阿傑故事很秋天
臺灣填詞人陳樂融老師的這本書陪伴著我十一、二年之久，從外面租屋到回家住，一直到有了自住的地方，每次搬家都必定沒有漏掉這本書。說來奇怪，身邊很多東西包括喜愛看的書往往在不斷搬家的過程中漏東漏西，但是對我非常重要的幾十本書包括這本，是一直都沒有丟失過的。我想說的，可能是書與人也需要靠緣份吧。
平日除了翻譯、寫文案，師大畢業後的這些年以來，我也經歷過生活中的高低起伏跌宕，覺得自己需要振作的時候，除了好好游泳、聽音樂，就是靠讀書走出低檔時期。閱讀給我重新出發的力量，尤其是閱讀同為寫作人的書，例如陳樂融老師編寫的《我，作詞家》。 Continue reading “《我，作詞家》：搖筆桿路上的精神支柱 Me, a Lyricist: The source of mental strength of a writer”
When I heard of the news of the passing of Mr Ngai Hong (aka Ni Kuang), the first thought ran through my mind was that he had wished for a painless death. I wasn’t sure if he left the humanly world in his slumber. Having watched these two episodes of Whirling Clouds Valley hosted by Chip Tsao and Alex Pao, only did I learn that Mr Ngai gave up his cancer treatment in 2019, and that he was troubled by leg pain in the past few years.
Firstly, I should make it clear that I wasn’t a super fan of Mr Ngai Hong’s works. And rarely did I read his works repeatedly. Imagination is always what I admire about his sci-fi fictions. Imagination is also my pastime. And in recent years I am increasingly convinced that the events of extraterrestials visiting planet Earth will be exposed. Questions as to whether some civilisations existed before ours, whether a good number of intelligent civilisations exists ‘out there’—I believe will be answered, it is just that whether or not humankind is willing to accept and recognise what actually happened. Continue reading “Mr Ngai Hong: What I learned about craftsmanship 倪匡：我學到的匠人精神”
I have been listening to Conversations of ABC Radio since 2014. And I happened to come across this interview of writer Lee Child, whose Jack Reacher series remained untouched from my side because I have been busy reading Jeffrey Archer’s works.
Having lost his job as a scriptwriter at a television station, the British author with the original name of James Grant decided that he would give it a try to write fictions to earn a living. His pen name was drafted after careful thoughts, while Reacher, the last name of the main character of his Jack Reacher series, was something mentioned by his wife. She suggested that if his novels were not selling, he could work as a reacher in supermarkets to help customers take goods from higher racks. Continue reading “Anecdotes of a novelist 小說家逸事”
A friend of mine brought me this book from Taipei early this year. I was eager to read it in a leisurely manner, for I know Murakami’s travel essays are still very good. The Chinese version of What is there in Laos? was translated by Mingzhu Lai. For me, it is a great pleasure to read Traditional Chinese arranged vertically from right to left. Although it is a Japanese-styled expression, I often find refuge in Japanese- and Murakami-styled Chinese-language written by Lai.
According to Murakami Haruki, Laos is a country where everybody slows down everything. Even dogs have a lot of free time for a siesta in temples. Travellers who wish to save money enjoy their time a lot in Laos, whose cuisines fall between Thai and Vietnamese dishes in terms of taste. And the price is cheap. Continue reading “你說，寮國到底有什麼？What is there in Laos? (Republishing July 2017 Piece)”
Poet rocker Wu Bai is known for his music career with his band China Blue comprises dummer Dean “Dino” Zavolta, keyboardist Yu Ta-hao (nicknamed Big Cat) and bassist Chu Chien-hui.
The reason he picked up a camera to start shooting around – as he wrote on this book Wu Bai Story (《伍佰．故事》), was that he wanted to get himself a background on his computer. And he started with colour photos, only switching to black and white films, when he travelled in Angkor Wat, the Cambodian city where only black and white films are sold.
Apart from music and occassional acting opportunities, Wu Bai also travels extensively. In this book – as he put it, he went to Tokyo to take photos of Japanese office workers. From his perspective, he was curious if these office workers feel tired for their lifestyle – everybody follows the conformity of the society, puts on the same suits, walking in the same direction, eating at eateries after work. And he put it very bluntly – don’t they feel stupid? Continue reading “Wu Bai – the rocker cum traveller (Republishing Sep 2017 Piece)”
我曾經追蹤臺灣流行音樂，無意中在網路上發現滾石MTV前導演馬宜中寫的《他們的第一滴淚：馬宜中和那些有故事的人》，於是拜託友人從臺北幫我買，好讓我在國外的旅途中好好讀一番。
身為伍佰樂迷，第一個細讀的藝人故事當然就是他。馬宜中細數以前幫伍佰拍〈煞到你〉、〈返去故鄉〉的故事，我才發現原來伍佰真的在乎要保護家人的隱私。話說馬宜中與攝影團隊跟著伍佰 and China Blue 在嘉義走透透拍MTV，好像是伍佰老家附近的樣子，然後有個記者死纏爛打就是要拍照又怎樣的，原本答應拍照之後不會公開，結果還是在那記者服務的報紙上登了出來。 Continue reading “馬宜中筆下的第一滴淚 (Republishing Oct 2017 Piece)”
Two months ago, many content creators would wring their wrists when they learned about the death of writer Rehman Rashid. Radio hosts of BFM 89.9 were always talking about him in recent programmes and they respected him a lot. They were of the opinion that it was great loss of Malaysian writing scene.
I went to look for his old books at Gerakbudaya and only managed to find Peninsula. The other title, A Malaysian Journey, which was more famous, was said to have been out of print. I wonder if his previous publisher would like to republish for him.
Rehman Rashid’s writing was no ordinary English writing. He did not elaborate in a simple and straightforward way. Contrarily, he was always cutting into the topics from sideline while adding a lot of background knowledge into his stories.
Some details of the years of Mahathir, Anwar Ibrahim, Abdullah and Najib were cited in his stories while he led the readers to travel through time. And his writing left no traces of time. Given such an outstanding feature, other Malaysian writers might find it difficult to fill his big shoes. Continue reading “細讀《半島》之穿梭時空 Travelling through time with Peninsula (Republishing August 2017 piece)”
It was several years ago when I read this book. Thanks to the former England defender’s vivid and honest account, I still remember some of the contents. I was following Manchester United and Blackburn Rovers when both clubs were at the top of their form. That was the time when I noticed the good performance of Graeme Le Saux, particularly the time when he and his teammates put on the British brand Umbro’s England jersey. Continue reading “英格蘭左衛之實話實說 Refreshingly honest England left-back”