30 Days : Minimum Wage - What I am going to write about/use

Things to consider :

1. Rich vs Poor : Income inequality(Gini's coefficient)

"Income inequality tells us zilch about the only thing that really matters: Are the lives of Americans, rich, poor, and in between, getting better or worse?"-Shikha Dalmia, on his article Liberal Programs Deserve Blame for Income Inequality

http://theswash.com/2011/11/08/liberal-programs-deserve-blame-for-income-inequality/

2. Laborer vs firm : Hemang bus(hope bus) in Korea

"The buses aspire toward a “world without layoffs and temporary workers.”"

site address of the representative cafe: http://cafe.daum.net/happylaborworld

what is Hope Bus?: http://www.socialistproject.ca/bullet/528.php

3. Education and Cycle of Poverty

http://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2006/jun/wk3/art03.htm

"Individuals with higher levels of education have greater access to higher paying jobs, such as management, professional, and related occupations, than do those with lower education."

"Simple comparisons between children in poor families and children in non-poor families using national datasets indicate that poor children are more likely to do worse on indices of school achievement than non-poor children are."

http://education.stateuniversity.com/pages/2330/Poverty-Education.html

4. Poverty and Health

"Poor health increases poverty by : Reducing a family's work productivity"

http://www.healthpovertyaction.org/policy/the-cycle-of-poverty-and-poor-health/

"The studies overwhelming show that for every health condition, for every disease, for every cause of death, those who have lower incomes have it much worse than those who have fatter paychecks. In other words, if you work where you have to see sick people, such as in emergency departments, you are going to see poorer people for the most part, no matter whether your hospital sits in a wealthy neighborhood, or a poor one."

http://www.zcommunications.org/health-and-poverty-in-the-us-by-stephen-bezruchka

Ode to uTorrent

Dear uTorrent,

   UTorrent, you are usually so useful like urbanized utensils and I satisfy my shrinked stomach solely on your sweet synthetics. Wait a second; was it too offensive to compare you to stupid household tools such as a dishwasher producing disturbing cracking noise or a printer eating up all my A4 papers available? Sorry, I didn't mean it. You neither upset me with drumming sounds nor waste away my physical properties. However, the problem is that you do upset me and you do squander my things.

   One day morning, I woke up painfully with feeling stiff in the shoulders. When I wiped my mouth with my backhand by habit, I found something sticky and stinky at the same time was covering my face very seamlessly. Muttering some swear words to myself, I stood up, picked up my phone, and pushed the unlock button. I looked my cell phone indicating the time with vacant eyes for two seconds, and screamed out crazily for another two seconds realizing that I woke up at 7:50. It was not the reason why I was screaming that I will get a special training soon due to extra three points for being absent for the morning exercise today or that I will get less than half right on the Wordsmart quiz on the first period because I had fallen asleep accidently when I was preparing for Wordsmart quiz yesterday night. I had to print out my journal for British Literature class that counts for more than 10% of my score, and that was the reason why I was screeching for another extra ten minutes while I was waiting for my beat-up laptop to turn on.

   The tardy booting of my computer made me insane. I was staring at the monitor cupping my chin with left hand and making up a I-WILL-STAB-YOU beat with my right hand scratching and tapping on the desk. Finally, the log-in page occurred, and I typed my password like a Korean progamer playing Starcraft with all possible keyboard shortcuts, and my desktop appeared with Tan-din-don-din-dan noise, the most useless noise in the world to me back then, that used to be a pleasant sound for me until then. When I tried to click my word file icon on my desktop, you popped up in a sudden! Then my computer froze. What I could do was to blame you as badly as I could, again staring at you that showed me how many years and months and weeks that I have to wait to get goat_pooped_on_my_face video.

   Don't ask me whether I succeeded to print out my journal before the class, because I know that you devised a scheme with your fellow, the printer. From when have you guys been so close? You guys even don't have any chance to meet each other.

   Whatever, it's fine, even though you made me so mad with your talent to pop up, wasted all of my morning time, and finally screwed up my life. I understand you. You wanted to see me so badly that morning, right UTorrent? That was so sweet of you.

   Well, sorry for blaming you for my faults. It was all my fault. It was me who waked up late in that morning, it was me who didn't print out my journals the night before, and it was me who wanted you to show up on the screen right away; but, I'll say, it was not my fault what happened the other day.

   That day, I was very carefully trying to download a illegal file of the popular film, Sunny. It was my first time to commit a crime, so I was unable to let myself free from guilt. I tried to stop my right hand from clicking the torrent file to make you work with my left hand, but the desire to watch the movie was big enough to give my right hand more strength. I unconsciously gave you a torrent file full of piece of information that included where you should find the peers and seeds to get me a nice one perfect movie, and you did not refuse; you became a partner of mine.

   However, I should not have believed you. You leaked my IP address to the rest of the world, and I was nearly caught by the cyber police. Thankfully, I was not arrested thanks to the enormous bulk of people who actually downloaded the file. I was like one out of million.

   Well, to say the truth, I had to blame you to make myself feel better, sorry. it was me who committed the crime in the first place, it was me who gave you the rare file, and it was me who was aware of the fact that I am infringing the copyright. However, you admitted to be in the crime so easily, and you made a mistake!

   UTorrent, you are such a satisfying, sweet, systematic, special, snug, sincere, and sheer peer; I love you by all my heart even though you do make some mistakes, and I hope you love me back too. Always be my side: at the bottom right side of my laptop.

