2006年12月30日星期六
2006年12月29日星期五
The first-class failure
The First Emperor is a first-class failure. It has all right ingredients, spent all right amount of money, but turn out to be a soup no one likes. In the first Act, Tan Dun tried all kinds of innovative music elements (to western ears), such as traditional Chinese music instrument Zheng, drums, ceramic instruments. Each piece is great in its own way, but they do not come together as a good background for the opera. Sometimes, they become so peculiar and showoff that the audiences forget they come to attend an opera. Tan Dun also lacks the ability to control the melody for many vocal parts. The several arias among the Emperor, the Shamen, the General, Gao Jianli and Princess Yueyang are hard to appreciate. The second Act is much more coherent musically and adds more theatric intension. The final scene of inauguration of the first emperor is great, but too late to save the whole play.
The media called this play an occasion where “Peking Opera meets Grand Opera”. And the 10 year production period costed $2 million. The play stars Placido Domingo as the emperor Qin. NPR describes the effort as follows, “Tan Dun's cross-cultural compositions have also drawn attention in the last decade, as has his use of unconventional percussion instruments. He finds music in stones, water and paper”. New York Times gave very bad review, “Still, music drives the theatrical experience of opera, and Mr. Tan’s score is an enormous disappointment, all the more so because whole stretches of it, and many arresting musical strokes, confirm his gifts…….His music does sing. And sing. And sing. On and on. Whatever the mood of the moment, whether dreamy, defiant, sensual or tragic, as soon as the characters break into song, the melodic lines are inevitably long, arching and slow. Even when the orchestra bustles with intensity, the often cloying vocal lines hovering above still move with almost unvarying deliberateness. In the Italian operas Mr. Tan has in mind — say, Puccini’s “Turandot” — the pacing of vocal lines accords with the impetuosity of the moment and the flow of the words. Mr. Tan’s goal in this work, it would seem, was to create a ritualistic and hypnotic lyricism. But “The First Emperor” gives soaring melody a bad name.”
From this opera, you can imagine the opening of the 2008 Olympic game in Beijing. People mountain, people sea, but without a good melody!
“And yet it all seems limitless”
In the beginning of The Painted Veil, there is a sentence “the longest journey in the world is the distance between two people”. The Painted Veil is a 1925 novel by W. Somerset Maugham . It is also a beloved screenplay, which has been adapted into film in 1934, 1957 and 2006. According to wikipedia, “The Painted Veil is a 1934 drama film made by MGM. It was directed by Ryszard Bolesławski and produced by Hunt Stromberg from a screenplay by John Meehan, Salka Viertel, and Edith Fitzgerald, adapted from the 1925 W. Somerset Maugham novel The Painted Veil. The film stars Greta Garbo as Katrin Koerber Fane, Herbert Marshall as Dr. Walter Fane and George Brent as Jack Townsend, with Warner Oland and Jean Hersholt.” “The Seventh Sin is a 1957 film based on the 1925 novel The Painted Veil by W. Somerset Maugham. It was adapted for the screen by Karl Tunberg and drected by Ronald Neame. Vincente Minnelli was uncredited but involved in directing prior to leaving the project. Bill Travers stars as Doctor Walter Carwin and Eleanor Parker plays his wife Carol.”
The most recent adaptation is directed by John Curran and stars Naomi Watts, Edward Norton, and Liev Schreiber. “Kitty Fane (Watts) marries Dr. Walter Fane (Norton) even though she does not really love him. The Fanes move from England to China, where Dr. Fane is stationed in a government lab studying infectious disease. Kitty has an an affair with diplomat Charlie Townsend (Schreiber), and when Walter finds out, he gives her an ultimatum: come with me to the Chinese interior to assist with a cholera epidemic, or be served with divorce papers. When Charlie refuses to leave his wife for Kitty, she chooses to travel with her husband. The Fanes' marriage slowly blossoms into love as Kitty sees what a good man her husband is. She begins to assist at the local orphanage, while Walter tends to the sick and looks for a way to stop the spread of the epidemic despite resistance from the local populace. Kitty learns she is pregnant but is unsure who is the father, yet Walter remains with her. Just as the local cholera problem is resolved, diseased refugees from downriver pour into the area, forcing them to set up a refugee camp outside town. Walter contracts cholera and dies after several days. Kitty returns to London, and five years later runs into Charlie Townsend on the street as she walk with her young son. Kitty rejects his overtures and walks away.”
The story line is quite simple, comparing to the more appealing story such as The Sheltering Sky by Paul Bowles. In many ways, these two films resemble each other: exotic setting, marriage without loves, overwhelmingly and deadly disease. However, they are foundamentally different. The Painted Veil has faith in love and in good human nature. Walter and Kitty were trapped in their marriage, but they were young and energtic and had ability to speak out their love. The cholera epidemic only made them to feel the presence of each other and the strength of each other. W. Somerset Maugham was a romantic writer in essence and he aovided the underlying conflict between the east and west, male and female, the cosmopolitian and rural life. In his world, love was human’s nature and would grow up even in the most harsh environment.
But 24 years later, Paul Bowles broke this kind of romantic fairtale by his painstakingly written work, The Sheltering Sky. The story centers on Port and Kit Moresby, a married couple originally from New York who travel to the North African desert accompanied by their friend Tunner. The journey, initially an attempt by Port and Kit to resolve their marital difficulties, is quickly made fraught by the travelers' ignorance of the dangers that surround them. During their journey, Port and Kit became intimate again but they realized the love between them was impossible. They were doomed to be alone and lonely. After they passionately made love under the bare sky, Port signed that the sky was so heavy. Port died in the journey and Kit wondered in the dessert and became slave of a young man from the dissert. They did not know each other’s language, or culture or even way of making love. They stayed together and did nothing except making love. I try very hard to understand what this means for Kit. Eventually, I come to the conclusion that the story had no faith in love, or put it differently, the author feared human being were too weak to carry on any type of love, physically or emotionally. In name of love, people become intimate and then turn into stranger. The foundamental tragedy of life was a lake of the feeling of grativity, an emotional latitude which was impossible to reach or sustain. Who can boldly claim he or she can love in the same intensity always, against our aging process and the endless suffering of life?
