An update of sorts
Jul. 5th, 2007 10:48 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tarigwaemirBlair Hall Apts. on the Feast of St. Antony Zaccaria
I haven't posted on LJ for a while because I made an informal promise to myself that I would finish certain looming tasks first--organizing my files on the new iMac, catching up on a year's backlog on the reading blog, cleaning up all the unpacked clutter in my room--but of course it's all taking much longer than expected. Also, having to share the computer with my parents means that I can't sit down for more than a half-hour without starting to hear pointed comments about my Internet addiction. -_- (Of which one was made just now, in fact.) ::sighs::
1. Most of the past few weeks have been spent meeting up with friends from high school and from LJ. Dinner and karaoke with![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
serendip and starlighter (three hours of singing!), lunch with jaebi_lit mere hours before her flight, and of course, ice cream and window-shopping in Chinatown with svz_insanity (who is pretty awesome in person). ^_^
2. I mentioned it before, but the K-drama to watch this summer is 쩐의 전쟁, translated as "War of Money" or "Money's Warfare" (D-addicts thread and DramaWiki entry). Adapted from a manhwa series and starring Park Shin-yang (of "Lovers in Paris" fame) and Park Jin-hee (from "Come Back, Soon-ae"), the story revolves around private moneylenders (called 사체업자 in Korean) and what people will do for money. The main character, Geum Na-ra, is a mutual fund manager and SNU business school graduate, whose life is turned upside down when his father takes out a high-interest loan that he can't pay back. Na-ra loses his job, his home and his parents, trying to pay off his father's debt. While homeless on the streets, he decides that he is going to make money in whatever way he can and apprentices himself to a "legend" in the world of private moneylenders, Dokgo Cheol, who is said to have made a million dollars from a hundred in only a month.
It's a very shounen setup: there is the cold-hearted rival, Ha Woo-seong (played by Shin Dong-wook), who has risen to prominence in the moneylending world by backstabbing his patrons; the zen advisor, Dokgo Cheol, who sets strange menial tasks that turn out to have Deeper Meaning, in true martial-arts training tradition; the sidekick, Jo Cheol-soo, whom Na-ra meets while homeless; and of course, the love interest, Seo Joo-hee (played by Park Jin-hee), whom Na-ra convinces to marry a sleazy-looking character for money to pay off her father's debt. (He then of course breaks up her wedding.)
Apparently, the drama was originally slated to air 16 episodes to cover the current plot arc, but because of its popularity, an additional eight episodes and another season have been scheduled to cover more arcs from the manhwa.
What I like about the series: it's a K-drama cliché that in the face of large amounts of money, you choose your dignity or love or justice or whatever value that your character stands for. But the characters in "War of Money" don't find such decisions to be so easy. The grandmother of Na-ra's fiancée asks him to sign a contract to never meet the girl again in return for money to pay for his mother's operation. Typical K-drama convention would have him refuse...but he doesn't. Joo-hee decides not to "sell her conscience" by agreeing to pass on confidential banking information for money, but she isn't rewarded for making the morally correct choice: her debt only increases and she ends up losing her job. All the best intentions can crumble in the face of money, and the drama does a great job of portraying how people's lives can be ruined for want of money.
The drama isn't particularly realistic or even plausible, but the actors are all excellent at portraying flawed but likable characters. Private moneylenders are usually minor villains in most K-dramas, so it's unusual to make them take the center stage as the (anti-)heroes. The script is also wittily written, so I hope the fansubs turn out well. Raw videos are available by streaming here and by torrent on D-addicts.
3. I've read an abridged one-volume translation of The Three Kingdoms before, but now that I'm reading the full four-volume version, it's a little overwhelming to realize just how much was left out (of the abridged version, I mean). I just finished the first volume and started in on volume two (Kongming's about to make his entrance soon).
One particularly bizarre moment in chapter 19:
When I read the abridged Three Kingdoms, I rather admired Cao Cao for his efficiency (despite his occasionally Machiavellian tendencies) and thought him to be much more competent than Liu Bei. (Well, I don't think that judgment is necessarily wrong, since Wei wins in the end.) My parents said that I missed the point; the point of comparison wasn't so much in their successes or failures but rather that Liu Bei was virtuous where Cao Cao was not. Liu Bei might not have been a great warrior or a keen strategist, but he had the charisma (the so-called Virtue of sages) to attract followers who were great warriors and keen strategists. So spoke my parents.
