The Teatro alla Scala Ballet Company (La Scala) is one of the world’s best ballets. Its history is actually the history of ballet, which can traced back to the inauguration of the Teatro alla Scala in 1778 and the Scala school in 1813. Many of the world’s most famous ballerinas such as Carlotta Brianza (the firt ballerina to dance Sleeping Beauty in 1890) were pupils of the school.

I guess I don’t have to replete the story of this Shakespearian comedy, yet, George Balanchine (1904-1983), the choreographer of Dream had make some modifications for his production. The famous grotesque play Pyramus and Thisbe, usually performed by Bottom and his companies at the end of the comedy, is not performed in the ballet. Actually I was a bit disappointed because this is my favorite part of the play. The choreographer did what he did because he wanted to make the act of his production pure dance in neoclassical style, which was very successful.

I am not a professional ballet critic, all I can say is the production truly did exhibit the beauty of human bodies. I was so amazed by Hippolyta, an Amazonian warrior played by the senior principal dancer Isabel Seabra. She performed two series of Fouetté (a set of identical ballet movements, the ballerina can perform these turnings without moving an inch from the place she starts) in the first and final acts which requires both skills and complete confident. All the audiences in the Grand Theatre were stunned by her performance and gave her a big applause.

Dancer performing Fouetté en tournant

The ballet was wonderful, but the Theatre was poor. It was so poorly designed that I sighed every time I had to watch a show there. According to official information, the Grand Theatre is designed for “large scale operas, ballets, musicals, dances and all sorts of theatrical spectaculars”. The auditorium holds a total of 1,734 seats in three tiers. Can you imagine how tiny the Theatre is? And the stage is unbelievably small, the pops are all packed together during the performance.

Comparing to other international cities, Hong Kong is the most uncivilized place in terms of cultural development. It is not suggesting that there are no talented and passionate artists in the small island, but not enough social and government support. I have this feeling every time I step in Cultural Center.

《地海傳說》是一部不容易評論的電影，因為入場前已有太多期望，很難保持平常心去看。

如果你還未看此片的話，我有幾個忠告：

1. 這絕對不是宮崎駿的電影，千萬不要抱著看《龍貓》、《千與千尋》等電影的心態去看（雖然Studio Ghibli的畫風很難不讓你想起宮騎駿）；

2. 這不是動作片，而是一齣有動作成份的劇情片；

3. 這不是合家歡電影（雖然是I級），小孩子應該不太明白電影的含意，而且片中文戲多，他們會覺得悶；

4. 全香港只有兩家電影院有原裝日語配音版上演（百老匯電影中心及IFC Palace），購票請早。

導演宮崎吾朗的風格明顯和父親宮崎駿不同，他也在不同的訪問中多次談到自己想拍攝給成人看的電影，藉以探討一些較深入的話題，不過由於Studio Ghibli製作風格所限，他惟有配合製作一齣合家歡電影。可惜的是，這次「配合」有點像政治婚姻，男女相方完全是貌合神離、同床異夢，宮崎吾朗顯然很想帶給觀眾一個刻劃人性陰暗一面的故事，故安排了很多伏筆，一開場便有龍的騷動、王子弒父和神秘的疾病等事件，令人期待，不過他始終是新手，有點眼高手低，而且時間安排也有欠妥當，由開場至影片中後段還在交代伏筆，讓你等的很不耐煩，後來高潮終於來了，卻又予人一種「我靠！（有點俗，但正是我的心聲）如此而已？」的感覺。

另外，宮崎吾朗筆下的角色全都背負著很多過去，不是快活的人，主角亞倫王子總是愁眉深鎖，只有在片未的數秒才稍露笑容；女主角蒂露該是個毀容的女孩，不過礙於合家歡的原則，只好把她畫成鍾無艷（面上有塊斑），完全失去了吸引力；另外，電影的背景太亮麗，一點也不配合故事陰沉抑鬱的感覺。總的一句，宮崎吾朗的故事完全和 Studio Ghibli的清新畫風八字不合，我覺得他現在已打響了名堂，大可脫離Studio Ghibli另謀發展，不必再背負父親之名，侷限了創作空間。

