Christmas is an opportunity for love and sharing, a festival full of joy and happiness.
Christmas is fascinating! Come and explore the fabulous range at city’super – from Christmas hampers to specially designed ornaments to make your Christmas extra-special.
Dear Customer,
Christmas is a time for love and sharing, a festival full of joy and happiness. Our theme this year is “Christmas Celebration” and we want to bring back the wonder of the festive season with a fabulous range of hampers and our new “Party Guide for Christmas”, which offers quick solutions for all your party preparations
At city’super, we have had lots to share this year. In May, we opened our third overseas city’super store in “TienMu” in Taipei and introduced our first superlife culture club in the city. Another remarkable milestone was the LOG-ON business expansion in apm in May.
Customers who visited our ifc mall store in October would have noticed a big change. We completely renovated our ifc mall store to provide our customers with an even better shopping experience. We created a new look at the entrance area with a warm and modern design. The ultimate objective was to deliver 5-star service within a food specialty store. We hope you like it.
All of us at city’super wish you and your family a Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year. With the warmest greeting, we thank you for your support throughout the year and look forward to serving you in 2010.
With very best wishes on behalf of everyone at city’super!
*****************************
原文+感想
Christmas is an opportunity for love and sharing, a festival full of joy and happiness. (如果我無記錯，呢句係fragment)
Christmas is fascinating! (How fascinating?) Come and explore the fabulous range (fascinating Christmas with a fabulous range…what’s next? Fantastic selection of fanciful goods?) at city’super – from Christmas hampers to specially designed ornaments to make your Christmas extra-special (0.03mm extra-fit kind of special?).
上文並非”personal letter”一部份，唔知頭唔知路，其實幾odd。
Dear Customer, (通常收舖拉閘，地鐵廣播才會這樣講)
Christmas is a time for love and sharing (又講，唔悶咩), a festival full of joy and happiness. (敷衍你兩句，之後就講自己幾把炮, me me me)Our theme this year is “Christmas Celebration” and we want to bring back the wonder of the festive season (bring back? The wonder of festive season is lost? Why I wasn’t told?) with a fabulous range (fabulous x2 = fafabubulloouss!) of hampers and our new “Party Guide for Christmas”, which offers quick solutions for all your party preparations (why would I need quick solutions for all my party preparations? I thought I should be enjoying the preparations…or shouldn’t I?)
At city’super, we have had lots to share this year. In May, (在五月，我們開了新分店…BabelFish translation?) we opened our third overseas city’super store in “TienMu” in Taipei and introduced our first superlife culture club in the city. Another remarkable milestone was the LOG-ON business expansion in apm in May (I know, I know, you did an extra-fabulous job in May so fabulous you need to mention it twice).
Customers who visited our ifc mall store in October would have noticed a big change. (官式到不行, all illegal immigrants crossing the border will be prosecuted and executed) We completely renovated our ifc mall store to provide our customers (that may or may not be you) with an even better shopping experience. We created a new look at the entrance area with a warm and modern design (cool, why stopped at the door, what happened to the interior?). The ultimate objective was to deliver 5-star service within a food specialty store (Soldiers! Do you understand the ultimate objective? Sir yes sir!). We hope you like it.
All of us at city’super wish you and your family a Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year. With the warmest greeting, we thank you for your support throughout the year and look forward to serving you in 2010.
With very best wishes on behalf of everyone at city’super!
