Rage Blackouts and Roman Polanski

I’ve been experiencing rage blackouts every time I’ve seen the Roman Polanski debate (why is this even a goddamn debate??) online, from the time he was arrested up to the outpouring of celebrity support until a few days ago when they announced that he might get off on the possibility of judicial misconduct.

People, this is a man, who, more than 30 years ago, used his position as a famous director to drug and force a 13 year old girl into having penetrative sex with him.

DRUGGED.

FORCED.

That means rape. What’s more, he admitted it at the trial. And yet some really famous Hollywood names have stood by him, as if to say that rape isn’t an issue because he also happens to have made Chinatown and a couple of other great movies.

Look, I’m not invalidating his achievements. But he committed a CRIME and was sentenced for it. His way of facing justice was to run away for more than 30 years, enjoying luxury and fame, and basically having all the amenities of upper class life at his fingertips. He had a wife and children, and possibly the only indignity he ever suffered was not being able to pick up his Oscars in person.

I’m sorry, what part of that was actually any sort of punishment for being a rapist?

If he’d already served his sentence and people were going after him in some witchhunt, I would understand everyone speaking up for him. BUT HE RAN AWAY.

And now they want him to face up to what he’s done, and like a coward, he’s staying at his chalet, waiting for a team of lawyers to rip into a woman who is so traumatized by the experience and the media’s derision that she’d much rather just forget everything and move on.

Yeah, good luck with that, Roman Polanski. You have money and fame on your side, but I hope you burn in hell.

—

I’ve maintained radio silence on the subject here because every time I try to write I end up with a bunch of capslock keymashing, not exactly conducive to uh, discourse. But really, I couldn’t stay silent anymore.

(And don’t get me started on Terry Richardson.)

Sources: Salon.com, Jezebel.com

Star Trek and Star Wars, a comparison

I watched Star Trek last week and gaping plot holes aside, a few similarities to Star Wars (the originals) jumped out at me. I think it’s quite amusing that Abrams chose to follow the somewhat stereotypical format, but the movie is entertaining, so we’ll leave it at that.

Common points:

• A young blond boy drives really, really fast.
• The main bad guy suffers the loss of his young, pregnant wife and subsequently goes off into the rails of crazy.
• Some old wise dude blames himself for all the death and destruction that happens.
• A Very Important Planet is Destroyed.
• The hero does not get the girl, his second-in-command/best friend (sorta) does.
• The hero also did not know his father, and goes on to follow his footsteps.
• There is a wrinkly green alien who looks like a reincarnated tennis ball.
• The really weird uniforms/costumes. (Though Zoe Saldana rocks those boots.)

And just for fun:

• How many times does Kirk get choked by angry people intent on ending him? Also, he spends most of the action scenes dangling off some sort of cliff/sheer edge.
• You will never be able to convince me that Iowa has a giant chasm running through the middle of the state. (Trust me, I’ve lived there. It’s all plains and cornfields.)
• You will also never be able to convince me that Kirk managed to climb up an icy cliff without his gloves on. (Or for that matter, his coat.) I don’t care if he had acclimatization training in the Antarctic, that’s just not possible without frostbite.
• By normal Hollywood standards, the hero would be dating the girl, super good at kicking ass, struggling to accept himself and thus Kirk is actually not the hero. Spock is.
• Eomer is McCoy. I will never get past that. (McCoy: Space is death and disease wrapped in darkness and silence. Kirk: Hate to break it to ya, but Starfleet operates in space.)
• Uhura is good at what she does, has Spock completely whipped and isn’t defined by her relationships with the men around her. Plus, WOC. *fist pump*
• SULU IS AWESOME.

Okay, done now.

How did you like the movie?

Thoughts on BBF Finale

Written as watched. Spoilers, wouldn’t you know.

Episode 25, finale

– You can totally tell there’s about 7 layers of makeup on everyone just so their eyebags don’t show.
– Lol. Yumi’s bento fails at being cute. Nori bowtie hair indeed.
– I love how angry Jihoo is during the first half of the entire ep.
– Jandi, you eejit. What if he didn’t remember? Were you going to just let yourself drown??? (Outside of a hospital, CPR works only about 7% of the time.) I would run around breaking things at your stupidity, but this is Hanadan, so allowances must be made.

Happy Chinese New Year!!