除了以上種種局限性，我認為《地海傳說》是個不錯的試驗，挺合我的脾胃。亞倫王子是一個典型的二世祖，被偉大的父王完全淹沒了，自我形象低落，在深宮沒有朋友也沒人關心，活了十七年仍然沒有人生目標，卻又死不了，最後更「谷爆」弒父兼逃亡，造成無可挽回的後果，即使在旅途中找到朋友，仍不能坦誠相對，一再地誤入歧途和被壞人利用，拍得很現實，不過由於時間所限，未能深入描寫阿倫的心理，有點可惜。我覺得我和亞倫還挺像的，不過我太懶，連拿起劍搞破壞的力氣也沒有罷了。

另外我也很佩服宮崎吾朗將自己的志向在電影裡表露無遺，亞倫王子在電影一開始便把自己的老爸給砍了，然後孑然一身去流浪，宮崎吾朗好像在告訴世人，「走著瞧，我和老爸是不一樣的！」而亞倫王子帶走了父親的那柄不能出鞘的魔法之劍，是不是在暗喻他仍然相信動畫的魔力呢？

其實我很看好宮崎吾朗將來在動晝界的發展，畢竟肯用心想故事的動晝製作人人並不多，而且意境深奧的成人動晝市場很大，假以時日應會有一番作為。

據說宮崎吾朗最喜歡的宮崎駿動畫是《ルパン三世 カリオストロの城 (The Castle of Cagliostro)》（1979），看過此片的人都會知道，這是一齣最不「宮崎駿」的宮崎駿動畫，主角並不是他最愛的少女，而是一個中年「麻甩佬（臭男人）」（因為此片不是他的創作，而是改篇自Monkey Punch 的漫畫，我認為該片是《雷朋三世》電影系列中最出色的）。宮崎吾朗之所以會喜歡這齣電影，大概也是因為商齣電影在嘻笑中隱隱地散著成年人的愁緒吧！

Dear Readers and Friends,

Note of Apology

It’s been a very long time since I last updated my blog. Please accept my apology.

Actually when I first established my blog, I decided that I have to write something meaningful no matter not. I won’t report any daily routine in my blog. However, sometimes it is bloody hard to think of something meaningful and organize them into readable passages. Besides, I have a tendency of expressing my discontents through my writings. It’s not a good sign because I don’t want my readers to share my sorrow all the time. Unfortunately, I was a bit depressing for the last few months. Therefore I was reluctant to publish my work publicly.

Of course, this is not really an excuse. I just received an ultimatum from Blue, the Chairlady of Discipline Committee (I formed this committee to keep me working, but it’s not very successful so far) yesterday. She urged me to resume writing. Her attitude reminded me of those endless evaluation forums of St. John’s (one of the residential hall in HKU, to your knowledge). Although I didn’t like to sit those forums at all, I missed those days. It’s always good to have someone to keep an eye on your and give you advice without any selfish motives. (It looks like that I haven’t written anything about St. John’s in my blog so far. There is too much to say. I’ll try to organize my stuff and publish them later)

New Job

After a long vocation, I finally found a job. I am now an editor in Commercial Press. It’s one of the leading publishing companies in Chinese speaking countries. I feel a lot of pressure because my father is in the publishing industry as well. He is well known in the industry because he is a very experienced, capable and respectable publisher. Actually I really don’t have any ambition, but I hate to become a shame of my family. Sadly my working performance is not very good for the past two weeks. I was given six books to edit at the first day I worked. Some of the books are on the top of the priority list and needed to be published next January. I constantly feel very confusing and have no idea what to do next. Partly because I am new to the job and partly because no instruction is given until I do something wrong. I really hate the process of ‘trial and error’ as it is not very cost-effective. Nevertheless, the job nature is interesting. What’s better than someone paying you to read?

