Archive for the ‘world events’ Category

i like this photo a lot … it was taken in june by photographer peter yang. there are a few reasons why i like this picture. firstly, i like the blue hues. the colour is really nice. the image also has good sharpness. but the devil is in the details: the sharpness around obama’s eyes, the guy in the background and the pacman chasing the apple logo on his computer.

the photo isn’t straight, which i like too. it’s a big ’screw you’ to pedantic perfectionists who are nitpicky about photos … but mostly i like the directness. obama is staring straight at the viewer … it’s quite an engaging image.

john mccain has conceded the american election, meaning that barack obama becomes america’s 44th president and the first non-white american president.

at the time of this post, obama had 333 points (needing 270 to win) to mccain’s 156 points. the democrats won 56 senate seats (needing 51 for control of the senate) and 235 house of representatives seats (needing 218 seats). this represents a landslide victory for obama and the democrats.

congratulations to barack obama on his amazing and historic win.

i think this is kind of appropriate, and funny!

btw, i don’t really like referring to obama as the first african american president. i think this type of language creates binaries and opposites, kind of us and them. while white and non-white are also opposites, i think it’s a lot less divisive.

here’s hoping that he puts america back on the path of being a truly great, free and democratic country … not the country of warfare and cronyism that it has been for the last eight years.

“We have no interest in oppressing other people. We are not moved by hatred against any other nation. We bear no grudge. I know how grave a thing war is. I wanted to spare our people such an evil. It is not so much the country; it is rather its leader. He has led a reign of terror. He has hurled countless people into the profoundest misery. Through his continuous terrorism, he has succeeded in reducing millions of his people to silence. The Czech maintenance of a tremendous military arsenal can only be regarded as a focus of danger. We have displayed a truly unexampled patience, but I am no longer willing to remain inactive while this madman ill-treats millions of human beings.”

– Adolf Hitler, April 14, 1939, justifying the German invasion of Czechoslovakia.

note: i’d like to start this post by stating that i’ve changed the title. out of anger, i included the nons de plume of a korean netizen with whom i was angry about a post on her site. while i will leave this discussion on my blog for the sake of public record, i have removed her name from the title as a consiliatory action, designed to show my attitude is not directed at this one person, but rather at the attitude of ‘netizens’ in general. the permalink, however, cannot be changed … and i apologise for that.

i’m really quite tired of hearing about korean netizens. during the 2006 world cup, koreans were banned from fifa’s website as a result of the netizen complaints. not only did the national soccer team play very poorly, but koreans complained because they believe they have a right to win. this blind patriotism is really quite astounding sometimes.

so, imagine my surprise when i found a korean netizen has blogged about me and my site. this netizen’s name is mannoya. of course, that’s not her real name. she hides her real name and identity because she’s a coward.

her blog has an article (full article in korean is below, so she can’t delete and deny it) which states that my nude photographs are pornographic. she states that it’s offensive and unethical. there are numerous assumptions on her blog that she doesn’t support with evidence.

i’ll deal with her comments one by one, for the point of simplicity.

first. mannoya is a coward. my identity is open and true. i’m not hiding behind some website. i’m an honest person and i have nothing to fear. korean netizens hide their identity and then make accusations about everyone else. mannoya would never have the courage to contact me. she would never have the courage to speak to me face to face the same way she speaks in her blog. she is very much a coward.

mannoya states that my nudes are not art, they’re porn. she provides two links to prove her point. one link is to a blurry photo which looks like it was taken by a 10 year old child. in my opinion it’s a terrible photo. art is very much subjective. my nude photographs have no sexual intercourse. all of my photos are a tasteful and not too revealing. i don’t have much experience in nude photography. but it’s not reasonable to say my photos are porn simply because they’re not blurry.

mannoya states that i don’t have the right to publish the girls’ photos on the internet. however, in fact, i do have the right. those were professional models. each girl was paid 300,000 won (about $300 US) per hour for the shoot. the models also signed release forms. both models were over 20 years of age. therefore those photos belong to me. the girls were paid very, very well for the photos.

mannoya continues by saying that i’ve made rude comments and insulting comments about women (probably korean women) on other websites. however, mannoya provides no evidence to support this accusation. i’ve never offended or insulted women. why would i do such a thing?? there is no evidence and she cannot support this statement. it’s a lie.

