As news of Iran’s popular unrest and demonstration against what seems like a rigged election spreads out more and more, one comparison thought came to mind. This reminded me of South Korea in its ’60s through ’80s.
It’s a rather graphic and unedited picture so be warned. Bunches of mostly peaceful demonstration and the police start firing tear gas and beating down protesters and arresting them, and some eventually get killed. Sounds familiar? This is South Korea winded back to ’70s and ’80s era when martial law was the way things went, and coup d’etat was as frequent as your mail.
The Kwangju Massacre. That alone says it all. When the “government” sent in tanks to kill hundreds of civilians, the images are similar. Iran’s reaction, in my humble opinion, is that of a marshall law. If it wasn’t, the government would have just let them continue demonstrating. But lashing out at them with violence is not a democratic way but rather that of dictatorship.
I empathize with the pro-democracy citizens of Iran… and pray for good changes to come and that the bloodshed would lessen… But all democratic movements, including the likes of Tiananmen Square Massacre, comes at cost. I sure hope the Iranian leadership realizes their follies…
As you all know, it’s Father’s Day this Sunday… and this NPR interview/article hits home… to what it truly means to be a dad. This father knows what it means to be a father… To all you fellow fathers out there, including my own, we salute you.
I tend to be wish wash when it comes to green and going green… however, this video of John La Grou talking about the smart power outlets has me very intrigued. I hope this really catches on… both to save people and homes from electrical fires as well as saving loads of energy. He notes that there are over 10 billion electrical outlets in US alone!! Yikes…
Two Asian-American reporters who snuck into North Korea were sentenced to twelve years(?!) of prison for allegedly spying on them. Here are my thoughts…
1. What were they thinking to sneak into North Korea, aka. Not-just-communist-country-but-dictatorship country?!! Common sense would dictate that they should’ve stayed well out of the border area.
2. North Korea sentenced them to 12 years?!! WTH?! Year or two may be somewhat distantly understandable… but TWELVE?!!
3. Let’s not forget that North Korea isn’t exactly known for being “understanding”. 56 years of dictatorship and strict rule doesn’t exactly cry fair.
4. I seriously hope & pray that these two get released but with other serious issues (like North Korea’s long-distance missile testing and nuclear armament), this may get buried…
I wanted to show my pride in the two generations of pastors in our family. My father had sent me this article where he and my younger brother were featured in Korean Christian Daily newspaper. Loosely translated, my brother Paul states that he had become a pastor “from watching our father’s faithfulness in pastoring… not focusing on tough life of now but focusing on the eternal importance of the future.” Good stuff… I wanted to show my pride in two people that have dedicated their lives to serving God.
I grew up on scifi. It started with Mazinger Z. Galaxy Express 999. Future Boy Conan. Gundam. Robotech.
Then I discovered Star Trek. The original TV series with Capt. James T. Kirk. Spock and others made the show rather enjoyable. And then the Next Generation came! Capt. Jean-Luc Picard is da man! He made Star Trek cool! I didn’t care much for Deep Space Nine and the Voyager series… but then Star Trek: Enterprise returned and it was awesome again! However, it wasn’t popular enough and they pulled the plug.
The movies weren’t great most of the time and Star Trek seemed to disappear… until this movie came around! The reason why the review is bittersweet is because of what the movie is doing to the entire Star Trek license! Just like “Dark Knight” did to the original (and lame) Batman from the ’60s, this movie kickstarted the Star Trek into the 21st century, so to speak. The movie was good. Lots of action and effects with a decent plot, it gave what the license needed to enter the mainstream. It was great if you weren’t a fan of the original.
So to someone like me who has been a fan, but not a fanatic, it was rather… bitter to swallow. The plot threw the entire history upside down, like Chung had warned me yesterday. The original series and some of the movies had always done one thing and one thing right: addressing a load of ethical and cultural issues and differences. It had its own … traditions and history of sorts. Now, it was all thrown away for the sake of making the series popular again.
It still was a good movie and the twist was… intriguing. I suppose it was a necessary evil of sorts. I mean, I’d rather have it back this way than to have lost it forever. Bittersweet, indeed. Bittersweet.
One of the cool shows of the recent years (unlike the stoopid “Lost”) is my new favorite, Chuck. It’s a slightly comedic show on a nerd guy who becomes a CIA agent and carries the Intersect, the super secret data supercomputer, in his brain.
Even Soojin has been getting into the show. It’s funny and it’s got the romance for the female audience. Well, the show may get cancelled and not return from the second season. All I have to say to that is “BOOOO!!”. So with the power of the Internet and network sites, people have been rallying to save the show!! Go do whatever you have to do to save the show!! Please!!
