Ren-ai Shashin

The title Ren-ai Shashin actually connects a few things-- Ai Otsuka, a movie starring Ryoko Hirosue, 市川拓司, and another movie/drama titled Tada, Kimi wo Aishiteru.

I first knew about the singer Ai Otsuka from a video of her Jam Punch Tour in 2005. I liked her singing in the concert very much, but only followed her until the release of Love Cook. Recently, when I was searching for some of her old songs that were once my favorites, I bumped into this song called Ren-ai Shashin. Then, there was a link to a 5-min preview of a 2003's Japanese movie named by the same title, of which screenplay was adapted from a novel with the same title written by 市川拓司. From Baidu Baike, I got to know who 市川拓司 is, and it was also written as a compliment that 市川拓司's Ren-ai Shashin elevates itself from Shunji Iwai's Love Letter. "Wow, that good huh?" I couldn't wait any longer. Of course, the compliment was meant for the novels, I supposed.

I've just watched it last night. The movie Ren-ai Shashin turned out to hang my emotion halfway. The beginning part of it was so beautiful that I wondered if the director had given up on the later part all the way till ending. Personally, I think the screenplay for the second part was a bit forced to connect the premises with the conclusion, hence leaving me detached from the emotion that was supposed to be at its climax near the end. The English narration could have been a bit better, if not perfect. Aside from those points, it is a romance movie with the familiar Japanese taste of poignancy. The cinematography is really admirable, especially in the first part of the movie. The slow-mo face-punching scene reminded me of my favorite hair-burning scene in Waterboys. And for God's sake, watch it for the amazing photographs showcased within. I wonder when I could become a photographer as pro as that, sobbing... Here is the 5-min preview I talked about.

Actually, the main purpose of this post is to share some of the live performances from Ai-chan, including the MV of Ren-ai Shashin. Who knows? Some of you might fall in love with her songs. I used to listening to the Japanese or Korean songs for the good of its music, without understand the meaning at all. The lyrics in these newfound videos have indeed, added an extra layer of feeling to the songs. Enjoy.

Okay. Enough for my self-indulgence.

第36个故事 (2010) Taipei Exchanges

A few days ago, I went to the Picturehouse for the first time. I was about fifteen minutes late for that movie, as I thought it was possible to reach Dhoby Ghaut from NTU within an hour. They put the ticket in a cute little black folder. Nice! But what a waste.

It is a lighthearted movie, with a refreshing idea. Beautifully directed, and at times, humorous. It talks about how people weigh the value of different things like friendship, love, pride, etc. The story has touched quite heavily on one of the realities of life, i.e. possession. People strive, or just plainly hope, to possess something. Lastly, we see the thought, the direction of life of the characters taking a diversion, influenced by the people and events around them. Although these may not be the director's purpose to show us, I see it as a picture of life. Special mention to the trick used by the male lead to woo Doris, the female lead. Well, it's quite romantic, but not sure if it works in real life. I have to admit that it actually took me some time at the beginning to 'tune' myself to the acting. After that, I was captivated right till the end. In overall, it is an enriched film, but just a few degree off the boiling point.

Since I have just been to Taipei this year, I would like to contribute a story too.

在迎接下周年初一的到来，老板一大清早就开门做生意。假期期间，街上的人流特别多。这时，有一位年青人经过，走了过来向老板打听，“老板，请问这地方怎么去？中山北路，应该就这里吧？我在找朱蒂婚纱店。” 老板看了一看地址，就指着左边向年轻人解释。“谢谢老板，新年发大财。” 他说完后就朝着那方向走了。到了门前，年轻人呆了一会儿，就离开了。他继续地走，停了在一家店的门前，向店员打听了伊丽莎白婚纱店的方向。到达了目的地，年轻人一样呆了一会儿就离开了。走着走着，他经过了哈佛婚纱店，顿时给店里的照片样本吸引了。不过多久，他也离开了。夜色已近，在茫茫人海中，年轻人不停地走着。最终他停了在一个路边摊旁。在吃完了手上的大肠包小肠后，他向老板娘问道，“请问您知道朱蒂婚纱店怎么走吗？”。。。完

Afterthought of "Lost"

Dear Readers,

First of all, I want to thank you for spending the time. Personally, I am very excited to have finished my maiden writing of short story. No doubt about it. And the journey itself is absolutely an enjoyment. Comments from you are welcomed. (But please, don't be too harsh.)

