Hello Jadoo

Fashionista

My new favorite comedy is the Korean cartoon Hello Jadoo, which I discovered on YouTube. Jadoo is a girl in third grade with two younger siblings, a frugal, aggressive mother, a tired father who drinks with his coworkers too much.

Jadoo’s pretty aggressive herself and intimidates the boys in her class, though she’s well behaved towards her friend and seat mate, Minji. Her nemesis is a girl with Shirley Temple curls and an snooty attitude.

Each episode is a hilarious look at life in Korea. In “I’m a Fashionista” all the kids except poor Jadoo get the cool athletic shoes — Naidias. She begs her parents to get her a pair, but her dad will only get her knock offs, which leads to more jeers.

Other episodes revolve around jealousy, IQ, puppy love, visiting grandmothers, cheapskates, etc. I suppose Hello Jadoo is a Korean animated Family Circus. They all make me laugh. I love how the animators express emotion in their characters.

It Could Be Worse

As people, I mean pundits get their shorts into a bunch over the GOP’s deadlock to get a Speaker, don’t forget it could be worse/ Take a look. Click and get to YouTube to watch.

On Vaccine Passports: Naomi Wolf

Liberal, feminist author, Naomi Wolf explains what v@c¢ine passports mean for free societies. Their tracking capability can curtail all our freedoms.

These passports are far worse than high tea taxes.

The Bigamist (1953)

A pretty good film with a different storyline, that kept my interest.

No Fixed Plans

Starring Joan Foutaine and Ida Lupino, who also directs, The Bigamist spends most of its time explaining how traveling salesman, Harry Graham, played by Edmond O’Brien wound up married to two women. A commenter on IMDB captures the plot well writing:

Harry and Eve Graham are trying to adopt a baby. The head of the agency senses Harry is keeping a secret and does some investigating. He soon discovers Harry has done an unusual amount of traveling from his home in San Francisco to Los Angeles. Harry gets tracked down in LA where he has a second wife and a baby. Via flashbacks, Harry tells the adoption agent how he ended up in two marriages.

From imdb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0045557/?ref_=fn_al_tt_2

Harry’s second life is revealed by the adoption agency head played my Edmund Gwenn, who’s most known for playing Kris Kringle in Miracle on 34th Street.

I thought the film would show…

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Cuban Scarcity vs. American Plenty

An amazing experience that makes you appreciate free markets.

No Fixed Plans

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Zatoichi #1

My 2nd Zatoichi film.

No Fixed Plans

Salt of the earth, wily, dutiful, sharp, Zatoichi is a beloved character in classic Japanese film. After watching Zatoichi at Large, I learned that there are 27 films with this blind swordsman, who’s blind as the hero. I decided to start at the beginning with Zatoichi: The Blind Swordsman (1962).

Zatoichi arrives in a village looking for Sukegoro, a yakuza boss whose path he crossed. Before he meet with the boss, Zatoichi cleverly exploits the yakuza who are certain they can outwit this blind man, who asks if he can join their dice game. The wanderer wins a tidy sum, angering his opponents. Sukegoro is miffed when Zatoichi refuses to display his swords play to entertain the men, but the boss shrugs off the disappointment because he’s sure he can use his guest to beat his rival Shigezo’s gang and expand his own territory.

Shigezo’s top swordsman Hirate is…

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Happy Hour (2015)

A big thumbs down for me. I know I didn’t watch the whole thing, but that’s my 2¢. Life is too short for this.

No Fixed Plans

I signed up for the Japanese Embassy’s emails and got one inviting me to watch the film Happy Hour online any time between Thursday 7pm and Sunday 7pm. I figured why not. I had enjoyed their virtual showing of Little Forest, though I only watched half of it.

Happy Hour was billed as a slow-burning chronicle of four female friends who’re in their late 30s. I expected some sharing and portrayals of stale marriages, the loneliness of a career woman, and a few of the typical experiences of this stage of life. I expected a modern Ozu and hoped for more, i.e. some unexpected twists.

Friday night when I clicked on the link to the event, I was surprised to see three screens, that look like YouTube screens. I didn’t think much of it. After almost an hour of watching these four characters who were good friends, but nothing special…

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Zatoichi at Large (1972)

A surprisingly terrific film.

No Fixed Plans

Trailer for Zatoichi Criterion Set

I picked up Zatoichi at Large at random at the library. I ws in the mood for a Japanese film and was willing to branch off to something new. Thus I discovered Zatoichi, a fictional hero whose life is chronicled in a series of 26 films. This was film 25.

Zatoichi is a character that draws you in with his contrasts. Paradoxically, he’s blind, but he’s a master swordsman. He’s gruff but follows social dictums fervently. Well, often, if not all the time. He likes to gamble and consorts with prostitutes but he’s highly moral. Sometimes he’s naive, while often he’s worldly and wily. Yet I was drawn to him because he lives in a society where the deck is stacked against him and the poor and champions the underdogs.

In this chapter, the wandering masseuse Zatoichi happens upon a pregnant woman who’d been attacked…

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Solaris (1972)

What a unique film that stays with you.

No Fixed Plans

Directed by Andrei Tarkovsky, Solaris presented a completely different kind of science fiction. It doesn’t center on the battle of good vs. evil as usual sci-fi fare does. Instead it’s a psychological drama like no other I’ve seen. It is bizarre and breaks the sci-fi mold. It breaks all molds I know of.

First off there’s a lot of time spent on earth as astro-psychologist Kris Kelvin prepares to leave for the planet Solaris where the crew of this space ship are experiencing mysterious troubles. Kris visits his father’s summer house, located in an Arcadia. Here Kris has visions of his mother and some other woman, who turns out to be his dead wife Hari, An earlier scientist who was on Solaris and knows the secrets of the project comes and tries to warn Kris that there’s a lot of bizarre stuff going on so he should be cautious if…

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The Searchers (1954)

It’s a classic movie, but not one I’d watch again and again.

No Fixed Plans

I’d heard about The Searchers starring John Wayne years ago when I took a film class from Roger Ebert. Directed by John Ford, this Western classic chronicles Ethan Edward’s search for his niece who was abducted by Comanches. Ethan’s a troubling character especially in our era because he makes biased comments. He views Native Americans as enemies, not to be trusted. 

Plot: 

After fighting in the Civil War, Ethan returns to his brother’s homestead where he’s welcomed by old friends and family. The mysterious disappearance of cattle gets the men folk to investigate and while they’re away Comanche attack the homestead burning it to the ground and killing most everyone. Nine year old Debbie, Ethan’s niece, was hiding but is discovered by the Comanches and they abduct her. Once Ethan, his adopted nephew Martin and the other men discover the devastation and carnage they set off for revenge and to…

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