Movie review_Silver Linings Playbook

I've watched this film more than five times because I like senstively feeling the details of the movie such as the actors' sounds and talking in harmony with the background music and the strikingly real-like acting of two main characters.


Basically, this movie is classifed as romantic comedy or drama, which deals with love between Pat (Bradly Cooper) and Tiffany (Jeniffer Lawrence). These two main characters seem to be abnormal but actually they behave that way because they've got tough experiences in their lives. Pat happens to see his wife flirting with her coworker and he bit him and eventually he is sent to the mental hospital. Tiffany's husband dies by car accident and since then she starts to sleep with her coworkers. She herself knows that she used to be a whore.


I'm not sure 100% but it seems to me that both of Pat ad Tiffany falls in love with each other for the first sight. However, Pat feels that he has to be loyal to his wife unconsciously and hence he doesn't realize his love for Tiffany at first.


In this movie, I love the dining scene on Holloween day. Their talking is mixed with the background music, Goodnight Moon by Elegant Too. It has an air of somewhat mysterious and sexual thing. Jeniffer Lawrece's acting is unbelievable. She makes audience think that it is really happening. Bradly Cooper is my favorite actor who can show a variety of characters and perfect for whatever characters he plays, a nice guy in Yes Man and a cool guy in Hangover.


They come to become close to each other as they dance together. Their dancing is not that professional but it means a lot: they beome more harmonized to each other and it shows their willingnness to get over tough time by helping each other.


This movie will absolutely attract you and you will see yourself searching for other movies starred by Jennifer and Bradley.

Book Review_Chapter 5. Pragmatics(in An Introductio to Applied Linguistics by Helen Spencer-Oatey and Vladmir Zegarac(in

When I was travelling in the U.S, I was a bit surprised at a grocery stores or restaurants. At the checkout counter, the casher alaways said 'how are you?' In Korea, I haven't been asked that kind of question, so I was at a loss. Do I have to say just 'hi!,' 'Good, thanks' or 'I'm fine, how are you?' Was that question just another way of say hello or the casher really meant it. Every culture has different ways of saying and what is normally accepted in a given society is different. At school I learned that it is better to say 'bless you' when someone sneezes in American culture. I believed that it would be nice to learn the culture of the target language, when we learned the language.


However, this book  casts doubt on this idea. Do we have to teach this kind of culture and let students follow or imitate it? Learners have identity. Some learners want to speak perfectly similar to native speakers, but some would not want to. We have to respect their identity and their decisions.


"Learners need to be able to make that choice for themselves."


It rocked my world. We need to deal with this kind of issue very sensitively. Every culture and every language should be respected. Also, sometimes we need to think about what we took for granted. We need to be flexible. That is the primary principle as a member of our society.


I summaried this chapter, and I wanted to share it but I'm worried about plagiarism. Is it okay to post the summary? If somebody knows, please let me know.

Book Review_The Course of Love by Alain de Botton

It is said that unmarried women wants to be married and those who haven't gain honor chase honor. We always want something unknown. Being 'unknown' is the precondition of our dream. I recommend this gook to unmarried people or married couples who are having hard time getting used to the marriage system.


We think that 'marriage' is the end of love story, and we imagine rose-colored future in marriage. However, when we marry, we face the reality. This book kindly describes the married couple's life; their misery, the gap between the romanticism and reality, and hard work to keep our marriage.


- “Marriage: a hopeful, generous, infinitely kind gamble taken by two people who don't know yet who they are or who the other might be, binding themselves to a future they cannot conceive of and have carefully omitted to investigate.”  
Due to romaticism, we don't bother to objectively analyze our lover's merits and demerits and how much we fit into each other. That is how we start our marriage life.


- In modern society, it seems that married couples want equality in everything. However, what they really want is the equality in pain. They want to carry as the same amount of pain as their partners does. We always think that we are more miserable that our partners. Thus, we need wisdom to get over this tragic thought. We cannot carry the same amount of pain in life. We should focus more on what our partenrs do for us. We should think that we can do more for our happiness, and eventually myself.


