Double Dip for Koreans in Golf

Koreans took over the golf world yesterday as the winners of both the PGA and LGPA tournaments hailed from the motherland.

KJ Choi earned his 4th victory on the PGA Tour at the Chrysler Open, a tournament he also won in 2002. He entered the 4th round as the leader and extended his lead throughout the day by shooting a 4-under 67 to close things out. The win was his first since 2004 and was also important because the $954,000 payday vaulted him from #68 on the money list to #26. That got him into the season ending Tour Championship where only the Top 30 money winners are invited. It also got him invited to the Mercedes Championship at the beginning of next season where only winners from the previous year are able to compete. Congratulations KJ on another great year!

By the way....local boy Dean Wilson also qualified for both tournaments I just mentioned by finishing 20th on the money list and also by winning The International. Go boy!

On the LPGA, newcomer Hong Jin Joo took the crown at the Kolon-Hana Bank Championship. The win got her $202,000 and also a full time exemption for the LPGA Tour next year. Hong is only 23 years old and will no doubt be joining many other Koreans in joining the LPGA next year. The previous 2 winners of this tournament (formerly known as the CJ Nine Bridges) Ahn Shi Hyun and Lee Jee Young also received LPGA exemptions and are currently competing full time on the LPGA. Looks like we'll be seeing more of Hong Jin Joo next year.

UH Football is Getting Expensive!

I went to my first UH football game of the season tonight to see the Warriors play the Idaho Vandals. It was an exciting game with lots of UH action and the Warriors pummeled the Vandals 68-10.

I didn't want to buy tickets beforehand cuz I wanted to check out the scalping scene to see if I could get a deal. I checked online and discovered that tickets were going for $38 sideline, $32 South end zone, and $27 North end zone. Wow! Expensive, yeah? So I sauntered on over to the area near the ticket office to see what kind of deal I could pull.

First off, most of the people selling the tix were the type that you'd be afraid to see coming at you at night on an isolated street. Hell, I'd be scared to see these guys in a crowded mall in daylight! But I gotta get tix right? Hmm...I've always wondered...how are these people getting so many tickets for each game, and in premium seats too? A question for another day....

So I went over to the first guy, and he refused to sell any ticket for less than face value. Yeah, good luck with that buddy! I went to the next big local dude I saw carrying tix. I was with my dad so I needed 2 seats. He offered 2 50 yard line seats (section K) in the orange for $75. Yeah, right! I countered with $50 (face value for the two being $76). I wanted to sit in good seats cuz I was now spoiled by the luxury box experience in San Francisco so end zone seats were out of the question. Anyway, when he heard $50 coming out of my mouth, I swear I thought he was gonna hit me. He gave me a real dirty look and told me I should look elsewhere. I then gave him the "Hey, come on! I'm doing YOU a favor by taking them off your hands! Game's gonna start soon and you're gonna be stuck with them!" He brushed me off. So I then countered with $60. He still said no. His partner next to him (an even bigger guy) then asked his friend what seats I was trying to buy. He told him and the bigger guy was all like "No way we going sell those for $60! Go buy your tickets someplace else!"

Getting desperate, I offered $70, which he finally accepted. So I saved a whopping $6. But you know what? I still think I made out. If I had went the legit way and bought my tix at the box office, I woulda been standing in line for at least 20 minutes and I more than likely woulda bought 2 South endzone seats (so I can face the scoreboard) for $64. The way I looked at it, I saved the time and hassle of waiting in line, and got way better seats in the process. Did I get had and could I have found a better deal elsewhere? Perhaps. Bah. Whatevahs.

So after spending $70 on cover charge, we found our seats and they were excellent! Literally 50 yard line, in the orange section, 2 rows from the top orange row. I've been to Aloha Stadium many times and this was the best seat I've ever had there (except for empty Pac-5 football games) so I was pretty stoked.

Then, of course you gotta eat, right? We smuggled in 2 homemeade spam musubi but of course that's not enough. Started off with a beer ($5.50), a large soda ($3.50), and nachos ($5.75). That's $14.75 off the bat. Wow, all of a sudden I'm feeling like Rachael Ray trying to spend less than $40 a day. That got us through the 1st quarter. We then ate our musubi at the beginning of the 2nd.

At halftime, I wanted to buy some fried noodles but they were all sold out so just got Cinnabites ($5.50), a coffee ($1.50), and a mochachino frappacino whatevahs ($5.50). That was a really stupid purchase. I only drank about half, it was so damn sweet (like me ^_^). So that was another $12.50.

