Ode to Ronaldo's Foot

Dear Ronaldo's Foot

I am sorry, but I have to tell you two, just in case you are mistaken. I am talking about the right foot not the left. I admit that you, the left foot, helps your neighbor in supporting the football player's body. But there is nothing special in that contribution. You are basically doing what everyone else is doing. So now I gently plead you to either step aside for your company to read this or join me worshiping the subject of my respect.

Hi, You are finally here to listen to what I must say. You will never understand how much I longed for this moment to show my deepest awe toward you. I first met you when I was still a little child pretending to be a big boy. Looking for something fun on the Internet, I came across the most played video in YouTube where you were featured fabulously with visual effects that gave a fantastic image. I am not sure whether the people who watched the same video with me was as fascinated as I was or they were just impressed by the splendid effects and Ronaldo's gorgeous outlook. Still, I guess I will never be able to forget the minutes I watched your movement. 

I had been barely into football before meeting you and the only occasion I was when my country held the football world cup in 2002. The entire country was all amazed about the national team's continuous victory and I just could not be excluded. After that, however, I did not or could not have interest in football  because I was a boy unfit for football. I tried many times to excel but I eventually failed due to my awkward movements when received the ball and my incapability to understand the complicated movements that I had to take in terms of attack and defense.

You came as a savior for me when I was in despair the most. I believed I would never be able to play football  well with my lack of understanding how one should move in the field and how one should interact with other players. Gratefully, you proved me wrong. In the video, you showed me a whole new approach to the sport.

You, although not much experienced, dominated the field. You were at once here and then there. You were at the place you want to be when you want to be. You were more swift than any but as elegant as much. Other feet always sought to conquer you and rob you of the ball. No one is perfect and you weren't either. You did let some passes slip through. However, Your concentration on the ball was never loose but always fierce. You had never let your ball go away from you forever. Did I say you weren't perfect? Then, you are probably the closest.

You taught me that football isn't just about passing and teamwork. I can use my foot as well to conquer the field. From then, I tried to imitate your movement with my feet. I practiced kicking like you, protecting the ball like you, and even posing like you. I can now say with confidence that I am fit for football and I perform quite well in my school team.

It has now been more than five years since I have met you. You have improved yourself more powerful and frightening to your opponents. You are now more experienced.

There is one last thing I would like to mention. Your fashion is just gorgeous. You have your own style that other feet would never even try to imitate. You usually wear one color clothing with a NIKE mark that implies your victory over other feet. Your clothes are always impressive and remarkable. You once receive a cloth made of gold for scoring the most in the league. But you are so frugal and sincere that you do not wear it while you play football. I just seem to admire everything about you.

   

I think it is time to let you go and let you achieve triumph as you always have. It was great honor to deliver my sentiments toward you. You must be old some day and must leave the filed you conquered. At that time, I would always be there and greet you with great welcome. Thanks.

Yours sincerely
Youngil Jung

p.s. This is the picture of myself a year ago. I took a photo trying my best to look alike your host Ronaldo.

   

Review: "No Country for Old Men (2007)"

Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Release: 21 February 2008 in South Korea
Running Time: 122 minutes
Directors: Ethan Coen, Joel Coen
Casting: Tommy Lee Jones(Ed Tom Bell), Javier Bardem(Anton Chigurh), Josh Brolin(Llewelyn Moss)
Synopsis: In rural Texas, Llewelyn Moss discovers the site of fighting between drug dealers and decides to take the two million dollars. This makes the heartless killer, Anton Chigurh look after him for the money. During this chase, an old sheriff, Ed Tom Bell oversees the investigation but do not actively participate.
<Above information from "The Internet Movie Database; IMDb.com">

     I guess I have a problem with my biorhythm because I do not feel asleep until around 2 o'clock. Maybe it is because I supplement sleep during the classes and IR periods to fill the amount I need. Anyway, because I feel sort of lazy and not willing to study after midnight, I often watch videos when I am not much loaded. Using this time, I have watched many videos mostly of drama and movie such as "Boston Legal", the last "Harry Potter" series I missed in the theater, and this one, "No Country for Old Men."

"You know what's going to happen now. You should admit the situation.  There would be more dignity in it."

     For most of the times, I start to feel asleep, then stop the video, and continue the next day or days later. However, there were two I just could not stop; "Old Boy", a Korean movie by director Park Chan-Wook, and this one I am reviewing right now, "No Country for Old Men" by Coen brothers. These two movies share the characteristics of a thriller movie. Both movies depict the story of a cat and mouse drama where a psycho traces a man whom he wants to revenge or take something away from. However, there are also clear differences between the two movies. While the "Old Boy" focuses mainly on the relationship between the man being revenged and the one who revenges, "No Country for Old Men" focuses on the individuals who rarely appear together in the scenes.

     I hate studying literature even though I do enjoy reading the literary works. I hate people when they try to derive grandiose meanings from literature like "Emma" by Jane Austen when, in my perspective, it merely seems to be a diary of a woman who likes useless gossips. I do not understand people trying to write a paper on a two-sentence long poem by Wordsworth and lists all the possible meanings no matter whether they are from the actual poet's thought. Overall, I hate people when they exaggerate what they get from an work of art and when the things they allegedly have earned seem crappy and crude. Therefore, I never really enjoy writing journals for the literature classes and discussing about the so called the hidden meanings of literature. To express more radically, I always felt like I am learning how to write a good looking "BS."

     Fortunately, my attitude was different with this movie. I felt strangely motivated to better understand the directors' intentions and philosophy. The film is notably simple and even gives the sense of dryness. The simplicity, however, did not bring tediousness. Although I did not recognize while watching it, the movie does not take advantage of any background music. Music is one of the fundamental tools for a movie since it forms an appropriate mood the director wants to create for the scenes. This astounding simplicity rather impressed me because it was accompanied with the deep sense of vanity and desolation. The heavy atmosphere dominating the entire film "banned" me from falling asleep and I just had to stay the night.

      There are several things that contribute to the atmosphere of this movie. First of all, the setting takes quite an important role. The film takes place mainly in Texas, the west of the United States and the filmmakers succeeded in recording the dry and barren landscape of the American west. The barren land where the fight between the drug dealers took place and Moss found his fortune of two million dollars can almost be called deserts. The buildings including the hotels, where Moss stays during his fugitive period, are always plain without any decoration. There exists constant sense of silence and desolation in the setting. For example, in the streets, cars do not come across much and the hotels are pretty much empty all the time. The directors have accomplished well to construct foundation for their movie by background.

     This movie depends a lot on the characters for its unique atmosphere and the theme after all. The individual characters' importance is shown in the fact that the main characters hardly meet each other and they usually appear alone in many scenes. Anton Chigurh, Ed Tom Bell, and Llewellyn Moss are the three major characters and Anton Chigurh is the man whose face is depicted frighteningly in the movie poster. He is the most impressive character to many reviewers and I am one of those people struck by the peculiar mood he always accompanies with. His outlook is impressive at the first glance; his long and girlish hairstyle contrasts his face and terrifying facial expressions. He carries a powerful air gun and does not hesitate when killing people even without clear cause or necessity. His voice completes the horror his opponent feels; it is   extraordinarily deep and so resonant that it carries an irresistible power. These factors allow Anton Chigurh alone form the entire atmosphere of this film.

Heartless killer, just the right description for Anton Chigurh. 

Can't you feel the horror from this guy? I certainly do!

     Ed Tom Bell is an old sheriff who is experienced but powerless because of age. He talks to himself a lot and even when he is speaking to others, it seems like he is talking to no one. I thought the "Old Men" in the title indicates this character and it is quite obvious since he is the only old one among the major characters. Llewelyn Moss is one who discovers the money and is murdered by Anton Chigurh as a result of his decision to take possession of it. These two characters also contribute to the atmosphere of desolation.

     All these factors lead to the overall theme of this movie. I thought this movie is talking about the vanity on which everything in our lives is based on. Anton Chigurh kills everyone with even a little necessity to get rid of.  I think we can say that Chigurh has his own, clearly set standard. We cannot blame him for it since the time period that the movie takes place is certainly more permissive for murder than now. The murders he execute are so quick and clean that it gives the sense of vanity for the viewers. The coin which Chigurh uses for deciding whether to kill a person or not epitomizes the vanity of life this movie tries to deliver. Anton commands the other side to pick a side of a coin to decide whether he would execute the person. This mere conjecture decides one's life for ever.

     This movie follows the basic formula of a typical thriller movie where a character is chased by other. Some might say that basic structure might lead to boredom due to the lack of innovation. However, this one showed why basic structure functions as basic.

    

In Class Reflective Essay

     The movie "Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter" are composed of 4 parts each getting its name from the seasons of the title. The part we watched was the Spring. An old monk lives in a temple located in the middle of a lake with a little boy monk. Their life looks so simple and plain since their location is completely blocked from the outside world. The main story of this part was about the boy being punished for his cruelty towards the animals with which he played. The monk treated the boy as exactly the same as the boy did the animals. This relatively simple and not adventurous type of movie, nevertheless, was special and impressive.

     First of all, the location of this movie gives a special image. I feel some kind of awe even when in a perfectly usual Buddhist temple like the ones in mountains with big size statues of Buddha and great monks in the past. The temple in this movie is even more awe-inspiring and apparently symbolizes the Buddhist morals; separation from the outside world. The temple has only one building and the there lives the monk and the boy. They have to use a boat to get out of the lake to reach the land where huge mountains surround the place. Moreover, there stand several doors both the inside and the outside of the building. Inside, the door stands even though there is no wall that makes the need of it. These doors also imply the separation and they strictly follow the lesson by always using the doors even though there is space left and right to them. The boy and the monk have to always share the boat when they transport themselves because one of them must be stuck into somewhere otherwise. This inconvenience implies that the their lives are shared and they have to go with each other. 

     Another specialty about this movie is the education by the old monk. A boy monk in a usual Buddhist temple learns from textbooks that contain Buddhist morale and from the old monks who indulged in the Buddhism for a long period of time and actually runs the temple. However, the boy in this film is not shown to be properly educated. He wakes up in the morning, not sure about breakfast, goes to mountain to pick herbs, comes back to the temple, plays with animals, and goes to bed. I was not sure how he will grow up to be a monk like the old monk now and protect the temple from evil spirits of the outside world. However, the boy was receiving education not quickly but empirically. The old monk's punishment after the boy treated the animals cruelly was surely harsh from my perspective and I will never do something like that to my children or my student if I have one. Anyway, the boy realized how bad and immoral he had been with the animals not by the old monk's nagging but actually looking at the consequences of his deeds. The boy cries with regrets from his true heart and probably he will never pain others either physically or mentally. This empirical learning, neither allegedly empirical nor through vicarious experiences, must have given the boy monk an strong lesson that would never leave his mind. Although the old monk would not be able to leave all his wisdom in a short period of time but as their lives go on together, the boy would certainly be another wise monk. 

     The "Spring" is only the first part of this movie and I really look forward to watching the remaining seasons.   But still, this movie seems to have portrayed the image and sentiments of Korea well with the natural scenery and the character set-up. I believe this work is qualified for being the most well known Korean movie.