The Body Review: Stand by Me and 친구(Friend)

In this review, I would like to talk about the similarities between the movie Stand by Me and 친구(Friend).

To give you a very general idea of what the movie 친구 is about, it is a movie that talks about 4 friends that eventually grow up and end up in a very different life from one another.
The thing that I found very interesting about both stories is that despite the striking difference between their setting, one in Busan and one in U.S., these boys all go through the same passages in life.
친구 starts from a scene where the boys are very young, as young as 13. This is the age that they are probably like the boys in the Body. At this age, these boys show much similarities to the boys that are in "The Body". They joke around with each other, and talk about things that we find to be quite silly in such a serious manner. For instance, in the movie Stand by Me, the boys talk about whether Goofy is a dog or not. In the case of 친구, the boys talks about whether a professional swimmer or a turtle would be faster.
This talking about things that are not really important as if it really matters to them, is one similarity that I found interesting in those movies.
Another similarity I found in these movies is the family background. 준석 is a character that is like a father to those boys, protecting them from outer sources of influence such as teachers and bad boys. He, a perfect match with Chris, has a father who is a gangster.    Like Chris, who had a drunkard for father.

The main difference between these movies is the point of life that the story focuses on. Unlike Stand by Me, 친구 is more about the people those boys become after they grow up and the life that they lead. Two of them becomes a gangster, a rival gang at that, one becomes a elite, and the last becomes an ordinary restaurant owner. 동수 ends up dead, murdered brutally by 준석' s gang. 준석 goes to prison for life.
Still, the movie 친구 relates with the movie Stand by Me in a way that the directors for both movies would not have noticed. Remember how "Friends Drag you down"?
Well that line is explicitly shown in the movie친구. 동수 becomes a gangster only because of the influence of 준석, whose father was a gangster also. He ends up dead because his friend dragged him down.
A very interesting characteristic that 친구 has with Stand by Me is the future of Chris. The actor who played Chris, River, gets addicted to drugs. Well, 동수, a match for Chris, also goes through periods in which he suffers from drug addiction.

They both have  a similar tone, the tone of nostalgia and that friends can't really last forever regardless of what you think of them in your mind.

친구 is a great movie, a personal favorite of mine and one strangely similar to Stand By Me.

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I wondered whether it was possible to put a video as a title.
It seems that I have failed to do so. Dang.

But wouldn't that be interesting? The concept of having a video for a title.

Having a video for title will, draw people's attention to the article.
Heck, even having a picture for title will help.

People never use it though. Probably because they would think that a title should encompass the contents of the article. Of course, a picture won't be able to exactly state what the article contains. However, isn't that the same for most titles? Unless the author is really down-to-the-earth, most titles aren't that boring. It often uses a similee or a maxim in order to express the overall feeling of that article.

Well, if that is the case, to give an overall feeling of that article, why can't a video or a picture do the same? Instead of having a title like "Death looks upon Africa", and talking about the poverty in Africa, why can't we have a simple picture like this as a title?

Kevin Carter's infamous photo

Certainly, it works amazingly well as a hook, and introduces the contents at a first glance.

Maybe I should try doing so on the final.

God is an Astronaut

This particular band I fell in love with is a group that usually does post-rock.
Now, post-rock is nothing like rock. It is more like newage music, except that it is played with  instruments that will usually have been used for rocks. In most cases, post-rock has no voice at all. It is quiet, and calm, except for certain moments in which the music hits "The Ordeal".

"God is an Astronaut" is the name of the group. Quite a name, huh? The reason they have this name is probably because of the songs are all about stars and night skies.
Their songs are quite complex, yet stunningly beautiful and mesmerizing. For some reason, you find yourself vibrating with the beat of the music and silently humming along.

Here are some of their songs:


What is amazing about their song is that regardless of the fact that I have never really bothered to look at the shores of Orion, it somehow feels that the shores of Orion would look like this music. Like this yellowish, a bit blue, and grand.



This song, my favorite, is named "Suicide by Star".
Just closing my eyes, I can picture the night sky as bright as day, full of blue, emerald green stars.

I made a cover for this album during my Art class.

