#anyang cultural school

[iamfanfan]

@ ATEEZofficial

[asiandragonsports]

Basketball in East Asia

By: Jithin Manikonda

Growing up, basketball has been one my most favorite sports to play and watch! Although the sport of basketball has its roots in the US, globalization has allowed the sport to become popular all throughout the world, including as far away as East Asia. 

The history of basketball spans back to 1891, when James Naismith hoped to invent a game to help young men in Springfield College located in Springfield, Massachusetts find a way to pass time. This school had many different names, one of which was “YMCA.” Even though basketball was just slowly gaining traction as a sport in the US, it did not take much longer for the sport to spread to Asia as a result of YMCA missionaries. Specifically in China around the 1920s, the sport started to become popular and about a decade later was declared a national pastime. In fact, China created an Olympic team for the sport in 1936 and used the sport to spread ideas of team work and the “friendship first, competition second” among children. This importance of basketball beyond friendship is still practiced today: NBA Asia managing director Scott Levy and many other generous philanthropists frequently hold camps and other events in East Asia to enrich the lives of aspiring kids.

Similar to the National Basketball Association, there is a basketball league in East Asia called the East Asian Super League, or EASL. This year, the East Asia Super League’s season will tip off in October 2022, just like the National Basketball Association. The EASL, however, has eight teams representing much larger areas: Greater China, Korea, Philippines, and Japan. From these areas, professional teams, including TNT Tropang Giga, San Miguel Beermen, Utsunomiya Brex, Seoul SK Knights, Taipei Fubon Braves, Ryukyu Golden Kings, Bay Area Dragons, and Anyang KGC. These teams will face each other in a home-and-away fashion until March 2023, where they will have a Final Four playoffs in order to determine the victor for the basketball season. However, there are many other leagues and clubs where basketball is played at many different levels, showing the willingness of East Asia to feed the love for the sport for everyone.

Basketball in East Asia has even been expressed in popular culture, such as anime and manga. For example, there are three animes that many anime-lovers and sports-lovers may have heard of: Slam Dunk, Kuroko’s Basketball, and Ahiru No Sora. All these anime deal with the hardships, competitive nature, and teamwork that come with basketball. For many sports lovers, these animes have undoubtedly had an impact on the increasing popularity of basketball within East Asia.

There are many players of East Asian descent that have made an everlasting impact on the National Basketball Association, the highest level of professional basketball in the world. To name a few, Jordan Clarkson, Jeremy Lin, and Yuta Watanabe are a few players that are still playing today. Although he has retired, Yao Ming, who is often referred to as the basketball G.O.A.T. of Asia, has undoubtedly made an impact on basketball all around the world and is undoubtedly recognized as one of the greatest big men to ever play the sport. There are also many players from the NBA who join leagues in East Asia, such as Lance Stephenson, Jalen Green, and Jared Sullinger. 

There are so many more fun aspects to basketball that I can just keep talking on and on about! So if you love basketball like me, next time you visit East Asia for an elongated period of time, you should really consider going to one of the game of the EASL or see how basketball is played in different neighborhoods of East Asia and come back to this post and let me know how it went!

[gagosiangallery]

