Category: Blog

Not with a bang, but with a fizzle– Kony 2012

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It was 4/20 two days ago, and although you may be thinking that I was here to talk about a certain type of green plant, that is certainly not the case. I am sure if you are here reading this right now, you definitely have not been living under a rock for the past several months and have seen the Kony campaign video.

I remember when I first watched it and my eyes teared up. It was an excellent 30 minute short film that tried to get as much through to the viewer as possible, using simple concepts and language. It was a campaign that encouraged everyone to help make Kony famous so that his children army will be no more. Kony recruited children for his army, snatching them from their houses and forcing them into carrying guns. This campaign called for awareness, and encouraged everyone around the world to participate in an event named “Cover the Night”, where everyone would help plaster posters all over the city so that the public is made aware. This event was to occur worldwide on April 20th, 2012.

However, I have learned about the Lord’s Resistance Army and Joseph Kony a good 2-3 years ago while taking a course on Social Justice. It was not new news to me and I had background information on the event. That is when I realized those lacking background on the topic was really only given a shallow view of the situation. What really hurt the campaign was ultimately bad public reception. Of course, after first watching it,  everyone was shocked and touched by the video, allowing the short film to go viral and spread to all corners of the earth within several days. There was a time when I could not open my Facebook without seeing some sort of reference to Invisible Children and their campaign.

What made me a bit scared was how fast everyone reacted positively and everything was set in motion unquestioningly. On around the third day of public recognition, things started to go wrong for Invisible Children. You can see how people on Facebook were starting to doubt the campaign and started to question how their funds were used. (Link) Of course, Invisible Children fought back, explaining why only around 30% of funds raised went to direct services. I was relieved to realize people were not blindly accepting whatever they were exposed to, and managed to look into the details. (However, it is also due to public media that caused everyone to jump on the bandwagon towards skepticism.)

The other factor that brought this campaign to its fall was Invisible Children’s founder Jason Russell. Apparently, due to malnutrition and exhaustion, Russell resulted in acts of public indecency (including masturbating in public) and public disturbance. (link 1, link 2) This gave the organization and campaign bad media, encouraging even more distrust to arise. Of course, comedy websites such as 9gag started creating memes towards this event and only caused more ridicule.

So April 20th has come and gone, but downtown Vancouver, as well as the UBC’s Vancouver campus, is anything but covered in Kony awareness posters. I saw three posters around the UBC bookstore while I was waiting for it to open so I can get my monthly U-Pass. I have not been downtown, but according to the newspapers as well as friend’s observation, there was a lack of action. Apparently, a group of 17 did show up downtown and did their best to “cover the night”. With more than 21,000 people clicking the “join” button on the Facebook event, Invisible Children definitely expected more than the 17 who showed. What made me sad was that Invisible Children sent Lindy Bateman and her group of five volunteers, all the way here to help organize the event. Although they were volunteers, their expenses were paid by Invisible Children. (Link) Similarly, another 16 teams of the link was sent out to various parts of North America.

Whether it was because April 20th was a day where everyone got preoccupied with cannabis, or whether it was due to Coldplay being in Vancouver, “Cover the Night” lacked public support and ended with not a bang, but a fizzle. What did I learned from this whole ordeal? The public is easily persuaded to believe one thing, but can be equally receptive to new claims that arise. I agree that the search for Kony is important, and can save many who has to live in terror. I am disappointed with the way this campaign was carried out and its ultimate failure. Hopefully, people do not get too caught up in the fact that this campaign itself was a failure, but also realize that underlying all this is the fact that the LRA still exists and children’s lives are getting affected. One good thing that Invisible Children ultimately managed to accomplish was awareness– whether it was positive awareness is up to debate.

To read or not to read?

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The second season of Game of Thrones premiered on Sunday! My friends and I had a little premiere of our own at Monica’s house. At first, we were going to cook food inspired by the books/ TV show, but since it was the last week of university and everyone was super busy and preoccupied, we ended up going to Safeway to choose Game of Thrones-like food. Basically, we bought roasted chicken, loads of bread, bread dip, salad, cheese and sausages. Very Westeros-esque? Well, we tried. Oh and to add to the authenticity, we ate with our hands and dressed up.