With love,

Karen

Sin and a Lesson

   Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring is one of the beautiful Korean movie directed by Ki-duk Kim. The spring, the very first part of the film that we dealed with in the class, shows a monk and a little boy who will be raised as a monk. The monk teaches the boy with 'an eye for an eye' method and helps the little boy to grasp the important lesson by himself.
   I was in a peaceful state during watching the movie until the little monk started to tease some animals. He grabs the fish, ties a string on it, which has a stone on another side of the string, and put the fish back into the brook. The fish struggles painfully with the rock which does not let itself to move in a right way. Watching the tortured fish, the little boy chuckles. He chuckles as if he feels the biggest joy by harrassing the animals. My classmates and I, who were really into the movie, felt awkward and uncomfortable. What is he doing? Why does he giggle?
   However, I guess everybody has some kind of experience similar to the boy. When I was in elementary school, I enjoyed to trample on the small ants that moved around pedestrian roads. I stepped on it, leaned on that feet giving all my weight, and scrubbed the feet to the sandpapery ground. At that time, even though I was young and stupid, I knew that killing a living creature is the worst sin. I know these kinds of things happen, and I understand the little boy laughing by torturing animals. Looking back on it now, I think I, as a little girl, wanted to rule over a creature.
   The monk was looking all the process that the boy has been doing at the boy's back. In the middle of the night, the monk ties a big rock on the boy's back to make him be aware of what he had done to the animals. With the heavy rock on his back, the boy goes back to the pond and looks for the animals that he have tortured the night before. He finally cries when he finds the snake fallen to death covered with its red blood all over the skin. He surley figured out his lesson by himself.
   On the other hand, I didn't have any person to teach the lesson. Well, I have been taught that it is bad to kill a living thing, but that was all. I haven't had any real experience, and I didn't have to understand all the pain that the ants had to feel. I didn't have any teachers to help me figure out how the ants will feel like.
   I am very much interested in the method of education, and found an best answer today. From TOEFL topics and SAT writing topics, I have always have been writing that direct experience is the best way to get the real understanding, from science experiments to moral lectures, though I mechanically wrote it with prepared reasons and examples provided by my academies. It is totally true that it is better to see a thing one time than to hear about it hundred times. I only watched the very small part of the film, but I have learned a lot. The background is very peaceful, not provocative, and gives viewers a hand to get the lesson from the clip easily. I am looking forward to watch the rest of the movie.

I add a peaceful music that I really like : Utada Hikaru's First Love(Instrumental)

Metafiction

   There is a hole that I can see into; there's nothing else in this room. I do not know from when I was here, but I am sure that it has not been more than a week because I don't have a memory of drinking a sip of water. I don't want to believe myself, but my mere memory tells me that I fall off from the top, somewhere from the top into this dark room. This room is so dark that I cannot see anything; I am in a dark chamber. However, from time to time, a tiny string-like light comes in from the hole.
   Naturally, I am damn hungry. If there were even smelly rotten cheese or swollen tomato, I would graciously devour them. Unfortunately, there aren't any of them beside me. But what made me crazy is a smell of Caprese salad with fresh tomatoes and nice Mozzarella cheese slices. I wished the concrete walls are made out of delicate Caprese salad; but noting's to be done. I hunted trough this overwhelming silence, but the place I am kept is merely big enough for me to lie down and stand up. Except the hole, I cannot feel anything around. Too bad my teeth are not hard enough to bear cement.
   I barely succeeded to read these paragraphs on the side of the wall; it was quite interesting. I went into the storage in the basement while I was looking for my school trip album that I tossed in the storage ten years ago. There were bloodstains on the wall, and each alphabet of the writing on the wall seemed to be written with something sharp, such as nails... I got scared imagining what would be happened back then, and ran to the door of the basement. I grabbed a door knob and I felt a vi...bra...tion....
   I woke up as if I have fallen down into a pit, but where I was was not where I used to be. I was not in my room; I was not in the familiar space. My butt and back hurt intensively, giving me a firm basis to guess that I really fall off from somewhere. There is no light here. It's very, very dark. I cannot see anything. Suddenly, a thin bright light struck my eyes; I could not open my eyes for a minute. For the minute, tons of thoughts went in my mind. Will I be dead soon? Am I already dead? What about my family and friends? Where am I? Am I dying alone? NOBODY WON'T EVEN RECOGNIZE THAT I'M DYING!
   When I opened my eyes, I started to find a way that can prove people that I was here. I thought about it when I slept. I sometimes had a nightmare. Sometimes, I dreamed about getting out of this hopeless. Sometimes, I did not think of anything. I repeated to think, sleep, think, and sleep.
   Finally, I decided to write down a record. No paper, no pencil, but I have my nails and walls. I started to write down: There is a hole that I can see into; there's nothing else in this room. I do not know from when I was here, but I am sure that it has not been...

My Review on Gokusen season1: Good Work on Casting but Failure to Continue the Series

* Following review will provide you not only the comments on Gokusen season1 but also the basic information of many Japanese actors and actresses. Another way  to read this review is to assume it as introduction of Japanese dramas.

My Review on Gokusen season1

Good Work on Casting, but Failure to Continue the Series
★★★★☆

   If a Japanese comic makes a hit in its field, it occasionally transfers to other formations to gather more fame. First, comic become animation to be on TV. Second, if animation earns enough popularity, comic becomes a TV series with tough casting of its characters. At last, if the TV series succeed in getting high viewer ratings, it becomes a movie. Though, some exceptions exist. For romance genre, animations are rarely made into animations; rather, romance comics are directly made into TV shows and films. If a TV program didn't become popular, the movie project founders at most of the times. Soap operas and movie films are often produced with similar synopsis based on their comics while some films are presented as if they are final episodes of the related soap operas. If the soap opera becomes favorable, it becomes a series. In these ways, Gokusen(ごくせん) becomes an ideal model; animation, TV series, and movie were set forth based on the comic book. The first Gokusen series on TV was so successful that seasons 2 and 3 were created and that movie called "Gokusen the Movie" which most of the characters in Gokusen TV series appear was produced. Here, I will write a careful, detailed review on the Gokusen1, the first series of the drama.

