And Then There Were None

“And There Were None” is a mystery fiction based on scary circumstances circling around what seems like random people meeting each other in an unusual setting.

Ten very different people with different background meet together in mansion off on a deserted island for dinner and vacation. Each is lured for they think that they get the chance to see the mysterious house and the supposedly famous celebrity who lives there. What they instead find is horror and a sadistic game played by a mysterious murder. Each of the person’s room has the poem “Ten little Indians” which goes like this:

Ten Little Indians going out to dine;
One went and choked his little self and then there were nine.
Nine Little Indian Boys sat up very late;
One overslept himself and then there were eight.
Eight Little Indian Boys traveling to Devon;
One got left behind and then there were seven.
Seven Little Indian boys playing with a hive;
A bumblebee stung one and then there were five.
Five Little Indian boys going in for law;
One got in chancery and then there were four.
Four Little Indian boys going out to sea;
A red herring swallowed one and then there were three.
Three Little Indian boys walking to the zoo;
A big bear hugged one and then there were two.
Two Little Indian boys playing with a gun;
One shot the other and then there was one.
One little Indian boy left all alone;
He went and hanged himself
…and then there were none.

Soon they find out that the murder is killing off people one by one like in the poem. For example one person dies from food poisoning, another from overdosing her sleeping pills, and etc. Later on as one by one they die according to the poem they become rattled and start blaming each other for being the murder. However the murder is never caught he/she is always one step ahead foiling the remaining people’s plans to uncover the murder. It is also found that although these people are very different in background they all have a similar trait. All of the people who were invited to the island were guilt of murder and have gotten away with it. For example one of the guests, a general, sent his wife’s lover, a soldier, into a suicidal mission to kill him. Another ran over two youths with his car and got away with it in court. Slowly the people started to die out until there were two left. The last remaining two fights over a gun and Vera kills Lombard. Later she walks into the mansion relieved that she killed the murder but what she finds is a room with a noose on the door. Hysterical and insane she hangs herself like in the poem. What seems like an impossible situation is explained in the epilogue. This is where the twist in the story lies. In fact the person who did all this murders was Judge Wargrave one of the first people to die. He did not die at all, he instead tricked a doctor, one of the ten guests, to act like Wargrave died in a plan to expose the murder. However Wargrave kills the doctor and systematically kills the rest. In a letter he writes that although he has the urge to kill he never did due to his stronger sense of justice. However when he found out that he was terminally ill he decided to fulfill his sadistic urges by getting a group of people who got away with murder and hand out the death penalty himself.

When I read this story I was very surprised. This was one of the very few books that kept me hooked and interested. The thrill of reading on to see who died next and imagining who the murder was intoxicating. It almost took all of my willpower to keep myself from reading the back of the book to see who the murder is. And I’m glad I was able to do that. The twist at the end was one of the best I have ever read. When there were only two people left on the island I was so sure that one of them was the murder but when Vera found out that there was a noose tied up in her room I was shocked. I was wondering at this point how everything in this book was going to make sense. But after reading the epilogue everything clicked into place. It was a very satisfying moment, and I checked back to see what the epilogue said was true in the book. I highly recommend this book to people who like mysteries and thrillers. It will defiantly get you hooked and make you read until dead of night. A true 4/4

Agatha Christie

Agatha Mary Clarissa Miller is a well known author who writes stories and plays. She writes a broad range of genres, romances, mystery, and crime but best known for her mystery. She was awarded the highest medal writing the Grand Master Award. And her play The Mousetrap still holds the longest run in the world from the year 1952 till now.
She was born in Torquay, Devon, England and married her stepfather’s son from his first marriage (is that allowed?). After a short unfulfilling marriage they applied for a divorce. She then married an archaeologist Max Mallowman. She traveled a lot because of his work and greatly influenced her writing. Her book had diverse settings from the Middle East to England. She wrote many books and most notable characters were Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple coming out in almost 54 short stories and 33 novels. Her health however was failing and finally died on 1976 when she was 85 to natural causes.

