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2016/17 First Look

The Wiki

9/12 DWTS
9/19 Kevin Can Wait
9/19 The good place
9/20 Bull
9/21 Speechless
9/22 Notorious
9/22 The Pitch
9/25 Secrets and Lies

10/2 Madam Secretary
10/3 Conviction Hayley Atwell
10/3 Timeless
10/27 The Great Indoors
10/27 Pure Genius

Later
Time After Time
APB
The Mick
Star
Shots Fired
1/7 Emerald City

USA
AMC

Somehow the title of the novel was not at all appealing to me. That’s why I hesitated to open it even though I’ve had the book for a while. (I don’t even remember what prompted me to get the book. It must have had come up as a recommendation based on a book I read previously.) But I was desperate.

The book was easy to read. I wouldn’t call it a page turner, but it kept me interested and engaged. The story was like a neat little puzzle, while the “mystery” was not the point, where the pieces come together nicely one by one throughout the story.

It bugs me a little bit how every little piece fits perfectly in the story. I cannot shake that feeling, even though I kept telling myself that it’s the point of fiction. Nevertheless, it’s very enjoyable.

It’s been a week since I finish Imagine Me Gone. While I’m still trying to digest it and hopefully write something coherent about what I think and, more importantly, how it made me feel, I’m on a quest for the next book to read. It shouldn’t have been difficult. I have, already in my Kindle, over 100 samples of books which, at one point or another, look appealing to me. I also have over two dozen books that I intended to read.

First, I turned to Jade Sharma’s debut novel Problems . I finished the entire sample and I felt like I can definitely continue to read it, but I’m not convinced that I want to delve into a novel about addiction. Moving on, I came to Anne Tyler’s Back When We Were Grownups. However, the characters seem unrealistically quirky, and I had no patience to even sit through a softball game at an engagement party, even though the opening of the book was great — “Once upon a time, there was a woman who discovered she had turned into the wrong person.” I opened Anthony Doerr’s All the Light We Cannot See, but as soon as I realized it is set in WWII, I retreated. Then I unwittingly stumbled upon The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah. I didn’t realize it’s yet another book set in WWII because it started off with cheesy plot device — pretend to set the stage in the late 90s, fabricate a scenario that creates a question intends to hook and throw you into a “flashback”. However, it was not the fact that the main story is set in WWII that turned me off. The way the characters are portrayed is like a teenage girl’s attempt of a romance novel, affecting her non-existent knowledge of the world and human.

And then we came to The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin. I don’t remember why I got this book. Either a personal recommendation, which I doubt, or it is a “you might like this as well” suggestion by GoodRead or Amazon based on the other books I liked. I did not have high hopes because I did not particularly like the title of the book. But I was drawn in faster than I could imagined. It’s very likely because the novel seems to be about books and book loving people.

I think I’m happily settled for a while.

re-arrangement

So I’ve started listening to Cortex (after Daniel started to re-listen to it and Hello Internet), because now I do want to manage my monkey better and through that, live a better life. The first few episodes inspired me to rearrange my iPhone icons. It was long overdue. I was periodically organizing it to make sure it has some sort of logic, and when I downloaded a new app, I’d try to put it in a logical place. However, after a few strikes of laziness, it got out of hand and I stopped trying.

And this is what happened: (Grey might have an heart attack. Daniel almost did.)

I don’t even know when and why Pinterest, an app that I barely use, ended up on the first page. That is probably why I could never, really NEVER, find it. It has no place on the first page! (It still took me more than 10 seconds to find it on the above image as I write this.)

I started to reorganize it and try using folders. I used to hate the ideas of folders on iPhone. The only 2 folders I had, which were on the very last page, are games, which I’m trying not to play, hence hidden, and Apple stuff that I cannot remove. I didn’t start out with a clear rule of arrangement and no specific/tangible end goal, except for making it look nicer and make my workflow more efficient. Daniel disapproves. Therefore, now I’m trying to think about it more.

It is indeed very difficult.

Currently, I define my pages as: constantly used, frequently used, and rarely used but because I don’t remember their names so I don’t want to uninstall them and not being able to reinstall them when I need them. Because of these three categories, I have three pages instead of two even though I can really fit everything into two. Putting the Obsessions (Facebook, PTT, Plurk, VK, reddit, twitter) into a folder is me trying to break the established neuro-pathway where my finger autonomously taps on them whenever I find myself with one minute or two (sometimes even less) of “spare time”. I didn’t really obsess over vk, reddit or twitter, but having a folder with only 3 apps is an abomination to me, so I brought them in.

