I am Your Sunshine

去圖書館還東西照慣例抓了幾本中文小說, 打發時間好用. 讀中文書不像英文那樣耗力, (也是有得費力讀的中文書, 像是章詒和的一陣風，留下了千古絕唱) 可以隨手翻翻放下, 拿來當填時間夾縫的點心. 沒想到它竟然讓我放下了讀一半的 A Long Way Down, 專心地看了起來. 黃柏源把故事寫得很有翻譯小說的味道, 我兩次將書闔上確認這真的是台灣人寫的小說, 結果除了發現作者是道地台灣人之外, 還發現他才二十幾歲. 這可好了, 我一邊讀一邊分心憤慨, 為什麼平平都是二十幾歲, 有人當上 manager 了, 有人小說得獎出書, 有人組團不知道發了幾張專, 我究竟在幹嘛? 我究竟能幹嘛?

如果只是單純地要說一個故事, 那麼故意將語法寫得像翻譯小說那樣有一點點僵硬有一點點不自在也太沒必要. 但這樣的一個故事, 你要是將它套上中文名字設景在台灣, 卻又怪異得莫名其妙. 於是當維吉妮亞與帕洛瑪先生以及其他人在書中用著有點生澀有點不自然的語法走在大街小巷述說心情的時候, 感覺就很奇妙的對了.

Blind 可說是 Lifehouse 所有歌中我最喜歡的一首. Jason Wade 的有點低有點沙的嗓音吼著 A part of me died when I let you go, 套 Hyde 的說法, 我想就是很對我的”痛”吧!

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來自East London 與 Essex 的 indie 團, 第二張專輯, 聽說跟第一張品質差很多.

我覺得還 ok, 蠻喜歡主唱 Kele Okereke 的嗓音, 也很喜歡他唱高音的那幾首, 一點也聽不出來他是 Nigerian descent 耶. 但整張專輯大部份真的就只是聽過去的歌, 沒有哪首特別引起我注意的, 第一張究竟有多棒呢?

我沒有在罵人啦…

今天挑 Hyde 的 BritPop 區逛, 看到了他大推的 Slut / Lookback 這張專輯, 之前他推薦的音樂有 1/3 我都很喜歡, 所以連到 Slut 的 MySpace 去試聽他們的音樂. 第一首放的是 Die Moritat von Mac… 聽起來極耳熟, 關掉喇叭讓我記憶裡的音樂在腦中跑兩圈, 終於想起來這旋律明明就是 Mac the Knife. wiki 了一下發現真的是同首歌呢. 原來 Mac the Knife 其實是從德文改來的 orz

Mac the Knife, 原曲名 Die Moritat von Mackie Messer, 是 Die Dreigroschenoper (The Threepenny Opera, 三便士歌劇) 裡的一首歌, 而 Die Dreigroschenoper 又是從英國的歌劇 The Beggar’s Opera 改編過來的. 真有趣.

上次寫 radio preset 是一年多前, 更新一下, 順便加一些我聽的 online radio 好了.

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I’m pretty difficult today.

guess I’m hormonal, bleh~

為什麼總是在演唱會過後才喜歡上某樂團呢? (為了省錢…)

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(sorry about the autoplay thing earlier…)

天啊 超懷念~

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剛剛輕踏敵陣到曼聯板晃一下, 結果看到弗長老抱怨 ESPN 竟然不播 Man Utd 對 Roma 那場. 我喜孜孜地開了 espn.go.com 跳到 4/5 看節目表, 結果 X! 為什麼美國 ESPN 2 是播曼聯那場啦!! XXXXXXX

(有些東西只在 bloglines上才看得到 XD)

在影集板上的討論”熱烈”到我懶得在 browser 打好中文寄到 ptt 信箱再貼上推文而直接回了一大段亂七八糟的英文 . 我知道我推的幾句都看起來像是原發文者不喜歡 Coupling 就罪該萬死, 其實我沒有那個意思… 只是我要推個文都得大費周張, 實在懶得說太多.