Announcing the representation of Rick Lowe

September 20, 2021

Gagosian is pleased to announce the representation of

RICK LOWE

__________ New Painting Will Be Revealed as Part of Gallery’s Artist Spotlight Online Series Artist Will Be Featured at Art Basel 2021 and in Upcoming Social Works II Exhibition in London First Solo Exhibition Is Scheduled for September 2022 in New York Gagosian is pleased to announce the representation of Rick Lowe. Lowe’s numerous collaborative projects, undertaken in the spirit and tradition of “social sculpture,” are paired with an extensive body of work in painting, drawing, and installation. Working closely with individuals and communities, he has identified myriad ways to exercise creativity in the context of everyday activities, harnessing it to explore concerns around equity and justice. Influenced by Joseph Beuys’s formulation of “social sculpture,” he has moved from figurative “anti-painting” to the making and maintenance of projects aimed at the transformation of social structures and sites, and to symbolic abstract painting. In 1993, Lowe cofounded Project Row Houses in Houston’s Third Ward, working with fellow artists James Bettison (1958–1997), Bert Long, Jr. (1940–2013), Jesse Lott, Floyd Newsum, Bert Samples, and George Smith—as well as with neighbors and other creative thinkers—to establish a cultural district in a block and a half of derelict shotgun houses. Lowe’s work in Houston has also led him to initiate and participate in other community enterprises throughout the United States and abroad, including the Watts House Project (1996–2012), an artist-driven redevelopment organization in Los Angeles; a collaboration with British architect David Adjaye on a project for the Seattle Art Museum’s Olympic Sculpture Park (2005); and the production of Trans.lation: Vickery Meadow, a group of six pop-up community markets, for the Nasher Sculpture Center in Dallas (2013). Among his ongoing initiatives are the Victoria Square Project (2016–), a collaboration with Maria Papadimitriou in Athens’s Victoria Square in the context of Documenta 14; Black Wall Street Journey (2018–) in Chicago; and Greenwood Art Project (2018–21) in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Having used the game of dominoes to engage with residents of the Third Ward during the development of Project Row Houses, Lowe devised a visual language based on the resemblance between his aerial photographs of the game and maps of urban districts. By tracing and layering the patterns he discovers in these images, he continues to produce paintings and drawings that, while visually abstract, represent the reconfiguration and movement of communities over time. Lowe has exhibited these works in institutions worldwide including the Phoenix Art Museum; Contemporary Arts Museum Houston; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; Neuberger Museum of Art, Purchase, New York; and Kumamoto State Museum, Japan. Lowe will inaugurate the third season of Gagosian’s Artist Spotlight series, an online program launched in April 2020. A collection of related editorial content—including an exclusive video featuring an interview with the artist filmed in his Houston studio—will launch on September 29. A new painting inspired by his collaborative public project in Athens, and related stylistically to his dominoes works, will be revealed on October 1 and made available exclusively online for forty-eight hours. Lowe will also be featured in the gallery’s booth at Art Basel this month, and in the upcoming Social Works II exhibition in London, which opens on October 7. Lowe’s first solo exhibition at the gallery is scheduled for fall 2022 at Gagosian New York. Rick Lowe was born in 1961 in rural Russell County, Alabama, and lives and works in Houston. Collections include the Brooklyn Museum, New York; Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami; and Menil Collection, Houston. Solo exhibitions include Art League Houston (2020). Group exhibitions include No Zoning: Artists Engage Houston, Contemporary Arts Museum Houston (2009); Economy, Centre for Contemporary Arts, Glasgow, Scotland (2013); and Polis, Museo de Antioquia, Medellín, Colombia (2018–19). He also participated in Documenta 14, Athens (2017). Among Lowe’s numerous community art projects are Project Row Houses, Houston (1993–2018); Watts House Project, Los Angeles (1996–2012); Borough Project (with Suzanne Lacy and Mary Jane Jacob), Charleston, SC (2003); Small Business Big Change, Anyang Public Art Program, Korea (2010); Greenwood Art Project, Tulsa, OK (2018–21); and Black Wall Street Journey  Chicago (2018–).Lowe is a recipient of the Rudy Bruner Award for Urban Excellence (1997), American Architectural Foundation Keystone Award (2000), Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture Governor’s Award for Outstanding Service to Artists (2005), Skandalaris Award for Excellence in Art and Architecture (2009), Creative Time’s Leonore Annenberg Prize for Art and Social Change (2010), and Texas Medal of Arts Award in Visual Arts (2015), among other awards. In 2013 President Barack Obama appointed him to the National Council on the Arts, and in 2014 he was named a MacArthur Fellow. Lowe is currently a professor of interdisciplinary practice at the University of Houston. _____ Rick Lowe. Photo: Brent Reaney

[ziseviolet]

An Informative Essay on the Modern Hanfu Revival Movment

There aren’t that many English writings on the modern hanfu revival movement, but here’s one that I think does a good job of explaining the movement and it’s historical/political/social context. Recommended reading for anyone who’s interested in hanfu. Click title for the link to the blog entry.

Hanfu – A Tale Of Traditionalist Resistance

In 2003, a power-company worker named Wang Letian in Zhengzhou, Henan Province began doing something unprecedentedly strange, almost unthinkable in Chinese society with its subtly conformist pressures. He walked down the street, in broad daylight, wearing traditional Chinese clothing. And not just any traditional Chinese clothing – he did not choose, for example, the tangzhuang which was common during the Qing Dynasty. Mr. Wang chose to wear a pre-Qing hanfu (漢服) – and was the first person to do so in a public setting in 358 years. He may or may not have intended it, but his small act sparked a significant subcultural interest in reviving traditional Han clothing in China. Amongst many Chinese people, particularly young people, there is a desire to assert some material form of local, national and cultural pride which finds a ready expression in the hanfu.

The location here is significant. Zhengzhou is the capital of Henan Province, China’s cultural (and agricultural) heartland. Henan is home to Luoyang, Kaifeng and Anyang, three of China’s most important historical imperial capitals from the Xia, Yin, Zhou and Han Dynasties all the way down to the Song Dynasty. And yet, in recent years, Henan and its people have faced various difficulties. The famine of 1942 during the Sino-Japanese War hit Henan hardest of all, to the point where children were sold to other families so that they wouldn’t starve to death. In the wake of ‘reform and opening’, Henanese farmers were some of the hardest-hit by the corporate-driven land expropriation that followed hard on the heels of Deng’s privatisation programme – only the farmers of Anhui Province to the southeast suffered more. As a result, many migrant workers (mingong 民工) came out of Henan to work in urban centres of capital like Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen. Henan was routinely (and unfairly) portrayed and ridiculed in Chinese popular culture, particularly during the early 2000’s, as violent, criminal, backwards, superstitious, given to vice and (worst of all) poor.

