This weekend, Metro Cinema presents seven films from Korea, a country that has produced several of my favorite films in recent years. I'm planning to see all but one, which I have on DVD. I hope to see you there.

The films include:

King and Clown (2005), a period piece about a ruthless tyrant who pardons a couple of clowns on condition they can make him laugh. It has good buzz, was the biggest box-office grosser in Korea before The Host, and has been banned in China due to its gay subtext. My anticipation level is high.

Forbidden Quest (2008) is Kim Dae-woo's follow-up to Untold Scandal (2004), my favorite version of Dangerous Liasons. It concerns a writer of erotic fiction who receives unexpected success among the nobility. The IMDB score is not so high, but my anticipation level is moderate, since I liked Kim's previous film and love sexy period dramas.

Christmas in August (1998) is a title I've seen several times, but I am unfamiliar with the director's work. I have seen the lead actor, Han Suk-kyu in a few other films and like him. The synopsis makes this sound like a sad and possibly eccentric love story, so I'm game. Anticipation is moderate to high.

Secret Sunshine (2008) is Lee Chang-dong's most recent film. He's my favorite Korean director, in large part because of Oasis (2002), but also because of his earlier pictures, Green Fish (1997) and Peppermint Candy (1999). It's a good study of a woman's new life with her son after moving to her late husband's hometown. Not my favorite of Lee's movies, but I recommend it for, among other things, another excellent performance by Kong Sang-ho.

Like a Virgin (2006) looks like a dramedy about a short, chubby teenag boy who enters a wrestling competition to win money for a sex-change operation. I've enjoyed several offbeat comedies from Korea, so I'm hopeful this one stands up. Moderate expectations.

Bunt (2007) doesn't have many listings outside of festival brochures, but it looks like a feel-good story about a developmentally disabled boy who finds acceptance on a baseball team after they discover his singular talent. Koreans love their baseball, and I'll go into this one buoyed by fond memories of YMCA Baseball Team (2002) and Attack the Gas Station (1999).

The Show Must Go On (2007) features Song Kang-ho as a gangster dealing with rival gangs, incompetent underlings, and the pressures of family life. I'd watch Deal or No Deal if Song were the host. Anticipation high.

Epitaph (2007) is a horror triptych set in a snowbound hospital in the 1950s. Directed by a pair of Park Chan-wook's crew, this one is as exciting to me as a film directed by Stan Winston, which is to say, anticipation moderate, and I expect some good effects.

In southerly climes it would have begun in early March, but the cool spring air creeping in through the bedroom window has infected me with the strange dreams I lost for most of my 30s and recovered shortly before my 40th birthday. In my youth they brought me enormous, industrial-designed spacecraft hovering over the Baltimore beltway, or else jungles full of dinosaurs as viewed through the windows of my parents' yellow station wagon. If I were (un)lucky, they'd be of Godzilla-sized monsters stalking the subdivisions of Winchester, VA, striving to spot me through a window as I rushed desperately through the house to find a room without one.

They started again a few nights ago, and last night I dreamed of watching a late-night horror film festival under water, annoyed by crabs and fish with bad cinema manners. Later I dreamed I was reading a series of comics by an artist who each issue based his style on the work of a different 20th Century painter.

I'm eager to sleep tonight.

For our upcoming Hobbit Party, I want to concoct six drinks to share with guests throughout the day. I'd like to link them to each of the three Lord of the Rings movies, which we'll be screening downstairs while the rest of the party goes on upstairs and in the game room. Here's what I'm thinking so far:

Black Rider: a coffee drink with Kahlua or creme de cacao, and perhaps mint
Balrog: Some variation on the classic caesar, perhaps extra-hot and with a whip-like garnish

White Wizard: some variation on a white russian
An Entmoot: something, maybe a cold white or dandelion (if I can find some) wine, with wheatgrass is all I've got so far, or perhaps a Gollum: something gray and cold

Shelob: Something with Sambuca or another anise-flavored liquor, perhaps with a creepy garnish and a blackening agent
Eye of Sauron: Something very close to my favorite cocktail, a Satan's soulpatch (basically an orange Manhattan), more powerful than all the other drinks combined, muah-ha-ha!

Comments? Suggestions? Lists of previously concocted Lord of the Rings cocktails? All are appreciated. Please change and improve my worksheet!

Speaking of the Hobbit Party, if you want an invitation but didn't get one, it's completely on account of my early Alzheimer's. Please ping me here, and I shall amend.

When you think of horror as a genre, what do you think of? I don't want to skew your answers by offering examples, but I'm hoping you will offer me at least three examples of books, comics, movies, or whatever medium that comes to mind.

Also, what is horror not? And do you have other terms that you use to differentiate things that are similar to horror but not exactly the same? What are they, and how do you define the difference?

As a lazy LJ user, I haven't used tags or filters before, but now I'm considering it as an alternative to friends-locking posts by default. I'm particularly interested in the opinions of those who aren't on my friends list, since I've marked virtually everything friends-only these days.

Edit: Please pardon the goof on the first line. It's supposed to be the question, not one of the answers.

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Which is greener, recycling a two-liter plastic bottle or recycling an equivalent number (say, six) of aluminum cans?