Superbad

This movie is, like, legendary among young men. It's foul-mouthed but innocent. Mischievous but very sweet. It's one of the Seth Rogen-Evan Goldberg bromance comedies that became extremely popular in the past few years.

Bromance 这玩意儿挺不好弄的，一不小心就变成弯男戏，或者笨拙的肉麻当有趣，Rogen 和他的 BFF Goldberg 加上 Judd Apatow 几个家伙鼓捣出来的东西，走的是一条很细的平衡木，难怪会红。

影片中两个主角，高中即将毕业的处男生，一个叫Evan一个叫Seth，不能不让人怀疑是两个作者的夫子自道。

最神奇的是，Michael Cera 终于把我也赢过去了。之前看到很多圈内圈外人对他大唱赞歌，还挺不以为然，看过 Juno 也没看出特别特别的地方。Cera 有种哼哼唧唧的表演特征，念台词又总是非常平板，我总觉得十分限制戏路。在这片里面，明明是 Jonah Hill 演的 Seth 戏更多更有汁水，但是观众---就是我---的注意力不由自主就被十分 deadpan 的 Cera 给吸引过去了。Suddenly I found myself a Cera fan!

Cera 也是加拿大的，好莱坞的喜剧明星里至少一半都是加拿大出来的。

The Longest Year: The Contractor

Stereotypes, I've heard it from nearly every mouth. Even my friends, even card-carrying liberals, even psychiatrists, have adopted the same belief, which they confessed to me: If a highly educated person or a person in managerial position is black or brown, his advancement must have been secured by lowered standards and a fear of discrimination lawsuits. Never have I heard anyone speculate that a middle-aged white man's position must have been secured by the paleness of his skin or the mustache on his lips, even though sometimes one needs a magnifying glass to find a speck of real quality that allows him to be promoted to the ruler of women and others. But we all know white men are exempt from stereotyping, don't we? Except, I have finally accepted, every elaborate bullshitter I've met is men, predominantly middle-aged white men.

The CEO of the company that has won several contracts with this, uh, organization, is one of the biggest bullshitters I have met. Once he opens his mouth, no one can wedge a word in without a hammer and a chisel. He talks more rapidly when he doesn't know what he is talking about, when he has no leg to stand on, and, most of all, when he is wrong and knows it. He gets away with it with a couple of amazing and crucial qualities: a layer of skin thicker than the stone walls of a pyramid and the ability to take the conversation in unending circles. Whenever you catch and point out his mistake and incompetency of his, his silver tongue automatically turns it around to blame it on you, even though you are the client who will pay him for his work. Look, everything is your own fault, because you don't know what you REALLY want. I told you what you want, and you didn't listen. The dexterity and slickness of this maneuver match the skills of any second-hand car salesman. Brilliant.

If he was not male or white, it would be unthinkable that he would have been able to get away with bluffing his way to the top without being pinned down people's skepticism. Protected by his dominant characteristics, however, his luck never runs out. There are always plenty of people willing to throw money at his supreme confidence. Who cares if he gives little more than worthless bullshit? His bullshit satisfies most people's intrinsic need for authoritative assurance, and who better give this soothing assurance than a gray-haired, tall, white male with above-average height and an attractive baritone?

Even with the favorable appearance, it was baffling why the Boss Lady gave them the THIRD contract in 2 years, after barely completing 2 previous contracts with gross incompetence and endless conflicts with the internal staff who were supposed to be his clients. The previous work he delivered was so shoddy and full of mistakes that the internal staff had to re-do more than half of the work for him. The excruciating process of dealing with him and his poor, clueless subordinates had sent at least 2 of Ms. B's assistants running away to other departments. Yet the wheels are turning again. He has returned to the game of trying to get the most from the gullible sheep by doing as little as possible.

