Monster Island (actually a peninsula)*

Pearls of witticism from 'Bo the Blogger: Kushibo's Korea blog... Kushibo-e Kibun... Now with Less kimchi, more nunchi. Random thoughts and commentary (and indiscernibly opaque humor) about selected social, political, economic, and health-related issues of the day affecting "foreans," Koreans, Korea and East Asia, along with the US, especially Hawaii, Orange County and the rest of California, plus anything else that is deemed worthy of discussion. Forza Corea!

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

What do Ishtar, Full Metal Jacket, Tampopo, and Radio Days have in common?

I love watching movies. And lately I've been trying to re-watch more films from when I was a little kid or a teenager. Netflix On-Line has made it easy to fish out and take a second (or third or fourth) look at blasts from the past, especially when I get the sudden urge to view something after reading something somewhere about some movie I remember seeing or wishing I had seen.

The New York Times review of 1987's best films is an interesting look back at what has survived and what hasn't. Note the appearance of Ishtar, a movie synonymous with "Hollywood flop," in this list of the best and the pretty good (I've got something big coming on Ishtar, which, as you might guess, is in my Netflix Movie Viewer window right now).

By the way, the answer to the title is that they're all films from 1987 mentioned in the NYT piece. Though I saw it in the 1990s, when I was older and probably able to appreciate it more, the quirky and eclectic Tampopo is one of my all-time favorite Japanese films, though I haven't seen it in years.

I need to get out and watch more Japanese movies. "M1" is telling me each and every film she sees back in Sapporo, and my goal is to try to keep up when they hit the DVD section of the university library. Hmm... maybe I should give Tampopo another look, too.

1 comment:

AnonymousSaturday, May 16, 2009 11:47:00 PM
Saw Tampopo a couple years ago and thought it was great. My friend had apparently seen it while in Japan and his mom spent quite a while trying to track down a copy -- a brief check of Amazon shows there are still copies to be had online though.

And here I thought the Radio Days reference was for the Korean movie from last year.
ReplyDelete
Replies

Add comment

Share your thoughts, but please be kind and respectful. My mom reads this blog.

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

Ask Kushibo.

My Google/Blogspot data shows that a lot of the 2 million people who have landed on my site (yes, that's the real number) are looking for cultural information on Korea (e.g., “When did Syngman Rhee die?” “What did the Indians bring to the first Chusŏk?’ etc., etc.), as well as practical or historical stuff.

That got me thinking that, hey, I have a master’s degree in Korean studies and a minor in Japanese studies, I’ve lived in Seoul far longer than most foreans my age (whether they're kyopo or non-kyopo), I teach introductory courses on Korea and its cultural trappings and history, so why not offer a free service where I attempt to answer people’s questions, point them in the direction of where they can get them answered, and/or offer my regulars (that’s you!) a chance to take a stab at some of this stuff, too.

So if there’s something you’d like to know from a “contrarian scourge,” click on ASK KUSHIBO and just ask a succinct question in the comments section below.

Oh, and play nice. Please don’t make me regret this.

九十五大怪獣란? 쿠시보의 몬스터 아일랜드란?

Pearls of witticism from 'Bo the Blogger: Kushibo's Korea blog... Kushibo-e Kibun...
Now with Less kimchi, more nunchi. Random thoughts and commentary (and indiscernibly opaque humor) about selected social, political, economic, and health-related issues of the day affecting "foreans" ("foreigners" in Korea be they kyopo or non-kyopo), Koreans, Korea and East Asia, along with the US, especially Hawaii, Orange County, and the rest of California, plus anything else that is deemed worthy of discussion. Forza Corea!

* Monster Island (actually a peninsula)

The name of this blog comes from a line in "Lisa on Ice," a beloved episode of The Simpsons, perhaps my all-time favorite television show (even though for several seasons there, it really did suck). Lisa is imagining being sworn in as president, but at the last minute, it is discovered that she failed P.E. (physical education) and she is thus "sentenced to a lifetime of horror" on Monster Island. "Don't worry," the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court confides in her, "It's just a name."

Fast forward to Lisa and other prisoners running in panic through a tropical jungle, chased by Godzilla-like creatures, including a monster turtle and a monster firefly.

"He said it was just a name!" Lisa screams to the man next to her. While he, too, runs for his life, the unidentified man calmly says, "What he meant is that Monster Island is actually a peninsula."

Anyway, I thought in some ways that punchline summed up modern-day Korea in a nutshell. For many people—foreigners and Koreans—the ups and downs and everyday travails of the Republic of Korea make it as precarious as a Monster Island would be (and with the DMZ being the only land border, it really is like an island). But it actually is a peninsula. Okay, it made sense in my head.

So as you can see, despite the hits I get from people looking for Japanese tentacle porn, it has nothing to do with anything salacious as that.