"30 Days of Minimum Wage" and something to discuss.

I thought I can derive many topics for discussion from this single documentary.

- Health care
- Housing
- Need to increase Minimum wage
-

Ode to Ronaldo's Foot

Dear Ronaldo's Foot

I am sorry, but I have to tell you two, just in case you are mistaken. I am talking about the right foot not the left. I admit that you, the left foot, helps your neighbor in supporting the football player's body. But there is nothing special in that contribution. You are basically doing what everyone else is doing. So now I gently plead you to either step aside for your company to read this or join me worshiping the subject of my respect.

Hi, You are finally here to listen to what I must say. You will never understand how much I longed for this moment to show my deepest awe toward you. I first met you when I was still a little child pretending to be a big boy. Looking for something fun on the Internet, I came across the most played video in YouTube where you were featured fabulously with visual effects that gave a fantastic image. I am not sure whether the people who watched the same video with me was as fascinated as I was or they were just impressed by the splendid effects and Ronaldo's gorgeous outlook. Still, I guess I will never be able to forget the minutes I watched your movement. 

I had been barely into football before meeting you and the only occasion I was when my country held the football world cup in 2002. The entire country was all amazed about the national team's continuous victory and I just could not be excluded. After that, however, I did not or could not have interest in football  because I was a boy unfit for football. I tried many times to excel but I eventually failed due to my awkward movements when received the ball and my incapability to understand the complicated movements that I had to take in terms of attack and defense.

You came as a savior for me when I was in despair the most. I believed I would never be able to play football  well with my lack of understanding how one should move in the field and how one should interact with other players. Gratefully, you proved me wrong. In the video, you showed me a whole new approach to the sport.

You, although not much experienced, dominated the field. You were at once here and then there. You were at the place you want to be when you want to be. You were more swift than any but as elegant as much. Other feet always sought to conquer you and rob you of the ball. No one is perfect and you weren't either. You did let some passes slip through. However, Your concentration on the ball was never loose but always fierce. You had never let your ball go away from you forever. Did I say you weren't perfect? Then, you are probably the closest.

You taught me that football isn't just about passing and teamwork. I can use my foot as well to conquer the field. From then, I tried to imitate your movement with my feet. I practiced kicking like you, protecting the ball like you, and even posing like you. I can now say with confidence that I am fit for football and I perform quite well in my school team.

It has now been more than five years since I have met you. You have improved yourself more powerful and frightening to your opponents. You are now more experienced.

There is one last thing I would like to mention. Your fashion is just gorgeous. You have your own style that other feet would never even try to imitate. You usually wear one color clothing with a NIKE mark that implies your victory over other feet. Your clothes are always impressive and remarkable. You once receive a cloth made of gold for scoring the most in the league. But you are so frugal and sincere that you do not wear it while you play football. I just seem to admire everything about you.

   

I think it is time to let you go and let you achieve triumph as you always have. It was great honor to deliver my sentiments toward you. You must be old some day and must leave the filed you conquered. At that time, I would always be there and greet you with great welcome. Thanks.

Yours sincerely
Youngil Jung

p.s. This is the picture of myself a year ago. I took a photo trying my best to look alike your host Ronaldo.

   

Review: "No Country for Old Men (2007)"

Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Release: 21 February 2008 in South Korea
Running Time: 122 minutes
Directors: Ethan Coen, Joel Coen
Casting: Tommy Lee Jones(Ed Tom Bell), Javier Bardem(Anton Chigurh), Josh Brolin(Llewelyn Moss)
Synopsis: In rural Texas, Llewelyn Moss discovers the site of fighting between drug dealers and decides to take the two million dollars. This makes the heartless killer, Anton Chigurh look after him for the money. During this chase, an old sheriff, Ed Tom Bell oversees the investigation but do not actively participate.
<Above information from "The Internet Movie Database; IMDb.com">

     I guess I have a problem with my biorhythm because I do not feel asleep until around 2 o'clock. Maybe it is because I supplement sleep during the classes and IR periods to fill the amount I need. Anyway, because I feel sort of lazy and not willing to study after midnight, I often watch videos when I am not much loaded. Using this time, I have watched many videos mostly of drama and movie such as "Boston Legal", the last "Harry Potter" series I missed in the theater, and this one, "No Country for Old Men."

"You know what's going to happen now. You should admit the situation.  There would be more dignity in it."

     For most of the times, I start to feel asleep, then stop the video, and continue the next day or days later. However, there were two I just could not stop; "Old Boy", a Korean movie by director Park Chan-Wook, and this one I am reviewing right now, "No Country for Old Men" by Coen brothers. These two movies share the characteristics of a thriller movie. Both movies depict the story of a cat and mouse drama where a psycho traces a man whom he wants to revenge or take something away from. However, there are also clear differences between the two movies. While the "Old Boy" focuses mainly on the relationship between the man being revenged and the one who revenges, "No Country for Old Men" focuses on the individuals who rarely appear together in the scenes.

     I hate studying literature even though I do enjoy reading the literary works. I hate people when they try to derive grandiose meanings from literature like "Emma" by Jane Austen when, in my perspective, it merely seems to be a diary of a woman who likes useless gossips. I do not understand people trying to write a paper on a two-sentence long poem by Wordsworth and lists all the possible meanings no matter whether they are from the actual poet's thought. Overall, I hate people when they exaggerate what they get from an work of art and when the things they allegedly have earned seem crappy and crude. Therefore, I never really enjoy writing journals for the literature classes and discussing about the so called the hidden meanings of literature. To express more radically, I always felt like I am learning how to write a good looking "BS."