 ▲Gokusen : comic to animation, animation to soap opera, soap opera to a movie film

   When a comic book is reproduced into a TV series, various problems occur from simple ones to critical ones. For instance, science fiction which strongly relies on computer graphics and acting will likely to be messed up without securing high technical budget for CGs and assuring acting abilities of actors. As well, action films require fine effects and well-fitting actors. Romance comics made into TV series can cause enormous problems when the ideal types of the characters are not satisfied with the actual actors; big fans of the original comic book are likely to abandon the TV series after all. Additionally, some scenes in the comic that seemed realistic can be shown very unrealistic in a form of soap opera due to content itself or to lacking acting ability. As a matter of fact, it is extremely challenging to make a comic book into a real drama.

   Despite these possible difficulties, TV series Gokusen season1 got both tremendous popularity and thumbs-up reviews. The comic book Gokusen is a high teen comic where high school students are the protagonists. It also contains lots of actions. In Gokusen, Yamaguchi Kumiko, the granddaughter of a powerful gangster, refuses to carry on a family line to become a teacher. Her first class is a 12th grade class with wicked students that every teacher refused to take, but Kumiko makes it with her fighting skills and passion. Considering the synopsis, Gokusen is extremely unrealistic to be produced into a drama. Kumiko who is called "Yankumi" from her students should be a striking beauty when she takes her glasses off to fight with the bad guys who troubles her students, and should win all the fight. Her students should be juvenile delinquents but has to be tenderhearted in nature. Therefore, actress who can success in Kumiko's role should be beautiful enough to make spectators surprise when she takes off her glasses, and brave enough to take all action shots, and good-acting enough to harmonize Kumiko's unique characters into one person. Actors who play students' roles should be young but good-acting, not to be seen awkward in the screen.

   Surely, Gokusen season1 didn't fulfill all the requirements, but cast was quite successful. Nakama Yukie(仲間由紀恵) was casted in the role of Yamaguchi Kumiko. As a matter of fact, Nakama Yukie wasn't a top star then, but she was known for Trick series which breaks up magicians' and fortunetellers' tricks. In the Trick series, her character was a woman who is sometimes comic but sometimes earnest, and Nakama Yukie did a great job on this. Her former experience helped her a lot to act as Yamaguchi Kumiko. Of course Nakama Yukie didn't achieve more than expected in action. Her movements were so amateurish that camera works and sound effects couldn't cover up her motions. However, thankfully they didn't influence the quality of the show greatly because the important scenes were when Kumiko takes off her eye glasses and glare her eyes and when her students are astonished by Kumiko's true colors. Despite her action skills, she surely does a great job on comical scenes. Her exaggerated face emotions and actions give viewers a big laugh.

"The chemistry between the characters is great, which makes it easy for us to forgive the unnecessarily overdone serious moments and educational speeches of Yankumi, as well as the fact that Yankumi herself also could have been elaborated better. Nevertheless, Yukie Nakama ("Shinobi - Heart under Blade") does a fantastic job of portraying this wacky character of a loving teacher, who always wants to be there for her students."-Asian Movie Web Review

 ▲Nakama Yukie in Trick series(left) and Gokusen series(right)

   Matsumoto Jun(松本潤) was the one who led Gokusen season1 into success. Matsumoto Jun is one of the members of Arashi(嵐), the popular idol group in Japan which made its debut in 1999. Until 2002 when Gokusen season1 was taken, his acting skills wasn't a big issue; his only performance was on a very short film, Kindaichi Case Files(金田一少年の事件簿) so it was too early for critics to evaluate his acting skills. However, it was sure that Matsumoto Jun was popular enough to provide popularity to the Gokusen season1 making his fans watch it. In fact, it seems to be his supporters who watched the soap opera. After taking Gokusen, Matsumoto Jun took a main role in Tramps Like Us(きみはペット), Boys Over Flowers(花より男子), Bambino(バンビーノ), and many other successful works; he wonderfully fits the character. Though he looks somewhat unhandy in Boys over Flowers because he had his lines full of jokes, in Gokusen season1, Matsumoto Jun succeeds to express his character, unresponsive Sawada Shin.

▲Matsumoto Jun : Arashi(upper left), Jun(upper right), Gokusen(downward left), Boys Over Flowers(downward right)

   In the class of Sawada Shin played by Matsumoto Jun, there are numerous impressive actors who draw great attention. Gokusen season1 became an early work of many actors who became famous afterwards. Oguri Shun(小栗 旬) as Uchiyama Haruhiko in the drama who have gained publicity with GTO later takes a role in Boys Over Flowers as elegant Lui with Matsumoto Jun and became one of the top young actors. His acting in Gokusen season1 and GTO had a same atmosphere, but he shed off his disorderly student image in Hana-Kimi(花ざかりの君たちへ) and Boys over Flowers. Narimiya Hiroki(成宮 寛貴) playing Noda Takeshi in Gokusen season1 plays lots of supporting roles, and I believe he is not yet appraised properly; he is qualified for more fame. He has lots of potential even though he is quite old compared to other actors. He accompanied with Matsumoto Jun in Kindaichi Case Files, and with Oguri Shun in  Stand Up(スタンドーアップ). Be With You(いま、会いにゆきます) is a popular soap opera which Narimiya Hiroki played a leading role. He showed his own charm in the play and got good reviews. Ishigaki Yuma(石垣 佑磨) as Minami Yoichi in the play is also a actor who appeared in lots of popular soap operas and films as a supporting role; he performed in Hana-Kimi later with Oguri Shun. Waki Tomohiro(脇知弘) as Kumai Teruo, more known as "Kuma" (meaning bear in Japanese) throughout the film, played in important role in Gokusen. He is the only actor who comes out in every series of Gokusen; he shows up in Gokusen season1, 2, 3 and Gokusen the Movie.