睇完官網的簡介，我都未分清楚到底Celestial係一個人，一班人還是無特定某個人的組合，總之就係鬼佬將亞洲民族音樂同電子音樂mix 埋，係少數fusion 得黎唔失禮的作品。中學時愛聽Enigma的return to innocence，都係電子beat再加個山歌佬依依呀呀地唱，現在年紀大d，又覺得d歌詞多餘兼夾over左，反而Celestial呢隻無歌詞，聽起黎舒服d。
廣告狂人第三季中，主角的廣告公司賣給英國人之後，故事就加插好幾位英國人。英國佬談吐用字頗堪玩味，話說併購後公司大地震，英國CFO擢升某員工，他說 we are charting the course of transition right now, there will be details to come. 這些帶有航海意味的字眼令人想起英帝國風光一時的航海霸業。
另外留意到英國文化，美國佬做事七情上面，劇集中某美國人高層被炒魷後，大發老脾掃文件掟野，冷眼旁觀的英國助理淡然說 You Americans don't know how to handle your emotions, that's unbecoming. (你們美國人不懂處理自己的情緒，真失禮)
後來英國助理進駐前高層的辦公室，他的CFO上級立刻過來制止 We just fired one third of their work force, it is unseemly to go through their pockets. (我們剛炒掉他們三份一的員工，再搜刮他們並不得體)
助理連忙答 Of course, it was presumptuous. (當然，冒昧了。)
後來，英國CFO跟主角飯局，祝酒的用句也很有意思。Like Bordeaux the grape, may we all get better with time. (願我們像波爾多的葡萄一樣，隨著時間變得愈來愈好。)
某次提到一個彷英國品牌London Fog的案子，英國CFO聽罷笑說 How ludicrous! There is no fog in London, there is no London Fog...Never was, it was the coal dust from the Industrial era, Charles Dickens and what not. (真荒唐！倫敦從來沒有霧的，那是工業年代的煤炭塵，被狄更斯等文人的大話渲染。)
主要角色都沒有名字(例如三集都登場的酒保只叫Bartender，故事中大家只會用「喂」來互相稱呼)。唯一例外是第三集出現並慘死的武術高手 Jean Claude Segal，那是影射尚格雲頓和史提芬史葛的諧角。正如編劇所講，這套故事就是將各種恐怖片的旁枝綠葉角色放上主角舞台，絕大多數的角色外型不討好，言行魯鈍衝動，缺乏常識兼自私。看這套電影最開心的場面，就是看著這些傻子以「超低能，勁搞笑」的方式橫死，以及睇下佢地幾時死。
相反，正常角色全部淪為閒角，例如第一集有位名叫Hero的男角：甫開場五分鐘，他提著霰彈槍和怪獸頭衝入酒吧，警告眾人說怪物來了，旁人問他是誰，答 "I'm the guy that's gonna save your ass." 話口未完，另一頭怪獸伸爪把他的頭扯斷，收皮。每集出現類似的正常人物，均以出其不意的方式迅速打柴，總之導演就是不想讓你喜歡故事中任何一個角色。
最近讀Jon Steel "The Prefect Pitch"，最感興趣係其他觸類旁通的資料，Jon Steel 指一個偉大意念的誕生，往往取決於四周的氛圍，例如發現DNA結構的科學家，諾貝爾得獎人James Watson著作其中一段如此講述：
Here I relate my version of how the structure of DNA was discoered. In doing so I have tried to catch the atmosphere of the early postwar years in England, where most of the important events occurred. As I hope this book will show, science seldom proceeds in the straightforward logical manner imagined by outsiders. Instead, its steps forward (and sometimes backward) are often very human events in which personalities and cultural traditios play major roles. (p88)
有時舉目望望香港的雜誌、廣告、電影、劇集，來來去去幾度板斧，再望下香港學校教緊d乜，大家最流行的話題係乜，it is almost a certainty this city will be flooded with unimaginative morons.
對比起小島秀夫可以延期三兩年推出MGS4，或者Blizzard 公司果隻搞左唔知幾多年的StarCraft 2，製作時間不足，絕對反映在gameplay及故事上，敵人只有三四款，任務全都是殺清畫面上的敵人，單線劇情，甚至無online multiplayer，一句到尾只係film + game studio cap水之作。
K1: so have you figured out a way to work the wheel into it? 湯先生你想到將輪盤融入廣告的點子沒有？
K2: we know it is hard because wheels aren't seen as exciting technology, even though they are original. 我們明白這是很難的案子，雖然輪盤幻燈機是新科技，但消費者並不如此認為。
D: well, technology is like littering lure, but there is a rare occasion where the public can be engaged at a level beyond flash if they have a sentimental bond with the product.
科技就像撒餌(釣魚)一樣，但除了新穎炫目之外，我們還可以從情感層面吸引消費者。
D: My first job I was in house, sort of for a company, with this old pro copywriter, Greek, named Teddy.