The whole idea came about one morning one to two months ago after I woke up. I had thought over the story and more or less formed the backbone. But I did not think I was capable to write it down, so I just let it off. Then I met up with friends two weeks ago, and Wei Sheng was suggesting to create a story with photograph collage. We needed a script. So I thought, why not write it down? I spent the whole weekends to finish the body (after a week of grant report writing, gosh), and intermittently for a few days, to touch-up.

To my own surprise, even if I did not experience it, stories can be formed from somewhere. I guess it is an accumulation of experience from movies, news, etc. I have read very few novels (scientific articles are better reading for me), but Murakami's Norwegian Wood and The Wind-up Bird Chronicle are two of those I have read. I've also found out that story writing is an evolution too. As I wrote on, the stories were twisted here and there and became enlivened. Listening to music can also help to build up the feeling to start the first line. At least, Joe Hishashi's Princess Mononoke full OST has that magical power for me.

In fact, I am not really sure if this is junk or not. I haven't studied literature before, and I don't know about genre. It seems to have too much of dream and self-thinking inside. I have tried to bring out a few social issues in the story, if you noticed. Although the story utilized two levels of dream, it's not inspired by the movie Inception because I watched it only a few weeks back. The two levels of dream came about because initially, I wanted to portray that the protagonist was so traumatic about the loss that he did not want to accept it, or he thought he had not lost her. Lastly, I plan to invite one of my friends to translate it into Chinese. So, do wait for it if you have a preference for Chinese. If you like the story and want to share it elsewhere (with a citation of source), I will be very much delighted.

Have a nice day!

My first short story - "Lost"

Short story "Lost", written by Leo E


The characters, places, and events are all fiction. The text may contain vulgar words. The whole text including the title can be distributed freely ONLY by citing its source (http://lelise83.blogspot.com/2010/08/my-first-short-story.html).



"Itsuki. Wake up..."

"Itsuki. Wake up."

"Ya, ya. In ten minutes," I replied in a very low tone, just enough to make a mumble. Last night could easily be the most horrible day of my life. "Oh. And what was it?" I couldn't seem to remember, but anyhow, the bad feeling is still there. It is so strong, and so bad, that I would never want to put myself up to face it.

The voice was raised, "Itsuki! Wake up now!" and she started hitting on the door.

"No, Mom! I don't want to wake up yet!" I replied in similarly sharp voice, just to assert myself.

"Why do I have to wake up every morning, and go to the god damn place? I really don't understand her. I have never thought of going on to kōtōgakkō. There is nothing for me to do there."

"I will just end it this year. Only then, I can help her do the laundry and ironing. The business looks like it's getting better, and for sure, we will be able to earn enough for a living."

"I-tsu-ki!" There were another three loud bangs from the door, followed then by a complete silence.

"She is probably getting mad. Every time when she was mad at me, over those stupid phone calls from the school, she would try to beat me up. With a cane, a pan, or anything that came in handy. I don't believe I am such a bad student. Those so-called top-scoring good-manner prigs are just hypocrites. They set me up."

"And she just doesn't understand, that I don't feel a thing with her feeble strike. Many a time, after a few tussles, she would just drop sitting on the floor, and began to weep."

"No. Don't cry." Sadness suddenly filled me, starting from the heart to my head and my whole body.

"Hey, Itsuki." I turned my head around slightly. Koji was calling me from behind, one to two meters away, while Takeshi was standing right besides him with both hands inside his trouser pockets. I realized we were on the school corridor at 5th floor. It is the highest floor of the building. As it was recess time, there were bunches of students hanging around and chitchatting in various manners. As usual, Koji's and Takeshi's faces carried the same cynical smile. Their eyes looked as sharp as a razor, which had already been put on my neck. I turned back my head, and continued to walk, so easy as if it was my own reflex.

Koji shouted, "Hey, scum! Where do you think you're going?" I continued to ignore him, as I had no concern at all if he would be really infuriated. "I'm strong, and I fear no one," I thought. In the next instant, they ran at me. It was so fast that I could not even react in time before my shoulders were caught hold by four hands. Takeshi gripped my shoulder and arm very tightly, while Koji wrapped his arm around my neck, and pulling me backwards. His filthy face was just inches from mine, and the evil voice spoke, "Hey, you timid scum. You think you can run away from me huh? I told... Ahh!" I tried hard to swing my arm backward, and it hit on his right cheek, freeing my body for that split second - a split second that could have changed the world.

