Books, blog and other blather

Category: Uncategorized (Page 5 of 7)

Random Thoughts II

– Big congratulations to Film Business Asia on the launch of the phase of their website. There is more news and features than ever, with plenty of room to grow in the future. Creators, Stephen Cremin and Patrick Frater (and new hire Derek Elley) look like they are going to build something really useful and interesting.

– The Barcelona Asian Film Festival came to close on Sunday. The jury awarded top prize to AU REVOIR TAIPEI, directed by Arvin Chen of Taiwan. Special mention went to AT THE END OF DAYBREAK, by Ho Yuhang (the film apparently hails from Malaysia, Hong Kong, and South Korea).

The NETPAC Prize award went to BETWEEN TWO WORLDS, by Vimukthi Jayasundara (Sri Lanka, France). The jury also made special mention to the Korean film I AM IN TROUBLE (Nanneu Gonkyeonge Cheohaetda!), by director So Ming Sang.

Audiences, however, showed very different interests, and the Audience Award went to Munehisa Sakai’s anime ONE PIECE: STRONG WORLD. Second place also went to an anime, Mamoru Hosoda’s SUMMER WARS. Third place went to Bong Joon-ho’s MOTHER.

– I think INCEPTION is going to be the film that MATRIX 2 should have been (the latest trailer is especially good, now that they are beginning to reveal the plot of the film).

Music, Movies, Aliens and More

So far, 2010 has been unusually strong for Korean movies in the United States. Surprising, considering how poor the export market for films has been for quite a while. First MOTHER gets released (and has made over $100,000 in its first 10 days, on just a few screens). And now, Kim Jee-woon’s 2008 hit THE GOOD, THE BAD, THE WEIRD is about to come to American theaters, too — you can see the pretty new trailer here.

In addition, there is a fun story in the Dallas Morning News about Paul Shin, a Korean-American who is bringing Korean films to AMC theaters in the United States — not just New York and LA, but Chicago, Long Island, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Seattle and Dallas-Fort Worth.

I think this is yet another sign of broader changes happening to global culture. I can still remember the first time I went to a random multiplex just west of Toronto, and discovering two Indian movies playing there. I could not believe it, especially remembering the lack of diversity the Toronto suburbs had when I was growing up. But now, people take movies, restaurants, just about everything cultural for granted. They just accept it. It is normal now.

Which is one of the big points I was trying to get at in POP GOES KOREA. Yes, it is amazing how Korean culture has bounced back and become so influential, but this is about more than just Korea. It is a worldwide trend. Korea is in many ways leading this trend, but more and more we are going to see cultures from around the world claiming a space at the table.

* * *
Music has long been one of my biggest interests. It comprises a good chunk of my book POP GOES KOREA, and another website of mine is the Korea Gig Guide (about live indie music in Korea).

So I have been poking around on the various live music websites that are scattered across the Internet. I had no idea there were so many these days. I had been struggling with near-useless, last-generation sites like Pollstar, so was amazed how much things have changed. Now there are a multitude of websites that are trying to combine social media, data harvesting, and whatever the media 2.0 flavor of the month.

These include:

  • Hearwhere – a gig listing site that is flashy but hard to use, and not good for Asia
  • Songkick – nice interface, but geared toward big shows, and very little information on Korea
  • Iggli – another attempt at media 2.0 and live music (and other live events). This site’s hook is the “invite” – it is all about people inviting each other to events; claims this is not social networking. Dubious. Not much on Asia.
  • Bands in Town – big artists, not for Asia
  • Jambase – ugly, just big Western acts, incomplete, basically another Pollstar
  • Madlounge – only the US
  • Superglued – social networking plus concerts; not sure how useful this could be if it takes off, but not much yet.
  • Gigzee – specializes in local music, but buggy, and nothing for Korea yet
  • Gig Junkie – not much in Asia, not very complete
  • Gig Listing – trying to be the Google for live music. Still in beta, and it shows
  • Gig Freaks – I think I like this one the best. Nothing for Korea yet, but its Japan and China listings show some promise. I like the interface (despite the big, ugly Google ad banner in the middle), which is easy to use and informative. Seems to be a one-man operation, though, so I am not sure how much it will develop in the future.

As you can see, I am biased toward sites that focus on local and indie music. Really, how much help do people need finding the next Lady Gaga concert? Hopefully these services will find a way to make it easier to find local and more unusual bands, all over the world. But honestly, I really prefer music websites that have more input from real, live human being — like you see on Barcelona Rocks, Tokyo Gig Guide, or, of course, the Korea Gig Guide.

* * *
And now for something completely different. Pooh Bear vs. Aliens. What a great little comic.