Now I don’t know what else to do.

The central idea of Grey’s home screen arrangement principle that Daniel is advocating for is easy access for important apps and search for the rest (which neatly reside in a folder). I couldn’t get behind the idea initially because, to be honest, I never used the search function and the thought of training myself to adopt a new behavior is unthinkable. But I think the argument is legitimate — anything that is not on the first page usually cannot be instinctively and instantly located, and therefore, instead of wasting brain juice (albeit a few seconds), one should just search for it when needed. I figured out how I can get to the search bar (while talking to Daniel to exhibit how I really don’t ever use that function) and I’m getting used the idea of searching. Now my phone looks like this. We’ll see how it goes.

Darkness at Noon

最近一股作氣看完了兩本之前從台灣帶來的日本小說- 江國香織的”金米糖撒落的地方”以及柚木麻子的”書店的戴安娜”. 覺得也許我的閱讀勁回來了, 便想要趕快再找一本書來看, 以免隔太久好不容易回來的勁頭又離我而去. 看著書架上好幾本這一兩年從台灣帶回來的書, 都沒有一本引起我的興趣. (目前剩下的都是中文作家的作品, 有一半是散文, 而我目前實在沒有看散文的心情.) 打開 Kindle, 幾十本略有興趣而下載了 sample, 或是衝動之下買下來的書, 實在不知從何挑起, 有點意興闌珊. 翻看書目時看到 Arthur Koestler 的 Darkness at Noon, 印象中應該是在書裡或電視電影裡有人提到過, 我順手查了一下便決定下載, 不過現在是怎麼也想不起來究竟是在哪裡聽/看到的. Darkness at Noon 雖然被某些人認為是二十世紀最重要的十本英語作品之一, 但在中文界應該沒那麼有名, 所以我會下載應該一大半原因是因為我喜歡它的書名.

Darkness at Noon 的每一章節很短, 看起來很順暢, 有事要暫停也很方便. 令我很驚訝的一點是, 我看到第九章竟然都還沒有讓我生起想放下的念頭. 畢竟這個題材並不是我很有興趣的, 然後步調其實不快. 但不知為何, 雖然目前為止故事還平平淡淡的卻很吸引我.

充實

今天十分充實, 完成了很多件該做的事.

工作上的任務雖然有點拖拉還是處理完畢, 這幾天在看好一陣子前買的小說”書店裡的黛安娜”, 非常動人, 一股腦就看完了. 已經好久沒有好好地看幾本書了說. 另外, 籌備了好幾天的丹尼爾周末慶生計劃, 從構想到準備材料, 現在也都成形了. 就待明天實際執行啦!

最後因為這兩天心血來潮又一直逛Radley的網站想買包包長夾, 想起了因為掉線而不敢再帶出門的 Radley 狗狗吊飾. 我一股作氣地加線把它們縫緊, 明天就可以帶它們出去玩了.

真開心!

New endeavour

It’s not even a third of the year and I’m already on my third endeavour (the first and second being Deutsch and wedding planning, neither of them finished.)

Now I’m onto programming. (Second ever attempt since uni.) We’ll see how long this lasts.

[紀錄] 事到如今

milestone: 一個月

從台灣回來不久後 Daniel 忽然跟我求婚. 完全在意料之外.

驚喜過後就開始扼腕, 如果他早點求婚, 我在台灣時就不會一直被念, 而且可能還可以在婚紗特賣搶到什麼便宜好貨. alas. (現在敢抱怨了因為戒指卡在手上拿不下來, 嘻嘻.)

因為不想要把自己逼瘋, 尤其 Daniel 現在正忙著轉行的事, 我們決定最早明年春天結婚.

但我後來發現可以以訂婚的名義回台灣先宴客, (這部份我自己來, 當然還有媽媽跟妹妹幫忙, 一些親朋好友也很熱心的說要幫忙, 畢竟我只能遠端遙控) 於是大概看了一些場地 (其實本來心裡就有個底了), 問了餐廳空檔, 很爽快地就下訂了.

在下訂之前沒事的時候就在看 GetMarry 板, 資訊很多當然也很零散 (還有我最愛看的 drama 實不實讓我分心), 我整個像無頭蒼蠅一樣, 感覺上好像知道該準備什麼, 實際上還是抓不太到大方向, 畢竟我的情況說普通又有點奇怪. 我今天可能看一堆禮服租或買的資料, 明天可能看一堆邀請卡的設計. 所以我除了偶爾完成了一個項目會有個放鬆感之外, 隨時好像都處在 low to medium anxiety level 的情況下.

