Culture Gazing

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Anthology | Adulting

The older I get, the less I know how to be an adult.

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Anthology | Daughterhood

Perhaps, it's just as difficult for me to be my mother's daughter as it is for her to be my mother.

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Anthology | Ubiquotous Phrases

There's two phrases I've been hearing a lot during these past few months.

1) These are unprecedented times.

2) I'm just taking one day at a time.

The former is the opening line to every spokesperson in the media and the latter is always by a person who I've been in conversation with. This got me thinking about pre-pandemic times when we were all so focused on surviving the rat race and how something unfathomable at the beginning of 2020 has slapped us all in the face and shifted us onto different paths. We've all lost something. Whether that's a person, a job, money, the completion of a project or the mere fact that we no longer have the freedom to enjoy certain pastimes or go out into public spaces without thinking about getting infected. Perhaps we were all just supposed to stop for a moment, reasses our values and priorities as people and communities and ultimately, live in the present.

[culturegazing]

Anthology | Life isn't a Sprint with Everyone, it's a Marathon with Yourself

I know. This is the 86th lockdown tale you’ve read with the words ‘unprecedented times’. Apart from the simultaneous pandemic and economic downturn though, I have experienced staying inside for a long period of time.

I was in a lockdown of my own about a year before the pandemic. A contract ended and I struggled to find new opportunities. I was hustling and volunteering here and there but was unemployed for four months last year. I avoided going out for non-essential activities because that costed money. Public transport costed money. I avoided seeing friends because they all had jobs and could pay to eat out. I looked for anything that allowed me to save on a single cent of my life savings. Majority of the time, I stayed inside.

On my days off, I’d watch four or five films in one day. I was addicted to watching films and did whatever I could to escape reality. No, I'm not proud of voluntarily sliding under a blanket of restlessness and demotivation but I also don’t think it was time wasted. It was not only therapeutic, but also allowed me to discover a number of films that I came to love and share with those around me. 

I made several mistakes of secluding myself from the world and not having more grit than I usually would. I felt lost and didn’t know what to do or where to find what I wanted to do. So, when global lockdown came around this year, I knew not to repeat my mistakes and lose momentum. After getting retrenched in March, I let myself cry my heart out for one night, and after that, it was onto the next.  

What I realised/ was reminded of:

It’s easy to lose self-worth when I feel like I'm not contributing to anything. I think this is because I’m a workaholic who ties a lot of my self-worth to my work which I don't beat myself up for. Work and contribution is what makes me feel something meaningful.

Even if I have the best intentions but the wrong words, I’ll always sound like I have the worst intentions – Communication is key

If you are struggling to find a job in the field of your interest, just take any opportunity – Even if it isn’t what you want to do with your life, you’ll learn more than just staying at home by yourself all day

There is an end but it’s always invisible

There are more opportunities out there that you didn’t even know existed

Life isn’t a sprint with everyone, it’s a marathon with yourself

What I learned from other people:

“Opportunity + Preparation = Luck” – Betty Liu’s mystery teacher

“Just go for it and let the future work itself out” – Betty Liu

[On flow] “Wow, it didn’t feel like two hours – That’s when flow happens. You almost kick into autopilot, everything is working so well you lose track of time” – Betty Liu

“The best type of marketing doesn’t even feel like marketing” – Chad T.

“Pain + Reflection = Progress” – Ray Dalio

“Always overdeliver” – Jack Welch

“Don’t think of your career as a ladder, think of it as a jungle gym” – Mohamed El-Erian

[On happiness] “The more specific you are, the more likely it is to happen” – Jeff Weiner

“You need to optimise for both passion and skill…sometimes people optimise one at the exception of the other, it’s going to make it challenging, but if you know what you really want, if you know what you love, if you know what resonates with you and you have the ability to do that, or at least you’re in a position where you can learn those skills overtime you can make it happen… If you only have one or the other, you’re going to be frustrated” – Jeff Weiner

“Don’t tell people how to do things, tell them what to do and let them surprise you with their results” – Phil Knight

[On making career decisions] “Follow your compass, not your clock” – Andrea Jung

"Your direction is more important than your speed" – We the Urban

Resources

I’ve been using these for the past few months and I hope at least one of them will change you in some way, big or small

Linkedin Learning (30-day free trial, $40/ month, $299.88/ year)

I used my 30-day free trial by the way. 

