A picture with people in it! If I was in this it would be proof that I really am in Seoul and that this isn't all just an elaborate ruse (which the only good kind of ruse, except for possibly the Molasses-Emu ruse). Anyway, left to right (the chimpanzees eventually wrote War and Peace, backwards, with Harry Potter as the protagonist) the people are: Charlotte, Julie and Matt. Charlotte is sort of an office worker person at the school. Julie is basically the assistant manager. She refers to herself in the third person sometimes, which is funny. Matt is Seattle Chuck.
We went to this barbecue-type place last night, since we got paid. It's my favourite food. Basically it's a big tilted raclette. You put raw beef, garlic, onions, and kimchi (etc.) on it and they sizzle and gain powers of deliciousness. Once they are ready, you wrap it all up in a big piece of lettuce with some thinly-sliced beet-type vegetables, spicy sauce, oil, and a wasabi-like powder--yum! Double yum! It's a bit messy because lettuce isn't really good at holding things, but they give you a neat little rolled-up wet napkin, so the messiness is minimized. It's not really that filling. At this place it was about $8.75, but you can get it for half as much elsewhere.
Einstein Baby is milk. (There's a sentence I never expected to write.) Normally I just get non-Einstein milk, but I was feeling a little thick-headed, so I splurged the extra 30 cents. I did almost come up with a unified field theory of physics, but still, 30 cents? (Homer: "2 dollars? And it onnnly transports matter?") It tasted a little funny.
In other food related news: last weekend we wandered around downtown for about 3 hours trying to find Itaewon, the foreigner district. Actually, we knew where it was but we decided to take a circuitous route so we could get a better feel for the city (I think it worked, a bit). Itaewon was pretty lame, but I did eat a kebab from a Turkish place--sooo good! Just thinking about it makes me want to take a 30 minute subway ride over there just to eat another one. However, in 45 minutes I'm meeting Matt, Erik and Clara (the boss) and we're going to Costco to get the stuff we can't get anywhere else, apparently. I don't actually need anything, since I hardly ever (think that) I need anything, but I might get some bagles (ever though they won't be "real" bagels) or some muffins. After that I'm going with Matt to some documentary film festival. Kind of like the one in Prince George, except it exists.
Speaking of movies, I went to 300 last night. I don't know how to buy tickets in Korean, so I just wrote "300, 22:20 (the time of the movie)" on a piece of paper. I really don't mind appearing to be dumb. I kind of enjoy it actually, which is good because 300 made me dumber. I don't regret seeing it; it was fairly entertaining, but I wouldn't recommend it. All of the greenscreen scenes were kind of neat, but they had a claustrophobic feel; it couldn't really translate the expansive cinematography that you would expect in a film about Spartans. I think the criticisms of how it portrayed Middle Eastern people were a bit of a tempest in a teacup because it's kind of impossible to make a movie about that particular historical event without including the Persians, and it's kind of hard to have bad guys in a movie without portraying them as bad guys. Actually, I don't completely agree with my argument here, oh well. The excessive testosterone I took for granted; it's the movie's raison d'etre, and it's what made it somewhat enjoyable. I was, however, a little bit bothered by the way many of the most despicable villains were portrayed as deformed and disabled. I can imagine better movies being made about the Spartans, who are pretty fascinating, but this one was OK. One thing I didn't get was why King Leonidas (the central protagonist) spoke with a Scottish accent. I think he was channeling Braveheart. Best quotation (said by a pathetic, enthusiastic hunchback guy): "I will kill many Persians."
I finished Life of Pi on Thursday. That was pretty quick for me. I liked it. It was deserving of the Booker prize. I recommend it. I am a bit biased because I love anything that is set at sea, or on deserted islands. I was further biased by the thesis of the novel, which is about as close as anything could come to a synopsis of my religious beliefs, such as they are. I liked it more for it's subject matter than for Yan Martel's writing style or for his formal techniques. I think I was also biased against him because he is a philosopher turned writer. This is kind of like how I am slightly biased against Douglas Coupland because he's a visual artist turned writer. These are nonsensical, vestigial biases though. I don't really let them have much clout, and I usually get past them reasonably quickly. I do this because they directly contradict my official position on what writers (and artists in general) are, which is that they aren't anything; everyone is a writer (or artist), and any hierarchical organization of artists serves only elitism.
I had a few more anecdotes--none having to do with necking or doting, mind you--but I'll just skip them because I have to leave and this post is long enough as it is. Someday (read: never) I will learn how to make seperate, themetically-coherent posts, but until then I will just sporadically write unecessarily long and rambling posts, and people will quit reading halfway through. It's not an exact science, probably because it's neither exact, nor a science.
