$395一對,加拿大製.
• Audioengine兩款powered揚聲器A3+及A5+可算是(同檔次稍貴的)Talisman的勁敵.
• PureAudioProject的開背揚聲器,賣點當然是開背的設計,以及中置的高音單元,單元可自行配搭
• First Impression Music (FIM)是香港音響雜誌讀者不會感到陌生的唱片公司品牌,由Sony授權製作的好幾張CD十分好聲,即場比較過從高清網購買的音樂檔和FIM製作的CD版ripped出來的WAV檔,後者明顯較有音樂味.
• AudioNote:示範的黑膠前後級揚聲器組合可謂配搭天衣無縫,背靠一幅短牆鄰近走廊這樣不理想的空間也不成問題.
• Advanced Transduction Speakers:展出一套四件大型座地揚聲器,聲音十分好,不過不是賣點,更正的是請來Shanda Lear即場以音響播伴奏演唱爵士名曲,這是她將會推出的限量黑膠.Lear女士是一位多才多藝的奇女子,其父親是發明家Bill Lear(即Lear Jet創辦人)而Lear家著名的8-track音響系統據Shanda說是她的idea.
• Magico揚聲器

不經不覺已行了三小時,最後一小時留給買軟件:The Audio Nerd(店員說舖頭就在Sacramento附近)在最後一天黑膠減至七折,我入了兩張.另外也在Reference Recordings這家專出靚錄音的唱片公司(名作包括Eiji Oue的Mephisto And Co)入了三張CD:對Joel Fan這位年輕鋼琴家的協奏曲錄音很感興趣,另一張雙CD全是Janacek的作品,只售$15,再加一張jazz sampler,打了折扣給我,最後一張免費.見另一位顧客問RR有甚麼爵士樂介紹,但他指明不要很激的音樂,尤其是勁吹的色士風(即Coltrane非Ballad作品免問)我忍不住插咀說there's nothing wrong with jazz saxophone. I play it too! Anyway,店員介紹給他一張比較柔和的Jim Brock Ensemble爵士作品,Jim Brock玩的是敲擊樂器,不過樂團也包括色士風:)其實是fusion派.

是日收獲

題外話:以前也去過兩次美國音響界頂級盛事--由權威雜誌Stereophile舉辦的全國性超大型展覽The Home Entertainment Show,不過該展不是常來三藩市,最懷念的是同場加演的live music.

Smooth sax

The hey days of smooth jazz are probably over. It might not actually be that bad for an instrumental music lover like myself. Why? One thing I recalled (and disliked) from that era was that every "instrumental" tune has a "mandatory" female background vocal singing a "tag line" (usually the tile of the song) Guys like Najee, Marion Meadows or Boney James all did that. I suppose that was mandated by the radio stations and record company exec. Here are quotes from a Billboard magazine article from 2000:

"Vocals are what has helped make smooth jazz a mass-appeal format and make it something that people can listen to and defend for work-place listening" - Frank Cody, Broadcast Architecture CEO.

"If you listen to some challenging instrumental that you've never heard before, you can only take so much of that. You want the comfort of a song you know" - Anne Gress, WJJZ operations manager

For almost twenty years I barely listen to smooth jazz for this reason. I guess there is no more pressure to make smooth jazz a mass-appeal so the annoying background vocal has gradually disappeared. (Well, the record companies don't bother to hire and pay for those singers!) On the other hand, one or two "vocal-centric" songs on an album is totally acceptable to me. While I wasn't paying much attention to the scene in the last twenty years, a whole new generation of smooth jazz saxophonists have emerged. And I went to two live performances at Yoshi's just this month! Here are a few good new albums from them:

• Vincent Ingala - Coast to Coast
• Jessy J - My one and only love. Check out her cover of (one of my all-time favorite band) The Cure's "Lovesong" Here is a post about it. I completely forgot this or I would have yelled out this when she asked what songs the audiences like on her new albums during her show last night! In addition to these new songs, she has also performed the hits from her previous albums, like the Tango Boy. She played mainly her tenor sax but also alto, flute and sang a few tunes! Very sweet voice, especially in Portuguese (her cover of the huge hit "Mas Que Nada" by Sergio Mendes. Everyone has heard this before)
• Michael Lington - Soul Appeal. Like a lot of smooth jazz musicians, he had a lot of success playing with singers outside of the genre, like Bobby Caldwell and Aaron Neville. It's no surprised that his band features a very good singer, whose main duty was actually playing guitar. Unlike Jessy J, Lington only played his alto (he is a Yamaha artist. So is my whole family :P Got a Yamaha piano, guitar, sax and clarinet at home) I enjoyed his story about playing on jazz cruise: the program was an all Beatles tribute. Like most people he's a fan and have no problem playing Beatles cover. However, he was last in line to pick a song to play. All songs he wanna played were picked and the one left was "Eleanor Rigby," which he considered really a string-centric rather than a sax type of song. Anyway, he came up with an arrangement that he actually satisfied with and performed that night. I loved it.

Sports highlights: MLB trade deadline, NASCAR's Kyle Busch

Is anyone surprised that I haven't posted anything about sports for 2.5 months? Well, I am. Major events that happened included NBA playoff (the local team Golden State Warriors won it all and most importantly beating the team lead by public enemy #1 in the finals), Stanley Cup (won by the Chicago Blackhawks again, who is having a SF Giants-like dynasty IMO), Tour De France (won by Chris Froome, again, without much challenges), THE Triple Crown (American Pharoah became the first horse who won it since 1978) I didn't watch much of these events except for the NBA Final Game 6 and the NHL Final Game 6 (both on the Disney Cruise ship)

Gotta admit all these traveling has shuffled my priorities a bit. And realizing I have a stack of new books waiting to be read didn't help. I do want to write about the few things I still follow, e.g. the MLB trade deadline was passed last Friday. IMO, the Royals (Johnny Cueto, Ben Zobrist), the Dodgers (Mat Latos, Alex Wood), the Astros (Carlos Gomez, Scott Kazmir), the Mets (Yoenis Cespedes, Tyler Clippard), the Blue Jays (Troy Tulowitzki, David Price) all got major upgrades. The Giants got a minor upgrade in Mike Leake who is replacing Tim Hudson. The A's was the seller, which is no surprise as they sell when they are winning anyway. The White Sox should have been selling to build for the future (this season is done for them) but they didn't. I wonder if they saw some hopes after beating up the Red Sox (and winning 7 in a row) but that's more like an illusion judging by how they fell to the Yankees.

And I still follow NASCAR (no one fought for the remote of the 65" TV at the Virginia training site while I was watching the looooooong races using the DVR!) The driver who is having a super hot streak since the beginning of my Summer break was, surprise surprise, Kyle Busch, who broke his legs at the very first race of the season and has been out for 3+ months. NASCAR made an exception for his return: if his point standing was in the Top 30 and won at least one race, he would qualify for the Chase (NASCAR's playoff) So, what has he done lately? He earned four Sprint Cup wins, two XFINITY Series victories and last Saturday's Camping World Truck win. I'm surprised that he's ONLY at #32 even with 4 wins. Some of the races he won were enjoyable to watch (like the local race at Sonoma) Even the ones he didn't win were exciting, like the Windows 10-sponsored one at Pocono yesterday, in which he got a late lead from Joey Logano because the latter ran out of gas. Then the same happened to him (who finished 21st) and Martin Truex Jr. So the next one who didn't ran out of gas won, which was Matt Kenseth! BTW, American Pharoah won again last weekend.

荒謬世界香港篇之鐵人插水

香港大學遴選委員會推薦陳文敏教授出任副校長，卻被校務委員會一直拖延遲遲不批，一般相信是和陳的政治立場有關，日前校務委員會開會再度「維持原判」，指要等待首席副校長上任才處理，建制派繼等埋發叔又來一次等埋首副。事件引起強烈不滿，尤其是港大舊生及學生，發動圍堵，一名委員盧寵茂自稱被包圍之人士踢傷倒地，是耶非耶？大家大妨睇片。盧是醫生界中參加鐵人比賽的名人，著名武打演員黃秋生指如此近距離根本很難出腳攻擊盧至倒地。雖然這似乎只是港大自己的事，其實可以說是和全港市民有關，皆因阻止政治黑手干預學術自由，人人有責（見此文）。