You may find my new neighbor a bit scary because she is a female Large Woodland Spider (genus Nephila maculata). You can easily recognize her by the bright yellow spots at the underside of the black legs. Its web is quite large (with a 0.5m radius) and has a yellow-gold color. Her species is commonly found in Australia, Africa, South America and Asia.

She is also a big girl. I haven’t really measure her size because she is poisonous and her web is hanging 2.5m from the ground. According to the information on the Internet, she can reach a body length of 4.5cm and has front legs of about 9.5cm. I think my neighbor is bigger than that.

Also, her silk is the strongest produced by any spider. It can capture some very big preys such as grasshoppers or even bats. She is also a good web builder. Although the typhoons destroyed her web, she can rebuild her home in one morning.

I remember I always brought back something from the great nature such as snack skin, leaves, flowers etc back to school so that all the classmates could have a chance to get close to the nature. However, those days are long gone. We see much less snacks these days as the area is more developed.

I’ve lost at least 2kg these days. I have now not only a waist but my ribs. I can see my rib bones popping out when I get change. It’s quite scary. I think I’d never understand why many Hong Kong girls want to be that bonny. I’d rather keep fit in a healthy way.

Sickness has great impact on me as I don’t sick often. I sweat, feel very dizzy and tired. My pulse rate also goes way up. My heart beats more than 80 bpm, while my normal heartbeat is 54 bpm. It’s like working out all day.

Unluckily I had some appointments at Mongkok yesterday. The air quality was especially bad under the influence of typhoon Bopah. I could hardly breathe. I couldn’t even walk from Prince Edward to Mongkok and had to take a bus instead.

When I finally arrived Mongkok, I could hardly stand. I had to take a rest at a traditional Chinese herb teashop. Thanks to the bowl of tea, I felt much better. Amazing Chinese medicine.

昨晚和幾個年輕人去看《Keroro軍曹大電影》，看的非常愉快，笑個不停。老實說，我料不到自己會喜歡上這齣瘋狂搞笑的卡通，以前聽見有人喜歡，還嗤之以鼻呢！真是此一時，彼一時。

這套作品是講述一群來自Ｋ隆星的青蛙形外星人意圖侵略地球，卻意外地寄住在地球人家庭，小隊長Keroro只顧玩耍，不務正業，因此地球仍得享太平。

我之所以喜歡軍曹，大概是因為這隻傻瓜青蛙的喜好和我差不多，是個流行文化的狂熱追隨者，喜歡高達模型（而且還會非常小心地將之擺放在不同的場景中，展現高達最神勇的一面）、ＥＶＡ、松本零士的《宇宙海盜》等比較有深度的動漫作品（他的同伴Kururu則是Mac迷，用iMacG4，也有用第一代iPod作為武器的控制器），真是深得我心，而且他們的基地也放滿了最「潮」的科技產品和流行玩意，有如時下的年青人一樣。

我其實只是看了電影和數集卡通，不可說是Keroro迷，不過我倒是欣賞漫畫原作者吉崎観音的創意，將一些深奧的課題和爆笑情節融為一體。軍曹一行人寄住的日向家，只有母子三人，沒有父親，日向家的家長﹣﹣母親日向秋是漫畫社的編輯加合氣道高手，打破了一般少年漫畫的主角總是有「正常家庭」的不成文定律；而且一眾男生（Keroro他們也是男的），也得聽從女士們的指揮，Keroro更尊稱外祖母日各秋奈為「提督大人」，可見《軍曹》是女權至上的，這和日本社會男權當道的風氣大相逕庭。

另外，Keroro本身也反映了日本年輕人一天到晚只會玩、被驕寵慣了、不明白世情險惡等問題，幸好牠身邊有一群好朋友（而且非常好運），才能逄兇化吉。

小孩子看《軍曹》，只單純地為笑料而發笑；成人看《軍曹》，可以向自己以前喜歡的動漫作品懷舊一番，更會從中得到啟發。我想這正是漫畫（和動畫）迷人的地方，不同年齡的人在同一部作品中各取所需。