Betty Liu on Career Success

Guy Kawasaki on Turning Life Wisdom into Business Success

Influencer Interview: Oprah Winfrey (interviewed by Jeff Weiner)

CV Success Masterclass by Careercake

How to Create a Perfect Elevator Pitch by Careercake

Expert Tips for Answering Common Interview Questions by various

Books

Work Smarts by Betty Liu

Shoe Dog by Phil Knight

Sea of Strangers by Lang Leav (This is an old favourite and something I always come back to during times of adversity)

Podcasts

Self-Development/ Knowledge

Radiate with Betty Liu (I know, I’m obsessed with her)

The Lavendaire Lifestyle

Guy Kawasaki's Remarkable People

Girlboss Radio

The Michelle Obama Podcast

The Marie Forleo Podcast

The Unemployed Graduate

News

The Daily by The New York Times

Lifestyle/ Entertainment

Stop Everything!

Staying in with Emily & Kumail

Film

The Film Comment Podcast

Truth & Movies: A Little White Lies Podcast

The Backseat

Kermode & Mayo’s Film Review

Art & Design

Art History For All

Creative Boom

Music

Frank Ocean – Self Control

HAIM – I Know Alone

HAIM – Running if You Call My Name

HANDSOME – Save Some Love

HANDSOME - TV Set

HONNE – 306

The Internet – Wanna Be

Kamasi Washington – Truth

Khalid – Saturday Nights

Iris Temple – Capsize

Milan Ring – Step Back

Murkage Dave – King of First World Problems

Raleigh Ritchie – Time in a Tree

Raleigh Ritchie - Stay Inside

SAFIA – Resolution

SALES – Getting it On

SG Lewis & JP Cooper – Shivers

Soft Powder – Can You Look Inside My Head?

Sylo Nozra – FOMO

Tim Atlas ft. cehryl – Together Lonely

Ultracrush – Swimming

Yumi Zouma – Lonely After

The Weeknd – Scared to Live

Websites

Le Cinema Club

Little White Lies

It’s Nice That

Passerbuys

Ignant

Other

Ecosia (A web browser plants a tree for every search you do, funded by ad revenue.)

We Are One: A Global Film Festival on YouTube (29 May - 7 June)

I will keep adding to this whenever I come across resources I find valuable. 

In the meantime, be empathetic, be compassionate, don't advocate hate - to anyone.

[culturegazing]

Anthology | Thinking about Overthinking

I always catch myself thinking about whether I genuinely feel a certain way about something, or if I feel that way because I’ve heard someone talk about it which then warps my perception. Or, if my true opinion has now been transformed due to my malleable mind becoming exposed to a new opinion which I have now come to agree with. 

Are all our opinions really our own? Aren’t they a construct of the ever-evolving environments we live in? The media? Our education and the institutions and people we choose to associate with?  

These thoughts keep circulating my mind and now I’m starting to wonder if writing about this is even my own idea to begin with or if it was somehow passively realised subconsciously.

Is it just the process of accumulating ideas which we curate in our minds, filtering out some while choosing to accept others?

I guess it’s an endless process of fully coming to terms with ourselves and becoming the best possible version we can be intellectually and philosophically. Our pursuit of the history and the background along with the new and the now of news and concepts are at the forefront of everything we do. We are always reading and thinking about how things came to be, how constructs and systems came into place and why we are following them. We are always trying to innovate, to create more convenient processes of work where our individuality is injected into whatever project we are involved in somehow. 

Am I just so over-exposed to the many forms of media? Apart of me wants to escape it all, delete all the apps, not listen to anything because the cynic in me always seems to play devil’s advocate. Then there’s the other part of me who feels like I am not up to the intellect of my peers when someone talks about the latest story which everyone heard about a week ago while I’ve been living in my own world. 

It’s all about balance is what they say. 

Maybe I just think too much.

[culturegazing]

The Cinelist | January - March 2020

Recently, I’ve been trying to cut down on the number of films I watch because I feel like I’ve dedicated so much of the past few years to watching films that now, I feel indifferent to a film  that would usually deeply move me in some way. These lists will now be made every quarter.

