Just Another College Student

Jirisan Trip and others

2008-09-24T20:46:00.001-07:00

It's already been three weeks since I've returned to campus and what with new classes and whatnot I really haven't found time to turn around and look at what's happened, much less maintain a blog :(

BUT now that I do indeed have some spare time, just some events that have been happening:

- Beach Week: a week-long trip to the beach with my a cappella group, involving lots of sun, sand, sea and singing. And good food and margaritas. I had fun, though I'm also a little glad it's over. Being in one house with seven girls for a week can get somewhat tiring.

- Tiger's Roar: Princeton's annual a cappella welcome-to-Princeton-please-join-our-awesome-group concert. The Wildcats sang 'It's Raining Men', and did I mention that some of the lyrics are just plain fantastic? (e.g. Rip off the roof and stay in bed!!)

-A Cappella Auditions: At the student activities fair, possibly the most intimidating row of tables is where all the a cappella groups are stationed. People jump at you and shove flyers in your face screaming "Do You Sing? DO You?" and god forbid should you nod your head you're immediately whisked in front of a sign-up board with a pen in your hand and three people eagerly assuring you that auditions are really quite painless (LIE).

I never thought I'd be one of those scary people.

Auditions are never painless, they sometimes Burn Your Soul, which probably happened to some of the people who auditioned. Not that we were mean or anything, it's just...some of them were not quite cut out for a cappella. As in they were tone-deaf. All in all, though, I'm quite happy with the new members to our group.

- New classes

I've decided that, sophomore year, I'm going to clench my teeth and wade my way through the distribution requirements until I'm free to take the really awesome classes all throughout junior/senior year (drawing, photography, ceramics, Nunokawa, Toni Morrison, history...). Which is why I'm taking a lab course and an EC (Epistomology and Cognition - who comes up with these names? Oh, wait, Dean Malkiel of course...). According to my degree progress report, all I've got left now is an EM (Ethical thought and Moral values) and a QR (Quantitative Reasoning...can't we just call it math? That's what it is, isn't it?). I sound like such a nerd. I am one. Quite proudly, too. Just a brief summary of my current courses:

Chinese 101: Turning out to be pretty darn fun, actually. The grammar is simple (in some cases nonexistent) and the order/structure of sentences is remarkably similar to English, which would explain why I find it easier to learn Chinese here than I did in Korea. The teachers are dedicated and hard-working, which I really appreciate.

French 207: Ugh, Montaigne. I'd like to go back in time and strangle you - can you never stay on topic?

Philosophy 205 Ancient Western Philosophy (EC): The professor's still waffling on about the Pre-Socratic ones so far, but I'm quite interested for when we start on Plato and Aristotle and the Peripatetics, etc.

Anthropology 215 Human Adaptation (Lab): Pretty much a lab course designed for those poor humanities majors who can't hear the word 'chem' without freaking out, but quite interesting with a funny professor to boot (sometimes funnier to herself more than to the students, I feel).

Creative Writing 303 Advanced Fiction: Edmund White is hilarious. Enough said.

- New Facebook has Pirate Mode. This Deserves Capital Letters.

Finally, some pictures from Jirisan where I went with my parents over the summer.

We only went as far as the Nogodan pass, but the view was breathtaking nonetheless, particularly early in the morning when the dew was still fresh and the mountaintops shrouded in cool mist.

abandoned Christian missionary retreat built...in the 1800s?

a relic but still very interesting, definitely worth a visit

You can find it on your way up to Nogodan, but you'll have to keep your eyes open as it is quite easy to miss, tucked away in the green on the upper part of the slope next to the walking path, so you have to climb up a little by way of a very small opening in the shrubbery - it's easier if you keep your eyes peeled for the photo guide.

Overall, a great summer retreat (I was so glad we didn't go to the beach, actually), but I'm sure it's gorgeous all year round. Highly recommended for those who need a change of scene and a bit of fresh air - Jeollanamdo and the area around Jirisan are full of things to see (and eat). The walk around Nogodan Pass is veritably teeming with wildlife (as shown above), despite the fact that the environment was badly damaged and is currently undergoing something like a fifty-year restoration plan. It's not exactly a hard workout either, almost a leisurely stroll uphill.

The Blame Game

2008-07-28T06:52:00.000-07:00

-It's not the combat policemen's fault. What would they know? They're just young men hauled in for military service.
-It's not the protesters' fault. You've got to be honest, the entire thing started out pretty peacefully until the police started shooting water cannons. WATER CANNONS (at a dangerously close range, I may add). I ask you.

Who have we got to blame? The people who pitted those two forces against each other in the first place.

No I haven't given up blogging

2008-07-21T06:35:00.000-07:00

I'm just occupied with summer courses at the moment...because (as my blog title suggests ever so subtly) I am indeed a college student, currently taking summer courses at the Seoul National University International Summer Institute.

I have, however, taken some time off from my Diligent Studying to go around Seoul - I've missed this place. After having lived for about nine months on campus, which increasingly feels smaller and smaller as time goes on, the liberation of being able to go places hours from home without a car is Fabulous. Specially since I refuse to learn how to drive.

And trite as it may seem, my first stop was Insa-dong, because it's one of the few places in Seoul where I can shop without looking exactly like everyone else. And I just enjoy the general atmosphere. It's a pretty neighbourhood, and usually fun to just hang around and watch things going on. Samulnori players, painters, musicians, and the ever-hilarious 꿀타래-maker guys.

It's easy to just walk straight through the Insa-dong street to see all the fancy ornament shops and tea houses and souvenir shops (that's what I did the first two or three times I went). But it's equally fun to sneak behind the main street behind the shops into the alleyways and narrow sideroads, where all kinds of restaurants, galleries and shops nestle hidden from plain view.