Our take on food from Westeros. Thank goodness for Safeway!

I attempted to dress up as Irri...

The first season of Game of Thrones corresponded to the first book in George R.R Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series. I watched the first season before moving on to reading the books and I did not like that experience. I then read the second book, and am now on the fourth book (which for some reason, I cannot get past. I keep putting it down because I can’t seem to get absorbed into it). After watching the first episode of season 2, I can now safely say I definitely prefer reading the books before watching the TV show.

IT BEGINS!

I think one thing that annoyed me to watching the show first was that it robbed me of my chance to create my own interpretations of the characters and setting. While reading the first book, I already had premade images of who the characters were and where they lived. For the second book, although some characters were in the first book and I did not get to mentally create them myself, there was still lots of new characters and settings. I found it really fun to watch the second season and realize certain scenes were just as I imagined, or even the opposite—they were nowhere near what I had in mind!

Although creating my own characters based on what I read is, in my opinion, one of the most important part of the experience, there was also a negative part to reading the books first. As I was watching the season two premiere, I realized I knew what was going to happen next. It was as if everything was spoiled. I hate knowing how something is going to end before I watch it. But despite this, I still enjoyed reading the books first.

On a similar note, I watched the Hunger Games with a bunch of friends the day after it was released. I have already read the whole series well before the movie was even announced, so I found that I had forgotten a lot of the plot. However, as I sat in the cinemas watching the movie, I found a lot of bits and pieces were coming back. And then I remembered how the series ended and I actually started crying in many of the scenes that reminded me of the ending. People were obviously thinking I was crazy because the scene that was playing was not even sad. But for me, I kept thinking about the ending and thus wept. Story of my life.

My opinion towards the Hunger Games movie is that it was really well made. A lot of movies end up deviating quite a bit from the book and making a lot of changes. I thought this movie stayed well on track and kept changes to a minimum. Along with Holes, I would say the Hunger Games were one of the movies that allowed for a pretty accurate portrayal of the book.

So what is your take on the topic? Book first or movie first?

-Karen

Keep On Trooping!

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Hey y’all!

It has been a while, but I think I finally found time to post! (Well, squeeze time out anyway.) I cannot believe there is only one more week left of my first-year university life! Although I am looking forward to getting a break from school, I realize that the last week of school means projects and essays are now due, not to mention finals are just right around the corner.

Throughout the last week, I really challenged myself to grab at opportunities. Aside from trying to manage my homework (Chinese oral exam script writing, English final essay draft, Political Science final essay just to name a few), I also applied for clubs and positions within Sauder. I spent much of my first year at university trying to find my interest and learning how to handle the university lifestyle. I went in believing I could easily juggle school, my social life and my family life. Then reality punches me in the face and tells me that it is going to be a lot harder than I thought. Needless to say, I spent my first year finding myself and concentrating on school…meaning I was not as involved as I thought I was going to be. I joined two clubs within my commerce faculty, and went to events for both. I really regret not going to any of the big conferences, so that is definitely on my bucket list for next year. But I feel just going to events was not enough. You need to find something you are interested in and then actually get involved.

I spend a good portion of my first term wondering what I was doing in business school. Thankfully, I asked around and explored some of the available majors. I think it is safe to say that marketing is what I want to concentrate on later on. It is not as rigid as accounting or finance, allowing your creativity and personal thoughts to come into play. I look forward to actually taking marketing courses next year, since year one was really a pre-commerce year. You only get a really brief overview of the world of commerce. I cannot wait for next year! Having said that, I am still plenty nervous because we are required to take more (and harder) courses. Oh well, guess only time will tell how well I deal with that.

