From: the_dojang-owner@hpwsrt.cup.hp.com To: the_dojang-digest@hpwsrt.cup.hp.com Subject: The_Dojang-Digest V8 #433 Reply-To: the_dojang@hpwsrt.cup.hp.com Errors-To: the_dojang-owner@hpwsrt.cup.hp.com Precedence: The_Dojang-Digest Tues, 24 July 2001 Vol 08 : Num 433 In this issue: the_dojang: Re: The_Dojang-Digest V8 #431 the_dojang: Ancient Weapons the_dojang: Re: Meditation Stuff the_dojang: 15th International Hapkido Seminar 8/17-19 Re: the_dojang: 15th International Hapkido Seminar 8/17-19 the_dojang: Best advice on meditation...so far the_dojang: RE:Turning the foot when kicking the_dojang: RE: Kicking stuff the_dojang: Re: Meditation stuff the_dojang: RE: The_Dojang-Digest V8 #432 the_dojang: KSR 2001-12: _Integrated Korean_, by Young-Mee Cho et al. the_dojang: KSR 2001-11: _Rushing to Sunshine (Seoul Diaries)_ the_dojang: Re: meditation the_dojang: Re: meditation -moving meditation the_dojang: . ========================================================================= The_Dojang, serving the Internet since June 1994. ~1111 members strong! Copyright 1994-2001: Ray Terry and Martial Arts Resource The premier internet discussion forum devoted to the Korean Martial Arts. Replying to this message will NOT unsubscribe you. To unsubscribe, send "unsubscribe the_dojang-digest" (no quotes) in the body (top line, left justified) of a "plain text" e-mail addressed to majordomo@hpwsrt.cup.hp.com. To send e-mail to this list use the_dojang@hpwsrt.cup.hp.com See the Korean Martial Arts (KMA) FAQ and the online search engine for back issues of The_Dojang at http://www.MartialArtsResource.com Pil Seung! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Donnla Nic Gearailt Date: Tue, 24 Jul 2001 14:49:59 +0100 Subject: the_dojang: Re: The_Dojang-Digest V8 #431 >From: "Craig Stovall" >Date: Mon, 23 Jul 2001 12:27:55 -0500 >Subject: the_dojang: Somebody has OD'ed on Chomsky > >"We Americans have this nasty habit of barging into other peoples' cultures >and taking what we like, damning what we don't like and deriding just about >everything else. Our missionaries denigrate belief systems that are >centuries old, our corporate and banking interests bully alien economies, >and our military and intelligence communities intimidate while undercutting >and dictating foreign policies among cultures." > >To which I offer my counterpoint: > >BOLLOCKS!!! > >Craig "The ugly American imperialist" Stovall So what would you say then, to those who accuse the US of coming down hard on Tibetan Gopher Throwing? :-). Donnla. - ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Donnla Nic Gearailt Computer Laboratory, New Museums Site, Graduate Student Pembroke St., Cambridge CB2 3QG, U.K. tel: +44-1223-334619 http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~dbn20/ "An eyelash! How could you be so careless!" - Jude Law, Gattaca ------------------------------ From: mtomlins@mail.volusia.k12.fl.us Date: Tue, 24 Jul 2001 10:16:16 -0400 Subject: the_dojang: Ancient Weapons Creed writes, <> I like Korean culture too but I don't claim to be an expert,, you like pizza and pasta but you don't claim to own an Italian restaurant or argue about how you historically know the "truth" about Italian food do you? <> Aren't these guys Korean? Talking about Korea? My father was in the Korean War also and he doesn't talk so quietly about it,, he talks about it just like it was,, death and destruction and misery, that is what war is,, it isn't romantic, or soft and mild and neither is real combat at any level. Hey I have no problem with debates or opinions but don't become an "expert" on a subject that you are basicaly detached from. When people are typing dissertations on here about a subject they didn't major in or have lived it gets me a little weary, and I have to speak up. I love this board but lets not get cerebral just for cerebral's sake. I like to keep at least one eye on the road at all times don't you? Michael Tomlinson **************************************************************************** This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed. If you have received this email in error please notify the system manager at administrator@volusia.k12.fl.us. **************************************************************************** ------------------------------ From: "Peter Kim" Date: Tue, 24 Jul 2001 10:20:47 -0400 Subject: the_dojang: Re: Meditation Stuff >From: "phil" >Date: Tue, 24 Jul 2001 09:42:26 -0400 >Subject: the_dojang: Re: Meditation Stuff >To relax body, breath and mind. >First get a 6 pack of the strongest beer you can find. sit in a comfortable >chair and stair at the 6 pack for a moment. Start with your first one and >relax. By the third beer your body should be relaxed and your breathing will >start to slow. By the 5th or 6th your mind should be either relaxed or >useless, doesn't really matter at this point. More experienced meditation >practitioners may need a 12 pack or even a case. Remember