Sun Tzu’s “The Art of War” has been a reference book on various strategies for many centuries.

Few days ago when my mother and I were watching the discovery channel, the Sun Tzu’s art of war was introduces to me. Honestly, that was not the first time I knew Sun Tzu. I was glad that I understood most of what the Discovery was talking about because I learned them and even wrote an essay about Sun Tzu during Asian Studies class. However, since I had thought so deeply about it, I want to mention more about it on my blog!:)

Although the book initially focuses extensively on the strategies during warfare, its many valuable teachings are applicable to different areas in today’s society, namely diplomacy, leadership and business. Sun Tzu’s “The Art of War” teaches various strategies to successful diplomacy. My dad once mentioned that the range of diplomacy extends to among countries, individuals and even organizations. There are many different approaches in diplomacy. To be hostile, aggressive, and violent, or to be friendly, embracing, and pacifying. My father pointed out that all these factors are necessary in business areas. However, I thought that in any circumstances, people or groups should focus on rationality over emotion, according to Sun Tzu. He said, “…to shatter and destroy it is not good. So, too, it is better to recapture an army entire than to destroy it…” As this statement shows, more patient and peaceful approach can lead to more constructive results. (And this reminded me of my mother, who put emotion first over rationality.

In addition, “the Art of War” teaches the definition of outstanding leadership. Sun Tzu said, “In war, the general receives his commands from the sovereign, collects his army and concentrates his forces.” Through this statement, he emphasizes the importance of listening to subordinates as well as other leaders. Instead of giving direction and commands to the subordinates, leaders will become better leaders by accepting different views of all people.

Although the Art of War had been introduced centuries ago, I thought it was remarkable that it is still in use in today’s society. My father, a successful business person mentioned that after reading the Art of War, 6 series of books, he had learned many things.

*All images from google images. 

This is a story that my mother and I discussed about after having a big fight about having respect to each other.

Once apon a time, there lived a Buddhist priest, who was recognized as a master who realized the ‘truth’. He knew everything and he gave solutions to any kinds of problems. One day, the two men who played a big wrong in the Temple in financial way, discussed about their favorite food.

“Mr. A, what is your favorite food? I like sweet pumpkins. How about you?”

“Oh, what a coincidence, I like pumkins too!”

“Oh yeah? You sure have a rich taste just like me! Pumpkins taste the best when they are made into pumpkin soup. You can taste the tender taste of pumkin in pumkin soup!”

“Hahaha, what are you talking about. Pumpkins taste the best when they are just steamed. You can taste the actual genuine taste of pumpkin!”

“No way, you’re joking, pumpkins are best when they are cooked in a soup!”

“No! Steamed pumpkins taste better”

Then they got into a fight, which type of pumpkin cook has better taste. Since both of them could not admit each other’s opinions, they went to the priest to find a right answer.

“Sir, sir, don’t you think pumpkin taste better when they are cooked into soup? You can taste the tenderness of pumpkin!”

After few minutes of thinking, the priest answered, “Yes, sure, you are correct.”

Then the other man argued, “What do you mean, sir? Don’t they taste better when they are steamed?”

Priest answered, “Hmm, you’re right too.”

Then the two men got confused. The priest did not gave an answer that they wanted to hear. Then the guy who works in the Temple interrupted, “Sir, sir, you can’t just leave them with perplexity. You know how much money they pay to support the Temple, don’t you? You should give the correct answer for them!”

Then the priest said, “Hmm..you are right too..”

And that’s the end of the story. When my mother told me the story, I became confused. Is she trying to make me stupid? What is she talking about? Then my mother continued,

“Like this, Tiffany, there is no answer to any kind of problems. It depends on the perspective that you look at. Whenever you are playing tetris and not do your homework, whenever you don’t eat the breakfast that I prepared, whenever I see you looking at me with mad eyes, I want to scream at you and punish you hardly. I do scream at you a lot of times, but there are more times when I hold myself. You always complain that I yell at you so many times, but you cannot imagine how much more there is. Most of the times, I hold myself from screaming at you because I know that you are working your butt off to raise your GPA and I know you are thinking seriously about your future and school. But I always say that you don’t care about anything, but playing. Like the story I just told you, this is all because people have different perspectives, although we are one unified family.”

