Kids' Speech Contest

I helped judge a kids' speech contest on the weekend. This was the third time that I have been involved. I've always enjoyed it. My daily life brings me into contact with children very rarely, and I find it fun and inspiring to see so many precocious little Korean kids standing in front of an audience speaking English. It almost makes me want to have kids of my own.

Sometimes the contest reminded of that old Bill Cosby show Kids Say The Darnedest Things. One little girl, in response to a question about how she felt when she had had difficulty doing something, replied that she was scared. It turned out that she was scared because her mother hit her. This, of course, had everyone in the audience looking around for the guilty mother. Another kid said that he respected his parents most because they never fought - even when his father drank so much that he couldn't get up. His mother just asked him not to drink so much. This, too, had everyone looking around the for the drunken bum and his understanding wife.

In general, though, the kids were just impressive. From pre-school to middle school, their English was quite amazing. They must have worked really hard.

A Beautiful Scent

This is a sign over the urinals in the gym that I go to. I've been looking at it for three years and I still don't understand the intent.

A better translation is below (thanks to a colleague):

"A person with a beautiful heart leaves a good fragrance even in places he only stays for a short time."

Since this sign is in the toilet, I'm thinking that perhaps they are suggesting that, if your heart is good, your crap doesn't smell. From personal experience, I'd have to say that it's not true. I've been known to leave a smell that has people running for the exits....

Hey, wait a minute. Say it ain't so?

Hmmm

I recently got this email from a student who is going to take my 5-week summer session class. I can't really understand what this student is thinking to make such a request.

I will participate in Special summer english class, i'd like to take the class with my friend. But, my friend is not belong to ******** Univ. Can i take the class with my friend?

I already have 30 students registered in the class. It's a class with an essay writing focus. Gee, let me think...do I want another student in my class? It has been my experience EVERY TIME with auditing students that they NEVER stay to the end of the class and they NEVER do all of the homework.

There are language school classes for students to take if they want to study English. I don't really feel like being someone's free private tutor. I figure I'm already going to have to work on this student's use of capital letters and question forms.

Singin' In The Rain

Actually, no. It was more like cursing in the mist.

It was a beautiful sunny day and I felt like walking a little, so I walked along the road between the Yongsan North Post and South Post this morning on my way to the USO to pick up a plane ticket. That road is lined with 10-15 meter tall trees. On my side of the road, there was a big yellow tanker truck stopped and a man with a hose and nozzle standing on the sidewalk. I had barely passed him when I was suddenly enveloped in a really heavy mist. I looked back and the guy with the hose was spraying the tops of the trees. The mist was coming down on anyone on the sidewalk and all of the cars driving by - many with their windows open. I got soaked.

Now I don't know for sure what he was spraying, but he was spraying the leaves at the top of the trees. If he had been watering the trees or putting fertilizer on them, he would have been putting it at the base of the trees on the roots. It had also rained yesterday, so the trees didn't really need water. I think he was spraying either pesticide or herbicide. If it was a pesticide, at the very least, it was mildly poisonous.

At any rate, I picked up my ticket at the USO and went into the office. Instead of staying and working in the office, I gathered up some essays to mark, came home, showered, and changed my clothes. If it was a pesticide, it was probably designed to be absorbed fairly quickly through contact, so the shower was probably too late, but I feel cleaner now.

I'm not totally against the use of herbicides and pesticides, but they could have closed the sidewalk and a couple of lanes of traffic while they sprayed, and they could have done it late at night when the traffic is light and there are few people out.

The end of a semester

The last day of classes was last Friday. I still have exams and grading to do next week, but the semester is effectively at an end.

I started teaching full-time in 1983. I have been teaching now for 24 years - that seems like forever. Recently, when I look at letters of reference that I have received over the years - like the one below - it brings tears to my eyes.

...Although the overall pedagogical goal, improving students’ abilities to communicate in spoken English was clear enough, the teachers were given a great deal of independence regarding methods and means. For some teachers, this was a frustration, but for Mark, it was clearly a challenge he welcomed. Not only did he develop a wide range of innovative, creative, and student-responsive teaching strategies; he also put a great deal of energy into preparing new teaching materials for his classes. Most impressive, though, was the willingness with which Mark shared those materials with other teachers. Because Mark was so consistently generous in sharing the fruits of his own creativity and labor his contribution to the program went far beyond what he was doing in his own classroom.

Moreover, his cooperative, team-spirited attitude extended beyond his relations with his fellow English teachers to include the Korean staff, both administrative and academic, with whom he worked. In my long career in Korean universities, I’ve noticed all too many problems between native-speaking English teachers and their Korean co-workers, problems stemming from misunderstanding, cultural insensitivity, and at times even arrogance. Mark maintained consistently excellent relations with his Korean co-workers. He put real thought and energy into those relationships, and approached them with patience, tact, and cultural openness.

Indeed, it is in the attentiveness and sensitivity of his interpersonal relationships that Mark really excelled, and this was the key to his success in the classroom. Because we often organized communications activities that combined both of our classes, I had many opportunities to observe Mark’s classroom style and the way he related to his students. By far the most outstanding qualities were patience and respect. Even with students whose English communicative skills were at the lowest level, he never appeared frustrated or short-tempered. He managed to maintain a supportive, encouraging manner in situations where most teachers lose patience. Mark conveyed to his students that he respected them both as learners and as human beings, that despite differences in culture and limitations in communicative power, he was interested in what they had to say and valued their individuality. Indeed, regarding differences of culture, Mark’s attitude clearly went beyond just respect: he had a genuine curiosity about the things that make Koreans distinct, encouraging his students to articulate varied aspects of their Koreanness. Walking into one of Mark’s classes, I could immediately sense the atmosphere of mutual respect and trust. His students obviously acknowledged and respected his authority, but felt relaxed and confident, knowing that they could rely on his patience and encouragement.

You may ask why it bring tears to my eyes. Well, I have trudged through this past four months grudgingly and with no joy. This has been to the detriment of my students.

I think that teachers really can make a difference. Teachers can be trained to do their jobs better, but, in the end, the teacher needs to provide a pleasant happy and supportive atmosphere, and that is a personality thing. It does make a difference. I fear that I have been crabby and short-tempered this semester. My classroom energy level has been low.

I think that a big part of my problem is that I have no one to talk about my daily life with and I can be my own worst enemy at times. It would do me good to complain out loud because it would make me realize what an ass I'm being. Most of the things I complain about are pretty trivial.

The semester started badly because the university changed the class schedules. For the past two and a half years, I had three 50-minute classes with most of my students (Mon, Wed, Fri) and two 75-minute classes with a few other classes (Tues, Thurs). I never liked the longer classes on Tues and Thurs because you really need to do at least two activities. In the middle of the class, you have to bring one activity to an end, review what was done, and deal with any problems; then you needed to introduce a new activity, run it, and debrief it. As well, if there is a holiday in there, you often see the students only once a week. Because developing language skill requires a lot of regular practice, I haven't felt that this schedule was good for the students. So, what happened? The university changed all of the classes to twice-weekly 75-minute classes - the classes length that I didn't like. Why did the university change to this schedule - one that most of my students don't like? I suspect that the push came from the tenured professors who teach 9 hours per week. With the new schedule, many of the professors only need to teach 2 days a week.