     Fortunately, my attitude was different with this movie. I felt strangely motivated to better understand the directors' intentions and philosophy. The film is notably simple and even gives the sense of dryness. The simplicity, however, did not bring tediousness. Although I did not recognize while watching it, the movie does not take advantage of any background music. Music is one of the fundamental tools for a movie since it forms an appropriate mood the director wants to create for the scenes. This astounding simplicity rather impressed me because it was accompanied with the deep sense of vanity and desolation. The heavy atmosphere dominating the entire film "banned" me from falling asleep and I just had to stay the night.

      There are several things that contribute to the atmosphere of this movie. First of all, the setting takes quite an important role. The film takes place mainly in Texas, the west of the United States and the filmmakers succeeded in recording the dry and barren landscape of the American west. The barren land where the fight between the drug dealers took place and Moss found his fortune of two million dollars can almost be called deserts. The buildings including the hotels, where Moss stays during his fugitive period, are always plain without any decoration. There exists constant sense of silence and desolation in the setting. For example, in the streets, cars do not come across much and the hotels are pretty much empty all the time. The directors have accomplished well to construct foundation for their movie by background.

     This movie depends a lot on the characters for its unique atmosphere and the theme after all. The individual characters' importance is shown in the fact that the main characters hardly meet each other and they usually appear alone in many scenes. Anton Chigurh, Ed Tom Bell, and Llewellyn Moss are the three major characters and Anton Chigurh is the man whose face is depicted frighteningly in the movie poster. He is the most impressive character to many reviewers and I am one of those people struck by the peculiar mood he always accompanies with. His outlook is impressive at the first glance; his long and girlish hairstyle contrasts his face and terrifying facial expressions. He carries a powerful air gun and does not hesitate when killing people even without clear cause or necessity. His voice completes the horror his opponent feels; it is   extraordinarily deep and so resonant that it carries an irresistible power. These factors allow Anton Chigurh alone form the entire atmosphere of this film.

Heartless killer, just the right description for Anton Chigurh. 

Can't you feel the horror from this guy? I certainly do!

     Ed Tom Bell is an old sheriff who is experienced but powerless because of age. He talks to himself a lot and even when he is speaking to others, it seems like he is talking to no one. I thought the "Old Men" in the title indicates this character and it is quite obvious since he is the only old one among the major characters. Llewelyn Moss is one who discovers the money and is murdered by Anton Chigurh as a result of his decision to take possession of it. These two characters also contribute to the atmosphere of desolation.

     All these factors lead to the overall theme of this movie. I thought this movie is talking about the vanity on which everything in our lives is based on. Anton Chigurh kills everyone with even a little necessity to get rid of.  I think we can say that Chigurh has his own, clearly set standard. We cannot blame him for it since the time period that the movie takes place is certainly more permissive for murder than now. The murders he execute are so quick and clean that it gives the sense of vanity for the viewers. The coin which Chigurh uses for deciding whether to kill a person or not epitomizes the vanity of life this movie tries to deliver. Anton commands the other side to pick a side of a coin to decide whether he would execute the person. This mere conjecture decides one's life for ever.

     This movie follows the basic formula of a typical thriller movie where a character is chased by other. Some might say that basic structure might lead to boredom due to the lack of innovation. However, this one showed why basic structure functions as basic.

    

In Class Reflective Essay

     The movie "Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter" are composed of 4 parts each getting its name from the seasons of the title. The part we watched was the Spring. An old monk lives in a temple located in the middle of a lake with a little boy monk. Their life looks so simple and plain since their location is completely blocked from the outside world. The main story of this part was about the boy being punished for his cruelty towards the animals with which he played. The monk treated the boy as exactly the same as the boy did the animals. This relatively simple and not adventurous type of movie, nevertheless, was special and impressive.

     First of all, the location of this movie gives a special image. I feel some kind of awe even when in a perfectly usual Buddhist temple like the ones in mountains with big size statues of Buddha and great monks in the past. The temple in this movie is even more awe-inspiring and apparently symbolizes the Buddhist morals; separation from the outside world. The temple has only one building and the there lives the monk and the boy. They have to use a boat to get out of the lake to reach the land where huge mountains surround the place. Moreover, there stand several doors both the inside and the outside of the building. Inside, the door stands even though there is no wall that makes the need of it. These doors also imply the separation and they strictly follow the lesson by always using the doors even though there is space left and right to them. The boy and the monk have to always share the boat when they transport themselves because one of them must be stuck into somewhere otherwise. This inconvenience implies that the their lives are shared and they have to go with each other. 

     Another specialty about this movie is the education by the old monk. A boy monk in a usual Buddhist temple learns from textbooks that contain Buddhist morale and from the old monks who indulged in the Buddhism for a long period of time and actually runs the temple. However, the boy in this film is not shown to be properly educated. He wakes up in the morning, not sure about breakfast, goes to mountain to pick herbs, comes back to the temple, plays with animals, and goes to bed. I was not sure how he will grow up to be a monk like the old monk now and protect the temple from evil spirits of the outside world. However, the boy was receiving education not quickly but empirically. The old monk's punishment after the boy treated the animals cruelly was surely harsh from my perspective and I will never do something like that to my children or my student if I have one. Anyway, the boy realized how bad and immoral he had been with the animals not by the old monk's nagging but actually looking at the consequences of his deeds. The boy cries with regrets from his true heart and probably he will never pain others either physically or mentally. This empirical learning, neither allegedly empirical nor through vicarious experiences, must have given the boy monk an strong lesson that would never leave his mind. Although the old monk would not be able to leave all his wisdom in a short period of time but as their lives go on together, the boy would certainly be another wise monk. 

     The "Spring" is only the first part of this movie and I really look forward to watching the remaining seasons.   But still, this movie seems to have portrayed the image and sentiments of Korea well with the natural scenery and the character set-up. I believe this work is qualified for being the most well known Korean movie. 