At that time, when my mother told me the story, I pretended I ignored what she was saying. But the truth is, after my mother telling me the story, I thought about many things. There are numerous things that I do not want to do although it may be advantageful for me. For example, since I am always in a hurry in the morning, I don’t have time for breakfast. If I don’t eat them, I can be on time for the school bus, but is not, I always tend to miss the bus and pay 15,000 won for taxi. Then, I get angry to my mom of making me pay 15,000 won. However, I know that she is doing that to me because she thinks about my health, loves me, and want me to compliment her dish that she prepared for me. I don’t know why I become angry, but since she is my mother, I think that everything is her fault. But again, I know that she is doing this to me all because she loves me. I am her daughter.

The truth is, always hiding inside you.

*All images from flickr.com

tired
concentration
hunger
freedom
sensation
happiness
agitate
decision
burst out
passion

satisfication
self
distraction
best
laziness
worst
anger
hatred
give up
hope

“A man who is master of himself can end a sorrow as easily as he can invent a pleasure. I don’t want to be at the mercy of my emotions. I want to use them, to enjoy them, and to dominate them.”

- Oscar Wilde

Animation is basically a movie without any real actresses. Almost everyone, regardless of their age or gender, enjoy watching animation movies (including me). The information below is the top 10 list of most famous animations on screen. I am pretty sure that most of you guys will notice what they are and have watched more than half of them. Personally, I’ve watched all of them except Shrek 3.

Top 10 Animations on Screen!

1. Shrek 2 (2004) (All-Time Worldwide Box office, 12th)
2. Finding Nemo (2003) (All-Time Worldwide Box office, 14th)
3. Shrek 3 (2007) (All-Time Worldwide Box office 20th)
4. Lion King (1994) (All-Time Worldwide Box office 23rd)
5. The Incredibles (2004) (All-Time Worldwide Box office, 33rd)
6. Ice Age 2: The Meltdown (2006) (All-Time Worldwide Box office, 34th)
7. Ratatouille (2007) (All-Time Worldwide Box office, 35th)
8. Monster Inc. (2001) (All-Time Worldwide Box office 29th)
9. The Simpsons Movie (2007) (All-Time Worldwide Box office 51st)
10. Aladdin (1992) (All-Time Worldwide Box office, 54th)

I am sure that most of you guys will notice most of the animations without the pictures because they are all famous and even if you haven’t seen them, you now what it is. I was suprised by the information that Mulan was not on the top 10 list. Mulan is my favorite animation movie, I have seen them more than 8 times, and my friends have too (We recently discuessed about how hot the prince was in Mulan). In addition, it is irony that there are no Japanese animations. Although Japanese animations are now stepping up to bigger successtion in animation entertainment industry, accoring to the information, they are no match to those of hollywood and Disney animations. But personally, I enjoy watching Japanese animations more than American ones because Japanese animations are not just cute and funny, but they are in someway deep in meaning, extremely creative, and more realistic, which catches viewer’s attention.

information site: http://www.imdb.com/boxoffice/alltimegross?region=world-wide

*All images from google images

The song, heaven is originally sang by Bryan Adams, a successful musician who created many hits in 1970s. Recently, a group of Korean singers had sung the song with a different style. Which one do you prefer, heaven sang by Bryan Adams or heaven sang in women’s voice?

Women singers: SeoHyun, Jessica, Tiffany

Oh - thinkin’ about all our younger years
There was only you and me
We were young and wild and free

Now nothin’ can take you away from me
We bin down that road before
But that’s over now
You keep me comin’ back for more

Baby you’re all that I want
When you’re lyin’ here in my arms
I’m findin’ it hard to believe
We’re in heaven
And love is all that I need
And I found it there in your heart
It isn’t too hard to see
We’re in heaven

Oh - once in your life you find someone
Who will turn your world around
Bring you up when you’re feelin’ down

Ya - nothin’ could change what you mean to me
Oh there’s lots that I could say
But just hold me now
Cause our love will light the way

N’ baby you’re all that I want
When you’re lyin’ here in my arms
I’m findin’ it hard to believe
We’re in heaven
And love is all that I need
And I found it there in your heart
It isn’t too hard to see
We’re in heaven