可憐了 Daniel, 我焦慮時很容易亂發脾氣.

不知道在哪裡看到, 人家說場地, 婚攝(現在想想不知道是指婚紗還是婚禮紀錄)跟新秘要先訂好, 其他可以慢慢來. 短短一句話又讓我陷入焦慮狀態. 剛好我想到 Florence 跟我的情況有點類似 (只是她在回台灣前被求婚, 還有機會剛好拍個婚紗先), 就跟她請教, 討資料. 她們的婚紗照我還蠻喜歡的, 所以想說有認識的也好, 就跟他們聯絡婚禮紀錄事宜, 但是後來多看了幾家, 發現他們算蠻貴的, 而且婚攝的風格我不是很喜歡. 所以我又找了幾個評價不錯的, 後來選定了一位作品我跟Daniel跟媽媽都蠻喜歡的, 只是他的助手回信很制式, 感覺有點不安心. (但說真的, 單單詢問的人應該不少, 如果每個人都親回, 應該會累死.)

接下來就是新秘啦. 本來也是看了 Florence 推薦的, 我覺得還可以接受 (整個就是沒概念人又怕麻煩). 但是第一次填詢問單時 email 好像留錯了, 一直沒有接到回信, 所以就開始看其他的新秘. 實在有夠多. 不過我越看越多越知道大概要看什麼, (不能看新娘漂不漂亮, 這90%是天生的XD) 看了快十位, 還是沒有看到很喜歡的. 回頭看看我自己化的 (明明就不會化妝), 覺得好像只要修個眉毛就不錯, 只是事情才沒有那麼簡單的啊… 上相度, 持久度等等應該都無法比. 何況我還不會自己弄頭髮 (想盤髮).

不過事到如今我已經學會深呼吸, 沒有非誰不可, 低頭看看戒指, 兩個人開心才是最重要的.

[紀錄] Ring

基於種種原因, 很早就決定我不要鑽石.

加上很喜歡 Aquamarine 的水藍色, 就認定了 Aquamarine 是我的定婚石.

但是做了越多研究, 越發現 Aquamarine 的壞處 (其實只有一項, 就是它硬度不夠, 當定婚戒天天戴很容易刮傷甚至碎裂.)

於是我把主意打到了 Sapphire 上面. 因為在做 Aquamarine 的研究時發現 Sapphire 其實什麼顏色都有 (為什麼中文叫藍寶石呢?! XD), 應該可以挑到我喜歡的顏色, 而且硬度有 9 (鑽石是 10, Aquamarine 是 7.5~8)

心裡有個底之後就開始尋覓我跟Daniel都喜愛的戒指. 看了幾家店之後大概了解我們的喜好 (看到實物戴在手上跟看照片感覺完全不同啊.) 後來得知某家珠寶店幾周後有 Custom Design 活動 (店內會有上百隻戒台供挑選, 然後可以自帶散石或是跟他們購買.) 我們果然挑到了設計簡單大方又很別緻的戒指, 不過, 戒台的價錢已經是我默默在心裡定下的上限了 (雖然是 Daniel 買單), 於是我決定, 主石還是選 Aquamarine 吧! 反正我們選的戒台, 主石會是坐在裡面不會凸出來, 應該不太會刮到撞到.

但是討厭的事就快要開始了!

活動當天有珠寶師傅坐鎮, 購買完畢他隨即幫你改戒圍. 明明我量的是4.5, 單據上也寫4.5, 但是改完之後拿到的卻只比4大一點點. 偏偏那天改完店已經差不多要關門了 (我們還先回家一趟再出門, 因為 Daniel 不想在 mall 裡等), 所以也沒想過量量戒指看正不正確. 我使盡力氣把戒指塞進去, 以為戒圍是正確的, 就開開心心地回家了. 回家之後, 戒指差點拔不出來. (主石還沒裝上去, 所以戴著睡可能會戳到眼睛, 所以要拔下來.) 只略略覺得奇怪也沒有多想. (拔到指節的皮都腫了 XD)

