Gran Turino

Although I watched the movie when it first came out, I got the chance to see Clint Eastwood's film again a few nights ago. All I remembered from the movie was the old man overcoming his Asian racism and actually loving his Asian neighbors. Watching it a second time, I was able to get some more values and lessons out of the well made movie.

The movie does a great job portraying the disrespectful attitude of teenagers nowadays. The way the grandchildren treat Walt at his wife's funeral just shows the lack of common sense of a lot of kids. Only calling and talking to the grandpa when they need something (like the Gran Turino) shows how selfish we've all become. It's true if we think about our own situations. We act like we all of a sudden care about other people when we need something from them. Not many of us genuinely care for people we should be caring and loving.

The scene where a grandma drops her groceries and the kids walking past make sexual jokes when she can't see shows how immature kids have become. As audience, we agree that those behaviors are stupid and unnecessary, but when we are with our friends we go ahead and act similarly just to be the 'cool' kid.

In that sense, the Western society has a lot to learn from Asian cultures in things related to respect. Although most Asian families aren't as traditional and strict as the one portrayed as Thao and Sue's family, most Asian kids are still raised to be respectful to their parents and elders. At the least, that is one thing that Americans should learn. I see kids mocking and cursing at their teachers or coaches, thinking they are better than them. Although some adults might be ridiculous in how they act, all adults should be respected as they are our elders.

Another sad point from the movie was how easy it is for children from poor neighborhoods to join the gang. As it was shown when Thao was first being persuaded to join the Asian gang, there is not much going for kids living in those neighborhoods. They don't have a future in academics and it is hard for them to find a legitimate job. They have no goal in life, but are scared they will get picked on around the area. When a gang come around and promises that they will protect him and help him make easy money if they join their gang, it is easy for teenagers to follow the gang.

Ultimately, the movie points out that revenge should not be an eye-for-an-eye. If Walt decided to go and try to shoot everybody that's part of the gang, he would have most likely failed and also could have caused more trouble for Thao's family. This was shown when he first went over and beat up the fat Asian. They came back and raped Sue and shot at their house. Walt learned from his mistake and realized that he should think bigger. He needed to get rid of the root of the problem, which was the gang. That is what a lot of people are mistaken when they act out of vengeance. They act emotionally and if successful, only solve the problem temporarily. For Walt, he needed a way for the problem to never come back and haunt his Asian neighbors.

Overall, the movie is great. Great acting and great lessons to be learned. It shows a different perspective of what it is to live in a ghetto neighborhood and that being part of a gang is pathetic.

Money Money MONEY!!!

My expense this month is sky rocketing at an extreme rate and I don't know when it's going to stop. First was the timing belt in my car that cost my $330. Now today I come back to my car to realize the battery died on my. Jumping the car was only effective for a while, as it died again by the time I got to the dealership. Leaving my car there for the night, I should be expecting a payment of about $100 tomorrow as they will replace my battery. Already having spent around $450, I spent around $100 more on grocery this month, $60 on gas, $60 on a gym locker, and $20 on my haircut. Considering I will make at most $400 at my part-time job this month, I will be in major deficit.

I am planning on starting up this new business called ETS (English Tutor through Skype). The concept is to help Koreans (that live in Korea) maintain/improve their English speaking ability through skyping with a native American. I am trying to recruit both my American friends as teachers and Koreans as students. For now, both sides are not responding as positively as I thought they would. Both sides think having a 1:1 skype session will be too awkward. But in the end, wouldn't it just be easy money for the teacher and a great way to practice your English for the Koreans?

I am trying to find ways to make more money but it's obviously not as easy as it sounds.

Why couldn't I just have been born an American so I could've gotten that Obama Scholarship to ASU and don't have to worry about any of these expenses. Damn.

Man U vs Man City

One of the most memorable Man U games ever.

The Rise of the Apes

Although quite predictable, the Rise of the Planet of the Apes did a great job in luring the audience into the movie and its climactic scenes. With a great story line and impressive acting, no wonder the movie at above an 80% on Rotten Tomatoes.

What made the audience feel connected to the Apes were their eyes. By looking at their eyes, we could sense that they were thinking and feeling the same way as humans do. Will and Caesar both actually observe the eyes when they test if the apes have developed. Eyes actually tell a lot when you look at somebody. You can almost see their personality in them. You can also sense if the person is a sharp/bright individual, or rather a nonchalant/'dont care about life' type.

