Dream as if You will Live Forever, Live as if You will Die Tomorrow

『啊啊！對了。橘宗一在高中時常說一句話，記得他是說：「我從沒像阿波羅登上月球表面那次那麼失望。總覺得世界已經走到盡頭了‧‧‧‧‧‧」這些年來，我的生活只有工作，完全沒想過這些事，不過聽他這麼一說才發現，昭和後半段那些年代，戰爭和戰後的分為逐漸被人淡忘，確實就像橘說的那個樣子。所有事務都膨脹、延展，延展到彈性疲乏‧‧‧‧‧‧大家衣食無缺，卻也對這個社會產生疑問。為什麼富足了？如何富足了？大家漸漸遺忘這些過程。大家也不懂阿波羅的結構、技術，只是一而再、再而三看見電視裡頭的幾個男人在月球上蹦蹦跳跳。我想正是那種奇妙的感覺，瀰漫了整個昭和的後半時期。』

溝呂木在指頭上感覺到熱氣，急忙捻熄只剩濾嘴的香煙。

『每個人就在這樣的分為下，努力想當個現代人。人們在戰爭中死去，學運留下年輕人的熱血。大家一同揮別這些過去，讓莫名的富裕包圍自己，於是這個舊社會露出了莫名虛偽的成熟面孔。大家不院正面交鋒，更不願為任何事流血，取而代之的是規矩與分寸，善行或是為社會效力等等，，這些大道理變成了過濾器，架設在世界上的每個角落。然而，成熟社會原本就是不可能成真的幻想，因而殘留了一些大道理無法過濾的小顆粒。該怎麼說呢？這些小顆粒就像是對大道理的懷疑和憎惡混雜而成，是一種相當棘手的小顆粒。』

溝呂木頓時回神般結束他的話。

後閑大大嘆了一口氣。

新井一二三：

「做孫悟空挺好，但他始終依靠著唐僧、釋迦牟尼呢。沒有唐僧、釋迦牟尼，他還能做孫悟空嗎？我也要提醒你：做孫悟空是有年齡限制的，依今天的標準，大概是三十五歲吧。」

「怎麼最近的台灣人都愛談『夢想』？據我理解，社會上氾濫的標語，一般來講，跟社會真面貌是正相反的。例如，當中國大陸氾濫『為人民服務』標語的時候，正是社會主義信仰崩潰的時候。我有點擔心人人都談『夢想』的台灣，是否實際上是令人很難『夢想』的社會了？我們走的每一步，就是人生的實際內容。除了每天的現實以外，人生也不會有別的內容。跟現實分開的夢想是不健全的，而且是危險的，有如麻藥。『為了實現夢想而活』這樣的想法似乎包含著本質上的陷阱，因為『夢想』至上的結果，會導致忽略，甚至犧牲現實生活的品質。人生歸人生；夢想歸夢想。根據自己的『理想』去改善日常生活的品質，應該人人都能做到。改善世界，從改善日常生活開始。『理想』可以是現實的。」

「記憶是最後的武器。我們要記住自己是從哪裡來的。記憶最重要。」

@ 與褚士瑩〈東京x地球表面不定點對談〉，沒有了鮪魚，沒有了奶油──你無法想像的日本，大田出版。

2015/06/16 on The News Lens 關鍵評論（臺灣）

http://www.thenewslens.com/post/176026/

前陣子，臺北市政府顧問翟本喬在臉書上提到：北市府將補助申請表的「性別」一欄修改為「稱呼」，並在一般常見的「先生」與「小姐」之外，多加了「其他」的選擇。 正如翟先生所言，「性別」因素確實不該影響個別申請案之認定。在「男女同工不同酬」仍然存在、「性別二元論」（gender binary）依舊主宰社會思維的今日，這個「不起眼的小事」提供一個難能可貴的機會，讓大眾去思考性別差異如何左右我們的日常生活。因此，趁著這個機會，筆者想簡單介紹一下近年來在英文用語中新興的「性別中立」稱謂："Mx"。