At any rate, I should have been able to deal with this better. I let it bother me a lot more than it should have.

As a result of the new schedule, we were told that all of the English language teachers, who teach 15 hours per week, would teach only 4 days per week. Then, because of scheduling difficulties, I was asked to teach 5 days a week. This was not a real problem since I probably would have gone in to the office 5 days a week anyway. But, I was told that all of my classes would be morning classes (which I prefer). Then I was asked to change my schedule and take some afternoon classes. My schedule stretched out for two days a week. Again, I said that this was okay, but the reality was that it bothered me that my Korean colleagues, who have had really nice scheduled since long before I started working there, continued to have 4-day schedules with the hours they wanted. So, I was a bit put out. It just felt as though I was being asked to make more sacrifices than anyone else. Now the reality is that I only teach 15 hours per week. Three days a week, I am finished teaching by noon. I still get long paid vacations in the summer and winter (5 months if I want it).

I really need a slap on the head sometimes. I have a pretty easy job.

For some reason (although I suspect that it was my fault), I've had worse attendance and lateness problems than I've ever had. I suspect that the students just haven't wanted to come to class. I have been so far behind in my grading all semester that the students haven't really gotten the feedback that they needed to help them improve.

With my colleagues, I've become less willing to compromise. I'm kind of whiny. I say things in meetings that are far less diplomatic than they should be.

So, when I look at what I was like and see that I'm not like that now, I feel a great sadness at how far I seem to have fallen. I used to love teaching. I used to love learning. I used to love working with my colleagues. Now, I just feel tired.

Summer session begins on the 25th. I really want to do better.

Everything in my life is, of course, related. And, my life outside of school affects my work. I'm not really able to compartmentalize. I haven't been blogging much lately. You might ask why. I've kind of withdrawn from everything. My "sidewalk rage" has grown to the point that I often don't go out. I spend my time at work, at the gym, and at home. Since I don't seem to be doing anything interesting, I don't have much to blog about, and I don't always want to be picking on the negative stuff in Korea.

Korea has a lot of good stuff. I still like the food. The pottery is amazing. I drink a lot of green tea, which I think it the best in the world. Outside of the city, it is peaceful and relaxing. However, the constant self-aggrandizement that is so much a part of life in Korea is so irritating that I don't enjoy what I should. The other day, I was watching a Korean saxophone player on television, and I found myself thinking - his playing and style are just a rip-off of some western saxophonist. Then I realized that he was actually pretty darn good. My first reaction always seems to be to negative.

Then, just when it didn't seem that it could get any worse, I went to the hospital to get my cholesterol checked. I've been on a statin for years to keep my cholesterol down. It was nice to hear that my cholesterol levels were good. However, I don't like to hear the doctor say, "However..." I was told that I didn't really need to worry but I was pre-diabetic. What!!! How can they say the words "diabetes" in the same sentence as my name and then say I don't need to worry too much. My blood sugar level is 116 mg/dL. A range or 100-125 is considered pre-diabetes. Now I'm supposed to lose weight and exercise more - based on a BMI calculation. I have always been considered overweight using the BMI. When I was working out a lot, my BMI had me in the obese range although, at 185 cm and 95 kg, I'm only overweight now. I already go to the gym 4 or 5 times a week.

If you have the stomach for it, you can look at this picture that I took this morning. While I would like to get my weight down from 95 kg to 90 kg. That may not be realistic. If I go to the gym more, I get stronger and start lifting heavier weights, so I lose fat but gain muscle. At 53 years old, I think I'm fairly fit. I don't really think that I'm overweight. If you look really closely, you can see the hint of a six-pack. I probably could have been a body double for some of the actors in the film "300".

At any rate, I'll try to watch my diet a bit more, although I haven't cooked meat at home in years. I've cut way back on the alcohol. I've even stopped going to the 3 Alley Pub once a week for a cheese burger and a tall glass of Eirdinger.

Sometimes I think ignorance may be bliss. Although I acknowledge that knowing about the pre-diabetes now gives me a chance to control it without drugs, I'm now more worried than I was. Just once I would like to go to the doctor and be told that everything is fine.

Two Thumbs Down

If you're going to taunt people, especially the police, you really should be good at hiding.

Drama critic sent to prison for bomb threat

“You [KBS] won’t catch me as I am very good at camouflage,” he said during the threatening call. “Catch me if you can.”

Six months in prison should give him time to come up with a better plan. People like this should be sent to a prison for the very stupid. Perhaps part of his punishment should involve prison guards regularly taunting him through the bars, "Nah, nah, nah, nah, nah - you can't escape!"

And, by the way, if you don't like the show, Mr. Kim, just change the channel.

Children

In the days when I was more "philosophical", the writings of Kahlil Gribran moved me deeply. His book, The Prophet, is one that I have read a hundred times. I've had half a dozen copies over the years because I lend them to others or lose them, but always replace them. I was reminded of this section on children by an article in the Korea Times: 70% of Child Athletes Suffer Violence.

Children

And a woman who held a babe against her bosom said, "Speak to us of Children."
And he said:

Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you, yet they belong not to you.
You may give them your love but not your thoughts.
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.
You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness;
For even as he loves the arrow that flies, so He loves also the bow that is stable.

I get so angry at parents who abuse their children under the guise of ensuring that they have a better future. The individual stats in this article are shocking, but the attitude of coaches and parents is the what really disgusts me.

"Coaches, parents and even students are obsessed with getting good results. They think a beating enhances a student's fighting spirit and thus brings about a good result,'' an official of the commission said.

He said they do not recognize children's human rights. "When students desert the training camp after being beaten, parents send them back, as they believe the children will have great success when they become famous athletes in the future,'' the official said.

Maybe we need to look at our society and ask why children should have to compete so aggressively. Perhaps it would be better if didn't allow anyone under the age of adulthood (19-21 years) to play competetive sports.

There have been stories of abusive tennis parents in the news for years. In Canada, hockey parents are sometimes banned from arenas because they are so bad.

What the hell is wrong with us when we push kids to do what we couldn't? This is a problem everywhere; however, the hypercompetitive nature of Korean society and the acceptance of casually administered violence as a way to make people do what you want can make children's lives hell.

TIME had this article, and, again, it is young people who are being abused.
Breaking the Ice

Intelligent training in sports is not just a matter of doing something harder or more. Muscles strain and bruise; ligaments tear. And, sometimes, there just isn't anymore fuel in the tank. When someone is running on empty, beating them won't make any difference.

I know that a career in modern professional sports can be incredibly lucrative, but, if the only reason people play sports is to go to professional leagues, it takes a lot of the fun out of "playing" sports. Why can't we all just lighten up?

Seasonal Affective Disorder

Although this past winter has not been bitterly cold, it has seemed to drag on forever. With the exception of a couple of nice days at the beginning of March, it has been cold for what seems like forever - until last Thursday. We have now had four really nice warm days - days with temperatures around 20C.

I feel a lot better now. I wonder if I have just had a bad case of SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder).

