Chanson : Un Jour Ou L'autre

French teacher introduced this song in the class.
 I like this song and I like the lyrics, too :)

Return of Korean cultural assets

Do you know where the three lion statues have gone from Dabo-tap[1]? No, did you know that there had been existed lion statues on the Dabo-tap at least? As you guess, those three lion statues are representative examples of Korea’s cultural heritages plundered by Japan. Most of the Korean people might have a rough idea of those looted cultural assets, but not about the exact situations or the way to repatriate them.

According to official record, roughly 66,000 Korean heritage items are kept in Japan and only 6,000 of them returned to Korea after various attempts to get them back. Accordingly, though royal records from Joseon and other cultural assets returned recently from Japan, they constitute only a small portion of stolen cultural heritages. Some cultural assets were forcefully or illegally taken by another nation like in this case, which is why the international community utters that looted properties should be returned to their rightful owner.       

Of course, no country has to keep all of national treasures in the country. However, art has traditionally been collected privately and kept stored, only rarely being put on display in Japan. That is, it is clear that there are great amounts of Korean national treasures in Japan, but we don’t even know who owns it or where it is. And Japanese Government has not done enough to trace those collections and insure they are made available for exhibitions and study. Much of the collections have gone underground, which is a loss to our heritage.

History, that’s what permeates in our cultural assets. The cultural heritages reflect the lifestyle, language, and major incidents of the time. So, they are regarded as precious records and research materials of our history. 

Spirit, that’s what infuses in our cultural assets. We cried, shouted, fought against, suffered, rejoiced, and enjoyed with them. We have felt all sorts of human emotions in them. Besides, seeing the delicate and exquisite decoration, we even feel our ancestors’ artistic soul to complete sophisticated artwork.

Minjok, that’s what pervades in our cultural assets. Our cultural heritages have suffered a history full of ups and downs with us. Suffering turbulent period with them together, we can arouse national consciousness and feel somehow solidarity in them.

Hence, cultural assets are neither just a knowledge in the textbook should be memorized nor just a tour package. They are, our living history and reality. Then the cultural assets have importance in itself as Hye-mun, a Korean Buddhist monk, once put it, “An egg cannot break a rock, but soul-instilled egg can do.” However, as we cannot get them back, we gradually lose those instilled-spirits. Naturally, Korean art and culture become regarded as a hybrid, lying somewhere between Chinese and Japanese styles in the West, rather than as a distinct product of a distinct culture.

Moreover, since far larger amounts of treasures are in Japanese’s private hands, the problem becomes difficult to be solved only with negotiation between each country’s governments. All of the Korean people need to show a special interest and make more aggressive efforts to bring back the stolen national treasures. ‘Bringing back cultural assets’ is not simply bringing the stolen cultural heritages to where they originally were. It is the process for finding our handed-over soul from our ancestors, and for realizing we are owners ourselves of them.

Again, through returning our looted cultural assets, we can cultivate appreciation of Korea's artistic heritage. Through getting back our plundered cultural heritages, we can get back our history, spirit, and our Minjok 

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[1] Tap(in Korean) = pagoda 

Short story

Character

Name : Soho

Appearance : fat

Personality : outgoing/ critical

Age : 23

Unique trait : too sentimental

Environment : lives in Ghetto

Problem : got terrible grades

                  The atmosphere of Ghetto was stifling and somber. Every Jewish residents of Ghetto fretted about when they will be dragged and killed by Nazi, so they lay awake every night feeling anxiety. In this oppressive atmosphere, Soho, a gregarious girl, was an energizer for townsfolk’s lives. She was bursting with vitality and new ideas so that townsfolk had drawn strength and comfort from her. Though she was a little bit on the plump side, her flushed cheek made her look animated and healthy, and she was always sympathetic to her neighbors’ tragic happenings.  

                  The day was seemingly the same with her usual day. She wandered around her home as always, and in the meantime, she caught a glimpse of someone’s shadow which was cast from a narrow alley. It struck her as strange. She walked toward the alley, and checked the inside of the alley. There, she could find an abandoned young boy, beaten to death by Nazi. Seeing that scene, she shuddered with extreme fury and sudden tears ran down her face. Then she muttered.  

               
                  “How could they do that? I have to do something to prevent this happening. I can’t stand it anymore.”

                  She right went back to her home, and started to gather information about Nazi’s act of brutality. Then, she pondered about what she can do with the information, and suddenly, one thought flashed through her mind.

                  “Yes. I’m going to write a journal to disclose Nazi’s viciousness. Come to think of it, didn’t I get a great grade only in writing class though other subjects’ grades were terrible? Through writing, I can not only criticize the Nazis, but also inform their cruel and unjustified deeds to the public, further, to foreign countries. I can protect Ghetto’s people on my own.”

