In 2008 I bought the South Korean movie 'Project Makeover' (Unni-ga Ganda/언니가 간다) on DVD. It's a time travel comedy about a woman who gets a chance to go back and warn her younger self about a crucial, life-changing event, hoping thereby to improve her own present life.
Usually, time travel humor involves someone from the past being a fish out of water in the present and constantly amazed by modern developments -- but in this case, the opposite happens: once back in the Korea of her high-school days, the protagonist is constantly amused (with a wink to the audience) by the ubiquity of what to her are nearly-forgotten relics, but to the people around her are the latest and trendiest innovations, such as pagers, dial-up modems and 'ancestral' *K-pop^^.
I liked the two lead actresses, Ko SoYoung and Jo An, who played older and younger versions, respectively, of the same woman; as well as the cute concept and the colorful, storybook-like visuals that fit the fantasy premise nicely. I even loved the theme song. I was surprised, therefore, to find out that the movie did not do so well in Korea. Oh well.
Anyway, at the beginning of the movie the heroine is awakened by the sound of a duck alarm clock going "Quack-quack".
It was so funny and cute I wanted one immediately, but since the movie was shot in South Korea I figured it was probably a local item, most likely not available here in Los Angeles.
Flash forward a year or so and my cousin Ben was about to graduate with a degree in pharmacology, so Mom and I needed to shop for a graduation present for the kid. We didn't know where to start because we hadn't decided what to get him, but while trying to decide that I suddenly had a 'feeling' involving the duck alarm clock and Kim's Home Center (김스 전기), a well-known store in Koreatown (founded by an old family friend, BTW). I therefore suggested we go and browse there, and Mom agreed that was as good a place to begin as any. I didn't tell her my real reason, though.
So we walk into Kim's Home Center, and what do I see the first thing? -- a duck alarm clock, just like the one in the movie except the bow tie (which doubles as the alarm button) was more gray-blue than blue-gray, on a shelf behind the downstairs counter. I asked for one, and I was told there weren't any -- the one on display was the only one left in the store. So of course I asked them to sell it to me, which they did.
Coincidence? Possibly.
*K-pop: Korean pop music (including the dances that go with particular songs); part of South Korean popular entertainment in general, which is increasingly popular outside of Korea these days.
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