The Well-dressed Man

Once again, I find myself lagging behind when it comes to fashion.

I mean, really, I didn't know that "The future will be a Y-shaped dystopia". I didn't even know what a dystopia was, although I kind of guessed it was a dysfunctional utopia. Dictionary.com says it is, "a society characterized by human misery, as squalor, oppression, disease, and overcrowding". Umm, okay. Now that I know, I'm not sure I want to know.

Those whom I work with will undoubtedly agree with that my fashion sense lies somewhere between conservative and sloppy (perhaps a sloppy, conservative). I'm going to change. I'm still trying to decide which style would best suit a university professor.




















The Conservative Look (although I think it would make my legs look really skinny and my ass big).

















I kind of like the meter long tie and the cape. The arm warmers and leather gloves are perhaps a bit much, but I could pull it off - I think.




















There are times when I think, "What the hell! I'm just gonna do it!" I've never had a scarf with buttons before. I might have to pass on the eye shadow, but, overall, I could live with that style.

But, seriously, who wears these fashions.

Koreans Aren't to Blame

Koreans Aren't to Blame

This article by Adrian Hong in the Washington Post is thoughtful and interesting in light of the self-flaggelation that many Koreans seem to be enjoying. Why are they all apologizing? Just feeling really sorry that the event occurred is enough, I think.

Korean car culture

I was talking to my students today about cars, air pollution, traffic conjestion, and social responsibility, and I was surprised (although I really don't know why) at how much of their behavior is controlled by concern for their social standing.

The general concensus in the class was that there were too many cars on the road and that the engines were far larger than needed for Seoul or Korea driving; however, one student said that his father was the head of a company and he had no choice but to buy a large fully-loaded Hyundai Grandeur (with black windows and leather seats of course), spending far more money than he wanted to for a car he didn't really need or want. The reason - his employees would want to buy nicer cars than their neighbors (thus showing how much better their jobs were), but none of the employees would have dared to buy a nicer car than the boss. So, he cleared the way for them to buy expensive cars by buying a really expensive car himself. The rest of the class acknowledged that this was pretty standard.

As a Canadian guy, I admit that, if I were living anywhere but Seoul, I would want the coolest car I could get and that it would probably be far bigger than I needed, but my biggest concern would have been whether I could afford it, not whether my car was nicer than the boss's or my neighbors'.

I'm sometimes surprised at the power of the junior/senior relationship here.

Conflict of Interest

This is the entrance to the Rock n Roll bar. Look closely at the notice taped under the 'Rock n Roll' sign. It's for a shop in the same building as the bar.

On second thought, perhaps it's just smart marketing.

Makes me want to cry

I was looking for websites that would help my students with their essays; however, this is not what I had in mind.





"THE ART OF RELIEVING STUDENTS' PAIN" - What about causing teachers pain?

Order writing of fully referenced original custom paper on any topic, any type of assignment, in a required discipline and within 8 hour deadline.

All papers are WRITTEN FROM SCRATCH by the graduate writers according to your instructions and there is NO DANGER OF PLAGIARISM. We have a large staff of writers, which means we can group them by different disciplines and subject specializations. The papers written are never reused, nor sold as pre-written essays, as we are not affiliated with any pre-written essay database site, unlike some of the competitors in the market.

"[T]here is no danger of plagiarism" - How about the danger of becoming an unscrupulous, lying asshole?

They even have "operating principles" - isn't that a tad bizarre for a website that helps people cheat?

And, if you are worried that your essay might be too good. Not to fear - they even have people who can make the same types of mistakes as you.

Some customers require that the writer possessed a particular type of the language. Each customer may choose, if possible, out of:

• Native speaking American English writer
• Native speaking British English writer
• Non-native speaking writer (to resemble the language of a non-native speaking customer).

• 
  

The number of grammar mistakes that I see on this website makes me think that most of their work is done by non-native speakers.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Update:
Clearly there were tears in my eyes when I first looked at this site. On scrolling down later, I found this:

There are strong reasons WHY your cooperation with CustomWritings cannot be labeled as cheating:

you DON'T STEAL anything from us you pay a FAIR PRICE for our services our writers get both financial and spiritual REWARD for their work you simply DELEGATE your tasks and focus only on those things that REALLY MATTER IN YOUR LIFE It is absolutely LEGAL in the US and Europe, as there are no laws prohibiting this

At CustomWritings.com we believe IT'S ETHICAL to get an outside help and delegate your writing assignments to professional writers same as if you would get your watches fixed or car repaired by third party experts.

Gee, "...we believe IT'S ETHICAL to get an outside help [sic]...", I guess it must be okay then. "...[T]he same as you would get your watches fixed or car repaired by third party experts." For crying out loud, you don't get a grade for the work that your mechanic did. Nobody thinks you fixed your own car. It's not the same thing. This, of course, brings to thought that wonderful quotation in Joseph Conrad's The Heart of Darkness, "The horror! The horror!" Let me say this about that: It's cheating. You can't just make up your own definition. It's cheating. And, if you use this service, you're a cheater.

Defensive walking in Seoul

Everyone seems to have this one on their blog, so I thought I should put up just in case you missed it. It is, sadly, very true.

Korea Sparkling

When dynamic just isn't enough.

Someone obviously thought that "Dynamic Korea" was getting a little stale (and, in reality, who didn't).

Korea's new tourism theme is - "Korea Sparkling". They expect it to bring in 10,000,000 visitors. Say it a couple of times. Still don't get it. Try the Official Korea Tourism website. Don't be afraid to click on the banner. Wait for it, "Korea Sparkling". It sounds even better when a young Korean stud says it.

You know, I still don't get it. If you were sitting in the comfort of your home in Toronto, thinking of where to go on vacation, which would draw you in "Korea Sparkling" or "amazing Thailand" or "Supernatural British Columbia"?

I think that someone, after they had printed all of the promotional material, realized they had a problem. Now this might actually make me think twice.

Honestly, selling English language advertising in Korea must be like taking candy from a baby. World-renowned brand expert Simon Anholt: "Oh, yes, Mr. Kim. This will have people stampeding to get into Korea. Really."

I think I could come up with something better (Well, maybe not the girls). Even the little logo is a little puzzling.

The symbol of two overlapping windows means traditional and modern elements' coexist in harmony, while the white empty square in the middle represents a window that visitors can fill from their own experiences.

Sure.

I guess it will fit right there beside Huby.

Starbucks and rice cakes

Two Starbucks outlets in Seoul will start selling Korean rice cakes soon. Since one of those two outlets is at the front gate of my university, I'll check it out and see how good they are. To be honest and fair, I've never been a real fan of rice cakes, so I may have to survey a few patrons as well.










My favorite place in Seoul is O'Sulloc, and Starbucks, in my humble opinion, has a long way to go before they catch up. O'Sulloc is a green tea version of Starbucks. In addition to green tea, O'Sulloc sells green tea latte and cappuccino. Their cakes and pastries are to die for. Everything they sell has at least a sprinkle of green tea on it. And, if you want something a little sweeter.

In looking at the O'Sulloc website, I just discovered that they have a Jongno outlet - across from the YMCA. I think I'll check it out today.












