暗語 - 4

暗語系列終於載譽歸來，今次的《名詞篇》更以配對形式和各位粉絲見面，成功估中的更有機會獲得特別大獎！

玩法：請將你認為左右兩邊意思相同的名稱用直線連接起來。

參加辦法：請將連線的結果圖電郵到我的e-mail address，答中的人士將有專人聯絡。

九龍皇帝

（am730 2007年7月26日的頭版）

九龍皇帝曾灶財駕崩！

前天在回香港的飛機上看明報，讀到一位曾替曾灶財辦展覽的人為曾灶財寫的一篇文章，知道曾灶財已去世，但直至今天到Judy那裡蛇王時，踫巧看到幾日前的報紙，才看到皇帝駕崩的報導。

曾灶財死時已經八十六歲，四十多年前開始用毛筆在街上寫出自己的故事。當然，這些都是言不達意，天馬行空的故事，一直以來，人家都當他精神錯亂。他常被拉上差館，更曾被送入精神病院接受治療。直至九七年，鄧達智用他的墨寶當時裝的題材，才引起大眾用文化和藝術的角度看待這些被市政局清潔得一乾二淨的街頭塗鴉。零四年，曾灶財的一張墨寶在拍賣會以五萬五千港元賣出，他也是唯一一個在威尼斯雙年展中展出作品的香港人。

曾灶財大部份的作品已經被市政局以破爛公物的原因清洗乾淨。現在到人家死了，才說考驗保留現存的街頭作品。為什麼香港人總不在人在生的時候多表揚出色的人，要到人家死後才「追封」？因工煦職的警察、消防員如是，獨創如此有中國特色的街頭塗鴉的曾灶財如是。

雖然曾灶財的原意不是藝術創作，但他的墨寶如此獨特，粗糙中有童真，而且他意志堅決，被拉被罰也要繼續寫下去。當然，他的確是精神上有問題，試問哪一個正常的中國人會如此堅決地到街上寫大字？其實醫學界已經有很多個案，顯示腦部輕微受創的病人會表現出以前沒有的藝術能力，如繪畫、玩樂器。

香港沒有好好重視這等奇人，完全是自以為視、自視過高的表現。我勸告各位，看不懂的請請教別人，不要抹殺一切突出的人和事。近代西方文化興盛，原因是人家懂得謙卑，不明白的發問，和尊重個人和其創作。甘於平凡不是罪，但要求別人平凡不但破壞了人家的一生，更阻礙了社會的文化發展。

這是曾灶財在Wikipedia的entry，記錄了他的簡略生平和一些有趣的事，很值得一看。

此為悼念這位中國街頭塗鴉先驅，九龍皇帝曾灶財。

Dalian

Just come back from Dalian. I spent a week there for a meeting and sightseeing. It was a nicely planned city, but still suffered from quite some extent of pollution. The sky was fogging most of the week, and I believed that it was real fog plus smog.

Since the meeting was co-organized by my employer in the US, I met a bunch of old friends and had great time with them. The students at the university who volunteered at the meeting were very helpful and cheerful too.

I didn't bring my camera nor my laptop with me for the trip. So I could only take pictures with camera of my friends here and there, and I am still waiting for them to send me my photos; nor I could enjoy the free broadband internet inside the hotel room. I will probably put on some of the photos on the web soon after I get them.

My Glass Works

Today we had the last glass crafting lesson. Time seemed to have flied for 8 whole weeks. We needed to finish the unfinished works we had been doing. The stained glass was one of them.

We made our own designs and then cut the stained glasses into appropriate sizes and shapes. Then we polished the edges and wrapped copper strips around the edges. We then wedged the pieces together using nickel. Then I stained the nickel lines with bronze coloration.

It seemed simple, but it took a lot of time to polish the edges and wedge the pieces together. We only had 4 colors to choose from, and I think I have made good use of them. This is my stained glass: A tree standing in the wind.


We were also provided with an Italian glass for etching. I wanted to etch some Chinese icons. I looked up the web today and found some nice ones. At last I decided to etch the word "福" in 篆書 at the bottom of the glass only, leaving the body untouched, just like a stamped icon. Our instructor suggested me to etch it real deep for the effect.



Sue etched her glass with lines of different thickness on the body and the bottom. Very retro in style.

