Princess Aiko is 6!

This cute little girl just turned 6!

(Photo from Imperial Household Agency Homepage)

Amsterdam in handbag

This is a chilling morning, and I set off to the train station ("Bahnhof" in German, sounds "barn-hof"), for a 2D1N trip to Amsterdam, with a handbag. Yup, you are right, and I'm right, I'm not "backpacking", but "handbagging". I have a big handbag, big enough to put all my daily necessities inside, together with my wallet, camera, phone, travel book, etc. So now I'm ready for a trip!

Of course some preparation is needed. Train ticket was bought from http://www.bahn.de/, where as long as you book 3 days in advance, normally you could get at least 50% off on return ticket (i.e., you pay for single trip, and get the return ticket!). Hotel was booked via http://www.booking.com/, a recommendation from a friend who using it quite a lot, which I also found very efficient. But hotels in Amsterdam is REALLY expensive! 70 Euro per night only get this kind of room:

Recently I've taken quite a lot of excercises on stairs. Last time in Himeji Castle, the stairs should definitely be military usage only. And this time the hotel in Amsterdam is basically just a canal house (when you say "canal house" in Amsterday, the first impression you should have should be long, narrow and steer stairs). And my room was in the attic, which means I climbed roughly 50 steps up from the street!

Upon arrival, I visited the Museum of Van Loon. It seems to have nothing related to the writer Dr. Van Loon, but it's still worthy visiting, for all its brilliant collections. It might be equivalent to some royal collections!

Early the next morning, I visited the Museum of Anne Frank, which really impressed me. I have never read the book "Diary of Anne Frank", but I've heard of this story. Visit to this museum still gave me quite a big shock, especially when I saw the movie stars' photos on the little girl's wall. I mean, who ever not did such things in high school? I think the thing that impressed people most, is that Anne is a girl that loves life so much, but in the end lost her life in a tragic war. Someone says that knowing Anne's story makes people perish the life, but once people think about there are countless people dying just like Anne, we might even lose the courage the live any more. That is true. After the visit, I took a short break in the museum's cafe, just to let myself come back to real life.

And then is the Dam Square. This is the centre of the city, and almost all most important buildings are clustered here. No doubt it is the focus of all cameras. The Royal Palace, church, National Monument, and so on. Just curious that this square is so small! Cannot just compare it with its counterpart in China, the Tian'anmen Square.

The trip back to Luneburg was a tragedy. German railway system fell into a mess after 6pm on Sunday. Every train was delayed. So I was delayed, and delayed, and delayed! Finally when I arrived in Luneburg, it was 10pm, 1 and half hour later in total! I swear that I will never take German trains continuously for more than 4 hours any more. I should take a plane actually.

Here are the album of this trip:
http://community.webshots.com/album/561570905PaXcce

Birthday dinner at a more than 500 yrs old restaurant

Finally could call it a day, and I decided to have dinner in the oldest restaurant in the town of Luneburg, as a small celebration.

The name of the restaurant is Krone, where I visited with some colleagues before for several time. It was built in 1485, so hope after another 500 years I could still have dinner here, hahaha.

This is a combo-poster hanged in Krone, which I like pretty much. Reason being? My name is in one of the posters! Could you find it out? (Hint: It is in a sharp color, at a sharp position.)

Looking for the answer? Well, keep read on then.

After one day's tough work, don't expect my pose was as good as these brilliant girls above.

And finally this is the dessert I had, Black Forrect Bowl. (BTW, Black Forest is actually the name of place in Germany.)

OK, now here comes the answer to the million-dollar question: What's my name? ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- LAURA!

My Birthday!

Today is my birthday, but I'm still struggling with emails, bugs, managers, etc.

This is an interesting picture when I happened to look at the clock on my laptop on an interesting moment:

Quiet morning in Lubeck

Due to the jet-lag, although I went to bed 1:30 am, I got up at 6:30 am, to find out that it was all dark out there. I enjoyed my breakfast in the hotel cafe, where I was the only guest during the whole 20 min. I never felt this hotel's breakfast is so delicious, possibly since I basically not ate since for 12 hours! (SIA sucks! My lunch was bloody cold, and the rice for the dinner was even RAW!) But I had to praise their self-service waffle. The materials are so fresh, and you could smell the fragrance of 50's. Together with their homemade jam, this is definitely gonna be my must-have for breakfast during my next two weeks' stay here.

