High School for North Korean Defectors: Field Trip to DMZ

I got an e-mail a little while ago about this video, and forgot about it until rechecking the Hub Of Sparkle e-mail account.

This nine-minute film gives a brief sketch of the young people who have escaped from North Korea, some of whom left their parents behind.

The more you know about North Korea, and the more you know about how North Koreans live in South Korea, the more tragic this story is... for one, the faces of all the students in the video except two, are blurred out, for fear that somebody will recognize their faces and their relatives still in North Korea will be punished.

Give it a watch.

Short but sweet: When a Mommy and a Daddy Love Each Other Very Much...

Yay the internet.
I don't think this is how Dad explained it to me back when I was a kid, but if the internet says this is how to make a baby, it must be true.

Hope your weekend was good.

Just funny... Self-Evident Truths in Writing Class

In one of my Writing classes, I just gave a test, and one of the questions was "Identify the problem with this thesis statement" -- we'd spent a lot of time talking about Thesis Statements.

Some of the problems in the thesis statements were things like:
"not specific enough"
"support does not use grammatically parallel form"
"not controversial" (for example: "Exercise is good for you" is not a good thesis statement, because most people would read it and say, "DUH")
"does not take a clear position on the topic"
"uses absolute language, making the thesis difficult to prove"

The thesis statement was:

"There are three reasons all Americans love hamburgers: they are cheap, convenient, and tasty."

The correct answer was
"This thesis statement makes an absolute claim that cannot be proven" - that is, the word "all" makes the claim indefensible, and should be replaced with a word like "some" or "many" or even "most" -- leaving room for exceptions to the assertion.

About a third of my students thought the problem with the thesis statement was
"This statement is not controversial"

Turns out "All Americans love hamburgers" is a self-evident truth. They're Americans, after all.

And all you can do is smile.

North Korean film Pulgasari: Kim Jong-Il's Godzilla

Bum Economy Got You Down? SNSD, Kim Yu-na and Samsung are here to help

All K-Pop reports:
Kim Yuna, SNSD (Girls' Generation in English) have teamed up to cheer up Korea with...the Ha Ha Song. According to All K-pop,

The Ha Ha Ha Campaign is an online cultural encouragement campaign in Korea to spread hope and cheerfulness.

Now, The Ha Ha Song was a pop song that came out a few years ago, which is really fun in the noraebang. Here's the original: I like the ska tinge.


Samsung previously had the ridiculously popular Kim Yuna do it (singing her own vocals, I bet. Crossover, here we come!) and the nearly as popular, dorky DongBangShinKi (I have a story about them) do the Ha Ha Song too, but as of the 14th, the indistinguishable Girls' Generation get the next crack. They also changed the song a bit, and gave it their own style, 'cause Girls' Generation, they wanna have fun.


And indeed, there's even a separate short video for every single member of SNSD. See if THAT helps you tell them apart.


All the Ha Ha's remind me of this:


Update: Found it!
Looks like South isn't the only Korea that knows the importance of laughter (if it is North Korean as advertised):

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

after a while this one reminds me a little of the creepy game-show from Requiem for a Dream.

In other news, Hite Stout has another way for you to release some stress: by pummeling an inflatable beer flute with a wooden stick while some cleavage looks on. As with any situation involving cleavage, the always-classy Chosun Ilbo's photographers were there to document it. HT to Brian

There's a joke to be made here, but I'll leave it for someone else to make.

Speaking of Yuna Kim, if imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, it can also be the lamest.

Roboseyo Media Blitz: The Korea Herald AND Times in one day!

Hello.

Today, I am in two of Korea's English language newspapers.

The Korea Times published my letter to the editor, about that ugly stereotyping letter.

the Korea Herald's Expat Living section is publishing a best-of list I made by compiling the results from my recent "So What Really ARE The Ten Things Foreigners Like About Korea?"

If you're a new reader to this blog, take a look around. I hope you like what you see. I like living in Korea quite a lot, and one way I show it is by learning about Korea and writing about it.

More later, when I have the time to properly update this post.

Looks like James Turnbull was Right: Nudity in Korean Advertising Increases

James, at The Grand Narrative, predicted an increase in racy ads featuring nudity and body parts, due to trends visible during economic downturns.

For example, this one:
While on the subway, I noticed this ad, and realized he was totally right.

Be ready. It's pretty shocking that this would show in a public place...

Gratuitous nudity! Shameless! So many naked people in a single room! What's going on with Korea's public morality?

Can't get it to embed. Follow the link. Hint: it's babies.

Best Cherry Blossom Pictures:Kyunghee University

sitting around outside.
late afternoon sun
layers
Kyunghee's main gate
at HUFS
When there's just too much beauty, too many cherry blossoms, how do you come up with any kind of composition?

Easy: photoshop some people into the foreground

stealing a kiss

white in sunlight
same tree at HUFS



this couple was having way too much fun
i love taking pictures of people taking pictures of other people
one of the better shots from the group
you know I went through about 700 pictures to get these best few











that's all. ate at the spanish place in Paju again today. still the best Sangria I've had, no contest.

More about that later.

PS: Post number 550!

Fake Languages

Here's an interesting one:

This guy lays down the challenge: what does fake English sound like? You know when you used to say "Ching chang chong" in grade school, because you didn't know any better, and thought you were speaking Chinese? Well what do Chinese kids say when they think they're speaking English?

This guy speaks a bunch of gibberish that sounds surprisingly like Chinese and several European languages, and asks Youtubers to respond with the sounds of English, from people who can't speak English.


Some interesting responses:
One girl:


One Japanese Kid (my favorite)


Another one:


Another good one.

meanwhile, here is one Korean popstar's hybrid language, called "Hanglish" in the video title. Sounds to me like there's some latino L.A. style slang in there, too. (Warning: some of his non-language really sounds like some real English swears; note also that he's using one of those V-line face massagers during the video intro). Mr. Tyfoon.


Finally, this is what Korean sounds like to a couple of American kids. They're impersonating ajosshis (Korean old men), speaking English with Korean accents, but when they get excited, they swear in non-Korean gibberish. The Korean History Channel. (Language warning)

For your Benefit: a translation

I made comments a while back about the way Korean sportscasters can sometimes go a bit too far in their enthusiasm, and referenced Park TaeHwan's gold medal swim from the Beijing Games.

Well, I'm proud to say, with a friend's help, I've translated the commentary on that video, so that you, my dear readers, can see what they were saying all along. A few of my translations might not be entirely accurate, but I think I got the drift across.