2009-10-31

Research for Information

Saturday, but working hard for one small project, lots of information, excited!!!

NOODLES


I like Japanese noodles very much, I got this web-site, I wish I can visit some of the shops and and try them!!

If I can try 5, there will be nice,no need for 100!!

Should be delicious !!


http://www.tv-asahi.co.jp/best100/updating_dex/ranking/031.html



MC、ゲストが選んだベスト1→
過去のランキングはこちら→

美味しい人気ラーメンベスト50~独占公開マル秘簡単レシピSP~
順位 店名 ラーメン 住所 電話番号・
ホームページアドレス
1 すみれ みそラーメン
北海道札幌市豊平区中の島2-4-7-28 011-824-5655
2 らーめん 山頭火 限定とろ肉らーめん(塩) 東京都渋谷区恵比寿1-4-1恵比寿アーバンハウス110 03-5421-0336
3 麺屋武蔵 あじ玉らぁ麺 東京都新宿区西新宿7-2-6K-1ビル1F 03-3796-4634
4 九州じゃんがら 九州じゃんがら全部入り 東京都渋谷区神宮前1-12-21シャンゼンモール原宿2号館1・2F 03-3404-5572
5 桂花 ターローメン 東京都新宿区新宿3-7-2 03-3354-4591
6 池袋 大勝軒 特製もりそば 東京都豊島区東池袋4-28-3 03-3981-9360
7 一風堂 かさね味 福岡県福岡市中央区大名1-13-14 http://www.ippudo.com/
8 中村屋 徳中村屋(醤油味) 神奈川県大和市下和田1207-1 046-279-3877
9 九十九とんこつラーメン 元祖○究味噌チーズラーメン 東京都渋谷区広尾1-1-36 03-5466-9566
10 ぜんや ぜんやラーメン 埼玉県新座市野火止4-9-8 048-477-2232
11 くじら軒 らーめん(醤油) 神奈川県横浜市都筑区牛久保西1-2-10 045-912-3384
12 六角家 ラーメン 神奈川県横浜市神奈川区西神奈川3-1-5 045-413-0356
13 青葉 特製中華そば 東京都中野区中野5-58-1 03-3388-5552
14 春木屋(はるきや) 中華そば 東京都杉並区上荻1-4-6 03-3391-4868
15 こむらさき 特製チャーシューメン 熊本県熊本市上林町3-32 096-352-8070
16 一蘭 ラーメン 福岡県福岡市中央区天神1-10-15 092-736-5272
17 支那そばや ラーメン 神奈川県 藤沢市 鵠沼海岸 7-5-37 0466-34-7776
18 神座(かむくら) おいしいラーメン 大阪府大阪市中央区道頓堀1-6-32 06-6213-1238
19 CHABUYA SIORAMEN BRANCH 塩らぁ麺
東京都文京区音羽2-2-2アベニュー音羽104 03-5319-2818
20 九段 斑鳩(いかるが) 特製ラーメン 東京都千代田区九段北1-9-12 03-3239-2622
21 光麺 熟成光麺全部のせ 東京都豊島区南池袋1-18-22 03-3971-3008
22 竃KAMADO くんたまチャーシューめん 東京都新宿区歌舞伎町2-46-7第3平沢ビル1F 03-3207-1147
23 浦安マルバ 赤皿ぶっちぎりラーメン 千葉県浦安市猫実3-28-28ヤマゲンビル101 047-382-8853
24 ZUND-BAR(ズンドバー) チーユラーメン 神奈川県厚木市七沢1954-7 046-250-0123
25 九州・大分とんこつらぁめん たまがった 高菜ラーメン 神奈川県横浜市神奈川区新町2-7 045-441-9304
26 紀州和歌山ラーメンMATCH-BO 中華そば 東京都世田谷区池尻3-23-3 03-3419-2446
27 支那そば かづ屋 支那そば 東京都目黒区下目黒3-6-1 03-3716-2071
28 らーめん むつみ屋 北海道スペシャルラーメン 北の恵み 神奈川県川崎市高津区下作延21 044-852-2325
29 めん徳 二代目 つじ田 二代目らーめん
東京都千代田区平河町1-4-11 03-3556-5727
30 尾道ラーメン 麺一筋 藻塩そば 東京都千代田区三崎町3-1-18近江ビル1F 03-3264-5018
31 金龍ラーメン 金龍ラーメン 大阪府大阪市中央区道頓堀1-7-26 06-6211-3999
32 天下一品 ラーメン(こってり) 京都府京都市左京区一乗寺築田町94メゾン白川1F 075-722-0955
33 唐そば ラーメン 東京都渋谷区渋谷2-22-6三信ビル1F 03-3486-0147
34 勝丸 支那そば 東京都目黒区目黒2-8-10アーバン目黒ビル1F 03-5434-5320
35 麺 えるびす チャーシュー麺 味玉入り 東京都豊島区西池袋3-30-2ロイヤルプラザ1F http://www.elvis.co.jp/
36 東京とんこつラーメン 屯ちん ラーメン+○得入り 東京都豊島区南池袋2-26-2 1F 03-3987-8556
37 らーめんてつや 正油らーめん 北海道札幌市豊平区美園3条6-1-11 011-814-0003
38 みんみんラーメン ネギバラチャーシューメン 東京都八王子市樽原町437-1 0426-24-2774
39 蒙古タンメン中本 蒙古タンメン
東京都板橋区桜川3-5-1キャッスル桜川1F 03-5398-1233
40 らーめん五丈原 とんしおラーメン 札幌市中央区南7西8-1024-24 011-561-3656
41 中華麺店 喜楽 中華麺 東京都渋谷区道玄坂2-17-6 03-3461-2032
42 ラーメンおやじ 町田店 おやじ麺(味噌) 東京都町田市中町1-19-1ミカワビル1F 042-723-2951
43 もちもちの木 中華そば 埼玉県南埼玉郡白岡町西5-1-6 0480-92-7176
44 ラーメン桃源 塩らーめん 神奈川県横浜市港北区樽町2-2-19アヴェニールヴァン1F 045-544-9005
45 松食堂 チャーシューメン 福島県喜多方市細田7230 0241-22-9904
46 欅(けやき) 味噌ラーメン 北海道札幌市中央区南6西3仲通り 011-552-4601
47 雷文(らいもん) 塩ラーメン 東京都町田市町田943 042-722-5567
48 なんつッ亭 ラーメン 神奈川県秦野市松原町1-2 0463-87-8081
49 こうや 雲呑麺 東京都新宿区三栄町8 03-3351-1756
50 ちばき屋 中華そば+煮玉子 東京都江戸川区東葛西6-15-2 03-3675-3300

2004年注目のラーメン店
店名 ラーメン 住所 電話番号
その1 麺屋武蔵 武骨(豚骨) 黒武骨+チャーシュー+タマゴ 東京都台東区上野6-7-3 03-3834-6528

その2 極麺王 ラーメン+煮玉子 東京都豊島区巣鴨2-15-1 03-5907-0380



I visited the shops in Nov 2009:
桂花 ターローメン
一蘭 ラーメン

delicious !!

Jardim Camoes

This is a public garden located in the residential area, where a lot of the residents in this area visit every day. There are always plenty of visitors, from early morning to the evening - senior citizens, kids, teenagers, foreign visitors....

The old garden is fairy large, with some old tress, beautiful flowers and greens. There are several areas in the garden, and at the backyard, there is a small library.

In different areas of the garden, I can see different groups of people.

In the area near the entrance of the garden, usually there are many senior citizens, some of them are in wheel-chairs with the helpers. They enjoy the nature, being away from home, some are happy to talk with old friends, while some of them are usually in silence.

Not far away, Some middle-aged people join together and have their own concert, they usually practise music at certain time of the day. Not to say, the senior citizens enjoy the free concerts.

At the other corner, some people would practise their Tai Chi in the early morning.

All the places in this garden are well used. It seems that the first floor of the garden is for the elderly.

Then, hiking up the steps (not suitable for the elderly people) to the tiny hill side, on the right hand side, there are some paths for walking and jogging.

The other side there is a children playground and a small library. As there are not many choices in this area, parents like to take their little kids to the playground area of the garden. Some kids may be monitored by their Vietnamese housemaids, while most of the helpers join together and talk in their own dialect. The kids are very happy for they can meet their buddies and play together. The housemaids are happy because they can meet their hometown friends and share with update information.

Next to the children corner, some people play badminton in the little space, while some people stay in the air-con. library, to enjoy the newspaper reading.

This is a little world...... there are many kinds of people inside this garden, except the busy people working in the tiny office.

It seems to me that it is better to enjoy the nature when we are young, not until we are sitting on the wheelchairs, going nowhere but only the crowded Jardim Camoes.

My comments on this garden, it is too crowded, Macau should have more leisure places for the citizens, we need good quality of life!

2009-10-30

Halloween....

Treat or trick, pumpkin pin.......lots of memories...

I always got some candies for the Halloween form my roommate Joan, who was always very nice to me and made me learn a lot of American cultures.

My junior year, she bought a lot of candies for the Halloween.

On that evening, she had an early dinner, then she wore a lot of made-up, so that her face and her hands were very pale.

She dressed herself like a witch with a white sheet, then about 8PM, she carried her basket of candies, walked towards her destination. With some of the other costume and Halloween decoration, she sat on the hallway of Anna Smith building (the married students' dormitory where there were many kids).

The kids from the neighbourhood area stopped by and visited her, for the candies, She almost spent about 1 hour on waiting for the kids' visiting, then all the candies were gone.

It was fun, I enjoyed watching the scenery and seeing the happy faces of the kids.

2009-10-28

Wise Sayings to Live With

Be patience.

Be Positive!

Stay Calm!

Short Term Cost v.s. Long Term Cost.

Short Term Benefit v.c. Long Term Benefit.

Don't overlook opportunity cost.

Never give-up the chance of bargaining, you never know what will happen!

Look for external resources, for your resources may be limited.

Tomorrow will be a even better day!

Don't give up until the last minute!

Be strong!

It's not the past matter, it is tomorrow!

Step by Step can Run Very Fast!

When God close the door, he will open the windows!

Life eventually will become better.

Give me an inch, and I will get a meter.

Stepping back at this moment, sooner or later, I will step forward easily.

Don't trust on what you see!!

The world is round!!

You will never have the same enemy!!

Sometimes you need to act like a fool!

No matter what, tomorrow will be a better day!

衙門如鐵,流官如水

活在當下

加油!

正能量!

平生不養生, 老年養醫生

Movie - The Green Mile

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is about the film adaptation. For the novel, see The Green Mile (novel).

The Green Mile is a 1999 American drama film directed by Frank Darabont and adapted by him from the 1996 Stephen King novel of the same name. The film stars Tom Hanks as Paul Edgecomb and Michael Clarke Duncan as John Coffey.

The film is primarily about Paul and his life as a corrections officer on Death Row in the 1930s. The movie is told in flashback by the protagonist in a nursing home and follows a string of supernatural events upon the arrival of John, a man convicted, but not guilty, of murder.

The film was nominated for four Academy Awards: Best Supporting Actor, Best Picture, Best Sound, and Best Adapted Screenplay.

Plot
The Green Mile is a story told in flashback by an elderly Paul Edgecomb (Dabbs Greer, later by Tom Hanks in the younger version of the character) in a nursing home who is talking to his friend Elaine about the summer of 1935 when he was a corrections officer in charge of Death Row inmates in Louisiana's Cold Mountain Penitentiary. His domain was called the "Green Mile" because the condemned prisoners walking to their execution are said to be walking "the last mile"; here it is on a stretch of green linoleum to the electric chair.