▲Leading Group of class 3-D

▲Oguri Shun(upper left), Narimiya Hiroki(upper right), Ishigaki Yuma(downward left), Waki Tomohiro(downward right)

   There are lots of extras on the movie, playing roles of 3-D class. Every single student in 3-D class has respective characteristics. Even though the students are shown on the screen only for few seconds, two of them caught my sight: Matsuyama Kenichi(松山ケンイチ) and Wentz Eiji(ウエンツ瑛士). Matsuyama Kenichi who didn't show up a lot through Gokusen season1 became a star acting as 'L' in Death Note movie series. He won the Japanese academy prize in 2007 for the best supporting actor award in the film, Death Note. Wentz Eiji, who made a debut as a singer in 2004 with Koike Teppei who is one of the actors who plays a supporting role of Gokusen season 2, comes out as a hidden student of 3-D class. Afterwards, he appears in Nodame Cantabile series, and sings in his group named WaT.

▲Matsuyama Kenichi, Matsuyama as L in Deathnote, Wentz Eiji, Wntz Eiji in WaT

   Gokusen season1 wouldn't be successful without actors who played as teachers. Ito Misaki(伊東美咲) is a top star now, who became famous after performing in Train Man(電車男), Sapuri(サプリ), and Yama-onna Kabe-onna(山おんな壁おんな). Her job was to express a popular, new English teacher who is very kind and delightful in school, but who works in bars to earn extra money in the night. I really liked her and her character when she uses her beauty to control students in 3-D class who never listen to classes. Namase Katsuhisa(生瀬 勝久) as vice-president of the school is a very well known actor who puts comical taste into the film. Actors who accompanied with him describes him as "very good ad-libber and an icebreaker." Before Gokusen, he already has met Namase Yukie in Trick series which helped him to work with her. His fans describes him as idiotic, motoric, funny, and silly. It seems that his popularity is due to characteristics of Japanese dramas which often puts comicality into scenes that used to be serious.
   At first, critics made cutting remarks to Gokusen season1 because the most popular entertainment management agency in Japan, Johnnys put in its rookies and trainees in class 3-D to introduce them to public. The critics also argued that this behavior of Johnnys is mocking the viewers. Yet, even though the class 3-D was full of Johnnys trainees, contrary to critics' claims, Gokusen season1 wasn't ruined by them. They also didn't give awkward feelings nor annoyance to the viewers. However, from Gokusen season2, drama itself became a promotion video of Johnnys singers as actors. From extras to supporting actors, and even leading roles were full of Johnnys entertainers who does not seems to be qualified. In Gokusen season2, there were two roles that led the class 3-D, and they were filled with Johnnys members, Kamenashi Kazuya(亀梨和也) and Akanishi Jin(赤西仁). While Akanishi Jin did a nice job on representing his character with his former experiences as an actor, Kamenashi Kazuya was quite wooden. Kazuya got better throughout the episodes, but his cast proved that Johnnys used Gokusen series for its actors to practice acting. Especially, Takaki Yuya(高木雄也) of Johnnys who played a leading role in Gokusen season3 had no experience at acting and also was not trained well to act in such drama. Even though Ogata Yamato, the character he had to play, did not require big acting ability, Takaki Yuya did a terrible job on every single face emotions and lines.

▲Akanishi Jin and Kamenashi Kazuya in Gokusen season2

▲ I was not able to withstand Takaki Yuya's acting

   9 years have passed since Gokusen season1 had been on TV. The drama was filled with new faces, but most of them became favorites of viewers. Because not a single leading actor was experienced much, Gokusen season1 was a experimental drama. Nakama Yukie, who played the most important role in Gokusen series, was not highly praised back then, and students, leading the story, were all rookies except Matsumoto Jun. However, all the actors and actresses did a great job, leading to the conclusion that casting of Gokusen season1 was successful.
   To talk about the structure of the drama, the structure of Gokusen season1 was similar to those of other Japanese dramas. The most popular structure of Japanese dramas is connected episodes; every episodes has their main stories, but in a big picture, episodes connect themselves to make another big story. In Gokusen season1, each episodes were containing each student's personal story while they associate with each other to make a mighty flow, which is Yankumi(the nickname for the teacher, Yamaguchi Kumiko) resigning the school to save her students not to be expelled from school. For the content itself, Gokusen had no risk because the comic and the animation had been successful. Even though the drama might have gotten lots of one-star ratings because of the difficulty of expressing unique characters, castings had been powerful. Also, although it is not on the surface, love story between Yankumi and Shin gave more fun to the viewers. The popularity of Gokusen season1 wouldn't have been gained without extras and supporting roles.
   The most impressive scene in Gokusen season1 was the one when Sawada Shin picks up Yankumi's cell phone which she dropped accidently. When Shin, placing a silver ring on his thumb, gathers the pink celluar phone with Yankumi's photo sticker on it, he gets his chance to figure out who actually his teacher is. After, when he goes into the house of Oedo, he understands everything what have happened until than. Yankumi was a granddaughter of a Yakuza, who takes care of the whole town. I remember the scene vividly. In fact, the viewers know the fact for the first episode, so the scene gives a great tension to the viewers.
   The best season of the Gokusen series was Gokusen season1. Like other series dramas, Gokusen seasons 2 and 3 was produced due to the popularity of Gokusen season1. However, viewers containing myself felt seasons2 and 3 were not worth watching because they only repeat the same story. Interestingly, season2 recorded the highest ratings ever for the time period it was on air owing to the two leading Johnnys stars, Akanishi Jin(赤西 仁) and Kamenashi Kazuya(亀梨和也). Still, I give more respect to the first season because it was the first challenge and also the harmony of actors were better than ever. For season3, I'll say that it was the worst Japanese drama ever. Season3's leading actor, Takaki Yuya(高木雄也) acted terribly enough to make the hole series collapse. The complete work of Gokusen, Gokusen the movie was very distracted and gave me a feeling that the producers were forced to put in all the characters in it. If Gokusen series were ended within season2, the impression of Gokusen would have been better.
   To sum up, Gokusen season 1 was worth-watching drama which gave actors opportunity to show their possibilities. Before the first episode was on air, I thought it would only be good enough for fans of Matsumoto Jun to sit on a couch with potato chips and concentrate on each face emotions of Jun(and I started to watch this TV series because I was one of the fans of Matsumoto Jun); but now, I believe it was much more than that. Even though expectations were low from the beginning and synopsis was obvious and repeating, actors did their job better than expected, raising viewers' delights. Without extras, Gokusen season1 wouldn't have gained popularity.

Creative Writing Rough Draft

   There is a hole that I can see into; there's nothing else in this room. I do not know from when I was here, but I am sure that it has not been more than a week because I don't have a memory of drinking a sip of water. I don't want to believe myself, but my mere memory tells me that I fall off from the top, somewhere from the top into this dark room. This room is so dark that I cannot see anything; I am in a dark chamber. However, from time to time, a tiny string-like light comes in from the hole.(me)
   Naturally, I am damn hungry. If there were even smelly rotten cheese or swollen tomato, I would graciously devour them. Unfortunately, there aren't. I hunted trough this overwhelming silence, but the place I am kept is merely big enough for me to lie down and stand up. Except the hole, I cannot feel anything around. Too bad my teeth are not hard enough to bear cement.
   Through this hole, I can only see light and dark. The moments of light are sporadic; when even the light is off, the room is a black hole. (PJW)
   Someone is shouting outside. "I once raised three dogs. One was Yorkshire, one was Shih Tzu..." Jesus, why do I have to care if someone raised a Shih Tzu or not? What is Shih Tzu anyway? Is that a bad word? I peeked outside through the hole that was gaping. Then I saw a pair of eyes which seemed to be full of anger. The owner of the eyes was staring at the blank space with red face, black, pointed tails, yellow beak and white belly. All together, the owner looked like a bird-a very very angry red bird. Maybe her eggs were stolen by greedy pigs.(CSR)
   But then I realized that I was day dreaming again. So I turned my mind back to the word "Shih Tzu". My initial impression fo this word was that of a swear word. A swear word of a very ferocious origin. I wondered who was able to make up this swear word that sounded so bad. It didn't only sound bad, rather, it sounded perverted. So I firmly made up my mind to find the definition of this word and put this as my top priority as I get out of this room, no matter and many years have to pass till I go out. (CNA)
   Then this man out of nowhere appeared in front of me. He spoke in a charismatic manner, his hands and facial expressions growling intense as he reiterated the word "Shih Tzu" over and over again. "Shih Tzu, Shih Tzu, Shih Tzu..." I was annoyed to madness then he disappeared. Then appeared a monk his glasses down on his nose, his mouth agape. I drooled at his appearance. (PSM)
   In a sudden, something hard punched my front head, and I accidentally opened my eyes as big as I could. Again, I shutted down my eyes for a moment which cuold not bare all the light from my surroundings. Then I blinked. I blinked again. I looked around. I was in Mr. Garrioch's classroom. The man shouting Shih Tzu at me was one of my classmates while the monk with his glasses down on his nose was a picture of Gandhi glued on one side of the classroom. (me)

Jesus Camp and Pathos, Ethos, and Logos

△ The poster of the film, Jesus Camp

   Beforehand, I want to make clear that I do not have a religion. It doesn't mean that I'm an atheist, but I won't say I do believe in the existence of a god. Still, I'm not the person who has the least interest in religion; I am attracted by all sorts of religions, and like to discuss them with who believes in a typical religion. At a glance, Jesus Camp seemed very interesting, making me curious about two aspects: the content itself about Jesus Camp and the effects what directors will use to appeal their view to the audience. In this post, I will try to focus on the latter component of the film, which are skills that producers of the documentary used to persuade their audience.

   Aristotle suggests three means of persuasion in his book, Rhetoric. The three are ethos, pathos, and logos. Ethos is made by the credibility of a speaker. Pathos is related to emotions and senses that audiences get, and logos is the flow of logic and patterns of reasoning throughout the speech. In the documentary, Jesus Camp, the three are not balanced; rather, pathos is highlighted by background music, cinematography, and other types of emotion-makers in the film. Three methods of persuasion will be separately discussed.

△ Aristotle's Rhetoric

Ethos

   The so-called "speaker" in a film is the director of a film. Generally, it is director who picks up a topic, maps out a film, directs cinematographers, and has control over editing. At most times, director's fame makes a great deal of persuasion of the film.

   Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady are the co-directors of the film. They are the founders of Loki Films, a film production company where its purpose of film production is to take an honest, objective picture of an unrevealed world. They are quite noted for their projects, and have been introduced in Time Magazine as innovators of the documentary craft. The most popular film they have produced is Jesus Camp, which was nominated for an Academy Award for best documentary feature in 2007. It is no exaggeration to say that they are influential film makers influential enough to appeal to ethos.

   On the other hand, even though they are influential and popular, the message that the co-producers of Jesus Camp want to deliver which is "polarization of Christianity in USA" will definitely be weakened if they, themselves are evangelists or antichristians, so it is crucial to find out how much directors are put into Christianity. In one of the interviews they had, the interviewer asks with curiosity, "Do you guys come from religious backgrounds?"; both Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady answers, "No." Heidi Ewing claims that she was raised a catholic, attending missionary school in her whole life. However, she does not practice Catholicism. With similar questions in other interviews, she says that Rachel Grady and she was not familiar with born-again Christians before they took the film, 

△ The co-directors of Jesus Camp, Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady

Pathos

   "We were never going to make fun of the characters in our film but it was interesting because in the edit, things, if you take out a line or add a line, something could seem somehow funny, or it was easy to fall of that cliff," says Heidi Ewing in her interview with Suchin Pak. Usually in editing process, producers try to accentuate pathos by putting in agreeable background sounds and taking out some moderate clips that are not necessary or that can weaken the purpose of a film. Camera works, or how cameras capture characters, are one of the factors of ethos, too.

   From the beginning to the end, peculiar background music dominates the film. The music boosts the feelings with the screen. Uncomfortable emotions gets bigger by the help of background sounds. For example, there's a scene where nine-year-old Rachael, who stammers badly and who prays to Jesus every moment, goes to a bowling alley and does missionary work there. Without a strange sound ringing, her words and actions wouldn't be a big deal; rather, it would be a familiar scene seen everywhere throughout the country. However, with the sound, her mission works became odd and distorted.

   The scenes and camera works that filmed the scenes also bring out audiences' emotions. Even though the actual Jesus Camp possibly contains some "normal" camp activities, it is deleted and never shown throughout the documentary. What film contains are scenes what people will be astonished after watching them, such as children screaming out absurd words and crying badly after Becky Fischer's lecture about sin. The picture keeps shaking to create anxiety to watchers' minds.

△ The scene where the influence of background music is obvious; Rachael is doing mission work in bowling alley

△ The original clip: compare your emotions with the latter clip

△ The edited clip by myself: the difference is clear enough, but the only thing different is the music

△ The selected scenes and shaking camera work arouses extreme emotions

Logos

   Sometimes, after watching a documentary, people feel confused because they could not understand the flow of the film. This is due to lack of logic of the film; to appeal to logos, captions of facts are used and same radio show is inserted many times in Jesus Camp.
   Objective data such as statistics and facts assists the film to keep its objectivity. Many parts of the scenes contain factual data which helps audience to understand the purpose of the documentary. For example, before getting into the real sense of Jesus camp, caption informs you that "43% of Evangelical Christians become "born-again" before the age of 13." Also, the captions do not contain any opinions or arguments; rather, it gives watchers the minimum explanations of the scenes. These captions helps the film to keep track of its logic flow.

   "Ring of Fire" on WCBT is inserted four times throughout the film. In the radio show, Mike Papantonio, the host of "Ring of Fire", criticizes religious fanatics who wants to make an army of Jesus filled with children. With these scenes put in, the documentary seems to be arranged neatly; they give stability to the flow of the film.

△ facts appear frequently in the film by caption

△ "Ring of Fire" radio show that appeared frequently throughout the film

   Jesus Camp directed by Rachel Grady and Heidi Ewing uses all three means of persuasion to convey their thoughts to the audience. Co-director's purpose of making Jesus Camp was to inform Americans that there are very different Christians around them; it was to show differences between Christianity. They used their fame and objectivity to appeal to pathos, adds creepy background music, select pictures that can produce strong emotions and chooses shaking techniques for shooting to appeal to ethos, and inserts factual captions and similar radio scenes to appeal to logos.

Conor Woodman-who I want to have dinner with

(continued from the introduction part of my previous post...)
   Few days later, I called Mr. Woodman, and through the phone, he wanted to buy me a dinner. I was looking forward to meeting him in person, only until I found out that where he chose for dinner is a Japanese restaurant for busy office workers. Maybe I was expecting something, more special...
   We met, and talked about the incident. However, he was not the person who I was expecting to meet. Because of what he did to my shirt, I was hard on him; actually, he was polite and able to communicate. Eating a rice ball stiffed with a tuna can, I complaint about my student life that I even have no time to eat breakfast, and that usually drink a cup of orange juice for breakfast to save my time for undone homework. After some chatting, I stared to ask some questions to him.


I : Mr. Woodman, why did you come to Korea? Is it for another trade?
Woodman : Yes, I came to Korea to continue my investigation. Actually, at the first time, I didn't think Korea was a nice place to keep myself busy. Unlike China, the population here is quite small; unlike Nepal, there is no particular item that Korea is very famous for; also, unlike any other places in earth, it is the country where the war is still continuing. Regarding all these inputs, I thought Korea had no potential for me to investigate. Nevertheless, the reason why I came here is because I wanted to challenge myself. According to the newspapers, Korea is called a grave of multi-national corporation. WalMart, Google, and other international companies failed to occupy Korean market. Korean market is also famous for its adaptability; Koreans easily absorb new items and cultures compared to other citizens. So I bought some unique items to sell in Korea from other countries, and will buy some appealing item to sell it to the rest of the world.