It would be more than somewhat naïve to dismiss the class or regional origins of the hanfu subculture out-of-hand. Wang Letian was not, of course, a migrant worker, but in 2003 he was a proletarian power-plant worker in Henan’s biggest urban centre. And as an element of material culture, the hanfu of course hearkens back directly to a time when Henan was China’s centre and had not been left behind by the post-Deng rush to riches. Wang himself speaks of his gesture in nationalist and aesthetic terms, though: ‘In the end beautiful things will meet with people’s approval,’ he says. ‘Not to mention, the hanfu has always been our thing… in the great family of China’s 56 ethnic groups, only the Han do not have their traditional dress. Following [our] tragic history, only the Han traditional clothing style died out; we need to revive [this tradition].’

The hanfu subculture has not stayed in Henan. It has gained attention and interest from all over China, particularly from young people and particularly from young women. It has also attracted a great deal of criticism, which runs in several related veins. One WangYi (163.com) article from 2012 criticised the movement as ‘attention-seeking’, ‘awkward’ and reminiscent of ‘time-travel’, which covers most of the bases of the criticisms levelled at the hanfu subculture.

The first criticism, the criticism that gets the most air-time, is that the hanfu is ‘awkward’. It is ill-suited, the critics assert, for the practical demands of everyday clothing in modern urban life. The long design is imagined as impractical for the demands of work, school life, play and so on. The second, related criticism is that the adoption of the hanfu is essentially a form of misplaced nostalgia which has no place in modern Chinese society. The third criticism, running somewhat at odds with the first two, is that it is essentially a movement by individuals seeking to show off or an inauthentic attempt at copying a privilege enjoyed by other nations: that the current focus on clothing is superficial and shallow, and does nothing substantial for the spiritual question and the question of national dignity which it attempts to address. Still other critics do not dismiss the importance of the hanfu movement, but rather see it as trending dangerously in the direction of Han ethnic chauvinism, playing to historical victim complexes and potentially alienating China’s minorities.

The first and second criticisms are particularly interesting for their assumption, and indeed assertion, of a set of cultural norms governed by the demands of Western capitalism. In modern China the Western business suit is associated with ‘success’, defined in terms of monetary gain and superior social status. For women, western brands are practically always preferred to domestics. Practically the best thing one can say about a piece of clothing in Beijing or Shanghai is that it is ‘in vogue’ (shishang 時尚), and the types of clothing that invariably receive this assessment are European in design. One of the very last things one would say about the hanfu is that it is shishang – for this reason, it is dismissed as either a mere piece of nostalgia, as something that comes out of a period drama, or as something ‘impractical’ in the terms laid down by capitalist modernity.

The third criticism is somewhat more well-intentioned, but the idea is that the hanfu movement doesn’t go far enough and that it gets mired down in trivia in the quest for the Chinese national soul seems a bit grandiloquent and even misaimed. For one thing, the Bard’s (ironic?) quip in Hamlet that ‘the apparel oft proclaims the man’, though it is now used to enforce modern clothing norms, is not entirely untrue. What you wear does say something, and not necessarily something merely superficial. For another thing, the traditional Chinese classics outright proclaimed this. The Book of Rites states: ‘The son of Heaven, every five years, made a tour of Inspection through the fiefs… he ordered the superintendent of rites to examine the seasons and months, and fix the days, and to make uniform the standard tubes, the various ceremonies, the instruments of music, all measures, and the fashions of clothes. Whatever was wrong in these was rectified.’ Classical Chinese thought saw nothing ‘superficial’ about material culture calendars, weights and measures, music or clothing; all had the potential to either to proclaim or to blaspheme the sacred and transcendent. To limit this quest for the Chinese soul to more abstract pursuits is to reduce the Chinese soul itself to a modernist Cartesian abstraction, in a way that can only be self-defeating!

Nowadays, though, the risks for the hanfu movement are largely internal, and regard its relation to the culture around it. The big question for the movement is: to what extent does it seek to normalise the use of traditional dress? Many of the movement’s leaders, and certainly Mr. Wang himself, would say that they want to make hanfu a common and unremarkable sight in normal everyday Chinese urban life. Others would be content to keep the hanfu merely for important events – especially weddings, graduations, coming-of-age ceremonies. One real problem is touched on by thoughtful articulators of the third criticism, and that is that the hanfu is still sometimes broadly considered a novelty and a spectacle in modern Chinese culture. There is the risk of the ‘hipster’ factor, that hanfu becomes something worn for show in wilful or ironic self-alienation. Very obviously it isn’t a panacea for China’s national anxieties. But hopefully it can become and remain a form of healthy cultural expression in its own right.

That caution having been made. Here’s to the hanfu movement: with its local and proletarian roots; with its assertion of a national identity against the demands of deracinated, global capitalist anti-culture; with its ‘impracticality’; and with its attempt to bring something transcendent and beautiful back into China’s material culture.

[donqhox-blog]

BLOCK B

⠀⠀

BLOCK B (블락비) is a 7-membered boygroup under Seven Seasons, who debuted under Stardom Entertainment. They debuted on the 13th of April, 2011 with the music video for “Freeze!”.

Fandom: BBC (Block B Club).

Sub-unit: BASTARZ.

