The King: Eternal Monarch

tags: action, fantasy, Korean drama, Lee MinHo, Netflix streaming, parallel world, romance 

I can't give a rating yet but I already love the first episode - the acting, story, cinematography, and of course Lee Min Ho who has become even more beautiful at 32 years of age. He has matured and has become a better actor IMHO since playing the rich brat but lovable Jun Pyo in 2009's Boys Over Flowers. He looked overweight when he emerged in April 2019 from his mandatory military service and it's amazing how he lost all of the weight gain in so short a time. He's back being thin but not too City Hunter buff.

I initially thought the story is time travel. It is a parallel universe and the king of modern day Kingdom of Corea, Lee Gon played by Lee MinHo, goes in and out of both universes. Interesting. The second half of the first episode is full of action and lots of LMH close-up shots. Enjoy!

Streaming on Netflix Fridays and Saturdays for 8 weeks starting today, April 17, 2020.

bratty Gu Jun-Pyo and his "croissant" hair, Boys Over Flowers, 2009

he buffed up as City Hunter Lee Yun-Seong, 2011

  

The Platform

tags: Netflix streaming, parable, Spanish movie


The Platform is a Spanish movie called El Hoyo (The Hole) which is set in an underground prison. It is a gray square vertical or tower-like structure with a hole in the middle for a platform. 2 prisoners are housed on each level. The platform goes down to feed the prisoners once a day. They are given 2 minutes to eat their fill but cannot keep any for later or they get punished either by being frozen or fried by extreme heat, then the platform goes down to the next level. The food are prepared meticulously by a chef and his cooks, a feast fit for kings. Those on the upper levels have the best choice and as the platform descends much lower, all the great food and wine are depleted because the prisoners on the upper levels do not care if the prisoners below them have nothing to eat. They are selfish people thinking only of themselves and their needs. The result is chaos, madness, suicides, people killing each other, cannibalism. Once a month prisoners wake up on another level, higher or lower determined by the "administration". With this arrangement one would expect the prisoners to be more aware of the golden rule and be considerate of the people below but no, they still act like animals once they are on the upper level. 

All the prisoners, either volunteers or criminals, are asked for their favorite food and allowed one thing to bring inside. The main character is Goreng who wakes up on level 48. BTW, in Indonesian language goreng means fried as in Nasi Goreng - Fried Rice. I'm not sure if this has a significance to the story. Maybe he's going to fry in hell or his brain will get fried in this hell hole? Anyway, Goreng did not commit any crime; he volunteered in exchange for an accredited certificate or diploma. He brought a copy of Don Quixote to read while inside and indicated his favorite food is snail (escargot), caracol in Spanish. One day, a plate of snails appears on the platform and Goreng notices that nobody touched it because it was obviously prepared just for him. If the prisoners eat only their declared preferred food, there wouldn't be food shortage in prison. He and his new cellmate, the woman who interviewed him when he applied for prison stay, who also volunteered to be a prisoner decide to reform the chaotic prison platform. The woman prepares 2 plates with enough food for the prisoners below and asks them to do the same so that there will be enough food left for the people on the lowest level. It fails as expected because people are greedy and don't think rationally.

I think this movie is maybe a parable on the 7 deadly sins. The movie has religious references regarding eating someone's body and drinking his blood thereby becoming part of that person (holy communion and wine?). I have no idea what it means though. Goreng also ate pages of Don Quixote. Maybe he ate this part of the book because he's one of only 3 prisoners who don't take advantage when transferred to a high level so prisoners on lower level may eat: 

"The person who possesses wealth is not made happy by having it but by spending it, and not spending it haphazardly but in knowing how to spend it well” — Don Quixote 

This movie needs a second viewing to fully understand it.

Recommended for viewers who are apt to over analyze movies and books.

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The greed and chaos in the movie remind me of the current global situation with people hoarding food and paper products because of the Chinese flu. They never consider that other people also need these essentials.

Rain Will Come

 tags: mystery-crime, thriller, vigilante


from goodreads

Paul Czarcik, the longest-tenured detective in the Illinois Bureau of Judicial Enforcement, puts the rest of the team to shame. Ruthless and riddled with vices, Czarcik always gets his man. And fast. Until now…A double slaying isn’t the open-and-shut case of urban crime he’s used to. Connecting it to a high-profile Texas judge, Czarcik realizes something bigger is going on. It’s the work of a serial killer for whom Chicago is just the beginning. Now he’s inviting Czarcik to play catch-me-if-you-can on a cross-country murder spree.Going rogue, Czarcik accepts the challenge. But as the bodies pile up, he must come to grips with the fact that nothing—not the killer, the victims, or the rules—is what it seems in this bloody game of cat and mouse.