I managed to catach a train to Lubeck (thanks God the railway drivers stopped strike during the weekend), a small but famous port town north-east to Hamburg. One hour's train ride, I only observed less than 10 passengers on the train at the same time (anyway the train only has two trunks). There is a small twon called Mollen on the way, which has a lake that reflects the whole town inside it. I almost rushed off the train for this beautiful town.

Lubeck looks quite similar to Luneburg, City Hall, churches, just not that well-preserved as Luneburg, because it was half-destroyed during WWII, thanks to its military importance as a port. But it has its own symbol, the Holstentor, or the Holsten Gate, which is often observed on many German culture-related things, even the Euro coins.

The morning was so quiet that when I walked down the street, I hated my boots because of the noise. But around 10:30 am when all churches began to ring the bells to call for people, I wondered how they built those things to make such huge sounds!

And here are the full album of my photos taken in Lubeck that day:
http://good-times.webshots.com/album/561496730zAFkzv

3-day Kansai

During the last weekend, I travelled to various places in Kansai area of Japan, like Kyoto, Nara and Himeji. Really tired in writing the blog in Chinese, so if you can read, please go to http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_540d06ba01000atd.html to read the Chinese version. Otherwise, you can check the photos I took with some simple quotes at following albums:
Kuramaji Temple http://good-times.webshots.com/album/560716321VIquYM
Nijojo Castle http://good-times.webshots.com/album/560714351ZeDBdC
Nara http://good-times.webshots.com/album/560720861ZpVgsx
Osakajo Castle http://travel.webshots.com/album/560716054ceWLPr
Himeji Castle http://travel.webshots.com/album/560740760iFJfZF

Kyoto -- Again

September again, Japan again, Kyoto again.

This time I insisted in visiting Kinkyakuji, perhaps the most famous temple in Japan.

Once to be the palace of the Shogun, I first knew this golden building from the cartoon "Ikkyu", like most people in China in my age.

Although it is an icon of Japan now, the real thing is rather smaller than I expected. Bit disappointed.

One interesting thing I found out at Kinkyakuji is that I can see the Daimunjiyama from here.

Next is re-visit Kyomizuji, but I found something new -- Kodaiji, which made a pretty good ending for the one-day Kyoto trip.

More photos could be found here: http://travel.webshots.com/album/560660032GaiOrQ

Second Life -- Me ... Myself

抽奖抽中的泰国片试映，拉上室友一起去看，原本只是打发一个无聊的周日夜晚，想不到却有意外的惊喜。
男主角是前两年火过一把的《Shutter》的主演，叫Anada，今天看到他的专访才知道是Australia和Laos的混血，在泰国长大。可能因为混血的关系，长得挺帅的，听说现在在泰国挺红的。
剧情不算特别出众，男主角被女主角的车撞倒失忆，被女主角"捡"回家，一起生活的过程中慢慢爱上女主角，正当两人陷入热恋的时候，男主角回忆起来原来自己本来是个同志变装艺人，追寻爱人同志而从普吉岛到了曼谷，被人抢劫打昏失忆。最后两个人要如何突破阻碍在一起，happy ending。
前半段以搞笑为主，尤其男主角在女主角家里洗完澡之后因为没有衣服换，只好天体运动，正好女主角突然回家，他情急之下拿了女主角吃饭的碗遮掩重点部位，这一段全场笑足三分钟。偶尔有一些爱情文艺片常见的桥段，比如女主角的负心前男友之类的。
后半段比较感伤，尤其是着力渲染男主角知道真相之后内心的挣扎，让观众的心情也跟着一起受尽煎熬，call it “煽情”，但至少比韩剧的动不动就上绝症来的自然。男主角表现内心戏的一段独舞，稍嫌冗长，而且重点不够突出，对舞蹈认识不深的观众肯定会打哈欠。但最后的ending还是让电影院里响起几声啜泣声。
因为是试映，前十分钟影片有不少瑕疵，有时字幕不见了，有时音效有问题，最离谱的是一场内景，居然露出了收音用的话筒！不过始终瑕不掩瑜。
看惯了生猛海鲜般的好莱坞大片，偶尔来一点这样的清粥小菜也不错。

