花樣年華
Hong Kong / France
Director: Wong Kar-wai
Cast: Tony Leung, Maggie Cheung
October 20, 2006
October 17, 2006
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1919)
Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari
Germany
Director: Robert Wiene
Cast: Werner Krauss - Dr. Caligari
Conrad Veidt - Cesare
Lil Dagover - Jane
Friedrich Feher - Francis
Hans Heinrich Von Twardowski - Alan
Germany
Director: Robert Wiene
Cast: Werner Krauss - Dr. Caligari
Conrad Veidt - Cesare
Lil Dagover - Jane
Friedrich Feher - Francis
Hans Heinrich Von Twardowski - Alan
October 08, 2006
The Third Man (1949)
UK
Director: Carol Reed
Screenwriter / Book Author: Graham Greene
Cinematographer: Robert Krasker
Cast: Joseph Cotten - Holly Martins
Alida Valli - Anna Schmidt
Orson Welles - Harry Lime
Trevor Howard - Maj. Calloway
Paul Hoerbiger - Porter
Bernard Lee - Sgt. Paine
Director: Carol Reed
Screenwriter / Book Author: Graham Greene
Cinematographer: Robert Krasker
Cast: Joseph Cotten - Holly Martins
Alida Valli - Anna Schmidt
Orson Welles - Harry Lime
Trevor Howard - Maj. Calloway
Paul Hoerbiger - Porter
Bernard Lee - Sgt. Paine
October 07, 2006
The Last King of Scotland
Germany / UK
Director: Kevin Macdonald
Screenplay: Jeremy Brock
Book: Giles Foden
Cast: Forest Whitaker (Idi Amin), James McAvoy (Nicholas Garrigan)
Director: Kevin Macdonald
Screenplay: Jeremy Brock
Book: Giles Foden
Cast: Forest Whitaker (Idi Amin), James McAvoy (Nicholas Garrigan)
October 04, 2006
October 02, 2006
Thumbsucker (2005)
US
Director / Screenwriter: Mike Mills
Book: Walter Kim
Cast: Lou Taylor Pucci - Justin Cobb
Tilda Swinton - Audrey Cobb
Vince Vaughn - Mr. Geary
Vincent D'Onofrio - Mike Cobb
Keanu Reeves - Dr. Perry Lyman
Director / Screenwriter: Mike Mills
Book: Walter Kim
Cast: Lou Taylor Pucci - Justin Cobb
Tilda Swinton - Audrey Cobb
Vince Vaughn - Mr. Geary
Vincent D'Onofrio - Mike Cobb
Keanu Reeves - Dr. Perry Lyman
September 30, 2006
[Baseball] Toronto Blue Jays
Yankees 7, Blue Jays 2
Epilogue: Unfortunately this turned out to be the last game I have in Yankee Stadium.
Epilogue: Unfortunately this turned out to be the last game I have in Yankee Stadium.
September 27, 2006
[Baseball] Baltimore Orioles
Yankees 5, Orioles 4
Epilogue: It turned out to be the last Cory Lidle game I will ever seen. This is for you, Cory, rest in peace.
Cory Fulton Lidle, 03/22/1972 - 10/11/2006
Career Totals: 82W, 72L, ERA 4.57, 277G, 199GS, 11CG, 5SHO, 2SV, 1322.2IP, 1400H, 738R, 671ER, 159HR, 54HBP, 356BB, 838SO
Epilogue: It turned out to be the last Cory Lidle game I will ever seen. This is for you, Cory, rest in peace.
Cory Fulton Lidle, 03/22/1972 - 10/11/2006
Career Totals: 82W, 72L, ERA 4.57, 277G, 199GS, 11CG, 5SHO, 2SV, 1322.2IP, 1400H, 738R, 671ER, 159HR, 54HBP, 356BB, 838SO
September 26, 2006
The Rules of the Game (1939)
La Règle du jeu
France
Director / Screenwriter: Jean Renoir
Cast: Nora Gregor - Christine de La Chesnaye
Jean Renoir - Octave
Marcel Dalio - Robert de la Chesnaye
Roland Toutain - André Jurieu
Paulette Dubost - Lisette
France
Director / Screenwriter: Jean Renoir
Cast: Nora Gregor - Christine de La Chesnaye
Jean Renoir - Octave
Marcel Dalio - Robert de la Chesnaye
Roland Toutain - André Jurieu
Paulette Dubost - Lisette
September 25, 2006
[Gig] The Flaming Lips
Hammerstein Ballroon
opened by Deerhoof
The Lips, Period.
Setlist:
The Tada Song
Race for the Prize
Free Radicals
Yoshimi Pt 1
Yoshimi Pt 2
Vein of Stars
The YYY Song
The W.A.N.D
Cosmic Rebellion
She Don't Use Jelly
Do You Realize??
--
Spoonful
You Got to Be Joking
opened by Deerhoof
The Lips, Period.
Setlist:
The Tada Song
Race for the Prize
Free Radicals
Yoshimi Pt 1
Yoshimi Pt 2
Vein of Stars
The YYY Song
The W.A.N.D
Cosmic Rebellion
She Don't Use Jelly
Do You Realize??
--
Spoonful
You Got to Be Joking
September 24, 2006
Seven Samurai (1954)
Japan
Director / Screenwriter / Editor: Akira Kurosawa
Cast:
Takashi Shimura - Kambei, leader of samurai
Toshiro Mifune - Kikuchiyo, would-be samurai
Yoshio Inaba - Gorobei, wise warrior
Seiji Miyaguchi - Kyuzo, swordsman
Minoru Chiaki - Heihachi, amiable samurai
Daisuke Kato - Shichiroji, Kambei's friend
Ko (Isao) Kimura - Katsushiro, young samurai
Delicate film in every way: mise-en-scene, character building, story telling.
Director / Screenwriter / Editor: Akira Kurosawa
Cast:
Takashi Shimura - Kambei, leader of samurai
Toshiro Mifune - Kikuchiyo, would-be samurai
Yoshio Inaba - Gorobei, wise warrior
Seiji Miyaguchi - Kyuzo, swordsman
Minoru Chiaki - Heihachi, amiable samurai
Daisuke Kato - Shichiroji, Kambei's friend
Ko (Isao) Kimura - Katsushiro, young samurai
Delicate film in every way: mise-en-scene, character building, story telling.
September 23, 2006
霸王別姬 (1993)
Farewell My Concubine
China / Hong Kong
Director: Chen Kaige
Cast: Leslie Cheung, Zhang Fengyi, Gong Li
China / Hong Kong
Director: Chen Kaige
Cast: Leslie Cheung, Zhang Fengyi, Gong Li
September 17, 2006
[Baseball] Red Sox
2-5, Red Sox
First game of the consecutive two days doubleheaders.
Two things worth to remember this day. First, 3 hours burning sun in main box. Yes, never sit on the third base side of the main box in an afternoon game. But just because I sit in the last section of main box on the third base side, which is right next to Red Sox's bullpen, that I have the second thing worth to remember that day: the sound Josh Beckett's fast ball pounded into Doug Mirabelli's glove.
First game of the consecutive two days doubleheaders.
Two things worth to remember this day. First, 3 hours burning sun in main box. Yes, never sit on the third base side of the main box in an afternoon game. But just because I sit in the last section of main box on the third base side, which is right next to Red Sox's bullpen, that I have the second thing worth to remember that day: the sound Josh Beckett's fast ball pounded into Doug Mirabelli's glove.
September 16, 2006
September 09, 2006
[Baseball] Dodgers vs Mets
Finally got the chance to visit Shea Stadium.
Hong-Chih Kuo's first Major League start, and first win. 5-0 Dodgers.
But honestly, I was more thrilled to see Nomar Garciaparra on first base.
Hong-Chih Kuo's first Major League start, and first win. 5-0 Dodgers.
But honestly, I was more thrilled to see Nomar Garciaparra on first base.
US Open 2006
Day 12
Arthur Ashe Statium
Men's Doubles - Final
Jonas Bjorkman / Max Mirny def. Ashley Fisher / Tripp Phillips 6-1, 6-4
Women's Singles - Semifinals
Justine Henen-Hardenne def Jelena Jankovic 4-6, 6-4, 6-0
Maria Sharapova def Amelie Mauresmo 6-0, 4-6, 6-0
Arthur Ashe Statium
Men's Doubles - Final
Jonas Bjorkman / Max Mirny def. Ashley Fisher / Tripp Phillips 6-1, 6-4
Women's Singles - Semifinals
Justine Henen-Hardenne def Jelena Jankovic 4-6, 6-4, 6-0
Maria Sharapova def Amelie Mauresmo 6-0, 4-6, 6-0
September 04, 2006
[Baseball] Minnesota Twins
First game since I was back in New York.