I : What did you bring here to sell it to Koreans? What items are you expecting to find here?
Woodman : Before telling you anything else, I want to inform you the procedures that I went through to find a suitable product for me to sell. I skimmed through some important researches about Korean market broadly, and found out some significant characteristics of the unique Korean consumer market. First, sales of luxury goods aren't influenced by the state of economy. Usually, when economy drops in recession, the sales of luxury goods decrease sharply, but in Korea, the common sense never works. Second, the market is very fashion-conscious. When a specific item becomes an 'it-item', it is natural for all Koreans to have that item in their place. Therefore, according to these meaningful information, I figured out that the item that I will be able to sell in Korea will be a luxury it-item. Recently, Koreans seems to be fascinated by the Arabican coffee. Koreans usually drink processed coffee or instant coffee; instant coffee is made out of 2% of Robusta coffee bean extract and 98% of other stuff such as sugar or forgery cream. Nowadays, people want "real" coffee; Koreans want fresh Arabican coffee beans which is less than a week old after roasting. So, I brought Kenya's qualified coffee beans from one of the small scale farms to sell them with a special price. The beans are qualified by the Kenyan government, and grown without any harmful pesticides. The beans are also attractive because they are not made by a massive coffee farm which will be more reasonable to call it a factory. I hope my coffee beans get a favorable reaction from Koreans.
- And about items to buy here, I am not sure about it. Though, I am thinking about something very Korean such as Korean roof tile or Korean floor heating system. However, roof tiles cost more than a price of themselves for delivery, and floor heating system is useless to other countries whose residents don't lie on floors. Hey, wait a second. You are a Korean! Give me some advice.

I : Well, I guess electronic devices are quite nice here. But they are difficult to sell in other countries. Rather than buying a good here, how about earning money like you did in Japan?
Woodman : Japan is the number one country of fish transaction, so I think it was meaningful enough to know how fisherman works and how fish transaction works in Japan, even though I earned less than a dollar for one and an half day of hard working. If I find something worth my time, I will do anything like I did in Japan. Oh, I can tell that you read my book! Did you find it interesting?

I : Of course, I did. I couldn't let my book leave my sight until I finished the book. It was captivating, alluring and gorgeous! After scrutinizing the book, I decided to live an adventurous life. Actually, my future dream was to be a busy market analyst or fund manager. Can I ask you the reason why you quit your job as an market analyst?
Woodman : When I was a kid, I wanted to be the part of the busy London Stock Exchange. Lots of people, a large number of companies, an astronomical amount of money. It was my dream to be involved in that world. However, after I graduated from Manchester university and got a job, I found out that being a market analyst is such a tiring job. When the good-morning alarm from my phone rings, I wake up on my desk with my arm gone numb; I turn on the computer and wipe off my fluid from the keyboard that I drooled last night. Then I figure out that a brand new binder is on my desk. I mechanically grab the binder, open it, and read it through my inflamed eye. I type, type, and type. I glare at the screen and put my brain back to work to find any fluctuation or incident that happened in the market in every minute. When the co-workers seems to get up from their seats, I fall asleep again. This procedure was my everyday life. And one day, I thought, what am I doing now? I wasn't born to work like a slave. I am qualified to live a wonderful life. Why not do what I want? I stomped out of my seat, and started to plan my new life. In a nutshell, let's say that I was tired of my everyday life.

I : So what would be the most terrible life for you?
Woodman : As I said previously, sitting on a solid chair typing something thoughtlessly like a robot will be the worst life for me. I heard that most of the students in Korea wants to be a government employee. I want to arouse their human nature. I want to make them to get into an adventure that nobody have tried! I want to shout to them, don't be a chicken, it's your only life!

I : Wow, that was quite straightforward. Thank you for your advice. By the way, when I bought your book in the bookstore, I bought another book named Justice. It was based on professor Michael Sandel's lecture, and I found it very interesting. The very first chapter includes a relationship between market price and justice. What do you think about justice? As a tradesman, do you think an act of selling a bottle of water for $30 after a category 5 hurricane hit the place can be justified?
Woodman : I think I will read the book right away! Even though I didn't have time to read Justice, I believe it's a serious problem to solve-the problem between market and justice. If you ask for my opinion, I'll say if it was for a bottle of water, which is crucial for a human being to live, it cannot be justified. However, if it was for optional goods or services, I'd rather say it is justifiable. Suppose that you are a tradespeople who lives in London. One day, you found out a hurricane went through Edinburgh. The supply of new trees to plant on roadsides are needed, but the government won't let you get more price than what you've got until now. Then, there is no incentive to go from London to Edinburgh. On the other hand, when you are allowed to sell trees without any limit on price, you will be willing to go to Edinburgh to sell trees. Because people want more goods, price goes up. The price that went up attracts producers to produce more of the goods. It's the basic principle of economics that you cannot pass over. However, without a regulation of government, human rights are likely to be ignored. So for the necessities, it is right for the government to regulate prices. I wonder what professor wrote in his book.