借種

以下係一個尋日發生的笑話，可能需要d做microbiology既經歷加埋一d三級意識先識得笑：

事緣：阿翔要同我地lab借一條 E. coli strain 去用，帶o左兩隻agar plates過黎要streak out。

阿翔：喂，康少，過黎同你借種。
康少：要借種就搵件素女過黎啦，你條麻甩佬過黎做乜？
阿翔：所以咪要你整落隻plate度囉。

Sweet

1. I saw a movie today. It is a funny but a sweet one. Cashback.

We watched it in Broadway Movie Center. There are a lot interesting books in the book shop, and a lot more people in there than when the cinema had just opened. Good news.

2. I got to know Jack Johnson and his songs today. He plays sort of folk music, but a sweet one.

索女喪屍機關槍 (Planet Terror)

第一次睇Robert Rodriguez既戲，但睇呢套《索女喪屍機關槍》o係美國同Quentin Tarantino結合成一套三個多鐘頭既Cult片（Grindhouse），已經對呢套戲有信心。加上張Poster，玩埋哥普拉將機關槍當義肢條橋，必睇！

唔好當呢套戲係一套普通喪屍片黎睇。要睇得明套戲，要有番d睇爛片同打 BioHazard既修為，同埋個人自已要喪喪地。我唔算睇得多爛片，亦唔打BioHazard，但都睇得好過癮，因為我夠喪！

如果你有留意完場後d credit roll-out，就知道Robert Rodriguez除左導演之外，仲寫埋劇本、做埋配樂、混音同攝影。Quentin Tarantino仲親自演出軍人之一，有好出位既表演！

想知多d套戲既野，可以睇下Boston Globe既影評：
http://www.boston.com/movies/display?display=movie&id=8697

唔明點解又一城AMC上左一個星期就落畫。今日GH旺角20:05場全院爆滿，我地仲要坐第一行。

香港Yahoo!的觀眾評論也大讚，此片正是正經娛樂大片之大氣候中的一串清流：
http://hk.movies.yahoo.com/070624/28/2a6pb-rep.html?t=list&st=user

p.s. 點解o係套戲入面支機關槍裝o係右腳，但係o係張poster裡面，支機關槍去o係左腳？專登玩野定係真係攪錯左？

Thumb

I cut my thumb today. It was the end of the glass crafting lesson, and we were getting a glass to take home and get prepared for the next lesson. I wanted to go sooner and tried to take a glass out of the carton casing. But I ripped the glass instead of the carton, and my cut was like the shape of Long Island, NY with only 1/8 of the perimeter still attached to the thumb. Blood steamed out of the cut. Luckily, we had a nurse classmate who helped wrap my thumb. She then brought me to the hospital she worked and cleaned and wrapped my thumb very properly.

Olympic Sculptures

There was an exhibition of Olympic sculptures in Hong Kong Park last week. These are some of the photos I took from there. I loved the gelato we had and the time we spent in the beergarten also.


More photos are available here, or through the link on the right.

An Awesome Japanese Game Show

A friend of mine forwarded this video to me. It is a freaking funny game show Japanese created recently. Check it out:

glumbert.com

LEGO Digital Designer

My brother told me a great software to play with. This free LEGO Digital Designer lets you build your own Lego and upload it to LEGO. If your design is real good, they may consider selling it. Whether you will have a share of the profit is unknown to me. They may have explained it in that font 4.0 Disclaimer.

My first piece of work: Federation Star Cruiser

Miracle

I heard a friend of mine is having trouble at work and in personal life. I read a story some time ago. I don't remember the details of the story, but I think my version will do well for delivering the message.

A devoted priest falls into a river and is being carried away. He thinks that he has spent 30 years serving God and the Church, and has spread the words of God among tens of thousands of people, God shall show him miracle to save his humble life.

Then he sees a boulder amid the running water 10 feet ahead. He thinks God has a way out arranged for him and so let water brings him pass the rock.

Then he saw a small piece of wood 5 feet away. He thinks that the wood is too small to keep him afloat, and he believes that God has a way out arranged to save his life ahead.

Then the river enters a forest where tree branches without leaves hang from their trunks into the water at the river banks. The devoted priest believes that God has a way out arranged for him and so let water drifts him away.