Music video(s): Freeze!, Tell Them, NalinA, Close My Eyes, Action (RMX), Nilili Mambo, Very Good, Be The Light, Jackpot, H.E.R, Very Good (Japanese), H.E.R (Japanese), A Few Years Later, Toy, Jackpot (Japanese), Toy (Japanese), Yesterday, Shall We Dance, Yesterday (Japanese), Don’t Leave.

Social media: YouTube/YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Daum Café.

TAEIL — 태일

Birth name: Lee Taeil — 이태일.

Birth date: September 24, 1990.

Birth place: Seoul, South Korea.

Nationality: South Korean.

Blood type: AB.

Height: 167 cm — 5′6″.

Weight: 57 kg — 126 lbs.

Sibling(s): One older sister, one younger brother.

Position: Vocal.

Social media: Instagram, Twitter.

Language(s): Korean, Japanese.

Education: Digital Seoul Cultural Arts University, Global Cyber University, Kim Myungki’s Vocal Academy.

Ideal type: Lee Youngah; actress.

Collaborations: I Like You, I Don’t (with Sejeong), Falling You (with Kim Sohee), Monologue (with Kim Jongkook), Rainy Day (with Wheesung & Chungha), Duty Free (with Bewhy & Ailee).

B-BOMB — 비범

Birth name: Lee Minhyuk — 이민혁.

Birth date: December 14, 1990.

Birth place: Seoul, South Korea.

Nationality: South Korean.

Blood type: A.

Height: 178 cm — 5′10″.

Weight: 60 kg — 132 lbs.

Sibling(s): Unknown.

Position: Dance, vocal.

Social media: Instagram, Facebook.

Language(s): Korean, Japanese.

Education: Induk University, Broadcasting major.

Instruments: Piano.

Ideal type: Someone with cute dimples.

Former Woollim Entertainment trainee, and was a possible member of INFINITE.

Afraid of heights.

JAEHYO — 재효

Birth name: Ahn Jaehyo — 안재효.

Birth date: December 23, 1990.

Birth place: Busan, South Korea.

Nationality: South Korean.

Blood type: A.

Height: 182 cm — 5′11″.

Weight: 60 kg — 132 lbs.

Sibling(s): Unknown.

Position: Vocal, visual.

Social media: Instagram, Twitter, YouTube.

Language(s): Korean, Japanese.

Education: Seoul Art College, major in Music Application (dropped out).

Ideal type: Gentle women, not women who hang outside a lot.

Drama appearances: “What On Earth Is Going On?” (2015).

Musical appearances: “Run To You~Street Life~” (2015), “In The Heights” (2016-2017).

Former Cube Entertainment trainee, and was a possible member of BEAST (now Highlight).

U-KWON — 유권

Birth name: Kim Yukwon — 김유권.

Birth date: April 9, 1992.

Birth place: Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, South Korea.

Nationality: South Korean.

Blood type: A.

Height: 176 cm — 5′9″.

Weight: 63 kg — 139 lbs.

Sibling(s): One older brother.

Position: Dance, vocal.

Social media: Instagram, YouTube.

Language(s): Korean, Japanese.

Education: Anyang Technical High School.

Instruments: Guitar.

Ideal type: Women who look good with short hair.

Drama appearances: “Jumping Girl” (2015), “Radio Romance” (2018).

Movie appearances: “Q Chan” (2016).

Musical appearances: “All Shook Up” (2014-2015), “HARU~If You Can Return To That Day~” (2015), “Run To You~Street Life~” (2015), “In The Heights” (2016-2017), “The Great Catsby” (2017), “Evil Dead: The Musical” (2018).

KYUNG — 경

Birth name: Park Kyung — 박경.

Birth date: July 8, 1992.

Birth place: Seoul, South Korea.

Nationality: South Korean.

Blood type: B.

Height: 170 cm — 5′7″.

Weight: 56 kg — 123 lbs.

Sibling(s): One older sister, one younger brother.

Position: Rap, vocal.

Social media: Instagram, Twitter.

Language(s): Korean, Japanese, English.

Education: Kamo High School.

Ideal type: Someone innocent, thinks girls with piercings are pretty.

Collaborations: Ordinary Love (with Park Boram), Inferiority Complex (with GFriend’s Eunha), When I’m With You (with Brother Su), Memories (with Yoon Hyunsang), INSTANT (with Sumin).

Drama appearances: “Oh My God! Tip” (2016).

Studied in the United States for a year, and two years in New Zealand.

Produced all of Block B’s albums. 

Has an IQ of 156.

ZICO — 지코

Birth name: Woo Jiho — 우지호.

Birth date: September 14, 1992.

Birth place: Mapo, Seoul, South Korea.

Nationality: South Korean.

Blood type: O.

Height: 182 cm — 5′11″.

Weight: 65 kg — 143 lbs.

Sibling(s): One older brother — Woo Jiseok; rapper ₩uno.

Position: Leader, rap, vocal.

Social media: Instagram.

Training period: About 2 years.

Language(s): Korean, Japanese, English.

Education: Seoul Music High School, Vocal Performance major & Dong-Ah Institute of Media and Arts University.

Ideal type: Women with pretty legs and thighs, also girls who look good with long, straight hair. Also, funny girls.