Why does she do it? Why get herself into the mess again? She is hardly a masochist. Yet, a lot of people feel more content being robbed and kicked by a reassuring authority figure than being well pampered by a suspicious-looking character. Perhaps Ms. B is dazzled by his glittering bullshit. Of course she is in the position to delegate most of the crappy details to internal staff who are too wimpy to say no to her. Neither do they have the balls to call out the incompetence and veiled nastiness of the contractor, because one has to be either a bitch like B or a spineless doormat to survive so long in this organization. Perhaps, she is too lazy to find another contractor with anything resembling competence, sans the attitude. Perhaps, her long-term memory is so crippled that she cannot remember anything beyond a few days before and after the present moment.

*******

This particular contract is being run by the hapless and clueless Ms. B, because it was her boss who had the budget to carry out the project. Yet the boss and his giant office have no expertise to understand, much less oversee, this contract. It should have been given to the office who actual knows a thing or two about the technical basics. But, Mr. JJ, the office boss and his boss, would rather fuck the whole thing up than losing a sliver of their turf to another office. So, naturally, it fell onto the tireless Ms. B who can never quite remember exactly how much work she has already dumped on her subordinates.

The Track of Sand

Inspector Montalbano 系列中的第十本。

开头没多久，写到 Montalbano 去书店淘新书，交钱时才发现挑的都是瑞典的侦探小说： Enquist, Sjowall-Waloo, Mankell。呵呵，想必是作者 Andrea Camilleri 的夫子自道吧。Enquist 不认识，另外两个是老交情了，国际侦探小说圈不大呀。

All the Darth Vaders

今天偶然跟S同学说起Darth Vader，然后好奇心起，去查一下到底有几个人参加了这个人物的演出。

第一当然是 James Earl Jones 的伟大声音演出。在网上查一查，发现好笑的是 JEJ 大叔的名字在 A New Hope 和 Empire Strikes Back 中并未在演员表中出现，因为，给 ANH 配音录制只花了一天即在录音室中完成，他觉得自己对影片的贡献很微小，不值一提。啊哈哈哈～～ 回想起来，Darth Vader 的对白的确不是很多，但是给所有的 Star Wars 影迷都留下了过耳不忘，噩梦连连的印象哪。

第二是在黑色机械装与头盔面具中提供动作演出的英国演员 David Prowse，他是个 body builder，身材巨高（六尺七寸）。据说当时 George Lucas 问他是要演 Vader 还是 Chewbacca，他选了 Vader。

第三是在 Return of the Jedi 结尾时候，摘下面具露出光头然后断气的 Darth Vader 是由英国演员 Sebastian Shaw 演的。

ESB 和 ROTJ 中的光剑打斗戏里，面具和斗篷里的演员则是替身演员 Bob Anderson。

另外在2000年代拍的三部前传中 Annakin Skywalker 分别由 Jake Lloyd 和 Hayden Christensen 扮演 。我跟S同学说起这件事就是感叹一下，JEJ 大叔的雄浑震荡余音袅袅的舞台嗓音最后变成一个发音whiny口音平板加吐字不清的加拿大小男生，真素太让人失望鸟！

我对人声相当敏感，声音演出的前后矛盾比其他方面的混乱和不一致更让我不舒服。

所以，总共数得出的演员就有六个，当然这还不算前传三集中的替身演员等等。

最后必须提到的是电影中 Darth Vader 的音乐主题！当～当～当～，当得当，当得当。John Williams 的大作，旋律一响人人脑中都会浮现出 Darth Vader 的黑色形象，也是人物的重要特性之一呀。

The Cold Dish

I had wanted to read Craig Johnson's detective novels since I heard him talk at the National Book Festival in the fall of 2009. He was funny and charming and lovely. But I didn't get around to it until now --- other books interfered, as they always do.

When I finally went to the library last week and picked up the first entry of his Walter Longmire series, The Cold Dish, I had already had a feeling I'd like it. And it gave me all I had expected and then some.



For a couple of reasons, I decided to read the book slowly. Perhaps it has to do with a new habit I have learned from reading on Kindle. Plus I am trying to savor things more lately. Most of all, though, I love the details in his narrative about the rural life in Wyoming. Reading the book was almost like strolling alongside the 50-something sheriff Walter in Absaroka County, gazing into the breath-taking mountains around you, and listening to the banters between Walter and his best friend Henry Standing Bear. I loved all this so much that I didn't want to leave them too soon. So I read as slowly as I could, resisting the pull of the whodunit to rush ahead.