Yup, it's a bit gory, but still.

I tried to depict the thoughts that went through my mind when I first heard this song. I thought how this song seemed to describe something beyond the reach of our senses, and the desperate attempts of humans to get there. The inevitable failure to do so, to get their, makes people fall. It pains people. So I stabbed a star into that poor salmon's back.

The name of the album is: All is bright, All is violent.
Yup. To that fish, all would be bright, and all those stars will be very violent.

If I had to give this band a five-star evaluation, I would give them as much as there are in the album cover. This music is beyond the scope of star-measurement. God is an Astronaut.

MockTrial

Well, this closing statement is about a case in which a teacher is being accused of assault. The context of this charge is that the teacher hit the student after touching a burning tong. It is stipulated on both sides that the tong was heated by the student, that the hit was made, and there is a severe injury where the teacher's hand made contact with the student. The part where people couldn't agree upon was whether that hit was intentional or a muscle reflex after having touched something hot.

Here is the closing statement for the defense.

Members of the jury, today’s case all comes down to a single word, a single question. And that question is: Really?

But before that, at the beginning of today’s court, you heard my cocouncel, Jiwon describe the burden that the prosecution bears. You would remember, that the prosecution today had the burden to prove beyond and to the exclusion of all reasonable doubt that Ms. Ali had intentionally hurt Kirwan Rohane. However, that burden was not met at today’s trial.

Now in order to meet their burden of proof, the prosecution had to give sufficient evidences and convincing testimonies to prove to you that Ali had intentionally attacked Kirwan.

Well, let’s look at the evidences that they have provided. Wait…there isn’t one! You would remember that not a single exhibit was entered today. The prosecution doesn’t have a single evidence. Not a single picture, not a single psychological analysis, not a single proof whatsoever that proves Ali intentionally hurt Kirwan. No. Nothing but only the words of two teenage girls.

 The prosecution’s entire case was built on what Kirwan and Chris said. So here comes the question. Really? Are they credible witnesses? Well, in today’s court, defense showed you that those two girls lied.

You would remember that the witness from the prosecution side, Kirwan and Chris, had a strikingly contrasting opinion about what happened on June 1^st. First of all, the issue of who heated up those tongs that hurt Ali Arthurs. You would all remember Kirwan Rohane testifying that it was Chris who heated up the tong. Only, right afterward, Chris came up to the stand and told you that it wasn’t her, but Kirwan that heated up those tongs. Really?

Second the issue of being scolded by Mrs. Arthurs. Again, the two witnesses of the prosecution side had a very contrasting opinion. You would remember that Kirwan testified that she had never been scolded by Mrs. Arthurs. Only, right afterward, Chris came up to the stand and told you, that she had been always scolded by Mrs. Arthurs to grow up and behave. So again, really?

Third, the issue of disliking Mrs. Arthurs. Once again, the two witnesses of the prosecuton side had a very contrasting opinion. You would remember that Kirwan testifying that she has no reason to make up a story about Mrs. Arthurs because she didn’t really scold her. Only, again, right afterwards, Chris came up to the stand and admitted, that both Kirwan and her openly hated Mrs. Arthurs.Yes ladies and gentleman, and that’s what she said. So once again. Really?

Well, obviously, somebody is lying here. And it is solely based on that lie that the prosecution is trying to prosecute Ali Arthurs. It is based on that lie that the prosecution is trying to take away Ali’s job, her way of life. It is based on that lie that the prosecution is trying to take away her liberty. Simply outrageous.

You heard Ali Arthurs today. You heard her tell you from heart, how she would never have intentionally hurt Kirwan. How it was her muscle reflexes, not her intention that caused the accident. You also heard from Sam Saunders today. Remember how Ali waved her hands in the air after there was the accident. People don’t wave hands after having intentionally hitting someone. No, the reason Ali waved her hands in the air was because she was in pain. She waved her hands in the air because it was all an accident. Not a deliberate hit.

             Today, Ali is being tried of a crime that she did not commit. An assault. A charge that could forever restrain this young women’s future.

Members of the jury, you are the only one with the power to set things right. You are the only one that could stop the prosecution from destroying this person’s future.