never drive after >meditating. >Phil now.. that's the kinda meditation i like.. lol pete - -------------------------------------------------------------------- IBM WebSphere L2 Customer Support Tel: (919)254-8645 T/L: 444-8645 e-mail: peterkim@us.ibm.com ------------------------------ From: "Dennis McHenry" Date: Tue, 24 Jul 2001 09:33:40 -0500 Subject: the_dojang: 15th International Hapkido Seminar 8/17-19 We need to get together all the DD (& X-TKDnet) members at JR West's 15th International Hapkido Seminar in Jackson MS August 17- 19 for a group photo. It would be cool to put faces with names. So who all will be there? ________________________________________________________________ Sent via the EV1 webmail system at mail.ev1.net ------------------------------ From: Ray Terry Date: Tue, 24 Jul 2001 8:13:36 PDT Subject: Re: the_dojang: 15th International Hapkido Seminar 8/17-19 > It would be cool to put faces with names. So who all will be > there? Me. Ray Terry raymail@hpwsrt.cup.hp.com ------------------------------ From: Ken McDonough Date: Tue, 24 Jul 2001 07:45:55 -0700 (PDT) Subject: the_dojang: Best advice on meditation...so far The following poster has provided the advice on meditation thus far, in my humble, non-solicited opinion, i.e.,: Date: Tue, 24 Jul 2001 09:42:26 -0400 Subject: the_dojang: Re: Meditation Stuff To relax body, breath and mind. First get a 6 pack of the strongest beer you can find. sit in a comfortable chair and stair at the 6 pack for a moment. Start with your first one and relax. By the third beer your body should be relaxed and your breathing will start to slow. By the 5th or 6th your mind should be either relaxed or useless, doesn't really matter at this point. More experienced meditation practitioners may need a 12 pack or even a case. Remember never drive after meditating. Phil> You readin my mail, Phil ? McD... __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Make international calls for as low as $.04/minute with Yahoo! Messenger http://phonecard.yahoo.com/ ------------------------------ From: Bruce.Sims@med.va.gov Date: Tue, 24 Jul 2001 10:00:50 -0500 Subject: the_dojang: RE:Turning the foot when kicking Dear Ken: "....Along the same lines I have a question. I was wondering how many people kick with their foot pivoted 180 degrees (so foot pointed directly away from kick) as opposed to 90 degrees or less? Is this a Japanese or Korean thing? Or is this a personal preference thing? I can see there are benefits to kicking both ways, but I think not pivoting 180 degrees puts a lot of strain on the knee. This is not meant as an attack on not pivoting just my observation, and questions for those of you who dont pivot 180 degrees...." Please don't take this as an evasive, or trick response to your question, but I would honestly have to answer "it depends" By this I mean that at one time in my training and teaching I was much more dogmatic about such things. Certain kicks allowed for more turn of the foot to provide for an easier use of the hips (ie. side kick, crossover side kick). Some kicks I hounded the students not to turn their foot for faster recovery. What I have found through experience is that the student is not well-served by such contrived limits. Instead I watch for balance, timing, focus, discomfort, sound application and individual performance limits. The same holds true for many hand techniques. Some techniques seem to be executed with more commitment when the student is not fighting themselves to keep both heels on the floor while striking full-power. I would be interested to hear comments from other instructors. Best Wishes, Bruce ------------------------------ From: Bruce.Sims@med.va.gov Date: Tue, 24 Jul 2001 09:47:24 -0500 Subject: the_dojang: RE: Kicking stuff Dear Rudy: "...Similarly, the knee (of the kicking leg) must be pointed at the target in order to allow the leg to unfold in the manner it is designed to do (like a hinge). If this is not done correctly, students invariably end up with pulled groin muscles. The RH kick is a great tool, but many students hurt themselves if it is not taught properly...." ....speaking of biomechanics ( :-) ) your post reminded me that I wanted to comment of a post made a bit earlier regarding the Crescent Kick and lateral pressure on the knee. I have come to teach my students that kicks can be broken down into roughly three classes-- power kick, clearing kick and ballistic kick. The purpose of this categorization is not so much the application of the kick as the manner in which the body is used, or organized to be used. Your comment, Rudy, speaks to exactly this. So, when I teach power kicks, I am teaching a kick into which the student can put as much energy as they can muster (ie. Front kick, RH, Back Kick and Side Kick --- plus permutations). As you say the key is the proper alignment and use of the joints as they are designed. Clearing kicks such as both Crescent kicks and Cover kicks are