Movie review: Itaewon Homicide

finished watching this korean movie "Itaewon Homicide" (2009) starring my fav jang geun suk. and boy did it leave a deep impression on me.


the movie is actually about how a korean guy was brutally stabbed to death in a burger king toilet one night in 1997. and the police actually caught 2 suspects: pearson (jang geun suk!!!), a son of a US soldier, and AJ, a korean american.

whats the most bothering is that the prosecutors can't seem to find out who is the real murderer as both blame each other for the act, saying how they witnessed the other killing the innocent guy.

however, the case was complicated and hard to solve because, those 2 guys being korean americans, are protected as US nationals. bascially theres nth much the koreans can do to convict them. so the prosecutor in the movie has a tough time nailing the victim(s).

and yea. pearson was thought to be innocent and AJ to be the real killer through the numerous trials and evidences. AJ was convicted in the end and sentenced to life imprisonment, while pearson sentenced to jail for a few months for possession of weapon and destroying evidence.

but well, AJ's dad decided to appeal and in the end he was acquited, due to insufficient evidence to point that he was the murderer. and at the end of the movie pearson was also set free after a few months in jail.

like fuck rite? the murderer has to be one of them and yet both got away scot free! felt damn angry for a moment. like ppl with the status, money and power can just get what they want. and thats really infuriating. felt so sad for the victim's family.

after all, the movie was based on a true story, and I went on to google on this cold case. seems that this year, the authorities decided to reopen the case and reinvestigate again, due to the release of the movie and emotions from koreans were tensed. however, pearson (the real name is actually patterson) went back to the US after the end of the investigation years back (which shouldn't have been the case and he had to be on travel ban since he was a murder suspect. ohwells. but he did anw) and so now they are trying to get him back to korea for investigations. that is. IF the US allows them to. the other guy however, who has always been saying that he is not guilty. is welcome to investigations.


bahh. do u really think they can convict the real killer?

I don't know man. after all. a superpower is not called a superpower for nth. would they allow their citizen to be convicted? u do the maths. seems like there are more cases of murder and unfair judgements passed on americans in korea for murders and rape cases. blah blah blah.


so sad rite?


anw. back to the movie. other than repeated images of how the poor guy was stabbed repeatedly and blood spraying out all over the toilet, nth much lah. just that some ppl won't be able to take it coz the blood is really ALOT. I mean ALOT. they kept showing those images lah so some ppl might find it disturbing I guess? but well I luv violence and gore and grotesque images so its ok for me. furthermore, I was having lunch while watching the movie on youtube and didn't feel disgusted. hahaha.

alrite. and talking bout grotesque. jang geun suk is really REALLY a great actor! coz his character as pearson does not have much actions and explosive dynamic expressions. so it really depends on his eyes. like seriously u know the actor is good when he gets the emotion right up to the bones. the eyes are seriously disturbingly, grotesquely, psychopathic.


YES. psychopathic. he acts it so well! LUVLUV!
plus he looks good in almost ANY hairstyle! hahaha.


and the last smile at the end of the movie he had was epic. u should watch it to see what I really mean. that smile was like "hmph I got away scot free all u assholes. woot"

sth like that. hahaha.

anw. although AJ was the one convicted to be guilty, I seriously think the end of the movie lets us think that both are guilty?

its really hard to judge, but I think both are.

at some scenes of the movie, AJ was acting as if he was the killer. and one evidence was that he told his black friend that "we did it! we killed a guy". if he said "we", then that means both did it?
(well u gotta watch the movie to catch wad I'm saying)

and of coz for pearson he pretended not to understand korean at 1st but at the last part of the movie he spoke to the prosecutor in korean, which the prosecutor exposed him. BUT, he gave a smug and said that he learnt that from jail.

yea and of coz his last evil smile makes audiences think that its probably him.

so its both of them lor?

so confusing. seriously I really hope that they reopen the case and really nab the killer this time.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
possible?



lets just hope.



but on a side note. jang geun suk rocks my world. lol

Hokkaido May'10 Day 5 to 7

day 5. 7thMay. morning call at 630. breakfast at 730. off at 830.

breakfast everyday has scrambled eggs. but all not as nice as the mac scrambled eggs.

the beancurd looking thing is actually milk pudding. its fucking nice. hokkaido milk is really so good that I drink lots of their milk every morning. its really really good!!!


and after breakfast we go off again. and we pass by snow again!

fresh snow

stale snow. now I know how melting snow looks like. dirtyyy.


and as we are nearing out destination. it was quite foggy. the tour guide said it probably snowed last nite. AH!!!