Interesting juxtaposition of Eastern-style roof tiles with the Coffee Bean Logo.

One of the famous traits of Insa-dong is that all their shop signs are in Korean, even places like Starbucks and Red Mango (they're written as pronounced in Korean, resulting in slightly awkward yet endearing signs that say 스타벅스 and 레드망고). Coffee Bean, however, remains stoutly against this unwritten but quietly-observed rule, though interestingly enough they do have a shop with a Korean-language sign, only in Samchung-dong. Did they confuse the two districts or something?

I think that building in the distance is a church - can't be sure - I'd really like to take a course on the history of Seoul's urban growth some day.

The back of Ssamzie Market, the decidedly expensive but interesting little shopping mall in Insa-dong.

Random bird I managed to capture on camera in one of the back alleys.

Ssamzie-gil (쌈지길) is a small building full of tiny shops and stalls selling adorable, cute, gorgeous and quite often completely useless items. Like ridiculously expensive hats (some of which don't look like hats), old-fashioned norigae (ornamental tassels often used by noblewomen and kisaeng during the Chosun era), traditionally dyed cloth, impractical but breathtakingly beautiful ties, etc...

The entrance to Ssamzie-gil

There are three storeys, each floor slightly slanting upwards. One doesn't climb the stairs in walking through this small, sparely furnished market-style mall - one slowly climbs uphill.

One of the characteristics of this place that I love is how spare it is. Unlike a department store or a shopping complex like COEX or Doota, there are no bright light decorations or mannequins or anything - just glass windows and tiny shops, because really the merchandise is decoration enough.

Unfortunately (but quite understandably), the shop owners discourage the shoppers and tourists from taking photographs of the products as they are all independently designed and produced items, and once someone has uploaded photos online it becomes easy for other shops to look and copy. I'd encourage anyone interested to go and look at the stuff for themselves - it's gorgeous and lovely and inviting and sometimes (I feel) completely overpriced, yet sometimes you end up buying stuff (I often do...much to my chagrin).

Another example of the fun yet spare decor. One can often find these doodles and childish illustrations on the walls and windows at Ssamzie-gil.

Photo taken from the top floor of Ssamzie-gil, looking outward towards other buildings; that is possibly the most intimidating shop window I've ever seen.

The name 'Ssamzie' is actually the name of one of Korea's leading domestic fashion labels, built by Ho-kyun Chun in the eighties. The word itself is an old Korean word meaning 'pouch' - staying true to the meaning, 'Ssamzie' started out as a fashion accessory label specializing in bags. Apparently, 'Ssamzie' was the company that brought into fashion the loose, baggy, shapeless bags that are now basic fashion staples in Korea. I usually really like their stuff - it's original, different, slightly on the artsy side - and really the only criticism I have for Ssamzie is that it's so frickin' expensive. Still, however, I get pretty chuffed whenever anyone notices my Ssamzie flat shoes (and a lot of people notice them) which are absolutely gorgeous.

Ssamzie-gil (which also includes Ssamzie-market, a little collection of stalls inside the building) was created and is run by Ho-sun Chun, Ho-kyun Chun's older brother; hence the tie-in name and the couple of Ssamzie shops within Ssamzie-gil itself. From what I can tell, Ho-sun Chun supports independent artists and provides a venue for them to sell their merchandise. If the products hit it off, sometimes they can be sold at more well-visited shops such as 'Spring Come, Rain Fall' at COEX (I have actually seen this happen. A girl who used to sell weird quirky jewelry like lego earrings on the top storey of Ssamzie-gil managed to set up shop inside one of the accessory stores at COEX). Going round the collection of shops, it's easy to see why these products can't be sold at big shopping malls or department stores; they're not things that the average consumer would buy. It is, however, always a pleasure to see the original and often quite breathtakingly beautiful things they create - I honestly had no idea men's ties could become works of art, but they can, believe me - and to see that a venue is provided for these people to display and sell their products. I only hope to see some more of these Ssamzie-gils around the country.

Next post: Samchungdong

Current Entertainment

2008-06-02T02:59:00.000-07:00

Doctor Who (BBC)

Episode 8: Silence in the Library - definitely the best episode so far. After the absurdity of 'The Unicorn and the Wasp' (a gargantuan wasp in a 1920s manor murder mystery? ...um.) it was refreshing to see something that (in its own way) seemed to make sense, at least in the science fiction sense. Excellent writing, and of course it's always intriguing to learn more about the identity of Doctor Who. Though I feel we've been learning more about him this season than in any other - in 'The Doctor's Daughter' there were Hints that he had had a wife and children but had lost them all in the Time Wars. Or something. Catherine Tate is - as always - amazing.

Best line:

Donna - "Use the sonic screwdriver (on the door)!"

Doctor - "(referring to the door) I can't, it's wood!"

Donna - "Oh, what, it doesn't do wood?!"

Apparently not, Donna.

Iljimae 일지매 (SBS)

Ok, so I'm sort of only watching this because I'm an incorrigible Jun-ki Lee fan. But I have to say, the cast in itself - even without Jun-ki - is nothing short of stellar. Chang-wan Kim (singer-turned-actor of San-Oolim fame), though we haven't seen much of him so far, skilfully embodies the quietly dangerous, ruthless King Injo (I hesitate to call him evil...yet) - the subtle nastiness he emanates is something I believe he has honed a good deal since 'White Tower.' Roi-Ha Kim has yet to fully utilize his god-given features as the right-hand villain man (he was truly, truly unsurpassed in Kim Ji-woon's 'Bittersweet Life', with perhaps the exception of Jung-min Hwang), but I expect to see some more badassness from him before long. Gil-gang Ahn is ludicrous yet endearing as the assassin/swordsman-turned-monk/fraud, with a slightly outlandish comedy about him that veils his guilty past - I enjoy seeing him in this significant role, particularly since I watched him in a brief but distinctive cameo role in Seung-wan Ryu's 'City of Violence' and was left wanting for more. Mun-sik Lee (previous co-actor of Jun-ki's in the ill-fated 'Fly Daddy') as the bumbling, simple-hearted thief who becomes Iljimae's foster father provides endless comic relief - it harkens back to his 'Hwangsanbul' days, his Jeolla-do accent fitting in flawlessly. Won-jong Lee revels as the shamelessly corrupt and scheming government official and father to Iljimae's love-interest-to-be (a stark difference from his 'good' role in KBS2's weekend period drama 'Great King Sejong'). I do believe Korea really has a perfectly delightful stock of middle-aged male actors, the cream of which are being used quite well in 'Iljimae' - an interesting differentiation from the young trendiness of 'Hong Gil-Dong'.