我第一份工是某公司的文案，有位希臘人老文案叫Teddy。
D: Teddy told me the most important idea in advertising, is "new". Creates an itch, you simply put your product in there, as a kind of...calamine lotion. We also talked about, a deeper bond with the product: nostalgia. It's delicate, but potent.
D: This device, isn't a spaceship, it's a time machine...goes backwards, forwards. Takes us to a place, where we ache to go again. It's not called the wheel, it's called the Carousel, it lets us travel the way a child travels.
現在我的英文程度，跟正宗外國人比自然遜幾籌，尤其聽不懂太濃厚的口音。日常用語遇上深一點的就投降，要靠理解前文後理推斷。看通俗小說或流行讀物(如tipping point之類) 不太需要用字典，跟外國人談話，只要內容不是cultural specific (例如某英國藝人或澳洲諺語之類)，一般都可以應對自如。
John Travolta 講對白好型，型到Pulp Fiction 同埋Swordfish 兩套電影既OST碟係會將佢d 對白直接dup做一條track。黑人成日聽，聽到識背。以前佢在Swordfish入面的角色批評荷里活電影脅持人質的橋段失實，唔知係咪諷刺緊十幾年後呢套戲呢？(未睇，希望唔係啦。)
Gabriel: You know what the problem with Hollywood is? They make shit. Unbelievable, unremarkable shit. Now I'm not some grungy wannabe filmmaker that's searching for existentialism through a haze of bong smoke or something.
No, it's easy to pick apart bad acting, short-sighted directing, and a purely moronic stringing together of words that many of the studios term as "prose". No, I'm talking about the lack of realism.
Realism; not a pervasive element in today's modern American cinematic vision. Take Dog Day Afternoon, for example. Arguably Pacino's best work, short of Scarface and Godfather Part 1, of course. Masterpiece of directing, easily Lumet's best. The cinematography, the acting, the screenplay, all top-notch. But... they didn't push the envelope.
Now what if in Dog Day, Sonny REALLY wanted to get away with it? What if - now here's the tricky part - what if he started killing hostages right away? No mercy, no quarter. "Meet our demands or the pretty blonde in the bellbottoms gets it the back of the head." Bam, splat! What, still no bus? Come on! How many innocent victims splattered across a window would it take to have the city reverse its policy on hostage situations?
And this is 1976; there's no CNN, there's no CNBC, there's no internet! Now fast forward to today, present time, same situation. How quickly would the modern media make a frenzy over this? In a matter of hours, it'd be biggest story from Boston to Budapest! Ten hostages die, twenty, thirty; bam bam, right after another, all caught in high-def, computer-enhanced, color corrected. You can practically taste the brain matter.
All for what? A bus, a plane? A couple of million dollars that's federally insured? I don't think so. Just a thought. I mean, it's not within the realm of conventional cinema... but what if?
波叔套新戲 Bruno 在香港尚未上畫(查實都唔知有無機會上)，淨係睇佢同David Letterman個訪問已經非常好笑，順便將對話內容抄返出黎，練下聆聽筆記同翻譯能力。
B: Borat L: David Letterman
B: When we're making this film, we want it to be better than Borat, and we thought what could people see that they'd never seen before on film? And we thought one thing would be a comedian interviewing a terrorist, which I think is never been done before...for good reason.
So we show the script, the outline of the script to the studio and they say "Oh this is great, who's gonna play the terrorist?" And we said "No, we gonna find a real terrorist."
將大綱交給製片公司時，他們說：「點子不錯，誰飾演恐怖份子？」我們答：「找真貨。」
Now, it's not that easy to find an actual terrorist. In fact your government has been looking for one for nine years.
找一個真正的恐怖份子毫不容易，事實上你們(美國)政府找了(拉登)九年也找不到。
L: Exactly right!
大：全中！
B: There's no Craigslist in Peru for example, so we called up a contact we had in the CIA and said “can you help us? We are looking to find a terrorist.”
恐怖份子沒有Graigslist般的分類網站，我們最後跟中情局搭上請他們幫忙。
L: Bruno has a contact at the CIA?