人各有所好是我很早就明白的道理, 他不喜歡英國的 sitcom 也沒什麼奇怪的. 英國的影集我也不是全盤皆收. 但你一直要跳出來說服別人美劇比英劇有質感, 那怎麼怪得了人出來為英劇護航呢? 不愛看就不要看嘛, 不要學某 g 那樣每次有人提到 Medium 就要蹦一句 “我不喜歡 Patricia”, “我覺得她長得不好看”, “Medium 被砍掉沒關係”, 真正是惹人厭 (後來果然就被公幹了吧! 哈哈哈~ 那次我超開心的.) 不過原發文者是沒那麼討厭, 只是我覺得他被他自己認定的觀點侷限住了.

這世界本來就是這樣, 有人喜歡直接, 有人喜歡委婉. 有人認為那是粗魯, 有人覺得那是虛偽. 有人認為政治正確是禮貌是平等的表現, 也有人覺得那只是個笑話. 這讓我想到以前在查政治正確時看到, 如何不帶歧視地稱呼 “殘障人士” 幾年來就改過好多次, disabled, handicap, physically challenged… 等等, 最後又改回最原本使用的那個詞. 政治正確, 真的有那麼正確嗎? 我想有正確的心態比小心挑選所謂正確的用詞要來得重要多了.

回到電視影集, 我真的對原發文者沒有惡意, 但他拿 Friends 來跟 Coupling 相提並論就有點冒犯到我了, Friends 哪裡比得上啦!! >< 對我而言, Coupling 除了好笑到不行之外, 也有刻劃一些很實際的男女關係的問題. 更別提我最愛的 Coupling 第三季了, 看著 Sally 與 Patrick 關係的進展直到最後 Patrick 的那句 "Sally, I'm talking about ME!!!!!" That's the highlight of the show for me. :)

Ok, so I was reading this book, which surprisingly is getting better and better, where it’s set in the U.K. and one of the character is American. The American said, “… using a cell.” A girl replied with her eyebrow raised “What cell?” “Ok, a mobile, whatever.” I couldn’t but stop and laugh. It instantly reminded me of the first episode of Life on Mars I watched just a few days ago. Sam was in a car accident and woke up 30 years ealier than his time (1974). He told the police officer that he needed to fetch a mobile. “A mobile what?” was the reply, as there were no mobile phone in the era. Bizarre how my mind works? Yes I know one is the difference between the use of word and one the difference fell in technology advancement.

The thing is, the American knew what they call a cell in the U.K. since he’s been there for a while, but he’s still not able/or willing to use the British term when having a conversation with British people. I can picture him in my head rolling his eyes, saying “Ok, a mobile, whatever. ” I see the humor in this kinda thing cos I’m practically living in it. However, the language is not English but Chinese.

Like Britsh English and American English (not to mention Aussie English and maybe other more), we start to experience similar “cultural” shock in our daily lives with Chinese Chinese and Taiwanese Chinese (what the heck…) I’m gonna switch to Chinese here.

剛開始接觸大陸中文時是有很多不太適應的地方. 最常見的我想就是他們常使用我們會覺得不甚雅的”搞”字 (但其實我身邊的同事很少用), 還有像什麼”立刻就立刻, 馬上就馬上, 講什麼立馬” 諸如此類的小差異. 之前 chun 愛講的 “犯睏”, 我雖然不會用, 但仍一聽就懂她的意思, 不過也是有人聽了半天摸不著頭緒. 這其實都只是地區性用詞用字的不同, 沒有誰比較高級誰比較粗俗的, 也沒什麼好拿來取笑. HL 曾說過台灣有些人小鼻子小眼睛的, 我也略有同感. 看他們沒事就愛拿 “滑鼠就滑鼠, 什麼鼠標, 還中標咧!” 來嘲笑他人, 說實在是眼界不廣之下的產物. 但不只台灣人會這樣, 前陣子某位同事因為我說了什麼, 他有點嘲弄意思的丟來一句, “你們叫這個啊!” 我平和地回他一句, “翻譯不同罷了.” 他也沒好意思再多說什麼.

我們同事之間相處其實是非常融洽的, 語言的差異有時也是好玩的聊天話題. 只要確定我講馬鈴署時他們知道我的意思是土豆, 講蕃茄時知道我的意思是西紅柿, 我也會努力記得獼猴桃就是奇異果!

(其實這篇寫太久結果忘記原本要講什麼了 XD)

…It wasn’t that we thought she was really suicidal, either; it was just that it felt like she might do whatever she wanted to do at any given moment, and if she wanted to jump off a building to see what it felt like, then she’d try it. And once you’d worked that out, then it’s just a question of how much you cared.