Lee's acting has received a good deal of attention since his distinctly 'manly' turn in 'The Time Between the Dog and Wolf'. And I really do think that was a very smart career choice: challenging role, well-written script, fabulous supporting cast (again, stellar list of middle-aged actors: Jae-sung Choi, Gap-su Kim, Ki-young Lee, Ji-ru Sung, Kyung-soon Chung), nice chemistry with co-actors... The ratings were somewhat below-par, but I think it has firmly secured a place up there with the 'mania dramas' like 'Capital Scandal', 'Devil', 'Que Sera Sera' and 'Resurrection'.

That said, I can't say his acting in Iljimae (so far) is quite that well-knock-me-down-with-a-feather-I-didn't-know-he-could-act-like-this. It's always been fairly clear he could do comical, over-the-top acting since 'Flying Boys' and no one has doubted his ability (and enthusiasm) to do his own stunts since 'Dog&Wolf'. If anything, he has always been rather too over-the-top, even when he was doing I'm-an-undercover-intelligence-officer-on-a-mission-serious (he did over-the-top seriousness...if that makes sense). But as 'Dog&Wolf' went on he slid more comfortably into his role, his over-acting getting toned down. There were still some vestiges of it left, I felt, but this really fit in with the series overall with the fast pacing, hold-your-breath-for-50-minutes-suspense and serpentine plot twists.

In 'Iljimae',he just lets go of his reins completely, at least from what I can tell in the first four episodes. I suppose the over-acting is in tune with the script, which portrays him as a lazy, loud-mouthed, incompetent but wily young man with no real point in life (until he regains his memory, that is), but still - I'd really, really like to see some restrained acting from him some time soon. Hopes are high for his new-found Iljimae personality, which (from the short flash-forward at the beginning of the series) shows him as quietly confident but still cradling his bitter past inside. The breaking of the fourth wall, when he looked directly at the camera and grinning, said 'See? There's nothing I can't steal. Because I am Iljimae!' will probably rank high among my cringe-worthy moments in K-drama history, but aside from that...it'll be interesting. And ratings are good - not compared to 'Dog&Wolf', but just good, period - which makes me feel all warm inside (even if I don't think the series really deserves those ratings...).

But I still hope he tries out for one of those quirky, subtle dramas like 'My Name is Kim Sam-soon내 이름은 김삼순', 'Alone in Love연애시대' or 'More Beautiful than Flowers꽃보다 아름다워'. Though I doubt Hee-kyung Noh will be trying to cast him in one of her gorgeously scripted dramas any time soon (she tends to shun flashy stars), there's an off-chance Do-woo Kim might let him in, she's cast some pretty big names and uncertified young actors in the past (Hyun-jung Goh, Ryeo-won, Jung-myung Cheon, Daniel Henney...).

Comedy and Exasperation, All in One Go

2008-06-01T02:58:00.000-07:00

Yes, it's possible. Korean candelight protests offer both mirth and anger.

Mirth, first.

Army reserves - late twenty-somethings and thirty-somethings, most likely - on their way back from training and helping out with the candelight protests. And no, these young men didn't have any hidden authorities goading them on, despite police interrogation. It's both amusing and touching to see these people participate; they were acting something like buffer zones between the protesters and the police, preventing any potential violence. When the mood became heated and the protesters began to fight the policemen, the reserves would try and calm the people down, saying "it's not their (the policemen's) fault". They sympathize with the combat police, it seems, because they've been through the training that the policemen have been through (and they're older).

But the cutest part:
30일 새벽 거리시위 과정에서 누군가 전경버스의 바퀴에 바람을 빼놓고 가자 이 버스에는 "너무 서운하게 생각하지마. 그래도 형이 너희 친구들한테 타이어 벨브코어랑 챙겨줬으니 바람을 다시 넣긴 쉬울 것이다. 수고해. - 예비역 수송중대 병장"이라는 쪽지가 남아있기도 했다.
Someone took out the air from the tires on the combat police force bus during the late night/early morning protests on the 30th. A little note was left: "Don't take it personally. I left the tire valves for your friends so it won't be hard to refill the air. Cheers." - Transportation Battery Reserves sergeant.

Awww.

Now comes the exasperation.

"(청소년들은) 놀이 문화가 없어서 재미있으니까 참석했다." - 청와대

"The teenagers are participating because they have no proper recreational activities, so they find these protests fun." - The Blue House

Excuse me, but whose fault is it that those poor teenagers have 'no proper recreational activities' in the first place? And who is implementing policies that will ensure that those same kids won't have any life to live for at all?

