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'In the Loop' and 0ut of Touch with War

《靈通人士》

Political satire is a bitch to pull off. Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove set the bar high in 1964. But damned if In the Loop doesn't at least nip at its skirts. Best of all, this ink-black comedy of war and how to stop worrying and love the spin is devilishly clever. The gifted British writer-director Armando Iannucci, whose BBC series The Thick of It is the spark for the film, keeps the dialogue coming fast and furiously funny.

政治諷刺作品很難取得成功。1964年,庫布里克的《奇愛博士》成為后人難以逾越的高峰。但《靈通人士》幾乎達到了《奇愛博士》的高度。首先,這部有關戰爭、轉憂為安,以及愛上顛倒黑白之事的黑色幽默電影非常聰明。才華橫溢的英國編劇兼導演阿曼多?伊安努奇曾為英國廣播公司拍攝過連續劇《最激烈的時刻》,現從中汲取靈感,拍攝了這部語速極快、趣味橫生的電影。

The time is just before the invasion of Iraq. The governments of Britain and the U.S. are in a fever. On Downing Street - a spin on The Office (Ricky Gervais edition) - the PM's caffeinated director of communications, Malcolm Tucker (Peter Capaldi), is verbally abusing Simon Foster (Tom Hollander), a twit minister who has just done interviews claiming support for the U.S. in a war that he declares 'unforeseeable'. The brilliant Capaldi turns cursing into performance art, spewing streams of invective that would make David Mamet blush.

時間設定在入侵伊拉克之前。此時英國政府與美國政府正“打得火熱”。在首相府邸——對《辦公室》(里奇?格威斯版)的顛覆——亢奮的首相聯絡官馬爾科姆?塔克(彼得?卡帕爾迪飾)正在罵西蒙?福斯特(湯姆?霍蘭德飾)。福斯特是一名蹩腳的部長,剛剛在接受采訪時稱支持美國開戰,卻又說戰爭“無法預測”。聰明的卡帕爾迪使罵人成了表演藝術,他滔滔不絕,狠話迭出,如果大衛?馬麥特聽了都會臉紅。

Somehow the idiot Simon winds up in D.C. with two handlers, who can't stop him from inserting foot in mouth. Simon gets caught in the crossfire of a State Department hawk (David Rasche) and a dove of a general (a slyly hilarious James Gandolfini), with an ex-lover (Mimi Kennedy) in the diplomatic corps. The dangerous incompetence of these warring factions will strike you as more than familiar. That's why the laughs stick in the throat. But laugh you will, loud and often. In the Loop deserves to be a sleeper hit. The whole cast is stellar. And it proves that smart and funny can exist in the same movie, even in summer.

愚笨的西蒙又鬼使神差地帶著兩名助手跑去華盛頓,但助手也阻止不了他屢屢說錯話。在外交使節團中,西蒙陷入了美國國防部的一名鷹派人物(大衛?拉斯切飾)同一名鴿派將軍(頑皮而滑稽的詹姆斯?甘多菲尼飾)及其舊情人(咪咪?肯尼迪飾)的激烈交鋒?！敖粦稹彪p方的無能讓你倍感熟悉。你總會有想笑的沖動。但你還是會大笑,而且笑得合不攏嘴。說《靈通人士》是黑馬,一點也不為過。演員個個是主角。它證明一部電影之中睿智與幽默可以共存,即使是在暑期檔。

Cradlesong

《催眠曲》

Rob Thomas has been the large-lunged, chest-thumping voice of straight-down-the-middle pop rock since 1996, when he emerged at the helm of Matchbox Twenty. He writes big, blowzy songs about love and angst, occasionally sounds like he's trying to eat his microphone, and is the bearer of what may be the least appealing shag haircut in popular-music history. But there's no doubting that he's a powerful singer, and with his biggest hit - the ferociously cheesy Latin-rock Santana collabo Smooth - he proved that he can swing as well as bludgeon.

自1996年作為火柴盒樂隊主唱出道以來,羅伯?托馬斯一直是主流流行搖滾歌手,他聲音洪亮,演唱時幾乎要扯破喉嚨。他頂著可能是流行音樂史上最沒有吸引力的蓬亂發型,唱著自己寫的有關愛情與煩惱的歌曲,有時陶醉得好像要把麥克風吞掉一樣。但是毫無疑問,他是一名實力唱將,其最成功的作品——同拉丁搖滾大師山塔那共同演繹的《平坦》,雖然有些平淡無奇,但異常受歡迎,他因此也證明了自己能嘗試多種風格的音樂。

Cradlesong, Thomas' second solo album shows, not for the first time, that he may well be Phil Collins' heir: a talented, big-time pro with a fine voice and a finer way with hooks. There is plenty of unexpected texture to keep your ears engaged. The production is sleek and seamless. The album opener, Her Diamonds, places its guitars and keyboards in front of a phalanx of African and taiko drums. The title track adds world-music flavors (bouzouki, oud, Portuguese guitar) to a ballad that is half lullaby, half ode to the pleasures of the simple life: 'All our friends, they moved to Hollywood/But we ain't that desperate yet,' Thomas sings.