男儿本色

宣传做得不是很大的一部港产动作片，但看了之后觉得演员实在是敬业。
谢霆锋+余文乐+房祖名这样的组合，最容易让人联想到的是“绯闻”，再有就是“80后”。但你实在是带着有色眼镜看人了。
剧情是港产动作片耳熟能详的了，劫匪黑吃黑，幸存者回来秋后算账，热血干探也跟他们对上了，于是打得昏天黑地，最后连带揪出警察内部的内奸。看过无数港产警匪片的我们，已经不会再有任何的新鲜感。于是只有靠拳拳到肉的武打和玩命的动作来弥补了。从天桥三级跳地跳落到人行道，中间还被双层巴士撞飞，再跌落在私家车的车顶。这个场景是不是让你觉得是成龙的招牌？这次换谢霆锋来做了。为了养老婆儿子，不容易啊！
房祖名演的小警察，天真憨厚到不可思议，基本上是绝种动物。余文乐演得最贴近现实生活，少年得志而有点臭屁，这种人你我身边可能就有。吴京演得大反派很失败，像是贴标签，台词、表情都很程式化。安圣杰自从《新警察故事》小露锋芒之后，这次大大增加了对白，发挥得也相当不错，尤其跟房祖名的大段对手戏，应该是整部戏我感触最深刻的部分。
间或有些小小的搞笑，与成龙的戏路颇为神似，难怪导演陈木胜当年会受到大哥的青睐，执导《新警察故事》这种致敬电影。

Want to see other related blog?
陈木胜

叠影重重--Bourne Ultimatum

为了看这部期待已久的电影，特地带了眼镜去，因为最近视力下降，生怕看走宝。但仍然是看得我头昏眼花，不怪我，要怪就怪疯狂崇拜摇镜的导演/摄影，当然也有可能摄影同志有帕金森氏综合症。动作、追车、爆破这样的场面用摇镜来掩饰本身的不足可以理解，但几个人安安静静地坐在办公室里开会还摇来晃去的就实在是匪夷所思了。不知道的还以为自己在看枪版的。

Matt Damon的成就已经被Bourne系列奠定，正如Harrison Ford会因为Indiana Jones而永远被人们记住。这一集少了很多“演”的成分，浑然天成，他就是Bourne。开头被俄国警察追捕，冲进小药局拿针剂对着洗手间的镜子给自己注射的一段，超级像Shooter，不知谁抄谁？帮助记者躲避CIA的跟踪和追杀的一段简直酷毙了，看一群特工被耍得团团转，好玩！

CIA的头目们一个比一个坏，也一个比一个蠢。被派去杀Bourne的杀手段数越来越高，打的也越来越过瘾。最后放走Bourne的那个，不知道是不是感觉到了自己相同的命运？

总觉得Nicky跟Bourne之间有戏，可又始终不明说，胃口从第一集吊到第三集，始终也没有揭开谜底。我猜是Bourne还叫David Webb时的女友？

Motorola这次可花老钱了，CIA特工专用手机啊！

Funny Hour x 3

Call Hollywood an idiot, and so what?
Rush Hour 3的剧情的确有够烂，再次证明Hollywood的编剧一直被关在小黑屋里写东西，关了几十年也没出来看看世界已经变成什么样了。但这并不妨碍全片中出现的连场笑料，虽然有些笑话有点老。
成龙的打斗场面还是颇有看头，不过开头在高速公路上追真田广之那一段怎么看怎么像《三岔口》的简化版。在巴黎铁塔上那一段很好看，大哥又挑战了一个极限。
真田还是没有辜负我的期望，什么时候都很酷，从而证明《无极》的问题主要还是在陈凯歌身上。
张静初跟当年的章子怡有点像，大花瓶一个，而且戏份比章少得多，演得也让人无语。大哥提拔华裔女星的努力，实在是没说的了。
这一集的一个卖点是成龙唱英文歌，还是很有当年《明明白白我的心》的功力哦！