But now that I'm reading the full version and watching Liu Bei run from Lü Bu to Cao Cao to Yuan Shao for protection, it's again clear that Cao Cao is actually more successful than Liu Bei in attracting worthy followers. He might not have "Virtue" in the Confucian sense of the word but he certainly has charisma. I suppose what makes Cao Cao's recruiting different from Liu Bei's is that many of Cao Cao's followers betray their former masters to join Cao Cao (although one can argue that they were making the logical choice in most cases since their former masters were usually losing to Cao Cao at the time).
Anyway, I shouldn't continue generalizing until Zhuge Liang enters the picture.
4. Two choice quotes from Infinite Jest:
Yours &c.
I haven't posted on LJ for a while because I made an informal promise to myself that I would finish certain looming tasks first--organizing my files on the new iMac, catching up on a year's backlog on the reading blog, cleaning up all the unpacked clutter in my room--but of course it's all taking much longer than expected. Also, having to share the computer with my parents means that I can't sit down for more than a half-hour without starting to hear pointed comments about my Internet addiction. -_- (Of which one was made just now, in fact.) ::sighs::
1. Most of the past few weeks have been spent meeting up with friends from high school and from LJ. Dinner and karaoke with
serendip and starlighter (three hours of singing!), lunch with jaebi_lit mere hours before her flight, and of course, ice cream and window-shopping in Chinatown with svz_insanity (who is pretty awesome in person). ^_^2. I mentioned it before, but the K-drama to watch this summer is 쩐의 전쟁, translated as "War of Money" or "Money's Warfare" (D-addicts thread and DramaWiki entry). Adapted from a manhwa series and starring Park Shin-yang (of "Lovers in Paris" fame) and Park Jin-hee (from "Come Back, Soon-ae"), the story revolves around private moneylenders (called 사체업자 in Korean) and what people will do for money. The main character, Geum Na-ra, is a mutual fund manager and SNU business school graduate, whose life is turned upside down when his father takes out a high-interest loan that he can't pay back. Na-ra loses his job, his home and his parents, trying to pay off his father's debt. While homeless on the streets, he decides that he is going to make money in whatever way he can and apprentices himself to a "legend" in the world of private moneylenders, Dokgo Cheol, who is said to have made a million dollars from a hundred in only a month.
It's a very shounen setup: there is the cold-hearted rival, Ha Woo-seong (played by Shin Dong-wook), who has risen to prominence in the moneylending world by backstabbing his patrons; the zen advisor, Dokgo Cheol, who sets strange menial tasks that turn out to have Deeper Meaning, in true martial-arts training tradition; the sidekick, Jo Cheol-soo, whom Na-ra meets while homeless; and of course, the love interest, Seo Joo-hee (played by Park Jin-hee), whom Na-ra convinces to marry a sleazy-looking character for money to pay off her father's debt. (He then of course breaks up her wedding.)
Apparently, the drama was originally slated to air 16 episodes to cover the current plot arc, but because of its popularity, an additional eight episodes and another season have been scheduled to cover more arcs from the manhwa.
What I like about the series: it's a K-drama cliché that in the face of large amounts of money, you choose your dignity or love or justice or whatever value that your character stands for. But the characters in "War of Money" don't find such decisions to be so easy. The grandmother of Na-ra's fiancée asks him to sign a contract to never meet the girl again in return for money to pay for his mother's operation. Typical K-drama convention would have him refuse...but he doesn't. Joo-hee decides not to "sell her conscience" by agreeing to pass on confidential banking information for money, but she isn't rewarded for making the morally correct choice: her debt only increases and she ends up losing her job. All the best intentions can crumble in the face of money, and the drama does a great job of portraying how people's lives can be ruined for want of money.
The drama isn't particularly realistic or even plausible, but the actors are all excellent at portraying flawed but likable characters. Private moneylenders are usually minor villains in most K-dramas, so it's unusual to make them take the center stage as the (anti-)heroes. The script is also wittily written, so I hope the fansubs turn out well. Raw videos are available by streaming here and by torrent on D-addicts.
3. I've read an abridged one-volume translation of The Three Kingdoms before, but now that I'm reading the full four-volume version, it's a little overwhelming to realize just how much was left out (of the abridged version, I mean). I just finished the first volume and started in on volume two (Kongming's about to make his entrance soon).