So you throw in another $5 for parking and you're looking at a tab of $102.25 for the night. And I didn't even get any action out of it! (Kidding!) I may be a dollar off here or there but you get the point.

But you know what? I really don't mind spending money if what it was spent on was thoroughly enjoyed. I had a great time at the game, got to spend some QT with my dad, and had some decent food (although I do regret the mocha frappahwhatevahs). So I blew a Benjamin tonight. No biggie, cuz I had a good time and that's all good.

Note: But it would've been a lot better if I had the balls to lay the 26 points! (For amusement only of course!)

Nintendo wii vs. Sony Playstation 3

Here's a hilarious commercial comparing the new gaming console Nintendo Wii vs. the Sony Playstation 3. I don't play video games, but if I had to pick one, I'd go with the Wii!

HIFF Report

I've seen all the films I've planned on seeing at HIFF this year. Here's some mini-reviews on them:
Dog Bite Dog - Dog Bite Dog is a pretty over the top and out there semi-action flick about a hitman from Cambodia (Edison Chen) who arrives in Hong Kong to kill a judge's wife. The hitman was raised like an animal, relying on winning brutal fist fights to earn money and meals. After doing his deed, he's on the hunt by a police detective named Wai who is almost as relentless as the hitman. He'll go through any means to get his target. A chase through the city of Hong Kong ensues as one wild man tries to elude another.

I can't say that this film was bad nor good. But it was definitely interesting and bizarre. There's some taboo subjects approached and the violence is very very graphic. And one scene at the end just took the film way over the top. I mean, I've seen my share of bizarre and extreme films and Dog Bite Dog didn't startle me one bit by its content but it did amuse.

However, I would not recommend it overall unless you like to experience something with a little flavor. But the terrible acting performances may turn you off as well.

One more thing. The projectionist aligned the film incorrectly and we couldn't read the English subs for like the first 10 minutes. At first, I thought HIFF had played another film without subs like they did at K-Fest because all we could see wre the Chinese subs on screen. Then I realized that the English subs were below the Chinese subs but were covered up because the film was set up too low. Luckily, there wasn't much dialogue in the first 10 minutes so we didn't miss much.

There will be another HIFF showing of this film on Saturday, 10/28/06, at 10:00pm if you're interested in seeing it.
The Host - I thought it was a very well made movie and I especially liked all the bickering amongst the family members. The little dark comedy moments are what director Bong Joon Ho does very well as seen in Barking Dogs Don't Bite and Memories of Murder. The actors were solid all around including veterans Song Kang Ho, Bae Du Na, Byeon Hee Bong, and Park Hae Il. I also liked seeing some of the theater actors that Bong used in MOM in this film as well.

The monster parts were done really well also. I thought the carnage parts would be more graphic though. Overall, it was pretty tame, except for that one "bones" scene that was pretty gross.

All in all, an enjoyable film, but not as good as Bong's MOM. Of course, it is a different genre of film.
A Dirty Carnival - I loved this film and I already consider it to be in my Top 10 favorite Korean films of all time. It's that good, especially if you're a fan of the Korean gangster movie genre.

I've always been a fan of Jo In Seong's and he certainly delivers again here. A lot of people have said he was a sub-par actor but I suggest people watch the underrated romance film Madeleine, the drama What Happened in Bali, and A Dirty Carnival to see what kind of range this guy has. He's got a natural and raw ability to his acting. Jin Gu as the right hand man Jong Soo is also great. I'm glad to see this guy making a nice movie career for himself as he's now appeared in 2 of my favorite gangster movies, this one and also A Bittersweet Life. And Lee Bo Yeong was also good as the female love interest.

A Dirty Carnival was written and directed by Yoo Ha who also did Once Upon a Time in High School, starring Kwon Sang Woo. This guy also writes poetry so it's evident that this skills as a writer are great. His scenario for this film flowed smoothly and never lets go of its grip on you.

For you action fans, there are a number of very well choreographed action scenes in the typical Korean gang fight style with guys flying around with baseball bats and sashimi knives. Be prepared though, some parts can get kind of graphic.

I highly recommend this film and would watch it over and over again.

10/10.

Note: There will be one more showing of A Dirty Carnival at HIFF on Saturday, 10/28/06, at 10:30pm. Go check it out!

Those Crazy Koreans!

Even in a time of crisis, they know where their priorities are!

Motel Bookings, Condom Sales Surge Post Nuke Test

Lidia Fashion Show

I was asked to help out at the Lidia Fashion Show this past weekend at the Sheraton Hotel in Waikiki. I got there at around 3:30pm and watched them set up the lighting, the cameras, and also run through their dress rehearsal. I actually helped very little and ended up mostly as a spectator.