One day, a new inmate arrives, John Coffey (Michael Clarke Duncan), a 7-foot-tall black male convicted of raping and killing two young white girls. Upon being escorted to his cell, he immediately demonstrates "gentle giant" character traits: keeping to himself, fearing darkness, and being moved to tears on occasion. Soon enough, John reveals extraordinary healing powers by healing Paul's urinary tract infection and resurrecting a mouse. Later, he would heal the terminally-ill wife of Warden Hal Moores (James Cromwell), who suffered from a large brain tumor. When John is asked to explain his power, he merely says that he "took it back."

At the same time, Percy Wetmore (Doug Hutchison), a sadistic and unpopular guard, starts work. He "knows people, big people" (he is the nephew of the governor's wife), in effect preventing Paul or anybody else from doing anything significant to curb his behavior. Percy recognizes that the other officers greatly dislike him and uses that to demand managing the next execution. After that, he promises, he will have himself transferred to an administrative post at Briar Ridge Mental Hospital and Paul will never hear from him again. An agreement is made, but Percy then deliberately sabotages the execution. Instead of wetting the sponge used to conduct electricity, he leaves it dry, causing excruciating pain to Eduard "Del" Delacroix (Michael Jeter).

Shortly before Del's execution, a violent prisoner named William "Wild Bill" Wharton (Sam Rockwell) arrives, due to be executed for multiple murders committed during a robbery. At one point he seizes John's arm and John psychically senses that Wharton is the true killer of the two girls, the crime for which John was wrongly convicted and sentenced to death. John "takes back" the sickness in Hal's wife and regurgitates it into Percy, who then shoots Wharton to death and falls into a permanent catatonic state. Percy is then housed in the Briar Ridge Mental Hospital. In the wake of these events, Paul interrogates John, who says he "punished them bad men" and offers to show Paul what he saw. John takes Paul's hand stating that he has to give Paul "a part of himself" in order to see and imparts the visions of what he saw, of what really happened to the girls.

Paul asks John what he should do, if he should open the door and let John walk away. John tells him no, he is ready to go because here there is too much pain in the world, which he can feel, and that he is "rightly tired of the pain" and is ready to rest. When John is put in the electric chair, he asks Paul not to put the traditional black mask on his face because he is afraid of the dark. Paul agrees and after Paul shakes his hand, John is executed. As the flashback ends, Paul notes that he requested a transfer to a youth detention center, where he spent the remainder of his career.

In the present, Paul's friend questions his statement that he had a fully-grown son in 1935. He explains that he was 44 years old at the time of John's execution and that he is now 108 and still in excellent health. This is apparently a side effect of John giving a "part of himself" to Paul. Mr. Jingles, Del's mouse resurrected by John, is also still alive — but Paul believes his outliving all of his relatives and friends to be a punishment from God for having John executed. Paul explains he has deep thoughts about how "we each owe a death; there are no exceptions; but, Oh God, sometimes the Green Mile seems so long."

Movie - Pearl Harbor

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Pearl Harbor is a 2001 war film directed by Michael Bay. It features a large ensemble cast, including Ben Affleck, Alec Baldwin, Jon Voight, Josh Hartnett, Kate Beckinsale, Cuba Gooding, Jr., Dan Aykroyd, Colm Feore, Mako, Tom Sizemore, Jaime King, and Jennifer Garner. It is a dramatic re-imagining of the Empire of Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor Naval Base and the subsequent Doolittle Raid and was produced by Bay and Jerry Bruckheimer, who had previously worked on blockbusters such as Bad Boys, The Rock and Armageddon. Some of its scenes were among the last to be filmed in Technicolor.

Plot
United States Army Air Corps First Lieutenants Rafe McCawley (Affleck) and Danny Walker (Hartnett) are childhood friends and reckless, but talented pilots under the command of Major Jimmy Doolittle (Baldwin). McCawley volunteers to serve with the Royal Air Force's Eagle Squadrons. He meets Evelyn Johnson (Beckinsale), a Navy nurse, before leaving for England; Johnson and Walker are transferred to Pearl Harbor. In Japan, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto plans an attack on Pearl Harbor after the U.S. freezes its trade.

McCawley is shot down in combat over the English Channel and presumed killed in action. While mourning for McCawley, Walker and Johnson have an intimate encounter and begin dating. On the day Johnson discovers that she is pregnant, McCawley returns after three months in occupied France; Walker and Johnson's relationship estranges McCawley from them. After a fight the two men begin to reconcile, but are interrupted by the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

The surprise Japanese air raid sinks the USS Arizona (BB-39), USS Oklahoma (BB-37), and many other ships. While Johnson and other nurses struggle to help the wounded, McCawley and Walker shoot down seven Japanese aircraft with P-40s using their reckless tactics. The heroes are both promoted to Captain, awarded the Silver Star and assigned to now-Colonel Doolittle for a dangerous and top-secret mission. Prior to leaving, Johnson reveals to McCawley her love for him, pregnancy, and intention to stay with Walker, since the child is his.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt (Voight) wants to send a message that the Japanese homeland is not immune from bombing. Walker, McCawley, and others are to fly B-25 Mitchell medium bombers from the aircraft carrier USS Hornet (CV-8), bomb Tokyo, and land in China. The two men succeed in their bombing but are captured by the Imperial Japanese Army in China. Walker gives his life to save McCawley, who promises to raise Walker's son. The film closes with McCawley, Johnson, and Danny (Walker and Johnson's son) visiting Walker's grave.

Movie - The Pianist

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Pianist

Directed by Roman Polanski
Produced by Roman Polanski
Robert Benmussa
Alain Sarde
Gene Gutowski
(Co-Producer)
Written by Screenplay:
Ronald Harwood
Book:
Władysław Szpilman
Starring Adrien Brody
Thomas Kretschmann
Music by Wojciech Kilar
Frederic Chopin
Cinematography Paweł Edelman
Editing by Hervé de Luze
Distributed by Focus Features
Release date(s) Cannes premiere:
May 24, 2002 (2002-05-24)
Polish premiere:
September 6, 2002
United States:
December 27, 2002 (limited)
January 3, 2003 (wide)
Canada,
United Kingdom:
January 24, 2003
Australia:
March 6, 2003
Running time 150 minutes
Country France
Poland
Germany
United Kingdom
Language English
Budget $35,000,000 (estimated)

The Pianist is a 2002 film directed by Roman Polanski, starring Adrien Brody. It is an adaptation of the autobiography of the same name by Jewish-Polish musician Władysław Szpilman. The film is a co-production between Polish, French, German, and British film companies.

In addition to winning the Palme d'Or at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival,[1] the film won the Academy Awards for Best Director, Best Actor and Best Adapted Screenplay. It was also awarded seven French Césars including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actor for Brody (who became the only American actor to win one).

Plot
Władysław Szpilman (Brody), a famous Polish Jewish pianist working for Warsaw Radio, sees his whole world collapse with the outbreak of World War II and the invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939. After the radio station is rocked by explosions from German bombing, Szpilman goes home and learns that Great Britain and France have declared war on Nazi Germany. He and his family rejoice, believing the war will end quickly.

When the Nazis' armed SS organization occupies Warsaw after the Wehrmacht passes on, living conditions for the Jewish population gradually deteriorate as their rights are slowly eroded: first they are allowed only a limited amount of money per family, then they must wear armbands imprinted with the blue Star of David to identify themselves, and eventually, late in 1940, they are all forced into the squalid Warsaw Ghetto. There, they face hunger, persecution and humiliation from the SS and the ever-present fear of death or torture and suffering starvation (this is shown in one scene when a old man tries to steal food from an old woman who manages to drop it on the street and begins to eat it, causing the woman to sob sadly). The Nazis became increasingly sadistic and the family witnesses many horrors inflicted on other Jews. In one scene, an NCO, likely Nazi war criminal Josef Blosche, leads a group of Einsatzgruppen who go into the apartment across from the Szpilmans. They order the family on the top floor to stand up for them, then when an elderly man in a wheelchair is unable to stand up, the NCO orders the other SS men to throw the man off the balcony. The rest of the family are then taken out into the street and shot, and the SS drive off, running over the bodies along the way.

Before long, the family, along with thousands of others, are rounded up for deportation by train to the extermination facility at Treblinka. As the Jews are being forced onto cattle cars, Szpilman is saved at the last moment by one of the Jewish Ghetto Police, who happens to be a family friend. Separated from his family and loved ones, Szpilman manages to survive. At first he is pressed into a German reconstruction unit inside the ghetto as a slave labourer. During this period, another Jewish labourer confides to Szpilman two critical pieces of information: one, that many Jews who still survive know of the German plans to exterminate them, and two, that a Jewish uprising against the Germans is being actively prepared for. Szpilman volunteers his help for the plan. He is enlisted to help smuggle weapons into the ghetto, almost being caught at one point.

Later, before the uprising starts, Szpilman decides to go into hiding outside the ghetto, relying on the help of non-Jews who still remember him such as ex-coworker of his from the radio station. While living in hiding, he witnesses many horrors committed by the SS, such as widespread killing, beating and burning of Jews and others (the burning is mostly shown during the two Warsaw uprisings). In 1943, Szpilman also finally witnesses the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising he helped to bring about, and its aftermath as the SS forcibly enters the ghetto and kill nearly all the remaining insurgents. A year goes by and life in Warsaw further deteriorates. Szpilman is forced to flee his first hiding place after a neighbour detects his presence and threatens to inform on him. In his second hiding place, near a German military hospital, Szpilman nearly dies due to jaundice and malnutrition.

In August 1944, the Polish resistance mounts the Warsaw Uprising against the German occupation. Warsaw is virtually razed and depopulated as a result. After the surviving Warsaw population is deported from the city ruins and the escape of German SS from the approaching Soviet Army, Szpilman is left entirely alone. In buildings still standing, he searches desperately for food. While trying to open a can of Polish pickles, Szpilman is discovered by a captain of the regular German Army, Wilm Hosenfeld (Kretschmann). Upon questioning Szpilman and discovering that he is a pianist, Hosenfeld asks Szpilman to play something for him on the grand piano that happens to be in the building. The decrepit Szpilman, only a shadow of the flamboyant pianist he once was, plays an abbreviated version of Chopin's Ballade in G minor.

Hosenfeld lets Szpilman continue hiding in the attic of the building and even brings him food regularly, thus saving his life. Another few weeks go by, and the German troops are forced to withdraw from Warsaw due to the advance of the Red Army troops. Before leaving the area, Hosenfeld asks Szpilman what his name is, and, upon hearing it, remarks that it is apt for a pianist (Szpilman is a homonym for the German Spielmann, meaning "man who plays"). Hosenfeld also promises to listen for Szpilman on Polish Radio. He gives Szpilman his Wehrmacht uniform greatcoat and leaves. Later, that coat nearly proves almost fatal for Szpilman when Polish troops, liberating the ruins of Warsaw, mistake him for a German officer and shoot at him. He is eventually able to convince them that he is Polish, and they stop shooting.

As newly-freed prisoners of a concentration camp walk home, they pass a fenced-in enclosure of German prisoners of war, guarded by Soviet soldiers. A German prisoner, who turns out to be Hosenfeld, calls out to the passing ex-prisoners. Hosenfeld begs one of them, a violinist of Szpilman's acquaintance, to contact Szpilman to free him. Szpilman, who has gone back to playing live on Warsaw Radio, arrives at the site too late; all the prisoners have been removed along with any trace of the stockade. In the film's final scene, Szpilman triumphantly performs Chopin's Grand Polonaise brillante in E flat major to a large audience in Warsaw. Title cards shown just before the end credits reveal that Szpilman continued to live in Warsaw and died in 2000, but that Hosenfeld died in 1952 in a Soviet prisoner-of-war camp.

