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I bought a couple of new movies this weekend. One hard to find
Japanese movie, "The Taste of Tea" and a blockbuster Korean movie,
"Sympathy for Lady Vengeance". I haven't had time to watch them
yet. The cover for "Sympathy for Lady Vengeance" looks interesting...but I'm not one to judge by just the jacket cover.
Again, the crazy marriage bug is afoot. My ex-bf's brother is getting married this summer. Add this to the 100+ (ok, I exaggerate) growing list of people I know getting married this summer/year. Sometimes I feel like remaining a survivor in this mating game...
I've been feeling more withdrawn these days. maybe I just need time...for what, who knows.
as my mood changes, what I'm listening to on the playlist changes too...
but I tend to like electronica, lounge, ska/punk, emo/alternative, and jazzy influences.
what do you listen to?
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| so I haven't been posting an entry for a while not because I don't have
time to but because I haven't watched a movie in a long time...and...I
thought I don't have anything to write about. But I think the
purpose of a blog is to write inane thoughts too so hopefully, it won't
be altogether too boring for me or for you.
exhale. inhale. exhale.
You ever notice that when bad things happen, it doesn't just trickle
but pour on you like a flood? I haven't been getting enough sleep
lately, mostly due to stress and deadlines looming over me like an
executioner. Okay, that's morbid. Think happy thoughts, be
positive. If you're in the same boat as me, here's what keeps me
sane inbetween calamities.
1) capri suns - I love those
portable juice drinks. Viciously poking/impaling the drink with
my straw alleviates my stress and I think to myself I've been
justifiably aggressive for today. Yeah, so I take my anger out on
a defenseless juice drink, so what?
2) Korean tv game shows -
they're not as wacky or as random as Japanese game shows, but they're
high up on the slapstick humor. There is something therapeutic
about watching pretty pop stars beat each other up with foam
fingers...as if karma has accomplished its job.
3) old t-shirt from highschool
- is it just me or wearing that old t-shirt makes you feel a whole lot
better? Maybe it's just the familiarity of the thing or that it
hails from better times. Just be sure not to wear it in public or
people will call you a snob or a geezer (especially if you've been out of
highschool for a while like me).
love, like humor, depends on timing
Did you ever realize that you wouldn't mind dating a person that you
rejected in the past? I'm not saying date at that moment, but date as
in now. That although the two of you are now very different people, it
would be nice to get reacquainted? Yeah, I momentarily had this
epiphany when I was snooping around and seeing what my friends and
acquaintances that I lost contact with were up to. Then I realize
there's no use thinking about the "what ifs" or retracing steps. What do I do now? What would you do? Love, like humor, is about timing.
And time is what we can't have enough of. 
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| late happy holidays, kiddies! I'm back in Florida from visiting
my family in Oklahoma. I had an awesome break with my family and friends. Since it's a new year, it's a good time
for reflections, don'tcha think?
a review of the last 3 weeks (holiday break) of 2005:
146 episodes of Naruto rewatched with my brother
19 days in Oklahoma
11 movies watched over the holiday break
10+ times I was at the bubble tea cafe
4 friends/acquaintances who
got engaged recently (must be something in the water or it's some sort
of contagious, airborne disease; people are dropping like flies)
2 books finished
2 reunions with friends/acquaintances from undergrad
1 reunion with those from highschool
1/2 of a scarf I knitted while watching Jerry Springer tv and messed up horribly
1/3 glass of wine or the least
amount of alcohol that will make me look like I have a sunburn (I have
the Asian gene of alcohol intolerance)
Random tales of adjusting to FL again
1) I rejoice in having my car back and being able to wear flip flops again.
2) Horace gave me an erotic magnetic poetry set for my xmas
present. I haven't unpacked it from my luggage yet, but I wonder
what Sunghee would say if our refrigerator was adorn with words such
as "violence", "spank", "goo", "prod", "slip", "machine". At
least I'll know her decision to move have absolutely nothing to do with
any sort of assumptions she may make about our refrigerator, other
than the fact that I tend to let food go bad and eat her food.