Collaborations: Oasis (with Pia), Brilliant Is (with Geeks, Mad Clown, Swings, SKULL & Double K), Tough Cookie (with Don Mills), Well Done (with Ja Mezz), It Hurts (with Girl’s Day’s Sojin), Moneyflow (with Song Minho & Paloalto), Okey Dokey (with Mino), Dark Panda (with Hyolyn & Paloalto), Turtle Ship Remix (with Paloalto, G2, B-Free & Okasian), Say Yes Or No (with Penemeco & The Quiett), Boys And Girls (with Babylon), Day (with JTONG), Eureka (with Zion.T), Pride And Prejudice (with Suran), Veni Vidi Vici (with DJ Wegun), It Was Love (with Luna), Bermuda Triangle (with Dean & Crush), By My Side (with Jeong Juha & Kim Jongwan), Feel So Young Doraego Remix (with Crush & Ugly Duck), Wi-Fi (with Yoon Jongshin), And The Winner Is... (with Cho PD & Outsider), Outsider (with Jeong Sulgi), It’s All An Act (with Jeong Sulgi), Map Music (with Cho PD & Verbal Jint), Hero (with Bizniz, L.E.O., Basick, Pento, J’Kyun, SQ, Huckleberry P, B-Free & fellow bandmember Kyung), Faddy Robot Foundation (with Vasco, Verbal Jint, Sangchu, Outsider, Yong Junhyung, Joosuc & HyunA), Life Goes On (with Hanhae), Take It Off (with Hanhae), Finale 2011 (with Scotch VIP, Jay Moon, Yammo, VEE X KILLA, Qwale, Mino, Hanhae & fellow bandmember Kyung), Mic Ceremony (with i11evn), Bachelor Monkey (with Verbal Jint), Just Follow Me (with HyunA & Dok2), Manipulating Women (with Giriboy & Gganmo), Hot MC (with J’Kyun), Pride (with Fame-J, San E, Jo Hyunah, Okasian & New Champ), Out Of Breath Remix (with Geeks, Ugly Duck, Fana, Zion.T, Crucial Star & DJ Dopsh), Give And Take (with JJK), Show StopperS Remix (with FANA, Andup, Gganmo, Louie, Ugly Duck, TakeOne, Psycoban & DJ Wegun), Red Lipstick (with Hyolyn), Beautiful (with Park Boram), That XX (with Oltii), Traveler (with f(x)), Pour Up (with Dean), Picnic (with Dynamic Duo), Beautiful (with C Jamm), Yozm Gang (with Young B, Hash Swan, Killagramz, Hangzoo & Dean), Where U At (with Killagramz & Dean), Search (with Young B, Hangzoo, Car & The Garden), Tonight (with Taeyang), Red Sun (with Hangzoo & Swings).

Lived in Japan for three years.

Was in a relationship with AOA’s Seolhyun, but the two split in 2016 due to personal reasons.

Member of the crews Buckwilds and Fanxy Child.

P.O — 피오

Birth name: Pyo Jihoon — 표지훈.

Birth date: February 2, 1993.

Birth place: Seoul, South Korea.

Nationality: South Korean.

Blood type: B.

Height: 181 cm — 5′11″.

Weight: 64 kg — 141 lbs.

Sibling(s): Unknown.

Position: Rap, vocal.

Language(s): Korean, Japanese.

Education: Hanrim Entertainment Arts High School.

Ideal type: Cute girls.

Drama appearances: “Temperature Of Love” (2017).

Was eliminated during Block B’s first official audition, but tried out again a year later after losing 10 kg and training hard to improve his vocal and dance skills.

[brandonimhotep]

Lupita Nyong’o Graces the cover of Vanity Fair Kenya’s Luo tribe, Lupita Amondi Nyong’o was born in Mexico City in 1983. Her first name is derived from the name Guadalupe. Her father, Peter Anyang’ Nyong’o, now a prominent Kenyan politician, and mother, Dorothy Ogada Nyong’o, had immigrated to Mexico shortly after Charles Nyong’o, her father’s brother, was disappeared in 1980. Charles was never found; he was likely a target because of his opposition to the Moi presidency. The childhoods of Nyong’o and her five siblings would be marked by political pressures. They had to share their father with the rest of the community for the good of the fight, and lived in fear for his safety, particularly after the family returned to Kenya in 1984. Home was a fraught concept for Nyong’o, who would only spend the first few months of her life in Mexico City before the family moved to New York City. When she was 16, her parents sent her to Taxco, Guerrero, Mexico, to learn Spanish at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México’s Learning Center for Foreigners. In 2003, she enrolled in Hampshire College, in Amherst, Massachusetts, as an international student, immersing herself in African studies. “We were really deeply investigating and exploring and analyzing a lot of sociopolitical dynamics,” she says. “My enlightenment was my education, to really recognize that these things play out in cultural and social setups. They don’t play out theoretically.” After graduating, she entered the Yale School of Drama. Nyong’o’s introduction to Hollywood came in the form of her stint as a production assistant on The Constant Gardener. Then, in her last year at Yale, Lupita landed an audition with director Steve McQueen for a role in “12 Years a Slave.” www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2019/09/lupita-nyongo-cover-story/amp #lupitanyongo #wonderwombman https://www.instagram.com/p/B22pIZYAjVB/?igshid=1qsddqnp36cc5