So back to grabbing opportunities. This Tuesday, I returned home after my classes ended and I received a call later on at night. I swear, my heart stopped and my blood froze when I picked up the call and realized what it was about. Apparently I was scheduled for an interview on that day. Wonderful. I have no idea how that happened, but my name was clearly on the Google Doc. where everyone signed up for an interview slot, but I am 100% sure I did not sign up for my time slot. I was not even aware sign ups were available. Luckily, I asked if there was any way for me to reschedule and they agreed to let me come in the next day at 7 p.m.

I think if this interview was for some other position, I would not have minded as much that I had already left a bad impression on my interviewers. However, I really wanted this position. I was interviewing for the position of editor-in-chief of the Cavalier, Sauder’s very own newspaper. Those of you who know me will know that I love writing. And reading. Within Sauder, this position seemed like the perfect way for me to get involved with something I loved! Sure, my chances were slim, but I still wanted to know that I actually tried. I was disappointed with what had happened, but I knew I still had my chance at my actual interview.

The next school day was the longest one ever. I felt butterflies in my stomach more than once. It honestly felt like it was butterfly migration season, and their final destination was my stomach. I was a bunch of nerves as I headed over to my interview. The interview itself? I stuttered, I stumbled over questions and I think my nervousness showed. I was pretty disappointed because I have been to several interviews for various positions this year and have been rejected in all of them. I was at the low point where I believe I probably would never get a place anywhere. I walked out feeling horrible. I sat at the student lounge for a while with some of friends, just being sad.

What happened next was amazing. Riley, one of my interviewers and the current editor-in-chief of the Cavalier, came out and started talking to some of my friends. I think I was the last interviewee of the day and all the interviewers were finally done with their long day. I was kind of huddled in a corner, too depressed to do anything. However, I did eventually end up walking over to him because I wanted to question why he decided to change the Cavalier so much during his time as editor. He answered me and I was listening, but I guess I was not paying as much attention as I thought I was. I heard one of my friends say “She totally did not hear him” and someone else say “Can’t believe she didn’t catch that…”. This all made me pause and go “Wait, what?” Then Riley goes “Uhh, yeah, so you got the position. Congratulations, you’re the new co-editor in chief of the Cavalier.”

This is kind of embarrassing, but I cried. I was so surprised, and happy and relieved—basically a whole bunch of positive emotions just rushing out. I think that was the happiest I have felt for a very long time. Sure, this will add to my workload next year, since I will be responsible for making sure the monthly issues come out on time, but HECK, it is something I would gladly do!

I think my takeaway from this experience is to never stop trying. Again, I was rejected numerous times throughout the year, but hey, that is how it is with everyone. At times you may end up getting something on your first try, but most of the time, you will have to try again and again. Just do not give up and keep on trooping!

I have my Frosh Leader interview tomorrow and am definitely feeling the nervousness I feel before every interview! At the same time, I am still pretty excited! To end this off, I hope my little story motivated some of you guys and pushes you to go out and try your luck! I am also very glad I got a chance to post again!

Till next time!

-Karen

P.s I think you should all check out the Cavalier. Especially when I start editing 🙂

Spring…you can come whenever you want. No, seriously.

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School has started again and I am amazed at how fast I fall back into schedule. It is as if I never left for reading break at all. I guess good times always pass by a lot faster than you would think. I did do quite a bit during my break though so I am proud of that! 🙂 I usually spend all my holidays sitting in front of the computer/ TV being lazy.

 

Quick summary of my reading break:
18-20th: Started off going to Portland, Oregon and returned early Monday morning, on the 20th.
21st: Went to movies with Monica and Josh on Tuesday (Telus Tuesdays! Half price movie tickets!!) Ended up watching three movies: A Dangerous Method, The Secret World of Arriety, The Artist. We then ate dinner at Martini’s Restaurant on Broadway! Huge portions! Finished off with a trip to Marble Slab! Basically a fat day because we sat around for six hours and then just ate a lot.

23rd: Morning dim sum at Rainflower Restaurant at Richmond. Then Downtown gift shopping with Monica. Then went to Kody’s birthday 🙂 We got him a trollface T-shirt!