10-1, Yankees, and JOE MAUER, I'm pretty satisfied.
10-1, Yankees, and JOE MAUER, I'm pretty satisfied.
September 02, 2006
US Open (2006)
Day 5
Grandstand
Calos Moya def Paul-Henri Mathieu 7-5(5), 7-6(7), 6-4
Andy Murray def Alessio Di Mauro 6-0, 6-1, 6-1
Elen Dementieva def Vera Zvonareva, 7-5, 6-3
Grandstand
Calos Moya def Paul-Henri Mathieu 7-5(5), 7-6(7), 6-4
Andy Murray def Alessio Di Mauro 6-0, 6-1, 6-1
Elen Dementieva def Vera Zvonareva, 7-5, 6-3
August 29, 2006
Little Miss Sunshine (2006)
Director: Jonathan Dayton, Valerie Faris
Screenwriter: Michel Arndt
Cast: Abigail Breslin (Olive), Greg Kinnear, Paul Dano (Dwayne), Alan Arkin (Grandpa), Toni Collette (Sheryl), Steve Carell (Frank)
Screenwriter: Michel Arndt
Cast: Abigail Breslin (Olive), Greg Kinnear, Paul Dano (Dwayne), Alan Arkin (Grandpa), Toni Collette (Sheryl), Steve Carell (Frank)
Superman Returns (2006)
Director: Bryan Singer
Screenwriters: Michael Dougherty, Dan Harris
Cast: Bradon Routh, Kate Bosworth, Kevin Spacey, James Marsden, Parker Posey, Frank Langella
Screenwriters: Michael Dougherty, Dan Harris
Cast: Bradon Routh, Kate Bosworth, Kevin Spacey, James Marsden, Parker Posey, Frank Langella
August 23, 2006
August 16, 2006
The Downfall: Hitler and the End of the Third Reich (2004)
Der Untergang
Germany
Director: Oliver Hirschbiegel
Germany
Director: Oliver Hirschbiegel
August 13, 2006
August 08, 2006
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005)
US
Director: Tim Burton
Screenplay: John August
Book Author: Roald Dahl
When our hero, Charlie (Freddie Highmore), the good kid, inevitably wins one of the five golden ticket and heads to Willy Wonka's (played by Johnny Depp) chocolate factory, and inevitably wins the ultimate prize, the factory itself, in the end, I can't help thinking: it is just too obvious. No way the whole thing is so simple.
Charlie gets his first piece of Wonka chocolate as an early birthday present, although his family almost runs out of food. No golden ticket. His grandpa gives him some money he hides for a long time, telling him to go to the nearest store and buy the first chocolate Charlie sees. Still no golden ticket. Then Charlie finds a bill half buried in the snow outside the sidewalk, he grabs it and without thinking, he runs into the nearest store for another Wonka chocolate bar. The store owner hands him one, and this time charlie is getting lucky. Yes, luck. Not the money from Charlie's beloved parents and grandparents, but random money from the street and the chocolate from a stranger's hand.
It's clear that the other 4 kids being chosen is a meditation, a scheme somehow organized by Willy Wonka. So the Oompa Loompas will have a song when a spoiled kid is "punished" for his or her behavior. But what about Charlie? The heterogeneity of a single character, usually the leading one, is created for the audience to project our sympathy. But how Charlie gets the grand reward blurs the movie's main theme, the connection between good heart, good deeds and good consequences is weaken. As a movie primarily made for children, I can not help wonder is there any dark intention hidden in this colorful and overall delightful movie.
Director: Tim Burton
Screenplay: John August
Book Author: Roald Dahl
When our hero, Charlie (Freddie Highmore), the good kid, inevitably wins one of the five golden ticket and heads to Willy Wonka's (played by Johnny Depp) chocolate factory, and inevitably wins the ultimate prize, the factory itself, in the end, I can't help thinking: it is just too obvious. No way the whole thing is so simple.
Charlie gets his first piece of Wonka chocolate as an early birthday present, although his family almost runs out of food. No golden ticket. His grandpa gives him some money he hides for a long time, telling him to go to the nearest store and buy the first chocolate Charlie sees. Still no golden ticket. Then Charlie finds a bill half buried in the snow outside the sidewalk, he grabs it and without thinking, he runs into the nearest store for another Wonka chocolate bar. The store owner hands him one, and this time charlie is getting lucky. Yes, luck. Not the money from Charlie's beloved parents and grandparents, but random money from the street and the chocolate from a stranger's hand.
It's clear that the other 4 kids being chosen is a meditation, a scheme somehow organized by Willy Wonka. So the Oompa Loompas will have a song when a spoiled kid is "punished" for his or her behavior. But what about Charlie? The heterogeneity of a single character, usually the leading one, is created for the audience to project our sympathy. But how Charlie gets the grand reward blurs the movie's main theme, the connection between good heart, good deeds and good consequences is weaken. As a movie primarily made for children, I can not help wonder is there any dark intention hidden in this colorful and overall delightful movie.
July 31, 2006
Battlestar Galactica
Miniseries
Director: Michael Rymer
Screenwriter: Christopher Eric James, Ronald D. Moore
Director: Michael Rymer
Screenwriter: Christopher Eric James, Ronald D. Moore
Sophie Scholl: The Final Days (2005)
Germany
Director: Mark Rothemund
Screenwriter: Fred Breinersdorfer
Director: Mark Rothemund
Screenwriter: Fred Breinersdorfer
July 01, 2006
Flightplan (2005)
Director: Robert Schwentke
Screenwriter: Peter A. Dowling, Billy Ray
When the first part of the movie planning and leading us to believe that Kyle Pratt (Jodie Foster) is a lunatic woman imagined she brings her daughter on plane, then the second part turns the possible psychological thriller into a action movie that involve two criminal trying to hijack the plane and blackmail the airplane company. But unfortunately the turn also evaporate the originally tension it holds, not all that tasteless, but surely plainer to the psychological layout Flightplan trying to built in the first place.
Screenwriter: Peter A. Dowling, Billy Ray
When the first part of the movie planning and leading us to believe that Kyle Pratt (Jodie Foster) is a lunatic woman imagined she brings her daughter on plane, then the second part turns the possible psychological thriller into a action movie that involve two criminal trying to hijack the plane and blackmail the airplane company. But unfortunately the turn also evaporate the originally tension it holds, not all that tasteless, but surely plainer to the psychological layout Flightplan trying to built in the first place.
June 30, 2006
X-Men: The Last Stand (2006)
Director: Brett Ratner
When a movie have something to hold on to, something that doesn’t have to be too complicated, something that can be as simple as a single noun like friendship or loyalty, then apply this center ideal to build the story and characters, we are more likely to have decent a movie. Not the case of X-men: the Last Stand here, as we try and try waiting for the story to come together and make some sense, it fell from the first moment to the end. Confusingly the movie ends with Mutants fight against each other, forgetting Human is the source of the fight.
It begins with a vaccine that can “cure” mutants, make them “normal.” Typically we have two groups stand in different ground and fight with other for their own beliefs, but the beliefs here is confusing. Magneto (Ian McKellen) doesn’t trust Human will give Mutants the free will to choose, stubbornly believing that the invention of the vaccine means genocide. He gathers the Mutants and preaches they make the first move, but this move gives Human exactly what they need- an excellent excuse to use the weapon. On the other hand, Professor Charles Xavier’s side not exactly has a sufficient reason to the war, either. They don’t talk about the issues of the vaccine much, the minority issue was long gone in this movie, and it is really hard to say what they are fighting for; the peace they pursue just a mirage of nothing happened. All the threads the movie picks up end loosely and unsatisfyingly. The love triangle, the untold love, the father-son issue, the team work, the movie temporize its audience and gives easy answers to those questions.
No beautiful faces or novel superpower tricks can save the movie this time.
When a movie have something to hold on to, something that doesn’t have to be too complicated, something that can be as simple as a single noun like friendship or loyalty, then apply this center ideal to build the story and characters, we are more likely to have decent a movie. Not the case of X-men: the Last Stand here, as we try and try waiting for the story to come together and make some sense, it fell from the first moment to the end. Confusingly the movie ends with Mutants fight against each other, forgetting Human is the source of the fight.
