March 2004 Archives

【亂鬧】本文某處藏匿有兩張圖片(保證不難找)，想和我一起胡鬧的同學歡迎利用迴響(comment)告訴我喜歡哪一張。順道一提，搜尋可用的de Botton照片時，竟然也看到這張。笑到不行。 (對了，猴媽，你快看底下書封面的照片，那雙鞋是不是有點似曾相識？像極你跟我去買的那雙？) 自從訂閱The Times之後，便試圖在有限的時間內吞下網站上所有想讀的文章，這是今天的收穫之一。喜歡那位年方卅五就已經禿得一遢糊塗的Alain de Botton的你，應該會有興趣。 (至於我與他的過節，請看這裡。) The Times, Books March 06, 2004 De Botton's gift is to prompt us to think about how we live and, just as importantly, how we might change things, says Jeanette Winterson All you need is . . . STATUS ANXIETY By Alain De Botton Hamish Hamilton, £16.99; 384pp ISBN 0 241 14238 5 Does modern life make us happy? Prompted by Alain de Botton's new book, I asked 40 people this question, and every one of them said no. Too fast, too loud, impersonal, no values were common complaints, side by side with insecurity — particularly at work. The dream of socialism and conservatism alike — to provide a framework in which people can find purpose and possibility — has become a fitful and sleepless night. Last year, in Britain alone, 30 million tranquillisers and anti-depressants were prescribed. So what is the problem with modern life? De Botton believes that human beings are motivated by two great quests: the search for sexual and romantic fulfilment, and the search for recognition in the world. This does not necessarily mean wanting to be President of the United States, but it always means a desire for respect and admiration from our peers. Who wants to be a nobody? The word itself opens chasms of terror; without worldly success, we shall literally cease to exist. The fight for status is more than a pecking order, or keeping up with the Joneses, it is a fight for identity. "Who am I?" is a riddle we ask the world. Sadly, if the answer is returned at all, it is often contingent on the very things that make us doubt ourselves in the first place.

Your Nervous Heart by Rhett Miller I try to make your world a better place I'd smother you in kisses I'd give you outer space But you're terrified and it's tearing me apart Can I kiss your furrowed brow and calm your nervous heart? Can I kiss your furrowed brow and calm your nervous heart? I know the world's a bitch don't get me wrong You've got to give the world the finger You've got to sing a happy song Making love's by far the better part Can I kiss your furrowed brow and calm your nervous heart? Can I kiss your furrowed brow and calm your nervous heart? And if you've got to believe in something make it us 'Cause we've got love and devotion and trust What we've got was strong right from the start Can I kiss your furrowed brow and calm your nervous heart? Can I kiss your furrowed brow and calm your nervous heart? I know somebody must have gave you hell Maybe you went running as the sky just sort of fell Let me scoop you up and love you as you are Can I kiss your furrowed brow and calm your nervous heart? Can I kiss your furrowed brow and calm your nervous heart? Can I kiss your furrowed brow and calm your nervous heart? 【註】去年911週年時常常想起這首歌，現在我又想一邊唱這首歌，一邊擁抱你，我的島。

早上執行例行公事──剪報──的時候瞄到這一則新聞：「青樓怨婦」網上迷倒一堆人。 我只想到一部電影，當然就是新聞裡提到的那部，布紐爾1967年的名作"Belle de jour"，理由很簡單，Catherine Deneuve真是美到令人不敢直視。 好奇的我自然也會去找這個傳說中的網誌：Belle de jour，大家就參考著看看吧。也算奇人異士一枚。

有時候真的不怎麼喜歡Ryan Adams，因為種種跡象都顯示"He's an ass."(引用一位看過他演出，之後還在酒吧裡碰見他的朋友的話)他一月底在利物浦的演唱會中不慎摔到台下──不知怎麼這些搖滾歌手就是這麼不小心──而傷了手腕，還在當地醫院動了手術，現在還在休養中，這個意外也讓一團等著要在西雅圖跟他嗆聲的朋友希望暫時落空。 呃...扯遠了... 我的意思是說，他雖然人似乎有點圈叉，可是"Firecracker"這首歌卻寫到人心裡頭去了，又甜又帶點陰暗，騷的恰到好處。而且開頭那段超級黏人、想忘都忘不掉的口琴旋律老是要讓我想起鍾愛的Bob爺。 也難怪那些害怕老搖滾會絕種的樂評要過度興奮地把他與Bob爺相提並論了。(但我還是最愛Bob爺的那首經典"baby song": "I'll Be Your Baby Tonight")