AHAHA! This was the fancy schmancy dim sum place. So we took a pic on their crazy sofas.

Fancy chandelier at the dim sum place...Probably one of the fanciest dim sum places I have been with friends.

Monica and I made chocolate dipped strawberries for Kody 🙂

24th: Went to Flo Tea Room with family! Love this place so much because of its chill environment. We can sit there forever, just talking and taking our time. 🙂

25th: Justin’s birthday dinner on Saturday at Red Robins on Broadway. Our side of the table spend quite a lot of our time playing UNO, which I only brought in case we needed entertainment. Turns out we would play it for the majority of our time there.
26th: Frantically finishing off homework and readings assigned because, once again, I left it to last minute.

Oh, and my reading break nails 🙂

Monarch butterfly nails! Crudely done, but it will have to do 🙂

——————————Ignore this part to skip my rant about school——————————

I still have not recovered from my lack of studying and am falling behind in my class readings! What is worse is that I have two term papers coming up. I NEED A TOPIC FOR MY ENGLISH ESSAY! I kind of have one formed, but I do not know how to go about making it into an academic research paper. Although they are both not due for at least another two or so weeks, I am already stressing out from it because of the amount of work involved in both papers.

Coming up, I also have my psychology and macroeconomics midterm exams on the same day. There is just so much to look forward to.
Registration for summer courses are also happening on the 9th and I still have no idea what I want to take. I definitely want to get some compulsory classes out of the way for next September, but taking intense accounting during the summer seems like a sure way for me to fail that class…
—————————————————————–

On another note, I am READY for spring! I was just thinking about that as I was walking to the bus stop on Monday, but this is what I woke up to on Wednesday:

It snowed...

Really? Mother nature gives us snow at the beginning of March, but fails to give us a white Christmas? Hmm… However, I did see small flowers blooming randomly on one of my neighbour’s lawn this week! Not a good picture, but it made me stop and stare because it really was random and unexpected!

I am pretty sick of trudging around in my rain boots and having to layer up because it is freezing outside. I cannot believe I am going to say this, (since I have always hated the heat) but I really would not mind a really sunny day. Not Hong Kong’s humid-hot sunny days, but more like a sunny Californian day where it is still significantly warm. 🙂

Well, to end off this post: spotted at UBC’s CIRS building:

Seriously, do not drink it.

 I read it then doubled back and took a picture because I think I made the You-don’t-say face after reading it, despite being alone in there.
Ohhh life 🙂
Wish me luck for my next few weeks! I know it is going to be a total nightmare! 😦
-Karen

Movie reviews: week of February 20th

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Hey guys!

I went to the cinemas with my friends on Tuesday and we ended up watching three movies! Here is my two cents on them!

1) A Dangerous Method

I was not really prepared for this film, mostly because I did not read up on it before going to the theaters. However, after settling down and getting into the movie, I found it really interesting. I am taking psychology in university right now, but I was watching the movie with two friends who wanted to major in psychology and cognitive systems respectively. So I feel like this movie should have been pretty well appreciated by us!

A Dangerous Method explores two great figures of psychology: Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud. Jung can be seen to be the more central character in the movie. He starts off tending to Sabina Spielrein’s (another great psychology figure– the first female psychoanalyst) problems, as she appears in the beginning of the film to seem psychotic and very troubled. It is revealed to the audience that she was frequently beaten by her father in the past. However, Jung does his job and Frauline Spielrein is well on her way to recovering. At the same time, he takes her under his wing, helping her pursue a career as a psychologist. Along the way, Jung has a relationship with her, meaning he was, in modern day terms, cheating on his wife. It becomes clear that Jung is not the perfect psychiatrist the audience was originally introduced to.

Freud, meanwhile, had great aspirations for Jung to take his place in the world of psychoanalysis after his death, but came to realize the fact that Jung had other ideas about psychology. Their conflicting ideas causes a bitter row between the two. The rest of the movie follows on this idea and depicts how the world of psychology is affected by this conflict.

