Oscars

I love watching movies, and finally it (Oscars Award Ceremony) was over.  Out of 10 contenders for the Best film, I watched three (Toy Story 3, Inception, and Winter's Bone) before the ceremony.  Other nominated ones were unfamiliar.  But I will definitely watch the winner film (The King's speech) in the near future.  ^^

Mike Rowe and Audubon

I love bugs, and this is a kind of my dream job of post-retirement era.  In this show, I like Mike's comments at intermission  =°|°=

So long, Farewell, Auf wiedersehen, Good bye, Adue, DJ, SJ, SD, SJ, YN.

Feel like we are all nomad, wandering from one place to another, no matter where you live or no matter how long you stay.  As for myself, I moved perhaps 3-4 times in Korea, and 5 times within the U.S. (SF>WL>TX>TX>Boston>TN).  We met new people, and they left us behind as they moved for their job, school, career or many other reasons.  'Left behind' is not fun at all.  Unfortunately, we can't help it but we did the same when we were heading to a new place.

As we get older, it becomes harder to make new friends, as our mind and brain gets complicated, measures and criticize lots of things, which often cause misunderstandings or jealousy.  허긴 오래 산 부부도 갈라지기가 다반사이네. 

Relationship with other human beings is so volatile that it is not easy to share our emotion, and feelings deep inside of our heart with other people.  This might be one reason why 'cyber (=virtual) friends' are more attractive and social networking is so popular these days.

This morning a family of our GOOD friend (three kids) left for Korea, as he starts a new job in Ulsan.  They will have a hard time in the beginning, as they start anew.  Wish them to lead a comfortable life.  잘 있으오~~잘 가오... 살아있으면 또 만날 날이 있으리오.  =°°=

My name is Khan.

"My name is Khan"
This is the title of the movie that I rented this weekend.  I have not heard of this movie before. According to the script, it seemed to be a romance movie.  But there were much more.

The story is about Mr. Khan, a Muslim who came to the US before 9/11. He has Asperger's disorder, but lived normal life, except for some dysfunctional social life.  He then fell in love with a Hindu woman who divorced with a boy.
He married to this woman and lived happily for a while until 9/11 changed everything.  Since then, his family has suffered from 'you know what I mean'.  The family lost a big thing, but eventually gained even bigger one through this ordeal.

It is emotional and a human drama.  I certainly recommend it.  =°|°=

참 우스운 재미난 전통

Yesterday was Groundhog Day. It is a kind of day equivalent to Korean 경칩.
Groundhog is a small mammal, living in a burrow on a pastureland.  It is also called woodchuck.  A legend says that the groundhog, named Phil, in Punxsutawney (a small town in Pennsylvania) can predict how longer the cold winter would last.

This year the Punxsutawney Phil foreshadowed early spring. ^^! (Click the link below).

"Punxsutawney Phil emerged around dawn to make his 125th annual weather forecast in front of thousands who braved muddy, icy conditions to hear his handlers reveal that Pennsylvania's prophetic rodent had not seen his shadow." From The Detroit News.

PAcast

"Several thousand revelers gathered in the pre-dawn hours on a small hill called Gobbler's Knob to hear the prediction.  Before today, Phil had seen his shadow 98 times and hadn't seen it 15 times since 1887. ....
The tradition traces its origins to a German superstition."

영화  Groundhog Day 로 더 유명해진 "Punxsutawney Phil".
I hope (s)he is right this year, as this winter has been bitterly coooold....  =°°=

Babies

In animal kingdom, we can see a diverse means of childcare. Some animals lay eggs, and the babies hatched have to find a way to survive themselves.  Most of them die during childhood, a few survive and reproduce babies.  In such case, mothers don't seem to care about the babies; however, at least mothers try to find the best spot for egg laying, so that the babies have better chance to survive.  In an extreme altruistic case, a mother spider gives up her life as she is willing to be a food for the hungry newborn baby spiders, ㅠㅠ.

Other egg-laying animals tend the eggs and then take care of the babies until they can move/fly, find foods, and defend themselves. The biggest challenge for the parents (or mostly mothers) is that they have to leave occasionally the nest to find foods for herself and babies.

Mammals, including humans, give birth to babies and mothers feed them with milk for a while. This kind of physical interaction establishes a tight bonding between children and mother.  It squeezes tears by watching a film showing that a mother animal is so reluctant to leave sick babies.  Such kind of mother's feeling for babies is universal.  This led me to believe that animals do have spirit, if we have it.  And I do believe that humans are not so special existence, just part of the mother nature.  =°|°=