《催眠曲》是托馬斯的第二張個人專輯,它再一次表明托馬斯可能是菲爾?科林斯第二:一名才華橫溢的一線歌手,嗓音渾厚,對副歌的處理更加精湛。出人意料,其聲音極具質感,久聽不厭。專輯制作精良,不見刀斧痕跡。在第一首歌《她的鉆石》里,吉他和鍵盤聲交織著密集的非洲鼓和太鼓聲。專輯同名單曲將世界音樂風(希臘曼陀鈴、烏德琴和葡萄牙吉他)融入民謠,這首歌不僅是搖籃曲,還是對簡單生活的快樂的禮贊:“我們所有的朋友,他們都去了好萊塢/但是我們卻不想那樣,”他唱道。

The main attraction here, though, is the tunes. Thomas has always been an expert songwriter, but on his big Matchbox hits like 3 A.M. and Bent, the charm of his melodies was buried beneath bluster: He was a vocal-mauler in the 1990s tradition, growling out every phrase as if he was trying to shred your stereo speakers. Now he's older and more easeful, less rock and more pop — but no less adept at the big money-shot chorus. The results are infectious. These songs prove that should Thomas care to hang up his microphone he could find well-paid work on Nashville's Music Row or writing tunes for pop starlets.

但這張專輯最吸引人的地方是其曲調。托馬斯向來很擅長寫歌,但在其火柴盒樂隊時期創作的《凌晨三點》和《彎曲》等歌曲之中,曲調的魅力被吼叫所掩蓋。上世紀90年代,他唱歌時是隨大流,每句歌詞都要咆哮地唱出,似乎要撕碎你的音箱?，F在他年紀大了,心態更加平和,少了幾分搖滾風,多了幾許流行元素,但他創作大量熱賣副歌的本領絲毫未減。他的作品很有感染力。這些歌曲證明,托馬斯如果不唱歌了,去納什維爾音樂大賽,或者為初入歌壇的歌手寫歌,都能有豐厚的收入。

Cocktails and Deception, Straight up

《廣告狂人》第三季開播

Mad Men is a perfect blend of the seductive and the abhorrent. On the one hand, it's an absolutely gorgeous, amber-tinted vision of the early 1960s: swank apartments, knotty-pine kitchens, pegged skirts, bullet bras. Watching the AMC show, which has returned in fine form for season 3, you can't help but drink in the dreamy look, detailed with enough 1950s-era accoutrements to seem authentically Camelot.

《廣告狂人》既討人嫌,又讓人欲罷不能。一方面,它完美地展現了上世紀60年代初期的景象,為其涂上了一層美麗的“琥珀色”:奢華的套房、多節的松木廚房、窄裙和子彈型胸罩。第三季已經在美國經典電影有線電視臺隆重登場,看它時你會難以自已,陶醉于迷離的場景,片中所用道具體現了上世紀50年代的特征,仿佛令人置身極盡繁華奢侈之境。

And yet, particularly to our post-1960s eyes, the themes of this Emmy-winning drama are deeply disturbing. Mad Men is a cold chronicle of cultural and gender oppression. From Sal, who stifles his gay nature, and Joan, who's set to marry the doctor who raped her, to Betty, who deludes herself into domestic comfort, the Mad Men characters are dogged by the pressure to conform. They're uncomfortably numb, often pickled in the ever-present whiskey.

但是,尤其是對于我們60后而言,這部艾美獎獲獎作品的主題令人甚感不安?！稄V告狂人》是一部冷酷的文化與性別壓制編年史。薩爾壓抑自己同性戀的本性,瓊決定同強暴她的醫生結婚,貝蒂自欺欺人,躲在家庭和睦的假想中。壓力如影隨形,每個角色被迫向現實低頭。他們已經麻木,經常爛醉如泥。

One of the more promising developments this season is the presence on Madison Avenue of the British company that bought the Sterling Cooper ad agency last season. It's the British Invasion, Mad Men style. Led by Lane Pryce, the Brits at Sterling Cooper have little in common with the Americans and culture clash ensues. Having uptight Brits on hand enables Weiner and his writers to put one of their favorite 'Mad Men' themes - American repression - into a broader perspective.

在本季中出現了上一季收購斯丹林?庫伯廣告公司的某家英國公司,地點就在麥迪遜大街上,這讓人覺得好戲還在后頭。這是英國入侵,也是《廣告狂人》一貫的風格。以雷恩?普利斯為首的斯丹林?庫伯公司員工同美國人鮮有共同語言,文化沖突接踵而來。有了憤怒的英國人,維納(編劇兼制作人,編者注)和其他編劇可以更好地闡述他們最喜歡的主題之一——美國壓制。

Sunday's hour is, like so many episodes of Mad Men, quiet on the surface. There are pauses in conversation, and almost no soundtrack music fills the silences and the emotional vacancies. And yet the subject matter of this show shouts at you the more you think about it, the more the characters don't say what you know they are feeling. In even the smallest details - watch how a stick pin travels through the episode - Mad Men remains TV at its most artful.

跟《廣告狂人》的其他劇集一樣,周日播出的這一集表面上很寧靜。對話停頓處,幾乎沒有音樂來填充這段寂靜和感情空白。但是你越是細想,本劇的主題就越縈繞你的腦海;而人物越是沉默不語,你越能體會他們的感受。即使從細枝末節看,如一個貫穿全集的別針,《廣告狂人》也無愧是藝術水準最高的電視劇。

Outliers: The Story of Success

《出類拔萃者:成功的故事》

In his new book, Malcolm Gladwell writes again about exceptional individuals, or 'outliers', as he calls them: star athletes, computer wizards and hotshot lawyers. With remarkable ease, he moves from New York corporations to Chinese rice paddies, the Beatles to Bill Gates, ice hockey to airplane crashes. Part psychologist, part sociologist and investigative reporter, Gladwell tells intriguing tales about people who overcome adversity: children of Jewish immigrants; talented musicians from the back streets of Liverpool, England; and flight attendants from Korea. With relentless curiosity and a keen fascination with significant details, he focuses on trends and illuminates the larger lessons he wants everyone to learn.

在其新書中,馬爾科姆?格萊德維爾再次講述杰出人士的故事,他稱這些人為“出類拔萃者”:明星運動員、電腦奇才和大律師。從紐約的公司到中國的麥田,從披頭士到比爾?蓋茨,從冰球到空難,他敘述起來駕輕就熟。作為心理學家、社會學家和調查記者,格萊德維爾把人們克服逆境的故事娓娓道來:猶太人移民的子女、從英國利物浦小巷里走出來的天才音樂家、來自韓國的空乘人員。因為有一顆永不滿足的好奇心和對大量細節的癡迷,他關注事情發展,闡述更重要的教訓,希望每個人都有所收獲。

What holds together the divergent people, places and topics is Gladwell's search for the keys to success, and his determination to offer practical suggestions. With hard work, persistence and a combination of luck and social resources, everyone can rise above poverty, ignorance and the trough of failure, he insists. If you miss his message the first time, he repeats it again and again. 'Outliers says that success follows a predictable course,' he writes. 'It is not the brightest who succeed.' He adds that the successful are 'those who have been given opportunities - and who have had the strength and presence of mind to seize them.' For Gladwell, community, family, schools and colleges are more important than talent or genius. It's what we do with our gifts that matters, not IQ or the income of parents.

將不同人物、地方和主題結合在一起的是格萊德維爾對成功原因的尋找,以及他提供實用建議的決心。他認為,只要努力,堅持,加上運氣和社會資源,每個人都能脫離貧窮、物質和失敗的淵藪。怕你第一次沒記住他的要義,他在文中重復多次。他寫道,“出類拔萃者說,成功是可以預見的,”“取得成功的不是最聰明的人?！彼a充道,成功者是“得到機會的人,以及有能力,并且沉著冷靜地把握住機會的人?！睂τ诟袢R德維爾來說,社會、家庭、學校和大學比天資或天賦更重要。我們如何對待自己的天賦才更重要,而非智商或父母的收入。

At times, his conclusions don't seem to be warranted by the facts. One wonders, for example, if demographics really determine who gets ahead and who doesn't, as he suggests. Still, Outliers is unabashedly inspiring. Education is at its vital heart; teachers and parents ought to put it on Christmas lists. The students in my own classes, many of whom never seize opportunities, and blame others for failures, would benefit greatly by reading Gladwell's provocative and practical book about the landscape of success.

有時他的結論似乎還沒有得到事實的驗證。比如說,他說人口特征決定哪些人能一馬當先,而其他人不能,這就引人懷疑。不過,本書仍然十分激勵人。它的中心論點是教育的重要性。教師和家長應將這本書列入圣誕節禮物清單。我班上的許多學生自己抓不住機會,反倒怨天尤人,如果讀了格萊德維爾這本鼓舞人們爭取成功的書,會受益匪淺。