Burger and me

I would never forget the first sentence with which Louisa May Alcott used to start the world famous novel "Little Women"--"Christmas won't be Christmas without any presents." For us people in the East, Christmas may not arouse some profound feelings as such. Nevertheless, this sentence still can grasp my attention. And I believe many othr people, even though they're not celebrating Christmas, would think alike. Why? It's because "Christmas never has to be the holiday per se." It just metonymically refers to anything that means a lot to an individual; it could be anything.

For me, I would paraphrase Alcott to suit my temperament--"A home won't be a home without a dog." For this reason, my girlfriend and I finally made up our minds to look for a dog for our sweet home. The photo above is a snapshot of Burger and me. Some of you may wonder why I needed to "make up my mind" to have a dog. The explanation to such a question can never be easy for me. This is sort of paradoxical....

I had a dog named Dodo and he had kept me company for many years. Nearly one year after the completion of my master thesis, he left me and my family and would never return. I've lamented his death for quite a long time, and tended to think that I would not get a dog as Dodo is not replaceabe; he is my family, not just a pet. But recently, I come to realize that it's all about karma. Dodo will be living in my memory and never be far away. And now, the karma between Burger and me has arose just now....

豪宅？

前幾天在在網路上亂晃，晃到了一個討論房地產的部落格，主題是在討論豪宅。有一個人說的話很值得玩味，他說現在台北市一堆豪宅，動輒就是用億元來計算，標榜的是生活機能佳，區段好，但是簡單的說也不過是公寓大樓的其中一戶，建坪未必比許多中南部的市井小民的住宅來的大。看看偶像劇裡的豪宅，都是位於市郊的透天別墅，有自己的庭園、driveway、游泳池，而不是把自己關在所謂四、五十坪的高級監獄。以前讀過一些文化研究，這樣的觀察是很有趣的，偶像劇是一種理想投射的產物，顯而易見，人們心裡面真的豪宅未必是信義區、大安區大坪數的公寓大樓、未必是仳鄰百貨商圈、車水馬龍的繁華地段，反而是一種能夠自由自主的悠閒生活。這只是一種共同制約的意識形態吧，在大都市裡工作的人除了工作在大都市，很自然的希望生活在大都市，離工作的地方愈近愈好。當然這沒什麼不對，只是當大多數的人開始都抱持這樣的想法後，自然房地產業便開始操弄集體意識型態，於是乎造就了所謂的信義豪宅、大安豪宅，價格拉高，物以稀為貴，這些地域不會變大，自然供不應求，於是貴還要更貴。唸過Sir Thomas More烏托邦的人應該還記得，"Utopia"在希臘文裡是兩個字的組合"no + place"，但是以homophone(同音異型異義)來看，他音同"good + place"。我們現在很多人把烏托邦視為理想社會的同義辭，就是大多數人多用homophone來看待這作品所要傳達的意思。但是我認為這兩種解讀是並行不悖的，為什麼呢？烏托邦裡的人認為黃金鑽石沒什麼價值，反而是到處都能取得的水才是珍貴的寶物。因為烏托邦的人認為大地之母疼惜萬物，大量供給我們最需要的東西，所以黃金鑽石一類的東西自然最少。"no such place"只是一種allegory，這告訴我們烏托邦是個理想國、是個好所在"good place"，但人類社會是不會有這樣的地方。

1947年二次世界大戰剛結束，百業蕭條，人民購買力大幅降低，鑽石一度乏人問津，De Beers的一句"Diamond is forever"逆轉當時鑽石的不景氣，直到現在De Beer對他們成功的行銷還津津樂道。不禁要想，在到處都亟需基礎建設的時空環境，消費人們的浪漫情懷，行銷一種何不食肉糜的意識形態，難道是人類的一種必要之惡？

Jelly Maze (果凍迷宮)

現在正在台中美術館戶外廣場展出，有機會到台中的朋友，晚上不妨去看看，有小孩的也可以帶小孩去喔，好多小孩在那裡玩的不亦樂乎！