As I was walking through the hotel lobby on my way to the elevators, I saw a couple of the models walking towards the same place I was going to and I remember thinking...they're "okay". They were wearing casual clothes (jeans, shorts, t-shirt, tank tops, etc) and looked pretty normal. Attractive, but not stunning.But I must say...when they did the dress rehearsal...wow! Big difference! The same models I saw in the lobby downstairs looked like they had gone through a transformation. I guess makeup, hair, lighting, and clothes do make a big difference!I was tempted to click pics (of course I had my dica on me) during the dress rehearsal cuz I was sitting in the front row right next to the end of the catwalk but there were only about a dozen or so staff people around and I didn't want to be that creepy pervert taking pictures of the models so I resisted my temptation.Then showtime came and the people started filing in. These people paid either $150 for a regular seat or $300 for a VIP treatment. Whoa. Some notables were there including Ann Kobayashi and Jeff Chung of KBFD. The event was MCed by KHON reporter Tanya Joaquin and some Korean dude I didn't know. All in all, there were about 500 people in attendance.During the actual show, I didn't hold back from taking pics cuz everyone else was doing it too so I felt less self conscious about being a pervert. Unfortunately, the lighting was really strong and I couldn't figure out how to accomodate that on my dica so my pics didn't turn out that great. Sorry. Here's a little video of the opening act:

There were also a couple of Korean male celebrities who came to model. One was Shin Hyun Joon from the drama Stairway to Heaven and the 2 Married to the Mafia sequels. Here he is:Comedian/actor Tak Jae Hoon also modeled.Tak and Shin were both entertaining as they played up to the crowd and the ajummas loved it. There were a group of 4 ajumma (housewives) standing next to me taking pics and they were going nuts. Every time either of the male celebs hit the catwalk, they'd literally jump and down, clap, dance, and take pics of themselves with the celeb in the background. These are all ladies in their 40s and 50s now. Amazing.After the fashion show was over, there were 3 Korean male singers who performed a concert. I have no idea who any of them were though.Overall, I had a good time! It was my first fashion show ever and it was pretty cool. The designs by Lidia looked good and stylish and I must say I was a little impressed. There were even some pretty revealing ones that didn't cover anything up. You could see the audience get a little embarassed when those came out. But overall, I had a good time and I definitely would consider going to another fashion show in the future.

Ha Ji Won at HIFF

Popular Korean drama and film actor Ha Ji Won made an appearance at HIFF yesterday, speaking at the press conference and then presenting her latest film Duelist at the Dole Cannery Theater. She is the star of the hit dramas Damo and What Happened in Bali as well as the films Sex is Zero, Phone, and Daddy Long Legs. She is currently starring in the historical drama Hwang Jin Yi.

So anyways...did anyone go to either event and check her out? I'm just curious cuz she's one of my favorite actresses but couldn't go see her in person. How'd it go? Meh...even if this gets no responses, it's an excuse to post some pics of her! LOLJust added - HIFF has a video blog of Ha Ji Won presenting her film at Dole Cannery. Wow, she really dressed up! She could've done the jeans and T-shirt thing like every other star but she chose to wear a nice dress. Classy! Hey Jeff Chung...how about translating everything she says next time instead of giving the Cliffs Notes version? LOL

Dinner at Seoul Garden

Seoul Garden is probably my overall favorite Korean restaurant in Hawaii. It's located on Kapiolani Blvd across from 24 Hour Fitness and right next to a club where I hear they have nude women dancing. Wow, we have those types of places in Hawaii?

As for Korean restaurants, I also like Yakiniku Seoul and have heard that Mikawon is good as well but I've never been there. Also, personally I think the very popular Sorabol is "bleah". But that's just me. The quality of meat at Seoul Garden is great and their lunch specials are very filling, tasty, and reasonable. $5.95 at lunch will get you a stew, a bowl of rice, and choke side dishes.

Anyways, I had dinner at Seoul Garden and thought I'd share some pics:

Ordered the 양념갈비 (seasoned short ribs) and also an order of 해물파전(seafood pancake).

First comes the 반찬 (side dishes):
Here's the kalbi:
Whever you order meat in a Korean restaurant, they bring you a stew as part of your order:
And finally, the seafood pancake:The kalbi was winnahs. Ono seasoning and melt in yo mouth! The seafood pancake was ordinary though. I've had better at other places like Yakiniku Seoul and Little Seoul. But still, Seoul Garden comes highly recommended from me.

Joining the Hi-Tech DVR World Finally!