It begins with a vaccine that can “cure” mutants, make them “normal.” Typically we have two groups stand in different ground and fight with other for their own beliefs, but the beliefs here is confusing. Magneto (Ian McKellen) doesn’t trust Human will give Mutants the free will to choose, stubbornly believing that the invention of the vaccine means genocide. He gathers the Mutants and preaches they make the first move, but this move gives Human exactly what they need- an excellent excuse to use the weapon. On the other hand, Professor Charles Xavier’s side not exactly has a sufficient reason to the war, either. They don’t talk about the issues of the vaccine much, the minority issue was long gone in this movie, and it is really hard to say what they are fighting for; the peace they pursue just a mirage of nothing happened. All the threads the movie picks up end loosely and unsatisfyingly. The love triangle, the untold love, the father-son issue, the team work, the movie temporize its audience and gives easy answers to those questions.
No beautiful faces or novel superpower tricks can save the movie this time.
June 24, 2006
June 15, 2006
[Gig] Arctic Monkeys
Roseland Ballroom
No matter how charming the Monkeys are, I'm too old to squeeze between bunch of pot-smoking teenage kids. No way I'm doing this again. 18 and older shows only! Or at least sits on mezzanine.
No matter how charming the Monkeys are, I'm too old to squeeze between bunch of pot-smoking teenage kids. No way I'm doing this again. 18 and older shows only! Or at least sits on mezzanine.
June 14, 2006
June 13, 2006
June 11, 2006
[Broadway] Shining City
Manhattan Theatre Club at The Biltmore Theatre
Written by Conor McPherson
Directed by Robert Falls
Cast: Oliver Platt, Brian F. O'Byrne, Martha Plimpton, Peter Scanavino
Written by Conor McPherson
Directed by Robert Falls
Cast: Oliver Platt, Brian F. O'Byrne, Martha Plimpton, Peter Scanavino
June 10, 2006
[Broadway] Chicago
Ambassador Theatre
Music by John Kander
Lyrics by Fred Ebb
Book by Fred Ebb & Bob Fosse
Directed by Walter Bobbie
Choreographed by Ann Reinking, in the style of Bob Fosse
Music by John Kander
Lyrics by Fred Ebb
Book by Fred Ebb & Bob Fosse
Directed by Walter Bobbie
Choreographed by Ann Reinking, in the style of Bob Fosse
June 09, 2006
[Broadway] The Wedding Singer
Al Hirschfeld Theatre
Book by Tim Herlihy and Chad Beguelin
Music by Matthew Sklar
Lyrics by Chad Beguelin
Directed by John Rando
Choreographed by Rob Ashford
Book by Tim Herlihy and Chad Beguelin
Music by Matthew Sklar
Lyrics by Chad Beguelin
Directed by John Rando
Choreographed by Rob Ashford
June 06, 2006
[Baseball] Boston Red Sox
Best. Live. Game. Ever!!!
Although Mussina ended his quaitly start streak and gave up 5 runs in 7 innings, but the baby boomers (how much I love this term)knocked out Red Sox's ace Becket in 2 innings, drove in totally 13 runs.
When the Enter Sandmam music rang in Yankee Stadium this evening, this night officially could be called "perfect."
Although Mussina ended his quaitly start streak and gave up 5 runs in 7 innings, but the baby boomers (how much I love this term)knocked out Red Sox's ace Becket in 2 innings, drove in totally 13 runs.
When the Enter Sandmam music rang in Yankee Stadium this evening, this night officially could be called "perfect."
June 03, 2006
You'll Get Over It (2003)
Tu Verras, Ca Te Passeras
France
Director: Fabrice Cazeneuve
Cast: Julien Baumgartner, Julia Maraval
The two stereotype of straight women in gay movies are one, gay protagonist’s best friend and two, the idiot who falls in love with our hero. When this movie tells a story about an extremely cute gay college boy with lots of hot gay guys interested in him can’t face his own sexuality, OK, just give me a break right now, what's wrong with you? Your life is miserable? You got to be kidding me. When I think it could not get any worse, here comes the idiot girl who gives her virginity to our hero and doesn’t know her boyfriend is gay. At first she (pathetically) does everything trying to bring back his heart, and then she turns herself into a slut who sleeps with all her best friends. This coming-of-age gay movie does not take us anywhere. It reminds me the feminist course I took years ago: discrimination against women is not just from macho straight men, gay men do it too.
France
Director: Fabrice Cazeneuve
Cast: Julien Baumgartner, Julia Maraval
The two stereotype of straight women in gay movies are one, gay protagonist’s best friend and two, the idiot who falls in love with our hero. When this movie tells a story about an extremely cute gay college boy with lots of hot gay guys interested in him can’t face his own sexuality, OK, just give me a break right now, what's wrong with you? Your life is miserable? You got to be kidding me. When I think it could not get any worse, here comes the idiot girl who gives her virginity to our hero and doesn’t know her boyfriend is gay. At first she (pathetically) does everything trying to bring back his heart, and then she turns herself into a slut who sleeps with all her best friends. This coming-of-age gay movie does not take us anywhere. It reminds me the feminist course I took years ago: discrimination against women is not just from macho straight men, gay men do it too.
Just a Question of Love (2000)
Juste une question d'amour
France
Director: Christian Fauré
Cast: Cyrille Thouvenin, Stéphan Guérin-Tillié
Much better coming-out story than You'll Get Over It, sufficiently present the struggle everyone experiences. Issues between gay lovers, and gay son and parents all been discussed with certain depth, enjoyable gay-theme film with romance and purpose.
France
Director: Christian Fauré
Cast: Cyrille Thouvenin, Stéphan Guérin-Tillié
Much better coming-out story than You'll Get Over It, sufficiently present the struggle everyone experiences. Issues between gay lovers, and gay son and parents all been discussed with certain depth, enjoyable gay-theme film with romance and purpose.
May 27, 2006
May 25, 2006
May 21, 2006
Cape Fear (1991)
USA
Director: Marin Scorsese
Cast: Robert De Niro, Nick Nolte, Jessica Lange, Juliette Lewis
Bourgeois family trapped by their wealth.
Director: Marin Scorsese
Cast: Robert De Niro, Nick Nolte, Jessica Lange, Juliette Lewis
Bourgeois family trapped by their wealth.
May 17, 2006
Crash (1996)
Canada
Director / Producer / Screenwriter: David Cronenberg
Book Author: J.G. Ballard
Cast: James Spader, Holly Hunter, Elias Koteas, Deborah Kara Unger, Rosanna Arquette, Peter Macneill
Director / Producer / Screenwriter: David Cronenberg
Book Author: J.G. Ballard
Cast: James Spader, Holly Hunter, Elias Koteas, Deborah Kara Unger, Rosanna Arquette, Peter Macneill
你那邊幾點 (2001)
What Time is it There?
France / Taiwan
Director / Screenwriter: Tsai Ming-Liang
Cast: Lee Kang-Sheng, Chen Shiang-Chyi, Miao Tien, Cecilia Yip, Jean-Pierre Leaud
Amazingly weave two stories of two lonely souls together. Surreal but at the same time, the loneliness is gruesomely authentic.
France / Taiwan
Director / Screenwriter: Tsai Ming-Liang
Cast: Lee Kang-Sheng, Chen Shiang-Chyi, Miao Tien, Cecilia Yip, Jean-Pierre Leaud
Amazingly weave two stories of two lonely souls together. Surreal but at the same time, the loneliness is gruesomely authentic.
May 15, 2006
May 14, 2006
[Gig] Depeche Mode
Jones Beach Theater, Long Island
Setlist:
A Pain That I'm Used To
A Question Of Time
Suffer Well
Precious
Walking In My Shoes
Stripped
Home
Judas
In Your Room
Nothing's Impossible
I Feel You
Behind The Wheel
World In My Eyes
Personal Jesus
Enjoy The Silence
Shake The Disease
Photographic
Never Let Me Down Again
Setlist:
A Pain That I'm Used To
A Question Of Time
Suffer Well
Precious
Walking In My Shoes
Stripped
Home
Judas
In Your Room
Nothing's Impossible
I Feel You
Behind The Wheel
World In My Eyes
Personal Jesus
Enjoy The Silence
Shake The Disease
Photographic
Never Let Me Down Again
May 13, 2006
[Gig] Mogwai
Websterhall
w/ Torche
I was drunk without a single drop of alcohol, and my ears are still humming
Setlist:
Summer
Friend
Travel
Flies
Helicon 2
Acid Food
I Know You Are
Ithica
Ratts
Glasgow M/S
Helicon 1
2 Rights
Hunted
We're No Here
w/ Torche
I was drunk without a single drop of alcohol, and my ears are still humming
Setlist:
Summer
Friend
Travel
Flies
Helicon 2
Acid Food
I Know You Are
Ithica
Ratts
Glasgow M/S
Helicon 1
2 Rights
Hunted
We're No Here
May 10, 2006
[Baseball] Boston Red Sox
3-14, Boston
My most anticipated game since Opening turned out to be a disaster. Like one headline on paper, sox punished the sloppy Yanks.