Guggenheim Museum

Sydney Opera House

Modernism Shelf

Yoko ono's Modern Art

I thought that this book was a very good read. Although it was a very lengthy book each chapter had a new obstacle that each of the characters had to overcome. Because I thought it was going to be just a historical fiction I was taken back when all of a sudden an Ice monster came out of no where killing off the men on the boat. It was a very strange turn when the men facing realistic obstacles such as the nature, food shortages all of a sudden started to face off with the beast also. I thought that the transition between the two was a little bit to abrupt. However the good part of including the Ice monster is that Inuit people got involved. Somehow this Ice monster was a god in Inuit culture. Then it started to get weirder and weirder. They always appoint a person to sacrifice themselves to the Ice monster. No they do not kill the person; they just offer the person to the Ice Monster so the Ice Monster could chew off the person’s tongue. The tongueless person is suppose to communicated better with the Ice monster or something like that and prevent the Inuit people from getting killed by the Ice monster. The weirdest part of the book is when an Inuit communicates with the Ice monster by kissing the monster. Although it was weird it was interesting to take a glimpse into Inuit culture since I know so little about it. Another interesting part of the book that I liked is that the author liked to detail what each character does in order to survive. It is detailed enough to be almost a survival’s guidebook on the Arctic Circle.

Dan Simmons was born in Peroia, Illinois in 1948. He achieved a Bachelor’s Degree in English from the Wabash College. Then he went on to get his Masters in Education from Washington University in St. Louis (good school…). He is well known for his genres which are science fiction and horror. His best seller is ILIUM a novel based on Homer’s Iliad. He used to teach school for 14 years but now after his successes in writing he is writing full time in his house in Colorado.

#1 In what ways would you need to change your routine in order to disconnect yourself from all media (i.e. no TV, no Internet, etc.) What problems would you encounter if you unplugged for one day? One week? One month?

#2 How many hours per week do you estimate you spend on Facebook or similar personal networking sites? What are the benefits and disadvantages of using these sites?

#3 To what extent are you aware of viral marketing, the use of “advertorials” (presenting advertisements as editorial content), or direct marketing on Facebook and other social networking sites?

#4 Personal response based on your individual viewing of “Growing Up Online”.

1. In order to “unplug” myself from all media I would have to isolate myself in some desolate place. It would be impossible to unplug myself only through a change in my daily routine. It is because South Korea is such an advanced country we are bombarded by media everywhere we go, in malls, elevators, streets, cars, and etc. The kinds of problems that I would encounter if I become unplugged for one day won’t be too severe. I would just wonder what is going on in the world and be bored, however if I become unplugged for a week or a month I would go crazy. In these cases I would need something to distract myself. My best bet to distract myself when I become unplugged is probably sports. The problem of becoming unplugged for me is not withdrawal like other teenagers but it is because I become bored. So I would need to do a lot of other things in order not to be bored.
2. I probably spend about 5 hours every week on Facebook. Although it sounds like a lot I know friends who is ALWAYS on Facebook, some even have it as their homepage. The advantage of using Facebook is that you can become friendly with a person you barely see in school. People with different schedules of busy can easily become friends through Facebook. Also through Facebook you can see the changing status of everyone. That way you know what’s going on in everyone’s lives. No one wants to be the one who knows only yesterday’s news. To us it serves as an important social tool of making friends and becoming popular. However the disadvantage of this social network is that sometimes things that you don’t want other people to know gets uploaded on, sometimes through your friends, or other people. And when it does it can’t be undone. Everyone sees it.
3. I never noticed the ads on Facebook till I watched the documentary. After watching I checked the website and found out there were advertisement on the website! I don’t know why but I never noticed them. Must have been because I was always busy posting on walls and looking at pictures.
4. I think that this was a really interesting documentary because I felt that sometimes I could really relate to what the video had to offer. But I did have one point to disagree in this documentary. The people kept blaming the teenagers and the internet for all the bad things that happened but not once did the video question the parenting. It seems that in the modern times parenting is getting worse with increasing divorces and workload. It is no wonder that there is also an increase in bad behavior on the internet.

This is another interesting video on how the teenagers abuse the internet.

four out of four

Everyone around me that I know all said that they had read the book “Kite Runner.” And ever since it was made into a movie I wondered what all the fuss about for this book. Some of my friends said it was a great book because it was so emotional and allowed the readers to connect with the characters in the book. Other said it was so boring because there was almost not plot. Because I read the book “Thousand Splendid Suns” and not “Kite runner” it felt like my duty to read this book.

This is my basic summary of the book.

The book starts off with the childhood days of a rich boy named Amir his Hazara servant Hassan. Although they are both very close best friends, culture keeps them bounded from being too friendly with each other. Sometimes Amir will treat Hassan badly just because he felt like it and Hassan will accept it without no complaints. However most of the time they are best friends, playing games, listening to stories, and climbing trees.