We the defense ask you to ask yourself that question. Really?

Really, did Ali intentionally hit Kirwan.

Really, did prosecution prove anything in this court today?

Really?

Not Really.

Cool it (Reflective Essay)

 
 Last week was simply crazy. Apart from the fact that I had a hard time catching up because of all the classes that I missed due to my trip to Guam(yes, a 'honeymoon' with five girls), it was full of quiz and sudden homeworks. Everyday, I would have to look at the schedule tomorrow and find out that I had so much to do. Therefore, that whole week, I was sleep-deprived, stressed, and worst of all, annoyed.

    I was just pissed at everything. Though I tried to suppress the anger, I couldn't stop popping at some moments. Friends noticed the look on my face and was worried that I was mad at them. Well, I was, technically, but it gave me a horrible feeling to make them worried.

Especially because it wasn't them that was the cause of the problem but rather my anger itself.
   The edginess seemed to reach the peak when I was preparing for the mock trial competition yesterday. I was half-dazed because I practically spent the entire morning sleeping. Despite the sleep, I was very tired, and sleepy. I just didn't want to do anything but get back to the bed and sleep more. I had to, however, prepare for that trial since it was due 10:00PM that evening. So in my sleep-walking state, I jumbled down my closing statements and wrote my cross examination points.

Ha... It was horrible.

I  knew I was writing cra*, but I had to bs on because it was due so soon. I was even more freaked by the fact that I had to play both the witness and the attorney in that trial. Yes. Therefore, I exploded when Jungmin asked "Can you give me a direct examination?"
Though I did use the gentlest vocabulary that popped into my mind to refuse her request, it was evident that I exploded. She was worried that I was angry at her. She said "Are you okay? You look like you are angry at something for a whole week.". Another girl passing by said, "yeah, you were so pissed this week. What's going on?" I tried to say, "I've been so overworking this week", but then realized: we were all going through the same thing.

All this time I've been pissed, I intentionally overlooked that people all around me- they were going through the same thing as I was but managed to stay sane. I was ashamed.

I learned to never be whiner, especially when everyone's going through the same thing. I learned that I needed to get tougher. Heck, I'll be going through worse next year. Third, I learned to always put on a smile even if it sometimes may be false. 

Guam

From November17 to 21, I was at Guam, participating in Asia Pacific Mock Trial Competition. It was such an amazing experience.

First of all, the competition was held in an actual courtrooms with actual judges.
Now, this courtroom was one among many courtrooms in which the competition was held, and as you can see, it is all very real. Too real that it made me quite nervous, actually. The person behind me in the picture is the chief clerk, or something like that. He gave us a tour of the whole place. Something that is very interesting about the courtrooms in Guam is that they are really cold. I mean freezing. Now, even though I was fully dressed in suit, I could practically feel the air conditioner freezing my bones.

My teammates

 Another thing that I noticed about these courtrooms were how well equipped they were. The jury box, the witness stand, the attorney seats were all equipped with a touch screen. This touch screen made it possible for everyone to draw circles and underline without actually damaging the exhibits. There was also an elevator to the witness stand for witnesses with disabled legs.
The clerk showed us around the entire facility, and I was mainly surprised by the judge's room. It had an amazing ocean view, and it had an elevator just for the judge herself. The picture on the right shows me and my teammates, Nuri Kim, Sumin Park, Sujin Lee, Hyejoon Lee, Gyu youn Park,and Seohyeon Lee.

Another amazing thing about the competition was the other teams. All teams other than 4 teams from Korea were all native English speakers, and they were awesome. Not only were they fluent, but some teams were exceptional at mocktrial itself. I learned after some games that one of the teams that our team just went against had went to the National Finals Mock Trial, and actually won it at '94.

     More interesting than the competition itself, however, was the food and fun I had on the island. For the first time in my life, I went to a Mexican restaurant. I had a steak, but I also tried some taco from my friend's dish, and it was really good. The crunchiness followed by sweet-warm juice and than the soft meet and vegetables of the taco was amazing. Also, I tried Dr.Pepper for the first time in my life at that restaurant. The color made me wonder whether there was a difference to it and coke. However, after a sip I was sorry that there wasn't Dr.Pepper in Korea. Actually,that is something that I can't understand until now. For dinner, we went to the Chilies, and the food there was even better than Mexican. The thing that I loved the most was the dish with vanilla ice cream on top of a hot fudge brownie. The combination of melting ice cream with warm chocolate bread was eccentric. It totally melted my brain.