In the book, Bowles wrote: “Because we don't know when we will die, we get to think of life as an inexhaustable well. Yet everything happens only a certain number of times, and a very small number really. How many more times will you remember a certain afternoon of your childhood, some afternoon that is so deeply part of your being that you, that you can't even conceive of your life without it? Perhaps four or five times more, perhaps not even that. How many more times will you watch the full moon rise? Perhaps 20. And yet it all seems limitless.”
Yet another 36 years later, Patrick Süskind wrote his elergy of love under the name Perfume: The Story of a Murderer. He created a unknown legend of 18 century France, a great perfumer of all time, Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, “whose prodigious gift of an incomparable sense of smell and inexplicable lack of personal scent isolates him from society. Obsessed with the rich sensory world he alone inhabits, his single objective in life becomes the preservation of the perfect scent: the skin of young, beautiful virgins”.
In this story, the author did not even bother to create a love story. All the girls in the story were only instruments for Grenouille and their lives were meaningful only for their particularity in odor. In the end of the novel, Grenouille’s lack of smell was depicted as his incapable to love and to be loved. He never got an education for love and in the story, love was not a nature either. He did not have it and he did not know that he did not have it. In Grenouille’s eyes, there was no body, no beauty, and no physical attraction. The girls were purely objectives, not subjectives. In his eyes, each individual degenerated into an odor, a symbol, an element. Love and passion are simple not possible to arise by nature, but have to be induced by external force (perfume in this case). In the last scene of the film, Grenouille used the power of the perfume to control the people, who started to make love openly in the square. The intoxicate smell of the perform transformed into the most exotic sensation, which Grenouille himself was incapable of particiating. His fate is the fate of modern men, the generation who believe in science, in experiment, and belive in their unique right to the world. However, love is already out of their equation, even though people believe otherwsie.
In the Magic Flute, Tamio searches for spiritual love and Papageno tries to find his mate. Deep down in Mozart’s mind, there is the believe in the existence of love and people’s ability to capture their love through their effort and sacrifice. Two hundred years later, we stand in the waste land of emotion and cry for our lack of willingness to love. “And yet it all seems limitless”.
Letter to a Friend
Hug you many times! I don't want to ask what happened across the Atlantic, but I do wish you could take care of yourself now and think nothing about anything. Just try to relax, breathe and eat and sleep! Do normal things people do and live as a plant if you feel comfortable. You know, I am not very good at expressing my feelings, but please believe me I feel your pain and wish to share your tears!
You live with an emotional intensity which is beyond the reach of most human being. It is a blessing and could be a curse too. I wish you could always use it to create the work of art, as you have achieved in many ways. Your talent in love should somehow, if possible at all, translate into more common language of art. Living the moment of summit experience is not easy and sometime even damaging, but, you have the privilege to experience and you should express it. It is the gentle kiss of God which makes it happens, but God also asks more of you.
You are a unique creature I ever meet and I am glad to know you. Sometimes, if you like, I can tell you how common people live. But don't give up your pursuit for greatness and perfection for the sake of free of pain. Try to learn from it, understand it and even convert it to art.
No word can communicate my feeling now. You know the length of the winter daylight is short, but we do not give it up because it is short. So is your passion for love and fulfillment in life. The love can become the source of intelligence and sometimes compassion. Try your way to cope with your pain, go to cinemas, go for a walk, or go to museum to wait for the day passes by.
Be ready to come back and go home in China, and we should meet there. Call me anytime once you reach US.
Breathe! Eat! Sleep!
Po
Christmas Week
Dec 21st: Picked up Chen at Penn Station; had dinner at Korean town; went to see The Painted Veil at Lincoln Center Plaza Cinema; chated till 3:00am in the morning; saw her off to London;
Dec 23rd: helped Yan to move out and had breakfast together; went to Fang’s home for lunch and met with Li Xia and Wang Yijia (brought two shoes from Aerosoles); went to Penn Station to pick up Mingwei; Met Xu at home; Went out with Mingwei and Xu to see the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center; chat till morning;
Dec 24th: had late brunch; went to central park and met beautiful weather in the Park; spent couple of hours at Met Museum and enjoyed the café; walked down Madison Ave and picked up Jifeng at 68 street; went to Yijia’s hotpot party and sung Karaoke all night long; came back and had tea till late night;
Dec 25th: got up late; went to 68 street to see Happy Feet with IMAX; had bad stomach; went a long way to Flushing with Xu and Jifeng to meet Jin and Ma Yue for dinner; had bubble tea together and chatted all night;
Dec 26th: Jifeng and Xu failed to get any sleep; Went to Met Opera and got tickets for The First Emperor; met Mingwei at MoMa and spent hours there; got dressed for the opera and spent the night there; chatted till the morning;
Dec 27th: Got up late and sent Mingwei to Penn Station (I have a weird feeling about that station); came back and sent Xu to bus station; went to Met Opera with Zhan and Xiaohong for the rush tickets for I Puritani and failed to get the tickets; instead went to Korean town for a great dinner;
Dec 28th: Slept for 12 hours; went to Doctor and finished visa forms; found out a job offer; decided to treat myself well and went to see The Perfume and The Queen at Lincoln Plaza Cinema.
2006年12月27日星期三
2006年12月21日星期四
Prince in the slippers
Won’t you fall in love with a prince with slippers? Tamio in the Die Zauberflöte yesterday night actually had a pair of purple slippers. I guess it might be the fashion in ancient Egypt. As the most welcomed performance for kids, Met Opera in fact prepares two version of the show: one full-length version of Die Zauberflöte and one 90 minutes version of Magic Flute for family. In order to have a better view from my H110 at family circle, I finally got myself a binocular and it worked perfectly.
Die Zauberflöte is a story of “love can conquer all”. From Wikipedia:
“Die Zauberflöte, K. 620, (en: The Magic Flute) is an opera in two acts composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a German libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder. The work is in the form of a Singspiel, a popular form which included both singing and spoken dialogue. The opera is often noted for its prominent Masonic elements. Both Schikaneder and Mozart were Masons and lodge brothers, though the Freemasons were at the time regarded by the public at large as a dangerous and subversive organization. The opera is also heavily influenced by Enlightenment philosophy, and can be regarded as an analogy for enlightened absolutism. The Queen of the Night represents irrational-diabolic obscurantism, whereas her antagonist Sarastro symbolises the reasonable sovereign who rules with paternalistic wisdom and enlightened insight. In the end he prevails over the darkness ("The sun's rays drive away the night, destroy the evil power of the dissembler"). But the darkness is by no means frightening and abhorrent, but beautiful, mysterious and fascinating. As an awesome seductress the Queen of the Night is a dangerous power who can only be overcome by knowledge.
