City & the Sky 1

Response...
If map is like a carpet as woven by the text of the city,
a "part" that can tell the "whole".
Then, is map an image, or a text?



City & the Sky 1
Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino.

In Eudoxia, which spreads both upward and down, with winding alleys, steps, dead ends, hovels, a carpet is preserved in which you can observe the city's true form. At first sight nothing seems to resemble Eudoxia less than the design of that carpet, laid out in symmetrical motives whose patterns are repeated along straight and circular lines, interwoven with brilliantly colored spires, in a repetition that can be followed throughout the whole woof. But if you pause and examine it carefully, you become convinced that each place in the carpet corresponds to a place in the city and all the things contained in the city are included in the design, arranged according their true relationship, which escapes your eye distracted by the bustle, the throngs, the shoving. All of Eudoxia's confusion, the mules' braying, the lampblack stains, the fish smell is what is evident in the incomplete perspective you grasp; but the carpet proves that there is a point from which the city shows its true proportions, the geometrical scheme implicit in its every, tiniest detail.

It is easy to get lost in Eudoxia: but when you concentrate and stare at the carpet, you recognize the street you were seeking in a crimson or indigo or magenta threat which, in a wide loop, brings you to the purple enclosure that is your real destination. Every inhabitant of Eudoxia compares the carpet's immobile order with his own image of the city, an anguish of his own, and each can find, concealed among the arabesques, an answer, the story of his life, the twists of fate.
An oracle was questioned about the mysterious bond between two objects so dissimilar as the carpet and the city. One of the two objects -- the oracle replied -- has the form the gods gave the starry sky and the orbits in which the worlds revolve; the other is an approximate reflection, like every human creation.

For some time the augurs had been sure that the carpet's harmonious pattern was of divine origin. The oracle was interpreted in this sense, arousing no controversy. But you could, similarly, come to the opposite conclusion: that the true map of the universe is the city of Eudoxia, just as it is, a stain that spreads out shapelessly, with crooked streets, houses that crumble one upon the other amid clouds of dust, fires, screams in the darkness.

Memory's images

"Memory's images, once they are fixed in words, are erased," Polo said. "perhaps I am afraid of losing Venice all at once, if I speak of it. Or perhaps, speaking of other cities, I have already lost it, little by little,"-Italo Calvino
「記憶中的形象，一旦在字詞中固定下來，就被抹除了。」馬可波羅說：「也許我害怕如果我提到的話，會一下子就失去了威尼斯。或許，我在提到其他城市時，我已經一點一點地失去了她。」

84, Charing Cross Road

Last letter by Helene Hanff

Extract from

Hanff, Helene, 84, Charing Cross Road, New York, N.Y., U.S.A. : Penguin Books, 1990, p. 94.(Originally published: New York : Grossman, 1975. Correspondence between Helene Hanff and agents of Marks & Co., chiefly Frank Doel.)

April 11, 1969

Dear Katherine -
I take time out from housecleaning my bookshelves and sitting on the rug surrounded by books in every direction scrawl you a Bon Voyage. I hope you and Brian have a ball in London. He said to me on the phone: “Would you go with us if you had the fare?” and I nearly wept.
But I don't know, maybe it's just as well I never got there. I dreamed about it for so many years. I used to go to English movies just to look at the streets. I remember years ago a guy I knew told me that people going to England find exactly what they go looking for. I said I'd go looking for the England of English literature, and he nodded and said: “It's there.”
Maybe it is, and maybe it isn't. Looking around the rug one thing's for sure: it's here.
The blessed man who sold me all my books died a few months ago. And Mr. Marks who owned the shop is dead. But Marks & Co. is still there. If you happen to pass by 84 Charing Cross Road, kiss it for me! I owe it so much.
Helene

我正在清理我的書架，坐著的毯子四面八方全是書。趁這個時候抽空寫幾個字祝你旅途愉快。希望你和布萊恩在倫敦玩得盡興。他打電話給我時問道：“如果你有旅費的話，會不會和我們一起去？”我差點哭出來。
可我真的不知道，也許不去反而好。這麽多年來我對那裏魂牽夢繞，去看英國電影，就是爲了看看那些街道。我記得很多年前，一個我認識的人告訴我，人們去英國總能找到他們想找的東西。我說：我想去找那個書香四溢的英倫，他點頭說：“它就在那裏。”
也許是，也許不是。環視四周，有一件事我是肯定的：它也在這裏。那位賣書給我的絕好的先生幾個月前去世了。書店的主人馬科斯先生也死了。不過Marks & Co.書店還在那裏。如果你們碰巧經過查令十字街84號，請代我獻上一吻。我虧欠她太多。

(中文譯文擇自台灣電影筆記-電影書架『查令十字路八十四號∕迷陣血影』)

愛在瘟疫蔓延時之海南雞飯(二)

新加坡餐廳
旺角
(8)

金葉海南餐廳
干諾道中
(7)

泰妃雞泰式料理
灣仔活道
(9)

新加坡南香海南雞飯
尖沙咀新港中心
(7)

照片及資料提供: chanb.