Harry's Grown Up

终于找到时间去看Harry Potter & The Order of the Phoenix了。
首先觉得电影版跟The Order of the Phoenix的联系太弱了，只有开头一小段，再就是经常强调一下几位小主角的父母，师长，都是这个Order of the Phoenix的创始元老，差不多像是中国的“世交”的感觉吧。其他的就实在是跟这个所谓的秘密组织没多大关系了。
小演员们都长大了，于是又加入了新的小演员。还是合乎逻辑的，毕竟已经是五年级生了（Ron的两个哥哥已经成年，貌似应该已经毕业了吧？还留在学校里搞搞震，难道是留级了？）。Harry和You-Know-Who的关系一步一步地浮出水面，越来越引人入胜。Ron和妙丽的关系似乎已经到了“尽在不言中”的阶段，而Harry和张秋的关系却变得很奇怪，莫名其妙地就kiss了，然后莫名其妙地就冷战了，感觉张秋始终都被当作花瓶，无法真正融入Harry的小圈子，也得不到导演应有的关注。
从魔法部空降来的新老师真是不得不让人说她一个“贱”字，就像魔法部的部长一样。魔法部对学校的横加干涉让我联想到我读的中学，学校也是尽可能地排除地方上的教育局对着所有百年荣誉的学校所尝试进行的干涉，在几代校友的努力下，学校才幸免成为一些无聊官僚的牺牲品（我那所中学也像Hogwartz一样，流行校友们把自己的小孩也送进母校，所以很多学生的家长是两代甚至三代的校友）。
特效从技术上来说不错，但创意实在是欠奉。校长大战You-Know-Who的那一段，两个人一道蓝光加一道红光推来推去，好像是在演如来神掌，太老掉牙了。这一次导演终于下定决心舍弃了观众早已看腻的魁地奇，飞越夜幕下的泰晤士河那一段也没有显得太拖沓，总的来说对节奏的掌握还是不错的。希望下一部的导演还是他。
写这一篇的时候刚好看到第七本也就是大结局出街，出乎我的意料，三个小主角都没死，还结婚生子，幸福快乐。看来作者为了不伤害到大多数读者的心情，丢卒保车，以其他配角的死来充数，就有如这一集里天狼星的死一样，毫无意义，毫无逻辑，仅仅只是为了干掉一个人而已。对我来说最可惜的是扮演天狼星的Gary Oldman，难得“正常”地露脸了一集，马上就“后会无期”了。
关于配乐的部分，有人有听到任何音乐吗？

Berlin Wall -- The Embarrassing History

The Berlin Wall might be one of the three most famous walls in the world (The other two are The Great Wall, and the Wall of Cry in Jerusalem) . So the most important target of my trip to Berlin is to visit the remains of this famous wall.

Almost 30 min's walk under the horrible sunshine, just to find a piece of wall less than 100 metres long, and no more than 10 cm thick. That's really disappointing. The only photo I could take is a bronze label on the ground, showing the original position of the wall

During the 38 years' history of this wall, there were so may people dying, being separated, and so many storied to be told about the wall. If the collapse of this wall labels the end of an era, then why on earth this era should ever begin?

More photos taken in Germany, June 2007

War & Peace -- Impression of Hamburg

Hamburg is a city prosperous all the way since the Era of Navigation. As the centre of Lufthansa Alliance, it has been an important port of Europe for a long time. And that's why it was dramatically damaged by the Alliance bomb attack during WWII. The city called Hamburg nowadays was almost rebuilt all over, with only several ruined remains surviving the war. And the most impressive one is definitely the ruined church. (Right)

A friend of mine said, "Gothic church is the easiest target during the attack, for its tip is very obvious from view on the top. " How ironical! The tip is the most obvious icon for a Gothic church structure, while it is just this icon that attracts the dreadful bombs!

Bomb on a church, a temple, a hospital, all these are the most unforgivable crimes during the war. May it never comes again!

(You can find more photos taken during my recent Germany trip here: http://travel.webshots.com/album/559614241aZntLG).

暑假贺岁巨献--Ocean's Thirteen

感觉Ocean系列越来越像贺岁片。一大堆明星，永远大团圆结局，华丽的布景和服装，烟花，etc.让人想起香港很经典的两个贺岁片系列--《富贵迫人来》和《家有喜事》。
看George Clooney和Brad Pitt耍酷已经是招牌了，有如007里的那句"My name is Bond, James Bond"。Matt Damon其实很有喜感，一直都在努力想要上位的小弟，第一集里奋力想要得到老大的认同，第二集是老妈，这一集换了老爸，还真是家学渊源。Ocean系列一直以来的评价都是戏份不多的一群小弟比较高，老实说每个人就分到那么几场戏，要想让观众留下深刻印象还是很不容易的。这一集新加入的Al Pacino倒是没有砸自己的招牌，只是万众瞩目的他和Andy Garcia继Godfather之后的首次合作有点令人失望；两人唯一的一场对手戏平淡无奇，比他们分别与George Clooney的互动要差远了。
看来亚洲赌客给美国人的印象很深刻，冒牌的地产大亨“王先生”（虽然Matt Damon吹嘘他的财富的时候有点太不着边了），还有George Clooney带来带去的一整团亚洲豪客（看起来中日韩都有）。当然，我们都知道大部分在Vegas挥金如土的中国赌客他们的钱都是从哪儿来的。George Clooney和Brad Pitt动不动就来一段谈爱情、谈人生的睿智对话，让人有点莫名其妙，是找不出什么topic给这两个大男人聊了吗？
虽然Ocean系列不会得到什么演技方面的奖项，但这并不妨碍它继续成为票房强档和电影公司的印钞机。George Clooney说他们不想再拍第四集了，We shall see that.