It may seem random. You’d probably think what’s so special about this paragraph. I can’t really explain. As I was typing it down, it has lost its magic. But when I read it last night, I had to stop and repeat the last sentence over and over.

最近在看 Nick Hornby 寫的 A Long Way Down. Hornby 是我非常喜歡的一部小說/電影 High Fidelity 的作者, 所以我決定拿 A Long Way Down 作為我的 2007 年第二本英文小說. Nick Hornby 除了 High Fidelity 之外, 另一本最為人所知的作品就是 Fever Pitch, 2005年還被改成美國版的電影.

一直到今天我看到 JunStudio 的簽名檔我才把這兩件事連起來…

Hornby is a freaking Arsenal fan!!!! -___________-

記得上周的 3-3 draw 嗎? 防守出名的 Chelsea 一場比賽被進三球本季還是第一次, 更別說是在主場了. 沒有 JT 真的差很多.

今天是第六輪的重賽. (同時 Man Utd 也跟 Boro 在重賽)

因為我們是下半場球隊, 所以上半場沒啥好看的.
下半場 Sheva 進了顆小角度世界波! 這陣子感覺得到 Sheva 的霸氣了. 這樣才對嘛! 我一直都沒有很喜歡 Sheva, 除了他看起來太文氣之外 (我不是喜歡文氣的男生嗎!?) 還有一個私人的原因. 不過他最近不再看起來很無助, 球射飛也沒有懊惱地抱臉, 漸漸有了解與掌握局勢的姿態. Shawn Wright Phillip 的進球更是激勵人心, 難得看他一腳果決射門, 而不是跑跑跑然後把球傳給對手. 狠狠出了口落選國家隊的怨氣! :)

2-0, 有人說 Hotspurs 要逆襲了, 開玩笑, 有 Cech, JT 與 Carvalho 在怎可能讓他們有逆襲的機會. 無奈在79分鐘 Carvalho 補 JT 的位而造成對手得到一個 12 碼, 結果…結果就進了. 好, 這不是重點, (Cech 的清潔表單被破了怎麼不是重點…) 重點是 Chimbonda 射門後開心地向反彈出來的球奔去, 從地上爬起來的 Cech 不爽地在 Chimbonda 來得及撿球/踢球之前把球大腳踢向場外, Chimbonda 很生氣地推了 Cech 一把, 然後 Cech 拿黃牌了… 雖然拿黃牌, 但 Cech 那一踢實在是有個性極了! 球場上就是要像脾氣糟糕的鬥士!!

最後十分鐘 Chelsea 把人換一換, 分別讓 Sheva 及 SWP 下場接受掌聲順便拖時間. 加時四分鐘時 Robinson 也向前推進了. 他看起來真是十分不甘於只當門將耶! 不過今天的對手是 Cech 不是 Foster, 我們的 JT 也不是 Shittu, 別天真了!

FT 我們以 2-1 (季初我們就是在White Hart Lane 1-2 輸給他們) 將 Hotspurs 送回家, 掰掰明年再來!

JT 的笑容, 無價 :)

既然 Robinson 那麼愛玩, 那不貼一下他的兩個經典影片就太對不起他了…
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Remember how cute and shy Lassana Diarra was?
Catch the latest Chelsea’s very own Billy joke – ice bath

I have to admit that the reason I put this on is because, gosh, JT looks so freaking delicious.

to see JT topless: priceless

開跑!!

female stars: foxtrot
male stars: cha cha cha

Talk show host Leeza’s foxtrot is tense yet elegant. For me, the music is very crucial as well as the technique and presentation. They did a good job. Much better than Too Darn Hot. Don’t get me wrong. I LOVE Too Darn Hot but it’s so not right for a foxtrot.

N’SYNC Joey Fatone’s cha cha is super fun to watch! Though I hate NSync. I have to say he’s by for the best, the most entertaining one.

Undefeated World Boxing Champion Laila is amazing. Being a Boxer, she’s really pretty and to our surprise, she danced most elegantly. She just flowed on the dance floor and I love the condifence she had on her.

Cheers actor John Ratzenberger came in late in replace of a celebrity who had to drop out the competition when the show’s only 2 weeks away. Okay performace. See if they can pull it off the next week.