          

Metafiction: Looking for the True History of Mankind

   <  My name is Elwyn Han. This article is about the story of myself and my ancestors. This is being written in December 3rd 2319 in human calendar about three hundred years after the aliens' colonization of the planet Earth. No alien should be allowed to read this for this is a prohibited story for them. The reading of these passages should be restricted to humans or the controlas. You, who are to read and finish this, are not a controla anymore from now on, but a human with true knowledge of your ancestors. You are now burdened with the responsibility to spread this knowledge.

      There are two classes of intellectual beings on Earth. One species rules the other entire species. The ruler is called the "Domina" and the ruled is called the "Controla." The two species look distinct from each other. Dominas are much taller creatures with average height of two and a half meters. They have a very smooth skin with no fur on their bodies. They have strength to hold three male controlas at once with their long arms while their short but strong legs stand their great weight. Controlas are physically much weaker than the dominas. Their average height is only 1.7meters and their physical strength cannot be compared to that of the dominas. However, the controlas have better balanced body with faces of sharp features.

     According to the history of the Earth written by the ancestors of dominas, the controlas have been ruled by the dominas from the earliest beginning. It was allegedly the decision of a deity to give all the powers to the dominas. The dominas hold all political rights. All adult dominas, regardless of race and sex, can vote and run for offices while the controlas have no access to politics at all. Moreover, controlas are prohibited from using computers and any IT devices. They can get information only from the materials provided by the dominas. A controla is allowed to pursue a career but his or her choice was restricted to those jobs that do not require much intelligence and information. Controlas are usually hired for menial works and simple paper works.

     I used to belong to the controlas with great pride in my origin. Although the bizarre looking dominas tell us what to do and interfere in our lives, I believe that we are fundamentally better. We have much more various emotions than the dominas do. With the above thought, I started to doubt about whether we were always ruled by the dominas. First of all, they have another planet they call the "home planet." They might have come from the planet some thousand years ago to Earth and just pretend to have ruled us forever. Moreover, I could not understand how the controlas had evolved to possess such intellectual ability if they never experienced to build their own civilizations.

     Therefore, I started to do some research.

     When I thought of myself as a controla, I worked as a secretary of a professor in a university. Of course, my boss was a domina. Fortunately for me, he was a pro-controla figure who had an interest in civil rights movement for the controlas. His main field of study was history and since he was kind to me, I could read his books freely in his room when there was no one around. After I decided to burrow into secrets, I spent more time reading his books. The research process, however, was much more difficult than I expected. If I had not firmly believed that the controlas used to be independent beings, I would have had given up several times already. It seemed that the dominas did their job of eliminating our history quite fastidiously.

     One day, I found a book named, "The History of Information Control by Humans." I was attracted to this book for I was curious what "Humans" are. While I was reading it, I found an article that reads as follows.

Federal Bureau of Investigation
Report XVI-2020

In 2020, Kim Jeongil, the national leader of North Korea, passed away. The North Korean government was put into a chaos with the absence of  their spiritual leader. No one seemed able to anticipate what would happen to the only left isolated country in the world. After 3 days, China rose up claiming its right to take control of North Korea. China wanted to use its closest relationship with North Korea based on their shared ideology. 


However, just at the moment when China was about to gobble up North Korea, South Korean citizens along with their president, got furious. "We need war" was the national consensus. Not a single person protested when the government came up with a war-fundraising project. The war seemed imminent. It seemed that only a few days were left before a massive war.

On the boundary of the war to declare its start, an unidentified object from the universe arrived at Beijing, China threatening the entire planet to be under the control of aliens. Both the Chinese and Korean governments fell into a state of chaos. They had prepared so many troops for the war and due to the arrival of aliens, the world is urging them to cooperate.

Another striking reality was revealed by the CIA task force in Beijing. The national leader of China, Hu Jintao was the spy that the aliens had planted prior to their attack. Hu Jintao had succeeded in creating a belligerent atmosphere on the entire globe since the war between China and Korea led to the conflicts all over the world. 

With the appearance of the extraterrestrial beings, the citizens all over the world were confounded.

     The report ended with the last sentence, leaving a huge impression. My conjecture was proven right. We the controlas were not always inferior beings. We had our own civilizations called countries. We had our own armies and own governments. This could be a direct counter evidence against the domina government's claim that controlas were predestined to be ruled.

     However, as a controla, I did not have access to any means to reveal this astonishing fact to the mass. I would have never used media for no controla were there in the industry and the dominas would arrest me if I were to reveal the fact. Therefore, I decided to continue the research. The report taught me that I am an independent being but it can never be the whole story of my ancestors. After I complete the story, I would think of the means to turn the story backward.

     After long hours of contemplation, I concluded that I need the help of my boss to proceed. It took me several weeks to find out a single piece of evidence of human civilization and it must take some years to complete the story of colonization. I hoped to spur my research with the aid of a history professor. When I brought the issue to him, he was first surprised to hear that I found out my knowledge from his book and was willing to help me but for purely academic cause.

      Fortunately, the report was giving us the direction of our research. The evil scheme to colonize the Earth began with the plantation of a spy into the country called China and the wicked spy succeeded in forming a conflicting atmosphere between countries before the actual attack from the home planet. I set the focus of my search on the spy's deeds during his mission. The professor authorized me to use the internet and I was able to read any books and articles with the new source of information. I spent most of my work time as well as private time for the research. I was deeply into it.

     The spy seemed to be a very sly one. I could not believe he was from another planet. He quickly grasped the environments surrounding China and found out that he could use North Korea to make some noise. By using secret agents located in North Korea, he poisoned the North Korean leader to death and declared the death was a natural one. He made glaringly ambitious remarks about taking over North Korea in an intention to provoke South Korean citizens as well as its allies such as the United States. He remained in the form of a human being even after the arrival of the "home planet" forces. When the situation urged the entire world to cooperate in order to defend itself from the aliens' threat, Hu Jintao, the leader of 1/5 of the whole Earth's population opposed to any sort of cooperation with other countries and constantly created conflicts.

     Due to the fundamental superiority of aliens in their technology and the failure of cooperation in the side of defenders, the aliens took over the planet within two months. They abolished all the political and social system of the mankind. They first got rid of all the countries and united all of them into one entity under the control of Hu Jintao. Humans were hired to perform administrative works at first but as time passed the aliens replaced them as they understood the planet better.

     As the report was written in 2020 and I am writing this article in 2319, almost 300 years have passed since the reign of dominas. Now, our species lost the our name "human", and is now collectively called the "Controla." Still, I wondered how the aliens could eliminate all the records of human civilization that existed more than several thousand years.

     One day, I was heading to my office as usual and some unfamiliar dominas approached me and forcefully dragged me to some interrogation building I had never been. Before the interrogation, they told me that they all knew about what I gathered and found out. One striking fact came to me; they had a chip planted to every individual controlas. With the chip, the dominas could keep track of all controlas' thoughts. At the time I was arrested, I must have been one of the most thinking controlas since other controlas do works that do not involve much thinking. The dominas checked me out and realized that I was committing a serious crime in their point of view. They arrested me and sentenced me to death.

     Now, I have all the answers to the colonization of this planet. I might not be the first one to gather the answers since the dominas could always have killed my precedents with the chips. However, I feel obliged to leave these truths for the sake of our species, "human." If you now finished reading this, try to think as little as possible about this matter. If you are too much into this, dominas will someday come to you and get you. Remember this as you would not forget about this. Live your life as normal as you did before. However, you are still responsible for spreading this knowledge to many people. That way only our mankind can revive into the honor we used to possess. >


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Chain Writing 10/10 result

     In 2020, Kim Jeongil, the national leader of North Korea, suddenly passed away. The North Korean government was put into a chaos in the absence of  leader and no one seemed able to anticipate what would happen to the only left isolated country in the world. After 3 days, China rose up claiming its right to take control over North Korea for it was in the closest relationship and it helped North Korea to sustain from falling down.

     However, just at the moment when China was about to gobble up North Korea for its own, South Korean citizens along with their president, got furious. "We need war" was the national consensus. Not a single person protested when the government came up with a war-fundraising project. Suddenly, the speculation of a war was imminent. It seemed that only a few days were left before a massive war. 

     However, on the boundary of the war to declare its start, an unidentified object from the universe arrived at Manhattan, New York, threatening all people all over the world and binding all citizens of whatever countries to be real cosmopolitans and force them to cooperate. 

     Both the Korean and Chinese governments fell into a state of chaos. They have prepared so many troops for the war and due to the arrival of aliens, the world is urging them to cooperate. 'If we attack first when they decide to agree upon a temporary truce, we would be able to win the war and conquer their land' was the primary thoughts of executive officials from both countries. 'What was gonna happen?', the citizens were in fear. Then, a groundbreaking news was revealed; the Prime minister of China, Hu Zintao, was actually a disguised creature that the aliens had sent. Foolish Chinses put him at the position in which he could almost freely control all the Chinese troops. The war now seemed inevitable - it was just that there was a little shift in the aim of war; to achieve North Korean territory to kill the alien master. 

     The president of Korea decided to form an alliance with all the countries which were not friendly with China. He sent messages of supposition to Taiwan, Vietnam, India, Mongol, and so on. He was now all ready to propose war. Another unbelievable things happened. Aliens landed at Seoul in great number. Koreans were confounded by the unexpected appearance of aliens. 

Response to "Exit Through the Gift Shop"

     I found this movie interesting as 96% of the reviewers did in the Rotten Tomatoes. The reason that so many people could have enjoyed this may be the passion a man named Thierry Guetta had shown in the film. He is introduced as a French citizen who immigrated to US years ago and made quite a living by running a clothing store. He does not seem so intelligent or sophisticated but rather looks comical with his strong French accent. Still, he loves his life of merchandising clothes and recording with his video camera. His characteristic obsession with filming every single moment whether significant or not was originated from sudden loss of his mother. Sense of great loss struck him so harshly and thus motivated him to stick to every minute and second that will never come back again. The motivation became an obsession and obsession gave birth to the lifelong passion of "Mr. Brainwash."

"I came up with the idea that the whole movement of art is all about brainwash.
So I use M.B.W and I am Mr. Brainwash." - Thierry Guetta

     The rise of Mr. Brainwash as a street artist is fabulously rapid and therefore quite implausible. It can be proved from his family and acquaintances that he constantly filmed everything he saw and he met numerous street artists anywhere there is a wall to decorate. He started from his cousin, the "Space Invader" and then moved to Shepard Fairey who had become famous for Obama's "hope" poster. Determined to make the first documentary featuring the street art, Thierry Guetta ardently looks for "Banksy", the single most influential street artist whose artworks are everywhere and well appreciated by worldwide reviewers. 
     However, even after accepting the fact that Thierry had witnessed many scenes when other artists embellish streets, many people still do not feel certain about the authenticity of Mr. Brainwash. The Wall Street Journal article "Mr. Brainwash: For Real?" by Candace Jackson and Lauren A. E. Schuker raises the same question as that the other bewildered watchers did.
     There are several reasons why Thierry is doubted about his artworks. First and foremost, his appearance in the movie does not seem to be that of an artist. The film never shows him while he creates his art works. Spraying pigments to already drawn paintings and clumsily attaching his poster to walls are the only things that he does and the film shows us about his production of arts. 

