Sunday 11 November 2007

Trip to Greece video - Knossos, Crete

Trip to Greece - Knossos

My 2003 trip to Greece continued with a visit to the ruins of Knossos, the capital of Minoan Crete.

Without much descriptions of the ruins at the site, I could hardly comprehend much looking around. I was only sure that I enjoyed a great deal looking at a myriad of beautiful trees, as well as the free show of the imperial peacocks struting around.

Before I went there, I vaguely imagined with joy that I would see beautiful frescoes on some ancient walls, like those enigmatic images I'd seen in a certain film (of Pasolini or Fellini?). But it turned out to be slightly disappointing, the reconstructions gave an artificial air to the site, as in many historical sites in other parts of the world. It felt somewhat like going to a theme park. There were not as many frescoes available to see as I wished. Beautiful as they were, some had to be neatly cased behind glass frames, and thereby vanished the ancient aura.

Watch my video:



Trip to Greece extra - The Loneliness of the Restaurant Waiter

While saving the video clips to files and listening to Maria Callas, I found that her music could elegantly bring out a tragic-comic sadness in the slow
ed reality of the originally kinda harmlessly funny clips I made of a restaurant waiter who relentlessly tried to persuade in vain the passing tourists to eat in his restaurant.

Every time I watched it I laughed so violently that my mum was horrified by my insanity. It was made tragic by the music and so it was ten times more comical then it was in reality.

I was a bit doubtful whether I should put it on YouTube (where most of my neighbouring videos embarrassed me) though. It made me wonder if I was not doing the same thing as that notorious Bus Uxxxx video - infringing others' privacy, and it felt like betrayal because I took advantages of others for my own selfish purpose. Yet, highly amateurish I might be, the image quality of my video was much better than that of the cheapie peeping Bus Uxxxx video, which showed an unattractive stupid guy ranting without shame. It's not new, for such weirdos are not uncommon in HK, especially when those emotionally unstable freaks stationed at offices are counted. Oh no! I shouldn't mention that Bus Uxxxx, 'cos I am elegant and I don't want to have anything to do with it.

But I liked my video so much, partly because it made me enjoy and admire the singing of Callas like never before. I consoled myself that, after all, I had already exposed a great deal of strangers' images in my other videos before. And since my victim didn't stop me nor stare at me when I filmed him then, I brashly took it as a non-disaproval from him (though he might not be aware of the serious consequence it would entail at that time).

The commentator: Well, few people would watch your videos, so why bother, you fool?

Watch my video:

No comments: