International Comm & Culture 2009

I know this might have nothing to do with the class, but I know that you wanna know about this. :D

heheh salah baca ya akuu... ini lah akibatnya of being sick! mmm i see. cause i thought it was based on last week music festival.. hehehe

love it!

Even though South and North Koreans are 'Koreans', we cannot communicate each other because of many reasons.

I knew that South Koreans and North Koreans can't cross the border to visit each other, but i really don't know that they can't even send e-mails. It's such a pity that they don't know when they will see their relatives next time.

It is reminiscent of families being split in East and West Germany. People would plan trips to Lake Balaton in Hungary to catch up. But that said they could send (censored) letters and make phone calls. If the North Korean Government are so kean to keep these families split up why are they allowing these meetings to take place? The cruelty of it all is hard to comprehend, seeing a loved one never to know if you will see them again.

Is it a propaganda or PR tool?

I think it can be said as a propaganda film because it draws a lot of Chinese to revisit the historical moment, then of cause, the stars in the film are doing a good job in drawing the audience in the first place lol~

the sadness about using new technology

From time to time, some Aussie teenagers play their music real loud on the train, through the use of their mobile, which is very annoying and disturbing to other commuters. I guess, even though ipod is widely used nowadays, it hasn't stopped the noise pollution completely~

I hope someday I can speak 'Konglish (Korean English)' in everywhere. :D

interesting analysis about Dali

Interesting move, I guess the "localization" process overlooked a few issues. Personally I think "the family guy" does quite often cross lines that should not be crossed, (eg: when making fun of pedophilia) The show highlights a trend in western society to ridicule any value and/or anything "sacred".

I've watched it once and I didn't like it.Everything about it is so wrong but I guess it's now a trend to use cartoons as medium for silly jokes.

Some people might capture the meaning wrongly. Perhaps Venezuelans view Family Guy as those who criticize the western value. Since Venezuelan TV is know to re-runs of old US series and Latin American soap operas, they tend to manage the conventional value instead of looking at the west in a modern society who gets ridicule by the writers.

Is australia the best place to live?

Such an interesting news which reminds me the news between the Imperial Palace of China and starbucks. Please google 'Starbucks in the Forbidden City' if you want to know further. Someone argue that Starbucks in the Imperial Palace is not embodying Westernization or Globalization but eroding the Chinese traditional culture. The issue of Mcdonald in Louvre gives me a similar feeling although they are not exactly the same. Should we remain our own traditional culture without any modern symbol ?

Nowadays, Chinese people are enjoying greater freedom of speech and access to Internet. Both external environment and domestic development contribute to this. As in the new nationalism that forbidden by authorized government, the changing web of Chinese nationalism is such a powerful tool that inspires people to observe and thought independently. It also creates online nationalism, which could be considered as a growing potential turbulence.

I agree what you talked about the online nationalism of Chinese as a growing potential turbulence. In fact, there are a lot of cases showing the trend of the ' growing potentail turbulence'. The debate between Chinese governement and the Melbourne Film Festival on the documentary of Rebiya Kadeer (The 10 Conditions of Love) has led to breakdown of Film Festival's offical site. People believed that the site has hacked by Chinese hacker. I believe that the Chinese nationalism is obviously leading to an online nationalism which may impact on both positive and negative sides.

Studio Ghibli is the most successful anime production house in Japan. It's persona has captured not only Japanese but also people around the world, regardless of their age. This is one cultural product of Japan which is appreciated by many around the world.

Kseniya Simonova is a Ukrainian artist who creates sand drawings in front of audiences. Here she is performing on Ukraine's Got Talent: Here, she recounts Germany conquering Ukraine in the second world war. She brings calm, then conflict. A couple on a bench become a woman's face; a peaceful walkway becomes a conflagration; a weeping widow morphs into an obelisk for an unknown soldier. Simonova looks like some vengeful Old Testament deity as she destroys then recreates her scenes - with deft strokes, sprinkles and sweeps she keeps the narrative going. She moves the judges to tears as she subtitles the final scene "you are always near". Kseniya Simonova's simple sand animation has captured a universal chord for the Ukraine where emotion runs deep entrenched in a war that has generational wounds. You don't have to understand the culture, the humbling of the people will touch you. The artist Kseniya Simonova won the competition and justly so. If you are able to bring out emotion like that and bring out tears in all, your message was well received and deserve to win.

. In the disaster of earthquake (Sichuan Province, China ), Ai Weiwei, one of Bulogger.cn authors, charged that the high number of school fatalities was due to local officials siphoning money from school building costs. Grieving families said the structures were badly built and collapsed easily during the quake. But officials refused to list the names of the dead students, which could be used to unveil a possible cover-up, so Ai formed the "Sichuan Earthquake Names Project" with researchers and volunteers who discovered the names of 5,190 students.