Searching for Sugar Man

Initially I wasn't going to watch this, in spite of all the hype for the Oscar award.  I was not particularly impressed by the poster (see the HK version below) - a talented man with long hair carrying a guitar walking on the street unnoticed and unrecognised...this sounds too familiar.  Almost all musical movies have a plot like this.  So the movie has been released for a while and I didn't have any plan to go to the cinema to watch this.  I thought perhaps I'll give it a chance later when the DVD is out.  But then, recently I was reading Denise Ho's weibo and she highly recommended this.  She said something like "music that has a soul will not only live the moment it is released, but it will live forever in the hearts of the music lovers."  Ok I'm not a super fan of Denise Ho and considering how old I am I will not (and I do not) blindly follow what a celebrity said simply because that's what a celebrity said!  But I'm curious.  And curiosity is often my motivation.  So I thought, why not?  And thank god I did!  It was probably the best movie I've watched in a while.  (And yes I have watched The Great Gatsby too and I actually like this one better!)

Not going to talk about the plot.  I guess the reason why I enjoyed this movie so much is I really had no idea what the story was about and I didn't have much expectation.  There was a scene where I was teary-eyed.  And of course when the movie finished I immediately went on Wiki and imdb and read a few reviews like all the other audience. What an amazing, inspiring story!  Even the story behind the production (how the director, running out of budget, used an iphone app to film an Oscar-winning movie) is inspiring too!  And yes, we need to hear more stories like this.  We have all noticed that the world we live in now (at least for this part of the world) is a bit imbalance - people are complaining about everything and there are lots of negativity in the media.  People stopped believing.  This movie brought hope and reminded us that there is always a way.  I truly believe that even though you may not realise, you are always loved, whoever you are.  But first you have to love yourself and never give up on yourself.  And you extend your love to people around you.  Then one day what you gave out will come back to you multiplied.

Poster - UK version

Poster - HK version

Club Monaco Dresses

Absolutely love these dresses. The thing about Club Monaco is, whilst it is true that some of their items are overpriced (given the simple design!), their one-piece dresses are absolutely adorable! And they are so easy to wear, casually or as party dress! I bought a navy-coloured dress a while ago and I used to wear it to work with a jacket, and recently I realised that it's also become my favourite summer dress while I go travelling! I've been wearing it to the beaches, to music concerts,to social drinks, it's just perfect for any occasion. Definitely a worthy investment!

Don't overthink

One of the interesting things about art is you'll never be able to guess what the audience will think of your work until it's been produced and shown. I often came across cases where I'm absolutely in love with something I created but nobody seems to care too much about it, or where I was doubting whether something was worthy of showing but people seemed to appreciate it for no reason! So, don't think too much of the audience when you create. It's pretty pointless.

然後...

原來2012年2月之後就沒有再出過新post, 其實之後去不少地方, 而且Amsterdam & Paris的Paris還未寫! 又爛尾!

不過也是情有可原啦! (自己對自己當然這樣說) Well, 2012年真的發生了很多事, 只能說句: 我比我想像中堅強! 最近獲得許多正能量, 所以, 繼續寫啦!

Amsterdam & Paris - Part 3

旅行，真的有治療作用。並不一定需要有多采多姿的節目，就算只是漫無目的地閒逛著，又或是在咖啡店喝杯咖啡渡輪一個下午，只要是身處於一個陌生的城市，就足以放下平日的包伏。別人常問：你去那裡有什麼做？那裡很悶的喎！我總會說：沒有啊，沒有什麼要做的，離開一下就好。去某個地方旅行，不一定為了什麼，just want to be there.

最後一個要去的博物館是Rembrandt House，老實說，在這個旅程之前對Rembrandt認識不深，說不出他有什麼名作。直至在國家博物館看過其作品Night Watch後，才知道他原來被稱為光與影的畫家。參觀這個Rembrandt House，除了可以體驗當年Rembrandt在這裡居住的生活及看到他的部份展品外，我認為最有趣的是現場的live demonstration。在studio內正好遇上調色示範，不說也不知，原來未有化學顏料之前油彩顏料是這樣調出來的。

Het Rembrandt Huis

Jodenbreestraat 4

1011 NK Amsterdam

+31205200400

http://www.rembrandthuis.nl/

Opening Hours: 10:00-17:00

我說我不是太熱衷尋找美食，又不愛吃herring，所以這次在荷蘭，唯一有印象的食物只有這個像小薄餅的甜點--poffertjes。這間咖啡店有wifi，邊喝咖啡邊吃甜品邊上網，多麼悠閒！

最後，坐了一趟canal cruise作為阿姆斯特丹一行的終結。朋友說得對，歐洲的城市，大都差不多樣子，都有個廣場，廣場內有個銅像，有個歷史悠久的火車站，有條運河；有時看得多也搞不清現正身在何方。不過，反正又未看厭，還是會一再來的。

Amsterdam & Paris - Part 2

Amsterdam不愧為單車之都，這個城市不大，市內交通主要是電車和單車。在街上看見很多人騎單車，但又不會很混亂，因為道路規劃有照顧到他們，馬路上都有劃分單車專用路線，連紅綠燈亦有單車專用燈號，數天以來都不見有車輛跟單車爭路的場面出現。假如我的騎單車技術高明一點，我也想以單車代步。不過這邊的車太大台，車速又快，最終我還是靠雙腳自己走路。