英文的傳統稱呼—即"Mr."、"Mrs."和"Miss"—不僅反映男女差異，也進一步區分了女性的個人狀態。後項的區別，顯示女性在公眾領域中的定位，嚴重地受到私領域關係變化的干涉。到了二十世紀，女性主義者開始全力提倡具有廣泛指涉性的"Ms"，來取代"Miss"和"Mrs."。這樣的積極推廣，使"Ms"這個曾在十七世紀曇花一現的稱呼，終於在二十世紀後期的歐美社會中變得普遍。（註1）不過，女性政治只是性別政治的一部份；而參與在性別政治中的次團體的多樣性，也使LGBT社群漸漸擴展為"LGBT+"。因此，性別運動者開始更進一步提倡"Mx"，來反映跨性別群體的需求。

有趣的是，如同"Ms"，"Mx"（發音近似"Mix"或"Mux"）並非近一、兩年出現的新創詞彙。從Nat Titman刊登在"Practical Androgyny"上的文章中，可以得知：在現有可循的文本裡，"Mx"的正式出現可追溯到1977年的美國雜誌《單親》（Single Parent）；而早在六零年代中期，便有個人使用該稱呼的紀錄。 牛津英文辭典副編輯Jonathan Dent在接受「週日泰晤士報」（Sunday Times）的訪問時，表示早期的"Mx"支持者似乎是基於性別政治的考量、希冀該稱呼能迴避既存社會稱謂中的性別歧視。 著眼於此，三十多年後的今日，跨性別團體的努力終於讓"Mx"的存在獲得注意。

2015/05/26 on 獨立評論 @ 天下

http://opinion.cw.com.tw/blog/profile/52/article/2874?ext=rel

去年在英劇《光榮之女》（The Honourable Woman）中，動人演出的女演員瑪姬吉倫荷（Maggie Gyllenhaal），在近日接受好萊塢雜誌「The Wrap」訪問時，提到最近有位電影製作人認為現年37歲的她「太老」，不適合演出55歲男主角的曖昧對象。這位已打開知名度女星的經歷，再次點出了一向以自由與創意自詡的好萊塢電影產業，仍然充斥著年齡與性別歧視。

近年來，我們可以看到珍妮佛勞倫斯（Jennifer Lawrence）因《飢餓遊戲》（The Hunger Games）系列獨領風騷、安潔莉娜裘莉（Angelina Jolie）因長期推廣慈善而受勛，她所導演的《永不屈服》（Unbroken）也評價良好、艾瑪華生（Emma Watson）擔任聯合國「He for She」活動代言人時的動人發言；圍繞著這些女星的媒體光環使人以為女性在公眾領域的能見度、以及性別平等這件事，如今受到肯定且備受重視。不過，綜觀好萊塢電影的歷年表現──借用英國慈善組織「Plan UK」執行長譚雅巴倫（Tanya Barron）的話：「對於性別平等，很多時候我們只是說說罷了，而很少採取實際行動。」

這兩年裡，聖地牙哥州立大學（San Diego State University）針對2014年美國票房收入最高的兩百五十部電影，以及紐約電影學院（New York Film Academy）對2007到2012年間的五百大電影，分別所做的研究都一致證明：即使女性人口佔全球總人數的一半，但她們在大螢幕上的能見度與多元性都不成比例的低。（聖地牙哥大學研究的報導來源；紐約電影學院研究來源）在2014年的高票房收入電影裡，只有12%是由女性擔綱主角；這數據比2012和2013年都要來得低。

Luis, your question is difficult and I try to compose my thought and thinking about what and how should I reply.

After ‘waves’ of feminism and the recent events like Angelina Julie being knighted for her devotion in ending sexual violence in conflict, Emma Watson advocates ‘HeForShe’, and the second time that there are all female Nobel Peace Prize winners, it looks as if women and gender issues are reaching a new peak and female peer support is being truly recognised. However, I would say that these glamour coverages are somehow an illusion and a very serious one. To quote Tanya Barron, “we shouldn’t let the notion that we are now on some irreversible path to equality creep in.” (http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/world-is-talking-the-talk-but-not-walking-the-walk-on-womens-rights-according-to-new-report-9794542.html?origin=internalSearch)

Why? Just to list a few recent events:the new gender equality report by Plan UK that young females are continue to suffer “double jeopardy”, women are being discouraged from scientific fields from childhood (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XP3cyRRAfX0; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjJQBjWYDTs), and sexual stigmatisations (http://www.vanityfair.com/vf-hollywood/2014/10/jennifer-lawrence-cover).

Apart from that, I would also explain why those grand coverages on remarkable women somewhat shadowing the reality of gender gap, by introducing you to a recent research on the presentation of wo/men in movies (https://www.nyfa.edu/film-school-blog/gender-inequality-in-film). I choose movie as a representation of current trend in entertainment industry. But why care about entertainment industry? As you, who study discourse theory and ideology, know how political parties or the few in power manipulate language and rhetoric to brainwash the public and strengthen their privileged status. Similarly, entertainments dominate our daily life and we grow too accustomed to them without proper reflections most of the time. In particular, the ‘fun’ and ‘joy’ of entrainments can distract us from the implicit messages so easily, in which we simply do not aware how the ‘fun and joy’ are constructed. Back to the report on ‘gender equality in films’: after decades of so-called ‘women’s liberation’ and women occupy 50% of the population, only 30.8% of female characters have lines and 10.7% of movies have half of the cast are female. These notions coincide with the advocacy of ‘Bachdel Test’, which points out that how female characters rarely have names and ‘are talking to each other about something other than a man in movies’ (http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/nov/06/sexism-swedish-cinemas-films-women).

Regardless those clear and astonishing evidences that how women are underrepresented to the public and how narrow the rhetoric is being given to female characters, a recent rom-com, ‘Rewrite’, already cannot wait to make its world-famous leading actor shouting out following lines:

All work and no play, makes me a dull man. Well, the annoying self-destruction cannot stop me from looking forward to the coming play season… Also, what is the point of being in the U.K., if you are banished from the stuffs that make you love the place?

It is no need to mention the fan frenzy over a certain (mighty) Mr. Benedict Cumberbatch is going to be on the stage as Hamlet at Barbican Centre next summer. But I do feel dubious about his choice of collaboration and, as a fan of his, I want to see him sparks than anything else.

Anyway, that will be happening next year. So that’s see what is going to be on stage from now till the end of 2014! Or, in other words, to hear me being nutty about my obsessions.

Birdland @ Royal Court

Well, it is a festival for BBC ‘Sherlock’ fans! Andrew Scott, aka Sherlock’s nemesis Jim Moriaty, is collaborating with writer, Simon Stephens, who won an Olivier Award for his adoption of ‘The Curious Incident of a Dog in the Night Time’ last year. The Irish actor was little known to me when he was in National Theatre production of ‘Emperor and Galilean’. I remember that U was impressed by the huge poster of the show that outside Theatre Royal Haymarket and was later regret that I miss it, after the prominent series of ‘Sherlock’.

There are so many happy things to write, but I suppose it is the absolutely shitty feeling actually compel a person to write.

"What happened?" "Life happened" or "'Me, happened", I was trying to be witty in my head. But those responses are not that far from truth, I think. They are just more...precise, cutting through all the (unnecessary) attachments (or, are they themselves the excuse?).

People do not really learn from history, I feel, especially these days. Or maybe human just learn very slowly? I know I do not; I mean learn anything from my own past. I do not think I have a serious tendency of self-destruction, yet I kept doing all these shitty things to myself...knowing the edge of the cliff is there, but unable to stop myself getting closer to it. What am I doing? Trying to see how much I need to push myself over the top? Wow.

I always feel that no one can truly save someone else and I detest the idea of hero and thinking that it is just a Messiah complex, which human holds onto in this larger-than-self universe. However, maybe deeply in my mind, I am the one who holds the dearest belief that someone will come and save me. I know all my vices. Well, at least most of them. But so what? What happen after you know?

I see the easy solution to get out of all these stupid things I am, or going to, do to myself. Honestly, it never leave my mind. The funny thing is that I do not feel worse whenever I think about it. Because it is the worst.

Joe:  "No, it's the end of a nineteenth-century socialist romanticist conflation of government and society, law and Justice, idea and action, irreconcilables which only meet at some remote horizon, like parallels converging in infinity. The rhythm of history is conservative. Change is geologically slow. You must accept that. And accept as rightfully yours the happiness that comes your way."

Louis:  "But that's only half the picture, that's the ego-anarchist-cowboys-shrilling-for-no-government part of the Republicans but what about the other half, the religious fanatics who want to control every breath every citizen takes? I mean you say law isn't Justice and Justice isn't morals but really, who if not the Right is putting the Prude back in Jurisprudence?"