Water is picking up speed. The devoted priest gets washed down a 20-feet fall, breaks his neck and drown.

In Heaven, the devoted priest meets God. He is furious and questions God why not showing him miracle to save his life.

God replies, "I have given you 3 chances. The boulder, the piece of wood and the branches of the dead trees. If you hold on to any one of them, you would have been saved. Why didn't you see that?"

The moral: No one can help you if you don't help yourself.
___________________________

Morpheus says to Neo at the door of The Oracle, "... I can only show you the door. You have to walk through it."

From www.x-matrix.net/Scripts.shtml

am 730

Since Metro published a few years ago, free-of-charge newspapers furnish in Hong Kong. There are 3 (or 4?) free newspapers available now, 2 of which are available both inside and outside the railway systems. I like their concise style of news writing.

Among them, am 730 is my favorite. It is sort of liberal and dare to tell the negative, akin to Apple Daily but less exaggerating. At University station, both am 730 and Hongkong Headline (頭條日報), a pro-government free newspaper, sit next to each other. The stands holding am 730 are always emptied first.

The coming-along of free-of-charge newspapers is probably one of the good facets of Capitalism at its best: the capitalists are more than willing to fund public services (through placing advertisement in this case).

The individuality of am 730, I believe, is upheld by its strong owner Sze Wing-ching (施永青). If you are outside Hong Kong and do not subscribe Apple Daily (蘋果日報), but want to read news of Hong Kong written critically, check it out: www.am730.com.hk. The online version has a very intuitive interface: it works like flipping real newspaper pages.

盈盈倒樹蔥

iPhone

This is indeed revolutionary. iPhone has the most advanced and intuitive touch screen and soft keypad, as well as making the most of the existing wireless network without resorting to 3G. And it runs on a dedicated version of Mac OS X.

Apple has made this 20-minutes video to showcase this work of Art and Engineering.

The cheapest plan costs US$59.90, but it includes unlimited internet time! With 24/7 internet access, iPhone has the most-wanted internet content of the US populace ready at your finger tips: internet, email, maps, stocks and weather. It has Google maps interface pre-installed, so that you can save a few hundred bucks on GPS for driving directions. You can also search for local business (e.g. sushi restaurants), get the driving directions and make calls to reserve a table, all from this lovely device! The email client have all common email service providers pre-configured, and you can read word and excel documents on it!

Very tempting... I gotta fondle one from my friends if not getting one from the store right away when I get back to Ipswich.

Yes. iPhone is not a 3G phone. How better will it get with the 3G (or 3.5G) version after a year or two?

But wait.

With unlimited internet access, it doesn't make sense to use the old-fashion wireless network for phone calls. Why isn't iPhone an IP-phone instead? Hum.. I sense a trap... the all-evil service provider. I should go for the IP-phone version, if there will be one, to behold Justice.

肥開

年幾冇見肥開，原本諗住遲d去星加坡探下佢，朝早打開MSN，佢竟然話返左香港，諗住呢兩日返CU見個面。我話大家都o係屯門，不如出黎食晏。哈哈，快人快語，即刻出黎，食麥當勞。

講下講下，反正今日無節目，佢又要買 d「好重要」既野，咁就跟埋佢出灣仔，之後去銅鑼灣 join 佢個朋友，再去埋旺角。就係咁，飲下咖啡傾下計，玩下電結他，睇下高達，咁又一日。

佢朋友問我地點識，我話我地係Grad School同學，係我介紹美國份工比佢。
阿開話：「係呀，佢係我恩人黎架。」
我話：「咁你第時記得燒多兩注香比我喇。」
___________________

有時，坐低等下，真係會有運到，同埋驚喜。

樂樂和盈盈

樂樂和盈盈終於完成檢疫，今天公開展出。Now寬頻電視新設頻道503，全日從用四個鏡頭直播大熊貓的生活。

以後打開電視便有樂樂和盈盈陪伴你，不用等到亞視半夜收台看「深海獵奇」了。

On the Road

今天蔡瀾在蘋果日報的專欄介紹了 Jack Keorouac 的 On the Road。

歐 洲 的 國 內 機 ， 又 窄 又 小 ， 當 然 沒 有 電 影 看 ， 只 聽 錄 音 書 罷 了 。 在 巴 士 上 ， 我 也 讀 不 了 書 ， 全 靠 聽 。 只 在 酒 店 房 間 ， 才 翻 翻 正 式 書 本 ， 這 幾 天 重 看 了 《 路 上 On The Road 》 。
這 是 作 者 積 克 ． 卡 勞 圭 Jack Kerouac 的 半 自 傳 性 著 作 。 此 君 之 前 沒 寫 過 書 ， 文 學 修 養 也 不 是 特 別 好 。 總 之 在 旅 行 途 中 ， 有 什 麼 記 什 麼 ， 並 無 什 麼 特 別 的 趣 事 ， 囉 哩 囉 嗦 地 ， 到 底 有 何 種 力 量 ， 吸 引 我 再 讀 此 書 呢 ？
不 單 是 我 一 個 人 ， 天 下 愛 好 旅 行 的 人 ， 都 在 重 讀 。 今 年 是 它 出 版 的 五 十 周 年 紀 念 ， 日 子 ， 真 過 得 快 ！ 在 六 十 年 代 ， 此 書 影 響 了 整 個 文 壇 ， 捲 起 一 陣 頹 廢 之 中 又 求 知 的 風 潮 ， 創 造 了 「 疲 憊 的 一 代 Beat Generation 」 。
作 者 的 旅 程 ， 當 今 看 來 ， 短 暫 得 可 笑 ， 只 有 一 千 七 百 二 十 七 里 長 ， 走 的 都 是 美 國 的 鄉 下 ， 連 外 國 也 還 沒 踏 出 一 步 呢 。
五 十 年 來 ， 平 均 每 年 還 能 賣 十 萬 本 ， 加 起 來 是 個 驚 人 的 數 字 。 這 本 書 將 一 直 暢 銷 下 去 ， 成 為 經 典 ， 是 經 過 時 間 的 考 驗 的 。 一 接 觸 到 它 ， 你 就 會 染 上 放 翁 癖 ， 從 此 愛 上 旅 行 ， 一 生 樂 此 不 疲 。
這 本 書 最 強 烈 的 訊 息 是 ： 放 下 一 切 ， 走 吧 ！
愈 年 輕 看 這 本 書 愈 好 ， 馬 上 出 發 。 其 實 老 了 也 不 遲 ， 重 要 的 是 精 神 上 的 解 放 ， 而 不 是 實 際 的 旅 行 。 五 十 年 前 的 作 者 ， 只 夠 錢 買 汽 油 ， 用 一 輛 破 車 和 朋 友 到 處 流 浪 。 當 今 的 旅 行 ， 可 以 說 是 歷 史 上 最 便 宜 的 時 候 ， 所 有 物 價 都 在 高 漲 ， 只 有 機 票 愈 來 愈 便 宜 。
還 等 些 什 麼 呢 ？ 出 門 吧 ！ 你 目 前 的 工 作 並 非 沒 有 你 不 成 的 ， 別 把 自 己 看 得 太 重 。
你 要 照 顧 的 人 ， 也 不 會 因 為 你 不 在 他 們 身 邊 而 馬 上 死 去 。 多 看 天 下 ， 多 觀 察 別 人 是 怎 麼 過 這 一 生 的 。 回 來 後 ， 你 會 對 別 人 更 好 ， 你 會 對 自 己 更 好 。
如 果 你 還 猶 豫 ， 就 去 買 這 本 書 來 看 看 。 讀 原 文 最 好 ， 台 灣 人 也 應 該 翻 譯 過 ， 書 名 譯 成 什 麼 就 忘 記 了 。

很同意他說「回 來 後 ， 你 會 對 別 人 更 好 ， 你 會 對 自 己 更 好 」。

我到 Amazon.com 和 Wikipedia 看過這本書的background，真的很有趣。又多一本好書要讀了。

Empty

That was empty and hollow. I had not smoked much before, only once or twice, but I wanted to smoke very much last night. I don't remember, maybe 5 or 6 for the night. The drinks were crap. The Barley's tasted like soy milk, even Jack Daniel's seemed like watered-down. I gotta turn to beer.

I felt aloof from the uproars. I was like hovering in the air, looking upon these people from above, isolated, just like I always did in the dreams. The music sounded more like howls.

I shook it off and dived into the game after a couple of cigarettes.

That was what happened 10 years after.