The Museum of Natural History and Breakfast at Tiffany's

I have been waiting for years to go to the Museum of Natural History. Dreaming about the fossil halls. On Saturday, before seeing Breakfast at Tiffany's on Broadway, I finally had a chance to go. I took a thousand terrible pictures, so that's basically what this post is going to be. But first, I would like to say something about Breakfast at Tiffany's.

The play was NOT as awful as the reviews made it out to be.

It is based on the novella, not the movie. So as unlikable as Holly Golightly is if you've seen the movie (even Audrey Hepburn, one of my favorite actresses, was barely able to save that character), she's even more awful in the play. And it's not Emilia Clarke's fault. She did what she could with that character. My only complaint is that her accent was SO put on and difficult to understand...And the tone of voice she used was very shrill. But again, the character calls for that so I can't even hold it against her.

Breakfast at Tiffany's is very character driven. There is no action in the plot and I think that is why a lot of people who reviewed it said it was not good material for a stage adaptation. However, I think character driven stories are perfect material for plays and I did not find it boring at all. In fact, Cory Michael Smith was very entertaining and he delivered his lines beautifully. He has great comedic timing and I look forward to seeing more from him in the future.

Unfortunately, as I already assumed last month, a closing date has been set for Breakfast at Tiffany's. The last show is April 21st. I'm grateful that I was able to see it before then.

Onto the pictures.

I couldn't find a stuffed raptor at the museum gift shops, so I just bought foreign food instead in a fit of rage and self-pity.

I will be seeing this on May 25th. Really excited.

The rest of my 2NE1 CDs and the FBND OST finalllllly came in the mail today

I ordered 2NE1's first and second mini albums and their first album, the special edition Flower Boy Next Door OST + poster and 2NE1's lightstick from YesAsia. It took a while for everything to arrive, but it was so worth it because everything is beautiful. I love the packaging of the CDs. And all the little extras that the FBND soundtrack came with. It's perfect and I'm so happy with it.

My Rakuraku Dinokun came from eBay. I used to have a white one, but yellow is nice, too.

I just want to go the the Museum of Natural History

I'm not asking for a lot.

I found an app that allows you to bookmark the exhibits you want to visit and then add them to your own custom tour. Then when you're at the museum, you just hit "start at the nearest exhibit" and the GPS walks you through the entire thing. I have a tour planned. It's just a matter of actually going now.

I THOUGHT they had a bambiraptor skeleton there, but I didn't see it listed so I'll have to do some more research because that's something I really want to see.

I also have to figure out how to get to the museum from Penn Station. I've been going to the city all my life and I still have no idea how the subway works. I will probably never understand it.

K-drama fans

Have you ever watched a K-drama (or ten) and heard/read one of the characters say, "This is making me crazy!" or any of the many other phrases repeatedly spoken on each K-drama series? If you're like me, you probably picked a few of these phrases up just from hearing them repeatedly. And if you haven't, you're probably wondering exactly how to say them, or maybe even how to write the words in hangul.

Talk to Me in Korean knows how our minds work and they have released a new lesson on their website, Korean Drama Phrases Volume 1.

As soon as I saw this one, I bought it. $4.99 and I can learn how to write the sentences I've been hearing over and over again since I started watching K-dramas. It's perfect.

This lesson comes with a 52 page PDF file that includes 20 different phrases, vocabulary based on those phrases and sample sentences using the vocabulary. It also includes a vocabulary and grammar index and a vocabulary quiz (answers included on the last page) so you can test your knowledge of the material when you are finished studying. (I love that they included a quiz, I hope they do this for all their downloadable lessons in the future.) Two MP3 files (totaling over an hour) are also included to help you learn the correct pronunciation of each word and when it is appropriate to use these phrases.

If you are interested, you can purchase this lesson from TTMIK here.