果然太久沒注意搖滾小子，Ben Kweller出新片了我到今天才發覺！And he's only 22-year-old and married! What happened to kids nowadays? 不過剛剛偷聽了一點"On My Way"，滾石黨的Sinagra小姐竟然說他需要找一個他的Bernie Taupin*？！太離譜。他才幾歲，他會成長，好嗎？ 咳咳，太激動了... (Nadia, 笑吧笑吧。) 而且Sondre Lerche的新作品"Two Way Monologue"也遭受這種待遇，Walters說Sondre這個問題要等到他碰上自己的Hal David**才能解決，"or at least a better English teacher"，真是太狠了。 唉。我又來了，看一些不該看的，火一些不該火的。 但還是忍不住要說這個movieoke真的好笑。他們的投入方式真是令人動容，也許那些可怕的偶像們可以試試用這個方法磨練演技。 Now, before I go back to work on the formidable piles of files, please allow me to remind myself: *For those who are too young, Mr. Taupin is Elton John's long-time lyricist, who wrote "Tiny Dancer" and actually married an LA lady later on. **For those who simply don't know, Hal David is to Burt Bacharach like Bernie is to Elton.

這是趁老闆不在時亂玩的...my crazy pic of the day (yesterday actually). 以前常和Alan(my genius friend who used to run a wonderful blog)通信的時候，我們都用歌詞當email的郵件主旨(how teenaged, but how I love it)，而且還常常很三八地喜歡問對方知不知道那首歌的出處，雖然當時他常有機會猜中我的，因為我那時是個每天聽Dylan的"love-sick fool"；不過也就這樣養成了我和一小群朋友愛猜歌名或歌手的好笑習慣。所以這篇標題就變這樣了。

My friend - and guardian angel at times - Jonny (who, I just realized, became quite shy about posting comments on my board after my move - silly, this move was half meant to be done for you) wrote me a short and sweet email about a little girl he met on a street in Dawlish before he went to visit his parents, the latest comment from Elton John and his in-process trip to Amsterdam. And then he asked why I haven't been doing "the posh setlist thing."

天氣不好，沒辦法出門拍照，索性在辦公室、車上和家裡亂拍一陣。(這篇正好證明了我最近上班有多麼不認真。)以下鄭重介紹本人日常囿於物生活不可或缺的三種電器用品。 1. 沒有就活不下去的音響，每天為我超時工作，服務熱忱沒話說。正在放Ella Fitzgerald唱的"I've Got a Crush on You"，I think I've got a crush on Gershwin. 2. 辦公室的電腦。星期一到五與我一起作戰的夥伴，目前未受網路遊戲佔領。攝於奧斯卡開獎當時，我邊打字邊偷看Yahoo!的即時專題報導，還趁老闆不在，用MSN跟朋友同事轉播開獎過程(後來發覺根本用不著，又沒爆冷門)。 3. 在這張照片裡看起來有點像水母的Amelia(曾經為她寫過一篇歷險記)，算是老朋友了。不能拍照、全無彩色、更無悅耳和絃鈴聲，但她還是掌握我的生活作息、幫我記住一輩子都記不住的電話號碼，就像皇室管家(自以為童話的我啊啊啊)。這張是在接完Paul的午夜白痴來電後，在一片漆黑的房間裡拍的。

Actress Liv Tyler arrives for the 76th annual Academy Awards. The Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, February 29, 2004. Photo by Shaun Best/Reuters 1. 昨晚想看完頒獎典禮，但實在累到不行，連原著劇本獎都沒看到。不過至少看到了眾多女星的優雅禮服，最喜歡的就是上面這位，太可愛啦。Naomi Watts, Julia Roberts, Diane Lane, Angelina Jolie, Scarlett Johansson的造型也都很美。最喜歡的笑話之一： "Things were so different then. You know how different it was? Bush was president, the economy was tanking and we'd just finished a war with Iraq." 真愛死了Billy Crystal。Thank you so much for coming back for the 8th time. 2. 買了新數位相機，但天氣卻偏要作對地糟起來，火大的我坐在車裡猛拍灰暗天色再一張張刪掉。 3. 本來計畫要出去玩的時間，正好碰上貴死人不償命的黃金週，只好延期。 作業： 無(溫書假)。 明日攜帶物品： 1. 左半邊腦袋。 2. 相機。