Movie - The English Patient 《別問我是誰》

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0116209/










From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 

 The English Patient is a 1996 film adaptation of the novel of the same name by Michael Ondaatje. The film, directed by Anthony Minghella, won nine Academy Awards[1], including Best Picture. Ondaatje worked closely with the filmmakers. 

 The film is set during World War II and depicts a critically burned man, at first known only as "the English patient", who is being looked after by Hana (Juliette Binoche), a French-Canadian nurse in a ruined Italian villa. 

The patient is reluctant to disclose any personal information but through a series of flashbacks, viewers are allowed into his past. It is slowly revealed that he is in fact a Hungarian geographer, Count László de Almásy (Ralph Fiennes), who was making a map of the Sahara Desert, and whose affair with a married woman (Kristin Scott Thomas) ultimately brought about his present situation. 

As the patient remembers more, David Caravaggio (Willem Dafoe), a Canadian thief/intelligence operative, arrives at the monastery. Caravaggio lost his thumbs while being interrogated by officers of the German Afrika Korps, and he gradually reveals that it was the patient's actions that had brought about his torture. 

 In addition to the patient's story, the film devotes time to Hana and her romance with Kip (Naveen Andrews), an Indian sapper in the British Army. Due to various events in her past, Hana believes that anyone who comes close to her is likely to die, and Kip's position as a bomb defuser makes their romance full of tension. Awards and honors 1996[1] Academy Awards Won, Best Picture Won, Best Actress in a Supporting Role: Juliette Binoche Won, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration (Stuart Craig and Stephanie McMillan) Won, Best Cinematography (John Seale) Won, Best Costume Design (Ann Roth) Won, Best Director (Anthony Minghella) Won, Best Film Editing (Walter Murch) Won, Best Original Score (Gabriel Yared) Won, Best Sound (Walter Murch, Mark Berger, David Parker, and Christopher Newman) Nominated, Best Actor in a Leading Role: Ralph Fiennes Nominated, Best Actress in a Leading Role: Kristin Scott Thomas Nominated, Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium (Anthony Minghella) 1997 Golden Globes, USA Won, Best Motion Picture - Drama Won, Best Original Score - Motion Picture (Gabriel Yared) Nominated, Best Director - Motion Picture (Anthony Minghella) Nominated, Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama: Ralph Fiennes Nominated, Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama: Kristin Scott Thomas Nominated, Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture: Juliette Binoche Nominated, Best Screenplay - Motion Picture (Anthony Minghella) 1997 BAFTA Awards, UK Won, Best Film Won, Best Cinematography (John Seale) Won, Best Editing (Walter Murch) Won, Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role (Juliette Binoche) Won, Best Screenplay - Adapted (Anthony Minghella) Won, Best Music (Gabriel Yared)

Movie - Schindler's List

Schindler's List
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is about the film. For the book published under the name Schindler's List, see Schindler's Ark.

Schindler's List

theatrical poster
Directed by Steven Spielberg
Produced by Steven Spielberg
Kathleen Kennedy
Branko Lustig
Written by Novel:
Thomas Keneally
Screenplay:
Steven Zaillian
Starring Liam Neeson
Ben Kingsley
Ralph Fiennes
Caroline Goodall
Embeth Davidtz
Music by John Williams
Cinematography Janusz Kamiński
Editing by Michael Kahn
Studio Amblin Entertainment
Distributed by Universal Pictures
Release date(s) 30 November 1993 (premiere: DC)
1 December 1993 (NYC)
9 December 1993 (LA)
15 December 1993 (US general)
25 December 1993 (Canada)
10 February 1994 (Australia)
18 February 1994 (UK)
3 March 1994 (Germany)
4 March 1994 (Poland)
Running time 195.5 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Hebrew
German
Polish
Budget $22 million[1]
Gross revenue $321 million

Schindler's List is a 1993 American drama film about Oskar Schindler, a German businessman who saved the lives of more than a thousand Polish Jewish refugees during the Holocaust by employing them in his factories. The film was directed by Steven Spielberg and based on the novel Schindler's Ark by Thomas Keneally. It stars Liam Neeson as Schindler, Ralph Fiennes as Schutzstaffel (SS) officer Amon Göth, and Ben Kingsley as Schindler's Jewish accountant Itzhak Stern.

The film was a box office success and recipient of seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Original Score, as well as numerous other awards. In 2007, the American Film Institute (AFI) ranked the film eighth on its list of the 100 best American films of all time (up one position from its 9th place listing on the 1998 list).

The film begins in 1939 with the relocation of Polish Jews from surrounding areas to the Kraków Ghetto shortly after the beginning of World War II. Meanwhile, Oskar Schindler (Liam Neeson), an unsuccessful businessman, arrives in the city from the Sudetenland in hopes of making his fortune as a war profiteer. Schindler, a member of the National Socialist Party, lavishes bribes upon the Wehrmacht and SS officials in charge of procurement. Sponsored by the military, Schindler acquires a factory for the production of army mess kits. Not knowing much about how to properly run such an enterprise, he gains a close collaborator in Itzhak Stern (Ben Kingsley), an official of Krakow's Judenrat (Jewish Council) who has contacts with the Jewish business community and the black marketers inside the Ghetto. They lend him the money for the factory in return for a small share of products produced. Opening the factory, Schindler pleases the Nazis and enjoys his newfound wealth and status as "Herr Direktor", while Stern handles all administration. Schindler hires Jews instead of Poles because they cost less (the workers themselves get nothing; the wages are paid to the SS). Workers in Schindler's factory are allowed outside the ghetto, and Stern falsifies documents to ensure that as many people as possible are deemed "essential" to the German war effort, which saves them from being transported to concentration camps, or being killed.

SS Captain Amon Göth (Ralph Fiennes) arrives in Krakow to initiate construction of the new Płaszów concentration camp. He orders liquidation of part of the ghetto and Operation Reinhard in Kraków begins, with hundreds of troops emptying the cramped rooms and murdering anyone who protests, appears uncooperative, elderly or infirm. In many cases, the killings were arbitrary. Schindler watches the massacre from the hills overlooking the area, and is profoundly affected. He nevertheless is careful to befriend Göth and, through Stern's attention to bribery, he continues to enjoy the SS's support and protection. During this time, Schindler bribes Göth into allowing him to build a sub-camp for his workers. Originally, his intentions are to continue making money, but as time passes, he begins ordering Stern to save as many lives as possible. As the war shifts, an order arrives from Berlin commanding Göth to exhume and destroy the remains of every Jew murdered in the Krakow Ghetto, dismantle Płaszów, and to ship the remaining Jews to the Auschwitz concentration camp.

At first, Schindler prepares to leave Kraków with his ill-gotten fortune. Then however, he prevails upon Göth to let him keep "his" workers, so that he can move them to a factory in his old home of Zwittau-Brinnlitz, in Moravia, away from the "final solution", now fully underway in occupied Poland. Göth acquiesces, but charges a massive bribe for each worker. Schindler and Stern assemble a list of workers who are to be kept off the trains to Auschwitz.

"Schindler's List" comprises these "skilled" inmates, and for many of those in Płaszów camp, being included means the difference between life and death. Almost all of the people on Schindler's list arrive safely at the new site. The train carrying the Jewish women is accidentally redirected to Auschwitz. There, the horrified women are taken to what they believe to be the gas chambers; but weep with joy when water falls from the showers. The day after, the women are shown waiting in line for work. In the meantime, Schindler had rushed immediately to Auschwitz to solve the problem. Intending to rescue all the women, he bribes the camp commander, Rudolf Höß, with a cache of diamonds in exchange for releasing the women to Brinnlitz. However, a last minute problem arises just when all the women are boarding the train. Several SS officers attempt to hold back the children and prevent them from leaving. Schindler, however, insists that he needs their hands to polish the narrow insides of artillery shells. As a result, the children are released. Once the women arrive in Zwittau-Brinnlitz, Schindler institutes firm controls on the SS guards assigned to the factory, forbidding them to shoot or torture anyone. He permits the Jews to observe the Sabbath. In order to keep his factory workers alive, he spends much of his fortune bribing Nazi officials. Later, he surprises his wife while she is in the village church during mass, and tells her that she will now be the only woman in his life, a concession he had refused to grant previously. She goes with him to the factory to assist him. He runs out of money just as the Wehrmacht surrenders, ending the war in Europe.

As a Nazi Party member and a self-described "profiteer of slave labor", in 1945 Schindler must flee the advancing Red Army. Although the SS guards have been ordered to "liquidate" the Jews of Brinnlitz, Schindler persuades them to return to their families as men and not as murderers. In the aftermath, he packs a car in the night, and bids farewell to his workers. They give him a letter explaining he is not a criminal to them, together with a ring secretly made from a worker's gold dental bridge and engraved with a Talmudic quotation, "Whoever saves one life saves the world entire." Schindler is touched but deeply ashamed, feeling he could have done more to save many more lives. Weeping, he considers how many more lives he could have saved as he leaves with his wife during the night.

The Schindler Jews, having slept outside the factory gates through the night, are awakened by sunlight the next morning. A Soviet dragoon arrives and announces to the Jews that they have been liberated by the Red Army. The Jews walk to a nearby town in search of food.

After a few scenes depicting post-war events and locations such as the execution of Amon Göth for war crimes, and a brief summary of what eventually happened to Schindler in his later years, the film returns to the Jews walking to the nearby town. As they walk abreast, the frame changes to one in color of the Schindler Jews in the present day at the grave of Schindler in Jerusalem. The film ends by showing a procession of now-elderly Jews who worked in Schindler's factory, each of whom reverently sets a stone on his grave. The actors portraying the major characters walk hand-in-hand with the people they portrayed, placing stones on Schindler's grave as they pass. The audience learns that at the time of the film's release, there were fewer than 4,000 Jews left alive in Poland, while there were more than 6,000 descendants of the Schindler Jews throughout the world. In the final scene, Liam Neeson (though his face is not visible) places a pair of roses on the grave and stands contemplatively over it.

The film concludes with a statement, "In memory of the more than six million Jews murdered"; the closing credits begin with a view of a road paved with headstones culled from Jewish cemeteries during the war (as depicted in the film), before fading to black.

Movie - Forrest Gump

Forrest Gump
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is about the 1994 film. For other uses, see Forrest Gump (disambiguation).


Theatrical release poster
Directed by Robert Zemeckis
Produced by Wendy Finerman
Steve Tisch
Charles Newirth
Written by Novel
Winston Groom
Screenplay
Eric Roth
Narrated by Tom Hanks
Starring Tom Hanks
Robin Wright Penn
Gary Sinise
Mykelti Williamson
Sally Field
Music by Alan Silvestri
Cinematography Don Burgess
Editing by Arthur Schmidt
Distributed by Paramount Pictures
Release date(s) July 6, 1994
Running time 141 min.
Country United States
Language English
Budget $55 million[1]
Gross revenue $677,387,716[1]

Forrest Gump is a 1994 American comedy-drama film based on the 1986 novel of the same name by Winston Groom. The film, directed by Robert Zemeckis, stars Tom Hanks, Robin Wright Penn, and Gary Sinise. The film tells the story of Forrest Gump's journey through life meeting historical figures, influencing popular culture, and experiencing firsthand historic events of the late 20th century while being largely unaware of their significance, owing to his somewhat below average intelligence.

The film differs substantially from Winston Groom's novel on which it was based. Filming took place in late 1993, mainly in Georgia and North and South Carolina. Extensive visual effects were used to incorporate the protagonist into archived footage as well as for developing other scenes. An extensive soundtrack was featured in the film, and its commercial release made it one of the top selling albums of all time.