One particularly bizarre moment in chapter 19:
Once he [Xuande] asked for lodging at a household, and a young man came to pay his respects. The lad turned out to be a hunter named Liu An. He wanted to offer the inspector fresh game but, unable to find any, butchered his wife. At dinner Xuande asked, "What kind of meat is this?" "Wolf," replied Liu An. Suspecting nothing, Xuande ate his fill and retired. Toward dawn he went to the rear to fetch his horse and noticed a woman's corpse in the kitchen. Her arms had been carved away. Then Xuande realized what he had eaten and tears of gratitude streamed from his eyes.The footnote to this passage elaborates:
Frightful though it is, this scene shows the readiness of a true brother to sacrifice his family to the cause. In the Shuo chang ci hua collection dating from the 1470s, "Hua Guan Suo Zhuan" gives the following account of the formation of the brotherhood:I suppose my Western education kicks in at instances like these, because I found the whole Liu An scene to be incredibly weird. I mean, Liu An sacrificing his wife in order to offer meat to his guests is considered a sign of loyalty here (Cao Cao rewards Liu An with a hundred taels of silver in the next chapter), while Tantalus' similar sacrifice of his son Pelops is considered the ultimate insult to the gods in Greek mythology. I suppose the taboo on eating human flesh is different? I mean, there's also that scene in The Joy Luck Club, where the daughter-in-law slices away a piece of her own arm and boils it in a broth to serve her dying mother-in-law, as a sign of ultimate filial piety. Although referring to The Joy Luck Club for insight into Chinese culture is probably not the best idea. >_>After the three--Guan, Zhang, and Liu Bei--had made their vows to Heaven in the temple of Jiang Ziya, Liu Bei said, "I am without family. You both have old and young to worry about. Your concern might cause a change of heart." Lord Guan replied, "I shall join you, elder brother, after I have killed them." Zhang Fei said, "How could you kill your own? You kill mine, and I'll kill yours." "That is best," Liu Bei said.
When I read the abridged Three Kingdoms, I rather admired Cao Cao for his efficiency (despite his occasionally Machiavellian tendencies) and thought him to be much more competent than Liu Bei. (Well, I don't think that judgment is necessarily wrong, since Wei wins in the end.) My parents said that I missed the point; the point of comparison wasn't so much in their successes or failures but rather that Liu Bei was virtuous where Cao Cao was not. Liu Bei might not have been a great warrior or a keen strategist, but he had the charisma (the so-called Virtue of sages) to attract followers who were great warriors and keen strategists. So spoke my parents.
But now that I'm reading the full version and watching Liu Bei run from Lü Bu to Cao Cao to Yuan Shao for protection, it's again clear that Cao Cao is actually more successful than Liu Bei in attracting worthy followers. He might not have "Virtue" in the Confucian sense of the word but he certainly has charisma. I suppose what makes Cao Cao's recruiting different from Liu Bei's is that many of Cao Cao's followers betray their former masters to join Cao Cao (although one can argue that they were making the logical choice in most cases since their former masters were usually losing to Cao Cao at the time).
Anyway, I shouldn't continue generalizing until Zhuge Liang enters the picture.
4. Two choice quotes from Infinite Jest:
Schitt's thrust, and his one great irresistible attraction in the eyes of Mario's late father: The true opponent, the enfolding boundary, is the player himself. Always and only the self out there, on court, to be met, fought, brought to the table to hammer our terms. The competing boy on the net's other side: he is not the foe: he is more the partner in the dance. He is what is the word excuse or occasion for meeting the self. As you are his occasion. Tennis's beauty's infinite roots are self-competitive. You compete with your own limits to transcend the self in imagination and execution. Disappear inside the game: break through limits: transcend: improve: win. Which is why tennis is an essentially tragic enterprise, to improve and grow as a serious junior, with ambitions. You seek to vanquish and transcend the limited self whose limits make the game possible in the first place. It is tragic and sad and chaotic and lovely. All life is the same, as citizens of the human State: the animating limits are within, to be killed and mourned, over and over again.Sign that you've spent too much time in fandom: reading post-post-modern novels about elite tennis academies remind you of Prince of Tennis. But seriously, all the hyperconscious philosophizing about tennis makes me think that either there ought to be a Tenipuri crossover written with this book or at least introspectives on what the characters think with regard to the above quote. I haven't followed Prince of Tennis all that seriously, but the whole setup of Ryoma as central character really does reinforce this idea of tennis as solitary sport. Ryoma has no real rival (except his father); the other characters are simply successive obstacles on his own personal path to the top. Ironically, Hikaru no Go, by contrast, continually emphasizes that go is for two people. I say "ironically" because I at least am more likely to think of go as solitary pasttime than tennis.
