Battleship (2012, Movie)

Don't expect a complex story or anything and you'll enjoy Battleship.  This is a an action movie and it's based on the Battleship Board Game.

盂蘭盆地藏法會

大方廣學會於九月九日星期日舉行本年度盂蘭盆地藏法會。 法會遵盂蘭盆經及地藏經之法門與精神，集共修之力，為會眾之親友祈福增壽；已故者得離苦趣，昇於善道；已生善道者福報增上，佛緣成熟，入深解脫，三昧自在。參加會友，共種福田，同報親恩。

晶瓷彩繪師生聯展

展覽由指導老師朱玉晶安排，學員尹白陽是我書法班上的同學，她展出的作品真的富有巧思，加上繪畫天份，和認真學習態度，令人不得不刮目相看。其他展出者亦不乏他們極具開放的創意點子。讓我對晶瓷彩繪有了新的認識。

Mt. Baldy Visit

We got a deal from Travelzoo for round trip on the ski lifts and all you can eat buffet.  It was not a bad deal.  However, don't expect high on the breakfast buffet which has very limited choices. Not to mention the long waiting line due to the music festival event. Taking the chairlift to the restaurant was the best part of the excursion though. It was the very first ski lift for Wu-Liang and he survived!
  
Southern California has many fine mountains to hike, run, snow-shoe or ski, and 10,064 ft. Mt. Baldy is one of the most prominent. Initially, I'd like to try the trail  to the summit of Baldy, called 'Devil's Backbone', with a 3000 ft. elevation gain in less than 3.6 miles. Then we chickened out and decided to turn to 'Thunder Mountain' with much less strenuosity. The summit did offer us a fairly grand view of San Bernardino area. It was quite an experience considering we haven't done hiking in such a long period of time.

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011, Movie)

This is an action movie, not a drama. It moves quickly and has lots of sub-plots that are not all that hard to follow.  I found it much less confusing and complex than the first film.  Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law are good. 

Lost turtle

No, it's not our new pet. Just a poor lost turtle wandering in our backyard. It's quite big and heavy.  Our neighbor claimed it back later on. And we learned it's name Gilbert. This is not the first time he fled home.

The Warlords(投名狀) (2007, Movie)

This movie is a brilliant glimpse into a Chinese rebellion.


所謂的「投名狀」，不過是句口號而已，被這咒語緊箍著的，只有金城武一個。李連杰一開始就是機會主義者，「結義」是他反攻對手的一個手段，後來不斷的出爾反爾，更加印證他以自我為中心的本性。滿有發揮的一個角色，李連杰也證明自己除了拳腳外，還懂得演戲，只是連他口中「為天下蒼生」的口號都有點勉強，這樣的陰謀家還能講兄弟情義嗎？

而劉德華呢，血性莽夫，其實也不盡然相信這位大哥，由蘇州開始，一次又一次不自覺「反」李連杰，看似尊重的行為卻釋放出「嘲諷」的意味，是因為根本上他不明白什麼是戰爭謀略。當賊匪，為的是跟自己的兄弟謀生活，「搶錢、搶糧、搶娘們！」攻城，與敵人／手下敗將講義氣，基本上除了最後「或者大哥是對的」，而把自己送入絕路之外，都不怎覺得他把李連杰當成大哥。

倒是金城武像個傻小子，嘴唸著的不是「大哥的話是對的」便是「凡亂我兄弟者必殺之」，熱血得有點白痴，最後才會像個傻子般既殺嫂又殺兄。題外話：雖然金城武整部戲的造型戴著帽子，究竟有沒有剃頭？不似李連杰「剃就剃吧」或劉德華的「平頭裝」，但當官後的「青靚白淨」清裝模樣的確驚艷──是因為從來不覺得他的樣子適合當古人，但這個造型跟戲中的時代完全沒有違和感。