美国前奥运会运动员谈奥运会如同《饥饿游戏》

美国前冬奥会运动员Samantha Retrosi在犹他州长大。11岁的时候被Verizon赞助的无舵雪橇协会选中培训,到意大利图灵奥运会出事。同项目甚至有运动员丧生。 美国不是举国体育。美国政府不资助运动员和奥运会项目。所有的经费来自企业赞助。举国体制下,政府资助运动员,运动员待遇可能并不比一些冷门项目运动员差。而美国运动员要签约,比如Samantha,因为Verizon是奥运赞助商,协会内签约运动员就不能随便去代言其他公司,并且必须在各种场合表示是Verizon使得他们能够“圆奥运梦”,“谢谢Verizon”。今日更传因为三星赞助奥运,美国运动员被要求不能展示苹果产品logo。三星给每个运动员发了手机。 Samantha给The Nation杂志撰文,从她个人经历和对奥运会的观察,表示奥运会和热门小说/电影《饥饿游戏》非常相似。“饥饿游戏”盛大的开幕式,是为了掩饰游戏的惨无人道。而奥运会开幕式也是有类似的作用和目的。奥运会运动员入场,人群欢呼,称赞他们挑战人类的极限。他们挥舞各国国旗,是各国的骄傲,是爱国主义教育的活教材。他们代表的,远超过自己和运动本身。 我且认为,这没有什么错误。但是,正如Samantha所说,奥运会已经被环球精英劫持为一种政治经济上的投资。 《饥饿游戏》里,每个被选中的选手,都可以说是祭物。因为除了一个人意外,每个人都会死去:为的是证明“首都”的绝对权力。奥运会运动员在一定程度上也是祭品。即使是在不是举国体育的美国,很多选手也是从小训练,职业运动员大都也要牺牲很多:和亲人在一起的时间,普通人的童年,教育,换来可能的荣耀,一身的伤痛,往往最后被遗忘。就好像美国的大兵,虽然每场体育赛事都会赞扬他们,但是美国的退伍军人生活大多困苦:他们小时候也是多出身贫寒,不得不参军换取工资和军队资助的学费。话题跑远,但是美国大兵近年来自杀率不断上涨,军队里性骚扰性侵犯泛滥,是不争的事实;看着好莱坞大片的我们,又怎能想象? 回到美国奥运队伍,一个主要的争议话题,就是企业赞助劫持了体育项目。在经济问题上,国际奥委会IOC也何尝不是经常被批评?所以整个奥运会体系,可以说都已经腐败。 我们做科学的,能出人头地的,不多,但是比起运动员,成功率可能还是要高一些的。如果你拿不到奥运奖牌,你就不能真的出人头地。有多少运动员是这样的宿命?我不知道具体的数字,但是比例应该是很高的。在一定程度上,他们更是祭品。 I was not allowed near any camera without giving a visual and verbal statement of thanks to Verizon for making all of my dreams come true. Verizon已经停止了赞助美国无舵雪橇协会。此协会因为长期“忠于”Verizon,没有能拿到其他企业赞助。不少运动员加入了美军的“世界级运动员项目”以换得资助。是否感觉似曾相识? 现在办一次奥运会都是要上百亿美元的资金。当然,也就有相当的revenue,和相当可观的利润。企业赞助商,奥委会,也都各有法宝,可以赚到相当可观的金额。企业赞助商,当然是赚的是口碑,赚的是logo商标上镜率,是广告效益。而最后,全世界的运动员就成为了被剥削的工人。奥运会,按照中国教科书的说法,就是一个资本家运作的工厂,这个工厂还和其他财团有理不清的关系。奥运会固然精彩,但是或许是时候发声,让大家看清楚这场戏背后的主角到底是谁。 Samantha和其他一些客人做客Democracy Now!访谈,也是值得一看。

Hollywood Boycott Beijing 2008?

Spielberg resigned as artistic adviser to the Beijing 2008 Olympic games “at China’s complicity in humanitarian crisis in Darfur”. So it is said the “boycott” theme is floating around western media now. I always thought it is stupid to connect politics and Olympics games. But on the other hand, if hollywood boycott Beijing 2008, what… Continue reading Hollywood Boycott Beijing 2008?

