Thursday, April 27, 2006

hmm... all the dead amazing korean singers...

it's kinda late... 2:52 am... will be flying to germany tomorrow afternoon... trying to stay up so i can sleep on the plane...
well, i've been checking out a couple of rock/pop singers i used to listen to a lot when i was in middle school/high school in korea... and somehow they all happened to have died young... two out of three singers died when they were about 33 years old... and the other even earlier... it's pretty strange...
the first singer i remembered is called kim, hyun-sik... of course kim is his last name but in korea your last name comes first... he had this sad, soulful and warm voice resonated with me for a long time... his voice always reminded me emptiness of life - well, don't forget that i was also an outsider teenager - which gave me some kind of comfort... also his voice was somewhat similar to the ones of pansori (korean traditional singing) singers which was not velvety smooth but rather husky, murky in a way yet fiery... he sang many love songs about lost love and loneliness... which is also kinda the same theme in my music... well, i don't write songs with words but i think most my tunes, at least the ones on my last cd were about that... it's funny because if somebody would ask me how i did it, i wouldn't have any real answer but that's what i was feeling when i was writing them... going back to kim, hyun-sik, he died of liver disease due to his heavy drinking... and i remember the day he died... was senior in my high school and when i heard that news i went to the library and cried... somehow it felt like i lost a good friend of mine...
anyway...
then this other singer named kim, gwang-seok (the last name "kim" makes up for one third of korean popularity if you didn't know it already) who also died when he was about 33 years old... he actually committed suicide and was living in the same apartment block as where i was living... it was shocking... also he had this sad, quiet, resonating voice that always felt lonely... he sang more about other aspects of life than love... he was more like a poet who celebrated little precious moments of life you might ignore or forget... nobody knows why he really killed himself since supposedly there wasn't any will... but i think he was suffering from a severe depression...
then the last one who died even younger, think he was 26, was called yu, jae-hah and he was more of a song writer who wrote these sensitive and intricate songs about lost love... and he was hit by a car as soon as his debut album was released... i was 13 when he died... oh, crazy enough but he died on the same day as kim, hyun-sik... yu, jae-hah had a very clear and beautiful voice and sang without any ornaments... and his words were so poetic...
well, why am i remembering all these dead singers...? and why are the ones who shaped my teenager life... which sometimes i feel like i haven't grown out of it yet... i don't know yet... but thought it was interesting that i always seem to go back to that time of my life when i'm writing music...
maybe one day i'll figure out how my music is really connected to that period of my life...
hmm...

Monday, April 17, 2006

i am a sex addict and IFC theater...

when i saw the poster for this movie, "i am a sex addict", i thought it was some kind of european movie about, of course, sex with intellectual undertone... which is not the kind of movie since sometimes i think it can be snobby...
then i ran across to the trailer while i was trying to watch "superman returns" just to see what kevin spacey looks like in it... you all know my fixation on him... yes, he's bold and trying to replace gene hackman which is a bad bad idea... what's he doing with his career... anyway back to the point, i couldn't stop laughing while i was watching the trailer... and decided to go to see it tonight... and it was funny, sweet, sincere and touching... it's not going to change your life but a great example of the movies that's so personal yet not self indulging all the time that makes you kind of fall in love with it while you are watching... also the fact that it was done with low budget makes it even more charming... although the music could have been better... just saying because the music was carried out mainly by cello...
to tell you a bit about the plot, it's a quasi nonfictional story about the director's sex addiction, especially with prostitutes... and what it caused him regarding his love life... and believe it or not, the opening scene is shot right before his third marriage... if you get a chance, check out the trailer...
also it was the very first time i've been to IFC theater and i was very satisfied with the layout of it... it's not too big but has great comfy seats... although i'd suggest that you are better off sitting on one of the raised seats since the screen is positioned a bit high... at least that's how it was in the theater #2 where i was... also they have ice cream from il laboratorio del gelato which is a nice touch although they have more generic flavors... i think i'll go back to see "drawing restraint 9" there very soon... seems pretty intriguing although i'm trying not to have too much expectation... i kinda found matthew barney's images beautiful yet cold... but some of the reviews i've seen said that this one is a bit more emotional maybe thanks to his relationship with bjork personally and professionally...
oh, right before i went to mamoun's (119 macdougal between w3rd & bleeker) to get a falafel sandwich and have to admit i was very disappointed... granted that it was very busy but my sandwich was too wet with all the tahini sauce they poured and the pita was dry and cold... falafel itself was pretty good but was so hard to eat the damn thing... guess will stick to cheakpea (3rd avenue between st marks & stuyvesant) from now on... they are closed for passover though...
ah... movies... oh, film forum will be having a great 6 weeks program of B noir films... so exciting...!!!
go here to check out the schedule: http://filmforum.org/films/bnoir.html
alrighty... gotta go to bed...

Tuesday, April 11, 2006

eh...

went to see "three burials of melquiades estrada"... was pretty good... funny and touching in odd ways... didn't change my life but thought the story and acting were pretty great... it is written by guillermo arriaga who wrote "21 grams" among others which i liked a lot... as his trade mark, he doesn't tell the story in a linear fashion but yet somehow makes it not too hard to follow... very natural in a way... also barry pepper who played a border control patrol who's at the receiving end of tommy lee jones' hospitality was really impressive... it was a very nice ensemble of casts and very well rounded movie... and funny... hmm... worth checking out definitely...
it's funny because when i was a kid in korea, they showed many westerns on TV but i never realized how much it influenced me in certain way until recently... think it's only a year or so that i rediscovered how amazing westerns are... think it's one of the best ways to portrait human relationships and nature... and many times the theme is about loyalty, friendship and justice... and sense of decency... well, it also is very close to become another "americana" theme but some of the real great westerns truly shows how human respond to each other and the nature... anyway... that's what i think... it's great to see that they are bringing back westerns these days...
anyway...
haven't decided if i should go and see "v for vendetta" yet...

Tuesday, April 04, 2006

still tired... yikes...

hmm...
still tired... wish i could stay asleep for 12+ hours... but haven't been able to sleep for more than 5 hours for last few weeks... except a few nights of course... i think i'm doing it to myself though... for some reason, when i'm extremely tired, i have tendency to push myself even more... like last night... had 5 hours sleep the night before, still feeling sick, tired from a session... then when i got home around 9, what did i do...? spent 4 hours in front of computer working on myspace shit... why...?
hmm...
always get freaked out after i write something rather personal on blog... but then guess that's the point...?
i dunno...
tired...