Sunday, March 31, 2013

Studying Symphonic metal while revising~

This is not my very first time that I listen to symphonic metal. Yet, putting more focus on symphonic metal along with my linguistic revision on both Chinese and English as well as paying more attention on American and European bands are definitely my recent pastimes.

Without any doubt, Northern European, German and Dutch bands are really professional while making soft metal or metalcore with strings and classical musical instruments. They emphasize the coexistence of classic and popular music rather than mixture of rapping and singing, or even some systematic dancing. Their music are more susceptible, spiritual and stylish. They have their own reasons and proposes for composing, their styles are diverse though their genres are the same. Ways of singing are different in different symphonic metal bands. For instance, Dutch band Epica have both screaming vocal and mezzo-soprano and Swedish band the Murder of My Street has a clean lead vocal.

Symphonic metal is one of the gothic metal genres. Within Temptation, the Dutch band formed in 1996 and Nightwish, the Finnish band which also formed in 1996, are its originators. They both have female who is very pros at singing opera in their band. Once this new genre was introduced, there are more and more formation of bands in Europe and America, mainly in North Europe and Holland, for producing symphonic metal and even adding more varied metal genres such as power metal, speed metal, progressive metal or dumb metal.
                                                                    Nightwish Nemo


                                                              Within Temptation Angel
                                           Epica Sensorium
                                         Sirenia My Mind's Eye
Delain April Rain

As society is being diverse, symphonic metal, along with other metal genres developed in the 1980-90s brings about another metal genres, nu metal. Amercian band Evanescence and newly formed North European band Amaranthe are examples for the nu metal.

But still, I am very fond of symphonic metal, for its poetic, artistic and stylish concepts. Its emphasis on coexistence of classic and popular music impresses me a lot which reminds me of the fact that Hong Kong is a city with the coexistence of Chinese and Western culture.                                  

Friday, March 8, 2013

Pay Up/Don't Bother To Come At All


Today, my buddy and I hit the gym at a LCSD (Leisure and Cultural Services Department) sports center just like we did every Friday. Nothing unusual happened until two guys, dressed in orange working uniform and black tracksuit trousers, walked in. I had never seen them before and I could totally sense something wrong was going to happen, hence I quote a lyric (from one of Taylor Swift's songs): I knew you were trouble when you walked in. Ok...back to my point, which is that the two guys didn't seem to have paid the admission fee before using the facilities.

Yes, I used the word "seem" because I didn't (and don't) know for sure if they had paid to use the exercise facilities or not. However, from my observation, it was most likely that they didn't. Only 5 minutes after these 2 guys had come in to work out, 2 staff members walked in and one of the staff asked if they had registered at the front desk. The older man did not respond, instead, the younger one (twenty something) stood up to the female staff and boldly defend themselves. The way he defended himself was weird, it was as if he immediately responded to a question he still had not taken in into his head, and he did so only because his defense mechanism worked that way, allowing him to fend off any accusation being thrown at him/them. He provided no receipt or any kind of evidence, and so, without further methods to verify their admission was of a legit kind, the 2 staff members walked away.

So the 2 of them went on exercising for another 5 minutes, then another 2 staff came in the gym, once again asked them the very same question, "Have you paid for the admission fee?" And, again, the younger guy replied with annoyance, "Yes, we did!" Without a doubt, the staff left with slight or no apparent breakthrough but fulfillment of obligation.

I was on the treadmill pacing at normal speed, and I looked at them through the reflection of the mirror right in front of me. Wearing the same uniform, those 2 men might be on duty or having some time before going to work. I noticed some words were on the right side of their trousers, thus I took out my mobile phone to did a little background check, and found that they could be workers of some construction company. No matter where they work, who they work for, or whatever, it was clear that they could afford the fee (I'm assuming that they didn't pay). Not only that what they did was making the whole thing unfair to others who had paid to use the fitness equipment, but they also felt no guilty at all and kept going on with what they were doing. They should be respectful of themselves, of others, and be a responsible citizen, meaning that they should not exploit the rights of others and should pay to use the gym equipment like everyone does.

Saturday, March 2, 2013

記一次看小說的感受以及一些看法

(此乃筆者意見, 不喜勿插)

 雖然我甚愛討論文學藝術, 但我不太熱愛讀"書"。

 看書時間要很長, 又要有一定的忍耐度. 要是我看書的話, 隨時會失去自己日常的時間觀念, 所 以我不常看書。

 然而, 近來因要追新電視劇, 我決定買一本書以掃讀法來了解基本上的內容, 讓我可以知道那部電視劇是否值得去看。那本書叫<<大漠謠>>, 作者是<<步步驚心>>的筆者桐華。內容簡介就不想多說, 到百度搜尋便有其概要。

 儘管不是細閱這本書, 但內容的明確性和邏輯我都很清楚。只不過我覺得這本書跟<<步步驚心>>有點相同之處和當然都有些相異的地方。這些「相同」和「相異」都使我覺得細看現今流行小說更加納悶, 寧看散文感受現實的光與暗, 醜與惡, 都不想再接觸流行言情小說。

兩本書的結局都是女主角死了, <<步步驚心>>中的馬爾泰若曦是因體質過份虛弱而病死。<<大漠謠>>中的謹玉是自殺死的。最奇怪的是, 兩位女主角的死都是因為男人, 簡單點來說, 為「情」而殉。玉謹的確為情而自殺(因為霍去病死於中了毒箭), 但這樣說若曦的死因好像一點兒牽強, 但又不能說這個不是她的「死因」, 以下是解釋。