May your New Year be filled with successes and crazy goodness (though not too much food, hopefully)!

Sevenses

Thoughts on Iljimae’s Ending

I was going to write out all my thoughts on the ending of Iljimae, but then life intervened. Anyway, I sit here with sore muscles to give you my take on what happened and why – disclaimer to tell you that you may not agree with or like what I say, but I am basing it on what happened.

In short, Iljimae is alive; Eun Chae just returned from exile in Jeju with her dad; Bong Soon is wandering around the country; Dani and Kyum’s mother are raising Ketong together with Yong visiting every now and then; the rest of the neighbourhood, which includes Eun Chae’s servant, helps when they can – but Iljimae goes deep underground to avoid getting people he cares about into trouble; Shi Hoo teaches kids martial arts and is happy; Daeshi found his dad. Also, the king is crazy.

When we come to the end, Iljimae is starting up his stealing again.

It’s too bad they didn’t have enough time to film the ending fully – according to the PD, they were filming the last episode on the day it was airing, and had no choice but to supplement the end with scenes from episode one. Aww.

First, who is Ketong?

Well, easiest question first. Ketong is the child of Dani and Swe Dol (R.I.P.). Remember when Swe Dol nearly named Yong ‘Ketong’ instead? Dani glared him down. In her beloved husband’s memory, she gives her child a name he’d chosen for another son that he gave his life for. He says he’s five because the Koreans count age starting from 1, not 0. He’s missing a front teeth not because the writers didn’t take science in high school, but because he’s probably old enough to be losing baby teeth now.

How do we know Yong is at least visiting his two mommies?

One word: Ketong. Honestly, this kid gives it away in so many ways. Living with two women, I think it would be very hard for a four-year-old to develop such outrageous mannerisms unless he had someone he admired to copy from. When Bong Soon mentioned ‘Yong’, he showed that he was familiar with someone named Yong, which might just have been his mothers telling him about his older brother. However, that doesn’t account for his slip with the random bystander at Daeshi’s performance troupe – he actually says he couldn’t memorize his version of what happened to Iljimae, but why would he need to, unless he’s covering up for Yong, in collusion with the adults? Also, his more accurate knowledge of Iljimae’s activities (to the annoyance of the shoemaker’s dad) indicates that someone’s been showing off his exploits.

By extension, Shim Deok, Daeshi, the shoemaker, Eun Chae’s servant, the mafia dude, Eun Chae’s servant’s dad all know Yong’s alive. (Awkward moments give them away.) They actually knew who the real Iljimae was, so if something happened to him, they would know the truth too. The only reason they would spread such outrageous rumours would be if they knew they were lying. And the only reason that fits would be Yong’s desire to make sure people around him weren’t being hurt for knowing who he is.

Who are the shoes for?

According to the director/producer, one pair is for Kunghe, and another pair is for Iljimae. So we know our dude is probably living on the island with Kunghe, with the blessing of Shim Deok (except when the gisaeng, Myeong something, comes over). The shoes aren’t for Bong Soon, unfortunately, because if you noticed, Kunghe has a pair that are exactly like the ones the shoemaker delivered this time but Bong Soon has shoes made of straw, customary of travelers at that time.

Which leads us to the topic of Bong Soon… what happened to her?

From her clothes, she’s dressed as a boy, and a traveler, by her shoes. She was probably unable to resolve her issues with Kunghe in the end and opted for wandering around and not seeing him. Remember when she was about to stab Kunghe? She apologized that she would not be able to go with Yong to wherever he was going to take her. I’m guessing she knew she couldn’t stay near Kunghe and gave Yong up too, especially as he was in love with someone else. I feel so bad. Where is our cheerful happy girl?

Dani’s expression upon meeting her suggest that they haven’t seen each other in a while. Furthermore, Dani’s really odd expression indicates that Bong Soon probably doesn’t know Yong is alive. Sadly, she isn’t reconciled with Kunghe either, or they would have shown that, or at least given hints.

Why does Shi Hoo say that not giving up the proof would protect those his brother wants to protect?

Probably Shi Hoo has as much faith in his government as I do in mine, and knows that handing over the proof will mean his death and everyone else’s, if not at the crazy king’s hand, then at the hand of some unscrupulous noble. Thus, having it keeps him safe, and it gives Yong the freedom to keep being Iljimae. (Imagine the most optimistic outcome, where he’s recognized as a noble, how much trouble he would have being Iljimae. Besides, we know his father’s name isn’t cleared because the king is nervous over not having kept his promise.)