The problem with Will (main character) is that he treats Caesar like a pet, when he shows remarkable intelligence. When Caesar realizes he is treated as an inferior being, that is when he makes the hard decision to not go back to Will. Maybe this is where the dolphin argument comes in when documentary such as The Cove condemns human behavior to such intelligent species. Although I am not favoring any other animal slaughter, there is a difference from killing a chicken and a dolphin. Dolphins and gorillas(apes) are sophisticated enough to live in a group and organize a family. They live a structured life and have signs that they actually communicate.

One thing we should get out of this movie is that we, humans, are to pompous and ignorant. We think we are in control of this world, where if something like that really happened, most of us will be helpless. We need to understand that we are actually nothing. We are powerless beings that behave invincible with all the technology we have developed. However, with such technology, we are getting even weaker. Now, we get tired after only walking a few miles. We need our computers, cell phones, and cars for anything we do. Think about if the internet went out for a few days. What would we do!

In order for anything to change positively in this world, we need to change our attitude. We need to become more humble and appreciate everything around us. Maybe when all appreciates the nature and resources surrounding us, we will live in a less controversial and destructive world.

Need for Change

In order for people to start changing, we need the Korean society to start changing first. There are numerous topics I would like to go with this idea, but I just want to start with people's manners. When Sara came to visit me in Korea, one thing she pointed out was that there doesn't seem to be any "gentleman" among Koreans. What she meant by this is that Koreans are just straight-out rude to strangers. When you walk down the streets in Korea, it is easy to observe the grim expressions on people's faces. They aren't happy and they don't want to be messed around with. When you bump into somebody, rather than hearing a "I'm sorry" it is more common to receive the death stare or a rude comment similar to WTF.

The funny thing is once you get to know these rude people, they become genuinely nice. They are actually kind people. They don't hesitate to help a friend out or have a sincere conversation with their friends. In other words, Koreans are even more two-faced than Westerners.

Americans (Westerners) are known commonly as being two-faced. They seem nice to you when they are talking to you, but you don't know what they will say about you when you are not there. They seem like they are genuinely interested in you, but in reality, they don't give a shit about you one bit.

It seems like the exact opposite for Koreans. A lot of people are openly rude to strangers. However, once you know somebody, you treat them truthfully. When you don't like the individual you keep your distance, rather than faking a smile or a laugh. Then again, when you see a waitress or a receptionist being overly nice to you, you know it's fake. It's way too overdramatic to the point that it is unnecessary. I would rather prefer the American way, where people are rather straight-forward with you when you ask for some service.

To judge which culture is better is impossible and rather impractical. However, in a general standpoint, I would have to go with the Western culture. There are common etiquettes people need to follow. Saying "Excuse me", or "I am sorry" should be a common and automatic saying if you bother somebody. If you do get bumped or disturbed by others unnecessarily, you should have the courtesy to accept the apology and be nice. These common manners are lacking in our Asian country. We don't hold open the doors for people behind us in public, and we are prone to cut people off whenever we get the chance.

We hope that the younger generation will be better than us and the older generation in having and following these common manners. However, people need to realize that kids learn from their parents. They look up to adults and follow what grown-ups do around them. When adults are giving the death stare to strangers or insulting them for some minor bump, what are the kids going to learn?

For our country to change, the adults need to lead the cause. Without efforts from them, there will be no improvement in the near future. It doesn't matter if Korea has become a developed country with one of the top leading economies in the world. Countries such as Canada and New Zealand are considered more developed countries than us. When you go to these countries, you see how cultured the general population is. People are educated not only academically but culturally. Without these basic things fixed and improved among us, we will always be perceived as a developing, third-world country.

The Problem with Korea's future

It comes down to the children and the teenagers. They are the problems who will have to lead and form Korea in a few decades. However, the problem does not start because of the kids, but because of the parents, especially the moms.

Before getting to the main point, I would like to point out to the fathers. Although this is a societal problem, which I will get to in a future post, Korean fathers are pretty much absent from their children's lives. They disappear throughout the week and are there on the weekends mostly sleeping or yelling at their sons and daughters. They easily get annoyed and do not talk much to their children. They would rather spend their time watching the 9 o'clock news or some tv shows, rather than conversing with their families. Rather than coming home, they would rather go out to drink with their colleagues and friends. In the list of priorities, their children will probably be on the bottom of their list.

The main problem with this is that the kids come to think of their father as an intimidating and distant figure. The fathers are only there to punish them when they do something wrong. The moms wait for the dads to come home so they can tell him what the kid did wrong that day. As the kids hate their dad coming home (and go directly into their rooms to avoid him), they don't really get a chance to talk to their dads about their daily problems. Thus, when dad comes home early, it makes everything awkward.