3) Lulu, my roommate's doggie forgot about me! Or she was a sly
diva and was acting up a storm, giving me the cold shoulder like I was
some stranger because I had betrayed her by leaving for such a long
time. Apparently, she's been brainwashed by watching too much
Korean romantic dramas.
4) I'm jetlagged! I slept until 3pm today! Yes, I know
there's only one hour difference between Oklahoma and Florida.
Have sympathy on a girl that dreamt of getting a new bed for xmas and
didn't get it. I cried for weeks. No, not really.
Short movie reviews because I'm too lazy to actually type one out
1)  Munich
- inspired by the kidnappings of Israeli atheletes in the 1972
Olympics, this movie focuses on the aftermath, which raises interesting
questions about terrorism and retribution. Darker than any of
Spielbergs' recent movies and certainly worth its 3 hour running time.
2)  Memoirs of a Geisha -
the book was entertaining but the story lost some poignancy and depth
in the big screen adaptation; the film is slow moving and often watches
like women squabbling over petty things like "he said she said that you
said that I said...". Beautiful kimonos, scenery and music can't
compensate for the price of a movie ticket. Watch this if you're
running out of options or want to marvel at Gong Li's shiny hair or
Zhang Ziyi's bone structure. p.s. that Chairman sure is a
pedophile. The modern equivalent of what he did would be if you
went to a middle school and bought some kids sweet snow and then come
back 10 years later to collect. 
3)  King Kong
- this remake of a classic adds much-needed emotional depth to
characters, such as having the sailors discuss Joseph Conrad's "Heart
of Darkness", a book about the "darkness of barbarism" versus the
"lightness of civilization". This movie also includes something
it's predecessor did not, societal commentary: human greed and
curiousity are much more destructive and dangerous than say, large
hungry raptors or huge insects and bats, nature versus man/technology,
and some touches of beauty and the beast. The dinosaurs and huge
insects were stretching it too far, running time a bit too long, but
entertaining and overall, not bad.
4)  Ichi the Killer
(2002) - infamous for violent torture scenes and blood carnage, this
movie was shockingly disturbing at first but then the violence is
treated in a campy, cartoonish way. Little to no plot and drags a
bit, but again, is still the most famous of Takashi Miike's
movies. If I dig hard enough, I can come up with the following as
the film's message: "pain and pleasure are one and the same and
indulging in them will end in destruction". A must-have for
devoted cinephiles for your collection but don't believe the
hype. "Audition" or "Happiness of the Katakuris" are better Miike
movies.
5)  Ong Bak (2003)
- I like muay thai kickboxing: you get straight to the point and take
the guy down; no flashy, martial arts sequences reminisce of
ballet. I'll get straight to the point about this movie: awesome
fight scenes, but standard action movie plot of kicking greedy bad
guys' arses and saving the village (or this case, Buddha's head).
I heard the sequel is a name of a Thai soup but has nothing to do with
soup (I was quite disappointed). Check this movie out if you're a
kung fu film buff.
that's it for this entry, kiddies. I'm going to sleep now; I'm jetlagged remember? 
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| hi hi kiddies! I've got an excuse for not updating:
I joined the knitting club and will
learn how to knit! Before you reel from the shock of someone so
uber cool as me doing something so...dull, lemme explain. 1) I
fidget a lot so I thought it would be better to put all that nervous
energy into something productive. 2) I always wanted to make my
own scarves. 3) I can make Rock Lee's (from Naruto) legwarmers
and sell them on ebay for all those lame....er, I mean hardcore anime
cosplayers!
And get this, when my friend and I
arrived at the knitting club, they were talking about something really
dull like yarn colors. We spiced up their meeting by showing them
how to use their knitting needles against an attacker. See, now
don'tcha wanna join knitting club too?
moocher, I mean Azam's in town!
