BALANCE of CULTURE

Girl With The Dragon Tattoo: Banned in India

So the past several weeks we've been watching so many screeners at home, typical for this time of year, catching up on all the films of 2011 before the Oscars. Finally got around to viewing The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, the movie based on the hit novel. My main qualm with the film was the length -- movies over 2.5 hours usually feel a little long for me, even when I have the luxury of spending that time on a big couch at home.

But the graphic violence in the rape and torture scenes is what has riled the feathers of India's Central Board of Film Certification, which was banned the film from opening in India's massive market after director David Fincher refused to edit portions of the final product.

The movie still has lots of openings scheduled throughout the rest of Asia, so the ban will be pretty much pointless once everyone starts sharing their copies online (probably happening already!).

Known Pleasure: Disney Rips Joy Division

Looks like Disney's Mickey Mouse shirt "inspired" by Joy Division's Unknown Pleasures album cover (1979) has been pulled once it was revealed the mega-company may not have had all their permissions in order after all.

Even Joy Division's bass player Peter Hook had some stinging words -- albeit gift wrapped in sugarcoat -- for Disney:

"...in a funny way, it's quite a compliment for a huge conglomerate like Disney to pick up on a poor little Manchester band that only existed for a couple of years, it's quite startling. I'm amazed they're that hard up that they need to prey on little indie bands, but I get the feeling that someone may have done it as a tongue in cheek compliment."

Well, Mr. Hook, obviously they are that "hard up"…aren't all predators these days?

BoC Dérive: 27 January 2012

Vegetarian fried rice in Ktown, made specially just for us!  Thank you ajummas, we know you don't get too many of these requests!  :-)

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NK 3G: To counter the hordes of citizens escaping North Korea since Kim Jong-il's death, the government has imposed a 100 day ban on the use of cell phones -- or else be dealt with as a war criminal.

TRAIN: Images of female Chinese bodyguards in swimsuits training on the beach has caused a stir on online forums.

OSCARS: The Academy doesn't seem to like comedies too much (but Borat was way funnier than Bridesmaids).

ACTA: Read about the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement issue.

HANGOVER: USC deals with the commentary of James Franco's reality web show, Undergrads, a "Hangover-style" portrayal of the school.

JALLIKATTU: PETA supporters protest outside the Embassy of India in Washington to get the Indian government to enforce the national ban on using bulls as performance animals.

RED SOLES: Christian Louboutin continues his 20th anniversary celebration, this time with a design collaboration between alumni from Parsons and Bergorf Goodman.

NETWORK: This hopes to become the Facebook for the art world.

Look Where You Walk

The worst is when you're in the car trying to make a turn and a pedestrian is hunched over his/her phone in the crosswalk like a pure genius...New York is not the only city that should have these signs! #petpeeve

Meat standards lower for CA

Even the biggest carnivores should recognize the disgusting reality of eating meat that comes from non ambulatory  animals.

Unfortunately, our Supreme Court has actually struck down a law in California that requires slaughterhouses to immediately euthanize animals that are crippled due to malnutrition, filthy living conditions, and disease.

Meat from an animal that is too sick to even stand up on its own?…Sounds tasty and healthy...(gag).

Apparently the existing law was preempted by The Federal Meat Inspection Act, which allows a federal inspector to determine whether a crippled animal is fit to eat. (Too bad it came to existence in the first place because of a graphic video of slaughterhouse workers abusing barely-cognizant, crippled cattle! What sickos.)

Veterinarians (resembling the medical industry for humans with this move!) and pork producers sided with the Chamber of Commerce and the National Meat Association, while 13 other states joined the Humane Society and the ASPCA with California.

Should it really be so difficult for meat providers to adhere to more ethical treatment of its animals? Unless your livelihood depends on maintaing your disgusting farming/slaughterhouse business practices, there's really no logical reason to support the ways of most of the meat industry.

The Big Island Says "Aloha" to Plastic Bags

Thanks to new Hawaii County Mayor Billy Kenoi, the Big Island has joined Kauai and Maui in passing a bill that bans businesses from giving customers single-use plastic bags.

No doubt this will be good news for surfers and ocean lovers alike who deal with increasing amounts of floating debris around the islands' waters. The legislation takes effect in 2013.

Check out "Message in the Waves," a cool BBC documentary on the growing environmental challenges that Hawaiian people and wildlife face. Trailer below:

 

Taliban Opponents Retaliate with Pashtun Poetry

 

I could not care less if it’s a mosque or a temple filled with idols
Where my beloved lives, that is my Ka’aba

You religious fundamentalists stop this bloodshed
Humanity is the best religion; love, the best worship

Because of this war I despise the “dear mullah”
Love is my religion; unity is my faith

—Zarin Pareshan (a Pashtun poet)

Not everyone around the Afghanistan-Pakistan border has been sucked in by the Taliban. After decades of enduring the Taliban's brutal campaign in the volatile border region (bombed schools, music shops, and targeted musicians, female dancers, and singers), a campaign which seeks to "deprive people of secular outlets in order to accelerate the spread of religious extremism," the Taliban's secular-nationalist opponents are actually using some of the very same vilified artistry to retaliate: modern Pashtun poetry. A pretty fascinating read.

