無敵海景

2010年03月30日

香港經濟，瘋魔地產，由於英國商人航海家義律，來到遠東，最早發現這個深水港，命名維多利亞港至今，香港人也得到西方文化沾染，知道買房子，最好要有無敵海景。
為什麼要有無敵海景？因為西方的居住文化，有了海景，就有了一片心曠神怡的視野胸襟。地中海的蔚藍海岸，雪梨的達令港，三藩市的奧克蘭港灣，洋人對於住的品味高，所謂無敵海景，就這樣傳染來遠東這個漁港。
因為海洋象徵自由，在人類一切價值觀之中，自由第一可貴，自由無敵，只有熱愛自由的人，才會真正欣賞無敵海景，但香港的「無敵海景」純粹是市場的習慣潮流，一座房子擁有海景，是身份財富的象徵，中國人從來沒有欣賞過海洋，不但太監鄭和，七下西洋無功而還，以後七百年，沒有什麼事發生過，大澳和鯉魚門的漁民，幾百年來出海，也都只為了經濟的生存理由，捕魚為了吃飽，給他更好的營生，他會毫不猶豫拋下魚網上岸的，例如到英國開餐館，中國人對海洋並無嚮往之情。
既是如此，「無敵海景」除了可以令住宅多賣價一兩成，並無其他太大的意義。一座監獄，也可以擁有無敵海景的，例如三藩市港灣外的阿卡特拉島：一邊遙對三藩市的金門橋，另一邊就是太平洋，最先由西班牙殖民者建造，然後美國用來做軍營，駐紮印度兵。阿卡特拉是西班牙語企鵝之意，因為當初發現時島上全是企鵝。
監獄建在一座孤島上最危險，因為囚犯從獄窗看見海洋，藍天碧浪，海鷗自由飛翔，心理上會潛移默化地起越獄之心。法國小說《巴比龍》裏的監獄在法屬圭阿那的魔鬼島，四周也一片無敵海景。阿卡特拉島發生過多次囚犯暴動，挾持獄卒，三藩市警方管不了，要由聯邦政府出動海軍陸戰隊上島平亂。
所謂無敵海景，在人文哲學的層次，就是這個意思。十二年來，香港人漸漸討厭自由，希望政府這也管一下，那也干預一些。既然放棄了自由，買樓追求無敵海景做什麼？誠然囚犯當得久了，也會對四周的牆壁產生錯覺，以為四壁是為了保護自己的人身安全。所謂維護網絡安全、國家安全，在中國語文裏，意義漸漸變了。香港的房地產，因此，好笑吧？最莫名其妙的就是全民追求所謂無敵海景。

脫衣舞女

2010年03月29日

中國有許多女子偷渡去西方當娼妓。
愛國憤青自然大喊「國恥」。放鬆一下神經好嗎？其實一切只是市場。河南、四川、湖南的女人到外國為娼，科學一點看，與中國廉價製造的牛仔褲和 T血傾銷全世界並無分別。
如果硬要吹毛求疵批評，我會建議：中國的女人走向世界，如果進入色情行業，為何一定要當娼妓？為什麼不試試脫衣舞？
歐美澳洲都有許多脫衣舞吧，很奇怪，脫衣舞孃有東歐、黑人、南美洲的拉丁女子，卻絕少來自中國。可能中國女子覺得在睽睽眾目面前賣色：有孔夫子儒家的羞恥感。但跳脫衣舞畢竟不是當娼，甚至不是色情，以中國式的靈活標準，只是人體的行為藝術。本來，中年男人在看脫衣舞的時候，無論國籍與膚色，形相最猥瑣，眼神浮閃着淫慾，手提一杯啤酒，目不轉睛，喉核在上下抽搐着，不時發出酒噎。然而，在網絡金融資訊新世代，風氣變了。倫敦或波士頓的脫衣舞吧，許多觀眾都是英挺俊朗的精英，長得像喬治古尼，或者李察基爾，他們在金融城工作，擁有牛津的拉丁文或哈佛的歷史學學位，年薪加花紅兩三百萬美元，因為開了一天的視像工作會議，明天還要趕搭頭等機艙趕去北京，忙中偷閒，他們來脫衣舞吧輕鬆一下。出於教育和修養，他們看脫衣舞時的眼光，像在博物館裏觀賞着一幅印象主義的名作，高尚而溫柔。在這等檔次的男性觀眾面前展覽着身體，你會覺得你是大理石精緻的愛神維納斯，而他們是一群米高朗哲羅。
東方女子的肌膚白淨，如綢緞，似錦繡，腰肢精細，拉着一條金屬管扭動着，像江南水鄉浮漾着月色，如畫如詩，許多洋人一生人都沒有到過北京上海公幹之福氣，是沒有見過的。脫衣舞女這一行很傳奇，有沒有看過《誘心人》（ Closer）裏的娜塔莉波曼？一頂粉紅的假髮，一瓣嬰孩般純真的微笑，她哪裏是舞女，她是天使。
在台上跳着跳着，你會發現，台下幽暗的一角，有一個年輕的小伙子，長得像《吸血迷情》裏的羅伯特柏德遜。他呷着啤酒，顯得很緊張，他的臉有點蒼白，嘴唇卻很鮮紅。他已經是第三夜來捧場。你扭動着金蛇般的腰肢，向他遙遙投放一兩朵哀麗的眼神，纖纖的指尖有意無意向他一甩，看，他心如鹿撞，低下了頭。你回到後台，翹起大腿，點一根香煙，靜靜等待着，終於，經理走進來，遞給你一張小字條。你吐出一口煙，接過來，打開，笑了。