     Second, Thierry's rise as a street artist is extraordinarily fast. According to Banksy, for most street artists, it takes several years to formulate their own style and even then only distinguished a few succeed in establishing fame and influence over the art world. In Thierry's case, he never hesitated in expanding his art. He started with the idea that the whole art is about brainwashing and produced paintings of people in their sunglasses. After Banksy suggested him to be a street artist himself, he became so prolific that he could think of holding an art show in a giant warehouse in Los Angeles. His progress is just unlikely. Neither Fairey nor Banksy gives us explicit reason to the situation because either they do not know either, or the whole thing is concocted. 
     Movies dealing with real events or phenomena oftentimes have to bear the attacks from the people who doubt the truth of the material. For example, an American documentary that deals with fake identities online, "Catfish" was in controversy whether the romantic relationship between the main character Nev Schulman and Megan Faccio made-up identity by Angela actually existed. Likewise, a Korean documentary "The true-taste show" that revealed the deceit of TV programs in introducing  restaurants that allegedly serve good foods was also hotly debated whether the documentary was real. The contents of this kind of films are sometimes so shocking and trenchant that the audiences cannot easily accept them as truth. 
     "The Exit Through the Gift Shop" also illustrates some story. Not only is the Thierry's story fascinating but also lives of other street artists are interesting enough to attract our attention. Although most of their art performances are illegal, their spirit of resistance and arts in which their spirit is realized are just too fascinating to be disregarded as mere acts of defiance. Some people suspect that Mr. Brainwash is another ego of Banksy that borrows Thierry's outlook. According to the Wall Street Journal article, Mr. Brainwash said "Maybe I am Banksy." and in another interview, he said in a sense that he is the final incarnation of Banksy's art soul. 
     We will probably never know whether Mr. Brainwash actually creates his works. The enigma of M.B.W, however, does not interfere the enjoyment we feel when appreciating creative art works by the street artists but adds more fascination and sort of energy to the film. Moreover, even if Thierry might not be Mr. Brainwash, he still is an artist of a different kind who first seriously considered making a documentary about street arts and did. In my opinion, for the better enjoyment of the film and critique, the movie critics should focus on the free spirits of street artists captured thanks to Thierry which would rather be very hard to record in video not on the veracity of the material. 

A Dinner With Cristiano Ronaldo

 

Santiago Bernabeu

Spanish food

Preamble

Cristiano Ronaldo is undoubtedly the most popular soccer player of this era. His fabulous skills and astonishing goal scoring records fascinate even those who do not have much interests in soccer. He has played for Real Madrid, a Spanish soccer club since he left Manchester United in 2009. In his former club, he played with Jisung Park who arranged a dinner appointment with a Korean guy for Cristiano. The name of this extremely lucky guy is Youngil and he fled to Spain right after news reached him. Cristiano invites Youngil to the VIP room of Santiago Bernabeu, the main stadium of his team. The stadium is empty for the new season is to come in a month. They order fabulous Spanish foods and their conversation starts now. The time setting for this meeting is the summer break before 2011~12 season.  

Youngil: Hello Ronaldo. I am extremely happy to meet you.

Cristiano: Hello Youngil. I am also glad to meet you. Just call me Cristiano. 

Youngil: Okay, Cristiano. First of all, I really appreciate you for meeting me before new season is only one month left. You must be pretty busy these days, to prepare for the new season. 

Cristiano: Yes. I am busy and my whole team members are busy. We lost the chance to win the league title to Barcelona again last season. We are scouting more players and trying to make the team more systematic. 

Youngil: Although the performance of your team was relatively bad compared to Barcelona, your performance was unbelievable. You broke the record of scoring the most in Primera Liga during one season. Congratulations!

Cristiano: Gracias! This is all because of my fellow players and fans of Real Madrid who always supported me to play better. I feel like I have said "Hala Madrid" in front of the home fans yesterday and there is this third season coming for me. 

Youngil: You know this meeting was arranged by Jisung Park who played with you in your former club, Manchester United. I was very sad to see you leaving Manchester after failing to win Barcelona in Champions League Final. Moreover, I was also sad to find that you are not going to play with Jisung Park anymore. 

Cristiano: I was also very sad to leave Manchester leaving all the friends behind. However, Real Madrid was always my dream club and the club waited for me for several years offering tons of money to Manchester United. I could not just give up the challenges I would meet in Spain. Plus, I wanted to stay close to my family in Portugal. 

Youngil: It sounds like you have special affinity for your family. How is your relationship with your family?

Cristiano: Well, I love my family just as others do. As you might know, my father died when I was quite young. My mother had to work to sustain my family. We did suffer when I was young and we had to stick together.

Youngil: You signed up Sporting Lisbon at the age of 12. Didn't you feel lonely to be parted away from your family at such an early age?

Cristiano: Of course I did. However, it was such a great chance for my life that I could not give it up. Signing up with Sporting Lisbon did help me consequently since Manchester United found me after its match with Lisbon.

Youngil: Let us get to some interesting parts. You played with Jisung Park in Manchester. How did you feel about him?

Cristiano: Okay. He is certainly a great player. He runs more than any other players on the ground and does not play for his own sake. He always participated eagerly in all the trainings. Still, he was not the greatest player like Rooney. He had no crucial impact to change a game entirely in a moment. His presence was beneficial to the team and that was it.

Youngil: I think that is pretty harsh comment. How did you find him as a person?

Cristiano: Like I said, he was always diligent. I was really surprised when he recovered from his injury only after 5 months when the doctors predicted it to take far more than that. Still, he seemed not to enjoy hanging with me. He prefered to stay hom while I like meeting with a lot of people.

Youngil: There comes another issue. Cristiano, I am sorry to say this but I will say the truth. Your image to many people is that of a genius soccer player who does not put much effort but still performs well because of his natural ability and physical. Do you want to refute to this claim?