愛在瘟疫蔓延時之海南雞飯(一)

新加坡南香風味館
紅磡都會廣場
(8)


好時Satay
尖東好時中心
(9)


勝利小廚
何文田勝利道
(9)

照片及資料提供: chanb.

少年憂鬱密碼

青空星點破光影錯風閃過空虛墮種種瑣碎事
可愛事小故事印半空寧靜晚風中螞蟻開仗蚯
蚓較量朦朧夜雨唱赤腳奔放滿天花舞流動我
心點點牽動掛念你影蹤曾為你心讚頌心震動
心意奉相與相共無奈我戀世俗戀我事戀我夢
戀戀風中難伴你奔遠路千萬珍重深生隱痛長
夜裏起舞吧起舞吧起舞吧達旦青空千載過一
轉眼一轉眼聲色墮種種閃爍事可愛事好故事
去似風殘舊破屋中螞蟻開仗煙炮發亮玲瓏浩
氣漲雪散天變遠方風破雲動我心戀戀燒動有
話托早風曾為你心讚頌心震動心意奉相與相
共無奈我戀世俗戀我事戀我夢戀戀風中前面
有曲折路千萬珍重衷心禱告全力去起舞吧起
舞吧起舞吧達旦

消失了的桑樹

消失了的桑樹







上星期六中午，一家人慣常到家附近的酒家飲茶。一下樓，走在下雨過後的路上，濕潤的空氣，加上路旁樹上沾滿雨水的葉子，到處充滿綠意。這是我週末必走的路徑，看著走著，是最閑適的時刻。穿過小小的公園，會看到另一個公園入口處的幾棵小樹，在這裡轉左便是酒家了。這次迎面看見的卻是水泥牆，媽媽說，幾天前小樹已經不見了，更是整整一棵樹連根拔起！

這棵小樹是桑樹，不高也不矮，大概十呎。葉子綠油油的，間中還夾著一串串的桑果。起初果實是青白色的，熟透後紫黑色，掉在地上染得通地紫紅。媽媽說，雖然已掛有噴殺蟲藥不可食用的字句，但仍有街坊會摘下桑果吃，更有回家自製果醬呢！早前曾特首就把父親傳給他的桑樹移植到禮賓府花園。可憐的小樹，是否因為近來太紅之故而遭人連根拔起搬回自家，真的不得而知。

查一查資料，原來桑樹屬桑科。落葉大灌木或小喬木，枝幹佈滿皮孔。其葉可飼蠶，其皮可造紙，其果桑椹可食用，葉、枝、果、根皮均可入藥。雌雄異株，只有雌株會結果實。（此棵是雌株吧。）果實為多花聚合果，成熟時呈紫黑色，稱為「桑椹」，含維他命A、C，可生吃或製成果醬及蜜餞。（失蹤原兇。）

***

桑樹 – Wikipedia
桑樹有許多種，有喬木也有灌木，有「華桑」、「白桑」、「雞桑」等多個品種。白桑原產中國，是養蠶業的重要飼料，很早就在中國培育，果實稱為桑椹，初生白色，成熟後成為紫黑色。根皮（桑白皮）、桑椹、桑葉都可以作為中藥使用。此外桑椹可以釀酒，樹皮可以造紙，造出的紙稱為「桑皮紙」。

桑子果醬
材料：桑子、糖(如想甜些就用多些,上次用了半磅沙糖)、凍果粉 5-6湯匙、鮮檸檬汁一個
作法：因桑子有芯及'丁',最費時逐粒'滅'肉,而且整到隻手紫色,滅肉後與糖混勻用慢煮25分鍾,加檸檬汁,煮時要不斷'搞'以防粘底,用少少水開凍果粉,一路煮一路搞一路加凍果粉漿,煮至杰身熄火------完成

日日有食神視像重溫:
桑樹處處寶
桑宴消滯袪濕愈食愈醒胃

三峽有個好人...

三峽有個好人...

《外滩画报》:《三峡好人》讲了一个怎样的故事?

贾樟柯: 它讲了两个故事，一个在挽回爱情，一个在舍弃爱情。一个山西汉子(由贾樟柯的表弟扮演)到四川寻找跑掉的媳妇。他的媳妇是买来的，生下孩子后，被救回了四川。另一个山西女人( 赵涛扮演) 到四川寻找打工多年，失去音信的丈夫。结果，前者那段不合法的婚姻，只好作罢。而后者那段合法的婚姻，在女人找到丈夫，看到他的第一眼时，却被舍弃了。

《外滩画报》:为什么这么快就决定开拍自己的下一部电影?

贾樟柯: 拥有几千年历史的老城奉节很快就要被淹没了! 那是一座有狂欢气息的县城，那里的人特别有激情，喜欢交朋友喜欢外地人。比如我在当地遇到一个13 岁的小男孩，他整天不停唱流行歌，《红高粱》和《老鼠爱大米》，非常热情。他们很贫穷，但他们就像被石头压着的草一样，没有穿破石头，自己就蹿出来了。
















(節錄自《外滩画报》 03/20/06 贾樟柯新作《三峡好人》杀青 下一部电影无动静)