洋人管西九

2010年03月27日

政務司司長唐唐宣布，任命英國人謝卓飛來香港，出任西九文娛藝術區之總裁。
唐唐留學美國，是半殖民地時期舊上海紗廠世家，談吐溫文，儀容雅秀，是很有國際視野的香港領導人，眼光不會錯的。
起用英國人來管西九，有很多好處。第一，香港發生沙塵暴，海港一片灰黃，烏煙瘴氣，香港外資企業的洋人都吃不消，紛紛說此地不宜投資居留。
現在好了，香港的空氣污染，伸手不見五指，有一個英國人高調從天而降，香港人的殖民地情懷，給歲月偷走了，現在，英國人謝卓飛還給我們。他用腳來投票，捧這個污港的場，比香港特區政府委任十個成龍當旅遊大使更有感召力。在沙塵暴之中，這個英國人，像一股清流，溫暖着曾蔭權政府和七百萬香港人的心頭。西九文娛區，為什麼要一個白人來坐鎮？因為他是外來人，將來審割資源，分配合約，有一百五十年的殖民地先例，他會相對更公正，不會眨一隻眼睛，東向他的會畫兩筆水墨的小姨子輸送兩億，西給他學過兩年小提琴的親家表侄贊助八千萬，不，他的白人基因，令人有信心。
這個英國人約滿之後，大概會返回祖家，應該不會轉投地產商。因此，不必擔心香港哪一個富商的孫女剛學會彈琵琶，一個電話接通，這樣這樣，對，是是是，就可以在西九的歌劇院燦爛登台，才十八歲就拿金紫荊。
然而，英國經濟衰退，謝卓飛約滿了，也可能不回去，貪戀香港為家，一旦以香港為家，利益輸送就來了。為了減少此一風險，我默默祈禱：但願香港的沙塵暴多一些，空氣更污染，讓這個鬼佬在香港三年，惹得氣管炎、肺癆，還一星期挖出五十克的黑鼻屎。願他的老婆家小，都大嘆吃不消，這位英國 CEO合同一滿，他就會捲鋪蓋走人，這樣，西九在此鬼的領導下，就會有最大的廉潔公正。有人說，謝卓飛不懂粵劇，怎麼管西九？ Well，英國人領導香港一百五十年，港督葛量洪和戴麟趾，也不懂粵劇嘛，可他們在香港沒有發動「文化大革命」，把紅伶新馬仔、鄧碧雲，抓去批鬥。在米字旗之下，香港的廣東大戲，獨步全世界。謝卓飛不識粵劇，沒有問題。
唐唐此一決定很英明，大家快站起來，像聽完柏林交響樂團莫扎特的演奏，熱烈鼓掌五分鐘。

High Noon in Hainan

By Chip Tsao | published Mar 25, 2010

Pato Leung, a former pop music manager, now a famous health consultant and a respectable member of the Jockey Club, advised me two years ago to buy a flat in Sanya, sometimes popularly known as the “Pattaya of China.” A three-bedroom flat with an area of 2,000 square feet and a balcony overlooking the surging waves of the South China Sea cost about HK$1.5 million. “You’d love it,” he said, “it’s just like Cannes without the film festival, the red carpet and the Hollywood star parties. But believe me, there’ll be casinos and nudist beaches there in five years time. It’s good value to buy that illusion of vanity.”

I went to Sanya for a look myself. There were half-naked middle-aged Chinese hawkers selling barbecued squid and roasted chicken wings and spitting upon the beach. Young girls were wandering along the road by the sea in the evening but it was not quite like Pattaya, because they were all adults. With very few gweilos, it didn’t even look as voluptuously busy as Luard Road in Wan Chai on a Saturday night. Spotting a few Chinese flags flying atop of some three-star state-owned hotels, I decided not to take the risk.

And how wrong I was. Leung bought four flats all together in cash. He sold three of them two weeks ago, reaping a net profit of HK$14 million. He called me triumphantly to tell me the good news, with a promise of a dinner treat at Steak House, Intercontinental Hotel as soon as he got back from completing the paperwork on Hainan Island. I accepted the offer bitterly, with a deep remorse that I missed the boat because I didn’t have enough confidence in the Motherland.

China created an economic miracle by sustaining a GDP growth of 8.7 percent last year in the midst of a global recession. Experts estimate that 6.6 of that 8.7 percent figure was generated from properties or other related businesses, such as infrastructure building, building materials and furniture. Some experts in the West prefer to call it—not without a sense of jealousy—a bubble, but the figures are real and solid. Some might remind the government that the country is playing with fire while relying on skyrocketing property prices, thus adopting the Hong Kong economic model, but there are many brave and happy people like Leung everywhere in Beijing and Shanghai, and a few losers like me in Hong Kong.