[blockb-daddy]

BLOCK B Facts

BLOCK B: P.O

P.O

Full Name: Pyo Ji Hoon

Position: Rapper, Maknae

Birthday: February 2, 1993

Birthplace: Seoul, South Korea

Height: 181 cm (5’11″)

Weight: 64 kg

Blood Type: B

Education: Hanlim Entertainment Arts High School

Religion: Christian

Fun Facts: •Can do an impersonation of JoKwon of 2AM. •His last name is Pyo, so when he was trying to come up with a stage name he came up with either Pyo, Piyo, or P.O •Is a big fan of Dara from 2NE1. •He sleeps with a stuffed pillow named “Toto” [As shown in MTV"Match Up"] •Is shy around girls. •He use to be overweight, but lost it all in order to get into Block B. •Is known for his aegyo. •When Mino left the “Block Buster“ project, P.O took it the hardest. •P.O has stated that he feels like he has “stolen“ Mino‘s place in Block B and feels that Mino would have fit his position better. •According to the other members P.O plays the most pranks. •Dal★Shabet declared him the most handsome Block B member. •4minute declared him the cutest Block B member. •During the Thailand Controversy, anti-fans began creating a petition for Block B‘s suicide. After P.O found out about it, he went into shock and had to be sent to the hospital.

BLOCK B: B-Bomb

B-Bomb

Full Name: Lee Min Hyuk

Position: Sub-Vocal, Main Dancer

Birthday: December 14, 1990

Birthplace: Seoul, South Korea

Height: 178 cm (5’10”)

Weight: 60 kg (132.3 lbs)

Blood Type: A

Education: Induk University (Broadcasting major)

Hobbies: Playing piano, taking clipings of fashion magazines

Fun Facts: •He participated in the TV show “Battle of Shinhwa“ where he rapped and danced. •His stage “B-Bomb“ means to be rare and unique. The “Bomb”symbolizes his “explosive” influence. •According to the other members he showers the longest.

BLOCK B: Jaehyo

Jaehyo

Full Name: Ahn Jae Hyo

Position: Sub-Vocal, Visual

Birthday: December 23, 1990

Birthplace: Busan, South Korea

Height: 182 cm (6’0”)

Weight: 60 kg (132.3 lbs)

Blood Type: A

Education: Seoul Art College (Music Application Major) [Withdrew]

Hobbies: Baseball, Basketball

Fun Facts: •He is VERY confident about his looks. •Says his favorite singer is Wheesung because “the level of emotions and his lyrics touch me whenever I’m going through tough times”. •Has a tattoo on his arm. •Is close friends with Joon from MBLAQ. •He recommended Joon to MBLAQ. •He recommended to BEAST/B2ST‘s JunHyung to Cube Entertainment. •He often wears a Pickachu costume. •According to the other members he showers the fastest. •He really likes A Pink. •Is an ex-trainee of Cube Entertainment. •There are rumors that he almost debuted with BEAST/B2ST, but he says that those rumors are “a little exaggerated.” •He likes to play at Shincheon, Kangnam, and Apgujung at 1:00AM.

BLOCK B: U-Kwon

U-Kwon

Full Name: Kim Yu Kwon

Position: Sub-Vocal, Dance

Birthday: April 9, 1992

Birthplace: Suwon South Korea

Height: 176 cm (5’9”)

Weight: 63 kg (138.6 lbs)

Blood Type: A

Education: Anyang Technical High School

Religion: Christian

Hobbies: Listening to music, reading, movies

Fun Facts: •Known as Block B‘s “Smiling Representative“ •Has 1 older brother. •Can play the Electric Guitar. •Reads Manga such as “One Piece“. •Was the first member to “Ab flash“ after debut. •According to the members, he is extremely innocent. •He along with Zico, Kyung, Hanhae, and Mino were the original line up for Block B. •He and Taeil are considered the awkward pair of Block B. •Likes cats. •He once accidentally keyboard smashed and made the word“Beup”. Since then he’s been using that word to tweet randomly and even gave it a definition. •He cooks rice the best out of all the Block B members and can make good sandwiches •He use to be tubbier, but lost the weight and got into Block B.

BLOCK B: Taeil

Taeil

Full Name: Lee Tae Il

Position: Lead Vocal

Birthday: September 24, 1990

Birthplace: Seoul, South Korea

Height: 167 cm (5’6”)

Weight: 65 kg (125.6 lbs)

Blood Type: AB

Education: Digital Seoul Cultural Arts University

Hobbies: Collecting hats, raising fish

Fun Facts: •He thinks his eyes are his worst trait because they’re so small, so he wears sunglasses and hats often. •Taeil is the oldest of the group. •Attended Kim Myungki‘s Vocal Academy that artist such as Wheesung and Secret‘s Song Ji Eun attended. •When Cho PD first met him he said “You’re cute!” •He trained the shortest out of all the members, but has had 6 years of vocal training •He has a (super cute) fish named “Super Equus”.