Note: This the first time 'EVER' I left the ballpark early (in the end of 5th inning, 3-10), sadly my decision was right and I didn't witness the greatest come back of the year. Sadly, another right decison that made my day was not about the Yanks; it was watching BoSox's bating practice. Shilling, Foulke, Papelbon, Timlin, Wakefield walked right in front of me, and Shilling spent lots of time talking to Yankees fan (I wondering what was those conversation about...)
And the best scene of the day - Josh Beckett.
My most anticipated game since Opening turned out to be a disaster. Like one headline on paper, sox punished the sloppy Yanks.
Note: This the first time 'EVER' I left the ballpark early (in the end of 5th inning, 3-10), sadly my decision was right and I didn't witness the greatest come back of the year. Sadly, another right decison that made my day was not about the Yanks; it was watching BoSox's bating practice. Shilling, Foulke, Papelbon, Timlin, Wakefield walked right in front of me, and Shilling spent lots of time talking to Yankees fan (I wondering what was those conversation about...)
And the best scene of the day - Josh Beckett.
May 09, 2006
The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972)
France / Italy / Spain
Director / Screenwriter: Luis Buñuel
I admit the first sentence came out of my mind after watching the movie was "This is fucking good." I need to use F word to express my strong appreciation. This group people of upper-middle class is always making dinner appointments but never able to actually eat anything except drinking wine. Dreams within dreams until reality and imagination finally blurred. The last scene, these people walking on the road in the field is one of the most beautiful scene I have ever seen, Buñuel left us there pondering the 100 minutes bizarre and beautiful images that criticize about the absurdity in life forever.
Director / Screenwriter: Luis Buñuel
I admit the first sentence came out of my mind after watching the movie was "This is fucking good." I need to use F word to express my strong appreciation. This group people of upper-middle class is always making dinner appointments but never able to actually eat anything except drinking wine. Dreams within dreams until reality and imagination finally blurred. The last scene, these people walking on the road in the field is one of the most beautiful scene I have ever seen, Buñuel left us there pondering the 100 minutes bizarre and beautiful images that criticize about the absurdity in life forever.
May 04, 2006
南國再見，南國 (1996)
Goodbye, South, Goodbye
Taiwan / Japan
Hou Hsiao-Hsien - Director
King Jieh-wen - Screenwriter
Chu Tien-wen - Screenwriter
Jack Kao - Screenwriter
Mark Lee Ping-bing - Cinematographer
Kao is a middle age gangster with trimmed short haircut and grave mien who you do not know exactly what he does for a living. He has a father who came from Mainland China to Taiwan with the Nationalist government in 1949, he speaks mandarin to his father and use both mandarin and Taiwanese with friends. He has a vision, talking about opening a restaurant in Shanghai all the time, both fulfilling his father’s wish and his own vision of making something big. He tries very hard to describe his vision as promising as possible to his girlfriend. But in the end, his investments will fail, his girlfriend will leave him and join her sister in America, and he is going to end up in a car crushing into rice field in a backwater town of southern Taiwan.
This is the story of Goodbye, South, Goodbye (1996), a film by Taiwanese director Hou Hsiao Hsien. Look at the image of the protagonist, Kao (a recurring actor in Hou’s films, played by Jack Kao), the resemblance look of Kao and Hou himself is not easy to omit. Besides, this fictional character has a gangster background and a father who used to live in China hint the link back to Hou himself. Using biography style to state the story is one of Hou’s trademarks. Boys from Fenggui (1983) is a loose adaptation of his own wild and lost teenage time, A Time to Live, A Time to Die (1985) is the autobiography of his life before twenty years old. Hou also borrows stories from others. Summer at Grandpa’s (1984) is based on the memories of his long time screenwriting collaborator Chu Tianwen. Dust in the Wind (1986) is base on the life of the screenwriter Wu Nianzhen. Not to mention The Puppetmaster (1993), a half documentary of the puppet artist Li Tien-lu.
But personal life and story is not Hou’s sole concern; his characters are in the swirl of history, tumbling with Taiwan’s social and political turmoil. For Hou, Taiwan is a place that always hurtles into the next era, with constant and ongoing power struggle, every new regime tries to construct their version of history and leaves the past behind.(1) In his films which recite tales of the past, Hou stops and looks back, pondering and reflecting a slice of time that is easily forsaken in the fast pace modern society. Hou’s protagonists are nobody, and yet they are everybody live in the very island as him.
Modernization in Taiwan has resulted in a paradox, on the one hand, it's a mess - chaotic, extremely greedy for instant gains, with no sense of justice, or respect for law and order. But, at the same time, it's a vibrant country brimming with energy and life. There is a thin line between loving and hating it. - Hou Hsiao Hsien (2)
In Goodbye, Hou turns his gaze back to the contemporary. He does not stress on the troubled history of Taiwan, but on the life of the people who live in it this moment. Hou is famous for his long takes, still camera shots as if he tell every story (including his own) as a bystander. The way he depicts personal memories is “through a de-personalisation of the narration, putting his intimate feelings at a distance and choosing a detached perspective…the real protagonists are his family and his country.”(3) Although not as direct as his early works, the references to his personal experience make this film join his long time traditional of biographical filmmaking style.
In the beginning, Kao and his protégé, Flathead (Lim Giong), and Flathead’s girlfriend Pretzel (Shizuka Inoh) take a train to a little town to work in a gambling house. He is being asked why he has the leisure to take a train rather than drive (since the town is not far from Taipei), he replies that he has not done so for a long time, and it brings back lots of memories. Nostalgia flows through the entire film. Train and trail is the link between city and countryside, between adulthood and childhood form many Taiwanese.
In Goodbye, Hou uses a lot of scenes shot from or on moving vehicles like train, scooters and cars. But these shots can be divided into two kinds. One is with positive spirit, like placing the camera in front of the train as if we are listening and watching it winds through the refreshing lush valley. Another example is the three main characters on scooters and merrily rides up along the hill. The rural scenery portrayed here is full of memory and harmony.
But other shots bear darker meanings. We see characters sit in vehicle; the frame mostly jams with characters’ face and body. We only know they are moving, but can not see where they are going. The aimless feeling generates from these scenes echoes with the never ending talks on cell phones about business. Hou makes it clear in the opening scene when Kao tries to talk through the phone on train and is interrupted by poor reception. Modernization pushes people forward and urges people to catch up with the trend, but the promise is empty and the effort is futile, people have no control over their life and lost their way while pursuing the elusive and deceiving future.
Koa is the only character receives clear description in the film. He embodies the disoriented people live in the fast pace modern society in Taiwan. He carries the question and memory, both sweet and sorrow.
Until the second half of the film the party of three go to the South as the title stated to complete the swine scandal. The last thirty minutes of the film is in the dark. The tranquilize south countryside usually represents peace and childhood memory; but here it is the battleground for gangsters and politicians fight to drain something out of it, with these two parties sit around the same table wheeling and dealing with pretentious good manners. The last scene, after Flathead is released, the three are in a car fleeting back to Taipei. In the dawn on the crooked road, the car rushes into the rice field. The car is stuck inside the mud that grows rice, the food that all the residents on this land depend on; so as our protagonists and their future. Hou uses static and long shot capture the breathtaking rural scenes, yet what happens inside the frame is gloomy and tragic. The ambivalent emotion of both love and hate flows though Hou’s portray of modern Taiwan.
After the Taiwan trilogy, Hou Hsiao Hsien tries something different in Goddbye South, Goodbye. He uses more music, including the dark, electronic soundtrack composed by the actor, singer and songwriter Lim Giong (4)who plays the punk kid Flathead. He also uses more camera movement, and less historical reference. Although this is a story with people hit the dead end, Hou still tells it in a humanistic and compassionate way, filming the story, the people, the place he breathe and live.
