明天, 今天, 昨天（ghostneuron）

人类的进化是自发的随机的吗？ 这个电影显然给与人类一种外星智慧的启示；人类是外星人的试验品。。。为了这个试验，他们可以耐心等待几百万年。如果驱使人类进化的动力是好奇心的话，外星人的目的是什么呢？ 人类从发明工具，到探索月球，到木星寻源，每一次都要靠神指一点。。。也许外星的进化系统与人不同，他们对人类也是好奇之中。象人类一样，在这个电影里只以石碑形态出现的外星人标志，也在探询着思考着生命的意义。。。两种文明可以通过碰撞交流而互相理解，两种星际文明的碰撞也需要得到对方的反馈才行，不过这个电影只有人类自己的声音和想像。

电影里的配乐是Also sprach Zarathustra (Richard Strauss) and On The Beautiful Blue Danube (Johann Strauss II)，一个雄壮，一个悠扬，一个充满英雄主义般的探索和孤独，一个充满现世主义的享乐和浮华，一刚一柔，代表了人类以及世界的两极。真是很有代表性。。。除了这两个人类的创造，在无垠的宇宙中伴随着飞船的是各种刺耳的噪音，包括蝉叫的声音，还有绚丽奇幻的声光色。

当然最吸引人的是宇航船上的生活，未来的科技，包括人与电脑的对抗。。。这个电影也是个科幻迷百看不厌的，有人列下这个funny单子在IMDB___ 

1. Hal is sorry
2. people can survive in space, for a bit.
3. do not be afraid of a big black 1x4x9 monolith, that yells AAAAAAA!
4. floating in an egg above the world, as a baby, is one way to end a film
5. never step into a regency decorated room, without expecting to age very quickly, and to constantly see yourself through time
6. when in the regency room, all your food will be made for you
7. the hilton hotel has reached space!
8. in space, there is no need for the internet, you have access to video phone booths
9. the soviet union still exists in 2001
10. carefull, its hot! 

11. In the future, everything still tastes like chicken.
12. Velcro shoes are needed to walk on floors where there’s little/no gravity.
13. Space toilets don’t look that fun to use.
14. Floyd’s daughter wants a telephone, and if not that, then a bush baby!
15. They can spend billions on building a space station, but can’t afford a non-nauseating interior decorator/designer.
16. Interstellar portals look like an ELO show.
17. Ligeti wrote theme music for black monoliths and other strange things.
18. A muddy waterhole is SO not worth it!
19. When in a bizarre hotel room, be careful about breaking wine glasses, or a monolith will appear and you will die and transform into a Starchild.
20. An advanced supercomputer is no match for a guy with a screwdriver!
21. The bone is mightier than the sword.
22. Classical music is still cool.
23. When intelligent machines turn on you, ventrilliquism is a useful skill to have.
24. Winning a chess game will become impossible.
25. In hindsight, it’s probably a good idea to install sensitive hardware on the INSIDE of your spacecraft so you don’t have to keep going outside to fix it.
26. Despite what film school has taught me, a jump-cut isn’t always a bad thing.
27. No matter how trapped you might seem to be, there is ALWAYS a hidden lever somewhere.
28. Taking LSD isn’t the only way to have a trip.
29. Dialogue is over-rated.
30. 3 Acts. No, I mean, 4. No wait…..3…..no, wait…..
31. Tapirs are tasty
32. Don’t mess with the Moonwatcher
33. In space, it’s better to hold "it" until you get to the space station
34. Those sneaky Russkies are still sneaky in 2001
35. You can’t go home again.

36. people dont talk for a good 26 minutes
37. apes are not apes, baby apes are
38. he’s not at liberty to say
39. people watch wrestling on long space flights
40. if your waiting for someone, ask for them, they will arive behind you
41. gravity doesnt apply to some sets…
42. never let a computer have the ability to kill you, especially if it can be cheesed off…
43. when your going to talk infront of a super computer, make sure you use telepathy
44. hal doesnt want to open the pod bay doors
45. Mr Langly taught hal to sing a song, and if you’d like to hear it, he can sing it for you, dying or not…
46. there is no sound in space… only clasical music! 