Released in the United States on July 6, 1994, Forrest Gump was well received by critics and became a commercial success as the top grossing film in North America released that year. The film ended up earning over $677 million worldwide during its theatrical run. The film garnered multiple awards and nominations, including Academy Awards, Golden Globe Awards, People's Choice Awards, and Young Artist Awards, among others. Since the film's release, varying interpretations have been made of the film's protagonist and its political symbolism. In 1996, a themed restaurant opened based on the film, and has since expanded to multiple locations worldwide. Although a screenplay was developed on Groom's second novel, as of 2009, no sequel has been officially greenlit.

Forrest Gump, who is sitting at a bus stop in Savannah, Georgia, tells the story of his life to a woman seated next to him. The listeners at the bus stop change regularly throughout his narration, each showing a different attitude ranging from disbelief and indifference to rapt veneration.

On his first day of school, he meets a girl named Jenny Curran, whose life is followed in parallel to Forrest's at times. Despite his below-average intelligence quotient (IQ), his ability to run at great speed gets him into college on a football scholarship. After his college graduation, he enlists in the army, where he makes friends with a black man named Bubba, who convinces Forrest to go into the shrimping business with him when the war is over. They are sent to Vietnam and, during an ambush, Bubba is killed in action. Forrest ends up saving much of his platoon, including his platoon leader, Second Lieutenant Dan Taylor, who loses both his legs as a result of injuries. Forrest is awarded the Medal of Honor for his heroism.

While Forrest is in recovery for a shot to his buttocks, he discovers his uncanny ability for ping-pong, eventually gaining popularity and rising to celebrity status, later playing ping-pong competitively against Chinese teams in ping pong diplomacy. He is subsequently promoted to sergeant. At an anti-war rally in Washington, D.C., now Sergeant Gump is reunited with Jenny, who has been living a hippie counterculture lifestyle. Forest witnesses Jenny being slapped across the face by her boyfriend. This angers him to the point where Forrest beats the man severely, but Jenny convinces him to not hurt the man any further.

Returning home, Forrest endorses a company that makes ping-pong paddles, earning himself $25,000, which he uses to buy a shrimping boat, fulfilling his promise to Bubba. Dan joins Forrest, and although they initially have little success, Hurricane Carmen leaves theirs the only shrimping boat in operation, yielding immense catches. They use their income to buy an entire fleet of shrimp boats. Dan invests the money in Apple Computer and Forrest is financially secure for the rest of his life, and also donates a large portion of money to Bubba's family. He returns home to see his mother's last days.

One day, Jenny returns to visit Forrest and he proposes marriage to her. She declines, though feels obliged to prove her love to him by having sex with him. She leaves early the next morning. On a whim, Forrest elects to go for a run. He decides to keep running across the country several times, over three and a half years, becoming famous and accumulating a large following in the process.

In present-day, Forrest reveals that he is waiting at the bus stop because he received a letter from Jenny who, having seen him run on television, asks him to visit her. Once he is reunited with Jenny, she introduces him to his son, also named Forrest. Jenny tells Forrest she is suffering from a virus (probably HIV, though this is never definitively stated).[2][3][4] Together the three move back to Greenbow, Alabama. Jenny and Forrest finally marry but she dies soon afterwards. The film ends with father and son waiting for the school bus on little Forrest's first day of school.

Movie - The Odyssey

The Odyssey (TV miniseries)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Promotional poster
Directed by Andrei Konchalovsky
Produced by Nicholas Meyer
Francis Ford Coppola
Dyson Lovell
Written by Homer
Andrei Konchalovsky
Starring Armand Assante
Greta Scacchi
Isabella Rossellini
Vanessa L. Williams
Music by Eduard Artemyev
Cinematography Sergei Kozlov
Editing by Michael Ellis
Distributed by Hallmark
American Zoetrope
Release date(s) May 18, 1997
Running time 176 min.
Country




Language English

The Odyssey is an Emmy award-winning and Golden Globe-nominated [1] miniseries on NBC from 1997, directed by Andrei Konchalovsky who won the award for "Outstanding Directing for a Miniseries or a Special". The series is based on the ancient Greek epic poem, The Odyssey, which is usually attributed to Homer. It was filmed in Malta and Turkey, as well as many other places around the Mediterranean Sea, where the story takes place. For its DVD release, The Odyssey has been edited into a 3-hour film. The DVD has since been discontinued.

Plot
The miniseries follows the story of The Odyssey, about King Odysseus, on his two decade-long return from the Trojan War to his homeland of Ithaca in Greece.

As well as the Odyssey, the series takes some scenes from Homer's other epic poem, the Iliad, and others from Virgil's epic poem, the Aeneid.

Movie - Hamlet



Hamlet
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The American actor Edwin Booth as Hamlet, c. 1870The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601. The play, set in Denmark, recounts how Prince Hamlet exacts revenge on his uncle Claudius, who has murdered Hamlet's father, the King, and then taken the throne and married Gertrude, Hamlet's mother. The play vividly charts the course of real and feigned madness—from overwhelming grief to seething rage—and explores themes of treachery, revenge, incest, and moral corruption.

Despite much literary detective work, the exact year of writing remains in dispute. Three different early versions of the play have survived: these are known as the First Quarto (Q1), the Second Quarto (Q2) and the First Folio (F1). Each has lines, and even scenes, that are missing from the others. Shakespeare probably based Hamlet on the legend of Amleth, preserved by 13th-century chronicler Saxo Grammaticus in his Gesta Danorum and subsequently retold by 16th-century scholar François de Belleforest, and a supposedly lost Elizabethan play known today as the Ur-Hamlet.

Given the play's dramatic structure and depth of characterization, Hamlet can be analyzed, interpreted and argued about from many perspectives. For example, scholars have debated for centuries about Hamlet's hesitation in killing his uncle. Some see it as a plot device to prolong the action, and others see it as the result of pressure exerted by the complex philosophical and ethical issues that surround cold-blooded murder, calculated revenge and thwarted desire. More recently, psychoanalytic critics have examined Hamlet's unconscious desires, and feminist critics have re-evaluated and rehabilitated the often maligned characters of Ophelia and Gertrude.

Hamlet is Shakespeare's longest play and among the most powerful and influential tragedies in the English language. It provides a storyline capable of "seemingly endless retelling and adaptation by others".[1] During Shakespeare's lifetime, the play was one of his most popular works,[2] and it still ranks high among his most-performed, topping, for example, the Royal Shakespeare Company's list since 1879.[3] It has inspired writers from Goethe and Dickens to Joyce and Murdoch and has been described as "the world's most filmed story after Cinderella".[4] The title role was almost certainly created for Richard Burbage, the leading tragedian of Shakespeare's time.[5] In the four hundred years since, it has been played by highly acclaimed actors, and sometimes actresses, of each successive age.

Synopsis

Horatio, Marcellus, Hamlet, and the Ghost (Artist: Henry Fuseli 1798)[6]The protagonist of Hamlet is Prince Hamlet of Denmark, son of the recently deceased King Hamlet and his wife, Queen Gertrude. While the young Hamlet is away at school the recently deceased King's brother, Claudius, is elected king and hastily marries Gertrude. A minor subplot involves Denmark's long-standing feud with neighbouring Norway, and the threat of invasion led by the Norwegian prince Fortinbras.

The play opens on a cold night at Elsinore, the Danish royal castle. Francisco, one of the sentinels, is relieved of his watch by Bernardo, another sentinel, and exits while Bernardo remains. A third sentinel, Marcellus, enters with Horatio, the best friend of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. The sentinels try to persuade Horatio that they have seen King Hamlet's ghost, when it appears again. After hearing from Horatio of the Ghost's appearance, Hamlet resolves to see the Ghost himself. That night, the Ghost appears again. He tells Hamlet that he is the spirit of his father and discloses that Claudius murdered King Hamlet by pouring poison in his ear. The Ghost demands that Hamlet avenge him; Hamlet agrees, swears his companions to secrecy, and tells them he intends to "put on an antic disposition" (presumably to avert suspicion). Hamlet initially attests to the ghost's reliability, calling him both an "honest ghost" and "truepenny". He later raises doubts about the ghost's nature and intent and claims these as reasons for his inaction.

Polonius is Claudius's trusted chief counselor; his son, Laertes, is returning to France, and his daughter, Ophelia, is courted by Hamlet. Neither Polonius nor Laertes thinks Hamlet is serious about Ophelia, and they both warn her off. Shortly afterwards, Ophelia is alarmed by Hamlet's strange behaviour and reports to her father that Hamlet rushed into her room, stared at her and said nothing. Polonius assumes that the "ecstasy of love"[7] is responsible for Hamlet's madness, and he informs Claudius and Gertrude.

Busy with affairs of state, Claudius receives the ambassador of Norway who gives assurances of peace between Norway and Denmark. Perturbed by Hamlet's continuing deep mourning for his father and his increasingly erratic behavior, Claudius sends for two of Hamlet's acquaintances —Rosencrantz and Guildenstern—to discover the cause of Hamlet's changed behavior. Hamlet greets his friends warmly but quickly discerns that they have been sent to spy on him.

Together, Claudius and Polonius convince Ophelia to speak with Hamlet while they secretly listen to the conversation. When Hamlet enters, she rebuffs his advances and attempts to return his letters, causing Hamlet to question her honesty and furiously rant at her, insisting she go "to a nunnery".[8]


The "gravedigger scene"[9] (Artist: Eugène Delacroix 1839)Hamlet remains uncertain if the Ghost has told him the truth, but the arrival of a troupe of actors at Elsinore presents him with a solution. He will stage a play, re-enacting his father's murder, and determine Claudius's guilt or innocence by studying his reaction. The court assembles to watch the play; Hamlet provides an agitated running commentary throughout. When the murder scene is presented, Claudius abruptly rises and leaves the room, which Hamlet sees as proof of his uncle's guilt.

Gertrude summons Hamlet to her closet to demand an explanation. On his way, Hamlet passes Claudius in prayer but hesitates to kill him, reasoning that death in prayer would send him to heaven. Upon reaching the queen, an argument erupts between Hamlet and Gertrude. Polonius, who is spying on the scene from behind an arras, panics when it seems as if Hamlet is about to murder the Queen and cries out for help. Hamlet, believing it is Claudius hiding behind the arras, stabs wildly, killing Polonius. When he realizes that he has killed Ophelia's father, he is not remorseful, but calls Polonius "Thou wretched, rash, intruding fool". The Ghost appears, urging Hamlet to treat Gertrude gently but reminding him to kill Claudius. Unable to see or hear the Ghost herself, Gertrude takes Hamlet's conversation with it as further evidence of madness.

Claudius, fearing for his life, makes plans to send Hamlet to England on a diplomatic pretext, closely watched by Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Alone, Claudius discloses that he is sending Hamlet to his death. Prior to embarking for England, Hamlet hides Polonius's body, ultimately revealing its location to the King. Upon leaving Elsinore, Hamlet encounters the army of Prince Fortinbras en route to do battle in Poland.

At Elsinore, demented by grief at Polonius's death, Ophelia wanders the castle acting erratically and singing bawdy songs. Her brother, Laertes, arrives back from France, enraged by his father's death and his sister's madness. She appears briefly to give out herbs and flowers. Claudius convinces Laertes that Hamlet is solely responsible; then news arrives that Hamlet is still at large—his ship was attacked by pirates on the way to England, and he has returned to Denmark. Claudius swiftly concocts a plot. He proposes a fencing match between Laertes and Hamlet in which Laertes will fight with a poison-tipped sword, while also planning to offer Hamlet poisoned wine if that fails. Gertrude enters to report that Ophelia has drowned.

