Tuesday, August 19, 2008

奧運台韓戰、中美戰

台韓戰,一打開電視,八比二,嗯,看一下投手,陽一局丟七分,然後……倪福德……咦,都投得很好啊!然後中華隊就漸漸把比分追近,到追平。雖然最後還是輸球,可是,有打開電視看比賽,看到內容了,還是很滿足。畢竟雙眼看得到國內打球的還是有不錯的選手,像是倪福德、張誌家、彭政閔、石志偉、林智勝……陽應該是衰了點。

不過還是要抱怨一下,主審不知道是在機歪什麼,好球帶寬度兩邊不一。有夠機歪。
今天當義工,晚餐後,去用餐區那邊坐一坐。電視一開始是播 trampoline 的。真好,決賽,跳一跳就比完了。然後有位大叔來轉台。轉一轉,轉到女子曲棍球。我想,大家會決定看這一台吧,雖然我知道大家都看不懂規則,但這長得像足球;把球打進網子裡去,這香港人都看得懂吧,呵。

我看著計時。好,半場打完了。周圍看一下,人不多,頂多後面幾個香港大叔最多話,常常撚來撚去 (撚:lan,語助,髒話),談話超有深度、超有水準的。

半場了嘛,好,我就很跩地跑到前面去,熟練地直接轉去 DX7 台,來看棒球吧!咦,中國對美國,這還用看嗎?不過,念在是沒什麼香港人看得懂的棒球,有中國隊的話,香港人多少還是會看一下吧。

看的過程中,後面的幾個大叔就說:「屌~都唔知佢地做乜撚野」(糙,都不知道他們是在幹什麼鳥)。美國打者壞球不打:「打唔撚到個波啊」(媽的打不到球啊)、「做咩唔撚打個波」(媽的幹嘛不打那顆球啊)。四壞保送,打者很跩地把棍子扔一邊去:「做咩啊,發爛渣啊」(幹什麼,不爽啊)

後來,那幾個大叔還說:「夭,去轉台啦,都唔撚知道佢地做咩。冇人識欣賞。」(暗,快去轉台啊,他媽的都不知道他們在幹啥。這邊又沒有人會欣賞。) 哇咧,我不是人就對了?暗剛剛就是我轉台的啊!你不是要轉嗎?呵呵,不敢厚,沒種就不要轉,我就是要看棒球。爽 XD

當美國的打者上壘、安打、得分;中國隊暴投、三壘跑者回本壘時,我正全神灌注地欣賞每一分每一秒。而在場的香港人,無奈,大概都在滿頭問號吧。而就當七下最後一位打者,打出中外野方向飛球的同時,中外野手掌握到方向了,我看時間也差不多,就起身,轉頭離去,拋下這群滿腦疑惑的香港人。好啦,我看夠囉,你們可以轉台啦~我要走囉 ^ ^

對香港人的棒球知識程度不了解的外地人,這邊補充一下。基本上,在香港,我估計一百個人裡有不到一個人看得懂棒球。然後,前一陣子,香港有上一套電影《無野之城》。所謂的「無野之城」,就是「沒有野球的城市」。而在映期時,我有幸看到《無野之城》的宣傳海報,觀察到,海報上出現了什麼「一手」、「二手」、「三手」。「無野」的程度相當厲害,令人敬畏……

Sunday, August 17, 2008

奧運台灣戰古巴

早上有點事,要外出,回家後跟一下中華隊對古巴的比賽,發現到……李振昌……六局了,零失分!雖然到最後被陽春砲失了一分,不過,我很想說:哇塞,太神了吧!

李振昌後接下棒子的張誌家,也沒讓古巴隊添得任何分數。我想,這場比賽投手們真的表現得很好,很有魄力。不過打擊還是……

不過,雖然輸球,還是覺得很光榮!

題外話,今天當義工時,晚餐時間,在員工餐廳那邊有一台電視,播放奧運的比賽。一開始的是女子曲棍球,後來餐廳的員工過來轉台,轉到沙灘排球。轉的過程中,我有瞄到半秒的棒球比賽。興奮難耐,當場脫口而出了一小聲「淦」。看到一半,有個香港人轉台,轉到女子三米跳水準決賽。嗯,好吧,香港人會看跳水,就算了吧,雖然是重播……我超想跑到前面去,轉台過去看日韓戰。依我的個性,我是「暗我才不鳥你,我要看棒球啊!爽!」的;但轉頭看看,很多香港人都盯著螢幕看跳水 (重播),嗯,我還是尊重民意吧,不然不知道按下去後會不會有人在那邊「夭~」(暗!),雖然這會提升我的成就感跟爽度。

Saturday, August 16, 2008

奧運棒球台中戰

今天看完《The Dark Knight》後,回到家,一上 PTT,就看到棒球版、幹版雙雙隱版,就知道發生什麼事了……

我沒有空看比賽,只有看一局半,不是很清楚內容怎樣。但早在奧運開始前,看到那個「突破僵局制」,我就覺得很反感了,感覺是給業餘的打的一樣,整個等級降了一大截。前一陣子,看到賽程,更是啞口無言。基本上最吃香的是日本隊了,除了十七號休兵隔天十八號有早上 10:30 的比賽,其他場次全都是晚上出賽。

中華隊呢,20:00 開打的台日戰,戰完超級強隊,晚上十一點多了吧,睡個頂多六個小時,隔天早上 10:30 就要出戰休息時間多出至少十個小時的中國隊……我想這個賽程真的經過仔細打量,相當相當照顧我們的「台灣同胞」。中國人最偉大的了,呵呵。聽說好球帶會變型呢!

