happy birthday

Happy Birthday Andy!!

soon we'll be living in cities called "Wal-martville" or "McDonald'ston"

Since when did the brand become bigger than the place? Naomi Klein would break down and cry if she came to Korea..
I tell the children I teach that I'm going to see a baseball game between the Giants and the Tigers. The look at me with blank faces. "I'm going to see the Busan Giants, you know, the baseball team?" Still with the blank faces. One of the kids quietly says "Lotte?", and then the others catch on what I was trying to say to them. "Ohhh, LO-tte!"
The sports teams out here are named after their sponsors - they are known ONLY by their sponsors. The basketball team is the "KTF (cell phone company) Magicwings", the soccer team is know as "Ipark" (I think it's a similar company to green park, or some other building company), and then the "Lotte Giants".

Should I be bothered by this?... mm yes. I think so. Over here, this is normal - no one would question it, or even think of it being weird. But i cant help but think of this brand worshiping crossing over the pacific, and reaching Canadian shores. Has it already happened? We go to watch hockey games at the "Air Canada Center", and while we cheer on the Leafs, we still watch them skate around the advertisement haven, skating over the Reebok owned blue lines.

Pretty soon will we be cheering on the Tim Horton's Leafs? Will we be rooting for the Microsoft Jays, and the Nike Raptors? Little kids will be screaming "GOO NIKEEE!!" and chanting the brand (just like here).

We should know better. We are losing our teams, our buildings, and all of our sacred space to the corporate names. We need to get back to the good old days where these giants are still thought of the heartless corporations that run local business under, rather than these iconic sports teams that portray superhero-like attributes.

Some things i dont get..

Just outside my school, about once a week, the community center fogs the streets to help contain the outbreak of mosquitoes. I'm not sure why, but whenever mosquitoes are around, the Korean people are instantly aware of their presence. There seems to be a fear of them, like others might fear killer bees. There are tons of different methods to get rid of the pests, my favorite being the 'electric tennis racket'. This device is exactly as it sounds: a tennis racket sized frame with an electric mesh that shocks its prey with 1.5 volts of power (it feels like more though..).
Anyways, It always amazes me how the parents just stand by and watch their kids running through the insecticides when they fog here. The sprayers move from doorway to alley way, even to food stalls, spraying their killer gas. I've asked my co-teachers and they swear it's safe, and even endorse the school kids going out to play in it. Being kind of new to this tactic of getting rid of mosquitoes, I'm a little shocked. Do they do this in Canada or the States? And if they do, do kids treat the insecticide like a sprinkler?

I guess it's just another one of those things that I don't get, and probably wont get.

a wake up call.

I'm disgusted. I woke up this morning, turned on the tv to watch BBC world news and the first story I heard was .. surprise.. about how the cost of oil has been shaping our standard of living. Ford Motor Company announced an $8.7 billion loss in the second quarter of this year, so they have decided to make 'smaller' cars. Yes, instead of investing in research that might keep their company afloat 10 -20 years from now, they've decided to take the easy route and make cars that drain the worlds resources in a slower manner - still completely unsustainable. The company is striving to once again be amongst the leaders in the car world, but they are going about it with the 'now or never attitude'. They know that there is a problem with the culture's practice of oil consumption, but instead of stepping up and being leaders in their field, they continue on that same path, giving them a bit of time before they are forced to change. The consumers are equally responsible, for it is our way of living that drives these giant companies to do what they do. There needs to be a leader out there in the automobile industry who has balls to turn towards something sustainable and move away from the dead end road of petrol.

So they've found oil and natural gas in the Arctic - apparently it's enough to meet the world's demand for the next three years. THREE years. "According to the survey, the Arctic holds about 13% of the world's undiscovered oil, 30% of the undiscovered natural gas, and 20% of the undiscovered natural gas liquids." It's great that we found some back up to aid us in our change over from fossil fuels, but there is a worry about how the drilling will effect the permanent sea ice, or even the habitat of endangered species. "Exploration companies believe the recent rapid ice melt in the Arctic may make it easier to get reserves out of the region." It seems to me that we are so quick to move in, pillage what we can, and then move on to the next place. Glaciers are receding at an unprecedented rate. Yet, this will only aid us in the exploitation of the area? This whole issue should be a wake up call for us to move away from our addiction to oil, but I fear that it will only be the next step in our quest to drain the world of it's resources, and leave nothing in our path.

Some shots from the beef protests

For more pictures, click here.