"국민중엔 반역자도 있고, 범죄자도 있고, 철부지도 있고, 선동에 속아 날뛰는 이도 있고, 거짓말쟁이도 있고, 금치산자도 있다. 이들에게도 대통령이 항복해야 하는가?" - 신문인 조갑제

"There are traitors, criminals, mere children, those who have been fooled and instigated, liars, and mental patients among Korean citizens. Must the president surrender even to these?" - Gab-je Cho, journalist

I honestly think Cho is among those he is talking about, but that's beside the point. Yes, there are children and traitors and criminals and fools and liars and mental patients. And they are Koreans too. And therefore, as a matter of course, the president has a responsibility to these people. Moreover, the large majority of the people who are out in the streets are not among those Cho points out. They are mothers, high schoolers, fathers, college students, grandparents, young men and women, people who happened to meet on the internet and found they agreed with each other. And they are certainly those to whom the president must surrender.

"마음에 안 들면 적게 먹으면 될 게 아니냐" -이명박 대통령

"If you don't like it then you don't have to eat it." - President Lee Myung-bak

Yes, that's easy to say isn't it. I'm sure you get top-quality meat delivered to your table every day. But kids at school, young men in the army, people who can't afford any better: they have no choice. All you've done is exacerbate the distance between the rich and the poor, really.

Government pushing to sell Daewoo Shipbuilding Inc.

2008-05-09T21:14:00.000-07:00

Just found out that the KDB (the state-run Korea Development Bank), along with other banks, put up the Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Company for sale in April. Goldman Sachs was picked as financial advisor (ew) and Korean lawfirm Lee & Ko (법무법인 광장) was chosen as legal advisor to handle the transaction, which is expected to bring in more than $4 billion (KDB and the other banks hold a 50.4 % stake). Daewoo Shipbuilding, which has been managed by creditors since the Daewoo group was dismantled in 1999, is in charge of an important national defense division that builds submarines and naval vessels; Chosun-ilbo predicts that a foreign takeover is unlikely due to this aspect of their business, and names POSCO, Doosan Group, GS Group, Dongkuk Steel Mill, and STX Shipbuildings as the Korean companies that are interested in taking over the shipyard (which is reportedly doing better than ever). Some Chinese companies are taking interest as well, though precisely which is unknown.

The government has been waffling on about the privatization of both public institutions for a whlie now (Leave The Economy to the Laws of the Market!), as well as the sale of its stakes in various large companies such as Daewoo Shipbuilding, Hyundai Engineering and Construction, Ssangyong Construction, Woori Financial Group, etc. Law firms and financial advising companies are probably in fits of hysteric euphoria as I type; Goldman Sachs has just nabbed the first deal out of the many deals that the government is planning.

On a slightly unrelated but still interesting note: many of the sweet M&A deals in the past year were nabbed by largely four law firms: Kim&Chang(김앤장), Lee&Ko(광장), Bae,Kim&Lee(태평양) and Shin&Kim(세종). Apparently these giants are dividing up the M&A deal market between them with little left to spare.

But I digress.

The buzz is that the shipyard workers have gone on strike against the sale of the company on the grounds that the negotiations have shut out the labor union, and are also against the choice of Goldman Sachs for the transaction handlers, pointing out that Goldman Sachs had recently bought shares in the Yangfan Group, a Chinese shipbuilding company and could therefore leak vital technological information to Yangfan in order to boost their stock. Coupled with the fact that the president of the KDB will be soon replaced (because that's another thing Lee's doing right now; changing the presidents of all state-run institutions so that they agree with him), the move seems to signal that the transaction process isn't exactly going to be the quickest and cleanest ever.

Internet rumour has it that Goldman Sachs is pushing for Daewoo Shipbuilding to be sold to a Chinese firm (possibly to Yangfan, though to which Chinese firm is very vague...I think 'Chinese firm' in itself is really enough for us LAWLZ). The fears seem to stem primarily from the recent technology leak scares that have plagued the shipbuilding industry, and the anxiety that China is going to catch up with us any day now. It does not help that Ji-Hyung Lee, the president's nephew, is an executive at Goldman Sachs (he used to be the executive of Macquarie-IMM Investment Management, an asset management firm that was acquired by Goldman Sachs last year), and that Goldman Sachs offered the suspiciously low commission fee of 0.03% when most companies' commission fees are 0.3-0.5%; could there be an ulterior motive? The mistrust in President Lee has reached a boiling point so far, and the fact that his nephew is at Goldman Sachs is to the Koreans just another indication of his treachery.

Still, considering that Daewoo is in charge of so much of national naval defense, I find it hard to believe that the government would allow its sale to a Chinese company (oh god forbid). Lee, being the relentless Adam Smith-worshipper that he is, wouldn't allow it. At least, I hope he wouldn't. I really don't know what to trust these days.

Well I never.

2008-05-08T16:12:00.001-07:00

Park Geun-hye favors renegotiation of U.S. beef agreement
But most of her supporters would prefer to avoid conflict with the ruling GNP

» Park Geun-hye, the former chairwoman of the ruling Grand National Party, listens to a speech given by Kim Hyo-seop, the floor leader of the major opposition United Democratic Party, on May 6, during this month’s extraordinary session of the National Assembly. Park has come out in favor of renegotiating the agreement on U.S. beef, which could cause conflict among her supporters, who want to keep quiet on the issue.
At a time when the opposition has been calling for a better U.S.-Korea beef deal, Park Geun-hye, the Grand National Party’s former chairwoman, is causing a stir for comments that appear to support renegotiation of the agreement.
“If there is no other way to solve the issue than to renegotiate, and if that’s what has to happen, then we have to renegotiate,” she told reporters on May 6 on her way onto the main floor of the National Assembly.
“It’s a question of the government’s attitude around the time of (the agreement) and its approach to the deal,” she said. “Nothing is more important than the people’s health, safety, and lives, and yet the government did not adequately communicate with the people prior to making the deal, and once the deal was made it told them to accept it unconditionally.”
Park went on to say that “people can’t help but not believe and think there are lies when the Grand National Party and some media outlets once wanted to be so strict about specified risk materials for mad cow disease and bone chips that they opposed allowing imports, only to change their position.” She did say, however, that it would be “inappropriate” to pass special legislation on beef imports.
Her comments contradict the official position of her party, which is opposed to renegotiation. People close to her hurried to explain her comments, with one “pro-Park” individual, who was recently elected to the National Assembly from the Yeongnam region, saying that Korea should “supplement the deal instead of renegotiating it.
One of Park’s close aides said, “Most Pro-Park members of the Assembly within the GNP want to resist challenging the party on areas of policy and want to remain quiet.”
It remains unclear, especially given the mood even among people close to her, whether Park will win anyone within the GNP over to her position, but given how she has long been a symbol with considerable political weight, her comments could just as easily create something of a political storm.
“The people are angry, so it’s possible her claims could gain resilience,” said one “pro-Park” Assembly member-elect from the greater Seoul metropolitan region.