荒謬世界香港篇之法定語言

最近讀了兩篇文章，分別來自陳智德的《地文誌》一書及明報週刊，無獨有偶，均提及香港法定語言。前者提到一九六八年至一九七一年間的「爭取中文成為法定語文運動」，在香港學運史上稱為「第一次中文運動」後者則是關於今時今日有居民爭取區議會紀錄用英文，好讓香港少數族裔人士也可以閱讀。

真是此一時，彼一時！

香港書展

自1990年開始舉辦的書展，我不否認我記憶中沒有去過的印象，這實在是很奇怪的事，皆因我很喜歡買書，這26年來7月在香港的日子也不少，起碼有八至十次，可能去過又忘了，總之就當今年是第一次去吧！早上剛去過老友的喪禮，他是愛閱讀之人，事實上有不少作家作品都是他介紹給我，書展是他每年率眾必到的地方，不失為一眾好友憑弔他的一個節目。朋友說星期六下午熱門時間可能要排隊1.5小時左右才能進場，幸好到達時沒有甚麼人龍，沿著鐵馬走了1小時左右就能買票入場，終於認識到書展是甚麼一回事：
1）有展覽：主角不是書而是作家，例如年度作家李歐梵（雖然今年更為矚目的可能是原來的得獎人李碧華，不過她拒絕在689治下獲獎而推卻）也看到早年連載金庸小說的舊報紙，以及不（只）作書的作詞人介紹。
2）有文具玩具精品：後者包括裝書（或其他雜物）的袋等等，我買了一支Pilot Kakuno廉價入門級墨水筆，品質不錯（起碼不像小時候那支老是漏墨）朋友笑我們用墨水筆的都是「偽文青」！

3）有書局及出版社代表：這是書展的真正主角吧，兩個大展覽館內一行一行都是賣書攤檔，粗略估計，每行展出的書量大概比得上1.5-3間一般香港屋苑商場內的書店，不過每檔各有各賣，書目及書種自然有所重覆。我幻想中的書展好像一間巨型書店：攤檔按書種分開，例如旅遊書一檔，音樂書一檔等等，每檔賣各間參展出版社的作品，當然，幻想和現實是兩回事。（題外話，記憶中早幾年連續兩個冬天去了大眾書局在會展搞的書展，2010年就是我幻想般的安排）好幾本日本寫真大師教攝影的書都值得一讀，還有附DVD介紹藝術家生平的書也不錯，但為免拿得太重，我只是精挑細選買了兩本：

Movie-athon Part 3

再來一帖寫寫幾套機上電影：
Friends with Benefit:上次提過兩套Cameron Diaz電影，今次介紹的女主角則是我認為可算Diaz接班人的Mila Kunis，兩者皆屬豪放型愛情喜劇女星，好像都和本片男主角Justin Timberlake拍過拖（？）Anyway,看片名也大致估到劇情，離不開好朋友由純粹上床至愛上對方的公式，賣點是兩個靚人，適合和女性朋友觀看。
Jupiter Ascending:又是Mila Kunis的電影！她飾演的主角在未出生時父親被刧匪所殺，生活一直頗為艱苦，一天突然被「外星人」追殺，原來她的DNA排列和已故「外星女皇」一樣，擁有繼承女皇領地（包括地球！）的權利；之後的發展是典型英雄救美的故事。

Ex Machina:又是一套科幻片，主題則是人工智能（我在讀書時代最有興趣的課題）故事講述一名在領導市場的互聯網公司工作的年輕軟件開發員，在云云競爭者中脫穎而出，得以參與公司老板秘密計劃，到達老板隱居之處時，老板告知其任務是測試用人工智能技術製成的靚女機械人，到底能否分辨對方是人還是機器；當然，背後有hidden agenda。靚女絕對是一大賣點。

Till Death Do Us What?:最後這套原本以為是笑片卻相當賺人熱淚。講的是一對多年互相扶持的好友，男方終於決定向女求婚，女方也接受，結婚後懷孕，卻發現女方患上末期癌症，不久去世；死後陰魂不散，依然跟隨丈夫左右，而男方為了成為作家的理想苦苦掙扎，把他和太太生前懷孕患癌期間的博客文章輯錄成書。其實不算太有娛樂性。詳情請參考影評。

