Lost in Translation

I was watching Troy yesterday on British TV, and something came into mind right before I was trying to sleep. Yes, the things I think about when I am about to sleep.

Troy is a movie starring Brad Pitt right? It followed the legendary myth about the city Troy, and the infamous Trojan Horse, which was used to capture that city by surprise at nightfall as a 'present' for the Spartan's enemies (am I right?).

Well, anyway, my point is, wasn't Troy a city in Greece? What would have happened if the movie was filmed in Greek, conserving its originality? The same applies for other movies like Gladiator (Roman), Perfume (French), Schindler's List (German?). Weren't these stories told in their original language? Just because it was too popular, they were being translated. And by that, they might have changed the original words and meanings by second-hand translations, right?

If that was the case, doesn't it mean that everytime we watch a movie based on a 'foreign' story, wouldn't it be 'fun' to understand the movie? Furthurmore, wouldn't it be 'fun' to watch Brad Pitt speak in Greek? *wink*

Picture courtesy of Apple Trailers and Warner Bros. Letterings done by Alex (another one, not me...).

It's been a while...

Let me see... I've been up to, well, almost nothing these few weeks, and the thought of updating my blog has NEVER crossed my mind at all... Until this late afternoon, when I was waiting at the bus stop, almost 15 mins early (or in other words, JUST missed the bus).

I looked up into the sky. That sky... It looks so familiar. The same sky I see after a long rainy session: greyish clouds like smoke floating through the grey sky, the colours so close to each other that they almost camouflage. It reminds me of my childhood, my memories, my home.

It's the Year of the Pig already. A few more years later, it'll be my year. On the first day of this Pig year, my uncle and aunt, who just got married not long ago, bore a little girl. What a way to start the new year. And guess what? I've got another cousin.

Saturday was the final night, and for the Chinese, it's supposed to be a reunion dinner for the family. I haven't got to celebrate that for 2 years, and for another year to come. Instead, I told myself I should enjoy the night, and thus I (and another friend) started to plan on that day itself for a steamboat dinner at my house (otherwise known as hotpot). We had 2 soup bases: chicken and tom-yam. Really nice a dinner, it was.

On Sunday, which was the first day of the new year, I stayed at home doing nothing till the night. I started watching "Love Generation", an old 90s Japanese love drama I got from my friend and copied into my hard-disk, since I needed the space to keep other things. This time, I didn't have to plan for anything for that night. We had a Chinese food buffet in Leamington Spa, a city about 45 mins bus-ride from here. We each spent 9 pounds, but it was worth it, since the food was much better than the ones in Coventry (which were cheaper, so it's fair enough). The guys down the road then came over to our place for some after dinner chat, and one of them brought along some turnip cakes and 'kuaci'. The cakes were really nice; too bad I was too full to have more.

I just finished watching the 11 long episodes of the drama today.

Yesterday, I talked to my friend about not studying for the past few weeks, and feeling guilty for not doing anything. We decided to start studying, and thus it became our new year resolution. Speaking of which, I realised I've got 1 coursework to finish by the end of term, and 3 more to work on during the holidays (there goes my holidays again!) and preparation for my finals. Sighs... Such is life.

New found love

I've been SO hooked with a new song by Ken Hirai titled "Aika", literally meaning "an elegy". Not only have I been trying to sing it, I've also tried to translate it. However, due to my limited knowledge of Japanese vocabulary and grammar, I failed to translate even 50% of the whole lyrics. Oh well...

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A few days later is my housemate's 21st birthday. I realised that he had always wanted an MP3 player, preferably an iPod. Thus the idea struck me: we shall share the price and get him an iPod Nano instead, since it has a screen, and it can store much more than a Shuffle. By the way, it isn't as expensive as an iPod Video as well. Well, I don't know. Maybe a player would do just fine. Hope he can get what he wants.

Unlike me. I had to go through such a sucky 18th birthday, not to forget a horrible year as well. Only my (best) friend was with me at 12am on that day, and present me with a wallet, which I've been needing, since my previous one was really crap. On that day, no one else wished me "Happy Birthday" (except for my family, of course). And to recap, I didn't do well in my 1st year as well... What a year!

So obviously I wouldn't want someone's milestone to go down the drain, especially when it's the only chance to celebrate his particular humanity at that special time of the year.

I do hope this time someone would even bother about my 21st (*hint hint*)...