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'In the Loop' and 0ut of Touch with War

《灵通人士》

Political satire is a bitch to pull off. Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove set the bar high in 1964. But damned if In the Loop doesn't at least nip at its skirts. Best of all, this ink-black comedy of war and how to stop worrying and love the spin is devilishly clever. The gifted British writer-director Armando Iannucci, whose BBC series The Thick of It is the spark for the film, keeps the dialogue coming fast and furiously funny.

政治讽刺作品很难取得成功。1964年,库布里克的《奇爱博士》成为后人难以逾越的高峰。但《灵通人士》几乎达到了《奇爱博士》的高度。首先,这部有关战争、转忧为安,以及爱上颠倒黑白之事的黑色幽默电影非常聪明。才华横溢的英国编剧兼导演阿曼多•伊安努奇曾为英国广播公司拍摄过连续剧《最激烈的时刻》,现从中汲取灵感,拍摄了这部语速极快、趣味横生的电影。

The time is just before the invasion of Iraq. The governments of Britain and the U.S. are in a fever. On Downing Street - a spin on The Office (Ricky Gervais edition) - the PM's caffeinated director of communications, Malcolm Tucker (Peter Capaldi), is verbally abusing Simon Foster (Tom Hollander), a twit minister who has just done interviews claiming support for the U.S. in a war that he declares 'unforeseeable'. The brilliant Capaldi turns cursing into performance art, spewing streams of invective that would make David Mamet blush.

时间设定在入侵伊拉克之前。此时英国政府与美国政府正“打得火热”。在首相府邸——对《办公室》(里奇•格威斯版)的颠覆——亢奋的首相联络官马尔科姆•塔克(彼得•卡帕尔迪饰)正在骂西蒙•福斯特(汤姆•霍兰德饰)。福斯特是一名蹩脚的部长,刚刚在接受采访时称支持美国开战,却又说战争“无法预测”。聪明的卡帕尔迪使骂人成了表演艺术,他滔滔不绝,狠话迭出,如果大卫•马麦特听了都会脸红。

Somehow the idiot Simon winds up in D.C. with two handlers, who can't stop him from inserting foot in mouth. Simon gets caught in the crossfire of a State Department hawk (David Rasche) and a dove of a general (a slyly hilarious James Gandolfini), with an ex-lover (Mimi Kennedy) in the diplomatic corps. The dangerous incompetence of these warring factions will strike you as more than familiar. That's why the laughs stick in the throat. But laugh you will, loud and often. In the Loop deserves to be a sleeper hit. The whole cast is stellar. And it proves that smart and funny can exist in the same movie, even in summer.

愚笨的西蒙又鬼使神差地带着两名助手跑去华盛顿,但助手也阻止不了他屡屡说错话。在外交使节团中,西蒙陷入了美国国防部的一名鹰派人物(大卫•拉斯切饰)同一名鸽派将军(顽皮而滑稽的詹姆斯•甘多菲尼饰)及其旧情人(咪咪•肯尼迪饰)的激烈交锋。“交战”双方的无能让你倍感熟悉。你总会有想笑的冲动。但你还是会大笑,而且笑得合不拢嘴。说《灵通人士》是黑马,一点也不为过。演员个个是主角。它证明一部电影之中睿智与幽默可以共存,即使是在暑期档。

Cradlesong

《催眠曲》

Rob Thomas has been the large-lunged, chest-thumping voice of straight-down-the-middle pop rock since 1996, when he emerged at the helm of Matchbox Twenty. He writes big, blowzy songs about love and angst, occasionally sounds like he's trying to eat his microphone, and is the bearer of what may be the least appealing shag haircut in popular-music history. But there's no doubting that he's a powerful singer, and with his biggest hit - the ferociously cheesy Latin-rock Santana collabo Smooth - he proved that he can swing as well as bludgeon.

自1996年作为火柴盒乐队主唱出道以来,罗伯•托马斯一直是主流流行摇滚歌手,他声音洪亮,演唱时几乎要扯破喉咙。他顶着可能是流行音乐史上最没有吸引力的蓬乱发型,唱着自己写的有关爱情与烦恼的歌曲,有时陶醉得好像要把麦克风吞掉一样。但是毫无疑问,他是一名实力唱将,其最成功的作品——同拉丁摇滚大师山塔那共同演绎的《平坦》,虽然有些平淡无奇,但异常受欢迎,他因此也证明了自己能尝试多种风格的音乐。

Cradlesong, Thomas' second solo album shows, not for the first time, that he may well be Phil Collins' heir: a talented, big-time pro with a fine voice and a finer way with hooks. There is plenty of unexpected texture to keep your ears engaged. The production is sleek and seamless. The album opener, Her Diamonds, places its guitars and keyboards in front of a phalanx of African and taiko drums. The title track adds world-music flavors (bouzouki, oud, Portuguese guitar) to a ballad that is half lullaby, half ode to the pleasures of the simple life: 'All our friends, they moved to Hollywood/But we ain't that desperate yet,' Thomas sings.