Amir’s problem is that he could never impress his father, Baba. Baba is sort of ashamed of his son because he writes stories, cries, and cannot act manly like him. Baba seems to favor Hassan over Amir which causes even more friction between their friendships. One day to impress Baba, Amir joins the kite-fighting tournament. However this isn’t just any kite-fighting tournament the players have to cut other player’s kite string by using their sharp strings connecting the kites. One thing leads to another and in the end Amir is the only one left with the kite and becomes to winner. Hassan is also very well known for being a great “kite runner.” A kite runner is basically a person who runs to catch the kites which had their strings cut off. And because Amir asked him to catch the last kite which got cut Hassan ran with all his might. He did catch it but Assef the local bully caught up with him also. He and his gang demanded the kite but Hassan refused. Then like the deranged bully they are they gang raped Hassan. Amir was worried about Hassan and ran toward where Hassan is. He saw the whole thing but did not do anything because he was a coward. Afterward he felt guilty every time he saw Hassan, he plotted to get rid of him by framing him of stealing his birthday presents. Hassan knew he was being framed but he admitted that he stole Amir’s presents. Hassan and his father left the household and soon after the Russians invaded Afghanistan. Amir and his father runs away to America where Baba makes a living now as a poor gas station manager. Amir is a student and graduates from college with writing major. He meets a nice girl named Soraya and gets to marry her before Baba dies from his illness. Amir and Soraya try to have a child but learn that they cannot. After about 15 years he receives a call from Baba’s friend Rahim Khan telling him there is a way for him to redeem his past. He has to save Hassan’s child from the orphanage. Hassan and his wife were murdered by the Taliban and thus the child is the only remaining member of the family. He also finds out that Hassan was his half brother. Thus Amir goes on a long journey to find Hassan’s son Sohrab. There are many complications along the way. Sohrab was taken by a Taliban person from the orphanage. Later it is found out that Taliban person is Assef. Assef turned into a pedophile and makes a deal with Amir that he will let Sohrab go if Amir beats Assef in a fight. Amir with courage that he never had in his life accepts. He gets badly beaten up until Sohrab kills Assef with a stone from a slingshot. More complication ensues with the legal documents for adopting Sohrab. Sohrab even loses hope and attempts to take his own life. However he fails and gets revived at the hospital. The legal documents are all sorted out and he goes to America with Amir. Although unhappy and quiet ever day Sohrab adapts life in America and in the end he smiles for the first time.

I see why so many people liked this book after I read it. It was a very touching and emotional book like “Thousand Splendid Suns.” I was able to connect to Amir and felt his pain and suffering during his childhood years. Another important element of this book is the gender role expectation in the Middle Eastern society. In the book “Thousand Splendid Suns” the readers get a closer look at the gender roles that women are suppose to take in the Middle Eastern culture, however in this book the focus is more on the men’s role in the culture. They are expected to be strong and do manly things and Baba is a perfect model of how a man should act. A man in the Middle Eastern culture should be strong, but helps the weak, quiet but know how to have a good time, and always speaks up his mind no matter the consequences. When I was reading the book I felt very frustrated with the main character, Amir. He cannot act brave like his father, Baba, and only manages to gather up courage in the end. However it is this trait of Amir that makes him even more realistic as a character.

This is what I thought of the book. It was a good read, plot driven easy to read and there are some intense parts in the book that makes the reader wanting to read more. The later part of the book gets duller but it is there to inform the readers the situation of Afghanistan immigrating to America. Also this book informs about the horrible situation in Afghanistan under the Taliban rule. Instead of reading it on the news it seems that this book gives a more personal look into the situation. If you have time I recommend this book to read. It is a loooooot better than “Woman Warrior” for sure…

Khaled Hosseini was born in Kabul. He moved during his early childhood years to Paris and then to America. His family could not move back to Afghanistan because during this time the Soviet Unions invaded and took over Afghanistan. After moving to America he graduated  from Santa Clara University with a bachelor’s degree in biology and his M.D. in University of San Diego. Even though he was a doctor he started to write a book about his home country. This book became known as the famous “Kite Runner.” It was his first book and became such a big hit that it was made into a movie soon after. After writing “Kite Runner” he followed up with another book called “A Thousand Splendid Suns.” He wrote about his country using the Persian books and poetry he read. Other than just making money one of his goals to write these books were to inform the audience the plight of the Afghanistan living under the Taliban rule. He wants to raise awareness and give audience a glimpse of the situation.

Here is his website here you can read his blogs, news and interviews.
Khaled Hosseini’s Website

And those who do not like reading, you can click on this link to check out the movie’s synopsis
Movie Description

Cheating

These two article are about hagwons setting up in America and the increasing number of students cheating, lying and stealing.