Comics in North Korea

In POP GOES KOREA, I have a chapter about the history of Korean comic books, but sadly I never had the chance to get much into North Korean comics. Fortunately, Geoffrey Cain over at Global Post new has a good article on comic books in North Korea (thanks to Gusts of Popular Feeling for the find).

The books are also designed to instill the father of North Korea, Kim Il-sung’s, philosophy of Juche — radical self-reliance of the state, added Nick Bonner, founder of Koryo Tours, an English-language tour company in Beijing that takes visitors to North Korea several times each year.
“They’re much like the themes I read when I was a kid, on the British Army fighting the ‘Nazis and Japs,’” Bonner reflected, pointing out that some propaganda plots nonetheless resemble our own. “But [in North Korea] their themes are either historic or based on the Anti-Japanese Guerilla War, or the Victorious Fatherland Liberation War [the North Korean name for the Korean War in 1950-53].”

Personally, I find the animal comics of North Korea like The Great General Mighty Wing most interesting, especially in light of such Western comics as Maus. Mighty Wing features bees, wasps, spiders and other creatures, in a tale that was designed to promote national unity following the death of Kim Il Sung in 1994.

pyong_kwon_c_great_0208_1
pyong_kwon_c_great_0208_8

The spider stuff in Mighty Wing I found especially fascintating because South Korea used similar imagery in some of its anti-North propaganda over the years — such as in the anti-communist animation that opened the old South Korean animated film General Ttoli.

Ttoli1
Ttoli2

MOTHER in America, Movies in Saudi Arabia, and a Few Random Thoughts

Bong Joon-ho’s MOTHER gets a limited release in the United States today, and so far the reviews are very good — 87 percent fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, and an 80 metascore on Metacritic (which I find more useful than RT).

Manohla Dargis at the New York Times gives the film a glowing review. And even more interesting, the New York Times has Bong himself describing a scene from the film, talking about how and why he shot it the way he did.

I am not sure how big the release of MOTHER is (I suspect it is rather small), but will update this post once I find out.

I find it remarkable that a quirky film like MOTHER would get such a strong response in the West. MOTHER has almost none of the typical features you see in an Asian film that gets released in the West. No martial arts. No ghosts. No gangsters (well, almost none). It is like audiences in the West are growing much more comfortable with international cinema. Like it is getting normalized. Which I think is a great thing.

* * *

In a completely different vein, I just came across this fascinating little article about cinema in Saudi Arabia. Apparently all theaters there were closed in 1980 and just now some people are trying to bring them back. In general, I find the history of world cinema a great subject in general, and especially so in the Arab world. For instance, how many people remember that Egypt once had a very strong movie industry? I once met a filmmaker from Bahrain (perhaps the only filmmaker from that small island state), Bassam Al-Thawadi and he told me a lot of great stories about what it was like for him trying to make movies in Bahrain.

Maybe the same forces that are making Korean movies more normal in the West are also, in some small way, liberalizing the Arab world? Is this an example of the soft power of culture in globalization? Maybe not, but it is something I like to think about these days.

Movie Magazine Suicides, Part 1000

The long, slow suicide by Hollywood’s trade magazines continues, as Variety just axed their best movie reviewers, including their top Asia reviewer Derek Elley.

Now, I can see getting rid of some expensive reviewers, especially in Hollywood (where, let’s face it, reviewing the latest blockbuster means pretty close to nothing). But for less well known markets, like Asia, having reviewers who know the countries, the creatives and the history is pretty important. And Derek has long been one of the smartest and more important reviewers of Asian films.

Perhaps the modern economics of media just do not include a place for reviewers anymore. Film companies have other ways of getting out word about their movies. And just about anyone can blog their opinions, no matter how facile (hello!). But I still think Variety is losing more than they are saving by getting rid of someone like Derek.

This is just the latest in a long line of moves the movie trade magazines have made to eviscerate their publications. Variety created Variety Asia Online, then shut it down. The Hollywood Reporter had THR-Asia, then shut it down. Screen still has an Asia presence (the strongest of the three), but for how long? Film Business Asia is off to a promising start, but is still just that, a start — and it does not have reviews.

Movies in Asia pull in over $6 billion a year, in theatrical revenue alone. Maybe nearing $7 billion, depending on how you measure these things. I find it hard to believe that there is not room for or need for a decent publication (online or offline) about the Asian film industry.

Movie Magazine Suicides, Part 1000 (or so)

The long, slow suicide by Hollywood’s trade magazines continues, as Variety just axed their best movie reviewers, including their top Asia reviewer Derek Elley.

