[There are two places that I know of to read about both film and Mayday; Globality.org and, now, Ashin's blog. This is a translation of Ashin's second entry from L.A., titled, "City of Angels: A revelry like there is no tomorrow." Steve tells me the amusement park in question is Universal Studios Hollywood; Ashin posts several of his photographs of the park as well.]
In a corner of the city near the mountains, people have built a glittering, ornate amusement park. Ever since I was young I’ve really liked the idiom, “grotesque and gaudy (光怪陸離);” it’s the finest praise I can give it.
Brilliant and dazzling, illusory and strange, like in this weekend’s average amusement park, ignoring gravity, ankles leave the earth. [Boy, he's all about gravity lately, isn't he?]
Thinking back on when I was a student, I would often head off by myself to the movie theater, determined to see independent films from all over the world, especially ones full of third world, unusual emotions. I’ve always thought Hollywood films to be shallow and overly sweet, only the sort of completely angular, craggy production can give me a fierce shock. [Ashin's word is "奇岩般," which I've given as "craggy" for the sake of the way he continues the metaphor below. Quite aside from being a stop on the Taipei MRT, a 奇岩 is usually an oddly shaped rock or mountain; it fits well with the "angular" but is hard to translate... or I've completely misunderstood it. But I think his point about the contrast from Hollywood films is clear enough.]
But, but, as I get older, actually I’m enjoying watching special-effects-filled Hollywood movies more and more, the more special effects, the better. It could be that there’s already too much reality in life; being able to make people happily speed through an illusion, really is a kind of good deed.
If you call those independently-produced films sharp crags, then those special effects films I liked later are colored glass pearls, rounded, luminous and worldly perfection, as you leave the movie theater you absolutely won’t be carrying with you anything to trouble you.
In the City of Angels there is just such a glass amusement park, a super movie theater, a grotesque and gaudy model paradise. It packages you up in a gravity-free giant glass pearl, everyday everyday, people are here heartily and playfully dreaming.
A revelry like there is no tomorrow; it’s so good.
[Whew. I'm not going to lie to you, this one was tricky. I've been working on it slowly since he posted it, and I've decided now it is more or less done. Somebody please let me know if I got anything catastrophically wrong.]
hm i always find it strange that you cant translate even simple things like plural sayings from chinese to english.. like “每天每天” literally is “everyday everyday”, but it sounds kind of awkward..definitely sounds more poetic in its original form in chinese. but on another note, i really like Ashin’s writing used in describing things! =D his choice of wording is so unique.
Yeah, I debated this one. A better translator could have found a way to retain the emphasis more naturally, I’m sure. I think the “everyday” should have been only once, but I wasn’t sure about the “but,” which was also repeated. And then once I was leaving in both “buts” (heh) it felt arbitrary to remove an “everyday”… I honestly have no idea. You leave out the repetition on adjectives and verbs, but what about conjunctions? (It’s always disheartening to get tripped up on something that seems simple, too. Crags are one thing, but “but”? *sigh*)
Merry, I don’t know how to thank you enough for translating Ashin’s prose. I can’t tell whether you’ve translated it “well” as in accurately, but you’ve certainly made it read beautifully. The blog translations are wonderful windows into Ashin’s mind for me, because prose and not poetry is my medium. And what I’ve read here was nothing short of brilliant. This is definitely going up on my — main — blog.
I have been all through China stopping at all the CD stores I can find and I can’t find any Mayday albums beside Born to Love and the Just My Pride compilation.
Can someone recommend a CD store in HK that might possibly stock more of Mayday’s catalogue?
cheers
Steve2,
try this one
http://www.vectormap.com/shopping/plaza-1/kmksino.htm
http://hk.bwt.com.tw/index_star3_1.html
or you can ask HK fans for more detailed information….
http://www.my-mayday.com
Minishop in Sino Centre is quite good(Go up the escalator after you enter the building and you will see the shop). If you don’t mind high prices HMV should have a good selection. Wanchai has one 灣仔集成中心2樓 I really don’t know the English name for that place.
Steve2:
I ve experienced the same difficults with u (I’m in Beijing)…n’
quite agree with wenning that there r more 4 mayday’s colletions in HK. (my HK’s friend said so..i realli wanna go there but still have no time..need to study…arrr..).
gd luck
Awesome, thanks so much!!!
I found the Jump! album in Yangshou today.
Thanks for all the suggestions, we’ll see what kind of luck I have in HK.
cheers