The Age of Stupid Movie Review

           

The Age of Stupid (2009)

           According to British documentary filmmaker Franny Armstrong, we are currently living in the “The Age of Stupid,” and stupid means us. I am not offended by this since I agree that people do a lot of stupid things that have serious consequence. However, when it comes to climate change and global warming, the blame is not entirely for us humans.

           First, I think the director could have made the computer graphics better. This movie opened in 2009, the same year as Avatar. Of course, this documentary did not get huge budget, but the first scenes are so badly made. They show what earth looks like in 2055, such as London covered in dark clouds (like it is now sometimes) when the global warming has progressed further and brought human extinction (well almost, there are people walking around in these scene). The worst is Sydney Opera House. It’s very obvious that the fire is not real, but like a graphic. An art student with basic animating skills could have made these scenes.

          The archivist in the film, played by British actor, Pete Postlethwaite, looks back on archive footage from 2015 and says: “The conditions we're experiencing now were actually caused by our behavior in the period leading up to 2015.” The film goes on to illustrate lives of five different people. One is a French mountain climber who talks about the melting glaciers. He takes a British family on a tour (It’s funny how they cannot speak French well.) There is an Indian businessman running a cheap airplane company. They are somewhat affected by climate change, but it was difficult for me to understand WHY showing them instead of using scientific facts.

           The film argues that Hurricane Katrina, melting glaciers, and other environmental disasters are caused by massive amounts of CO2 emitted by human industries such as oil, transportation, and food. This is a misleading point, and it can be proven wrong with data that compares the amount of natural consumption of CO2 to human consumption of CO2.

.  

http://www.skepticalscience.com/human-co2-smaller-than-natural-emissions.htm

     

           According to this figure, fossil fuels and land use only contributes 29 mega tons of CO2 emission whereas the land and the ocean naturally contributes over 700 mega tons of CO2 emission per year. The film suggests that amount of 29 mega tons emitted by human every year have seriously affected the balance of CO2 emission and culminated in global warming. Many forget about mother earth herself. The amount of our emission is so tiny that it only occupies about 4.1% of all CO2 emissions of the earth. Therefore, the main cause in quantity is rather the increase in solar output.

           The most unconvincing part about the film is that it emphasizes we are not taking global warming seriously and that we will lose everything if we do not act now as if we are confronting with a complete new disaster. It is not the first time that earth is experiencing an increase in its temperature. The Earth has repeatedly gone through many periods of decrease and increase in temperature since its birth. Compared to the Earth’s age of 45 billion years, too much blame is put on the past 100 years. For Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the film interviews Alvin Duvernay who helped rescue people on his boat. (I was surprised to learn how there was mandatory evacuation, but people STILL stayed.) He says, “In my opinion, our use or misuse of resources the last 100 years or so, I'd probably rename that age, something like The Age of Ignorance, The Age of Stupid.” He forgets that pollution was unbelievably worst during Industrial Revolution that made possible development of Western countries. Blogger “The Merry Farmer” has a post named, “History’s Dirtiest Secret.”

History’s Dirtiest Secret

           After a few decades, humans might even face a new problem of “global cooling” which is predicted according to the constant pattern of heating and cooling in the figure below.

           The Age of Stupid relies on emotional appeal to persuade the audience. It is important to pay attention to our environment and to know what is happening. However we should not be easily persuaded by emotions and focus on scientific facts. We need to confront this with a more critical approach. ExxonMobil (http://www.ucsusa.org/assets/documents/global_warming/exxon_report.pdf)

 has funneled about $16 million between 1998 and 2005 to a network of ideological and advocacy organizations that fuel uncertainty on the issue. Trying to force industrializing countries and people in their everyday lives to reduce CO2 gas emissions is neither the only way nor the most effective way.

      

                

Movie Magic - The Progress of CG

personal narrative essay

The year I entered high school, I accomplished my first big life goal. I had been studying extremely hard to gain admission to a certain   school since I was fifteen. I was most impressed by this school’s amazing curriculum. It held its students to the highest academic standard. There was only one thing about the school that made me feel a little uneasy: a word in its name, “minjok,” which means “a nation’s people” in Korean. I passed four tough rounds in the admission process: a long application, essays, grueling in-depth oral exams in three academic different subjects which were, Math, English, and Physics, and finally a personal interview. I still remember the day I anxiously typed in my application number to look up my acceptance results on the Internet. It was November 18^th. Before I could never understand when people said they felt as if they were flying. That day, I too was flying high.