mannoya admits that she’s offended because the models are korean and i’m a foreigner. this is an admission that mannoya is racist. if the models were white, she wouldn’t care. if i was korean, she wouldn’t care. mannoya is a racist, pure-blood korean because she doesn’t want foreigners ruining the “perfect reputation” of korean women.

mannoya stated that sexual issues are each person’s private business. yet, she’s on the internet complaining about my photos … which are my private business. this is an extremely hypocritical point of view. also, mannoya never contacted me or attempted to communicate with me in any way (via email, which would have been more appropriate) … instead, she jumps on her secret identity and proudly admits that she’s a racist coward.

well, i would like to retort with a few points of my own:

my website has nearly 400 photographs. of those, 20 phoographs were part of my nude gallery. the other 380 photographs were all taken in korea. 380 photographs that showed the wonder and beauty of korean life. 380 photographs that highlighted how much foreigners love to live in korea and immerse ourselves in korean culture. but, obviously, those 380 photographs are not important.

my website has 30 articles regarding photographic tips and tutorials. the articles are designed to help photographers improve their skills (mannoya uses a photo logo on her site, suggesting she has an interest in photography). but, obviously, those 30 articles are not important.

my site has a guide for buying cameras, in depth reviews of photo equipment and discussion about my life in korea. but, obviously, all that information is not important either.

the only important part of my site is 20 nude photos. wow. that’s just amazing … ignorant, but amazing.

i’d also like to point out that mannoya’s anger towards me is very much misguided. you see, i live in one of the most sexually perverse countries in the world. the korean government has evidence that over a million people work in korea’s sex industry. korea’s sex industry is larger than thailand. every neighborhood has 안마 rooms (sex and massage), room salons (sex and karaoke) and love hotels (sex hotels, paid by the hour). during my 6 years in korea i’ve had countless experiences where korean men (married korean men) tell me that they get drunk and have sex with prostitutes. this is not random at all, this is a common occurence. it’s a part of korean male life. very few husbands can claim to be faithful to their wives, because office ‘bonding’ involves drinking and sex.

in fact, 4 days ago two old korean men (in their 50s) were on the subway looking at porn DVDs that they’d bought. they were looking at the DVD cases on the crowded subway. women and children were nearby, and the DVD covers were very graphic. these men didn’t seem to care at all.

none of those problems are important. what’s more important is a foreigner who has 20 nude photos of korean women on his website. 20 photos of perfect, pure-blood, korean women.

the opinions of people like mannoya are simple biggotry … and what makes it worse is that she lies about me degrading women on other websites … and doesn’t even have the courage to reveal her identity.

*as an after thought, i believe mannoya may have lived abroad (in LA) and it’s possible that she knows me or has met me. this makes her opinions even more ignorant and racist. you’d think that someone who lived abroad would have a better understanding of reality … and you’d think that she’d have the courage to contact me directly.

… obviously not.

mannoya … your country has many, many problems. why don’t you try fixing your own country’s corruption, economic failure and sexual perversions. once your country is perfect, then criticise me and my photographs.

the following is her blog entry. recorded here for prosperity so that she cannot delete her post and deny what she wrote. i would expect a person who is a coward to delete their own blog so that they can pretend nothing happened.

어느 교수님의 사진.

Semilla님의 포스팅을 읽다가 예전에 쓰다 잊어먹은 토픽도 생각이 났고 누군가를 가르치는 사람으로서 과연 그 자질은 어떻게 평가되어야 하는가에 대한 생각 해 본다.
개인의 사생활이 어떤일을 하는데 있어 적합하다 혹은 적합하지 않다라고 말할 때에는 여러가지 기준이 있을 것이다.

Semilla 님이 언급하신 교수님을 말하자면 게이라서라거나 가르치는 방식이 독특한 것에 대해서의 내가 교수로서 자격이 있다 없다 할 수는 없다고 생각한다. 학점을 빌미로 학생들과 성관계를 맺는 교수들이 수두룩한 마당에 개인의 성 정체성은 충분히 존중되어져야 한다는게 내 생각이다. 불법적인 행동이야 당연히 처벌받아야 하는거고 이러한 ethical issue에 국한에서 하는 말이다.
교수라는 직업을 지키면서 한쪽에서 포르노를 찍는다는 건 그런면에서 (내 생각으로는) 한국에서도 크게 이슈가 된적이 있었던 교사의 누드사진 문제와는 다른 문제인 것이다.

