051912
Current tunes:

"Saturday," Olivia:


"Everything," Murs:


"푸른 밤의 Beat," The Moonshiners:


"Вокруг Шум," Каста:


"Lookin' Up," Prometheus Brown & Bambu:


"Wake Up Exhausted," Alkaline Trio:


"투혼," Suck Stuff:


"우산," Epik High:


"Halftime," Nas:


051812


From the Wall Street Journal:

Thousands of people gathered in Gwangju on Friday to mark the 32nd anniversary of the one of the most tragic and disgraceful episodes in South Korean history—the suppression of democracy protesters by the South Korean military. Several hundred people in the southwestern city died at the hands of South Korean soldiers during three days of violence that began on May 18, 1980. The official death count is 240, but Gwangju residents say the number of casualties of the military violence was far higher. All agree the days of uprising and suppression in 1980 created the highest casualty count since the Korean War of the 1950s. At a ceremony attended by 2,500 people, Prime Minister Kim Hwang-sik said, "We need to inherit the spirit of the May 18th uprising and establish higher level of democracy through communication and compromise instead of conflicts and opposition." This year's theme for the commemoration was 'light of hope, re-blooming flower', honoring sprit of victims and reasserting hard-won value of democracy, rights and justice. President Lee Myung-bak didn't attend the commemoration event in Gwangju, a city that is a stronghold of the political opposition to Mr. Lee and his conservative political party. The uprising is widely seen as leading to the birth of the democratization movement, which took full flower in 1987 when civilian protests brought an end to military rule. Until the late 1990s, however, the events in 1980 in Gwangju were characterized as a riot. In 1997, the movement was re-evaluated and officially acknowledged as a democratization movement.

051512
Trailers for the two South Korean films that have been selected to compete for the Palme d'Or at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival, which kicks off tomorrow:

"돈의 맛" (NSFW):


"다른 나라에서":


051312
A great collection of South Korean TV commercials from the 80s here.


051312
Highlights from the Manchester United/Sunderland and the Manchester City/Queens Park Rangers matches in the amazing final day of the 2011-12 Premier League season:


Congratulations to Man City on becoming the new champions.

051112
Hawaii pro surfer Garrett McNamara sets a new world record for riding the biggest wave by navigating a 78-foot wave off the coast of Portugal:


051112
050912

"At a certain point, I've just concluded that for me personally it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same-sex couples should be able to get married."

- President Obama

President Obama makes history by becoming the first sitting U.S. president to openly endorse same-sex marriage.

Not to shit on this momentous occasion—because I do commend the President for taking a pro-gay rights stance—but this and the statement he made the other day where he said that "corporations are not people" takes me back to another election year not too long ago... It takes me back to the Obama of 2008 who said everything I wanted to hear. Unfortunately, I ended up with the Obama of 2009-2012 who did nothing that I wanted him to do.

050912
России и других бывших советских республиках отмечают День Победы 2012:



Москва



Москва



Москва



Киев



Тбилиси



Ставрополь



Тбилиси



Киев



Киев



Молдавия

050712
I'm getting some traffic from people looking for information on the state legislative resolution to establish a Koreatown in Hawaii. I've been having difficulty trying to find more information on that myself, so I've emailed Senator Donovan Dela Cruz—who was one of the legislators who introduced the proposal—to find out where the resolution is standing right now.

Today I received an email from "Dane" from Senator Dela Cruz's office who informed me that "[t]he Senate version stalled and the House moved forward."

With this year's legislative session adjourning earlier this month, it looks like it's a no-go—at least for this year.

You may follow the status of the resolution here.

050712


050312
A short film about Oahu's homeless:


050212
International Workers' Day 2012:



Montreal



New York City



New York City



London



Chicago



Santa Monica



Santiago



New York City



London



Washington D.C.



Zurich