1st destination of the day. lake toya.

didn't have time to look at the description as to what this is. but dad said it is noah (noah's ark)I wonder why they have his statue here?

freaking cold I tell u. early morning. and near the lake. damn cold.


and next stop was mount showa. bear ranch.

the tix. and we bought apples for a few dollars(I forgot how much) to feed them.


awesomely cute! although they are almost twice my height. but they look so cute! and u just aim the apples at them to grab their attention. then they will wave their hands at u. u throw. and their mouth catches it!
although...have to be quite zun lah. and don't pick stupid ones. me and mum tried to throw at the 3rd bear from the left but he didn't catch it. too slow and other bears got it instead.

went underground.

at such near distance i really felt quite scared. so didn't dare go nearer.

racoons trying to escape. the scratches on the wall shows it all.


cute baby bears! awwwwww....



mount showa. see the steam?

I'm steaming...lol.

tree princess.

ok. next stop was lunch. and we had lunch at a seafood restaurant just along the coast of hokkaido that faces the pacific ocean! damn cold!

but 1st. food more impt...

yea. king crab. my 1st time holding such a big crab. doesn't struggle so its good for taking photos with.

approx S$209 for one. but I heard its much cheaper as compared to the ones we have in sg. heard sg is like $600-700 each! come here of coz must try lah!

should have eaten the tuna the person was slicing. heard its real good quality tuna. but for the tentacles in the foreground...looks eww.

the crab we caught.

his gigantic legs! the orange thing is sea urchin. I think S$20+ for one.

hotpot again.

the crab eggs were black befpre they were cooked. me and dad polished most of it off ourselves

tour guide says crab leg as fresh as this should be eaten raw. and so I did for the 1st 2 legs.

but it was very hard to bite it off. I think cooked crab meat is better. although its really really fresh and doesn't have any smell to it raw.

after eating dad wanted me to go out take photo.

and from here I realised I can see the breath I heave out! too bad never capture on camera!
must be really cold!

next stop is ainu village. the aborigines of hokkaido.

male or female?
female. they have to tattoo a moustache by age 15. so kelian. guide says its a painful process.

with the ppl wearing their costume. mum took with the chief's granddaughter.

watching their performance... this performance room has dried salmon hung at the ceiling. alot of salmon hung there. more pics at fb.

outside taking more scenery pictures.

luv it.

with the other aunties from our tour. gosh they very noisy and on while taking photos. I just trying to pose until very happy only.

village dog?

and their bear! slping! can see its breath u know! too cold le.

village chief.

next stop: jigokudani. (hell valley) everywhere with steam is called hell valley eh? tw also have hell valley....

the smell of sulphur is really strong as we venture upwards to the opening where boiling water is.

trying to fan away the rotten egg smell at this opening.

boiling hot water at bout 80degrees! it boils every 10min! and we saw it at the right time! can really hear the boiling water sound.





and finally back to our next hotel. tatami!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


and went for a short walk along the streets outside the hotel before dinnertime.

luv walking down the streets in such cold weather.

1st time dinner is on tatami floor. we had to take off our slippers b4 entering.

hotpot again.

I took alot alot of salmon until I could eat no more. and 3 scallops. my cholesterol level sure break a new high. but their seafood really too fresh le. no stale smell like those u eat in sg. I like.

my last yukata.

look like characters from bleach again.

and today was our last day going to the hot springs. this time. in addition to the hot springs and massage spring we went inside. there was also an exterior hot spring donned by rocks. don't know how to explain. but inside was like swimming pool concept. outside was like being in a real hot spring. and coz it was dark mum scraped off her skin to the rocks while going into the pool. ohno! luckily I never. coz she warned me. haha. its nice outside. coz its damn cold but the water is damn hot. nice experience. I felt so healthy for these 3days going to the hot springs. no wonder jap ppl so healthy and live so long. hahaa.


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day 6. 8thMay. morning call at 630. breakfast at 730. off at 830.

this morning I actually forgot to take pictures of my breakfast!
argh.

take deco at the hotel lobby then.


first stop: asahi beer factory.

front desk.

nth much lah


best stop here was beer tasting for free. can drink as much as u like.
taking the premium beer for dad.

I drink until want puke le. hate beer.

