Signal Hill Theater

"There used to be a group of British people who changed many names for the roads in the middle of the mountain. According to their custom, they put their surnames at the end of their names. Long surnames, short surnames, flat surnames, and petite surnames."

(〈Jilonnali〉)

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Recommended by Bai Shuangquan and Dong Xinguo before returning to the first day before everything happened!

"Signal Hill Theater" is the first personal collection of Lin Zhaorong - that Lin Zhaorong who may be an artist, a writer, an actor, a Bajiao road rubber, a driver or a tow truck lecturer... . The journey he has taken in the book has shaped everything about Lin Zhaorong mentioned above. Each chapter is an important drama in his life, with different identities taking turns to be staged - or the chaos is closer to a person's reality.

In the topical novel "Signal Hill Theater", "Qi", a design graduate, follows in the footsteps of his ex-girlfriend "Xia" (in every sense of the word) and becomes a boring theater manager, struggling to follow the rules of the game in his youthful days. Like a ferry that has never been to the free sea. Love went away without warning, and Qi Wei could only stay with the documents she left behind. "Before the First Day" contains Lin Zhaorong's travel essays, where he traveled from local to all over the world. Playfulness seems to be the main theme of travel, but he is also extremely serious. He drew a map of the world using his own coordinates, and the unique transportation of railways and buses. The method combines practical knowledge with niche interest. The short story "Jelonari" also uses the form of a picture book to let the streets of Hong Kong speak. "Scout Jumping on the Trampoline" is the author's carefully selected "Ming Pao" column, which uses jokes to record the madness of the times.

All the pictures in the book are hand-drawn by Lin Zhaorong, and the landscapes are painted into stills one stroke at a time. In the different chapters shown along the road at "Signal Hill Theatre", each frame of stills hints at the "growth" of the characters - Kai becomes more and more skilled in painting style, changing from being full of ideals to being submissive. Readers may be drawn by the realistic night view of Hong Kong. You can also read how he deceived himself. The "Scout Jumping Trampoline" drawn with a blue ballpoint pen is casual and straightforward. The wooden pen used when I was a child depicts the lovely street scene of Mid-Levels West in the eyes of children. The map that travels through the book to vomiting blood is a practical expression of The author's preference for city walks.

Dong Xinguo thinks "Signal Hill Theater" is a love story, while Bai Shuangquan thinks it is a warm-up for the next ten books by the talented author. As Lin Zhaorong said, the time described in the book is as strange and alienated as ancient times. Looking back at those "expired words" now, although they are some puzzle pieces of life that happened in the past and can only be in the past, in reality, Through reading, obsession and gazing, we may be able to re-recognize the present that was born of fiction.