因為店小姐誤導, 我們去該活動之前以為他們店內就有 Aquamarine 散石讓我們挑選, 結果其實沒有. 所以我們還多等好幾天等他們合作的珠寶商送來幾顆顏色大小是我們要的 Aquamarine. 好不容易等到了, 卻只有我們覺得其實太大的六顆跟兩顆非常小顆的 (大概分別是 7mm 與 3.5mm), 在挑選時我們直接跳過兩顆小的, 把重心放在那幾顆較大的上面. 憑良心講, 他們真的很漂亮, 雖然說隱隱覺得這大小對於我們的戒台來說好像太大了. 但是店小姐一直說不會不會, 師傅會調整. 我們又沒概念, 於是就挑了顆喜歡的付錢, 交給她們再交給師傅把石頭裝上去. (這時我們隨口提了一下戒指好像改太小, 店小姐才又拿傢伙出來量, 結果果然是改太小了! 並不是我手指忽然變粗… 她們滿口答應說這次一定會改好.)

滿心期待我的漂亮藍色戒指, 但是一直苦等不到他們電話. 大約一周後的星期三, 店小姐打電話來, 說珠寶師傅把戒指跟石頭退回來了, 什麼工也還沒做, 因為石頭太大, 他需要先跟我們確認主石突出戒面我們可不可以接受. -_- 什麼鬼… 事到如今我們只想趕快拿到我的戒指, 就跟他說好的沒問題. 但是店小姐又告知我們珠寶師傅周五才會來店裡拿, 我們最快拿到戒指大概也要下周二. 我此時已經十分不爽.

一來, 他們 Aquamarine 賣我們賣超貴, 我們本來覺得有挑到喜歡的石頭, 然後又不用自己到處尋覓, 人家賺點 markup 可以接受. 但是現在整個感覺越來越差, 實在不想再跟他們交涉, 於是我又看起了 Sapphire (因為 Aquamarine 算是半寶石, 所以除非在網路上找其實不太好買 XD) 我記得 reddit 上有人推薦 Shaneco, 說他們除了鑽石之外, Sapphire 是他們注重的項目之一. 很棒的是他們的庫存都在網站上可以查到, 所以對於他們手上的 Sapphire 價位也有個底. 我又多做了點研究, 人家說 Shaneco 的 Sapphire 其實價錢很不錯, 雖然不是最便宜的, 但是加上服務什麼的還算划得來.

在下定決心跳槽 Sapphire 之前, 我打電話去問第一家珠寶店一些問題 (因為我想知道我們選得 Aquamarine 的大小, 這樣我才知道適合大小的 Saphhire 大概是在什麼價位, 還要順便確認可以退 Aquamarine). 店小姐非常扯, 我問她石頭大小, 她一直跟我扯東扯西, 說石頭突出來沒關係. 我說那你不能看一下嗎? 她又找一堆藉口講得好像石頭不在店內. 我想說算了, 這不是很重要. 但是後來講到別的事情, 她又透露石頭是在店內沒錯, 我就很直接的對她說, 那你就現在去量一下啊. 她才不甘不願地拿來量. 更機車的是, 她看我想退 Aquamarine 還想坑我錢, 說什麼我們已經沒跟你收工錢了 (明明就是活動裡包含的啊) 你這樣我們要跟你收工錢. 我已經很不爽了, 一點也不委婉地指出師傅明明就還沒有把石頭mount上去, 你到底是在說什麼鬼… 她才訕訕地說喔好你要退也是可以.

同時, Daniel 幫我問到這邊的分店問有 Sapphire 庫存, 於是我們周四殺到 Valley Fair 把 Aquamarine 退掉, 把戒指拿回來. 周五殺到 Shaneco 去挑 Sapphire. 雖然 Sapphire 還是比我們之前挑的 Aquamarine 貴, 但是石頭本身的品質, 跟 Shaneco 的服務, 我們覺得非常值得.

不過我們總共花了比我自己設定的預算多了一倍的價錢. 但是 Daniel 開心, 我也開心, 錢… 就再賺就好了. XD

Stupid People

It is really annoying when people ask you for help, and always respond like they know the answer already (when they obviously don’t.)

It does NOT make you sound smarter ok?

And don’t start every questions with “I think I have a brain fart today…”
No, not just today.