不過，據說《軍曹》動畫在韓國的反響很大，有人指它宣揚軍國主義（軍曹的黃色帽子與日軍在二戰時所戴的相似，而卡通片片頭則有日本太陽軍旗出現），要求禁播，不過大部份人也認為這是反應過敏了。我也傾向於後者的見解，軍曹和牠的同伴雖然屢次想征服地球，可是每次都白忙一場，因為牠們的計劃太沒有侵略性了，例如「使全世界開滿花大作戰」、「全球汽水大放送作戰」（把世界上所有水變為汽水、食物變成蛋糕），「侵略海底大作戰」（在海床插上K隆星旗就當是侵略成功，不過最後被海底人阻止了，大夥還一起在海灘清理垃圾），地球根本沒有受損，而且Keroro醉心於地球人的玩意，又努力和人類交往，這不是以表明了和平才是最重要的嗎？事實上，當我第一次看到軍曹帽子和身上的紅色星星時，倒是想起自由鬥士捷．古華拉呢！我們還是別太認真，以包容的心看這部作品好了。

特首座駕 停車不熄匙
環團指未以身作則 促分段立法

【明報專訊】港府本周二啟動「藍天行動」，特首曾蔭權出席呼籲鼓勵市民節約能源及停車熄匙，但本報發現特首座駕本周四涉嫌「犯規」，司機在聖若瑟堂等候接載特首時，未關掉引擎，停車等候5分鐘。港府去年發出通告，訓令所有政府車輛停車等候時必須熄匙，違者或會被處分。另外，本報發現多個司局級官員的座駕以至部分政府AM車輛司機，均有依足指示。環保團體和立法會議員鄭家富批評，特首座駕未有以身作則，要求政府盡快分階段立法強制停車熄匙。特首辦發言人回覆時指，司機稱把汽車停定後已熄匙，沒違反規定。（下略）

我讀了標題後，即時反應是「真的沒有新聞嗎？」

香港的報界有這樣不成文的規定，就是如非必要，星期六、日不會以太嚴肅的新聞為頭版，盡量會選擇一些較有故事性的新聞，不過昨天實在過份了點，難道真的沒有更有意義的新聞了麼？我明白政府現在在推行環保，其中「停車熄匙」是重要的一環，政府官員理應身先士卒成為市民的好榜樣，但傳媒也不必因抓到特首小辮子而大造新聞，還找來立法會議員、環保團體等十多個單位來評論事件，真是小題大做。難怪特首在另一個場合，也大嘆香港的傳媒要求多又罵得兇。

香港的政治氣候固然令人窒息，而傳媒報導政治事件的手法亦令人嘆息，尤其是本地的主流報紙，完全沒有肩負起提高讀者水平的重任，反而以煽情報導吸引讀者，越來越「小報化」。我以前就經常覺得，很多在報館坐鎮的老編不必在外風吹日曬跑新聞，光在空調房裡妄想，與外界完全隔離，活在自己的世界中，卻認為自己很了解讀者的要求，往往在記者採訪前已有一套想法，即使記者的第一手資料顯示其假設是錯的也不加理會，記得去年農曆年前我到旺角花墟採訪，訪問了十多間花店，店主都說生意很好，偏偏死腦筋的老編卻認為花店因紅火蟻入侵而生意大跌，不理會我的觀察，我唯有應他所求，踏破鐵鞋找一家在虧本的花店，以此為據寫了一篇「花市市道差」的報導，心裡暗暗向廣大讀者道歉。

身在建制中的小記者，事實上卻沒有能力使新聞報導的水平提高，甚至連報導事實的機會也越來越少，真令人沮喪萬分，惟有在部落格中一吐污氣，希望諸君在讀報時要多思考，不要把報導照單全收。

