역린逆鱗 (2014)

It's a well-made movie that sends a message, but wasn't a box office hit. What is deplorable is moviegoers' attitude, most of whom seek only for temporary pleasure.

The film title means a dragon's scale. Putting a hand on it claims your life.

A dragon is docile. You can bring them under control and ride on it. There is, however, a scale that grows backwards on its chin. If it is touched, the animal never fails to kill you. A king is a figure who wields power in a dynasty and thus has such a thing. The king's fury, consequently, is synonymous with the dragon's scale. --From Han Fei Tzu

The most impressive scene is when the protagonist forgives and embraces his archenemy who ridiculed his father and spearheaded his father's execution. It's an adequate example of "detaching yourself," which is a lesson Morrie (Tuesdays with Morrie) gives. Detachment doesn't mean you don't let the experience penetrate you. On the contrary, you let it penetrate you fully. That's how you are able to leave it. 
I'm overwhelmed by his decision. It's poignant though, considering his endless agony night after night torn between vengeance and forgiveness. I'm not sure how much this scene relies on the historical fact, but it looks plausible because he was keenly aware of what was the best thing to do as a king, not as a son.
He didn't cling to the nightmare from the past and eventually transcended the limits of an ordinary human being.



Jeongjo is the 22nd king in Choseon Dynasty. He witnessed his father's tragic death. The executioners were the crown prince's political enemies who aided and even manipulated the then king--his grandfather. He was only 11 years old. He grew up in fear of being killed, and finally ascended to the throne at the age of 25 in 1776.
There were continual attempted assassinations since the first year of his coronation. He had survived everything but one: poisoning.
What a loss! I wish I could turn back time and save his life. He is one of the greatest kings in Korean history. His demise is lamentable because it was a watershed and the last chance to be able to reform the corrupt country. He could have established a modern democracy earlier. Then we did not have to be forcibly occupied by Japan one hundred years later.
History repeats itself. To my sadness it is repeating.

其次는 致曲이니
曲能有誠이니
誠則形하고
形則著하고
著則明하고
明則動하고
 動則變하고
變則化니
唯天下至誠이야
爲能化니라

중용 23장
작은 일도 무시하지 않고 최선을 다해야 한다.
작은 일에도 최선을 다하면 정성스럽게 된다.
정성스럽게 되면 겉에 배어나오고
겉에 배어나오면 겉으로 드러나고
겉으로 드러나면 이내 밝아지고
밝아지면 남을 감동시키고
남을 감동시키면 이내 변하게 되고
변하면 생육된다.
그러니 오직 세상에서 지극히 정성을 다하는 사람만이 나와 세상을 변하게 할 수 있는 것이다.
The one who is devoted to even a little thing can change both oneself and the world.

Tuesdays with Morrie

This book is full of wise quotes. They're resonating because they come from a dying old sage. 

Everyone knows they're going to die, but nobody believes it. If we did, we would do things differently. 

Once you learn how to die, you learn how to live. 

(When you face death,)  You strip away all that stuff and you focus on the essentials. If you accept that you can die at any time--then you might not be as ambitious as you are.

Don't cling to things because everything is impermanent.

Now, more than ever, material things held little or no significance. You can't take it with you.  

Neither money nor power will give you the feeling you're looking for, no matter how much of them you have. The truth is, you don't get satisfaction from those things. 

Devote yourself to loving others, devote yourself to your community around you, and devote yourself to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning.

Giving to other people is what makes you feel alive.  

Do the kinds of things that come from the heart.  

Each night, when I go to sleep, I die. And the next morning, when I wake up, I am reborn. --Mahatma Gandhi 

The Great Gatsby

I had 2 misconceptions about this story. 1) I thought it was a romance: a poor man's unsuccessful struggle to win a rich girl's heart. 2) This book is overestimated: it's not worth being a class.

After reading the whole book and the book club discussion, I discovered, The Great Gatsby is not just a common, insipid lover story. There is a man who is obsessed with climbing up the status ladder by getting married to a woman with a fine inherited position.

Gatsby was driven by his love/desire for a woman who symbolized everything he wanted, but she led him towards everything he despised. He seems to idealize her in his mind. It's vile and disgusting when Daisy and Tom calmly eat things even after the car accident as if nothing had happened. They're despicable and pathetic people who never care about other people's pain and sorrow.
This story depicts the moral failure of a society obsessed with wealth and status by chronicling Gatsby's tragic pursuit of his dream. His desire is synonymous with American dream. If the eponymous character's desire for a woman is not metaphoric for American dream, his acts are inexplicable for me.
After all, the story represents a decadent time in American history and I think this is why it became Fitzgerald's magnum opus.

The picture above is the original cover of the book. I like it because it shows decaying aspects of the opulent twenties in the US.

Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children (2005)

Setting (From Wikipedia)
Advent Children takes place two years following the events of Final Fantasy VII. During such game, the former war soldier Sephiroth attempted to absorb the energy hidden deep within the planet, the Lifestream, and rule over mankind in the same way as the extraterrestrial Jenova once tried. However, Sephiroth was opposed by a group of soldiers led by the mercenary Cloud Strife and was defeated. Nevertheless, Sephiroth's final spell, Meteor, still damaged the planet, destroying the city of Midgar in the process.
The survivors started living in the new city of Edge. Cloud and his childhood friend Tifa Lockhart now run a courier service and serve as caretakers to the orphan boy Denzel and their friend Barret's adopted daughter Marlene. Recently, Cloud has moved out of the house and isolated himself from his friends. He is still haunted by his role in the death of Aerith Gainsborough, who was killed on his watch by Sephiroth. In addition, both he and Denzel are infected with the mysterious new ailment known as "Geostigma", which has no known cure.