                  She started to write down something with determined resolution. Her hold on her pen tightened. Soon, as the busy scratching sound of pens on paper stopped, she put down the pen. She sealed the papers in a blank envelop to submit it to a newspaper. She was full of hope that foreign forces might set free them from Nazi’s clutches. A month later, she picked up and unfolded that day’s newspaper. As her name came into sight on the first page of the newspaper, she was almost beside herself with joy. She turned to the next page and uttered shout of glee.

 ‘The Allied Forces and the Soviet army invaded Germany!’

 It seemed that the day of freedom is nearing. A beam of satisfaction crossed her face.    

My future business card

I found out this future business card organizing my files.

 I was buoyed up with my dream and hope when I made it.

However, I feel like I’m losing those hope and dream these days.

 Yes, I lost my identity after entering KMLA. 

 I need to go straight forward.

I should not lose myself falling into despair.

This future business card reminds my first resolution.

I will achieve my goal and succeed

though if everybody assures me that I can’t make it.

I won't give up

Insomnia

Taking a nap all day long
There's nobody disturbs me
but I can't feel free
There's no hope
There's no despair
only the anger reminded into my heart
There's no chance
and there's no clue
You're gone so faraway
I`m hiding myself from you
I hate myself who can't stop loving you
I feel so stupid
because I'm still in love with you
Fall over precipitate but there's
no one can rescue me
My heart has broken two pieces
seems i can't love you anymore
It's hard for me to go on my life without you
I'm suffering from insomnia
I'm dying day and day

-Humming Urban Stereo <Insomnia>

After the English exam

I fell into despair.



Reading Journal #2 : Comparison between movie and the book

When I read the first 30 pages, I expected a lot how the story will develop, and now, the feeling becomes different from the first because I finished the whole book and even saw the movie named ‘Stand by me’. ‘Stand by me’ is a movie made by director, Rob Reiner based on the Stephen King’s novella, ‘The body’. I expected and worried about the movie because the body is dealt with four boys’ childhood and their friendship, and the subject is easy to be boring when it is made into a movie. For that reason, I felt something lacking about few things seeing the movie though I liked the movie generally.

First of all, visual expression of the movie helped me to get in the story completely. When I read the description, I couldn’t imagine the background such as tree house or scene which twelve-year-old boys play card games and smoke cigarettes. But in the movie, those scenes which are far from innocence expressed vividly, so I could catch the atmosphere that whole story and charters create. Moreover, the young actors played and expressed particular tons, habit, and even appearance for each character so that I could feel each character’s charm in my bones. That is, because movie reproduced the visual images from the book like real world, it was better to sympathize and to be immersed in the story.  

On the other hand, changes of ending decreased enjoyment of the story. At the end of the movie, only Chris died after he had succeeded in becoming a lawyer, while in the book, all boys except Gordie died, and Chris had been finishing his second year graduate studies when he died. The death of all three boys brought dramatic effect and strong impression, and even I felt it was pitiful that Chris died not graduating and achieving his goal, but I couldn’t feel anything from the ending of the movie. In addition, author emphasizes Ace’s miserable life through showing his eventual situation in the book, as the sentence “I thought: So that’s what Ace is now”. Seeing this scene, I felt satisfying because his miserable life is kind of punishment about tormenting four boys in the past, but felt bitter at the same time. Therefore, the ending of the movie is little bit lacking in the sense of dramatic effect.

Lastly, cutting and adding the scenes during the process of adaption from novella to movie increased and decreased enjoyment of the story at the same time. For example, movie expressed Gordie’s close relationship with his brother, Dennis using the material such as baseball cap, so it made Dennis’s dead more sad and tragic. However, personally, I felt sorry about cutting my favorite scene. When Gordie went to the store to buy hamburgers, he told clerk who talked about only Dennis, “First you put your thumb on the scales and you overcharged on the groceries, Mr. Dusset. I was gonna throw some Hostess Twinkies on top of that order but now I guess I won’t”. In this scene, I felt thrilling feeling because it seemed like the boy lashed back at adults who had prejudice about four boys as their own discretion.  

             In conclusion, adapted movie from book can be better than original piece or not. In the case of ‘Stand by me’, it kept amusement of novella though the subject of this novella is difficult to dramatize to movie interestingly. The visual expression was helpful to catch interest, new scenes which director added helped understanding the story and maximized our emotions. However, if movie director add dramatic features to the ending and keep important scenes personally, the movie would be better than before.