Hagwons in America

Cheating

Ah yes, the two most controversial topics for not only just students but for teachers and parents as well, cheating and hagwons. Well for the increasing cheating in USA is no big surprise. As even American parents are increasingly putting more emphasis on education and going to a good college cheating among students will also increase. Just like Koreans, American students are cheating to improve their grades instead of studying. This decrease in morality within American students I think is a result of bad parenting. I think that parenting in the modern age is getting worse and worse. More marriages are ending up in divorces and with increasing pressures from parents on their children it is reasonable that these kids will grow up in a crooked path. Not only is parenting an issue here but also the media. Modern media is having a bad influence on the American teenagers glorifying stealing, lying, and gun tooting. That’s why it not much a surprise the teens who watch these kinds of image almost 24/7 gradually become accustomed and accept these kind of morals. However what I find surprising is that they see themselves as “moral” people, almost 93%. I don’t get how these teens stealing lying, and cheating could even consider themselves as moral people. Maybe these teens find that lying, cheating and stealing isn’t a big deal. A fact that very disturbing.

Hagwon signs in Korea

Let’s move on to the next topic hagwons. I believe that it’s really sad for these Koreans students to enter a prestige college and then dropout to go to hagwon, again like they did in highschool. This is the exactly the thing that Kim on the other article about the 44% rate dropout of Korean students in American top colleges predicted. These Koreans students who always going to hagwon and never learning to study by themselves now have problems in college because of the sudden independence. They have trouble applying knowledge a very important thing in college because all they did in Korea was memorization. And on top of that they have problems with English. I mean how did they even get to go to that college? Doesn’t the SAT show that the person is good or fluent at English? This just proves that the SATs prove very little and also shows the mentality of Korean students, literally memorizing questions on the SATs to get good scores. In the end I think that these Korean students deserved this. It is their study habits, relying to heavily on hagwons and not taking initiatives to their own education that bites them back on their bum.

Young and Restless in China

It is tough to live in China. Although it may look like a place full of opportunities, it is only there for grabs for the very few selected people. In this documentary by “FrontLine” it follows the lives of a few people living in China who all have diverse backgrounds. The audience is able to see the darker side of the rapidly shifting culture and economy of China.

Go to website here

Here is my response to questions 2, 3, and 9.

1. Why do you think Miranda Hong describes her generation of Chinese as “confused”?
2. Why do you think the Chinese government has nicknamed the young people coming home from abroad “returning turtles?”
   • How do you think their work or educational experiences abroad have affected their ambitions in China?
   • Why do you think these young people have returned to China?
3. In what ways do you think Ben Wu, the entrepreneur launching the Internet cafe, is representative of the “new” China?
4. What do you think are important historical, social or economic factors that have shaped the outlook of the Chinese generation profiled in the film?
   • What do you think are important historical, social or economic factors that have shaped earlier generations in China?
   • What differences or similarities do you see between these two generations?
5. Why do you think that several of the profiled characters have turned to religion or spiritual outlets?
6. Lu Dong likens Chinese ambition to a poor kid going into a candy store and grabbing too much candy because he has been hungry for so long.
   • Is this an apt analogy about China?
   • Propose another analogy to describe Chinese ambition.
7. To what extent are the struggles of the rapper, Wang Xiaolei, unique as a Chinese artist?
   • Do you think that his life is typical of artists elsewhere? Explain your position.
8. Who do you think is the happiest of the young people profiled in this documentary and why?
9. Why do you think FRONTLINE producers named this program Young & Restless In China?
   • Do you think this is an appropriate title? Why or why not?
   • What other titles would aptly describe this program?

9. I think that out of all the people who came out on the documentary Ben Wu is the happiest. The reason why I think he is the happiest is because he has the highest chance of actually achieving his goals and has a steady relationship with his family unlike the other people in the documentary. His internet café had succeeded and even generated enough income for him to create another one. Because of his success in China he now has a chance to pursue his dream, working with renewable energy, by working with another company for more experience. Another reason why I think he is the happiest is because finally after years of living separated he is finally going to be reunited with his wife again. I guess he has the highest chance of living happily ever after in the rapidly changing China.

3. I think Ben Wu and his launching of the Internet cafe represents the “New” China because it represents the rapidly changing of both culture and business in China. Just decade ago it would have been impossible to even set up something novel as an Internet café however just by his success in his café shows that the Chinese people are rapidly adapting the western influences and cultures. It shows that the Chinese people are even readily using their money to consume such products in which “older” Chinese people deem wasteful. Another reason why Ben Wu represents the “New” China is because of his business deal with foreign countries. The “New” China is only possible because of the amount of foreign investment. It is through foreign money that people like Ben Wu and other Chinese people are able to build the new China’s economy.