Come to think of it, almost every meal that I had at Guam was either good or amazing. On the last supper, we went to a place called "Kings", which is according to our supervisor, a restaurant that only Guam has. At there I had such a fun time.This picture is me playing rock-scissor-paper with senior Seohyeon. The winner would get to sprinkle the loser's drink with pepper. I am proud to say, she probably drank a good deal of pepper that day.


On Sunday, all the competition had ended and we were given free time on the island. This picture is me planning where to go with my friend Moses. Yes, his real name is Moses. Anyhow, that day, we went to the mall, to the beach and the Hilton swimming pool.
Going to the mall wasn't originally my plan, but we ended up going there anyways with the seniors. Even so, I had such a fun time there. We ran through aisles of souvenirs, and picked out presents for our friends and family. I ended up buying a shirt like the one that I am wearing in the picture for my dad, and earings for my sister and my mother. I plan on sending them after I write this article. Hm...what should I write on the letter?

This bus, called the Tumon Shuttle, is the bus that takes us to anywhere for 3dollars a ride. It goes quite slowly, but had a great view and on it, we could see the whole island. This picture under is the picture of me and my friends riding the actual bus.
It was funny how everyone on the bus seemed to be either Japanese or Chinese. We were stuck in the middle of

"Sumimaseng"s and "Nihao"s. Still, there was no windows on the side of the bus, and I could literally feel the breeze on my cheeks.


After three or so hours of shopping, the gang went to the beach. We first dressed in a likely manner, and then met in front of the hotel. It took us 30 second walk from the hotel lobby to get to the beach. There was grass field in front of the beach, and people

were having barbeque there. Such a great smell of sausages sizzling and roasting was all over the field.
Another 10 second walk brought us to the water itself. The water was bluer than the sky. It was transparent,and was almost as if someone had spilt powerade all over the beach. The photo doesn't really show the colour of the water, but trust me. It was the most beautiful beach that I have ever seen. Next hour passed in a frenzy. We splashed each other, played shark, and splashed each other again. We buried each other in the sand, and took shots of each other jumping. It was an unforgettable moment. Below are the pictures.

Building Sand Castle on top of a Senior

Group Jump shot!

Me Flying

It was such an amazing trip,and even though my body was exhausted by the end of the day, my mind and soul is filled with hope,fun, mischief, and all those values that I loved about myself.

Malcolm Gladwell on Spaghetti Sauce.

Sorry- I was at Guam during the last weekend.


Lecturer: Malcolm Gladwell

He's one of my favorite lecturers, him being a very humorous person.

Anyhow, here's the video.




In this lecture, Malcolm Gladwell talks about the work of a person named Howard Moskowitz, who has spawned the new era of food industry.
Howard is an amiable, avuncular looking market researcher. He is a person who would edify the companies who were for some reason unable to sell their products. He would analyze the problems that the companies have, and with those analogy, help the company sort those problems out and appease the customers. "Now, what made his work so special from the other market researchers", says Malcolm "is because Howard realized that there is no 'perfect' food."
Now that all started from a research done at Coca-cola company. After an ardent collection of data, Howard realized that favors of people didn't make a perfect bow graph. In fact, there was no graph at all. It was a random plants of spots on the coordinates. Howard, didn't capitulate, however. He learned that the data was not a chicanery, but the truth.
That there is not a perfect food, but there are perfect foods.

While this might seem arbitrary, there is nothing truer to the fact that people's demand doesn't fall to a single point. Howard refuted the common misconception that there is a single perfect answer that satisfies everyone. That there is not a single comprehensive taste that everyone loves.

