Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

난 로알드 달의 안티임을 선언한다. 그의  이야기를 좋아하지 않는다. 밝지 않고 뒤틀림이 있어서다. 단지 작가가 유명하다는 이유만으로  그의 비정상적인 캐릭터들이 정당화될 수 있는 상황이 싫다. 

마틸다.. 재미있고 유쾌했다. 하지만 교사가 너무 바보같지 않은가. 꼬마아이도 해결할 수 있는 문제를... 성인이 너무 무기력하고 부족하며 교장은 악질이다. 

미스터 팍스는 도둑일 뿐이다. 세 농부가 나쁘지만 도둑질 역시 나쁘다. 정당화될 수 없다. 

1. Summary

Charlie who was born into a poor family filled with love lived in a ramshackle house with his parents and two sets of grandparents. Since the family didn't have enough money to buy food to live on, Charlie had little or no chance to win the golden ticket to tour the mysterious chocolate factory that is owned by an eccentric chocolate maker, Willy Wonka.

Charlie became the last lucky kid to obtain the fabulous opportunity following a fat glutton Augustus, a spoiled brat Veruca, a gum-chewer Violet, and a TV addict Mike.

Inside the factory did they meet cacao-loving little Oompa-Loompas who used to primitively live in tree houses in a thick jungle and visit various special rooms such as the chocolate room, the inventing room, the nut room, and the television-chocolate room. The kids one by one, doing what they were not supposed to do, fell behind and only Charlie remained in the end. Charlie became the successor of Willy Wonka to run the factory and sent the good news to his family by boarding a glass elevator rocketing through the roof of the factory.

2. Reaction

I admit that Roald Dahl is such a story teller and no one is as creative to generate children's fiction as he is. It's scrumdiddlyumptiously fun to read his puns. (How can you whip cream without whips?; A poached egg isn't a poached egg unless it's been stolen from the woods in the dead of night!)

I don't think Charlie is eligible enough to be a hero. He is neither honest nor brave. He didn't turn it in to the police when he found a dollar bill. But rather he used it to buy chocolate for his benefit. His character is disappointing, compared with the mischievous but adventurous Tom Sawyer. He didn't take risks on anything. He just followed around and waited for the other kids to disappear. I guess at least he is patient. The author embellishes an antihero and justifies that a poor kid can't be mean or evil. The poor are not always good people who are deceived by greedy rich people. What lessons does this story give to children?

I've recently seen a significant number of poor students who are helpless and lethargic not only in class but also in everything except for being hooked on games. They just seem to be blaming their poor backgrounds and not trying to achieve anything on their own. I do hope that poverty doesn't give any excuses for their behavior and they also have a dream to fulfill.

I'm not sure whether I'll recommend this book. It's like a double-edged sword. 

Alice's Adventure in Wonderland

I guess those who seek the truth in this nonsensical world are eligible to become Alice. 

At the beginning of the movie, The Matrix, the protagonist is depicted just like Alice following a symbol of a white rabbit. This was the very first moment that Alice in Wonderland, which I had considered just another children's fiction, got meaningfully imprinted on my mind. 'Is the story that common to be in pop culture?' was my impression, and it further led me to want to find why. Since then, this book has been on my reading list for a very long time. But the forgotten copy which has been faded in color and coated with dust comes alive now in a decade.

There have to be reasons why it is considered so-called children's classic and is occasionally recounted by grown-ups. Sadly enough, however, I felt like a loser from cover to cover. I was quite frustrated while figuring out what an array of inexplicable occasions were trying to convey. It was too weird to understand. It didn't even sound timeless. There was one thing clear, though; I didn't want to give in, nor brush it aside.

A ray of hope came only after googling and reading significant number of related web pages. The prerequisite keywords for the story are linguistic pranks, children's innocence as well as cultural stuff which reflects the British society of the time the book was written.

The author enjoyed making use of puns and playing on multiple meanings of words throughout the text. (Mock Turtle: The master was an old Turtle. We called him Tortoise because he taught us. Gryphon: 10 hours the first day, nine the next and so on. That's the reason they're called lessons. Because they lessen from day to day.)

Alice's constant growing and shrinking into different sizes could reflect the ups and downs of adolescence. Young people get confused feeling sometimes adult and other times quite the opposite. The whole book illustrates how confusing the adult world seems to innocent children.

Last but not least, I'm also very happy to know part of the contemporary culture behind the story through new vocabulary such as bathing machine, powdered hair, mock turtle soup, etc.

Much to my relief, now I can understand the story and find a peace of mind. Mr. Yoo said in his million seller travel book, quote, 'Once you love it, you get to know about it. Once you know about it, it'll never be the same again' unquote. The more I'm able to understand, the more I get drawn into the wonderland. Sorry for little knowledge. Sorry to judge that it's just children's fiction. 
     

My favorite hookah-smoking caterpillar in the moive

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.