大：Bruno在中情局有針？
B: Bruno doesn't but I knew somebody who did.
他沒有，但我的朋友識人。
And the guy at the CIA said “We've got a lot of names of terrorists, but we have almost no addresses.”
中情局的人說：「恐怖份子名單是有的，但地址就欠奉啦。」
And so eventually after a few months, we found somebody who actually lived in a town that had a terrorist from a pretty nasty group, the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, who kind of …the number 1 suicide bombers out there, if you are looking for them.
And he said " Yeah there is a terrorist who lives in my town." So I said "Great can we interview him but I'm a little bit scared about reprisal attacks from the other people in your city."
He said "Don't worry, everybody loves you we love the Ali G show."
接洽人說：「放心吧，大家都愛看你的Ali G真人秀。」
So next I thought I needed some security to get to the terrorist, because it was in the west bank...the guy picks a secret location. So we called around some security firms, everybody said "No Way".
下一步是保安問題，對方要求在秘密地點會面，我致電給好些保安公司，全都不願接我的案子。
Eventually I found one guy who was an Englishman who done the Enrique Iglesias Hero tour.
B: His main job was protecting Enrique from flying underwear. I knew if it came to it this guy would take a bra from me. So we get there and I said "Alright, I'm a little bit scared that the terrorist and his bodyguards will be armed. If they are armed let's have a code word. If they are armed, say it's gonna be hot weather, and if they are unarmed, there's no guns just say it's gonna be cold."
So we ended up with the secret location, the terrorist comes in with his bodyguard they'd been checked by my bodyguard, my bodyguard comes in, and I said "So what's the weather gonna be?"
去到會面地點，大家互相搜過身，我問保鑣：「天氣怎樣？」
He said "Well I think it's gonna be cold weather but there's a chance it could be quite warm…and it might even be boiling hot."
他答：「大概是冷天吧，有機會回暖甚至非常熱。」
At which point the terrorist said "No no no, it is not cold, it is warm." And then I realized I was pretty sure that my terrorist either did or did not have a gun on him.
恐怖份子答：「才不是啦，今天很暖耶。」
那時我才明白對方可能有槍或者無槍？！
L: Certainly get your money's worth there.
大：你的保鑣是物有所值吧！
B: And my bodyguard said "yeah you are right, it is quite warm out here, it's kind of much much warmer than North England." At which point I realized my bodyguard had forgotten about our roleplay and was discussing the weather with the terrorist.
On the foggy foggy banks me boys we pitch and toss about And we blow our frozen fingers as we hear the skipper shout Heave away upon the capstan give a hand to heave the trawl
Oh when I was but a lad at school I wouldn't stay at home Like lots of other foolish lads I thought I'd sooner roam Heave away upon the capstan give a hand to heave the trawl
So I went and I joined a trawler and it's then I quickly found That it wasn't all plain sailing when you reach the trawling ground Heave away upon the capstan give a hand to heave the trawl
You'll be hauling night and day me boys, you're nearer slaves than men And once you get all your fishes aboard it's time to haul again Heave away upon the capstan give a hand to heave the trawl
And when the waves are pouring around us and they're pounding against the deck Well you'll work your bit like all of the rest if you want to save your neck Heave away upon the capstan give a hand to heave the trawl
And the captain's name is Johnson and he works us 'til we fall And if he sees us a-shirkin' well it's God preserve us all Heave away upon the capstan give a hand to heave the trawl
The Sweetest Joy
He sat alone upon a hill, the waves pulling at his side He could feel the salt inside his veins and could hear the storm arrive
He closed his eyes and saw her face, so plain the others had decried Yet he'd felt the warmth she'd held within and the beauty that lay inside
Yet their words soon blinded him, no beauty he began to believe Oh he turned his back and he toasted them, he drank the world for all to see
No more will her palm lay upon his own, a fairer hand has clasped to his skin 'Oh where is my love' she cried in vain and from the door cried 'please let me in'
With haste she turned and chased the night, no tears to wipe with her hand While he searched the land to find his love he fell and cried 'please help this man'
The sweetest joy the wildest woe of love Bailey once described Hast thou more of pain or pleasure, does torment dwell and grow inside
He said it swells like the oceans flow, love drew me in as the tides draw the sea Oh but I was foolish just like my friends - I let my eyes rule what I should feel.
