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Good sleep requires good skills 睡眠品質亦是一門功課

Sleep is never an easy homework. Lunar new year has just ended and I recalled of Sharon Cheung’s suggestion to wish comrades and our elders to always enjoy their meals and have a good sleep. That means ditching the oft-mentioned Gong Hei Fatt Choy. This is such a practical idea.

I am not a good sleeper. During my university days, I used to sleep at 5 or 6am during summer vacation in Taipei. If I did not need to work, I would take Taipei Metro to go around places to make sure that I was tired enough to have a good sleep that night.

After I became a full-time freelance translator, I find it hard to sleep well when I always need to reply emails sent by foreign clients. Continue reading “Good sleep requires good skills 睡眠品質亦是一門功課”

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曼聯：欲振乏力　但求不敗

近來曼聯球迷真的氣壞了。球會平白浪費掉一月份的轉會窗口，不讓離心深重的中場球員Jesse Lingard 轉會加入西罕或紐卡索，結果留著他每天生悶氣坐冷板凳，整支球隊繼續散漫作戰，祇求老天看在以往名氣的份上不要將他們懲罰得太嚴厲。

上一場作客Burnley屢攻不下，結果一球領先優勢因為隊長Maguire的失誤而丟失了三分。跟榜末球隊比賽祇能得到一個積分，然後這一場對壘南安普敦又上演了Maguire防守失誤的戲碼，剩下來的，說得多也無謂。 Continue reading “曼聯：欲振乏力　但求不敗”

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〈歲月無聲〉之歌詞考證學

劉卓輝填詞的這首《歲月無聲》是相當知名的Beyond金曲。這闕詞比較短，但我最喜歡的四句來自上下段的主歌2：「淚眼已吹乾／無力再回望」、「白髮已滄桑／無夢再期望」。

以詞句的推進來說，「淚眼已吹乾／無力再回望」的意思應當是：既然已經流乾了眼淚，那又何苦再回頭？「白髮已滄桑／無夢再期望」的意思應當是：已經到了兩鬢班白的年紀，再也沒有什麼夢想可以寄望了。

可惜Beyond在演唱會中常常唱錯詞，從有影音紀錄的演唱會來看，他們還蠻常唱成「淚眼已吹乾／無夢再期望」、「白髮已滄桑／無力再回望」。就字面意義來說，可能可以解釋成：既然已經流乾了眼淚，那也就再也沒有什麼夢想可以寄望了。既然已經到了兩鬢班白的年紀，那又何苦再用力回頭？ Continue reading “〈歲月無聲〉之歌詞考證學”

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You can’t handle unworldly fascination, when the humanly world matters are still a big mess

It is this time of the year again.

When the market becomes very busy and the traffic becomes very congested. When the people whose culture also celebrate the first day of the lunar calendar year become busy preparing for celebration.

That’s right. Some called it Chinese New Year, Vietnamese New Year. But I think the most accurate wording is Lunar New Year (農曆新年).

This is a time when family and friends visit and greet each other in the hope of rekindling relationship and welcoming a new start for the year. Once-a-year meet-up usually takes place on this occasion, before we part and carry on with our busy work or study life again.

This is also the time when this and that feng-shui masters appear in TV and online shows to talk about their latest publication about your fortune for the year. Continue reading “You can’t handle unworldly fascination, when the humanly world matters are still a big mess”

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《機智牢房生活》：有笑有淚的人生寫照

機緣巧合之下有機會看完了這一部長達十六集、每集九十分鐘的漫長韓劇。每天晚上忙完所有事情之後看一集或者半集，其實也不容易，但是疫情肆虐這兩年訓練了我長時間坐在家裡的功力，因此約莫一個月就看完了。

誠如英文影評網站imdb的劇迷評論所言，這部劇的編劇必須記上一大功，因為每當你以為哪個劇中角色終於可以比較安穩地在牢房慢慢等待刑期過去，他們每一個人都會遇上各種起伏跌宕，可說是沒有一刻安樂過。這部劇的厲害之處在於每一個角色都有自己的故事，你以為哪個人十惡不赦的大壞蛋，原來也有他的弱點，坐牢前或期間也都經歷過生活中的酸甜苦辣。 Continue reading “《機智牢房生活》：有笑有淚的人生寫照”

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《MRS K》：惠英紅之好頭好尾 (Republishing Sep 2017 Piece)

這一部算是大馬與香港的合拍片吧，或是一部在馬來西亞取景的粵語電影，但是卡士絕對國際化，香港就有惠英紅、任達華、陳果，臺灣有伍佰，大馬則有馬來影星 Faizal Hussein　與導演何宇恆執導，看一看其實蠻不錯的。

必須承認的是，身為伍佰歌迷，我看這部電影是為了看伍佰，看過他的演唱會好幾次了，但是怎麼夠過癮呢，知道伍佰上了大銀幕那是肯定要買票入場支持的。戲中的伍佰飾演惠英紅的老公，工作是個婦產科醫生，銀幕上的伍佰綁著很短的馬尾幫孕婦作超聲圖像和磁共振成像（MRI）檢查。但是老實說，這畫面跟伍佰平日的形象非常不同，伍佰變成醫生，真的一時之間不能接受。伍佰在戲中也秀了廣東話，他的粵語發音其實不錯，有臺灣口音是必然的，情況跟我以粵語腔調講臺灣國語的情況類似。 Continue reading “《MRS K》：惠英紅之好頭好尾 (Republishing Sep 2017 Piece)”

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A runaway place for writing (Republishing July 2017 Piece)

Speaking of a runaway place, I recall of this song Dear Margaret by Anthony Wong.