I finally got around to joining the hi-tech world of DVR. I've been meaning to do this for a while but was waiting for a system that would record in HD. So I called Oceanic last week to check out their equipment cuz I think I remember reading somewhere that the popular Tivo didn't have HD recording capability yet or that it was super expensive. Oceanic said they indeed had HD-DVR and I was stoked! This is the box they gave me - The Explorer 8300HD Digital Video Recorder.

So I went down to Ala Moana Sears to exchange my current box for the HD-DVR one. When I got there, it was insanity. There were literally approximately 60-70 people there waiting. I pulled my number and got J07. The current number being served was 82. So I was thinking, not bad...just another 25 numbers then it's my turn. As the counter people started yelling out 01, 02, 03, etc. I noticed that they were saying "I-01", "I-02", "I-03". And I had J-07! So instead of 25 in front of me, there were 125! Crazy! But since I was already there and had my box in my hand, I didn't want to come back so I decided to wait it out, playing soccer on my cell phone. About 50 minutes later, my number finally gets called and I exchange my box. Apparently, a lot of people were there because the earthquake messed up their systems. If I had just went last week, I would've had less than a 10 minute wait. Oh well.

So I get home and install the box and hook it up to my TV. Right away, I test out the pause, rewind, FF capabilities. Cool! Then I set it to record a couple of HD programs like Sportscenter (which looks awesome in HD, btw) overnight as I slept. I woke up this morning and played it back. Worked like a charm! Another nice thing about getting a new box is that you get all the pay channels for free for a few days. So I programmed my box this morning to record a few movies on HDHBO and HDSHO like Ocean's Twelve and The Longest Yard. Might as well get em while they're free, right? Ooh yeah, one more thing...I can use PIP (picture in picture) now! Aw-right! The next step for me now is to upgrade my connection to my TV to HDMI. That should make a big difference. Anyone have any suggestions on HDMI cable? Splurge the big bucks for name brands or are generic just the same?

Anyways, I'm totally in love with this new box. It's gonna cost me $9.95 additional per month but it's so worth it. Now I can pre-program it to record all of my favorite shows and I removed my VCR which I now don't need. Plus, I get the first month free for signing up. Here are the shows I plan on recording now that I have this DVR. These include shows that I don't normally watch cuz of lack of time or not being home but always meant to watch and now can at my convenience:

Amazing Race, Heroes, Lost, Survivor, Saturday Night Live, MadTV

Park Yong Ha Concert

I went to check out the Park Yong Ha concert this past weekend at the Waikiki Shell. Didn't really plan on going but was offered free tickets so I thought why not? Might be some honies there, right?

For those unfamiliar, Park Yong Ha is a Korean actor/singer. He's probably best known for appearing in the K-drama Winter Ballad aka Winter Sonata. This drama was very very huge in Japan. He also sang the love theme for the K-drama All In. He's actually way more popular in Japan than he is in Korea due to his appearance in that drama I guess. Honestly, I really don't know too much about the guy.

So I get to the Shell, and sure enough, the audience was primarily female. I'd say that out of the approximate 2,000 people in attendance, I think I saw less than 100 men in the whole place, including the security people! Babe fest, right? Nope! The majority of the women there were on the older side. Makes sense I guess, since that's the fan base for these K-dramas. And the crowd was primarily Japanese tourists who had purchased packages just to attend this concert in Hawaii.

As for the concert itself, it actually wasn't that bad. His band was very impressive. He had a trumpet player, a sax player, a trombone player, a drummer, another percussionist, 2 guitar players, 1 bass player, and a keyboard player. Very elaborate! And they sounded pretty good too. And Park himself was pretty impressive as a singer, singing both in Japanese and Korean.

We weren't supposed to bring in any dicas or video equipment cuz they were filming the concert for a later to be released concert DVD but I smuggled my dica in and took a brief bootleg of singing the song from All In. Not that I like the song or anything. It's just that it's his most recognizable song and I like doing things I'm not supposed to do. I woulda recorded more of the song but this stoopid lady was standing right in front of my viewing angle and didn't move till the last minute. Here's the video:

Earthquake!!!

So what did you do with your Sunday?

I was in bed when the quake happened. I actually woke up at around 6am but decided it was too early to do some final checks on my fantasy football lineup so I went back to bed to get another 30 minutes of sleep. Then at around 7:10am I felt the tremors as my bed shook and woke me up. Surprisingly, I had a pretty calm reaction and just thought to myself, "Hmm...musta been an earthquake". I thanked the earthquake for waking me up so I could watch the early NFL games.

