把影迷拋諸腦後的慾望城市2 Sex and the City 2 Leaves Fans Behind (2 of 2)

 

把影迷拋諸腦後的慾望城市2 

By Mary Pols Wednesday, May. 26, 2010 

顯然，到阿布達哈比的免費旅行可以。這趟豪華旅程，由想要請莎曼珊作公關的阿拉伯王公全部買單。旅程能充滿吸引力，顯然是比影集還誇張浮華到不行的專屬僕人服務、專屬出遊司機。在以前，這四位女孩得為生活鑽進計程車後座捉襟見肘的生活著，而且觀眾們也很願意跟著在後座看遍紐約市生態。但是現在似乎已大大的不同了，她們一直都有著買奢華名牌鞋子的壞習慣，但是也很習慣處於房貸、小衣櫥經濟兩難中。她們穿得衣著體面、光鮮亮麗，但觀眾們同時也看得到素顏、脂粉未施的曼哈頓女孩兒。即使表面上看起來是一副樣子，但觀眾仍相信在靈魂深處底下她們是不一樣的。但，現在她們居然要從飛機上的經濟艙逃走。(註：這段寫得超好的，非常棒的評論技巧，象徵性的詞彙通論一件現象。)
Apparently, a free trip to Abu Dhabi will, sponsored by a sheik who wants Samantha to do some public relations work for him. The main attraction of this creepily opulent place seems to be the availability of servants, with chauffeured cars as plentiful as your cosmopolitans of yesteryear. In the old days, you four would have worked out your dilemmas in the back of a cab, and we would have happily joined you for the ride. But now we've grown apart. Sure, you always had extravagant shoe habits, but you also used to struggle with mortgages and small closets. You got dressed up and looked fabulous, but we saw you without your makeup too. Even if you had shallow tendencies, we still believed in your depths. Now you recoil at traveling coach. (See the best movies of the decade.)

成功光環已經完全改變這些女孩了嗎？慾望城市在以前，在美國探討挖掘性別議題，是如此的精明辛辣，但是這次卻保護般的討論文化衝擊，過分地將異國文化衝擊單純化了。(凱莉對於在阿拉伯聯合大公國的女人們戴著面紗，只是輕描淡寫的說「男人似乎不想要女人有發聲的權利」。)就在那時，慾望城市2並未替電影帶來任何令人激動的火花，取而代之的只是個荒謬可笑的現實。(在一場在沙漠中行走的片段，三名角色甚至換穿了面紗)  觀眾甚至來不及仔細看清楚服裝，就馬上又換下一套了。在那些華美到不行的飯店場景、商品中，都說明了一件事情。慾望城市2已經變得貪婪。
Has success changed you? In the past, your digs at American gender politics were astute, but your patronizing take on foreign cultures seems shockingly simplistic. ("It's like they don't want them to have a voice," Carrie says wonderingly of the women wearing veils in the United Arab Emirates.) And while none of you bring particularly scintillating emotional baggage to the dramatic arc of the film, you all bring a ridiculous amount of actual luggage. (For one trip into the sand dunes alone, there are three outfit changes.) We barely have time to register a dress before it's gone. And the copious product placements (Pringles and Suzanne Somers' hormone book Breakthrough? Seriously?) bolsters the sense that you've gotten greedy. (Comment on this story.)

觀眾並不會因此感到惱人。慾望城市2只是個時光，它提醒我們曾一起擁有過的歷史。金凱特蘿 (飾演莎曼珊) 是個常帶來驚喜，最令人喜愛的角色，她演出很多害羞的片段，提醒觀眾早已忘記的信念  (她甚至使出「我的阿拉伯勞倫斯王子」這句著名的台詞) 幸運地，場景接著跳到阿拉伯傳統市場裡，凱莉的前男友亞當身上，即使觀眾們都知道這段感情已經很久前就結束了。另一個場景是米蘭達鼓勵永遠都是成功角色的夏綠蒂。酒過三巡後，夏綠蒂終於承認她擔任母親的角色十分辛苦。母親，這個話題通常不在慾望城市討論之內。「這真的非常難熬」夏綠蒂最後在米蘭達的點頭支持，以及要她放鬆的每一口雞尾酒下坦承她的內心煎熬。最後，她大聲的說出「女人身邊怎麼能沒有一個好幫手？」最後觀眾被這句台詞喚回現實。凱莉、莎曼珊、米蘭達、夏綠蒂，下次再一起歡聚吧，但別太急，我是說真的，另外拜託別再有駱駝了。