Rain Will Come is one of Amazon's First Reads selections for April 2020. Amazon's offers have been dismal and this is the first time I've enjoyed a freebie in more than 2 years. The book reminds me of the movie The Boondock Saints although the novel lacks the laugh-out-loud moments in the movie. I like the author's thoroughly engaging writing style and his mild sense of humor.

Paul Czarcik cusses often, drinks a lot, hires a prostitute just to converse, and once in a while snorts coke. In other words, he is not a very likeable character but he does his job well. He is pursuing a vigilante serial killer who targets evil people. I sometimes get conflicted and can't 100% disagree with the killer's mission. Very similar to Dean Koontz's Nameless Series. Czarcik is always one step behind the killer and as he gets to know more about him and his motive, the more he realizes they have something in common. One negative is a possible romance which is unnecessary.

Recommended for mystery fans. Free for Amazon Prime members until March 31, 2020.

Pride And Prejudice 1980 BBC Adaptation

I have seen the Ehle-Firth Pride and Prejudice BBC/A&E adaptation several times and loved it. After reading the book, I downgraded the series to just 3 stars because Elizabeth Bennet is portrayed as more meek and soft-spoken than the character whom Jane Austen has written as a determined, outspoken, and fiercely honest girl. I like Firth but his portrayal of Mr. Darcy is also not consistent with the book. And don't forget that cringe-worthy dip in the lake scene. 

The most horrible and not recommendable adaptation is the Keira Knightly version and there are older ones I have not seen yet. I recently watched the 1980 BBC production, now available to stream from Amazon, to discover to my delight that it is almost perfection. All the characters and dialogue are truer to the book. I like that Mr. Collins is not portrayed as a creepy oily guy as in the Ehle-Firth adaptation. Yes, he talks nonstop and is overly fawning over Lady Catherine, but he's also funny and even his own wife makes fun of him in jest with her best friend Lizzie Bennet. If you have read the book, you won't be disappointed with this adaptation. If you haven't, Ehle-Firth is okay.

tags: Jane Austen, Pride And Prejudice BBC adaptation

Highly recommended for people who have read Pride And Prejudice book

Imagine Parody

I'm sure everyone has seen the video of clueless affluent celebrities singing out of tune John Lennon's communism anthem, Imagine, one of the worst songs he ever wrote. Gal Gadot, how could you?  A number of hilarious parodies have come out on YouTube. 

I like this one, although made long before the hypocrite celebrities' awful performance.   This is a parody of A Perfect Circle's cover of Imagine. Emojine. LOL. The guy can sing and sounds a little like Maynard. 

IMAGINE PARODY- we’re all in this together. @realjeffreyross @chelcielynnn @KingBach @MaryLynnRajskub @AveryFunny @sarahcolonna @JonRyan9 @ryansickler @JoshAdamMeyers @jeremiahstandup @realjoeyfatone @JadeCattaPreta @JessimaePeluso @sinbadbad @BrittanyFurlan @adamraycomedy pic.twitter.com/KZROo7b8ay

— Josh Wolf (@joshwolfcomedy) March 21, 2020

This parody is actually funny and better than the original celebrity cover.

Fiction Book Suggestions

Fiction reading suggestions for the housebound scared to go out and catch the Chinese virus.

Five Stars

DANIEL DERONDA - George Eliot

tags: classics, favorites, historical fiction

MURDER MUST ADVERTISE - Dorothy L. Sayers

tags: classics, murder mystery

5 stars fiction books released in 2020
JINN HUNTER BOOK 1 - Tahir Shah

tags: fantasy, jinn, supernatural, thriller

TERRORS OF PANGAEA - John C. Wright

tags: fantasy, science fiction, thriller

RAIN WILL COME - Thomas Holgate

tags: Amazon first reads, mystery-crime, thriller


3½ stars but could be 5 stars if understood completely (needs a second read)

A VOYAGE TO ARCTURUS - David Lindsay













tags: classics, philosophy, science fiction, weird, written in 1920

Wuhan Virus Playlist

This post is brought to you by Made In China Wuhan virus

For Wuhan virus home staycationers, a song playlist

Fever cover by Eva Cassidy

Mad World - Tears For Fears cover by Gary Jules from the movie Donnie Darko

Stand By Me - Ben E. King (Stand by our President, people!)