So I went to my computer to check out NFL.com to see what action I had missed. As I was checking out the first game of stats, the power went out. Aw man! But then it came right back on, and it was like, aw-right! Then it went out again, this time for good. Like the rest of the island, my power was kaput. So I decided to go back to bed to wait it out. Got up at 10:00am to discover that power was still out. Aw come on! Oh yeah, I also forgot to mention that since I live in a condo, our water is controlled by a pump which means no power, no water too.

So it's 10:00am, I'm dirty but I'm hungry so I decide to go out to check out the neighborhood. Maybe the McD's was open I thought to myself. I head out my door and discover that the elevator's not operating. Of course, you dummy! Since I'm on the 20th floor, I decided not to venture out cuz the walk back up the stairs was not too appealing. So I caught up on my stack of magazines that haven't been read yet. That took about an hour and after I was done, I went back to take another nap. Talk about lazy...

At around 12 noon, I couldn't stand being home anymore so I decided to go out, despite the elevator not working. Plus, I wanted to listen to the radio to get some updates. I drove around Salt Lake, saw lines at the Safeway as people were waiting to buy water, bread, etc in a darkened store. There was also a ton of people outside of the Korean bbq place. I guess they were able to cook some food up. Then I heard on the radio that Pearl City and Aiea had their power back on so I drove out that way. I was getting hungry at this point so I drove to the Waimalu Safeway to check it out. It was open but the lines were just too long. It was the same at Domino's Pizza and the Chinese restaurant too. So I drove by Daiei to see the action over there. Daiei was open but all the ready to eat stuff like musubi, bento was all gone of course.

Disappointed and hungry, I drove home but decided to make one last check in the Aiea area. Discovered that the 7-11 was open and there wasn't much of a line. Aw-right! I love 7-11! Bought me a bento and some sandwiches, a Gatorade and I was good to go!

Got home and of course the elevator wasn't working so I trekked up the stairs. Surprisingly, it wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be and amazed even myself by going all the way up without pausing for a breather.

Finally, power came back on at around 5:10pm and water about an hour after. We were one of the lucky ones. The other side of the street still didn't have power as late as 12midnight. So power was back on but no cable and no internet. That really sucked. I felt like I was going nuts, not being able to go online.

The funny thing is, throughout the whole day, the thing that bothered me most was the inability to check the football stats to see how my fantasy players were doing as well as how my "amusement" plays were doing. That was the most frustrating thing, if anything. Tells you where my priorities are, right? LOL

But the good thing is Oahu got off pretty light, despite the power outage. No one was hurt and as I witnessed myself, people were all acting in a calm manner and just dealing with the situation without complaining, arguing, etc. Plus, no one was hurt too. We were all lucky. It could've been a lot worse.

Hawaii International Film Festival - Fall 2006 Lineup

The film lineup has been announced for HIFF's Fall 2006 Festival.

Overall, an average lineup if you ask me. But then again, my area of interest is mostly Korean, HK, and Japanese films. Volunteering at their office one Saturday, I saw their big board of films that they were working on acquiring and I'm disappointed to see that a few of the ones I had my eye on didn't make the lineup. Oh well.

Here are the ones I bought my ticket for already:

Dog Bite Dog - Hong Kong action flick

Host - Korean sci-fi movie. This movie broke all the Korean box office records and is Korea's highest grossing movie of all time. Directed by Bong Joon Ho who also did the excellent Memories of Murder. Can't wait for this one.

A Dirty Carnival - Korean gangster drama. I liked director Yu Ha's first film (Once Upon a Time in High School) and I like the lead Jo In Sung so looking forward to this one.

An Evening with Kevin Smith - I'm just a big fan of the guy's work so when I heard he'll be in town, I signed up for this one. Guaranteed to be entertaining.

Unfortunately, I don't think I'll be volunteering at this Fall's Festival like I usually do due to lack of time. Volunteering at the HIFF has always been good for a few kicks and to meet interesting new people and I'll miss the opportunity. Oh well, there's always next time.

Foreigners' Views on Korea

Every Chuseok holiday, there are a bunch of specials on TV cuz lots of people are at home watching TV. I caught one this past week that I found pretty interesting.

It was called Global Talk Show or something like that and they had a panel of 16 females from other countries such as Russia, Colombia, Mongolia, Japan, China, USA, Canada, etc. who are currently living in Korea giving their insights on what they thought of Korean culture. It was a pretty funny show! It's always amusing to hear another point of view of your culture and its oddities. Plus, I was impressed with some of their Korean skills. Amazing!

Anyways, the format was the MC presented a question and then showed the Top 5 responses and the 16 females would share their experiences on the subject. Here were some of the questions:

Q) What do you find annoying about Korean women?