As a new KMLA student I felt that I was one step closer to my dream of becoming a global leader who can influence the world in a significant way. Therefore, again I thought the best way to achieve my dream was to go to the next best school, and my next goal was to gain admission to an American university like my father and my two older sisters. I was determined to work hard in my classes and improve my English. However, the one little aspect of the school I was unsure of began to feel like a large obstacle.  

As a school that educates the future leaders of our nation’s people, KMLA greatly values Korean traditions, history, and patriotism which to me were old ideas in our country of rapid globalization. I felt like I was being forced to learn about these old ideas. I had to wear Korean traditional clothes as a school uniform rather than a crisp, suit-like uniform. I took classes in buildings that were built in traditional Korean architectural style that reminded me how our ancestors only used wood that was easily burned under attack. Music class only focused on Korean traditional instruments and music. I was more interested in classical music and pop music rather than Korean folk music that sung about harvest time. Everything was in a traditional Korean way, and I hated it because it was the opposite of what I had worked hard for and shabby. It seemed paradoxical that KMLA enforced the use of English and promoted seminar style classes in which students participate in English discussions on various topics such as advanced science, politics, and economy. It almost felt like English wouldn’t come out right because it clashed with everything.

Lastly, KMLA is located in the countryside where it takes several hours from the capital city, Seoul. I have lived in the city my entire life, so living in a rural place felt very uncomfortable to me because I was so used to just walking to a store to get what I needed.

However, my whole point of view changed after spending a month at KMLA and for the first time I’ve learned to think deeply about who I am and who I should be. One beautiful day, the entire campus was covered in snow, I was standing, of course, dressed in Korean traditional clothing, in front of a wooden door of a building with a stone tiled roof where Korean language class was held. I was looking at shining Korean letters carved on the door and, at the same time, I could hear the songs coming out from the music class that I could immediately recognize. I found myself in complete awe of my surroundings. I felt as if I were standing in the middle of Korean history and was being embraced as part of it. I realized that the negative feelings I had against the customs were only due to my ignorance and close-mindedness. Now, I could better understand them and my own origins. Learning gained from textbooks and theories is not the only kind of education and certainly not the most important.  

Today, I feel very fortunate to be able to learn in such an intellectually rich environment. I recently read about a girl named Malala who is my age and was shot because of her strong will to go to school. She lives in a Taliban-controlled area of Pakistan and, thus, was threatened by the close-mindedness of the Taliban that doesn’t believe in education for women. Malala fought as an education activist through blogging on the Internet against the violent regime. She is a true global leader. Her courage inspired me to reflect upon my own will to learn and made me realize how I can be close-minded and prejudiced which would deny myself of valuable learning opportunities. I am determined to widen my views and not simply work to get into a good university, but to value all kinds of education even if it means trying new and unfamiliar things.

            

A little description for Ganggangsullae!

Ganggangsullae is a Korean traditional folk dance and song during which women formed a large circle. It is famously known to have been performed during the Japanese invasion of Korea in late 16th century. The Japanese naval force attacked the peninsula with about 133 battleships while Korea only had about 12. The Korean soldiers were completely outnumbered. It was obvious that Korea would have defeated so easily and ceded to the Japanese. However the renowned naval commander Yi Sunshin considered a great hero in Korea, used his outstanding tactics including Hakikjin(well-spread formation of ships) and utilized Korea’s geographic advantage. Eventually, his leadership led to an unexpected victory of Korea.

Ganggangsullae was also one of Yi Sunshin’s strategies. He used the circular motion to make his army look greater in number from a distance. Women were dressed in military uniforms and danced the Ganggangsullae on top of a high mountain. As a result, the Japanese thought there were more troops in Korea than reality. From this famous account, Ganggangsullae became an important part of Korea’s heritage, and it is still being danced, especially during cultural holidays such as Korea’s Thanksgiving Day or celebration of full moon during fall.    