not power kicks as the practitioner must moderate their power. In these cases the vector of the kick is at odds with the structure of the construction of the leg. I remember very well practicing Crescent kicks against a body bag and kicking sheild thinking that the pain I would endure was merely an indicator that I needed to be more dilligent in my training. The knee and ankle are not designed to take such lateral stress and I certainly paid the price until I smartened up. Now, I will mention the ballistic kick because they are an interesting exception to what I have just said. Most ballistic kicks are spinning or jump spinning kicks which means that a spinning crescent kick could be applied with more force than its more static cousin. What allows this is the quality of the spin or jump spin to release, or unanchor the body from the floor, usually at the point of impact. The result is that one could feasibly use a spinning cresent with a bit more impact and perhaps not suffer the sort of cumulative damage that could be had using a simple Crescent kick in the same manner. Thanks for letting me use your post to comment. BTW: Are we still on for July 27th. at Kevins'? Best Wishes, Bruce ------------------------------ From: "David N. Beck" Date: Tue, 24 Jul 2001 10:18:08 -0500 (CDT) Subject: the_dojang: Re: Meditation stuff Between Phil's kind of meditation and proper use of the famous 12 ounce curls exercise, we can all achieve the perfect body shape of the Buddha... David N. Beck, WATT Lead Engineer Internet: David.Beck@usa.alcatel.com Phone: 972-519-3103 Address: MS TAND1, 1000 Coit Road, Plano, Texas 75075 ** Opinions expressed are not those of Alcatel USA ** ------------------------------ From: "Master Frank Clay" Date: Tue, 24 Jul 2001 11:12:07 -0400 Subject: the_dojang: RE: The_Dojang-Digest V8 #432 The essence of Zen is to simply sit. There is a saying... when hungry eat, when tired sleep. What could be simpler? Zen is a natural form of meditation and is excellent to rest one's mind. Sounds contradictory huh? Welcome to Zen :) BTW, Zen is a discipline in which I have trained for many years, one of my teachers having been a Mr. David Sauer, who has trained with people such as Charlotte Joko Beck. And believe me... he is just as eccentric as any eastern Zen master (not to say he is a zen master mind you, just making a comparison). I would leave you with this thought... and so true it is. "He who knows he is enlightened is crazy. He who is enlightened appears crazy". :) Frank ------------------------------ From: Ray Terry Date: Tue, 24 Jul 2001 08:54:39 -0700 (PDT) Subject: the_dojang: KSR 2001-12: _Integrated Korean_, by Young-Mee Cho et al. Forwarded message: _Integrated Korean: Beginning 1_ (322 pages, ISBN 0-8248-2342-7); by Young-Mee Cho, Hyo Sang Lee, Carol Schulz, Ho-Min Sohn, Sung-Ock Sohn. _Integrated Korean: Beginning 2_ (336 pages, ISBN 0-8248-2343-5) by Young-Mee Cho, Hyo Sang Lee, Carol Schulz, Ho-Min Sohn, Sung-Ock Sohn. _Integrated Korean Workbook: Beginning 1_ (211 pages, ISBN 0-8248-2175-0), by Carol Schulz; _Integrated Korean Workbook:Beginning 2_ (233 pages, ISBN 0-8248-2184-X), by Sung-Ock Sohn. KLEAR Textbooks in Korean Language Series, University of Hawai'i Press, Hawaii, 2000. Reviewed by Myoyoung Kim SUNY Buffalo [This review first appeared in _Acta Koreana_, 4 (2001): 163-66. _Acta Koreana_ is published by Academia Koreana of Keimyung University.] There have not been many Korean textbooks available for college students, so this series of textbooks and workbooks are valuable fruits of the labors of a dedicated team of professional Korean language educators. This group of authors have many years' experience teaching the Korean language, especially in the United States, and they are well equipped linguistically. The textbooks cover many of the various topics that could occur in the situations of college life. For instance, different possible situations in the same category are illustrated in model conversations, which provide good examples for would be learners. Culture notes included with each lesson introduce not only traditional, but also modern aspects of Korean life. The explanations are well matched with the lesson topics and provide elaborate information so they compromise one of the best features of the books, which are mainly designed and written for students in the United States (for example, the adoption of American names, and city names in the United States). As for explanation of grammar, the authors hold contrastive perspectives throughout the textbooks. The grammar sections supply very detailed explanation. At the end of each textbook, there are rich indexes of grammar, vocabulary, and appendices of verb conjugations. However, the appendices include both from Beginning 1 and 2 together. It would have been better if grammars from Beginning 1 only were summarized separately in the Beginning 1 textbook. The Korean-English and English-Korean vocabulary