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Monday, March 24, 2008

It's been quite some time since my last movie review. Not like I am going to start on one. It will more be like an appreciation of this particular movie I watched over the past weekend, and this time it is one I didn't intend to watch. If you have not watched it, it's worthy of a $9.50 ticket. "Horton" turned out to be more than meets the eye. Initially I was thinking it will be another one of those animal-theme 3D graphic movies that have been over-capitalised on since "Finding Nemo"s' success.

But I realised my mistake about 10 minutes into the show because I am pretty sure the chiding and adult humour are much better comprehended by grownups and the movie actually brought out themes like community, politics and the belief that "people are people, even if they are small", a much neglected thought especially in these days where the big and powerful call the shots most of the time. (Just a guess: maybe the director's intention is to raise awareness of people to look out for those who may be weaker or more needy than us?) The movie is about Horton the Elephant which struggles to protect a speck of dust - which he believes has life - from his neighbors, who refuse to believe it exists. But nonetheless an entertaining spread of ideas and wit. No wonder my friend said a magazine gave it four stars...

昨天去室内体育馆看了S-POP大典，难得出席的艺人数量还算可观，新旧荟萃，流行与经典交集，其实也真的看出主办单位的诚意与用心。可惜的是梁文福没唱，也许是不想唱吧，不过巫启贤却现场唱了首《你是我的唯一》，又见到李圣杰、萧敬腾、萧亚轩等一票海外艺人（其中萧敬腾的支持者多得夸张... ... 未演先轰动，这应该就是所谓的一夜成名，一鸣惊人），算是满载而归。其实要办这样的庆典也真不容易，一方面因牵涉早期新谣创作而得照顾到一群八、九十年代年长“学生”对于那段岁月的缅怀，一方面却不得不顾及到只识得林俊杰、阿杜、孙燕姿等的年轻一辈。

不过节目接近尾声时，也许是该演唱的明星艺人都已陆续登场，渐渐的，涌往出口处的人潮逐渐增加，而且多到有点肆无忌惮，无所顾虑。尽管最后节目结束时所有出席艺人与嘉宾都齐聚台上，但眼见四周的骚动（和走动），主持人权怡凤问的问题就实在有点讽刺。“请问你对于S-pop有什么话说吗？”好几个被问及的艺人笑得有点尴尬，答得更公式化。

“继续努力。加油。”
“万岁。”

我是听出感动的。诚然，不是每首新谣是耳熟能详的，毕竟那岁月不属于我，最多也只能追随、回味。所谓的流行，不过是一时的，终究要落入历史，或被取而代之，或美其名为经典，不好听点就是过时。至于本地音乐的推动，除了仰赖音乐人的努力不懈，我想更多是听众群的品味与选择性，决定了新加坡牌的音乐是否独树一帜，还是最后不过是盲从香港、台湾主流的产物。

当晚有人说：“喜欢与新加坡音乐人合作，因为新加坡音乐单纯，感情丰富。”我把这里的“单纯”理解成非商业化、不局限于经济考量的意思。可以肯定的，新谣时期的音乐的确如此，虽然配乐编曲没有今天的丰富多彩。

音乐如果真的要走入生活，需要灵魂。

Envoy of the Stars @ 10:08 AM
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