[紀錄] 喜餅

本來覺得自己在這項上面應該很放得開, 但是看越多心得就越不知道該怎麼辦. 朋友都講得很簡單, 挑自己喜歡的就好了啊! 但是我又無法試吃, 難道只看盒子挑嗎? (是說只看盒子挑也是ok, 但我都看上超出我預算的盒子啊… orz)

本來跟媽媽討論了之後, 差不多決定了我們兩個都還算喜歡的組合, 只要等媽媽試吃過關即可下定. 但我又跑去看人家心得, 當然各家餅都有人愛有人不愛, 所以看到最後整個就懷疑起自己的選擇. (如果在訂婚前能自己吃到就好了啊… orz)

糾結~

討厭的是其實不需要糾結這件事的啊.

話說我覺得如果我自己可以試吃, 應該就可以果斷的做出決定, 但是其實應該也只是說得容易而已.

Magnolia by Commodity

Initial note was very girly, and the scent reminds me of Tocca’s Florence. But soon after, it matured. It became more feminine and I smelled the warm caramel.

There’s also a hint of something that reminds me of Calyx by Prescriptives.

It’s honestly better than I could hope :)

https://www.commoditygoods.com/collection/thehundredml/magnolia

UK Day 7-8

4/25 Mr. Awesome’s birthday! :D

I’ve always liked Covent Garden. Yes, it’s very touristy, but it’s still fun to relax and watch the street artists or check out cutesy shops. Mr. Awesome also indulged me and we spent quite a while in Radley to peruse the lovely items. I fell in love with the Radley design 4 years ago and always kind of regretted not getting anything.

The drizzle got worse as we decided to go look for a Boundary Dragon. The dragon at Temple Bar did not disappoint. (We walked pass the one at Farringdon without noticing it, and we had to retrace our step and found it in the middle of the street, a little to inconspicuous.) Dragon Map

Personally, I prefer cream tea over high tea. But it seems difficult to find a nice place for cream tea in London, and it’s Daniel’s birthday; it cannot be too shabby. The last time I was in London, I did some research and settled on Afternoon tea at the Capital hotel. It was intimate, quaint and delicious. Nothing but the best for the birthday boy!

This time, the tea room was packed. I guess everyone decided to take shelter and have a cup of tea in the miserable weather.

Friday evening, a handful of museums are open, and since afternoon tea (at 4) and dinner (at 10!) were both in Chelsea, we went to the whimsical Victoria & Albert museum to walk off the desserts. The museum at night was like a nightclub! Too bad that some of the exhibition area was closed.

The grand finale of the day is — Dinner by Heston Blumenthal. Dinner is the second restaurant run by Heston Brumenthal and it is specialize in British food, especially those were seemingly forgotten and little known by the world. The menu was researched by food historian and such, and the end product was surprisingly exotic.

To start, we have the famed meat fruit. It does live up to the hype and then some! I absolutely love the smoothness of the liver parfait paired with mandarin gelatin, which not only provides aesthetic pleasure but also create a balanced, delightful experience in the mouth. We followed it up with spiced pigeon and powdered duck breast.

4/26
2 days before we were to leave London for Vienna, I found out that a good friend of mine from grad school has moved to London (again!) I messaged him on Facebook right away and fortunately they don’t have plans for the Saturday and a impromptu lunch double date was settled.

But first, Wallace Collection awaits. Wallace Collection is a less known (by tourists) gallery that housed an impressive collection. I visited it a few times back in 2010 because I took Art History prior to going to UK and of course I had to see the arts that I studied in class in person.

Lunch was at The Shed, a restaurant we learned about from Esquire channel. I honestly didn’t remember what kind of food they serve and I was happily blown away. Check out the photos I took. It’s just half of what we ordered, but we were too busy eating!

As far as I remembered, we ordered 2 dished from cured meat, cuttlefish, beef cigars (Nelson’s favorite), pan fried goat cheese, lamb chips, pigeon, honeycumb crunchy!

What a way to say goodbye to London!

(to be added, pics: dragon, tea, V&A)

There was a time in my life when I watched a lot of TV shows. I ingested and digested them, and wrote down what they made me feel and think. The habit eventually waned as distractions are made more readily available in the small rectangular form. At least that’s what I suspect. TV shows seized to make me think and feel as much as it used to. In fact, nothing seems to be important enough to warrant a thorough examination and consideration. Maybe I got jaded. But maybe it’s because I started to allow things, big or small, to simply brush by without leaving much of an impression.

Lately, I found myself being obsessed with two shows that many people might frown upon: Odd Mom Out and UnREAL, on Bravo and Lifetime respectively. I discovered both shows after they were already a few episodes in so I binged watched to catch up. That’s probably why I feel like I suffer withdrawal now that I have to wait a full week for the next episode.