Requiem by Lauren Oliver

I finished reading Requiem by Lauren Oliver on the day of its release and I held off posting about it because I really wanted to sort my feelings out about the ending before saying anything. I am glad I waited because my initial reaction was the one Lauren Oliver wanted, according to a video she posted this week about why she chose to end the series the way she did.

Requiem picks up shortly after where Pandemonium left off. Lena is traveling with the Resistance, including Julian and Alex, trying to find a safe location to stay and also attempting to join forces with other people who want to fight back against the "zombies." (Just to be clear, these are not flesh-eating zombies. They are people who have received the cure for amor deliria nervosa--love.) The Wilds are no longer a safe zone for the uncureds, which is difficult enough to handle, but imagine being there with your supposedly-dead first love (you know, the one you never REALLY got over) and the boy you promised to stay with while your first-love was listening. That is essentially what Lena is struggling with throughout the majority of Requiem. Survival and the fallout of a "disease" she did not want to be cured of.

If you think Lena has it bad, just wait until you read the chapters from Hana's POV. (Not that you'll feel too bad for her during most of Requiem, after reading the Hana novella.) Her story focuses on her wedding preparations to Fred Hargrove, who is running for mayor after his father is killed. She is arrogant. And content with her new life and social standing. Until the car she is in almost hits one of Lena's cousins one day. Then she begins having dreams again, even though she has been cured. She slowly starts to unravel and as she does, she finds out that the man she is supposed to marry has a few secrets he's been keeping from her.

For anyone who purchases a first edition of Requiem, there is an Alex short story that explains what happened after he was shot and captured, how he escaped the Crypts, and how he eventually managed to track Lena down.

Overall, Requiem was a very interesting read. It was never boring, it kept you wanting to know how the series would end...But during the last twenty pages or so, panic sets in because you think, "There's no way Lauren Oliver can possibly wrap everything up with so few pages left!"

And that is where the controversy over Requiem comes into play. From this point on, there are SPOILERS. Turn back now if you don't want to know the ending to the Delirium series.

Unlike other dystopian series, I think it really is okay to focus on the love triangle here because Delirium is about love, at its core. About how far you are willing to go to protect the freedom to experience love. It only makes sense that after everything Lena, Alex and Julian have been through, people want to know what happens to them.

Well. You never really find out who Lena ends up with, even though it is heavily implied. And initially, I liked that better. For one, because even though this is a story about the freedom to love and be loved, there's still a larger story at hand and Lena still has more to fight for, so even though I just said it's okay to be invested in the love triangle, it makes sense that Lena cannot commit to anyone at the moment. And for another thing, I love Alex and Julian so much that I did not want to read about Lena having to leave one of them heartbroken. This way, I can just imagine it however I want on any given day. And that is what Lauren Oliver said she wanted to accomplish with this ending. She wanted people to be able to continue this universe in their minds and their hearts and if she had written a less ambiguous ending, it would have all been laid out for us and it really would be over. I am [mostly] okay with her reasoning, in regards to the love triangle. However...

There is no closure. Sure, the Resistance made some headway in Portland, but the entire country still believes in the cure, so what happens next? Don't you think the troops will come for them? This is where the ending falls short for me. I need to know how they plan to end the cure once and for all. I want to know who survives. And I want to know what happens to Julian regarding his disease. The series feels incomplete without some sort of outcome either way, whether the Resistance wins or the zombies win. The good thing about how Requiem ended is that if Lauren Oliver ever wanted to continue the series, she could (and I'm really hoping she will one day because I am not ready for it to be over).

All of that being said, I still think Requiem was an incredible book. Lauren Oliver has ruined my life with this series. And I mean that in the best possible way. It is beautiful and heartbreaking, and any book that can evoke such strong emotions from its readers is doing something right. It was perfect and as happy as I am to finally have read the trilogy's conclusion, I am really sad to see it end.