A notable feature of the music is the way in which Mozart was able to write for a range of skill-sets in the singers. Compare, for example, the vocal lines for Monostatos (which are easy, "obvious" lines to sing for a modest voice; are also often stated first in strings so the singer can find his pitch; and which are doubled as he sings, to give him the tune – anyone who has sung a karaoke arrangement of a well-known song will know the kind of process) with those of Pamina or the Queen of the Night (which give few such clues for the singer and demand decent operatic ability). Yet, in ensembles, Mozart manages to combine voices of virtuosos with those of what are essentially comic actors, and create a satisfying result. The F6 which the Queen of the Night must reach in both her arias is beyond the range of many first-rate sopranos. At the low end, Sarastro must sing an F at several points; it requires a good bass to hit the note impressively, but the note does not go below the range of the choral basses.” 
Julie Taymor's magical production of Mozart's sublime and mystical opera features bears and serpents, and, of course, a rotating cast of internationally acclaimed young singers, including soprano Isabel Bayradkarian and baritone Nathan Gunn. James Levine conducts the performance the past night. The stage design was really splendid and the installations were made of glass. So you feel like going to a crystal world where fairy tale does happen. Basically, there were four sets of class stages and they can be separated as independent stage or combined together as a palace or temple. The light designer fully used the reflection of the class walls to create a fantastic dream world of all generations. The performance was so much like the hallowing parade, where performers in black customs manipulated flying sneaks, bears and birds on the stage. The bears were so cute and they were not terrifying at all. Among the singers, I like the Queen of the Night by Cornelia Götz. She really got the emotional intensity of the mad queen and her aria in Act II (Der Hölle Rache kocht in meinem Herzen) was very beautifully done. In terms of theatrical performance, Rodion Pogossov gave a wonderful interpretation of the carefree Papageno, who was longing for a Papagena but not the exhalted brotherhood. The bass, Sarastro by Stephen Milling, had several wonderful arias, including the everlasting masterpiece “O Isis und Osiris”. Tamino was played by Christoph Strehl, he is quite handsome but not sing as well.
The story itself is interesting. The notes on the making of the opera said the story was built upon fairy tale and the play was a combination of pop “magic story” of 18 century and elegant operatic form. The liberetto and stage designer was friend of Mozart and he wanted something for all kinds of audience for his popular theater. Mozart created this wonderful piece which masterfully combined different opera genres without compromised its playfulness and humor. In fact, the play is nothing but a great challenge for stage design, because the scene changes so often and it demands changes in short period of time. I can hardly imagine how the dying Mozart created this work of art dedicated to love and life. In the play, he praised the merit of love, friendship and brotherhood which he would soon lose forever. It is such a great irony that he composed and conducted the opera and died three months later. The opera was like his last call for life, crystallizing all his passion for being human and being in love. In contrast to Wagner’s overwhelming heroic and epically tales, Mozart’s play is much more delicious. It becomes every child’s dream. Even when we grow up, we still hold those dreams dear to our heart. We love our princes even they wear only slippers. Whereas there is love, there is hope!
2006年12月17日星期日
Friends will come for Xmas
so happy and so hopelessly work on my dissertation. Longing for the summer days to walk in the sunshine or moonlight. where are my youthful energy and passion for the unknown? I will miss Xiehe and Chunjie, since I will not see them during this holiday.
韩剧编剧攻略不完全手册
最近无聊至极在看韩剧，内心对自己充满了鄙夷之情。鄙夷之余，发现韩剧的编剧真是简单的可以，但是不知道为什么人们还是乐此不疲。基本上来说，所有的故事都是以所谓的循环逻辑和不对称为主题的。在叙事的情节上，一般采用顺时的叙事结构，也有少数喜欢玩闪回和快进。多数故事采用cross-sectional data，但是少数故事喜欢套用Panel data来增加刺激性。故事的关键在于再不可能的条件下开展不可能成功的爱情，然后在最不符合情理的条件使不可能成功的爱情成功。以下分文别类的加以论述并讨论具体的案例。
一、所谓的循环逻辑就是指在故事的陈述和人物关系上安排大大小小的loop，使得每个人都在追求那个追求不到的人，而且这些人之间都有“剪不断，理还乱”的关系。因此故事的主人公们往往会在爱情、友情和亲情这三个层次上发生各种合法或者不合法、符合伦理或者不符合伦理的关系。往往是由于个人在友情和亲情上的关系，使得他们的爱情具有不合法性。而这种不合法性使得这些爱情具有暧昧的魅力。
a. 爱情和亲情的矛盾。例如兄弟二人先后爱上一个女人，《春日》里面在哥哥变傻之后，弟弟爱上了哥哥的女朋友。有时兄弟二人同时爱上一个女人，比如《对不起我爱你》中间的同父异母兄弟。
b. 爱情和友情的矛盾。著名的《冬季恋歌》，三个好朋友先后爱到一起，随后一方为了另一方牺牲了自己的爱情。《雪之女王》里面男生发现女友是自己已经死去的少年时最好男友的妹妹，其实根据剧情的描写，那两个男生颇有断背之情的嫌疑。
c. 爱情和爱情的矛盾。《恋人》里面，一个和女友同居的男人发现了自己爱上了女友的邻居。在《冬季恋歌》里面，男人发现自己的未婚妻重新投入前男友的怀抱。
二、不对称性是指人物在社会地位、身体条件或者其他方面具有很大的差异，因此导致他们的爱情不可能成功。而这些外界因素的限制，才使得剧情跌宕起伏、引人入胜。