I : He did point out what you said. Oops, it's already 7 O' clock! Then I should make this my last question. Why were you interested in Economics in the first place? Do you have any advice to give to students who want to major in Economics?
Woodman : Economics is slightly boring when you only learn about principles and rules of economics. However, when it comes to application, Economics has the most potential. Every single thing in earth is related to Economics. Why did you only drink a cup of orange juice for today's breakfast? It's because you had to do other things such as taking a shower or doing your homework for the rest of the time. The choice you made is deeply related to Economics. Because your time is limited, you have to make a choice. The scarcity of resource is the basic principle of economics. To add, if you look the world around you carefully, you will figure out that Economics is always with you. And to students who want to major in economics : don't tie yourself up to the textbook. The world is there for you.

I : Thank you Mr. Woodman! It was very nice to meet you in face. The dinner didn't fit our conversation, but I enjoyed it a lot. You'll do great on your trade in Korea. Thank you again, and I hope I could meet you again somewhere!
Woodman : Of course, you will meet me somewhere in the world when you travel around the world like I do. I think I was bit silly this morning; I was totally worried about my coffee beans after getting a call from the delivery service center. Thank you for your mercy, and have a wonderful day!

Brainstorming : Who do I want to have dinner with-Conor Woodman

FYI : CONOR WOODMAN IS COMING TO KOREA!

BRIEF INTRODUCTION

Who? Conor Woodman

What? ran into him / ate dinner with him

When? the day before my 16th birthday

Where? at the subway / in the small public Japanese restaurant called 'Onigiriwa Igyudong'

Why? in accident / he spilled his coffee on my back

WHO IS CONOR WOODMAN?

- famous for the documentary/book, <Around the World in 80 Trades>

- former city(market) analyst

- interviews

  http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/money/investment/article6076944.ece

  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/5099157/Interview-Conor-Woodman-on-giving-up-his-City-life-to-travel-the-globe.html

WHY DO I WANT TO MEET HIM?

   When I was in the middle school, I wanted to major in Economics to be a fabulous fund manager. However, my interests changed, and after all, I didn't want to know any principles and laws about the economy. One day, I found the book named Around the World in 80 Trades in my shelf, and started to read the book. It was fantastic; even though I do not enjoy reading non fiction books, I finished to read the book in a day.

   The book and the author of the book, Conor Woodman, changed my entire life. I planned to major in Economics again, and my life dream is to travel all around the world to trade like Conor Woodman.

   There are lots of questions that I want to ask him, and I want him to give me some advice.

   To say the truth, his looks nice.

SITUATION

   It will be impossible to remove a memory of September 1^st, 2010 during my lifetime.

   It was the day before my birthday; it was my precious birthday-eve and something special had to happen. Maybe I would run into my favorite celebrity Junsu Kim in the way going to somewhere. Maybe one of my old friends would call me by chance without knowing my phone number. Maybe I would be the winner to get a cup of pistachio ice cream in Baskin-Robbins. When I was daydreaming like this while I was brushing my teeth gently, my phone rang.

   Yes, it should be the number two case! I answered the phone with a big smile, but, guess what, it was a urging call from a video rental shop threatening me that I should return the Cars DVD today or pay three thousand won tomorrow. Something was going wrong. I would have expected this.

   However, I got another call, and thankfully it was my best friend who called. Even though I clearly knew that she got informed about my birthday by the text message that I sent secretly removing a sender number to all of my close friends two days ago, I was happy enough to listen to her voice through the phone. We made a firm promise to meet in Myeongdong station after an hour, so I ran to the subway as quickly as I can.

   When I was running up the stairs to get on the subway at 2 in the afternoon where there are no people at all which means that it is almost near zero percent possibility to run into someone, a person spilled a terribly hot cup of coffee on my back. In the first place, it was so strange that he actually spilled it on my back. Also, because the person tried to get the cup by stretching his arms to my right shoulder, the incident got much worse; the left liquid in the cup teemed to my arms as if they were heavy raindrops and flowed to my hand. I got my right arm and hand burned, which meant that I absolutely screwed up an appointment with my best pal. There was nothing that I can do except bawl him out for his blunder.

   Me : So what are you going to do now? Throw a cup of ice to me?

   Woodman : Oh, I am really sorry to see my coffee on your shirt. Now, you owe me five thousand four hundred and twenty won, which is the amount of money I paid for my Café Breve excluding the discount with my Shinhan card. Oh, and because I am kind of busy now, say thanks to me later for me to include the discount with my card.

   Me : What? What the hell are you saying? Are you insane? You spilled your crazy hot coffee on my back, you made the situation worse by stretching out your damn flexible arm, and now, you want me to pay for your new cup of coffee! Do you know who my uncle is? He is a fabulous lawyer! You absolutely look like I-wanna-be-sued-for-this! Don’t you think so?

   Woodman : ……. Actually, I guess I was kidding. I’ll give you my business card. Contact me later.

   The person ran away from me after throwing his contact information to my side. I tried to catch him, but it was impossible: he had a speed of Usain Bolt. I picked up the contact card of his, and read it off. It was written, “Conor Woodman, the investor of the world”.

WHAT I WANT TO ASK

- Why did you come to Korea?
- I want to major in Economics. Based on your experiences in University of Manchester, do you have any advice to give to students like me?
- What do you want to buy/sell in Korea?
- Why did you quit your job as an market analyst?
- What do you think about 'Justice'? Do you think selling a bottle of water for $30 after a category 5 hurricane hit the place can be justified?
- What do you think about brokers?
- In your book, many different kind of your friends helped you through the travel. How do you feel about getting help from friends?
- What will be the most terrible life to you?
- Why were you interested in Economics in the first place? Why did you major in Economics?