Especially for sons, they need their father in their lives. Dad is somebody they could really talk to about things that moms don't understand. Dads are those who you can go out to exercise with or play ball together on the weekends. Sons and dads are supposed to be best friends. In Korea, however, that is nonexistent.

The real problem arises with the moms. Korean moms are the definition of "helicopter" moms. They are involved in everything that is going on in their children's lives. They decide which school and academies the children will go to, when their kids are able to go hang out with their friends, and even which friends they can hang out with. The kids' lives are totally controlled by their moms that they live like zombies. The funny thing is, most kids hate their moms, but eventually they don't know how to go about living their own lives that they come to rely on their moms.

This doesn't just stop at high school. Going into college, it almost seems like a lot of kids go to school for their parents. So that their mom has bragging rights. Once a kid gets into one of the top schools in the country, it is time for the mom to go out and party. (It's quite crazy to see how devout mothers get religiously while their kids are in their final year of high school. Churches are always packed daily with mothers praying for their kids) She goes out and buys everybody dinner (while bragging about her child). This makes all the other moms jealous and they come back home and nag their children for not being as good as the one that got into the prestigious school.

I would say throughout college is when parents let their children loose for a while. This is because kids finally have to live a little after all the studying they did since middle school. Some kids go crazy because they have never experienced such freedom before. They go out and drink every night that they lose control of their lives. However, as they become upperclassmen, the parents come back into the picture. Now they are busy finding internships and part-time jobs for their kids. They nag their kids on how important it is to get employed and advise them on what type of job they should apply for.

If you think the controlling parents are gone after college, you are mistaken. After graduation, parents are also trying to find jobs for their kids. They also try to find the right girlfriend or boyfriend for their sons and daughters. I mean they obviously have to try to arrange a marriage for their kids now too, right? Once their son (daughter) gets a job and receives her first paycheck, guess who that goes to? MOM.

I was actually discussing this with my mother and was shocked in her beliefs. She believes that it is right for the son to give his whole paycheck to his mother and still receive allowance from her. Now the job for the mom is to save the money in a bank and eventually with enough money, start investing in buildings and stocks. As for the son, he doesn't know what is happening with his money since he is still receiving allowance from his mother. I am not trying to say that we can't trust mothers in how they invest the money. The problem with this whole situation is that their sons and daughters will lack the ability to manage their own bank account. Even as they grow into their 30s and 40s, they wouldn't know how to manage money since all their lives they lived by getting money from their moms.

Overall, the main problems with Korean kids is lack of independence and lack of bonding with their fathers. Even with their mothers, the relationship is pretty much a dictatorship, controlled by the 'helicopter' mothers. Korean moms have to let their kids live a little. Let the children go out and play. Let them experience things on their own and learn on their own. Let them learn life lessons by getting hurt a little. This will make stronger men and women in society. And with stronger people, there will be a stronger society.

A post related to topic on Time : http://t.co/i3N388S via @TIME

Ip Man

I was finally able to watch Ip Man 2 today.

Although a little bit cornier than the first movie, the sequel still did not fail to impress me. The actions, story line, and acting were all great. (Except the acting of the Englishmen were a bit awkward at times)

The only problem I had with the movie was that it ended up being kind of like a 'Rocky' movie. It was a boxing match between a world champion and a Chinese martial art master (Ip Man). Although the world champion seems invincible, Ip Man successfully defeats him and runs to his loving wife. (typical Rocky movie ending)

The movie had great action, just like the Jackie Chan movies when he used to be young.

It's always great to get to see Chinese martial art in movies.

What makes the Ip Man movies most memorable are the plots. Similar to Korea, China suffered through the imperialism of Japan and the Westerners. They had to endure the the pain of racial discrimination. In this chaos, Ip Man is a type of hero for the peasants. He is a poor martial art master, who can't stand injustice. He is sympathetic and cares most about his family and his pupils. By teaching a form of martial art called Wing Chun, he teaches that you can attack by defending. Thus, his way of fighting is not aggressive, but rather passive.

The most memorable lesson viewers should get out of the movie is the modesty shown by Ip Man. Although he is the best fighter in his city, he never is pompous. Rather, he uses violence as a last resort. Unlike other martial art masters, he never even forces his pupils to pay, since he understands the hardship everybody is going through due to the imperialistic forces. The contrast shown between him and the European boxer is the epitome of modesty. The press conference where Ip Man directly challenges the European seems to symbolize the European Arrogance vs Asian Humility.

Overall, the Ip Man sequels are both well made movies. I love the acting of Donnie Yen as Ip Man. Maybe for the third movie, it will be based on the rise of Bruce Lee as his pupil.