The New York of You and Me

On my subway ride home tonight, I was just randomly looking up to one of those Barnes and Noble literature ads, and I stumbled upon a passage that immediately struck me:

There are roughly three New Yorks. There is, first, the New York of the man or woman who was born there, who takes the city for granted and accepts its size, its turbulence as natural and inevitable. Second, there is the New York of the commuter--the city that is devoured by locusts each day and spat out each night. Third, there is New York of the person who was born somewhere else and came to New York in quest of something. Of these trembling cities the greatest is the last--the city of final destination, the city that is a goal. It is this third city that accounts for New York’s high strung disposition, its poetical deportment, its dedication to the arts, and its incomparable achievements. Commuters give the city its tidal restlessness, natives give it solidity and continuity, but the settlers give it passion.

--E.B. White's 1948 essay "Here is New York."

又提言论自由

同时读到李光耀的专访和资中筠的专稿, 拿来一起看蛮有意思. 都是关于中国舆论的开放, 一个对外一个对内. 政府之所以在言论自由这个问题上"内忧外患," 关键是源自一种恐惧. 怕丢脸, 更怕煽动.对外的问题似乎关键还是方法思路上的革新, 对内的就完全无法预计了. 难怪李还能提出一些解决方法--先不论可行, 资却只能尖锐指出,牢骚满腹.

My Blueberry (Friday) Night

去看My Blueberry Nights 的夜晚空气中好像也有blueberry的沁甜. 周五下班的夜晚, 和同事一起, 轻松随意.

一直很好奇王家卫拍英文电影是什么样子. 结果发现, 他一向只言片语的风格这次显得有点突兀了, 剧中人长长久久的凝望, 欲说还休的对白, 给人的感觉只能用一个词形容--很亚洲. 难怪同事看了都喊慢. 但是对我个人来讲, 滤去了这层表达手法上的生涩之后, 电影本身的情节与深意我还是很喜欢.

心碎的Elizabeth (Norah Jones) 离开纽约, 一路飘荡. 在Tennessee目睹另一场比她自己的故事更加惨痛的破碎. 那一刻她知道, 不是你的终究不是你的, 而生活仍然要继续. 于是继续飘, 在Nevada遇到那个从不相信别人的赌场女优Leslie (Natalie Portman.) 经历争执经历碰撞之后, Elizabeth重新找回自己. 于是带着这个全新却又是真实的自己, 她回到纽约, 在Jeremy (Jude Law) 为她舔去嘴角奶油的清晨, 深情回吻.

感动于这个故事表现心历路程时候的细腻委婉. 它给Elizabath充分的时间和行程审视内心, 也给观众足够理由相信她的重生. Elizabeth和Leslie在公路上分道而行的那场戏或许每个人都会有deja vu--人生路上我们遇到多少的人, 能不能做朋友不能强求, 也不太重要, 有幸的是能在他们身上看到自己. 正如Elizabeth的话外音里讲, Other people are mirrors that we use to reflect ourselves. Each reflection just makes me like myself a little bit more. 经历过这样soul searching再回到纽约的Elizabeth, 才能全心全意地接受另一次开始--不用困惑究竟是寂寞难耐还是内心酸楚才喜欢那个为她留blueberry pie的男人, 喜欢是因为自己而不是要摆脱过去. 她仿佛回到原点, 却已经在原点之上. 她说, it took me almost a year to cross the street. 这种感觉我懂.不是说你在一年里做的每一件事都是为了去跨过那道坎，只是在经历了一些看似无关的事之后，某一天会蓦然发现，原来自己不知不觉中已经走过去了，又有勇气面对自己内心，拥抱另一次开始. 由此释然.

关于演技, Norah Jones 显然是太平了, 而Jude Law一如既往的完美, 我对近乎完美的男人一直是心生恐惧的. 最出彩的还是Natalie Portman, 最近她的角色里很少有重复的类型, 虽然也有相对平庸的(比如The Other Boleyn Girl 里的 Anne Boleyn) 或是无人问津的 (比如 Goya’s Ghosts), 但是看得出小妮子很努力. 这次的那个弔诡的Leslie隐约有着当年13岁叛逆的 Mathilda的影子, 想必让喜欢了那么多年Natalie的你我会心一笑.

需要草根精神的PR

源起这篇文章的一点想法:

1.国家的形象工程是全方位的.正如文章里提到, 即使是像Weber & Shandwick 那样的大牌公关公司能做的也是有限的.换句话来说, 今次的被动究竟有多少是PR可以补救的? 许多牵涉到意识形态等等造成的误解和敌对, 不是仅仅靠包装就可以轻易改变的.

2.但是能够懂中国又讲国际语言的人也确实太少,或者说和中国的人口比起来,实在太悬殊.最近利用网络媒体的grassroots PR battle正如火如荼, 先不问影响力, 也不用害怕被动, 有觉醒就是第一步.

The Newseum

A brand new museum of journalism recently opened in D.C. See Edward Rothstein's review from this past Friday in the NYTimes.

With the First Amendment carved on the facade of the building, the Newseum at Pennsylvania Avenue becomes a landmark in the capital. As Rothstein puts it--

It is fitting too to stress the importance of the First Amendment since with it, as the museum says, the United States "became the first country in the history of the world to acknowledge the right to press freedom in its constitution.

As I was reading the review, I couldn't help thinking that this notion seems rather ironic given the latest controversy on unrealistic Tibet coverage.

To Live at the Moment. To Love

Saw Rent for the second time at the Nederlander Theater. The same place, but better seat, and I was even more blown away than two years ago. I suppose it takes age and experience to truly comprehend the bohemian spirit behind it, although in the past two years I haven’t done much other than moving to the kingdom of these bohemians. They live underneath the flashy skin of the city. They drift, survive, and are sometimes torn apart, but they simply lived and loved.

To live at the moment, and to love—I love Rent because of this bold and powerful message. As complicated as life can get, sometimes you will just have to seize the moment and capture one minute of shine out of the five hundred twenty five thousand and six hundred minutes in a year.

Nothing depicts this better than my favorite song Seasons of Love. Such brilliant lyrics—How do you measure a year in the life? In daylights, in sunsets, in inches, in miles, in laughter, in strife? But, how about love? Measure in love.

原来叫"非洲人"更加PC

The Shanghaiist is picking on Xu Jinglei's "Political Incorrectness", which I thought was quite funny. If he understands how the homogeneity of Chinese society has shaped people's perception on racism (or lack thereof), he will know how nitpicking he is in this case. Apparently, Lao Xu is already being all bonding and stuff with the "Hei Ren Xiong Di," which is already way more liberal than maybe 80% of the Chinese public. But on the other hand, I'm not saying that it's okay for Chinese people to hide in their own shell and be justified for the ignorance towards other ethnicities. Apparently, it's created some big troubles lately, as all of us know...