glossary is very useful for beginners who are not familiar with consulting a dictionary. The Beginning 1 volume starts with a great introduction where students can get the most basic and yet the most important background information on the Korean language, including han'gul. The proportion of each section in the textbooks shows that the authors integrated all five language skills (listening, speaking, reading, writing, and culture) as evenly as possible. Although much extended vocabulary from the task/function section in the textbook and speaking activities in the workbook might require more work for students, those two sections are complementary sources for speaking practice. I find that dialogues from Beginning 1 are carefully produced: The first dialogue is to review what students have learned from the previous lesson, and new grammar patterns are introduced in the second dialogue. In this way, students have a chance to recall the material from the preceding lesson and will be ready to move onto the next step. Another good feature of this series is that the workbooks are subsequent volumes of the textbook and are written by the same authors who wrote the textbooks and share similar pedagogical philosophy. The workbooks include more listening activities than previously existing Korean textbooks, which is desirable for beginners and very satisfactory. Audio materials are also provided on the web and that is very helpful. However, there seem to be some drawbacks. First of all, the model conversations are far too long for beginning students: The range of number of sentences in one dialogue varies from 9 to 18 for both volumes. I also would like to mention the number of lessons. Beginner 1 textbook is composed of actually 8 lessons (han'gul and 7 lessons) and Beginner 2 has also 8 lessons (Lesson 8-15). Lessons 1 to 8 consist of two separate dialogues and lessons 9 to 15 have three separate dialogues. As suggested in the preface, each level is to be covered in two semesters, assuming five class hours per week. Since Beginner 1 and Beginner 2 are successive volumes and regarded as one level, they should be finished in two semesters, usually 30 weeks in total. As a result, three lessons should be taught in two weeks to complete two books in the suggested time frame. Considering the possibility of other activities such as quizzes and exams and the fact that lessons 9 to 15 have three dialogues each, it is overwhelming for both genuine beginning students and a teacher in terms of keeping pace. This situation gets worse in the second semester where Beginner 2 is taught, mainly due to the degree of difficulty of grammar patterns. In Beginner 1, only one sentence connective '-ko' is introduced in lesson 7 so students are not yet ready to handle a flood of sentence connectives to understand and generate more complex sentences. I found from students' feedback that they feel a big gap between Beginner 1 and 2 in terms of grammar patterns. Thus, if Beginner 1 and 2 are taught for three semesters rather than two, they would be used more effectively for both students and a teacher. The textbooks have abundant grammatical information, making them encyclopedic. This type of textbook has its own strengths: They give rich information and satisfy some students' academic and cultural interests and curiosity. However, in the last lesson of Beginner 1, many new grammar patterns are presented at the same time (G7.1, B: Deferential styles including different tense and different types of sentence ending, G7.2: The subject honorific including all three tenses). Sometimes excessive explanation of grammar in the books distracts students' focus and causes them to worry about the details. Most beginners want to learn a language for fun, so if a textbook has too much information, it can frustrate students or make them lose their incentive by heavy loads of grammar. Additionally, the authors use many technical terms such as copula and predicate when explaining grammatical aspects. Grammar is presented in a very analytical fashion. Although the textbooks contain a great deal of grammatical information, more detailed explanations and more examples are needed for some grammatical aspects, especially in the cases where the grammar points are the key points in a lesson in order to help students' understanding and use of the grammar correctly. For example, in G2.2 from L2, present tense informal polite forms are introduced, which are the basic foundation for generating sentences. However, many useful verbs that are used on a daily basis in real life settings such as 'meet, learn, drink, see' are not introduced in the example. Furthermore, on p.188, in G5.7, there is no explicit explanation of how to conjugate the present tense form of the '-hata' verb, which is also a very commonly used form. On p. 192, in G5.9,in the authors' explanation, two verbs 'help' and 'be pretty' are the exceptions for the '¤˛irregular verb' conjugation