Wonder or Wander

Yi Je-ha, 1987 This work is quite strong in that it describes the very life of Korean painters, who are very much disintegrated from everyday life and the subject matters of novels. The writer keeps the tension between a painter and a story teller and finally goes beyond the trend, unbearable lightness of writing, in Korean contemporary novels.

José Saramago, 1995 It begins with a striking sequence--people becomes blind one by one. We do not know where and when it happens and what they are called. People lose their sight because of extraordinary brightness coming through their eyes. When a couple of hundreds people detained in a ward move out due to the hungry, they realize everyone has become blind. Everyone loses dignity and humanity. They all exist as an anonymous who only has basic desire to survive. In the end, they regain their sight the way they lost their sight. This novel reminds me of "The Invasion of Body snatchers", where everyone loses their emotion. I am looking forward to reading his another novel,"Baltazar and Blimunda", which brought the nobel prize for literature.

Carlos Saura, Spain, 2005 The magician of visual composition. "Carmen" was a very interesting movie and the one that I came to know the director, but despite the stunning plot and a few striking shots, it remains in somewhat a traditional storytelling movie, where modern technique is hardly seen. But "Iberia", which is composed of a sequence of flamenco dancing in the name of various places in Spain, doesn't have a plot. Only each section delivers emotion and insinuates a bit of story via music and dance. Such vivid lighting, strong contrast in the color and brightness and an extraorinary use of mirrors and video projections in the stage make each scene stand out as a still image. When it comes to flamenco, it doesn't seem to be made for young ballerinas who have a perfect structure of bones and muscles. This dance goes well with some fat and even better with aging. It also seems very adequate with blue jeans. Saura says that he wanted to become a dancer and...

...thrilled experiment on the edge. John Zorn: alto saxophone Dave Douglas: trumpet Greg Cohen: bass Kenny Wollesen: drums It's a very different kind of jazz. The only way of listening to his music is being engaged up to the tips of my fingers. I strongly felt that music players should enjoy themselves while performing in order to impress their audience. Tyring to play the best is not the best idea. Self-indulgence with zeal may bring chemistry with the audience. Am I ready for my recital in March?

Michael Haneke, 2005 Kids are not free from wickedness. They struggle to keep their castle safe one way or another, which may result in irrevokable pains to their peers, but they tend to easily forget, be happy with secure freedom and move on to their gifted life path. Then, what would you do later if you found out a small leakage in the solid castle you have built and realized the leakage was related to a mischief you had committed when you were in age 6? What could be the most disturbing to you? The intolerable outer force penetrating the wall, sinful bitterness, or your conscientiousness? Sure, the “hidden” memory won’t just pertain to someone’s childhood memory. The director, who also wrote the script, doesn’t waste time for creating mood or giving pretext. The film goes to the point immediately. Tensions are built among present and past relationships and some are abruptly resolved, but soon the resolution turns out only to be transformed. There is no end in this film. In the thema...

Part 1: Hiking After watching the Miraflores canal locks, I left Panama City for Santa Fe. It is a small mountain valley town. I took a horseback riding tour to Alto de Piedras with my guide Cesamo. On this tiny and slow horse, I looked around so green mountains and thanks to him, I had a chance to visit “The house of Orchids”, which has lots of orchids in the garden. Then I headed off to Boquete. In Boquete, I visited a bakery. Surprisingly, they were playing Korean music! Guess what. The owner is Korean. I planed to hike in Senderos Los Quetzales with one of the girls who worked at the bakery in the following day. But she didn’t show up, instead I was tied with a hiking tour group. They were waiting for their guide, Pete. Our mission was making a hiking path in “Bajo Mono” with our bodies and a machete. We had to climb a long slide by hangning our body in a rope. Small rocks kept rolling down and luckily enough I was able to evade a critical danger from one of the rocks thanks to Fra...