旺角黑夜

約清晨三時，攝於旺角西洋菜南街。

一點鐘新聞報導

深夜一點鐘，開著電視仲可以睇到李臻喺 now 寬頻電視報新聞。仲記得幾年前佢喺政府總部出面罵：「有冇搞錯呀你哋香港警察」，好型。

我主要喺想睇返今日喺港鐵火車上面睇過嘅新聞片段，想知到發生咗乜事。突然間，今日好似好多新聞：

唔係好明白點解台灣人可以咁瘋狂，個貨車司機加速撞記者，佢嘅回應竟然係「擋著我怎麼過？」

呢句說話仿佛係台灣教育部長嘅心底話。兩位自持己見，前面有甚麼東西跟本沒有理會。其實我留意咗咁耐，都唔係太清楚台灣嘅教育部同埋中正紀念堂有乜關係。

諗到呢度又覺得香港好似幾好，頒個學位畀董建華都唔係太難接受，話哂佢冇搞到香港好似台灣咁衰。

中大校園又成焦點，鏡頭影到嘅同學好多都見過面，又見到大學嘅超頹保安忽然落力，極悶的畢業典禮頓時變得精彩。

竟有家長喊住咁話請假黎睇仔女畢業但係又因有人抗議影響咗典禮。呢位家長令我諗起一個新娘對完美典禮嘅追求，又令我諗呢個家長嘅仔女睇完新聞之後有乜感想。可能佢唔知到呢個典禮本身冇睇頭，又或者唔知到下午仲有書院嘅畢業禮，所以咁大反應。我相信呢位家長嘅不滿下午會得到舒緩。

幾日前有同學問我喺咪應該去畢業禮，我仲話唔使哂氣，而家有啲後悔，咁精彩嘅畢業禮真係萬中無一，我都好想去。

可能因為上鏡嘅抗議同學我都識少少，少不免牽動咗我啲情緒。

我覺得，而家嘅社會，比起我嘅感情生活更令人無奈。

夏天的尾巴

電影裡有交代「夏天的尾巴」的意思，簡單直接，但又讓我意想不到。

當然有更深層的意思吧。與我看過的台灣電影感覺差不多，無論感覺是如何都不像朋友所說的「純愛」，可能是自己所感受到的就不是這些而已。

我在想，有多少我們這一代的，會放紙船到河上，讓它自由漂到他方？就算放到溝渠上去也不減浪漫：重點是無聊自在的生活。我們這青春的一代，來到這裡生活太忙碌又苦悶，期望的是未來的退休生活。所謂理想的生活開始的那時，生命已過了理應最精彩的大部份，那，不是很可笑嗎？

我想我的思考過程裡一定是欠缺了些甚麼，走在我前面的人一定已經想過些甚麼。問題不是誰的理論正確，是誰的理論較適合自己。

說回電影，我想我喜歡這種花很多時間營造某些感覺的手法。但我仍想看點別的，台灣的所謂青春電影，應該不止這樣吧。

故事很簡單，音樂很好，只是末段的剪接不太喜歡，但亦不失感情。

留意演員序，夏天的名字是布布。

聞名不如見面

今日見到傳聞中嘅陳香港嘅中學嘅同學。唔...同張相咁唔同嘅，普通普通。

我認到㗎，不過唔敢肯定之嘛。

A new report on environment

A depressing read.

Desperately waiting for a cat

: )

For the time being I watch this little cute cat here to kill time.

Mobile Communications

I recently subscribed SmarTone's internet on mobile service, with a monthly fee I can browse the web / check e-mail with the application that came natively with the phone. Rates at $38/month with a daily free usage of 20MB. After that the plan is automatically "upgraded" to $78 for the rest of the month.

I once asked a customer representative at one of the local stores: If on the last day of a billing month my usage exceeded 20MB will they charge $78? They will. A completely rip of if you ask me. I have to use this service very carefully.

The speed is good. One drawback is that the phone display is so tiny it hurts to read for longer than a half an hour, especially on the road. So I don't think I will ever use all of that 20MB. If I do I'll go blind or something.

I feel a little sick tonight. The food seems to be the problem.

無奈

今日我又諗起呢首歌：

是你嗎？你在微微地笑
心跳 如今確是奇妙

在「魁北克」的哥哥、巴士上面的學生、小巴回望嘅男仔……

哈哈，我好變態，經常望住街上邊啲人

但係除咗多啲去文化中心「魁北克」之外我都諗唔到可以做啲乜。

之後我又諗到第二首歌嘅歌詞，來自另一個音樂劇：

我盼當我走到盡頭　他可伴我在身旁

呢句歌詞之後，其實仲有一句。

Coffee

我家有頭狗名 Coffee，從未向朋友露面，它是唐狗，少於一歲。

數天前它死了，父親說原因是它出外吃了不該吃的東西。

雖不是人命，但也是一個小生命，回家時少一個會行會走的動物，有一種說不出的失落感。

原來死是多麼突然，又令我多想人、死、關係、感情的問題。

找不到它的相片，可能遺留在剛報銷的記憶咭裏。

Free Burma!