because the verbs are monosyllabic. However, among other ¤˛irregular verbs, some verbs such as 'be cold, be hot, be easy' are also monosyllabic. There would be no need to give rules for exceptions. In G7.3 where the grammatical form '-ciyo' is used to seek agreement, examples are all given without mentioning how to use it in different tenses. In G7.4, demonstrative expressions are introduced where adjectival, pronominal, and adverbial forms are all in one section, but not enough examples or exercises are provided. In addition, contracted forms of each set of demonstratives are also given and this is beyond the level of the target students. In model conversations as well as in workbooks, the use of grammar patterns should be controlled and confined to the ones that have been covered in the lessons because the textbooks are for beginners. If unpredicted sentences are mixed in the grammar notes or questions from workbooks, it is difficult for students to understand them. Native speakers of a language use different types of structures freely, but even a small change can make a big difference for beginners. For example, on p. 59, an object particle is used in a sentence which students have not yet learned. On p. 150, two particles are used in a row after a noun, such as 'wuri.cip.ey.nun (in my house),' which has not been introduced to students, either. Again, both particles '-un/nun' and '-i/ka' are used in one sentence in the examples on pp.120-128 (seyndi.nun cip.i hongkhong.iyeyo). This is very complicated, and new to students. Even though they learned those two particles, they have not been exposed to these types of sentences. Students may get easily confused. Even though this type of sentence is being introduced for the first time in model conversation 1 from L5, there is no explanation in the grammar section, either. This kind of problem can be found in passages from reading activities at times. Sometimes instructions are not clear and do not match the questions, so that students might not know what to do. In grammar exercises, examples in the box are very important keys for students to answer the questions. Especially, if this workbook is designed for self-study, as the author says in the preface that all types of activities except those for speaking can be used as homework, examples and instructions should direct how to do them very clearly and straightforwardly. For example, pp. 9-29 are about practicing for han'gul writing. However, the instructions are not clear whether students are expected to write each vowel or consonant, or to write the words given. On p. 60, G2.3 B, command forms, honorific forms, and question/answer forms are all mixed together without explicit instructions. In G3.1 A, questions do not follow the same pattern as what is shown in the example box. On p. 83-84, the names of nations should be indicated under each flag, because students might not recognize the flags. On p. 85, in E.(4), the person shown is a man, but the word given is 'enni,' so it should be changed to 'nwuna'. On p. 109 in F.(5), the picture is confusing. It is hard to tell how many rooms there are with a blueprint type of drawing. Pronunciation is transcribed in han'gul. I am wondering if this is necessary. It may rather confuse students than give a guideline for correct pronunciation. For students who are not used to reading han'gul yet, reading transcriptions written in han'gul is not only extra work but also there are high possibilities of their reading them incorrectly. Eventually it could adversely affect their spelling ability. On p. 50, in A.(2), the written form and pronunciation transcript in brackets are different, so students may become more confused. On p. 58 from L9 in the textbook, while suggesting a transcription of pronunciation, the authors contrast two words, 'outside' pronounced as [pak'e] and 'only' in negation as [p'ak'e]. However, this difference is only due to individual differences. Some editorial suggestions come to mind. When it comes to use of terms, inconsistency can be observed. In L1-L4, the term 'irregular verbs' is used to refer to sets of verbs that do not follow the general rules of contraction, but two different terms, 'irregular predicates' in 5-7, on p. 144, in G5.9 from the workbook, and 'irregular adjectives' are used when they refer to the same set of verbs. In my opinion, too many pages are allotted to writing practice of voiceless/voiced contrast, vowel length contrast, and romanizing of foreign loan words in han'gul (pp. 34-40 from workbook 1). Finally, if I may add one more suggestion, the songs in Beginner 2 are outdated and are not age appropriate: Some songs are not well-known, and some are children's songs. If the children's songs were some of the best known ones instead, it would have been more useful for beginners. As one of many users of these textbooks and workbooks, I would like to express my gratitude to the authors. They put much effort and time into perfecting these books. Their enthusiastic work is greatly appreciated. Despite the shortcomings pointed out above, I have found that the books function as a good guideline for both students and teachers. If there is anything else valuable that I missed, it is due to my own lack of knowledge and experience. Citation: Kim, Myoyoung. 