1) They make men carry around their handbags no matter how little and light they are
2) They fix their makeup anywhere and anytime
3) They pretend to have little appetites when eating with men
4) They talk nicely in front of you, but nasty about you behind your back
5) They insist they didn't have cosmetic surgery when it's obvious they did

Q) Who are the sexiest Korean guys?

1) Daniel Henney
2) Jang Dong Gun
3) Won Bin
4) Bi (Rain)
5) Kang Dong Won

Q) What do you like about Korean guys?

1) No body hair (Me - yep!)
2) They know how to spend money (Me - yep!)
3) They're very affectionate and expressive of their feelings (Me - yep!)
4) They call often, day or night (Me - nope!)
5) They remember the special days/occasions like Valentines' Day, 100 Day Anniversary, White Day, etc. (Me - yep!)

Q) What are your favorite date spots?

1) Bar
2) Restaurant
3) Movie Theater
4) Sauna
5) DVD Room (We don't have these here but basically it's kind a like a karaoke place but instead of singing, you get a room, sit in a sofa and watch a movie on DVD. It's common for couples to go here to make out...so I hear ^-^;;)

Q) What's a Korean night club like?

1) No time to sit! Because of booking (See here for an explanation booking from personal experience)
2) They give lots of prizes for dance contests
3) Can meet celebrities
4) Men pay for drinks (yeah, what's up with that? LOL)
5) Men just watch you dance without dancing themselves

Q) What are the weirdest Korean foods?

1) Dog meat
2) 번데기 (Beondaegi - Basically, it's the larva of a butterfly. Nasty!)
3) Raw octopus - That thing is still moving and squirming as you're chewing and eating it!
4) 순대 (Soondae or Korean sausage - Very popular snack but I don't eat it myself)
5) 선지국 (Seonjikook or Soup made with pork blood - Supposedly good for hangovers!)

There was also one segment where they were discussing Korean drinking habits and especially one part where the foreign girls were wondering why all Koreans say "Khhhh!!!" after each swig of soju (the sound is hard to express in writing but that's the best I could do). They were asking if it tastes that bad then why drink so much of it? The Korean male celebs on the show then explained that it's not because it tastes bad, but it's an expression of how refreshing and enjoyable the drink is. If you've ever seen a Korean drink, you know the sound. There's also usually a slightly pinched facial expression that goes with it too.

Anyways, just thought I'd share. It was a pretty interesting show and it was funny to hear a foreigner's view of the Korean culture.

Mini Movie Review - The Departed

This is a great frickin' movie!

Because of my high anticipation of this film, of course I went out to watch it on opening night. Went to the 10:15pm show and was kind of disappointed to see the theater only about 1/3 full. But despite that, the overall box office take over the weekend of $27 million was quite impressive and director Martin Scorsese's highest opening by far. Hopefully, word of mouth will push this film into the $100 million range and it'll win some awards. It's that good.

Like I said in my initial post about this film, it's a remake of a classic Hong Kong crime flick called Infernal Affairs. The basic plot is that the gangsters have planted a mole in the police force and the police have planted a mole in the mob's gang. Each mole tries to help out their respective bosses while trying not to get discovered.

With a cast including Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson, Martin Sheen, Mark Wahlberg, and Alec Baldwin, it's hard to go wrong as they are all skilled veterans. Throw in the polished direction of Martin Scorsese (Goodfellas, Raging Bull) and you've got some awesome talent. All the actors performed excellently with Wahlberg and DiCaprio I think delivering the strongest performances. DiCaprio was impressive as the undercover cop forced into the mob world and he really grew on me as an actor. He didn't do as good a job as Tony Leung in the original, but he was still great. Wahlberg got all of the great lines in the film and you could tell he loved delivering them. His character was essentially added to the film cuz it wasn't in the original and he was a great addition.


But the star of the film, despite all the talent listed above was screenwriter William Monohan. Yeah, the film's a remake so the basic outline was already done for him but the dialogue he delivered was quite impressive. There were a lot of touches that made the film Boston-centric and I really liked the way he combined the 2 female characters of the original film into 1. It really cleaned things up. I also liked the way he kept some scenes from the original like the "How to tell someone's a cop" scene, the "arm cast" scene, and "handwriting on the envelope" plot device. If he had just included a scene of Damon and DiCaprio listening to stereo equipment together, it would've been perfection.

I'm writing all of this from the perspective of someone who's seen the original film and I can only imagine that the film would be even more affecting for someone who's seeing it with fresh eyes. For me, I kind of knew what was going to happen as each scene unfolded but for a first timer, they have the pleasure of experiencing the surprises the script delivers and it will make the film that much more exciting.