Pirates 3 -- At Its Own End

应该是最后一部了，因为编剧已经江郎才尽了。周润发的出场完全是蛇足，似乎仅仅只是为了把一艘船和一群打扮得跨越了好几个中国的朝代的水手交到Elizabeth手上。与他在剧情中的重要性相比，他所谓精心设计的造型实在是太浪费了。
从头到尾看下来，觉得海盗实在是一群出尔反尔、毫无信义的家伙，个个尔虞我诈，永远猜不透他们下一分钟会选哪边站。连带地Elizabeth和Will都传染了这种习性，到最后两个人能够排除猜疑重新在一起还真是爱情的奇迹。
Jack Sparrow继续耍宝。多次出现的不同分身倒是很真切地反映出他内心的种种挣扎，不过这种手法对于PG级的影片恐怕太过深奥了些，尤其是在Devy Jones' Locker里的白沙滩上的那一段，颇有点破碎虚空的味道。
Elizabeth越来越养眼，Will也越来越man，下次可以考虑找他们演《六天七夜》或是Indiana Jones、Mummy一类的电影。
Barbossa船长“咸鱼翻生”之后简直脱胎换骨，成了绝世大好人；Bill Turner则被Flying Dutchman给同化得脑子都有点不清楚了。再次说明编剧已经开始硬拗了。
James这一集很冤。上两集都算是主要人物，而且第二集结尾的时候奸诈入骨，让人以为第三集会很有戏，谁知却是类似于龙套的角色，重点都放在东印度公司的那个贝爵士身上，最后还死得不明不白，不知道是不是因为人物太多，被编剧牺牲掉了。
沿用前两集的主题配乐，虽无甚新意，但总算不过不失。特效就没什么进步，大漩涡海战的一段，看起来比做得好的电游还假。
Disney尝到了甜头，还想再拍第四集。我看还是见好就收的好，免得落得好像Rocky那样的下场。

让我流泪的Children of Men

一部被淹没在其他大片排山倒海般的影评中的佳作，是几年来第一部害我哭出来的电影。
情节是人类因为战争、污染、辐射等等，已经失去了生育能力，自从2009年最后一个人类婴儿诞生之后，直到2027年，再也没有人类妇女怀孕。而同时整个地球陷入了种族冲突的杀戮战场，英国为了明哲保身，关闭了所有边界，把所有外国人视为非法移民送往难民营集中居住。男主角Clive Owen是个前激进运动领袖，自从20年前幼子死去之后成为一名酗酒的公务员。突然他的前妻，一个要求给予外国人平等权利的激进组织的领袖找到他，要他护送一名黑人少女，因为她怀了18年来人类第一个胎儿。
情节听起来是不是很像圣经？的确，这位“奇迹母亲”在男主角问他孩子的父亲是谁时，开玩笑说“I'm a virgin”。
处于末日边缘的世界听起来很难以想象，但看起来又是那么真实。暴乱，街头炸弹，示威人群，今天的伊拉克不就是这样吗？片中的男主角对于街头爆炸习以为常，拍拍身上的灰又继续去上班，我们不也是一样对每天发生在伊拉克的事情渐渐麻木？
人类的私欲是永无止境的，世界末日即将到来，各路人马还在争权夺利，争到来又有什么用？生不带来，死不带去，又没有下一代可以继承，要来做什么？
让我哭出来的一幕是难民营发生骚乱，人类的“圣婴”在乱世中刚刚出生，就与母亲冒着枪林弹雨地逃亡，婴儿的哭声震惊了所有的人，敌对的各方都大喊“停火”，每个人都注视着他们走过去，满脸风霜的老人伸出颤抖的手抚摸婴儿小小的脚，我的眼泪已经在眼眶里打转，一个政府军的士兵一边画着十字一边跪下来的一幕是我的last straw。
Clive Owen的演技不错，但最让我印象深刻的是那位黑人母亲。如果她的孩子真的是代表着人类的未来与希望的圣婴，那她一定是圣母。她从头到尾只有一个信念：谁也不能夺走我的孩子！
在母亲节看这部电影，觉得特别有感触。祝天下所有的母亲节日快乐！