I’ve bin waitin’ for so long
For something to arrive
For love to come along

Now our dreams are comin’ true
Through the good times and the bad
Ya - I’ll be standin’ there by you

 PGC

Project Global Cooling

The Project Global Cooling was held at Hongdae live club, SPOT. I never knew that our school would come up with such entertainment. Unfortunately, I could only stay there for an hour because my friend and I had another concert to go. We really wanted to cancel that one and stay at SPOT and watch numerous skillful bands like ABC analysis and Kong from SIS, since we already paid 100,000won for the ticket, we could not resist the worth. However, I was able to watch Mr. Joo and the teachers performance, which was more interesting than watching school bands. I never knew that KIS teachers had such talent and I started imagining things other than teachers in school who gives us merciless grades and realized that they were once teenagers too.

To be honest, I wanted the concert to be less entertaining because I did not wanted miss the fun. I really hoped that the PGC team would think, “Oh, since this was our first concert, there will be many mistakes and we would have to make them up soon on the next concert.” Therefore after it was over, I asked all of my friends how it was. Most of the had same opinion. At first, it was very entertaining, but as time passed, the bands were all fantastic but the audiences got tired. Therefore although the last band, Dog Soup rocked, many couldn’t be as high as they were before. Four hours was too much.

After the concert, I asked my friend if I could join the commitee of planning the concert. I knew some other bands in other schools and I find it intersting and enjoyable, planning such events. Since I heard many opinions from other people, I knew what went well and what went wrong. I was a little disappointed because my friends answered that she is not sure about picking another committee member. Anyways, if there is such event again, I will make sure that any other plans would not distract the concert:)

*All images from facebook: Iljee Kam, Jane Hyun, Pola Shim

iminlikewithyou

 

The hottest new online game, ‘iminlikewithyou’ is what triggers distractions among kis students from studying for their finals. There are three games possible to play, they are: Draw my thing,

Dinglepop, and Blockles. But the most penetrating one that causes addiction is the Blockles, which refers to tetris. At first, when my friends started the game, I couldn’t understand how and why they started such a boring game, three weeks before the final. I did not understood how it was addictive and all because surprisingly, I have never played tetris in my life before. In iminlikewithyou blockles, as with most other group games, you can create a match, join a match, and you can even watch other game while they are playing. And what I like the most is chatting. Not that you can chat while you play the game, but since almost half of the school is playing iminlikewithyou, we created our own room just for KIS people, including students and teachers, and build bond in each other. Since it has been only two days since I started the game, I am only a beginner. By the way, I just played one match while writing this blog… This is why tetris is the REAL drug. Anyways, I am truly worried that this would actually hurt me from studying hard. Therefore, I’m planning to quit it after writing this blog. One thing that stupidly helps is that you get to use english only. Since it is a western site, korean is not readible therefore, it help…(in some way..)

Skins

Too Cruel to be the Truth

Skins. Started in 2007 at UK, channel 4, it had brought tremendous recognition among world. It is interesting that the drama does not take place in a big city like London, where the background is colorful and sophisticated, but in countryside, Brittols. The main characters are generally living in normal condition to some below-normal condition. Skins contain main American and UK teenager issues such as: family, friends, homosexuality, sex, drugs, etc., although I think, it is exaggerated a way.

Teenagers in age 18, are tremendously afflicted by stress and pyrexia because age 18 is the most important moment of our lives where the teenagers move on to open society. Something like fear, anticipation are mixed altogether at once. Although I am a sophomore, I am already scared of how I will be able to habituate to the outer world that I never went through before, therefore, I am getting ready to do that, but at the same time, I am worried if I will pass my teenage year with only studying! Studyin! GPA! SAT! Hakwons! And lose myself.

Each one of the characters in Skins are unique. Each of them has different problems and issues that have to be solved.

*ATTENTION, the character explanations contain the ending stories of Skins. If you are interested watching the Skins, you may not want to read the information below because you’ll find out what is going on and what will happen in the story.