Howard applied his logic to the spaghetti sauce industry. Back then, Prego had a hard time surviving against the competition. They asked Howard to make the best spaghetti sauce.Howard's reply was,"No, I will make perfect spaghetti sauces". The spaghetti sauces back then consisted of very little types, but after Howard had his way with Prego,there were more than 20 kinds of sauces on the market. To be concise, Howard forever changed the industry and now Prego is making millions off what Howard has made.

Now to be a little didactic, I'll talk about what effects this had on our life. Domestically, we were able to get novel, distinguished spaghetti sauce. However, on a social level,the breakthrough obliquely democratized the way we thought. We learned that there are diversities that we can pursue even when it came to food. A little bit unorthodox, but still, a progress that cannot be underestimated.

Why is Creativity needed-Mr. Moon's essay

          

Human race isn’t doing too great these days. Not only is there the everlasting structural poverty and inequality, the wars in the Middle East and violations of human rights, there are new problems appearing: Global warming, economic crisis as the bubble economy crashed, and so on. We aren’t doing too great these days. Creativity has been a characteristic that mankind appreciated since the earliest of ages. From the great inventors of the pottery, to the builders of ships and magnificent buildings, that characteristic, creativity, was of great use. However, the creativity has never been in more demand before, as the world spins out of control.

 Creativity helps solve the problems that we currently face. While this may seem obvious, it illustrates the core of why creativity is now in more need than ever before. Few hundred years ago, the problems were less complicated than now. Back then, the people were ‘similar’. Most people were farmers or worked in a job that was pretty much the same from everyone else. The demands were simple and united. Thus, solving the problems of those times were more a matter of convincing the ruler rather than finding solutions itself. Now, the jobs, needs and demands of people have diversified dramatically. No longer are the problems simple to solve because these needs and demands of people often clash against each other. If one takes, the other loses- the inevitable tradeoff. Since the problems are getting harder to solve, it is now more the matter of finding a solution that many would agree upon rather than imposing it. This process of finding the best solution requires creativity. Therefore, creativity is in the most need now than it was before.

           Predicting the future, as hard as the futurologists may try, can never be perfect. The problems that we face than will be of total difference from now, or it would be more complicated. No one would be able to foresee what will happen and prepare for it accordingly. This is the part where creativity comes into need. Creativity is the ability of the people to think outside the box. It would allow people to come up with ideas outside the textbook, outside the conventional ways and solutions that they used to have. Creativity, in short, will help us guide through the future. Human race faces a dark future, at least for some time. Global warming is just getting worse, and most economists foresee depression for some decades to come. Therefore, mankind needs creativity to guide themselves through the darkness and unexpectedness of the future.

          World is spinning out of control. Turning on the news, we can almost feel it. The worldwide disasters are tangible. It is more complex and more difficult to solve than it ever was before. In order to solve the problems that we have now and to guide ourselves through the future, we are now in the most need of creativity than ever before.

You are the Hero-Mr.Moon's essay

A hero is like a single stream of light invading dark room. They give light to the blinds. A hero shows the way that the people are to go, taking them a step further from the endless cycles of samsara. Regardless of the years that pass through, some heroes would always be remembered because all people can be heroes.

On 2005, October 17th, a woman fell through the cracks of the subway in Seoul. The subway was literally on her, and it was obvious that she would die if nothing was done. The 911call was made, and the people were told that the officials will arrive in 20 minutes. That woman, however, did not have 20 minutes to live, if that situation was to go on. It was clear that she needed help right away. It was a desperate situation, and there seemed to be no answer but to watch her die. Then someone, among the crowd, shouted, "Let's push the subway".

As crazy as that idea sounded, the woman was on the verge of fainting from too much pain, and people felt the need to do something. One by one, the passengers of the subway got out and started to push the subway to the side. The subway budged. Now more hopeful, people chanted, "One, two, one two", as they pushed the subway in a rhythm. More than a hundred people joined in. What happened next was amazing. The subway leaned sideway, and the woman, although injured, was able to come out alive. The hero in this story, were all the people that joined in to help save that lady. Now, the important part is that they were ordinary citizens, lawyers, students, office workers, and housewives who joined in and became a hero. It is because of this reason, that all people can be heroes, that heroes will be remembered forever.

