New Apartment

Okay, so this is the second time I'll be posting about a new apartment on this blog. That's cause about 3 years ago, when I first moved to SLC before my mission, I blogged about it. I didn't ever put picture up though, and although it was a cool apartment, I think that our goods are better now. We've moved up most of the way now, and everything's looking great. Check it out:

This is kind of a boring shot, but it shows a bit of our table, the entrance, the kitchen, our microwave, and my piano. Sweetness.

So this is the living room from the entrance. Mike's standing there to the right. The living room is pretty big. We're still gonna move a big chair up too, so there's not going to be so muc space right there in the middle of nowhere.

This is my room. Right now I'm all alone, but we're looking for a roommate for me to lower the price. Mike and his cousin, Ethan are in the other room. I'd put a picture up, but I don't want to upload too many pictures.

This is the entertainment center. Oh yes... It's too bad that we don't have a nicer TV though. Ethan supplied the speakers and stand. That controller at the bottom is his too. That's my TV, CD player/clock, region-free DVD player (yes, it plays DVDs from anywhere in the world), and there's a Playstation 2 on the left of the DVD player. I also bought the modem for our high-speed internet. There's a Japanese Kokeshi doll on the left of the center speaker. Mike supplied the nice wireless router and a new wireless printer (that's right...we can print from anywhere in the apartment wirelessly).

All in all, I'm really impressed with this entertainment system. It sounds nice. We also hooked my guitar and piano up through an amp into the system, and it sounds really nice...I mean, really nice.

I'm excited to live here. We're only in a 6 month contract, until Ethan goes on his mission in the winter. We'll figure out what we're gonna do after that. Hopefully we can get some more roommates so we don't have to move out again, cause I really don't want to move all over again in only 6 months. That would suck. I've got a bunc of friends coming home from missions and stuff who will probably go to the U, so we'll see.

My Sassy Girl

Okay, new awesome movie. It's Korean again...

I like chick flicks cause they have good stories and they're funny, and somtimes I hope I could meet a girl like the ones in the movies and then through a strange series of events, have this exciting and funny courtship, blah blah blah. I'm a hopeless romantic, just like Skye...we're a lot alike.

Anyway, so I found this movie called My Sassy Girl, that was made in 2001, in Korea. It was a HUGE hit and everyone loved it. It's a strange love story. And by strange, I mean that there's not much lovey dovey crap in it. It's a chick flick that I think lots of guys would actually really like.

It's about a guy who is just minding his business one day at the train station, when he notices that there is an extremely drunk woman teetering dangerously close to the edge of the platform, and the train is coming in. He runs over and saves her, just as the train whizzes by, and she's too drunk to notice. On the train, she throws up all over an old man, and just before she passes out, calls to the main character, Gyeon-woo (played by Cha Tae-hyun, who also starred in Speedy Scandal) and says "Honey!" Everyone thinks that he's her boyfriend now, and he is forced to not only help her out, but clean up the vomit. Poor guy! Anyway he takes her to a motel to rest, and jumps in the shower to clean off the sweat (from carrying her the whole way on his back) and the vomit. Her phone rings, and he foolishly tells the voice on the other end of the phone where they are, and before he knows it, the police break in and mace him while he's still naked.

He thinks that the relationship will end there, but it's only the beginning. What ensues is a strange on-and-off courtship as the girl (whose name we never find out, actually) tries to get over an apparently difficult breakup with her old boyfriend. She is strong-willed and has a temper that easily persuades Gyeon-woo to perform any of her silly requests, be it drinking coffee, rather than coke, every time they go out, or changes shoes, so he has to wear the high heels. He endures a very strange courtship, and is much too afraid to admit to anyone that she is actually his girlfriend, for fear that he might get in trouble.

They eventually are forced to separate by her father, and that's where the story really gets good, as the two try to decide what their relationship has really become, and how far it could actually go.

That's all I'll say about the movie, so as to avoid giving away any good parts. It's one of my favorite movies, and I've already watched it twice this week. I highly recommend it to everyone, even if you don't like chick flicks. The majority of the movie is not easily identified as a chick flick, or even a love story, but rather a confused courtship comedy. The comedy of the movie will keep the guys interested, while the fresh yet subtle love story will satisfy the girls in the audience.

It does have subtitles, but honestly, you get used to reading them, and won't even really miss anything at all. It is asian humor, and many of the cultural points and the style of jokes may be a little difficult to understand unless you have lived in an asian country for any period of time. I lived in Japan, and noticed many cultural similarites. Not only that, but I loved the humor, because it is so unmistakably asian. This doesn't mean that American's can't appreciate the film, though. My mom, who watched it with me the second time, loved it. I found myself explaining some cultural things to her, but she seemed to enjoy it ver much. She did admit that there were many things she thought were strange, especially the way that the girl acted sometimes.