Anyway, I really enjoyed this film and very highly recommend it!

North Korea Conducts Nuclear Test

Crazy Kim Jong Il is at it again.

After performing missile tests back in July, North Korean leader Kim Jong Il has stepped up it up a notch and conducted an underground nuclear test. Seismic centers in America, Japan, and South Korea reported activity in North Korea at the time of the nuclear test at anywhere from a 3.6 to 4.9. The North Koreans are claiming that the test was a success and that no radiation leakage has been detected.

This move by the North is a clear slap in the face of the efforts taken by other countries to disarm and/or negotiate with North Korea. Kim Jong Il is obviously testing the United Nations Security Council to see if it will follow through on any threats made on the North.

In my opinion, he is taking a very dangerous step. It will not look good if the UN were to let this go without any sort of significant reaction, but how do we resolve the issue with anything short of war? Kim doesn't seem to care what the rest of the world thinks and is willing to do as he pleases. This kind of cavalier arrogance is scary. Hopefully, a peaceful resolution to all of this can be found.

Also...I wonder if it's coincidence that this nuclear test was held over the Chuseok holiday? The missile tests in July were held on the 4th, America's Independence Day, and now this nuclear test occurs over Korea's most significant holiday. Hmm....Actually, one article I read stated that the day is also an anniversary of the Foundation of the Labor Party in North Korea. But still...you have to wonder at the timing of the two events...

But this news will definitely take a toll on the South. Tensions between North and South are already heightened and this will only aggravate matters. Also, the South Korean stock market immediately took a deep plunge as a result of this news. The South Korean economy was already unstable and shaky before the news but this will only serve to further disenchant investors (both foreign and domestic) in Korean businesses.

We shall have to wait and see what kind of reaction the UN will come up with.

Happy Chuseok!

Today marks the beginning of Chuseok, the Korean Thanksgiving holiday. It is the major holiday of the year for Korea and is also known as the Harvest Moon Festival. Since the dates for Chuseok are based on the lunar calendar (the 15th day of the 8th lunar month each year) the dates change year to year and this year it is from 10/5 to 10/7.

There are many traditions that follow the Chuseok holiday and the main one is for people to return to their hometowns to pay respects to their ancestors. This usually results in major traffic jams as millions of people attempt to leave Seoul to the outskirting towns of their family origins. It also means that most businesses will close down for at least a 3 day period. If you throw in the National Foundation Day holiday that occurred on 10/3, you're looking at about a whole week off from work!

Once they reach their destinations, people will partake in traditions such as wearing hanbok, playing traditional games, paying respects and giving thanks to their ancestors, and most of all....eating! There's even a correct way to laying out food for the ancestors according to this Chosun Ilbo article. The most traditional food to eat during Chuseok is "songpyeon" which is a crescent shaped rice cake.
Chuseok also marks the time for a very busy movie season as lots of popcorn crowd pleasing movies are released. Choices this year include the gangster comedy Marrying the Mafia 3 (which will also be playing at this Fall's Hawaii International Film Festival at which star Shin Hyeon Joon will appear), the gambling drama Jjak Pae (which I hear is very good), the romantic drama Our Happy Time, as well as foreign films like Jackie Chan's latest as well as some American films.

Have a Happy Chuseok everyone!

The Amazing Race: Go Cho Bros!

(Diggin' the Berkeley T-shirt!)

Yes! The Cho Bros (Brothers Erwin and Godwin) came in 1st in this week's leg of The Amazing Race. Aw-right! They finally got some good luck and were able to catch the first bus to Vac, the village where the Detour was and were able to win the leg. Sweet!!! As for other notes from this week's ep (started in Mongolia, ended in Vietnam):

- If I hear Sarah whine one more time about her broken hydraulic knee, Ima gonna puke. While I do give her heaps of kudos for competing in this kind of race with her disability, she lost a lot of credibility with me when she tried to use her handicap to gain advantages earlier in the race. Don't say stuff like "I want to be seen as equal to other people" when you're gonna play the disability card at the drop of a hat. That's sad. And enough about the knee. It's leaking. We get it. I'm sorry you can't walk or run as well as the others because of it but you know what? I don't see it being any different from Mary hurting her ankle and not being able to run on that too.

- I can't believe father and daughter team Duke & Lauren 1) waited for the Vietnamese local to get her luggage from baggage claim and then 2) had the cab drop her off at her house! Are you kidding me? I would be just as frustrated as Lauren at Duke's stupidity. Not only did they waste money, but a lot of time! They're lucky as hell that cabbie let them off with the $11 they had left.