Don't Call Us, We'll Call You

We're not implying it was all agony. There are moments in Sex and the City 2 that remind us of our history together. Cattrall is an unexpected favorite, charging ahead with such admirable conviction that we stop noticing how potentially humiliating many of her scenes are. (She even pulls off the line "Lawrence of my labia.") It's nice to bump into Carrie's former flame Aidan (John Corbett) in an Arabian market, even though we know that romance was put to bed long ago. A scene in which Miranda encourages the ever endearing Charlotte, over cocktails, to confess to struggling with motherhood is a glimpse of the old, less entitled Sex and the City. "It's so hard," Charlotte finally admits as Miranda nods and urges her to take another sip. Then she wonders aloud, "How do the women without help do it?" and knocks us right back out of sync. Carrie, Samantha, Miranda and Charlotte, let's catch up again sometime — but really, no rush. And please, no camels.

See the top 10 movie bromances.
See the best TV shows of the decade.

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The other film commments
‧The Guardian： Carrie and friends head to the Middle East in a misjudged and incredibly boring sequel

‧The Times：The four smart New Yorkers of the television series have metamorphosed into lobotomised tourists in this misjudged sequel

‧The New York Times：Operation Desert Togs

歐盟的抉擇 Europe's Choice (2 of 2)

Europe's Choice  歐盟的抉擇
By Josef Joffe Monday, May. 17, 2010 ,TIME 


可以肯定的是，希臘是一個很小的經濟體，小到只有德國的十分之一。所以儘管希臘政府的債務不樂觀，歐洲仍能承擔，並且讓希臘能夠走在經濟正軌上。但，希臘只是最嚴重的例子之一，後頭還有葡萄牙、西班牙、義大利  (歐洲四豬國 PIGS)  。西班牙和義大利才是規模較大的經濟體。以上這些情形引申出第四種方案：這個方案曾在聯盟初建之時實施：一個經濟共同體，必須按時程一步步地等速前進。
Greece, to be sure, is a small economy, about one-tenth the size of the German one, so other Europeans can afford to keep Greece on track even if its government will not risk death by pleasing its creditors. But Greece is just the most egregious problem. Next in line is Portugal, followed by Spain and Italy — and these latter two are economies of real size. All of which implies a fourth solution, which should have been imposed in 1999 when monetary union took off: a system of economic governance that keeps speeds and timetables in sync.

理論上，只有一個方法可以防止未來走向希臘。但政治與理論可不能相提並論。哪個理論學說可以處理這樣的金融體制呢？是德國堅持要用財政訓練的方法？或是法國一直斥責德國沒有同情心，要犧牲出口盈餘來刺激國內公共需求，讓所得可以提高的方法？「停下腳步來，讓後面其他人可以跟上」不再是句口號，而是會全面在莫爾克島上實施。 (編按：德國總理為Angela Merkel，這邊的「Merkel  Land」非歐洲大陸上地名，猜想是作者以「莫爾克之島」來指稱德國。)
Logically, this is the only way to prevent future Greeces. But logic is not the same as politics. Whose rules would govern such a system? Germany's, with its insistence on fiscal discipline? Or those of France, which demands more vice from the Germans, that is, to sacrifice their export surpluses by stimulating domestic demand and letting wages creep up? "Slow down so that others may keep up" is not a slogan that will go over well in Merkel Land.(See whether the Greek bailout will be a savior for the euro.)

歐盟不會讓單一個工程師開動一整台火車，它會繼續混亂下去。沒必要成為一場災難，但歐盟寧可從這些事情中重新整理振作起來。所以，也許希臘災難會是一聲「有益的」響鐘：不可能在同個經濟體中，卻沒有監督者以及緊急危機處理措施。歐盟對希臘其他各國的情況了然於心很多年了，但，卻選擇了「忽視」，放任讓他們自己解決問題。
Europe will not choose a single engineer to run the entire train. It will continue to muddle through. That is not necessarily a disaster, but rather the way Europe was built, with disaster followed by renewal. So the Greek calamity, which is far from over, may be a salutary wake-up call. You can't have monetary union without a system of supervision and crisis-control. The E.U. has known what Greece and others have been doing for years, but it chose not to notice, let alone to intervene.