• Tony, the main character of this Drama keeps many girls next to him, although he has a beautiful girlfriend, Michelle. He is very smart, but use his intelligence to find drugs, find girlfriend, and many other bad things.
• Sid, another main character of this Drama, is a best friend of Tony, but is airheaded unlike Tony who receives all As in school. He loves Micelle secretly, but later realizes that the girl that should be next to him, is Cassey.
• Cassey, Sid’s girlfriend, is use to be drug addicted. She is also anerexic, therefore goes to rehab center (but often times, runs away from the center). Cassey loves Sid.
• Jal, a daughter of a famous rapper, but plays classic instrument in order to go against his father. Later in the story, Jal goes out with Chris.
• Chris, drug addicted, in love with a teacher. At the end of Season 2, Chris dies of disease.  He  always says, “Oh, f*ck it”
• Enwar, Muslim, loves partying with girls. Best friend with Maxie, but runs into a problem because of his religious issues.
• Maxie, my favorite character, loves to dance, and is getting ready to become a musical actress. He is best friends with Enwar, but runs into a problem because Maxie is gay. Homosexual. Enwar becomes confused because he doesn’t know if it is a right thing to be best friend with a homosexual, when he is Muslim.
• And finally Tony’s sister Effy, who is a nerd at home and in school, but becomes a different girl outside with her friends. I heard that she will going to become the main character of Season 3, which is not released yet.

The relationships between each one of them are extremely complicated and each of them holds different serious issues. The reason why this Drama is so addictive and charismatic is not only because the issue it is holding is extreme and interesting, but also, those sparkling party scenes, fast moving screens, colorful and trendy styles gives better attraction for the viewers. (And it also contains some R+ information too..)

P.S. Too Cruel to be the Truth, the issues that the drama is holding is actually serious issues that american and british teenagers have. The drama is very much inappropriate, it is too cruel that those inappropriate issues is the truth in reality.

*All images from Naver images

*Picture from google images

Russia’s unstable social condition and uneven distribution of wealth following its rapid industrialization and participation in World War I triggered revolutionary movement among working class. Growth of factories and other technological development produced social issues of miserable working conditions, low wages, and child labor. Russia’s decision to join World War I created further social turmoil as the lower class’s frustration grew. Vladimir Lenin, the leader of the Bolshevik, openly advocated and encouraged and the revolutionary movement among the lower, working class members, “When feudalism was overthrown and ‘free’ capitalist society appeared in the world, it at once became apparent that this freedom meant a new system of oppression and exploitation of the working people.” In an attempt to struggle against the exploitation and unjust treatment by the ruling class, farmers, peasants, and workers gathered to create a revolutionary group. Among these revolutionaries, the Marxist split into two groups, the Bolsheviks and Mensheviks, which, despite their differences in political methodologies, strived for the common goal of achieving radical social changes.

Choir Final Exam took place more rapidly than I expected. The assignment was to sing any pop song that we choose to sing. At first, I was panicking because there were songs that I enjoy listening to, but there weren’t many pop songs that I enjoyed singing. And besides, although I know the song, The Greatest Love of All by Mariah Carey, it’s not like I will sing that song for the final exam because the level of the song is way ahead of my ability. So at first, I decided to sing Love Will Show You Everything by Jennifer Love H. I did not know that it was an extremely difficult song because usually when I sing this song at Karaoke, I lower down an octave while singing. Therefore although I studied and practiced Love Will Show You Everything with passion, I couldn’t do it. As a result, I had to choose a song the day befor the exam day.

With my classmate’s recommendation, I decided to sing Don’t Know Why by Norah Jones. It is a difficult song if you examine through it deeply, but when not, i could handle it. I enjoyed practicing the music because the song well-matched my voice too. There weren’t much but there weren’t no dynamics, which was enjoyable to listen to it too. And finally today, I sang Don’t Know Why in front of the teacher. I could tell that I was extremely nervous because my legs where shaking crazily, and my heart was beating hard, I was almost embarassed because i though the teacher might hear it. At the end, I was satisfied. Although I made minor mistakes and it was not my best ability, I felt relieved and satisfied. The teacher gave me an awkward comment, “Tiffany, why don’t you sing like this during class too?” I am still not sure whether it is a compliment or a criticism.

*As seen in my previous entries, I like to listen to electronic music! That’s why it was more difficult for me to find a right song that well-matched my voice:(