Odd Mom Out is about a Upper East Side housewife, who grew up in UES, instead of married into, but still find herself not quite fitting in the UES lifestyle of the riches. Some of the portrayals are quite outrageous but I found the humor rather endearing. Color me impressed when I found that Jill Kargman, who played Jill Weber, the main character of the show, is not really a career actor. She is in fact the author of the book Momzilla, of which the show is based.

UnREAL is scripted show about behind-the-scenes of an The-Bachlor-esque show. Some criticized that it is not a realistic portrayal of such shows (anyone find it ironic?), but it’s top quality drama and I enjoyed it immensely. Even though I cannot stand this type of reality TV, UnREAL completely sucked me in.

[unfinished]

Modified Bee’s Knees

2oz gin
3/4oz lemon juice
1/2oz St. Germain
1tsp honey

————————–
used Bummer & Lazarus. Way too herby. Can use a lot more St Germain and/or honey.

Pink Lady

1oz Hendrinks (or 24)
1oz fresh squeezed grapefruit juice
0.5oz St. Germain

Shake well with ice

top off with club soda

*I used Tonic; however, it’s not necessary since I’ve already had St. Germain as the sweetener. Tonic also introduces a hint of bitterness which might not be idea for this drink.

1 oz Gin
2 dashes Celery bitters
1 bar spoon Dry Vermouth
0.5 oz lime juice
top off with Tonic water

* some cucumber might go well too.

Gin

Current list:
Bloom (England) brought back from UK!
Bummer & Lazarus (Treasure Island) distilled from California grapes!
Nolet’s Silver (Holland) very perfurme-y
Broker’s (England)
Sipsmith (England)
Junipero (San Francisco)
St. George Terroir (Alameda)
St. George Botanivore (Alameda)
Tanqueray Rangpur (England)
Sipsmith Sloe Gin (England)
No. 209 (San Francisco)

Renewed:
Hendrick’s (Scotland)
Beefeater 24 (England)

Retired:
Tanqueray No. 10 (England)
Leopold’s American Small Batch Gin (Colorado)

WANT
Adnam’s First Rate Gin (UK)
Tried:
Monkey 47 (Germany)
Citadelle Reserve (France)
Old Tom (England)
Death’s Door (Wisconsin)
Blade (California)
Bombay Sapphire (England)
St. George Rye (Alameda) dislike

Want to try:
Dorothy Parker (NY)
The Botanist Islay Gin (Scotland)
Berkeley Square (England)
Venus Gin Blend No 1 (Santa Cruz)

Thoughts: there’s a surprising amount of gins from the bay area!

This is old fashioned, but whatevs… here’s my Gin sites:
The Gin is In
Gin Foundry
Gin Reviews
Juniper Diaries
The Gin Queen
The Ginstress

30日電影

Day 1. 你最近看的電影
Kingsman: The Secret Agent.
Colin Firth, gentleman spy, gadgets… 看了預告就知道這我是非看不可. 不過現在我對動作片越來越挑, 其實看之前並沒有很大的把握. 於是當Daniel說她要在家做他的project, 我很開心地自己跑去看了. 看完之後才覺得後悔沒有把他抓出來一起看. Kingsman 絕對是我會想跟他一起分享的一部片. Kingsman 不管是動作,幽默,節奏跟音樂我都非常喜歡. 於是…我看完的下個周末我又把Daniel抓去看一次. 本來還有點擔心只隔一周就重看會覺得疲乏,或是不會有同樣的感動,或是沒有太多新的東西讓我發掘. 結果我只個是多慮了. 即使大部分細節都還歷歷在目, 在電影院看第二次時我還是一樣開心. 唯一的不同之處是本來讓我很緊張的地方我沒那麼緊張, 本來對我來說太血腥的畫面, 我已經有心理準備,所以只用餘光去看XD 另外, 因為我第一次去看時是個周一晚上, 電影院裡其實頗冷清, 裡面的觀眾幾乎都是自己去看的. 第二次是周六下午,幾乎滿場, 全場一起笑, 一起驚呼, 這種感覺實在不錯.

Day 2. 你看過最多人物的電影
真是奇怪的題目. 如果是說有名字有情節的人物的話… 我想應該是 Paris, je t’aime 吧. 18個故事, 每個故事大多都有兩三人. XD

Day 3. 你看過最長的電影
應該是The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (201 min)
回顧我的電影清單, 發現好幾部電影都比我印象中的長. Intersteller 169min, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers 179min, The Wolf of Wall Street 180min!