- Cool to see the gay team (Tom & Tery) and the Korean team (Erwin & Godwin) take a moment of silence in the Vietnamese prison to pay respects to the men who suffered there even if it meant losing some time. There are some things that are more important than the race.

- I find it interesting that the teams that have bonded are the all stereotype teams. The rednecks (David & Mary), the gays (Tom & Terry), the African-Americans (Lyn & Karlyn), and the Asians (Erwin & Godwin).

- The dating team of Rob & Kimberly is gonna blow up very soon. They're on the verge every leg of the race!

- Tom & Terry...don't be cryin' on national TV just for a 30 minute penalty! Come on now!

Survivor: Cop Out!!!

Well, those of you who watch Survivor know by now that they did away with the racial aspect of the game by merging the remaining 18 contestants into two tribes. Weak!!! I have to say I was so disappointed. Why make the big fuss over "Race Wars" if you're just gonna trash the whole concept after 2 weeks anyway? I don't get it! I was really looking forward to how they were going to balance the delicacy of racial issues along with the competition of the game and wanted to see how it played out. But now, we won't get to! Weak!!! What a cop out.

At least the 2 Korean contestants are still on the same team. I was getting scared there for a while when it looked like Cao Boi and that flaky roller girl were gonna boot off Becky but luckily they changed their minds and joined Yul, Becky, and Jonathan in voting off Cecilia. That leaves Ozzy and Sundra in a pickle I would say. Especially since Candace who went off to Exile Island is also part of that alliance. I was afraid that if Becky had been voted off, Yul would be soon to go after but hopefully that won't be the case. My man's already getting props for his play by magazines like Entertainment Weekly.

But what was up with that challenge? The Aitu team was getting caught from behind and Yul had the right of idea of just facing up and fighting them since there was no way they were gonna outrun them. But he was the only one to turn around and do it! The other guys didn't even turn around! Oh well.

I'm kind of afraid for the Aitu team though. All of the buff and in shape guys except for Yul are on the Raro tribe. The Aitu only has Yul, the pudgy Jonathan, the skinny and weak looking Ozzy, and the old man Cao Boi as the men remaining. Meanwhile, Raro has 4 young strong guys left. We'll see if this becomes an issue in future challenges.

I'll still be watching the show the rest of the way but CBS! Boo!!! You panties!

Watch This Movie!!!

I was talking with a friend recently about how movies nowadays are really crappy and there hasn't been one that really blew us away and made us say "Wow! That was a great frickin' movie!" in a long time. The last one that we could come up with was Road to Perdition which I felt never got the respect it was due. House of Flying Daggers came pretty close too. Films that I really enjoyed like Akeelah and the Bee are good too but not mind blowingly awesome. The majority of most films these days are sequels, remakes of TV shows, or comic book films. But there is one film I am really looking forward to.

Yes, it is a remake but the pedigree is hard to ignore. I'm talking about The Departed, a remake of the classic 2002 Hong Kong crime thriller Infernal Affairs. The story revolves around the classic world of cops and robbers. The gangsters have planted a mole in the police department to tip them off and the police have done the same by sticking one of their prize recruits into the mob world. It then becomes a game of cat and mouse as both become in danger of having their identities revealed as well as suffer over the choices they make in their alter ego worlds.

The HK film became an instant classic and spawned both a prequel and a sequel. And like the American version, it featured an all star cast. For the Hollywood version, you can't go wrong with a cast of Jack Nicholson, Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Alec Baldwin, Mark Wahlberg, and Martin Sheen. Toss in Martin Scorsese, one of the most influential directors of this age, and you appear to have a masterpiece in the making.

So go out next weekend and watch this film!!! The few advanced reviews I've read so far are all glowing and are calling it Scorsese's best film since Casino. Here's the trailer for the film so whet your appetites in the meantime: The Departed trailer

Bloody Sunday

Man, I am taking a beating today. My picks are total doodoo.

INDIANAPOLIS - LOSER!
CINCINNATI - LOSER!
JACKSONVILLE - LOSER!
CLEVELAND - WINNER!
SEATTLE - LOSER!

And on top of all that, my fantasy team decided not to show up today. Besides decent play from my QBs, the rest of my team was incognito.

Reggie Bush - Getting less and less involved week to week
Chester Taylor - Shut down by Buffalo
Anquan Boldin - Terrible QB play by Warner and Leinart hurt
Antonio Bryant - SF never had a chance at Arrowhead

Hell, even Peyton failed to show up until the 4th quarter saving his day with 2TDs at the last moment.

What a terrible day!!!