The whodunit wasn't too hard to guess. There were the usual red herrings and diversions thrown in the reader's path. I got it pretty early on. None of it detracted from the joy of reading the book.

Johnson gives us an assortment of colorful locals: The aforementioned sheriff Walter, who shares a lot of traits with, of all people, Kurt Wallander; Henry, the Indian with a colorful past and far from a sidekick; Walter's foul-mouthed but extremely efficient deputy, a policewoman transplanted from South Philadelphia; the sheriff before Walter, a tough and crusty old man; the list goes on and on. Most characters have nothing to do the plot, but are introduced as part of the life, and I'm all the more grateful for them. They are too spectacularly eccentric to be the product of anyone's imagination; they must be real. The most important character may be the Bear, whose premise could have easily slipped into a cliche of the Noble Savage or the Magical Indian. The only way for this character and their friendship to work is if this is all real. Apparently, it is. Johnson really does have an Indian friend and, judging from the book's Acknowledgments, his name really is Henry Standing Bear. He also alluded to Henry in his talk at the National Book Festival. Indeed, the dialogues between Walter and Henry feel so palpably true that they have to be real.

One of the many charms of Johnson's novel is his amusing way of referencing classic literature in the most unexpected context: including Hemingway, Shakespeare, Steinbeck, Dickens, ... And, of course, Dr. Doyle's immortal detective, and twice at that! For example, at one point, Walter went to visit a millionaire scouting expert in the neighborhood to get some information about the special deadly murder weapon. In the millionaire's house, he first ran into the man's "head wrangler" watching a soft-porn movie in the kitchen --- "Lady Chatterley's Lover." Walter commented:

I wasn't sure if D.H. Lawrence would have recognized his work, but the plastic surgeon specializing in breast enhancement would have recognized his.

Beyond the chuckles, however, Johnson's style is also impeccable and full of surprising grace and beauty. Reading it slowly is like drinking the crisp, pure morning air of the mountains under the Wyoming sky.

Dead Ringer

昨天下班在地铁上，看书看累了，无聊地望着车窗 --- 窗外是黑乎乎的隧道，玻璃反射着车厢内的旅客或站或坐的影子。忽然一哆嗦，我看见一张脸，仿佛是从 Sherlock DVD 封面上跳出来的一样。赶紧扭头去看镜像的来源，眼光捉到车厢对面的门边站的长脸高个男，果然很象 Benedict Cumberbatch。头发颜色是棕的，而不是电视剧里（染得）漆黑，发型倒是很象，比剧中福尔摩斯剪得更短一些。除了脑袋的形状之外，他的五官也象，虽然细看没有那么棱角分明，但是Cumberbatch 的脸在剧中其实也经过了摄影加灯光处理加强棱角。另外，此男亦穿了件长过膝的黑色呢大衣，围巾挂在脖子上没有系，全神贯注地盯着手上的黑莓，耳朵里还塞着耳机。总之，乍看之下整体效果好诡异。

Winter's Bone

这片儿印证了我的一个印象：好莱坞中虽然女影人（制片，导演，编剧）极少，但是闯出来的女影人，普遍比男影人更有胆儿。They have more balls than the guys.

男影人，大老板，忙不迭地拍四平八稳绝无风险迎合众口稳赚不赔皆大欢喜的题材故事和套路，尤其是续集加前传加spin-off，没完没了。总之决不肯担负一点风险。

Winter's Bone 从选材（Daniel Woodrell 的小说）到选演员，从题材到取景环境（在密苏里南部，真正的冬天里拍摄），到大量收集当地人民饱经风霜的面孔入镜，都给人留下拒绝媚俗的感觉。我忍不住猜想，两个女编导 Debra Granik 和 Anne Rosellini 一定很认同小说中年轻但是坚韧勇敢的女主角。