Mirrors

After leaving you, in a sudden
I find out
there are many mirrors left in my brain,

Every movement of you are
refleted as those beautiful silhouettes with perfect angles

Floating above me



Inspired by the opening of Flamenco, Carlos Saura

KING BOAT FESTIVAL

Last weekend, I was in Little Liuqiu, an offshore island of Taiwan, as foreign tour guide, haplessly, there are no foreigners we could show around. However, I was really impressed by the flourishing and colorful religious ceremony. I started to realize that the religious ritual is one of the main features of Taiwan.

The ceremony is called, “King Boat Festival,” and is held every three year. It is a traditional event with 300 years’ history, originated from the ancestors whom came to develop Taiwan at Quing dynasty. When they first arrived our land, Formosa, they missed their hometown, mainland China, so much and unfortunately there were many diseases or plagues in the same time. Undoubtedly, many people died. As a result, they eagerly searched a spiritual pillar. In the end, they invited the god called Wen Wanye coming through the sea to protect them. Gradually, this activity become the King Boat Festival today and has never stopped.


the center of the event, Sanlong Temple, Little Liuqiu

During the festival, the emperor of the heaven will send one representative to lead the gods on the ground to expel the bad things and the god of plague. The gods will capture the bad spirits and put them into the pillar in front of the temple every day. In the last day, the King Boat, the boat for the god coming from heaven which is built half year before the event, will be carried and be shown around the island for putting all the bad things into it. Last but not least, the climax is burning it in the midnight which symbolizes the representative starts his journey to the sky with all the bad luck and bad spirits.

The event is holding for one week with complicated process. One of the most interesting parts is Welcoming Ritual or Welcoming Water which means inviting the representative from the water. Actually, there are 36 of them to be chosen and each of them has their own last name. The ritual is in the night. In this time, everyone will be waiting at the beach and some temples will try to guest who he is for this year. In addition, the god from heaven should be different each three years. It usually takes a long time to guest right. In certain degree, the temples are afraid to guess wrong because it means the temple is not powerful enough. It is really interesting to see all the people crowding at the beach waiting for the result to come out!

On the next day, they will start the parade. In Little Liuqiu it takes four days because there are four Jiao, the unit of district, and each one has its leader called Jiaotou. During the parade, each temple will carry their sacred sedan following the representative, Wanye and Guanyin. They will visit all the temples according to the district of the day.


When the carriers visit one temple, they will first have a small dance with the parasol, the implement used to block evils for their diety.


Then, they will rush a little bit toward the temple when hearing the man with the golden pot says, "come on, please!"


There are 68 sacred sedans on the road this year and each of them is different in style. Furthermore, each temple’s carriers’ “uniforms” are totally different from another, in other words, they all have their own uniforms. In addition, those sedans are quite “modern”, some of them play electronic music while some play foreign music! You can now imagine how colorful and how exciting it could be on the streets of the island.



Colorful steet in the day!


The King Boat Festival is not only held in Little Liuqiu but another places as well. However, the ceremony in this island has its features. The Wanye here acts also like a judge in the court. If residents have any serious difficulties, they can come to ask for help. For instance, this year one family came to ask where their disappearing fisherman family was. Before asking questions, the people need to register at the temple of the Groundskeeper God. Then, they should wait until the day Wanye come. There are the temples of Groundskeeper God in each district. Besides, due to the fact that Little Liuqiu is a tiny island, only about 6.8 square kilometers but huge enough for the island which is only composed by coral, the parade can be really organized. You can always see a long line of sacred sedans which means more people are gathering together and more bustling.


The evidence of bustling world!


It turns differently in the night with magical LED lights!


The tent of Taiwanese Opera where the actors play the drama for entertaining god, normally they play for the "real" audience. It is also a main feature of Taiwanese culture as well.

It is my first time to join the big religious ceremony like this. It was absolutely fun to see the imagination of our ancestors through myths. You will feel the vivid scenes when you try to imagine all ghosts are being sucked into the King Boat and transferred to the heaven by flame. The little stories told by residents are another appealing part, for example, there are some places you should not go when the night become too dark!

The noisy, crowding and colorful religious ceremony is definitely is a truly TAIWANESE STYLE. Whether you are in or not in Taiwan, it is the part you should not miss!

G片初體驗Humpday：探索線

在G片的世界裡，兩個男人裸著身做著愛，再怎麼正常不過。
但如果兩個異性戀試圖做著相同的事，那可就非比尋常了。


G片初體驗Humpday中，兩位主角Andrew跟Ben，在一場狂歡的派對上，決定突破兩人的性向，攜手拍支G片參加業餘色情電影大賽。這說來簡單的任務，卻一點也不簡單。

兩人為失散多年的好友，多年過後，Ben成了為人丈夫；Andrew則過著藝術家般狂放不羈的生活。兩人看似美滿的生活，卻有著各自的迷惘與困頓。Ben有著善解人意的太太、規律帶著甜蜜的生活，但卻覺得生活中少了點什麼；Andrew則在世界各地旅行搞藝術，漂泊歡騰中卻迷失了自己，不知道自己究竟能做些什麼。