47. A helmet doesn’t do you any good if you leave at at home.
48. Leopards do not make good pets.
49. Touching long vibrating things can be habit forming (ask my x-wife)

50. man can go anywhere in the universe, but computerised chess is 2d
51. the bbc have hundreds and hundreds of television channels
52. the food trays from that machine are hot!
53. theres a delay between descovery and earth, but editing overcomes this
54. dave does very nice renderings…
55. …and has improved 

56. Hal looks like an iPod, which was released in 2001…. :

57. HAL was also the first webcam.
58. Humanity’s destiny is to go from the rat race to the rodent wheel. 

59. Sucking (straws) can be fun and nutritious.
60. In space, no one can see your luggage.
61. Exercise can make you dizzy.
62. Beware of geeks bearing grifts – whether they’re computers or troll posters.
63. Richard and Johann Strauss can share the same space in peace.
64. Black is beautiful, especially when rectangular.
65. Accept no substitutes. 

……… 

Keep a record here for learning later. Two websites on psychiatry movies, one is documentary for education, the other is for entertainment.

“Ting. Tingle, tingle, tremble toes,
she’s a good fisherman,
catches hens, puts ‘em inna pens
wire blier, limber lock,
three geese inna flock
one flew east, one flew west,
one flew over the cuckoo’s nest
O-U-T spells out
goose swoops down and plucks you out”
-page 239

After a night discussion with DD, I found I was never indulged in any science fiction and movie, but the list below from a vote by scientists UK might be a good start:

Top sci-fi authors

1 Isaac Asimov
2 John Wyndham
3 Fred Hoyle
4 Philip K Dick
5 HG Wells

Top five sci-fi films

1 Blade Runner (1982)
2 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
3 Star Wars (1977 ) / The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
4 Alien (1979)
5 Solaris (1972)

Here is another long list: http://home.austarnet.com.au/petersykes/topscifi/lists_film.html 

A good news site : http://www.guardian.co.uk/science 

昨晚看了新片《21》，是个传奇喜剧故事片，很好看的说，不过今天看电影论坛讨论的却全是种族偏见问题。有人抵制这个电影，因为它“歪曲“了事实_是亚裔的传奇故事,却用白人演员来演; 两个亚裔的角色非常脸谱化, 有小丑的感觉 (我是觉得像猴子来着). 于是争论起来,火药味很浓, 到处是被版主删掉的标记…有人说, 好莱坞本来是以利润为目的, 要赚票房自然要吸引大多数观众_是白人而不是亚裔; 有人说Jeff Ma是亚欧混血,由白人来演没什么好争的…有人说,白人是个不准确的概念,有犹太人,意大利人,爱尔兰人,苏格兰人, 北欧人, 几乎所有外国人或新移民都有被好莱坞"丑化", "贬低","脸谱化" 的历史, 还有个爱尔兰后裔为爱尔兰人总被扮作海盗, 暴徒, 酒鬼而感到气愤的…好像这个问题是由来已久,我记得美国科幻作家阿西莫夫曾经抱怨过犹太人被丑化的事,还提到当时中国人的sterotype是"傅满洲", 一个奸诈虚伪的坏蛋. 设想一下日本人在中国看了<地道战>, <地雷战>,<小兵张嘎>会有何感想?  每个人,民族,国家都希望自己是正义,强者,智慧的化身,但是谁来做反面角色呢? 大家可以商量商量, 轮流坐庄, 这样可能有助于解决不同民族间的矛盾. 目前中国男性在好莱坞的形象主要是功夫高手, 技术专家,冷血官僚, 其余的就是性格怪异的小丑了, 李小龙的理想还远远没有实现. 不过这一切都在不断的变化之中…

Plan for next week:

No Country for Old Men
There will be Blood
Juno

finish grant writing

today’s swimming, 1000m, 35min

小可爱实在是不一般，我混沌的大脑叫她一席话说的如醍醐灌顶，顿时清爽了不少，我实在该经常反省一下自己，戒骄戒躁，变得更成熟些。

这周看了几个电影，感觉不错，记录一下。

Atonement，  文学电影，是值得反复看的电影。我第一遍只看到故事梗概__懵懂少年的错误行为毁了别人一生，而无法赎罪；没有抓住更深的主题__艺术美化与无奈现实的冲突；我所感觉到的只是画面的优美，剪辑的干净，和一些细节放大的运用：打字机的哒哒声，蜜蜂的嗡嗡声，近镜头和回放(flash back)的大量运用。整个电影有强烈的节奏感。看了几个影评，发现有几个细节我都疏漏了，象Robbie给Cecilia的短信写了好几封，开始用了cunt这样的字眼，后来感觉不妥，又写了封措辞委婉的，可是到后来却又拿错了装在信封里，结果被Briony偷看后而引发了她对Robbie的恨意和报复，是整个故事的导火索。另一个关键的疏漏是Briony见到reunite的Robbie和Cecilia, 痛苦地向他们忏悔的场景，原来这是导演设置的一个想象的结局，真正的结局是Robbie死在了Dunkirk战场，Cecilia死于 防空洞的意外。所以电影到结束，才发现原来整个电影是Briony写的回忆小说，这时才想到所有断片都是Briony构建的，她才是故事的主角，她以一个成年人重构自己少年的记忆，哪些是真实的？哪些是虚构的？这时才发现这个电影如此值得回味。所以看第二遍时一定要注意以Briony的视角看电影里的一切。英格兰美女Keira Knightley演Cecilia，苏格兰帅哥James McAvoy演Robbie都很不错（两个人都在Pride and Prejudice里扮演角色），一个泼辣，一个腼腆，在少年Briony眼里他们之间的爱情也很简单，难以理解，想起我小时候看我哥哥跟邻居姐姐的暧昧，感觉何其相似！爱尔兰小女孩Saoirse Ronan演Briony也很好，表现出少女的懵懵懂懂，又早熟又困惑的内心世界。

Sense and Sensibility, 也是文学电影，不过是古典名著，李安导演，充分体现这位“女性”导演的细腻和近乎完美的叙事风格。当然演员们表演也很到位。最喜欢Elizabeth Spriggs的表演（Mrs. Jennings）

Sideway, 也算文学片，讲述了一个酒鬼失败作家的故事，不光主角是个作家，几个人物的刻画也很有文学性。也得到一个通俗的真理，女人是男人走出生活阴影和悲观抑郁状态的动力，男人则是给女人带来伤害的源头。另外激起我去加州生活的欲望，那里的葡萄园和阳光太好了！ 演Miles的Paul Giamatti 看着眼熟，想起来看过的Illusionist里的警长就是他演的。演Stephanie d的Sandra Oh也眼熟，她在grey’s Anatomy里演过Dr. Cristina Yang。

V let me read this movie analysis by a doctor, Diagnosing The English Patient: schizoid fantasies of being skinless and of being buried alive. It’s quite interesting, which ignite my interest to see all the psychos behind movies and novels. And this blog seems tell us something in a person like Almásy. And someone has already make a list for me.  So what’s the psycho behind Lust, Caution, also a movie of debating.

基本上是spoiler…

凶猛的狼狗，荷枪实弹的警卫，近镜头逐渐拉远，俯瞰到一个戒备森严的大院；镜头又拉近到院子里的一个华丽小楼里，四个打麻将的女人在房里谈笑，王佳芝出场 了，她是其中最年轻漂亮的一个。这是在日伪特务头子易先生的家里。美妇人的纤手在麻利地码牌，出牌，虽然是脸上满是笑意，也是不经意的市井言谈，但是在低 沉的音乐背景下，加上王佳芝审慎的眼神，已然勾勒出一种紧张的感觉。此时易先生出场了，他谨慎，阴沉，城府极深，与王佳芝的目光接触有短暂的停滞，却是意 味深长。。。几句简短的对话，王佳芝借故离去，似乎两人之间有事情要发生。接着，王佳芝来到一个咖啡屋，她面色苍白，目光警惕，要了杯咖啡后在那里等了片 刻后，去打了个电话，紧张中竟然拨错了号码，然后讲了几句暗语，另一群人躲在一个小屋里听她的电话，一声“行动”嘎然而止。王佳芝此时稍有镇定，凝视着咖 啡杯上留下的朱红唇印，往颈上，腕上慢慢洒了些香水，那唇印似乎象征着什么，预示着什么， 情爱，血腥，宿命？

电影的画面很精致，四十年代的上海，洋房，洋装，洋车，洋人，很是布尔乔亚；色调暗而柔和，联想起最近看的一部西班牙电影Pan’s Labyrinth；有个上海街景像梦境一样，蓝天白云，阳光明媚，白色的洋房，街上是穿时髦服装的行人；人物造型服饰也都跟当年月份牌上的美女一般，她 们尊贵，富丽，举止文雅，讲国语，粤语，沪语，英语，日语；王佳芝多是穿裸臂紧身的碎花旗袍，外面一件米色风衣，头上小沿软布帽，脚下黑丝袜，高跟鞋。

