Misc items none of which need their own post
1. I checked out the first episode of the British show Being Human (about a vampire, werewolf and a ghost being rommates - sounds like a start of a very bad joke) and I really really loved it. Shall watch more.
2. I am obsessed by one of the books I am currently reading - North of the DMZ by Andrei Lankov. It's the best nonficition book I've read in months. Lankov writes about every day life in North Korea - if you want to read about nukes and politics this is not the book for you, but he goes into everything from market operation to wedding customs to texbooks. (Sample math problem involves having the children count how many "wolf-like imperialist bastards" did the "brave uncles" of the North Korean army managed to kill).
This book is impeccably researched and written but what really appeals to me is that Lankov is a former USSR citizen (currently working in Seoul) who studied at the Kim Il Sung university as an exchange student in the 1980s - he brings a perspective I haven't seen in books about NK before - as someone from a communist country he is able to see the distorted twisted taken-to-extreme parallels with other communist regimes and lacks the sense of shock that I see in so many Western accounts. Maybe I love it because his attitude is closest to mine (I grew up in the USSR too and my best friend's father worked in North Korea - she lived there for a time. I remember Soviet people thought N.Koreans were insane too). Plus, his information on relationship between USSR, China and NK is fascinating. I was especially interested in defectors from NK to Soviet Union in the 1950s - NK allowed a bunch of NK students to study in Moskow and Moskow was paradise compared to NK. A large number defected, Khruschev took them in, and NK clamped down on studying abroad. (I particularly liked the story of a Korean War hero who led the defectors and whom the NK forces tried to kidnap back in Moskow but he escaped, became a journalist and wrote accounts of NK defectors in the 1970s - I want to get my hands on that book).
I cannot recommend this highly enough.
3. Watched the second ep of this season's Doctor Who. I am OK with Eleven and Amy - I am not invested in them but at least they don't bore me. The ep had plotholes the size of Titanic though (really, all the other countries had tech to leave earth but not England? And none of them would share? As this was what was implied as they were the only ones floating on a whale. Bleh). Also, it got so OTT sentimental, I was ready to claw the screen. Still, at least it kept me mildly amused.
4. Ep 8 of Oh My Lady was cute - favorite part being MW buying Ye Eun all those toys and ruffling her hair or watching the tape of her performance and getting all melty and then seeing a little boy pull her hair and getting indignant. And of course his offer at the end to finance the musical so Gae Hwa will have a job. OML isn't a masterpiece or anything but it is enjoyable.
5. They cast Lee Ji Ah as the secondary female lead in Athena. I was so happy for the male cast but their female casting decisions are wrecking this. Don't misunderstand me - I am a rabd Le Ji Ah fan - I've only seen her in Legend but Sujink, the character she played, was arguably my favorite female character ever. That's the problem. They case boring as dirt Soo Ae as the female lead (whom I don't care for at the best of times) and my darling Sujini as the secondary? WTF? If they expect me to root for Soo Ae over LJA, they are insane.
2. I am obsessed by one of the books I am currently reading - North of the DMZ by Andrei Lankov. It's the best nonficition book I've read in months. Lankov writes about every day life in North Korea - if you want to read about nukes and politics this is not the book for you, but he goes into everything from market operation to wedding customs to texbooks. (Sample math problem involves having the children count how many "wolf-like imperialist bastards" did the "brave uncles" of the North Korean army managed to kill).
This book is impeccably researched and written but what really appeals to me is that Lankov is a former USSR citizen (currently working in Seoul) who studied at the Kim Il Sung university as an exchange student in the 1980s - he brings a perspective I haven't seen in books about NK before - as someone from a communist country he is able to see the distorted twisted taken-to-extreme parallels with other communist regimes and lacks the sense of shock that I see in so many Western accounts. Maybe I love it because his attitude is closest to mine (I grew up in the USSR too and my best friend's father worked in North Korea - she lived there for a time. I remember Soviet people thought N.Koreans were insane too). Plus, his information on relationship between USSR, China and NK is fascinating. I was especially interested in defectors from NK to Soviet Union in the 1950s - NK allowed a bunch of NK students to study in Moskow and Moskow was paradise compared to NK. A large number defected, Khruschev took them in, and NK clamped down on studying abroad. (I particularly liked the story of a Korean War hero who led the defectors and whom the NK forces tried to kidnap back in Moskow but he escaped, became a journalist and wrote accounts of NK defectors in the 1970s - I want to get my hands on that book).
I cannot recommend this highly enough.
3. Watched the second ep of this season's Doctor Who. I am OK with Eleven and Amy - I am not invested in them but at least they don't bore me. The ep had plotholes the size of Titanic though (really, all the other countries had tech to leave earth but not England? And none of them would share? As this was what was implied as they were the only ones floating on a whale. Bleh). Also, it got so OTT sentimental, I was ready to claw the screen. Still, at least it kept me mildly amused.
4. Ep 8 of Oh My Lady was cute - favorite part being MW buying Ye Eun all those toys and ruffling her hair or watching the tape of her performance and getting all melty and then seeing a little boy pull her hair and getting indignant. And of course his offer at the end to finance the musical so Gae Hwa will have a job. OML isn't a masterpiece or anything but it is enjoyable.
5. They cast Lee Ji Ah as the secondary female lead in Athena. I was so happy for the male cast but their female casting decisions are wrecking this. Don't misunderstand me - I am a rabd Le Ji Ah fan - I've only seen her in Legend but Sujink, the character she played, was arguably my favorite female character ever. That's the problem. They case boring as dirt Soo Ae as the female lead (whom I don't care for at the best of times) and my darling Sujini as the secondary? WTF? If they expect me to root for Soo Ae over LJA, they are insane.