Now, I can see getting rid of some expensive reviewers, especially in Hollywood (where, let’s face it, reviewing the latest blockbuster means pretty close to nothing). But for less well known markets, like Asia, having reviewers who know the countries, the creatives and the history is pretty important. And Derek has long been one of the smartest and more important reviewers of Asian films.

Perhaps the modern economics of media just do not include a place for reviewers anymore. Film companies have other ways of getting out word about their movies. And just about anyone can blog their opinions, no matter how facile (hello!). But I still think Variety is losing more than they are saving by getting rid of someone like Derek.

This is just the latest in a long line of moves the movie trade magazines have made to eviscerate their publications. Variety created Variety Asia Online, then shut it down. The Hollywood Reporter had THR-Asia, then shut it down. Screen still has an Asia presence (the strongest of the three), but for how long? Film Business Asia is off to a promising start, but is still just that, a start — and it does not have reviews.

Movies in Asia pull in over $6 billion a year, in theatrical revenue alone. Maybe nearing $7 billion, depending on how you measure these things. I find it hard to believe that there is not room for or need for a decent publication (online or offline) about the Asian film industry.

Great New Books on North Korea

The New York Times has a review of three new books about North Korea — Brian Myers’ THE CLEANEST RACE, Barbara Demick’s NOTHING TO ENVY and Ralph Hassig and Kongdan Oh’s THE HIDDEN PEOPLE OF NORTH KOREA. Not an all-encompassing review, but a decent overview of three interesting books.

Barbara was the LA Times’ correspondent in Korea for several years, and is definitely a first-rate journalist, thinker, and writer. I have not read her book, but assume it is as solid as everything else she has done. There is also a good article on her book (and Myers’) at Salon. Demick’s NOTHING TO ENVY is available for purchase here.

Myers I know from his lectures at the Royal Asiatic Society and the occasional email. He has a very provocative thesis — that North Korea is in no way Communist, Marxist, (certainly not Stalinist), Confucian or any of those typical labels, but is in fact a completely nationalism/race-based ideology derived from Japanese propaganda from colonial times. Very fun stuff. THE CLEANEST RACE is available at Amazon, of course. Here is an excerpt from his book. Kurt Achin (Voice of America) also profiles Myers’ book here, with an audio version here.

* (Hey! Myers’ got Andre Lankov to write a blurb for his book, too. Great minds think alike. Andre wrote a little something for the back of POP GOES KOREA, too. Many thanks Andre).

Sorry, but I do not know anything about THE HIDDEN PEOPLE OF NORTH KOREA or its authors, but I hope to check that book out, too, before too long.

Getting Closer

Finally, three months after setting up this site, I am taking a few small steps toward making it really operational. Still a long way to go, though.

Kim Daul Gone

By now you have probably heard that Korean fashion model Kim Daul was found dead in her apartment in Paris on Thursday, Nov. 19.


Daul was just 20 years old, but had been a top model for three years or so. She was also known for a big and quirky personality, as evidenced in this cool mini-interview at Test Magazine. I think you get a sense of what she was like in this photo shoot, too.

She also bared that quirkiness often on her blog I Like to Fork Myself. I had been following it for a couple of years, reading it irregularly, but nearly always loving it when I did. She talked a lot of music and modeling, of course, but also about her loves, like collecting cutlery, schlocky horror films, cereal and guinea pigs. She also had a great post when she told Korean netizens who were on her case for doing some nude pictures to shut up.

And then there were posts like this one (one of her first):

my life as daul was so miserable and lonely.
please join my loneliness in another world.

Sure, she adds “just kidding” a few lines later. And one does not want to overly psychoanalyze a blog. But still…

And then there was this post:

and thanks to stupid tv show from korea ppl think i like to
torture myself and thanks to that im getting lots and lots of
suicide emails on a daily basis
but im definately not depressed, and i dont want to killmyself

And more recently, here:

freedom comes with such cost.

but is it even freedom?

one could get numb living like this. pretty things. comfort. vanity. decadent nights to make up for losses.

but this endless loneliness

there must be something wrong from the core.

i worry as i take the courage to sleep

I remember thinking about a month ago how her blog had gotten wordier recently, like there was something she was trying to figure out, or something that was on her mind, eating at her.

Here is a picture of Daul at 5 years old:


Korea has had a much-discussed problem with celebrity suicides for a while (something I have avoided discussing, because I find the whole subject somewhat lurid and distasteful). But I did not know that modeling in general also has been wrestling with a similar problem (at least according to stories like this one). Regardless of the cause, suicide is always such a waste. But if Daul was suffering from mental health issues, it would be a shame that she did not get the help she needed. In general, I wish people were more aware of mental health and willing to get help when they needed it (or encourage their friends who need it to get help).

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