The Body and Stand By Me: Characters

The Body and Stand By Me

10b1 111034 Jonathan Hongsoon Kim

           “Books and movies are apples and oranges,” Stephen King, author the The Body, once remarked in an interview, “they’re both delicious, but they don’t taste the same at all.” Such is the case in most movie adaptations of novels; how the movie makers interpret and illustrate a book’s message would decide the resulting image that is presented to the viewers.

           The movie version of The Body, directed by Rob Reiner and titled Stand By Me, is an example of such an interpretation. Plot-wise, the novel and the movie are almost parallel. While the story is made more simplified, focused, and otherwise altered here and there to make it more suitable for a movie’s synopsis, the core issues are the same. The more interesting factor, for me, was the characters. How the movie producers understood the characters that Stephen King had given life to, and how they were visualized in the movie was fascinating.

           The four boys are the central characters of both versions of the tale, and I, personally, enjoyed the movie’s presentation of these characters very much. As they boys are young, less experienced actors, and the movie is 25 years old, sometimes the acting seems a bit awkward or cheesy from a modern perspective. Nevertheless, the way the individual characters are portrayed makes the movie an overall enjoyable experience.

Chris Chambers and Gordie Lachance

           Gordie Lachance, the narrator in both the novel and the film, is set as the main protagonist in the latter. While, in the original book, he serves as a storyteller and emotionally expressive guide to the plot, the film places a much more significant role on him. Gordie is, no doubt, the hero in Stand By Me, and most of the plot accordingly revolves around him. Thus, the actor’s presentation of the character would have been crucial to the plot, and I think that the actor that plays Gordie, does more than a decent job. His calm, relatively mature, yet sometimes naïve demeanor portrays the character well, and especially is effective in showing the eventual emotional changes that Gordie experiences.

           Chris Chambers, the “tough kid” of the group and the de facto leader, is more of a guide and supporter to Gordie in Stand By Me. As most of the plots details and important scenes are focused on Gordie, Chris naturally falls ever so slightly into the background. Nevertheless, Chris’s portrayer shows versatility, maintaining his charismatic attitude when necessary, but showing Chris’s sympathetic, playful, or sometimes even emotionally overwhelmed sides realistically. I, personally, was quite pleased with Chris’s depiction in the movie.

Teddy Duchamp

Vern Tessio

           Teddy and Vern are somewhat minor characters in The Body, and the movie once again puts the spotlight on Gordie by minimizing the background stories of the two. However, almost as if to compensate for the loss, the two have wonderful characters shown by talented actors. Teddy’s almost-mad bravery and pride, along with his overall oddness is well captured in the actor’s presentation. Vern is my personal favorite in the movie, and I’m probably not alone. Vern, a largely ignored, somewhat daft character in the book is illustrated very colorfully in the film. Vern is the comic relief in the film; his amusing lines and the natural, childish, humor of his actor make him much more than the book draws him as. Teddy and Vern also complement each other well, holding child-like conversations and having running jokes that do not contribute to the plot but add flavor and background, features that are available only in movies.

Ace Merrill

           Another character that caught my attention was not one of the four major characters, but the main antagonist, Ace Merrill. Ace and his gang were not dealt with in that much detail in the novel, they were shown as little more than violent bullies that traveled in gangs and played tough on younger children. Ace in the movie is much cooler and somewhat charismatic, standing out from the rest of his gang members, which are portrayed as a bit stupid and immature. I appreciated this representation very much, and later on, when I read that the actor that played Ace actually, picked on the younger actors from time to time in order to stay in character, I was much more amused and impressed.

           Thus the ways the characters are portrayed make the film adaptation of The Body very enjoyable. While it is hard to decide if the movie is “better” than the novel, it certainly entertains the audience in a different sense than the novel. Comparing and contrasting the two versions was an interesting experience, and was a chance to analyze the characters on a deeper scale.

The cast of Stand By Me. From left to right, Teddy, Vern, Chris, and Gordie

Reflective Essay: Rhyme Factory and the Jeonya Festival

The Jeonya Festival

10b1 김홍순

           There are three major in-school parties in KMLA: the Freshmen Welcoming Party, the Minjok Festival, and the Christmas Party. Of these, the Minjok Festival is arguably the most significant, as it is continued for two days and almost everybody in the school participates. The Minjok Festival is actually divided into two parts, the Jeonya Festival and the Minjok Festival. The Jeonya Festival, held the night before the Minjok Festival, involves musical shows and concerts from several music clubs and individual participants. It always is a night of much excitement and enjoyment.