a. 社会地位的限制：比如财富或者身份的差异，《爱在哈佛》或者《黄手帕》里面王子爱上灰姑娘。在《大长今》里面，不该谈恋爱的宫女喜欢宫廷命官，也够要命的。
b. 身体条件的限制：例如年龄，在《我是金三顺》和《狐狸，你在干吗呢？》里面大玩姐弟恋的故事就是典型。例如健康，《对不起我爱你》、《雪之女王》、《冬季恋歌》或者《秋天的童话》里面，男女主人公总有一个得了要死的病，所以他们的爱情故事才缠绵悱恻、令人为之气结。
c. 其他的限制：学历和社会地位的差别，比如在《恋人》里面女医生爱上黑社会混混。
三、在叙事情节上，多数按照时间的发展而推进。也有少数喜欢插入几代人的爱恨情结，在时间上来来回回，没完没了。
a. Panel data: 最典型的莫过于《宫》，子女一代重演父母一代人的故事，兄弟二人同时爱上一个女人。新仇旧恨一时涌上心头，难怪有的时候要动拳头。《夏娃的诱惑》先写在国外的前传，在续在国内的恩怨情仇。同样的《我是金三顺》里面，本来就不平静的姐弟恋到了中间，好要插入男生和前女友的复合来增加刺激。《火鸟》里面两个离婚的男女要再一次陷入爱情。
总的来说，韩剧可以用黄舒俊的《恋爱症候群》来概括：“恋爱不但是一种病态，它还可能是一种变态”。
2006年12月16日星期六
实话别跟我说
一顿摸着黑吃的烛光晚餐和一客甜食之后，我们瘫坐在椅子上说实话。实话是没有理想的爱情，现在人人都爱自己多一些，不肯为别人伤了自己的羽毛。虽然是实话，但是让人伤心和难受。我们对于爱情的想象和夏日的余晖一样消逝，剩下的都是伤心的人。如果换了是我，我会怎么做呢？
昨天晚上在网上和舅舅舅妈聊天，他们感叹幸亏投资正确买了现在的房子，否则在北京五环之内的房子没有低于10000元/平米的了。什么？如果我回到中国的大学里工作，每月月薪3000元，那么三个月不吃不喝下来，还买不了一个平方米的住房？我得认真的考虑一下我现在的职业选择了。这实话叫人听了真难受，现在是“报国无房”的年代了！
妈妈现在改用手机了，据说是因为她总是在北京和天津两地之间旅行，用手机方便大家找到她。
周四的网上面试一塌糊涂，连续两个晚上都沉浸在self destructive behavior--在网上看韩剧。知道什么叫没出息了吧。有不知趣的人两次打电话来,先说吃晚饭,被拒绝之后又说不如饭后去喝一杯。我假装没听见电话。比看韩剧更没劲的就是假装谈一次恋爱。不能因为孤独就找个人就伴儿。我不想把自己现在的生活复杂化。这一点我不知道该怎们跟人家说，所以不如装聋作哑了事。
这个学期的瑜伽课结束了。 休倒立着做头顶倒立的示范，顺便炫耀一下他的身材。嘻嘻，要是我到了38岁也能够保持那样年轻的身体，我也愿意和魔鬼谈谈。
2006年12月12日星期二
Russianmania
(Dmitri Hvorostovsky)
The shining Christmas Tree before the Met Opera always reminded me the old fashined comedy, The Moonstruck. In the end of the movie, Nicolas Cage waited there for Cher to come and join him for an opera night. Everything is incredibly romantic and real! I always get this kind of transformative feelings after a night at Met. I never figure out it is due to the music, the liboretto, the stage, or the audience, or the mixture of all. The opera brings the past to the present, bring the alien country before our very eyes, and most importantly allow us to explore the foreign feelings of love, loyalty, and pain in their full glory. Comparing to the climax of emotional turbulence on the stage, our daily life becomes trivial. You feel you live through the history and the moment of eternity at the ultimate end of the drama. That is I always feel this big vault in my mind after an opera night, in the meantime, I feel grateful because there is no other chance I could have been with Don Carlo at his fateful day, with Madam Butterfly at her exotic garden, or met Rigoletto at crossroad of his love and death.
Don Carlo at Met this season is a masterpiece. According to Wikipedia,
“Don Carlos is a five-act Grand Opera by the Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi with a libretto written in French by Camille du Locle and Joseph Méry, based on the dramatic play Don Carlos, Infant von Spanien ("Don Carlos, Infanta of Spain") by Friedrich Schiller. It received its first performance at the Paris Opéra on 11 March 1867.”
The musicality of the work is so carefully designed and the five major roles are played by top singers. I particularly like the two Russian musicians. Olga Borodina is a Russian diva and Mezzo-soprano, and she plays the tortured mind Eboli in Don Carlo. Three of her arias are so beautiful and in totally different mode. In Act I Scene I, Princess Eboli sings the Veil Song ('Nel giardin del bello') about a Moorish King and an alluring veiled beauty that turned out to be his neglected wife. Olga gives her figure the playfulness and flirtation character and her voice is full of temptation and desire. In Act II Scene I, Don Carlo rejected the love of Eboli, Eboli was so crazy and she committed to take revenge. Olga played the moment of madness so well that her regret in the end of Act III only becomes real because of this. After confessed her secrete passion for Don Carlo and involvement with the King, Eboli resolves to try to save Don Carlo ('O don fatale'). Olga’s voice changes its tune, plain and beautiful. Dmitri Hvorostovsky , as the fateful friend Rodrigo, give another wonderful performance. Also from Russia, Dmitri is a top baritone of our time. According to Wikipedia,
“ Hvorostovsky was born in Krasnoyarsk in Siberia. He studied at the Krasnoyarsk School of Arts under Jekatherina Yofel and made his debut at Krasnoyarsk Opera House, in the role of Monterone in Rigoletto. He went on to win First Prize at both the Russian Glinka Competition in 1987 and the Toulouse Singing Competition in 1988. Hvorostovsky came to international prominence in 1989 when he won the Cardiff BBC Singer of the World competition, beating local favorite Bryn Terfel. His concert recitals began immediately(London debut, 1989; New York 1990). His operatic debut in the West was at the Nice Opera in Queen of Spades (1989). In Italy he debuted at La Fenice as Eugene Onegin, a success that sealed his reputation, and made his American operatic debut with Chicago Lyric Opera (1993) in La Traviata. He has since sung at virtually every major opera house, including the Metropolitan Opera (debut 1995), the Royal Opera House at Covent Garden, the Berlin State Opera, La Scala and the Vienna State Opera.”