Gangangsullae was usually danced by young women and the elders within their family or community. During the night of a special holiday in the backyard, they formed a circle by holding each other’s hands and move in a circular motion.

The lyrics reflect the life of young women and their role in society, yet they tend to vary by region and are sometimes newly created with the chorus of “Ganggangsullae” repeated at the end of each verse. Here I will introduce one version of the song in English translation.

Lyrics:   

강강술래       강강술래

  딸아딸아      막내딸아        강강술래

  발을벗고      샘에가냐        강강술래

  텃논팔아      신사주랴        강강술래

  텃밭팔아      종사주리        강강술래

  신도싫고      종도싫고        강강술래

  저 건네       묵은밭에        강강술래

검은 석포라   달려주게        강강술래

My daughter, my daughter, my youngest daughter Ganggangsullae

Are you going to the fountain with your bare feet? Ganggangsullae

Should I sell the rice paddy to buy you a pair of shoes Ganggangsullae

or should I sell the farm to buy you a servant? Ganggangsullae

I don’t need neither shoes nor a servant, Ganggangsullae……

           

TOEFL ESSAY PROMPT #1

Question: Describe a custom from your country that you would like people from other country to adopt. Explain your choice, using examples and reasons.

The world we live in has been significantly influenced by globalization. Each country is no longer separated from each other, but rather interacts with one another, such as in area of politics, world economy, as well as culture and customs. I want to describe some positive aspects of one custom of Korea, the act of bowing, which I would like people from other countries to adopt.

I firmly believe bowing is the easiest way to share people’s feelings. Koreans bow every time they come across a person. Bowing can also be a very meaningful act towards an opponent. It does not only have the meaning of saying hello but most importantly, you are showing respect to another person. Therefore, after bowing, people naturally feel pleasant.

Moreover, bowing leads to the start of good relationship. It is likely that two people meeting for the first time will create awkward atmosphere. However, if they were to bow to each other as a welcoming gesture, this will break the ice. For example, making a good relationship also applies to between a student and a teacher. Especially when a student and a teacher are meeting for the first time, the student will often bow first as an act of politeness in Korea even before sharing his/her name. Most likely, the teacher will bow back which will result in an exchange of smiles which marks the perfect start of a relationship. Also, a student bowing first is more memorable to a teacher than those who did not. As far as I know, there isn’t a single nation that doesn’t think it is important to behave politely to others. The act of bowing prevents anxiety and stress that can frequently arise between people.

On the other hand, bowing isn’t only for meeting people. Koreans also bow when expressing that they are sorry. We could question, “Isn’t it enough to just say sorry?” However, bowing is a very effective way to ask for forgiveness. By lowering oneself, one’s true feelings can be directly conveyed in a simple gesture. This behavior of moderating ourselves can bring many benefits. People accepting our bow as sincere will view us as credible. It is difficult to gain the trust of others. We have to show them by behavior that we are trustworthy. Trustworthy behavior can be shown when we keep ourselves from being arrogant. People would abhor anyone who always boasts and disdains others. The act of bowing can also be a start of showing personality traits such as kindness and dependability.                  

People in the modern world tend to focus on themselves, and at times only care about their own problems. In addition, people always stay vigilant to others whom they don’t know, and, they do not even want to know about neighbors. I believe we need to have at least, basic manners toward other people. The act of bowing may not seem to hold any special meanings because it is so simple and easy. However, this simple act can contribute greatly to establishing respect between strangers that may grow to become lifelong friends.

                  

Introduction

Hello, Mr. Menard and other classmates. I am Sungwon Kim. I am really glad to meet you all, and I am so excited to study in such a high-quality class with Mr. Menard. I hope the class to be always fun and enjoyable.

For this semester, I want to improve my English in general as much as I can. Since I have chosen international course, obviously English would be what I have to work on for most of the time. I will always try hard to increase my English proficiency and to become confident in English. Maybe it would not be able to escape completely from the nightmares of English. But I will keep practicing over and over so hopefully I’ll be able to overcome limitations of my English and become a fluent speaker like Mr. Menard.