The ShawShank Redemption or the ShawShank Deception?

     Known for his great ability to create characters and mysterious stories, Stehen King is a  famous writer, and we all know that. Rita Hayworth and the ShawShank Redemption was the first of his works that I read, and as I read it one aspect that made me awe at King was not his characters but his way of telling a story. It’s hard to explain what exactly gave me that feeling of awe I think this phrase explains it the best, “Simplicity within Complexity”. You’d like me to explain what I mean, but give me a moment, there’s things that I also want to talk about, you see.

     When I first looked at the title of this story, what I thought of was, “why is Rita Hayworth in the title?” You see, it didn’t come to my mind how she was such an important part of the story that her name had to be in the title. Also when Andy first mentioned about Rita Hayworth, what I thought was how are they going to smuggle a human being into prison? Well, it turned out that they were misconceptions due to my lack of Hollywood stars of the 40’s. 

     When you have read my essay up to this point, most of you would have awed at how inconsistant I can get. It was, a very poor imitation of what King’s writing felt like when I first started reading the ShawShank Redemption. Dozens of characters that were thrown at me before I could take them all in, the time setting of the narration was switching back and forth, wardens changing...and the story itself progressed in a very compressed and tightly manner. So when I tried to hurry myself in reading it, it seemed very inconsistant. Within all the complexity, however, the characters were so lifelike and the theme of hope was prevailing throughout the story. Such aspects were what made me awe at King. It seemed, that he had all the story and characters right next to him while he was telling the story from Red’s view point. The theme of hope which is one of the main reasons that make this story such a masterpiece, is another thing that really stuck to my heart. 

     For me, the hope theme was sort of a surprise. As I read the story, it revealed it self as something closer to a story like Prison break, or maybe something like Edgar Ellen Poe’s work. The suspense created by the introduction of Tommy williams and the wardens refusal to help Andy fit perfectly for a very good mystery. It could have easily become the ShawShank deception without King’s ability to focus on simplicity within the complexity. However, instead of making it the ShawShank deception, King injected hope into the readers and created the story was we know it today--the ShawShank Redemption. So what was it that made the difference. In the book, the symbolism of Zihuatanejo, Rita Hayworth, and the tiger named hope did the trick, I believe. When my understanding reached this point, I could understand why Rita Hayworth was in the title. She was not only a Hollywood Star, but she was the link to the outer world, the link to the stars, and the link to hope. 

     In 1994, this masterpiece of literature was transformed into a film. The story itself was very fit for a film, that itself is clear, but I think that the producer of the film did a magnificent job. Even though I usually enjoy books better then films, this is one of those exceptions that always exist in life.(in other words, you should really watch it if you haven’t) My favorite part in the movie was actually a new insertion to the story. In the movie, Andy finds a record while opening a package and decides to turn it on the speakers. What a scene it was. It was a part that really brought the theme of hope to a tipping point, and I really loved it. 

     So back to what I was originally talking about, King is a really good writer. Isn’t that simple?:) That’s pretty much all I was trying to talk about through this semi-long post. I really liked how he was able to focus on a thing called hope, and how he developed such a complicated story with such simplicity--it’s really hard you see, this essay itself was my effort to imitate the feelings I felt while reading his story, you know the results better than I do. Now, I would like to end this post with the famous ending, I hope.

Spring Summer Fall Winter and Spring......and Life??

     Life is cherished. Or, it should be. In the movie Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter and Spring, made by Kim Gi Duk, we can learn about the important values in our lives. The beginning of the movie, Spring starts out with a young monk and an old monk living in a temple in the middle of the lake. The young monk goes around using the boat and plays in the nature. Until this part, the atmosphere is very bright and tranquil. The teaching starts when the young monk ties a fish, a frog, and a snake to a rock. 

Visualization of your Imagination??

     About a week before the midterm began some of my friends and I were working on an idea for a contest held by some organization. I believe it was some place related to the ministry of education...maybe not. But anyways, our idea was about the things we could do if we could visualize our imagination. It seems very vague when I put it that way, so I think I'll need to explain a bit more. (You don't really have to read it if your not interested:)just watch the video^^that I made by myself) Well our idea started from a paper that described about the technology of visualizing what we are looking at through interpreting our brain waves. (Reconstructing Visual Experiences from Brain Activity Evoked by Natural Movies by Shinji Nishimato) So we thought about how we could extend on this and make it into an idea that is creative and actually useful. We came up with the idea that if we can extend on this technology, we might be able to visualize the imaginations of people. With that, well we could do anything, really. Psychological therapies, creating a database, anything. Eventually we came up with CEE(Communication, Emotion, Empathy). It's basically sort of a Facebook-like database system that allows you to upload what's in your mind. The video here--I made it--is sort of a advertisement for our idea. Anyways I just wanted to share the idea somewhere;)

Already a Year...