source: http://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_national/286183.html

Statement in Full

"The netizens and people are not against the import of American beef itself. There is a problem with the government's attitude, both before and after the negotiations. The people can do little but worry if the government says that they will continue import even if mad cow disease occurs or that American beef is safe without any real explanation. The government should come up with a s0lution that convinces the people so that they don't worry any more.

There is nothing more important than the people's health and safety. The government did not communicate enough with the people before the negotiations. In their position, it's exceedingly worrying if the government says 'just accept this', even if the possibility is small. The way I see it, there is plenty of reason for the entire country to be worried.

Until a while ago, the conservative party didn't even talk about SRM (specified risk materials) and criticized even the fragments of bone found in the imported beef. But now their stance has completely changed and part of the press has changed their attitude too. In their position, the people can only suspect that there is some trickery going on, that there's something wrong."

-Park Geun-Hye, 05.06.2008

“네티즌이나 국민들이 미국산 쇠고기 수입 자체를 반대하는 것이 아니다. 쇠고기 협상을 전후해서 정부의 자세, 태도에 문제가 있다고 생각한다. 광우병이 발생해도 계속 수입해야 한다거나 어떤 대책이나 설명도 없이 안전하다고 하면 국민들은 걱정할 수밖에 없다. 국민이 걱정하지 않게 바로잡고 정부가 이제라도 국민이 납득할 수 있는 대책을 내놓아야 한다.
국민의 건강과 안전, 생명보다 중요한 것은 없다. 협상 전에 정부가 국민과 충분한 교감을 갖지 못했다. 협상 이후에도 ‘무조건 받아들여라’ 하면 국민 입장에서는 만에 하나 있을 수 있는 문제를 굉장히걱정하게 된다. 전 국민이 이렇게 걱정하는 것이 충분한 이유가 있다고 본다.
한나라당도 얼마 전까지 이 문제에 대해 거론할 때 광우병 특정위험물질(SRM) 얘기는 아예 나오지도 않았고 뼛조각에 대해서도 엄격한 잣대로 반대해왔다. 그런데 입장이 (갑자기) 바뀌었고 일부 언론도 입장을 바꿨다. 그렇기 때문에 국민의 입장에선 뭔가 잘못된 거 아니냐, 거짓이 있는 거 아니냐 걱정할 수밖에 없다.”
보수신문이 ‘광우병 인터넷 괴담’의 주동자로 지목하고 있는 ‘반미’ ‘좌파’ 진영에서 나온 얘기가 아니다. 국민들의 광우병 우려에 대해 책임을 전가한 ‘일부 언론’이 한 얘기도 아니다. 바로, 박근혜 전 한나라당 대표가 한 말이다.
박 대표는 지난 6일 국회 본회의 참석에 앞서 기자들과 만나 이렇게 얘기하면서 “재협상밖에 해법이 없다면 재협상이라도 해야 되지 않겠느냐”고 했다. 정부와 한나라당도 지난달 18일 타결된 미국산 쇠고기 수입조건 개정안이 발효된 뒤 미국에서 광우병 발생 위험이 현저하게 높아졌다고 판단되면 미국과 수입 조건 재협상을 검토하기로 의견을 모았다. 하지만 민동석 농업통상정책관은 “광우병 발생 등 상황 변화가 생길 경우 일부 조항의 개정을 미국에 요청하는 것이지 재협상은 불가능하다”고 다른 얘기를 했다. 인터넷에 ‘광우병 괴담’이 돌아 국민들이 혼란스러워한다고 비판하던 정부가 오히려 국민들을 헷갈리게 하고 있다. 다음은 7일자 신문1면 머리기사 제목이다.

출처 original link http://www.mediatoday.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=68113

I never thought I'd find myself agreeing with her but...I do. LAWLZ. Words well-spoken, credit where credit's due, even if it is bandwagoning.

Nocturnal Research

2008-05-08T01:22:00.000-07:00

Simple Conclusion (if there can be one): American beef is just about as safe as (or unsafe - whichever you prefer) Korean beef.

And of course, this by no means means that US beef is 100% safe to eat.

-The M/M gene theory has some reliability; it's true that about 94% of the population has this genotype, and that these people seem to be more susceptible to get CJD (and, as far as we know, vCJD, which is the mutant form). Correlation, however, does not prove causality, as anyone who has taken Statistics 101 would know (I did and I abhorred it), and research is still underway.
-BSE is a very contentious issue in the medical field; the entire prion hypothesis is still under debate, even though Prusiner got the Nobel prize for his discovery of these pathogens. The accepted idea is that the accumulation of prions - because we all have them - causes CJD or vCJD, but exactly how the prions make it through the digestive system is still under study.
-What the UK instance has proved, however, is that there is a definite correlation between BSE and vCJD - the frequency of occurrences were uncannily always 8 years apart - and that BSE occurs when the cows are fed MBM(meat and bone meals). Some of the first instances of BSE occurred, apparently, when the MBM of sheep that had had scrapie were fed to cows.
-The Kuru disease has also been pointed at as a similar one to CJD; the funeral practices of the Fore tribe in Papua New Guinea included the consumption of the corpse, the women and the children in particular favouring the brain (where the disease particles were concentrated). The disease was predictably more prevalent among women and children, but after the banning of these cannibalistic funeral rites the disease all but disappeared.
-vCJD is not passed on through all kinds of media. We don't know how contagious it is, but if it really was as contagious as some people make it out to be ("it's passed on through air and saliva and everything!"), I'm thinking that more than 167 Brits would have died (until now).
-The biggest beef recall in history by the USDA was enacted in February..which really does not bode well. And we're getting all that beef, because we don't have any age restrictions for it (so far the only country in Asia that has done so).