Tomorrow, one of my favorite people in the world,
Azam will come visit me for Thanksgiving break! We're going to
have my annual Thanksgiving dinner party and travel a bit. I'm so
lucky: now all my favorite people in the whole world will be
congregated in one area (except for Horace and my brother). Their
combined awesomeness will be off the charts, overwhelming in its
intensity, enough to cause massive destructive
blackouts..........................okaaaaay, I've been watching too
much anime. 
I was going to write some deep stuff about media influencing our
perception of attraction but I went downstairs to bake some cookies and
totally forgot what my point was. Well, that's my excuse
anyways. Therefore, onwards with something as equally important
as pondering societal issues:
happiness list:
This semester has been a real slump in motivation and
excitement. I really have to smack myself awake in the mornings
and actually getting stuff done is a near tragedy. So all you
kiddies suffering from the blues, make a list of what makes you
happy. It sure helps remind me that it ain't that bad.
1) comfy pjs and naptime or snoozing in on a weekend
2) popping my fingers...and my neck...and my back....
3) bubble tea + naruto or bleach episodes!!!  hell, just naruto or bleach episodes make everything in the world just so darn peachy again
4) cooking for friends and myself (yes, I can actually cook well)
5) Lulu, my roommate's dog loves me....and whatever I'm eating
6) karaoking at illegal sound levels
7) swimming at night (only in FL can you go swimming all the way up until November)
8) my parents calling randomly to remind me to brush my teeth (I'm sure they'll do that until I'm well into middle age)
9) head bopping to a catchy beat while waiting for the stoplight to turn green
10) my fishies are still alive! They must be mutated or something since I have a knack for killing fishies.
what makes you happy?
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| All this cold weather makes me want to eat icecream! who's game? wait, it's 4:30am...who's still awake?
life is flashing me by
These days I really feel so...bored and inactive. It's like I'm
no longer a participant of my own life but a viewer sitting with my
face leaning against the television screen while my own life flickers
past. I shuffle in and out to the endless rounds of meetings,
classes, tutoring...not that I'm not trying my best or not paying
attention...it's just so...dull and glass-eye inducing. When will
I wake up from my sleepwalking? Maybe someone just needs to whack
me upside the head...preferably with a carton of icecream.
trick or treat, smell my feet
Next Monday is Halloween and I'm having a get-together at my
place. I'm cooking yummy roast chicken and there'll be freshly
made guacomole! Oh and as is usual for me, I think I invited too
many people. I originally wanted a small and select group of 5 but after recounting how many people I really invited, the
number was more like 11 (plus my friend/roommate and myself). Usually the more the merrier, but we're
gonna be watching horror movies after eating! There's no way 13
people can crowd around my tv in the living room and be
comfortable. hmm...maybe we can relive the drama of the
"Survivor" tv show and vote people off at the end. haha!
ok, here's my own personal spin on the "5 random things about me". This is (drumroll) 3 random things about random people:
1) The instructor of the
class I TA for wears shirts that has some kung fu organization on
it. The guy is in his late 50s with a big belly and a perpetual,
chronic cough (probably from smoking a pack of cigarette a day).
So I sit in class and try to imagine him firing off butterfly kicks, punches and shadow kicks like a Jet Li pro and
it takes all of my self-control not to burst out laughing.
2) My student (read posting
before this about me tutoring) was wearing a tshirt today that had a
cartoon diagram of a teenager. One of the things on the shirt was
an arrow pointing to black scribbles on top of the cartoon's head with
the words "hair should be messy". Is that suppose to be something
fashionable? crazy Korean youths....
3) I ran into my neighbor the
other day; I was heading in and he was going out. I never see my
neighbors but I can hear them. We made eye contact and both
froze, looking like we got caught stealing someone else's mail.
