RanmaJen的心情事記

07
Apr
2009

OTO

我記得曾經看過一個關詠荷的廣告,是幫OTO賣「頸肩鬆」,價錢都不算貴,曾經想過買,但奈何遲遲沒有去過OTO試用。

當漸漸忘記這個產品之際,又看到OTO有一個新產品廣告,是賣「腰背鬆」。這個產品外貌就像一張按摩椅,其實是一張擁有按摩功能的椅背,加上會震動的坐墊。價錢又是不太貴,又令我相當感興趣。

結果在上一個週末,偶然經過OTO,終於入去試了,感覺很不錯。這個價錢有指壓、推拿方式選擇,也有有限度的調較位置功能。加上不用額外找地方來享受按摩,只需放在椅上就可以了,剛適合我家用。在短短的試用過程中,發覺這個產品也相當好賣,一口氣就賣出三部。結果,我也買了。

媽媽也試用過,看她的反應,也覺得這個「腰背鬆」不錯,適合爸媽沒時間北上按摩的一個緩兵之計,我也可以閒時來鬆一鬆了。

06
Apr
2009

近來忙於

有朋友問我為何近日那麼靜,好像沒什麼新消息。

其實我最近很忙,因為我終於立下決心要重開我其中一個網頁─The Dark Heaven。這是Anne Rice Vampire Chronicles的專頁,也是我第一個有關吸血殭屍的網頁。自從去年十二月二十五日給黑客入侵後,這網頁就一直暫停對外開放。之前,有不認識的網上朋友﹝也是Anne Rice的書迷﹞,主動問我要否幫手,他說很希望我的網頁能重開,他的電郵無疑令我很感動。不過,在重開之前,我很想做我多年來想做的更新:首先要重新設計一個新版面,並將之前所寫的html網頁,改為php網頁。

以上兩部份也不是最難及最花時間的地方,現在我所做的是重新編寫內容,因為這個網頁的內容是於多年前寫下的,已有幾年沒有更新,我希望藉今次的機會來一個大更新,所以近日要找很多資料,再編寫每本小說、每個角色及電影相關的資料。

現在才寫完其中的兩個角色,還有大量功夫要做。

不過,對於這次的新版面,我是滿意的,至於內容的編寫,雖然是辛苦,但我是享受的。

06
Apr
2009

Vittorio The Vampire

經過三個週末,已讀完這本小說,以我的速度來說,算是很快了。

我一直對這本小說沒太大期望,一來主角不是這個系列曾出現過的人物,而且和他們全沒有關係,是另一個獨立人物來;二來作者安萊斯小說的節奏向來也較慢,我大多時都是看得虎頭蛇尾﹝只有Queen of The Damned及Tale of The Body Thief看得較快﹞;第三就是之前讀過這系列的副線小說,趣味性多是比主線稍低一點,我讀後的印象都不是太深刻,例子就是Pandora ─ New Tale of The Vampire,昨天從舊小說找資料的時候,完全對關於她的某些情節忘記了。

不過,這本小說令我有喜出望外的感覺,因為小說情節節奏明快,故事內容也有點緊張刺激,令我時常也有看下去的衝動。

所以,我也頗喜歡主角Vittorio,他愛惡分明,做事明快,勇敢堅強。當然和Louis及Lestat相比,喜歡的程度,還是差很遠了。

下一本將會看的小說是Blood and Gold,這本小說很厚,是講述Marius的故事,又是時候準備努力了,希望好看吧!

16
Mar
2009

Merrick 2

今日終於看完這本書。

想起當初我是滿懷希望去看這本書,因為聽聞這次有較大篇幅提及Louis的故事,但最後我卻覺得有點失望。

原來書中有很大篇幅講述David及Merrick的經歷,不過我覺得還可以,因為這本書的主角真的是Merrick,只是我一廂情願想看多點有關Louis的事。但問題是由Claudia鬼魂出現後的情節,來得太快,令我有點不明所以,而且覺得有點兒戲。

  1. Louis突然深愛Merrick﹝初時又不明所以,但後來才知道是因為Merrick的咒語﹞,將她變成吸血殭屍後,即晚卻自殺。他自殺是因為Claudia?還是覺得自己再一次做出同樣的事,認為自己人性已滅絕?或對David深感內疚?但既然他深愛Merrick,怎可以給與她Dark Gift後即離她而去?
  2. Louis自殺後,靠Lestat、David及Merrick的血而重獲生命,這個都沒什麼問題,因為這事在Armand身上也同樣發生過。不過,我又不太明白,為何Louis重獲生命後不打算再自殺?故事中提及的,是因為他終於尋獲一個屬於他的圈子﹝group﹞─Lestat、David及Merrick。我不太明他的心理變化,以前他也是和Lestat及David一起生活,如果是因為Merrick的加入而令他有重獲新生的感覺,那為何在她變成吸血殭屍後仍然要自殺呢?
  3. 最後講述The Talamasca一定要Lestat他們送回Merrick,否則會視他們為敵人。但最後只係David寫的一封信給The Talamasca就草草了事,沒有再交待,或許是留待在下一本小說再提及?