Resident Evil 6

I had an entire review planned out for Resident Evil 6 last month. And then I just...Didn't care enough to pull all of my points together and make it look presentable and organized. Not because it's a bad game. I actually enjoyed it (more so on single player than co-op because my co-op partner was my ex). It still doesn't feel like a Resident Evil game, which is disappointing. And it can't live up to other TPS like Uncharted and Mass Effect (the gameplay and story just aren't up to par). But it is still enjoyable and it is a HUGE step up from Resident Evil 5.

So here are the notes I wrote down while playing.

*You can FINALLY walk and aim at the same time.

*Leon isn't as obnoxious as he was in Resident Evil 4. He's actually likable.

*It's nice to see what Sherry has been up to since Resident Evil 2.

*It's amazing that Chris, who was always my favorite character in the series until Resident Evil 5, managed to become an even worse character in RE6. Every time he opened his mouth to speak, I cringed. If they didn't tell me he was supposed to be Chris Redfield, I never would have known it was the same character from Resident Evil and RE Code Veronica.

*Of all the campaigns, Leon's is the closest to the feel you get from the older games. Jake's campaign has a lot of sections that require you to use stealth, which is interesting because you don't see that a lot in this series. Chris' campaign felt like a generic shooter, it was boring and unimaginative and I could not wait for it to be over. Ada's campaign was, in my opinion, the most difficult. You do not have a partner (unless you find someone to play with online, but otherwise, she's on her own) and in the first chapter, you're hit with a bunch of the more difficult enemies you face throughout the game. In one chapter, there is a section that is particularly puzzle-heavy, but it's still not challenging and I don't ever expect to see much more than the "combine the two plate pieces together to open the door!" puzzles we've been seeing since Resident Evil 4.

*The cemetery in Leon's campaign feels like it was taken directly out of Silent Hill Homecoming. But it's not as scary.

*The cover system is the worst thing I have seen in any game. EVER. If you are near a wall and you press L1 to aim your gun at someone, you'll take cover instead. It is ridiculous.

*Professional difficulty is nowhere near as unforgiving as it was in Resident Evil 5 and I was really disappointed because I liked how challenging it was before.

*Your eyes need to adjust to the dark in this game. They FINALLY implemented the idea they've been talking about since before RE5 was even released. Too bad Uncharted 3's multiplayer beta did this already. Still, it's a nice detail.

*You cannot save on your own and the autosave system is horrible. I lost my progress once because I reached a checkpoint and assumed it would be safe to quit out of the game. Nope. It's not safe to quit until the game actually says "saving" at the top of your screen. And those saves are few and far between.

*RE6 does not come with a manual. Apparently, this is common with newer games? I think it's unacceptable. When the in-game tutorial doesn't explain the cover system or how to use first aid spray and you have to look it up on GameFAQs, something is wrong. Include a manual next time.

*Co-op still feels unnecessary and tacked on since the only actions you really perform together are pressing circle to open a door.

*Each campaign is between four and five hours long, most of which you'll spend watching cutscenes. You'll perform one action and be thrown back into a cutscene and it completely takes you out of the game. It seems like they were more interested in making a movie than a game and if that's what they were going for, they should have just used RE6's storyline for that CGI movie they released last year instead of the one they actually used, because it was terrible. (I actually felt sorry for the lickers in Resident Evil Damnation. That should never happen.)

*The romantic subplots are horrible and the endings to each campaign (especially Leon's) feel so out of place in the Resident Evil universe.

And aside from ALL of that, my biggest complaint is that Resident Evil 6's failure to commit to either survival horror or a third person shooter is its biggest downfall. Capcom needs to decide where they want this series to go in the future because it's in this in-between phase ever since Resident Evil 4 and it's not working. Choose one or the other. Resident Evil 6 was NOT a bad game (even though I had a huge list of complaints about it). But it is plagued with all of these issues because they don't even know what genre they're working with anymore. Pick one and make it work next time.

So much to look forward to over the next few months

(2NE1's comeback is meant as a joke. Since it's been pushed back 2345563 times now.)