某天Andrew深夜意外的來訪，喚起了兩人年少輕狂的歲月。也在一場派對上，決定做些顛覆的事來證明自己能做點什麼。決心挑戰異性戀的底限─同志情結，而這也就走向了本劇的核心。


兄弟們勾著肩，姐妹們牽著手。有時候，兩個同性的關係能好到令旁人懷疑，但這樣的關係又能走多遠呢？


那是一條看不見的線。

一條屬於性別認同的線，線的兩端分別放著，喜歡男生、喜歡女生。有些人跨越了這條線，成了同志；有些人走近這條線時，便掉頭走去；而有更多人在這線上徘徊不定。


以同志角度討論性向認同的故事層出不窮，但以異性戀的角度來討論則十分新奇。其實無論是同性戀、異性戀，我們或多或少可能都有此類認同的問題。可能在國中時、寂寞時，曾懷疑過自己的性向。

原來主角之一Ben，當初一人待在西雅圖時，也曾因寂寞作祟而懷疑過自己。每天跑向DVD出租店，租了一集又一集，自己可能不太喜歡或是覺得無聊的Frank Lloyd Wright的紀錄片，但每天只要見到那男店員的臉孔，便會馬上改口，說這自己很喜歡這些影片，實則不然，但卻又心肝情願的租了下一集。共十集的影片終於結束，兩人見面的理由消失了，寂寞的他開始想像和對方接吻、甚至親吻對方那多毛的睪丸。



Ben的太太告訴他，如果他覺得跟朋友Andrew拍G片對他來說很重要，那就去拍吧，至少在她和他擁有孩子之前。探索過後，才會更加確定自己最想要的是什麼。


拍G片的橋段，儼然昇華為性向探索的儀式。從一開始，兩人不斷的奉勸對方放棄，骨子裡似乎害怕得很，卻又為了面子，硬把臉撐起。到了最後兩人僵硬地，硬著頭皮上陣。我們似乎瞥見了，這好哥兒們那什麼都做得出的傻勁，似乎也有他的底限。


那看似鬆垮的線，似乎又拉緊了起來。



這條線上，有人相遇；有人在此離散。
但無論如何，探索都是我們成長的必經之路。

無題

I don't feel lonely because I don't know I am lonely.

無題

「雖然，我能陪你的時間不多。但我知道你是不會離開我的，對吧？」

陽陽：黑夜之後

我要一直跑，




即使氣喘吁吁，也絕對不停，




黑夜總會過去。








陽陽






「好久沒看到這麼好看的電影了。」我對志翔說。






《陽陽》堆砌著大量的Close-up，空氣中飄著許多看不見的絲，輕輕一揮、一甩，聲線微微一震，如冰山一角裸露的表象下的事物，隨即傾洩而出。




從手提攝影機看出去的世界，既搖晃又放大。或許，因為靠得太近了，人總看不清事實，但也正因為如此我們更能貼近被攝人的心。隨著攝影師的腳步，我們細細的品嚐劇中人物的任何一個表情。飾演主角陽陽的張榕容尤其無懈可擊。


劇中，她飾演一位中法混血兒，正如同她本人的背景。陽陽討厭自己是法國人這回事，因為她從未見過她的法國生父。或許是心中的遺憾，使得她不願讓別人看見她脆弱的一面。劇中穿插著許多她人前人後的劇碼，人前她的笑顏燦爛，轉眼間，或是在廁所、或是遠離人群，她的情緒馬上決堤，轉瞬間，收拾情緒，回到人群好像什麼事都沒發生過。張榕容完美地詮釋了陽陽，漂亮地舞出情緒上一次又一次的優美迴旋。



無言更勝千言萬語
《陽陽》裡，許多事情，導演並沒有直接讓演員說出來，他們之間的愛恨糾葛，反而是躲藏在少數的話語中，以另一種意象顯現而出。故事中，陽陽和她新家庭的妹妹同樣都是田徑選手，但此時操場上的競賽已不只如此了。兩個人奮力的跑，咬緊牙根，就算輸給別人也絕不想輸給自己新闖入的姊/妹。操場上的競爭已然延伸到親情、情場、面子的競技場上。


陽陽和小如並無太大的衝突，但屬於她們的競爭，卻實實在在地在操場上併發。


而陽陽在和鳴人(藝人經紀人)學舞時，在Tango曲《Por Una Cabeza》溫柔樂聲的環繞下，兩人的情感也呼之欲出。什麼都不用說，只要靜靜地靠在對方身邊，跟隨著對方的腳步，滑步，轉圈，腿往對方的臀部一勾一劃，一步又一步，什麼也都知道了。


亦或是，人與人之間的距離，以鏡頭的距離來代替。時而貼近得讓人緊張萬分的距離，輕而易舉展現出，雙方想靠近卻又不得不隔著幾釐米距離的渴望與禁忌的張力。



有時候，反而是說得不多，感受得更多。就像詩。






電影的尾聲中，我被感動到了，好久沒這種感覺了。




陽陽背著黑暗中透著微光的天空不斷地跑著。一直跑，一直跑。



不停地跑著。





一個意味深長的長鏡頭。




你想到了什麼？








天亮了