Notes:
(1) “The Secret History.” 35th International film Festival Rotterdam Publication No.8 2 February 2006
(2) Hou Hsiao Hsien on Goodbye, South, Goodbye, Cannes Film Festival Catalogue
(3) Neri, Corrado. “A Time to Live, A Time to Die: A Time to Grow.” Chinese Films in Focus. Chris Berry eds. London: BFI, 2003. p161.
(4) Lim Giong started his career as a pop singer in Taiwan. Recent years he turns underground and adds more electronic element in his musical work. The theme song (titled Self Destruction) in the beginning and end of Goodbye South, Goodbye is composed by him with lyrics written in Taiwanese. He also composes for another Hou’s film, Millennium Mambo (2001) as well as Jia Zhang Ke’s The World (2004), Still Life (2006) and Dong (2006).
Taiwan / Japan
Hou Hsiao-Hsien - Director
King Jieh-wen - Screenwriter
Chu Tien-wen - Screenwriter
Jack Kao - Screenwriter
Mark Lee Ping-bing - Cinematographer
Kao is a middle age gangster with trimmed short haircut and grave mien who you do not know exactly what he does for a living. He has a father who came from Mainland China to Taiwan with the Nationalist government in 1949, he speaks mandarin to his father and use both mandarin and Taiwanese with friends. He has a vision, talking about opening a restaurant in Shanghai all the time, both fulfilling his father’s wish and his own vision of making something big. He tries very hard to describe his vision as promising as possible to his girlfriend. But in the end, his investments will fail, his girlfriend will leave him and join her sister in America, and he is going to end up in a car crushing into rice field in a backwater town of southern Taiwan.
This is the story of Goodbye, South, Goodbye (1996), a film by Taiwanese director Hou Hsiao Hsien. Look at the image of the protagonist, Kao (a recurring actor in Hou’s films, played by Jack Kao), the resemblance look of Kao and Hou himself is not easy to omit. Besides, this fictional character has a gangster background and a father who used to live in China hint the link back to Hou himself. Using biography style to state the story is one of Hou’s trademarks. Boys from Fenggui (1983) is a loose adaptation of his own wild and lost teenage time, A Time to Live, A Time to Die (1985) is the autobiography of his life before twenty years old. Hou also borrows stories from others. Summer at Grandpa’s (1984) is based on the memories of his long time screenwriting collaborator Chu Tianwen. Dust in the Wind (1986) is base on the life of the screenwriter Wu Nianzhen. Not to mention The Puppetmaster (1993), a half documentary of the puppet artist Li Tien-lu.
But personal life and story is not Hou’s sole concern; his characters are in the swirl of history, tumbling with Taiwan’s social and political turmoil. For Hou, Taiwan is a place that always hurtles into the next era, with constant and ongoing power struggle, every new regime tries to construct their version of history and leaves the past behind.(1) In his films which recite tales of the past, Hou stops and looks back, pondering and reflecting a slice of time that is easily forsaken in the fast pace modern society. Hou’s protagonists are nobody, and yet they are everybody live in the very island as him.
Modernization in Taiwan has resulted in a paradox, on the one hand, it's a mess - chaotic, extremely greedy for instant gains, with no sense of justice, or respect for law and order. But, at the same time, it's a vibrant country brimming with energy and life. There is a thin line between loving and hating it. - Hou Hsiao Hsien (2)
In Goodbye, Hou turns his gaze back to the contemporary. He does not stress on the troubled history of Taiwan, but on the life of the people who live in it this moment. Hou is famous for his long takes, still camera shots as if he tell every story (including his own) as a bystander. The way he depicts personal memories is “through a de-personalisation of the narration, putting his intimate feelings at a distance and choosing a detached perspective…the real protagonists are his family and his country.”(3) Although not as direct as his early works, the references to his personal experience make this film join his long time traditional of biographical filmmaking style.
In the beginning, Kao and his protégé, Flathead (Lim Giong), and Flathead’s girlfriend Pretzel (Shizuka Inoh) take a train to a little town to work in a gambling house. He is being asked why he has the leisure to take a train rather than drive (since the town is not far from Taipei), he replies that he has not done so for a long time, and it brings back lots of memories. Nostalgia flows through the entire film. Train and trail is the link between city and countryside, between adulthood and childhood form many Taiwanese.
In Goodbye, Hou uses a lot of scenes shot from or on moving vehicles like train, scooters and cars. But these shots can be divided into two kinds. One is with positive spirit, like placing the camera in front of the train as if we are listening and watching it winds through the refreshing lush valley. Another example is the three main characters on scooters and merrily rides up along the hill. The rural scenery portrayed here is full of memory and harmony.
But other shots bear darker meanings. We see characters sit in vehicle; the frame mostly jams with characters’ face and body. We only know they are moving, but can not see where they are going. The aimless feeling generates from these scenes echoes with the never ending talks on cell phones about business. Hou makes it clear in the opening scene when Kao tries to talk through the phone on train and is interrupted by poor reception. Modernization pushes people forward and urges people to catch up with the trend, but the promise is empty and the effort is futile, people have no control over their life and lost their way while pursuing the elusive and deceiving future.
Koa is the only character receives clear description in the film. He embodies the disoriented people live in the fast pace modern society in Taiwan. He carries the question and memory, both sweet and sorrow.
Until the second half of the film the party of three go to the South as the title stated to complete the swine scandal. The last thirty minutes of the film is in the dark. The tranquilize south countryside usually represents peace and childhood memory; but here it is the battleground for gangsters and politicians fight to drain something out of it, with these two parties sit around the same table wheeling and dealing with pretentious good manners. The last scene, after Flathead is released, the three are in a car fleeting back to Taipei. In the dawn on the crooked road, the car rushes into the rice field. The car is stuck inside the mud that grows rice, the food that all the residents on this land depend on; so as our protagonists and their future. Hou uses static and long shot capture the breathtaking rural scenes, yet what happens inside the frame is gloomy and tragic. The ambivalent emotion of both love and hate flows though Hou’s portray of modern Taiwan.
After the Taiwan trilogy, Hou Hsiao Hsien tries something different in Goddbye South, Goodbye. He uses more music, including the dark, electronic soundtrack composed by the actor, singer and songwriter Lim Giong (4)who plays the punk kid Flathead. He also uses more camera movement, and less historical reference. Although this is a story with people hit the dead end, Hou still tells it in a humanistic and compassionate way, filming the story, the people, the place he breathe and live.
Notes:
(1) “The Secret History.” 35th International film Festival Rotterdam Publication No.8 2 February 2006
(2) Hou Hsiao Hsien on Goodbye, South, Goodbye, Cannes Film Festival Catalogue
(3) Neri, Corrado. “A Time to Live, A Time to Die: A Time to Grow.” Chinese Films in Focus. Chris Berry eds. London: BFI, 2003. p161.
(4) Lim Giong started his career as a pop singer in Taiwan. Recent years he turns underground and adds more electronic element in his musical work. The theme song (titled Self Destruction) in the beginning and end of Goodbye South, Goodbye is composed by him with lyrics written in Taiwanese. He also composes for another Hou’s film, Millennium Mambo (2001) as well as Jia Zhang Ke’s The World (2004), Still Life (2006) and Dong (2006).