Miss USA 2004 Shandi Finnessey and her partner, new comer Brian Fortuna have to work on their personal charm. They can dance alright but they’re definitely not champion material.

Charity activist Heather Mills has an artificial leg but she and Jonathan were a fairly tale.

More dancing coming up next week! yay~

3/7 – 3/19
Reds:
(Cab)
2003 Ferrari Carano Cabernet Sauvignon *
2002 Robert Mondavi Stag’s Leap Dist Cabernet Sauvignon
2001 Noah Cabernet Sauvignon
2005 Eric Ross Late Harvest Cabernet Sauvignon

(Other)
2003 Valley of the Moon Estate Old Vine Zinfandel
2004 Eric Ross Old Vine Zinfandel
2003 Benziger Pinot Noir
2004 Peter Lehmann Clancy’s Red, Australia *
2004 Bodega Norton Reserva Malbec, Argentina *

White:
2006 Alexander Valley Vineyards New Gewurz x2 **
2005 Bacharacher Hahn Riesling Kabinett
2005 Dr, Loosen Ueziger Wuergarten Riesling Spaetlese

Dessert:
2005 Mayo Late HArvest Gewurztraminer
2005 Ledson Orange Muscat
2004 Robert Mondavi Muscat’O (寄放)
2004 Peller Estates Icewine (Vidal Blanc)
2004 Ferrari Carano Eldorado Noir *

非新酒的介紹請見 My wine collection in Nov 2006
* 是在去年十二月到今年二月間入手的酒, 劃掉的是還沒被記錄過就已經喝掉的

嘗試非歐美洲的酒, 產自澳洲的 Clancy’s Red: Shiraz 43% Cab 42% Merlot 15%, 普普

倒是 Argentina 的 Melbec 很不錯, 這瓶是帶去 Huichun 家春節 party 開的. (沒想到 Erich 幾天前才在他朋友家喝了同一支酒, 然後一周後 Welton 也帶了同一支酒來我們家 XD)

Ferrari Carano 的 Eldorado Noir 是帶有玫瑰及薰衣草香氣的由 black muscat 釀的晚收甜酒, 非常棒!!! 倒是這家的 Cab, 我完全忘記有買過.

這次唯一買的酒是 Alexander Valley Vineyards 的 New Gewurz, 因為沒喝到特別令人驚豔的酒, 這瓶 Gewurz 倒是不錯, 拿來配海鮮應該很讚.

另外這個周末在 Santa Rosa 喝掉了七瓶酒 (不含 tasting, 廢話):
一瓶 Germany Auslese Riesling 當餐前/佐餐酒, 因為第一個晚上我們弄大蝦吃. 飯後一邊玩 settler 一邊拿前一天在 costco 買的三瓶紅酒玩 blind tasting, 分別是兩瓶 Australia Shiraz 一瓶不知道哪裡的 Cab (沒辦法, 瓶子都丟了…) 隔天因為我們逛了七八家酒莊都沒有買到酒, 於是傍晚在 downtown Healdsburg 一家 wine shop 買了一瓶 Champagne (還是 sparkling, 我忘了), 一瓶 Cab, 一瓶 GrGich Hills 去年的新甜酒 Violetta (超貴的! 375ml $50, 但在酒莊買要 $75耶!) 然後終於把 Settler 玩完了!

在Wine Club 買了兩支德國 Riesling, 分別是 Kabinett 與 Spaetlese 等級

I’ve had enough outdoor for now…

I’m actually an indoor person like the Gilmore girls!

It’s mentioned too many times so I finally made up my mind to read it. Erich told me that it’s something you’d read on an English class, sort of like our 陋室銘 perhaps? (this is the only thing I can come up with at this moment :p)

Anyways, I’ve already had an idea of what the lottory is about before I read it. Therefore, the suspense couldn’t be built up during the process, which it’s a shame. Or it might be a better experience.

[updated]
Carmen mentioned the Lottery in class and apparently more than half of us have never read it before. I was surprised. Cos Erich made it sounds like it’s in the high school textbook. Anyway, someone made a pretty good point about the story which allowed me to read it from a different angle. I was focused on the ridiculousness of the story and how it was built up, but forgot the fact that something like that does happen. Maybe in a more subtle way. All of the sudden, the story doesn’t seem that absurd anymore.

we only need one know-it-all in a group.