Let dreamers dream what worlds they please
Those Edens can't be found
The sweetest flowers, the fairest trees
Are grown in solid ground
We'e neither pure, nor wise, nor good
We'll do the best we know
We'll build our house and chop our wood
And make our garden grow!

- Candide, Bernstein/Sondheim/et al.

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40 Still Life Photography icons [Winter]

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There's a great description of the Sino-Korean expression "부처님 손바닥 안에 있다" / "You are on Buddha's palm" going on at Amanda Takes Off that's well worth checking out. For background I'll tell you that it involves Sun Wukong (孫悟空; known as Monkey King in the West) from the tale 'Journey to the West' (西遊記) -- but to learn the rest you'll have to follow the link to Amanda's site.

My interest was caught by the discussion on account of not only having read 'Journey to the West' but also making the trip to Hsuan Tsang Temple (玄奘寺) - which claims to house the Sarira of Master Hsuan Tsang (or Xuán Zàng in Pinyin) - while visiting central Taiwan this past summer. To be honest I was a little surprised to see it described as 'almost required reading' for children given that none of my coworkers have even read the Korean historical accounts presented in the Samgak Yusa, but then I do have to admit that 'Journey to the West' is probably the more interesting story. (Plus, some creative license would likely need to take place with the Samguk Yusa in order to change the rape from Cheoyong's story into something more acceptable for young audiences.)

Sandy (사오정), Monkey (손오공), Xuanzang (삼장법사), and Pigsy (저팔계) from this site

'Journey to the West' has been used in a variety of contexts - a Wikipedia list of media adaptations covers everything from video games to science fiction novels and 19th century Japanese prints - but some of my favorite have been recent shorts aimed at hipper, urban audiences. The first example is a commercial created by Jamie Hewlett and Damon Albarn (from Gorillaz) for BBC Sport to advertise their 2008 Olympics coverage; the other two clips are the work of designer Ryosuke Tei for MTV Asia/China

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I haven't kept up on how other nations are tackling issues related to H1N1, but Brian in Jeollanam-do has been doing an admirable job of highlighting articles concerning H1N1 and its impact on education and tourism within South Korea. One interesting piece of news was hearing that the national government had considered shutting down all elementary schools for a month to prevent the spread of H1N1. Similarly, two weeks ago I received a text message from a Korean friend - who works at an after-school math academy - claiming that the government was considering similar actions directed toward after-school academies (hagwons) as well. Imagine the strain for parents with schedules created on the assumption that their children will either be at school or academies for a large chunk of the day.

"신종인플루엔자 예방수칙" from withhuny2001

There has long been a portion of Korea's National Assembly in favor of shutting down the hagwon industry here due to its promotion of inequality - children from richer families can afford to go to more and better academies - and one thing that came to mind after reading my friend's text was that H1N1 might create an opportunity for these individuals to work toward shutting down hagwons for an extended period of time over health concerns. Then again, I also commented on someone's Facebook status that closing public schools without an associated closure of private academies might seen an increased enrollment rate as parents try to take advantage of the situation in any way they can.

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Going to see Paranormal Activity tonight with some friends. I hope it doesn't suck! :P

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