It was particularly harrowing to think of the fact that it would take me an unstoppable 30 years of writing this weekly column to earn the same amount of money Leung did in just two years, and knowledge of English language is not even required. I slapped myself in the face as hard as a Catholic monk flogging his own back. Find faith in our Motherland in time or plunge yourself into the abyss of regret later. I humbly offer myself as a lesson to be learned.

黃禍

2010年03月24日

與澳洲人西蒙在京士頓街一家意大利餐廳短叙，他住在北京，這兩天遇上沙塵暴，以為逃亡來香港會安全，哪知道香港也一片灰黃。
「黃禍無所不在，」我笑着勸慰：「日本、韓國、台灣，一一淪陷，想逃避，要南下澳洲。」
「這是一場環境的崩塌之災（ An Environmental Meltdown）。」西蒙說。
我聽了，不太舒服。英文 Meltdown這個詞，級數很高，只有一九八六年前蘇聯切諾貝核電站大爆炸，才叫做 Meltdown，這個洋鬼子，對我國很不友好。
「我不認為有這樣嚴重，」我辯護，即刻想起魯迅著名的「臭蟲論」──當人家抨擊中國人有什麼陋習時，馬上說「外國也有」，像家裏的臭蟲，你家有，我家也有：「倫敦在二十世紀初，也一片毒霧，所以叫霧都，曾經一年之間因毒霧死了兩萬人。北京還沒聽說有沙塵暴致死的，可見是西方傳媒在誇張。」
「中國的環境災難，還是對全球有貢獻的。」西蒙的印度裔女友說：「我們住在澳洲，在報上看見人說世界環境出了問題，抬頭還看到藍天。環境污染這個概念，對於西方人十分抽象。但如果誰不信，去北京一行就看到了：灰黃的空氣，咳嗽窒息，走出城市，樹木砍光，黃土一片，六成水荒，中國可以成為全世界的污染活樣板，讓我們印度人也警醒，如果沒有信仰，只追求物質，將來從德里到雪梨，都會像今日沙塵暴的北京和香港。」
「但是中國人是靈活的，」我答：「像香港，明明都黃黑得伸手不見五指了，天文台就是稱為『煙霞』。英文叫做 Haze──英國人留下來的詞彙，殖民地餘孽撿起來當寶用，欺騙自以為『當家作主』的萬千愚民。不過，別小看中國人的優點，連秦始皇的專制都能忍足二千年，一點點煙霞，很浪漫，死不了人的。」
「已經是沙塵暴了，還叫 Haze？」西蒙跳了起來。
「還有一個字，叫做『迷亞思媽』， Miasma，但略嫌學術了一點，不夠口語化。」我答。
「鬼啦，別那麼矯飾，」印度西施說：「就是 Sandstorm。」
當影展的洋人評審在柏林遙距讚賞了《歲月神偷》，特區政府乖乖保育了永利街，現在，也有洋人反對「煙霞」這個詞彙了，還得到公認英文比中國人都好的印度人附和。在中環精英爭當洋奴的時代，謹將洋人的權威意見紀錄下來，當洋奴，徹底一點，是沙塵暴，或 Miasma，不是阿 Q的煙霞。可以嗎？吓？

分 手

2010年03月22日

分手時興用手機短訊通知，精簡如一句話。「有沒有發覺幾個月來我們的性格不是太投合？」這種句子，只能通用於寫信，在短訊時代，應該濃縮為：「你我不 OK，我決定分手，勿再 Call我，拜。」

L最近摔掉了拍拖三月的男友。她已經二十八歲，中女年齡，到這個時候，身為女子，已經沒有什麼揚眉灑的權利，但她還是一個短訊就決定了，令人佩服。

男方收到短訊，竟然回電話給她。 L從沒想到他會回電話，她以為八十後的港男，都沒有應對情變的表達能力，她以為他收到短訊，會默默接受，從此兩不相欠，天各一方。

她沒有關機，哪知道小男友打來，沒有說話，只是在電話的那一端啜泣。

女人對於感情，一旦作了決裂的決定，即義無反顧，不會像舊約聖經出埃及記羅得的妻子，走上山坡，還對身後的繁華莫失莫忘。但那位小男生顯然不懂，他以為一切尚有挽回的轉機，但又拙於詞令，也不會寫信，只有回一個電話，在電話那一端，他崩潰了。

在這個時代，面對帶着笑容的 L，我說：你有沒有想過，收到分手的短訊，一個還肯打電話回來，飲泣不止的男子，是當前的珍品？

因為，至少他還 Bother給你一個回覆，至少他還不肯放棄，至少他真心愛着你。不錯，他沒有表達能力，他連一封上訴的情信也無法執筆，甚至，在這個 IT世代，他連一句連貫的句子也無從留言，但至少，他會回電，抓着電話不放，一味飲泣。

飲泣就是最直接而簡單的語言，這個時代，不能要求太高：口才、構思、用字，他沒有這種能力。嬰兒初生，也是用啼哭來表達他對生命的感受，這位被遺棄的男友，從囂囂塵寰回歸嬰兒的搖籃，他用飲泣來抗議，「如果我是你，」我說：「我會心軟，他跟別的男人不同，他是人間極品。」

L聽了，收斂冷笑，低頭沉思。「當你遺棄一隻小貓，牠在巷口哀鳴，你會忍心離牠遠去嗎？」我追問。 L沉默了，眼睛泛起一點淚花。我笑笑，心知做了一件功德，她會回心轉意的，我拯救了一條小生命，因為我相信，在這個無恥的年代，一個會飲泣的男人，是好的。

A Way Out of Soviet-Style Health Care

A Way Out of Soviet-Style Health Care
Solzhenitsyn's prophetic warning about the depersonalization of medicine.