Does Eun Chae know who Iljimae is?

Yes. Even as Yong. Why? Besides the whole thing in 19 when she sensed something about Yong, when her servant mentions her husband’s first love, Eun Chae is reminded of her own first love, and she doesn’t ask about Iljimae, she asks about ‘that child’, who is Yong. When her servant is slow to come up with a response, Eun Chae shows signs of worry. Later, she goes to the tree and recalls Kyum in the same time as she does Yong. I’d say that’s enough proof for us. Unfortunately, I think at this point Eun Chae believes Iljimae is dead, though with his latest raid on the palace, she won’t think that for long.

Finally, the big question, is Iljimae alive?

YES YES YES!

Besides the PD saying that Iljimae was slashed by his own sword and fell down due to the force of the blow, and that Kunghe’s order has a pair of shoes for him, the beginning and end quite obviously show he is alive. Just as Hong Gil Dong unequivocally indicated their main characters’ deaths, Iljimae shows him in action once more.

I think I’m still going to write my own version though…

Sevenses

Iljimae Speculation

The end is nigh!

Also, here’s some music for you to enjoy – Ginkgo Hillside, of the OST, which I really really enjoy. Download it here.

Several things that jumped out at me while I was thinking about this – of course, am wasting time. But what a pleasant way of doing it. 😀

– The beginning of the episode tallying in with all available indicators as to be the last heist Iljimae performs. Remember that Iljimae broke into the palace in the beginning, with the help of all his guy friends? It fits. There’s also a banquet going on, and the people in the palace have been forewarned… since all this stuff that we’re seeing is technically in the past, I hope the writers let us have some stuff after Iljimae comes out to the plum blossom garden… if that happens, then the narrative will take over sometime late in 19 or starting from 20. Still don’t see how they’re going to tie up all those loose ends, but bless them for trying.

– Asshat king should die, but he probably won’t, given that Iljimae is doing his ‘must-not-kill-people’ thing. He’s still going for dragging the king to his tree and making him apologize, which would work only in a bizarre parallel universe where the king actually has a conscience. Iljimae will most likely use the incident with Qing to force the king to abdicate to another one of his sons.

– Eun Chae’s words: The first and last love of my life. Err. Not to jump to conclusions, but it sounds like she won’t live. And that’s kind of … not happy for anyone.

– Bong Soon and Kunghe’s fate. Besides their own conflict, Bong Soon’s currently in danger from about 40 highly trained fighters. Even with Kunghe’s help, that’s a tall order. And if Bong Soon dies, Kunghe will jump after her killer, and go for the assassin in purple in a big way. If Kunghe dies protecting her, Bong Soon will feel super sad and probably not be in the mood to see Iljimae and Eun Chae romance each other.

– I know people have this theory that if one girl dies, the other won’t, but doesn’t that depend on how the writers are feeling that day? What if a fly landed in their breakfast and they decided they wanted the world to suffer?

– What about Shi Hoo? Will his mentor kill him? If not, will he find out who he is (more like believe it, since he already knows about half)? What will he do if he does? Will he help Yong? Will he step in at a crucial moment and save Yong’s life by sacrificing his own? Will he go crazy (with such a tightly wound personality, also not too surprising)? WWSHD?

– Kyumi’s mommy… needs to show up and meet her son. I swear. Like, it’s just too cruel making her live her entire life out and not see her son. At least send her to Dani.

Sooooooo…

Worst possible ending: Bong Soon dies from imperial soldiers, Kunghe dies avenging her on the assassin. Shi Hoo finds out his history and fights the assassin, killing him, but then he goes crazy from being responsible for his father and half-sister’s deaths. Iljimae asks Eun Chae to take care of his mother(s) and goes to the palace, is killed by king because he believes in the theory of non-killage. Eun Chae is captured by the king and tortured to death (or is forced to marry the ambassador’s son and kills herself). She writes the story of Iljimae out for Dani before she dies and thus the legend is passed down for all generations. This ending is known as the Everyone Dies Ending.

