Once again it’s that rare time of year when two of the universe’s most powerful forces collide: Religion and Politics. That’s right, I’m talking about election season and the Jewish High Holidays. The polls, the prayers, the spin, the schmears; it’s all enough to get your tallit in a twist. That being said, perhaps it’s no coincidence that comedienne Sarah Silverman, herself a Jew, recently launched a new voting campaign aimed at Jewish voters – elderly ones to be specific. It’s called “The Great Schlep,” and the premise is simple: Jewish kids need to get their asses down to the swing state of Florida and tell their grandparents to vote for Obama. Whether you can make it down to Florida or not, do yourself a favor and watch this clip. And then go visit your grandparents. Lord knows they miss you.
[Just a warning for those unfamiliar with Silverman's brand of comedy, it's a little on the blue side. Be forewarned: there are some jokes that you may not want your Boubie to hear]
Saw this in a local discount store here in Seosan and all I can say is, “WTF?!” I didn’t know Al Jolsen owned a sportswear company. Just a thought here, but if you’re going to rip someone off, at least try not to be offensive about it.
Ok, so I know I posted about a gallery of photos from North Korea just the other day, but I was cruising the interwebs today and lo-and-behold, I done found me another one. This one features snap shots from a video arcade in Pyongyang. I didn’t think it was possible, but this place makes Pong look downright futurisitc. From the site, UK Resistance:
A man took these photos inside an amusement arcade in Pyongyang, capital of North Korea. They will make you very, very grateful that your local still has a functioning SEGA Rally and that you are not from or stuck in North Korea.
This is Sarah Palin’s most recent interview with CBS’s Katie Couric, and my oh my is it painful to watch. And not just the oh-that-stings-a-bit painful, it’s more of the squirm-in-your-seat-please-make-it-stop painful. With the way she struggles for answers, she could soon take the crown from Miss Teen South Carolina as the World’s Worst Interviewee.
For reasons unknown, these small-headed mannequins are ubiquitous throughout Korea. I see this particular trio of plastic salesmen every day as I walk to work. I’m not sure if the store where they reside is trying to promote clothes or induce nightmares, but either way it’s hard not to look at them – call it the “Medusa Effect.” If haunting people’s dreams counts as a marketing strategy then Korean retailers are doing one hell of a job.
Teaching English for the past six months has forced me to re-evaluate what it means to learn something. And I don’t mean just know it, I mean really learn it – to know something inside and out, backwards and forwards, and, to a lesser extent, sideways and byways. I can’t count the number of students I have who can ace a mulitple choice test but can barely say anything past “hello” and “how are you.” That’s like building a house just to sleep in the garage (speaking of which, Mom, can you clean that out, cuz when I come home I’m gonna need a place to crash). Making matters worse is that many parents don’t seem to mind that despite months of instruction and countless tuition bills later, their kids still can’t form simplest of phrases. As long as the right bubbles are filled on the right tests, they’re happy.
With the odds seemingly stacked against actual learning and in favor of simple knowing, I was excited to come across a story about Park Chang-seok, a professor at Kyung Hee University in Seoul and the founding chairman of the new English Newspapers in Education Society of Korea who is pushing for a comprehensive approach to English instruction. From the Korean Herald:
“Korean students are used to multiple-choice English tests and they have been preparing for these types of examinations in their classes,” he noted. “But these new essay-type questions, where test takers are required to work on a critical essay in a short amount of time, are turning out to be a challenge for a lot of students.”
“Korean students don’t have practice in preparing for essay writing in these English proficiency tests. When TOEFL started the essay-writing section, average scores for students taking these tests began to drop noticeably,” according to the professor…
Park minced no words when asked to describe the quality of English-language education in Korean public schools. “It’s really near the bottom. And this is not my own opinion. There have been a number of studies and surveys comparing English-language aptitude among students from different countries,” he said.
Just as a person can’t expect to make a gourmet meal without following a recipe, parents and instructors can’t expect to help students learn English without a plan and solid cirriculum. Perhaps it would be wise to take a page from the 19th-century German writer and philosopher, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, who once said, “Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough we must do.”
The Boston Globe’s fantastic photo blog, The Big Picture, recently released an amazing collection of photographs from North Korea, aka the Hermit Kingdom. If you like your pictures big and your dictators crazy, then this is the gallery for you. Check it out.
Sarah Palin: Just following the script. Maybe this is why the McCain campaign pushed to change the Vice Presidential debate format to include less audience questioning and off-the-cuff exchanges between candidates. From the NYT:
At the insistence of the McCain campaign, the Oct. 2 debate between the Republican nominee for vice president, Gov. Sarah Palin, and her Democratic rival, Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr., will have shorter question-and-answer segments than those for the presidential nominees, the advisers said. There will also be much less opportunity for free-wheeling, direct exchanges between the running mates.
McCain advisers said they had been concerned that a loose format could leave Ms. Palin, a relatively inexperienced debater, at a disadvantage and largely on the defensive.
So yeah, McCain/Palin, the candidates to nowhere, thanks but no thanks.
Maybe it’s because I once did a history project on political ads back when I was just a wee high schooler, or maybe it’s because I have no life, but for some reason I’ve always held an affinity for campaign spots. So campy, so over-the-top, soooo good. Needless to say I was pumped when I saw this historical rundown of ads through the years via Slate.com. Let’s just say that past nominees wouldn’t stand a chance with this year’s crop of campaign haymakers, accusations, and bald-faced lies. Sigh. November, please get here soon.