Speaking of movies, I went to 300 last night. I don't know how to buy tickets in Korean, so I just wrote "300, 22:20 (the time of the movie)" on a piece of paper. I really don't mind appearing to be dumb. I kind of enjoy it actually, which is good because 300 made me dumber. I don't regret seeing it; it was fairly entertaining, but I wouldn't recommend it. All of the greenscreen scenes were kind of neat, but they had a claustrophobic feel; it couldn't really translate the expansive cinematography that you would expect in a film about Spartans. I think the criticisms of how it portrayed Middle Eastern people were a bit of a tempest in a teacup because it's kind of impossible to make a movie about that particular historical event without including the Persians, and it's kind of hard to have bad guys in a movie without portraying them as bad guys. Actually, I don't completely agree with my argument here, oh well. The excessive testosterone I took for granted; it's the movie's raison d'etre, and it's what made it somewhat enjoyable. I was, however, a little bit bothered by the way many of the most despicable villains were portrayed as deformed and disabled. I can imagine better movies being made about the Spartans, who are pretty fascinating, but this one was OK. One thing I didn't get was why King Leonidas (the central protagonist) spoke with a Scottish accent. I think he was channeling Braveheart. Best quotation (said by a pathetic, enthusiastic hunchback guy): "I will kill many Persians."
I finished Life of Pi on Thursday. That was pretty quick for me. I liked it. It was deserving of the Booker prize. I recommend it. I am a bit biased because I love anything that is set at sea, or on deserted islands. I was further biased by the thesis of the novel, which is about as close as anything could come to a synopsis of my religious beliefs, such as they are. I liked it more for it's subject matter than for Yan Martel's writing style or for his formal techniques. I think I was also biased against him because he is a philosopher turned writer. This is kind of like how I am slightly biased against Douglas Coupland because he's a visual artist turned writer. These are nonsensical, vestigial biases though. I don't really let them have much clout, and I usually get past them reasonably quickly. I do this because they directly contradict my official position on what writers (and artists in general) are, which is that they aren't anything; everyone is a writer (or artist), and any hierarchical organization of artists serves only elitism.
I had a few more anecdotes--none having to do with necking or doting, mind you--but I'll just skip them because I have to leave and this post is long enough as it is. Someday (read: never) I will learn how to make seperate, themetically-coherent posts, but until then I will just sporadically write unecessarily long and rambling posts, and people will quit reading halfway through. It's not an exact science, probably because it's neither exact, nor a science.
posted by DJH at 5:53 a.m.
11 Comments:
I feel the fact that it's neither exact nor a science actually proves that it is an exact science. (We've already seen how often my logic fails. But I think I'm onto something here.)
I'm loving all the food descriptions!!! ...you're making me food!jealous. and also hungry. grrr, damn you. although, einstein milk - while chortle-inducing - is also rather terrifying. did you ask a la wednesday adams, "is it made out of the real einstein?" if not, i fear you may have wasted that extra 30 cents.
You should mail me pallets of Einstein milk, and then i'll freeze it all, and then we can feed it to our kids in 10 years... i'm sure it'll still taste as good (bad) as it does now. Yes, we have finally figured out how to have the smartest kids this side of Osaka!
einstein milk is actually milk from russel terriers.
i love that u contradict yourself more than i. wait, i do more than u...what! nevermind.
making sense is highly over-rated anyway.
'life of pi' was enjoyable wasn't it? the carnivorous island often comes back to me in my dreams. and who wouldn't want to "befriend" a giant man-eating tiger.
also, one of my friends said her faith "came back to her" because of that book.
my faith came back to me after I read "Marvin K. Mooney Will You Please GO NOW!"
Yeah, the island was neato, but I didn't get its allegorical significance (i.e., what it represented).
dave is in kenora.
and yes he's teaching enlgish.
Do they have cheese there? They do here, but it only comes in chocolate, strawberry, banana, and blueberry flavoured.
Life of Pi is fantastic. Some say the island represents extreme Islam-- it can nourish you, but if you trust it too much, it will lead you to your death-- green is the color of Islam. In the same way, the ocean is Christianity (fish being a symbol of it)-- it is plentiful, but also can engulf you. I think the tiger is Hinduism-- it takes discipline or else it will consume you.
Personally, I interpreted the story as mankind's journey through time, starting with a big bang and going through a period of doubt, etc, etc.
Of course other people think it's just about a boy in a boat with a tiger. I think the best description is that it's whatever you need it to be at the time.
I think the book's about why some people eat banana flavoured cheese.
really, is that what allegorical means ;)
I'm really on the fence about "300". I haven't seen it yet, but I have read the graphic novel. I don't like the spartans. I think they're bastards. They slaughtered the Athenians. That makes them shittheads. But as this movie goes, I can only speculate that I would love to watch an electric guitar fueled "epic" battle.
Post a Comment
<< Home