By MILTON FRIEDMAN

Editor's note: The following is excerpted from an article with the same headline by Nobel Prize winning economist Milton Friedman that was published in the Wall Street Journal on April 17, 1996. Friedman died in 2006. A related editorial appears nearby:

In a chapter in his novel "The Cancer Ward" titled "The Old Doctor," Alexander Solzhenitsyn compares "private medical practice" with "universal, free, public health service" through the words of an elderly physician whose practice predated 1918. . .

Mr. Solzhenitsyn himself had no personal experience on which to base his account and yet, in what I have long regarded as a striking example of creative imagination, his character presents an accurate and moving vision. The essence of that vision is the consensual relation between the patient and the physician. The patient was free to choose his physician, and the physician free to accept or reject the patient.

In Mr. Solzhenitsyn's words, "among all these persecutions [of the old doctor] the most persistent and stringent had been directed against the fact that Doctor Oreschenkov clung stubbornly to his right to conduct a private medical practice, although this was forbidden."

In the words of Dr. Oreschenkov in conversation with Lyudmila Afanasyevna, a longtime patient and herself a physician in the cancer ward: "In general, the family doctor is the most comforting figure in our lives. But he has been cut down and foreshortened. . . . Sometimes it's easier to find a wife than to find a doctor nowadays who is prepared to give you as much time as you need and understands you completely, all of you."

Lyudmila Afanasyevna: "All right, but how many of these family doctors would be needed? They just can't be fitted into our system of universal, free, public health services."

Dr. Oreschenkov: "Universal and public—yes, they could. Free, no."

Lyudmila Afanasyevna: "But the fact that it is free is our greatest achievement."

Dr. Oreschenkov: "Is it such a great achievement? What do you mean by 'free'? The doctors don't work without pay. It's just that the patient doesn't pay them, they're paid out of the public budget. The public budget comes from these same patients. Treatment isn't free, it's just depersonalized. If the cost of it were left with the patient, he'd turn the ten rubles over and over in his hands. But when he really needed help he'd come to the doctor five times over. . . .

"Is it better the way it is now? You'd pay anything for careful and sympathetic attention from the doctor, but everywhere there's a schedule, a quota the doctors have to meet; next! . . . And what do patients come for? For a certificate to be absent from work, for sick leave, for certification for invalids' pensions: and the doctor's job is to catch the frauds. Doctor and patient as enemies—is that medicine?"

"Depersonalized," "doctor and patient as enemies"—those are the key phrases in the growing body of complaints about health maintenance organizations and other forms of managed care. In many managed care situations, the patient no longer regards the physician who serves him as "his" or "her" physician responsible primarily to the patient; and the physician no longer regards himself as primarily responsible to the patient. His first responsibility is to the managed care entity that hires him. He is not engaged in the kind of private medical practice that Dr. Oreschenkov valued so highly.

For the first 30 years of my life, until World War II, that kind of practice was the norm. Individuals were responsible for their own medical care. They could pay for it out-of-pocket or they could buy insurance. "Sliding scale" fees plus professional ethics assured that the poor got care. On entry to a hospital, the first question was "What's wrong?" not "What is your insurance?" It may be that some firms provided health care as a benefit to their workers, but if so it was the exception not the rule.

The first major change in those arrangements was a byproduct of wage and price controls during World War II. Employers, pressed to find more workers under wartime boom conditions but forbidden to offer higher money wages, started adding benefits in kind to the money wage. Employer-provided medical care proved particularly popular. As something new, it was not covered by existing tax regulations, so employers treated it as exempt from withholding tax.

It took a few years before the Internal Revenue Service got around to issuing regulations requiring the cost of employer-provided medical care to be included in taxable wages. That aroused a howl of protest from employees who had come to take tax exemption for granted, and Congress responded by exempting employer- provided medical care from both the personal and the corporate income tax.

Because private expenditures on health care are not exempt from income tax, almost all employees now receive health care coverage from their employers, leading to problems of portability, third party payment and rising costs that have become increasingly serious. Of course, the cost of medical care comes out of wages, but out of before-tax rather than after-tax wages, so that the employee receives what he or she regards as a higher real wage for the same cost to the employer.

A second major change was the enactment of Medicare and Medicaid in 1965. These added another large slice of the population to those for whom medical care, though not completely "free," thanks to deductibles and co-payments, was mostly paid by a third party, providing little incentive to economize on medical care. The resulting dramatic rise in expenditures on medical care led to the imposition of controls on both patients and suppliers of medical care in a futile attempt to hold down costs, further undermining the kind of private practice that Dr. Oreschenkov "cherished most in his work."