Takeshi swiftly gripped my right wrist. Koji grasped my head in his full palm, turned it to his direction, and a merciless, ferocious fist was immediately struck on my face. It hurt, but the pain was soon diluted by the arousing anger inside me. I was then pushed to the ground. I became immobile, being pressed against the solid floor by the bodies of two men of my size. Again, my head was pulled backward and locked in position. "You stupid scum! You will do what I told you to. Today evening. Not sooner or later. You got it? Scum." I had tried to break free, but it just failed. I couldn't move my body for even an inch. Then suddenly, someone was coming from faraway. He walked steadily, slow but rhythmic enough that all the rest of things around him seemed to have frozen in motion. I turned my eyes up to see who was that. Obayashi-sensei was coming in this way. There was hope. A hope always takes time to realize. I knew it, and therefore, I was patient. As he finally passed by me, who was still being held firmly on the ground, I saw the same identical cynical smile as Koji's and Takeshi's. He looked into my eyes, put up a bigger smile, and walked away.

"I knew it. I knew it from the beginning. Nothing has changed." I had only myself to depend on. "You bastards are dead!" I cried from the bottom of my heart as I was regaining my strength to fight back.

"My dear Itsuki... My dear Itsuki." I heard the gentlest voice in the world. "Please, don't." Her voice was weakening. The doctor said she will need to rest, a lot of rest.

All of a sudden, the floor was shaking intensely. It was probably an earthquake. Everyone was panic and running in all directions looking for a place to hide. The whole row of window panes were shattered into crystals all at the same time, culminating with such an ear-piercing sound that was almost besides my ear. Bright lights from outside of the building filled the room, discoloring both the inanimate walls and the masks of the people in panic. Out of curiosity, I crawled clumsily towards the nearest window, and then pulled my head up till my eyes met the window's edge.

I was stunned in astonishment. "What the hell has happened?" We were in a skyscraper with hundreds of stories high, overlooking another skyscraper. The middle of it was on big fire, and it was slowly engulfed by the pitch-black smoke oozing out of nowhere. "Oh my god! Somebody help! Please! The people are gonna be burnt to death!" The next second, a very bright light flashed across the building again.

I opened my eyes. "Yume ka?" I was relieved that it was a dream. After a brief period of trying to recollect the dream, I thought it was time to get up, at least to finish the breakfast she made for me. My body was still heavy, as usual. It was the routine that I hated most. I dragged myself to the only bathroom in this shabby shop house, which is upstairs right besides my bedroom, and quickly washed up. I did not even intend to put on my school uniform, as if it would chain me to the wall in the cell for the rest of my life. "Let's go down and eat first. Hopefully her anger has already subsided a bit."

I went down the stairs. ... "Okay. At least she is busy with her work in the laundry room. My day is saved. Lucky." Then I went straight into the kitchen for my breakfast. Instinctively, I opened the rice pot. "Umm? There is no gohan in it?" I was a bit puzzled, and made a slow panning across the kitchen, trying to pick up something with my detective mind. Strangely enough, I couldn't seem to find either tamago or umeboshi anywhere in the kitchen too.

I felt a bit uneasy, but still, I had to take the initiative. I walked to the kitchen's door, stepped out of it, and stood there with my left hand holding against the doorframe. I made a deep breath, paused, and then shouted at the direction of the laundry room, "Mom! What are we having today?" I waited... "Oh god. She's getting serious this time." Immediately, I was stuck, and my head was spinning desperately for a way out. "I have no other choice. I gotta be a bit more thick-skinned this time."

After a rather loose decision was made, I began to walk spiritlessly towards the laundry room, with my head hanging sideway and my face still frowning. I sighed, "What shall I say?" "Ya. Ya. I will go to the school right after breakfast."? Or better yet, "I promise. I promise I will be punctual. I will be going to school every day." My steps were getting heavier. The sound from the friction between my sandals and the floor gradually grew louder and crispier, accompanied by the advancing smell of the dampness of wet laundry. It was actually not very far away, and I saw the door was becoming larger and larger in front of me. It was there, inside, where she had been working relentlessly ever since-- I had no idea when. I did not remember if I had seen him before. But there were previously three people in the house. When mom and I were about to live a normal life, we were always troubled by gangsters threatening to burn down the house. Suddenly I felt sorry for her. I sincerely regretted, "I should have behaved myself." A beam of stray light coming from the laundry room immediately brought my attention back. The light was becoming so intense in no time that I was blinded at the instant. I was basked in warmth and water. The sadness could kill me anytime.

"Mom, have you had your breakfast?" My hand was holding gently on her beautiful smiling face.

