2023/03/03

高街~曾被遺忘的人

高街前精神病院石壁


三月份的香港,難得仍然有種乾爽涼快的感覺,和朋友一起往港島慢行,細味香港過去的一些痕跡,始於西營盤,邊走邊看⋯行到高街。

也許不用我多説,很多香港人也會對於這間曾在日治時期被用來作為刑場、對面則是亂葬岡(現今是佐治五世紀念公園)的麻瘋/精神病院十分熟悉;它的名聲來自式各樣的鬼故事,有的繪形繪聲,也有由傳説愈傳愈變"真"的種種 "鬼屋經歷"。 以往,自己每次路經此地的時候,多數是天陰陰、乍暖還寒,所以也只會在外圍走走;今天卻在清風送爽之下,和朋友一起入內探索(現今是一間開放的社區大樓)。

由於朋友是位護士小姐,我們的話題自然地一邊想像、一邊嘗試勾畫出昔日病房內的情景,每個空間(現只遺留下走廊及立面外牆)和病人與醫護的生活日常。初時我們在推拷迴廊上可會有鐵欄?每個百頁窗會否相等於一間病房的闊度?房間有多深?又或者其實是一個很大的室內,放置了幾十張病床,病人被布帶挷在床上,醫護穿梭於病床之間,彷如那些戰爭片的軍用醫院一般? 又或者是⋯

當我們再發現了在石欄上似乎有些鐵枝遺痕的時候,並在正門入口一個模糊的門牌上隱約見到病院原本建築的圖形;又或許,這條美麗的迴廊,其實是一條連於左右兩座呈90度病院建築物的一條通道,由於非病人所到之處,所以只需在頭尾加鐵窗?
       
                   
高街精神病院迴廊

這樣,即是説病人其實不會見到外街? 他們是過著一個怎樣的生活呢?是如何的一個世界?這些曾經瘋傳的鬼故事,除了可以嚇人和增加此處的神秘色彩之外,可有提醒我們在很久以前,這裏確實有一大群活生生的香港人生活過?或許當年他們是在不得已的情況之下被安放至此,但今天,可有人也在不知不覺之間,被我們放在心裏面另一間"瘋人院"而漸漸地,他/她也被遺忘!

P.S. 後記~由於心有不甘,仍然很想知道此處的原貌平面圖,偶爾被我找到這個Blog https://blog.ulifestyle.com.hk/article/benng9413入面其中一張相片,下層迴廊原本是有鐵欄的。


2023/02/22

真真假假

如果你是網誌達人,又或是很早已經有追蹤網誌這個習慣的讀者,相信你也會意識到現今在網絡世界上有各式各樣可以發表的平台,日新月異。而且當人類愈來愈喜歡用圖像或視訊來代替文字的傳遞時,很多寫作人也會轉向多圖少字的內容,以配合讀者的閲讀習慣。或許,正因為這個轉變,不少 blogger 也退下來,要不轉向 IG, YouTube…便索性停產,又或是由向外開放分享與讀者聯係的初衷改為純紀錄個人的生活片段。

而近日令不少文字人(當然還有其他行業類別的人)議論紛紛 ~ChatGPT 的出現, 彷彿連文字這個獨特的表達方式也將要被 AI "取代"似的,即使並非全部,但肯定是大部分;那麽,作家、編劇、雜誌編輯、寫網誌…的人,還須要投入多少原創性去完成作品呢? 會否日後在這裏發表的內容,其實也不外乎是AI 工具合成的產物?那麼,為何要看換個包裝的產物,而不直接和 ChatGPT 結聯?反正,資料要多完備便有多完備、圖像要多細緻便有多細緻、分析視野要多廣闊便有多廣闊…(如果此刻用ChatGPT,也省得寫這麼多個字;P)

奇怪的是當人們把藝術、思考、分析、組織的能力毫不在乎地假手AI 的同時,從而衍生分不出原創真偽的問題,於是又要再運用AI 去設計一個可以辨識真偽的功能(例如以分辨所提交的畢業論文內容)…我很想問一句"搞竟你知唔知自己想點?"

地球的這邊:"聰明人"努力邁向新世代,即使不自覺地越過了邊界,甚至試圖扮演上帝的角色…幸而在地球的那邊,仍然有人記得自己即使是被造物,卻擁有每個人的獨特性、原創性,是不可能也不應該被替代的。



2023/02/09

簡簡單單 Découpage

Découpage key tag & decor
源於法國的"蝶古巴特 Découpage" 並非什麼新玩意,但到今天才真真正正地試玩。

記得初初在香港出現的時候,立即成為一種當時新興的手工藝;市面上出現了很多售賣各式各樣圖案的紙巾櫃位。單單看那些入口餐巾的圖案,花鳥蟲魚,有古典或大自然風格;又或是詩意十足的字句圖案⋯本身已經美麗悅目,在創意的運用之下用來復修小傢具,或者製作禮盒裝飾,實在是一種容易令人有滿足感的手工藝。

不過,如果要做到真真正正的工藝,也並非簡單拼貼、塗塗膠水、過過沙紙及上上保護油便了事。原來要達到一定的"溶合"程度,即使是刻意營造的立體效果,也必須要有一定的技巧和耐性才能成事;大前題是做到完成後不覺得那些圖案是貼上去而是有印上去的效果,當然構圖用色之美感及創意是不能缺少。當時在大大小小的興趣中心有入門、進階教授班,甚至完成課堂後可以取得證書云云。