The best way to restore freedom of choice to both patient and physician and to control costs would be to eliminate the tax exemption of employer-provided medical care. However, that is clearly not feasible politically. The best alternative available is to extend the tax exemption to all expenditures on medical care, whether made by the patient directly or by employers, to establish a level playing field, in terms of the currently popular cliche.

Many individuals would then find it attractive to negotiate with their employer for a higher cash wage in place of employer-financed medical care. With part or all of the higher cash wage, they could purchase an insurance policy with a very high deductible, i.e., a policy for medical catastrophes, which would be decidedly cheaper than the low-deductible policy their employer had been providing to them, and deposit all or part of the difference in a special "medical savings account" that could be drawn on only for medical purposes. Any amounts unused in a particular year could be allowed to accumulate without being subject to tax, or could be withdrawn with a tax penalty or for special purposes, as with current Individual Retirement Accounts—in effect, a medical IRA. Many employers would find it attractive to offer such an arrangement to their employees as an option. . . .


Source:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704784904575111273624979544.html

We’re Having a Chinese CNN

By Chip Tsao | published Mar 18, 2010

After announcing his $2 billion acquisition of the ATV broadcasting station as a major shareholder, up-and-coming Shanghai property tycoon Wang Jing laid out an ambitious plan to turn the channel into “Asia’s CNN” in 20 years. A bold sound-bite, only eclipsed a little later the same day when the ICAC arrested the GM of competitor channel TVB, Stephen Chan, on corruption charges. It seems neither ATV nor Chan were born under a lucky star.

In order to truly create “Asia’s CNN” out of China, Wang would have a lot of work to do. Money is no problem, but it’s human resources that worry me. In order to present the other side of the news, the side not monopolized by Western media cultural imperialism, a team of local Hong Kong war correspondents would have to be urgently trained to deploy to countries such as Pakistan, Iraq and Afghanistan to provide round-the-clock news bulletins. There is very limited manpower available in Hong Kong. Most of the reporters recently swarming Premier Wen Jiabao at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing struggling to extract a word of comment on Hong Kong’s state of play or the performance of Donald Tsang, looked like teeny-boopers or amateur Japanese porn stars. Paparazzi lurking around Lan Kwai Fong hoping for a snapshot of Edison will be prevented by their parents from taking a high-risk job like an Afghanistan assignment; Hong Kong’s film starlets will never answer a question with a volley of machine gun fire.

Wang will have to recruit some brave candidates from China, which is never in short supply of surprises. But even if he’s lucky enough to find a Chinese Mike Chinoy, would that correspondent be allowed to beam back a live story about a riot in Urumqi if a government building was just rocked by an Islamic suicide bomber there? Would he be permitted to have the same urgency as when on September 11, 2001, CNN’s journalist uttered the famous lines live on air, “You are looking at obviously a very disturbing live shot there. That’s the famous World Trade Center, we have unconfirmed reports this morning that a plane has crashed into one of the towers”?

Would we get a program like “Crossfire,” anchored by hosts from both the left and right wing ideologies debating the issues of the day? Martin Lee locked in arguments with CY Leung on the prospects of universal suffrage in Hong Kong, watched by over 100 million Chinese households?

If this isn’t the case, the odds of any Hong Kong TV station becoming “Asia’s CNN” in 20 years is less likely than me becoming another Li Ka-shing in the next 20 months, or CNN evolving into America’s ATV if President Obama wins another term.

狄卡比奧

2010年03月18日

看《不赦島》，七十元的戲票，六十五元看男主角狄卡比奧，剩下五元，才輪到導演馬田史高西斯。
好的演員不但有演技──演技只是一門特長，演藝比演技又高一重。如果演技是詠春或截拳道，演藝就是內家氣功。
狄卡比奧的功力一層層上進，十多年來，是讓全世界都目睹的。從童星開始，演城市版的羅密歐，金童子變身為美少年，演完法國詩人藍波，輪到鐵達尼號的潦倒畫家。
當男明星都想盡辦法留住青春，四十多歲還要敷面膜、打 Botox、割雙眼皮，但狄卡比奧不同，他到了二十八九歲，就開始為自己的一張娃娃臉不耐煩，很想褪下一張金玉青春的畫皮，渴望向「麻甩佬」的層次進發。像攀越了阿爾卑斯山的向朗峯，許多人就此停駐，擁有瑞士的青山綠水就夠了，但狄卡比奧馬上盯着喜馬拉雅山，要向額菲爾士峯進發。
身形迅速增磅，面貌不避風霜，狄卡比奧歡迎脂肪，擁抱皺紋。很少人敢把一張人人稱羨的臉皮像他一樣置諸度外，三十開外，就能擔演中年抑鬱的自閉富豪侯活曉士的。連美貌也如此義無反顧地放下，這個人對藝術的熱誠，是很可怕的。
有了這一份熱誠，生命就開始燃燒，進入艷陽滿眼的境界了。狄卡比奧比他的真實年齡老，在粗獷的角色中作賤自己。他不再是高塔星空的王子，而是天涯末路的亡命之徒。在《不赦島》裏，狄卡比奧由一個神經質的聯邦幹探，蛻化成精神病狂徒，眼神由驕張而癲狂，由自責到迷惘，縱橫交錯的情仇，濃稠交感的愛恨，狄卡比奧把自己轉型成一個人性的宇宙。
不止是演員了，比起積尼高遜，他毫不過火，已經成為泰斗。狄卡比奧只三十五歲，中學畢業，這份修為，除了宿業於隔世，或神諭於塵寰，沒有別的解釋了。他是上天派來的信差，揭示這個紛亂輕狂的世界。

