The Fall

Typo Queen

It is very hard for me to write anything, either in Chinese or English, without typos. Spelling function helps me to avoid many embarrassing moments, but is never a cure for me. So, I created this new title, typo queen, for myself.

It is already frustrating for not being able to express the exact what I to say. It is also frustrating to say what I want to say wrong, especially, saying it with a "stupid mistake".

So far, besides me, my boss is the one who suppers most, dreadfully for my typos. Therefore, I prove-read all above lines I just wrote, but there is no guarantee that I won't come back to revise more!

Why So Serious

In stead of unveilling Batman's mask, I'm more prone to remove Joker's make-up. Want to see Heath Ledger's face one more time and say farewell.

Wall.E

Viewed June 28.

In a World Left Silent, One Heart Beeps
by A.O. Scott
June 27, 2008, New York Times

The first 40 minutes or so of “Wall-E” — in which barely any dialogue is spoken, and almost no human figures appear on screen — is a cinematic poem of such wit and beauty that its darker implications may take a while to sink in. The scene is an intricately rendered city, bristling with skyscrapers but bereft of any inhabitants apart from a battered, industrious robot and his loyal cockroach sidekick. Hazy, dust-filtered sunlight illuminates a landscape of eerie, post-apocalyptic silence. This is a world without people, you might say without animation, though it teems with evidence of past life.

We’ve grown accustomed to expecting surprises from Pixar, but “Wall-E” surely breaks new ground. It gives us a G-rated, computer-generated cartoon vision of our own potential extinction. It’s not the only film lately to engage this somber theme.

...

(By the way, Sundance Kabuki did it again: out of focus. What a crime!)

Special Thanks to ...

My way to get around in San Francisco is mainly by public transportation. When I first came here, I took muni buses to go to school, then, after I moved, I almost exclusively used Bart (Bay Area Rapid Train) to go to work, underground. Now, after moved again, I switched to muni, which has a stop almost at my door step.

Bart is quicker and more reliable. However, I have to admit that muni ride is more colorful and inspiring.

Going through the underground tunnel is depressing. For a while, they did put a serious of advertisements on the tunnel walls from Embarcadero to Montgomery, so when the train passed through, it looked like a short film was projected out of the train window. But I am sure that a lot of riders missed that show, never realizing its existence after so used to bury the heads into their shoulders before or after a long day.

In the contrast, there is view when you take muni. Nobody can miss it when it is a perfect sunny day, sitting in a bus rolling down one of the hilly San Francisco hill. The light wonders through the whole bus, leaving the delighting glow on the passengers' faces. I always think to set a shot inside of a moving muni driving through the city.

Despite of the visual treat a muni passenger may get, I find I am also drawn to the conversations by my fellow passengers. Different form the always quiet Bart riders, people talk more on munis. Of course, when there is a route with more characters getting on and off, you will hear more interesting remarks and stories, for example the 38 line on Geary.

Once I heard a woman called standing in a crowed muni as "inner city surfing". That comments totally bring my all future similar experience to a whole new level as I am reminded once a while by my best-half, who considers surfing as his religion, that I should learn surfing. It was like that an atheist finally shared church-going experience with her religious spouse.

Another time, I heard two homeless-looking men carried on a very technical conversation about diamond classifying and cutting in the last roll of a bus for about a half hour, like real pros. After the lengthen and detailed discussion of cutting angle issues, I remember, the two, the last persons anyone would expect to know so much about diamonds, picking their teeth-missing mouth, ended the whole conservation with a rather philosophic summary: diamond, the hardest material, is the one of easiest to break. Then they got off bus in my most admiring starring.

Just today, I heard another one. When the bus crossed Park Persidio, a man pointed the trial to his friend, telling him that he found a one-dollar bill laying on the trial the night before. I walked a few steps, he said, there was another one, then I walked more, there was more... I found seven bills laid there in a line with exact distance between. His friend was amazed, a one-dollar-bill, ehh? What happened next? Oh, well, I lost my trial, because I was doing my "w e e d" stuff, and I saw a cop at the corner, then I had to turn to another way and I lost my money trial! I wondered whether there was a performance art project unknowingly participated by the man, or the cop had some kind of evil humor.

I was thinking that some stories I heard during my bus rides could be made into short films. Then nobody of audience would expect that was just something you overheard on a bus.

Of course, if somebody my inspirations cumulate and blossom on the silver screen, there should be a line: special thanks to Muni San Francisco.

To the Reader: Charles Simic

Don't you hear me
Bang my head
Against your wall?

Of course, you do
So how come
You don't answer me?

Bang your head
On your side of the wall
and keep me company.

Use Your Oven as a Dishrack!

Even though the Chinese diet is dramatically westernized, oven, specially built-in oven is still not a usual kitchen appliance in most Chinese kitchens. Bakeries are commonly seen in cities. Roasted ducks and pipettes are some Chinese people's favorite dishes. The tradition of baking and roasting is not the part of Chinese home cooking.