The reason that some heroes will always be remembered is because of the fact that they are not always special. The most rememberable hero I know of, those people in the subway station, is not Kim Yeona nor Mr. Ban-Ki Moon. They are not Lee Soon Shin. They weren't born with special talents, they didn't make their names on the history books. Most of them were just 'people'. However, that desperate situation turned each one of them into a hero. They would never forget in their lives that day, the day they were a hero. Their tales, the stories that they would tell their grandsons and daughters will then live on through their memories. Those stories would feel more real than the legends of Odysseus. It would be more touching than Mother Teresa because it was their parents, their sons and daughters that were those heroes. Those people, those heroes, would pass through the generations in the forms of their tales and live in the memories of their audiences.

Most Korean traditional stories were never written on paper for thousands of years. They were all passed through generations in the form of stories, and see how long they have persisted, regardless of all the changes that the world went through. The stories of the heroes will live through the generations because some heroes were not special. It would be passed on and on.

KoKoMyeon(Review)

KoKoMyeon (꼬꼬면)

KoKoMyeon is one of the most beloved 라면(Ramyeon) of all times.

It was created by 이경규, a famous Korean tv-show host, who searched for the best
aspects of the current ramyeons.
He also researched the taste-favorites of the Koreans, and took it into consideration.

Enough of the explanation, more review. Right?

The first impression- I got came from the look of the KoKoMyeon. That is, the soup was shockingly blend. The conventional idea of ramyeon is that it has red-soup and noodle. KoKoMyeon was different. I didn't like this aspect, as it is a common sense that the color red makes the people hungry, whereas white doesn't have that aspect.

The second impression that I got from the KoKomyeon was from the smell. Despite the blend color, it had a rather spicy and deep smell to it. It felt as if my nose was made for that very smell. It was like another famous Korean soup, "삼계탕".

The third impression was from the noodle. I couldn't believe how chewy it was, considering the fact that the noodle had been in the water for too long. I mean, I over-boiled it, but it still had the chewy aspect. The noodle was perfect in sliding through my lips, with enough soup on it to pass on the taste but just not enough to splash the soup over my face.

The last impression was from the soup. I drank the rest of the soup, and it was amazing. It was a masterpiece of ramyeon.

The Body Journal-BlackJack

No not these cards

Card Game

                                               

In this reading journal, I am going to talk about the rules of the playing card game that are introduced in the story "The Body". Now, there were two games in the story, blackjack and cribbage. However, since cribbage is really a game that no one else than the submariners play, I decided to write more about blackjack.

Blackjack: 

Rules: It is a game played between players and a dealer. A player is handed out two cards at first and chooses whether to have another card(to hit) or stop having cards(to stand). The player can also surrender and get half of their initial bet. They can 'double' and double their bet and receive another card. If the card that the player has are the same, than they could split and have two hands. The person closest to 21 yet less than 22 wins. If over 21, the player is busted and losses all the money. Each card are counted as: Ace(1or11) 2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10, jack(10) Queen(10) and King(10)

Reaching 21 is called blackjack, and wins 1.5times the bet.

However, the name blackjack originally came from a casino's policy that a player with a spade ace and a black jack(a jack of spades or a jack of clover) gets ten times their bet.

Although the policy was quickly removed, the name blackjack sticked.

Now blackjack is quite probably the most popular and well known card game in the world. There are so many movies and books on this game, most significantly because it is to some degrees beatable. The reason this game is beatable is because cards have memory. If I hold an spade ace in my hands, it is probable that another spade ace won't be in the deck. Therefore, a person who can keep track of the cards that have been on the table would be able to foresee what will be on next. Increasing and decreasing the bets accordingly, the players can beat the game.Well, supposing that you can remember all those cards. That's the reason that only two types of people have done it before,
MIT students and a Rainman. 

This book, Bringing down the House, was made into a film called 21. It is about how MIT students professionally counted the cards and made millions out of it. It is based on true story, and amazed many people that such thing is possible. 

Now,the second person who managed to count cards, actually much before the MIT students,was the Rainman. This person is disabled, but still has a great ability in counting things at such a fast speed. His brother saw that as a chance of great money and takes him to the casino to count cards.