내가 여기서 말 하고자 하는 사람은 한국에서 영어강사로 일을 하고 있는데 블로그에 따르면 호주와 영국에서 고등학생들을 가르치기도 했고 한국에서도 초중교를 거쳐 현재는 기업체 영어강사로 일을 하고 있는 모양이다.
짧 게 설명하자면 남친이 웹서핑을 하다가 어느 비디오 클립 밑에 난데없이 벌어진 동양여성 비하+성적 코멘트 사태를 보다가 그중 상당히 저질의 글을 남긴 사람이 버젓이 자기 블로그를 이름에 링크해 놨기에 방문을 했고, 한국거주중이라는 걸 보고 나한테 알려주게 된 거였다.

문제는 이 사람이 이 블로그에 올려놓은 누드들인데, 본인을 teacher이며 photographer로 자칭하는 그 태도에 비해 사진 상태들이 상당히 논란스럽다는 거다. 내가 예술적인 감각이 없어서 그런다고 할지도 모르겠지만 개인적으로 이 사람의 사진들 과 예술성이 있는 누드라고 생각되는 사진1과 사진2를 비교해보면 그 차이가 확실히 있다. 미안하지만 내가 볼때 이 사람의 사진은 porn이지 art가 아니다. 궁금한 사람들은 직접 비교해 보고 얘기해 주길.

개 인적으로 내가 학부모이고 내 아이의 미술선생님이 사진1이나 2을 찍었다면 내 아이들을 벗겨놓고 찍은것도 아니고 딱 봤을때 외설스럽다기 보다는 조각이나 옛 그림을 보는 듯한 느낌을 주는 이러한 사진들을 가지고 문제 삼을 생각은 없다.
(물론 아직까지도, 그런면에서 많이 개방적이라고 우리가 알고 있는 서구사회에서도 누드모델을 하거나 모델의 사진을 찍는 행위는 예술성을 떠나 항상 논란거리이긴 하다.)
하지만 그 사진들이 David Smeaton의 사진과 같은 거라면, 난 화가 날거다.
저 런 사진을 찍는 취미를 혼자 간직하는 정도라면 몰라도 버젓히 같은 블로그에 교복을 입은 학생들과 함께한 사진을 올리고 그 바로 밑에 누드모델들을 감독(?)하는 본인의 모습을 올리며 포토그라퍼라고 소개하는 뻔뻔함은 정도가 좀 지나치다.
누드사진들은 정말 딱할정도이고 그나마 나쁘지 않은건 평범한 사진들인데 기술적인 면에서의 나쁘지 않음이지 사진으로서 교감할 수 있는 그런 수준은 못 된다.
애석한건 영어를 가르치는 사람으로서도 그의 포스팅을 읽다보면 캐쥬얼함을 벗어나 약간 수준이 낮다는 인상을 받게 된다는 거다.

개인적으로 기분이 상당히 나쁜건 누드 사진들은 하나같이 동양여인들 (굳이 말하자면 한국인) 뿐이라는 거다.
이 사진을 찍은 아가씨들은 자신들의 사진이 Flickr등을 비롯해 외국유저들을 상대하는 온라인에 공개되어 있다는걸 알고는 있을까.

예 술을 하는 사람들의 누드에 대한 사랑은 잘 안다. 그림을 하는 사람들에게도 누드란 하나의 어려운 과제이며 이건 사진, 조각등에도 해당한다. 무용을 볼 때도 사람들은 사람의 몸이 어떻게 동작하고 감정을 표현하는지를 보지 몸에 딱 달라붙는 무용복에만 시선을 두지 않는다. 물론, 익숙치 않아 남사스럽다는 사람들도 있지만 저런 옷을 입고 무용을 하기 때문에 내 아이들을 가르칠 수 없다, 라고 하는 사람은 본적이 없다. 예술은 확실히 외설과는 다르다.

한국헤럴드 영자판에서 사진관련 섹션도 가지고 있고 내노라 하는 공기업과 사기업에서 일을 하는 이 사람, 내가 수업을 받아보지 않았으니 실력이 어떤지는 모른다.
어쩌면 본인은 정말로 자신이 예술을 하는거라고 믿기 때문에, 미성년자를 대상으로 사진을 찍은것도 아니기 때문에, 혹은 정말로 그정도 취미생활은 열린관점에서 인정해줘야 하는걸지도 모르겠다.

