人肉引擎

这一季没怎么看全 Law & Order 系列剧，今天偶然一翻网上的 episode guide，骇然发现去年十月已经播过一集，题目叫做“人肉搜索引擎”！当然这集我没看过，也不知道跟中国有无关系。纽约时报也是最近才登出一篇关于中国的人肉搜索引擎的文章，所以显然电视剧在NYT之前抢先一步撕下了新闻标题。哇噻，太厉害了也。我忽然想起现在的 showrunner 是 Rene Balcer，他太太是华裔，他俩都收集中国古董。难怪，这人还真会与时俱进哦，I 服了 U。

The Laughing Policeman

刚读完这第四本。还有两本Martin Beck在排着队呢。

我看着胖子 Kollberg 的婚姻就有点悬，每次办案子总是碰见魅力的美女，上得山多终遇虎呀，简直把读者变成 Martin Beck 替他担心。

有趣的是，六十年代的瑞典，社会风气还相当保守，大家都按时好好地结婚生子，不象现在，大多数年轻人拒不结婚，但同居生子什么的一样也不落下。这里面的人物，离婚与同居不婚的都尚未出现。

很多戏少的配角都写得活灵活现，例如从北方借调来的侦探，被大城市里的人情冷漠气得半死，找目击者谈话还遇上个疑神疑鬼的太太，连门都不让进，笑得我半死。有点体会到瑞典人慢吞吞效率不高的特征了。

Gunvald Larsson 当然是每集必砸开几个门，否则就不过瘾。笑死了。

Martin Beck 系列

已经看了系列中前三本，都是借本地图书馆的，正要看第四本 "The Laughing Policeman"。再往后就得自己去买了，图书馆没有收藏后五本小说。很好看呀很好看，估计我会去买来看全。

难怪作者和 barb 同学都偏爱 Gunvald Larsson 这个角色，他的确很特别且出彩，脾气暴躁，态度粗鲁，大大咧咧，很让我想起赤川次郎的某系列中的大贯警部，也是让人哭笑不得，爱也不是恨也不是。为什么这种人物很有魅力呢？因为作者可以借他们之口毫不遮拦地说出大实话，而大实话总是很有喜剧感的 --- 因为在生活中太罕见了。

世锦赛

终于决定今天撬班在家看世锦赛。高桥大辅同学不负众望获得世界冠军，非常值得为之撬班。

The Cult of Matt Savoie's The Mission

A funny phenomenon I've noticed over the years: From time to time I hear a fan confess that she likes to go back and watch Matt Savoie's 2005-2006 free skate The Mission, although his short program from that season is also well loved. And I, too, feel the urge to re-watch The Mission once in a while and think about it more often.

It is by no means the one and only all-time-favorite program of mine. Yet, I am most haunted by it. There is an almost mysterious pull that draws me back again and again. The beautiful, calm, and delicate first half, followed by tension and restrained conflicts in the second half. The program is rich, complex, nuanced, and abstractly emotional (or emotionally abstract?).

There is no story, no dramatic arc, no carved-out foothold for the viewers to latch their emotions onto, no obvious effort to move and persuade and win someone, everyone, over to his side. It is a journey, a mission, that some of us willingly take with him, down the winding paths, into the dark forest, quietly, to a world never discovered.

An important element of modern art is that the recipient (audience, viewer, listener) has to do a lot of work to meet the artist half way. The effort, the experience, the process, is as much part of the artwork as the work itself. There is no one right answer. The ultimate effect of the piece is what the artist and the recipient create together. In this particular piece, however, Matt Savoie gave as much as he can give without any pretension or condescension, but not an iota more than necessary. No easy answers but plenty of impact. It is all there for those who are receptive.

A recent interview with Tom Dickson offers an answer to something I had been wondering about. Apparently, Savoie was finally able to allow himself revealed to such a large extent only in that season, his last in eligible competition. The intensity and depth of feelings that this young man possesses, which we fans had only suspected before from his deep-set eyes, were finally, (relatively) fully let out in the program and performances.

I sometimes wonder whether his experience with this last season --- not just being able to go to the Olympics, but feeling safe and strong enough to reveal so much of himself to others, strangers, and bond with us all --- left a lasting effect on him as a person as he went into the world from Peoria.

Listlessness

World Championships start tomorrow. The weather is dark and gloomy. It is Monday.

I long for the smell of the ice rink. The poorly lit corridors and peeling paint on the walls. The running feet of kiddie skaters and their mothers chasing after them. The whooshing sound of blades gliding across the ice and thumps of landing jumps. The chill in the air.

Aa bhi ja

今天到 Shirlington 的印度餐馆吃午饭（又吃撑了），背景音乐是一些理查克莱德曼化了的叮叮咚咚的钢琴曲。吃到一半忽然听到非常耳熟的旋律，立刻认出是某宝莱坞的 soundtrack，但当时无论如何想不起哪个片子里来的，特别是因为已经被 bastardized，不是原声，只有旋律，更加想不起，只记得我肯定看过这片子。

女服务员过来倒水，我问她这个是啥音乐，是不是宝莱坞音乐集锦。她说不不，这是 "classical music"。我心想这是宝莱坞 classic 还差不多。她还很热心地到后面去帮我查查看，结果音乐一下子全没了，过了半天换成了印度民间音乐。我还以为她要把CD拿给我看呢，十分钟后她过来垂头丧气地说，她不会弄那个CD player，把CD拿出来以后放不回去了。然后口气肯定地说，CD 上是 classical music。我心想别逗了，一听就是宝莱坞音乐的钢琴版，不过还是谢了她。

然后涅，看完了电影出来，在附近的蛋糕店买了一块巧克力蛋糕（既然都吃撑了为啥还要买甜食涅？），忽然就想起来了那首宝莱坞名曲的来源，是笑嘻嘻推荐过的 Aa bhi ja ，电影 Sur 里面的。里面的男声还是演员 Lucky Ali 自己唱的（一般都是配音）。特此记录，省得下次又想不起来。