The Lovecraft Anthology Volume 2

Volume 2 just arrived in the mail today. I haven't had a chance to look through it yet, I'm saving it for tonight.

The stories included this time are Pickman's Model, The Temple, From Beyond, He, The Hound, The Nameless City, The Picture in the House, The Festival and The Statement of Randolph Carter.

This came in the mail today. :)

(Stickers to block out the address.)

I know most websites believe 한글 is secondary to learning words

I disagree though.

Let's use "내가 제일 잘 나가" as an example. Not just because I love 2NE1, but because this is a perfect example of the problem with not learning 한글 as soon as possible.

When romanized, 내가 제일 잘 나가 should be naega jeil jal naga. Nae-ga jeil jal na-ga. However, I have noticed, especially on Tumblr, when people attempt to romanize this themselves with no knowledge of 한글, they romanize it as "naega chae chalaga." If you wrote that in 한글, it would look completely different than 내가 제일 잘 나가. It would turn into 내가 채 차라가 or 내가 채 찰아가. I don't even know, that "l" is problematic because if it is not the last letter in the same syllable block as "cha," it is the first letter in the next syllable block, turning it into an r/l sound. I've gone off on a tangent though. The point is, it sounds like "naega chae chalaga," but it's not.

I have also noticed that when romanizing lyrics, some people purposely change the spelling so that the pronunciation of each word is easier for the people reading them. That's really nice of them. But it is also misleading because those words aren't correct. If someone took a word and tried to go from the romanized version to 한글, it wouldn't work.

TTMIK will give you both the romanized word and the word in 한글, which is really great because then you get to see what the word is supposed to look like. But if you do not study that word, and really understand what each letter is, it's not going to get you anywhere. That is why I think it is so important to study 한글 as soon as you can.

I am not a professional by any means. I am a beginner. This is just something that I feel is really important because you cannot always rely on the romanizations you see.

More TTMIK Lessons!

Yesterday, before I was in Thanksgiving hell, I bought three more TTMIK lessons. I keep saying it, but Talk to Me in Korean is the BEST source of information for anyone who is learning to speak Korean. I bought their first textbook and Level 1 review kit already. I downloaded all their podcasts (and just moved all the PDF files to my Kindle). I swear by their lessons. They are amazing.

I cannot do a review on the lessons I just bought because I haven't had much time to look at them yet, but I did browse through the PDF files and from what I've seen so far, they will be very helpful. Let's talk about what they are and why I chose these particular lessons.

100 Top Phrases in Korean Movies

This lesson includes phrases found in the top ten most popular Korean movies of 2009. The teachers included 100 phrases and two sample sentences for each phrase. It comes with 10 MP3 files and one PDF file.

I purchased this lesson because I figured that if these are the 100 most frequently used phrases, they are probably worth knowing. And from what I have seen so far, they definitely are. (I'll save examples for when I begin studying them.) 

Slang Expressions in Korean - Volume 1

The description of this lesson is as follows: Learn 30 slang expressions, their meaning, different ways to conjugate them, common usages, and much more with Part 1 of Korean Slang Expressions! 

Included in this lesson are 4 MP3 files and one PDF.

I thought this lesson was important because these are phrases that you will not learn from a dictionary. If you overhear them in every day conversation, you may not be able to figure out what they mean.

My Weekly Korean Vocabulary - Week 4

Each weekly Korean vocabulary lesson includes seven words, one for each day of the week. Each word includes twenty other phrases using that word, that are commonly used in everyday conversation. This lesson includes 7 MP3 files and one PDF file.

Why did I choose week 4 instead of starting at week 1? The vocabulary words in this week were all words that I would use often. Some other weeks had words I wouldn't use in every day conversation (though they are still worth knowing and I will buy them later on). Included in this set are:

1. 기분 (feeling, mood)
2. 조용하다 (to be quiet)
3. 사람 (people, person)
4. 시끄럽다 (to be noisy)
5. 공부 (studying)
6. 열다 (to open)
7. 지하철 (subway)

My Weekly Korean Vocab Mini E-book

This book is free and it includes images based on keywords and sentences included in My Weekly Korean Vocabulary Weeks 1 - 10. You will find 70 words/sentences in this E-book. I would definitely recommend downloading it, you can't lose with this one.

