movies I saw recently

I liked some movies I'd watched recently.

Judgement at Nuremberg.

The vow

Goon



The ones below are the ones I saw and I liked, but only parts of them.

the moon

chronicle

the grey

the bicycle thief

茅屋破

茅屋為秋風所破歌

杜甫

八月秋高風怒號，卷我屋上三重茅。
茅飛渡江灑江郊，高者掛罥長林梢，下者飄轉沉塘坳。
南邨(村)群童欺我老無力，忍能對面為盜賊。
公然抱茅入竹去，唇焦口燥呼不得，歸來倚杖自歎息。
俄頃風定雲墨色，秋天漠漠向昏黑。
布衾多年冷似鐵，驕兒惡臥踏裡裂。
床頭屋漏無乾處，雨腳如麻未斷絕。
自經喪亂少睡眠，長夜沾濕何由徹！
安得廣廈千萬間，大庇天下寒士俱歡顏，風雨不動安如山！
嗚呼！何時眼前突兀見此屋，吾廬獨破受凍死亦足！


【字句淺釋】
解題：公元761年春天，杜甫求助於親友，在成都浣花溪邊蓋起了一座茅屋，終於有了個棲身之處。誰知八月秋風破屋、床頭 雨腳如麻。在徹夜難眠、感慨萬千之餘，詩人寫下了這首感人的千古名篇。

郊：野外。罥(音眷)：纏繞，牽掛。塘：方水池。坳(音凹)：窪下的地方。俄頃：一 會兒。漠漠：密佈的樣子。衾：被子。惡臥：睡不安穩、睡相不好。如麻：紛亂的樣子。喪亂：指安史之亂。庇：遮蔽，此指庇護。突兀：高聳特出的樣子。


我注:  南邨群童欺我老無力.  所有網上的資源都寫成 南村群童欺我老無力.  我第一次在葉慶炳君的書上看到的是南邨, 我覺得在朗誦的時候, 我更喜歡邨的韻味.  所以這裡我還是放了上來.

書桌

書桌

林海音

窺探我家的 "後窗", 是用不著望遠鏡的.  過路的人只要稍微把頭一歪, 後窗裡的一切, 便可以一覽無遺.  而最先看到的, 便是臨窗這觸目驚心的書桌!

提起這張書桌, 很使我不舒服, 因為在我行使主婦職權的範圍內, 它竟屬例外!  許久以來, 他挟起黑皮包要上班前, 就不會忘記對我下這麼一道令!

"我的書桌可不許動!"

這句話說久了真像一句格言, 我們隨時隨地都要以這句 "格言" 做警惕.

對正在擦桌抹椅的阿彩, 我說: "先生的書桌可不許動!"

就連剛會單字發音的老四都知道, 爬上了書桌前的藤椅, 立刻拍拍自己的小屁股, 嘴裡發出很乾脆的一個字: "打"!  跟著便趕快自動地爬下來.

但是看一看他的書桌在繼續保持 "不許動" 之下, 變成了怎樣的情形!

書桌上的一切, 本是代表他的生活的全部:  包括物質的與精神的.  他仰仗它, 得以養家活口; 他仰仗它, 達到寫讀之樂.  但我真的不知道當他要寫或讀的時候, 是要怎樣刨開桌面上的一片荒蕪, 好給自己展開一塊耕耘之地?  忘記蓋蓋的墨水瓶, 和老鼠共食的花生米, 剔斷的牙籤, 眼藥水瓶, 眼鏡盒, 手電筒,  迴紋針, 廢筆頭...散漫地布滿在灰塵朦朧的 "玻璃墊上"!  另外再有便是東一堆書, 西一疊報, 無數張的剪報夾在無數冊的書本裡.  字典裡是紙片, 地圖裡也是紙片.  這一切都亟待整理, 但是他說: "不許動!"

不許動, 使我想起來一個笑話:  一個被汽車撞傷的路人呻吟路中, 大家主張趕快送醫院救治, 但是他的家屬卻說: "不許動!  我們要保持現場等著警察來."  不錯, 我們每天便是以 "保持現場等著警察來" 的心情來看待這張書桌, 任其髒亂!

窗明几淨表示這家有一個勤快的主婦; 何況我尚有 "好妻子" 的銜稱, 想到這兒, 我簡直有點兒冒火兒, 他使我的美譽蒙受污辱, 我決定要徹底地清理一下這書桌, 我不能再等著警察了.

要想把這張混亂的書桌清理出來, 並不簡單, 我一面勘察現場, 一面運用我的智慧.  怎樣使它達到整齊, 清潔, 美觀, 實用的地步呢?  因為除了清潔以外, 勢必還得把桌面上的東西分門別類的整理一下, 使其各就各位, 然後才能有隨手取用的便利, 這一點是要著重的.