Joe:  "No but see, there you go again! We're a movement, this is politics, not a representation of some pure force, it's ... Do you want to be pure, or do you want to be effective? Choose. Even if our methods seem ... extreme, even. We've worked hard to build a movement."

___________________________________________________

Harper (commenting the dummy family in the diorama):  "They don't have any lines, the sister and the mother. And only his face [the father dummy] can moves. That's not really fare."

Episode 2 The land is Build on Law

Birgitte Nyborg (at New Democrates press conference):

"In this house we make law. Laws on which the Danish society is build. At the mement we're passing more and more bills that are alarmingly on breaching the constitutions and human rights. Bills that are the wast product of political horse-trades. They're rushed through because they're too shameful to discuss. The people don't get to have their say and it's not just slovenly. It's decidedly undemocratic. Democracy is dialogue. And that dialogue is fading-out. New Democrates will fight to re-open that dialogue."

Well, just bought an 'Iron Man 3' poster yesterday and it looks like this...

Because of this...

And this...

Is it acceptable for a guy to have such pair of enormous, gorgeous eyes!? I was compeletly blown away by this irresistible and therefore invincible combanition: Robert Downey Jr. himself and his gigantic eyes. 

I was actually surprised that I had enjoyed the Iron Man movie series so much, and absolutely drowned in Tony Stark's charm: 'I'm a bad boy and ya gatta love me' (wink). 

I think my leisure reading pattern is becoming more and more peculiar these days.

I was going to borrow Tennessee Williams' 'A Streetcar Named Desire' (coz Gillian Anderson is going to appear in the Young Vic production this summer), but ended up with 'The Glass menagerie' in my hand. Well, that book size is light and easy to carry, and it caught my attention, since I learned that Zachary Quinto, aka Spook in Star Trek movies, participates in the Broadway production in New York now. (Don't really know how and when, but I gradually grow a strange attachment to him recently. OK, maybe because he is kinda cute?) Anyhow, I certainly enjoying it more than 'Sweet Bird of Youth' and the unfinished reading one, 'The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore', and would love to see Quinto's monologue performance.

'The Glass Menagerie' is a semi-biographical play of Williams' recollection of his early family life. Denoting hinself as Tom Wingfield, a warehouse worker who desires adventures and has a writer's heart, but at the same time is trapped in a small flat, Williams states in the beginning to set the tone of this play:

"The scene is memory and is therefore nonrealistic. Memory takes a lot of poetic licence. It omits some details: others are exaggerated, according to the emotional value of the articles it touches, for memory is seated predominantly in the heart. The interior is therefore rather dim and poetic."

I must admit: I adore this production instruction. Love the way that Williams describes the atmosphere and the core nature of the play; and his uses of words exhibit artistic elegance and sophistication! That is how I want to write, and yet to success! Also, owing to this short paragraph, I began to change my impression of his works. I was not amazed by the other two plays of his that I had read, if truth to be told. But 'the Glass Menagerie', similar to Harold Pinter's short collections, electrifies me pure and straight!

As a getaway (i.e. excuse) from the more than cruel 'reality', I think I need to write my stageplay list for the coming seasons. The way I deal with what I am suppose to do is always like the way that an ostrich covers its head in the sand. Anyhow, I got a very exciting (for me) list so far (and surprise, suprise, it is getting longer) and cannot wait to cross them off one by one sooner or later!

Mojo @ Harold Pinter

A revival of Jez Butterworth's 1996 play, and the cast includes names like Ben Whishaw, Rupert Grint, and Colin Morgan etc.. Well, of course it is Whishaw that draws me onto it (plus I heard of half of the cast's names before)! Also, after witnessing the success of 'Jerusalem' and the sold-out of 'the River', I am highly curious about Butterworth's works. Anticipating a big queue for day tickets (and hope, if unsuccessful in that occassion, the concession rate also applies to students!)

Jeeves & Wooster @ Duke of York's

Ah, a collaboration between Matthew Macfadyen and Stephen Mangan, how on earth would I miss this! Macfadyen's Mr. Darcy, in my mind, still better than Colin Firth (but I like Jennifer Ehle's Liz Bennet more than Keira Knightley's). And Mangan, who is 'puppyish venerable', as described in a magazine interview, cracked me with his performances in 'Dirk Gently' and 'Episodes'. I already saw him in Royal Court's 'Birthday' and it was a splendid play. It would be great to see him again!