BLOCK B: Kyung

Kyung

Full Name: Park Kyung

Nickname: Cucumber

Position: Lead Rapper

Birthday: July 8, 1992

Birthplace: Seoul, South Korea

Height: 176 cm (5’9”)

Weight: 56 kg (123.5 lbs)

Blood Type: B

Education: Kamo High School (New Zealand)

Religion: Christian

Languages: Korean, English

Hobbies: Internet, composing

Fun Facts: •Because of his long face he has been called “Cucumber“ or“Carrot“. •“Kyung“ means “bible“ in Korean. •He has one younger brother and one older sister. •Says he‘s not skilled at doing household chores. •He along with Zico have produced all of Block B’s albums. •He and Zico have known each other since Elementary school. •He along with Zico, U-Kwon, Hanhae, and Mino were the original line up for Block B. •He studied abroad in the US for one year and in New Zealand for two. •Likes the singer Lyn.

(c)http://weebfacts.weebly.com/block-b.html

[marilynngmesalo]

Child bride auction off on Facebook: ‘Barbaric use of technology’

Child bride auction off on Facebook: ‘Barbaric use of technology’ Child bride auction off on Facebook: ‘Barbaric use of technology’ https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

JUBA, South Sudan — Five hundred cows, two luxury cars, $10,000, two bikes, a boat and a few cellphones made up the final price in a heated bidding war for a child bride in South Sudan that went viral after the auction was pointed out on Facebook. It is the largest dowry ever paid in the civil war-torn country, the government said.

The highest bidder was a man three times the 17-year-old’s age. At least four other men in Eastern Lakes state competed, said Philips Anyang Ngong, a human rights lawyer who tried to stop the bidding last month. Among the bidders was the state’s deputy governor.

“She has been reduced to a mere commodity,” Ngong told The Associated Press, calling it “the biggest test of child abuse, trafficking and auctioning of a human being.” Everyone involved should be held accountable, he said.

Earlier this month, Nyalong became the man’s ninth wife. Photos posted on Facebook show her sitting beside the groom, wearing a lavish dress and staring despondently at the floor. The AP is using only her first name to protect her identity.

Appeal Court orders new trial for B.C. man in child bride case

Men in polygamous and doomsday group sexually abused girls in shipping container compound, prosecutors say

Girls as young as 9 can marry, Turkish religious body's Islamic glossary suggests

South Sudan has a deeply rooted cultural practice of paying dowries for brides, usually in the form of cows. It also has a long history of child marriage. Even though that practice is now illegal, 40 per cent of girls still marry before age 18, according to the United Nations Population Fund. The practice “threatens girls�� lives” and limits prospects for their future, said Dr. Mary Otieno, the agency’s country representative.

The bidding war has caused local and international outrage. It took several days for Facebook to remove the post that first pointed out the auction, and after it was taken down other posts “glorifying” the situation remained, George Otim, country director for Plan International South Sudan, told the AP.

“This barbaric use of technology is reminiscent of latter-day slave markets. That a girl could be sold for marriage on the world’s biggest social networking site in this day and age is beyond belief,” he said. The auction was discussed, not carried out, on the site.

Facebook did not reply to a request for comment.

"@Facebook has a responsibility on securing & protecting the rights of women & girls," says EN's @muhuha after a 17 y/o from #SouthSudan was auctioned off for marriage on the site. "They need to put sufficient resources into monitoring their platform."https://t.co/ciYIhEB0Yj

— equalitynow (@equalitynow) November 13, 2018

While South Sudan’s government condemns the practice of child marriage it says it can’t regulate communities’ cultural norms, especially in remote areas.

“You can’t call it bidding as if it was an auction. It’s not bidding. If you see it with European eyes you’ll call it an auction,” government spokesman Ateny Wek Ateny told the AP. “You have to see it with an African eye, as it’s a tradition that goes back thousands of years. There’s no word for it in English.”

Some local lawmakers and activists disagree. In a statement released this week, the National Alliance for Women Lawyers in South Sudan called upon officials to comply with the government’s plan to end child marriage by 2030. Ending the practice includes putting a stop to the auctioning of girls.

South Sudan’s anti-human trafficking chief called the case reminiscent of others he has seen across the country, in which girls are forced or tricked into marriage after being told they are going to live with relatives and go to school instead.

“It is clear that some human trafficking practices are hidden in our culture,” John Mading said.

In other cases, some girls who grow up in the South Sudanese diaspora are brought back to the country and forced to marry. The AP spoke with several people who know girls who arrived for what they thought was a vacation, only to have their passports taken away and forced into marriage by their families.

“Some families want children to marry in their countries and in their ethnic communities, but most do it if the kids are misbehaving,” said Esther Ikere Eluzai, undersecretary for South Sudan’s ministry of gender.

//<![CDATA[ ( function() { pnLoadVideo( "videos", "7TMZTp7sNsw", "pn_video_903378", "", "", {"controls":1,"autoplay":0,"is_mobile":""} ); } )(); //]]> Click for update news Bangla news https://ift.tt/2Bor1Y0 world news

[koreaneflbug-blog]

What Destinations Are There?