Then I quickly mumbled a hello and he responded in kind. I bet we
were both thinking "good god, I hope his/her bedroom is not the one
next to mine or he'll/she'll know I listen to Britney Spears
music!" or maybe it was just me that thought that.
now onto the movie review! for your special treat, a sort-of psychological thriller/horror! enjoy!
 Suicide Club (2002)
Few movies have very memorable opening sequences, such as "Kill Bill",
"Versus", etc. You have probably heard about this movie's
infamous opening scene: 54 cute school girls cheerfully hold hands and
jump off a subway platform onto a rushing oncoming subway train.
Their bloods are gleefully splattered onto the waiting crowd, windows
of the train, railroad tracks, your mom...opps, I mean...er, yeah,
there's fake blood everywhere. Police arrives, blah, blah,
blah. At the crime scene a bag was left with scraps of human
skins, presumably from different people, patched together into a long
strip and rolled up like a cinammon bun (but not as tasty, I would
imagine). Left and right, suicides are occuring and on top of
that, there's a website that predicts the number and gender of the
suicides before it happens. The police are wondering what the
hell is going on.
The viewers are wondering that, too, because the movie never answered
it. Sure, it was darkly amusing watching a bunch of highschool
kids jump off the building and seeing mannequins and plastic body parts
hit the ground and more ketchup splattering. The opening sequence
pretty much set the tone of the rest of the movie: ridiculously and
cheerfully gory that leaves the viewer thinking "that was nice, what
was that spose to be about?" Random story lines of the police
investigator getting a bit too close and being warned "there is no
suicide club", a school girl who becomes obsessed with finding out the
truth after her longtime love hurls himself out the window only to land
on her (the dude still dies though), a female computer hacker named the
"Bat" that finds the website, tips the police and gets kidnapped by a
group of psychotic guys with nothing better to do than step on animals
and kidnap, rape, and kill girls. The only thing the storylines
really have in common ar the suicides/death.
I actually found myself spacing out at one part during the movie
thinking about how we become so desensitize to death and gore. So
we hear about the latest homocide or suicide on television and we think
"oh nice, ok, so what else is on tv". It doesn't really affect us
until the event is personal, like in the case of the police
investigator and the demise of his family. Is this because of the
influence of mass media, such as television, movies, and the
internet?
The movie tries to take up these issues and realizes that it bit off
more than it can chew. First it introduces the Jpop girl group
Dessert as being a possible influence in eliciting suicides. An
acquaintance that was viewing the movie with me informed me that the
katakana spelling of "Dessert" could also mean "death art".
hmm..no wonder they keep misspelling "Dessert" as "Desert" and
"Dessart", trying to point out that dessert isn't just a dish best
enjoyed all the time, but some deep symbolism to be pondered.
Then it makes the statement that suicide club doesn't really exist
because these deaths are not really related and death will exist in the
world regardless. Then it takes a quick swerve into surreal,
unrelated plot-hole land where acceptance and the need to belong/be
understood can cause people to hang out with creepy little kids that
finish each other sentences and gets some psycho to rip a strip of your
skin off to stitch into a strip that is to be rolled up.
hmm, so here is where I tell you if this movie is worth watching.
I would say it is. It's entertaining and it does bring up good
points about society. It doesn't do a clean job of depicting it
or was as thought
provoking as "Battle Royale" or "Audition", two movies that rank up
there in violence/gore, but still manages to be excellent social
critiques. C'mon, you don't want to be the only one left out of
the loop about not seeing the gory schoolgirl subway train death opener.
btw, my best friend reviewed this movie also so if you want to check his review out, it's:
Agent_aKs_SubliminalMessages
movies I have watched and is next in line for review...one day:
Appleseed, Perfect Blue, My Wife is a Gangster, Shudder, Men Suddenly
in Black, Fallen Angels
anyone has any preferences on which one I should review next? I'll be sure to put it last...haha, just joking.
happy halloween!
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