Beginning of spring term

Ad Mundo Exteriore,

First day of classes has gone auspiciously--my organic chemistry professor mentioned the "RNA world" in his introductory lecture this morning and said that discovering what chemical system came before RNA is one of the mysteries that scientists hope to solve in the next fifty years. (And if things go my way, I'll be on one of the teams that figures it out...Hah, I wish.) He does indeed have a monotone voice, which he admitted, but the content is usually very well-phrased. Plus his board notes are impeccable and methodical. I love organized teachers--I would take logical, outlined lectures above rambling, charismatic speeches anyday. Of course, logical, outlined and charismatic does exist at Harvard, but it's too much to expect it from any of the science faculty.

I'm now immune to all the three-digit numbers flashing by as I buy my textbooks. I don't feel the pain anymore. I just concentrate on the nice, smooth covers, with the glossy pages and avoid thinking about my dwindling bank account.

I remembered what I wanted to talk about: Damo, the Korean drama I watched over intersession. It's actually originally based on a manhwa series, and despite or perhaps even because of the Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon wannabe cinematography, I rather enjoyed it. Utterly implausible plot, Mary Sue protagonist, reams of historical inaccuracies (yeah, right, a servant girl has the luck to learn mystical Buddhist martial arts techiques, read Chinese characters as well as any yangban scholar, can randomly fly up in the air, sneak across palace walls to meet the bloody king, miraculously never gets infected wounds, emerges from spending who-knows-how-many days in a cave with immaculate clothes, is never ever caught while undercover despite the fact she never changes her wardrobe, can pass for a male in broad daylight just because she wears trousers and has a topknot...the list goes on and on)...but one of the most sophisticated and well-written scripts I've ever heard in a Korean drama. Rather archaic vocabulary, actually, and I had to concentrate to follow the dialogue (which is pretty unusual, because I can follow most Korean historical dramas easily). It was poetic without being cheesy, which is a considerable accomplishment. I think the plot holes can be blamed on the original author of the manhwa, while the brilliance of the dialogue can be attributed to a clearly very gifted scriptwriter. Oh, and the fight choreography is pretty amazing. The budget for a drama is not as high as that of a movie, and the action is usually pretty terrible, but this one was near movie-quality and shot at perfect angles on film. It was made to appeal to my generation too: modern K-pop soundtrack, young actors (who were pretty talented if you consider that the main three were making their debut and had very little acting experience), attractive makeup and costumes (as my mother says, commoners would never have had such flashy clothing), and of course, a tragic romance. What is it with Koreans and tearjerkers? Anyway, Damo was a hit in Korea, apparently, and I can see why. Historical dramas will never be the same again. It's too much to hope that the director behind Age of Warriors (which is dragging on and on and has the double sin of being neither interesting or historically accurate) will take the hint soon enough though.

I'm going off to lunch in a few minutes and then back to the Coop to buy school supplies.

...Tari

Strange world of extracurriculars

Ad Mundo Exteriore,

Apparently I'm the new GN assistant editor for the HIR. I'm the lowest in the editorial hierarchy but nevertheless I'm properly on staff. Cool. Also, my GN article on Japan is going to be published in the Spring issue, or so I've been led to believe. If you see the Harvard International Review at your local magazine stand sometime in March or April, remember to buy a copy! L.P.'s GN is getting published in that issue as well, plus she's a WIR associate editor...aren't the HPTF alumnae doing well here? ^_^

Just returned from a long HRKC meeting about what to do with our relations with Keio University. Apparently, some internal politics within their alumni association is involving us, which has caused a lot of headaches. The story is too convoluted to tell in detail--and I'm not even sure if I'm allowed to discuss it anyway--but it involves factions, ultimatums, petty feuds, and lots of melodramatic gestures. The history of the kendo club would make a very good soap opera. Actually, considering that there's no actual romance involved, it would probably be better off as a shounen manga series. If it really didn't seriously affect the club and how it functions, I would be sorely tempted to just laugh at how weird real life can be.

Oh, and speaking of which, the former HRKC treasurer introduced us to one of the institutions that give us money, and on the way there, he pulled out a pipe. And started smoking it. I kid you not. A pipe, à la Sherlock Holmes--except the person smoking it was not a lean, violin-playing, cocaine-addicted detective, but a preppy Harvardian. Would be a bit of a WASP if he weren't Catholic...does that make him a WASC? Anyway...a pipe. I thought those were sold for decoration, say, in an antique collection, not for actual use.

There's quite a few things I planned to have done today that I haven't. Working on the wall, for one. I think I'll push it off to tomorrow though and just go to sleep early. My parents say that my $40,000 education has taught me nothing but how to sleep for hours on end. Well, it was all covered by financial aid anyway, so I suppose it's not as if we didn't get our money's worth.

...Tari