不過說到頭來,中華隊的打擊真的要改善改善,後援更是另人搖頭!用這種實力打下去的話,還要輸多少場真的是不敢講。

Sunday, August 10, 2008

Started Learning Korean | 我學韓文的第一步

Language: English | 中文
When I was in junior high, I always wanted to learn Korean. And finally, last week, I bought a book and started learning Korean.

This is the book:
莎郎嘿喲!韓語 I Love Korean!
Image of 莎郎嘿喲!韓語 Love Korean!
I like this book. Basically, every Korean sentence is accompanied by a Romanized transcript and the same sentence with Chinese characters. And most importantly, a CD is provided.

Thanks to that CD, I found more than ten mistakes in the pronunciation guide section. Here, I am going to list some of them:

Vowels:
  1. can be [ɔ] and [ʌ], rather than just [ɔ].
  2. Similarly, can be [jɔ] and [jʌ], rather than just [jɔ].
  3. sounds more like [ɨ]. Definitely not [ʌ]!
  4. I know that nowadays most people pronounce as [we], however, the speaker recorded pronounces it as [ø].
  5. sounds [ɨi] to me. Definitely not [ui]!
Consonants:
  1. When is followed by [j] or [i], it becomes [ɕ] (like x/ in Mandarin), rather than [ʃ].
  2. can be [tɕ] and [dʑ], rather than [tʃ] and [dʒ]!
  3. should be [tɕh]. Not [tʃh]!
  4. , , , , and represent consonants produced with more tense, rather than making them voiced.
But, anyway, it is a good book, for beginners like me. Perhaps I will take a Korean Beginner course at university, since I found Korean language quite fun and enjoyable.

Monday, July 14, 2008

Laura Pausini: Dove L’Aria E’ Polvere

Language: English | 中文
Artist: Laura Pausini
Album: Resta In Ascolto (2004)

«Dove L’Aria E’ Polvere» is a song about an Iraqi boy, Ali Ismail Abbas, whose arms and entire family were taken away by American missiles.

The song begins with l'aquila, which means the eagle:
Cronaca del giorno in cui
L'aquila volò
Su confini dove l'aria è polvere
I spent some time figuring what l'aquila refers to. At first, I thought l'aquila could be the missile that hit the boy's house. I am quite sure about this because Laura described the missile as a big metal bird (grosso uccello di metallo). However, don't you think that a eagle reminds you of something, or, a country? You know what I mean, right?

Besides the eagle, here, it tells us where the event happened: dove l'aria è polvere, literally, where the air is dust.

After this, the song tells us what happened to the boy: the eagle took away the boy's arms. Then, the chorus begins:
Ed un soldato raccontò
Di come il cielo si oscurò
A soldier speaked of how the sky darkened. Does it really mean that the sky grew dark? Or, is it trying to tell us that our reason, our mind, and our relationship were darkened by this violent, unreasoning act?
E in terra pianse lacrime
Urlando ruggine
The soldier then cried on the ground, shouting. Have you ever thought that a soldier may cry as well?

Then, Laura asks us a simple but meaningful question:
Ma che cos'è la libertà?
E che significato ha?
What is freedom? Is this the freedom that promised to bring to us? And freedom, what does it mean?

In the second verse, it says that the eagle sacrifices its heroes and displays its "stars" and trophies. But sadly:
Il bambino è orfano di casa e di poesia
Per l'indifferenza che
La guerra ha dentro sé
The boy is now an orphan, without home and without "poetry." (You may check my previous post for the meaning of the word poesia.) He became an orphan because of the indifference that war has in itself. How sad, and how cruel! War turns people cold-blooded!

Then, in the chorus, a similar question is asked:
Ma che cos'è la verità?
E che significato ha?
This time, the question is: What is the truth? And what does it mean? Honestly, this is a serious question. What is the truth? Is it what they tell us on TV? Or is it what we read in the newspaper? Does it give us both sides of the story? Can we trust it? How should one judge?

Then, in the 3rd chorus, after the questioning:
E' il sole che non sorge mai
E' il buio addosso a noi
The sun never rises. The dark is upon us. Is this freedom?

Then, at the end, Laura ends the song with a strong question:
[D]immi che cos'è la libertà... cos'è?
Tell me what freedom is... what is it? Great ending.

At first, I found this song a little bit sharp. The pain, the anger, and thouse powerful questions, they make it a bit hard to swallow, at the beginning. But, after you start questioning yourself, hate how ugly we have become, and shout the anger secretly in your heart, you will find that the song is actually fabulous. And you will start to love it immediately.

Here are some related clips on Youtube:

LAURA PAUSINI Donde el Aire es Ceniza TG
A brief reportage of the event with a short interview of Laura


Dove l'aria è polvere
A fan-made video with Portuguese subtitles. Few of the pics can be unpleasant and even terrifying.



For more about Ali Ismail Abbas: About Laura: About the album: