Tag: FILMS & TV

Shouldn’t Have Had That Coffee…

gordsellar0 Comments

I decided this evening, after cleaning up my home relatively well and getting some othert stuff  done, that I would go out and write. Ended up at Starbucks over at Bucheon Station, because it’s by the  cinema and I wanted to see the Wolverine film. (I did. It was pretty good, though even if it is an origins story, I’m afraid it’s a film with no ending. And I wanted a satisfying ending.) Anyway, I got some productive writing and editing on the WIP (Work in Progress) done, though I’m not going to go into it except to say I’m …

Continue Reading

Korea Society Talk on Robo Taekwon V

gordsellar6 Comments
This entry is part 24 of 72 in the series SF in South Korea

Plenty of SF readers who come through here aren’t necessarily interested in Korean history and culture in general, so it’s unlikely they’d be listeners to the Korea Society Podcast. However, for those who have an interest in global SF and pop culture, there’s a podcast you might want to check out over there. It’s a recording of a talk given way back in February 2008 by Aaron Han Joon Magnan-Park, a prof at Notre Dame. The talk is titled “Our Toys, Our Selves: Robot Taekwon V and South Korean Identity.” (That’s a direct link to the MP3, so if you …

Continue Reading

Notes for Korean TV Production:

gordsellar7 Comments

UPDATE (31 Oct. 2013):  The video linked in the original post is gone. I think this is mostly the same one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lb1ITUzW4NU ORIGINAL POST: <video unavailable> Brown-skinned people are either poor children with hearts of gold or scary witch-doctor/fortune-teller types, which is natural since brown-skinned people are all poor and have inborn magical abilities. No other brown-skinned local people besides poor children and scary witch-doctor/fortune-teller types should be included in shots. If they absolutely must do so, have them appear for no more than one second at a time, and in the background. Have your Korean characters talk to the …

Continue Reading

Weirdest Fanfic Evar!

gordsellar2 Comments

Wait, not the weirdest fanfic ever — I’m scared to even consider what that might entail. But is the weirdest fanfic ever by me. Not that I’ve written much before this. I’ve never felt even the slightest bit moved to write fanfic, ever, but this scene, this weird neo-Saturday cinema serials thing, just popped into my head, very loosely based on this TV show I’ve been watching. Don’t click on the link: if you don’t know the show, the weirdness won’t hit you (though you should check out this program, it’s worth watching). And if you do know the show, …

Continue Reading

Twilight, But Better, or, Even a Crappy Vampire Film Can Be Improved by Ripping off White Wolf Games’s World of Darkness

gordsellar8 Comments

Okay, so, I’d already been expecting crap. (I mean CRAP.) My SF-reading friends warned me. Reviews and discussions online warned me. I mean, even non-SF people had told me that Twilight was a bad movie, but when it hit theaters in Korea this December, I decided I would go and see it. It took me until a day or two ago to follow through with that. And of course, it was crap. (I mean CRAP.)

Continue Reading

OVER~~!

gordsellar6 Comments

I find myself wondering why overacting — vast, wailing reactions of protestation, incredibly fake outrage, and the like — is the norm in comedic “acting” in Korea. (EDIT: Actually, it also seems the norm in movies, but in a different way: long brooding shots, action scenes five minutes too long, and hyperemotional crying is something we see both on TV melodrama and in films, but I’m particularly thinking of comedy at the moment.) Or, rather, not “why” but “how it became the case that…” One example is the various gag TV shows like Uchassa and Gag Concert. These are, roughly …

Continue Reading

Purty Good Day…

gordsellar0 Comments

Why? Some much-needed documents are on their way here. I received my copy of Interzone 219, with some very fine art illustrating it., and a cheque for my story, too. My students in one class — the graphic novel class — volunteered to work during the first week or so of post-semester break, in order to do a good job finishing up their project, rather than rush through and do a so-so job before exams. I was quite stunned. They jokingly asked for extra credit, but the best I can do is give them a pizza party or take them …

Continue Reading

Matt on Symmetry in The Host

gordsellar3 Comments
This entry is part 14 of 72 in the series SF in South Korea

For those into Korean cinema, Korean SF, or both: Matt’s written up a good post on The Host and the role of symmetry in the film, and linked my posts on the Host (starting here). I’ve commented to expand (slightly) on his observations. Check it out! As for me, I’m planning on working on a paper on the film and its political elements, somewhat expanding on my observations in the posts I’ve made here, and on the paper I’ll be presenting in a couple of weeks. I’ll be working on that sometime in the next couple of months, time permitting, …

Continue Reading

Trope Salad and Penis Guns and Indie SF Films… No, Really.

gordsellar2 Comments
This entry is part 13 of 72 in the series SF in South Korea

There it is. I hereby coin it. I googled it, and found only this, and that’s an email address for which even the cached page it was contained on was somehow empty. So Trope Salad is mine. I know, I know, you’re thinking, “You can have it. But what does it mean?” What it means is that I am trying to have fun while working on an academic paper. Always a dangerous route. What it signifies is the phenomenon wherein someone who knows absolutely jack squat about SF, or seems to know jack squat, treats it as a kind of …

Continue Reading