Splendid Isolation - Warren Zevon

Stayin' Alive - Bee Gees

Take that made in China virus! I Will Survive - Gloria Gaynor

Since everyone seems to have gone crazy over the Chinese flu, I highly recommend the craziest reality shows streaming on Netflix

Love is Blind

The Circle Brasil IMHO is better than the US version, is funnier,
and the Portuguese language is easy on the ears

Foucault's Pendulum

tags: conspiracies, historical fiction, mystery, satire


from GoodReads

A superb cerebral entertainment about three editors who cook up a hoax - involving the Templar Knights, Stonehenge, the Cabala, and Brazilian voodoo, among other things - that suddenly becomes all too real.

I read my favorite Eco novel almost 20 years ago and read it a second time this past week to validate my 5-star rating. A GoodReads reader didn't like the book which is perfectly fine, however, he declared on his comment that readers who loved and gave a 5-star rating are pretentious, never really understood the book, and just want to look "intellectual". He is projecting obviously, but why diminish other readers' opinion of the book. It irked me and to that reader: Ma gavte la nata.

I still love the book and maybe even more so after this second reading. It is not an easy book to read with the dizzying amount of information and heavy on foreign languages but it is also fascinating, informative, and often LOL funny.

When I first read it, I haven't read George Eliot's Middlemarch yet and now that I have, I understand and appreciate why Eco chose the name Casaubon for one of the three men who concocted an elaborate story to make fun of and probably to warn people who believe in conspiracies.

Highly recommended.

The Witcher

tags: action, fantasy, monster hunter, Netflix, supernatural, thriller

from Netflix

Geralt of Rivia, a solitary monster hunter, struggles to find his place in a world where people often prove more wicked than beasts. 

I finished the series in 3 days and I like it. A lot. The series is based on Polish Andrzej Sapkowski's short stories published in 1984 that were translated into English in 1996/1997. A video game was also created based on the stories. I had no idea what the story is about having not read the books nor played the games. A lot of the books and games fans are disappointed in the series because they expected the chronological telling of the story. I do believe from just watching and paying close attention to dialog and different characters that I understood them very well and therefore enjoyed it more for not having any preconceptions. 

I like Henry Cavill as Geralt of Rivia regardless of his way of speaking, and his grunts are cute, in a way. The series is bloody and gory with lots of heads and limbs rolling, but it also has a bit of humor. I was annoyed at first with the travelling bard but he grew on me that I actually miss him after he parts ways with Geralt on Episode 7. The series is worth a second watch and maybe a third.

Highly recommended.

The Silent Patient

 tags: mystery, psychological thriller

from goodreads

Alicia Berenson’s life is seemingly perfect. A famous painter married to an in-demand fashion photographer, she lives in a grand house with big windows overlooking a park in one of London’s most desirable areas. One evening her husband Gabriel returns home late from a fashion shoot, and Alicia shoots him five times in the face, and then never speaks another word.

Alicia’s refusal to talk, or give any kind of explanation, turns a domestic tragedy into something far grander, a mystery that captures the public imagination and casts Alicia into notoriety. The price of her art skyrockets, and she, the silent patient, is hidden away from the tabloids and spotlight at the Grove, a secure forensic unit in North London.

Theo Faber is a criminal psychotherapist who has waited a long time for the opportunity to work with Alicia. His determination to get her to talk and unravel the mystery of why she shot her husband takes him down a twisting path into his own motivations—a search for the truth that threatens to consume him....

I read the novel because Goodreads readers voted it Number 1 in Mystery category for 2019. Umm, no. Not even close. Maybe 100 or lower, IMHO. The book is not written well and filled with all the things I don't like such as describing what characters do upon waking up. Just get on with the story, for Pete's sake! Don't describe clothing and other unnecessary stuff that don't add anything to the plot. It's as though the author is paid by the words. Sheesh.

The premise is interesting and because I am a fan of whydunnit mystery subgenre with unreliable narrators, I continued reading even after rolling my eyes at all the absurdities and inconsistencies. There are too many characters to throw off readers but they are shallow, not believable nor interesting, and went nowhere in the plot. It's exhausting to read the background of the main characters and all the flaws of the numerous minor characters. The author tried really really hard to be the new Gillian Flynn or Keigo Higashino but he failed BIGLY.

Most of the story is told from POV of Theo Faber and a small portion from POV of Alicia through her diary. I normally don't like first person narration and perhaps it added to my annoyance of the novel. The twist at the end is just meh and not really phenomenal as other readers make it to be. Theo's reason for trying to make Alicia talk again is weak. The whole story could have been told in 20 or fewer pages and it still will not be compelling nor engaging. There just isn't a good story to tell in this novel.

Not recommended.