所以歐洲將會利用這次緊急貸款的機會，在可允許的時間內導入嚴格的規定。就像銀行如何對付那些帳戶透支卻又濫用特權的客戶一樣，必須讓一個機構在旁糾正錯誤，以便防止債務不斷擴大。經過這次的疏貸方案石沉愛琴海後，糟糕到任何事都可能發生的歐洲將會恐慌性償債，而這個代價將更加昂貴，到時候將帶領歐元走向大潰退。
So Europe might use the time afforded by the emergency loans to install a rigorous early-warning system — just as banks do when their clients abuse their overdraft privileges. It should be flanked by a mechanism for an orderly default that keeps contagion from spreading. The worst of all possible worlds is a panicky default after a few more rescue packages have sunk in the Aegean. It will be a lot more expensive, and the run on the euro may turn into a stampede.






Joffe  為德國時代週報(Die Zeit)編輯、國際j關係研究協會、史丹佛大學胡佛研究所研究員
Joffe is editor of Die Zeit and a fellow of the Institute for International Studies and of the Hoover Institution at Stanford University

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The Orignal site of TIME magazine

好萊塢的血汗工廠 Hollywood's VFX Sweatshops (3 of 3)

好萊塢的血汗工廠 ── VFX，繁華中的衰敗
Hollywood's VFX Shops: Trouble in Boom Times (3 of 3)
By Rebeccca Keegan / Hollywood Monday, May. 31, 2010
Hollywood's  VFX  Sweatshops


科技越來越便宜，這個產業的入門門檻也越來越低，一家小型的特效公司就能購買得起兩萬美元的硬體和軟體，也能輕鬆操作自如。另外，07持續到08年的編劇罷工，和09年一直芒刺在背的演員大罷工，讓能夠在新電影中使用的綠能節能 (Green-Lighting) 技術發展緩慢。這些困境讓某些特效公司一直難以從經濟海嘯中復甦。
「我們面臨更多激烈的競爭，而且越來越難以生存。」羅斯說。
As technology got cheaper, the barriers to entry fell: a small shop can get up and running with $20,000 worth of hardware and software. The 2007-08 Hollywood writers' strike and the threat of an actors' strike in 2009 slowed the green-lighting of new films — a blow from which some companies haven't recovered. "We're starting to see even more dire competition, and it's getting harder to keep shops open," says Ross.

VFX的購買商以及工作室面臨到最主要的困難點在於：「訂單任意更改。」
當導演定要修改他理想心目中的一幕時，這就代表了好幾個月的工作進度全都白費了。(這我也懂，堪「欲哭無淚」四字可比擬) 在現今的運作模式中，大部分的特效工作室只能自行吸收額外的花費，唯有如此，它們才能維持與電影公司、電影工作者的良好生意關係。
A major point of contention between VFX shops and studios is the issue of change orders. When a director revises what he wants to see in a shot, it can mean months of lost work. Under the current system, most VFX houses feel they have to eat the costs to maintain their relationships with studios and filmmakers.

特效公司只想要為最優渥的價錢工作。
「我們是那個唯一為電影花大錢、創意發想、甘冒這個風險的人。」華納兄弟電影公司的數位動畫特效製作部副執行總裁克里斯‧迪法拉，在三月舉行的VFX產業線上會議 ( online town hall) 這樣說道。
Studios are simply getting the best work for the best price. "We're the ones that spend the money, demand innovation, take the risk," said Chris deFaria, executive vice president of digital production, animation and visual effects at Warner Bros., at an online town hall in March for the VFX industry. "We're the ones deeply invested in a thriving VFX environment."

這個線上會議由曾當過編劇、特效動畫家的李‧史特納翰召開，李‧史特納翰可算是這個產業中的Norma Rae人物 (註：Norma Rae是1979年的美國電影，探討勞工權益問題，獲得當年奧斯卡最佳女主角及最佳原創歌曲等大獎。詳細內容可看Wiki百科介紹)  在他發表在Huffington Post (美國著名政治類部落格)  的一篇著名文章「一封給詹姆斯卡麥隆的公開信」，史特納翰稱這些特效公司為「地球上最有趣也最高科技的血汗工廠。」
The town hall was organized by writer and former effects artist Lee Stranahan, who has become something of a Norma Rae for the industry, thanks to the widely read "Open Letter to James Cameron" he wrote for the Huffington Post. In it, Stranahan called effects shops "the most fun and high-tech sweatshops on earth."

傳統的好萊塢外包像是動畫和佈景都有工會組織，但像VFX特效藝術家卻沒這麼容易做到。VFX成為全球化的產業之勢已不能改變。(作者使用被動語態暗示VFX的無奈，顯示現今潮流之勢銳不可擋) 各家公司能夠請到最便宜的勞工上工。在美國，VFX藝術家的薪水起薪在五萬美金(160萬台幣) 以上，並且還能輕易往上攀爬達到十萬位數。而其他海外的只能賺到美國人的一成零頭不到。(16萬台幣) 
Traditional Hollywood trades such as animation and set building are unionized, a status VFX artists aren't likely to achieve, given that VFX is a global business. Companies will simply hire the cheapest labor force that can do the job. In the U.S., VFX artists' salaries start at $50,000 and can quickly reach the low six figures. Artists overseas earn as little as 10% of that.

對VFX族群來說，將來可能會是最具好萊塢戲劇性的結局。隨著蝙蝠俠系列第四集、魔戒前傳‧哈比人歷險記、Thor (雷神托爾)、Green Lantern (綠燈俠) 的出現，對於特效的需求將會強過這些特效產業的分歧。這些需求的自然力量也將會改變現今的權力平衡：例如，一個天才型的設計師比一個熟稔各種技巧的設計師來得重要。亞倫‧蘭斯基說。「當一部電影因為不足的特效技術而延後上映時間，你就會看到許多關於產業的有趣改變即將就此展開。搞不好哪天，特效藝術家將會取代電影明星，成為電影的宣傳強打喔！誰知道？」 
(全文完，原文取自TIME雜誌，轉載歡迎，但註明出處，歡迎批評指教)
For VFX houses, there may be a dramatic Hollywood ending. With effects-heavy movies like the forthcoming Batman sequel, The Hobbit, Thor and Green Lantern coming down the pike, the demand for VFX may overwhelm the industry's diminished capacity. The changing nature of the work could alter the balance of power too: being a gifted designer is becoming more important than being a technical whiz. Says analyst Alan Lasky: "The minute you see one of these movies not make its release date due to this capacity crisis, then you'll start to see some interesting changes in the industry." Who knows? Maybe someday an effects artist will even get star billing.

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The original site of TIME magazine

好萊塢的血汗工廠 Hollywood's VFX Sweatshops (2 of 3)

The Night Knight, VFX by DOUBLE NEGATIVE VISUAL EFFECTS, located at London

好萊塢的血汗工廠 ── VFX，繁華中的衰敗
Hollywood's VFX Shops: Trouble in Boom Times (2 of 3)
By Rebeccca Keegan / Hollywood Monday, May. 31, 2010


正當全球特效產業還沒開始分裂，喬治盧卡斯長達35年的影視帝國，正化作僅為開張幾個月的工作室，分布在中國及印度各地。Digital Domain公司的前CEO，同時也是ILM的總經理史考特羅素，估計VFX每年產業總值在13.5億美金左右，五大特效公司就佔了其中的8千到1億美金(市占率74%)，而其他的小特效公司拿很少很少的一百萬美金。除了電影特效之外，還有電視節目、電腦遊戲、商業廣告、音樂錄影帶等，這些特效公司不斷地雇新員工，資遣員工，全視當時手上有多少案子。(所以說標題定的sweatshops ，就是在於這VFX產業除了被大公司壟斷之外，財務來源嚴重不穩定，也是被稱為「血汗工廠」的原因之一...poor artist... )
Yet the global VFX industry has been fragmenting. It encompasses everything from Lucas' 35-year-old state-of-the-art empire to months-old shops in India and China. Scott Ross, a former CEO of Digital Domain and general manager at ILM, estimates that VFX is a $1.35 billion industry, with the big five shops each pulling in $80 million to $100 million a year and the many smaller shops taking in as little as $1 million. Effects companies work on movies, TV shows, video games, commercials and music videos and are constantly hiring and firing, depending on their project loads.

但VFX特效產業應該還是會繁榮興盛。
2009年，全球十個最賺錢的電影裡頭，就有9個嚴重依賴特效視覺效果。這些讓特效成為好萊塢比「大明星制度」更耀眼核心。好萊塢的工作室就將賺到的辛苦錢，2~3億美金的三分之一，這麼多的血汗錢押寶在特效預算中。
「電影中在意的，再也不是湯姆克魯斯或是湯姆漢克了」羅素說：「我們在意的是，大水淹沒紐約市，或是製造藍衣人。」 (特效演員演出時多穿藍色緊身衣，方便電影後製時加上特效。)
The VFX business should be thriving. Nine of the 10 highest-grossing movies worldwide in 2009 relied heavily on special effects, making the industry more central to Hollywood's business model than movie stars are. As much as a third of the budget of the $200 million — to — $300 million movies that are the foundation of Hollywood studios' earnings are devoted to special effects. "It's no longer about Tom Hanks or Tom Cruise," says Ross. "It's about flooding New York or creating blue people."

但在過去15個月當中，包括在加州的迪士尼數位電影影像公司，多倫多的C.O.R.E數位影像公司，以及其它散落在舊金山的孤兒特效公司等等，都遭遇到一個困境。
「這就像這個圈子裡頭公開的秘密──做特效是為了「名聲」，是為了一場美麗的雙人舞，為了讓旗下的藝術家們開心；但是，它無法讓你賺錢。」《浮華世界》(Variety) 一期以VFX作為封面故事，助理專題編輯大衛‧科翰這樣說道：「如果你夠幸運，你會因為它們而破產，但如果你不夠幸運，你會因為它們而一蹶不振！(out of business)」
But in the past 15 months, companies including Disney's ImageMovers Digital in Novato, Calif.; C.O.R.E. Digital Pictures in Toronto; and the Orphanage in San Francisco have shuttered. "It's pretty much an open secret in the business that you do feature-film visual effects for prestige — to get a great reel, to keep your artists happy — but they don't make money," says David Cohen, an associate features editor at Variety who covers the VFX industry. "If you're lucky, you break even on them. If you're not lucky, you're out of business."

最根本原因就在於VFX產業的組成。大部分的公司都在欣欣向榮的1990年代成立，那是一個錢多到淹腳目，導演和藝術家被像高科技沙箱 (sandbox，一種高級音響設施) 珍貴對待的年代。1993年，Digital Domian公司以1,500萬美金之姿創立了。占有一半股權的大股東IBM，還提供了每個價值五萬美元的圖像工作站給Digital Domain公司使用。
The root of the industry's problems is in how the companies were formed, most of them in the go-go 1990s, when cash was plentiful and shops were treated like high-tech sandboxes for directors and artists. In 1993, Digital Domain was founded with $15 million, and 50% partner IBM provided dozens of $50,000 graphics workstations — a VFX company's costliest investment.

過去三年中，經濟的流動打壞原本的劇本。更優惠的稅率政策刺激VFX產業外流，它們傾巢而出到更便宜的地方，像是加拿大、歐洲、澳洲、紐西蘭，。同一時間，美國的公司也開始向外面像是中國、印度等地方對外發包，像是清除鋼絲 ( wire removal，演員若吊鋼絲飛起來，一種專門將鋼絲在畫面上清除的動畫技術)、轉描機技術 ( rotoscoping )這種吃力不討好的產業代工。
In the past three years, economic mobility spoiled that script. Generous tax incentives in Canada, Europe, Australia and New Zealand siphoned off much of Hollywood's VFX work and drove down prices. At the same time, U.S. companies began outsourcing the grunt work — unglamorous tasks like wire removal and rotoscoping (an animation process) — to India and China.

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