My eyes were staring at the hazel ceiling, vision of which was blurred by the tears still soaking. It was one fine sunny morning in the summer, with a continuous warm breeze kept flapping the moth-eaten curtain made from cotton. I felt completely numb, and couldn't help myself to get up. I lay there for some time. The ceiling was unmoved, but my thought was running. I swept away the tears with my fingers, and then pushed on one hand to bring my body from the bed, and looked into my narrow room.

"Shit!" The wooden chair was laid horizontally on the ground, and the glass door of the small cabinet besides was broken. "Must be that darn cat again," I grumbled. I sat on the edge of the bed. There were also pieces of newspaper cutout scattered all around the floor, which most probably dropped out from one of the old folders. One particular piece right in front of me was printed in those large passé fonts with the headline, "A Vast Breakthrough in Cancer Drug from Toyo Medical University". I wasn't bothered at all, and continued to look blankly into the space. After a while, I finally gathered up and left the room.

"Life goes on." She had left me the shop. The staircase, the kitchen, the laundry room, and even the corridor, were always looking the same. With the same amount of strength, I could easily open the metal gate at the front of the shop. "Umm?" Eri-san had left a hamper outside with a note on its lid.

"Excuse me, Tanaka-san. I have to do some urgent shopping, and I will definitely come back within an hour. Please help me put the hamper behind the cashier counter. Thank you."

"You're better be back in an hour," I grumbled again. As seen from here, the traffic of working people and vehicles were already picking up pace on the avenue two-street away. My smile was brimming with satisfaction. Then I turned around and looked into the shop. ... "She had probably left me her everything."


The end.

Inception (2010)

Yeah! I have finally come back. I bumped into a very ingenious interpretation of the movie Inception from Devin Faraci, obviously an experienced moviegoer. I have to admit I was a bit disappointed by the latest effort of Chris Nolan when I left the cinema. Yes, once in a blue moon, given that I could hardly spent over a hundred dollars in the cinema in one year, including a coke most of the time. Well, you know how I gather my knowledge in films. A poor man's excuse, okay!

So, what's the glitch? Batman's movie is supposed to be an action movie, and when a bit of character development and struggle of moral is blended in smoothly, it is spectacular. While I see Inception as a movie about a concept, too much action will likely, if not definitely, spoil it spectacularly. A rather harassing thing is the almost mechanical way to bring out the function of the dream-sharing technology (except the beginning ten minutes), while at the same time, a very confusing way and up to the point of complete negligence of the duty to answer "how does it actually work". The plot is amazingly complicated, and keeps begging me to find the loopholes. Of course, I lost my way. I thought maybe I should watch it again, or maybe my taste has gone bad. After all, I think a movie about a concept should be made in a simpler way.

To my own shame, it is, in fact, a simple and elegant movie. So, according to Devin, the whole movie is actually Cobb's dream, and the concept it is trying to present is about film-making. Let me give an example. Mr Nolan had made a movie, and invited the (targeted) audience to his movie. We went through the movie as if we were on a journey to the top of a hill where a mighty castle stood. He put many things en route. For examples, sophisticated stuffs like dream and relative time, spectacular visuals like folding of the city, thrilling moment during the car chase, and an after-class open question, "Do you think he is still dreaming?". Wow! Amazing! A very large group of audience was equally mesmerized. (I even had to sit through my friend's talking of how to control dream. Well, I enjoyed it, because at that time, I was really in need of someone to drag me out of confusion.)

Then comes the second group of audience (or perhaps just myself) who thinks, "C'mon, just save the bullets." or "You could have rolled more film on Leonardo or Marion. I think both of them are very good actors." But that's not the end. There's this elite group of Jedi, at the third level, who noticed a twig in the middle of the road, a bird of certain species on that particularly short tree. Then they smiled because, bingo, they have solved the puzzle. Does the whole thing sound familiar? Yes. Cobb is the director in the movie, and the rest you can read from Devin's essay (click on my title 'Inception').

Well, I don't think Mr Nolan would admit it (just like in the interview about Memento's ending), but this theory comforted me. It explains why the details of many parts (especially the technology) were carelessly omitted in the movie. On one hand, dream lacks details and it was Cobb's dream. On the other hand, that's not the focus; the idea that he wanted to plant into our head is about film-making. All the complexity in the plot are just parameters of the equation, while only the form of the equation is important. (Of course, on presentation, we have to write the full equation.) The way he tried might risk dislike from some film critics, but I see it has already garnered enough fans on IMDB. See, my taste is really out-dated. As Mr Nolan has created a masterpiece on film-making, why not make myself a dream to write about research in science one day. Hehe^^, 发梦还早呢。