The only problem with O'Sulloc, and a small problem it is, is that the clientele are mostly young women. Usually, the only men in O'Sulloc have been dragged there by their well-being-minded girlfriends. I guess green tea still isn't seen as a manly drink yet.

Lifetime employment for me

President seeks better English skills for pupils

President Roh Moo-hyun said yesterday that he wants Koreans to have a better command of English, so that they won’t be “depressed” because of difficulties speaking the language.

I had never thought of myself as a "psychologist" but perhaps I'm helping people avoid depression by teaching them English. Do shrinks get paid more than teachers?

“Our students are the best in many fields, but one weak point is English,” Roh said, noting that Koreans spent 4.4 trillion won ($4.7 billion) abroad and 10 trillion at home to study English.

I always find it odd that Koreans are so critical of their English ability. I've taught students from many countries and I've always been impressed by Koreans' ability. As for English helping them economically, which is one of their big beliefs, I've always thought that Koreans speak much better English than the Japanese, and that hasn't hurt the Japanese too much.

In addition, the government is working to build English villages on Jeju Island for less privileged children to learn English...“I am especially worried that a few students who have better living conditions may improve their English faster than those who are disadvantaged,” Roh said.

People with better living conditions seem to do everything better. I wonder why that is. Could it be that better food and more comfortable surroundings make people happier and happier people learn better? At any rate, although the president often seems weak, confused, and misguided, I think that anything that can be done to help the less-privileged is a good thing.

During the event yesterday, Roh was asked by a student how he had learned English. The president answered, “I did my best, but what I did was only reading and studying grammar without the chance to speak the language.”

I hope that no one notices this. Our university seems to think that our students can speak well but they can't read and write well. We are going to focus on teaching writing. Can it be that we are out of step with President Noh's educational theories?

I've always thought that it is more natural for all four skills to be taught together. I think that, if you read about something, hear it, talk about it, and write about it, you reinforce the vocabulary and grammar, see everything in similar but different contexts, and then really understand it. But that's just me.

iPod Nano

After two and a half years of pretty heavy use, my iRiver died. The buttons have always been a little off, and, recently, it could take 20 or 30 presses on the power button to get it to turn on. I usually had to take the battery out to turn it off. I originally bought it because I wanted to be able to replace the batteries easily, but it became a bit of a pain to always have an extra battery in my pocket.

I replaced it with a 4Gb iPod Nano. It's lighter, feels better made, and has nice controls.

At 4 Gb, it holds almost all of my CDs.

The Donkey Show

A colleague showed me this picture of some posters that he saw in his Seoul neighborhood. Neither of us knew anything about a donkey show, so we did what any normal person would do - Googled it and checked it out on Wikipedia.

A donkey show is a form of live entertainment in which a person (usually a woman) performs sexual acts with a donkey.

The picture is pretty erotic - a beautiful, scantily clad women in front of a stage prop that looks like a woman's body part.

Although there are some pretty raunchy shows to be found in Seoul (so I've been told), this is a pretty conservative place. I just can't imagine that they would really be allowed to hold and advertise a real donkey show. At the very least, the SPCA would probably complain.

The poster says that The Donkey Show is a Broadway production, but Googling that didn't turn up anything. I did find that it was an off-Broadway show:

THE DONKEY SHOW - now in its 4th SMASH year - is a party, a show and a disco all wrapped up into one. It's the Off-Broadway Hit You Can Dance To...An Now Sing To! Decadence, disco and divas - behind the velvet ropes into a Studio 54 wonderland - THE DONKEY SHOW is NYC's # disco destination. Through all your favorite disco hits like CAR WASH, LAST DANCE and WE ARE FAMILY - the story of Shakespeare's MIDSUMMER NIGHTS DREAM unfolds all around you at Club El Flamingo in NYC!
Here's your chance to sing along to all your favorite disco hits from THE DONKEY SHOW and create your own 70's party wherever you are. For tickets and more information about the show in NYC and other cities - check out www.thedonkeyshow.com

This seems more likely. I'm sure the William Shakespeare is turning over in his grave. I can just see them doing that disco great, The Car Wash, at The Rose. I may have to check it out just to see if it's on the up and up.

Yellow Sand

I was going to go for a long Cheonggyecheon walk this morning, but I found this link to the U.S. Military 18th Medical Command on the Lost Nomad's blog and changed my mind. The last time I went for a full day walk on a bad yellow sand day, I felt like crap for a couple of days. I've a link to this website on my sidebar so that I can easily keep track of it.

I now have masks tucked away in all of my bags.

The only good thing about this is that I learned something new. I didn't know what 'ug/m3' meant. It is 'micrograms per cubic metre'. At 1064 ug/m3 near my home, the advisory is to "cancel prolonged and heavy exertion outdoor activities; limit other outdoor activities to bare essentials." Actually that's not really true. At 1000 ug/m3, the advisory is to "Remain indoors and keep activities low." So, we've just crept over the 'very unhealthy' to 'hazardous' barrier.

I guess I shouldn't do any housework either. In fact, keeping my activity level low may just mean lying in front of the TV watching the latest James Bond movie: Casino Royale.

What the...?

I've been following the Korean Professional Volleyball league all season with great interest (and, no, Poop, not just because the women are hot). Last weekend, the best-of-5 championship round started. Saturday, the two underdog teams won (Hyundae Capital Skywalkers - men; Hyundae Construction Foxes - women), which was kind of cool. Sunday, the Skywalkers won again and the Foxes stunk up the gym (if it's possible for a bunch of women to stink up a place). All throughout the Sunday matches, they had the times for Wednesday's matches at the top of the screen. The women's match was to be at 6:30PM and the men's match at 9PM. So, I rushed home to catch the games, arrived at 6:45, turned on the TV, and.....caught the last 5 points of the men's FINAL championship game. . The men's game must have started around 5:30.

The match went 5 games and the final game ended up 15-12 for the Skywalkers. It was probably a great match. I'm sure that it will be on the TV tomorrow morning but it's not the same watching a game when you know the score already.

I thought that it was cool that trash-talking Alejandro's team on the men's side lost. What was that you said at the beginning of the season, Alejandro? "Rooney's nothing special." Ha, he must have really studied the game tapes because he had you blocked almost every time. Just as a side note, while Alejandro was the league's dominant spiker all season, he can't serve to save his life. He's kind of the Shaquille O'Neal of volleyball.

Who plays a professional championship match at 5:30 on a Wednesday? People are working. Who changed the time? Some bigwig who wanted to make sure that he had time to go out drinking after the game? I'd like to say that I was surprised but I'm not really. Last Sunday's matches didn't start at the times they were supposed to either.

How can a professional sports league expect good fan support if they can't get the schedules straight?

I have really enjoy watching the games, and I hope that next season will be even better. I hope that the interest that was shown this season will allow the league to expand from 6 men's teams and 5 women's teams. I really want to support the league. I hope that they get the kinks worked out, but, at this time, it's not really very professional.