Movie-athon Part 2

再寫寫近期出trip時看的幾套電影：
Kingsman:年初上畫時已有同學大力推薦；主題是人類濫用地球資源趨向滅亡，唯有清除部份人類方可扭轉乾坤（和Tomorrowland，Inferno差不多）Kingsman是一班身份超然的特工，被委以和惡勢力對抗的重任。導演可說相當嗜殺，一班國家元首爆頭的場面固然駭人，一名Kingsman殺盡教堂仝人那段直可令本片成為暴力電影cult classic。

Maestro!（台譯：尋找心樂章）:我對日本文化尤其是電影的認識可算只是冰山一角，簡介提到小提琴手吸引了我選看本片。回家後看評論才知原來是改編自漫畫，想來也頗有那種誇張的感覺；自負懷才不遇的樂師們遇上出位的指揮被後者啟發，詳情可讀此頁。主旨不外乎是玩出好音樂不能因循，要發自內心云云，個人也不覺得算甚麼大道理，反正娛樂性足夠就是了。
Sex tape:對Cameron Diaz有一份特別的感情，所以明知電影標題只是噱頭，也會落搭；故事說他們兩公婆想在小朋友大一點的時候重拾浪漫，拍了的床片意外地被sync軟件傳開了，於是千方百計地阻止，事實上本片一如Jason Segel其他愛情片，都是東拉西扯，加點自嘲，不過輕輕鬆鬆地kill time也還可以。
The Other Women:又是Cameron Diaz的電影，還加上另一位中女情片王Leslie Mann，幸好尚有新一代性感女神Kate Upton，三人皆是同一位型男的太太及情人，竟然連成一線對付花心騙子。在Virginia受訓的無聊晚上看看公司提供的Fios TV在65"電視上消磨下時間倒也無防。

待續。

Movie-athon

曾幾何時我每週起碼從電影院或有線電視看一套新電影，尤其是在Madison讀書的年代，生活很簡單，節目亦不多。到了現在，選擇實在太多，而電影又越來越長，大多兩小時或以上，很難坐定定，除非是在飛機（或郵輪）上，過去兩個月正因此看了一打電影：

Avenger the Age of Ultron:作為super hero電影擁躉，對第二集Avenger電影當然是熱切期待，上郵輪之前預計會在船上電影院播放，果然得償所願！其實早有家人告知不及第一集，因為故事有點混亂，而Hulk的感情戲亦有點格格不入，雖則如此，其打鬥場面亦算精彩。
Tomorrowland:既由George Clooney主演，故事自必然頗有深度，他飾演的角色從小就對科技十分沉迷，小時對未來世界充滿期望，長大後卻了解到人類濫用地球資源必定滅亡，因而隱居山林；片中的歹角則是催動人類加速在地球滅亡的黑手，正正式式就是散播負能量。電影唯一敗筆是起初花了太太長時間去描繪未來世界的科技如何神妙。
Big Hero 6:這是去年返培正加冕時期上映的電影，主角是一名居於三藩市和東京混合體城市的反叛少年及其兄長研發出的健康監察機械人，後者被前者改裝為一個戰士，攜手對抗壞人，故事雖簡單勝在一氣呵成。
Inside Out:這部電影首天上畫我們一家在迪士尼郵輪電影院觀看午夜場，感覺當然特別。主線是講一名青春期少女跟隨父母由明尼蘇達州搬到三藩市灣區（父親搞tech startup），適應新生活有困難，主角則是在少女腦中掌管各種情緒的多位負責「人」，各種情緒以及記憶如何交戰，大概就是科學界目前對人腦運作的認識，頗有新鮮感但故事太簡單，不免有點沉悶；不過，香港的影評人倒是一片好評。