Day 4. 你多次向他人推薦的電影
A Single Man(2009)
這部片剛出來的時候, 我單純因為Colin Firth 就把它列為必看片 (雖然我也沒有說他每部電影都有看), 後來發現 A Single Man 原著是 Christopher Isherwood 寫的, 就更感興趣了. 因為Isherwood 是我最愛的詩人 W.H. Auden 的mentor兼好友. 那年是美國第二度(?)經濟蕭條的開端. 好多人被裁員, 而我卻毅然決然地辭了職, 跑到社區大學念英國文學與藝術. 在藝術史課中, 我們談到 Art for Art’s Sake 的概念. 而 A Single Man 對我來說正是電影形式中 Art for Art’s Sake 的表現. A Single Man 的故事很簡單, Tom Ford 基本上只取出了書中的一小部份來琢磨呈現. Isherwood 的小說除了與電影同樣深沉的悲傷之外還非常犀利. 而 Tom Ford 的電影充分運用光線, 色彩/色調, 音樂來傳達用言語無法精確掌控的境況 — 主角的心境以及外在環境.

Day 5. 你很喜歡而且片名中有地名的電影
(可以列兩個嗎? XD) Casablanca 與 In Bruges

Day 6. 帶給你回憶的電影
真籠統的題目,一時之下浮現腦海的是 Grease 2. 小時候在電視看到,第一次看到就愛上了. 反倒是沒看過受好評的 Grease–因為我討厭John Travolta. (直到2010年在倫敦看了 Grease, 不過還是沒看過去扶塔的電影版)

Day 7. 曾讓你落淚的電影
又是 A Single Man. 現在每當想沉溺在悲傷的情緒裡時就會重覆播放 Counting Crows 的 Round Here 或是看這部電影. 但其實應該很多電影都有讓我哭過. 目前想得起來的有 A Little Princess(1995). 好不容易又想起一部: The Painted Veil. 這部實在拍得很美, 配樂又棒!

Day 8. 最喜歡的一部動畫電影
最近的是 Wall-E. 感人又可愛. 但是我覺得不提一下 The Little Mermaid 我對不起自己 XD

Day 9. 為了導演而去看的一部電影
Much Ado About Nothing (2012).
不過與其說是為了 Joss Whedon 導而看的, 不如說是為了他的劇本, 加上是設定在現代的 Shakespeare, 並且有眾多Whedon universe 的演員參加. Whedon universe的演員有: Amy Acker, Reed Diamond, Fran Kranz (Dollhouse), Nathan Fillion, Sean Maher (Firefly)等. 另外 The Avenger 基本上也是因為 Joss Whedon (還有 RDJ) 而看的

Day 10. 你對片中臺詞朗朗上口的電影
通常是一部電影可能會有一句印象比較深刻的. 像是 In Bruges:”You’re an inanimate object!!!”, A Few Good Men:”You want the truth? You can’t handle the truth.” Independence Day 的總統speech (我小時候整個背起來 XD)
但其實A Few Good Men 印象更深的是 Tom Cruise 的 “don’t tell me what I know, or don’t know; I know the LAW.” 因為我小時候超喜歡他 >//////////< Day 11. 想和家人一起看的電影
好難想…. Casablanca 好了. 想跟男友一起看. 但是我不小心把逼他看一部他沒興趣的電影的quota 用在 Grease 2 上了. XD

Day 12. 從其他媒體改編,而你覺得優於原作的電影
Jane Austen’s Book Club. 小說很普,但電影有Hugh Dancy XD 還有 the Hunger Games. 小說讓我覺得我浪費了好幾小時的人生… 但電影拍得很好

Day 13. 讓你心情很好的電影
很多電影都讓我心情很好, 但再提Kingsman或Grease2 就太老套了. All I Wanna Do(1998) (原名Strike!) 故事是私立女校的學生在發現學校有意跟另一個男校合併後, 想盡辦法破壞合併案的故事. 我一向喜歡設定在女校的故事.

Day 14. 讓你感到悲傷的電影
唔… 好像一直重複答案. 直覺就想回答 A Single Man. 不過認真想想, The Grand Budapest Hotel 也讓我看完頗感傷.