In the Elsinore churchyard, two gravediggers enter to dig Ophelia's grave, disclosing that she died from an apparent suicide, though there is much implication of foul play. Hamlet arrives with Horatio and banters with a gravedigger, who unearths the skull of a jester whom Hamlet once knew, Yorick. Ophelia's funeral procession approaches, led by her mournful brother Laertes. Upset at the lack of ceremony and overcome by emotion, Laertes leaps into the grave, cursing Hamlet as the cause of her death. Hamlet interrupts and professes his own love and grief for Ophelia. He and Laertes grapple, but the brawl is broken up.

Later that day, Hamlet tells Horatio how he escaped, and that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern have been sent to their deaths. A courtier, Osric, interrupts to invite Hamlet to fence with Laertes. Despite warnings from Horatio, Hamlet accepts and the match begins. After several rounds, Gertrude toasts Hamlet, accidentally drinking the wine poisoned by Claudius. Between bouts, Laertes attacks and pierces Hamlet with his poisoned blade; in the ensuing scuffle, Hamlet is able to use Laertes's own poisoned sword against him, fatally wounding Laertes. Gertrude falls and in her dying breath announces that she has been poisoned. In his dying moments, Laertes is reconciled with Hamlet and reveals Claudius's murderous plot. In his own final moments, Hamlet, at last, approaches and slays Claudius and names Prince Fortinbras of Norway as his heir. When Fortinbras arrives to greet King Claudius, he encounters the deathly scene: Gertrude, Claudius, Laertes, and Hamlet are all dead. Horatio asks to be allowed to recount the tale to "the yet unknowing world", and Fortinbras orders Hamlet's body borne off in honour.

Movie - 甘地

圣雄甘地
Source : 维基百科,自由的百科全书
(重定向自甘地)

莫罕达斯·卡拉姆昌德·甘地
मोहनदास करमचंद गाँधी

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

出生 1869年10月2日
英属印度博尔本德尔
逝世 1948年1月30日 (78歲)
印度新德里
政黨 印度国民大会党
配偶 Kasturba Gandhi
子女 Harilal
Manilal
Ramdas
Devdas
母校 伦敦大学学院
職業 律师、印度独立运动领袖
信仰 印度教
簽名

莫罕达斯·卡拉姆昌德·甘地(英文:Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi;古吉拉特语:मोहनदास करमचंद गाँधी,1869年10月2日-1948年1月30日),尊称圣雄甘地,是印度民族主义运动和国大党领袖。他帶领国家迈向独立,脫离英國的殖民統治。他的“非暴力”的哲学思想,也就是他说的“satyagraha”,影响了全世界的民族主义者和那些争取和平变革的国际运动。

通过“非暴力”的公民不合作,甘地使印度摆脱了英国的统治。这也激发了其他殖民地的人们起来为他们的独立而奋斗。最终大英帝国分崩离析了,取而代之的是英联邦,或者更准确一点是联邦(因为“英”这个前缀于1946年没有了,变成了Commonwealth of Nations)。 甘地的主要信念是“satyagraha”,英语译成“truth force”,意为「精神的力量」、「真理之路」、「追求真理」等。 这鼓舞了其他的民主运动人士,如马丁·路德·金,曼德拉等人。他经常说他的价值观很简单,那就是(是从传统的印度教信仰演化来的): 真理(satya)、非暴力(ahimsa)。

目录 [隐藏]
1 经历
1.1 早期生涯
1.2 南非的公民权利运动
1.3 印度独立运动
1.4 二战时期
1.5 印巴分治与暗杀
2 个人生活信条
3 荣誉头衔
4 艺术作品中的甘地
5 其他
6 参见
7 參考資料
8 外部链接

[编辑] 经历
主条目:甘地年谱
[编辑] 早期生涯

甘地和他的妻子(1902年)甘地出生在印度西部的港口城市博尔本德尔(当时是印度的一个土邦,今属古吉拉特邦管辖)的印度教家庭,他的父亲,卡拉姆昌德·甘地(Karamchand Gandhi)是当时的土邦首相。他的母亲,Putlibai,是他父亲的第四任妻子。他们是商人的后代(“甘地”的意思是食品商人)。13岁时,他和同岁的Kasturbai成婚。他们有4个孩子,全是男孩。Harilal Gandhi, 生於1888年;Manilal Gandhi,生於1892年;Ramdas Gandhi,生於1897年; 最小的Devdas Gandhi,生於1900年。

1888年,也就是他19岁时,留学英国,在伦敦大学学院学习法律。在伦敦期间,他恪守着离开印度时母亲对他的教诲,不吃荤和不酗酒。尽管他试图英国化,例如,上舞蹈课程,但是他却不吃房东太太给他的羊肉和卷心菜。她给他介绍了一家伦敦的素食餐馆,在那里,甘地了解并且成为了一个素食主义者。这可以认为是他有意识选择非暴力的第一步。他参加了素食社团,并且当选执行委员会委员,他还成立了一个地方分会。 据他说,这给了他组织和运行社团很有价值的经验。他遇到的素食主义者,有些是神智学社团的成员。神智学社团由Madame Blavatsky于1875年成立,作为大学兄弟会的一个延伸。他们致力于研习印度婆罗门教和佛教的经典。他们鼓励甘地阅读《薄伽梵歌》。此时,甘地还没有皈依宗教,但是开始阅读关于印度教,天主教和其它宗教著作。

回国后,他取得了英帝国的律师资格。他试图在孟买作为律师工作。但是工作没有起色。

[编辑] 南非的公民权利运动
1893年4月, 一家印度公司派甘地到南非工作。他看到印度移民在南非的公民自由和政治权利在很大程度上被剥夺的现状,很是灰心。这些移民主要是契约佣工和个体商人。于是他开始抗议和游说,反对针对南非印度人的法律和种族歧视。有人因此批评他没有将抗议的对象扩展到针对全体非洲人的法律。在他在南非的早期,有一件事常被人提起。那就是他买了一张一等车厢的车票,拒绝换到三等车厢,被人从彼得马里茨堡火车中扔了出去。1903年6月,甘地组织了一场抗议运动针对「黑法令」(The Black Act),这个法令强制所有在南非的亚洲人接受登记。1913年9月,他参加了一场抗议不按照天主教仪式结婚就无效的运动。

1913年11月6日,甘地被捕,当时他正领导一群印度矿工在南非游行。1914年,政府允诺减少在南非对印度人的歧视。

在南非的这些年里,甘地从《薄伽梵歌》和列夫·托尔斯泰的作品中汲取灵感。托尔斯泰在十九世纪八十年代转变成了一个个人形式的基督教无政府主义者。 甘地翻译了托尔斯泰的《给一个印度人的信》[1]。这封信是托尔斯泰在1908年写给一个激进的印度民族主义者的。他们一直通信到1910年托尔斯泰去世为止。托尔斯泰的信引用了《韦达经》的印度哲学和印度教大神毗湿奴(此神的中文译名很不统一)的名言来表达他对逐渐高涨的印度民族主义的看法。除此之外,甘地还受到美国作家亨利·戴维·梭罗作品《论公民的不服从》的启发。总之,在南非的岁月是甘地作为一个社会政治活动家的形成时期。 此时公民不服从以及非暴力的抵抗的概念和技术开始形成。

一战时,甘地回到了印度,在那里他发动运动,号召印度人参加英印陆军。他认为这样表现对英国的忠诚就会使英国同意印度作为英帝国的一个自治政体而达到印度自治。但是,这没有成功。

[编辑] 印度独立运动
一战后,他参与了国大党的独立运动。他以他的公民不服从、不合作,和绝食抗议等的政治主张,获得了世界范围的关注。他被英国当局多次逮捕。例如,1922年3月18日,他因为他领导的公民不服从判刑6年,但是只是服刑2年。

甘地别的成功的独立运动的战略还有swadeshi政策,即抵制外国产的商品,特别是英国产品。与此相关的还有他的关于所有印度人应该穿土布的宣传。反对用英国的织布。甘地宣传说印度妇女,不论贫富,应该每天花一定的时间织布,来支持独立运动。那时很多人认为这些独立运动这些事,不适合妇女参加。甘地的这个策略把妇女加入到独立运动中来。

1919年的阿姆利则血案后,他支持独立的立场更加坚决。当时英国政府和廓尔喀雇佣兵向和平政治集会的人群开枪, 数以百计的锡克教徒,印度教徒,还有穆斯林被杀。除了抵制英国产品外,甘地还极力鼓励人们抵制英国学校,法律机构,辞退政府工作, 拒绝缴税, 抛弃英国给的称号和荣誉。

1920年4月,他当选印度自治同盟的主席。1921年12月,他又被授予国大党在同盟内的执行代表。在他的领导下,国大党重组,制定了新的章程。 新党章规定他的目标是争取独立。任何人只要交纳一定的象征性费用就可以入党。用来规矩和管理混乱无序的运动的委员会的层次结构也被建立。国大党由一个精英组织转变成了一个大众化政党。

1922年,在Chauri Chaura,Uttar Pradesh暴发暴力事件后,甘地暂时取消了他的不服从运动。 他转向社会活动。 在Ajmedabad建立了Sabarmati Ashram(高僧修行所),还有报纸「年轻的印度」(Young India)。他为历史上被践踏的种姓争取平等的权利,尤其是为贱民(他称之为“神的孩子”)争取权利。

甘地再次参加独立运动是在1930年。国大党当时拜访他,希望他领导另一场大规模的公民不服从运动。他于是在1930年3月21日到4月6日領導了他一生中最著名的一次運動─為了抗議殖民政府的食鹽公賣制,甘地從德里到Ahmedabad游行達400公里, 被稱之為德里遊行(或稱「鹽隊」)。 數以千計的人們徒步到海邊自己取鹽而不是給政府交稅。

他1915年回印度,並很快地成為正在從事獨立運動的國大黨的領袖。通過聯合抵制英貨,甘地促進了印度農村工業的發展,同時,通過宣傳非暴力抵抗,來抑制恐怖活動的暴虐,雖然他不能阻止這些恐怖活動。

虽然他经常攻击英国政府,但是他一直声明他尊重英国人。因此大多英国人也佩服他,虽然他们并不明白甘地做事的内因。

甘地开始穿了一道缠腰布在印度乡下四处演讲,鼓励使用手纺车来解除印度对兰开夏(Lancashire)纺织厂的依赖。

1933年5月8日,甘地开始了为期21天的绝食抗议英国政府对印度的压迫。1934年夏天,他又进行了他一生中三次不成功的绝食。1939年3月3日他又在孟買绝食抗议印度的独裁统治。

甘地选择在国大党内的继任者是尼赫鲁,就是后来的总理。尼赫鲁和他的政治对手Sardar Patel对于独立的印度该走那条路公开承认有不同意见。但是甘地更相信尼赫鲁能建立保障印度人民自由的政府。

他曾先后在1922年,1930年,1933年和1942年四次入狱,在狱中通过绝食展开他的文明不服从运动。1931年赴伦敦参加了有关印度将来的一次圆桌会议,但并没有结果。到1942年,他相信独立是印度唯一可能的出路。他与英国驻印度最后两任总督(阿奇博尔德·珀西瓦尔·韦维尔和路易斯·蒙巴顿)合作制定了印度独立和分治方案,于1947年8月15日公布。此时,甘地的许多追随者开始尊称他为“圣雄”。