镜头接着摇到四年前的香港几个爱国大学生先是演话剧为抗战募捐，然后组织暗杀团计划暗杀汉奸易先生。王佳芝懵懵懂懂中被拉入伙，全然不是什么爱国 的热情。她聪明能干，情感丰富，凭着和易太太打麻将，逛街的机会接近易先生。她是个极聪慧的，镇定的，没有恐惧心的人，好像外界的事情对她没有什么影响。 也许是她家庭的影响，电影中交待了她父亲离婚再娶，她被迫寄居在姑姑家；也许是战乱年代的生活压力让她看到前途渺茫，电影里还提到了她去英国读书的梦想； 不管怎样她身上都有张爱玲的影子。她有自己的世界，年轻，迷惘，漠然，没有方向。。。

接着镜头摇到三年后的上海，王佳芝被匡玉铭怂恿正式加入了重庆的特务组织，还是在迷惘中入伙。于是她开始色诱易先生，于是他们做爱。两个人似乎都 知道是在演戏，一个谨慎小心，一个警惕敏感；一个忠于日伪的机构，一个忠于重庆的组织。这里的表演非常精彩，细节化，象王佳芝被易先生的司机送到一个别 墅，她用手摸了一下，发现柜子上厚厚的积尘；象在易先生家里，王佳芝装作收拾行李要离开上海的样子；象易先生神出鬼没，不断改变幽会地点，半夜里在书房烧 文件。。。最重要两个人的情欲戏有三段，第一次，易先生像恶狗一样SM王佳芝，表现他阴冷凶狠的一面；接着他被王佳芝的美貌和柔情所软化，第二三次动作也 变得文明起来，两个人都开始迷恋对方，相互进攻肉搏。这大概也是两人真正的心理发泄，因为他们有各自的恐惧和空洞的心，生活因此而有了生机，有了意义。像 在日本餐馆里易先生对时局和自己命运的不祥预感，和王佳芝在给组织汇报时的痛苦的倾述。男人和女人在性爱中搏斗，男人想征服女人（背缚双手），女人也想征 服男人（枕头压头）。两人在互相征服中达到性欲的高潮和压力的释放。这是他们内心的真实表达，所以情场戏是这个电影的高潮，矛盾得以彻底表现。镜头给了各 种角度的细节拍摄，加上柔和的色调，非常的艺术化，最后有一个两人合抱的造型，非常的美，充满男性的力量与女性的柔美的结合，让我联想到古希腊的雕塑，这 原始的生命的动力！

王佳芝为易先生唱了首天涯歌女，让易先生动了真情，流了泪；易先生为王佳芝定做了钻戒，也让她动了真情，泄了密。两人都犯了情报工作的大忌—— “色”，破了情报工作的原则——“戒”。于是故事到此结束了，女人放弃了自己的忠诚而牺牲了自己和同伴的性命；男人坚持了自己的忠诚而牺牲了自己爱人的性 命。这是男人的宿命，也是女人的宿命：男人用权势征服女人，女人用美色征服男人；男人最爱的是自己的权势，有了权势也就有了安全感，女人最爱的是自己的情 爱，有了情爱却未必能有安全感；但对于女人来说，也只有情爱这原始的动力能成为自己的寄托了。。。匡玉铭与易先生的矛盾不光是国家大义的矛盾，也有情爱的 矛盾；老到的易先生比年轻幼稚的匡玉铭更懂得女人的需要，所以王佳芝爱上了易先生而没有爱上匡玉铭。

总印象：是个很精致的有深度的能激发讨论的艺术片，是李安以西方手法表现东方文化的又一成功案例。

Dr. House is a miracle, a maverick medical genius. I am infatuated with a TV series recently, and boght all the DVDs for 3 seasons. It’s witty and kowlegeable and I also learn microbiology by this way, because most cases are infectious disease like Naegleria, a parasite infection; with long names, such as Erdheim-Chester syndrome,  or rare case like gold poison…but there are also mistakes of course, like this one catched by fans in wikipedia:

• Naegleria fowleri was featured on the TV show House, on season 2, episodes 20-21. The writers got the most dramatic symptom wrong. Both characters developed cortical blindness, a condition affecting the occipital lobes where the patient thinks he can see but really can not. This is not consistent with Naegleria fowleri, whose initial symptoms are "alteration in taste (ageusia) or smell (parosmia)".^[2]

This guy is witty, humorous and a very good doctor, but different from others, a jerk, a eccentric person, but liked by every one.

Looking forward to the season 4 …