- Adultery. Denying all the possibilities of adultery means denying all the richness of our lives. Let's say that a person doesn't feel any curiosity in infidelity. Is it reasonable to trust that kind of person?
I wanted to marry a man who never ever feels curiosity in other attractive women. Or a man who every women doesn't feel attracted. However, this kind of man is not a man, but instead it is just a robot. It means that that type of guy doens't know about life and finds it hard to spiritually interact with other people. I don't want that kind of guy. I like a man who sometimes feels attracted to other women but he tries to keep his position with consideration and smartness.

- “Never having been betrayed sets up poor preconditions for remaining faithful. Evolving into genuinely more loyal people requires us to suffer through some properly innoculative episodes, in which we feel for a time limitlessly panicked, violated and on the edge of collapse. Only then can the injunction not to betray our spouses evolve from a bland bromide into a permanently vivid moral imperative.”

This part shows Botton's acute observation. It seems that we never betray our partners when we've never been betrayed. However, the opposite is more plausible. When we are in the same situation, we truely understand other's pain because we alreayd know how hurt it is.


- “The partner truly best suited to us is not the one who miraculously happens to share every taste, but the one who can negotiate differences in taste with intelligence and grace.”


I thought I would lead a happy marriage life with a perfectly matched one. I mean when we share the same value, life goals, habits, movie and book taste, humor code. However, Everyone has different taste. There is no one who share the same taste with me. Thus, the alternative is a man who knows how to negotiate differences in taste with intelligence and grace. I want to recommend this book to unmarried people. They will grasp how their marriage life will be unfolded. Also, they can get an idea of what type of person they should spend their rest of lives.

Book Review_The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera

This book deals with 4 main characters; Tomas, Tereza, Sabina, and Franz. Apparently, Tomas is a womanizer, but it is not a simple problem. He seems to find himself through intimate relationships with many women, and also it is true that he only loves Tereza. Before I read this book, I just thought that this kind of guys were trash and they just made excuses but I come to know that surrounded by helpless situations, and unsatisfaction, people can pursue something that most poeple consider abnormal.
When it comes to Tereza, can we say that she lives a happy life? In her entire life, she tries to posess Tomas. She always suspects him and actually it is not 'suspect' becuase Tomas always meets other women. Tereza knows Tomas is that kind of guy who is curious of other women but she cannot live without him. She really loves Tomas, and so does him. I think it is a tragedy of love.


Also, the different perspective of Sabina and  Franz strikes me. Sabina thinks that a person loses everything when he or she loses his or her intimacy or secrets. That is how we live with truth. However, Franz thinks that we can live in truth when we break all the barriers between private thing and public thing. Nothing can be a secret and it is like living in a trasnparent glass house. I always thought that 'frankness' is the best. People sometimes say that I am glass. They can see what I think and how I feel. However, life is very complicated and not a happy ending. Nowadays, I don't want to share my tremendous worries and pains. That is because sometimes that makes others safe and keep a relationship with the people around me. I used to be Franz but now I am Sabina.


Tomas says that it is the frantic who introduce communism in Europe, not the criminals. The frantic say that they didn't expect the results. They knew nothing. However, the fundamental question is not about whether they knew or not. Can they escape from responsibility just because thye are fool? Sometimes, I make excuses saying 'I didn't know about it.' However, ignorance cannot be the answer. Especially for those people who are in charge of important tasks that will affect other people's lives a lot, they should know everything, or at least they should try to know.


One day, a reporter and Tomas' son visit Tomas to ask for his signature on a petition. They think that the petition will change the world or do harm to the government, but they believe it is meaningful to show them they are fearless and ready to fight. Sometimes, I just give up because I cannot change the results. However, as the book says, giving my opinions is different from just silence. This is a small step and finally it will lead to a big step. This little step can change the society. I will always remember that.


-“Human life occurs only once, and the reason we cannot determine which of our decisions are good and which bad is that in a given situation we can make only one decision; we are not granted a second, third, or fourth life in which to compare various decisions.”  


