Everywhere and Nowhere

South Korea

China

Taiwan

Foreign Film Friday

______________________________

A film review by Chris White

THE DAMNED UNITED

Written by Peter Morgan, Directed by Tom Hooper

Before giving us Best Picture THE KING’S SPEECH (2010), Tom Hooper made the glorious, British “football” biopic, THE DAMNED UNITED.

You needn’t know of Leeds United, 1970’s-era English football, or even manager Brian Clough to adore this film. Morgan’s screenplay (based on David Peace’s novel) creates a most compelling triangulation of adult male friendships and rivalries.

Clough (played to perfection by Michael Sheen) adores his dutiful right-hand man, Peter Taylor (Timothy Spall), while despising his rival Don Revie (Colm Meaney). When he takes over for Revie (who leaves Leeds to coach the English national team), Clough’s on-the-field failures lead to a falling out with his friend.

UNITED is a joyride of a sports film. There is the thrill of competition and the agony of defeat, of course...made all the more so by the inner turmoil that drives the talented Clough, who is haunted by father-figures from opposite ends of the spectrum.

Sheen’s performance here could have been just brash and cold, yet it is his portrayal of Clough’s desperation and vulnerability that gives this film a beating heart and a loving soul.

THE DAMNED UNITED is classic Tom Hooper in that way; damnable famous men resized to next-door neighbor scale.

2009 \\ Color \\ 98 min.

Sony Pictures Classics

COUNTRY OF PRODUCTION: United Kingdom

ASSumptions. Part 2

It's a strange, though recommended, experience to spend almost every day with a group of people, and yet never be able to communicate with a wide range of words.  To have a conversation.  Or just make small talk.  I've been with my students for 8 months now, and I've learned a hundred different personalities.  A hundred different likes and dislikes.  All with a very small collection of words and phrases that I've taught them.

I contend that this is the best way of all to learn someone.  Who they are.  What they are about.  Where they've been and where they're going.  Likes and dislikes.  Weird quirks and personality defects.  It's easy to mask who you really are with words.

Conversely, its open season for creating an opinion of me as well.

I wasn't quite sure what to think when 90% of my students said they thought I was losing my mind.  I'm closer to that point than they think.

84% think I need to switch to decaf.  75% think I'm some sort of hairy, Wolf-man freak show.  And nearly all those polled wonder how they're supposed to learn biology if I can't even speak their language.

1 in 3 can't figure out why I quit my late night talk show on TBS to come teach them.

The survey ended with the opportunity for students to leave comments.  The top two results...

                   "You know, I can repeat that sentence all day long, 
                      but I don't have a clue what it means."

                   "It would make so much sense if you had a Korean teacher
                    with you, just so we could understand what you're trying to teach us."

Hmmm.....maybe they're on to something.

Inspiration

If you don't read Bill Bryson, you should...

"I can't think of anything that excites a greater sense of childlike

 wonder than to be in a country where you are ignorant

 of almost everything." 

Neither Here Nor There: Travels in Europe

"I know this goes without saying, but Stonehenge really was the most incredible accomplishment. It took five hundred men just to pull each sarsen, plus a hundred more to dash around positioning the rollers. Just think about it for a minute. Can you imagine trying to talk six hundred people into helping you drag a fifty-ton stone eighteen miles across the countryside and muscle it into an upright position, and then saying, 'Right, lads! Another twenty like that, plus some lintels and maybe a couple of dozen nice bluestones from Wales, and we can party!' Whoever was the person behind Stonehenge was one dickens of a motivator, I'll tell you that."

Notes from a Small Island

"It is not true that the English invented cricket as a way of making all other human endeavors look interesting and lively; that was merely an unintended side effect. ...It is the only sport that incorporates meal breaks. It is the only sport that shares its name with an insect. It is the only sport in which spectators burn as many calories as the players-more if they are moderately restless." 

In a Sunburned Country

"If you can imagine a man having a vasectomy without anesthetic to the sound of frantic sitar-playing, you will have some idea of what popular Turkish music is like." 

Neither Here Nor There: Travels in Europe

"At the foot of the mountain, the park ended and suddenly all was squalor again. I was once more struck by this strange compartmentalization that goes on in America -- a belief that no commercial activities must be allowed inside the park, but permitting unrestrained development outside, even though the landscape there may be just as outstanding. America has never quite grasped that you can live in a place without making it ugly, that beauty doesn't have to be confined behind fences, as if a national park were a sort of zoo for nature." 

The Lost Continent: Travels in Small-Town America

"Still, I never really mind bad service in a restaurant.

 It makes me feel better about not leaving a tip." 

The Lost Continent: Travels in Small-Town America

Photos

A few of Jessica's photos from a hike several weekends ago.

Lantern(s)

Giddy

Buddha

Sky Bridge

Our friends: Mrs. Kim (2nd from left), Mr. Kim (far right).

Rice wine

Break time

Foreign Film Friday

______________________

A film review by film-maker Chris White.

THE BROTHERS BLOOM

Written & Directed by Rian Johnson

This movie is a con.

THE BROTHERS BLOOM purports to be a heist movie, a “who’s conning who?” trick, an homage to George Roy Hill’s THE STING (1973) or Frank Oz’s DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS (1988).

But BLOOM is actually a film about how people form their life narratives…how and why we write the stories of our lives.

Stephen (Mark Ruffalo) and Bloom (Adrien Brody) have been con-men since childhood. Now, they’re all grown up. And Bloom has had enough. He wants out. And his big brother has a plan…an intricately plotted, magnificent plan…one last con.

Only…Bloom falls for the “mark,” beguiling American heiress, Penelope (Rachel Weisz). And all bets are off.

Fans of Rian Johnson’s BRICK (2005) will recognize the director’s stylish directing and whip-smart writing from frame one. Indeed, Johnson is the star of this feel-good travelogue (though Ruffalo, Brody, and Weisz are most compelling). Johnson is spinning a yarn about spinning yarns. And his conclusion—that “there’s no such thing as an unwritten life…only poorly written ones.”—is inspiring.

BLOOM is a fascinating, quickly-paced film that occasionally slows in its good-natured quirkiness. And yet, the sum of its parts is more rewarding than most of its con-film predecessors.

2008 \\ Color \\ 114 min.

Summit Entertainment

COUNTRIES OF PRODUCTION: Czech Republic, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia

ASSumptions. Part 1

Day in.  Day out.  It’s always the same.  Blank stares.  Obvious confusion.  Crying.  In that order.

When I signed up for this gig, I made certain assumptions.  I assumed that if a child is 8 years old and Korean, then he doesn’t understand English.  And if he doesn’t understand English, then the powers-that-be would create an environment conducive for the aforementioned student to learn English. 

You know what happens when you assume.

Opinions are like nipples.  Everybody’s got one (or in some cases two).  Here’s mine: To teach a child, or anyone for that matter, a new language, there must be a point of reference.  For example, if you want to teach children the English words for colors, you would speak the words (green, yellow, red, etc.) while presenting an object with the appropriate color.  The child would make the association between what he/she sees and what you speak.  The colored object is the point of reference.  As the child learns the target material, he can refer back to what he already knows, or in this case sees.  I don’t know anyone who would approach that particular lesson any other way.

I’ll assume (there he goes again) that makes sense to everyone.

So if the above example is true, and my students are beyond learning simple colors, how then does one teach less concrete words like visit, or think, or where?  I cannot simply show a picture of visit.  It's an action.  I could show a picture of a family sitting in the living room together.  But that could be a picture of any number of things.

                  ...Family.  Living room.  Brother.  Sister.  Mother.  Father.  Couch.  Sit.

                                                                                          ...just to name a few.

When I studied Spanish in high school and college, the instructor verbally communicated what each new vocabulary word meant:  Padre = father.  Si = yes.  Mirar = to look.  Siempre = always.  He didn't attempt to act out the word, or show a picture of always (whatever that looks like).  His point of reference, and the most efficient, sensible way of communicating the material, was to tell us what the new Spanish words meant.  Once we understood the new word (associated it with what we already knew), we were then free to put the words into practice.  

Simple enough.

But there's my problem.  I'm alone in my classroom (that co-teacher clause in my contract apparently meant the capital of Mongolia is Ulaanbaatar, or something else completely irrelevant).  If I decide to teach abstract-ish words, I have to show a picture, or act it out...

Day in.  Day out.  It's always the same.  Blank stares.  Obvious confusion.  Crying.  (And the children don't handle it well either.)  

So I became curious about what's going through my students minds when they sit (on a good day) in my classroom and listen to the gibberish I'm spouting.  I took a poll and here's what I found out....

Made in Taiwan. Part II

People who enjoy making others laugh by relaying the situations they find themselves in, would pay good money for this type of scenario.

 

It was Sunday afternoon.  Mother’s Day.  Jessica and I had motor-biked to Baisha Beach.  Southern Taiwan. 

          Blue sky.  Puffy white clouds.  Clear ocean water.

To our right was a crusty old man.  Alone.  He looked American. 

To our left was a group of 12 Chinese men.  Young.  Stylish.  Obviously fashion conscious.

Right: The old man grumbles something.  Probably cursing the strong sea-breeze for blowing his box of Oreos into the sand.

Left: 12 pairs of pants hit the sand to reveal Speedo-esque bathing suits.  Everyone has a different color...all pastels of course (it’s Spring).

Right: Crusty old man spreads out his towel in the sun, and lays down assuming a position that people his age and body type should never attempt in public.

Left: Sun screen time.  They all buddy up, applying SPF 30 to one another.  And giggling.

Right: There go the Oreos.  Again.  Grumble.

Left: Half the group skips to the volleyball net behind us, slapping playfully at the ball (and each other).  The other half, after checking their hair and adjusting their Louis Vuitton sunglasses, prance to the water to have a tickle fight in the surf.


Right: Still grumbling to himself, the awkward man straps on his goggles and waddles down to the water, where he lays face down.  Floating.  No movement.  Several children gather, point, and take pictures.

Left: They take turns rolling around on the waters edge, letting the small waves splash them, while the others snap photographs.  

              ...and at just the right moment...


A tan Labrador Retriever enters the circle of pastel man-love, and interrupts the photo shoot by dropping a turd he's apparently been holding for two weeks...and just keeps walking.


                                                                          ...priceless.

Made in Taiwan. Part I

Short of riding a donkey, we used every method of transportation available.  Airplane.  Bus.  High-Speed rail.  Another bus.  And to top it all off: a motorbike.

Seoul to Taipei.  Taipei to Kaohsiung.  Kaohsiung to Hengchun.

Wednesday was a long day. 

Jessica and I took the opportunity afforded us by Buddha’s Birthday and Children’s Day to spend a week frolicking about the waves and sunshine in southern Taiwan.  Hengchun, a small town at the very bottom of the island was our home for a week. 

I’ve never been to Hawaii, but it’s what I imagine it would be like.  Palm trees.  Coconuts.  Sunshine.  Blue Kool-aid colored sea.  A tropical paradise.  We spent our days on the beach.  Doing nothing at all.  A well deserved break.

Our time in Taiwan was the longest period of the past 8 months that I felt thousands of miles from home.  It was completely foreign.  Everything was in Chinese.  Street signs.  Restaurant menus.  Everything.  You’d be hard-pressed to find anything in Korea that does not have an English version readily available.  Not so in Hengchun.  The foreign visitor is left to fend for himself.  Disoriented.  Confused.  Tempted daily to assume the fetal position and cry.

I loved every minute.

Sunset.  Straight of Taiwan

Taipei: a snapshot

Year of the Rabbit

Subway lighting

Taipei 101.  2nd tallest building in the world