This movie has been remade by a few different cultures, including Japan, India and America. My Sassy Girl, starring Elisha Cuthbert and Jesse Bradford, was released in 2008. I was in Japan at the time, but even my family, who live here, hadn't heard of it. I don't know how good the American version was, but I know for certain, that a remake that stays very true to many of the jokes and points in the plot would simply never work here in America because of the vast cultural differences between Americans and Asians. Or maybe that's why the movie obviously wasn't popular. I'll have to watch it to see...I just hope it doesn't ruin the original!

I would definitely give this movie a 10, but I'm pretty easy to please. I loved every part of the movie, and can't wait to watch it again. I highly recommend it!

This is the original movie poster, and the cover of the 2-disc special edition DVD:

This is the cover for the single-disc version:

I like both covers, really. This movie's the best! Watch it!

Addiction

So now I'm totally obsessed with Korean movies, I think. On my way home from Japan, there was a Korean film called "Speedy Scandal" (과속스캔들) on the plane. The guy next to me was watching it--and it had subtitles--so I couldn't help but watch it. I was extremely interested in it, and when I got home, I searched EVERYWHERE for it.

I finally found it, and found some decent english subtitles, and was able to watch it in its entirety. I fell in love with it! Everything about that movie is just likeable. The plot is wonderful, and there are no distasteful (sex) scenes. Ultimately, the actors are what make the movie so great. As a sidenote: This movie is the #1 Korean comedy of all time. Not that really means anything to you, but I'm sure if it was brought to the states, it would do EXTREMELY well.

This movie stars: Cha Tae-hyeon, Park Bo-yeong, and Hwang Seok-hyeon. I know that doesn't mean anything to you, and it means little more to me.

There's great music in the movie as well, and I've been listening to the soundtrack a lot for the last few days.

I won't give away any of the plot, really. I doubt it even matters, cause nobody will ever read this, but in case someone does.

This is a copy of the movie poster:

I know you might be thinking: "Why would I ever want to watch a Korean film? I can't understand what they're saying!" Or you're probably thinking: "Who is this guy, and how did I get here? What is this blog? This guy's a weirdo." I wouldn't blame you for thinking either thing. I don't know how much any of you would be willing to buy this DVD, especially because you can't play it in your normal DVD player. It is possible to get a region-free DVD player on the internet, so that problem is fixed. And the DVD allegedly has english subtitles (though I don't know, cause I haven't bought it yet!). Problem #2 fixed!

So I really see no other reason for you not to get this movie. It's great. I highly doubt that anyone would ever regret watching this movie.

In the wake of the impression this great movie left on me, I'm currently aquiring movies made by the same actors. Park Bo-yeong, of course, takes highest precedence, cause she's beautiful. However, Cha Tae-hyeon was a great actor, so I'm looking for his stuff too. So I'm looking into these movies: My Sassy Girl (the Korean original, not the western remake), and The ESP Couple (also known as Sensitive Couple). I hope I can find more to my liking!

Lastly, I heard somewhere on the web that Hollywood is planning on doing a remake of this movie. Now, that would make it quite convenient for us all to watch. However, I really doubt Hollywood's ability to make a movie that even comes close to the quality of this one. I hope that they don't ruin it...just for the Korean version's sake, because I'm sure it'll get more exposure in the states after the US version's release. But I can see people's impression of the US version affecting their decision to find and watch the Korean version. Let me just say now, that nobody who takes the time and effort to find this movie will be disappointed.

If only I could find a Japanese film with the same feeling, emotion, and likeability as this one...

what kind of a name is this???

i'm not causing much of a scene...maybe i should rethink my blog name.  or maybe find something interesting and write about it.

New Job and Cinco de Mayo Adventures

I just started a job at the Marriott Library on campus at the U. I work in the Special Collections Department as a part-time assistant. So when people donate large collections of documents and artifacts that contain information that would be used to do research and/or contain special or valuable information, we take it, go through it, organize and summarize it. Basically create information about information, in order to make it easier for patrons to access information.

So I got hired for this job, and I know nothing about it, but that doesn't seem to be a prerequisite, so cool. Anyway, my first day was yesterday and everyone was extremely nice and interested in me. I've never received such a warm welcome at any other job I've worked. It really helped to get the job off to the right start. I am so excited to work now, just cause everyone was so positive and helpful.