Hvorostovsky played Rodrigo, the Marquise de Posa, Don Carlo’s faithful friend and a symbol of liberation movement at the time. In the duet with the King Phillip II at the garden, he described the sufferings of Flanders people under the King’s cruel ruling. Refusing to listen to Rodrigo's pleas for Flanders, he nevertheless places his trust in him, while advising him to beware of the Grand Inquisitor. Here, Dmitri uses his voice to represent a brave soul for his own cause. In Act IV Scene I, Rodrigo decided to sacrifice himself to Grand Inquisitor to save Don Carlo. Dmitri expressed his complex feeling in such a delicate way that you almost feel the clash of his reluctance to die and his sense of duty to friend and his cause. Hvorostovsky will return to Met in Feb in my all-time favorite Eugene Onegin as the title role. My first time to listen to Onegin was back in college in an elective class. Pushkin’s sense of live and death, love and honor, immediately grasped my young soul. It is my first love of opera and the encounter is unforgettable.
I also enjoy the beginning of the Study scene in Act IV, where the aging king complains he never has the love of his queen and his life is close to its end. He demands the power of God to see human’s mind and feels the powerlessness of his current state in the struggle between church and state. He fights two wars at the same time and has no hope to win either of them. The tragic feeling he has about his role as a king and a husband is a huge contrast to his grand performance in ACT III, where he disarmed his son and represses the rebellion from Flanders.
All the figures in Don Carlo fight two wars, their public war and private war. Their fates interact each other at both levels. Verdi put his compassion for liberation of Italy in 1860s into this play in 1560 Spain, and gave each character emotional depth which was not otherwise possible in an epic play like this. Each figure had a chance to present themselves not as a symbol, but as a human being. Eventually it is the human struggle that makes this play earns its everlasting charisma.
2006年12月11日星期一
Blood Diamond and The Holiday
I went to cinema with Fang's parents and Fang. The first one we saw is Blood Diamond. A new production about illegal diamond trade in western African region, the film tried to communicate too many things simultaneously. I feel the movie is, therefore, very crowded. Aside from its political correctness, it is quite interesting if you compare Danny Archer (by Leonardo DiCaprio) from this film to heors from Out of Africa (1985). Denys George Finch Hatton (by Robert Redford) is a grown-up Danny. Although they live in different time period, they face the same dilemma: the passion for the Africa and the passion of love. In the end of the film, Danny killed his boss and the guy said "T.I.A, right?" THAT IS AFRICA! It sounds like a curse, for all the resource-rich African countries are all in wars and their people are suffered. Unfortunately, the semi-happy ending of the film does not offer a solution to current situation; instead, it leaves the task to each audience.
The Holiday is a good choice for holiday season. The major element of the comedy is to reverse the gender role in relationship. The story begins with two thirty-something who suffered from their relationship and decide to exchange their houses for the Christmas. Amenda from L.A. ended up in a small town near London and met Graham (a single dad with two daughters). The plot is simple. Amenda is head-strong and tough in relationship and very practical, but Graham is soft and romantic and live the moment. The reverse role of male and female in this relationship makes it funny and sweet. When you watch the film, you know their relationship won't last long as Amenda had correctly pointed out, however, I enjoy every moment of watching it as Graham would suggest.
Kinsey! After the two film, I see Kinsey the day after. Such a moral challenge even for today's audience. It is not about the open discussion of sex in the film, but the tension between Kinsey and his wife. The film portrated Kinsey as a scientist and his scientificness made him churchy and dogmatic in his life. I wish to learn more about the controversy and its association with the sex liberation in 1960s and 1970s. I wonder have anyone done similar study about chinese population.
柳永
“凡有水井处，皆歌柳词”。仔细翻了翻宋词，了不得，宋朝的风气好开放。柳永的词三句不离离愁别绪，都像是写给情人的十四行诗。他的生活好像充满了浪漫的邂逅，激情的碰撞和无可奈何的离别，好像宋朝的时候大家都不生产，而是一味的谈情说爱。这般淫词艳曲充斥在市井之间，只有两种解释。第一，物质生活的确是极大的丰富，温饱思淫欲。第二，思想控制太厉害，除了无伤大雅的诗词歌赋，没有其他的可以谈。人人自危，所以转而把所有的智慧投向了措辞的讲究和布章的工整。不知道哪一种猜想更接近于历史的本来面目。
----梦还京 ----柳永 http://www.shiandci.net/lyc.htm
夜来匆匆饮散，欹枕背灯睡。酒力全轻，醉魂易醒，风揭帘栊，梦断披衣重起。悄无寐。追悔当初，绣阁话别太容易。日许时、犹阻归计。甚况味。旅馆虚度残岁。想娇媚。那里独守鸳帏静。永漏迢迢，也应暗同此意。
2006年12月8日星期五
going and coming
Try to calculate how many people will stay and away for Christmas and New Year.
Qin: go to meet her ever-lasting lover Prague in late Dec;
Xia: will come and see goodbye in late Dec;
Xu, mingwei and xiehe couple: will come in Dec 23 and spend a week here;
Liuchang: will go to Hawaii;
Chen: will go to London for her study trip and then go back to China;
Ximena: will go to Paris and Amsterdam (the real one, not Amsterdam Ave) ;
poor me: stay at home
Question: how to spend a new year without regret?
