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October 29 Halloween costume partyWe call it "Day of Evil" in Chinese, which is very well translated by spirit. Halloween one of the liminal times of the year when spirits can make contact with the physical world, and when magic is most potent. Halloween is on October 31, believed by the ancients as the boundaries between the worlds of the living and the dead overlapped and the deceased would come back to life and cause havoc such as sickness or damaged crops. On college campuses, costume parties are common on the weekend close to Oct. 31 for celebration. Salem, a town half an hour drive north of Boston, is famous for its claim of the "Halloween Capital" dated back to its witch trials centuries ago. Crafted pumpkin is everywhere decoration on this particular festival. Among the most popular costume themes, the following are ranked in order: witch, pirate, vampire, cat and clown.
Last year, I didn't dress up but still went to the pre-party. It was a blaster, seeing all funny costumes, e.g., Scott in huge $$ notes, Jenny in cat leather, Tom in mustard, Rytis in Presley etc.. This year, I feared that it might be my last time dressing up funny, hehe. Though I was still very conservative, I borrowed a red feather scarf, long-sleeve red gloves, for the 60's. I almost collided into a twin yellow bee with Nikki, haha. It was a cute costume. EC year obviously has a lower energy than RC, esp. the following hell week that most ppl are out of town. The pre-part at HBS was not as crowded as expected. I later went to a house costume party near Fenway, held by a friend of friend in school of public health. It contained more of Halloween atmosphere. In the end, I was just too tired to stay till midnight; but luckily I have been dressed up for Halloween at least once in my life ;-P October 22 Insititute of Contemporary Art, BostonICA, Boston Ottawa, Canada
More than one friends have recommended me to visit the newly built Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) in Boston. I finally squeezed one night for the Thursday Target Free nights. Maybe it is true that the higher the expectation the less impressed you will get. ICA has very limited permanent exhibitions, far less than MOMA in New York. The current temporary exhibition is highlighted by Louise Bourgeois. The minute I entered into the room of her work - Spider - I recalled the same sculpture in Ottawa, in front of the Canadian National Art Gallery. Both spiders were of her work, though the one in Ottawa is more impressive. Not only becoz it is larger, but becoz the place that spider is placed, on the square b/w the National Gallery and the park. Moreover, the spider has a net of huge white eggs, very funny. Interestingly, across the street is a twin tower Gothe Cathedral, sort of incompatible of the whole settings, but it doesn't cause audience to feel uncomfortable at all.
The architecture itself is said to be a piece of art. Situated on Boston Harbor, right besides the famous Anthony's Pier 4, this modern museum has a shape of this century. Glassy, cool, shiny, and... square. Maybe having heard too much praise of its architecture, the first sight was not that surprising at all. It reminds me of the Getty Center in L.A., highly praised, functionality over aesthetics.
The most amazing section in ICA is the interactive exhibitions. That was the only and very hightlight of the whole museum. It is more than contemproray, but modern and visionary. It exhibits robots, interactive soldier using image, a 3D moving pictures from Ice Age, and even a piece of metal from the Boeing 787. Before entering that interactive section, there is a sliding room full of Apple laptops. Visitors can search and have a full collection of what's on shown, which is inaccessible through external internet.
Overall, it was a fun visit. However, not deserve a $12 bucks ticket if going on a normal day. Highly recommended to visit on Thursday night. Maybe their temporary shows/movies will be interesting to see as well. We'll see.