There was a ton of information to learn right off the bat, so it will be quite overwhelming, but I focused on learning everyone's names on the first day. There are lots of new people to interact with, and names haven't always been my strongpoint. I did a pretty good job, and although the first day of work was full of stuff you wouldn't really consider fitting for a library, it was fun. I moved shelves and stuff which actually tired me out a ton...those shelves were heavy, and there was a lot of bending over and lifting, so my back is really tired. I also got the paperwork done, and got my new UCard (with special staff crap on it), I got introduced to many of the people I'd be working with, and cleaned my workspace.

All in all, my first day of work was 6 hours...not too bad, although I was exhausted by the end of it. The frusterating thing is that with my UCard I am able to get access to special places in the library...such as my workspace. However, the card will probably take a week or so to fully activate. So whenever I want to go in and even out of most of the doors I need to go in and out of, I can't...I have to find someone to let me in or out. So I didn't take a lunch break the first day...cause I didn't really want to deal with the door problem. I didn't even take a drink most of the day...so my throat was super dry and hurt--I'm still not used to the Utah desert climate.

Today (the second day) I went in at 1:30 for an extensive tour of the library, provided by one of the HR people. It was really enjoyable, and I learned a ton about where everything is and how it works. I even got paid...and I'm really glad, cause when Betsey (my supervisor) told me I'd get paid for it, I was like, "Well, it's not that big of a deal." But once it got over, and I looked at my watch, I was grateful that the 2 and a half hour tour would be included on my salary. Now if you ever have a question about the library, just ask me, cause I pretty much know everything.

After the tour I worked for about an hour, looking for a certain box in a certain collection, which happened to get lost in the move since the remodeling of the library. I guess it's still in storage or something. Anyway, that's how I spent my day at work. I found out today, though, that at least until the end of June, I can work up to 39 hours a week, not just 19. Sweetness! Too bad I freaking start school in a week and a half. Speaking of which, I just bought my books today for class. I took the Foundations of Business Thought (or whatever it's called) course in 2006, and kept my book. I was really excited when I already had it, cause I'm retaking the class to improve my GPA. Too bad today, when I went to buy the books, found that a new edition of the book came out. I had to spend another $30 for the same freaking book. I was annoyed.

Happy Cinco de Mayo, by the way. We had our Cinco de Mayo party today...which included me, Jeff, Tyson, and texting the ex-girlfriend of one of Jeff's old missionary companions, rather than talking to her in person cause she bailed out last minute cause of dance or something. So we went to Cafe Rio. Tyson already ate dinner (even though he knew we were going to go somewhere to eat) so Jeff and I ordered stuff. As we were eating, some random lady and a guy come up to Jeff and start up a conversation as if they were picking it up again where they left off. Apparently she's part of the singles' ward or something in his Stake, cause she was talking about some lame singles' ward activity that he didn't go to. The whole situation was awkward as she chatted away at him as if they were buddies. Jeff was obviously uncomfortable, by the way he avoided eye contact as much as possible, whilst attempting to continue eating his enchiladas. Tyson was giving his signal for awkward while he pretended to be texting Jeff's imaginary Spanish Fork girl (the aforementioned ex-girlfriend of his former mission companion), and I did my best to show what little interest I had in the girl's conversation with Jeff, so as to not appear a jerk. Once she left Jeff flashed his awkward sign: "the awkward turtle."

We left Cafe Rio and went to Jeff's house to commence phase two of the Cinco de Mayo party: jumping on the trampoline and then watching a rerun of an old Utah football game from 2007. The game was good though...of course...geez, I mean, it's Utah, hello! Then we watched youtube videos, like: Charlie the Unicorn 2, Charlie the Unicorn 3, and the Sleepwalking Dog. You can look them all up on Youtube. The Sleepwalking Dog was my favorite. I haven't laughed so hard in a while...well, actually since I watched a Wii spoof of the N64 kids video, where teenagers or adults mimic the entire N64 video, but with a Wii. I'll not go into details about why it was so funny...I just almost wet myself when I watched it.

Well...does that qualify as a decent blog post? Probably not, but I'm not going to go back and rewrite it...

My New Love

I got a new laptop today...new to me, at least. My brother just brought it back from college last night. He kept it in great condition--despite his best efforts--and we cleaned off all his crap last night. Now it's mine, and I'll be taking it up to college with me now. I'm excited cause it's my first laptop, and now I'll have much more flexibility and versatility at college. Honestly, I can't figure out what they did before computers!

There's only one catch: the fan's not really working, so a guy's gonna have to come out and fix it for me. But it's under warranty, so whatev.