2001 Review of _Integrated Korea_, by Young-Mee Cho, Hyo Sang Lee, Carol Schulz, Ho-Min Sohn, Sung-ock Sohn (2000) _Korean Studies Review_ 2001, no. 12 Electronic file: http://www.iic.edu/thelist/review/ksr01-12.htm ------------------------------ From: Ray Terry Date: Tue, 24 Jul 2001 08:54:59 -0700 (PDT) Subject: the_dojang: KSR 2001-11: _Rushing to Sunshine (Seoul Diaries)_ Forwarded message: _Rushing to Sunshine (Seoul Diaries)_, by Solrun Hoaas. 2001. Distributed by Ronun Films (Australia and New Zealand). Goshu Films Pty. Ltd., P.O. Box 324 Albert park, VIC 3206, Australia. 1/2" Video, Color. 73 min. Reviewed by Timothy R. Tangherlini University of Califonia, Los Angeles Solrun Hoaas follows her successful film, _Pyongyang Diaries_, with a new diary-style documentary, _Rushing to Sunshine (Seoul Diaries)_. Describing her visits to South Korea during a period of two years from March 1998 to March 2000, Hoaas engages critically the South Korean attempts at rapprochement with North Korea envisioned by Kim Dae Jung's "Sunshine Policy." Following the personal stories of several main characters as they attempt to develop a more constructive view of the north, Hoaas identifies some of the main problems with and paradoxes inherent in the process of opening up to the North. Perhaps the most notorious "character" in the documentary is the National Security Law, with its harsh proscriptions against praise of or contact with the North. Hoaas interrogates Kim Dae Jung's policies throughout the documentary, particularly his vow to emend or repeal the law as part of his election campaign, a vow that has yet to be enacted. The documentary opens with Hoaas's voice-over explaining the burgeoning changes in the South Korean government's policies toward the North and the seeming willingness of the North to engage with the South. The voice-over has the potential to be mesmerizing, with its languid flow. However, it can also come across as crushingly monotonous and unnecessarily slow. During the first eighteen minutes of the documentary, Hoaas uses an unusual split screen technique. Images of South Korea and, in particular, a demonstration by the outlawed National Student Congress at Myongdong Cathedral in spring of 1998, dominate the right hand side of the screen. On the smaller, left hand screen, changing images of first South Korea and later North Korea (images borrowed from _Pyongyang Diaries_), provide a running antipode to the main visual story on the right hand screen. The technique is an intriguing attempt to at once bridge the divide between North and South, an attempt made all the more vivid by the central role of bridge imagery in the left screen, while simultaneously erecting a visual representation of the division of the North and South. Although the idea is sound, the initial viewing experience is jarring and disjointed, detracting significantly from one's ability to comprehend the important background information provided in the voice-overs and the right screen action. The left hand screen in this context acts as a distraction without achieving the laudable metaphoric intent of the filmmaker. A montage using this technique may have been more appropriate as a bridging element in the middle portion of the film. The voice-over of the documentary attempts to reinstall the self-reflexive ethnographic approach that Hoaas used to great effect in _Pyongyang Diaries_. In that film, the perplexed, probing voice of Hoaas acts as a helpful guide in understanding the overwhelming and at times troubling imagery that she captured of the North. While in _Pyongyang Diaries_ Hoaas includes images of the standard tours provided to all visitors to the North, she also captured moments in time-isolates-that step out of the otherwise well-scripted presentation of the North to outsiders. This technique is less successful in _Seoul Diaries_, perhaps because the images are less jarring, perhaps because people in the South are generally more willing to express themselves to an outsider. This freedom of expression, however, clearly has its limits, as Hoaas so expertly points out. It is this paradox-a new democracy with alleged freedom of expression coupled to the rabid enforcement of a legal relic, the National Security Law-that constitutes the most interesting aspect of Hoaas's documentary. In one intriguing sequence, Hoaas captures a group of young sailors responding with highly scripted soundbites for the television cameras in response to queries about their role in the sinking of a North Korean fishing vessel, an event known as the "West Sea Incident" in 1999. Short segments like