Avatar, Sherlock Holmes, Moon

Avatar (2009)
This movie probably shows Hollywood at its best: pure "healthy" entertainment! Yes the story is not the most original and the message might sound cheap to some but the movie blends it all together quite well. Interestingly enough I personally do no think about the computer generated images when I think of the movie, everything goes smoothly and it does not cry out "hey look at my beautiful imagery". As viewers we accept what we see as truth and we immerse ourselves in Cameron's world. I did not see the movie in 3d but I heard it's quite an experience. Maybe another time...

Sherlock Holmes (2009)
Ok I like Guy Ritchie, but this movie did not feel at all like one of his movies except maybe for some scenes which are mostly the action ones. The story is passable at best, it could have been written by Sir Arthur C. Doyle on a bad day. The movie does not seem to be able to tie up the scenes together. It's actually a quite boring movie, nothing stands out. It started well though with some stylish fight scenes to show us just how methodical and rational mr. Holmes is! But then it falls short on a somewhat slim plot of a maniac trying to start a new British empire (ok relax buddy!) Even when the movie is finished and we know that there will be a sequel, we don't really care because honestly they should've said everything in one movie and not make us wait for another boring sequel to tie the loose ends! It might interest S.Holmes fans. Now perhaps Holmes is a karate expert and a drug abuser in Doyle's books, but I can't say that I cared much for this new image of mr. Holmes. Maybe if I saw this movie before Avatar it would've seemed better...

Moon (2009)
Quite a surprising sci-fi movie! It's quite simply a mix of 2001 and Solaris that manages to stand out on its own. Nothing too flashy, no action whatsoever: it's all about characters and situations. Interesting plot twists and quite an original script in the end by the writer/director. Interestingly enough, and for no reasons explained in the movie, the moon mining company is Korean! Sarang (사랑 - love) industries... The director is also the son of David Bowie!

Top 20 Albums 2009

I'm writing down this so I can see later what the hell I listened to a lot in the year 2009! Please post yours also (a top 5-10 is ok!)

In no particular order:

(band name - album name)

Art Brut - Art Brut vs Satan
Dananananaykroyd - Hey Everyone
Decemberists, The - Hazards of Love, The
Flaming Lips - Embryonic
Franz Ferdinand - Tonight
Grammatics - Grammatics
Kasabian - West Rider Pauper Lunatic Asylum
Manic Street Preachers - Journal for Plague Lovers
Mars Volta, The - Octahedron
Maximo Park - Quicken the Heart
Metallica - Death Magnetic
Metric - Fantasies
Muse - Resistance, The
Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeux Phoenix
Rodrigo y Gabriela - 11:11
Silversun Pickups - Swoon
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It's Blitz
XX, The - XX
Beatles, The - ALL the re-issues!

NO I won't list Animal Collective - yeah ok maybe musically it's amazing but let's not kid each other: it's boring!

New year in a new country!

Oh! Korea! Oh! Korea! The cultural differences are so many. This habit of telling people things at the last minute even though the "thing" in question was know to the communicator a while before. How it hurts us Westerners not used to this way of communicating information! It's also not our faults as Westerners if we ask too many questions about procedures and frankly speaking "Why is this like this instead of like this?" is a recurring question in my mind. People don't question authority at all here and I think they have a rather small critical sense (NOT everyone is like this). I won't even talk about traditional views of relationships either because that could warrant an entry by itself! But hey it's going well for them as it is. I'm just not used to many small things.
Since I'm here I haven't really done that much in terms of exploring the country, which is my biggest regret. I've seen a lot of Seoul though! And Yongin still sucks. Life is certainly different from Montreal, but not all that much. Except from the small things that people get used to, namely their working environment, life is the same here. It's a modern country with the same kind of businesses and entertainment. You'll find almost any kind of food you want in Seoul (not in Yongin though!); they have poutine for god's sake, mais pas de tourtiere! Korean restaurants are super cheap and you eat well. I think it's impossible to get fat in Korea except if you constantly eat Western food like McDonald's and Italian food (cream sauce spaghetti!)

It's a big change to teach to kids, I had no experience whatsoever with dealing with kids in my life. Now that fact is changing greatly though. I don't have to discipline them though, it's not my job and anyways I can't really do that in English to a Korean kid; he won't get it! The job in a public school is fairly easy, the pay is good and the hours are good also. Half my day is dedicated to teaching, the other half is pretty much sitting at my desk preparing a bit for the next day and mostly browsing the net and studying Korean (yes I'm taking Korean language classes at the moment).

So with this said I'm looking forward to the coming months here in Korea. I'm getting used to life here more and more and I'm also meeting more people. Cheers!

Happy New Years to all!
프랑수아 (Francois)