In other news, my brother also got a steal on a Playstation 3 that some guy sold him. He calculated the value of everything he bought, and it added up to like, $1500. He bought it for about $350. The console is like, the first edition, so it can play Playstation and Playstation 2 games as well. He got four games to go with it, and traded two in for a different one at GameCrazy. He's got all these wires and crap, and three controllers. In addition, he bought a new 250GB HDD for it off Amazon, and then he's gonna get an LCD tv to use as a display, so he can install and run Linux on it. He plans on using it as a computer too...a pretty sweet deal, I think.

The best part is: when he goes on a mission, I'll get to use it! By that time, Final Fantasy 13 will have come out, and that's the only game I'm really interested in playing, so...

Evangelion Review

Today I got the job at the Marriott Library on the University of Utah campus! I'm way excited cause it's super close, and it should work out perfectly with my schedule. I start on Monday, May 4th. Yay! Money!

Other than that, I mowed the front part of our lawn today...the part that everyone can see. Our riding lawn mower finally quit on us. I think I saw the same model of lawnmower in an old John Wayne movie, so it didn't come as a surprise. I don't really know how long it took me...maybe 2 hours. Trying to mow a 3/4 acre lot with one walking lawnmower is a task. I guess I'll finish tomorrow.

So I finished watching the actual Neon Genesis Evangelion series yesterday. It is quite a confusing series, and most of the time I didn't understand what was going on. This could be because I was watching it in Japanese...but perhaps also due to the obvious fact that the creator was psychotic. I read on wikipedia today that because of production errors and a low budget, they weren't able to finish the series the way they wanted to, and had to settle for an alternate ending. The "alternate" ending, however, was actually pretty good, I thought. I mean, it was the most difficult to understand part of the whole series, but right at the end it all came together, and I was able to identify at least one of the underlying themes of the show: the concept of existence, and self-awareness. It really made me think a lot, and I really actually looked back on the overall mentally-disturbing series as quite enjoyable. I really wanted to rewatch it, to be completely honest.

But then I made the mistake of watching the three movies that succeeded the original show. The first was like an hour-long remake of the first 24 episodes (there were 26 in all...the last 2 being the "alternate" ending). So it was pretty good, you know, as a review.

By the end of the original show, the main characters have all gone through some form of mental trauma, and each is either questioning his or her existence, his or her usefulness and worth to the rest of humanity, or his or her decisions and relationships with some of the other characters. Basically, everyone you thought was mentally stable ends up falling apart and doing some irrational crap, and everyone you knew was pretty messed up all along goes completely berserk.

The main character, Ikari Shinji, has given up on life and this thought processes are revealed to the viewer. He is locked in a mental argument with his comrades, who are constantly bombarding him with difficult questions and driving him deeper and deeper into his depressed and insane state. He feels compelled to do what he does, although he is aware that he has total freedom of choice. He can't figure out why he has to pilot the Eva suits, and is coming off a string of failed attempts to simply walk away from the situation.

By this time in the show, the Japanese government organization SEELE, has decided that NERV (the organization running the Eva program) has overstepped its bounds and tries to hack into the central computer system. SEELE has ulterior motives to destroy the human race, in order to solve all of humanity's problems and bind everyone's spirits into one entity. NERV succeeds in locking them out of the system, but SEELE mounts an all-out military invasion, which is permitted to use the lowest of barbaric strategies to completely obliterate even the non-militant NERV employees. This is perhaps the most appalling scene of the show, as defensless men and women are brutally shot, fireballed, and stabbed to death. It's literally a bloodbath, and the soldiers attacking don't seem to be satisfied with simply killing their victims, but obviously feel the need to riddle their bodies with bullets (just in case). I would say that it is, in fact, the worst part of show, but it gets weirder.

I don't wish to go into much detail on the remainder of the show, but there is much nudity and sexual imagery that goes into the last of the movies, which made me uncomfortable. I wondered just how necessary it was in the overall scheme of things, but I'm sure the creator wanted to make some sort of point.

The part that left the worst taste in my mouth, however, was watching all the characters that I liked get brutally murdered and die in obscurity. I liked Misato and Ritsuko! I liked Rei, but she was part of the creepiest thing that happened. The only two people who actually survived were Shinji and Asuka. And the ending scene was Shinji trying to strangle Asuka. So anyway...

I liked the original ending, even though it wasn't supposed to be the real ending. There's too much going on in that show to write a decent review or accurately express my feelings about it. I liked it, although it's going to take time to accept what had to happen to everyone. Perhaps someday I'll watch it again and understand it better. Maybe next time I'll be able to cope with the annihilation of all those characters and the rest of humanity.