this coupled to stories such as the on-going case against an author of a children's book that "praises and encourages" the North, highlight the limits of freedom of expression in the south. In addition to Hoaas's "video diary" of her experiences in South Korea, she relates the stories of several characters, although none of them become the main focus of the documentary. Indeed it is hard to single out one character as the focus of the documentary even though the term "diary" in the subtitle suggests that Hoaas herself is the main character. Her voice, despite its persistence, never takes center stage. Instead, she shares that stage with a wide range of other characters. One of the more fascinating characters is Mr. Hong, an elderly man who works for reunification through an NGO he has established, and who also visits North Korea on the first Kumkangsan tour. His story is woven throughout the documentary, and almost acts as an anchor in the sea of stories in which Hoaas submerges us. A bit more time is dedicated to the slightly less compelling story of Professor Lee Jiang Hee. Lee's children's book on North Korea led to his prosecution for violating the National Security Law. Hoaas weaves interviews with Lee together with interviews of the conservative journalist who hounded Lee, and Lee's young publisher, who was also indicted. At the end of the documentary, Hoaas visits with the well-known artist Shin Hak-Chul at his studio, where he displays and discusses his art. Shin is an articulate and compelling character and his discussion of one particular canvass-a depiction of rice transplanting-that had drawn the ire of conservative anti-communist crusaders, and had ultimately been banned by the government as "pro North," is among the more successful depictions of the absurd subjectivity that animates the enforcement of the National Security Law. Other people who play minor roles are Hoaas's interpreters, Cho Eung-Ju and Ha Myung-Mi, and Im Su-Kyong. Perhaps more tantalizing are the interviews Hoaas has with several North Korean prisoners who had just been released after decades of imprisonment by the South. The potential weight of these interviews is diminished in part because Hoaas does not spend substantial time with the ex-prisoners (indeed, they could be the focus of a documentary by themselves) and in part by the reluctance of the men to speak about their experiences as prisoners of the South Korean state (a reluctance attributable to their expressed fear of the government reaction to any public statements). Hoaas intersperses most of her main stories with short "man on the street" type interviews and visits to various sites of interest-a reunification festival, the DMZ, the port of Inchon. While few of these shorter interviews are compelling by themselves, the overall effect is one revealing the wide range of views that South Koreans hold on North Korea. With the summit meeting of June 2000, South Koreans appear to be more willing to speak openly about North Korea-a stark contrast to the interviews that Hoaas captured in her earlier _Pyongyang Diaries_. One of the more amusing segments-albeit an uncritical segment-focuses on several young middle school students who made an animated short about the summit meeting. _Rushing to Sunshine_ would have benefited from a slightly more selective focus on one or two main characters. While polyvocality characterizes the South Korean political and intellectual landscape now-a welcome respite from the bifurcated arena that characterized much of the last three or four decades-the focus of the documentary suffers under the weight of too many stories. While _Pyongyang Diaries_ was a personal account of travels in the North, making Hoaas the main character, _Rushing to Sunshine_ is only part video diary. Seen in conjunction with _Pyongyang Diaries_, _Rushing to Sunshine_ does help provide a view of the complexities of the political and cultural situation on the peninsula. However, unlike the former film, _Rushing to Sunshine_ lacks a clear focus and, given its slow pacing and large number of sub-stories, requires all of the viewer's patience and attention. The length itself is a significant problem for classroom use-while one might want to show both of these films in the classroom, only _Pyongyang Diaries_ at 52 minutes will fit within the time constraints of most classes. Even a longish ninety minute seminar would need to stretch to accommodate the 73 minutes of _Rushing to Sunshine_. Nevertheless, _Rushing to Sunshine_ is a welcome addition to the growing body of documentary films that consider aspects of contemporary Korea. Hoaas should be commended for attempting to address the exceedingly complex issues surrounding South Korea's relationship with North Korea. Citation: Tangherlini, Timothy R. 2001 Review of _Rushing to Sunshine (Seoul Diaries)_, by Solrun Hoass, (2000) _Korean Studies Review_ 2001, no. 11 Electronic file: http://www.iic.edu/thelist/review/ksr01-11.htm ------------------------------ From: JSaportajr@aol.com Date: Tue, 24 Jul 2001 12:37:20 EDT Subject: the_dojang: Re: meditation The thread on meditation has been interesting for me. One thing I get confused about is the recommendations on how long to inhale, then hold the breath then exhale. Some people have recommended in for 4 hold 12 and out for 6. I have heard a great variety of other numbers also, in 6 hold 6 out six and on and on. I wonder which is the most common. I have dabbled in various kinds of meditations. In the early 70s I learned transcendental meditation (TM) and it has been the most effective for me so far. I went on to study at Maharishi International University for a time. It is unfortunate that the "TM" movement has gotten into some weird stuff so I am no longer involved with them in any way, but I still find the technique of TM very effective and easy. What I like about this form of meditation is that it requires no effort, unlike many other types of meditation where you have to force yourself to concentrate and keep the mind from wandering. In TM no effort is used, you simply silently repeat a mantra and the mind starts to quiet, you do not try to concentrate and if the mind wanders you let it wonder but when you notice it wandering you just bring your mind back to the mantra in a very effortless way. The idea with meditation is to bring the mind to a level of inactivity while maintaining alert awareness, to be still and without thoughts yet awake and alert. If you are trying to concentrate or force things, then your mind is active which is working at cross purpose. With TM the mind just naturally and effortlessly stills itself while you remain alert, and I often experience that state of inner stillness or emptiness that people who practice other types of meditation say it takes years of effort to achieve. The "controversy" is whether you need the Sanskrit mantra to achieve these results, the TM people believe that there are certain specific qualities to the sound that account for the effectiveness, or whether any meaningless sound or word would do. Herbert Benson, a cardiologist who has studied a lot of meditation practices feels that you can use the number one or any other word and he wrote about this in The Relaxation Response. I have taught others to meditate by having them repeat any meaningless word to themselves, when the mind wanders allow it to do so, you do not resist other thoughts comming to your mind, but when you are aware of other thoughts you just gently bring the mind back to the word in a very effortless and spontaneous way, the word can change, become louder or softer, longer or shorter or change to some other sound, you don't resist that but just take it as it comes. You can see how this differs from approaches that attempt to force the mind to be concentrated and empty. It is unfortunate that the Transcendental Meditation movement has gotten so weird, which makes me hesitate to recommend it, though the technique is very effective and there is a lot of scientific, physiologic research to back this up. Jose' ------------------------------ From: JSaportajr@aol.com Date: Tue, 24 Jul 2001 12:44:15 EDT Subject: the_dojang: Re: meditation -moving meditation In the discussion of meditation no one has mentioned martial arts practice as meditative in itself, moving meditation. You use the focus on movement as a way to empty the mind and be nowhere else than with the movement. For some reason, I have felt that the Japanese arts -- some forms of Karate, Aikido and especially use of the sword and bow and arrow (see Zen and the Art of Archery) as more conducive for this Zen like approach than the Korean arts. Perhaps this is due to the emphasis on form, and the simple linear forms as opposed to more of a focus on fighting. That is there is something about the approach to movement and the types of movement that make it more suitable for this, but perhaps its just that this aspect is not so emphasized in Korean martial arts. Its certainly not been a part of my experience with Korean martial arts. I wonder if anyone else has a similar impression. Jose' ------------------------------ From: Ray Terry Date: Tue, 24 Jul 2001 10:29:55 PDT Subject: the_dojang: . ------------------------------ End of The_Dojang-Digest V8 #433 ******************************** It's a great day for Taekwondo! Support the USTU by joining today. US Taekwondo Union, 1 Olympic Plaza, Ste 104C, Colorado Spgs, CO 80909 719-578-4632 FAX 719-578-4642 ustutkd1@aol.com http://www.ustu.org To unsubscribe from the_dojang-digest send the command: unsubscribe the_dojang-digest -or- unsubscribe the_dojang-digest your.old@address in the BODY (top line, left justified) of a "plain text" e-mail addressed to majordomo@hpwsrt.cup.hp.com. Old digest issues are available via ftp://ftp.martialartsresource.com. Copyright 1994-2001: Ray Terry and Martial Arts Resource Standard disclaimers apply.