May 03, 2006
Mysterious Skin (2004)
US
Director / Editor / Screenwriter / Producer: Gregg Araki
Book Author: Scott Heim
Cast: Brady Corbet (Brian Lackey), Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Neil Mccormick)
Director / Editor / Screenwriter / Producer: Gregg Araki
Book Author: Scott Heim
Cast: Brady Corbet (Brian Lackey), Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Neil Mccormick)
May 01, 2006
Goodfellas (1990)
Director / Screenwriter: Martin Scorsese
Book Author / Screenwriter: Nicholas Pileggi
Book Author / Screenwriter: Nicholas Pileggi
April 30, 2006
[Misc] Champions on Ices
Continental Airline Arena
Cast:
Michelle Kwan
Irina Slutskaya
Sasha Cohen
Kimmie Meisner
Evgeni Plushenko
Jonny Weir
Stephane Lambiel
Evan Lysacek
Surya Bonaly
Victor Petrenko
Rudy Galindo
Dan Hollander
Irina Grigorian
Vladimir Besedin, Oleksiy Polishchuk
Tatiana Totmianina, Maxim Marinin
Tanith Belbin, Ben Agosto
Marina Anissina, Gwendal Peizerat
Cast:
Michelle Kwan
Irina Slutskaya
Sasha Cohen
Kimmie Meisner
Evgeni Plushenko
Jonny Weir
Stephane Lambiel
Evan Lysacek
Surya Bonaly
Victor Petrenko
Rudy Galindo
Dan Hollander
Irina Grigorian
Vladimir Besedin, Oleksiy Polishchuk
Tatiana Totmianina, Maxim Marinin
Tanith Belbin, Ben Agosto
Marina Anissina, Gwendal Peizerat
[Baseball] Toronto Blue Jays
2nd time in the history that Yanks score each and every inning
.......................1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9.....R .H. E
Toronto............. 2 0 3 0 1 0 0 0 0 ....6 ..6 ..2
NY Yankees......... 4 1 2 2 3 1 3 1 X ....17 .15..1
.......................1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9.....R .H. E
Toronto............. 2 0 3 0 1 0 0 0 0 ....6 ..6 ..2
NY Yankees......... 4 1 2 2 3 1 3 1 X ....17 .15..1
April 29, 2006
April 22, 2006
April 21, 2006
April 19, 2006
Inside Man (2006)
Director: Spike Lee
Producer: Brian Grazer
Screenwriter: Russell Gewirtz
Players: Denzel Washington, Clive Owen, Judie Foster, Christopher Plummer, Willem Dafoe
Producer: Brian Grazer
Screenwriter: Russell Gewirtz
Players: Denzel Washington, Clive Owen, Judie Foster, Christopher Plummer, Willem Dafoe
April 17, 2006
千禧曼波 (2001)
Millennium Mambo
Taiwan / France
Director: Hou Hsiao-Hsien
Screenwriter: 朱天文
Cinematographer: 李屏賓
Cast: 舒淇，段鈞豪
Taiwan / France
Director: Hou Hsiao-Hsien
Screenwriter: 朱天文
Cinematographer: 李屏賓
Cast: 舒淇，段鈞豪
April 12, 2006
April 11, 2006
[Broadway] Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
April 7 (Happy Birthday!!!), Imperial Theatre
Cast: Jonathan Pryce, Norbert Leo Butz
The Pryce and Butz duo is the only thing worth to watch. But in some way, this is enough to give me a good night.
Cast: Jonathan Pryce, Norbert Leo Butz
The Pryce and Butz duo is the only thing worth to watch. But in some way, this is enough to give me a good night.
April 02, 2006
[Broadway] Wicked
March 31, 2006
Gershwin Theater
童話故事的糖衣下包裝著令人不寒而慄的情節。除了羊教授和飛天猴子之外，每個人都是「Wicked」。出乎意料的複雜與深度，現場的小孩們可能完全不知道裝進他們腦袋的竟是一幕幕關於低劣人性的無盡悲劇。
Gershwin Theater
童話故事的糖衣下包裝著令人不寒而慄的情節。除了羊教授和飛天猴子之外，每個人都是「Wicked」。出乎意料的複雜與深度，現場的小孩們可能完全不知道裝進他們腦袋的竟是一幕幕關於低劣人性的無盡悲劇。
V for Vendetta (2006)
US, Warner Bros. and others
Director: Fames Mcteigue (first work)
Screenwriter: Andy and Larry (Lana?)Wachowski
Cast: Natalie Portman (Evey), Hugo Weaving (William Rookwood, V), Stephen Rea (Finch), John Hurt (Adam Sutler), Rupert Graves (Dominic)
清楚的呈現 V is everyone. V 是 Evey, 是每個帶著 V 面具走上街頭大大小小男男女女。但是在倫敦街頭行進的整群 V, 跟持槍的警察們是否又有不同？如同戴著面具搶劫的男子，面具帶來的匿名性是否也意味著這群看似覺醒的群眾，也有可能化成不用負行為責任的暴民？
漫畫中傳統的善惡二元對立仍是基本的論調。一方面可以說 V 是群眾的代言人，但也可以說在整個敘事底下，群眾只是沒有聲音傀儡罷了。
Director: Fames Mcteigue (first work)
Screenwriter: Andy and Larry (Lana?)Wachowski
Cast: Natalie Portman (Evey), Hugo Weaving (William Rookwood, V), Stephen Rea (Finch), John Hurt (Adam Sutler), Rupert Graves (Dominic)
清楚的呈現 V is everyone. V 是 Evey, 是每個帶著 V 面具走上街頭大大小小男男女女。但是在倫敦街頭行進的整群 V, 跟持槍的警察們是否又有不同？如同戴著面具搶劫的男子，面具帶來的匿名性是否也意味著這群看似覺醒的群眾，也有可能化成不用負行為責任的暴民？
漫畫中傳統的善惡二元對立仍是基本的論調。一方面可以說 V 是群眾的代言人，但也可以說在整個敘事底下，群眾只是沒有聲音傀儡罷了。
March 29, 2006
A History of Violence (2005)
Canada / UK
Director: David Cronenberg
Book Author: Vince Locke, John Wagner
Screenwriter: josh Olson
Cast: Viggo Mortensen (Tom Stall), Maria Bello (Edie Stall), Ashton Holmes (Jack Stall), Willian Hurt (Richie Cusack), Ed Harris (Carl Fogarty)
Director: David Cronenberg
Book Author: Vince Locke, John Wagner
Screenwriter: josh Olson
Cast: Viggo Mortensen (Tom Stall), Maria Bello (Edie Stall), Ashton Holmes (Jack Stall), Willian Hurt (Richie Cusack), Ed Harris (Carl Fogarty)
A Room With a View (1986)
UK
Director: James Ivory
Book Author: E.M. Foster
Screenwriter: Ruth Prawer Jhabvala
Cast: Helena BonhamCarter (Lucy Honeychurch),Maggie Smith (Charlotte Bartlet), Julian Sands (George Emerson), Denholm Elliot (Mr. Emerson), Daniel Day-Lewis (Cecl Vyse), Simon Callow (Mr. Beebe), Rupert Graves (Freddy Honeychurch)
Director: James Ivory
Book Author: E.M. Foster
Screenwriter: Ruth Prawer Jhabvala
Cast: Helena BonhamCarter (Lucy Honeychurch),Maggie Smith (Charlotte Bartlet), Julian Sands (George Emerson), Denholm Elliot (Mr. Emerson), Daniel Day-Lewis (Cecl Vyse), Simon Callow (Mr. Beebe), Rupert Graves (Freddy Honeychurch)
March 20, 2006
Vera Drake (2004)
UK
Director / Screenwriter: Mike Leigh
Cast: Imelda Staunton (Vera), Philip Davis (Stan), Peter Wight (Detective Inspector), Adrian Scarborough (Frank), Daniel Mays (Sid), Alex Kelly (Ethel)
In the last two scenes, Vera talks to two women who was in jail second time for performing abortion; and the last scene is the Drakes sitting quietly around the dinner table, and cinematagraphically speaking, they all helplessly restrained in the door frame. This two scene help to put a personal tale to a representative case.
Director / Screenwriter: Mike Leigh
Cast: Imelda Staunton (Vera), Philip Davis (Stan), Peter Wight (Detective Inspector), Adrian Scarborough (Frank), Daniel Mays (Sid), Alex Kelly (Ethel)
In the last two scenes, Vera talks to two women who was in jail second time for performing abortion; and the last scene is the Drakes sitting quietly around the dinner table, and cinematagraphically speaking, they all helplessly restrained in the door frame. This two scene help to put a personal tale to a representative case.
[Gig] Stereolab
March 18, 2006
Town Hall,
Opened up by Sam Prekop and Archer Prewitt
Amazing experience. With a 7 people band, with up to four keyboards, up to three guitars, drum, trumpet, and other instruments I don't know the name of,it is quite a concert.
Setlist:
Come and Play in the Milky Night
Eye of the Volcano
Vonal Declosion
Visionary Road Maps
Need to Be
Interlock
Pack Yr Romantic Mind
Excursions Into "oh, a-oh"
I Feel the Air (of Another Planet)
Mountain
Miss Modular
Whisper Pitch
"...sudden stars"
Widow Wierdo
Vodiak
Cybele's Reverie
-------
U.H.F. - MFP
The Noise of Carpet
Town Hall,
Opened up by Sam Prekop and Archer Prewitt
Amazing experience. With a 7 people band, with up to four keyboards, up to three guitars, drum, trumpet, and other instruments I don't know the name of,it is quite a concert.