Don't Look Now (1973) directed by Nicolas Roeg

우리들/ The World of Us (2016) directed by Yoon Ga Eun

Capernaum (2018) directed by Nadine Labaki

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The Cinelist | November - December 2019

Až přijde kocour/ When the Cat Comes (1963) directed by Vojtěch Jasný 

Hable con ella/ Talk to Her (2002) directed by Pedro Almodóvar

爸媽不在家/ Ilo Ilo (2013) directed by Anthony Chen

The Square (2017) directed by Ruben Östlund

기생충/ Parasite (2019) directed by Bong Joon Ho

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The Cinelist | September - October 2019

Jigoku/ 地獄 (Hell) (1960) directed by Nobuo Nakagawa

Autumn Sonata (1978) directed by Ingmar Bergman

A Zed & Two Noughts (1985) directed by Peter Greenaway

The Nightingale (2018) directed by Jennifer Kent

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The Cinelist | July - August 2019

Sedmikrásky/ Daisies (1966) directed by Věra Chytilová

Orlando (1992) directed by Sally Potter

بادکنک سفيد‎,/ The White Balloon (1995) directed by Jafar Panhi

آفساید/ Offside (2006) directed by Jafar Panahi

Kaaka Muttai/ The Crow’s Egg (2014) directed by M. Manikandan

Amanda (2018) directed by Mikhaël Hers

[culturegazing]

Interviews | Da Young

Da Young is a quirky, game-loving-creative who enjoys collecting art toys and projecting her unrestraining, eclectic style and demeanour wherever she goes. We bonded over our love for films, talking about them all night in our dorm lobby. 

Where were you born and where do you live now?

I was born in Jeonju and live in Seoul now.

When people ask you the question: "Where are you from?", what do you usually say?

I say the name of the station near where I live and I mention Jeonju too.

Where do you consider yourself a local?

I think I’m more of a Seoul person now, however I want to be treated like a Jeonju local but it’s been a while since I’ve lived there. I moved to Gunsan in 2007 because I boarded for high school and then to Seoul in 2010 for university so I’ve grown more used to the culture in Seoul now.

What are the main differences between the places you have lived in? What were the challenges you faced?

I think it might be the same almost everywhere, people in the country are nicer and more naïve and those from the city are colder. I felt that when I first moved to Seoul, but maybe I just felt that way because I was young and had to adapt to new circumstances. 

What do you love to do?

I used to have fun with people but now I’m tired after working and admit that I’m afraid of becoming a boring person because when I have free time I just do nothing and rest. But I think it’s okay because I’m just learning new things and once I get adjusted I’ll be more lively. 

What are your hobbies?

I like handicrafts, collecting art toys and playing Overwatch. I want to learn more about computer graphic and Adobe programs. I also want to learn more Japanese and English.

What makes Overwatch appealing to you?

First of all I like the graphics, each character has their own personality and they are well designed and decorated based on their character’s nature. I like the story of the Overwatch world history and their map. Playing it makes me feel like I’m being a hero in a movie fighting against opponents. It's also easy to play and just well made overall. 

What would you do if you were able to use computer design programs?

I’d like to make a short film or commercial video. I have a dream to play my video for my friend who is getting married in the future. I want to be a friend who can make nice videos for my friends.

Do you have a favourite artist?

I used to be interested in pure fine arts until high school and my favorite artist was Claude Monet . After I entered university, I got interested in pop and modern artists while collecting art toys. I like Gary Baseman, Dalek, Frank Kozik, David Hockney and Dehara Yukinori.

[culturegazing]

Cinema Spectatorship | Film Streaming Sites

I think Netflix is overrated. Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s a great platform that has made media more accessible to the public. It has some decent films but I feel that it is highly saturated with feel-good media, the type of media that you can mindlessly watch without feeling guilty about whether or not you actually understood anything. I do feel other film streaming websites don’t get the recognition they deserve, especially in a world where we are increasingly binge-watching on media and children are being raised on watching film through a computer screen.

Kanopy

A free library streaming service, available in several countries, that has a wide range of films from The Criterion Collection, world cinema, documentaries, film festival winners and favourites, classics and modern classics. (Library membership required)

SBS On Demand

An Australian, free streaming service with hundreds of local and international films and television shows with content that suits the award-winning documentary, high drama and experimental cinema go-er. There are three to four 30 second ads per film however, I like to use them as toilet or dry-eye breaks. (Plus if you live in Australia, SBS World Movies on Channel 32 is now live)

Open Culture

An open resource for not only films but books and MOOCs, Open Culture gives you access to classic cinema, directorial debuts and independent cinema all for the price of $0.

MUBI

If you’re going to spend $10 per month on Netflix anyway, why don't you reallocate your funds to MUBI? With one film distributed each day, you will never have enough classic, documentary, avant-garde or independent films to watch. MUBI gives you access to hard-to-find films and curates a bunch of hidden gems by acclaimed directors. If you don't know where to start in the world of non-mainstream cinema, MUBI will be your guide.