I personally really liked the film, but that may be because I had low expectations for it.

2) The Secret World of Arrietty

The second film we watched was The Secret World of Arrietty. Unlike the first movie, I had really high hopes for this film because it was by Studio Ghibli, which I loved! I think that is why I did not think it to be as amazing as my friends thought. Nonetheless, it was still a good movie.

The audience is introduced to Arrietty and her family, who are all Borrowers. Borrowers borrow from things from humans that they would not miss (e.g a piece of tissue paper, a cube of sugar) for their survival. I guess it is a lot like stealing, except they call it borrowing throughout the whole film (it is, after all, a children’s movie). Arrietty and her type are also very small. Think Thumbelina. Borrowers must carry out their borrowing in stealthy operations, making sure they are not seen by humans. However, Arrietty gets spotted by Shawn, a sick boy who moved to the countryside to rest and relax before getting his heart operation. This means that her family must move to a new home, as is the custom for all borrowers when they are spotted or else bad things tend to happen to them.

This animated film had beautiful scenes, many of which showed how small Arrietty’s world is: She was the same size as crickets, a basil leaf could last them for a month, and many other examples. Overall, it was a beautiful movie about friendship, with plenty of colourful scenes! It was also a sweet story, but not overly sweet!

3) The Artist

This was the movie I really wanted to watch. For those of you who read my blog, I have posted earlier that I was contemplating going to the cinemas alone so I can watch it since I doubted anyone would want to watch it with me. Surprisingly, I did manage to drag my two friends into watching it as well! They both liked it, so that is a relief!

A silent film. Black and white. Set in the late 1920s. These are the basic ingredients one must first be acquainted with before explaining this movie. I wanted to watch it because I wondered who would dare make a black and white silent movie in the middle of our modern age! After watching The Artist take home awards at the Golden Globes, then hearing about its’ ten Oscar nominations, my curiosity only grew. Keep in mind that I love old films, so I did not mind the black and white bit at all. The silent part, however, was going to be new for me.

This movie begins by introducing us to George Valentin: a famous actor, well loved by everyone for his silent films as well as his charming personality. In comes Peppy Miller, an adoring fan of his who gets pushed in the spotlight after an accidental encounter with Valentin. With a boost of confidence after showing up in the papers, Peppy decides to pursue an acting career. Coincidentally, Peppy’s first time acting was in a new film starring George Valentin! The two hit it off and Valentin finds himself messing up a scene over and over again due to his enchantment with Peppy.

Time passes and Al Zimmer, a studio boss, proposes the idea of talkies (films where actors talk) to Valentin. Frustrated and angry, Valentin stubbornly sticks to silent films and goes off on his own to produce such films. As time passes, the audience realizes that Valentin writes cheque after cheque to fund his movie and suddenly, the Great Depression strikes. Valentin’s movie gets released and barely anyone watches it. Peppy Miller’s movie, on the other hand, which was released on the same day, had lines of people queuing to get in. Valentin becomes a broken, financially troubled man. Of course, him and Peppy gets reunited along the way…and well, I guess I will leave the rest to you so I do not spoil anything.

One of the main characters in the film was George Valentin’s dog. I thought this was a great way to convey information to the audience. Dogs are mostly understood through their actions anyway, so it made certain scenes easier to understand due to Valentin’s canine companion. Out of the three movies I watched I would recommend this one the most. It was interesting to see such a classic storyline made in our present time, as well as the producer taking a risk to make a silent film.
Out of the three movies I watched, my order from my favourite to least favourite would be:

The Artist > A Dangerous Method > The Secret World of Arrietty

The Secret World of Arrietty is only the third because I had very high expectations for it. On the other hand, A Dangerous Method I had no clue as to what it was even going to be about, so I was pleasantly surprised. Hope this little review convinces some of you to watch at least one of these movies! Let me know what you think!

-Karen