Wonder Woman Returns!

My bike was stolen soon after I got back from Europe, so I haven't been biking since August. I was recently practicing the phrase "Someone stole my bike" in Korean, and I guess I happened to say the right words at the right time...The Vice President of the Hwacheon goverment overheard me and said that he would buy me a new bike if I joined the Hwacheon bike club! Of course I said yes. So today I went biking with the club for the first time (the bike pictured is not my bike, just a loan for the day--I'll be getting a new bike next week). The provincial TV station MBC was there filming the opening of our new bike trail (part of which is a dock), so I'll be on TV this Tuesday, channel 11, at 5:30pm. I'm so lucky. I love my life. (PS, in case you're wondering why this post is called "Wonder Woman Returns", click here.)

PIFFran

I just got back from the 14th annual "Pusan International Fim Festival". I watched 9 Korean films in 3 days...I have starred (*) the best ones:

Friday:

"I Come With The Rain" (Josh Hartnett stars in an international psychological-thriller)
"Vegetarian" (about a schizophrenic/anorexic "vegetarian"...as if Vegetarians didn't have a bad enough reputation in Korea!)
"Maybe" (about a Korean-American adoptee who searches for her birth parents)
"Mother"* (beautiful film: half Forrest Gump type comedy and half murder mystery)

Saturday:

"Our Fantastic 21st Century" (depressing film about a Korean girl working at a supermarket)
"Tokyo Taxi"* (Japanese rockstar can't fly to Seoul, so he takes a cab from Tokyo)
"Moscow" (depressing artsy film about reunited best friends)
"Enlightenment Film"* (extremely goood film about 3 generations in a Korean family)

Sunday:
"The Fair Love" (girl in her 20s falls in love with her father's friend)

I also went to the press conference of "The Fair Love", which was dissapointing...It lasted 15 minutes and was filled with blood thirsty photographers who wanted nothing but a good celebrity shot. It was incredible how the photographers worked: They had their cameras hooked up to their laptops, took 10 pictures a second, chose the best one, photoshopped it and emailed it off to their editors in less than 5 minutes. Oh instantaneous technology. What is most incredible is the sound...You can barely hear the people talking over the sound of all the cameras.

Here are some pictures from Saturday, when I actually managed to escape the darkness of the theaters and head to the beach.

During my stroll, I saw Josh Hartnett & his Korean and Japanese co-stars Byung-hun Lee (이병헌) and Takuya Kimura talking to a bunch of screaming fans... This is where I got to flash my press pass and pass through the crowd...Into another crowd of photographers.

Thanks PIFF, it was fun. Looks for my film reviews in the November issue of 10!