Cristiano: Yes. I definitely want to argue against the alleged claim. It is not just right to defame me that I do not put efforts. I always practice a lot to improve myself. For example, I developed my unique freekick style while I was at Manchester United. It is not that I do not like to enjoy my life but that I do not want to be called a just lucky man who do not spare time for practice.

Youngil: I understand you. Your freekick is just so fabulous. You mentioned that you like to play with girls and at the same time, you are a father to a baby. Why did you not marry his mom? Was it because you did not want to give up your freedom?

Cristiano: I admit that many people oppose to the idea that I only raise my child and not marry the  mother. Also, I admit that I did not want to marry the woman. Let's say she was not my soulmate. One day, after meeting with dozens of other girls, I might find a perfect match that I would want to marry Still, I could not give up my baby. That is why I paid a lot to earn the right to raise him.

Youngil: That is reasonable. Also many of your fans feel that you are too young and attractive to be possessed by one woman. Now let me ask you how you are planning to live your future.

Cristiano: I have not yet planned my future out neatly. I am currently focusing my everything on winning as many cups as possible with my team. In the future, I might still be working related to soccer or might not be. However whatever I do, I will try to remain in contact with a lot of my fans who always supported me.

Youngil: That is a wonderful plan Cristiano. Maybe it's time to end our dinner.

Cristiano: It was a great pleasure to meet you and have conversation about me haha.

Youngil: I thank you one more time for meeting with me today. I wish you the greatest luck for the upcoming season. Adios!

Cristiano: Adios.

Brainstorming: A Dinner With Cristiano Ronaldo

Who: Cristiano Ronaldo

When: Before 2011~12 season starts, that is going to be a month past from now.

Where: Cristiano and I will have lunch at the VIP room of the Santiago Bernabeu the stadium of Real Madrid. We will eat fabulous Spanish foods.

What I will ask:
1. How was your youth and how did it impact your later life?
2. How was Jisung Park as your partner in Manchester United?
3. What do you think of Messi and how does the rivalry between him and you affect your performance?
4. Why is Barcelona so hostile to your team and what do you think of El Clasico?
5. Why do you think you perform worse when you meet strong teams such as Barcelona?
6. What is your role in your team as a player who received number 7 from Raul Gonzales?
7. You are currently raising a baby and still did not marry the baby's mom. Are you deliberately avoiding marriage to meet more women?
8. Your image is a genius who does not put much effort but still plays well because of your physical and natural ability. Do you want to refute to this claim?
9. What is your plan for your career? What do you want to achieve more?
10. What is your plan after retirement as a soccer player?

     Both the class discussion and Mr. Garrioch's comments on his blog were focused on the genuineness of this documentary, Catfish. It does not make sense that a good-looking man with a job that gives him frequent chances of meeting attractive woman in real life falls into love with a woman on-line. Also, considering the year this documentary was filmed, no use of web-cameras between the couple is unusual. 
     However, I do not think that finding out whether this documentary was filmed in a genuine way from the beginning to the end does not have much importance. I think, the filmmakers, Nev Schulman and his brothers could have distorted their movie to make it more interesting and adventurous, thus to make more profit out of it. We can criticize him for claiming 100 percent truthfulness. However, this movie is still valuable since it brought up the topic of social network system to international wide. 
     The most realistic part of this documentary, as Mr. Garrioch said, would me Angela. She even came up in a TV show to talk about her doings. Angela first contacted Nev for the purpose of getting more connections. She wanted customers for her art work. And then, she found this young man attractive and started to develop relationship with him. She had given herself an imaginary persona called Megan Faccio and supported her new identity with photos she found and new 15 Facebook accounts, imaginary friends of Megan. She even had phone calls with a little change in her intonations. Her doings are, frankly said, creepy. 
      My topic of this critical response is somewhat related to what I wrote previously. I said that women's prevalence in social media does not mean that women will get more power in real life situations because many consider it trivial and even negative. Angela can be a good example of abuse of social network system. It is very true that social network system has made our lives more convenient. We do not have to worry about losing contacts with friends in the past and we can now inform about our lives to a greater number of people in a shorter time. However, there are also problems in social network system. 
     In the past, the most significant on-line problem was the malicious comments due to the anonymity. SNS naturally removed the problem since sharing personal informations is a very important part of it. However, the problem still exists and even developed into more complicated status. "No one cannot verify the identity of a person." Catfish reminded me a movie called '김씨 표류기' in Korean and 'Castaway on the moon'.

The woman and the man have separate stories but I would like to talk about the woman. This woman has a social disability due to  experiences at school. She does not get out of her room and her social life is limited on the social network system called 'Cyworld'. She also has inferiority in her face so she uses other pretty woman's pictures as hers. She has had popularity on-line but suddenly her popularity turns to numerous bad comments when people found out about her real identity. Later, she finds happiness from him and finally gets out of her room. 




Deceiving one's identity in SNS cannot be said to have intentions to harm others. However, people who built relationships with faked identity would feel deep disappointment and tend to disbelieve others on SNS. Although it might give a chance to live a different life for people with inferiority complex, I do not think it should be allowed to fake their identities in SNS.

 Debate Motions

1) THW strengthen the registering process of the SNS. 
2) THBT people who have deceitful accounts in SNS should be punished.