I hope my favorite women's team, Hyundae, win, although that's not very likely. I realize that I'm being petty, but I still haven't been able to get over the fact that the coach of the strongest team on the women's side, Heung Kuk, was suspended for two games and he sat in the stands during both matches signalling his assistants. He might be a nice guy, but I just wish he would lose. Besides Hyundae have the nicest uniforms in the league - maroon.

The Korean...Japanese...Wave

When the world is riding the Korean wave, Korea seems happy.

Fuji TV Producing Special on Korean Wave Star
Japan’s First Lady-to-Be an Avid Korean Wave Fan
Asian English paper editors gather in Seoul
K-pop makes another leap forward
South Korea adds culture to its export power
A rising Korean wave: If Seoul sells it, China craves it

But wait...

Fresh Japanese Wave Threatens Korean Pop Culture

Some experts fear that enthusiasm for Japanese pop culture is headed for a renewed domination of Korea.

It must be a slow day at the newsdesk.

A new job?

I've been thinking of a new job recently - perhaps even a different field. I have to say that I was inspired by this headline: Harlequin books seeks "real men" for covers". I'm a real man. Ask my friends (and, as soon as they stop laughing, they'll tell you it's true).

The picture accompanying the ad was a little disheartening.








But, when I read the article, I thought that perhaps I could do this.

"We're looking for some guys that are not your usual models, but have that iconic look that women go for -- sexy, sensitive, beautiful and fit," said Harlequin spokeswoman Marleah Stout, who attended the open casting.

"We want real men ... exactly what you think in your mind when you're fantasizing or imagining that ideal man." [Every morning on the subway, I can tell that the women are fantasizing - I'm sure.]

...

"A lot of the models were too young, men in their twenties ... and our audience likes men a little bit older, a bit bigger, than the runway models." [Hey, that's me.]

CDN$250/hour is a lot more than I can make tutoring. I just need to cut out the cheese burgers and beer for a couple of weeks. I'm sure I can wittle my keg down to a six-pack.

"From what I understand, (Harlequin) readers are women who want to escape from the relationship that they're in," said auditioner Carlos Troccoli, 30, who was tall, sturdy and muscular. "I can bring that to them." [Ooh yaah! Where do I sign up?]

Ponderous pondering

I sometimes think too much (not always well, just too much). Recently, I've been thinking about my teaching philosophy. I had to sit down and think about this a month or two ago when I was prepping for a video conference job interview (didn't get the job, and, no, they didn't ask me for my teaching philosophy); however, events in the last couple of weeks at my university have had me discussing (arguing) about our programs and the university's direction.

I'd like to preface this by saying that I love the possibilities that computers and the internet have for education. I've had my own student-centered homepage for years (www.geocities.com/mbrown_ae). I've created a lot of interactive materials that I have on a department homepage. I show my students where all of this material is and I strongly encourage them to use it. HOWEVER, I don't check up on them. If they don't want to use it, that's their choice as adults.

Our new president is a business man and undoubtedly thinks like a business man, not as an educator. To be fair, some of his beliefs are not that far from some of my Korean colleagues. The thing that has struck me most is that the president seems to think that the main thing that stands in the way of us becoming a world class university is that our students don't do enough homework, so he has told our department (and presumably all departments) to assign more homework and to do it online so that the students can be tracked and given a grade based on this homework.

This will assuredly make our university a world-class one (koff, koff).

I may be remembering poorly as I sometimes do, but I don't remember my university professors gathering and marking university students' homework on a regular basis. Certainly homework was assigned and it was expected that you would read Ch.1 and come to class prepared to discuss it. We were assessed by one or two exams and by several assignments. If we didn't do the homework, we expected that we might do poorly on the exams and assignments.

Another thought is that old people who have little or no understanding of computers shouldn't be allowed to make decisions about computer use. To be sure, there is tracking software that can show if "someone" has logged in. It's possible to see what links were clicked on by "someone", but there is not necessarily a correlation between looking at something and actually studying it and learning it. (How many times have you read a couple of pages in a book to then realize that you have no idea what you read?) There is no way to be sure of what students are doing when they are out of your sight. It's hard enough to control them sometimes when they are in the same room. Even if "someone" has logged in, you can't be sure who it is. I could certainly see some enterprising young man getting a list of everyone's user names and passwords so that he could log them in for a fee. You also can't be sure that they haven't logged in and then turned on a computer game. I can just imagine some teacher looking at little Moohyun's tracking log and seeing that he spends an amazing 5 or 6 hours every night on the university website. WOW!!! Amazingly Moohyun's English isn't getting better, but he's well on his way to becoming a professional gamer.

Although I still assign homework, I've stopped grading it. I still walk around the classroom and mark who has something written on the pages I've assigned. They get one mark for doing it and nothing if it isn't done, but I'm getting increasingly uneasy about even this. I like to think that my tests and assignments reflect the students abilities. I try not to trick them. My students know what they will be assessed on and how. Homework helps, as does extra online material that I provide for them.

I don't assign much out of class writing anymore either. This bothers me a lot because I like teaching writing, and, as a student, I always wrote better outside of class than in. Now, I alternate take-home and in-class assignments. The take-home assignments are for feedback. The stuff done in class is for "big" marks.

I have disagreed on more than one occasion with colleagues about online quizzes. And, again, I feel really bad about this, but cheating is common and it is a problem. If the teachers allow it, they are disadvantaging the honest students and teaching them that only cheaters prosper.

At my university, we grade on a strict grading curve. 30% get A; 40% get B, and 30% get C or lower. Allowing a "B student" to cheat and take an A from a deserving "A student" (who gets bumped down to a B+) really bothers me.

My colleagues say that cheating isn't such a big problem and that there is no solution anyway. Sometimes I wonder if we deserve to be called a profession.

Plagiarism.org has this to say (the emphasis is mine):

A study by The Center for Academic Integrity found that almost 80% of college students admit to cheating at least once.

According to a survey by the Psychological Record 36% of undergraduates have admitted to plagiarizing written material.

A poll conducted by US News and World Reports found that 90% of students believe that cheaters are either never caught or have never been appropriately disciplined.

The State of Americans: This Generation and the Next (Free Press, July 1996) states that 58.3% of high school students let someone else copy their work in 1969, and 97.5% did so in 1989.

A national survey published in Education Week found that 54% of students admitted to plagiarizing from the internet; 74% of students admitted that at least once during the past school year they had engaged in "serious" cheating; and 47% of students believe their teachers sometimes choose to ignore students who are cheating.

Now, this article at Plagiarism.org dealt with plagiarism, but I think that people who plagiarize would not have second thoughts about cheating in other ways if they knew that they wouldn't get caught.

I found this article in The Harvard Crimson:

Problem Set Problem: Cheating

Let’s be upfront: cheating—most commonly in the insidious form of copying or other illicit collaboration—happens quite a bit at Harvard on take-home assignments...

The status quo would be acceptable, though still unattractive, if cheating were a victimless crime. But most large science classes—incidentally the places where copying on problem sets is most apt to occur—are graded on a curve. This creates a zero-sum situation, where any points people gain by cheating do not simply help them, but hurt others.