However, it is not unusual to see the newly migrated oversea Chinese claim that she or he developed additions towards roasting and/or baking.

Those postings of prefect Tilamisu and Lasagna drew no less attentions than the mouth watering classic Chinese dishes on the websites where the Chinese armature cooking-enthusiastic meet. I think the attractions of the roasting and baking probably lie in their unique method, which are quite "foreign" for many Chinese who grew up with quick stir-fry and simple strews.

But, I choose not to use my oven any more.

I am against baking and roasting because these two methods are not energy sufficient. Both baking and roasting are indirect cooking methods, and therefore take longer and more energy to cook the food. Half dozen basic chocolate cookies or a leg of lamb would require you preheat the oven for 450f, and then bake for 30 minutes or more. If you have changed all the light bulb to save your electric bills, then what's the point to not make a stir-fry?

The ingredients used for baking and roasting are not healthy. One egg contains 70% of cholesterols you should have for a day. However, baking a cake or pie can take up to half dozen eggs in one recipe or may be with additional yolks, with maybe a cup full of refined sugar. Even though some vegetables and fruits are used for baking and roasting, the high temperature long cooking process usually leave very little benefit of "eating your greens" after all.

Baking and roasting take certain joy of cooking and eating away. I admit this is a pretty subjective argument. For some people it is like a magic for all the wonderful things happening deep in the oven. But I would prefer to see how my food is cooked. I also cooking is also part of tradition. In old days, people believed raw fruit would cause harm of the health, so apple pies are the solution to eat the them "safely". But I have not be blessed with experience with a unforgettable homemade apple pie, but always thought it would not do the justice to the apple if I can not taste the apple individually.

I probably will unlearn baking and roasting, even though I also think eating raw is not for me either. I would be a perfectly fine to move in a apartment without oven. But when I put the prepared food which requires to be heated up in oven into my microwave, I always feel a little sorry to the food.

What Would Buddha Do?

First, I don't know the truth about what happens in T-i-b-e-t. "Truth", for media, is a tale of Rashomon.
Second, I cannot take side. Hatred starts from saying "we" and "they".

I am confused. But I am clear and will stand by the following points:
1. No one shall create hatred for personal gain.
2. No one shall seek control from power of religion or government.
3. All lives are equal.

Spelled as O-Z-U

I am reading a book about Ozu, and suddenly realized Hou Hsiao-Hsien was the one who introduced me to Ozu even though I did watch some of Ozu's films before. Especially this movie, Cafe Lumiere, fully translated Ozuism to me.

I think Ozu himself would like this film.

Life on Mars

It's a god-awful small affair
To the girl with the mousy hair
But her mummy is yelling "No"
And her daddy has told her to go
But her friend is nowhere to be seen
Now she walks through her sunken dream
To the seat with the clearest view
And she's hooked to the silver screen
But the film is a saddening bore
Though she's lived it ten times or more
She could spit in the eyes of fools
As they ask her to focus on

Sailors fighting in the dance hall
Oh man! Look at those cavemen go
It's the freakiest show
Take a look at the Lawman
Beating up the wrong guy
Oh man! Wonder if he'll ever know
He's in the best selling show
Is there life on Mars?

It's on America's tortured brow
That Mickey Mouse has grown up a cow
Now the workers have struck for fame
'Cause Lennon's on sale again
See the mice in their million hordes
From Ibiza to the Norfolk Broads
Rule Britannia is out of bounds
To my mother, my dog, and clowns
But the film is a saddening bore
'Cause I wrote it ten times or more
It's about to be writ again
As I ask you to focus on

Sailors fighting in the dance hall
Oh man! Look at those cavemen go
It's the freakiest show
Take a look at the Lawman
Beating up the wrong guy
Oh man! Wonder if he'll ever know
He's in the best selling show
Is there life on Mars?

By David Bowie

Lei Feng

March 5 is Lei Feng's birthday, which, through my childhood, made the whole month special every year: there were always some activities at the school to "Xue Lei Feng"(學雷鋒) .

I am surprised that when I googled "Lei Feng" today, there were not too many results. As even said many years ago, "Lei Feng Come, Lei Feng Go." Somehow, nowadays, he hardly can make here in March.

Mao's posthumous "Learn from Comrade Lei Feng" (向雷鋒同志學習) campaign in 1963 was like any moments in China, which people sometime chose to forget.

Not long ago, I read some the second most printed poster in China is Lei Feng's portrait, holding a raffle under a pine tree. The number one is Mao's portrait, of course. I cannot find it on Google, strangely, even I doubt it is copy right protected.

The same article said some Lei Feng's pictures were airbrushed for more specific visual impression. After so many thing said and done, it at least will be hard to forget.

Persepolis

(viewed on Jan. 26, 2008, Sundance Kabuki)

- Beautiful animation
- Strong female characters
- Interesting personal and social history