Star Trek

Star Trek (2009) Directed by J.J Abrams, written by Roberto Olci and Alex Kurtzman, adapted from television series by Gene Roddenberry.

I liked it very much. The script was not good but the film was directed well and I liked the cinematography a lot.

100 Years of Solitude - End, The Unkindness of Ravens

I have finished 100 Years of Solitude yesterday and I really got into it despite being emotionally a bit distant to it. But it is a wonderful book and I think a must read for any book lover.

There were guests last night and they left rather late (I'm not complaining) so there wasn't any time to watch a film. I had weird dreams though and I hope they mean good things. I so want to keep a dream journal the way the protagonist of Spring Snow, the beautiful novel written by Yukio Mishima did. But I'm too lazy to wake up and write everything I have seen down despite the idea being very very attractive and I do believe dreams can be interpreted. If these weird dreaming keeps maybe I'll start.

I have started to read The Unkindness of Ravens. Ruth Rendell never let me down so far and this is the first book in which Inspector Wexford has a starring role (he showed up at the end of The Bridesmaid but I guess it was just a cameo)

Wanted and Twilight

After Jumong it was kind of hard to return to my pre Jumong viewing habbits but I'm back in the saddle and

Wanted (2009) Directed by Prabhudeva, written by Sunir Kumal Agrawal and Shiraz Ahmed

This remake of a South Indian film is a success as far as I'm concerned. Salman Khan (an actor I don't usually care for) is excellent in the lead role supported wonderfully by Prakash Raj and Ayesha Takia. I loved it.


Twilight (2008) Directed by Catherine Hardwickle, written by Melissa Rosenberg adopted from the book of the same name written by Stephanie Meyer.

It is very similar to the book and strangely shallow for a film that is about many emotions but give me a clean cinematography with lots of close up shots and I'm happy. I enjoyed this one.

100 Years of Solutitude continues to amaze me though I still am not in love with it.

Jumong End

Yes I have completed the total 81 episodes last night and I even watched a special TV programme featuring the actors and a lame making of. The NGs were nice but after such a huge production, one expectes a better TV show. It was funny to see the actors without the period costumes.

Jumong is one of the best shows I have seen, every episode packed with excitement and enough emotion to burst me into tears (I have to admit this is not very a hard thing to do).

In fact I was thinking of how well I was holding myself in the last episode until the seperation of Hyupbo and Sayong scene. I didn't know where the tears came from but it felt so touching with Hyupbo crying and Sayong holding himself in order not to cry. It just turned the taps on.

I really admired Sosuhno in this one since she actually kept her word and left with her two sons to establish a new nation in South.

Jumong became allies (this time for real) with Daeso (who never liked Jumong but finally understood that he needed to side with him in order to achieve a victory) after his father the King was assasinated by the Han. Youngpo had just joined the King on Daeso's orders.

Well it all ended on a bittersweet note with Sosuhno leaving Jumong and Koguryo, and Yesoya being the empress and Yuri the crown prince. It said in the end that Sosuhno's younger son Onjo helped to build a nation called Baekche.
Daeso was killed by Jumong's grandson (Yuri's son) and after his death, Puyo perished.

Jumong's Koguryo prospered even more after Sosuhno's departure and Jumong died 40 years old with his dream achieved.

I think I'll suffer from withdrawal symptoms with 3 episodes a night but the ending was so lacklustre that I think this will mitigate them somehow.

Meanwhile 100 Years of Solitude is going very good and Gabriel Garcia Marquez has a very strong and impressive prose. I'm not in love with it (the way I'm with Murakami Haruki, Jane Austen or Thomas Hardy) but it is very entertaining and being in awe of this talent, I'm enjoying the book very very much.

Jumong LXXVII, LXXVIII and LXXIX

Just when I thought episode 77 would be a filler with all the flashbacks King Kumwa was having, it changed directions and turned out to be a full melodrama fest. These three episodes left me in tears and I realised how much I invested in these characters.

Jumong is now united with Yesoya and Yuri but the Jolbon side of Koguryo palace is in an unrest since they don't know what to do. As Jumong's first wife Yesoya deserves to be empress and Yuri would be the crown prince. Yuri turns out to be not only a couregous and skilled fighter, he is also a good thinker and this caused some jelaousy in Piryu. It is only normal but Yontabal's scheming sister (angry at Jumong since he punished her son for a grave mistake he did, even the son himself thinks he should be punished btw) and her side kick Yangtak poisoned Piryu's mind with their jealous and ambitious words. These two decided to kill Jumong and hired mercaneries and informed Piryu about their plan. I guess they wanted to include him to avoid the death of their families if their plan is not successful. As soon as Yontabal found out that they hired mercaneries, he informed Sosuhno and they figured out these two are upto no good. Episode 79 ended with them trying to reach Jumong and Yuri before the assassins do.