《歸去來兮辭》

歸去來兮，田園將蕪，胡不歸！既自以心為形役，奚惆悵而獨悲？悟已往之不諫，知來者可追。實迷途其未遠，覺今是而昨非。

舟遙遙以輕揚，風飄飄而吹衣。問征夫以前路，恨晨光之熹微。乃瞻衡宇，載欣載奔。僮僕歡迎，稚子候門。三徑就荒，松菊猶存。攜幼入室，有酒盈樽。引壺觴以自酌，眄庭柯以怡顏。倚南窗以寄傲，審容膝之易安。園日涉以成趣，門雖設而常關。策扶老以流憩，時矯首而遐觀。雲無心以出岫，鳥倦飛而知還。景翳翳以將入，撫孤松而盤桓。

歸去來兮，請息交以絕遊。世與我而相違，復駕言兮焉求？悅親戚之情話，樂琴書以消憂。農人告余以春及，將有事於西疇。或命巾車，或棹孤舟。既窈窕以尋壑，亦崎嶇而經丘。木欣欣以向榮，泉涓涓而始流。善萬物之得時，感吾生之行休。

已矣乎！寓形宇內復幾時，曷不委心任去留，胡為遑遑欲何之？富貴非吾願，帝鄉不可期。懷良辰以孤往，或植杖而耘耔。登東皋以舒嘯，臨清流而賦詩。聊乘化以歸盡，樂夫天命復奚疑!

中學時讀這篇古文時，總覺得陶淵明是個不負責任的人，為什麼一個有才能的人不能堅持下去為人民謀福利？一個離棄天下蒼生的人還作什麼文章歌頌農耕生活，故作清高？

我對陶淵明的印象近年有點改變，尤其是當下我跑了一會政治新聞後，更開始明白他急流勇退的理由，因為政治實在太污穢了。

我覺得香港並沒有真正的政治家，只有以搞政治為生的人（不過他們卻自稱政治家，好像很高尚），如果大家也有看新聞的話，大概也會同意的的看法。

記得有一次到屯門採訪官員巡區，有位個子高大的立法會議員也趁機到場表達訴求，這本來也無不可，不過尊貴的議員的用的手法卻令人咋舌。話說政府替記者安排了旅遊巴到工地參觀，而官員則坐私家車先到現場打點，當我們的車子到達目的地時，離遠看見議員和官員們相談甚歡，有說有笑，但當記者一下車，他就立即「變臉」，痛罵官員，力數他們的不是。此情此景，看得我目瞪口呆，「這未免太造作了吧！」我當時想，回公司後一定要告訴老編，寫段採訪花絮把他的「惡行」公諸於世。

我真的非常討厭跑政治新聞，因為我得面對那些不老實的政客，而且還得和他們裝作老朋友般套資料，我非常討厭這種作法，更討厭要做這種事的自己。

最近香港的政壇因為幾位「阿太」而弄得沸沸騰騰，陳太和葉太雖然嘴裡說沒有參政的企圖，但她們卻非常享受被傳媒包圍，欣然成為市民的話題，其野心路人皆見。雖然我還不致於成為這兩位女士的粉絲，但她們的確比香港其他政客高招得多，一招「欲拒還迎」，便得到全港市民的注意。不過，我實在不明白她們為何會對政治這麼有興趣，政務官出身的她們，照理應十分瞭解當領導人的慘況，為何還要回來踩這淌混水？難道就是為了出那口氣？

香港除了只有一群不成氣候的政客外，還有一個發育不全的政府和政治體制。這並不奇怪，因為以前的殖民地政府並不希望，也不需要在香港培訓政治人材，她要的只是聽話的孩子而已。到了回歸後，我們又要實行非常概念性的一國兩制，大家到現在仍搞不懂當中的細節，再加上「駛呢」的問責局長制，由一批獨立人士空降當局長，和本身也是獨立人士的特首一起管治香港，問責的意味並不強，局長與特首、局長與局長之間也不見得十分團結，感覺上就是把西方民主國家所行的問責制照抄了，但卻空有外表，近來政府還提議增加副局長，以現在的情況看來，此舉也不過是浪費資源罷了。

可悲的是，即使現在曾特首和眾局長肯退位讓賢，也沒有一個政黨有令市民信服的領導人及足夠的人材組閣，看來市民要繼續忍受，直至政黨政治成熟為止（漫漫長路，真慘！）。