昨天39度高燒下仍堅持上班，我想必是瘋了...

今晨燒退了，以為快要康復的時候，卻又突然暈倒了，嚇得家人差點要叫白車...

期間發生了甚麼呢？不太懂，只隱約感到有人把我抱起來了...

醒來的時候全身都是冷汗，醫生說我血壓過低，身體虛弱所致...

得好好調理身子了... 謝謝各位的來電及SMS，很窩心...

穿越時空的少女

在沒有任何概念或背景資料的情況下去觀賞一套電影，這是第二次，上一次是《浮花》，這樣以沒被污染過的腦袋去欣賞一套電影，感覺特別好，亦自覺是對導演的一份尊重，好奇怪的想法吧？

上星期看的是優先場，正式公映要到8月23日，比日本版遲了足足一年。說的是老生常談的主題──時間，但故事情節卻充滿時代感，一點不覺得土氣。人生都有太多的遺憾，要是可以重來的話該有多好？當然，這都是我們一廂情願的想法，大概不會想到再來一次的話，可能比原來的情況更糟，主角真琴當然沒想到這一點，自顧自地穿梭於時空長廊裡，開心來着卻一點沒考慮身邊人的感受，前部份的「任性」使後來的「痛悔」更具震撼力，雖然早有心理準備，還是看得我酸溜溜的。畢竟這是一套動畫，總得有個美麗的結局，不管多麼牽強。

友人說日本的平面設計都很講究美，但不都能使人明白，要是指着這套電影說的話，是成立的，因為要是理性一點思考的話，兩位主角最終是不可能踫面的，但當我離開影院的時候，腦子裡憧憬的，盡是美麗的畫面…

Design Critics

這段時間被Rick Poynor的一本書“Design Without Boundaries”攝去了很多時間，當中一篇題為Cultural Apartheid的文章恰好點出了設計多年來的尷尬位置，亦與我早前在亞洲文化合作論壇聽到的一些內容很是呼應。

“Art is high and Design is low”

這是我們設計人大都知道的，Design從來都被視作依附商業而生的一種工具，為的是提高人類的生活質素（正確一點，是我們的消費意欲），它最多只能被稱為 Commercial Art，與所謂的Popular Culture密不可分，但想要走進藝術正典的殿堂，相信還有一段距離，而這段距離是怎樣形成的呢？那篇文章提到了一個值得深思的現象：為何我們從來沒有在媒體當中看過一個正正經經的Design Critics專欄？我這才想起每期的Newsweek都會把設計產品放在一個名為“The Good Life”的欄目，跟所有消費品沒兩樣，就是在文化博物館看到的設計展，也不會找來甚麼設計評論家（還不肯定有沒有這樣的頭銜）跟大家解說解說，似乎設計品本身就不值得評論。

然而我們不難發現設計師的地位已較十多二十年前提升了不少，在“How to be a graphic designer without losing your soul”一書中便提到今天的美國，當你告訴人家你是一名設計師，已不會再有人視你為脫衣舞孃一樣。我們多多少少會聽過這些名字：Stefan Sagmeister, Michael Rock, Susan Sellers, Paula Scher；本土的也有Alan Chan, Tommi Li, Hung Lam, Sandy Choi…設計界有無數粒明星，每天佔據媒體的篇幅也不少，但卻無助設計獲得與藝術同等的尊重及認同，而重災區更是平面設計。

與大家分享兩個很好的設計評論網，不妨定期上去看看，你的設計視野會變得不一樣，就讓我們一起來提高設計的地位。

1) UnderConsideration – a growing network and enterprise dedicated to the progress of the graphic design profession and its practitioners, students and enthusiasts.
http://www.underconsideration.com/

2) DesignObserver – writings on design and culture
http://www.designobserver.com/

NIKE vs Adidas Transformer

早前看過 Steven Spielburg 的 "Tranformer"，總覺特技賣弄得有點過了火，這隻NIKE鞋算是變形得合理一點...

對手的另一種 transformation，也很不錯...

The First Digital Play in Theatre

Newsweek, Aug 6, 2007

While we are pretty sure that the scenario in Minority Report will possibly realize much earlier than 2054 with Jeff Han's marvelous invention of multi-touch interface (or so-called surface computer), no one seems to be stunned by the first digital play that finally comes on stage this summer, which sounds really a bit too late for interactive art in other media has been developed for decades.

What strike me most is not how groundbreaking the news is but that electronic media finally intrude theatre, one of the most fundamental forms of art in human history. Theatre, when compared to other art forms, always deals with the 'present'. No play is prerecorded. If John Chris Jones, pioneer in the design methods movement in 60s, identified the main point of difference between art and design is that of timing, theatre is undoubtedly a place for an artist to manipulate a medium that exists at the same time as his actions. (Design Methods, p11) He acts in 'real time'. Every performance is therefore unique and cannot be replicated apple to apple. That on one hand hides the most valuable virtue of art, while on the other, implies the inevasible presence of uncertainty in each performance. And now this kind of uncertainty may well be intensified by the spontaneous reaction from the spectators.

In spite of clear instructions from the actors, the choice to participate or not still belongs to the floor. A few contingency plans may have to be prepared in case of no response or technical instabilities. On behalf of audience, as mentioned in the article, it becomes more and more difficult to comprehend the play, which now requires additional amount of patience and attention to follow the plot. As more and more personalized experience is allowed with all these advance technologies, I begin to worry that discussion of views among audiences will become increasingly difficult due to a lack of common ground. We can discuss on a film because we have watched the 'same' film. If 'what we hear depends on where we sit', we can only 'share' our unique experience but not 'discuss' or even 'criticize' on a particular part.

I suddenly got a weird thought: what would happen if I forgot to bring my cell phone when attending such kind of digital play in the future? No matter what, one aspect may be well received by Hong Kong audiences: they no longer have to switch off their cell phones before a performance starts!

"habitus" closing down

It's really sad to receive the following mail this morning. I still remember the rooftop where I took courses of "月光暗室". What a memorable gathering with all the movie maniac! Hope that one day, we'll see it reopen somewhere, in Hong Kong.

Last week, we were notified by our landlord that we had to move out by the end of this month from the third floor of the Western Market, to make way for a marriage registry-related business.

Sad but not surprising, the news came with an "offer" from the depth of a well-oiled mercenary spirit. We may like to rent a ground floor unit next to the dessert store in the same historical building for HK$60,000/ month, a unit of around 600 square feet. For those of you interested, please contact the landlord directly. We sensed major tenancy shuffling is in place there. The unit is way beyond what we could afford, mentally, emotionally, and financially.

"ALL MUST GO" SALE NOW ON.

Aug 9 and 16 (Thurs) 1-6pm
Aug 10-12 & Aug 17-19 (Fri to Sun) 11am-7pm

Aug 19 will be our last day at where we are now. We don't know what will happen next.

終於開幕啦！