Daily reflection
Each person has his or her own daily ritual. For someone, it is writing blog; for others, it is chatting non-stop with strangers online. I find myself develop some new rituals as well. For instance, on Wed every other week, you can definitely find me around 2006年12月5日星期二
假冒文学青年的时代
前几天在哥大东亚系的研讨班上见到了传说中的北大学姐+天才诗人田晓非。天才就是天才，1989年北大毕业，1998年在哈佛拿到了博士学位，短短几年之间，已经是名声在外的哈佛副教授。看了她的履历，想不佩服也难。有趣的是，她舍弃了自己大部分的文学创作和对于比较文学的追求，成了中古中国文学史的专家，尤其是古代诗词的研究者。细看她的作品，英文的作品多数是古典研究的学术著作，但是她的中文作品仍然关心文艺批评，其中对于《金瓶梅》的偏爱和著述颇丰。尤其难得的是，她的简历中提到她多次在哈佛大学被提名为学生最喜爱的老师，这一点是非常难得的。美国学生，尤其是本科生，对于外国研究生和教师的授课都很挑剔，甚至常常带有偏见。对于外国女性老师，更是如此。看来学姐的确有超人之处。朋友说她一直在《南方周末》上撰文，不知怎的我却一直没有读过。对她的印象，还是假冒文学青年那个时代留下来的。 一个写诗的文学少女，在我心中她和阎妮差不多。长大了的田晓非变成了学者，长大了的阎妮变成了小说家山飒(shan sa)。照片上是阎妮。
提起那个时代，今天翻箱倒柜找我的大学文凭，居然翻到了过去的旧作。酸得不行，权且算是对于昔日的一点记忆。 “我在纸上划拉，想到了休学，想到了小韧，仿佛她的一辈子都处在休学当中。没有终点，也没有起点，游离在别人所遵循的规则之外。其实想记下来的，并非是她的故事，我所贪恋的是这个被偷走的夏天、白色的紧张的空气、总是晚点的列车，还有许多搁置在半途中的眼泪。甚至不想去打电话，站在公共电话旁边。多么容易介入一个人的生活。只要拨几个号码，不管对方愿不愿意，就可以从空气的虚无中把自己扔进去。用没有口臭的声音，说些见面时决不会说的话，这个念头听起来很卑鄙吧！那么大家的一走了之又算是什么呢？在机场一个漂亮的转身，就像是无数童话中的那样不负责任。白雪公主一步登天，却放任小矮人们在黑暗中哭泣。就这样，我们的生活被时间和空间隔开了许多口子，没有来得及抓住的青春就这样丢了。哭也罢，笑也罢，用指甲在晒黑的皮肤上使劲划出白色的道子也罢，最后陪伴你的，最后陪伴你的往往都是陌生人。我们的声音被空调的噪音淹没了，我们的双眼被电视纷繁的画面刺痛了。没有意义的行走、饮食、还有思念。在行走的动物中间，人是最笨的，因为在学会直立行走之后，它只记得行走。它忘记了在四肢着地的时代，它曾经看到过大地幻化众生的美丽—在原始的旷野中，它曾经见证盛开的水仙花上的最后一颗露珠。”
2006年11月30日星期四
The Invisible Circus
The Invisible Circus is a 2001 drama film, directed by Adam Brooks, and starring Cameron Diaz, Jordana Brewster and Christopher Eccleston. It is based on Jennifer Egan's best-selling novel.
It is a grow-up story with lots of pain. In particular, I like the scene when Phoebe took drug and she wondered around the street in Paris. She met her sister in day-dreaming and experienced the suffering they both shared. Phoebe tried to find her identify and sense of self through investigating the mystious death of her sister. Beautifully made! I am not quite sure why Phoebe falled in love with Wolfe, but I like Chris Eccleston. He played such obssessed lover!
2006年11月27日星期一
2006年11月22日星期三
Most expected film of the year: Perfume: The Story of a Murderer
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer is a 2006 film directed by Tom Tykwer, director of "Run, Lora, Run!" The film is based on the German bestseller in 1985 by Patrick Süskind . From wikipedia about the novel:
"Perfume: The Story of a Murderer is a 1985 literary historical horror novel (originally published in German as Das Parfum) by German writer Patrick Süskind. The novel explores the sense of scent, and its relationship with the emotional meaning that scents may carry. Above all this is a story of identity, communication and the morality of the human spirit."
The story:
"His youth
Grenouille's life begins in a Parisian fish market, where his fishmonger mother gives birth to him among the stinking fish heads and scraps in one of the dirtiest places in all of Paris. She intends to dispose of his body along with the fish organs which surround his birthplace. However, her plans are thwarted when Grenouille expels a squeal so piercing that passers-by are alerted to his mother's plans and his life is saved, although his mother is sentenced to death because of her attempted infanticide. In his infanthood, Grenouille discovers his gift to isolate smells of every kind and preserve the scent in his memory, although the irony of this is is that Grenouille himself has no personal scent or odour.
Grenouille is passed from wet nurse to wet nurse, ostensibly because he drinks too much of their milk, preventing them from feeding any other children. However, the true reason for his being passed on from one nurse to another is his haunting lack of scent. This does not smell how children ought to smell stated nurse Jeanne Bussie, convinced that he was possessed by the devil. Grenouille begins to struggle with the concept of speech, particularly with the idea of ethical and moral words, which further isolates him from the rest of the human race. Eventually he develops the ability to speak, although he chooses not to; he is only able to associate words by their scent, his first word being wood. After being continually rejected from society due to his lack of odour, Grenouille finds himself in the care of Madame Gaillard, a woman who runs an orphanage for children, and who herself has lost her sense of smell since childhood, so is unable to detect his lack of odour. Grenouille grows up in the orphanage unloved and malnourished. Grenouille, isolated and outcast by his fellow race, begins to develop a disgust for his fellow humans, and distinguishes himself by his uncanny sense of smell. Grenouille begins to collect these olfactory sensations that he experiences, preserving and cataloging these scents—both good and bad—in his mental library.
At the age of 8 Grenouille is sold by Madame Gaillard to a tanner. Grenouille survives this work which can be borne by none, with his innate tenacity and resilience which likens him to a 'tick'. After he finishes working at the tannery, Grenouille begins exploring the streets of Paris in search of new scents to add to his olfactory catalogue. One evening he discovers the scent of something unknown to him, a scent so enticing he cannot help but follow it and discover its origin. He moves in and out of alleyways in search of this ungraspable scent until finally he finds it, a beautiful young girl. This is the first time in his life that Grenouille doubts his nose, for he cannot believe that such a perfect scent could come from such a member of the disgusting race humans which he had come to despise. With the intention to preserve this perfect scent he kills the girl, only to find that upon her death the beautiful scent dies as well, evaporating into the Parisian night sky. Tortured by the loss of this perfect scent, Grenouille dedicates his life to the purpose of finding this one perfect scent, and it is this greed which continues his survival.
