我想念在美國加州生活的那些日子
It's time to remind myself what I love about life here in California, USA, to remember what I desperately miss when I go home.
當我回到家鄉，總是讓我意識到我是有多麼的留戀在美國，加州的生活。Real radio
電臺In the USA there are so many radio stations that those iPod tuner things don't work at all. There is, simply, no dead air. For a while, I hated that, because my iPod wouldn't play in my car, and all the stations drove me mad with constant advertising.
在美國有很多電臺，完全不是那種隨身音樂播放器能比擬的，在這裏電臺包羅萬象。有一次在美國開車，我的隨身音樂播放器壞了，感覺所有的電臺都在播廣告，簡直讓人崩潰。
It took me a while to discover the USA's many public radio stations, which don't broadcast any adverts.
就是這樣我才花了一些時間去研究美國的公共電臺，那些電臺完全沒廣告。KCRW is my favourite station, for its blend of indie music and current affairs. But I also listen to KJAZZ and KPCC. But before you feel jealous - it's all online. My favourites: American Life, Snap Judgement and Henry Rollins live every Saturday night. Take a listen online for free.
KCRW是我最喜歡的電臺，提供獨立音樂和時事播報服務，還有KJAZZ和KPCC我也很喜歡，不用嫉妒，在網上你們也可以聽得到，我最喜歡的節目有三個，美國生活，草率判斷，還有每週六的Herny Rollins。網上聽皆免費。News? Well, there's not a lot of news from South Africa, and when it is, it's bad and full of fear, so I ignore it. But I care about any place I live in, and that includes the USA. And on public radio, the USA is covered in depth, from the perspective of individual stories rather than statistics.
還有新聞報道，在南非新聞報道很少，很多新聞都是負面報道聽了就讓人發愁，所以我一般不聽。我很留意身邊發生的事情，當然包括在美國發生的事情，在美國的公共電臺中，新聞報道非常有深度，除了簡單枯燥數據報道外，還有專家分析。
Television is not cheap, or all that good a service here. But never mind, this is America. There are plenty of great alternatives for the discerning addict.
Let's focus on the legal. If you want a TV episode the same week and don't mind seeing the same adverts 24/7, you can pay for Hulu, which isn't too expensive compared to Cable.在美國看電視很棒但不便宜，別介意，這是美國，不看電視好玩的還很多。
如果是合法電視臺的話，看電視劇肯定避免不了廣告，但是你可以選擇Hulu，對比有線電視臺也不是很貴。And then there's Netflix... oh, . Streaming of thousands and thousands of movies and TV shows, from all over the world, legally, for $7.99 a month? This couldn't exist in South Africa, not with the slowness of our internet, or the fragmentation of our market. I guess this is what's great about first world media. Even though the USA is a hugely varied market, like South Africa, people can afford to pay for services en mass, and enough people speak English at home to buy into it.
除此之外還有Netflix，擁有超多的電視節目，幾乎每個國家的節目都有，費用每月只要7塊9毛9，在南非這種事情完全不可能，我們的國家網速慢，市場分散，相比之下，我覺第一世界的媒體就是棒。美國某些方面和南非一樣，是一個多元化的市場，但是幾乎所有家庭都有錢付費看電視，就算是不說英語的家庭也願意付費。
I have no doubt that some of this could exist in Zulu or Xhosa in South Africa one day, so I find America inspiring in this way. The only problem is that finding an obscure Korean film subtitled in Zulu is pretty much impossible.我覺得南非的科薩和祖魯也終會有一天有這種條件的，美國給了我信心。額外一提的是，想看祖魯語字幕的韓劇在哪也是不可能的。
The festivals節日
I'm jealously watching tweets and Facebook boasts and reviews from SXSW - seems like half the people I used to work with in SA are there, meeting Grumpy Cat and watching bands they've always wanted to see live. It's great to know that these 1000s of festivals are so close, and that one day, if film school schedule ever allows me to leave campus for more than a few days, I can go to one or two of them. I have already exchanged my much loved Ford Mustang for a bigger, less sexy car - a car spacious enough to sleep in - so that next year I can be there, not just dream of it.每次我看推特，臉書，和SXSW的評論時都很羨慕，讓我感覺我在南非時的朋友都在這裏面，一起看不爽貓，看樂隊表演。有近千個節日盛典好像都要臨近日期舉行，如果哪天，學校能給我幾天假期，我肯定會參與其中一到兩個。我已經把我的福特野馬換成了輛空間更大的車，雖然不怎麼好看，但是足夠讓我睡覺，所以明年返校，也切都不是夢想了。
The famous people名人
When I go back to SA, I'm often asked if I've spotted any famous people. It's kinda awkward for me. I feel the same way about it as I feel when an American asks me if there are lions in the streets. Except yes, I have. No, not lions. I have met some famous people. I chatted to RJ Mitte from Breaking Bad outside a club in West Hollywood. Many of my professors are famous directors. The problem is, once you meet these famous people, they're just people, FFS.每次我回到南非的時候都有人問我有沒有看到什麼名人，讓我感到很難啓齒，就好像美國人問我是否在南非是否在馬路上看到過獅子一樣，南非的馬路上當然沒有獅子。我在西好萊塢外的酒吧裏見到過絕命毒師的RJ米特，而且我學校裏的老師很多也是著名導演，但是，我見到的這些名人，在美國，也不過是普通人。
This feels disappointing at first, like you're missing a Jesus moment of some sort. But if you think about it, it's inspiring. What it means, is that I, little me (right now, also “just a person”) could be a famous just-a-person person one day, and get to make all the films I just dream of now.一開始，雖然會有點失望，很失落，但是仔細想想，還是很鼓舞人心的，如果有一天我成了名人，在這裏，我依然只是個普通人，可以繼續拍攝我夢想中的影片。