2. The Chinese government nicknamed the young people coming home from abroad as “returning turtles” because they are like turtles who migrate back to their homes after living away for years. These returning Chinese people are crucial to the development of the “New” China. It is because they have the required educational and work experience that is not possible to get in China currently. These “turtles” come back to China because they see all the opportunities and new freedom in China. Like how long ago people moved out to America the “Golden Mountains” to work and live better lives, these Chinese people living abroad see the China as a place for them to become rich and happy.

Mulan a Warrior or Woman?

Everyone watches some type of Kung Fu movie sometime in their lives. However it is rare that when we watch the movie we go deeper to analyze the movie rather than just watching fighting scenes. It is through these fighting scenes that we can see certain important elements and culture of the warriors.

1. What are some elements of the “warrior tradition”?

After watching movie clips from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and House of Flying Daggers I found that two main ideas that was constant for both clips. One is that learning under a master and special “techniques” or special moves is important. It seems that to become a proper warrior one will have to learn from another person and learn from the master for years. None of the characters seem to learn their moves by themselves. Constantly when the characters fight in the movies they yell out their styles and master’s name. This shows that they are proud of their style and are here to represent their master’s techniques. Also often these techniques have an animal associated with them. This is because the Chinese people often admired animals’ power, grace, stealth and etc. Another important element for the warrior tradition is respect in and out of battle. The warrior considers himself/herself with dignity and does not fight without any reason. And when they do fight there is no killing blow. Instead of killing the loser the winner makes the loser humble and accepts his/her win. If the enemy doesn’t have a weapon the warrior will not use a weapon either. They make sure there are no advantages or dirty tricks when they are fighting each other. It is this respect that makes “fighting” in the movies more of a show of power not for survival.

2. How is the natural world depicted in relation to martial arts?

A very important part of the martial arts seem to be with the natural world. In the movie clips of martial arts the setting takes place in deep nature. It is often very beautiful and seems to enhance the feeling of gracefulness and the art of fighting. Another part of the natural world that is important to martial arts is the “chi” the energy that is absorbed through the environment. To martial artist this Chi is important for it is how they gain their power. Other than the nature martial arts seem to heavily rely on the animals of the natural world. Martial artist train their body to become like an animal. Not as in a beast like way but train themselves to be graceful as birds, strong as tigers, and fast as horses.

3. How are gender roles important to the scenes we watched?

In the movie clips that we watched it is evident that gender roles are important in how each character behaves. Girls are expected to be obedient and graceful. However in the movie clips from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon the protagonist constantly goes against this. She steals the sword of destiny and starts to kick some butt. However since she could not receive any proper training from the masters because she was girl she had to learn it through the hard way. She had to learn and steal bits of information from each master to learn how to fight. She also tries to marry with a bandit instead of the person she was arranged to marry. It seems that the Chinese women have no power and no voice in any opinions. But the men on the other hand are strong and have all the power; even looking down upon women.

4. What else caught your eye or is worth noting?

I noticed that the two movies are highly appeasing to the eye. The setting was always in a beautiful area. It seems to romanticize the fighting and Chinese’s love for beauty. Another important thing is that like Korean culture Chinese culture associate human characteristics to animals such as sly and cunning characteristics to the fox.

"Woman Warrior" one of the most confusing book I have ever read

This article actually liked the style of this book… I however disagree, I bet you would too after reading this book…

Read the article Here

This is What I Thought About the Book

I think that the book “Woman Warrior” by Kingston is a unique book that is not bound by any genre. Every chapter seems to have a different genre mixed together making the book not only interesting to read but sometimes hard to read too. She mixes between point of view and sometimes even exaggerate her facts to make it sound even fictional. Also sometimes she doesn’t explain unclear things fully. Thus the reader usually has to use context clues or just plain guess what she is trying to say. Because of this not only is it annoying but it is really hard to read. Also she abruptly changes the whole storyline. I didn’t even know that the 2^nd chapter was about Fau Mulan until I was about half way into the chapter. She has no introduction into the 2^nd chapter and blends in her “autobiography” (I put quotation marks because her “autobiography” is very not really one but something similar to it) with the story of Mulan that readers would be confused as me. Since this book has no real genre it is very confusing to the readers to follow the storyline. I think that she should have toned down the mixing factor a little bit because it is up to a point that a reader could not enjoy this book. It seems that the readers are sent into an unreal world where anything can happen with no boundary between real and fiction. All in all I personally dislike the authors writing style. Although I’m not a fan of easy book to read, with a just straightforward plot, Kingston makes this book way to confusing for an average reader. This book style instead of making it interesting actually hinders it.

This is me after reading the first two chapters of "Woman Warrior"