整本書最令我印象深刻的,是Louis與Lestat及Louis與Claudia的情節,這兩段都較為細膩,雖然是短短的篇幅,但仍是感人的。但相反,說及Louis與Merrick的情,太過粗糙,真的是一大敗筆。

這本書是我在整個系列已看的書中最差的一本,真的有點失望。

已看的書:
Interview with the Vampire
The Vampire Lestat
Queen of the Damned
The Tale of the Body Thief
Memnoch the Devil
Pandora
The Vampire Armand
Merrick

未看的書:
Vittorio the Vampire
Blood and Gold
The Blackwood Farm
Blood Canticle

最想看的是Blood and Gold,因為是說Marius的故事。最不想看的是Blood Canticle,因為是大結局,我不捨得看。

13
Mar
2009

The Vampire Chronicles

After these years, I am still addicted or devoted to The Vampire Chronicles written by Anne Rice. This series is just like the human blood to Anne’s  Vampires, makes the ones irresistible. Even I have put the books down for several years, the magic is still there and holding my heart. Once reading the books again, the connection gets vivid and alive. I am quite shocked and surprised to get this feeling so strong again.

Louis, the one always winding in my mind, suffers in the labyrinthian hell. How can his beloved Claudia do such thing to him? Everytime when reading his story, I feel sad. I have this feeling for Lestat too but it is just not the same.

Feeling so glad that I have found the following introductions in Wikipedia. Feeling so glad that the world does not forget them.

Lestat de Lioncourt
Louis de Pointe du Lac
Claudia

In fact, there are much more introductions and websites about them. Each new websites when I come across, I feel excited and happy.

For this series, I like The Tale of the Body Thief most though I have not yet finished the whole series. Should have 4 more books to go.

Actually, my first domain is not ranmajen.net. My first one is thedarkheaven.com which is solely for The Vampire Chronicles. I know there has been no updates for a long time but I promise I will keep it alive. I am so glad that I have received an email for offering help of fixing the website after being hacked from one of the banner exchange members. I feel so warm by reading the email and this gives me strength and energy. Really thanks.

This night, the very night I want to state these feelings. Sorry for not being well-organized but simply I have been moved and touched by the Vampires again.

13
Mar
2009

Claudia’s Last Entry

“September 21, 1859

It has been so many decades since Louis presented me with this little book in which I might record my private thoughts. I have not been successful, having made only a few entries, and whether these have been written for my benefit I am unsure.

Tonight, I confide with pen and paper because I know which direction my hatred will take me. And I fear for those who have aroused my wrath.

By those I mean, of course, my evil parents, my splendid fathers, those who have led me from a long forgotten mortality into this questionable state of timeless ‘bliss.’

To do away with Louis would be foolish, as he is without question the more malleable of the pair.

Louis will do as I wish, even unto the very destruction of Lestat, which I plan in every detail. Whereas Lestat would never cooperate with my designs upon Louis. So there my loyalty lies, under the guise of love even in my own heart.

What mysteries we are, human, vampire, monster, mortal, that we can love and hate simultaneously, and that emotions of all sorts might not parade for what they are not. I look at Louis and I despise him totally for the making of me, and yet I do love him. But then I love Lestat every bit as well.

Perhaps in the court of my heart, I hold Louis far more accountable for my present state than ever I could blame my impulsive and simple Lestat. The fact is, one must die for this or the pain in me will never be scaled off, and immortality is but a monstrous measurement of what I shall suffer till the world revolves to its ultimate end. One must die so that the other will become ever more dependent upon me, ever more completely my slave. I would travel the world afterwards; I would have my way; I cannot endure either one of them unless that one becomes my servant in thought, word, and deed.

Such a fate is simply unthinkable with Lestat’s ungovernable and irascible character. Such a fate seems made for my melancholy Louis, though the destroying of Lestat will open new passages for Louis into the labyrinthian Hell in which I already wander with every new thought that comes in my mind.

When I shall strike and how, I know not, only that it gives me supreme delight to watch Lestat in his unguarded gaiety, knowing that I shall humiliate him utterly in destroying him, and in so doing bring down the lofty useless conscience of my Louis, so that his soul, if not his body, is the same size at last as my own.”

———————————————————-


Poor Louis.

12
Mar
2009

Merrick

“Cover her face. Mine eyes dazzle. She died young.”
— Ferdinand, after looking at the dead body of his sister the Duchess. Act 4, Sc.2

The Duchess of Malfi is a macabre, tragic play, written by the English dramatist John Webster and first performed in 1614[1] at the Globe Theatre in London. Published for the first time in 1623, the play is loosely based on true events that occurred between about 1508 and 1513, recounted in William Painter’s The Palace of Pleasure (1567). The Duchess was Giovanna d’Aragona, whose father, Arrigo d’Aragona, Marquis of Gerace, was an illegitimate son of Ferdinand I of Naples. Her husbands were Alfonso Piccolomini, Duke of Amalfi, and (as in the play) Antonio Bologna.

The play begins as a love story, with a Duchess who marries beneath her class, and ends as a nightmarish tragedy as her two brothers exact their revenge, destroying themselves in the process.

The play is sometimes ridiculed by modern critics for the excessive violence and horror in its later scenes.[2] Nevertheless, the complexity of some of its characters, particularly Bosola and the Duchess, and Webster’s poetic language, give it a continuing interest, and it is still performed in the 21st century.

———————————————————-


“His tone had a finality to it, and a sadness that touched me to the quick. He was saying farewell to Lestat, that’s what he was doing, and I knew that Lestat’s slumber was so deep and so troubled, that even such a dreadful message from Louis might not rouse him at all.”
— David Talbot

11
Mar
2009

留影迴廊

之前在朋友的Studio玩了一個下午。

那次是我第一次影這類相,在初段感覺很古怪,也不知應該怎做。後來,可能熱身過後,慢慢的發覺很好玩。不過,影這類相很易累,也需要有無比的創作力才行。

今次的相上載後才發覺保留不了Exif,可能要遲些靠人手鍵入。

總共上載了17張相片,歡迎參觀及留言