Beginning of spring term
Feb. 4th, 2004 11:28 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tarigwaemirAd 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
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
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(no subject)
Date: 2004-02-05 05:43 am (UTC)BTW, best of luck in your studies (and congratulations!!! re: publication of HIR article and acceptance into the editorial staff XD I'll try to get the Spring issue in question).
(no subject)
Date: 2004-02-05 11:36 am (UTC)Hope you do find those English subs. Damo is worth watching. Hurray for tortured love triangles. ^_^;;
...Tari