Monster Island (actually a peninsula)*

Pearls of witticism from 'Bo the Blogger: Kushibo's Korea blog... Kushibo-e Kibun... Now with Less kimchi, more nunchi. Random thoughts and commentary (and indiscernibly opaque humor) about selected social, political, economic, and health-related issues of the day affecting "foreans," Koreans, Korea and East Asia, along with the US, especially Hawaii, Orange County and the rest of California, plus anything else that is deemed worthy of discussion. Forza Corea!

Showing posts with label Hiding documentary. Show all posts

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

LiNK launching new documentary on North Korean refugees brought to safety

Esther Lee, the communications manager at LiNK (Liberty in North Korea), a highly worthy organization aimed at assisting North Korean refugees hiding in China that you may remember from Pepsi's "Refresh Everything" campaign, passed along some information for me to share with my readers.

From their website's announcement:

This year, we've rescued 20 North Korean refugees from hiding in China, thanks to the help of our incredibly generous supporters.

"Hiding" will follow the story of five individuals whose recues you have helped to fund. The documentary will highlight what life in hiding is really like and the risks that must be taken to escape.

LiNK's Nomads will be taking the film on the road this fall so if you are interested in seeing it, please book a screening to secure a date on our tour. We’ll be traveling to colleges, high schools and churches.

Here is a link (ha ha!) to the teaser. They've also got a list of planned screenings, and a way for folks to host their own screening. Their "tour" doesn't seem to include Hawaii, so if anyone out there would like to join me in co-hosting a screening here in Honolulu, shoot me an email.

Esther also informs that LiNK is doing an eight-week webisode series, with considerable cooperation from the Ford Motor Company, to follow a North Korean defector whom LiNK helped rescue:

We were ecstatic to learn today that we were selected by Ford in a project called The People's Fleet, a two-month program in Los Angeles that will help five influential and socially-conscious organizations drive their unique missions forward with a Ford Fiesta, Flip HD video camera, and a professional cinematographer. Ford will highlight LiNK's work by following us with a film crew for the next eight weeks and promoting our work to Ford's network. This will all be done behind the wheel of the brand new Ford Fiesta!

The Fleet will follow North Korean defector Danny, rescued by LiNK in 2006, as he lives his resettled life in Los Angeles, as well as capture LiNK's headquarters operations.

Some of the webisodes for that can be found here, along with those of several other of Ford's worthy projects (including Habitat for Humanity in Orange County).

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Ask Kushibo.

My Google/Blogspot data shows that a lot of the 2 million people who have landed on my site (yes, that's the real number) are looking for cultural information on Korea (e.g., “When did Syngman Rhee die?” “What did the Indians bring to the first Chusŏk?’ etc., etc.), as well as practical or historical stuff.

That got me thinking that, hey, I have a master’s degree in Korean studies and a minor in Japanese studies, I’ve lived in Seoul far longer than most foreans my age (whether they're kyopo or non-kyopo), I teach introductory courses on Korea and its cultural trappings and history, so why not offer a free service where I attempt to answer people’s questions, point them in the direction of where they can get them answered, and/or offer my regulars (that’s you!) a chance to take a stab at some of this stuff, too.

So if there’s something you’d like to know from a “contrarian scourge,” click on ASK KUSHIBO and just ask a succinct question in the comments section below.

Oh, and play nice. Please don’t make me regret this.

九十五大怪獣란? 쿠시보의 몬스터 아일랜드란?

Pearls of witticism from 'Bo the Blogger: Kushibo's Korea blog... Kushibo-e Kibun...
Now with Less kimchi, more nunchi. Random thoughts and commentary (and indiscernibly opaque humor) about selected social, political, economic, and health-related issues of the day affecting "foreans" ("foreigners" in Korea be they kyopo or non-kyopo), Koreans, Korea and East Asia, along with the US, especially Hawaii, Orange County, and the rest of California, plus anything else that is deemed worthy of discussion. Forza Corea!

* Monster Island (actually a peninsula)

The name of this blog comes from a line in "Lisa on Ice," a beloved episode of The Simpsons, perhaps my all-time favorite television show (even though for several seasons there, it really did suck). Lisa is imagining being sworn in as president, but at the last minute, it is discovered that she failed P.E. (physical education) and she is thus "sentenced to a lifetime of horror" on Monster Island. "Don't worry," the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court confides in her, "It's just a name."

Fast forward to Lisa and other prisoners running in panic through a tropical jungle, chased by Godzilla-like creatures, including a monster turtle and a monster firefly.

"He said it was just a name!" Lisa screams to the man next to her. While he, too, runs for his life, the unidentified man calmly says, "What he meant is that Monster Island is actually a peninsula."

Anyway, I thought in some ways that punchline summed up modern-day Korea in a nutshell. For many people—foreigners and Koreans—the ups and downs and everyday travails of the Republic of Korea make it as precarious as a Monster Island would be (and with the DMZ being the only land border, it really is like an island). But it actually is a peninsula. Okay, it made sense in my head.

So as you can see, despite the hits I get from people looking for Japanese tentacle porn, it has nothing to do with anything salacious as that.