One evening Grenouille is told by his master to deliver the tanner's skins to the famous perfumer Baldini. Grenouille sees this as a perfect opportunity to learn from a master perfumer the way to preserve smells and teach him the ways of creating scents. Baldini, with his own problems, initially rejects Grenouille when he asks for an apprenticeship, but eventually Baldini gives in and offers Grenouille the opportunity to become his apprentice, and he is astounded by Grenouille's ability to emulate the scents of perfumes in which Baldini could not, without the use of measurements or and the techniques of a perfumer. After being taught the ways of Baldini, Grenouille is soon able to create all new perfumes from those scents placed before him, which makes Baldini the most popular perfumer in all Paris. Upon attempting to isolate the scent of objects such as iron and glass, Grenouille fails, and this failure affects him greatly, leading to him falling ill with small pox. Grenouille then hears that there are other techniques besides distillation that can be used to isolate scents. Upon this news Grenouille becomes miraculously healthy once more, and leaves Baldini to pursue these new perfume production techniques in the city of Grasse, heading out into the forest, and beginning his journey in search for the perfect scent.
[edit] His journey
Shortly after the departure of Grenouille, Baldini suffers a tragic death, falling into the river in his sleep. Grenouille continues his journey into the forest he develops a greater disgust for the human race, finding himself repulsed by the scent of human existence and trying to avoid the scent of humankind wherever he goes. This eventually leads him to a cave atop a volcanic mountain, the Plomb du Cantal where the human scent is most distant from the nose of Grenouille. For seven years he stays at this place and becomes intoxicated with the smells which he preserves in his internal "palace of the smells". One day he awakens from a nightmare in which he sees himself suffocating in his own smell. After this dream he soon begins to realise that he himself possesses no personal scent, which distresses him. After this, he comes upon an inhabited area where he tells its inhabitants he had been held prisoner by robbers in a foxhole. A researcher in the town chooses to demonstrate his new theory of scents on Grenouille, which causes him to faint as a result of the scent emitted. As a result Grenouille is able to create his own scent through primitive means which emulates his own human smell. Grenouille soon finds that upon creating his own scent, he is accepted by society. But Grenouille doesn't want acceptance, he wants to have power and be able to manipulate those within the world that disgust him so much. He then leaves the town and makes his way to Grasse, his true target, where with Madame Arnulfi and her journeyman he learns new procedures in the production of perfume. When walking through the town he picks up the scent of the the girl he desired so much and who he murdered back in Paris. He follows the scent and finds a girl still at the beginning of her development. After discovering her he decides that he will wait until the girl has matured her scent, at which stage he will return to reclaim it.
After some time there is an air of terror in the town. A murderer has been on the loose killing the town's most beautiful girls, even in their houses, leaving them naked with all their hair cut off. Twenty four murders later, rich businessman Antoine Richis, sees the pattern and realizes that his beautiful daughter Laure is to be the next victim of the murderer. Antoine flees the town with his daughter Laure, but Grenouille—the murderer—soon catches their scent and follows them. Finally he kills Laure in an inn, and captures her scent just like the other twenty four girls.
[edit] His end