《催眠曲》是托马斯的第二张个人专辑,它再一次表明托马斯可能是菲尔•科林斯第二:一名才华横溢的一线歌手,嗓音浑厚,对副歌的处理更加精湛。出人意料,其声音极具质感,久听不厌。专辑制作精良,不见刀斧痕迹。在第一首歌《她的钻石》里,吉他和键盘声交织着密集的非洲鼓和太鼓声。专辑同名单曲将世界音乐风(希腊曼陀铃、乌德琴和葡萄牙吉他)融入民谣,这首歌不仅是摇篮曲,还是对简单生活的快乐的礼赞:“我们所有的朋友,他们都去了好莱坞/但是我们却不想那样,”他唱道。

The main attraction here, though, is the tunes. Thomas has always been an expert songwriter, but on his big Matchbox hits like 3 A.M. and Bent, the charm of his melodies was buried beneath bluster: He was a vocal-mauler in the 1990s tradition, growling out every phrase as if he was trying to shred your stereo speakers. Now he's older and more easeful, less rock and more pop — but no less adept at the big money-shot chorus. The results are infectious. These songs prove that should Thomas care to hang up his microphone he could find well-paid work on Nashville's Music Row or writing tunes for pop starlets.

但这张专辑最吸引人的地方是其曲调。托马斯向来很擅长写歌,但在其火柴盒乐队时期创作的《凌晨三点》和《弯曲》等歌曲之中,曲调的魅力被吼叫所掩盖。上世纪90年代,他唱歌时是随大流,每句歌词都要咆哮地唱出,似乎要撕碎你的音箱。现在他年纪大了,心态更加平和,少了几分摇滚风,多了几许流行元素,但他创作大量热卖副歌的本领丝毫未减。他的作品很有感染力。这些歌曲证明,托马斯如果不唱歌了,去纳什维尔音乐大赛,或者为初入歌坛的歌手写歌,都能有丰厚的收入。

Cocktails and Deception, Straight up

《广告狂人》第三季开播

Mad Men is a perfect blend of the seductive and the abhorrent. On the one hand, it's an absolutely gorgeous, amber-tinted vision of the early 1960s: swank apartments, knotty-pine kitchens, pegged skirts, bullet bras. Watching the AMC show, which has returned in fine form for season 3, you can't help but drink in the dreamy look, detailed with enough 1950s-era accoutrements to seem authentically Camelot.

《广告狂人》既讨人嫌,又让人欲罢不能。一方面,它完美地展现了上世纪60年代初期的景象,为其涂上了一层美丽的“琥珀色”:奢华的套房、多节的松木厨房、窄裙和子弹型胸罩。第三季已经在美国经典电影有线电视台隆重登场,看它时你会难以自已,陶醉于迷离的场景,片中所用道具体现了上世纪50年代的特征,仿佛令人置身极尽繁华奢侈之境。

And yet, particularly to our post-1960s eyes, the themes of this Emmy-winning drama are deeply disturbing. Mad Men is a cold chronicle of cultural and gender oppression. From Sal, who stifles his gay nature, and Joan, who's set to marry the doctor who raped her, to Betty, who deludes herself into domestic comfort, the Mad Men characters are dogged by the pressure to conform. They're uncomfortably numb, often pickled in the ever-present whiskey.

但是,尤其是对于我们60后而言,这部艾美奖获奖作品的主题令人甚感不安。《广告狂人》是一部冷酷的文化与性别压制编年史。萨尔压抑自己同性恋的本性,琼决定同强暴她的医生结婚,贝蒂自欺欺人,躲在家庭和睦的假想中。压力如影随形,每个角色被迫向现实低头。他们已经麻木,经常烂醉如泥。

One of the more promising developments this season is the presence on Madison Avenue of the British company that bought the Sterling Cooper ad agency last season. It's the British Invasion, Mad Men style. Led by Lane Pryce, the Brits at Sterling Cooper have little in common with the Americans and culture clash ensues. Having uptight Brits on hand enables Weiner and his writers to put one of their favorite 'Mad Men' themes - American repression - into a broader perspective.