Meanwhile things in Puyo are not going very well. Daeso is trying to string both Han and Koguryo along and strenghten their resources with the gifts they are giving them in exchange for their support in the upcoming war. Jumong tricked Daeso again and I laughed out loud when he found out. He was livid! Jumong also angered Yodong's Governor by killing his brother and his advance troop in a suprise attack (Yuri's idea).

Sullan, the evil woman ordered Mauryung to put a curse on Jumong, when Youngpo saw them going to the ceremony he wanted to curse him too (Youngpo, after being imprisoned by Yodong Governor was rescued by Daeso and forced to turn over his considerable wealth to Puyo in exchange, he is very bitter, the idiot). As soon as Mauryung started cursing Jumong (with Sullan and Youngpo in tow) a lighting struck her and killed her on the spot. When the Queen heard this she finally understood that Jumong will not be defeated by these means and asked Daeso to side with Jumong and not oppose him since it will put Daeso's life in danger. Daeso answered her that he will not die easily. I sense something terrible is going to happen to him since when Mauryung saw Yuri at the palace earlier, she predicted that he will harm Daeso.

I never really liked Sosuhno but she conquered me in these three episodes. Apart from being smart she really is kind hearted and treated Yesoya so well urging her to become empress and telling her sons that titles don't really matter when people unite for a good and just cause and contribute to achieving it. I'm proud of her.
Yesoya refused to become empress but she was so happy when Sosuhno asked her to be helped on her feet to meet Jumong (and Yuri) on their return from a successful mission that I cried some more. I wish I was as kind hearted as Sosuhno.

Jumong LXXVI, LXXV and LXXVI

Last night Jumong again suprised me by a "15 Years Later". Yuri is now a young man and he has a small gang including two close friends and they do smuggling jobs. Yuri is smart and he is a great fighter. The only reason he is smuggling is to help his mother out. Yesoya is working at an inn and is very ill (coughing blood).
They reside in a small village near North Okju border.

Koguryo is a thriving nation which expanded and doing well. The two princes (Sosuhno's sons) are elder Prince Piryu, who seems to be a decent young man who is also a good fighter and very eager to go into adventures and feels ready for the tasks he hopes to be given to him.
Younger prince Onju is a darling who is training under Mopalmo and learns how to produce weapons and farm tools etc.

Jumong and Sosuhno govern together but it is clear that Jumong is the King (or Emperor as the subtitles tell us but they utter "pea" which is a word they use for the King as well)

King Kumwa is still alive (shock!) and Deaso, his mom and Sullan live in Puyo which is a poor country now. Youngpo on the other hand became a very rich merchant, thanks to his connections and apparently he has a knack for trade. But of course he is not content with what he has and wants to be King of Puyo. Well tough luck since King finally agrees to leave the throne to Daeso. And just when Queen, Sullan and the monkey like court minister (yeah he is alive too, apparently no one died) are totally happy, Jumong arrives the inauguration ceremony (everyone is invited). Jumong wants to become allies with Puyo since his enemy are the Han and wants to beat them. Yodong Governor wants Puyo to become allies with Han. Daeso needs to decide (when he asked for his father's advice the King adviced him not to allow a grudge to cloud his judgement). Jumong told him the same thing, he said that his father and mother died in Puyo but he still wants to become allies for the good of the people and to beat the Han.

Through circumstances Yuri met and fought with Prince Piryu and beat him but he didn't kill him. And they he attended the inauguration tournament (since Yesoya decided to tell him who his father is, I think she is very ill and wants him to know everything before she passes away). Oi had seen Yesoya but lost her in the crowds and when he came back to find her they already left (since Yuri is running away from the Okjuh police).
Yesoya wanted to go to Puyo in order to retrieve the tip of the sword Jumong gave her (he told her to give it to their son so that he'll recognise him) Silly Yesoya has hidden it in Puyo Palace when they were hostages. She told Yuri to get that and then she'll tell him everything about his father.

She couldn't help but attend the tournament and watch Jumong from a far but Jumong (who is a master archer and who has great eyesight) saw her and sent Oi and Hyupbo to look for her but she also understood that she has been spotted and ran away.
Yuri beat Piryu in the tournament and Daeso was very happy since he didn't want a Koguryo prince to become champion at his inauguration. Queen became very ill as soon as she heard Jumong was in the palace and couldn't even get to watch Daeso to wear the crown. I don't feel sorry for her, evil woman that she is.