 

Faux Bling: fox fur headphones

Not being ignorant is the true luxury in life. I can't believe how many first world citizens are so pathetically blind when it comes to something so heinous like wearing fur in 2012. While one may think that worldwide success, experience, and millions of dollars would afford some folks the knowledge that animal fur goods are hardly something to brag about, obviously this is not the case.

Take a look at what these parochial heads (fashion designer Oscar de la Renta and music mogul Dr. Dre) came up with for their collaborative project for the Beats by Dre headphone line:

The "limited edition" (no, really?) design is covered in a plum-colored layer of fox fur and retails for $695 USD. (Of course, a letter from PETA to Dr. Dre has been unanswered.)

Geez, is this straight from the annals of illbred.com or what?! Maybe this is the perfect tacky gift for those poor, provincial souls who also think that covering their waxed bikini areas with fox fur will help them feel more sexy, no?

What's really ironic about all this fox fur nonsense (remember J.Lo's famous fox fur eyelashes?) is that its ubiquity is based upon its relative "cheapness" (above rabbit fur), yet is marketed as some sort of "luxury" product to those who don't know nor care about the gross reality behind the scenes.

I understand some people are still stuck in the increasingly embarrassing "bling-bling" (note the quotation marks) era of the late 90s/early 2000s -- abusing and killing animals in order to make these kinds of junky products will still make sense to them, sadly enough. A small price to pay to maintain the $30k-millionaire lifestyle, right?

What a lighting-fast way for older segments of the fashion and music industries to look utterly stupid. Please educate those around you and #GoFaux!

BoC Dérive: 20 January 2012

My view of these lovebirds this morning!

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INFILTRATE: North Korean defector groups have just launched balloons filled with snacks, CDs, and informational booklets towards North Korea today.

WAR: Apparently Charles Taylor worked for intelligence agencies like the CIA. Wonder if he got the same custom CIA drink coasters I received from them?

EDU: This is what our helpless educational system desperately needs -- a fresh reinvention of textbooks and classroom materials by people who actually understand where technology is going.

HYPOCRISY: Argentina is livid at UK PM David Cameron's accusations of colonialism over the Falkland Islands.

CLICK: Kodak has filed for bankruptcy. When was the last time you used film recently for photos?

AHEAD: Microsoft calls for gay marriage/equality in Washington, saying it can't hire the best employees when the public is being discriminated.

HIDING: The sketchy details on Food Network's Paula Deen and how she hid her diabetes for 3 years from her unhealthy food fans.

Korean Girls Say What?

Good thing Reddit is back up today, or else I may have missed this funny addition to the "______ Girls Say" videos popping up everywhere online! As a Korean girl myself, I can say this guy pretty much nails the stereotypical phrases.

One thing I'd add: "어머." 

Angry Birds to Angry Brides

This made me giggle…Angry Brides, a game with a name inspired by Angry Birds (you know, the game that's making all the kids wear those red bird costumes around town even though it's no longer Halloween!).

While in Angry Birds the player tries to destroy structures by aiming the grumpy birds through a slingshot, Angry Brides seeks to highlight the issue of illegal dowry demands for women in India: players attack three greedy prospective grooms -- an engineer, a doctor, and a pilot -- with a variety of weapons such as red stiletto shoes or a broom. Each time a groom is hit, the player wins money towards a virtual anit-dowry fund.

Dowries have been illegal in India since 1961 but this sexist tradition remains strong. Indians are quite creative in how they approach technology and I think this is the perfect way for the anti-dowry message to get out to the young people in Indian society.

The game was created by online matchmaker service shaadi.com and already has more than 270,000 fans on Facebook.

Download the game here.

 

AP in Pyongyang, North Korea

After about one month since Kim Jong-il's death, the Associated Press (AP) has opened up a full news bureau in North Korea. Of course most people are wondering how any fair and balanced news reporting could be executed from within the DPRK's borders, but executive editor Kathleen Carroll assuredly noted from Pyongyang that the new office will adhere to the same standards and practices as all of the other AP bureaus.

AP, for the most part, represents a rigid Westernized approach to journalistic standards (at least compared to the likes of North Korean media). The new Pyongyang location will be an unprecedented direction for both the news organization as well as the North Korean government, which is known as one of the most mysterious and controlled systems in the world -- a big difference from South Korea, where AP has had a busy news bureau for decades now.

At this point I'm still skeptical. Chinese state media is currently busy "curating" public information (especially things that come from Western society) to their own citizens in a bid to maintain power and influence. What chance does AP have in outputting objective news items from within North Korea? I will be very impressed if this new bureau is able to do the job it claims.