The Suck Up Project: Mr. XXX-Kisser

On my last trip (to Italy) I got to watch several movies since I was seating appart from my sister, I mostly watch TV shows in long flights but this time I ended up watching a Korean movie, the Tittle catched my attention and decided to give it a shot.

The Suck Up Project or Mr. XXX-Kisser is a pretty new movie, it was released on June 2012 (I watched it on December), the producers are Kim Jin-Young and Choi Tae-Young, it was Directed by Jung Seung-Gu and was written by Kim Sun-Young (Is it just me, or those are a lot of Young's? kkkk).

Anyway, the movie is a Drama/Comedy about Insurance worker Dong-Sik who learns the skill of "flattery" from THE master of Flattery Heo Go-Soo (Played by Sung Dong-Il - *Answer me 1997*), all this to become the King of Flattery of Insurance salesmen and pay his family debts.

Dong-sik has a hard time when he is transfered from the Insurance company Headquarters into the Sales Department, he tries to learn the secrets of Insurance Sales but in such a competitive enviroment no one wants to share their secrets, he then starts following the Top sales agent of the office and notices something weird, he has different personalities with each of his customers and one good day he finds a book belonging to the TOP sales agent and turns out this book was written by Heo Go-Soo, after some research he manages to find Heo Go-Soo and asks him to train him in the art of Flattery, of course Heo is hesitant and does not want to do it until he realizes the determination Dong-Sik has and he decides to take him as his apprentice.

Dong-sik then starts dealing with a Rich man who ends up being the brother of the Loan sharks whom Dong-sik's family owe money andwho by the way is Married to Dong-sik's ex-girlfriend.....

There you go, I gave most of the movie out (Sorry!), this is not THE best Korean movie, but it was a fine 2hour entertainment inflight :)

Just in case, here's the Trailer.

-Gisela V.

The KCC in Mexico

Hi everyone!!

Looks like I'm back and ready to keep on blogging, somehow a few days after I posted about my break I got some inspiration, started editing a video of the WKB Tour from September '12 and decided to make a "Korean Night" at home, a few friends, my sis and I kind of have this new tradition to make a "Country night" everytime one of us Travel.... so far we've only had an "Italian night", a "Vegas night" and next we'll have a "Mochis Night"** and a "Korean Night", we usually make typical food from the place and play some music, I still haven't decided what will I be cooking but I'm sure Kimchi will have a very special place at the table!

Anyway, yesterday my sister and I headed to the KCC in Mexico for the screening of the movie JSA, I had NO idea what this movie was about and since I didn't know if there would be many people we decided to arrive early, we got there at 5:30 and the movie was schedules at 6:00pm, turns out... the place was EMPTY.... honestly it was disapointing to find the KCC looking almos exactly the same as the last time I was there over 10 months ago :(

Apparently my sister and I were the only ones waiting for the Movie and just a few minutes before it started another guy came in.... we were 3!!!!!!! only 3!!!!!!!!! I keep on wondering why there are very few people going to the KCC, I know Mexico holds a very considerable ammount of people who loves Korea, I think they could do more by maybe creating more events, Kpop events (which we know attracts a LOT of people), Cooking Classes and Traditional Music lessons were ONLY announced at the "Notifications" part of the KCC website, there were no announces on Facebook and I don't think the KCC has a twitter account updated. I understand these kind of events are for certain number of people but one would believe the KCC would like to have lots of people coming in and out of the Center because that's its purpose, right?, to Promote Korean Culture and allow others to get more information about Korea, isn't it?

WAAAAAAIT!... I was talking about a Movie, wasn't I?... We watched JSA (Joint Security Area)

JSA is a 2000 Korean movie directed by Park Chan-Wook and it's bases on the novel DMZ by Park Sang-Yeon, it's basically a movie about a shooting incident within the DMZ (The border between South Korea and North Korea). Throughout the movie you'll see the story of 4 new friends, 2 North Korean Soldiers and 2 South Korean soldiers... sadly due to a bad timing they get caught "hanging out" together and that's when the shooting takes place, it made me wonder if North and South get to become friends from time to time ad the DMZ.....

The movie is 108 minutes long and even thou at 1st I have a little problem with the subtitles since I was trying to catch up the Movie, the subtitles and words in Korean.... Does that happen to you when you are trying to learn a language?... I find hard to concentrate at the imagines trying to learn new words in Korea when I'm watching a movie or a Drama.... O_O

IF you have the chance to watch this move make sure you watch it!, I'm really glad I went yesterday and catched it, otherwise I don't think I would've watched it at home.... :(

I'm really excited I got this urges to blog again :D and I'll try to update as soon as possible...just remember I have a weird schedule at work and I might only be able to update on the weekens :/

-Gisela V.

P.s. I sent a message to the KCC to see if I'm allowed to assist today to the 1st Cooking Class, if I'm allowed I'll make sure to post about it ASAP!


**Los Mochis is a coastal city in northern Sinaloa, Mexico

3a Semana Ciclo de Cine Coreano / 3rd Week of Korean Movies in Mexico

 Here's the calender for the 3rd week of Korean Movies in Mexico

-Gisela V.

2a Semana Ciclo de Cine Coreano / 2 Week of Korean Movies

 Here's the calender for the 2nd week of Korean Movies in Mexico

In addition to this, the Mexican Post Office just launched 2 conmemorative stamps to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Diplomatic relasionships between Mexico and Korea.