Creative writers are sensitive to environment around them. Some still produce good pieces when a lot of things are going on around them, and they need the ‘I-am-in-the-midst-of-things’ feeling to be productive. I think most Hong Kong writers belong to this category. This minute they are meeting friends in Tsim Sha Tsui or Causeway Bay, the next minute they find themselves at home producing the next piece of artwork.

I once learned from a film-making friend about this. The friends of Christopher Doyle (杜可風) described him as an insane artist. He drinks somewhere around downtown of Hong Kong Island during night time, after which he goes home in the middle of the night and works on his projects as a cinematographer. Known for his fondness and deep affection for Hong Kong, I believe being in downtown Hong Kong contributes tremendously to his artwork. Continue reading “A runaway place for writing (Republishing July 2017 Piece)”

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升班馬諾里奇之浴火重生

說到諾里奇，我總想起小時候追英超的回憶。那是法國球王康托納主宰曼聯的年代，亦是英格蘭老射腳亞倫謝勒在布萊克本流浪隊發威的時代。記得那時候看英國的足球雜誌，還可以看到Sheffield Wednesday、Ipswich Town、Wimbledon、Oldham、Nottingham Forest 這些球會的名字，那是他們還沒有沉寂下去的時代，另一個還撐在英超的，當然還有諾里奇球會(Norwich City Football Club)。

看見他們的黃青色球衣，總有一種重溫舊時代的感覺。由於一直在英超與英冠聯賽之間來回擺盪，諾里奇被戲稱是英格蘭最大的溜溜球球會，因為一個賽季在英超降級到英冠，另一賽季在英冠奪得冠軍升上英超，結果又跌了下去。如此上上下下的命運，縱使我不是球迷，也還是希望他們可以留在英超長久一些。 Continue reading “升班馬諾里奇之浴火重生”

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伍佰雙面對決之正港臺灣搖滾 (Republishing March 2018 Piece)

農曆新年假期期間，友人從臺北帶回來《伍佰 and China Blue 雙面對決演唱會全紀錄》的ＣＤ，我從過年至今依然聽得很過癮。

伍佰說過不是經典不會唱，所以這四片ＣＤ收錄的都是相當份量的歌曲。雙面對決演唱會於2016年舉行，沒記錯應該祇有臺北場，就是週六全臺語、週日全國語，一口氣將經典呈現給樂迷。

我個人覺得臺語場比較精彩，可能是伍佰 and China Blue 演繹臺語歌特別有味道，演奏與演唱的部份特別揪心，或黯然神傷、或振奮人心，唯一不變的正能量就是臺灣特有的正港臺語搖滾。我尤其喜愛的臺語歌包括《少年吔，安啦！》、《空襲警報》、《臺灣製造》、《返去故鄉》、《樓仔厝》、《飛在風中的小雨》、《心愛的再會啦》，其中鼓手 Dino 穿插演唱的《小姐免驚》尤其趣味。 Continue reading “伍佰雙面對決之正港臺灣搖滾 (Republishing March 2018 Piece)”

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It peaks and it collapses quickly: normalcy to return in 2022? 高峰過總會有下坡：2022年之生活常態化

I used to think that Delta variant was already the last variant of Covid-19. But Omicron variant proved me wrong, although some experts said it is a different disease. Since South African medics notified the international society about the new variant in an honest and honourable manner, Omicron spread across the world very swiftly. Given its contagiousness, it still spreads no matter how hard you close borders and lock down cities. How fast it spreads is the only question here.

If we are able to sit down calmly and observe the Omicron wave, we can perhaps come to a more optimistic conclusion. Forget about those media outlets which are shouting and creating chaos everyday because they need to exaggerate stories to attract more views.

I am quite confident about Dr John Campbell’s explanation. Put it simply, Omicron infects more people but most are suffering from flu and cold because we have been vaccinated. Most people recover after taking a rest for three to five days. No hospitalisation tsunami, more people receive booster shot, and Omicron infected many more people and they suffer from mild symptoms. Hopefully UK, US and Europe can achieve herd immunity by March or April. Continue reading “It peaks and it collapses quickly: normalcy to return in 2022? 高峰過總會有下坡：2022年之生活常態化”