Tuesday, July 8, 2008

"a woman's whole life in a single day..."

許久沒看過這樣悲的電影,赤祼祼地彰顯了人在面對生命中各種起跌更迭時的無能為力。一本看來平凡不過的小說把三個女人的生命連結在一起,探討的是人與生俱來最根本的問題 — 生命為何?

當付上了一生所愛的人認為你的犧牲微不足道;當註定要跟一個永遠活在自己過去的人共渡餘生;當你再無法與眼前的這個世界溝通時…你,會如何自處?大抵我們都覺得Laura太狠心,也無從理解一個全然活在自己創作世界裡的人的痛苦,但我們或多或少也曾經質疑過自己所做的事情有何意義,這可是花一輩子也想不通的問題,天生的惰性會叫我們把問題擱置一旁,但當其猛然來襲時,卻足以動搖我們生的念頭。

三位女主角分別作了她們的決定,只有一人選擇把生命結束,可說是這部電影至為積極的一環,畢竟我們對生命仍有期盼。很喜歡電影中的氣氛,那一天、那一刻,似是即將來臨,卻又凝結了,並且無限擴張…"a woman's whole life in a single day -- just one day -- and in that day, her whole life." 三個女人的一天,教你思考你的一生。

Thursday, July 3, 2008

旁觀者 II

a piece of sharing in Newsweek which talks about how a youngster looks at his American identity in this "post-Americanism" world. It is not as egoistic as we used to think. And his fleshy cultural experience in Asia could not be more intriguing...

"I've been backpacking through India for the past six months, and one of the most fascinating parts of my travels has been the responses I get when I say I am from America. In villages and smaller towns, people react with either awe or anger. Whether positive or negative, the response is usually so passionate that it is sometimes difficult to answer the barrage of questions about anything from Britney Spears to George W. Bush to Las Vegas. However, when I travel to places like Delhi, Mumbai and Singapore, the response is much different. The jet-setting, speak-five-languages, work-hard, party-hard crowds in these Asian cities are unlike any group of people I've ever met. They're more elegant than the Upper East Side, hipper than Williamsburg and faster than Chelsea. While Americans are disdained for being imperialist consumers in the villages, Americans are simply behind the times in the fancy enclaves of cities. Anti-Americanism is difficult to handle, but apathy toward America might be even more unsettling. As a child of the 1980s, I've never known America to be anything but an unmatched superpower. It's particularly strange to be in the part of the world that is considered the next frontier. Maybe this is why Americans don't travel as much as others around the globe. It's not easy finding out you're not at the center of the universe anymore. That said, it's amazing to be traveling at this moment in history; being out here has given me a humbled perspective to bring home. In the end, that's not such a bad thing."

- Sara Weston at New Delhi, India (Newsweek, Jul 7/ Jul 14, 2008)