  They say that time flies by. Before I came into KMLA I thought that it was just what the old people say whenever they come to think about the days of their youth. Now that I think of it though, time really does fly by you. It passes like the wind. While you're facing it it feels like it'll continue forever but once it goes past, it's just gone. All of this does seem very sentimental...not like my usual writings but today I met the students that may become the 17th wavers as a PA. I really can recall every single detail of the day I had my interview on. It was exactly one year ago, on a saturday afternoon:). In about four months now we'll have the new freshman years that will be calling us as sunbae's. Hmm.....

     Anyways, here's a song that I really like. It's a sony that sort of touches your heart, I guess. Not like the funny one I updated a few days ago:P--the one by MIKA. Anyways the name of the song is already a year --you can guess why I thought of this song. Anyways hope you like it:)

Elle me dit-MIKA(One of my favorite songs)

Pourquoi tu gâches ta vie-Why are you wasting your life?

The Dilemma of Foreign Aid

     Foreign aids has always been the favorite target for Congressional budget cutters. Since the global economical crisis the U.S. house and senate are once a gain becoming stingy about foreign aids and are considering on taking 1.5 trillion dollars out of the budget. On the other hand, editorialists of the New York Times like Carol Giacomo argue that it is no time to get stingy with foreign aids. The debate is already heating up in Washington but in order for us to really understand the issue we have to first look at the relationship between the developed and developing countries and than look at the effects of foreign aid. There is no real answer for this issue but from the point of view of Ha-Joon Chang and through the results that foreign aid had until this date, it seems that the current system of foreign aid run by the OECD(Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) has more cons than pros.

     Since the colonial era, developed countries buckled down and started to outstretch their influences over underdeveloped countries such as Africa, Southern Asia,  Australia, America, and other parts of the world. England, Spain, Portugal, and France were the big powers of the century. Through their colonies, they accumulated such wealth that England called themselves the sun of the world. The developed countries created a system in which lead to the total deprivation of the colonies. One such example is the plantation system which is the creation of farmland within the colony which utilizes the colonies labor. The problem of the system arises when the crops are ready. The crops raised in the colonies are, so to say, “imported” by the country in power. The reality is, however, not much different from pillaging. The dominating countries of that era put up subsidies and tax barriers against foreign products and acquired their needs very cheaply from their countries. Furthermore, they resold packaged products to their colonies at a high price. These products were not limited to crops but ranged over clothing, metals, and other items. Through this system, the rulers flourished, or they seemed to for a while, for the sun of England eventually set.

     With the ending of the colonial era, many of the colonies gained freedom. Africa for example were divided artificially by the winners of the World War. The political domination that happened during the colonial era seemed to end, but it actually did continue, not through political control, but through economical domination. Under the dominating system of market economy the developed countries held on to their power over developing countries, which were once their colonies. Ha-Joon Chang, one of the leading economist, working at the University of Cambridge, wrote in his famous book, “Bad Samaritans” about the problems of the market economy. Ha Joon Chang, being against neoliberalism, or the theory which supports the system of market economy with the least amount of government intervention, pointed out that the Western developed countries are forcing the developing countries to stay within poverty. His main idea was that the underdeveloped countries, the so called “third world”, must do as the current developed countries did when they were undeveloped, not as these developed countries tell them too. The WTO(World Trade Organization) is one of the main organizations that is hindering the development of the developing countries: foreign aids. The most prevalent of these aids is the ODA(Official Development Assistance) which is an aid officially given by the developed countries, while overseen by the OECD, to the developing countries. 