Before TTMIK, I didn't really have much use for my Kindle, aside from bringing it with me if I were travelling. Now, it actually has a purpose! I've added all the PDF files from these lessons to it, and as I mentioned before, the PDFs from the podcast as well. I have also added all the audio files from each lesson to my phone so I can study wherever I am from now on. If I have ten free minutes, I can just get out my headphones and Kindle and review everything.

If you are interested in any of these lessons, they can be purchased from My Korean Store.

When all else fails. Cats.

I'll have a book review up soon...Hopefully. This is a really busy week.

Until then, here's a picture of Bogart ruining Monopoly.

TTMIK SUPER INTENSE REVIEW KIT (LEVEL 1)

I just bought TTMIK's Level 1 review. You can find it here: http://mykoreanstore.myshopify.com/collections/ttmik-review-kits/products/reviewkit1

I have not really had a chance to use it yet because...Well. The obvious, I just bought it. And I am still working on Level 1. I was doing really well for a while, studying every day. But then I had family visiting all throughout September. My cousin was indirectly responsible for spraining my foot, so I was not spending a significant amount of time on the computer during the first couple weeks in October because I couldn't keep my foot elevated at my desk. And then TTMIK announced the release of their first textbook, so I figured I would wait for that to arrive. And now it has! So I am going to get back into my routine starting tomorrow night and then when I feel confident that I have learned all the material from Level 1, I will come back and review the Review Kit!

I can say that the PDF file is 27 pages long. I put it on my Kindle. It also comes with five audio files that  are 15:00, 17:40, 13:46, 17:05 and 11:48 minutes long respectively. I have added those to my iPhone. I really like being able to store them somewhere other than my computer. There's no way I can fit every lesson from the podcast on my iPhone, so it's nice to have something I can take with me everywhere so that I can review what I have learned regardless of where I am.

I do not even know where to start with Silent Hill Revelation. Should I talk about how bored I was through 90% of it? No? Okay. Then let's start by discussing the plot because I guess it's important to mention what this movie is about, even when it really isn't about much of anything.

Silent Hill Revelation is inspired by the events in Silent Hill 3 (you know, it's a video game). Except...It's not. I can't explain the differences without giving away spoilers for either the movie or the game, so if you are really curious, go look up a plot synopsis for the game and I'll tell you what the movie is about. Members of a cult are searching for Heather, for reasons I won't even begin to explain here, and they kidnap her father so that she will go to Silent Hill to find him.

The movie follows the game enough to irritate fans of Silent Hill 3 with its inconsistencies and confuse people who have never played the games so that they cannot put together what is going on. I have never understood why people take so many liberties when making movies based on video games. Why bother if you are not going to stay true to the source material? It is not like this movie was just inspired by the Silent Hill mythos, it is clearly based on Silent Hill 3. And they could not have changed the storyline to make it more understandable to people who have not played the games because if anything, the movie makes even less sense.

I will give them credit where it is due. They did a nice job of showing the relationship between Heather and Harry and the Lakeside amusement park segments stayed close to what was depicted in the game. It would have been nice to see the Borley Haunted Mansion included, but it's not as if that is relevant to the plot, it is just a fun (terrifying) little section from the game. The soundtrack was great, but that should go without saying.