Added May 2020:

Le Cinéma Club

The resourceful culture vulture who takes you to places you’ve never been. Le Cinéma Club distributes one film per week (changes every Friday) showcasing independent cinema from around the world. If you’re looking for something niche, this is it. 

[culturegazing]

Anthology | The Trek to Uni for Facebook

University culture for Sydneysiders who continue to live at home throughout the duration of their degree consistently complain about the horrid one to two hour commute to attend a 9am lecture. 

They arrive ten minutes after the lecture begins, but no problem, there’s online recordings which they can listen to on 2x speed. They then take a seat in the back row of course, pull out a sleek, slim, silver MacBook Air with the Supreme sticker on it (Why does everyone have a Supreme sticker anyway?) Out comes OneNote and they type in the title of the lecture.

Five seconds later, Facebook is launched. 

For the next hour, all they’ll do is scroll down that poker machine-like timeline, accidentally play a video forgetting that their laptop is on full volume and snicker to themselves or their friend if they have one in this lecture to the meme of the day.

They may glance up once or twice and take notes when the lecturer says something slightly interesting, if the lecturer says anything slightly interesting.

They will countdown the last five minutes of the lecture that they took two dot points on and storm out of the theatre to speed-walk to their next lecture which they’re already late for because the campus is just so big and there’s slow walkers everywhere. That’s okay though, because they won’t be studying for their exam until three days prior to the actual exam. But Facebook, that’s the drug they need to survive every single banal second of university.

[culturegazing]

The Cinelist | May - June 2019

Falsche Bewegung (Wrong Move) (1974) directed by Wim Wenders

The Man who Fell to Earth (1976) directed by Nicolas Roeg

Tampopo (1985) directed by Juzo Itami

Sans Toit Ni Loi (Vagabond) (1985) directed by Agnes Varda

Just Another Girl on the I. R. T (1992) directed by Leslie Harris

The Watermelon Woman (1996) directed by Cheryl Dunye

Finding Vivian Maier (2013) directed by John Maloof & Charlie Siskel

日常對話 (Small Talk) (2016) directed by Huang Hui Chen

Estiu 1993 (Summer 1993) (2017) directed by Carla Simón

Buddha in Africa (2019) directed by Nicole Schafer

Talking About Trees (2019) directed by Suhaib Gasmelbari

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Film Review & Cinematic Reflections | 日常對話 (Small Talk)

Our parents were human when they had us. They’re still human when we become adults. It doesn’t help when social conditions for women and LGBTIQ individuals are subordinated and evaded in conversation. 

Small Talk is an honest look at a mother-daughter relationship that explores gender and familial roles in Taiwanese society, family conflict and the uncovering of harsh truths surrounding a woman and her lesbian mother. It questions the parental love we receive and the validation in the equivalence of love between parent and child. The film explores how our communication of what constitutes the expression of love and how it differs between different generations through actions, sarcastic expressions or unspoken words.

The vérité style documentary will give you an intimate look at Hui Chen and her mother’s relationship, places of social interaction and the Taiwanese countryside. In the mother’s hometown we see a traditional, ancestral ritual where only the names of sons can be written on joss paper. We hear about constant physical and verbal abuse experienced by various Taiwanese women in a patriarchal society. In a family comprised of mostly female members, we see a divide in communication, in movements and genuine opinions but a mutual respect and gratefulness for one another. We see the hesitation of discussing LGBTIQ-related issues especially among the older generation who want no part in the discussion. Youth on the other hand seem to be more open and supportive of LGBTIQ individuals but still attempt to avoid conversation.

Personally, growing up in Asian household, avoiding conflict is such a common act. We never talk about our issues, true feelings and only highlight our pasts and hardships in the light that we want others to see them in. I couldn’t help but feel so strongly for Hui Chen when she bursts into tears about her unconditional love for her mother while resenting her upbringing.  

A hidden gem amongst a sea of films that do a lot of talking and explanation, Small Talk highlights the silences, the evaded conversations, and what we’re always afraid to talk about. 

日常對話 (Small Talk) (2016) directed by Huang Hui Chen

Viewed at Art Gallery of NSW’s Domain Theatre for Neon Gods

[culturegazing]

Film Review & Cinematic Reflections | 버닝(Burning)

Burning is a soft-spoken, silhouette-painted film based on Haruki Murakami’s short story, Barn Burning (1993). Lee Chang Do re-imagines the love-triangle centered story about a lonely but lively pantomime student, a demotivated, creative writing graduate and a charismatic, Gatsby-esque figure. Despite the original story being set in Japan, the film is set between Seoul, a city of skylines and endless concrete jungles, and Paju, a tranquil farm town filled with the sounds of cows mooing and the gentle movements of tree branches swaying.