A look back

Redemption comes too late for many accused during S. Korea's red scare

This article in the International Herald Tribune was interesting because it reminded me of what it was like here in the 70's and 80's. I first came to Korea as a tourist in 1976 and then later returned in 1983 and stayed until 1986. During my first visit, Korea was controlled by a military dictator, Park Chung-hee. On my second trip, Korea was being run by another military dictator, Chun Doo-hwan. As might be expected, the government ruled with an iron hand.

At my campus in Seoul, the students demonstrated almost every day (except during exams). They went to the back gate, threw stones at the riot police, were hit with pepper bombs, and then they moved to the front gate and did the same thing. For most of the students, it didn't seem really serious. It was just something to do. By 5PM, everything stopped and returned to "normal". The demonstrations generally stayed on campus.

The riot police, armed with shotgun pepper-bomb launchers, usually fired these canisters in the air where they exploded over the students. The canisters were about 6 inches long and about 3 inches thick. They were full of powdered pepper which was irritating when it got in your eyes and nose. In some of the pictures, you can see yellowish clouds. That's the pepper bomb. It was irritating but not debilitating. It was no where nearly as strong as tear gas, which was rarely used because it was expensive and also caused fires.

I've posted some pictures that I took during one of the demonstrations. I was taking these pictures from a window in the top floor of the gymnasium. There were students playing basketball, and, when the police saw me taking pictures, they launched a pepper canister through the window beside me. It landed in the circle at center court and exploded - effectively ending play for that day. I later stopped taking pictures when the students started throwing rocks at me.

You can see the riot police in green padded uniforms with helmets and shields. They couldn't move very fast, so there were sometimes plainclothes policemen who would come onto the campus and try to catch students.

It was a very strange time. People were being arrested. Many of the student activists were living on campus because they would be arrested if they left. I can't remember the exact dates, but around '85, a student leader was killed "by accident" when the police had him bent over a tub of water and they were ducking his head under water. They "accidentally" strangled him on the edge of the tub. In early '86, partly because of this incident, things started to get a bit ugly. A student threw a molotov cocktail into one of the police buses that have wire over the windows. One police officer couldn't get out and died. The police then started firing the pepper bombs directly at the students. At least one student, took one to head and suffered serious brain damage.

I left in the middle of 1986 so I didn't see how things developed. However, the international news coverage showed demos moving off campus and becoming much more violent. I still remember watching a news program that showed riot policeman being pushed off of a highway overpass. This eventually led to Chun stepping down in 1988.

For many people, the demonstrations were ignored, and life just went on as normal. However, there was a really dark and depressing side to the military dictatorships. I think that most of us cannot imagine what it was really like.

"They tied me naked in a steel chair and attached an electric cord to my genitals," Bogwang said in his last interview. "When they threw the switch, electricity bolted through my spine and jolted my brain. It was as if my body jumped a meter off the floor."

By the time the military interrogators were done with him, Bogwang had signed a confession that he was a Communist spy...
...
On Jan. 23, a court acquitted, posthumously, eight men who were hanged in 1975 on charges of organizing a "People's Revolutionary Party," ostensibly to overthrow the government at North Korea's behest. The court found that the men were executed on the basis of confessions extracted under torture.
...

Interrogators deprived him of sleep for days and then made him sit in front of high-intensity lights, he said. They tied him to a rod like "a pig being roasted," put a wet towel over his nose and eyes, and poured water laced with mustard or pepper into his mouth.

"Such methods of torture were commonplace," said Kim Byung Jin, 51, who worked as an interpreter for interrogators at the Army Security Command. "They could make the victim say whatever they wanted him to say. Truth was irrelevant." (my emphasis)

...
"I still hear them saying to me, 'You ready? Here we go!' as they cranked up the generator to send electricity to the wire tied around my fingers," Kim said in an interview last month. "I had to admit to their nonsensical charges against me after they threatened to send my wife to a brothel and my 100-day-old son to an orphanage."

For some reason, the online article is not the fully version that was in the newspaper. The newspaper version had more information that was particularly saddening. Bogwang's family disowned him because they were afraid of what his connection to them would do to their futures. Even recently, just before his death of natural causes, his family wouldn't speak to him. I don't understand this. Most Koreans know what was done. They must realize that many of the confessions were coerced. Under torture, most people will say and do anything.

A little egg on their faces

After leak, 900 students’ SAT scores canceled

About 900 students who took the Scholastic Aptitude Test on Jan. 27 in Korea will have their scores canceled because questions were leaked ahead of time, the Educational Testing Service announced yesterday.
...
“Our investigation confirmed that the security breach only occurred in South Korea,” said Ray Nicosia, executive director of the firm’s Office of Testing Integrity, in the press release.

Exam scandals are a common occurance here. Of course, it is the students who cheat, but it is teachers and administrators who are responsible for selling the test questions. The unscrupulous people who are making money from this need a real swift kick in the ass.

For the technologically challenged

If you, like me, sometimes just don't get computer stuff, this should hit a nerve. (Thanks to a colleague for showing me this.)

Once more on the bandwagon

Seoul's Air Pollution Worst Among OECD Members

Seoul’s air pollution is the worst among countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the Environment Ministry said yesterday.

The capital’s particulate matter (PM), which can cause various respiratory problems, was measured at 71 micrograms per cubic meter at the end of 2001, the ministry said.

Now this data was from 2001. I've Googled and used other search engines to try to find something more recent, but 2001 is the only thing that comes up. I find it hard to believe that no one is doing research now (Well, actually, it's not that hard to believe.). 71 micrograms in 2001 - although I can't prove it, I think that the air is worse now than it was when I came 3 years ago. Bangkok has 43 micrograms.

I thought about this again because I've just returned from Bangkok, and this morning I read this article (Bangkok's template for an air-quality turnaround) in the International Herald Tribune. While Bangkok still has the pollution that one would expect in a city of 10 million, it is a 100 times fresher than Seoul, a city of about 12 million. Now, I know that there are some environmental differences that make some difference in pollution levels, but Bangkok has nowhere near the level of public transport that Seoul has. Seoul has an excellent subway system that spreads like a spider web throughout Seoul. It also has an extensive bus system. However, the number of SUV's and other large private cars in Seoul far outnumbers the number in Bangkok. The streets in Bangkok are orderly and seem less crowded. In Seoul, traffic jams often leave tens of thousands of cars idling on the roads.

I know that some of the air pollution blows in from China and there is little that Korea can do about that. But, most of the problem is vehiclular (in my humble opinion).

Perhaps it's time that Seoul looks at the model that Bangkok provides. Unfortunately, every time I talk to my Korean friends about this, they just give me a blank look as though they don't know what I'm talking about. "Air pollution? In Seoul? Really?" If the people don't care, the politicians won't.

Korean Volleyball League and misbehaviour

Several days ago, I was watching a volleyball match on TV. The Hungkuk Life women's team was playing, and their best player ended up in a shouting match with the referee over what, on instant replay, was clearly the correct call by the referee. The player ended up with both feet almost completely over the center line. This was NOT a toe-on-the-line type foul. She was clearly well over the line. She ended up getting a red card and was ejected and suspended for one game. The coach also got upset and pulled his team off and put them in, then pulled them out again - for a good 5 to 10 minutes, this went on before he finally let them continue. It turns out that he was suspended also. He was clearly wrong to let his player continue arguing and then to continue disputing the call himself.

