HANSAN: RISING DRAGON

Today John P. and I saw Hansan:  Rising Dragon, at the Empress Walk.  It's a Korean movie about a battle where naval hero Yi Sun-sin defeated the Japanese (whom they called Wae) over 400 years ago.  It was pretty well-made and exciting.  Now I'll have to see the movie it's a prequel to, The Admiral:  Roaring Currents, about the final naval battle where Yi defeated the Japanese once and for all at the cost of his own life. (That one was a huge hit in Korea!) Korean cinema has some considerable talent... 

Afterward we saw a crowd of expatriate Persians at Mel Lastman Square demonstrating against Iran's Islamic government.  I noticed they were waving the pre-revolutionary flag with a lion and sun in the place where they now have the "eternal flame"--a bit like the South Vietnamese flag I saw on a Toronto storefront once.

On Saturday we were celebrating my niece's return from Denmark and made a cake, but things were so chaotic that it wasn't till mid-afternoon that they got to offer me a piece, and it spoiled my dinner a bit. (I just had a bowl of Tim Horton Doughnuts chili, normally a lunch-sized meal.)

Moira went to Kingston for a few weeks, so I'm alone here, which is something different for a change. (Before she left, she took me by surprise by cooking and freezing several portions of beefaroni and chili for me!)

Last week the book club discussed Hans Christian Andersen's stories.  Next time it'll be Mordechai Richler's The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz.  

Yesterday the memoir group met again.  The others just want do one piece a week, but maybe they'll let me recite a second one anyway. (I'm already thinking of a piece about "manners.")

Is this really September?  Even the nights are still warm enough for me to sleep with the windows open!

In recognition of Her Majesty's funeral--why do I always think of these things a day late?--here's the Alfred de Musset poem "A Soldier's Funeral" set to music by the stunning Lilli Boulanger on the eve of the Great War!