Grenouille is able to be identified as the murderer on the basis of witnesses' statements. Upon his execution day, thousands wait tensely for the spectacle. However, when Grenouille appears, he is surprisingly confronted with the love by all and is revered, rather than hated, in contrast to with previous day in which the people wanted to see him dead. This is due to the perfume made from the women's smells, which surrounds him like a divine aura. Grenouille is pardoned for his crimes, and Richis even wants to adopt him. But the experience of the power has dissatisfied Grenouille, because it is not he that is loved, but the perfume which he created that is loved, so he decides to return to Paris upon finding that the satisfaction that he initially felt has transformed itself into hatred and disgust. In Paris Grenouille approaches a group of people and they accept him. After he has deliberately overdosed himself with the perfume he created, and while among the group, the effect is so overpowering that they want to hold him as an angel and own a piece of him, at which point they tear him to pieces and eat his remains."
The film will be open on Dec 27, 2006 in U.S. (comments from New York Times http://movies2.nytimes.com/gst/movies/movie.html?v_id=325005) and its illegal version is in China now (http://www.sohoxiaobao.com/chinese/bbs/blog.asp?id=6278).
2006年11月19日星期日
Day By Day, Night By Night
[unauthorized version from my friend who is volunteering in Ethiopia ]
在初到亚的斯的日子里，我和我的男朋友几乎每天都要做一些步行。这不仅是帮助我们消化酒店里那不合中国人口味的大块牛排，也是我们（我相信）从现在到未来一年里在这里的基本生活方式。我们对照地图，计划了一些参观项目（如纪念碑、体育场、动物园、大学、火车站），但因为时间上的被动，大部分还未成行。
但走路，目的不甚明确的步行，仍然帮助我们获取了对此地的大部分印象。每天我都会整理我的数码相册，总有惊喜。最开始住的酒店Ras Hotel，它那高高的屋顶、拱型走廊、明暗不定的大堂，总让我想起《牙买加旅店》之类的小说，我们围着它着实拍了两天。巨大的狮子标本、沿旋转楼梯（这是中国所没有的）拾阶而上看到的大幅民俗油画……只要环顾四周，就不断有新的发现。直到有一天侍者告诉我这里为意大利人所建，在（大概）二战时期曾经是囚禁本地人的监狱，我好象发现了这个国家过去的一个秘密。还有一天，在前台昏黄的灯光下拍摄女接待，我第一次找到把黑色皮肤衬托得更美丽的颜色和光效。
在我男朋友暂住的酒店里，一开始他病了一场，他说一生中他从未感到那么难受过。但这不妨碍我每次造访他时，他指给我看窗外的好玩意。Harambee酒店的窗外（现在我仍不能说清方向）是个小公园。从6层俯瞰出去，正是鹰的家。他病得昏昏沉沉时，小小的房间里只有我守在他身旁，但当窗外的静默中传来鸟叫声时，我俯身告诉他：“鹰下班回家了。”他的脸上仍艰难地浮出一个笑容。虽然窗帘拉得很严，但我知道兰色的夜色慢慢浮上来了，对面山上喜来登酒店必然如旧时神秘官邸一样灯火通明。后来我也搬到Harambee了，在晴好的上午，我们在餐厅里邂逅一只大黑白疣猴——Guga，她在镜子里左照右照，又说话又握手，我们为她鼓掌欢呼，为我们只在电视里见过的神奇的非洲野生动物。她也是小公园花树下的住户，从此我们每天路过窗户时都会寻找她戴黑帽的身影。
我们每天背着很大的包出门，里面有外套、水和字典。白天，这里的阳光很烤人，风一刮起来却非常凉爽。我走在汽车轰鸣、尾气和塑料袋污染严重的街道上，看到亚的斯是跟世界上（包括中国）很多地区一样——欠发达的城市。人们的衣着不那么鲜艳和时尚，各种轻工业物品质量看上去不那么好。能看到一些行动不便的残疾人，我不知他们是得了什么样的疾病。还有在酒店附近卖”Tissue”的孩子，在车辆中灵活地穿行，漂亮的容颜。到哪儿都有人跟你搭话，“China!nihao!”，人们对中国的热衷、友好和了解是来之前我最意想不到的。在超市和商店里，我第一次发现在过去30年里，我每天使用的食品和日用品是那样物美价廉，我想起我的美国朋友在中国时说，听到我们小时每天只能吃一个鸡蛋，才知道她自己是生长在多么幸福的地方。自豪，是的，但我并不觉得人和人之间有什么差别。在网吧里，上网速度非常之慢，年轻的管理员问我“你生气吗？”我回答说，“不，这种情况跟几年前的中国是一样的。”他以为我在开玩笑。没有，我看到我即将为之工作的报纸上，除了政治要闻和广告，全部是各种关于发展的信息。各个国家发展的基本领域，都在投入资金进行建设。我不懂经济和政治，但我不认为不发达的就是坏的。我们到这里来，不就是想和这里的人们一起找到适合此地发展的秘诀吗？说到人，作为一个50个人的志愿者工作队的队员，我在本地依然脱离不了与本国人的关联。我看到有些同伴在面对工作困难时的退缩，他们甚至采取在中国的很多地方依然流行的行贿方式，我一点不惊讶。但当我听到本地官员也在向志愿者收贿，我感到报纸上头版谈论的腐败问题真的如世界其他流行元素一样已经在埃塞生根。腐败，如同疾病和贫穷，是我们所有人努力清除的地球垃圾。
我在中国的同学朋友这些天都会问我，你们吃什么？安全吗？我想起我看到日光下努力建设自身的城市，我回答——除了5小时时差，“这里”和“那里”没有“那么”大的区别。然而，我们的步行更多是在天色擦黑、没有什么任务的时候进行的，在暮霭沉沉中，我们一点一滴继续探索着这个城市的奥秘。
在国家剧院门口，我们看到两端走廊上都排起长龙等待入场。作为电影专业的毕业生，我们知道了本地语影片是这样受欢迎，多让中国电影人羡慕！在火车站附近，我们本来是要打探乘火车出游的可能性，却看到了昏暗的路灯下等车的长队。原来还有这么多人，和在我的家乡北京一样，需要经过辛苦的周折才能回家吃上饭。我们看着站牌上阿姆哈拉语的字母小人跳舞，猜测着最远的路途需要走多长时间。在这里，我没有能力分辨人的阶层和职业，但是在挺有风情的小咖啡店里，我想我看到了我挺熟悉的人群——office lady，在一天严肃的工作后，她们把自己的夜生活安排得井井有条。在附近的街道上，我们在清真寺宏伟美丽的颂经声中拍下了松枝掩映下的非洲月色，也走进过天主教堂。人们说信教的地区民风淳朴，我想也许还有经济不甚发达的因素，就如20多年前的北京。不管什么原因，淳朴的笑容温暖了异乡人的心，我有时好象回到自己那物质不甚发达的童年。
前几天晚上，我们从中餐馆回酒店的路上，遇到一条被车撞伤的小狗。待我用纸巾给小狗擦完鼻子里的血抬起头，才发现周围站满附近的小流浪儿。小狗疼得哭鼻子，小流浪儿用结巴的英语给我们介绍她的身世。我忽然感到羞赧——因为你肯定可以理解的原因。当我们转身离开时，令我意外的事发生了：其中一个年纪较长的少年微微点头，恭敬地向我们说了声“Thank you”——啊，这是我幼时看的德国电影《英俊少年》里那个少年的忠诚，是从古至今十几岁少年特有的忠诚！
直到出发前的最后一天，“去非洲”对我依然像个遥远的梦。在抵达后最初的某一天傍晚，我睡了一下午觉后起床，听到附近街道里传来足球赛的欢呼声。我走到窗前，看到外面堆着杂物的民居后院、错落的楼房，月亮正在升起，我才相信世界的这里和那里真的没有那么大的区别。我没有离家的感觉，相反，因为在完全陌生的环境里而感到放松自在。日以继夜，在每天的步行、工作以及其他“行动”中，梦想变成现实。
殊途同归
有的时候不得不感慨造化弄人，本来从一个学校出来，因为上了不同的大学，选择了不同的专业，走上了不同的道路。若干年后，发现大家都在美国学和教育有关的专业。18 年过去了，张辉现在UCLA 学习教育的文化基础（cultural foundation of education）, 徐岚在宾西法尼亚大学学习双语教学，我和赖芳从经济学院毕业以后，不约而同的选择了教育经济学作为自己研究的方向。今天的聚会是在赖芳的家里，她的妈妈正是我们中学的校长。这些巧合让我们唏嘘不已，谁说我们中学所接受的教育对我们没有影响？看到我们都走上了教育的道路，不知道毛校长是不是感到很欣慰？
早先的时候看过一本苏联的小说马卡连柯撰写的 《教育诗》，影响很深。“马卡连柯撰写《教育诗》之时，正值他担任高尔基儿童劳动教养院和捷尔任斯基公社的工作。他根据自己和流浪儿童实际接触的切身体会，分析研究了各类犯罪儿童不同的心理情绪和生命烙印，经过长期的教育实践和艰苦复杂的创作过程，以诗一般的激情创作而成，是一部优美而动人的教育工作记录。” 我们对于中学生活的回忆还构不成一部教育诗，但是那六年的生活的确塑造了我们对于学业、生活和未来的许多看法。虽然现在很多的想法都改变了，但是不曾改变的是从那时开始培养的对于自己的怀疑态度和自信。勤奋、严谨、求实、创新，这八个字的校训仍然是我们的座右铭。
我从来没有想到过自己会以教育作为自己的职业，但是最近几天来考虑未来工作的问题，却越来越把自己的未来和教育事业联系在一起。我现在问自己的问题是：我是不是适合教师这个职业？我会不会是一个好的研究型的教师？我是不是非如此不可？ 这些问题的答案我也不知道，但是我希望能通过对自己的反思和对于工作机会的了解找到答案。
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