All that said, the government's handling of the entire affair was completely atrocious. I have not been fond of LMB and his government for a couple of months now, and my disgust for him and his policies have grown exponentially in the past few days.

-They totally switched bandwagons. Six months ago they were loudly voicing opposition to American beef simply because the Roh government was permitting its import, finger-pointing whenever any bone fragments were discovered in the beef. Now they're all 'oh US beef is just fine, eat it all you like.' This does not instill trust, and I'm not just talking about the government here; are you listening, JoongAng/DongAh/Chosun who printed stories about mad cow disease six months ago and tried to stir up public interest then, but failed somewhat? (Chosun seems to have deleted the editorial it printed). The people aren't the source of these 'gwedam' (groundless rumours) here; you are.
-They didn't restrict when they could, even though the previous government advised that they should restrict for safety's sake. They let go of all restrictions, even inspection rights. I don't care how safe you think American beef is, if you can make it safer, then you should. Use the opportunities you're given, don't throw them away, you idiot.
-Instead of presenting some Concrete Information backed by scientific evidence to rebut the rumours, they blustered and came out with ridiculous guff like "I eat American beef too." No, this is not going to make the people Feel Better. You don't joke when people are threatening impeachment and the online petition has about 1 million people.
-They started pressing down on the protests, calling them illegal. Know what happens when you repress people? They bounce back up. And Koreans have a history of Bouncing Back Up. Koreans have been through Park Chung-hee and Chun Doo-hwan and Noh Tae-woo, three consecutive murderous presidents, and they've pretty much survived. The last thing you want to do is make them remember those Eras again (but you've already done that, so moving on...).
-They started to look for someone to blame for the students who came to the protests. For god's sake, you should have red light bulbs flashing like crazy in your head when you've got fifteen-year-olds out in the streets for a cause. You don't look for someone to blame because it's fucking your fault. They needed an explanation for this, you didn't offer one, so they set out to get one.

I'm at a loss, really. The determinedly market-centric policies were disturbing enough, but what do they think they're running, a little Korean high school?

Politics

2008-05-06T18:17:00.001-07:00

My parents have always been staunch democratic liberals. Mum and dad were part of the whole democratization movement in the 80s and 90s, and that was how they met (*slightly proud grin*). Now dad works at the Korean Labour Institute, which is, as I understand it, basically the middleman between the company and the labour unions. They work hard (my dad works really, really hard...total workaholic) to improve working conditions for labourers and help the two parties arrive at an agreement.

The director of the institute, Mr. Choi, has two kids, Ju-won and Ju-ri. I taught them for a few months before I left for college; smart kids, a little cocky (esp. Ju-won, oh god), but we had fun. Ju-won was accepted into Chongsim International middle school since then, and Ju-ri is at Wolchon middle school (where I went)l; I'm quite pleased to report that she has discovered Queen and loves Bohemian Rhapsody (attagirl).

Mum came to visit recently on a business trip, and told me that Mr. Choi was recently, er, advised to resign by the new government (i.e. the Lee Myung Bak government), even though his term wasn't over yet. And by advised I mean forced.

The resignation hasn't been completed yet but...it's just disgusting. It's just an inkling of how disgusting this new government is.

제가 당신을 지켜볼 겁니다, 이 대통령님. 임기도 끝나지 않은 원장님 쫓아내고 얼마나 잘 하는 지 한번 봅시다. 우리 아빠가 열심히 일하는 곳인 한국 노동 연구원을 가지고 뭐하는 지 제가 지켜볼 거예요. 그리고 이상한 곳으로 변질시키려고 한다면, 정말 보잘것 없는 대학교 1학년이어도 가만있지 않을 겁니다.

Eddie Izzard at the Philadelphia Kimmel Center

2008-05-06T16:14:00.000-07:00

I've had a bit of a thing for Eddie Izzard ever since I saw clips of 'Dress to Kill' on Youtube (sorry Eddie...). I've always liked stand-up comedy and 'Dress to Kill' is one of his best tours ever (I think this year's 'Stripped' may join that list), and his Encore on Computers just made me laugh hysterically. And he's hawt, in this sort of boyish yet sophisticated way. I didn't realize it was him in the Ocean's series until I stalked him on IMDb but...yeah. My hallmate Rashmi developed a thing for him too when I showed her 'Dress to Kill' and we were both all moony and in a very marry-me-please-Eddie mood when my friend mentioned that he was doing another stand-up tour in America.

What?

A quick google search informed us that he was indeed returning to stand-up with a new show called 'Stripped' (oh, yes), which would be touring America. Quick, which one was closest to Princeton? (none, really, but we were willing to brave train rides and taxis) The ideal location was, of course, New York City but his shows there were in June, and we were all heading home by the end of May so...Phildelphia Kimmel Center seemed a good choice. It was such a spur-of-the-moment decision - we were so excited about seeing Eddie Izzard for real after just seeing lots and lots of him on Youtube - so i got the tickets. $65, parquet circle. Not bad seats.

Then we were mildly horrified/shocked/ecstatic at what we'd just done. We'd gotten tickets to see Eddie Izzard during Reading Period (exam revision week). Way to go, girls.

