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Sunday, December 30, 2007
2007 in review The top news to finish of the year is the untimely death of Benazir Bhutto and subsequent unrest in the country. Now her young son is stepping up, which seems a bit nepotistic on the surface. I would post on that but I don't really know any more than what I've been reading in the papers. Big Hominid did his own year reminiscence and I will follow a similar format As for my year, its been pretty good I think. Job wise I think I have landed what is essentially my dream job. It doesn't pay the big bucks but there is room for advancement and the focus is heavily concentrated on my own personal areas of interest, notably Korea. Indeed, I should be making my first business trip to the Land of the Morning Calm early in 2008. 'Blogologically' speaking, 2007 continued the trend of fewer posts of which more are of questionable quality. There are reasons behind this (yes, one of the reasons is laziness) but as yet I haven't worked out a practical solution that will enable me to blog more regularly and do a better job of it. This doesn't mean I'm going to quit blogging. It just means that the trend may continue into 2008. Especially in the early part of 2008 during which time I have a few trips planned. I would imagine that blog traffic has been on a steady decline over the past few years at Kathreb with current numbers being me and a few friends who feel guilty if they don't visit occasionally. Fortunately, the motivation for this blog is not dependent on people reading it. Health wise it has been a better year than last, which is saying very little. I have managed to not lose any more weight but have also not managed to gain any. I have signed up for a 12 month gym membership to try and beef up and increase my appetite. I've been instructed to avoid spinning class and other calorie burning sessions. Related to the weight issue, I did a lot more shopping this year in order to discard my over-sized clothes for new, better-fitting clothes. I tend to be a bit tight fisted when it comes to spending, especially when things are overpriced. It should be noted that most women's clothing falls into the 'overpriced' category. However, I persevered and got a few nice items. In particular, I got a great pair of silver shoes:
Reading wise, I think this has been one of the worst years for reading for a long time. I had lots of things on my mind this year which prevented me from feeling relaxed enough to read. I also find that the London Tube gives me a headache due to the lack of air in those tunnels. This makes it very hard for me to read on the way to and from work, my main reading times. I now take the bus as much as possible and many of the things on my mind have been resolved so hopefully 2008 will prove better for reading. I am planning to read more Chinese literature in 2008. Televisually and cinematically speaking (as Kevin notes), I watch WAY TOO MUCH TV in London. This is due to the dynamic of my house situation. I have a big TV and people to watch TV with in a social environment which makes it difficult to resist. I've seen more movies at the cinema in London as well, but I count that as a good thing. Except Beowulf, which I saw in 3-D and count as a freakish and somewhat disturbing movie (bearing no relation to the poem). Although the 3-D aspect was cool. This past week I saw Enchantment and The Golden Compass. Both enjoyable. 2008: looking ahead: apart from the Chinese literature resolution, I also resolve to go out and party more, to spend more money on clothes and going out, and to explore Europe (since I'm so close).
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Monday, December 24, 2007
Death Penalty - Abolitionist in Practice South Korea, as of this week, has a defacto moratorium on the death penalty. This comes from having gone 10 years with no executions. Former President Kim Dae-Jung, himself a former death row inmate and pro-abolitionist, didn't over see any executions during his term. This trend was continued by President Roh. Despite this, South Korea abstained during the recent UN General Assembly vote for a global moratorium. And the Abolition Bill currently stalled in the Legislation and Judicial Committee looks almost certain to lapse between now and the Parliamentary election in April 2008. In this context the defacto moratorium is more a case of one step forward and stall. Merry Christmas For those to whom such sentiments may apply. Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Comfort Women The Marmot has a post on the European Parliament's resolution, calling on Japan to apologise for the military sexual slavery system.. This topic generated a fair bit of discussion at the Marmot's hole. But there were a few questions about how this resolution came about in the discussion. Either nobody knows the answer or didn't want to share. Certainly I didn't see it discussed after the question was posed. It seems a bit unrealistic to assume that the Parliamentarians decided to do this without any outside lobbying or influence. The focus on arguing that European countries should apologise for their own wrongs before pointing the finger at other countries, somehow failed to really push the debate to investigate why they did that. To help inform this point, this article from Japan provides some information. I'm not saying this article is entirely accurate because it is very biased. Moves behind the scenesAnother point that was lacking was that while most people know about the US House Resolution 121 and the recent Canadian motion 291, the Dutch also unanimously passed a resolution in November. Friday, December 14, 2007
Presidential Elections Not long now until South Korea chooses its next President. From most accounts it looks like Lee Myung Bak will be the chosen one. He is a bit too conservative for my liking and his support of the death penalty is certainly not welcome. I met him one time which is a small claim to fame I intend to drop like a lace hanky at a summer picnic if he gets elected. Other stuff There has been lots of stuff going on which I feel bad that I haven't been blogging about. I would recommend visiting the Two Koreas (see sidebar) for latest updates on repression of migrant workers in Korea. The six-party talks and general US-DPRK (non)-relations continue to be covered in depth at One Free Korea (see sidebar). Although OFK remains far more negative than myself on that topic. As for me, the unsettled nature of work and life has left me reluctant to blog until 'I have more time'. I should know better than to believe that there will ever be 'more time'. In my defense I am working one full time and one part time job at the moment. I am currently spending day three on my sick bed but can feel myself getting better. I hate that every time I blog now, its just a post to explain why I'm not blogging.
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