Saturday, September 18, 2004
I learned how to transfer an audio cassette tape into a CD. I sort of knew how to do it in theory, but I didn't actually end up trying it out until yesterday and today. I had to burn a copy of this year's children's Christmas musical into a CD so the kids can start practicing tomorrow. It ended up being a little bit more of a hassle than I originally thought. I forgot to take into consideration mixing the volume levels to minimize static noise and dividing the music up into tracks. So I took longer and wasted a few blank CDs. Oh well. Trial and error is one way to learn. So yeah, I had to convert the tape into a CD. I mean, who uses cassette tapes anymore? In case you're wondering why we didn't just buy the CD version in the first place, it turns out that a CD version of that particular musical doesn't exist. I was surprised when I saw that it was made in the year 2000. Being available only in tape format, I would have thought it was from the early 80's or something. Weird.
I saw a couple of Korean movies this past week. One of them was Arahan. It's a pretty cool martial-arts/comedy film with some levitation, running down the walls of skyscrapers, and "palm blasts" mixed in. It's sort of like Volcano High but with a lot more emphasis on the actual martial arts than on the special moves and effects. And that's a good thing. Typical summer action movie. Fun stuff. The problem I sometimes have with foreign films is that the DVDs of ones I would like to see are set for a something other than Region 1 (North America and Canada). Sometimes I get lucky and they release the movie in a Region 0 DVD which works with DVD players from anywhere in the world. So unless I get a region-free DVD player (which works with any DVD), I usually have to get the VCD version which doesn't have any region restrictions. However, the quality is not as great. Even if I get a region-free DVD player, though, I'm still limited in locations where I can watch the film. It sort of hinders me from showing other people a movie that's quite "share-worthy." So I guess I'm researching how to read and extract the contents (including subtitles, of course) of a foreign DVD and burn it into a DVD that's friendlier to American DVD players.
Oh yeah, the second movie I saw was Windstruck. If you've seen My Sassy Girl, it might seem like the same stuff. They have the same director and the same actress, Jeon Ji-Hyun. In fact, I've heard people say that Windstruck is a prequel to My Sassy Girl. I don't think so, but I can see how people would think that. In My Sassy Girl, Jeon Ji-Hyun played a somewhat crazy, psycho girl with past issues. In Windstruck, she plays a somewhat crazy, psycho girl with issues waiting to happen. It's cool if it is prequel, and I'd like it to be, but it's not. There are far too many plot holes for it to be one. Anyway, I've listed a few arguments for and against that theory. Highlight the empty space below to reveal possible spoilers.
Yes, it's a prequel:
· Cha Tae-Hyun, the actor from My Sassy Girl, shows up at the end of Windstruck at the train station as apparently the same character. It is a scene similiar to how they met at the beginning of My Sassy Girl.
· They never mentioned Jeon Ji-Hyun's character's name in My Sassy Girl, so she could be the same character in Windstruck. She has the same personality even.
· She plays the piano in both movies.
· The boyfriend dies in Windstruck. In My Sassy Girl, her previous boyfriend had died the year before.
No, they're two unrelated movies:
· She's a cop in Windstruck. In My Sassy Girl, which supposedly occurs later, she's still in college.
· The circumstances in which she met the soon-to-be-deceased boyfriend are different.
· During the train station scene in Windstruck, she was wearing her police uniform and she wasn't drunk. Different circumstances from My Sassy Girl.
· The necklace that the old boyfriend gave her in My Sassy Girl was never addressed in Windstruck.
· It was implied in My Sassy Girl that the guy died from drowning. Although he almost drowned in Windstruck, he died from a gunshot wound during a later scene. (This isn't very conclusive, actually, since the drowning part wasn't explicit in My Sassy Girl.)
There are probably a few more points for each argument, but those are most convincing ones I can think of. For the record, I still think My Sassy Girl is better. If you can get a hold of it, go see it if you haven't already. Or wait until the remake comes out (in 2006, I think?) I hear the Bend It Like Beckham director is directing it.
I saw a couple of Korean movies this past week. One of them was Arahan. It's a pretty cool martial-arts/comedy film with some levitation, running down the walls of skyscrapers, and "palm blasts" mixed in. It's sort of like Volcano High but with a lot more emphasis on the actual martial arts than on the special moves and effects. And that's a good thing. Typical summer action movie. Fun stuff. The problem I sometimes have with foreign films is that the DVDs of ones I would like to see are set for a something other than Region 1 (North America and Canada). Sometimes I get lucky and they release the movie in a Region 0 DVD which works with DVD players from anywhere in the world. So unless I get a region-free DVD player (which works with any DVD), I usually have to get the VCD version which doesn't have any region restrictions. However, the quality is not as great. Even if I get a region-free DVD player, though, I'm still limited in locations where I can watch the film. It sort of hinders me from showing other people a movie that's quite "share-worthy." So I guess I'm researching how to read and extract the contents (including subtitles, of course) of a foreign DVD and burn it into a DVD that's friendlier to American DVD players.Oh yeah, the second movie I saw was Windstruck. If you've seen My Sassy Girl, it might seem like the same stuff. They have the same director and the same actress, Jeon Ji-Hyun. In fact, I've heard people say that Windstruck is a prequel to My Sassy Girl. I don't think so, but I can see how people would think that. In My Sassy Girl, Jeon Ji-Hyun played a somewhat crazy, psycho girl with past issues. In Windstruck, she plays a somewhat crazy, psycho girl with issues waiting to happen. It's cool if it is prequel, and I'd like it to be, but it's not. There are far too many plot holes for it to be one. Anyway, I've listed a few arguments for and against that theory. Highlight the empty space below to reveal possible spoilers.Yes, it's a prequel:
· Cha Tae-Hyun, the actor from My Sassy Girl, shows up at the end of Windstruck at the train station as apparently the same character. It is a scene similiar to how they met at the beginning of My Sassy Girl.
· They never mentioned Jeon Ji-Hyun's character's name in My Sassy Girl, so she could be the same character in Windstruck. She has the same personality even.
· She plays the piano in both movies.
· The boyfriend dies in Windstruck. In My Sassy Girl, her previous boyfriend had died the year before.
No, they're two unrelated movies:
· She's a cop in Windstruck. In My Sassy Girl, which supposedly occurs later, she's still in college.
· The circumstances in which she met the soon-to-be-deceased boyfriend are different.
· During the train station scene in Windstruck, she was wearing her police uniform and she wasn't drunk. Different circumstances from My Sassy Girl.
· The necklace that the old boyfriend gave her in My Sassy Girl was never addressed in Windstruck.
· It was implied in My Sassy Girl that the guy died from drowning. Although he almost drowned in Windstruck, he died from a gunshot wound during a later scene. (This isn't very conclusive, actually, since the drowning part wasn't explicit in My Sassy Girl.)
There are probably a few more points for each argument, but those are most convincing ones I can think of. For the record, I still think My Sassy Girl is better. If you can get a hold of it, go see it if you haven't already. Or wait until the remake comes out (in 2006, I think?) I hear the Bend It Like Beckham director is directing it.