 

Social media and the end of gender

     The TED video "Johana Blakley; social media and the end of gender" claims that the wide use of social media will lead to the end of sexual discrimination. 
     However, I think the claim of the video is not plausible. It is very true that much more women use the new social media such as Facebook and they lead the trend inside it. However, the important thing is that many people consider the usage of social media very trivial and sometimes even negative.
     Although the speaker said that people actively gather according to their interests inside the social media, many social media users usually take advantage of it as a way to keep in touch with people they either knew and met at the past or know now. This is why more women are participating in the trend of the new social media boom. Still, many people find this sort of social activity time-wasting. They even blame the others who do that. Especially in Korea, there is a kind of a perception that people who play an active part online while doing nothing offline, are considered strange and socially disabled.
      Moreover, many of the people who do not use the online social media even think of it negatively. In social media, there is a high possibility that one's private life and information exposed to the mass. For example, there was an announcer who wrote in the social media about her break up with her boyfriend. Although she claimed (before she killed herself) that the articles were not written by her, this information which included some inappropriate contents was all spread to the mass and she suddenly became the target of blame from the netizens. She eventually killed herself by throwing herself from 19th floor of her apartment building. This is just the happening of yesterday.
     The explanations given in the video are very sweet and ideal. However, the social media may have earned popularity of many but not all.

Debate motions

1) THW require the social media to impose much heavier privacy protection regulation.
2) THB more people should be educated with internet manner.

The TED video by Patricia Ryan, an English teacher in Dubai, has a claim that governance of English is killing the variety of langauges all over the world. According to the video, only 600 languages will remain in 90 years from that of 6000 nowadays. She gives the benefits of various languages for mankind that man can learn so much more from them not only in cultural aspects but also in academic areas. She gave an example of a German scientist who solved the problem of two English scientists who used different terms for the same thing.

I did not understad much about the use of language as a tool for more learning. However, I agreed to the basic idea that many people are spending too much time and expenses to study English. The TED video reminded me of myself preparing for TOEFL exam. The motive of our school to check the TOEFL scores of students is understandable since decent English ability is necessary in this school. However, the strategies that private institutions use to raise the scores of students are not recommendable. In those institutions, I did not learn English but learned skills to solve the problems in the TOEFL. If I had read English books or practiced writing essays instead of increasing my skills for the test, my real English ability would be much better.

I think the test-based English education system is the problem. Due to those tests, students and private institutions began to focus on raising scores not the true ability in English. One of the reasons I like my school is that I can achieve better English through reading and writing.

30 days of not rejecting any requests

     I brought this out after I felt pleasure doing a favor for my fiends. They requested me to buy some doughnuts in the way I came back to school. I did as they requested they appreciated and their facial expressions showed their happiness.
     Here's how this program will run. First, I would like to select a high school student whose name is notorious for selfishness. As he program starts, he is not allowed to reject any requests from people around him. If he does reject one, he will have to do service work for an hour per one rejection. Someone might request him things that he cannot or should not. For example, he may be asked to give money out or to showthe exam paper to others. These kinds of requests will be advised by the programmer that the person will be able to reject those requests.
     The person will be very unhappy to do every single favor he gets for the first days. He might reject series of requests that he might have to go to service at maybe an orphanage for several hours in weekends. His apparent and the only feeling would be anger. Being furious, he would not be able to notify any difference in his emotions.
     As days go, he will start to perceive his condition as natural or as his duties. It might be just giving up and following the rule. Whatever the reason might be, he would stop his expression of anger. He will calmly accept the requests. As he has changed to a person who do favors for others, the people around him would start requesting more things that include requests that can only be made between intimate relationships such as 'please evaluate my essay' not just 'can I borrow your eraser'. As he does those kinds of favors he will start feeling good of doing favors.
     After 30 days, he would have discovered the pleasure of doing favor. However, this is totally based on my predictions and indeed the result would be different from what I expected. 

Public Education killing Creativity? What are parents doing?

     I had been studying the US history just before I watched Sir Ken Robinson's TED speech and the video did inspire me to throw out the textbook.

     I was always curious why Korean residents in the US accomplish more especially in the areas of arts and sports. To name some of those people, there are Hines Ward who received the honor of MVP in Super Bowl 2006, a golf genius Michelle Wie and a world-famous violinist Sarah Chang. Moreover, stories that say a family went to US for better academic education for the children and there, they found a special gift and developed it further, are quite common. Since I had never experienced the education system in the United States and never thought about the reason why, I simply concluded that American education system is just superior.

     However, after I watched the two videos, I realized that American education system is not as admirable as I thought before. The speaker was criticizing it for the same reasons that Korean system also possesses. I would say there is a difference in the level of badness. Public education in Korea started during the Japanese colonial time. Japanese rulers wanted to grow students in a way that they will live in submission without revolts. The teachers at school forced students to wear uniforms that look like a military uniform, to keep hair as short as possible and teachers had always carried a gun or knife during classes. Still now, most highschool students are not allowed to have a hair style they want and many teachers and most teachers in Korea allowed to impose physical punishment to students. Also, student groups reaching 40 are filled in a small classroom unable to leave the room during the school hours.

     I do not want to deny the fact that our public education. As a student who had experienced the public education for 9 years, it is bad for majority of students. First, it is too much restricted. Young aged children and juvenile should stay seated for straight 6 to 8 hours a day without meaningful breaks. What is even worse is that most students do not consider the classes valuable. They rather sleep or do some other works such as homeworks from private institutions.

     However, the current public education system is the finest way in which everyone can receive certain amount of education. The primary goal of public education is to provide everyone enough amount of education to live as a democratic citizen in the society. The aspects of public schools such as restriction on hair style or physical punishment can be criticized. However, I believe it should not be criticized for its incapability of giving students chances to find their own interest or develop creativity. There is no certain way or method to develop creativity. If there were one, public schools would have already adopted it. Moreover, the quality of lectures may vary according to students' preparation or intelligence because the lectures are settled on the average students based on the basic principle.

     I believe the creativity part of education is based on the parents' role. Recently, issue of an elementary school student president election came up in conversation between people in Korea. One of the candidates won the election after he had pledged to provide a fishbowl to every single class with several kinds of fish with his own money. This event if not epitomize, gives an example of parents who are too eager in their children that they unintentionally teach the principle that only the result is important and the process does not matter if the result is good. Public education cannot care every single students as parents can because of lack of human power since governments cannot hire billions of teachers. In contrast, parents can take time to watch their children and find out what they want, like and excel.