Head of CharlesThis weekend was the Head of Charles, a regatta attracting major universities all over the world. My college - Tsinghua - participated in the Collegiate 8. Unfortunately I was out of town and couldn't make it. I was walking along the river to find our alumni's tent but turned out to be fruitless. Five years pasted; those rowers/cox probably all graduated. I might know nobody on the current team; but I still in the hope to watch them competing, as a solute to my college years, to my dear Sports Team. October 11 际遇 － 写给Leilei于千万人之中,遇见；于千万年 之中,时间无涯的荒野里,没有早一步,也没有迟一步,遇上了你，轻轻地说一句:‘你也在这里吗?’张爱玲的笔下似乎只谈风月，有爱情，没有友情。但我偏偏想借她的这段话，来写写leilei与我。
人生就是一段旅程，充满了际遇。我们同学6年，从来未曾同班，6年内说过的话加起来估计也没有我们现在一个晚上卧谈来得多。3年前，始于Dusseldorf那家四川小馆，我们于7年后再见，却已是万里之遥得异乡。Amsterdam的“浪漫”之旅见证了我们友情的开始。之后你回了国，去了上海；而我恰好常年在那里出差。再后来，我去了Frankfurt，你述职时专门过来看我，“扔”下一个大箱给我，而我，将那个大箱，连同快乐的记忆，飞到了大洋的另一边。现在，我们又相聚在东海岸，时光荏苒，我们各自都经历了许多，我们都成长了，我们却依然像3年前那样无所不谈。我在你感情的每一个章节里，你也见证着我的；我看到你事业的从无到有，你也聆听着我人生的抉择；我们谈过去，谈现在，也谈未来；我们聊八卦，别人的，还有自己的。我不知道我的下一站在哪里，但我知道，你一定会在那个场景里....
Dusseldrof Sichuan Restaurant Shanghai
Dusseldorf Leilei's apt
Amsterdam October 08 色，戒 - Lust Caution
李安的新作《色，戒》上映了
昨天有人说去电影院看，可惜从Cape Ann回来后就太累，没去
也听说，这部片子很“色”，跟普通的异性朋友去会觉得很尴尬，估计跟看Knocked up的感觉类似
今天上网，才发现原来《色，戒》是张爱玲的原著，看来我只是附庸风雅的张迷而已
《色，戒》被誉为是张爱玲最出色的短篇之一，写了整整30年，是她与胡兰成爱恨纠葛的写照
今天翻出原著，一如作者惯有的文笔，华美、隐涩、深邃
诧异李安的镜头如何能捕捉张爱玲笔下的景与人
说实话，一目十行看原著，我着实是没看太明白，后来看了别人的review，回头再细读，才慢慢理顺了大概
下面转贴两篇他人的评论，以寥补鄙人的拙笔
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文字越好的小说越难拍成电影。一个朋友斩钉截铁：谁都拍不出张爱玲的，拍出来的都是另外的东西。是的，《断背山》好看，但与安妮普露原著仍有质地的差别。有人叹服李安的眼光：“为什么李安总是选对案子？”很有学问的“张迷”止庵，也认为《色，戒》是张一生最好的小说。但也是这个止庵，当人们讨论张的残酷和苍凉，把王安忆和张爱玲作比较时，说了句意味深长的话：张爱玲作品在修辞上题材上情调上别人或可学一点，但“张爱玲有一个人间之上的视点”(他举《花凋》为例)，这太不容易。这个眼光，也太可怕。
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最后看的这个，就是色戒了。是先听说了电影，才去找来看的，说实话，并没有觉得如何精彩。但是这样一个小小的短篇，她写了近三十年。张爱玲自己说，“这个小故事曾经让我震动，因而甘心一遍遍修改多年，在改写的过程中，丝毫也没有意识到三十年过去了，爱就是不问值不值得。”
爱就是不问值不值得。是她对这个故事的情有独钟，又何尝不是她对自己和胡兰成感情的结语呢。她仍然爱他，她一生唯一的爱。三十年过去了，她仍然说，爱就是不问值不值得。 胡兰成是负心汉也罢，是汉奸也罢。张爱玲爱的，仍是那个愿使岁月静好，现世安稳的胡兰城。陈璧君爱的，也许仍是那个引刀成一快, 不负少年头的汪精卫。即使是八九百年前的王氏，也许爱的也只是那个若得水田三百亩,此番不做猢狲王的秦桧。倘若能相爱一生，就算是陪他在世人面前，跪上千年万年，又如何呢？ **************************************************************************************************************************************
最后说句题外话，电影的英文名Lust Caution全没了《色，戒》的味儿，trailer虽谈不上catchy，但是故事的大概倒是交代清楚了 |
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