Day: July 8, 2011

Caveat: Damn That Television

Banalities & Journaling / Media (Texts/Music/Movies etc)

For someone who doesn't own a television, I sure seem to be watching a lot of TV lately.

[broken link! FIXME] Aindex I have been watching a Korean rom-com drama called 아직도 결혼하고 싶은 여자 [the woman who still wants to get married].  It's better than that last one I watched (내조의 여왕), but I've kind of reached a lull of interest in that show.

[broken link! FIXME] Bindex So then I started watching episodes of the American series called Heroes (from 2006~10), which I remember catching a few early episodes from back when I was still in the U.S.  It's definitely got a lot of plot twists and turns.  And the strange thing is that I'm also currently trying to work my way through Murakami's novel Kafka on the Shore, which has some almost eerie match-ups with the series in terms of themes or atmospherics.  They're both, ultimately and essentially, magic-realist oeuvres – one low-brow, the other high-brow.

[broken link! FIXME] Index And then I also started a Chilean historical/vampire drama called Conde Vrolok, which seems quite atrocious, but it managed to hook me in somehow.  And it's funny, but the streaming (and free) video from Chile is much higher quality than the streaming (paid) video from the U.S. affiliate of Korea's MBC.  Go figure.

I suppose I like that I'm essentially watching 3 series in parallel, in 3 different languages.  It feels very language-geeky.

아직도 결혼하고 싶은 여자

Caveat: 69) 생명들의 신비로움을 알게되어 감사한 마음으로 절합니다

Buddhism & Zen / The 108 / 한국말을 배움 (Failing to Learn Korean)

“I bow with a thankful heart and become aware that life is magical.”
This is #69 out of a series of [broken link! FIXME] 108 daily Buddhist affirmations that I am attempting to translate with my hands tied behind my back (well not really that, but I’m deliberately not seeking out translations on the internet, using only dictionary and grammar).

…
67. [broken link! FIXME] 나와 남이 하나임을 알게되어 감사한 마음으로 절합니다.
        “I bow with a thankful heart and become aware that I and others are one.”
68. [broken link! FIXME] 세상의 아름다움을 알게되어 감사한 마음으로 절합니다.
        “I bow with a thankful heart and become aware that the world is beautiful.”
69. 생명들의 신비로움을 알게되어 감사한 마음으로 절합니다.

I would read this sixty-ninth affirmation as: “I bow with a thankful heart and become aware that life is magical.”
The word “신비로움” [sin-bi-ro-um] is normally “mystery,” but the verb from which it derives can also mean “to be amazing” or “to be magical” and I decided to go with an unconventional translation here because I liked the idea of trying to sound a little bit poetic.  “Life being magical” sounds more interesting than “life’s mysteries” – or in any event, less cliched.

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