Setlist:
Come and Play in the Milky Night
Eye of the Volcano
Vonal Declosion
Visionary Road Maps
Need to Be
Interlock
Pack Yr Romantic Mind
Excursions Into "oh, a-oh"
I Feel the Air (of Another Planet)
Mountain
Miss Modular
Whisper Pitch
"...sudden stars"
Widow Wierdo
Vodiak
Cybele's Reverie
-------
U.H.F. - MFP
The Noise of Carpet
[Broadway] The Light in the Piazza
March 17, 2006
Lincoln Center, Vivian Beaumont Theater
Tragedy disguises under the warm lighting and costumes in this beautiful musical. At the end the wedding takes place behind the fences of the church. Like all the relationships states in The Light in the Piazza, they all ends up behind the bar, in the prison; there is no future, only dead ends.
It is amazingly suitable for this musical to play in Vivian Beaumont Theater. The 270 degree stage, with a tragedy take place in Italy. I think it is more than a coincident.
Lincoln Center, Vivian Beaumont Theater
Tragedy disguises under the warm lighting and costumes in this beautiful musical. At the end the wedding takes place behind the fences of the church. Like all the relationships states in The Light in the Piazza, they all ends up behind the bar, in the prison; there is no future, only dead ends.
It is amazingly suitable for this musical to play in Vivian Beaumont Theater. The 270 degree stage, with a tragedy take place in Italy. I think it is more than a coincident.
Solaris (1972)
USSR, AKA Solyaris
Director / Screen writer: Andrei Tarkovsky
Screen Writer: Fridrikh Gorenshtein
Book Author: Stanislaw Lew
Cast: Nayalya Bondarchuk (Khari), Jüri Järvet (Snauth), Donatas Banionis (Kris Kelvin), Anatoli Solonitsin (Sartorius), Vladislav Dvorzhetsky (Burton)
Director / Screen writer: Andrei Tarkovsky
Screen Writer: Fridrikh Gorenshtein
Book Author: Stanislaw Lew
Cast: Nayalya Bondarchuk (Khari), Jüri Järvet (Snauth), Donatas Banionis (Kris Kelvin), Anatoli Solonitsin (Sartorius), Vladislav Dvorzhetsky (Burton)
March 18, 2006
Mamma Roma (1962)
Italy
Director / Screenwriter: Pier Paolo Pasolini
Cast: Anna Magnani (Mamma Roma), Ettore Garofalo (Ettore), Franco Citti (Carmine), Silvana Corsini (Bruna), Luisa Loiano (Biancofiore)
Director / Screenwriter: Pier Paolo Pasolini
Cast: Anna Magnani (Mamma Roma), Ettore Garofalo (Ettore), Franco Citti (Carmine), Silvana Corsini (Bruna), Luisa Loiano (Biancofiore)
March 17, 2006
All About My Mother (1999)
Todo Sobre Mi Madre (Original title)
Spain / France
Director / Screenwriter: Pedro Almodóvar
Cast: Cecilia Roth (Manuela), Marisa Paredes (Huma Rojo), Penélope Cruz (Sister Rosa), Antonia San Juan (La Agrado), Eloy Azorin (Esteban), Candela Peña (Nina)
Spain / France
Director / Screenwriter: Pedro Almodóvar
Cast: Cecilia Roth (Manuela), Marisa Paredes (Huma Rojo), Penélope Cruz (Sister Rosa), Antonia San Juan (La Agrado), Eloy Azorin (Esteban), Candela Peña (Nina)
March 16, 2006
Leave Her to Heaven (1946)
US, 20th Century Fox
Director: John M. Stahl
Producer: William A. Bacher
Cast: Gene Tierney (Ellen Berent), Cornel Wilde (Richard Harland), Jeanne Crain (Ruth Berent), Vincent Price (Russell Quinton)
Director: John M. Stahl
Producer: William A. Bacher
Cast: Gene Tierney (Ellen Berent), Cornel Wilde (Richard Harland), Jeanne Crain (Ruth Berent), Vincent Price (Russell Quinton)
March 15, 2006
Blue Velvet (1986)
US
Director / Screenwriter / Songwriter: David Lynch
Cast: Kyle MacLachlan (Jeffrey Beaumont), Isabella Rossellini (Dorothy Vallens), Dennis Hopper (Frank Booth), Laura Dern (Sandy Williams)
Director / Screenwriter / Songwriter: David Lynch
Cast: Kyle MacLachlan (Jeffrey Beaumont), Isabella Rossellini (Dorothy Vallens), Dennis Hopper (Frank Booth), Laura Dern (Sandy Williams)
March 12, 2006
Unknow White Male (2005)
UK, Documentary
Director / Producer / Editor: Rupert Murray
Douglas Bruce's story. I don't know what bugs me, but I got this strange feeling that I don't buy this story. Maybe I am just envy someone can start a new life, literally, this way. Yes, I do envy him, especially he can look at the world as a new born baby; everything is fresh, is beautiful. No burden to carry, no past to worry. This is the right way to "feel" life, no matter we have the amnesia or not.
What make us distinctive? Are we made of our memory? Is there anything calls "true self" and are we born with it? From Doug's story, I'll say there is no such thing as true self, we are containers of our memory, and that what make us who we are. Of course it is kind of scary (or comforting?)to think of this way, as fundamentally we are all the same.
I don't know why this film made me extremely sad walking out of the theater in the East Village. Personal? Maybe the feeling I got is because some part of the movie vibrates with some part of me. Or maybe because the Sigur Ros I was listening.
I don't know.
Director / Producer / Editor: Rupert Murray
Douglas Bruce's story. I don't know what bugs me, but I got this strange feeling that I don't buy this story. Maybe I am just envy someone can start a new life, literally, this way. Yes, I do envy him, especially he can look at the world as a new born baby; everything is fresh, is beautiful. No burden to carry, no past to worry. This is the right way to "feel" life, no matter we have the amnesia or not.
What make us distinctive? Are we made of our memory? Is there anything calls "true self" and are we born with it? From Doug's story, I'll say there is no such thing as true self, we are containers of our memory, and that what make us who we are. Of course it is kind of scary (or comforting?)to think of this way, as fundamentally we are all the same.
I don't know why this film made me extremely sad walking out of the theater in the East Village. Personal? Maybe the feeling I got is because some part of the movie vibrates with some part of me. Or maybe because the Sigur Ros I was listening.
I don't know.
March 04, 2006
Stella Dallas (1937)
US, MGM
Director: King Vidor
Cast: Barbara Stanwyck (Stella Dallas), John Boles (Stephen Dallas)
Anne Shirley (Laurel Dallas)
Well, this maybe feminists' nightmare, and mine.
Director: King Vidor
Cast: Barbara Stanwyck (Stella Dallas), John Boles (Stephen Dallas)
Anne Shirley (Laurel Dallas)
Well, this maybe feminists' nightmare, and mine.
February 25, 2006
Chuck & Buck (2000)
US, Blow Up Pictures / Flan De Coco Films
Director: Miguel Arteta
Screenwriter: Mike White
Cast: Mike White (Buck), Chris Weitz (Chuck), Paul Weitz (Sam)
Note: Weitz brothers are directors and screenwriters of About A Boy.
Beautiful film. Sentimental but genuine.
Director: Miguel Arteta
Screenwriter: Mike White
Cast: Mike White (Buck), Chris Weitz (Chuck), Paul Weitz (Sam)
Note: Weitz brothers are directors and screenwriters of About A Boy.
Beautiful film. Sentimental but genuine.
Sullivan's Travels (1941)
US, Paramount
Director: Preston Sturges
Cast: Joel McCrea (John L. Sullivan), Veronica Lake (The Girl)
Astonishing. Mix of genres, ideology imbeded within plot, but the weight of the issue it discuss not a bit washed away by its comedy form. Sullivan's Travels keep changing its tones, but perfectly fused to serve the ground it stands for.
Director: Preston Sturges
Cast: Joel McCrea (John L. Sullivan), Veronica Lake (The Girl)
Astonishing. Mix of genres, ideology imbeded within plot, but the weight of the issue it discuss not a bit washed away by its comedy form. Sullivan's Travels keep changing its tones, but perfectly fused to serve the ground it stands for.
