Back from months of non-blogging

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Category: Diary

Not writing a thing takes forever

As a blogger, I have been clinically dead for quite a while: more months than I would care to count, but not exactly a year. Not a small amount of time in any case, and not a small paradox for someone who recently talked about blogging at a recent panel discussion. 

I have found rather challenging the reconciliation of long-term writing aspirations - particularly fiction-wise - and a relatively new switch to full-time nonprofit work, close to what I used to do with the French cultural administration ("cultural diplomacy" is what some like to call it), or closer than I expected. Challenging is still a bit of an understatement.

Lately, though, I seem to have either gotten better at managing my personal time or simply, I might have become more detached from, well, a few things: the kind of detachment to allows you take a few steps back and look at "stuff" a little differently. Thus, I have been able to invest more time into getting my papers, files, etc. in order. In the process, I fortuitously put my hand on a large number of seemingly unrelated pieces of writing on Korean cinema. Odd, random, but reassuring, considering how the quantity of text I have signed at least publicly, in the past few months, has diminished dramatically. At any rate, to cut a long story short, this finding, which was not small excitement, prompted me to put the pen back to the paper - figuratively. Writing, has a lot to do with desire, after all, and this time around, I do have a plan, not just a flash in the pan. Besides, I have taken the decision to stick to short posts. Which should help.

To conclude this personal parenthesis, I have been a marginal part of this programming project: 

 
Classic Movie Night: Vintage Korean Cinema on the Third Thursday of Every Month

 

A Tradition of Critical Realism

The second season of Classic Movie Night is an exploration and examination of political upheaval and social change in Korea from the 1960s through the 1990s. The screenings are accompanied by a discussion of the film’s history and context followed by Q & A with Kelly Chung. 

We started off with Spring in My Hometown (아름다운 시절)
1998, 121 min.Director: Lee Kwang-mo
Starring: Ahn Sung-ki, Yu Oh-Sung, Song Eun-Suk

To The Starry Island (그 섬에 가고 싶다)
1993, 101 min.Director: Park Kwang-Soo
Starring: Ahn Sung-Ki, Moon Seong-Keun, Shim Hye-Jin

Green Fish (초록물고기)
1997, 114 min.
Director: Lee Chang-Dong
Starring: Han Suk-Kyu, Moon Seong-Keun, Shim Hye-Jin

 

Yeong-Ja’s Heydays (영자의 전성시대)1975, 107 min.
Director: Kim Ho-Seon
Starring: Song Jae-Ho, Yeom Bok-Sun 

The upcoming films of this series are:

 

 

The Ball Shot By a Midget (난장이가 쏘아 올린 작은 공)
1981, 100 min.
Director: Lee Won-Se
Starring: Ahn Sung-Ki, Jeon Yang-Ja,Kim Chu-Ryeon, Keum Bo-Ra 

Deep Blue Night (깊고 푸른 밤)
1985, 93 min.Director: Bae Chang-Ho
Starring: Ahn Sung-Ki, Jang Mi-Hee, Jin Yu-Yeong 

Our Twisted Hero (우리들의 일그러진 영웅)
1992, 119 min.
Director: Park Chong-Won
Starring: Choi Min-Sik, Hong Kyung-In, Shin Goo 

Black Republic (그들도 우리처럼)
1990, 100 min.
Director: Park Kwang-Soo
Starring: Moon Seong-Keun, Shim Hye-Jin, Park Jung-Hoon