That was a month ago.

Yesterday was May 5th, the Fateful Day, and my friend and I were all in a dither: we got dressed up, put on make-up, stocked our wallets (we'd be dining in Philly), checked train schedules...We were so excited. We got to Philly by train (several transfers), took a cab from the station to eat at Buca di Beppo, an Italian restaurant that Rashmi knew (fab food, cute kitsch interior...pretty good overall) and then walked to the Kimmel Center where they told us that the show was actually at the Academy of Music, and then walked to the Academy of Music. We were about twenty minutes early (the show was at 8) so we had to wait for a while but...

It was worth it. Oooooooh Eddie. So Good. So Hawt.

I feel that a lot of people would agree with me that the best joke was: So Darwin wrote this book that said...monkey monkey monkey monkey YOU!

He wasn't in drag, just jeans, a black shirt, and a black tailcoat (should have clashed, strangely worked on him). He was taller than I expected, even without the heels, and he had some stubble on his face (which I liked).

Just a random list of stuff he covered (probably will lengthen over time as I remember more...)

-Bill Gates and how he gave away Billions...but also kept Billions.
-Opera singers and how no one understands them, not even Germans or Italians.
-Moses and the burning bush
-Everyone is a liar because we all say we read the Terms of Agreement when we tick 'yes.'
-God didn't get any prayers until the last, what, 2-3000 years?
-Development of civilization (hunters hunted in underpants because they looked fantastic).
-Giraffes (he has a thing for giraffes and history)
-The news in pictographs
-Latin and how everyone hated it, even the Romans
-"I've done some calculations and God doesn't exist."
-Intelligent design and the appendix
-"I'm the Human Torch, I can just turn on into girly mode - whoosh."
-Jesus wasn't called Jesus, he was called Jesu (original Aramaic name)
-God created the world in seven days - why?
-'Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's ox' - why?
-Wikipedia and bathrooms
-Dyslexia (dyslexic people can't spell the word they suffer from)

I have quite a few Christian friends (v. devout) so I wasn't always all that happy with the rather anti-Christian rant he had going on (neither were some people in the audience, I'd imagine). He seemed to go out of his way to disprove that God existed (primarily through absurd situations that God would be in if he did indeed exist), and then started going on about how the ten commandments were sort of unnecessary because it all fell under the Great Umbrella of Truth that is: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. ("Do you like being killed?" "No." "Then don't kill people!") But it was always funny as hell when he was rude to hecklers or the audience ("Fuck off, Nazi." "Fuck off, all of you. That's a funny line and I'm going to make it work somehow.") You can tell he's really comfortable with himself and who he is, and that he's given a lot of thought to it too. He prances around a lot and is always so stiff and so adorable when he does that.

I do hope he does more stand-up in the future. I'd go see him in French (I'm still learning but hopefully I could get some of the jokes). He's quite intellectual, sometimes it takes a little to get some of his jokes, but when you do it's so goddamn funny.

I ♡ Eddie. Mwwwah.

Inside the theatre

The stage

Where we would have liked to sit

The Really Scary Thing

2008-05-06T08:23:00.000-07:00

The Korean people are so scared right now. Reminds me of the time when American mothers were afraid to take their kids out of the house for fear of terrorism.

It's not just the lift on beef import restrictions, or the privatization of health insurance (and various other state-run institutions), or the autonomization of public education, or even the golf course-ization of the entire country. To be sure, these are all ideas that terrify the living daylights out of me (and quite a few other people, from what I can tell), but what really scares the people is that the government doesn't seem to listen to what they're saying. It's like they don't hear the young middle schoolers and high schoolers that take to the streets, asking if there's ever going to be a time when, just for once, they could get 8 or 9 hours of sleep. They don't hear the hard-pressed salarymen of this country draw their breath in horror at the thought of rising health insurance costs. They don't hear the environmentalists protesting against the development of golf courses at the country, at the cost of deforestation and extinction of endangered species. They don't hear the mothers that worry for their children at school, in the army, the people who would be the first to eat the cheap beef imported from America.

It's not that people are afraid of American beef; they might be now, but before when the restrictions were firmly in place, loads of people went to buy American beef when it first came in, because it was cheap and affordable. People thought it was great, affordable good beef, whoopdeedoo!

But now the restrictions are gone.
Excerpt from fact sheet on Korea Beef Protocol:
"The protocol should open trade in all U.S. beef and beef products from animals of all ages, including deboned beef, bone-in beef, offals and variety meats, and processed beef products."

We're going to get the kind of beef that had been banned in the UK since 1996; beef from cows over 30 months have a higher risk of being infected with BSE (Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy; i.e. posh name for mad cow disease), and the OTM (Over Thirty Months) rule has been the rule of thumb for the UK to reduce BSE infection risk. Japan still doesn't allow beef from cows over 20 months. Bone-in beef also has a higher risk of being infected with BSE.
We're going to get five out of the seven SRM(Specified Risk Material) parts included with this beef. SRM is 'defined as tissues that, in BSE-infected cattle, contains the agent that may transmit the disease. In diseased animals, the infective agent is concentrated in certain tissues such as the brain and spinal cord' according to Health Canada. The previous government conducted a study on this kind of beef and concluded that it was indeed unsafe for import, but the new government has basically bulldozered over the guidelines and restrictions that were planned by the previous government (ban on SRM parts, OTM rule, etc.). The conservative party that supports beef imports right now was the very same party that criticized beef imports just six months ago.

I'm still not quite certain as to how dangerous this beef can be. It depends on how reliable the auditing system in America is and how well the government does its job in checking and filtering out the meat. I do think it's overblown somewhat but at the same time, it's not just about the beef, is it? It's the frustration of a people who have endured this new government's disturbing new policies for two months, a people who find it increasingly difficult to get by day-by-day, a people who find it increasingly difficult to trust this new government that seems to be on its way making life better and easier for, well, rich people.