과연 그를 채용한 사람들이 이 사람의 블로그를 방문해 본적이 있었을까?
그는 과연 지인들이 아닌 영어강사쪽이든 신문사쪽이든 일관련 인물들에게 자신의 블로그를 소개하고 사진들을 보여줄 자부심이 있을까? 한국인 친구(혹시 있다면)들에게는?
만약 이미 그런것들이 다 알려졌고 받아들여진거라면 또 다른 질문이 여기서 생겨난다.
과연 같은 한국사람이 같은 상황에 있었다면 어땠을까.
만약 취미생활과 일에 대한 실력이 별개로 취급되어야 한다는 것이 이 사람에게 적용된다면 그건 그러함이 당연하기 때문인걸까 아니면 이 사람이 외국인이기 때문인걸까?

for the first time in nepalese history, the kumari or ‘living goddess’ has been appointed by the maoist government, rather than by local priests. the new kamari, shreeya bajracharya, was appointed this week after undertaking a gruelling selection process.

while numerous villages appoint their own kumaris, the royal kumari of kathmandu is the most well known and revered. the kumaris are believed to be the living incarnation of the goddess taleju and they serve from approximately age 6 until the day they begin menstruation.

the previous kumari left her post early, after scandal relating to her decision to travel to the united states to promote a documentary about the life of kumaris in nepal.

kumaris live a life of great power and privilege, but also of isolation. they have various civic duties to perform until their reign has ended. former kumaris are granted a national pension for life and attempt to rejoin society. however, there’s a common belief that marrying a kumari is bad luck and that the husband will die soon after. this myth, although popular, is easily dispelled.

full story courtesy of bbc. a story about the life of kumaris. wikipedia entry about kumaris.

i’m completely obsessed with boston globe’s new feature called the big picture. this is a regular photo gallery of large, high quality photos focusing on world events. the last three have been hurricane ike, north korea, and observing ramadan.

the big picture represents the best of photo journalism and photography in general. the photography is absolutely brilliant.

i haven’t done a travel update in a while, however i have been thinking about the travels … constantly.

i was actually reading an interesting article about how some of the ’stan’ countries are very interesting and very safe. particularly, uzbekistan’s capital tashkent. so i got to looking at my map (again) and discovered that i could change one part of my route to workin at least 3 more countries. from delhi i planned to go to lahore and on to karachi. i can cross pakistan’s border there into southern iran and follow the trade route all the way to tehran.

however, if i go from delhi into lahore, i could head north to islamabad. then i can probably get a train north into tajikistan. i may have to pass through far western afghanistan, but i don’t think it would be too problematic. after reaching dushanbe, i could keep going west to tashkent, then south into turkmenistan all the way to ashgabat. that’s very close to the iran border and not too far at all from tehran. whilst in iran, i might venture south to a few areas of interest, then circle back to the north east and exit to turkey.

although it might be more complex, i think it could be a lot more fun. from my understanding, none of those countries are dangerous and i should have no trouble moving around and getting trains from place to place. it’s a much more interesting route than skirting the bottom of pakistan into iran.

thanks to american cartoons, i was one of many aussie kids who thought that if i tunneled through the earth, i’d come out at china. well, i know that’s not true now … thanks to this useful map tunneling tool. i actually discovered that australia would fit in the north atlantic ocean … and we wouldn’t touch any other nations.

kooky!

i went out for dinner with some friends last night. we headed to a restaurant and ate heaps of australian beef. of course, the beef went down very well … and there was lots of soju to go with it. i got a little pissy, but i had a good time.

when i woke up this morning i felt a little fuzzy. but the hangover wasn’t bad and i recovered quickly. school was easy today, since it’s the last day of the month and all my students have returned to their university studies. so i finished early and headed out to do some errands.

on my list of things to do was get a few shots. i was due for my second hep B shot, which i got done, and i headed to a children’s hosital for a hep A injection. in 5 months i get my last hep B shot and in 6 months i get my second (and last) hep A shot … i also need a yellow fever injection (which is probably going to make me sick) but it is difficult to get in korea. so i’ll probably get it abroad.

in other news, the korean won is diving like crazy. last week it was 1080 won to the US dollar, now it’s 1130 won. while it doesn’t affect my savings (which are already in US$) it means that i’ll be losing money on my income for the next six months … damn it!