When Tomas thinks whether it is better to live with Tereza or to live alone, he talks like that. We only live once. We cannot compare our decision with others because we don't know what will happen in other decisions.

Diary

When I was little, I faced some difficulties or disasters that I couldn't deal with. Since then, I started not to think about any problems or conflicts in front of me. And now it becomes my habit, or myself. I just accept the reality, and try not to think about problems. It causes another disaster in my life. I am having hard time dealing with it. Very hard.


Last two weeks, I had enough me time. It was more fanststic than I had imagined. I found solutions. Of course, Im not sure they are the correct answers, but I am sure they are the best answers for me.


I finally realize what is important in life. I know what type of person fits me very well and who I respect. I dont want to miss my chance again, so I will try to grow up. Read a lot and think alot.


Promise#
 1. stay focused
 2. be determined
 3. be mature.

Movie Review_Schindler's List by Steven Spielberg

The main character Oskar Schindler is not a typical good character. At first, he didn't inted to save the Jewish. He just started his business to make a lot of money. Also, he loves partikes, girls, and alcohol. This type of character is more probable, and realistic. There is nobody who hates money and luxurious items.


We can see the real face of a person when he or she is in danger or conflicint situations. Oskar Schindler faces how Amon Goth kills the Jewish without any principles or cause. Oskar Schindler is a worldly person but he knows what is right and wrong as a human being. He feels it is not a right thing to do. Thus, he decides to bribe Amon Goth and other Nazi members to save his Jewish workers including his Itzhak Stern, his accountant. He saved almost one thousand Jewish people. As he is going to be broke, Germany surrerners, and the Jewish becomes free.


It is not easy to see what is right and wrong when everyone says it is right. Also, it is not easy to say no when the others say yes. That is why we need to keep thinking and build our own belief system with reading and experiencing our history in books. We cannot expect what will happen becuase of my decision. However, through books we can experience indirectly and we can see the effects of our actions. Therefore, it is our duty to keep reading and thinking.


In this movie, Itzhak Stern says that saving one life is saving a world. I can't save the whole world, but at least I can save a person's life. In other words, I can save the world with little things in my daily lives. I can donate small money for the people in need. I can volunteer to teach Korean to foreigners. I can share my food with my neighbors. Anyone can be Oskar Schindler.

Book Review_The Help by Kathryn Stockett

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

 

These days I’ve heard about a lot of violence happening in the U.S. due to racism . A few months ago, some African Americans demonstrated after an African American was shot dead by the police. Also, many African Americans say that they are discriminated because of their color. However, I didn’t know how serious this issue was until I read this book.

The background of this book 1960s when black people were completely separated from white people. They were killed when they used the white restroom or without specific reasons. The black women tended to the white family. I can’t imagine that it just happened 50 years ago. Just 50 years ago, black people were not equally treated as white people, and that is why this kind of unfairness still happens.

 

The book cover says ‘Change begins with a whisper.’ I totally agree with this phrase. Black women, they decide to talk about how it is to live as a helper. It is just talking, talking about their lives, but this leads to change. Owing to this talking and writing a book, Aibileen makes a brand new start, working as a writer. Minny also decides to get away from her husband, and Miss Skeeter has a chance to start her life in New York. Furthermore, a helper says that she has talked with her owner on the table for the first time since the book 'Help' is published. Like these, whispering has a power. Nowadays, Korea is also having hard time. There seems nothing to do to get over this situation. However, as this book says, just whispering, or just talking about what is wrong and what is right can lead to positive results. That is why we keep talking.

 

I love Ms. Skeeter. She is a privileged person. She knows that if she writes a book about racisim, she will lose many things including her boy friend. Also, it is not easy to notice this unequality in society when people are in privileged situation. However, she realizes the absurd reality and puts what she believes into action.

 

It is important to pay attention to our society and keep thinking about what is happening in our society. That is the best way to notice some gaps and start changes.