[编辑] 二战时期
1939年当纳粹德国入侵波兰时二战爆发了。虽然甘地对法西斯侵略的受害者深表同情,经与共和国大党的同志们深思熟虑后,宣布印度不会支持表面上是为自由而战的战争,尽管印度当时也还没有自由。他声称如果战后印度可以独立的话,他会与英国并肩战斗。英国政府的反应是完全负面的,而且他们还试图给印度的印度教徒和穆斯林之间制造裂痕。在二战时甘地的独立要求变得更加得到拥护。他起草了一个让英国从印度退出的草案。这个草案立刻引发了印度有史以来的最大的一次独立运动。这个运动导致了很多人被捕和史无前例规模的暴力。甘地和他的支持者们清楚地说如果印度不能独立,就不支持战争。这时,他甚至暗示他曾经想结束他对非暴力不可动摇的支持。他说:“他身边这个有序的无政府比真正的无政府还差”。于是他于1942年8月9日在孟买被英国军队逮捕,关了两年。

甘地认为成立自治政府的进度缓慢,于是加强了对英国政权的反抗。他经常被抓入监狱。1942年第二次世界大战期间,他宣称反法西斯同盟只能得到独立的印度的支持。这是他最后一次入狱。

[编辑] 印巴分治与暗杀
甘地对印度的印度教徒和穆斯林都有重要的影响。据说一次他一出现就使得双方的冲突平息。他强烈反对任何把印度分成两个国家的提议。

他主张印度教徒和穆斯林团结合作,提倡社会改良、自我道德完善和精神感化。二战之后, 甘地希望印度能够独立并成为一个完整的国家,但最后,为了印度独立,甘地接受让印度与巴基斯坦分别独立的方案,巴基斯坦成为一个独立的穆斯林国家。在政权交接的那天,甘地没有庆祝印度的独立,而是独自在加尔各答为分治而忧伤。

一些人不满他接受印巴分治法案,拒绝他的非暴力哲学。当印度人和穆斯林人又开始暴乱冲突,甘地开始了他的第14次绝食,告示大家直到停战之后他才会进食。他成功使局势一度稳定。但在1948年1月30日,刚结束绝食的甘地在前往一个祈祷会的途中被一个印度教狂热分子南度藍姆·高德西枪击,中弹的瞬间,甘地还以手势表示宽容凶手並為他祝福。在後來的審判中,南度藍姆·高德西自稱:「在我開槍前,我真心祝福他(甘地)並當面恭敬地向他鞠躬。」

[编辑] 个人生活信条
甘地奉行的苦行僧式的个人克己生活制度包括素食,独身,默想,禁欲,一周有一天不说话,放弃西方式衣服而穿了印度土布做的印度传统服装,用纺车纺纱,参与劳动。

甘地的哲学和非暴力不合作(satya, ahimsa)的思想深受薄伽梵歌,印度教信仰以及耆那教的影响。非暴力(ahimsa)的概念在印度的宗教中长久以来就有。印度教,佛教,耆那教中对于此都有重述。甘地在他的自传“我的对于真理的实践经历”(The Story of my Experiments with Truth)揭示了他的哲学和生活方式。

尽管他去伦敦时,尝试吃肉,但是他后来变成一个严格的素食主义者。他在伦敦求学时对此写过几本书。在印度教和耆那教中素食主义是根深蒂固的。他的家乡就有很多印度教徒是素食主义者。他尝试不同的饮食,最终相信素食足以满足人体的最小要求。他也曾很长时间不进食,并以此作为政治武器。

在他36歲时,他禁欲,变成了一个彻底的禁欲主义者。禁欲是受印度教的影响。但是他没有离婚。据说他的这个决定没有同他的妻子讨论,而是直接向她宣布的。

甘地每周一天不说话。他相信沉默带给他内心的平静。这来自于印度教中的力量来自于“沉默”(mouna)和“平静”(“shanti”,梵语音译。)。他在沉默靠在纸上写字来交流。从他37歲開始的3年半裡,甘地拒绝读报纸。他认为尘世的喧嚣比他的内心的不安更加不堪。

在从南非的成功法律工作回到印度后,他放弃了代表富有和成功的西方式衣服。他的意思是要穿的能够被印度最贫穷的人接受。他宣扬使用家庭纺织的土布(khadi)。甘地和他的跟从者使用纺车自己纺的布做衣服。这对英国的权力集团是一个威胁。如果印度人因为没有工作而空闲时,他们从英国那里买衣服。如果印度人自己做衣服,英国的工业就空闲了。后来国大党的党旗中就有纺车图案。

[编辑] 荣誉头衔
他的头衔“Mahatma”,(一般漢譯為“圣雄”)来源于梵语的敬语mahatman, 原意“Great Souled”,伟大的灵魂, 却常被误以为是他的名字。这在他授予泰戈尔"Gurudev"的称号,意即“伟大的导师”后,1915年印度诗人拉宾德拉那·泰戈尔(Rabindranath Tagore)赠予他的尊称,意为合圣人与英雄于一身。

这个头衔的使用在印度以外也被广泛地接受, 可能部分的反映出在他的时代印度和英国的复杂关系。 无论如何,这个头衔的广泛使用是同世界上对甘地这样一个对于非暴力和自己的宗教信仰的极其执著的人的广泛接受相一致的。

[编辑] 艺术作品中的甘地
关于甘地最出名的艺术作品应该是电影《甘地》。该片的导演是理查德·阿滕伯勒(Richard Attenborough)。主演是本·金斯利(Ben Kingsley),他的一半血统也是来自古吉拉特邦。电影“The Making of the Mahatma”展示的是他在南非的21年。主演是Rajat Kapur。

在英國,有數座甘地的塑像,最著名的是在他学习法律的伦敦大学学院的附近的Tavistock Gardens。

在美國,三藩市的轮渡大樓停车场旁、休斯敦的Herman公園、紐約的联合广场、亞特蘭大的马丁·路德·金紀念處、華盛頓Dupont Circle的印度使館附近等多个地方,都可以看到甘地的塑像。

在巴黎、阿姆斯特丹、巴塞隆那 和里斯本,也有甘地的雕塑。印度政府贈予加拿大的溫尼伯市一座雕塑,表達他們對將來安家於此的加拿大人權博物館的支持。

在俄罗斯首都莫斯科市也有甘地的雕像。[2]

[编辑] 其他
尽管甘地在1937年到1948年之间获得过五次提名,但他始终没有获得过诺贝尔和平奖。多年以后,诺贝尔委员会对此公开表达过他们的遗憾。1948年甘地去世那年,諾貝爾和平獎並未頒發,原因是沒有適合的、活著的候選人;在1989年当达赖喇嘛获得诺贝尔和平奖时,委员会主席说“此奖之一部分纪念莫罕达斯·甘地”(in part a tribute to the memory of Mahatma Gandhi)。诺贝尔电子博物馆有一篇文章讨论此事,詳見——Mahatma Gandhi, the Missing Laureate

甘地死後,他的事蹟,一直受到广泛的评论。例如,作为大英帝国的例子,丘吉尔一次说:“见到甘地先生,……是令人作呕,他曾是一个妨害治安的Middle Temple出来的律师。现在在东方作出苦行僧的样子,半裸的在总督府前游行,却出名了”。与此相反,爱因斯坦这样评论甘地:“後世的子孫也許很難相信,歷史上竟走過這樣一副血肉之軀。”(Generations to come will scarcely believe that such a one as this walked the earth in flesh and blood.)他又說:「我認為甘地的觀點是我們這個時期所有政治家中最高明的。我們應該朝著他的精神方向努力:不是通過暴力達到我們的目的,而是不同你認為邪惡的勢力結盟。」1999年《時代》雜誌將其評選為20世紀風雲人物第一名是愛因斯坦,第二位世紀風雲人物是羅斯福總統,印度的甘地列第三位,他是以個人之力抗拒專制、拯救民權和個人自由的象徵。

甘地的贡献不会被人们遗忘。他的孙子,Arun Gandhi和Rajmohan Gandhi,甚至他的重孙,Tushar Gandhi也是社会政治活动家,为了世界上的非暴力而努力。

甘地与印度的政治家族甘地家族无关。在英迪拉·甘地和費羅茲·甘地结婚后,这个政治家族才采用甘地这个姓氏。費羅茲·甘地和圣雄甘地没有关系。

Movie - Godfather

The Godfather
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is about the 1972 film.

Theatrical poster
Directed by Francis Ford Coppola
Produced by Albert S. Ruddy
Written by Novel:
Mario Puzo
Screenplay:
Mario Puzo
Francis Ford Coppola
Robert Towne (uncredited)
Starring Marlon Brando
Al Pacino
James Caan
Richard S. Castellano
Robert Duvall
Sterling Hayden
John Cazale
John Marley
Richard Conte
Diane Keaton
Music by Nino Rota
Carmine Coppola
Cinematography Gordon Willis
Editing by William H. Reynolds
Peter Zinner
Marc Laub[1]
Murray Solomon[1]
Distributed by Paramount Pictures
Release date(s) 15 March 1972 (US)
Running time theatrical: 175:18. restoration: 176:59
Country United States
Language English
Budget $6,500,000[2]
Gross revenue $133,698,921 (worldwide)
Followed by The Godfather Part II

The Godfather (also known as Mario Puzo's The Godfather) is a 1972 American thriller film based on the 1969 novel of the same name by Mario Puzo and directed by Francis Ford Coppola from a screenplay by Puzo, Coppola, and Robert Towne (uncredited).[3] It stars Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Richard S. Castellano, Robert Duvall, Sterling Hayden, John Marley, Richard Conte and Diane Keaton, and features John Cazale , Talia Shire, Al Martino , and Abe Vigoda. The story spans ten years from 1945 to 1955 and chronicles the fictional Italian-American Corleone crime family. Two sequels followed: The Godfather Part II in 1974, and The Godfather Part III in 1990.

The Godfather received Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Actor, and Best Adapted Screenplay, and has been selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry. In addition, it is ranked as the second greatest film in American cinematic history, behind Citizen Kane, on the AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition) list by the American Film Institute.[4]

In late summer 1945, guests are gathered for the wedding reception of Don Vito Corleone's daughter Connie (Talia Shire) and Carlo Rizzi (Gianni Russo). Vito (Marlon Brando), the head of the Corleone Mafia family – who is known to friends and associates as "Godfather" – and Tom Hagen (Robert Duvall), the Corleone family lawyer and consigliere (counselor), are hearing requests for favors. Meanwhile, the Don's youngest son Michael (Al Pacino), a decorated Marine war hero returning from World War II service, tells his girlfriend Kay Adams (Diane Keaton) anecdotes about his family, attempting to inform her about his father's criminal life; he reassures her that he is different from his family.

According to tradition, a Sicilian cannot refuse a request made on his daughter's wedding day, and therefore, several supplicants come to him asking for various favors. The Don's wealth and his ability to bribe various judges and congressmen make him one of the most powerful men in New York. Among the guests at the celebration is the famous singer Johnny Fontane (Al Martino), Corleone's godson, who has come from Hollywood to petition Vito's help in landing a movie role that will revitalize his flagging career. Hagen is dispatched to California to fix the problem by convincing the head of the studio, Jack Woltz (John Marley) to give Fontane the part. Woltz refuses but is soon persuaded when he finds the severed head of his prized $600,000 stud horse in his bed after waking up the next morning.

Upon Hagen's return, the family meets with Virgil "The Turk" Sollozzo (Al Lettieri), who is being backed by the rival Tattaglia family. He asks Don Corleone for financing, and political and legal protection for importing and distributing heroin. Despite the huge profit to be made, Corleone doesn't approve of drug trafficking and feels his political influence could be jeopardized. The Don's eldest son, Sonny questions Sollozzo's assurances along with the family's investment with the Tattaglia family. Don Corleone then sends his primary enforcer Luca Brasi (Lenny Montana) to infiltrate Sollozzo's organization and report back with information. During the meeting, Brasi is stabbed in his hand to prevent him from defending himself and garroted by an assassin.