there’s talk of a second economic crisis (only 10 years after the IMF last intervened and bailed out korea’s ridiculously over-inflated economy). the IMF has warned korea numerous times to control their economy. foreign companies are pulling out their investments and it’s widely predicted that shit and fan will meet.

i just hope the country can hold itself together for 6 months … or the won recovers. i really don’t want this to explode before i get out.

some people are sanctimonious prats, desperate for column inches … an article by adele horin (which somehow got published by the sydney morning herald) suggests that aussies travel too much and that our carbon footprint is too big. she says that aussies are hypocrits because we claim to be environmentally concerned yet spend lots of time flying (which produces enormous co2 emissions). her diatribe was the result of some kind of ‘awakening’ after she listened to richard begbie on abc radio, denouncing air travel as the last environmental taboo.

wired magazine posted something of a rebuttal to her statements here.

my opinion on this is that it’s easy to denounce plane travel, especially after you’ve been doing it for a while and suddenly decide that it’s wrong. very convenient when you’re no longer a regular traveler. my other problem with her rant is that it’s also easy to be critical without being constructive.

as discussed, australia is an isolated country. so there are numerous arguments in support of our need for plane travel. the simple practicalities are that we have no other feasible way of getting places away from our big, far flung continent. it’s a different case for america, england and europe. most people in the northern hemisphere can travel by land or sea … or short plane trips, such as from new york to london. so i completely agree that plane travel is not a necessary form of transportation when other alternatives do exist.

the second problem is that australia has a very small population. 19 million ockers pales in comparison to america’s 300 million, the uk’s 70 million and a few hundred million spread across europe. such large populations makes it easier for mass transport to be profitable. travel anywhere within australia is expensive, because of the massive distances and lack of infrastructure to support it. i remember flying from london to amsterdam for 50 quid. that would never be possible in australia. it cost me nearly as much to catch a train from rockhamption to the gold coast.

that leads to my point, that air travel (despite its huge co2 emissions) isn’t the big problem. two hundred million cars driving around the world on a daily basis is one of the biggest co2 problems we have. the daily waste of oil and the daily pollution of the atmosphere is a more serious issue. currently, america is reluctant to increase emission standards and other companies are increasing standards only in the face of growing criticism. where air travel is necessary for australians, cars are not necessary for 50% of drivers around the world who live in cities with very good public transport systems; seoul, tokyo, new york and paris are good examples.

developing countries are also bigger problems. china is outpacing america and will continue to grow … further, as many chinese become richer, the lure of foreign travel is going to result in more planes in the sky. put 2% of china’s population in the air and that represents 25 million air travelers … more than my country’s population. africa and india are developing too, which adds another 2 billion to the number of people who are increasing their co2 usage … so while rich countries are decreasing their usage, 4 times more people are increasing their usage.

the polution that is created on a daily basis (vehicles, factories, etc) is a far more immediate problem. air travel too, while being a problem, is one that cannot be overcome so easily. all experts agree that there are no readily available alternatives … especially for countries like australia and new zealand which are so remote. air travel can definitely be reduced. people can travel by land and sea where possible. video lectures and conferencing is also a reasonable alternative for people who travel on business.

another alternative is for the australian government to support australians who want to travel, by helping aussies get abroad without using planes. it may sound ridiculous, but traveling to darwin by train, then a boat to singapore would put aussies in the heart of asia. from there it’s a train ride to bangkok or a flight to europe. the travel time would be over a week, but the emissions would be cut dramatically. for travelers and retirees, the extra travel time is not a problem. the costs are higher, sure, but the government can offset such costs by providing tax exemptions to companies who offer cross-continental travel options.

bali is also close to australia, and is one of our favourite travel destinations. i don’t see any reasons why it cannot be reached by train (to north queensland or darwin) and ship.

i never said that these solutions were practical … i said they were alternatives.

aussies do have a traveling spirit, so i don’t see why we should be punished when the rest of the world decides that air travel is wrong. sure, it is wrong for most, but for a few it’s very necessary. nobody needs to fly from london to paris, or from new york to miami. but to escape the great southern land, there aren’t many choices … short of spending a month on a boat.

next year i start my world travels and i plan on taking as few planes as possible … my estimate is 3 or 4 plane trips in 18 months and 50 countries … it can be done.

where there’s a will, there’s a way … so stop picking on a few fair dinkum travelers, when the other problems are far far greater.