           As a member of the school hip hop club, Rhyme Factory, I was both looking forward to and worried about the festival. The Jeonya Festival was to be the debut stage of my wave, the 16^th wave. Our club, consisting of three rappers, one DJ, and six dancers, had become members of Rhyme Factory several months prior to the festival, but this was the first occasion for us to stand onstage. It was, no doubt, an opportunity for us to show our skills and passion to the entire school, but was also an event that would require a lot of effort and preparation; if our performance was not up to scratch, it would disappoint the crowd, our seniors of Rhyme Factory, and, most importantly, ourselves.

           A few of our members had had previous experience of performing onstage. I myself had rapped on stage twice prior to the Jeonya Festival: once in the Freshmen Welcoming Party, and once during the KMLA Korean Debate Competition. However, the Jeonya Festival would be the first time the 10 of us would have to cooperate as a group. We would have to yield to each other and make certain sacrifices.

           Of our members, I was the one with the most skills and experience in terms of audio editing, a crucial factor in a hip hop performance. Also, I was one of the most actively participating and among the first members in our wave to be admitted into the club so I was the de facto manager of the entire project. I had to be the middleman in disputes, and it wasn’t easy.

           The performance time for the entire Rhyme Factory was limited to 20 minutes, each division of the club, of course, had ambitions to maximize its impression to the watchers. Additionally, each individual member had his or her personal musical or artistic inclinations. Because of such reasons, disagreements and disputes were commonplace during the preparation process. Everybody had different rapping or dancing styles or preferences; sometimes members would simply refuse to comply with another member’s suggestion because of differences in taste. Deciding upon the performance sequences was delayed and delayed, and other events such as the mid-term exams only complicated things further. The members’ squabbling concerned me, and I probably wasn’t the only one who was worried about our show.

           Eventually, however, everyone seemed to gradually decide to cooperate and yield. We all knew that we had gathered to act as a team to express our passions. We realized that we had to make certain sacrifices and learn to work together for the success of our performance. The members set aside their differences and reached conclusions that required the efforts of everyone, and began practicing with all their might. All 10 of us practiced up to the last minute, and when we finally went up to the stage, we knew that we were there not to individually impress the crowd with personal showing off, but to work as a team to present our club to everyone.

           I cannot judge how exciting or impressive our show was. We certainly did make mistakes and some of our members may think that we could have done better. However, what I do know is that regardless of how the audience or other members perceived our show, I myself am very proud. We cooperated to create our first ever onstage project, and we showed it before everybody. We did have some troubles along the way, but we certainly did have fun. With these emotions and insight, Rhyme Factory, and myself personally, will be ready for any future events and will be prepared to move the crowd.

TED Response: David Gallo on life in the deep oceans

           In this video, David Gallo discusses deep sea creatures and their fascinating traits. While humans, having conquered the highest peaks on Earth, are actively uncovering extra-terrestrial secrets, the ocean still remains as a huge enigma; we know the principles of galaxies and stellar systems yet have provincial knowledge when it comes to the depths of our own planet. Until a few decades ago, lack of sophisticated technology had rendered scientists’ efforts to uncover the sea’s secrets had been futile, but recent scientific innovations now allow them to slowly discover the obscure regions of the voluminous ocean and their inhabitants.

           The ocean’s esoteric creatures and their patterns of existence are truly amazing. Living in the deep sea with massive amounts of water pressure suppressing them, these animals, including octopi, tube worms, fish, crabs, and shrimp, coexist in cryptic ways. Rather than being a fish-eat-fish anarchy, the creatures live in relative harmony with each other around volcanic vents, despite the fact that these “chimneys” spew virulent gases into the ocean. As there is absolutely no sunlight and scanty resources in this environment, the heat from the Earth’s center is pivotal to these animals; it is the only source of energy for these prodigious animals. Simple organisms such as static bacteria are also crucial, as they are the base life forms that sustain the other creatures. Judging by the fact that the bacteria found in these areas are the simplest on Earth, scientists believe that the undersea creatures have been leading this inveterate, uniform pattern of life for much longer than any other life forms; they may even be the evolutionary predecessors of land animals.

           These furtive animals still remain mainly as a mystery to mankind. Their remote location and fragility make research quite tenacious. Yet, scientists, even today, are working the best they can to continue discovering the secrets of the sea, and we can expect new wonders in the future.

[Review] Wu-Massacre: The Return of Wu-Tang Clan

Wu-Massacre is a hip-hop album that was released on March 30th, 2010 by East Coast rappers Method Man, Ghostface Killah, and Raekwon. These artists are the three central rappers of the legendary group the Wu-Tang Clan; hence the name of the album. All three rappers have already proved their incredible talent and were critically acclaimed both as a group and as individual artists. At the ripe ages of 39, 40, and 40, respectively, their impressive skills and techniques were gained through years of experience in the hip-hop game. Critics and casual fans, including myself, expected a lot from this album, and they probably were not too disappointed.



Track Listing (#.Song Title - Participating Artists)
1. Criminology 2.5 - Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, Method Man
2. Mef Vs. Chef 2 - Method Man, Raekwon
3. (Skit) Ya Moms - Method Man, Raekwon
4. Smooth Sailing [Remix] - Ghostface Killah, Method Man, Solomon Childs, Streetlife
5. Our Dreams - Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, Method Man
6. Gunshowers - Method Man, Ghostface Killah, Inspectah Deck, Sun God
7. Dangerous - Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, Method Man
8. Pimpin' Chipp - Ghostface Killah
9. (Skit) How to Pay Rent - feat. Tracy Morgan
10. Miranda - Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, Method Man
11. Youngstown Heist - Ghostface Killah, Trife, Sheek, Bully
12. It's That Wu Shit - Ghostface Killah, Method Man

1. First Glance: The Title & Overall Coherence
The album’s title, Wu-Massacre, itself presents a powerful image; the “Wu” of Wu-Tang Clan is set as a prefix to the word “Massacre” The production and lyrical content of many songs in the album do indeed display a powerful style. However, not all of the songs are hardcore and tough. Tracks such as “Our Dreams” or “Miranda” contain emotional or relaxed lyrics, and the two skits are humorous, creating a diverse listening experience. However, because of this and the fact that none of the songs really have the super-tough feeling of a “massacre”, the title doesn’t seem to fit the album itself very well.
★★★☆☆

2. Album Art The album’s cover art is a compilation of three separate pictures. They are comic super hero-styled caricatures of the three rappers. (From left to right, Method Man, Ghostface Killah, and Raekwon) The cover was created by actual comic artists from Marvel and is very innovative. The artwork, combined with the “W” logo of Wu-Tang Clan and the raggedly stylized title, creates an overall powerful image
★★★★★

3. Music - Beats
The songs in the album are short, none of them being longer than 4 minutes. Also, despite the fact that the album is a cooperative project between three artists, 2 of the tracks are skits, leaving us with only 10, short, songs. Thus we must expect quality over quantity, and the quality is not at all poor. Most of the songs’ beats were produced by Wu-Tang Clan’s main producer, RZA. Some of the beats are experimental, with atypical drum sequences and melodies, initially creating a slightly incongruous feeling. While it is possible to get used to the beats after some listening, they may be a little annoying at first.
★★★☆☆

4. Music – Lyrics
Method Man, Ghostface Killah, and Raekwon are all seasoned rappers with great lyrical prowess, and they show their skills freely in the album. With their respectively unique tones and styles, they display a diverse array of tightly-packed rhymes and flows. The fact that the rhyme patterns almost constantly stay above 2 syllables proves their advanced techniques. However, when looking at the beats, the length and composition of the songs and the lyrical content as a whole, the entire album looks like an experimental step. In other words, the purpose of the album seems to be to simply let people recognize the continuation of the rappers’ skills, rather than a “serious” album with a message or deep meaning.
★★★★☆

The Singles
Wu-Massacre has produced a total of 4 singles.
1. Our Dreams

Verse 1: Ghostface Killah
Verse 2: Method Man
Verse 3: Raekwon
The first single is the RZA-produced “Our Dreams.” The song sampled the song “We’re Almost There” by Michael Jackson as its chorus and is a typical East Coast style soft rap. Ghostface Killah’s punch-line, or wordplay, utilizing the word “together” (to get her) is notable.

2. Mef vs. Chef 2

Method Man, Raekwon
“Mef” and “Chef” and are the nicknames of Method Man and Raekwon respectively. On Method Man’s 1994 solo debut album “Tical,” there was a track titled “Meth vs. Chef” that featured a rap battle between the two rappers. This song is a continuation of it and it displays the diverse battle rhymes of both artists.

Method Man - Meth vs. Chef (feat. Raekwon)
The original song from Tical.

3. Miranda

Verse 1: Raekwon
Verse 2: Ghostface Killah
Verse 3: Method Man
The third single, “Miranda”, is a smooth song about a Hispanic woman named Miranda. Although the three artists are rapping about the same subject, the differences in their respective styles are evident.

4. Dangerous

Verse 1: Raekwon
Verse 2: Ghostface Killah
Verse 3: Method Man
Hook (Chorus): Ghostface Killah
The fourth single, “Dangerous”, is the only single out of the four that exhibit gangster-related lyrics by all three rappers.

5. Conclusion
Wu-Massacre, overall, is a decent album. While it may seem a bit unfinished or ambiguous, the pure skill of the three rappers almost entirely, if not completely, makes up for those shortcomings. As Method Man’s 5th solo album is rumored to be released soon, we can continue to expect great musical activity from Wu-Tang Clan.
★★★☆☆

Sloth. Noise. Colors.

Sloth. Noise. Colors. The sloth that lies within rests in absolute tranquility. It does not worry nor panic at the rapidity of the events in the world around him, but rather exerts a calming aura to all those around it. It emits a noise, but not one of chaos or discomfort; a disorganized yet entertaining noise is broadcast almost constantly. It sees and embraces all colors. It does not discriminate. It then accepts the colors as its own, adding to the symphony of noise.

The Lesson of Spring

           “Spring,” the first chapter of Kim Ki-deuk’s movie “Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter, Spring,” is about a child monk and a lesson that he learns from his mentor. The boy, as a childish prank, ties a fish, a frog, and a snake to individual stones. He then watches, laughing, as they struggle to move. Later that night, while the boy is sleeping, his mentor, an older monk, ties the boy to a stone as the boy did to the animals. The next morning, the old monk tells the boy to find those animals that he harassed the day before and let them free. The boy finds the animals but, much to his grief, the fish and the snake had already died.

           The lesson that the old monk wished to teach the boy was probably one of humility. Humans, even a young boy like the child monk, obviously have an upper hand in terms of strength or intelligence compared to animals such as fish, frogs, and snakes. The boy, in a naïve joke, misused this power to treat the animals poorly, and made them go through sufferings that they did not deserve. While the action itself was not nearly an atrocious crime, the older monk saw that it would be necessary to teach the boy about this by letting the boy experience the hardships himself. Letting the boy experience the error in his ways personally would, the monk probably believed, would have a long-lasting impact on the boy and prevent any future incidents of similar structure but larger scale. This lesson is significant not only to the life-revering Buddhists, but to all people that are in a position of power compared to others.

Metafiction: A Superhero Story Gone Wrong

        “Uh, Boss? The Hollywood guys said that they just finished the video.”

           “Great. Tell them to send it over. Let me see it.”

           “Uh, sure Boss. But, uh, are you sure you wrote this? I mean, uh, is this the right story?”

           “Yeah, yeah, of course it is. Hand it over already.”

           As a comic book writer, Robert Gream had been creating all sorts of stories for quite a few years now. His main specialty was superhero comics, and the video that his assistant was talking about was a live-action film titled Particlo: Origins; it was a movie that showed the introduction—or, as Robert liked to say, “Call to Adventure,”—of Particlo, one of his superhero characters. Particlo, whose real identity is a man called William Irving, had the ability to dissolve himself into tiny particles and move them by his free will; he, as well as being pretty popular in general, was one of Robert’s favorites so he had great expectations for this movie.

           Unfortunately, not long after handing over the script to the director, Robert was involved in a traffic accident that hospitalized him for a very long time, so he wasn’t able to directly oversee the production of the movie. Nevertheless, Robert instructed the production team to take any suggestions from anyone in my workshop so he wasn’t too worried.

           “Well, here it is, Boss.”

           Robert, a smile on his face, leaned back and watched the video as the assistant left. The opening credits rolled and the actor who played the protagonist appeared.

           William Irving lived in the suburbs of Belmont Massachusetts. Apparently born without the ability to laugh, cry, or show emotion in any other way, the only time William had ever left his town was when a friend convinced him to watch a parade downtown 3 years ago. He had not enjoyed that experience very much.

           “So far so good,” Robert remarked out loud. The introductory part was slightly long, but the convincing acting of the actors, a great soundtrack, and the lack of a clichéd narrator made it enjoyable to watch.

           After one of his friends' suggestion, William decided to travel all over the world to find emotion and to learn how to show emotion. He first went to Japan.

           Robert hit the pause button. Japan? There was no mention of Japan in his original comic or the slightly changed scenario version that he sent to the production team. Robert raised an eyebrow, but, thinking that this might be a development that the movie makers made, pressed the play button to watch Irving board his plane.

           He saw some monkey shows but they were not fun at all. He then went to North Korea. He met a fat but small monster there. The monster was wearing sunglasses.  The monster, named Kim Jong-il…

           Robert abruptly spewed out the Pepsi he was drinking and hit the pause button a second time. He, completely dumbfounded, stared blankly for a few minutes at the short Asian actor apparently playing the part of the North Korean dictator. Thinking that this was beyond creative expansion, Robert rose from his seat with intensions to call the movie studio and demand an explanation. As he stood up, a note that he hadn’t noticed before slid out from the DVD case. Robert picked up and read it out loud.

“Dear, Mr. Gream, we received the message that one Mr. Marvin Gream sent, from your studio. As instructed, we picked up the new script from your desk and reflected it into the movie.”

           Robert slowly sat back down. Marvin was his 11 year old son, a rambunctious child with a wild imagination. In Robert’s absence, Marvin apparently had pulled a prank by somehow altering his script.

           Upon realizing this, a sense of deep dread creeping into him, Robert looked at the screen. Dictator Kim stared back, a sinister grin on his face. Robert pressed the play button again.

    ….started to make the cheapest jokes that William had ever heard in his life. But somehow, the other people around the monster seemed to be enjoying its strange sense of humor. Bravely, William said to the monster. "Excuse me, but your jokes are not funny." The next moment he woke up, and he found himself in a dark, confined cell.

           Robert, practically plastered into his seat, watched in stone cold silence as William somehow defeated the entire North Korean military armed with a teaspoon over the next 20 minutes. Suddenly…

                It was his home.

           “What?”

           It was just all a wild dream! He just dosed off while going to watch the parade.

           Robert sank deeper into his chair. The first 40 minutes or so of the movie had just instantly amounted to nothing.

           The parade in front of him was just spectacular! Giant dinosaurs walked by, the dinosaurs played with an even more giant set of Jenga, and nuclear missiles flew everywhere.

           Robert watched this catastrophic compilation of random things. Already half immune to such insanity, he was actually wondering how much money it would have taken to film the entire thing.

           It was just awesome, but William couldn't laugh or make an expression about it. So he made a very, very bold move to overcome his inability, a move which he would regret for the rest of his life!
           William, prior to that moment, had convinced himself that his situation was due to some trait in his genes; he thought that he needed a drastic genetic alteration in order to gain access to the human emotions that everyone else could summon so easily. Now, as he saw himself fail yet again to crack a simple smile, William decided to expose himself completely to the nuclear missiles flying overhead. Surely those missiles would contain enough energy and nuclear influence to affect his genes. He rapidly climbed up one of the oversized Jenga sets that the dinosaurs were enjoying and jumped straight into the path of one near-flying missile.
           In a miraculous coincidence of the quantum orbital of the atoms that constituted William and the missile, the impact did not cause William to explode into an infinite number of micro-particles. Instead, it gave William the uncanny ability of being able to control each and every one of those particles individually while maintaining a unified consciousness. That meant he could freely alter the shape or position of his body parts with a simple thought or even detach parts and have them move on their own.

           Robert felt a slimmer of hope. While it was altered out of proportion, this was somewhat similar to the way Particlo gained his powers in Robert’s original script. Perhaps now the story would return to normal.

           What the nuclear impact did not do was grant William human expressions.
           Feeling the closest he could manage to the emotion of disappointment, William was too preoccupied to notice his new ability. He walked back to his town and never left it again.

           With this abrupt conclusion, the DVD stopped.

                Robert remained seated for a very long time.