Monday, October 13, 2008

眾所週知﹐我回香港渡假﹐一個不能缺少的節目﹐就是幫襯一下阿丹。她是我的影碟供應商。但凡想到有什麼電影﹑電視劇﹐大受歡迎的或是甚為冷門的﹐她都總有辦法幫我找到。借用一句張專在《香港﹐有幾香》裡面的說話﹕「恕我孤陋寡聞﹐我還沒有看到有哪一個售賣DVD的人﹐比阿丹更專業﹔有誰的貨﹐比阿丹的貨更齊全。」

阿丹是老友ADW介紹給我認識的。以前﹐ADW還在英國生活﹐每次返香港﹐總要到她那兒花上一整天。現在﹐我不過重複著這個老友做過的事情罷了。

許多年前﹐還未搬到歐洲去的時候﹐看到我家裡那些影碟後﹐舅父不其然問我如何蒐羅得來。我當然也介紹了阿丹給他認識。從此﹐他亦成為了阿丹的常客。他也會帶一些外國朋友幫襯阿丹。

從來﹐做生意﹐口碑都是這樣賺來的。

記得有天﹐舅父跟我講起他帶一位英國客人到阿丹那兒選購影碟的經歷。他說﹐那位英國人一看到整套《LITTLE BRITAIN》便愛不釋手。英國人跟舅父道﹕「那是近來英國最受歡迎的電視節目。」

那時候﹐我老是裝著對外國文化有一點認識。喜歡扮高格調。訂閱《金融時報》的同時﹐也每個星期買本《經濟學人》。訂購NOW電視的時候﹐除了體育台﹑ESPN外﹐我指定要BBC PRIME。舅父要我給他介紹一下《LITTLE BRITAIN》。我卻只好硬著頭皮回答道﹕「我倒沒有聽過這個電視節目。」

那是因為便是訂購了BBC PRIME﹐也不可能收看到這個極度搞笑的英國電視節目。

猶記得﹐當NOW電視跟BBC達成轉播協議的時候﹐記者問及BBC PRIME會如何處理那些可能帶點種族歧視的節目。英國廣播公司發言人道﹕「基於文化理解差異﹐在亞洲地區﹐我們都只會挑選些不會引來爭議的節目來播放。」

《LITTLE BRITAIN》就是那種會在亞洲引來爭議的節目。很多時候﹐節目裡面都會以歧視那些少數民族﹐來嘲笑英國人自己的狂妄和白痴。在亞洲﹐這種表達手法的確不容易得到認同。

搬到歐洲生活後﹐我倒開始瘋狂地愛上了這個電視節目。去年聖誕回港﹐便托阿丹給我找來全套﹐好讓我帶返都柏林每天播放。

現在﹐我的確開始曉得學著那些英國不同地區的口音﹐背誦裡面的每句對白。不過﹐便是甚至可以倒轉來唸﹐每次播放任何一集《LITTLE BRITAIN》﹐我都會笑得合不攏嘴。

裡面眾多人物﹐我最喜歡的﹐該是住在威爾詩一個小村莊的DAFFYD THOMAS。因為我覺得自己跟他有點相似。當然﹐我不是說我是「基」。DAFFYD的口頭禪是﹕「整條村裡﹐唯獨我是基的。」(I AM THE ONLY GAY IN THE VILLAGE。)

不過﹐很多時候﹐他都會在村裡碰上其他男同性戀者。其他村民也經常介紹一些同性戀者給他認識。可是﹐他都會一一否定對方是基的。他甚至會趕走其他同性戀者。因為他以「整條村裡﹐唯獨我是基」為榮。

我跟他有點相似。因為別人問我都柏林是否有許多香港人時﹐我都會回答﹕「在愛爾蘭﹐我只認識一個香港人。那就是我自己。」

早前﹐有馬來西亞華僑介紹我認識一個同樣在都柏林生活的香港人。不過﹐我倒視他為非香港人。因為他的國語比他的粵語流利。見過一次面後﹐雖然交換過電話號碼﹐可是就完全沒有往來。

在外國地方﹐我不喜歡接觸陌生的香港人。旅行如此。在彼邦生活也是如此。在別人的國家﹐我們當然要認識一些陌生的人和陌生的事。可那些陌生的人和陌生的事﹐都該是陌生的當地人和陌生的當地事﹐而不是陌生的香港人和陌生的香港事。

難得跳出香港那個狹小的井﹐海闊天空﹐卻無視身邊一切新奇事物﹐只管和其他有幸跳出那口井的青蛙﹐一起擴展唐人街﹐實在有點可惜。猶記得﹐孫中山先生自述十八歲初度出國赴檀香山所言﹕「始見輪舟之奇﹐滄海之闊﹐自是有慕西學之心﹐窮天地之想。」

我依然以「在愛爾蘭﹐我只認識一個香港人。那就是我自己」為榮。

10 comments:

Snowdrops said...

What arrogance! The only HKer in the village! Yeah right. You've never actually met any HKer here if the only one you've met speak even more fluent Mandarin than Cantonese.

Oh we haven't been introduced. But yes, before you come along to Dublin, I consider myself one of the few true HongKongers in Dublin. As an upstart, you've a long way to go to claim that title for yourself.