I thought about how an eighteen page story would be transformed into a two and a half hour feature. Social commentary became my answer. We see elements of contemporary South Korean society through high youth unemployment, a disparity between affluent and agricultural lifestyles and the pressures of beauty on women. The street-hustling days of Haemi (Jeong Jong Seo) and Jongsu (Yoo Ah In) is incessantly contrasted by the elaborately refined lifestyles of Ben (Steven Yeun) and his hedonistic friends. We all know these types of people exist anywhere in the world.

Mowg’s soundtrack heightens the suspense, making us feel like the worst is yet to come. Ben’s mysterious and disturbing confession makes us question the reality of thought and expression and the limits of our imagination. This enages the audience into not just viewing the film but also constructing our own individual versions, filling in the gaps of time, motive and consequence. Just like the questionable existence of Boil, Haemi’s pet cat, the origins of Ben’s luxurious circumstances, Jongsu’s receiving of silent phone calls, Haemi’s whereabouts and most of all heinous crimes surrounding them all makes us fathom the true nature of all these elements of the plot while also imagining our own versions of the story. Haemi’s pantomimes reinforce the absence of everything rather than the presence of something, making it the core of Burning’s dual-layered, self-imaginative and psychologically challenging drama to be remembered for it’s unspoken words and imaginary constructs. 

버닝 (Burning) (2018) directed by Lee Chang Do

Viewed at Palace Central

[culturegazing]

The Cinelist | March - April 2019

藪の中の黒猫 (Kuroneko) (1968) directed by Kaneto Shindo

Shirkers (2018) directed by Sandi Tan

버닝 (Burning) (2018) directed by Lee Chang Dong

Kona fer í stríð (Woman at War) (2018) directed by Benedikt Erlingsson

Us (2019) directed by Jordan Peele

[culturegazing]

Books | Pachinko by Min Jin Lee

Favourite Quotes

“…it seems fair to say that the richer the intellectual substance of field, the less there is a concern for credentials, and the greater is the concern for content.”

“Hansu already knew what there was to know about the girl, but that was different from knowing her thoughts.”

“What a man wore or owned had nothing to do with his heart and character.”

“…life’s going to keep pushing you around, but you have to keep playing.”

“…when Hana was eleven, she’d asked Etsuko if they could talk to each other like friends rather than mother and child, and Etsuko had agreed because she was grateful that her daughter continued to talk to her at all. Also, Etsuko agreed because when she’d been a girl, she had lied to her mother and father about everything. But Etsuko found that being detached as a mother had its own burdens. She wasn’t allowed to ask any prying questions, and if she sounded too concerned (something Hana hated) her daughter hung up the phone and wouldn’t call for weeks.”

“Phoebe loved being with Solomon’s family. It was much smaller than her own, but everyone seemed closer, as if each member were organically attached to one seamless body, whereas her enormous extended family felt like cheerfully mismatched Lego bricks in a large bucket.”

“What could he say? He couldn’t marry her. He had known it almost as soon as they’d landed in Narita. Her confidence and self-possession had mesmerised him in college. Her equanimity, which had seemed so important in the States, seemed like aloofness and arrogance in Tokyo. She had lost her life here, this was true, but marrying her didn’t seem like a solution. Then the whole Japan-is-evil stuff. Sure, there were assholes in Japan, but there were assholes everywhere, nee? Ever since they got here, either she had changed or his feelings for her had changed.”

“Even if there were a hundred bad Japanese, if there was one good one, he refused to make a blanket statement.”

“There was more to being something than just blood.”

Summary

An intergenerational story about a Zainichi (Korean-Japanese) family and their experiences and struggles of being treated as first-generation isolated foreigners, second-generation aliens and third-generation clouded-identity-individuals. Repressed and condescended by society, they persevere with the hope of a better life for the next generation.

Pachinko is a slot-machine-like, pinball game and is one of the industries Zainichi’s could pursue along with Yakiniku (barbequed meat). It metaphorically and physically represents the stereotypes and prejudice personally experienced by the characters in the novel and real-life Zainichi’s.

Tips

Be open to this book. It might not be something you know much about, but it teaches you about different cultures and a history we don’t really talk about, even if it is creatively imagined. This novel isn’t about historical correctness though, it is about the human condition, how life does not always take you to places you want to go, introduce you to the people you want to meet or treat you the way you want to be treated.