要说地道的中文,从现在开始

放眼看去,人们普遍开始担心中文英文化的问题。我决定从现在开始,写中文的时候要时刻注意中文的地道性。不过人在英语国家,难免不受影响。我以为,我这条博客里面的中文,已经很不地道了。 但是我又能怎样?时代在发展,中国人都在学英文,不可能不受影响。但诸如滥用“被”或者冠词“一个”之类的情况,还是可以尽量避免的。

Transformers: trash but “successful”

Transformers (2007, C-), has break several box office records. Although its ratings are steadily dropping on RottenTomatoes.com, IMDB, and even Yahoo, nothing seem to slow it down on its way to earn as much money as possible in the shortest possible time. Transformers is just another example of how art of film making has gone… Continue reading Transformers: trash but “successful”

Cho Seung-hui在高中的时候也被嘲笑

This blog entry is written in two languages. The title is: Cho Seung-hui was laughed at in high school “Go back to China!(滚回中国去)”,同学们喊到。His classmates yelled at him because he seemingly showed that his English is not good. 美国人普遍认为今天的惨剧100%完全是他的责任,和其他人没有一点关系。 Most Americans would say that Cho is totally responsible for this tragedy and no one else should… Continue reading Cho Seung-hui在高中的时候也被嘲笑

中国人的英语影响世界

Long Time No See. 是的,这个拙劣的“好久不见”的翻译,已经成为标准的英语用法。据估计 ,由于有上亿的中国人在用他们的方式使用英文,类似的影响将持续下去甚至不断增强。 即是是在美国的中国人,英文也很常常很不地道,或者说有时候是地道的美语词汇语气,加上地道的中文字母化。例如我看到的这个例子: ft…dude, read some basic molecular biology textbooks first la “晕”基本上是近几年的流行词。虽然美国人不说faint,中国人还是可以把晕简写成ft的。另外,美国人即是在网上要用f word,常常也会加上*(星号)。中国人用到这个词的时候,一般不会顾忌,一个字母一个字母的写出来,难道没有展现出另外一种豪爽?

Say NO to Green Peace International

In my memories, Green Peace International is a organization that cares our planet, fight against pollution and all kinds of things that endanger our environment. A recent read about their opinion on genetic engineering (GE) and genetic modified (GM) organisms changed my mind. Green Peace International (GPI) is opposed of GE. They published articles on… Continue reading Say NO to Green Peace International

People Die in the O.R.

People die in the O.R. People fall in love with each other in the hospital. That’s why some people say Grey’s Anatomy has too much “drama” in it. Somebody woke up after 16 years of sleeping. Then he died in an operation. Why? Maybe because the doctor spent too much time worrying about their marriage… Continue reading People Die in the O.R.

Too Much Hype for Ubuntu?

Ubuntu reported on its own website that it win 2006 World Class Award from PC World. It is ranked 27 out of 100 and the only Linux distribution. While actually most Linux distribution does not differ from each other, Ubuntu is widely believed not the fastest nor easiest Linux distribution. I have to admit that… Continue reading Too Much Hype for Ubuntu?

Compare emusic and iTunes Music Store audio quality by listening

I have been curious about how good the quality is emusic offers. There have been some articles online saying that emusic offers better quality than iTunes Music Store. So I decided to compare the quality of these two by simply listening. I purchased Pixies’ Where is My Mind before on iTMS. And right now I… Continue reading Compare emusic and iTunes Music Store audio quality by listening

Ignorant American people (talking in politics)

People discuss politics on Digg.com. Most of them are Americans. While as far as I know, many people who are not from America, claim that Americans basically know nothing but their own country, it is interesting to see some ignorant Americans talk about other countries. I chat with a few people from China on skype. They believe Tibet and Taiwan have… Continue reading Ignorant American people (talking in politics)

Going back to emusic service

Now I am back to emusic music download service. $15 a month, 65 downloads, 192kps VBR DRM-Free MP3 encoded by LAME 3.92, the classic LAME version, although people say 3.97beta might be better. This is probably the only legal music downlaod website located in USA that offers music compatible with iPod. Other music download service… Continue reading Going back to emusic service