So you’re set on teaching English in Korea, for at least a little while. Where do you want to go?

This post applies more to hagwon teachers rather than public school teachers, because with EPIK you can’t pick where you end up, unless you apply to GEPIK or SMOE, which are the systems for Gyeonggi-do and Seoul.

The main choice for most people is obviously Seoul; it’s the capital city, so it’s understandable why people want to be there. It’s filled with history and culture and malls and cafes - basically everything you could want. I don’t blame anyone who wants to work in Seoul, I did as well when I started my application. But if you’re applying to teach in a hagwon in Seoul, the jobs are few and far between. You can’t be fussy with what age you’re teaching or what teaching hours you have, because there’s just not that many jobs. There’s even fewer jobs if you’re looking to go through SMOE, as most of them are filled by teachers already in Korea to reduce plane costs.

I suggest you look a little further afield. Here are some options you may not have heard of that you should consider.

Gyeonggi-do: - Not a city; this is the province surrounding Seoul. It is made up of many cities like Suwon, where I will be working, Anyang, Bucheon, Goyang, as well as many others. The 4 I’ve named here all have population sizes close to that of San Francisco, so they’re hardly small cities. You won’t be bored and looking for things to do. They’re packed full of history and culture, like the Hwaseong fortress in Suwon. - Each city will have at least one stop connected to Seoul by underground subway, so getting to the capital on days off isn’t difficult. - If you’re looking to teach in Korea in a public school, Gyeonggi-do will be your best option if you want to be near Seoul. They have the GEPIK programme, which is separate to EPIK and SMOE.

Daejeon: - With a population of 1.5 million, the same as Philadelphia or Phoenix, this city isn’t small either. There’s plenty to do, and it’s easy to travel the city thanks to its subway line. - This city is in the centre of the country near enough, so transport to almost anywhere is dead easy. It takes approximately 50 minutes to get to Seoul, and 1 hour and 45 minutes to get to Busan. - Living is likely to be cheaper here than in Seoul or Gyeonggi-do, and apartments are likely to be more roomy. - Apparently Daejeon has a wonderful expat community.

Busan: - You’ve probably all heard about Busan, so I won’t tell you much about it. Everyone I’ve spoken to who lives there says they love it, however it’s often harder to find jobs there than in Seoul. - It is a 3 hour train journey from the capital.

Changwon: - The place to be if you want to be in Busan but are struggling to find a job! This city is about 30 minutes from Busan. - It has plenty of beaches and seaside activities, as well as a bustling town centre. - The expat community in Changwon are lovely, I have spoken to many myself as I was considering living there. - A population of 1.07 million, so hardly a small city. - Living is likely to be cheaper here than in Seoul, Gyeonggi-do or Busan, and flats are likely to be more roomy.

Daegu: - With 2.5 million people, it is the 4th biggest city in Korea. - Packed full of culture and history, such as its temples and Buddhist statues. - 1 hour 40 minutes to Seoul by train, or 45 minutes to Busan.

Ulsan: - Similar to Busan or Changwon, it is a seaside area, and not too far from either of these places. -  One of the 6 biggest cities in Korea, with a population of 1.1 million. - Takes about 2 hour by train to get to Seoul.

These cities are just a few of all the ones in South Korea; I can’t obviously name them all. You’d be surprised at how many there are that you haven’t heard of, and remember that just because you don’t know them doesn’t mean they’re not going to have everything that you could want.

If you’ve taken a job in another city that you think I should recommend, then send me a message to let me know, with maybe a little background information!

Of course, if you are 100% dead set on going to Seoul, then it might be worth searching and possibly delaying your leaving until you can find a job there. You may enjoy your time more if you’re exactly where you want to be, but you should at least give the alternatives a little bit of thought.

[threesixtystudios]

BYUN KYUHAN “Han”

AGE: Thirty-Two COMPANY: 360° Studios POSITION: Daybreak’s Leader/Lead Guitarist/Keyboard FACECLAIM: Bang Sunghoon PLAYED BY: Shannon

Byun Kyuhan was originally born in Anyang, before his family relocated to Alicante when he was 2 due to his father’s work.

As he grew up in Spain he found himself becoming active when it came to music, mostly having influences from his mother’s taste in music.

He got his first instrument, a guitar, when he was 7. An award for doing well at school and gaining the highest marks within his class.

However, when he turned 17 his family moved back to Korea, slumping him back into a society he didn’t remember. Kyuhan stuggled with adapting into the Korean culture, having left the country before he could really understand it, his parents bought him a piano to try and help him find some comfort in his new surroundings.

After finishing his education and military enlistment he found himself as part of a small entertainment company before he auditioned and got accepted to MM Entertainment. He then found himself debuting as part of the company’s first group and the rest is history.

Kyuhan is someone who has a lot of patience with others, he’s extremely cultured and accepting due to growing up in a different country. In addition to this, he’s extremely smart and quick-witted and always finds comfort in playing the piano or guitar.

The rivalries have never really bothered him, he only looks at people for who they are and the music they produce, but would never judge them for the company they come from at all.