I've never watched Little Britain, so don't know if they have a plotline for how Davydd would react if and when a new gay shows up in the village. As far as I'm concerned, you may be from HK, but you're not in Dublin long enough to claim that you're actually in the village. Passing gays don't count.

So there :P

Snowdrops said...

p.s. Just in case you are not long enough in Dublin to recognise Irish banter for what it is, I was only messing with you above and meant no actual offense. Cead Mile Failte my friend, welcome to Dubin :)

The Man Who Loves Everton said...

hello there,

am pleased to meet you here and, in dublin. am surprised you never watch little britain. possibly because you consider father ted is far much better (for you have been on this island for a long time).

yes, it is arrogance. that's why i prefer little britain. and that's why i love that show so much. and that's why i said i consider myself as daffyd thomas.

you can retain that title if you think that's important to you. it appears that you were offended, not me. i just want to try saying what daffyd thomas loves to say (not gay!). that's all.

what's more. i'm still in kindergarten for gaelic as this is the only sentence that i know, ON WILL KEAD AGUM DULL GUH DEE ON LETH-RAS MAUSH AY DUH HULL AY.

thanks. perhaps one day you may show me i'm not the only hker in the village.

Snowdrops said...

Oh I was really just messing with you in my first comment, please don't take it so seriously :)

Yeah I've never been interested in Little Britain, I've NEVER been interested in any British soaps in all my years here (whenever I hear the theme music for Corrie I want to strangle myself!! I can't believe that you could stand Eastenders). I used to enjoy Father Ted when I was in undergrad, but not so obsessed as to watch re-runs of it again. And when I was in secondary school here, it was the plotlines from the Aussie soap Home and Away that was the talk among my classmates during break time.

Like my girlfriends here, nowadays I'm hooked to American soaps like Desparate Housewives and Mad Men.

I guess because I'm here long enough, I don't really feel the need to do any stereotypically Irish or European things just to prove that I'm Irish or in Europe. But perhaps because by that logic, I do cherish my HK identity a lot more, precisely because I haven't been back for a long time. My complaint above - if it could be called a complaint as such - was simply that you saw fit to deny the existence of a small but strong community of Hong Kong people in Ireland who cherish their heritage with the city of their birth and don't identify with the new waves of Mainlanders in the country.

Actually, I think I might have already bumped into you before. Did you see the Harold Pinter's play Betrayal about two years ago, wearing a grey suit? I went to see it with my bookclub friends, and I remember that there was this guy who really looked like he's from Hong Kong as opposed from anywhere else in Asia!

P.s. Cead mile failte is a really very common greeting to tourists (meaning a hundren thousand welcomes), I thought you might have heard of it before now. Didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable with Irish sayings.

The Man Who Loves Everton said...

no, no, no. i am really okay with you. and what you said here. why not? actually i think it's me who made it a mess. in fact, to be honest, to be consistent to be a daffyd thomas, i'd lthought of replying like this, "i don't know if you don't mind to consider a move to wicklow so that i can be the only hker in the village". but i think it may land me more trouble particularly you are not a fan of little britain.

true, i'd like to strangle myself when i heard of corrie's theme music. or eastenders'. whatever. (still, they are better than fair city, in my opinion.) but little britain is totally different class.

soap. did you see DW's new season last night? gabby becomes a fattie. can you believe it?????

no, i didn't go to betrayal. but i like that play. did you watch no man's land last month then?

am watching irland now. robbie has just scored.

maybe we can have a pint or two soon (to make sure i'm not the only hker in this village, haha).

drop me some lines in my email if you don't mind. thanks.

nice to meet you.

Snowdrops said...

Am glad (and relieved to be honest!) you didn't take any offense actually :)

Re: Desperate Housewives' new season. I was surprised they just zoom forward 5 years all of a sudden. And yes, Eva Longoria is brave for taking on the role of chubby Gabby with equally chubby children.

Re: Harold Pinter. I didn't see No Man's Land, nor have I managed to go near a theatre in the last while as I was under a self-imposed entertainment curfew while grappling with finishing up my thesis (of course, I ended up procrastinating by surfing blogs instead :( Oh well...)

Re: Going for pints. I must admit I haven't been a pint-drinker since my undergrad days, though I am partial to a glass of Bailey's now and then. But I noticed that, like me, you don't actually give out personal email address on blogs? :)

The Man Who Loves Everton said...

oh i thought i did. i'm sorry.

it's just my blog name plus gmail.com. as simple as that.

have a nice weekend.

P.S. i thought you finished your thesis in august (from your blog). then you missed ideal husband as well? ohh, dear. ideal husband was brilliant!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Snowdrops said...

Oh August was when I really need to start putting my head - as I still need to do at present.

But yeah rub it in why don't you about all the wonderful plays I have missed in the last while! :P

Anyway it's still Thursday evening here (I think your blog is set at HK time?). I still have teaching tomorrow, but I do hope that the lovely sunshine we have today will continue to the weekend.

Snowdrops said...

Oops, "putting my head DOWN".

The Man Who Loves Everton said...

it will continue but only to saturday. heavy downpour on sunday, they forecast. (it's rather cold these days.)