     Now, coming back to the main issue of foreign aids, the issues discussed above may have seem unrelated to the topic. The truth is, however, that the ODA, is just an extension of the colonial era. Through consistant support of aid in the current system, the developing countries become more and more reliant on the developed, while the developed are donating money that is eventually used to buy products from their own country. Overall, the economical assistance leads to developed countries becoming more and more reliant on the developed countries, which leads to continuous need for the ODA. This vicious cycle itself is a good enough reason to reduce the ODA, but these aids have more unseen problems. Due to the way the money is transferred, the ODA, in many cases like Chad, led to corruption. In Chad, the aids were used in acquiring weapons and were than used to threaten countries opposed to its own. Furthermore, it decreases the urgency to reform the political and economical system of the receiving country. For example, Nigeria, in the status quo is sixty to seventy percent reliant on the ODA for its national budget. A large portion of this is again misused by the corrupt government and lessens the urgency to reform the corrupt status quo. In a macroscopic sense, the ODA does not help the speed of development for the receiving countries. Like Peter Bauer, a famous economist specializing in foreign aids said, the ODA is “...an excellant method for transferring money from poor people in rich countries to rich people in poor countries.”

     The side effects of ODA or any other foreign aids will always be present, our job for the future is to create ways in which we can limit such problems to a minimal level and eventually decrease the amount of ODA as the receiving country develops. Through increasing the transparency of the aid and adding specific guides and options that require them to reform their own system of politics and economy, we can create a world that is truly one and equal. Like Claude McKay says in her poem, “America”, I gaze into the days ahead. 

Hero's Journey-Harry Potter

Group Members: Jong Hyun Han, Woochan Hwang

Our Story: Harry Potter

Why we chose it: 

ACT I

1. Ordinary World: The world of the Muggles

2. Call to Adventure: When Harry talks to the snake and makes the glass disappear for a moment during his cousins birthday.

3. Refusal of the Call: Harry’s aunt and uncle locks him in his room.

4. Meeting the Mentor: Harry Potter meets Dumbledore at school and relies on him for help.

5. Crossing the Threshold: Hagrid comes to find Harry and brings him to platform nine and three quater’s.

ACT II 

6. Tests, Allies, Enemies: The chess board, the flying key, and other enchantments that guard the philosopher’s stone. 

7. Approach to the Innermost Cave: 

8. Ordeal:

9. Reward:

ACT III 

10. The Road Back:

11. Resurrection:

12. Return With the Elixir:

Chain Writing Project-"Time is Running Out"

     'Time is running out.' That was all I had in my head right now. I had just waken up from bed. It was seven o'clock and everything was normal. Well, everything other than myself. Actually I'm not even sure what the problem is because I just can't remember anything. Who am I? Where am I? And...what in the world happened?
     "Man! What are you doing? You are going to be late for morning exercise if you don't move it this instant!" A voice shouts.
     Uncertain, I laid still in my bed. Well, since I can't really say this is 'my' bed, so technically, I laid still in 'a' bed.
     "Woochan? Are you nuts? The coach will tear you apart!"
     Still uncertain, after all, that boy could be, for all I know, talking to someone else. Anyways, I didn't want to wake up. I felt like being lazy--it brought me ultimate coziness.
     "Ha...... you really force me to be evil, don't you?" the voice again.
     And then, suddenly there was a pull on my leg.
     "Woochan, how could you not wake up after such a blasting wake up music? Today the song was 'Tme is running out' by the Muse!" He pulled me to the ground.
     I, for the first time opened my eyes and looked around. It was a mess. Who ever lives in this room seriously needs to do some cleaning.
     "You really need to clean your room Woochan."
     "Man, it does not really matter for now, anyways. Why are you screaming like an idiot and breaking my sweet dreams anyway?" I said.
     "Believe it or not, we have to go to this so called morning exercise, duh. Now, quit whining and get moving."
     What in the world are they talking about, and before that do I even know that person? With dizziness consuming my mind, I threw my body back to the comfy bed. I want to end this nightmare. I want to wake up.
     "Fine, then have it your way. I don't care if you get penalty points for not attending morning exercise." THe voice grew farther away, then a door slammed. Silence.
     PENALTY POINTS? What is this, a Mario game? I opened my eyes slowly, after making sure there was no one else with me. I was lying on a bunk bed, on the second story. Well, technically it wasn't a bunk bed, because instead of a bed under me, there was a filthy desk. The pile of garbage on it almost reached the bed. Not that the bed itself was any better. It was covered in smelly socks, unwashed sheets, a sweaty shirt and a few food wrappers. Ugh!