Jumong wanted to visit the place where his father died while waiting for Daeso to decide whom to side with. Naro assigned Yuri to tail them. Yuri was caught and everyone wanted to kill him but Jumong let him go (and Piryu to his credit agreed with Jumong). He went away but found out that several men are on their way to attack Jumong (these are the idiot Youngpo's men, Youngpo is trying to get favours from Yodong governor by killing Jumong). And he returned to help Jumong. And when they were fighting, at one point they stood back to back against their attackers. And that's where episode 76 ended!!!!

Sosuhno and Jumong, although husband and wife, do not share that earlier intimacy of the days when they were dating. And they don't have child together. I think this is mostly because of Jumong being really aloof. I can't blame him, there was a scene where he kept the single shoe of his then three year old son. He doesn't even know whether the shoe is definitely Yuri's or not but it is the only thing left to him after -he thinks- their death. Now that he knows they are alive I bet he'll do anything to find them.

Only five episodes left...

Meanwhile 100 Years of Solitude is going great. I don't feel close to this book but it definitely takes me to another world, which is interesting and a bit mad so far.

Jumong LXXIII

I keep watching Jumong and it is integrated into my system. I wonder what will happen when this will end (The show is 81 episodes) the withdrawal symptoms scare me.

Today I woke up late and my sister had to take me to work (which is about 20 minutes away by car).

And returning to Jumong, there isn't a useless moment in it and they did good with the screenplay. It is long but each episode is full of exciting stuff and they all manage to end at a cliff hanger.

Sosuhno and Jumong got married! What happened was that even though Sosuhno willingly asked Jumong to be the new king of Koguryo, her supporters and Jolbon chiefs were all scared that Jumong will forget them when he has all the power and that Sosuhno has contributed so much to the new nation that it is only natural for her to be Queen. Jumong supporters totally opposed to the idea having the same fears themselves. Jumong had a meeting and told everyone that his first priority is to build a nation for the Josun migrants and that make sure of their wellbeing. He never intended to be King and is not qualified to govern a nation anyway. But his supporters insisted that he should be king. So Yontabal had the bright idea to marry these two. Since they are both widowers and they used to like eachother romantically, this seems to be the ideal solution. And those two agreed to it after some hesitation.

The thing is that Jumong searched for Yesoya and Yuri everywhere after he took Hyonto. Even though they believed Youngpo was lying he never gave up the search and often cried for his wife and son. But Yesoya never showed up after she escaped from Youngpo's imprisonment.

And she arrived at Keru at the day of the announcement of the new nation. Roughed up by the travels and with Yuri in her lap assuring him that he'll get to see his father today. But she found out right upon her arrival that today is the day of the announcement of the new nation and just when her face shone with happiness she learned that it is a double celebration since Sosuhno and Jumong are getting married too. She is devastated but went to the wedding and stood among the other people who are witnessing this joyous occasion. She understood that the main reason for this is to establish a nation without internal feuds. You can just see her face that she is happy for Jumong now that he has finally completed his mission but what about her and their son? She looked really poor and will poor Yuri grow up without knowing his father?

This was something I didn't see coming. I thought they would kill Yesoya or get rid of her somehow but they didn't thank God. This makes things complicated and I'm very eager to learn what'll happen.

Meanwhile Yangjung died in the battlefield and Sullan was taken prisoner but Jumong let her go. Sosuhno said -to her face - that she wouldn't do as a hostage since she has no value now that her father is dead and no one in Puyo asked for her anyway. It was a bit harsh even though Sullan deserves to DIF, still...

Of course she is so evil that as soon as she returned to Puyo she started to plot how to make Daeso King so that he can go to war against Jumong and get revenge for her father. Daeso still wants to be King but they go crazy over Jumong building a nation and becoming King before Daeso. These people are pathetic. And furthermore when Youngpo returned to Puyo, he found out that he was suspected treason (logically) and that Deaso is after him. Queen told him to leave Puyo to avoid Daeso's wrath. Even his mother didn't want him. Youngpo went to the Han capital and met Hwang (who was taken prisoner by Jumong and then exchanged with migrants). Hwang is going to be Yodong governor and he promised to take Youngpo with him.

Meanwhile King is vomitting blood and I don't feel sad for him at all. But Sullan took this opportunity to try to poison him but King's bodyguard became aware of the plot and alerted Prime Minister. Daeso killed the doctor hired by Sullan and told Sullan that he is letting her go
this time but that she musn't try to kill the King. I can't believe these people!!! They are so evil. Youngpo is normally a character I would despise but in comparison to them I feel sad for him.

I wonder what will happen to Yesoya, with no finances and nowhere to go, what will she do?