There was also this exchange, which is probably the only part of the movie that is even worth noting. When prompted to share information about herself with her new classmates, Heather says, "Let me make this easier for you. This is the fifth school I've been to since I was eleven. Me and my dad, we move around. So I do this. A lot. So don't bother trying to remember my name because I'm sure as hell not going to remember yours. Don't talk to me, we won't be friends. I won't IM you, or Facebook you or tweet you. Read your blog. And whatever you're thinking of saying or doing, don't bother because I've seen it before and I'm just guessing here, but I don't think there are too many original thinkers in this room. And by the time any of you have found out anything about me that's worth knowing, I'll have moved on." Vincent is then asked to introduce himself, to which he replies, "Are you kidding me? I can't follow that."

As for the negatives? Well. The whole movie is basically one long negative. I constantly found myself wondering when it would be over because it did not hold my interest at all. Again, they changed the story for no reason other than the fact that they thought they could. The ending was anticlimactic, even with its references to other games in the series. But there is one semi-major issue I had and a MAJOR, world-ending issue I had.

The semi-major issue was Pyramid Head. He makes another useless appearance as if he's the only important enemy who has ever been in this series. They don't even explain why he's there, what he signifies or where he came from to begin with. People who haven't played the games probably wonder why he is there and it is never explained in either movie. They just include him because he "looks cool" and they assume the fans want to see him.

My biggest issue was Vincent. If you don't already know, Vincent is my favorite character from the entire series. He is a villain who is in NO WAY a teenage love interest for Heather. He's not even kind to her, he plays mind games with her to make her think she is killing people rather than monsters. In the movie [SPOILERS], Vincent is still part of the cult, but he is clearly not the same character he was in the game. Why even include a character named Vincent in a movie clearly based on Silent Hill 3 then? Just create a new character for Heather's unnecessary love interest. I do not understand what their reasoning was, but as a huge fan of the series and that character, it annoys me more than anything else they have done in either movie.

Still, I don't hate Silent Hill Revelation as much as some other people seem to. It is definitely not the worst video game inspired movie I have seen, but I'm not impressed. I want to see a  fan made movie because they seem to be the only people who know how to handle it properly.

For example:

Talk to Me in Korean Level 1 Textbook

I have already mentioned Talk to Me in Korean on my blog several times. Mostly because, I absolutely love their podcast and website. They offer such a great way to learn Korean, and it is completely free. Their podcasts come with PDF files so you can read the words as you are hearing them. (Their website is http://www.talktomeinkorean.com/ and you can find the podcast on iTunes.)

I was away for a few days following Hurricane Sandy (that is a topic for another post) and when I arrived home today, I was SO EXCITED to see that my TTMIK textbook had finally been delivered.

As you can see, this book comes with a companion audio CD, so you can hear the pronunciations of the words as you are reading them.

If you have been following TTMIK's podcasts, this lesson probably looks familiar. It is almost exactly the same as the PDF file for this lesson in the podcast. So why should you pay for this book when you can get it for free online? You mean, besides to support the TTMIK teachers for putting so much work and dedication into these lessons for us? Okay, I'll tell you.

For each section, you are told which track from the audio CD goes along with each lesson.

Perhaps the nicest aspect of this book is the addition of review sections. You will be asked questions to test your knowledge on the lessons you have learned. It will give you an indication of what you still need to study and what material you have mastered. The answers to each question are included in the back of the book, so you can even grade yourself.

While you may not NEED this textbook, it is a nice addition to your studies and it is beneficial to your learning experience. It is really nice to have the lessons in book form. Now, you no longer have to be at your computer to learn Korean. You can copy the audio CD to your phone/iPod and bring the book along with you wherever you go. If you have five minutes free during work or in between classes, you can review a lesson.

The TTMIK textbook is beautifully put together. The pages are very nice (not cheap at all).  The lessons are divided perfectly, with each one including sample dialogue and a review at the end. It is 152 pages long, so it is not bulky (again, making it very convenient to take along with you wherever you go).

If you are a beginner, this is the perfect textbook to help you get started. And it is affordable, unlike some other Korean textbooks. You can purchase it here: http://mykoreanstore.myshopify.com/products/ttmikbook1

감사합니다, TTMIK!