Découpage - arrange and glue cut out pattern

事實上,除了紙巾,其他物料也可以用作拼貼,布和紙類也可;市面上也有套裝連同所需的特別膠漿和工具等,方便大家玩過痛快。但我還是喜歡就地取材(其實是有太多未能盡用的物資),用了手上有的馬拉紙、砌模型餘下的飛機木、已經不再用得著的防火膠板樣辨,永遠用不完的 Illustration marker, 油筆。再用一支忘記了放了多久的木工白膠漿加水混合代替專用Mod Podge, 最後還有小朋友手工用的透明保護油,就這樣玩了一整天⋯樂透了。

或許,你也可以在臨近的情人節,手作一份小禮物送給摯愛,管它工藝不工藝,心思加情意不是較 99 枝玫瑰花更珍貴嗎?預祝大家情人節人人快樂😘


 

2022/12/31

Unveil the art

 


Hi, hi,

There is no way for me to skip writing this post because I really want to show you what exactly I saw...introduced by Li...created by an fabulous artist...a beautiful art piece in the window shop that was mentioned in Au Revoir on my last night in Paris. 

Yes, they are real, they are for sale, they were in the arrangement of a hemisphere, the one Li said that she has to stopping by every time. I am totally agree that they are truly stunning when I saw them that night, the overall size is within one meter, hanging right above eye level of the passenger but you will never miss them. 

There are some others in different colorways, smaller but cool ! I do wish to tell you where they can be found, but sorry again...I forget, because it's not the matter of where it were, if you love it, it will always in your heart, au revoir :)

2022/12/30

Au Revoir, Petit Paris

Au Revoir book cover
click to enlarge

It will be hard to write this post I’m sure, the last post to end my series of Petit Paris ~ the first poetic travelogues that I’ve never had & the first e-book series that I’ve ever published. Three years are neither short nor long, long enough to write a book but too short for a forgetful bird to become an author, it’s only the beginning… I hope. 


When this project was started three years ago, as I’ve mentioned in <Au Revoir>,  time flies like a spark, when it has to end the journey which seems has begun not long before,  I am a bit of emotionally un-detachable, at least, still at this moment.

Solo trip is always a valuable experience to whom you are, what you have or haven’t. You have to face everything on your own, surprisingly amazing moments or unexpected horror, imaginary or real. 

You are the master of your time, a totally stranger on earth there ; you can mute in most of the time, just see and feel, think & rethink…or, you can seek, a new friendship that might start, to be an immigrant for a week, to act like a local for an hour.

You can capture all the moments by your phone (camera) or simply to remember the unique memory…just for you, yourself on that date, at that time…happy or sad.

You can try anything new, participate in an adventure that you’ve never did before or, have an apple in hand, just enjoy under the sun & relax. 

You can follow the norm to all the hot spots or you can walk in your own way, your own destination in your own pace. 

You can…
…Yes, I can find another angle to see the world, to discover more instead of following the norm; something I might mis-understood when it was presented without the truth in depth.  I can listen the voices behind that might fainted for over a while…it’s not barely a vacation but also a chapter of my life started from October 2019 and keep on transforming in December 2022. 

The last book in this series is a wrap up of what I met during the trip, and because of it is the last one, it urge me to take the last chance of sharing of what were or might be overlooked, but really meant something in this series. 

Actually I took almost 1000 photos, for all the selected photos, they should cover what I discovered in the whole journey; I do wish you can feel travelling with me while reading. 

“A book has to be edited prior to publish.” I think this is the norm or general rule that I do agree but will leave it for this very first time. The free prose lead my thought to and fro from one moment to another, but raw and real time that I really want to attach, sorry for the free-flow' if it makes you feel lost sometimes :P 

I am a real forgetful bird, it’s hard for me to remember the name of people I’ve met, especially for those I didn’t even ask. But, seriously, I do remember their faces, their tone of expression when we communicated;  I still remember right at this moment…almost three whole years, so memorable. 

Color & aroma, are the ever lasting sense for human beings, whenever I close my eyes, fly back to Paris, they are there, still there…all the same…!

I know I have to end right now, the post and the obsession to this journey. I am moving on for a new novel,  in another language...may be; I don’t know when can this be completed? Hopefully not too long and is for sure not too soon, by that time, I wish you are still here to be my companion , Merci beaucoup et Au revoir !

2022/12/26

Christmas is…


 

2022/12/23

Some year end review

 A few more days to go will end the year of 2022, usually it’s the best moment for us to review everything, including the content of this blog. 

We always wish we could concentrate into a specific genre of blog posts, so readers can search the content more easily and the  reading experience of this blog can be more unique & consistent, but unfortunately it‘s not the way we were. In reality, not all things are related to design : beautiful, attractive, creative, impressive…lots & lots of “pebble & stones” could ruin the scene (hopefully not :P).

Sometimes we did want to end this blog and start all over again but when we reconsider deeply, after years of building a whole new blog, the result may still be the same, because this is us,  the life of Cocoa, the implication of design, life of sweet & sour…as we shall say, what a complex but on the other hand fruitful. 

By trial & error, this is the 14 years since the first post was published in Coffeebreak, our former name…time flies. It seems we have to be truthful of what’s going on, but we are thinking of removing “Cocoa Fabric Store” “Cocoa Grocery” and “Bird Talk” ~ another way to simplify our “complicated life”, what do you think?