Impeachment for Lee?

2008-05-05T07:02:00.000-07:00

It's really quite an achievement to have several tens of thousands screaming for your impeachment after just - what, 2 months in office? Pretty impressive, LMB, I'm not even kidding.

Jokes aside, I have to say I'm kind of all for the impeachment. I'm so scared that he's in office right now. Seriously. Just a brief list of the offenses he's committed so far (in my book, that is...)

1. Autonomization of public education (unless you're not Korean and therefore have no clue how fucked up Korean education is, you do not let it do its own thing. Ever.)

2. Privatization of health insurance (still in the works, but seriously...Sicko, anyone?)

3. Development of golf courses (you know what? why don't you improve social welfare and take care of all the social problems we have before you cater to the rich people? hmmmm? and maybe, while you're at it, PRESERVE NATURE and protect ENDANGERED SPECIES?)

4. Grand Canal project (um. I'm in two minds about this one. And they're both against the idea.)

5. Total lift of all restrictions on American beef imports (for crying out loud, LMB, your party was the one that went wild when we found bits of bone in the meat six months ago and then started all that fear-mongering about how Koreans were more susceptible to mad cow disease and how easily mad cow disease could spread. And now, of course, after ALL THE RESTRICTIONS HAVE BEEN LIFTED, it's fine now. It's perfectly safe. Of course.)

And we all thought that Roh would be the worst we saw in a while. People love him now.

My parents were right. They were so disturbed that LMB was elected. At the time, I didn't understand why; I wasn't in Korea during elections and I really had no idea what was what.

When Koreans elected LMB, it was because his slogan was 'Save the Economy'. That's what they thought he would do, that's what was on their minds - the failing economy. What they didn't think he would do was make life harder for the lower classes and easier for the higher classes. Health insurance privatization? Are you kidding? Sure, now all those chaebol can pay for health services, but what about us?

Golf course development to attract more tourists? Really? Because I thought that a good way to attract tourists was to preserve our natural assets and take good care of historical monuments/buildings/etc. You know, develop it in that direction. But no. Soon Lake Shiwha, home to various endangered birds and natural treasures, will be home to...a new golf course.

With regards to public education...you really should know better. Or perhaps you didn't attend high school in Korea. So you don't know how corrupt headmasters can be. So you don't know how early these kids have to go to school and leave it, despite the laws already in place. So you wouldn't know how, if those laws were no longer enforced, how much worse it could get for those poor kids. Oh sure, set up some basic guidelines so the schools can toe the line. Are you going to enforce them, make sure they're toed? ...Yeah, I'll believe it when I see it.

I'm going to watch the beef import furor for now. I want some concrete medical sources before I make any decisions, but just to be on the safe side I think I'll stay away from beef in general when I go back (aww crap).

PU photos

2008-04-07T01:09:00.000-07:00

Our school's pretty photogenic in general, though these are really some of the best I've taken freshman year. Witherspoon (top) looks gorgeous, though in general I wouldn't call it the prettiest building on campus (that would be the chapel). It happened to get some good weather that day.

Blair (second) looks like it needs archers stationed at the top of the battlements or something. And a big flag waving on the pole.

Richardson (third) is a weird amalgam of various architectural styles (not that I know anything about architecture...). I really don't know how to place it, most of the buildings on campus are gothic-looking (esp. Rockefeller/Mathey and Whitman colleges).

East Pyne (fourth), meanwhile is legit gorgeous. LEGIT. I love EP, even though I don't know how to find my way around it half the time. WEIRD inner structure, I have to say. I'm probably going to spend a lot of time there junior/senior year though.

And the chapel is always impressive, inside much more so than outside. The stained glass is stunning (should really take photos). It looks much more like a cathedral than a chapel (which, to me, always conjures up the image of a small sedate church), third largest university chapel, apparently (the first is at I-don't-remember-where, second is at Cambridge, UK).

Unfortunately I don't live in any of those places, or anywhere near them in fact. Forbes is the most out-of-the-way college on campus - heck, it's not even on campus IMO, it has a different ZIP CODE from the rest of the school - and is actually a former inn that was refurbished with funds donated courtesy of (who else) Mr. Forbes. Or his son, or grandson. Thanks, really. I love living ten minutes further away from everything than everyone else.

I'm kidding. Forbes is sweet. Just not...convenient. We have the golf course and the river behind us though (offers a killer view from the dining hall and the main inn), and the Wawa convenience store is pretty close by (not always a good thing...hoagies are unbelievably attractive at 4 am). We're also quite close to the dinky station (Princeton train station for laymen)...which is great because I use the dinky, like, once every four months...

It still sucks to live in the Forbes Addition/Annex, however. They should demolish these buildings RIGHT NOW (along with perhaps Butler 1915) and build some more super-sized private-bathroomed rooms like the Forbes New Wing. If I ever make enough money I'll donate it SPECIFICALLY FOR THAT PURPOSE. I sympathize with anyone who has ever had portable heaters delivered to their rooms because it was just That Cold and had to endure pitying looks/comments that say 'you live in the Addition/Annex? Oh, I'm sorry...' And had cockroaches in their bathrooms. And had to carry around all their books for class that day in their bags all the time because it took too long to go back... (my poor back)

small hours

2008-04-07T00:52:00.000-07:00

WTF am I doing at four in the frackin' morning...and I still haven't done my french homework. Random post on the most adorable little boy I've seen in a while...(I haven't seen my little boy cousins for months sniffle) LOLZ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oidohrB-f6o

I love how they insert the dramatic music...and the flying 'nande??!!'s.

Fine, I'll start reading that bio of Camus now.