犯局

2010年03月14日

電視台高層貪污醜聞，男主角被捕，本來壯志凌雲的一個輝煌飲食奢豪交心的訪談飯局節目，也慘遭網民惡搞，飯局兩字，不幸遭改名為「犯」局。

「飯局」一詞，確實不太吉利，在中文的傳統裏，有一個「局」字，多半不是好事，而且別有陰謀。「王熙鳳計設相思局」，是《紅樓夢》精采的章回之一，本來歌舞昇平的府宅盛世，飲酒作樂、饗蟹賞菊，情節忽然急轉直下，大事不好了，陡然出了人命，金玉其外的一層包裝之下，原來有人偷雞摸狗，侵害了女主人家的利益。
事緣賈瑞是賈府的遠房親戚，看中了賈府管事的二奶奶王熙鳳，想揩一點色慾油水。王熙鳳像貓玩老鼠般，假裝有意，約賈瑞來幽會，賈瑞儍巴巴的以為得到了二奶奶的歡心，哪知道是個陷阱。王熙鳳命賈蓉扮成自己作餌，讓賈瑞偷摸狎褻，家丁一哄而上，抓個正着，還朝頭淋了一桶大糞，問成個意圖強姦之罪。
王熙鳳的相思局，是欲擒先縱，把賈瑞放進來，在兩間屋子間露天的穿堂夾道上抓人，賈瑞晾了一夜，臘月寒天，朔風凜烈，凉凍出病來，求生不得，求死不能，就這樣給二奶奶玩死。
賈瑞貪色，本來人之常情，但竟大膽僭越，不知尊卑，連二奶奶也想佔便宜，此其一。男女不辨，賈蓉明明是男身，當女人辦，此其二。王熙鳳是賈府裏最聰明的人，不然如何克持上下這頭家，揩油水的人，低估了對方的智慧，此其三。
「飯局」的「局」字大凶。上海人稱「天仙局」，也專指老千騙財的伎倆。至於牌局和麻將局，明是一團和氣，也暗伏勾心鬥角的鬥爭。

蘇聯發明的「政治局」（ Politburo），史達林、布哈林、貝利亞，更是一窩相殘互噬的權術家，嚙咬起來，不見血不罷休。一個「局」字，在中國的社會學中，充滿負能量，所以前殖民地時代，高官叫民政司、教育司、保安司，「司」是好東西，像《紅樓夢》裏的春感司，秋悲司、痴情司，何其清雅，一旦點金成鐵，改稱什麼民政事務局、教育局、保安局，即刻民怨四起，從前的好日子不再回來。

中國的測字學，不全迷信，內有天機，所以有飯局，幸勿叫我，有小宴，薄酌一二，知己兩三，沉歡浮白，才好。

Messing with the French

By Chip Tsao | published Mar 11, 2010

A French TV station has been causing a stir among local Chinese restaurateurs after criticizing the hygiene conditions in many of their nation’s Chinese restaurants. An association of Chinese restaurant owners called for a nationwide boycott in protest against what they perceive as a prejudiced, racist attack—a refrain that sounds all too familiar.

There is every reason for our compatriots in France to tear their hair out in face of this humiliation, although how a nationwide boycott is going to work in practice sounds a bit confusing. Does that mean a total shutdown of all Chinese restaurants for a week, or a six-month black out period until the TV station issues an apology? Will that show the small handful of arrogant French liberals (as most TV producers and commentators always are) that we Chinese have had enough ever since their president met with the Dalai Lama? In that case, non-French gourmands, including the Cambodian Chinese and Vietnamese who are itching for some wontons, will have to suffer. French bistros will surely benefit from the protest. Or does the boycott actually entail a strict racial screening of the patrons: ethnic French are turned away and only non-French are welcomed? In that case, German, Dutch and British tourists in Paris will have to present their passports and make a declaration at the dining table that they solemnly and wholeheartedly believe that the Chinese people are cleaner than the Japanese.

What if the wicked TV producer and commentator refused to apologize and stuck to their rotten racist worldview, and even followed it up by inciting a government clampdown on the accounting books of all Chinese restaurants, to the applause of
Jean-Marie Le Pen, leader of the Front National party?

It’s not easy to win global sympathy. One never argues with the French as far as the wisdom of running a restaurant is concerned. The most legendary example of this in the past decade is the success of Hakkasan, a warehouse in central London that was converted into a Chinese restaurant and made famous after the boss, a Chinese man from the New Territories, commissioned a French designer to refurbish the place at a cost of £3 million. The story goes that the designer accepted the job on one condition—he would have the final say with strictly no argument. The Chinese boss happily agreed.

The French designer then installed an open-plan kitchen, throwing transparency upon every step of the food’s preparation. They also started using waiters of Caucasian origin, and hired Italian valets. At the same time, the Chinese owner and his family was spotted more and more infrequently in the establishment during business hours.