Mediumly cruel ending: Kunghe dies protecting Bong Soon from the soldiers and assassin dude in purple. Iljimae robs the palace sucessfully. Bong Soon dies in being a decoy Iljimae, and Eun Chae is killed by the assassin dude to avenge the robbery. Shi Hoo finds out his family history after researching the symbols and goes after his mentor, killing him after an epic battle. Iljimae forces the bad king to abdicate to one of his sons, and goes on being a heroic thief.

Happy ending for Bongjimaes: Eun Chae gets killed by the assassin, Iljimae goes crazy, but Shi Hoo gets to the assassin first. All missions succeed, and Yong upholds his promise to take Bong Soon away with his two mommies and lives in the mountains forever and ever, with 2^125978 children. Shi Hoo does… something.

Happy ending for Iljichaes: Everyone survives, Iljimae clears his father’s name and is reinstated as a noble (evil king dies by one of his own plots, somehow) but decides to live far away from other people in society. Shi Hoo and Dani reconcile, and Shi Hoo does his best as an important minister to ensure things are fair. Kyumi’s mommy makes yummy food for her happy grandkids.

Honestly, I don’t know. Feel free to discuss!

Sevenses

Legend Episode 19, recap

Episode 19

Fighting continues, Kiha has recovered her memories, finally. After all these battles, Kiha’s still a stronger fighter than Sujini.

Then Cheoro gets hit in the chest by a fireball (can the guardians kill one another?) A magical fireball, as it happens, or the ordinary methods of dousing it would have worked. Sujini puts her hand on his chest and literally takes the fire away, which kind of scares Kiha and Sa Ryang. Then she grabs her sword, which is now on fire, and she manages to knock Sa Ryang away, doing significant damage.

I think, by the expression on Sujini’s face, that she doesn’t even register what she’s doing. Kiha begs for her to stop, to spare her child, but Sujini stabs down and gets thrown by the magical Phoenix field. Or the Damduk’s magical child is protecting itself shield.

Iljimae Question Time

I was going to reply to the questions in the comments section, and I realized, once again, that I would end up talking too much to be acceptable – so here I am – question and answer time!

Joy: Also, when Yong was telling the warbler story, do you think the writers are hinting the Eun Chae will die?

– I hope not. I have had enough of main leads dying off in my favourite dramas. Thinking objectively, her dad is this super powerful noble who’s obeying the king and quite close to him, she’s fairly smart and astute, she’s got one heck of a protective older brother (who will probably try really hard to kill Iljimae at the same time) and another fairly useless but also protective one. And if she dies, we know Iljimae does too, go drama logic. However, if you think about it – Kyum is the tree. Eun Chae thinks that Kyum is dead, remember? So she’s like the warbler, forever circling the tree and thinking of her dead love. One day a plum tree, aka Yong, pops up, and she is so happy. When she discovers that Yong = Iljimae, she’ll probably have to change herself to better protect the one she loves, and they’ll live with each other happily ever after. It’s my theory. (No dashing cold water on Sevenses, please.)

Emilia: the messenger was the dude trying to deliver the message that kyum’s dad’s friend wrote to kyum?

– No. The king remarks that the messenger was not in fact trying to get to Kyum. He thinks that he made a mistake in the beginning, assuming that Kyum was alive. He is now going to focus his attention on the nobles who have noticed Lee Won Ho’s strange death. The messenger was headed for, I believe, the person Kyum impersonated at the party (didn’t quite catch his name, Minister Kim something or other).

Everyone: What happens to him in the end??

– Lols. No clue. Assuming they don’t go down the HGD road, Eun Chae and Yong will probably get together and pretend to be prosperous hotel owners or something.

Really really itching for Wednesday,

Sevenses

A word on character schizophrenia

Or, um, maybe several hundred.

Has anyone else noticed that Iljimae/Yong/Kyum has more personalities than he does names? We’ve got tons.

