刚看完Breaking and Entering, 对电影本身不想作如何评价。觉得影片中有句话很有道理。
Somethings must be broken before they can be fixed.

If you ask me who is my favourite British or American director, I will say, not Woody Allen, not Danny Boyle, not David Fincher, not even Chris Cunningham, but Derek Jarman.

Derek Jarman has never been a mainstream film maker, and his career as a queer director has brought so much controversy. But he is no doubt the greatest experimental and poetic cinematic artist of the 20th century.

Born in Northwood, Middlesex England, Derek Jarman was educated in King's College London. And then he studied visual arts for four years in the Slade School of Art at the University College London (UCL). He was diagnosed HIV positive when he was 45, and later it was this closeness to death that has given him the unstoppable power and creativity in his cinema works.

His films can often be described as shocking, disturbing, dark, sexual, violent, abstract, impressionist, poetic, provocative, but visually stunning. He is a true artist of post-modernism cinema.

His films:

• 1970 - Studio Bankside
• 1971 - A Journey to Avebury
• 1972 - Garden of Luxor
• 1976 – Sebastiane
• 1977 – Jubilee
• 1979 – The Tempest
• 1980 - In The Shadow Of The Sun
• 1985 - The Angelic Conversation
• 1986 – Caravaggio
• 1987 – The Last of England
• 1988 – War Requiem
• 1990 – The Garden
• 1991 – Edward II
• 1992 – Wittgenstein
• 1993 – Blue
• 1994 – Glitterbug

夜深人静。为了周五的interview,还在痛苦的修改我的resume...好在明天晚上的音乐会，还能让我打起点精神。
听着《和平之月》，突然让我想起了日本，想起了琉球。

对日本的感受，实在不是一两句能够描述。我们在用异样的眼光省视这个独特的民族，独特的国度时，却又不得不承认我们在日本能找到很多我们已经失去很久的东西...日本仿佛就是我们的祖先在遥远的东海为后人留下的最后一句教诲，亦或是最后一个诅咒。我们在分不清她到底是仙还是魔的同时，哀伤沉沦。就像尺八和吴服，茶道和插花这些本来属于我们祖先的文化，在东方这个岛屿的面前，我们却显得如此无知与陌生。

上周六在Kool Haus看Air的现场，其中最让我喜欢的还是这首Alone in Kyoto，所以放上这首MTV。（播放前请先按Esc键停止背景音乐）

From LSO (London Symphony Orchestra) to TSO (Toronto Symphony Orchestra )...
From Royal Albert Hall to Roy Thomson Hall...

About 5 years ago, I went to Barbican and heard one of my favourite pieces of classical music "The Planets" (Holst) performed by LSO. The symphony was so powerful and beautiful that I have vowed to listen to it again whenever and wherever I see an orchestra playing it.

Tomorrow, I am going to make my words. It is my first time seeing the TSO, but I am sure the music itself will be rather memorable than adventurous.

I am looking forward to it..."The Planets" (Holst), a musician's impression of the universe, indeed a piece of work that's composed with the dazzling composition of science and art.

"The most beautiful thing a man can see is the woman's body..." "The most beautiful thing a woman can see is her first born child..."

Aren't we always craving for youth, even when we still luckily have it? Sadly the most fragile thing on earth is our youth...We all age. We all die...probably the most sensitive, painful, and inconvenient truth we all have to admit. Peter O'Toole's performance in his new film "Venus" tore the veil of conservatory and morality into pieces, and thoroughly exposed the sexual frustration of an old dying man. The film itself may not be such a masterpiece, but like many other contemporary British films such as "Young Adam", "Beautiful Thing", "Intimacy" and "Lolita", it is bold, provocative and honest.

Being young is such a wonderful feeling, energetic, fruitful and desirable...it can almost make a man risk his dignity and life to attempt slowing down the due course of nature. When a man realises that no matter how much he devours youth, he still slowly, painfully loses his livelihood and fertility...he will inevitably seek for the eternity of youth through other means, through young and pure female bodies...That's why most of the paedophiles are middle-aged, sexually frustrated men.

Morally and emotionally, we all condemn paedophile as a kind of sexual perversion against civilised societies. But the three-time remake of the classic film "Lolita" has with no reservation, exposed the curiosity and moral clashes of underage relationships in modern societies. Maybe the craving for youth, sexually isn't such an alien behaviour, as it is deeply rooted in our human nature, inconveniently. It is like all other desires, the desire for attention, desire for pleasure, and desire for eternity...After all, we human beings are greedy. The most difficult thing for us is not to conquer, to acquire, but to...let go!

Films such as "Lolita", "Young Adam", "Intimacy" and most recently "Venus" may boldly and even aggressively declared the revolting human nature, they never meant to pose a threat to the very foundation of our modern civilisation and morality. They simply exhibited the frustration and despair of love and relationships, is due to our greed. Sadly We always refuse to accept the fact that all things change, all things go, including our youth...That is indeed the beginning and end of our suffers.

Make the most of it when we still have it, the best of youth.

Veteran British actor Maurice (O'Toole) knows that his final curtain call is coming soon. Though he still earns booze and cigarette money playing small parts in TV movies, his heyday is far behind him, and his chief delight is gossiping and reminiscing about the old days with acting crony Ian (Leslie Phillips). But beneath Maurice's craggy, creaky exterior, the heart of a young rake still beats. That heart gets plenty of exercise when Ian's grandniece Jessie (Jodie Whittaker) appears on the scene. Fascinated by her youth and rawness, Maurice takes the girl under his wing--and it's clear even before he dubs her his Venus that his motives aren't exactly grandfatherly. No innocent herself, she responds by using her sexuality to manipulate him. As each learns more about the other, their complicated relationship twists and turns in ways both predictable and unexpected.

One good thing about Canada is that you can still have the quality of life (I don't just mean your physical part, but most importantly the artistic aspect of life), but always at half price compares to the UK. You can still watch the BBC on telly, listen to Virgin radio, and read NME; while you have the Canadian version of NME (The Exclaim!) for free in every corner of the streets! Just to name a few bands playing this month in downtown Toronto, The Killers, Keane, Arctic Monkeys, The Kooks, Linkin Park...and not to mention the V-Festival, the WEMF (World Electronic Music Festival, the largest of its kind in North America)...

In North America, people admire your British accent, and will always say "cool" when they know you have been to the United Kingdom. News programmes all over the channels will have massive debates on weither or not Prince Harry should go to Iraq. Gordon Ramsay's F words are all over the underground. Hugh Grant dominating most of the celebrity news...You can feel the British spirit haunting in every aspect of Canada life.

Yet in sports, Canadians are more like the Americans. Canada has its own teams in every major sports of the US, such as the NBA, the National Baseball, and the National Golf...Except the famous Canadian national sport, the Ice Hockey, yeah right, what else can you do in a country of minus 30 degree?

You can say the Canadians have very few individual characteristics, or they simply have too many, but just lack of their own. But who cares, as long as life rocks on! Being a Canadian maybe is not as cool as being a Brit, but I am sure it is always cheerful!

Oh BTW, maybe Avril is an exception, she is actually 100% Canadian!:-)

The Cranberries is back! Dolores O'Riordan is back! On 7/7 The Cranberries will be performing in the Phoenix Concert Theatre, Toronto. After Pink Floyd, Smashing Pumpkins, Cocteau Twins, Massive Attack, now I am seeing les Cranberries!!
Fan-tastique~!!!