The restaurant soon became a fantastic hit, earning a Michelin star, and becoming a must-visit spot for all the glitterati with famous visiting snobs including Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt. It was then sold for something slightly under a billion Hong Kong dollars to an Abu Dhabi investment fund a few years ago.

歲月狼吻

2010年03月07日

《歲月神偷》果然變成一部政治的抽水機。官員紛紛搶先，有一股勢力把電影「定性」為「香港精神」的代表作，訓令今天的年輕人，，要多學習戲中的補鞋匠夫婦，不要埋怨，「自食其力」，奮鬥再奮鬥。
這麼老土的道德理論，今天的八十後會聽？不可能的。因為《歲月神偷》的殖民地時代，雖然貧困，但所謂「港英」，給香港的底層市民許多活路。
先說戲中這家僭建陋築的補鞋小店。不錯，那時的警察貪污（戲中上門要賄賂的，是一個說粵語的洋幫辦。當年洋幫辦，即所謂「白皮豬」，高高在上，不必自己開口收錢，自有下面的「黃皮狗」們代勞，回去上繳分贓，所以麥理浩才向葛柏和韓德開刀），但「港英」有靈巧的江湖規則，你給了錢，就可以自由拼搏，以後大展鴻圖，我不再煩擾你。
殖民地時代，無論多底層，都有向上發展的門道。譬如鑽石山的詠藜園，五十年代在山溪邊搭起一家竹棚，出售担担麵，那時的警察來不來收賄？一定有。但詠藜園後來壯大了，老闆發了財，成為跨國企業，寧願以前的「港英」，有一點貪污，香港是一溪活水，在淺窄的石縫流成溪澗，雖然沙石俱下，小澗流成大江。
今天的「港中」呢？特區政府不會讓你在小巷無牌經營補鞋攤，在山邊搭棚子開一家麵檔。連有心人呼籲天水圍的空地開放自由經營大牌檔，讓人自找活路吧，官僚搖晃着三等的腦袋，你推我，我推他，不了了之就是不肯。
有了廉政公署，沒有了民生，有個屁用？今天的特區政府追捕小販，把小販追得跳河淹死。從前的警察不會，他檢起一隻蘋果張口就咬，不付錢，但他給你一條活路。
以《歲月神偷》向「八十後」說教，是存心欺騙。小販、大牌檔、街頭小食店、雜貨舖士多，化為遍地商場，都在地產經濟之下消失了。政府管員還有臉站上台，推許這齣戲，叫年輕人一起學習「香港精神」？早已死了，連鬼影也沒有，還哪來的「精神」？一齣戲只是一首輓歌，看了笑一笑就是了，不要讓無聊的官員群起毛手毛腳狎弄，塞進私貨。導演是老實人，提防性騷擾唷。

天涯帥丐

2010年03月06日

寧波帥丐「犀利哥」紅遍中國，經外國駐華記者品題，傳播到西方的網絡。
確實有這樣一個三個月沒洗過浴、身上都長了蚤子的金城武，走紅大陸的網絡，首先不是他的樣子夠帥，而是乞丐的身份。

張愛玲：「乞丐不是人，因為在孔教裏，人性的範圍有限。」中國的網民潛意識都嚮往自由。犀利哥是乞丐，所以他是在「孔教」的社會以外自由逛躂的天涯浪人。中國網民困在沒有人性的牢籠裏，忽然發現「籠子外」有這樣一隻帶着一點半星泥土的彩蝶──雖然寧波還是在國家領土主權之內，犀利哥的獨立特行的形象，其實是幻覺──但由於他不從屬於主流，即好像有了一份中國人都無法享受的自在。乞丐雖然赤貧，至少身份明確，譬如，乞丐就不是奴隸。

犀利哥行乞，但不受奴役，中國人對於「大隱隱於市」，從來有崇拜之心，認定必是高人。「舊帽遮顏過鬧市，破船載酒泛中流」，一廂情願的投射在一個乞丐身上，還是張愛玲看得真切：「乞丐不能有家庭或是任何人與人的關係。中國人集中注意力在他們眼前熱鬧明白的，紅燈照裏的人生小小的一部。」在中國，做人不論富貧，個個都做得累，包括中國的總理，忽然眼前冒出一名天涯孤清的怪客，豈不拍掌叫好，中國人不是真的讚賞他，而是憐憫和憎恨自己。
張愛玲說：「對於生命的來龍去脈不感到興趣的中國人，即使感到興趣也不大敢朝這上面想。」因此對於驚鴻一瞥的犀利哥，忽顧影自憐地起哄起來。他從哪來，打哪裏去，都不重要，最重要是這一快門的 snapshot。

忽然億萬人都喧哄着上來圍觀，人肉搜索，記者追訪，可憐的犀利哥，他嚇得哭起來。
犀利哥這麼一哭，渾身顛抖，顯示了真性情。原來他的本質也一樣很虛弱，他看來「雖千萬人吾往也」、「泰山崩於前而色不變」的酷傲，原來是假的。然而，人人不起哄圍觀，還可以維持一個天涯夢遠的想像，有想像的民族，即使在牢籠裏，也有一絲希望。可是，中國人又一次摧毀了他們的偶像，也再一次把自己的想像扼殺掉。犀利哥瑟縮在一角，面對四周的喧嘩，他一定想大喊：不，我不是魯迅，也不是遊俠，我只是一條卑微的小命，跟你們一樣！然後抱着頭，他像嬰孩般抽泣得更慘烈了……。