0% alcohol. don't like beer. so bitter. hard liquor better.

this is the premium beer.

next we stopped by a tidbit shop at tanuki koji shopping arcade for awhile.

cigarrette vending machine. and I thought I would see weird vending machines everywhere. but don't have! this is the weirdest! the rest all drinks mah. maybe the weird ones are in tokyo.


pachinko.

the tidbit shop. we all bought back BOXES of food.

tanuki koji shopping arcade. 狸小路


for your info. its freaking cold. I put on 1 more layer still cold.


these hats are EVERYWHR.

next is lunchtime!



not hotpot again but. still sth like hotpot. have to cook ourselves.

our kobe beef certificate. grade AA.


see this lamb and pork meat ok. in contrast to...

MY KOBE BEEF! me and auntie share this plate. almost S$100 for this plate.

damn I didn't take closeup of the beef. too busy eating alr. really MELTSSS in your mouth.


randomly a shop at the lunch restaurant.

the restaurant. go there if u want authentic kobe beef.

next stop: hokkaido jingu. one of hokkaido's largest shrines steeped in nature and traditions.

and at last the sakura we have been waiting for is in bloom!
but too bad it was raining.

cleanse myself before going in to pray (although I never)
the steps to cleansing:
wash left and right hands.

then drink water.


entrance to shrine

girl in kimono! coz there was a wedding ceremony going on!!! yay!

felt so bad disrupting the wedding with all our cameras gushing in to take their photos.

saw shrine maidens walking by and grabbed them all to take photo! woot aren't I great.

and after that we went to the park where all the sakura are!

closeup! lovely

photoshop away the 2 ppl behind!!

btw I think the weather should be bout 5 degree celcius. and we were all so excited to see sakura that we didn't bother bout the cold. my hands and legs numb le lor. thought today won't be that cold so I wore thin stockings and didn't bring out my gloves and thicker jacket. fuck man!

white sakura.

bald tree

perfect if not for the blue mats lying around.

and the rain.

if we didn't have to rush back to the bus I would have taken the whole day to camwhore.

after that we went back to hotel for less than half hour of rest. and walked to the tanuki koji shopping arcade to shop the rest of the day and nite away. but they close very early. around 8-10pm.

arcade. GAMES arcade.

eating while walking. in japan. is very rare. so I tried to polish this snack off quickly.

sakura everywhere. it was bout 6degree celcius here. luckily brought my thicker jacket. but forgot the gloves!

mum bought agnes b wallet. and coz it was raining. they wrap plastic bags on your shopping bags. I saw on tv last time. that this was a common practice in japan.

and after awhile. we went to 一风塘 for dinner. it was a ramen place.

mine.

mum's. still think the ramen I had in sg is better.

and coz it was too cold and the aunties all very tired. we didn't have a chance to go to the susukino nightlife streets where all the pubs are. although I was really cold and in danger of getting sick soon but I really wanted to take a look at the pubs and all the other shopping areas which we didn't go!!!!
but in the end I never fall sick at all even after coming back sg for a week. hohoho. must be the hot springs.

ARGH. thats why. no fun when u go with ppl not of your age. someone kill me pls.

but at least can go japan not bad alr lah.


--------------------


day 7. 9thMay. morning call at 6am. breakfast at 7am. off at 8am!! =(

swollen face without makeup. ok thats not the point. the breakfast that morning was good as usual. fresh milk as usual. scrambled eggs as usual. and if there were cornflakes I would take it as usual.

chisun grand. our last hotel. which is the hotel closest to civilization we stayed at so far. (which is not good coz I like the traditional ones!)

took the bus for goodness knows how long (coz I was sleeping throughout) to the airport.


their famous white chocolates.

big fish.

me with big fish.

sobx. heart bleeding lor. I don't want go back sg.


same thing. 1 and a half hour flight back to haneda airport. took 1h bus to narita intl airport and we had a few hours before boarding the plane for a near 7h flight back to sg
.
lunch at our own expense:
auntie's.

mine. and so u see the normal jap food we see in sg back here in narita airport.

and fuck lor didn't have much time to go shopping ok. and had to board the fuckin plane. damn pissed at going back sg.

ohh and at the airport I bought wasabi kit kats. weird thing is the japan chocolates like wasabi or melon kit kats melt very quickly in sg. is this the reason why sg don't sell them?
hmmmmm....

our dinner on the plane. very full.

I'm still so pissed I'm back in sg.
these few days really damn hot. would sweat even if I'm sitting calmly in my living rm. let along my own room.

aye. I wanna migrate to hokkaido.

totally changed my mindset at going overseas exchanges. wanna go somewhere next year.
lets save up ppl.

and I shall brush up on my seemingly cmi japanese for my grad trip! =)

japan wait for me!

Day 1-4 post here
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