The Lothlorien 係一隊新西蘭既celtic band，佢地認真生不逢時又揀錯名，首先大名鼎鼎的new age女歌手Enya 有首歌同佢地撞名，跟住Lord of the ring 又同佢地撞名 (其實係佢地inspired by LOTR 才對)，所以上網基本上係好難查到佢地的資料。
每個文化都有經典作品，而且不少精妙之處必定會lost in translation，試想金庸的作品譯成英文，會否同樣精彩呢？Watch my nine positive divine style! (看我的九陽神功！)
至於是否朝讀經典，夕死可矣？我就更加存疑。
首先定義經典的是甚麼人？他們以甚麼標準去界定一部作品是經典呢？不少經典固然是timeless，但更多經典純粹是historically important，例如百多年前的默片The Great Train Robbery，以娛樂或敘事角度都十分原始，但歷史上這部電影標誌著某個電影發展的階段，電影中有甚麼timeless idea呢？sorry 我不覺得有。
對傳統的經典文學認識有限，但奇幻經典倒可以講一兩句。
講到奇幻經典，大家幾乎一致會想起 Lord of the Rings (魔戒)這套小說/電影。讀過前傳the hobbit (哈比人)，入面的文字節奏完全悶到想死：先描寫標保先生吃甚麼早餐、然後走過一片樹林，走到下午他肚子又餓了，這次再吃一片牛油麵包，吃過麵包煙癮起，不如抽根煙吧... 前幾百頁都在講些悠閒生活，那故事大綱講甚麼呢？原來在講一群矮人設法潛入魔窟奪取秘寶的故事。
另一本是《解決100煩惱的100設計》，南雲治嘉著。作者是個老牌設計師，這本書主要是嘗試解決一些人生常見難題如：戒不成煙、有便秘、朋友太少之類。每個方案用兩頁紙說明，當然很難說得上有深度，但我認為self help書重點向來都不是深度，讀self help無非是透過不斷接觸一些正面的文字，讓自己有較為正面的情緒，有正面的想法辦事較大機會成功，當一個人有正能量的時候，自然會著手解決問題。否則就算spelled out 餵到嘴邊也沒用。
In our hand An old old old thread Trail of blood And amens Greed is the gift For the sons Of the songs Hear this prayer Of the wampum This is the tie That will bind us
Tori Amos 真是清唱高手，砌稿時聽到就被她的歌聲吸引住。 腦海想到是高原武士戰後對英靈致敬的輓歌。坦白說看完歌詞也不太看得懂，有空再研究。
另一個例子是 Harry Potter Half Blood Prince其中一幕，話說榮恩擔心輸掉比賽茶飯不思，哈里假裝讓他喝下必勝幸運藥水，榮恩立時容光煥發，在場上大獲全勝。
換在今日現實生活，我們有太多指標去証實一件事難、不可行、不值得花心神等等。第二代香港人所以在七八十年代創出生路，經濟趨勢固然是客觀因素，主觀上當年沒有人告訴他們甚麼是「難」或「不可能」，根據呂大樂所講，第一代香港人(即Baby Boomer的父母)為口奔馳，抽不出太多時間管教甚至micro manage，比較寬容，相反第三、四代香港人從小已經有很多來自父母的no no no。
現在政府跟你講「不可一，不可再」，這是蠢到極的口號，記得以前渣古老闆介紹，看到英國NLP高人Derren Brown的示範短片，他在地下鐵問人在何處下車: What stop...thinking about it, what stop...thinking about it...what stop are you getting off at?