Day 15. 你覺得非常可怕的電影
Saw 2 (?)
我生平最受不了穿刺傷之類感覺就很痛的東西, 我記得之前跟拍拍貓住的時候, 從房間出來覓食她剛好在看Saw2, 我目光不由自主地移向電視, 短短幾分鐘, 看到了一堆超噁心的東西 T^T (still traumatized)

Day 16. 如果由你編寫電影史,一定會列上去的電影
Sin City (這題想了好久).
當初看 Sin City 給我很大的情緒衝擊, 跟去年看完 The Grand Budapest Hotel 的感覺很類似. 對我來說 Sin City 在電影史上有一提的必要.

Day 17. 重看過最多次的電影
很多電影都重看過,不知道哪部看最多次… The Rock, Assassins, Casablanca, Grease2, The Firm, A Single Man, The Fifth Element, HotFuzz,Equilibrium, Once, Independence Day, The Little Mermaid

(竟然忘了寫 A Parent Trap. Lindsay Lohan小時候好可愛. 更重要的是, A Parent Trap 的故事改編自國小圖書館裡我最愛的一本書: Das doppelte Lottchen by Erich Kästner. 我還買了德文版的來讀, 但是發現童書的德文怎麼那麼難啊 XD)

Day 18. 和最多人一起看過的電影
奇怪的問題, 跳過

Day 19. 讓你看到睡著的電影
The Bourne Supremacy.
不是因為很無聊 XD 這部不巧是我movie hop的第二部, 然後那天又很想睡, 就睡著了… 到現在還是不知道Supremacy在演什麼, 但感覺也不是很重要 XD

Day 20. 想看而一直沒看的電影
很多哩… The Master, Melancholia, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Sunset Blvd.,2001: A Space Odyssey, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Donnie Darko

Day 21. 你看過最難懂的電影
Transformers (?)
我看電影的最大困擾就是無法分辨角色 XD Transformers 更是糟糕, 根本搞不清楚誰是好人誰是壞人

Day 22. 你希望自己能在片中軋一角的電影
Her
我喜歡那個世界的色調

Day 23. 預告片詐欺的電影
這題我還真的想不出來. 通常我可以從預告片很準確地知道我會不會喜歡該片. 硬要說的話應該是 Cinderella (2015), 預告讓我以為有不少動作場面(!?), 但其實就是中規中舉的真人版童話故事, 拍得很好就是了

Day 24. 一部缺點很多但你喜歡的電影
I Am Number Four. 老實說, 我只知道我看得很開心, 然後Chun覺得很不可置信. 我相信這部電影應該有很多缺點. XD

Day 25. 改變你的想法或習慣的電影
跳過

Day 26. 配樂令你印象深刻的電影
The Firm(1993) Dave Grusin 的配樂陪我走過好多地方, 以前不管去哪玩, 都會帶著它的原聲帶. 到現在聽到 Mitch and Abbey, 腦海還是會自動浮現車子開過空無一人的郊區而掀起一片金黃色的落葉的景象. 同期的還有 Hans Zimmer的The Rock, 高中時辦營隊還因此迷戀上一個會彈The Rock主題曲的男生 XD

其實喜歡的配樂很多, 但是90年代的配樂在心目中還是有無可取代的第位. 近年很愛的有 Abel Korzeniowski 的 A Single Man, Alexandre Desplat 的 The Painted Veil, Daft Punk 的 Tron: Legacy, Alberto Iglesias 的Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Clint Mansell 的 Smokin’ Aces, Ludovic Bource 的 The Artist

Day 27. 畫面令你印象深刻的電影
Con Air 裡 Steve Buscemi 跟小女孩玩家家酒那幕, creepy又溫馨. 如果不指特定一幕的話, Equilibrium, Smokin’ Aces, Sin City, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow… 等等

Day 28. 你覺得不知道在幹麻的電影
A Serious Man 應該是Coen Brothers 的電影中我最討厭的一部. 我不在乎電影內容/故事是否毫無意義/沒有進展, 但這部真的是看得時候痛苦, 回想起來也很痛苦.

Day 29. 感覺全世界都看過但你沒看的電影
The Godfather 系列, Star Wars 系列, 2001: A Space Odyssey

Day 30. 你最喜歡的電影
喜歡的太多, 點出任何一部都覺得不太公平

All Good Things

忽然很想哭.

All good things must come to an end. 說來容易, 想來灑脫.

但猛然回首, 發現自己漂離所重視的人事物, 而那些人事物, 也已自己默默離開.

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