Police log

2008年一個在哈佛燕京圖書館偷報紙的指控鬧上了台灣新聞(Google用關鍵字查可以找到)。那時一個新聞報導說到哈佛校方警局看紀錄是不可能的。

我的經驗是我一次車禍後老美朋友帶我到警局翻 police log,所以我知道有這麼一回事。這其實也沒什麼,police log 就擺在警局入口的桌上,也沒人管,走過去直接翻來看,然後翻到我的名字和車禍紀錄。

是不是美國每個州的市鎮警局都有提供這服務我就不清楚了,也許這就是報導那人如此的強調不可能,說不定哈佛校方警局真的沒有開放他們的 police log。不過更有可能的是翻譯失誤,台灣方面翻成 police record,然後美國這邊的人當然說 police record 不可能任意讓人翻閱,因為兩者是不一樣的。

那時讀到相關報導時,我想我所在市鎮的警局有線上 police log,那麼 Cambridge / Harvard University 警局也應該有線上的 police log(我懶得直接跑去 Cambridge 去翻紙本的),但是網路上沒找到。

這麼多年後,剛剛不知道為什麼突然想起這個 police log 的事,查了一下,找到了:

www.hupd.harvard.edu/public-police-log
Harvard University Police Department
Public Police Log
“Information from the HUPD log can be found in three locations. There are two official logs, which contain sixty days of incidents reported to the HUPD. The first is kept at HUPD headquarters, 1033 Massachusetts Avenue, 6th floor and the second is kept at the HUPD Longwood office space at 180 Longwood Ave, Boston, from 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM, Monday through Friday, excluding holidays. The official logs are updated as new information becomes available. In addition, the HUPD also posts an electronic version of the log at http://www.hupd.harvard.edu/public-police-log. Although the HUPD attempts to make the electronic version of the log as accurate as possible at the time of posting, it is not the official police log. Logs of crimes older than 60 days can be available with two days notice to the HUPD.”

哈佛校方警局在兩個地方有放紙本的 logs。線上版的在這網頁下方(PDF格式),沒有紙本的完整就是。總之沒道理現在有,幾十年前卻是沒有。

the Tartan Army

世界杯足球賽在我們這邊舉行。第一場是蘇格蘭對摩洛哥,兩國來了很多的觀光客專程來看足球賽。因為蘇格蘭人很會喝酒(之前我只知道愛爾蘭人很會喝酒),一些酒吧的酒都被喝光啦!

這些天常在新聞裡頭讀到或是聽到 tartan:

Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English (或是Google看圖片)
tartan
a traditional Scottish pattern of coloured squares and crossed lines, or cloth, especially wool cloth, with this pattern

比如 tartan army 或是 tartan party 等等:

Drunk dry: Boston bars report running out of beer, spike in business with Scotland’s ‘Tartan Army’ in town for World Cup
https://whdh.com/news/drunk-dry-boston-bars-report-running-out-of-beer-spike-in-business-with-scotlands-tartan-army-in-town-for-world-cup/

While the party is far from over with the World Cup continuing into early July, bars in Boston are reporting being “drunk dry” with the influx of Scottish soccer fans, also known as the “Tartan Army,” descending on the city while their team plays in Foxboro.

有個音樂家為此做了首歌。他提到他之前並不知道the Tartan Army是什麼,現在的話也許每個美國人都知道了。

Local musician goes viral with song commemorating Boston, Scotland relationship during World Cup
https://whdh.com/news/local-musician-goes-viral-with-song-commemorating-boston-scotland-relationship-during-world-cup/

“If you asked me a week ago who the Tartan army was, I probably couldn’t have told you,” Law said. “But I think, maybe, everyone in America knows now who these guys are.”


Who’s Wong Foo?

 

To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar (www.imdb.com/title/tt0114682/) 這部電影當初是陰錯陽差之下看的。那次和個也是台灣來的女同學一同去 Burlington 的一家戲院看電影。當時想看的電影片名忘了,反正就是已經下片。怎麼辦呢?反正來都來了,就換個電影看吧。我和她在入口長廊一起看牆上的其它影片的海報,其中一片就是那個片名落落長的 To Wong Foo (我倒是不記得片名最後的 Julie Newmar)。我記得我們看到片名後都很狐疑:Who’s Wong Foo? 那時我沒聽過這片名,我們看著這海報都覺得這是喜劇片,之後就決定看這部。

沒記錯的話那時我還不清楚 drags / drag gueens 是啥東東。這單字我可能已經有背過,就算有也只是背,還沒實際看過媒體上的例子,所以當時覺得那應該就和當時台灣綜藝節目上一些男藝人穿女裝演喜劇一樣,就只是搞笑。看過電影後也覺得這確實是喜劇,只是最初看海報時的疑問還在,到底誰是 Wong Foo? 好像片裡頭有個角色也問了同樣的問題。

我記得幾年後有次想起這問題上網找了一下,也查了 Wikipedia,還是沒找到答案。前些天看了這個 YouTube 才找到答案:

To Wong Foo (1995): 11 Weird Facts You Didn’t Know!
https://youtu.be/eNDlDJBJ_VQSign

這 YouTube 也說明了誰是 Julie Newmar。她有在電影片尾出現,當初在看電影時我以為她是個曾經奪冠的一個老drag queen 。

當初在看這部電影時我有認出 Swayze。Leguizamo 好像有看過。Snipes 在那之前我只看過他在 Demolition Man 演的反派,他換了女裝後我沒認出來。