Happiness in the Wind
By Michael Kaufman
The people who hijacked my email account last week got a virtual earful from some of my friends. I’ll share a few of their responses in a moment, but first a word about Jolly Widows, the Korean soap opera, which ended its run last week, and its successor, Happiness in the Wind, which began its run Tuesday night on cable channel WMBC.
Frankly, I am beginning with this subject and putting the title in the headline for one simple reason. Fans of the Korean soap operas (I prefer to call them “dramas”) will find Zestoforange when they do a Google search that includes the title of the show. This can help us pick up some new readers. I know this because of an email I got this week about Jolly Widows:
Hi Michael,
I came across your blog! Did you see the final episode? What did you think? I was so torn!!!! This soap was as good as The Long Road Home and You Are My Destiny – quite possibly better!!! I have a question. Do you know if there’s a way to order the soundtrack? Also I can’t wait for the new soap!!
Thanks,
RM
I replied truthfully that I had never seen You Are My Destiny but I loved The Long Road Home and Jolly Widows. I was ambivalent about the final episode of Jolly Widows because I could never forgive Mrs. Na for the way she had treated Suhyeon and Jinwu while she was trying to keep Mr. Kang from recovering his memory, or for conspiring with Cheol to force Nayun to marry him against her will. As far as I’m concerned Mr. Kang should have gone back to his old family and Najeong could have stayed with Mrs. Na. She could have still had frequent visitation with her grandmother, father, sister, and cousins! Yunjeong deserved better for all she went through…even if the ending implied that she and Junwu would be getting back together.
Like RM, I couldn’t wait for the new one to begin….but when we tuned in Thursday night there was a documentary about the discovery of an ancient sword found buried under a sidewalk in Seoul during a construction project in 1975. Fascinating as it was, I was disappointed. When would the new drama begin? Not Friday night. They showed a documentary highlighting the heroic resistance waged by Korean guerilla fighters against the Japanese invaders in 1906. (That one was fascinating too.) Monday? No dice: They showed part two of the Friday documentary (not so fascinating).
By Tuesday morning I couldn’t take it anymore. I called the WMBC headquarters in Newton, NJ, and asked the woman who answered the phone if she could tell me when the series that will replace Jolly Widows will begin.
“Jolly Widows? Hold on, please…” I was kept on hold for at least as long as when I called the unemployment office last year. I hung up without getting through, assuming that WMBC was swamped with callers asking the same question.
And our question was answered that night. Happiness in the Wind is on the air! I love it already. You can find it on Cablevision channel 20 Monday through Friday from 9:20 to 10 p.m. (Some clips from Jolly Widows can be found on Youtube.)
Okay, so last week my Yahoo email account was hacked by the so-called Russian Mafia and everyone on my address list received an email purporting to be from me, stranded in the UK and asking for money. Replies went directly to the hackers, who responded in my name. When Hal Davis, once a classmate of mine at SUNY New Paltz, posed a question that only I would be able to answer, the fake me responded, “I have been anticipating your reply…it s been a hell of a day, just believing God for a miracle.” Then followed instructions to wire $920 via Western Union to an address in Bristol, England. Hal, a veteran newspaperman, was not fooled. He knows I’m an agnostic Jew who doesn’t expect miracles from God.
“You think i will seeking assistance from you if this was not serious?” they replied to Peter Knobler and Mikhail Horowitz when they couldn’t answer their questions. “Asking you to send the money to me directly is enough proof…” Mikhail had some sharp words for them, which he thought better of sending. But you can hear sharp words from him in person starting at 2 p.m. Saturday (April 17) when he joins Ed Sanders for a poetry reading at The Gallery at R&F Handmade Paints, 84 Ten Broeck Avenue, Kingston (for directions call 800-206-8088 or 845-331-3112).
Tony Seymour had some poetry of his own for the hackers (adapted here for publication):
“Listen up……whoever the [BLEEP] you are…….send me one more answer and its going directly to the US ATTORNEY general, ya dig!!! get the [BLEEP] out of my friend’s accounts you little TWERP ASSED MOTHER[BLEEPER]!” He signed it, “Poet, Tony Seymour.” (You can find Tony reading his “rocket poetry” to Jeff Beck’s music on Youtube.)
My brother was not fooled by the hackers but he emailed me to say he thought “the part about losing the passport and wallet gave it all a personal touch of authenticity.” I wonder what he meant by that.
“Emairjancy, Emairjancy,” wrote Jack Radey, “everyone is to get from strit!! ” That was Jack’s way of letting me know he wasn’t fooled. But then he added, “Come on, Michael, fess up, at your age you actually DID lose your credit cards, command of the English language, and good sense.” I refuse to dignify that with a reply.
Don’t forget to tune in tonight to Happiness in the Wind.
Michael can be reached at Michael@zestoforange.com.
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