Drum covers

I initially was eager to play the drums when I came across The Reason by Hoobastank. The song is simple, but beautiful and powerful. It struck a cord with me.
I wish I could drum in an amateur band after I retire.

Attention-grabbing ad

What a CF! The angles, colors, and music all together. Take a look at the rippling muscles! Everything is lifelike! Perfect realization of 3D! Looks as if I could feel the players' glistening beads of sweat and hear them panting. Literally can't take my eyes off from it just like the tag line.

So we're gearing up again for the World Cup. Meanwhile Brazilians are taking to the street today against spending huge amount of money on the soccer games rather than social projects. Riot police is firing tear gas to disperse thousands of protesters. I don't want to go to this extremely bipolarized country, let alone travel.

Koreans haven't gotten over the heartbreaking ferry accident and we don't know when we can get back to normal. Ironically, no as usual, politicians are busy preparing for the general election slated for early next month. Black comedy.

I have to write a eulogy for the deceased and their families, but I don't know where to start. It's an appalling catastrophe. I'm sick and tied of incompetence and irresponsibility of the ruling rightmost conservatives. Do we still have hope among the ageing electorate? Democracy is fading away. Hard to establish but very easy to collapse. I miss the late president.

At dawn

It was at summer's early dawn when I was in 8th grade. I felt full in my heart and I still vividly do. The world seemed to be all mine amid the tranquil atmosphere. There have been a couple more times since the first thrill. The rest was not as overwhelming as the first, though.

Staying up all night, looking at light appear in the sky, seeing the sun rise while the rest of the world still slept. An unforgettable moment for adolescent me.

This was forgotten in busy routine until I opened the introduction of The Alchemist. I had felt a special bond with the author. I've never thought that a foreigner living in other part of the globe would feel exactly the same. The book was highly acclaimed, but I honestly think the story is mediocre. Suffice it to say that the introductory pages say it all.

A shepherd boy who is in pursuit of treasure purportedly buried in a faraway place sets off for a journey. After a grueling odyssey, he finds the treasure in the place where he least expected: in his hometown.

We all need to be aware of our personal calling. What is a personal calling? It is God's blessing, it is the path that God chose for you here on Earth. Whenever we do something that fills us with enthusiasm, we are following our legend. However, we don't all have the courage to confront our own dream. 

Why? 

There are four obstacles: 

1. We are told from childhood onward that everything we want to do is impossible. We grow up with this idea, and as the years accumulate, so too do the layers of prejudice, fear, and guilt. There comes a time when our personal calling is so deeply buried in our soul as to be invisible. But it's still there.

2. If we have the courage to disinter dream, we are then faced by the second obstacle: love. We know what we want to do, but are afraid of hurting those around us by abandoning everything in order to pursue our dream. We do not realize that love is just a further impetus, not something that will prevent us going forward. We do not realize that those who genuinely wish us well want us to be happy and are prepared to accompany us on that journey. 

3. Once we have accepted that love is a stimulus, we come up against the third obstacle: fear of the defeats we will meet on the path. We who fight for our dream suffer far more when it doesn't work out, because we cannot fall back on the old excuse: "Oh, well, I didn't really want it anyway." We do want it and know that we have staked everything on it and that the path of the personal calling is no easier than any other path, except that our whole heart is in this journey. Then, we warriors of light must be prepared to have patience in difficult times and to know that the Universe is conspiring in our favor, even though we may not understand how. 

I ask myself: are defeats necessary?
Well, necessary or not, they happen. When we first begin fighting for our dream, we have no experience and make many mistakes. The secret of life, though, is to fall seven times and to get up eight times.
So, why is it so impatient to live our personal calling if we are only going to suffer more than other people?
Because, once we have overcome the defeats--and we always do--we are filled by a greater sense of euphoria and confidence. In the silence of our hearts, we know that we are proving ourselves worthy of the miracle of life. Each day, each hour, is part of the good fight. We start to live with enthusiasm and pleasure. Intense, unexpected suffering passes more quickly than suffering that is apparently bearable; the latter goes on for years and, without our noticing, eats away at our soul, until, one day, we are no longer able to free ourselves from the bitterness and it stays with us for the rest of our lives.
Having disinterred our dream, having used the power of love to nurture it and spent many years living with the scars, we suddenly notice that what we always wanted is there, waiting for us, perhaps the very next day. 

4. Then comes the fourth obstacle: the fear of realizing the dream for which we fought all our lives.    

Oscar Wilde said: "Each man kills the thing he loves." And it's true. The mere possibility of getting what we want fills the soul of the ordinary person with guilt. We look around at all those who have failed to get what they want and feel that we do not deserve to get what we want either. We forget about all the obstacles we overcame, all the suffering we endured, all the things we had to give up in order to get this far. I have known a lot of people who, when their personal calling was within their grasp, went on to commit a series of stupid mistakes and never reached their goal--when it as only a step away.

This is the most dangerous of the obstacles because it has a kind of saintly aura about it: renouncing joy and conquest. But if you believe yourself worthy of the thing you fought so hard to get, then you become an instrument of God, you help the Soul of the World, and you understand why you are here.  

I believe the writer's message is synonymous with 盡人事待天命.

Sow a thought, and you reap an act; 생각을 바꾸면 행동이 바뀌고
Sow an act, and you reap a habit;    행동을 바꾸면 습관이 바뀌고
Sow a habit, and you reap a character;   습관을 바꾸면 성격이 바뀌고
Sow a character, and you reap a destiny.  성격을 바꾸면 운명이 바뀐다.
                                                                by Samuel Smiles