Ability to reason

More and more often I find out that it is quite common that people around me do not have the ability to reason. When an idea is odd enough they just scrap the whole idea, without giving enough thought on it.

It is as if any one idea must be on a single side of the fence so that it makes sense to anyone, and this idea must be on a side at the extreme. Think about it, when the democrats rejected the proposal for the new election procedures a few years back, were they really supporting a more general election or not? I bet some people just doesn't understand. They don't have the ability to reason.

I recently spent some time reading The Dilbert Blog by Scott Adams. He talked about Cognitive Dissonance a few days earlier and he mentioned an interview of an economist on the topic of global warming. The interviewers were confused, and rejected the economist's idea entirely.

I like the way how he attacked the nonsense. His posts were extremely humourous.

What the hell?

系會捐血

莊員唔好打我...

想像力

中秋節，喺天台同屋企人燒嘢食同埋賞月。

雖然天文台話可能睇唔到個月亮，但係嗰日大部份時間都見到個好圓好圓嘅月光，附近有少少雲陪住個月亮，所以唔覺得個月亮孤令令喺個天空上面。

我見到天空咁大，俾少少想像力，自己喺個地球入面比啲大氣層包住，上面個月亮圍住自己轉...點解佢唔會跌落黎呢。

呢個時候又食多兩件雞翼，又桔多兩件雞翼嚟燒。

之後又攞咗兩件月餅嚟食，幾好幾好。遺憾嘅係冇汽水，如果有嘢冰凍嘅汽水就 fit 哂啦。

當然又睇吓電視，同屋企人傾計呀咁。（電視搬咗上天台。）

好似冇點燈籠，唔興掛，我諗。

我又諗，點解呢個活動要叫做賞月呢，其實，真係無乜去望個月亮。話哂佢都係主角，如果我係佢比人冷落咗都幾無奈。

天氣清涼，如果可以喺天台度瞓，地係床以天係被，應該幾得意。

「凍死你呀！」

今朝攞起隻杯，睇到杯內雪白無比，覺得屋企人真係好。

夜晚返屋企見到間房有人執過，原全無咗嗰種溫馨嘅感覺，只係覺得要將啲嘢打亂返好麻煩。

人真係奇怪，要諗咁多嘢。

「你咁做即係想點？」

明報《網站無警告字眼禁重複提交》2007年9月26日

記者嘗試直接寄出電郵，自行撰寫意見，電郵中並無提供個人資料，亦是重複寄出，亦未見「打回頭」。

記者做這個測試，有甚麼結論？

沒有任何結論。

因為電子郵件從軟件送出時，只是由用戶端的電郵伺服器接受，也就是 "accepted for delivery"，此後，用戶無從得知對方是否會收到該電郵。這種測試方法無知、可笑。

近來，明報喜用引號，將口語放到文字去。加引號不代表他們可以用口語。

This is crazy talking

I read a blog post by Wil Shipley (who write programs for Delicious Monster). I found it deeply touching, especially near the end, about the feeling of losing everything he loves. Also the question "is genius linked with craziness?" is inspirational, I have given a few thoughts on it, those who understand me should know.

In the last three paragraphs, what he described sounds amazingly familiar.

Fortunately I have never been diagnosed as suffered from depression. Or I should say I haven't been depressed enough to qualify the medical definition of a person suffering depression. It hasn't caused enough impact to my life. If I am not qualified to claim this feeling of mine as depressed, what else can I call it? Sad? It is not sad - I'm not saying that sad is not involved, but it is only part of it.

I have always admired those who have never feel depressed, whose life looked so cheerful, friends never in shortage.

And My heart goes to those who are depressed. I never could imagine how I could endure the hopelessness and everything this brings. I know friends who suffered from depression and I don't know what I could do... there is nothing I can do.

I can't help myself either.

A trip to the Island

After the show I took the tram to Causeway Bay. I actually think it is where many cute guys hang around (of course there are MK guys who migrated to Causeway Bay for no reasons, but anyway we pretend they didn't exist anyway). I looked like a slightly over-sized boy who don't care very much about how he looks. Sometimes I feel that a guy is looking at my direction, I always think they find me weird or something. I seldom looked at myself in the mirror, too afraid to see horrible thing. (Is that me!?)

Causeway Bay is not for me. I can't remember if I found myself comfortable in this place... nor any place, then it is not the problem of Causeway Bay after all.

I went to Times Square and collected a box of Häagen-Dazs ice-cream moon cake. Delicious. Also picked up a Starbucks drink a few levels up. The barista seemed confused when I ordered, and what I ordered isn't complicated - just plain iced tall latte. Is there something wrong with my pronunciation? I knew that I have some pronunciation problem but people can hear what I said no matter how I say it, what a nice place this is.

