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The Public Ineffectual

For entertainment purposes only.

Wednesday, September 22, 2004

Kimchi Chigae Watch

Self-imposed quarantine was broken yesterday with a brief dispatch to the Boite Noire for some distraction. Ran into Matthew from work there, gave him the customary kiss-kiss on either cheek and then told him I was sick. He made an "eeew, gross" face. I told him I'm not contagious anymore because I'm showing symptoms but it didn't make the face go away.

I mentioned in this post that I would likely never hear the words "kimchi chigae" again in a mainstream theatre. Had I gone to see Starsky and Hutch for the 20 minutes it was out in the theatre, I would never have made such a bold claim.

The duo have an attempt made on their lives by an Asian man whom they eventually apprehend. Later, Hutch enters the interrogation room offering kimchi chigae to the captive, in Korean. The man is surprised, as are we all. Hutch speaks Korean though only "chokkum" (a little). Picture me: writhing in my seat in a mix of discomfort and glee. White people speaking Korean is really, REALLY funny especially when said person is that yummy Owen Wilson.

I also rented Why Has Bodhi Dharma Left Us for the East? as I felt in need of some spiritual uplift and movies about Buddhism is as close to meditation I felt I could get. But I still haven't finished watching it. The endless koans are fucking killing me! Now I know why there aren't more Buddhists around. This shit is bloody difficult to comprehend and even more difficult to put into practice. Perhaps for this very reason, most of the people who claim to be Buddhists are also firm in the belief that Zen is a school of thought in interior design.

I feel a bit like, I believe it was Cary Grant, who stormed out of the 1968 premiere of 2001: A Space Odyssey fuming, "Could someone please explain to me what this movie is supposed to be about?". Now, there is a site that can do exactly that in eight different languages. Its pretty long and ponderous for a flash animation. But at least it has the good graces to explain itself every step of the way to release you from any mental heavy lifting and the discomfort/uncertainty of thinking for yourself.

Now back to Bodhi Dharma. Does anyone know if there are similar "coles notes" type flash animations for Zen Buddhism? It would save me a lot of time and energy. Thank you.

6 Comments:

At 9:13 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Behold the mighty power of Google, it knows all and sees all:

http://www.buddhanet.net/multimedia.htm

Including some comicbook style explanations of Zen for kids / beginners. Something I was kind of looking for myself, actually.

-AJ

 
At 4:06 PM, Blogger Oblivia said...

Thanks AJ....its a start...and actually, its really adorable!

This Buddhism thing is actually a bit of a "back to my roots" effort on my part. Understanding Zen is one thing but understanding the Korean variation is quite another. I'm told that Buddhism was actually banned from the cities by the Emperor as it was seen as a threat to the Confucian tradition or something like that. This is seen as part of the reason why the population has been so Christian conversion happy in the last 100 years or so.

*sigh*

 
At 7:31 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Oblivia: """Zen is a school of thought in interior design."""

Really good laughs in the morning of my apartment in Montreal looking at the morning sunlight shadowing and lightning the bricks wall. My tender and delicate morning in Montreal.

Karl

 
At 9:44 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hm. I was wondering why there were so many Korean churches (protestant and catholic I think) popping up around Montreal, actually. I think there's at least 2 in my old neighborhood of NDG.

 
At 11:11 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

The Korean Community is bigger than the japanese community in Montreal and getting bigger.

The number of japanese and korean students (mainly women) are also increasing. They are often coming for one year to learn languages: French, or mostly English. :)

Karl

 
At 12:28 AM, Blogger Oblivia said...

Karl, welcome back. Glad you enjoy my so-called wit. As for Koreans in Montreal - I barely ever meet any!

 

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