The price is $13.50 MXP (1USD)

Here you can see a video of the ceremony to present this Stamps with the Korean Embassador in Mexico (Who said this 2012 will be a year of Celebrations of this Anniversary...in Mexico and Korea)

-Gisela V.

Ciclo de Cine Coreano

En 1962 nuestros contactos adquirieron su actual dimensión institucional con el establecimiento de relaciones diplomáticas y la apertura de la embajada coreana en México. Posteriormente en1978, México abriría su embajada en Corea.

Los contactos de alto nivel iniciaron con la visita del presidente Roh Taewoo a México en 1991, que por otra parte fue la primera visita de un jefe de Estado coreano a América Latina. Cinco años después (1996), el presidente Ernesto Zedillo realizó la primera visita de un jefe de Estado mexicano a Corea.

Durante el pasado gobierno, y en uno de sus primeros viajes al exterior, el ex presidente Vicente Fox efectuó una visita de Estado a Corea en junio de 2001 (se entrevistó con su homólogo Kim Daejung). En noviembre de 2003, el entonces primer ministro Goh Kun, vino a México para participar en el “Cuarto foro global sobre reinvención del gobierno”


Por esto mismo, este 2012 esperamos varios eventos para festejar 50 años de relaciones entre Mexico y Corea.

01 de julio del 2010. Alcázar del Castillo de Chapultepéc.- Cena de Estado en honor del Excmo. Sr. Lee Myung-Bak, Presidente de la República de Corea y su Esposa, la Sra. Kim Yoon-Ok.

Con motivo de los 50 años de relaciones Diplomaticas Mexico - Corea, a partir de el 31 de Enero se celebrará el Ciclo de Cine Coreano en la Ciudad de Mexico


                                                        CICLO DE CINE COREANO
                                                           CINETECA NACIONAL
                                                FEBRERO 2 - FEBRERO 16 2012


Aqui les dejo el calendario de la 1a semana del Ciclo

 Gracias a la Embajada de Corea en Mexico por la información brindada.


P.D. Si tienen dudas del calendario o necesitan el calendario, no duden en mandarme un mail o dejar un calendario
P.D.2. Cada semana actualizare el calendario con las peliculas correspondientes.

English Version: 

In 1962 our contacts acquired its current institutional dimension with the establishment of diplomatic relations and opening of the Korean embassy in Mexico. Later in 1978, Mexico will open its embassy in Korea.

The high-level contacts began with the visit of President Roh Taewoo to Mexico in 1991, it was the first visit by a Korean head of state in Latin America. Five years later (1996), President Ernesto Zedillo made ​​the first visit by a Mexican head of state in Korea.

Former President Vicente Fox made ​​a state visit to Korea in June 2001 (he met with President Kim Dae-jung). In November 2003, then Prime Minister Goh Kun, came to Mexico to participate in the "Fourth Global Forum on Reinventing Government"


For this reason, this 2012 we expect several events to celebrate 50 years of relations between Mexico and Korea.

July 1, 2010. Chapultepec Castle Alcazar .- State Dinner in honor of Hon. Mr. Lee Myung-Bak, President of the Republic of Korea and his wife, Mrs. Kim Yoon-Ok with Mexico's President Felipe Calderon Hinojosa and his wife Margarita Zavala Gomez del Campo.

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations Mexico - Korea, from January 31 will be held on Korean Film Series in Mexico City.
                                                         KOREAN MOVIES CYCLE
                                                           CINETECA NACIONAL
                                                     From February 2nd to February 16th 2012

Here's the the timing of the 1st week of the cycle

-Gisela V.
 

Korean Movie Review: 말아톤

Marathon is a 2005 SK Movie based on Bae Hyeong-jin, a runner with Autism.
According to Wikipedia this film popularized the Term for Autism: 자폐증, japyejeung or "self-closed syndrome.".

I got this movie in Seoul for just 1,000₩ (About 1USD/11Pesos), at the moment I didn't know what the movie was about but a friend told me it was good and I'm glad I got it because it is indeed a good movie (Made me cry a little) 

The Movie is about a young man (Cho-Won) who finds running very liberating. Cho-Won is very into Zebras an Chocopie (Korean Snack) and at the beggining of the movie you can see him at his house eating lots of Chocopies. 
His mother never gave up on him and was determined to prove to the world that her child can be normal, as Cho-Won grows older he and his mom find a former Marathon Champion who is now an old man with Alcohol problems, he is doing community service by Teaching Physics at a school, when Cho-Wons met him they ask him to Traing Cho-Won and he accept, at the begging he just takes advantaje from Cho-Wons by sleeping while Cho-Wons run non stop under the sun, eats Cho-Wons snacks or just by taking him to a Steam House to relax, when the Training starts seeing Cho-Won's determination is when the real training begins. Cho-Won gets a 3rd place in a 10K marathon and his mom starts setting bigger goals for him.

There's a part on the movie where his mom tells Cho-Won he has Million Dollar Legs and apparently
Bae Hyeong-jin (22), autistic person of the film, has his legs insured for $1 million (or one billion won).

SK Telecom, which had a commercial contract with Bae, gave Bae accident insurance certificates of $1 million for his legs and general accident insurance for him on June 7. If Bae injures his legs, he will collect the
insurance money, which may be $1 million maximum. (This touching scene of the film actually happened in reality.)

“Chowon’s legs are?” (Mother)
“Million dollar leg!” (Cho-Won)

All in all, its a good movie, with enough Drama and some comedy ^^



Runtime: 117 min
Language: Korean (available with English subtitles)

-Gisela V.