February 22, 2006
I WANT
1. Marry a rock star (preferably like one on the right).
2. Have a apartment/office in Hamlet.
3. Look like Julia Roberts in Closer. At least have her cloth when she is photographing Jude Law.
4. Have a life. And yes, you are having it right now, make the best of it.
Closer (2004)
US, Columbia Pictures / Inside Track
Director: Mike Nichols
Cast: Julia Roberts (Anna), Jude Law (Dan),
Natalie Portman (Alice), Clive Owen (Larry)
Beautiful script. Decisive and precise jumpcuts. Well performanced. Both sweet fairytale and bitter urban story.
Director: Mike Nichols
Cast: Julia Roberts (Anna), Jude Law (Dan),
Natalie Portman (Alice), Clive Owen (Larry)
Beautiful script. Decisive and precise jumpcuts. Well performanced. Both sweet fairytale and bitter urban story.
February 21, 2006
Hamlet (2000)
US, Miramax
Director / Screenwriter: Michael Almereyda
Cast: Ethan Hawke (Hamlet), Kyle MacLachlan (Claudius),
Sam Shepard (The Ghost), Diane Venora (Gertrude),
Bill Murray (Polonius), Liev Schreiber ( Laertes),
Julia Stiles (Ophelia), Karl Geary (Horatio)
Very good adaptation of Shakespeare's Hamlet. Set in New York, 2000, but keep all the language in the play. The ancient language beautifully blended into nowadays modern settings (including well-designed offices and of coures, the Guggenheim). It seems that the eternal story of Shakespeare is so powerful that what language it use doesn't matter anymore. Or thanks to the nature performance of the actors (maybe not Ethan Hawke and Julia Stiles, sometimes, monologue indeed is not easy), the story did come alive in it's reincarnation in 2000.
Though it is kind of wired to hear Hamlet doing his famous "to be or not to be" speech while walking among the aisles of Blockbuster (among other product placement), the young and perished images of actors in background videos do show the unique power of using the new media to express the classic. Beautiful photography with clips from other films used in Hamlet successfully transfer written words into images.
Director / Screenwriter: Michael Almereyda
Cast: Ethan Hawke (Hamlet), Kyle MacLachlan (Claudius),
Sam Shepard (The Ghost), Diane Venora (Gertrude),
Bill Murray (Polonius), Liev Schreiber ( Laertes),
Julia Stiles (Ophelia), Karl Geary (Horatio)
Very good adaptation of Shakespeare's Hamlet. Set in New York, 2000, but keep all the language in the play. The ancient language beautifully blended into nowadays modern settings (including well-designed offices and of coures, the Guggenheim). It seems that the eternal story of Shakespeare is so powerful that what language it use doesn't matter anymore. Or thanks to the nature performance of the actors (maybe not Ethan Hawke and Julia Stiles, sometimes, monologue indeed is not easy), the story did come alive in it's reincarnation in 2000.
Though it is kind of wired to hear Hamlet doing his famous "to be or not to be" speech while walking among the aisles of Blockbuster (among other product placement), the young and perished images of actors in background videos do show the unique power of using the new media to express the classic. Beautiful photography with clips from other films used in Hamlet successfully transfer written words into images.
The Philadelphia Story (1940)
USA, MGM
Director: George Cukor (My Fair Lady, A Star is Born)
Cast: Katharine Hepbure (Tracy Lord), Cary Grant (C.K. Dexter Haven),
James Steward (Macauley Connor), Ruth Hussey (Liz Imbrie)
Stardom is dead today, and we have no goddess to worship, either. Hepburn, Grant and Steward, you will never find any three stars in Hollywood today to replace them, and expect the same glamour you got from these three.
Director: George Cukor (My Fair Lady, A Star is Born)
Cast: Katharine Hepbure (Tracy Lord), Cary Grant (C.K. Dexter Haven),
James Steward (Macauley Connor), Ruth Hussey (Liz Imbrie)
Stardom is dead today, and we have no goddess to worship, either. Hepburn, Grant and Steward, you will never find any three stars in Hollywood today to replace them, and expect the same glamour you got from these three.
February 20, 2006
2001: A Space Odyssy (1968)
US/UK, MGM
Director / Producer / Screenwriter / Special Effects: Stanley Kubrick
Screenwriter / Book Author: Arthur C. Clarke
Timeless masterpiece. Poetic cinematography. Breath taking, mind blowing.
Director / Producer / Screenwriter / Special Effects: Stanley Kubrick
Screenwriter / Book Author: Arthur C. Clarke
Timeless masterpiece. Poetic cinematography. Breath taking, mind blowing.
February 19, 2006
[Gig] Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
FIRST GIG EVER!!!!!
Webster Hall
w/ Morning After Girl, Elephant
Robert Turner was just in front of all night, I was in heaven.
Webster Hall
w/ Morning After Girl, Elephant
Robert Turner was just in front of all night, I was in heaven.
February 17, 2006
The Searchers (1956)
USA
Director:John Ford
Casts: John Wayne (Ethan Edwards), Jeffrey Hunter (Martin Pawley)
Revisionist Western. The ending scene, the door closed in front of John Wayne, says everything. But I still think when Ethan's attitiude soften when he saw Debbie's frighten expression. But what have done to him by the time and the environment can not be undone. He never will fit in the family again.
Quite a first time experience for the male dramatic melodrama. Who says man don't buy these things?
Director:John Ford
Casts: John Wayne (Ethan Edwards), Jeffrey Hunter (Martin Pawley)
Revisionist Western. The ending scene, the door closed in front of John Wayne, says everything. But I still think when Ethan's attitiude soften when he saw Debbie's frighten expression. But what have done to him by the time and the environment can not be undone. He never will fit in the family again.
Quite a first time experience for the male dramatic melodrama. Who says man don't buy these things?
February 14, 2006
Easter Parade (1948)
USA
Director: Charles Walters
Casts: Judy Garland (Hannah Brown), Fred Astaire (Don Hewes),
Peter Lawford (Jonathan Harrow), Ann Miller (Nadine Hale)
I got to say right now I don't know how to look at the musicals. But as far as the narrative is concerned, Easter Paradejust don't have the sparks between the leading roles. It starts with several love-chasing between four charaters, but only ends up hastely binding Garland and Astaire together, maybe as any two leading roles "supposed" to be in any musicals, and leave much untold and unexplained.
But hey, it's a musical, and we got Garland and Astaire, in certain level it can't be that wrong. I think Garland was most splandid when she sang alone with a little bit naughty expression in her face. And Ann Miller did look gorgeous in her numbers. I am glad to see Nadine doesn't been punished to fail or anything just because she chooses her career over man.
Director: Charles Walters
Casts: Judy Garland (Hannah Brown), Fred Astaire (Don Hewes),
Peter Lawford (Jonathan Harrow), Ann Miller (Nadine Hale)
I got to say right now I don't know how to look at the musicals. But as far as the narrative is concerned, Easter Paradejust don't have the sparks between the leading roles. It starts with several love-chasing between four charaters, but only ends up hastely binding Garland and Astaire together, maybe as any two leading roles "supposed" to be in any musicals, and leave much untold and unexplained.
But hey, it's a musical, and we got Garland and Astaire, in certain level it can't be that wrong. I think Garland was most splandid when she sang alone with a little bit naughty expression in her face. And Ann Miller did look gorgeous in her numbers. I am glad to see Nadine doesn't been punished to fail or anything just because she chooses her career over man.
February 11, 2006
Run Lola Run (Lola Rennt, 1998)
Germany
Director / Screenwriter / Composer: Tom Tykwer
Cast: Franca Potente, Moritz Bleibtreu
Three variations of what might happened. Easily linked the idea to Kieslowski's Blind Chance. But like Heaven, Tykwer doesn't have the ambition to discover humanitity, he wants romance, shearly probe the power that could alter the future. Fate, seems to be the final salvation.
But if put the juxtapose of him and Kieslowski aside, this film flows smoothly with electronic soundtrack. An 81 minutes long rapid cutting enjoyable MV.
Director / Screenwriter / Composer: Tom Tykwer
Cast: Franca Potente, Moritz Bleibtreu
Three variations of what might happened. Easily linked the idea to Kieslowski's Blind Chance. But like Heaven, Tykwer doesn't have the ambition to discover humanitity, he wants romance, shearly probe the power that could alter the future. Fate, seems to be the final salvation.
But if put the juxtapose of him and Kieslowski aside, this film flows smoothly with electronic soundtrack. An 81 minutes long rapid cutting enjoyable MV.
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