我首先把牙籤盒送到餐桌上, 眼藥瓶送回醫藥箱, 眼鏡盒應當擺進抽屜裡, 手電筒是壓在枕頭底下的, 這是第一步.  第二步就輪到那些書報了, 應當怎麼樣使它們各就其位呢?  我又想起一個故事, 據說好萊屋有一位附庸風雅的的明星, 她買了許多名貴的書籍, 排列在書架上, 竟是以書皮的顏色分類的, 多事的記者便把這件事傳出去了.  但是我想我還不至於淺薄如此, 就憑我在圖書館的那幾年編目的經驗, 對於杜威的十進類法倒還有兩手兒.  可是就這張書桌上的文化, 也值得我小題大作地把杜威抬出來嗎?

待我思索了一會兒以後, 決定把這書桌上的文化分成三大類, 我先把書本分中西高矮排列出來, 整齊多了.  至於報紙, 留下最近兩天的, 剩下的都跟醬油瓶子一塊兒賣出去了, 叫賣新聞紙酒矸的老頭兒來的也正是時候.

這樣一來, 書桌上立刻面目一新,玻璃墊經過一翻抹擦, 光可鑑人, 這時候連後窗都顯得亮, 玻璃墊下壓著的全家福也重見天, 照片上的男主人似對我微笑,感謝賢妻這一早上的辛勞.

他如時而歸.  仍是老規矩, 推車, 取下黑皮包, 拖鞋, 進屋, 奔向書桌.

我以輕鬆愉快的心情等待著.  有一會兒了, 屋裡沒有聲音.  這對我並不稀奇, 我了解做丈夫的男人, 一點殘餘的男性優越感尚在作祟, 男人一旦結婚, 立刻對妻子收斂起讚揚的口氣, 一切都透著應該的神氣, 但內心總還是......想到這兒, 我的嘴角不覺微微一掀, 笑了, 我像原諒一個小孩子一樣的原諒他了.

但是這時一張鐵青的瘦臉孔, 忽然來到我的面前:


"報呢?"

"報?  啊, 最近兩天的都在書桌左上方.  舊的剛賣了, 今天的價錢還不錯, 一塊四一斤, 還是台斤."

"我是說---剪報呢?"  口氣有點兒不對.

"剪報, 喏,"  我把紙夾遞給他, "這比你散夾在書報裡方便多了."

"但是, 我現在怎麼有時間在這一大疊裡找出我所要用的?"

"我可以先替你找呀!  要關於哪類的?  亞盟停開的消息? 亞洲排球賽輸給人家的消息?  還是關於西德獨立?  或者越南的?"  我正計畫著有時間把剪報全部貼起來分類保存, 資料室的工作我也幹過.

但是他氣哼哼地把書一本本的抽出來, 這本翻翻, 那本翻翻, 一面對我沉著臉說:  "我不是說過我的書桌不許動嗎?  我這個人做事最有條理, 甚麼東西放在甚麼地方, 都有一定的規矩的, 現在, 全亂了!"

世間有些事情很難說出他們的正或反; 有人認為臭豆腐的實際味道香美無比, 有人卻說玉蘭花聞久了有廁所味兒!  正像關於書桌怎樣才算是整齊這件事, 我和他便有臭豆腐和玉蘭花的兩種不同看法.

雖然如此, 我並沒有停止收拾書桌的工作, 事實將是最好的證明, 我認為.

但是在兩天後他卻給我提出新的證明來, 這一天他狂笑得捧著一本書, 送到我面前, "看看這一段, 原來別人也跟我有同感, 事實是最好的證明!  哈哈哈!"  他的笑聲快要衝破天花板.

在一篇題名  "人人願意自己是別人"  的文章裡, 他拿紅筆勾出了其中的一段:

一個認真的女僕, 決不甘心祇做別人吩咐於她的工作.  他有一份過剩的精力, 他想成為一個家務上的改革者.  於是他跑到主人的書桌前, 給它來一次徹底的革新, 她按照自己的主意把紙片收拾乾淨.  當這位倒楣的主人回家時, 發現他親切的髒亂, 已被改為荒謬的條理了......\

 有人以為---這下子你完全失敗了, 放棄對他的書桌徹底改革的那種決心吧! 

但人們的這種揣測並不可靠, 要知道, 我們的結合並非偶然, 是經過三年的彼此認識, 才決定 "交換飾物" 的!  我終於在箱底找出了 "事實的更好的證明"---在一束陳舊的信札中, 我打開最後的一封, 這是一個男人在結束他的單身生活前夕, 給他的 "女朋友" 的最後一封信, 我也把其中的一段用紅筆重重地勾出來:

從明天起, 你就是這個家的主宰, 你有權改革這家中的一切, 而使它產生一番新氣象.  我一向紊亂的書桌, 也將由你勤勉的雙手整理得井井有條, 使我讀於斯, 寫於斯, 時時都會因有你這樣一位妻子, 而感覺到幸福與驕傲......

我把它壓在全家福的旁邊.

結果呢?  ---性急的讀者總喜歡打聽結果, 他們急於知道現在書桌的情況, 是 "親切的雜亂"呢?  還是 "荒謬的條理"?  關於這張書桌, 我不打算再加以說明了, 但我不妨說的是, 當他看到自己早年的愛情的諾言後, 用罕有的, 溫和的口氣在我耳旁悄聲地說:  "算你贏, 還不行嗎?"

----------四十四年五月
----------選自遊目族版 <冬青樹>

錄自九歌英子的鄉戀 2003

Good boy effect

Good boy effect...  It is what flashed in my mind after I finished watching Spurs vs. Thunder series.  It certainly reminded me another series, Patriots vs. Jets a few years ago.  Patriots had perfect record, but they eventually lost to Jets in the championship game.  Spurs did almost the same thing.  Spurs won 20 games straight before the series.  They even got the first two games in the series.  Then they fell flat.  It makes me so sad.  But I cannot stop thinking about Good Boy Effect.

It is true that OKC outperformed Spurs in every category.  Anyone can just go and review the stats.  Spurs' average for FG, FT, 3p are 468, 721, 409.  OKC's stats are 474 and 404.  I need to find OKC's FT.  The difference is hard to see here since the margins are really small.   The one stats that really matters I think is Steal.  I do not include block is because both team dipped in that category, but I don't think that really matters too much.  So why does Steal matters?  Simply because, Steal is a team effort, and almost anyone on the team can contribute, unlike block, which required height, or jumping ability.  To me, Steal is a team effort.  Compared the regular season, Spurs's steal dipped to 2/3 of the regular season.  On the contrary to Spurs, OKC increased that stats.  The stats showed a few problems, OKC successfully stunted Spurs' ball movements.  I think that manifested on the turnovers.

But after all the analysis, we still have to face a fact.  Because if we just looked at stats, we would missed the whole point.  Since that it was the last game, and all Spurs' stats were almost all better than OKC, but they still lost.  The reason is more of psychological than anything else. 

It is hard to discern the reason of a game's outcome, is it because we are not good enough?  Or is it they are better than us?  Is there anything we could do?  Different strategy?  Different mentality?  Different rotations?  If it was because of what we did, or is it simply a weakness in the team's composition?  Could we just simply change the rotations, strategies, but keep the same team?  If they were better than us, then, in which way?  Captain" Jack, one of the Spurs' player said, "they are just better than us."  So how do we know that?  And if it is true, then there is nothing we can do? 

I think in terms of team composition, OKC was indeed better than Spurs.  This was shown in the clutch time, many of the 4th quarters.  But it was not just because OKC stars can make a 1-on-1 contribution.  It is more of a team effort.  My problem with Spurs also started here.  They started to focus on what the other team was going to do.  They started to think how they should respond.  On the contrary to that mentality, it was a time for attack.  Spurs' stars should drive so hard in the last minute,score, or making the other teams foul.  Only by doing that,3s then would be significant. 

The other stat that was significant during the series was turnover.  Now, we have to ask, why so many turnovers on the Spurs' side?  I think OKC's anticipation of the ball movement maybe a key.  But that cannot explain everything.  And plus, the anticipation of the ball movements was all practiced on the Spurs, how come, now it was so significant? 

I cannot think of the failure of the series as a psychological issue.  They say we did everything we could.  But the fact was that their perfect record let them down.  The steal and turnover was the significant factors here.  Because to me, these two stats showed me that they were focusing on the player rather than a team and this was the reason their Steal dipped.  Turnover meant that they were afraid.  They played with too many stress on their  backs, could not relax.  The Spurs were a team with plan and execution.  But now they rushed.  It was true that OKC had a better team.  But it was also true that most of the turnovers during the series was a result of rushing. 

This is just an impression.  Since I did not watch the whole series.  I don't think Spurs played with less intensity, on the contrary, I think they were over strained.  Because of the Good Boy Effect.  They think we did everything right.  But that thought would always bother them, because there's always a question mark at the back of their thought.  However, at the end, my impression was just that, my impression.  It is certainly that a team could outperformed the other team simply because they are indeed better.