素食

對我來說，素食的最大原因不是健康，而是你不需要食肉。你可從植物中得到所有營養，那為何要其他動物受苦、流血去滿足你的食慾？

自去年從印度回來後減少吃肉，漸漸完全素食，至今一年有多，一切安好。

Stanley Reunion

My new script takes my short film, "Stanley Beloved" as a starting point, and tries to image what will happen to its protagonists, Jamie and Kevin, ten years down the line. Coincidentally, while at the gym one day, I caught a glimpse of Oliver Williams, who played Jamie, on TVB. He plays a butler in some sitcom.

It turns out he's been back in Hong Kong for a few years after studying in England and working as an actor there. We caught up last week. The last time I saw him was 14 years ago, when he did a cameo in "First Love and Other Pains". Wes, who played Kevin, is now married and is expecting his first child.

Words fail me

Source: http://www.jamesweggreview.org/Articles.aspx?ID=1527

by S. James Wegg
Reviewed at the 2012 Inside Out Toronto LGBT Film and Video Festival

Simon Chung’s latest offering demonstrates a maturity for delving into issues and extraordinary sense of matching pace with events that will reward all who see it. Boy-boy-girl love triangles are nothing new whether gay or straight (e.g., The Dreamers); opening a film with a completely naked lost soul who will need considerable healing is also not a new narrative device (e.g., Saved by the Belles) and revenge more heinous than the crime has stimulated filmmakers’ imaginations since the dawn of cinema (unforgettably in Confessions). Here, Chung has successfully combined all of those elements into a marvellous concoction of just what can happen when “There is nothing covered that will not be revealed” rears its deadly head.
Found without a stitch and clearly traumatized into wordless silence, French foreigner Luke (Pierre-Matthieu Vital) is kept out of the insane asylum by Jiang (Gao Qilun), an instantly smitten nursing assistant whose brand of TLC may well be headed for very personal international relations as the ever-attentive Chinese rescuer ferries his unexpected companion back to his past.

Lan (Si Tu Yu Ting) Jiang’s date—one of the local police who helped fish Luke out of the river—is none too amused when it appears the exotic, mute stranger has captured her prospective partner’s attention. (The screen positively radiates on several occasions when Gao’s smile says more about the feelings between the two men than any line of dialogue could.)

Filling out the principal characters are a pair of Luke’s university chums who are both headed for careers in biology. Ning (Yu Yung Yung) seems to have spurned the amorous advances of the exchange student but can’t abide losing him to her current beau, Han (Jiang Jian). The nervous young man—like so many others of any race or nationality—wants to know just how his “gayness” was so readily sensed by his sudden Caucasian lover. No reply is given or needed as Chung silently answers another of his theme’s questions.

The drama is lovingly unfolded, employing many deliberately stagnant shots (beautifully rendered by Chan Chi Lap) that let the characters and audience reflect each step of the way, truly savouring or slinking away from those moments of truth. Completely at one with that thoughtful atmosphere is Sebastien Seidel’s original score where percussionist Karina Yau is note perfect—particularly her marimba artistry for the “road” sequences.
As the miserable climax takes shape, Chung’s ability to have his images speak louder than words fires on all cylinders. Ning exacts her pound of steamy flesh during a Christian church service where she is the steadfast, stoic accompanist even as the object of her scorn sings innocently in the choir. The shattering effect on all lives in the house of forgiveness, tolerance and love of all creatures is a cinematic knockout punch for the ages.

Hopefully, those on the cusp of understanding their own sexuality or that of their partners, will see this film before the all too common consequences ruin lives forever.

TrustMovies: ON DVD: SPEECHLESS -- This quiet, semi-silent melo...

TrustMovies: ON DVD: SPEECHLESS -- This quiet, semi-silent melo...: It has been awhile since Simon Chung 's early, full-length films First Love and Other Pains (1999) and Innocent (2005). Both were ...

Script writing 101

Super busy lately with writing the latest draft of my script. I finished the previous draft last September and hadn't really thought about it much since. After coming back from India last February, the urge to write gradually increased.

Then I met a young screenwriter, Joseph, and suggested that we collaborate. He's a devout Christian who teaches Sunday school and goes to church every week, so at first I thought he'd be put off by the homosexual content. But after he read the first draft, he seemed unfazed, so we embarked on this journey of collaboration.

From the very beginning, I knew this is a very personal story. It's not autobiographical, but I felt nobody could understand the sentiments of the main characters better than I, so I took a very active role in the writing. We'd meet and talk about plot points, then I'd go home and write, and show him the results the following week, and he'll give me feedback. Sometimes he would rewrite or add to certain scenes. Having someone as a sounding board was really helpful, and the weekly meetings provided motivation and momentum.

Yet the writing process was often slow and painful for me. Most days I could only do one or two scenes. But I soldiered on. I noticed that having a writing partner drastically improved my writing. Discussing the scenes with someone else helped me visualize them better, and made them less one-dimensional. Joseph was always full of good humour, never judgmental about the characters or my ideas.  All in all one of the most enjoyable writing experiences I've ever had.

素食年輕化

自去年起開始素食，雖然大部分時間都在家煮食，但有時也要出外工作，自不然要記下每一區有什麼好吃的素食店。大半年下來，我的經驗是香港越來越多人長期或偶然茹毒，以前吃素的多是佛教徒，尤以中年婦女為多，現在傳統齏舖很多時都會見到這些三五成群的師奶素食者。

但我感覺到素食有年輕化的趨勢，所以稍有特色的新派素食店都往往座無虛席。星期日我去了尖東的Woodland印度素食，多年前還在冠華中心時已幫襯過，這次再去居然要等位，客人除了印度人和洋人外，還有為數不少的本地華人，這是以前很少見的。另外昨天去一間兩夫婦主理、出名service不好(主要是只有丈夫serve,而他很明顯不是做開waiter的)的樓上cafe茶禪。這裡每晚提供兩素兩葷的set dinner，上個月中去過一次，一個月之後menu也沒變過，而且食物質素普通，但卻坐得滿滿的。第三間是有多間分店的大自然素食，在旺角始創中心那家星期五晚及假日一定要等位，而且吵得像街市，但食物質素是最有保證。九龍區的素食店長期爆滿，中環的Veggie SF 也好不了多少，我去的那晚近九時許仍坐滿了人，枱與枱之間的距離超近，鄰坐那對男女打情罵俏的內容清晰可聽。

綜合以上資料，新派素食店是否一門穩賺的生意？

興建中的水泉澳邨

這是在我家附近，興建中的水泉澳邨，是沙田區一個較大型的公共屋邨，共有十多幢三十多層高的大樓，整個屋邨的規模比同區的博康邨或沙角邨還要大，將有一萬多個單位，共可容納三萬多人，2014年開始入伙。

最近幾年這區不斷有大型基建工程，包括水務、渠務、道路等，把馬路掘得爛巴巴。下年開始居民開始遷入時，不知會為這個沙田圍區帶來什麼改變呢？