Today, I am watching the same team play and the coach, who was suspended, is sitting in the stands calling strategy down to his assistant coach. This coach was clearly wrong. I'm sure he watched the replays. He must know he was wrong. Here he is ignoring his punishment (probably correctly believing that nothing will happen to him).

For the league to let him in the building when he is suspended seems bizarre. For the league to let him continue coaching from the stands is also bizarre. Now, he was caught on camera. If he doesn't receive a further sanction, the league will lose credibility (with me at least).

I'm back

Actually I got back last Wednesday. I'd like to say that I've been busy, but, the fact is, I ordered Seasons 1 and 2 of Numb3rs from Amazon and just had to watch Season 1 over the last couple of days.

On vacation in Cambodia, I spent endless hours with a couple of friends wandering through ruined temples. I've added pictures from the first day to the sidebar. We went to Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom, and Bayon. I had wanted to go to Angkor Wat for many years, so I was really looking forward to finally seeing it. I wasn't prepared for the vast scale of Angkor Wat and all of the other temples and buildings around it. It was really mind boggling to think of the many tons of stone that were moved from the distant sites and the 10's of thousands of stone blocks that were hand carved using the tools available a thousand years ago.

I will definitely return some day soon for a more leisurely tour of the sites. I'd first like to study the history and then tour the temples in the chronological order of their construction.

I was awed by what the people of that region did, but, as with all grand religious edifices (temples, cathedrals, and mosques), I was uncomfortable when I imagined what it must have been like to be a common person forced to do that work and use those resources when I could have spent my time better growing crops or building a house. I guess the fact that I don't have any really strong religious beliefs to support with a house of worship may make me a poor judge of what is necessary. (As a lazy Taoist, I think that you should just be - don't do.)

I really enjoyed Cambodia. I don't think that I met a surly or unfriendly person the whole time I was there. The hawkers and touts at the sites were sometimes a little too persistent, but they never got angry.

While on vacation, I did a little bit of reading. My first book was superb and I highly recommend it. The Kite Runner is a wonderfully moving tale of friendship and betrayal. It was both sad and uplifting. It was an unflinching look at real people's frailties. The author has a style that I really like. His characters are well-developed and interesting. The plot very plausible. In Bangkok, I picked up the lonely planet story. I've used many of The Lonely Planet travel guides over the years and I've always found them useful and interesting. I thought it would be interesting to read the founders' story. However, the lonely planet story is one of the most boring and poorly written books I've read in recent years. I've gotten about halfway through and I keep going because there are a few little interesting tidbits and I keep hoping that it will get better, but it hasn't yet. It's just a long, boring list of "We went here and felt good, and then we went there and there and felt bad." The story itself may be interesting, but the writers' style is not interesting. I also read A Loyal Character Dancer by Qiu Xiaolong. This was just a light murder mystery of the type that I often read when on vacation. It was okay, but a little too clever (or perhaps I'm just not smart enough to get it). However, when the main character has to take the whole last chapter to explain how he figured out who did it, I think the author is a little too clever.

Vacation

I've been in Bangkok for a couple of days. It's a little different from when I was here 31 years ago. It's very modern and pleasant. Now, I'm in a huge PC room in a huge mall with a multiplex theater and an incredible food court.

People here, as in Cambodia, are generally so pleasant and relaxed that I'm dreading my return to gloomy city next week.

The Cambodia part of the vacation was excellent. Angkor Wat and the surrounding area was incredible. When I get back to Seoul on the 21st, I'll post some pictures (more that 300 - all excellent, of course) along with a full description.

I went to Jim Thompson's house this morning and I have to say my silk boxers are tres comfortable.

Light blogging

I've been on vacation for what seems like forever. I've been spending far too much time at home. Since I haven't been out and about much, I haven't been taking a lot of pictures or doing much of note. So, there hasn't been much to blog about.

As well, I've been working on HTML and CSS (which is actually really cool). When I go out, I often take my laptop and my computer book and sit in a coffee shop.

Next Wednesday (the 7th), I'm off to Cambodia to see Ankor Wat, something that I've wanted to do for a long time, then a few days in Bangkok, where I haven't been since 1976, and then a few more days somewhere in that area - no firm plan yet.

I'll be back in Seoul on the 21st. I'm sure that I'll have a few gigabytes of great pictures to share.

--------------------------------------------

I've also decided that I need a news break. I know that the news tends to be negative, but I'm finding it very depressing.

Kids here have a hard enough time (lost childhood and all that) without this.

"Study Pill" Abuse Rampant Among Korean Students

There's already enough pressure on them to do well in school. This seems abusive, though. I know that parents will say that it is for the benefit of the kids, but it makes me sick.

A medication used to treat sufferers of ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) is being abused by Korean students who want to improve their concentration. Called a "wonder drug" for its power to improve study abilities, increasing numbers of students are taking methylphenidate (MPH) to boost the grades.

I'd like to recommend that Korean parents take a sedative themselves and leave their kids alone - or perhaps if they legalized marijuana we would all lighten up. Forget the soju and poktanju. I would like to recommend the calming effect of a night out combining grilled meat and a bong.

Plagiarism

And we wonder why students cheat:

Yonsei professor admits plagiarism

The writer of the original poem, Kim I-won, published the poem in 1983 in the Hongik University newspaper, where Mr. Ma was her instructor and the paper’s editor at the time.
In April, Mr. Ma included the poem, “Mare Daehayo” (“About Words”) in a somewhat shortened form and with a somewhat different structure in a book of his poetry published last April.
Mr. Ma admitted the plagiarism. In an interview with the JoongAng Daily, he said he had asked the publisher of the book to recall all the copies. “It is clearly my fault,” he said, explaining that he tried but was not able to contact Ms. Kim before publishing the book.
“I borrowed the poem because I thought the idea was great,” he added.
He called Ms. Kim a “special friend,” saying he told her what he had done after the book was published last year, and thought she understood his motives because she had no reaction. He felt “betrayed,” he said, at Ms. Kim’s belated accusation.

"Borrowed the poem" - this is not like borrowing money and then returning it.

S.Korean education minister resigns amid scandal of thesis plagiarism

Kim's scandal of alleged thesis plagiarism broke out just three days after he took office on July 21, when a vernacular daily disclosed that he was suspected of plagiarizing his student's thesis in 1987 while serving as a political science professor at Seoul's Kookmin University.

Following the plagiarism scandal, local reports said Kim is in suspicion of multiple publications of a single thesis and embezzlement of state academic subsidies.

This is/was the MINISTER OF EDUCATION.

KU’s President Plagiarized

The fact-finding committee of the Korea University professors’ association, which has been investigating suspicions of plagiarism cast on its new president Lee Pil-sang, announced on January 24, “After investigating the president’s papers and books, we concluded that the two papers under dispute were plagiarized, and in addition, there were three more of his works that had been copied from his students.”

