Disabled kids in Korean public school

Ah Korea... It's all well and fine to have disabled kids (or mentally challenged) in your public schools but it should not be that way. For example today, some disabled kid went ape shit. He had so much anger in him and a wanting to destroy and hurt everyone. It was a non-pleasant experience to say the least. Now this kid as no reason to be in any classes since he can't follow anyways. The funny thing is that there are special classes for these kids in school - why they aren't all the time in there is beyond my comprehension. I keep getting told that parents want them to be in regular classes. What the hell? It shouldn't be their decision. The school or government should control this. There's a limit to how much someone can be part of the group even if this is Asia. I do understand that the parents don't want this though. I'm somewhat surprised at this liberty of choice regarding this matter in a country where there's such pressures to always conform to things. In this case it seems that they would want (or dream) that a disabled kid would somehow look and act like a so-called normal child. It's ok Korea there's nothing to be ashamed of - even Japan has disabled kids (yeah I had to slip that one in). Of course these kids are not always creating problems. Most of the time they are the quietest in class and also most of the time I'm really wondering who's the "normal" kid.

Insa Art Space

Great place to see lots of works of arts by new and old artists. Went there for the first time and will go back for sure!

Insa Art Space web (cool design) link

Chungmuro International Film Festival in Seoul

Went there this Sunday and saw a short films program as well as a Chinese movie (Distant Thunder) which was pretty crappy. The short film program had 2 awesome shorts: 1 Canadian (Junko's Shamisen) and 1 Swedish (Tussilago). Both were experimenting with animation and live action and I was thoroughly impressed.


For more information: link

Many pictures

Recent trip back home and Toronto: link

Kuala Lumpur: link

Singapore: link

Singapore and KL part 2! link

Random airports: link

Strange things: link

so there you have it for those that are not on Facebook

Listenings - Arcade Fire

The Suburbs by Arcade Fire (2010) There are very few albums that are as lengthy as this one (around 63 minutes) that I'm not tempted to skip any songs or hope that a particular song ends.This is definitely the best album that I've listened to this year. It's got all that makes Arcade Fire the band to pay attention to: great arrangements, lyrics that are as meaningful as we want them to be and some experiments in terms of genre (Sprawl II comes to mind - Blondie-Abba?) Lyrically, its in my opinion about the alienation that comes from living in an ascepticised planned out suburbs and at the same time it questions our modern day living. As with any work of art everyone will find its place in this album be it a place that you feel nostalgic about or that you never want to live in, this album will hopefully speak to a lot of people. "Sometimes I can't believe it. I'm moving past the feeling." 9.5/10 more info video (Ready to Start live at MSG directed by Terry Gilliam)

Blood Like Lemonade by Morcheeba (2010) First album I hear from them (which is sad since it's their 8th). When listening to this I instantly thought of Massive Attack. Electronic trip-hop rock soul-ish sang with a beautiful sensual voice by Skye Edwards. Sounds like too many styles in one but that's what it really is. It's a delight to listen to on a rainy day, wanting to relax and not worrying about anything. When done listening to the album you're left with a bittersweet feeling. Musically interesting and sang with such feeling that we feel that we came out grown up, but there's a sense of melancholy and dread that permeates the air when all is said and done. 8.5/10 more info video (Even Though)

Back in the RoK - round 2

So it seems that I'll be going for round 2 in Korea. Only time will tell if it was the right decision. Many things on my mind as to what I should really be doing here aside from the obvious which is work and making money. I'll start writing a lot more - at least that's the plan.