Forget the Rainbow, Drive on the Ground

By Chip Tsao | published Mar 04, 2010

The campaign for a de-facto referendum as a result of a mini-mass resignation of five legislators seems to be running out of steam. The pan-democrats are deeply worried about a low turnout rate on May 16, after the Democratic Party decided to stay away from the heat and the pro-Beijing camp called for a total boycott of the by-election. If very few people get to the ballot box on polling day, the referendum will be reduced to a flop. The overwhelming majority of Hong Kong people have more or less accepted the fate handed down by Beijing that universal suffrage in 2012 (what these legislators are demanding) is now impossible. As Margaret Thatcher says, “Never get into a room until you know how to get out of it.” By forcing this referendum, the five rebels have put themselves on a highway to nowhere, but now it’s too late for them to stop.

But politics is a funny game. When things get gloomy, there is always a silver lining. Politics is not all just about holding idealistic philosophical positions and objectives for the long term, such as universal suffrage, but more about achieving short-term goals like seizing more seats in the legislature for the pro-democracy alliance in 2012. If they secured more than one-third of the seats, the pan-democrats would be in a strong position to bargain for their causes. If they win half, it would result in a de-facto coalition government.

China knows this well. That’s why they insist on half of the legislative seats coming from functional constituencies. Chief Executive Donald Tsang has proposed an increase of 10 more legislative seats from the present 60; five directly elected by the public, and five directly elected by district councilors—a move his government boasts of as inspired by the American electoral college system.

Let’s imagine it was someone like Chris Patten who was in charge of this take-it-or-leave-it challenge. What would the Brits have done if they were presented with this puzzle? My guess is they would accept the challenge; it’d be like working out a crossword, trying to outwit your challenger to make the most of it. One thing they could do: since there would be no rivals, the five rebels could announce that they won’t actually contest the election for re-entry to the council; instead, they would name five of their protégés or political mavericks to take part in the game, and these people would literally walk into the legislative council unhindered.

The Democratic Party would then reluctantly support and pass the “reform” proposal. With 70 legislative seats in two years’ time, that could mean more vacant jobs for the pan-democrats and a chance for the original five to come back later. Given the government’s impotence in handling an economy hijacked by property developers, time and opportunities are on the pan-democrats’ side.

It is time for these legislators to regain their sense of direction on the highway. To avoid a car crash, they must forget the rainbow in the sky for the time being, and concentrate on the next stop on the ground.

戰爭練習

2010年03月04日

中國軍方有人呼籲「中國夢」，經濟既然強大了，就不怕做全世界的頭號軍事大國。
雖然還不是國策，但呼籲者說，這是一股「思潮」。經濟強大了，自然要與美國爭雄，做軍事大國，比喊什麼「韜光養晦」，也就是當縮頭烏龜，很有志氣。
可是，何謂「頭號」軍事強國呢？不止是軍費支出，海陸軍和核彈全世界最多，最緊要的是有真正的業績來支持證明。像皇家馬德里球隊，或者曼聯，全球最強，不是看你花多少錢來挖名角，而是看入球榜。
沒有什麼入球的球隊，即使經營成本全世界最貴，也不成為第一勁旅。要做軍事強國，最重要的是真的打兩場仗看看。
日本明治維新成功，崛起為軍事強國。要在東亞奠定地位，先登陸朝鮮，繼而全殲大清國的海軍，割佔台灣，這樣，日本的東亞強國地位，就確認了。
但還不夠，這只是在遠東玩玩而已。要歐洲列強承認日本的地位，打贏積弱的清國，還不算數，法國和英國早就贏過了。於是日本向俄國挑戰，打勝了日俄戰爭。
這樣，日本就成為世界軍事強國了。本來，打到這裏就夠了，應該暫且收手。但後來日本還要打珍珠港，想當世界第一強，以後的發展，誰都知道了。
歷史證明，做軍事強國，固然不能靠吹水，也不能靠帳面的軍事開支，而是要靠事實。事實就是戰爭。可以參考當年日本的經驗，循序漸進，先挑鄰近小的弱國打一兩場戰爭。釣魚台已成日本領土，日本不敢惹？可以先打越南，把南沙群島奪回來。
不打越南，打索馬里海盜亦可。非洲海盜擄走幾個中國船員，做軍事強國，不是派炮艇去奉送贖金，而是不惜人命代價，全殲海盜。人質會沒命？不要緊，中國人命多，就讓他們為國家的未來犧牲好了，一戰功成，建成強國初步地位，國家民族會永遠記住這些死難人質的功績。
連英國也要打打福克蘭，證明自己不好惹。希望軍方的同志，不要學特區政府一樣吹水呀。打一兩場仗，對提升人口質素有好處，不要只做夢，要令夢境成真，不然，美國還是看不起你的。