My new blog address is
http://joji1909.wordpress.com/ .
Enjoy!
Sunday, 3 August 2008
Friday, 25 July 2008
Vacation Time
I'll be away for about a week, going to climb Mt. Fuji in Japan. Might also go to the suicide forest.
Sunday, 20 July 2008
Red Cliff
Red Cliff was much better than I expected. Every character was as I had imagined; Zhou Yun rescuing Liu Bei's son (who would later destroy all his father had created); Guan Yu being Guan Yu; and Zhang Fei, minus the Changban heroics. For those not in the know, the Battle of Red Cliff marked the beginning of the Three Kingdoms period in China (220 - 280AD). Unfortunately, though rather predictably, Cao Cao is portrayed as a lecher obsessed with making Xiao Qiao his wife/concubine/lover/etc. In the film, Xiao Qiao is played by 林志玲 (Lin Zhiling), a Taiwanese model.
It was disappointing to see no reference to the heroes in the Cao army. My favourite has always been Zhang Liao.
The reason I like this story so much is that, in the novel at least, the characters are portrayed as basically human with conflicting motives. In one incident, Cao Cao's army is passing through a village and realising how important it is to keep the population on his side, he decrees that any soldier trampling crops will be executed. As would happen, his own horse runs wild and tramples a field. Being true to his word, Cao Cao reaches for his sword to slit his own throat only to be stopped by his officers. But as a crime must not go unpunished, he decides to cut off his knotted hair thus bringing shame to his family.
Later in the war, Liu Bei has escaped from Cao Cao's forces with a throng of people following him only to realise that he has no kingdom of his own. It's at this point that he is reminded of his uncle and how cruel he is to his subjects. Does Liu Bei betray his own family to save his followers or does he continue searching for a suitable base?
It was disappointing to see no reference to the heroes in the Cao army. My favourite has always been Zhang Liao.
The reason I like this story so much is that, in the novel at least, the characters are portrayed as basically human with conflicting motives. In one incident, Cao Cao's army is passing through a village and realising how important it is to keep the population on his side, he decrees that any soldier trampling crops will be executed. As would happen, his own horse runs wild and tramples a field. Being true to his word, Cao Cao reaches for his sword to slit his own throat only to be stopped by his officers. But as a crime must not go unpunished, he decides to cut off his knotted hair thus bringing shame to his family.
Later in the war, Liu Bei has escaped from Cao Cao's forces with a throng of people following him only to realise that he has no kingdom of his own. It's at this point that he is reminded of his uncle and how cruel he is to his subjects. Does Liu Bei betray his own family to save his followers or does he continue searching for a suitable base?
Monday, 14 July 2008
Clamp down
China is clamping down on 'dissidents' for the Olympics which are due to start on August 8, 2008 (08/08/08). By clamping down they mean removing vagrants and other undesirables to anywhere but Beijing. Of course, civil rights groups are up in arms on this latest abuse of human rights.
For the Sydney Olympics in 2000, the Australian government did the exact same thing. For two weeks there were no buskers or homeless on Sydney's streets. They were given a taxpayer-funded holiday to rural New South Wales. And yet this abuse was barely mentioned by any media outlets.
Orwell said something about a nationalist's ability to not only condemn heinous human rights abuses by the 'enemy' but to also completely ignore any abuses committed by their own country.
In other news, one of my recent posts got a very interesting comment. Check it out. I love getting the random intelligent comment.
For the Sydney Olympics in 2000, the Australian government did the exact same thing. For two weeks there were no buskers or homeless on Sydney's streets. They were given a taxpayer-funded holiday to rural New South Wales. And yet this abuse was barely mentioned by any media outlets.
Orwell said something about a nationalist's ability to not only condemn heinous human rights abuses by the 'enemy' but to also completely ignore any abuses committed by their own country.
In other news, one of my recent posts got a very interesting comment. Check it out. I love getting the random intelligent comment.
Sunday, 13 July 2008
Persian Gold
The National Museum of Korea(국립백물관) is holding an exhibit called Glory of Persia. It runs until August 31 and is very popular as there are over 200 items ranging in age from 1500 to 4000 years old. Some of the workmanship is amazing, especially considering the tools used. The items range from coins to pieces of statues.
I read that in the US models are in the same category as computer technicians, as far as visa requirements go. Because of the huge demand for foreign techs, there is talk of models being put in a different visa category. At the moment, supermodels are in the same category as those with "extraordinary ability", like Nobel laureates.
I read that in the US models are in the same category as computer technicians, as far as visa requirements go. Because of the huge demand for foreign techs, there is talk of models being put in a different visa category. At the moment, supermodels are in the same category as those with "extraordinary ability", like Nobel laureates.
Monday, 7 July 2008
Of beaches and beef
Despite my reservations at what might have been a bad weekend, the beach was great! Even though I'm Australian, and the most common question I get asked is "Do you surf?", it has been years since I had been to the beach. I was never a Bondi bum to begin with (too many tourists) as we had holidays pretty close to an awesome surf beach about two hours out of Sydney. Though most of the holiday was digging trenches and chopping trees, at least two days were spent at the beaches. And Greek-style bbq nearly every night. There's nothing better for keeping mozzies away than throwing some tea tree branches on the fire.
July 4 was also Independence Day for the U.S.A. It galls me that books at my school teach a rosy picture of great patriots rising up against an evil empire. In reality, the whole issue about independence from Great Britain was more about taxation than lofty ideas of freedom. You can read more about it here. In other words, we'll gladly let you fight for us, but don't you dare try to tax us for the service.
That being said;
"Pledges of allegiance are marks of totalitarian states, not democracies," says David Kertzer, a Brown University anthropologist who specializes in political rituals. "I can't think of a single democracy except the United States that has a pledge of allegiance."
The Korean Government will require all restaurants serving beef to specify the country of origin from this week. Some in my area already do, and it's Australian beef. Like I mentioned before, Australia's top importer of beef is the U.S., which exports its own beef to Korea.
Today is also the birthday of Marc Chagall. I was lucky enough to have a friend take me to Seongnam Arts Centre last winter for a Chagall exhibition. The ones I saw had a clear circus theme.
Still, it will be nice to sleep until noon and then laze about this coming Saturday.
And the answer is no.
July 4 was also Independence Day for the U.S.A. It galls me that books at my school teach a rosy picture of great patriots rising up against an evil empire. In reality, the whole issue about independence from Great Britain was more about taxation than lofty ideas of freedom. You can read more about it here. In other words, we'll gladly let you fight for us, but don't you dare try to tax us for the service.
That being said;
"Pledges of allegiance are marks of totalitarian states, not democracies," says David Kertzer, a Brown University anthropologist who specializes in political rituals. "I can't think of a single democracy except the United States that has a pledge of allegiance."
The Korean Government will require all restaurants serving beef to specify the country of origin from this week. Some in my area already do, and it's Australian beef. Like I mentioned before, Australia's top importer of beef is the U.S., which exports its own beef to Korea.
Today is also the birthday of Marc Chagall. I was lucky enough to have a friend take me to Seongnam Arts Centre last winter for a Chagall exhibition. The ones I saw had a clear circus theme.
Still, it will be nice to sleep until noon and then laze about this coming Saturday.
And the answer is no.
Wednesday, 2 July 2008
Coins & Notes
And that was post #100!!
My newspaper has not turned up for about a week now. At first I thought someone was pinching it but then I realised that maybe my subscription had expired. Though it is hard to say as The Korea Herald office is not the easiest to deal with, even for Koreans.
I'm trying to teach my students how to count using coins. Very annoying as firstly the math book we use does not number the questions. It instead uses colourful symbols. Akin to me teaching these children English in Greek. Also, the coins used in the book are U.S. currency, none of which show the number and only one says the value (the nickel).
Speaking of strange American customs, a space mission to Mars in the 1990s failed because the NASA engineers were using the imperial system rather than the globally accepted metric system so their calculations were way off. Here's a clue guys; If you have ten fingers, you will probably count things in sets of ten. Which makes me wonder...
So, I am making them some Australian coins which are more colourful and actually show the numeric value. Though the American coins do feel pretty nice.
My newspaper has not turned up for about a week now. At first I thought someone was pinching it but then I realised that maybe my subscription had expired. Though it is hard to say as The Korea Herald office is not the easiest to deal with, even for Koreans.
I'm trying to teach my students how to count using coins. Very annoying as firstly the math book we use does not number the questions. It instead uses colourful symbols. Akin to me teaching these children English in Greek. Also, the coins used in the book are U.S. currency, none of which show the number and only one says the value (the nickel).
Speaking of strange American customs, a space mission to Mars in the 1990s failed because the NASA engineers were using the imperial system rather than the globally accepted metric system so their calculations were way off. Here's a clue guys; If you have ten fingers, you will probably count things in sets of ten. Which makes me wonder...
So, I am making them some Australian coins which are more colourful and actually show the numeric value. Though the American coins do feel pretty nice.
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