– Idiot (mainly in class with nobles)
– Victim (again, mainly with stronger authority)
– Street boy (usually seen with mafia dude)
– Crazed avenger (whenever his sister comes up into the conversation)
– Soulful loverboy (Eun Chae! Eun Chae!)
– Schemer (um, all the time, really)
– Slick thief guy (Iljimae time)
– Genteel guy (with Eun Chae, and when he has to beat up people, residue of Kyum)
– Angst broody guy (whenever the past comes up)
– Insouciant playboy (also with Eun Chae, after she starts to dislike him, and when off-duty from mafia)

The only other person I can think of who approaches this type of personality count, who isn’t supposed to have clinical schizophrenia, would be Cedric Edward Cullen. And he’s pretty much a wish-fulfillment female fantasy character. I’d say Iljimae is a cut above that. Several, as I have pretty strident views on Twilight. Anyway, I’m not sure what this is supposed to say about him – he’s smart enough to react at the blink of an eye and put tons of masks on and off? (Makes for terribly complicated living, but then his life is pretty messed up already.)

Additionally, despite having 10 episodes, I don’t feel as close as I should to the people in the drama. That isn’t to say I don’t like them. I do. I find Swe Dol terribly sweet and self-effacing, I think Dani needs a good weekend at a spa, I want the monk dude to impart his wisdom to Yong. I love Bong Soon, even if she is too loud (kind of like me, actually) and very impulsive. I feel like giving Kyum a hug, or maybe the king’s head on a silver platter. Sometimes I’d like to hug Shi Hoo, and sometimes I think I should sign him up for a yoga session (and slip him some psychiatry appointments when he can’t get away). Shi Wan I think I shall hang upside down in a tree for a year with bread and water once a day.

Eun Chae I can’t do anything with, she’s too perfect, but you know, I’m starting to like this fangirly side of her. It’s like her entire family is crazy (yes, that includes moody older bro Shi Hoo) so she has to hold everything together, and that’s just turned her into a human robot.

I remember watching Hong Gil Dong: by episode 12 I was head over heels in love with Chang Hui, very concerned for Enok and Gil Dong, and wishful of my own Chisu. But here, I don’t get the same vibe at all. It’s a great deal like work, trying to love the characters. And like Josephine Barry from Anne of Green Gables, I do like for other people to make us love them, because it save the work of having to try yourself.

I’m not sure if it’s because I’m afraid to commit myself to another drama after what happened in HGD, or if it’s because these people are two-dimensional, or whatever. It’s still an enjoyable experience, but less intense and more goof. (They still haven’t gotten rid of the random impossible things – I mean, the only way to logically accept all this is to stop thinking and go along with it, but when I don’t think, I don’t bond with the characters either. It’s kind of like a Jackie Chan movie that way.)

Oh well. It’s summer. What was I expecting?

Sevenses

As per requested

Iurgnotmis wanted a book review or an anecdote. As I would probably rip Blackburn’s Being Good: A Short Introduction to Ethics to shreds (if I were the sort to rip books, I mean) if I were forced to read it again to review it, I’ll settle for the anecdote, thanks.

So, according to my parents, I was a precocious thing (don’t all parents say that about their children? Practically a litmus test for how much you love your child – a snot-covered toddler will be crooned at to the tunes of “Look at the precious darling, creating Rorschach blots all on his own!”.) and I cared, very much, about how others saw me, even at the somewhat unnoticeable age of 4. (Seriously. I have lower than average height for an Asian, and when you factor age into that… I was a short, wispy little thing.)

Anyway, I was short and little and unimmunized, which meant that I had to undergo that ritualized child-torture routine: shots.

Imagine a crying child, abjectly in fear of people dressed in white and long tube things they carry because they stick it into your arm (or your butt if you’re unlucky, I suppose) and clutching desperately to his/her mother/father/parental figure. Then multiply that by like, 20. Absolute bedlam in the hospital, I say.

There I was, in the queue of wailing children, and I decide to be heroic. (This is all apocryphal – I have no recollection whatsoever of doing what follows – but I do remember the wailing children and hospital walls. Some sort of collective unconscious, seared into the brains of scared children everywhere, I don’t doubt.)

Looking up at my father, I pipe, “Don’t worry. Daddy, I’ll be brave. I won’t cry!”

My father, good man that he is, keeps his doubts to himself.

Once on the crinkling hospital cot, I look at the nurse, with her brisk pre-shot preparations, and I repeat my mantra, “Daddy, I won’t cry.”

Then she approaches. My voice begins to quaver, “Daddy, I won’t … cry?”

“I won’t! I won’t cry… I – I …” And the proverbial floodgates opened.

Ah, for the fallacies of youth.

Now, having divulged an embarrassing childhood story, open thread time, people, while I go hide in my hole and blush.

Sevenses