Oral defense

My academic career is rapidly drawing to a close. My oral defense, which I've hardly prepared for, is today. Wish me luck!

Update: The oral defense went really well, aside from my inability to form complete sentences and the fact that I stumbled badly on some of WC's questions. WC's 9 year old daughter was present, and at one point was playing with the newspaper rack, causing a ruckus. I thought that was hilarious, and it put me in a more relaxed mood. After my presentation HG was gushing with praise, even saying it is publishable. LK had to practically calm her down, basically saying calm down, it's just an MPhil paper. Usually the supervisor has to try to defend the student and fend off critics, but in this case she actually had to do the opposite.

魔術男

這天訪問了黃修平新片《魔術男》的演員和導演，包括我一直很喜愛的楊淇。那天她很準時，比約會時間早了十五分鐘到達Kubrick，自己一個靜靜坐在一角看書。我上前介紹自己並談談訪問內容，她表現得很cool，誰知道魔術男Anjo 出現時她又展露出開朗好玩的一面。原來他們倆很friend，我安排他們一起接受訪問，他們一起不斷開玩笑又玩魔術，令訪問生色不少。很少看到演員之間有那麼好的chemistry,希望在銀幕上也看得出來吧。

Anjo是個很charming,很可愛的大男孩，原來他是兩年前在黃修平前作《碧咸與奧雲》的放映後與導演認識。他小時候已拍過很多戲，後來又跟Harry哥哥學魔術，《魔術男》的故事就是他跟修平一起度出來的。

Anjo很有表演天份，又具喜劇感，我對他說現在杜文澤消聲匿跡，說不定你可紅起來呢。他說：我想做梁朝偉播！

靦腆嫖客

週末當了Vincent新片的老臨,我飾演一個靦腆而麻甩的嫖客,是從影以來演技最大挑戰!和我做對手戲的王亦藍,我想找他演我的戲,但他聽到要演同志大為恐慌,不知最後會不會答應。他是個很大情大性、粗枝大葉的人,但我覺得若他能表露他柔情和vulnerable的一面,便能演好我的角色。

Sanjog's back!

Sanjog's back! Except for a pair of retro glasses, he looks exactly the same as a year ago.
His family has moved to a bigger apartment, which they share with two other Nepali families. His mom and dad have both found jobs, working in the same field as before, except his dad now works the day shift, so Sanjog is home alone during most of the day. Looking forward to spending more time with him.

Mr. Kam

Interviewed tv/movie legend and fashion victim Kam Kwok Leung at the agnes b gallery in Wan Chai today, where they have a punk photography show in association with the new Julian Temple film about The Clash's Joe Strummer, to be shown at the Arts Centre some time this month.

As a condition for letting us use the space, the interviewee has to wear agnes b clothes, which Mr. Kam did with great pleasure. He donned a black PVC jacket with shiny black pants, no doubt as a punk homage .

Kam talked about his appearance in the Quentin Lee film 0506HK, to be shown at the upcoming Asian Film Festival. See picture below. My theory is that Kam lost his sense of humour sometime in the late-80s, about the same time as Edward Lam. Maybe they lost it in the same place?

On the set

Helped out on J's shoot over the weekend. This is the first time I get to light a scene. I'd almost forgotten about key light and fill light, like the two can't come from the same direction, duh! But as the night wore on, it all came back to me, and in the end I was quite happy with the results.

Watching another director work made me realize how hard this job is. You must have a firm vision, and know how to get the most out of the people you work with. You have to think on your feet, and constantly come up with good ideas every day on the set. It takes smarts, talent, patience, perseverance. No wonder only very few people in the world can earn their living as a director.

懷舊

對皇后碼頭沒什麼感覺，但現在一片懷舊熱下忽然很想念另一碼頭景緻：「天涯海角」。冒著出賣自己年紀的險，也要提一提這個年代標記。這個露天茶座在中環對出，要走一段walkway才到，所以稱為「天涯海角」，坐在那兒背靠中環商厦，可飽覽無敵海景。那裡的食物很平民化，都是三文治薯條之類 ，但一邊吹著海風，一面看著當年仍然寬闊的維港景色，實在是一大享受。可惜「天涯海角」不知何時結業了，若今天才被迫關門，不知人們會否為它絕食？

不知為何，當年的社交生活都圍繞著維港，又想起其他逝去的landmarks: 巴西咖啡、海運大厦樓下的超市、星光行那個整糯米磁的人。還有海洋中心有間試音室，當年很多音樂發燒友每星期都會去聽唱片，一班人坐在黑暗的房間內聽完一整張搖滾唱片，現在說出來都覺得有點匪夷所思的一個活動。

情長同志

感謝同學Janet送這本書給我，因為此書的封面實在太嚇人，我見到是絕對不會買的，哈哈!

書內有很多十分有趣的人物，我特別喜歡結過婚的Swing和他前妻和兒子的那段，充滿無奈和辛酸。另外六十多歲的施魅力的故事也很特別，尤其說到以前在大笪地看賣藝時被男人攪，又和住板間房的鄰居哥哥仔有一段情等，現在聽起來很有歷史意義，原來以前的同志是這樣生活的。

看這書時我不斷思巧這一類書的意義，除了紀錄歷史外，是否應有闊一點的含意？我是說，己現在已是二十一世紀，我們怎麼還是活在(或當自己活在)黑暗中，彷彿有一本白紙黑字的書證明自己存在過便覺得已經很empowering,功德圓滿了。或者再說清楚一點：這本書是沒有主題的，垃垃什什，有變性人有學生有離婚男人有情侶有單身有基督教有天主教，看完了之後不會覺得它advocate什麼，只是放了十二篇訪問出來，你get到什麼便是什麼。

再看被訪者的年齡與教育分佈：十二個個案中有五個是正在念大學的學生，其中兩個還是文化研究學生，一半人是二十多歲，兩個三十多，一個五十多，一個六十多，很不representative,給人的感覺是順手湊夠十二個人來做訪問，沒有make過effort去做些資料搜集，決定成本書的方向，需要些什麼樣的故事，想帶出什麼message等。

還有一樣很annoying的是訪問的段落中間，訪問者不斷加入自己的意見和見解，有些很無厘頭，像這一句「雖然校內常有低年級女同學主動上前要求認識小曹，但小曹都未曾對自己的性取向有所動搖」--彷彿性取向是一種需要堅守的信念。另外在變性人Lenny的自白中間，又不斷加插《木蘭辭》，硬把代父從軍與變性劃上等號，十分攪笑，做訪問的都是文化研究的同學，難道沒聽過要 let the subaltern speak？