Korea University President in Plagiarism Charge

Korea University president Lee Pil-sang published 12 academic papers that are almost identical to those written by students he supervised between 1983 and 2005, either under his name alone or as co-author with the students. He is also suspected of plagiarizing content and graphs from foreign textbooks in three of his books. Lee denies plagiarizing his students’ work, saying it was his ideas that served as the basis of their work. He said the foreign textbooks are as good as public property, “and I believed it was acceptable to refer to graphs, tables and content.”

This is the President of the number 2 university in Korea. They even developed a software program at Korea University to catch plagiarism. Perhaps the president's work should have been used as a test.

Sanctions

Can it really make a difference?

According to the BBC, these are the things that North Korea is no longer allowed to import:

1) iPods
2) cognac
3) jet skis
4) jewellery
5) designer clothes

I've seen what Kim Jong Il wears. A ban on designer clothes is really gonna hurt.

Besame Mucho (Kiss Me Much)

I've had this DVD on my shelf for a long time, but I hadn't watched it until last night. This was an excellent look at a normal, happy family that faces losing everything after the father loses his job as a trader because he won't manipulate stocks, then finds out that the loan he co-signed for his best friend has come due because his "best friend" has skipped town. When they find out that the family has fallen on hard times, friends disappear and others offer money for "favors".

The movie was slow-paced but gentle and often very sad. The acting was excellent. Lee Mi-Suk (in addition to being incredibly hot), her husband (Jeon Kwang Ryeol) and the children were wonderful. The other characters in the movie were all believeable and important in fleshing out the story.

I understand that this movie didn't do well in Korea, and I can understand why. It is a realistic and often uncomfortable look at Korean society. I liked the movie because the director didn't over dramatize the story, and he didn't cop out and take the easy way out at the end as so many directors do. There were no tricky artistic camera shots. It was just a good, thoughtful story.

The movie title is a little odd, but it is named after the coffee shop where the husband and wife first met. Besame Mucho is Spanish and comes from a Mexican song that seems to have been covered by just about everyone (The Beatles, Dean Martin, Diana Krall, Elvis Presley, Nat "King" Cole...)

It was interesting to see that parts of the movie were shot on the old Chamsu Bridge.

Mellow Music

I've always liked Jim Brickman's music. His instrument of choice, the piano, dominates all of his music, but he does wonderful collaborations with other great musicians and singers. His lastest CD, Escape, is really nice. Perhaps, many think of this as pop piano lite, but I like it (I also like George Winston and Kenny G, so...). As background music to my computer studies, it has been very soothing.

The Host

I've been pretty lazy for the last three weeks. I've been watching too much tv, reading a bit, lying around, and napping a lot. I started to get a cold (or the flu) a couple of days ago, and, today, I decided that I needed to get up and out and do something instead of just lying around feeling sorry for myself. So, in the morning, I took a subway and bus out to an area south of where I'm living now thinking that I could find some peace and quiet and a bit of fresh air. If I stay in Korea much longer, I need to get out the the city where I'm living now. Unfortunately, I never found anything I liked. I don't know how far out of the city you have to go to get a nice setting.

On the way back home, I stopped at Yongsan electronics market and went to my regular DVD shop and bought The Host and The Wind that Shakes the Barley. The Host has been a really big hit here in Korea. It played at Cannes (didn't win anything) and they are thinking of distributing it abroad. I watched it and I liked it; however, I can't understand why they think it will do well outside of Korea. It got surprising good reviews at Rotten Tomatoes (88%), but it's not an art film, which is what I expect to show at movie festivals. Yes, I know that all of the movie festivals that used to show quirky, independent movies have gone pretty main stream. But, The Host is no Brokeback Mountain. Movies like Chihwasan, which has an interesting historical component and incredible cinematography, or Oasis, which is a love story of a mentally handicapped man and a woman with cerebral palsy, have a much better shot of selling in the foreign market.

The movie takes shots at the U.S. military (and the U.S. - but, hey, haven't we all?), the Korean police, medical people (both Korean and American), and the Korean military, but it doesn't say anything new.

The actors are quite good. I've always liked Song Kang-ho. His daughter in the movie(Ko Ah-sung) as well as the actor playing his father (Byun Hee-bong) were excellent. However, a lot of the stereotypical characters in the movie ring true IF YOU ARE FAMILIAR WITH KOREA, but I don't think anyone outside of Korea will get it.

There are some interesting characters, but there are no characters who develop in an interesting and believable way. Song's character seems a little different at the end, but that would be hard to believe since he is supposed to be mentally handicapped. The slap at the U.S. for using Agent Yellow to try to control a virus and the Korean government for rolling over was just too farcical to be taken seriously.

This is another movie like Typhoon, which Korea hopes will find an audience in the west, but I don't see it. The movie is worth watching because it's entertaining, but it's not worthy of a Palme D'or.
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After the movie, I went to the gym but my joints were aching so I had a pretty crappy workout. Then I went to the sauna and had a nice long soak in a hot tub. Now I'm going to lie down in front of the tv with a can of Pringles and watch another movie.

Bilingualism

If I needed another reason to study Korean

Bilingualism delays onset of dementia
People who are fully bilingual and speak both languages every day for most of their lives can delay the onset of dementia by up to four years compared with those who only know one language, Canadian scientists said on Friday.

I hope it's not too late for me.

Michelle Wie

This has to be a little galling for serious professional women golfers.

Wie is Top Female Golf Earner

Wikipedia has this to say about Michelle Wie.

By the end of 2006, her first full year as a professional, she had missed the cut in 11 out of 12 tries against men, and remained winless in all 33 professional women's tournaments she had entered, the last 9 as a professional...

Observers of golf have criticized Wie's efforts to play in PGA TOUR events through sponsors' exemptions. Wie has made only one cut in a men's tournament, and has made no cuts on the PGA TOUR.

And, still, she is the top earner. She hasn't even won anything as a professional.

I have nothing against her personally. She might even be a nice person. She has a nice smile. Numerous people have said that she has an incredible swing. Her father seems like a perfect asshole, but that says nothing about her.

But, from the BBC,

Australian Stuart Appleby has hit out at Michelle Wie's continued attempts to compete successfully on the men's tour.

But Appleby said: "She came five years too early to try to play the men's tour - she should just let it go for now.

"She's not ready for it. She's certainly not proving anything except that she can't play with the men at her level right now."

I just wish that she would win a few women's tournaments first. Annika Sorenstam deserved a shot. She didn't win, but she is the best the women's tour has to offer. She proved that by winning, and now she is back focussing on the women's tour.

Editorial control

Does no one watch over the journalists at the Chosun Ilbo. This story is disturbing enough: Juvenile Prostitution Moves Into Cyberspace, but the journalists choice of vocabulary leaves a lot to be desired.

The reason the sex trade is mushrooming online is because offline brothels are closing due to draconian new laws, forcing potential customers to seek alternative ways to buy sex, they added. (my emphasis)

"Draconian" - this implies that the laws are too strict. Let me remind you that this article is about juvenile prostitution. And, customers are being forced to find prostitutes through other than the normal room salons. Boo hoo. This too implies that the police are wrong in "forcing" the customers to go online. Perhaps none of this should be too surprising in a country where the government wants to pay people for not using prostitutes.