《再見不再見》將會重演

本人覺得這是一個不錯的劇目，創作導演演也是彭秀慧包辦。有興趣又有金錢是值得一看的。

《再見不再見》重演
2-4/11, 6-8/11 8pm
4/11 3pm
香港藝術中心壽臣劇院
$195 $165 ($150 $100)

《瘋女社》

Yesterday night I knew from 萊斯's blog that there is a theatre show at Shouson Theatre today, and the show in the afternoon would be the last. I suddenly felt interested in it because, well I have basically nothing to do today and all of my close friends are either busy or have their own dates. Today morning I read that they lowered the price and I called Anthony (a guy who is responsible for the show's ticketing) and got tickets from him directly. I got so lucky this time for buying tickets late.

I arrived with only a few minutes to spare. I don't have much time to read the programme and I don't know much about who would appear in the show. What I did know is that 彭秀慧 was the director to the show, and I liked her 《再見不再見》 a lot, and this is the primary reason why I went there. The show today was 《瘋女社》. It is a musical theatre.

The scriptwriter of the show was 茜利妹 and this came a bit of surprise to me. (I really didn't know beforehand! I'm out-dated, as always.) 葉宇澄, 葉佩雯 and 李卓庭 appeared (the later two of which I haven't heard of :p) and sung a few songs, also 梁祖堯 who appeared in a video recording (full of gags, though looked inspirational).

The musical wasn't the most enjoyable I have been to, but it certainly was not bad. The music suited the mood and theme of the musical (a little bit crazy, exaggerated) and they were good. The songs (note the difference in "music" and "songs") didn't fit so much IMHO. The reason for this might just be that I can't hear the lyrics clearly and so I didn't really know if the meaning fitted. I did like some of the songs though, especially some rock and roll and the emotional kind near the end.

I especially like how they lifted the a piece of set decoration to reveal a small room full of carton boxes and Yip playing a piano, accompanied by a plant with no leaves and tall lamp. Still can't hear the lyrics - my fault. If only I could hear them more clearly then that should have been a touching scene. This kind of presentation reminded me of 馴情記 actually, in which the stage elevated to reveal a fully grown plant appeared earlier on. It makes me feel that something (eg feeling) is already there most of the time, it is just that we didn't aware it is there.

I'd have to say the show isn't very much inspirational for me. Maybe it is because I don't get it, or that they are expressing some feelings I haven't felt before and so I don't understand. This happens all the time. I do get a glimpse of it, maybe I'll discover something more later on.

I also liked some dance (can't think of a better word). One scene featuring all mentally ill patents and those who are sane doing a little dance, like a crazy dance. Everything looked random but it was enjoyable to watch.

iPhone as it is now

Not good.

I saw an iPhone yesterday in person. I was not looking for it on purpose. I was waiting for a taxi and a couple a few metres from me said, "It is already connected to the Internet." Looking at the voice's direction, I saw something shiny, prestige maybe. Nevertheless a women held the little baby and she looked clueless. Moron.

Speaking of which the taxi never came, I took the light bus.

Maybe it is because of Ming Pao's coverage of the phone and the SimLock hack, people start noticing the phone and flock to Mong Kok and buy one. Anyway the iPhone is a great device, and no device on the market packed so much technologies in one thing. (except for N90, but it doesn't look gorgeous and it doesn't have the touch screen)

But there are something I do not like about the iPhone as it is now. It is too popular. Using something so popular is not consistent with my style.

Secondly and more importantly, it is a close system. It looks like Apple is not trying to build a platform, they just want to build a device. iPhone is not like a Mac that everyone is free to build software and even install another operating systems on it. One cannot install anything on the iPhone though. Apple dictated what you can do with it. I still don't get comfortable with the idea that I can only do what some people allowed me to do, especially as the device is a piece of hardware I paid for. I can do whatever I wanted with it. This is worse than Windows Mobile - they have a platform and people can develop things around it. With iPhone, Apple ditched the long supporting Mac developers and destoryed the trust that Mac developers can build good software. (iPhone runs on Mac OS X with its ARM processor.)

And this is just the beginning. If you looked closely, Apple put so much restrictions on the device and it is even more restrictive than other mobile phones on the market. You cannot put your ringtones on it. (Officially, I mean, Hong Kong doesn't have her on iTunes store.) You cannot connect the device to the computer and expect the file system to be accessible from the computer. And finally, you cannot use it with the carrier of your choosing.

Bundling the phone with the carrier is the stupidity that Americans get used to. People in other parts of the world don't do it the same way. If the phone is bundled with 3 Hong Kong, I won't even think about buying it, unless there is still a way to unlock the phone by then and it won't void the warranty. Speaking of carrier choices in Hong Kong, Apple should choose China Mobile Peoples - because they are the only carrier in Hong Kong that still lives in the Jurassic era and operates EDGE.

The idea that Apple is starting to rot is circulating on the blogosphere. I worried this might just be the case.