Soon after Brasi's meeting with Sollozzo, Don Corleone is shot in an assassination attempt. Sollozzo abducts Tom Hagen and persuades him to offer Sonny the deal previously offered to the Don. Sonny instead issues an ultimatum to the Tattaglia family to turn over Sollozzo or face war. They send him "a Sicilian message," in the form of a fresh fish wrapped in Luca Brasi's bullet-proof vest, to tell the Corleones that Luca Brasi "sleeps with the fishes."

Michael, whom the other Mafia families consider a "civilian" uninvolved in mob business, visits his father at the small private hospital. There are supposed to be family soldiers on constant watch at the hospital but Michael finds the entire facility almost empty. Realizing that his father is again being set up to be killed, he calls Sonny for help, moves his father to another room, and goes outside to watch the entrance. With the assistance of a young man who benefited from the Don's favors, Michael scares away a car full of hoods who presumably expected no resistance. Police cars soon appear with the corrupt Captain McCluskey (Sterling Hayden), who breaks Michael's jaw when he insinuates that Sollozzo paid McCluskey to set up his father. Just then, Hagen arrives with "private detectives" licensed to carry guns to protect Don Corleone, and he takes Michael home. Sonny responds by having Bruno Tattaglia, son and underboss of Don Phillip Tattaglia (Victor Rendina), killed.

Following the attempt on the Don's life at the hospital, Sollozzo requests a meeting with the Corleones, which Captain McCluskey will attend as Sollozzo's bodyguard. Michael volunteers to kill both men during the meeting. Although police officers are usually off limits for hits, Michael argues that since McCluskey is corrupt and has illegal dealings with Sollozzo, he is fair game. Before the meeting in an Italian restaurant, McCluskey frisks Michael for weapons and finds him clean. Michael excuses himself to go to the bathroom where he retrieves a planted revolver, and returning to the table, he fatally shoots Sollozzo, then McCluskey. Michael is sent to hide in Sicily while the Corleone family prepares for all-out warfare with the other four mafia families (Five Families) who are now united against the Corleones, as well as a general clampdown on the mob by the police and government authorities.

When Don Corleone is brought home from the hospital, it falls to Hagen to tell him that Michael did the hit on Sollozzo and McCluskey and is now in hiding. Vito's face becomes pained and he dismisses Hagen and Sonny. Sonny then tells Hagen he wants a hit on Don Tattaglia. Hagen objects on the grounds that they're losing too much money due to the war. Sonny loses his temper, accusing Hagen of incompetence, but then apologizes.

As the war rages, Sonny has to be accompanied by family soldiers at all times, including visits to his mistress. They are also with him when he viciously beats Carlo who, Sonny discovers, has been physically abusive to Connie.

Later, Carlo again beats Connie who is visibly pregnant. When Sonny receives a telephone call from Connie he is enraged and speeds off in his car, without protection, to confront Carlo. However, he is ambushed at a tollbooth and shot dead. When news reaches the still-recovering Don, he demands a meeting of the Five Families to end the violence between them.

During this time, Michael waits in exile and is protected by Don Tommasino, an old family friend. In a small village, he meets and falls in love with Apollonia Vitelli (Simonetta Stefanelli), the beautiful young daughter of a bar owner. They quickly marry, but soon after, Michael is informed of Sonny's death and needs to leave immediately. As the couple are about to be moved to a safer location, Apollonia is killed when their car is bombed; Michael, who barely escapes alive, spots his bodyguard, Fabrizio, hurriedly leaving the grounds mere seconds before the explosion, implicating him in the assassination plot.

A meeting among several Mafia bosses including many from outside New York City is held. Emilio Barzini (Richard Conte) acts as the primary arbitrator among the Five Families. He implores Vito to reconsider his position on drugs. Another boss, Don Zaluchi, tells the organization that drugs are inevitable, but the families can at least control distribution. As long as the narcotics are kept in the ghettos and never sold to children, there should be little opposition from the Don's patrons. Vito now softens his stance on narcotics, but also demands that no harm comes to Michael who stands accused of the Sollozzo hit. In return he swears not to seek revenge for Sonny's killing. He and Don Tattaglia embrace, but on the drive home, he tells Hagen that it is now obvious to him that Don Barzini has been pulling the strings of the entire situation.

With his safety guaranteed, Michael returns home. More than a year later, he reunites with his former girlfriend Kay after a total of four years, three in Italy, and one in America. He tells her he wants them to be married. Although Kay is hurt that he waited so long to contact her, she accepts his proposal. With the Don semi-retired, Sonny dead, and middle brother Fredo (John Cazale) considered incapable of running the family business, Michael is now in charge; he promises Kay he will make the family business completely legitimate within five years.

A couple of years have passed. Peter Clemenza (Richard S. Castellano) and Salvatore Tessio (Abe Vigoda), two Corleone Family caporegimes (captains), complain that they are being pushed around by the Barzini Family and ask permission to strike back, but Michael denies the request. He plans to move the family operations to Nevada and after that, Clemenza and Tessio may break away to form their own families. Michael further promises Connie's husband, Carlo, that he will be his right hand man in Nevada (this contradicts Vito's earlier declaration that Carlo must never be included in true family business). Vito replaces Tom Hagen as consigliere, who now merely the family's lawyer. Privately, Hagen complains about his change in status, and also questions Michael about a new "regime of soldiers" secretly being built under Rocco Lampone (Tom Rosqui). Don Vito explains to Hagen that Michael is acting on his advice. It is obvious that everyone feels Vito is senile and Michael is not qualified to be Don.

On a trip to Las Vegas, Michael intends to buy out the casino owned by gambling mogul Moe Greene (Alex Rocco). The Corleone family financed the casino, but it loses money. Fredo has now been in Vegas for a few years and has grown close to Moe. Greene and Michael start arguing. Greene tells Michael that he'll make a deal with Barzini, and that everybody knows the Corleones power is fading. Fredo yells at Michael afterwards, and Michael prophetically tells him, "Don't ever take sides with anyone against the family. Ever."

In a private moment, Vito explains his expectation that the Family's enemies will attempt to murder Michael by using a trusted associate to arrange a meeting as a pretext for assassination. Vito also reveals that he had never intended a life of crime for Michael, hoping that his youngest son would hold legitimate power as a senator or governor. Shortly after, Vito collapses and dies while playing with his young grandson Anthony in his tomato garden. At the burial, Tessio conveys a proposal for a meeting with Barzini, which identifies Tessio as the traitor that Vito was expecting. Michael, acting sheepish, agrees to it. Tessio, along with others in attendance, shakes hands with Barzini, ostensibly congratulating him. It is now clear that with Vito's passing, Barzini no longer has to share power and is now considered the capo di tutti capi ("boss of all bosses") of the families.

Michael arranges for a series of murders to occur simultaneously while he is standing godfather to Connie's and Carlo's newborn son at the church:

Don Stracci and another man are shot by a shotgun-wielding Clemenza while in an elevator.
Don Cuneo is trapped in a building's revolving door and shot by Willi Cicci.
Moe Green is shot point blank through his right eye as he receives a back massage.
Don Tattaglia is in bed with a girl when Rocco Lampone and an unknown associate knock down the door and riddle them both with tommy guns.
Al Neri (disguised as a police officer) threatens Barzini's illegally parked chauffeur with a ticket. When Barzini and his bodyguard come out of the building to confront him, he shoots all three.
After the baptism, Tessio believes he and Hagen are on their way to the meeting between Michael and Barzini that he has arranged. Instead, Tessio is surrounded by Willi Cicci and other button men. Realizing that Michael has uncovered his betrayal, Tessio tells Hagen "It was only business" (a recurring slogan throughout the film). He is led away, his murder occurring off-screen. Later, Michael confronts Carlo over Sonny's murder and forces him to admit his role in setting up the ambush. A weeping Carlo is handed a ticket for exile in Las Vegas and will now be excluded from all family business. Upon entering the car, he is garroted to death by Clemenza.

Later, a hysterical Connie accuses Michael of murdering Carlo. Kay questions Michael about Connie's accusation, but he refuses to answer, telling her to never inquire into the family business. She presses for an answer, and Michael tells her that, this one time, he will let her ask him about his business dealings. Kay asks again if he had Carlo killed, and he lies and says no. A visibly relieved Kay goes to pour drinks for the two of them. Michael walks into his office. As Kay watches through the open door, Clemenza and new caporegimes Rocco Lampone and Al Neri enter the office to pay their respects to Michael. Clemenza kisses Michael's hand and greets him as "Don Corleone." Kay suddenly realizes that, despite his assurances of future legitimacy, Michael has now become his father's successor in every way. As she watches in evident horror, Neri shuts the door.

Movie - L'Amant

The Lover (film)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Promotional poster
Directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud
Produced by Claude Berri
Written by Marguerite Duras (source novel)
Jean-Jacques Annaud
Gérard Brach
Narrated by Jeanne Moreau
Starring Tony Leung Ka Fai
Jane March
Music by Gabriel Yared
Cinematography Robert Fraisse
Editing by Noelle Boisson
Studio Films A2
Renn Productions
Burrill Productions
Distributed by Fox Pathé Europa (France)
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (United States)
Release date(s) France:
22 January 1992

United Kingdom:
19 June 1992


United States:
30 October 1992
Running time 115 minutes
Country France
Language English
Vietnamese
Budget $30,000,000
Gross revenue $4,899,194 (United States)

The Lover, originally released in France as L'Amant, is a 1992 drama film produced by Claude Berri and directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud. Based on the semi-autobiographical 1984 novel by Marguerite Duras, the film details the illicit affair between a teenage French girl and a wealthy Chinese man in 1929 French Indochina. In the screenplay written by Annaud and Gérard Brach, the girl's age is changed from 15½ to 18 and is portrayed by actress Jane March, who turned eighteen shortly after filming began.

Production began in 1989, with filming commencing in 1991. The film made its theatrical debut on 22 January 1992, with an English release in the United Kingdom in June and in the United States in October of the same year. The film won the Motion Picture Sound Editors's 1993 Golden Reel award for "Best Sound Editing — Foreign Feature" and the 1993 César Award for Best Music Written for a Film. It received mostly negative reviews from American critics.

The primary characters are known only as The Young Girl and The Chinese Man. The daughter of bitter, fearful, poverty-stricken colonials, she is a pretty waif who likes to wear an old silk dress and a man's fedora and paint her lips bright red when out of her mother's sight. She hates everything about her existence — her teachers, her fellow students, and most of all her depraved, dysfunctional family. The son of a Chinese businessman whose fortune was made in real estate, he recently has returned from Paris after dropping out of school. He has the look but lacks the self-assurance of the playboy he fancies himself to be, and he is mesmerized the first time he sees her standing by the rail on a crowded ferry crossing the Mekong River.

He offers her a ride to Saigon in his chauffeur-driven limousine and she accepts, although the two barely speak during the drive. The Girl gives her age at the beginning of the film as 15½, but lies to the The Chinese Man by stating that she is 17. The following day, he waits for her outside her boarding school, and the two go to the room he rents for entertaining mistresses in the seedy Chinese quarter, where they make love. Afterward she confesses she doesn't care for Chinese people, and he retaliates by telling her he couldn't marry her because she no longer is a virgin. Thus beguns a tempestuous affair both know won't last. She is scheduled to return to Paris. He is expected to engage in an arranged marriage with a Chinese heiress. Aware of the limited time they have together, they fall into a relationship in which they shed all responsibilities that come with commitment.