This is Spinal Tap:在飛機上芸芸新舊電影中，竟然找了這套超舊的來看。其實這套heavy metal parody可算是經典，連爵士結他大師Pat Metheny也引用了其中金句幽了訪問者一默！主角是一隊老牌搖滾樂隊，由British invasion時代開始玩音樂，曾經紅極一時，也經歷過成員反目，其實是很多樂隊的寫照。Pat Metheny被訪時提到Bb minor是最哀傷的調，其實是模仿Spinal Tap的結他手在片中指D minor是最哀傷的調:)
Gone girl:本片是近期看過最好的電影！可能因為原著（未讀過）的故事寫得太好吧。不想劇透太多，總之是講一對金童玉女夫妻中的太太失蹤，揭開了背後種種秘密。
請留意本帖下集。

意大利遊記:威尼斯篇

威尼斯是今次意大利之旅唯一重遊之舊地,和15年前一樣也是坐火車.還記得當年去是跟著合作公司員工即日從米蘭來回,在火車站沿著往St Marco的路牌走了不到兩小時就到達寬大的廣場及宏偉的教堂,沿途有一大堆以遊客為對象的商店,以為威尼斯就只得這些.今次我們住了兩晚,感覺又不一樣,下了火車先坐水上巴士到apartment安頓,再走到著名外賣意粉店Dal Moro's醫肚,他們自製的意粉口感一流,用高品質的麵粉無添加蛋製成!(我們第二晚又再光顧了一次,另一餐晚餐我們在Rossopomodoro吃pizza)然後在COOP超市買點飲品小食.

我們到過的威尼斯名勝包括:
St Marco廣場:很多音樂表演.
St Marco Basilica:很宏偉的教堂,可免費參觀,我們兩點半到,排隊等入也只是半小時左右,十分值得.
San Maurizio church:這教堂也是一間可免費參觀的音樂博物館,保存了很多威尼斯名家製作或使用的樂器,並重點介紹威尼斯最著名的古典音樂家Vivaldi的生平.Vivaldi是我從小就欣賞的作曲家,四季可謂無人不識,不過他晚年發展不甚如意,死於維也納的事蹟我還是從這裡才認識,在此可購買晚上名家演奏Vivaldi音樂會的門票
Frari church:此教堂展出多件名作,包括Donatello及Titian的作品,雖然不是免費, 3歐元入場費絕對值得.
Rialto bridge/market:威尼斯由多個小島組成,橋多不勝數,最著名的可算是Rialto(其次則是嘆息橋),同名的市場早上賣生果,附近也有魚市場,當然少不了賣紀念品的商店,威尼斯的小島Murano以出產玻璃見稱,飾物擺設墨水筆均十分精美.

最後想介紹一個有用的app:Galileo.意大利舊城的街道不如美國城市般井然有序,威尼斯的尤其左彎右曲,走幾個街口往往就不知方向,這個app可預先在網上(免費)下載地區詳細街道圖,而iPad的GPS無須上網也可在該app的地圖上定向,在威尼斯成了我們救星!

後記:這是我們暑假旅行最後一站,玩到不想回家,Air Canada似乎想幫一把:在威尼斯航機故障需更換零件,結果延誤了五小時,連累我們趕不上在多倫多轉機回家,要在Crowne Plaza酒店借宿一宵,這經驗認真難忘!

意大利遊記:比薩篇

我們參加的local tour下午在佛羅倫斯Santa Maria Novella教堂對面集合,旅遊巴開到Pisa大概1.5hr左右.參觀的名勝全在圍牆之內的Miracle plaza: 包括Baptistery. 大教堂(和羅馬佛羅倫斯及威尼斯最宏偉的教堂相比不遑多讓!),博物舘(古時是醫院)以及墳場,可謂和古人一生息息相關,意義重大.諷刺的是,最有名的Leaning tower反而只得一個普通功能,就是作為報時的鐘樓!

左至右:墳場,baptistery,教堂,斜塔

原來鐘樓在剛開始興建最底幾層不久,建築師已發現開始傾斜,於是停工.膽大的繼任人想到補救方法:就是再向上起,新層在向下斜那一邊的柱子加長一點!在本世紀初,由於傾斜角度由4度增至6度,於是當局將之封閉並找來工程專家研究辦法:專家終於解開再度傾斜之謎:地下泥土太多水份,濕土堆積在一邊,改善的辦法就是抽走這些積土,斜塔得以從新開放.接近三百級的石級樓梯是上頂的唯一途徑,一鼓作氣,其實也只需五分鐘左右就走完.