'Your U.S.A. word for fanatic, "fanatic," do they teach you it comes from the Latin for "temple"? It is meaning, literally, "worshipper at the temple."'I probably shouldn't be reading Infinite Jest as fandom meta, but I can't help it!
'Oh Jesus now here we go again,' Steeply said.
'As, if you will give the permission, does this love you speak of, M. Tine's grand love. It means only the attachment. Tine is attached, fanatically. Our attachments are our temple, what we worship, no? What we give ourselves to, what we invest with faith. [...] Are we not all of us fanatics? I say only what you of the U.S.A. only pretend you do not know. Attachments are of great seriousness. Choose your attachments carrefully. Choose your temple of fanaticism with great care. What you wish to sing of as tragic love is an attachment not carefully chosen. Die for one person? This is a craziness. Persons change, leave, die, become ill. They leave, lie, go mad, have sickness, betray you, die. Your nation outlives you. A cause outlives you. [...] Make amusement all you wish. But choose with care. You are what you love. No? You are, completely and only, what you would die for without, as you say, the thinking twice. You, M. Hugh Steeply, you would die without thinking for what?'
Yours &c.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2007-07-05 05:17 pm (UTC)It's not that there isn't the idea of a conflict, I think--you need to value your wife for killing her to serve your lord to have any meaning. Otherwise it's a two-fer, I guess: score! I get bonus points and my wife's dead! :D And what's the point to that? So, instead of Ohoho, I'll make them eat PEOPLE!--which is the insult in the Greek myth--there's a Let me serve you my most precious thing implication. Although there might be a taboo issue too, you're right.
In any event, you can see the hierarchy there (with the lack of killing fathers)--things shift around for the women in the 19th century, a little in China but mostly in Japan: now, instead of women sacrificing themselves for mothers-in-law (here, mother-in-law, have some restoring soup from my flesh), you have women who sacrifice themselves for their children. It's an interesting sort of inversion that probably has to do with family structure as well as Westernization.
As I said, it shows up in China too. But what really starts to replace the sacrifice for the (elders in your) family is the sacrifice for the revolution (or the Nation) trope. Of course, that wouldn't work so well with Joy Luck Club, would it?
I'm rambling. Nevermind. XD
(no subject)
Date: 2007-07-06 11:13 am (UTC)Oh good point, I didn't think of that. I do remember reading one retelling of the myth (may not have been genuine though) where Tantalus was genuinely trying to serve the "finest dish" and ended up punished anyway.
Sacrificing for their children involving the same sort of human flesh consumption you mean? O_O Still very interesting though...and are there instances of fathers/sons doing the same?
And yes, the transition to nationalism makes a lot of sense. Even with the Liu An example, the wife-sacrifice is meant for Liu Bei as a representative of the Han dynasty, so I suppose you see a sort of sacrifice for the Nation even as early as that. XD (Your rambling is always welcome in this journal by the way. ^______^)
(no subject)
Date: 2007-07-05 07:40 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-07-06 11:13 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-07-05 09:21 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-07-06 11:14 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-07-06 01:28 am (UTC)I say Zhuge Liang saves Liu Bei in the end from being a complete and utter Mary Sue-ish type character, but that's not enough to make me take pity on him.
/rant
(no subject)
Date: 2007-07-06 01:30 am (UTC)Erm. That should read "charismatic as Cao Cao." God knows even I would not characterize Cao as virtuous.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-07-06 11:26 am (UTC)I'm starting to think it might also be traced back to the ages-long feud between Confucians and Legalists, because Cao Cao does seem to take a rather Legalist approach to government: everyone held accountable to the same laws, even himself, without exception.
I don't mind Liu Bei, who does have an underdog charm to him, but it kind of feels like the author is waving his hands and shouting in your ear very loudly, "Liu Bei is great! Liu Bei is wonderful!" without really being convincing about it. ^_^;;
(no subject)
Date: 2007-07-06 03:49 am (UTC)I'm glad to hear you've been well. How's the Mac, by the way? My mind is still debating whether to get a Windows laptop or an Apple one. DX
(no subject)
Date: 2007-07-06 11:43 am (UTC)The iMac is really gorgeous! I made the switch because I didn't want to get Windows Vista, and what with all the open source software available, the transition has been pretty smooth. I also like how it comes with a lot of built-in software so that I don't have to spend time searching for illegal torrents. ^_^;;