Movie - L'Amant

The Lover (film)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Promotional poster
Directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud
Produced by Claude Berri
Written by Marguerite Duras (source novel)
Jean-Jacques Annaud
Gérard Brach
Narrated by Jeanne Moreau
Starring Tony Leung Ka Fai
Jane March
Music by Gabriel Yared
Cinematography Robert Fraisse
Editing by Noelle Boisson
Studio Films A2
Renn Productions
Burrill Productions
Distributed by Fox Pathé Europa (France)
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (United States)
Release date(s) France:
22 January 1992

United Kingdom:
19 June 1992


United States:
30 October 1992
Running time 115 minutes
Country France
Language English
Vietnamese
Budget $30,000,000
Gross revenue $4,899,194 (United States)

The Lover, originally released in France as L'Amant, is a 1992 drama film produced by Claude Berri and directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud. Based on the semi-autobiographical 1984 novel by Marguerite Duras, the film details the illicit affair between a teenage French girl and a wealthy Chinese man in 1929 French Indochina. In the screenplay written by Annaud and Gérard Brach, the girl's age is changed from 15½ to 18 and is portrayed by actress Jane March, who turned eighteen shortly after filming began.

Production began in 1989, with filming commencing in 1991. The film made its theatrical debut on 22 January 1992, with an English release in the United Kingdom in June and in the United States in October of the same year. The film won the Motion Picture Sound Editors's 1993 Golden Reel award for "Best Sound Editing — Foreign Feature" and the 1993 César Award for Best Music Written for a Film. It received mostly negative reviews from American critics.

The primary characters are known only as The Young Girl and The Chinese Man. The daughter of bitter, fearful, poverty-stricken colonials, she is a pretty waif who likes to wear an old silk dress and a man's fedora and paint her lips bright red when out of her mother's sight. She hates everything about her existence — her teachers, her fellow students, and most of all her depraved, dysfunctional family. The son of a Chinese businessman whose fortune was made in real estate, he recently has returned from Paris after dropping out of school. He has the look but lacks the self-assurance of the playboy he fancies himself to be, and he is mesmerized the first time he sees her standing by the rail on a crowded ferry crossing the Mekong River.

He offers her a ride to Saigon in his chauffeur-driven limousine and she accepts, although the two barely speak during the drive. The Girl gives her age at the beginning of the film as 15½, but lies to the The Chinese Man by stating that she is 17. The following day, he waits for her outside her boarding school, and the two go to the room he rents for entertaining mistresses in the seedy Chinese quarter, where they make love. Afterward she confesses she doesn't care for Chinese people, and he retaliates by telling her he couldn't marry her because she no longer is a virgin. Thus beguns a tempestuous affair both know won't last. She is scheduled to return to Paris. He is expected to engage in an arranged marriage with a Chinese heiress. Aware of the limited time they have together, they fall into a relationship in which they shed all responsibilities that come with commitment.

2009-10-27

Dream Vacation Journals - 2005

Content of My Journals

1. Arrival in Beijing
2. Orientation
3. Villages in China
4. Rural Area in Main Land China
5. Departure and Arrival
6. Education in Chinese Villages
7. Developmen in China Rural Area
8. Lovely Children
9. Wheat Harvest
10. Wheat Harves Dream Holiday School – Lesson one
11. 1st Day Off
12. Primary School Students
13. Dream
14. The Son Who Guarded the Family's Precious Wheat(1)
15. Raining Day in NMJ
16. Early Morning After the Raining Day in NMJ
17. The Son Who Guarded the Family's Precious Wheat(2)
18. Staring Nights
19. Shopping Books in Old Capital City
20. My Students' Home
21. English Education in Chinese Villages
22. Valuable Interviewee for Local Press Reporters
23. One Early Morning
24. The First Team Member Leaving the Group
25. Big Party in a Hot Summer Afternoon – School Ended
26. High School Visit
27. Thoughts
28. Good-bye the Village, Good-bye My Students
29. Visit to West Cheng-On Street(西長安街), Far Sightseeing of Tin-an man Square (天安門廣場)at Night
30. Visit to Famous Universities – Ching Wa University(清華大學)
and Peking University(北京大學)
31. Deepest Impressions
32. Wandering in Chong Quan Chun(中關村)
33. Dream Corp 2005 Forum
34. Returning Home


Coming soon!!!

Location - Va Fat

My colleague is planning to invest for an apartment in Zhuhai.

I joined him to see the target apartments - City of Century - Va Fat.

It took only 3-4 minutes' Taxi to arrive there.

The site is very huge, and there are plenty of blocks of buildings, but they are not very closed at all.

The environment is very nice, for the apartments are very spacious and there are a lot of facilities, the design and the furniture inside the apartments are very luxury and beautiful. I was really moved..... thinking it would be nice to have one for myself.

However, the investment company said that the flats were not ready to sell yet, they would be available by next January. For interested people, they could deposit 50,000 by debit card (the transaction would not be proceeded, but enough cash should be in the account), and the potential buyers would enjoy some discounts and the first priority to choose the flats...

I was thinking whether it would be a good opportunity.

However, by the way back, it took more than 15 minutes, we still could not get any taxi.

It came out that we took a bus to go somewhere else, hoping that if we could get a taxi back to Gongbei.... however, we were in the opposite direction. We were heading to the industrial area, and at last, we ended up to have a bus ride.

Our conclusion - convenience and time are important issues, if I don't have a car, no way to consider this....

To me, like business, location is everything, even though the price is in premium, it worths.

Midnight in Macau

For the passed weekend, I stayed out late until midnight. I walked home alone after 12:30 AM. I was thinking whether it might be dangerous to walk home by myself, especially my home is very close to the hill side.

However, as the air was real fresh, I was really comfortable of the walk back home - there were fewer cars in the street, I enjoyed the peace and the silence very much.

It reminded me that we are in autumn now !!

At the same time, to my surprise, there were a number of people on the streets, especially in Rua da Alfandega - many Philippine shops were still open - bakeries, food stores, convenience stores.... and many Philippines were hanging around and enjoying the conversation with their buddies in front of the food stores. If I didn't watch the time, I may think it was only 8 or 9 in the night time.

Then in San Ma Lou, there were still regular people there......

This is Macau, I only like the early morning or late night in Macau - less traffic and less pollution, also less visitors in my familiar places!!!

Though it doesn't sleep at all, I believe somewhere in the town, there are some people enjoying their night life.

2009-10-26

Yam Cha

Today is Chong Yeung Festival, went to Yam Cha with my father.

In Central, there are not many choices. We usually go to Chi Tsoi Un, but the service is so so, as they don't have reservation non first come first serve system (I mean for the normal customers only, for VIP or good friends or for those who give a good tips privately to the female captain, she can even call you when there is available table and she would tell the others that it would take long to wait!! I hate this lady for I think she breaks the rules).

K recommended Sintra. I went there for several times, the price is a little bit higher, but the food is good, I love the environment as there are not many people, however it is a long walk for my father to get there.

I know one or two restaurants, their food is not good, but whenever you go, you can find table easily. For me, I think food is the first consideration, comfortable, service and price come next, so they are not on our list.....

"Tou Tou Koi" is my first choice, the location is convenient, the food is delicious, service is good, but the time on waiting is very consuming. ( "Kam U Hin" too, it is from the same group).

This morning, in order to save my time and to enjoy a nice lunch rather than cooking by myself, I first stopped by to get the reservation number (no phone reservation for public holidays) after I did the grocery shopping, went home to rest for a while.

I was told that it would take about 45 minutes to get the table, by that time it was 11:15.

I arrived there again at 11:50, thinking I was smart enough to save some of my time - however, it was still up to number 110, while mine was 130, and the people started to get the number around 165....

When it was my turn, the time was already 12:30. We enjoyed our tea and the Dim Sum, also a plate of Dried Fry Beef Rice Noodle - it was very oily (not good for today)... After the meal, it was almost 2:00.

Including the waiting time, the cost on enjoying Yam Cha is very high now.

When I was small, my parents took me to Yam Cha almost every Sunday.

I could be an expert - from Lok Kok, Un Loi, Kun Lamg to Tai Long Fong.... very traditional Chinese tea houses..... The Dim Sums were in big portion, especially the big bun, but I didn't like the tea for I didn't know how to enjoy it!!

I still remember the Dr. Tea, a bald head uncle in Lok Kok, he carried the big tea pot and refilled the water for every table....

The tea house usually was very busy and noisy in the early morning, breakfast time, for people gossipping a lot of their daily life before going to work.

It was quite easy to get free tables for people would not stay long, whenever they had enjoyed their tea and the food, they would leave. Most of all, there were plenty of tables for each tea house, eg. there were three floors for Lok Kok.

The waiter would yield aloud the amount of the meal for the finished tables when the customers walked out of the hall ( there was no ticket to record the number of the dishes, just based on the number of dishes on the table, sometimes he might over-count or under-count the bill, for there was no proof for each table). The cashier was working in front of the hall, he/she was responsible to watch the leaving customers to pay for the bills.

Yam Cha was an important element for the old generation, my parents loved a lot to go to the tea houses, this could be considered as a hobby for them, they went to tea house even though under the typhoon signal No. 8, for them and some of their tea buddies, the tea meant so much for them. Once they told me, it was the water..... the real hot water to make the tasty tea.

Now, we don't have many tea houses and this kind of tradition changes a lot, e.g. large table for the family members to enjoy the tea on Sundays and public holidays, and it should be a brunch rather than a breakfast, that means it will be difficult to get table around noon-time.

For a long time, I didn't like to go to tea-house for I found it very noisy and the food were greesy, especially the environment of the restaurant was one of my concerns. However, as time passes, I would like to know how to make the traditional DIM SUM, for I love nice food and I think the Dim Sum is a kind of craftwork. The shape and the outlook make the Dim Sum very attractive.

In order to learn how to make Dim Sum, I took a semester course for cooking Dim Sum in Tourism Institute in 2004. The chef master, who was a head chef in a five-star hotel before his retirement, would share his knowledge and experience to us. He was very nice, and he taught us almost everything he knew. He said that in his early apprenticeship, it took a long time for the master to tell the secret, the special skills...........We got his recipes too, he reminded us that most of the Dim Sum are very greasy and unhealthy, therefore eat less is better.

During the course, we learned many kinds of them, and each time, we can enjoy our own Dim Sum for our dinner - one good memory is that I ate more than 10 Shrimp Dumplings, and it was very very delicious.

I tried to make a few at home, but I think it is not the food, it is the environment and the people with you to enjoy the tea and the food.

Yam Cha is more than a meal in the Chinese culture, especially to some traditional Chinese families, it really likes the Thanks Giving Dinner in the western culture. For my Portuguese colleagues, they said they enjoy the nice DIM SUM!!

Song - Top of The World (Carpenters)

Top Of The World-----Carpenters

歌词:
Such a feelin's comin' over me
There is wonder in most everything I see
Not a cloud in the sky
Got the sun in my eyes
And I won't be surprised if it's a dream

Everything I want the world to be
Is now coming true especially for me
And the reason is clear
It's because you are here
You're the nearest thing to heaven that I've seen

I'm on the top of the world lookin' down on creation
And the only explanation I can find
Is the love that I've found ever since you've been around
Your love's put me at the top of the world

Something in the wind has learned my name
And it's tellin' me that things are not the same
In the leaves on the trees and the touch TO the breeze
There's a pleasin' sense of happiness for me

There is only one wish on my mind
When this day is through I hope that I will find
That tomorrow will be just the same for you and me
All I need will be mine if you are here

I'm on the top of the world lookin' down on creation
And the only explanation I can find
Is the love that I've found ever since you've been around
Your love's put me at the top of the world

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About Me

A tiny dust in the universe.