第二天果然天陰，最適合去博物館。一早看過旅遊書，有以下幾個博物館要去：

• Van Gogh Museum
• Anne Frank House
• National Museum
• Rembrandt House

第一站是Anne Frank House。老實說，Anne Frank's Diary一書，多年前買下但從沒有看完。始終是有點遙遠的事（無論地理上或時間上），很難代入其中。但我卻頗欣賞這個館，佈置很現代，但擺設的分佈和媒介的運用使人很容易投入當時的情景。當日亦有一班學生跟老師來參觀，我喜歡這種給訪客思考空間的活動教學。

Anne Frank Huis

Prinsengracht 263-267 Amsterdam

Next stop: Van Gogh Museum. 除了風車之外，來荷蘭的另一must-see就是這個梵谷博物館吧。我不敢抛書包說自己有多欣賞梵谷對他的作品有什麼看法，只是我在嘗試臨摹他的starry night時，也深深覺得只有精神失常的人才能以這樣的筆觸畫出這般的畫。這樣說也沒有錯吧。

我會不會癲到走遍世界各地收藏梵谷真跡的博物館去看盡他的所有作品呢？大概不會。這個Van Gogh Museum已經包括了很多他生平的講解。我所得到的啟發就是：雖然這位畫家不太注重比例所以有時畫的形狀怪怪的，但儘管被人多番批評

他創新的用色無疑給了當時畫壇一股新衝擊，並影響了後世不少藝術家，所以習畫的人最重要還是找到自己的風格。

Van Gogh Museum

Paulus Potterstraat 7

位於Van Gogh Museum隔鄰就是Rijksmuseum (National Museum)，本來只打算順道來參觀一下，沒有什麼特別要看。但看了幾幅Rembrandt的作品後開始對這個畫家很感興趣，他跟Van Gogh的風格真的完全不同。如果有人問我，我還是會說我是比較欣賞傳統派的作品。更加期待之後要參觀的Rembrandt House！

Rijksmuseum
Postbus 74888 1070 DN Amsterdam
+31206747000
http://www.rijksmuseum.nl/
Opening Hours: 09:00-18:00

Amsterdam & Paris - Part 1

腦海中浮現了阿姆斯特丹這個念頭後，立即又想可不可以順道去一去巴黎呢？雖然常自認巴黎迷，但其實咁耐以黎只和家人去過一次，還要是五年前的事！就憑這樣怎能叫自己做巴黎迷？再者，一向都覺得一個人去巴黎是一件很型的事，既然阿姆斯特丹和巴黎這麼近，無論如何也是沒理由不停巴黎的！

每年也會隻身旅遊，對於獨自遊歐洲，我是比較自在的。歐洲到處都是博物館／美術館／咖啡店，一個人也不會悶。

11月29日，臨放假前手上的工作一直未放得下，最後一天還有presentation！要不是靠着過了這天便自由的想法，也不知如何捱得過去。收工後搭夜機KL890出發，原訂到達時間為05:05，已嫌太早，怎知這天凌晨四點已到，最擔心是酒店未能check-in（你知歐洲的酒店架啦，通常一兩點先有得check-in），叫我怎樣呆等十小時？唯有盡量放慢腳步以免要深宵在街上遊蕩。不，不只因為這樣才要放慢腳步，這個月要學懂放輕鬆，不要太急趕，不要做神經緊張的香港人！

無奈（？）機場離市中心太近，坐火車也不用半小時。從Central Station到酒店，又只需五分鐘路程，天這麼黑，街上的餐廳又未開門，莫非真的要坐在酒店乾等！

在這裡真的要讚揚一下Crowne Plaza Amsterdam City Centre的職員，我都還未作出要求，她們已經主動向可憐的我提出可以使用他們的health centre facilities梳洗，又問我願不願意轉一間即時available但較小的房間(for one night)。搭了長途機沒睡好倦極的我實在極需要洗個澡及眠一眠，現在有個房間可以給我立即休息然後待天光才出去逛，不知幾感動！

Hotel: Crowne Plaza Amsterdam City Centre

Address: Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal 5, Amsterdam, Centrum 1012 RC

  

the smaller room which is immediately available

the room which I orginally reserved

view from first room

睡到天亮，見天氣不錯，又見天氣預告之後幾天都會下雨，便決定先去看風車。最近Amsterdam市中心是這個位於Koog Zaandijk站的Zaanse Schans風車村，坐火車只須二十分鐘。入口的商店和餐廳令這裡看起來有點像主題公園，但主題公園又如何？遊客區又如何？我的身份就是遊客！我來的目的就是看風車！去一趟旅行本身已是bonus，其他都不用計較。想起之前一天還在公司拼命苦幹，坐了一程飛機就去到另一個世界過另一種生活，仍然是會感到很amazing！人在看不見天空的香港太有壓迫感，出來走走，會發覺世界很大，根本不值得為那些瑣碎事心煩。Life should be beautiful. And it is. Sometimes you just don't realise.