在本季中出现了上一季收购斯丹林•库伯广告公司的某家英国公司,地点就在麦迪逊大街上,这让人觉得好戏还在后头。这是英国入侵,也是《广告狂人》一贯的风格。以雷恩•普利斯为首的斯丹林•库伯公司员工同美国人鲜有共同语言,文化冲突接踵而来。有了愤怒的英国人,维纳(编剧兼制作人,编者注)和其他编剧可以更好地阐述他们最喜欢的主题之一——美国压制。

Sunday's hour is, like so many episodes of Mad Men, quiet on the surface. There are pauses in conversation, and almost no soundtrack music fills the silences and the emotional vacancies. And yet the subject matter of this show shouts at you the more you think about it, the more the characters don't say what you know they are feeling. In even the smallest details - watch how a stick pin travels through the episode - Mad Men remains TV at its most artful.

跟《广告狂人》的其他剧集一样,周日播出的这一集表面上很宁静。对话停顿处,几乎没有音乐来填充这段寂静和感情空白。但是你越是细想,本剧的主题就越萦绕你的脑海;而人物越是沉默不语,你越能体会他们的感受。即使从细枝末节看,如一个贯穿全集的别针,《广告狂人》也无愧是艺术水准最高的电视剧。

Outliers: The Story of Success

《出类拔萃者:成功的故事》

In his new book, Malcolm Gladwell writes again about exceptional individuals, or 'outliers', as he calls them: star athletes, computer wizards and hotshot lawyers. With remarkable ease, he moves from New York corporations to Chinese rice paddies, the Beatles to Bill Gates, ice hockey to airplane crashes. Part psychologist, part sociologist and investigative reporter, Gladwell tells intriguing tales about people who overcome adversity: children of Jewish immigrants; talented musicians from the back streets of Liverpool, England; and flight attendants from Korea. With relentless curiosity and a keen fascination with significant details, he focuses on trends and illuminates the larger lessons he wants everyone to learn.

在其新书中,马尔科姆•格莱德维尔再次讲述杰出人士的故事,他称这些人为“出类拔萃者”:明星运动员、电脑奇才和大律师。从纽约的公司到中国的麦田,从披头士到比尔•盖茨,从冰球到空难,他叙述起来驾轻就熟。作为心理学家、社会学家和调查记者,格莱德维尔把人们克服逆境的故事娓娓道来:犹太人移民的子女、从英国利物浦小巷里走出来的天才音乐家、来自韩国的空乘人员。因为有一颗永不满足的好奇心和对大量细节的痴迷,他关注事情发展,阐述更重要的教训,希望每个人都有所收获。

What holds together the divergent people, places and topics is Gladwell's search for the keys to success, and his determination to offer practical suggestions. With hard work, persistence and a combination of luck and social resources, everyone can rise above poverty, ignorance and the trough of failure, he insists. If you miss his message the first time, he repeats it again and again. 'Outliers says that success follows a predictable course,' he writes. 'It is not the brightest who succeed.' He adds that the successful are 'those who have been given opportunities - and who have had the strength and presence of mind to seize them.' For Gladwell, community, family, schools and colleges are more important than talent or genius. It's what we do with our gifts that matters, not IQ or the income of parents.

将不同人物、地方和主题结合在一起的是格莱德维尔对成功原因的寻找,以及他提供实用建议的决心。他认为,只要努力,坚持,加上运气和社会资源,每个人都能脱离贫穷、物质和失败的渊薮。怕你第一次没记住他的要义,他在文中重复多次。他写道,“出类拔萃者说,成功是可以预见的,”“取得成功的不是最聪明的人。”他补充道,成功者是“得到机会的人,以及有能力,并且沉着冷静地把握住机会的人。”对于格莱德维尔来说,社会、家庭、学校和大学比天资或天赋更重要。我们如何对待自己的天赋才更重要,而非智商或父母的收入。

At times, his conclusions don't seem to be warranted by the facts. One wonders, for example, if demographics really determine who gets ahead and who doesn't, as he suggests. Still, Outliers is unabashedly inspiring. Education is at its vital heart; teachers and parents ought to put it on Christmas lists. The students in my own classes, many of whom never seize opportunities, and blame others for failures, would benefit greatly by reading Gladwell's provocative and practical book about the landscape of success.

有时他的结论似乎还没有得到事实的验证。比如说,他说人口特征决定哪些人能一马当先,而其他人不能,这就引人怀疑。不过,本书仍然十分激励人。它的中心论点是教育的重要性。教师和家长应将这本书列入圣诞节礼物清单。我班上的许多学生自己抓不住机会,反倒怨天尤人,如果读了格莱德维尔这本鼓舞人们争取成功的书,会受益匪浅。