     However, what many parents only care about is their children's scores and entrance to good schools in a more broader way. This overheated passion of parents is the actual cause of students' lack of creativity. If parents want their children to be a unique and valuable person, they will have to consider the other way around.

Revolts of students in America / How about in Korea?

Michael Moore became famous in Korea for his documentary ‘Sicko’ about the American health care system because the president of Korea was trying to change the present health care system of Korea to be similar to that of the United States. Michael Moore’s bitter criticism on the American health care system made Korean people to oppose to change in present system and finally foiled the president’s attempt involuntarily.

However, High School Newspaper is not about Michael Moore or his documentaries. It is about us, the teenagers. Michael Moore is just giving the teenagers the opportunity to make their messages heard by more public. In the article, Michael Moore is expressing his amazement and deep impression he received from the students’ revolt in Wisconsin.

I mentioned about a book last time and as Mr.Garrioch said in his comment, I also thought this book is even more relevant to this issue than last one. This book is called ‘The 880 thousand won generation’. The author of this book used this term for the first time in an effort to define the 20s and teenagers in Korea. The term was created from a calculation of the average amount of income the teenagers will receive after they graduate from college. Therefore, a worker who had finished a high level of education from a college will earn only about 800 dollars a month. According to the book, this phenomenon occurred because the former generation of people flourished too much. The people of father generation in Korea did not have to worry about looking for a job because if they had attended a college and received a certificate, they could pick any company they want to work at by themselves. In contrast, although the teenagers study a lot more than the past and even when they get into a university they spend a chunk of time to qualify for a job. When I occasionally go back home from school and visit library on a Sunday, I see a lot of college students studying for TOEIC which is required by most firms in Korea. Students in Korea come to library on weekends to study for an exam not to read books! What a non-sense situation happening in Korea. Similarly, high school students cram and memorize for 3 years of their high school lives just for the national college entrance exam.

At the back cover of the book, there was a short passage recommending the book, written by a columnist. In the passage, he said “While Korean students are hostile to others including other students or adult, they do not possess critical opinion toward Korean society. In contrast, students in European countries are benevolent toward people around them, and at the same time can express their thoughts about the society they belong to critically”. I did really agree to his point and I thought this is the major difference between Korean students and other students in countries that possess better education system in Korea.

In my opinion, normal Korean students are stupid. I, a KMLA student, am stupid too. The difference is that I wasted a bit more time during middle school years and my parents invested more money on me. Most importantly, I will not become a part of ‘the 880 thousand won generation’. The prestigious name of this school already guarantees the minimum amount of dignity for all the students in this school. However, the classmates and friends I had in the past, surely more than half of them will end up being part of ‘the 880 thousand won generation’. Thinking in this way, I was literally sad and afraid because a person cannot pursue a moderate life with this kind of small money. Surely they are not smart, and when they realize they are part of ‘the 880 thousand won generation’ they will just comfort themselves by reproaching themselves not cramming enough earlier like me for example. However, this isn’t just right! The system is wrong not that the students did not try hard. Looking at the Michael Moore’s amazement in high school students’ revolt, I envied US education system. Education systems in more advanced countries do not make students memorize and line them up by scores. Rather, they encourage students to think and to have their own opinion of them. Whenever there is a change in administration or government, a new president has suggested a new education policy, but every single time, people were disappointed.

We should not expect the government or elite upper class to change our circumstance. Naturally, they do not want any change in the current system because it functions as they exactly want; manufacturing dull workers who will not complain about the inequitable society.

I am not sure who should or will lead the revolt in Korea. I am not sure whether I, who are very lucky to escape from the dread situation in Korea, am willing to take part in the change because I have high chance of becoming an elite or upperclass later in future. I think I need more time to think on. However, one sure thing is that there should be a change in Korea in education or economy whatever.

The Story of Stuff

 

'The Story of Stuff' is a topic of controversy. While some teachers considered the video clip useful and used it as a material for education, many people on the other hand oppose the use of this video clip in the classrooms for 2 reasons. The video clip includes inaccurate facts and brings about anti-American and anti-government sentiments. However, I do not want to talk about whether the percentage of budget that is put into the US military is 20% or 50%, or whether the US government can be symbolized as a tank or not. The important thing is that it is an effort to arise doubts in the system of ruling classes. While I was watching the video, I thought about the courage of the people who recorded the video and posted it online. They did not fear the probable attack from the government or powerful corporations. They pursued their belief and tried to give their message to as many people as possible.

These days, I am reading a book about the teenagers in Korea. Unlike typical books that criticize the immorality of general teenagers from the grown-up's point of views, this book discusses about the system that sort of prisons teenagers in Korea. According to the book, Korean students are imprisoned in the school system that does not allow any kind of freedom to students. Most high school students should stay at school from as early as 7o'clock in the morning to as late as 11o'clock at night. They are subjected to harsh competition in exams. Even, they are not allowed to have a hair style they want. By taking all the freedom from the students and making them focus only on their scores, the ruling class does not have to worry about revolution or change from the teenagers and as they grow to adults, they will adapt to the real society without revolt. The message that 'The Story of Stuff' was trying to give is sort of similar to that of the book I am reading. The government and the powerful corporations keep the linear system of production and consumption in order to maintain the income and growth of economy. I think favorably of this video because it is an attempt to question the current system that the powers had already settled. Some facts might have been exaggerated, but the main purpose of this video should be respected.

Debate Topics

1. THW ban the video 'The Story of Stuff' in all classrooms.

2. THB students should have right to choose the materials they want to study.
3. THB teachers should have right to choose the materials they want to teach without governmental interference.