Foreigners Speaking Korean

I remember watching this show in Korea where foreigners speak Korean. It was the most bizarre thing to see. I guess it was the same thing for Koreans who found it bizarre that I can only speak English. With so many new university grads teaching English in Korea, there can only be more foreigners learning Korean.



Peace.

True Story

*Update* Okay this story is not true. I was totally fooled. Good story though.

My co-worker told me a true story that happened to his brother's girlfriend's friend who lives in Toronto. Recently, the girl was house sitting for a family. The mother told her that the dog in the house may possibly die while they are away on a two week vacation. The dog was really old. The mother asked her that if the dog died to take it to the vet to have it disposed of. She agreed and then two days after the family left, the dog died. It was a Labrador and quite heavy. She didn't have a car, so she found a suitcase, managed to put the dog into it, and wheeled it to the bus stop.

When the bus arrived, there was a man waiting for the bus as well, and he helped her lift the suitcase onto the bus because it was quite heavy. The man asked why her suitcase was so heavy, and she of course didn't want to tell him that there was a dead dog inside, so she told him that she was bringing back her laptop and other school stuff from university.

The bus then pulled in front of the vet, and she got off. Well, the man got off too and she didn't want him to become suspicous as to why she was heading into the vet. She then proceeded to walk down the street as if she was going home, but then she turned around after walking for a while back to the vet. As she was approaching the vet, the man was there and then all of a sudden he punched her in the face and took her suitcase. She was okay, but the man just stole her suitcase thinking he stole her laptop and other belongings when in fact there was a dead dog inside.

Could you imagine the surprised look on his face when he opened the suitcase?

Why Men Hate Church

I was reading this article called "Why Men Hate Church" by David Murrow. I can see his point and why so many men don't go to church. Here is an excerpt.

"When men need spiritual sustenance, they go to the wilderness, the workplace, the garage, or the corner bar. They watch their heroes in the stadium or on the racetrack. They plunge into a novel or sneak off to a movie. Church is one of the last places men look for God. More than 90 percent of American men believe in God, and five out of six call themselves Christians. But only two out of six attend church on a given Sunday. The average man accepts the reality of Jesus Christ, but fails to see any value in going to church. Men’s disinterest in Christianity is so consistent around the world, it can’t be explained by pride, father issues, sin, or distraction. Neither can we say, “Well, men are just less religious,” because this is untrue. Male and female participation are roughly equal in Judaism, Buddhism, and Hinduism. In the Islamic world men are publicly and unashamedly religious—often more so than women. Of the world’s great religions, only Christianity has a consistent, nagging shortage of male practitioners. What is it about modern Christianity that is driving men away?"

It’s not just a lack of presence; most of the men who do attend our worship services just aren’t “getting it.” Every week the gospel bounces off their souls like bullets off Superman’s chest. Here are the facts:

• A significant number of churchgoing men attend out of habit, unaffected by what they hear.
• Quite a few men go to church simply to keep their wives/mothers/girlfriends happy.
• The majority of men who attend church do nothing during the week to grow their faith.
• Relatively few churches are able to establish or maintain a vibrant men’s ministry.
(Source: churchformen.com)

Do you think church these days is a sort of women's club? I've been thinking about why I fight hard to stay awake during sermons or why I find services kinda boring. Maybe it's my attitude, I don't know. I'm confused, and I believe the church does in fact need to change. There shouldn't be a men's ministry, but just one ministry involving both men and women called the church.

For the link to the article, click here. Apparently, it's a summary of his actual book under the same title.

Peace.

Death and All His Friends

Have you heard, Coldplay is releasing their new album called "Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends" on June 17. Are you going to download or buy it? I am. I've listened to some tracks and I like it. I enjoy listening to Coldplay because it fits with the emotional side of my personality, and then there's listening to Conan O'Brien who fits my humourous side.

Here is a vid for one of their songs called "Violet Hill". Coldplay did a good job putting the dancing politicans together. There are so many things going on in this world, yet with dancing you can do no wrong.



"The best bands in the world today are probably Arcade Fire and Sigur Ros. I think Coldplay is only the seventh best band in the world." - Chris Martin

*UPDATE* My co-worker just gave me a link where you can listen to the album in its entirety before its release. Click here.

Peace.

Lakers vs. Celtics

The NBA Finals are starting and it's a classic! Remember when it was Larry Bird vs. Magic Johnson, now it's Kevin Garnett vs. Kobe Bryant. The Lakers and the Celtics have met a total of 11 times in the NBA Finals. Boston has won the first eight meetings, and LA the next two. One of my favourite games on the old Sega Genesis was Lakers vs. Celtics by EA (yes they have been around that long).

GO LAKERS!!

Shanghai Kiss

I watched this movie called "Shanghai Kiss," and it was very good. It stars Ken Leung (Rush Hour, X-Men: The Last Stand), Hayden Panettiere (Heroes), and Kelly Hu (X2, The Scorpion King). The film is about "Liam Liu (Ken Leung), a Chinese American actor living in Los Angeles who unwittingly gets involved with a high school girl. He suddenly has to go to China after learning from his father that he has inherited his grandmother's home in Shanghai. He's not very appreciative of his Chinese roots and at first only wants to sell the house and get back to the U.S. as fast as possible. He gets a taste of the Chinese culture after meeting a girl there and ends up having some big decisions to make (wikipedia.org)."

This film was like a biopic of my brother. He was actually thinking of making something similar to this and told me about it before I found out about this film. But maybe someone beat him to it because a number of American or Canadian-born Asians can relate to the material. I could definitely relate to some of the experiences in the film that I felt when I was in Korea last October.

Here is a short clip from the movie when Liam Liu lands in Shanghai. I love the soundtrack accompanying this clip. The song is called "Nothing But The Sky" by Ivy.



Peace.