F4 in their forties (신사의 품격 2012)

What a cheerful drama. It makes me so much absorbed and forget about other stressful things. The way the actors and actresses talk are neither obvious nor trite. On the contrary, it's bouncing and sticky. It's also fresh and attractive because the main characters are not as young and naive as those of usual dramas. They are in their early forties and the love stories of ups and downs sound plausible and look more like reality. The only downside is they exchange talks too well as if they play linguistically. 

There are four men who get established in their careers. Two are single architects, another is a widower and lawyer, and the other is married and tries to get an affair out of his affluent wife's sight whenever opportunity offers. They're not sneaky old guys. What they do and talk is pleasant because they're not that decadent. They publicly reveal their wolfish remarks, which is cute. 

There's a single female ethics teacher who is passionate in her job and quite naive about love relationships. She is in unrequited love at first sight. One of the architects is her ideal man, but he loves her roomie. Another architect, who is an experienced playboy, is interested in her. And their relationships grow interwound and I can't wait for the next episode. 

The man says: Spring has come in which the age 41 is no longer upsetting and dejecting .

Life of Pi (Yann Martel)

Things didn't turn out the way they were supposed to, but what can you do? You must take life the way it comes at you and make the best of it. (chapter 35) 

It was a boring book at first. Then it got interesting, though, as the story developed. At the end, the story sounded far-fetched and unlikely, and I felt like I become one of the skeptical Japanese sailors who find Pi's story extremely hard to believe. 

It took much patience to read Part 1 which has an array of informational explanations about animals' behavior and different religions. Pi grows up in Pondicherry, India that has French influence. His parents runs a zoo, and due to  his father he learns a lot about animal behavior and has accessible chances to be able to observe various animal traits on a regular basis. Pi is such an embracing, god-loving person that he begins to practice Islam and Catholicity as well as being a natural Hindu. 

16-year-old Pi goes through indescribable ordeals after the cargo ship, which his family and the zoo animals board to emigrate to Canada, sank for unknown reasons. Labyrinth-like mystery depicted in Part 1 starts unraveling across the Pacific ocean. Seemingly meaningless and lengthy details in Part 1 make much sense and every piece of the puzzle is put elaborately together while Pi copes with terrible predicaments and eventually survives with an adult tiger on the same lifeboat. Pi is adrift with a handful of animals: a zebra, an orangutan, a hyena, and a tiger. He finally becomes a super alpha who successfully domesticates the tiger named Richard Parker which killed the bloodthirsty hyena. What is unbelievable in Part 2 is that Pi doesn't become an atheist like Mr. Kumar did when he had a polio. Pi figures out how to stay alive and even finds himself saying natural beauty in stifling heat, rainless days and stormy nights, and worst yet solitary time. 

What is remarkable about this boy is that he briefly chronicles in his journal and prays and keeps his faith. He never gives up hope and makes the best of the given adversities with his courage, wisdom, and endurance. It's an astounding story which is unparalleled with any other shipwrecked castaways even though I haven't read the Old Man and the Sea or Robinson Crusoe.  

When the story reaches the scenes where blind Pi meets another lone castaway and the carnivorous island, I assume he's so delirious that he doesn't tell reality from hallucination. Maybe the castaway is French cook(hyena) who butchered the Taiwanese sailor(zebra) and Pi's mother(orangutan). The animal story is hard to believe while the human story is too gruesome to believe. Thus, I can't help accepting  the animal version as what happened. I don't want to believe in cannibalism which jeopardizes humanity and challenges God whatever hardship castaways face. People say life and art is an interpretation and why not believe the better, miraculous story. 

The following is a memorable quote from the book: Things didn't turn out the way they were supposed to, but what can you do? You must take life the way it comes at you and make the best of it. (chapter 35) 

Ang Lee's movie adaptation will be released soon and I'm interested in seeing it. I'm leaning toward recommending this book. Overall, t's a good book only if you overcome the pain rather than pleasure of reading part 1.  

Kate from a blog: "The Life of Pi is one of those books that EVERYONE was reading, and, therefore, I was NOT reading. I don't generally like to read the books there is so much furor over; I tend to wait until things calm down, *then* pick them up."

Paying a tribute to genius artists

A couple under the moonlight. It doesn't matter if the woman is either a gisaeng or an ordinary girl. What is timeless is people in love try to see each other whatever blocks them. 
The man is about to take out something from his coat. The woman is shy and look down quietly, which was required for a woman back then.
월침침야삼경 양인심사양인지 (달빛이 침침한 한밤중에 두 사람의 마음은 두사람만이 안다)
Is the artist a woman as a TV drama suggested? Otherwise, how could he notice and catch such subtle and detailed female traits? I really wonder how he led his life and what he thought of. 