大多數人經此一問，立刻忘記何處下車。因為大腦聽到的訊息是 stop thinking about it，自然就想不起來啦。
難易度的 frame of reference 亦可以跟科技成反比。話說黑人讀設計時，final year 功課要做些文字特效短片，當時電腦比較慢，教授們亦不太懂電腦技巧，所以大家做出來的東西都很相似，做得好那幾位同學，則花了無數心血對著電腦慢慢勾勒，大家望著不太出色的功課，紛紛在嘆「啊真難真辛苦，不是人做的...」
前後兩種截然不同的風格，不禁令我想起 Orson Scott Card 那兩本連續獲得星雲和雨果獎雙料的科幻小說，孤寂的未來天才寓言：《致命兒戲》（Ender's Game）和《亡靈代言人》（Speaker for the Dead），也更加深了我去探究老英雄在《傳說》一書裡最後歸宿的欲望。
蓋梅爾的小說，堪稱是羅柏·霍華（Robert E. Howard）流派劍與魔法／英雄式奇幻的最佳繼承人，他的文字或許沒有霍華獨有的“野性的詩意”（the poetic savagery ），但他筆下所描繪出的那個世界，洪荒、原始、殘酷而野蠻，以及他寫出的悲劇英雄，正是最好的明證。從某些方面看來，卓斯和他的夥伴席班，不正恰好具備了霍華那個永垂不朽的蠻族英雄科南所具有的特質嗎？而卓斯的那柄附魔戰斧，則隱約有著向同鄉麥可·摩考克筆下的艾爾瑞克（Elric of Melnibone ）致敬的意味吧。
大衛·蓋梅爾的作品，推薦給：
1. 喜歡《烙印勇士》主角凱茲那種大魄力，戰鬥場面超血腥寫實，卻又強悍到難以想像的地步的讀者。
2. 喜歡《蠻王科南》(Conan the Barbarian)中那樣少了典型歐洲中古風味，而更原始、蠻荒，弱肉強食，卻也更真誠粗獷的風格的讀者。
特別喜歡畫面鮮明的音樂，所以通常愛聽電影OST。劇集Prison Break (逃)的soundtrack當中，有一首民謠前輩Johnny Cash 翻唱的作品 The Mercy Seat (即是電椅)，雖然不知這首歌在劇中甚麼時候出現，但一聽歌詞監獄生涯的畫面就非常鮮明。
It ALL began when they come took me from my home And put me on Death Row, a crime for which I am totally innocent, you know.
I began to warm and chill To objects and their fields, A ragged cup, a twisted mop The face of Jesus in my soup Those sinister dinner deals The meal trolley's wicked wheels A hooked bone rising from my food All things either good or ungood.
And the mercy seat is waiting And I think my head is burning And in a way I'm yearning To be done with all this weighing of the truth. An eye for an eye And a tooth for a tooth And anyway I told the truth And I'm not afraid to die.
I hear stories from the chamber Christ was born into a manger And like some ragged stranger He died upon the cross Might I say, it seems so fitting in its way He was a carpenter by trade Or at least that's what I'm told
My kill-hand's tatooed E.V.I.L. across it's brother's fist That filthy five! They did nothing to challenge or resist.
In Heaven His throne is made of gold The ark of his Testament is stowed A throne from which I'm told All history does unfold. It's made of wood and wire And my body is on fire And God is never far away.
Into the mercy seat I climb My head is shaved, my head is wired And like a moth that tries To enter the bright eye I go shuffling out of life Just to hide in death awhile And anyway I never lied.
And the mercy seat is waiting And I think my head is burning And in a way I'm yearning To be done with all this weighing of the truth. An eye for an eye And a tooth for a tooth And anyway I told the truth And I'm not afraid to die.
And the mercy seat is burning And I think my head is glowing And in a way I'm hoping To be done with all this twisting of the truth. An eye for an eye And a tooth for a tooth And anyway there was no proof And I'm not afraid to die.
And the mercy seat is glowing And I think my head is smoking And in a way I'm hoping To be done with all these looks of disbelief. A life for a life And a truth for a truth And I've got nothing left to lose And I'm not afraid to die.
And the mercy seat is smoking And I think my head is melting And in a way that's helping To be done with all this twisting of the truth An eye for an eye And a tooth for a tooth And anyway I told the truth But I'm afraid I told a lie.
Johnny Cash另一首歌The Man Comes Around 先後被 Dawn of the living Dead 以及Terminator 劇集第一季結局都有用作配樂，雖然節奏輕鬆，歌詞講的卻是聖經末世徵兆，襯上世界末日的畫面有種奇妙的化學作用。