步步驚心是清穿小說。張曉是由現代因車禍而穿越到清朝康熙時期, 靈魂附身於八爺側福晉馬爾泰若蘭的妹妹馬爾泰若曦。在故事中,若曦最初喜歡八爺, 因為八爺對權力(皇位)慾望而跟他分手, 但分手時叫八爺提防四爺與一些官員, 然後與四爺拍施, 因為八爺得知四爺會得勢的關係, 便散播謠言, 使四爺失勢之餘也令十三爺(若曦的知已)被囚禁在養峰夾道, 還因為綠芜想去陪十三爺在雨中跪了三天三夜, 求皇上成全.....之後四爺繼位(大家都知道是雍正=.=), 十三爺放牢了, 若曦繼續在宮中服待四爺, 跟他有了孩子, 但因為八福晉告知若曦一切所發生的事(十三爺被囚禁, 四爺失勢)都是因她叫八爺提防四爺而起, 導致她情緒崩潰而滑胎, 亦間接累死了八福晉(雖說八福晉是自焚)。之後她告知四爺是她叫八爺提防四爺而害他失勢和使十三爺囚禁在養峰夾道。四爺知道後無法接受, 若曦亦因此想離開皇宮。若曦之後以康熙給十四爺的聖旨(賜婚)加上八爺的幫助下成功離開皇宮, 在與十四爺生活的幾年間, 因體質過份虛弱而病死。 為何說她為「情」而殉? 她因對八爺有「情」, 才會叫八爺提防四爺, 亦使十三爺囚禁在養峰夾道, 使自己在雨中跪了三天三夜。因為那個提醒, 導致八福晉的一番話使自己滑胎, 使自己的體質愈來愈差(心理質素問題)。最後太醫說她只有兩三年命時已就快嫁去十四爺, 數年後在十四爺懷中死去。
所以說, 若曦因「情」而殉亦不是不合理。

兩個女主角都是以第一人稱來寫的, 兩個女主角身邊都有一個以上的男人鍾愛她們。謹玉有孟九和霍去病; 若曦有四爺,八爺,十四爺(不知十爺算不算)。加上兩本書都是以悲劇收場, 我開始覺得言情小說真的是不適合我。

論到「相異」, 二個女主角性格都不同, 思想也不同。謹玉是狼女(由狼群養大), 這讓我想起1997年宮崎駿的動畫電影<<魔法公主>> 和<<玻璃面具>>中一套以真夜主演的<<遺忘的荒野>>。<<魔法公主>>中的姍姍都是由狼養大, 而<<遺忘的荒野>>真夜所演的都是由狼養大的女孩。真夜的狼女和姍姍與謹玉小時侯的性格有點相似, 她們覺得自己是狼並不是人類。 而若曦的體內附著一個現代女性的靈魂張曉, 比較追求民主自由, 想法「異與常人」, 加上是滿清貴族, 兩個人論身份都不同。

儘管兩個都殉於情, 但是若曦死時沒有四爺相伴, 只能死在朋友十四爺的懷中。謹玉在霍去病死後才自殺死, 但仍可與霍去病在黃泉下相守, 加上兩個人都有個兒子, 謹玉的結局外「悲」內「福」, 而若曦的都是內外也「悲」。

看完兩部同作者的小說和電視劇後, 我發現自己厭惡情情搭搭又糾結的小說, 一個女人搞到自己與身邊的男人們的關係如此複雜, 最終弄到自己悲劇收場, 那又何必?可能我入世未深, 還是在韻華階段, 未嘗過人間煙火味道, 有時覺得兩本小說的內容超越現實。例如: 有了身孕的謹玉與維姬被囚在牢裡, 自己吃下了有毒藥的飯菜而吐血, 最後自己沒死, 腹中的孩子也沒死。(按理上, 就算謹玉大難不死, 都會因中毒而流產。) 若曦在雨中跪了三天三夜, 一場雨又有什麼可能連續下了三天三夜?

這些情節, 對我來說, 很不合乎現實, 但增加書或者將來的電視劇的藝術性和氣氛。記得某美國金像級導演說過在創作一部電影不一定是要合乎現實。正如創作一件畫作, 你可以是抽象派, 超現實主義, 不用好像達文西繪畫蒙娜妮莎或者梵高畫自畫像。有時愈令人不解愈超越現實不合邏輯, 會增加某樣東西的藝術性, 好像<<步>>, 它的書不但賣得好, 電視劇更加進軍兩岸三地, 無人不知, 甚至獲得韓國的最佳海外電視劇, 女主角劉詩詩更加因此被封為金鷹女神。 由此可見, 那位導演的說話深謀遠慮, 很有見解。言情小說我是不會看, 但電視劇有時糾結下會別有風味, 所以<大>我也會看, 藝術性很高, 不過我希望唐人公司出一些比較特別的故事, 來來去去不是遊戲改編, 情情搭搭, 便是關於武俠江湖派, 有時制作關於黑色幽默(當然不要太過)的劇集, 會更加吸引觀眾看他們的電視劇。

不過對我來說, 我覺得一部電影或是電視劇, 只要「在不現實中表現出現實的一面」就是最藝術性和最值得留意。