John Atkinson Grimshaw (circa 1837)

I got out of the college library to get fresh air. It was a cold winter night. The trees surrounding the building all lost their leaves and looked bare. The moon hangs between skinny branches. The street lights down in the city looked sparkling. But no one was beside me sharing the sad reality that I had belatedly realized. Only the moon was up there to console me. My thought: nothing changes and the world still revolves around just the way it is even if I'm dead here. I felt like a speckle of dust among millions of people and what is the meaning of my life? I was no longer the center of the world. I was just another peripheral being. This was the time when the sorrow and confusion in my twenties reached its peak. 


겸재 정선 <압구정> 1741년

Sosu Academy & Seodaemun Prison Memorial

I got bored and tired with the work at the publishing company, and began to consider studying architecture. The Buddhist temples and traditional buildings I went to with a group of architects healed my soul. 
Sosu Academy is the very place I've longed to visit again. It's already been more than a decade. The pine trees look the same, and make me feel so good. I almost cry. The pavilion 취한대 on the opposite side of the academy looks like a good place to meditate and relax, overlooking the slow flow of the stream. What a languorous day! The old buildings and the peonies in the sun. 
I've struggle to keep my faith and you, pine trees, stay there and welcome me. I want to live a life of integrity. Please behold me if I go in the right direction. 


국보 제180호 1844년
'날씨가 차가워진 뒤에야 송백만이 홀로 시들지 않음을 안다'고 했듯이 사람이 어려움에 처했을 때 그 사람의 진정한 모습을 볼 수가 있다
Only after it gets cold, one knows it is pine trees that don't wither away. When you are in trouble, you get to know who is on your side and who isn't. A friend in need is a friend indeed. Don't be a fair-weather friend. 

I felt very grateful for what independence activists/patriots did to liberate my country during the Japanese rule at Seodaemun Prison Memorial. It was heartwrenching to look at the execution building. It is said that the executed stopped by the tall poplar tree right in front of the entrance and left their last words. I will read some books written by 리영희.

Romeo and Juliet in the Chosun Dynasty (공주의 남자 2011)

What makes this drama special is the scenes, angles, and acting. I still don't forget beautiful nature including summer sky, trees, and falls depicted in the drama. Those are exactly like the scenes in traditional calligraphy paintings. Nature stands the test of time and keeps an eye on our lives. 



환아심하여 위니심하니 시지상억심이라
내 마음을 바꾸어 네 마음이 되고 보니
비로소 서로 그리워함이 이렇게 깊었음을 알겠네

정이란 대체 무엇이냐 세상을 향해 묻습니다
나는 대답할 것입니다
우리로 하여금 아무런 망설임도 없이 삶과 죽음을 서로 허락하는 것
그것이 바로 정이라고

<눈물어린 눈으로 꽃에게 물어도> 김병기

만휴정: 경북 안동시 길안면 묵계리

묵계서원 입구에서 우회전하여 다리를 건너면 한적한 시골마을이 나온다.

마을 끝에 작은 주차장이 있고, 여기서 조금만 걸어가면 만휴정이 나온다. 

Which came out of the door--the lady or the tiger?

I've been reading Life of Pi up to page 60 or so which is  full of Hindu names and this and that stories I find hard to follow. While I was googling for some information about the book, I come across this story.

This was the king's semi-barbaric method of administering justice. Its perfect fairness is obvious. The criminal could not know out of which door would come the lady; he opened either he pleased, without having the slightest idea whether, in the next instant, he was to be devoured or married. 


A princess, who is the apple of the king's eye, fell in love with a good-looking young man. This love affair moved on happily until the king happened to know about it. He was immediately imprisoned, and soon the day of his trial would come in the king's arena. 
The princess got to know the secret that behind which door the tiger/lady was. The lady was one of the fairest and loveliest, and the princess had seen the lady throwing glaces of admiration upon his lover and these glances sometimes were returned. 
The appointed day arrived. When he turned and looked at her sitting in the royal seat, their eyes met and he cast a quick, anxious glance asking the question: "Which?"
She raised her right hand. He turned and with firm, rapid steps walked toward the door on the right and opened it. Did the tiger come of of that door or did the lady? 

The Alchemist

People say this book is worth reading. Many celebrities including Bill Clinton read it. But... I hardly remember what it's all about except for some sentences in the introduction pages. 
You're impressed when you read a book and come across a sentence you think you feel a special bond with the author. I had that kind of experience in this book.
getting up at dawn and seeing the sun rise while the rest of the world still slept
It's like the whole world is yours.


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. 


The secret of life is to fall seven times and to get up eight times.
Why is it so important to live our personal calling if we are only going to suffer more than other people?
Otherwise, you don't feel like you are alive. You're one of those people who want to live a meaningful life. 


Basically it's a fable story. A shepherd boy goes on a journey to pursue treasure in Egypt. He was robbed and lost all the money. He decides not to return home even after he earns enough money, and goes after the treasure again . He learns lessons along the way and finds the treasure in the place where he least expected. 


When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.