This is a film color photograph. The red numbers in the bottom right corner indicates that the picture was taken in April 14th 1991. Three people are sitting on the table praying over their meal at their home. They are unaware that someone is taking a picture of them. In the middle there is a baby boy about 2-3 years old sitting facing the camera and on the left there is a middle aged man and at the right there is a little girl looking about 5 years old. They are a family sitting on the table praying over their meal. Subjects in the photograph are Asians with black hair and white skin but it is impossible to know which country they are in. The girl is wearing a blue long sleeve shirt and has short curly hair, father is wearing an olive shirt with a pair of glasses and the boy in the middle is wearing a bright white shirt. The only light source in the picture is the sunlight from outside of the house. The light is coming in from the back window with white curtains. The baby in the center is fully lit but the girl on the right and man (assuming it to be the father of two children) is lit sideways. Because of the white wall on the girl's side, the girl's side is brighter compare to the father's side of the picture. The baby is sitting on the baby blue high chair but the girl is sitting on a dark blue chair and the father is sitting on a white chair. They are sitting in a triangle on the wooden table and there are four rice bowls, four side dishes, metal spoons and chopsticks. Everyone has a rice bowl in front of them but the girl has a can of juice in front of her. Her hands are resting on the can but holding firmly onto it. Each of them have their hands put together in from of their faces` and their eyes are closed. It is hard to see if anyone is praying out loud or if they are praying in silence. The baby in the center has his mouth open as if he is leading the prayer. Next to the baby boy, there is a plastic mini car that has a yellow top, red bottom and black wheels. On the white wall there is a picture hanging with a red frame around it.

It is odd that the baby in the family is sitting at the top of the table because in an Asian family, the father usually sits on the top of the table to show that he is the head of the family. The lighting gives a glow to the baby in the center making the baby look like a saint or a celestial being. This photo is showing a family that practices their religion. The family members seem sincere about their prayers and the fact that they are praying before they eat shows how the children are religiously disciplined to pray.

5. iPod Nano Burgundy

People say that new iPod Nano came out in a color of red but no! I think it is burgundy not red. As people might notice, I have an obsession with the color burgundy. Some call it “wine” color and I wear it a lot. It is a color between purple, red and maroon. If I see something of that color, I am tempted to get it. When the second edition of iPod Nanos came out I did not buy the iPod because I didn’t like any of the colors. When the third edition came out last summer I could not resist. The ‘red’ iPod nano was in burgundy. People might think that the second and third edition of iPod Nano red are the same red but it is not. I loved the color so much that I bought it at the spot. Two months later when I was in Korea for winter break, I lost my iPod in the gym. I was heartbroken. In Korea, I saved money to get a new one because I’m a person who has to listen to music when walking to class or working out at a gym. My friends and my brother told me to just get another one in Korea but I only wanted to get the red one. (RED) was a special edition so Apple shops abroad did not have iPod Nano in (RED). I looked through all the colors but I could not give up my burgundy iPod. So, I waited. Now I have a new, my second iPod. I’m amazed at what a color can do to a person.

4. Se, Jie (Lust, Caution) (2007)

This was the most recent movie I watched. It is directed by Ang Lee who became famous directing . It was a Chinese movie about a Chinese girl trying to kill a top Japanese collaborator for her country during the WWII. However, she later falls in love with her own enemy. The movie is rated R for strong sexual content and a scene of brutal violence. Some of the scenes shocked me and made me uncomfortable, but I enjoyed the artistic part of the movie. It was amazing to see how the director was using color and light to evoke emotions. It was fasinating to watch the recreation of clothes and the scenery of Shanghai in the late 30’s. The main character appeared with a different 'chibao' (Chinese traditional dress) in every scene. The dresses were so elegant. Throughout the movie, it was very gray and dark but I liked how the low light made her dress more vibrant.

3. Noriko Sunayama “A SULTRY WORLD”

When I was in Korea for winter break, I went on a gallery tour with my mother. Most of the works were by Korean artists but there was one installation that captivated me. It was a work by a Japanese artist Noriko Sunayama and the work was called “A Sultry World”. It was a huge satin crimson dress covering the whole gallery space. The caption said that the artist made the work to talk about her experience as a woman and her experience of being raped as a child. The instruction said that the audience can walk into the dress and explore. I walked in and I was expecting it to be little uncomfortable. First, I did not like the idea that I was crawling under someone’s dress and second, I was scared that I would get lost under the dress. My mother did not go into the dress because she did not want to get her clothes dirty. I crawled into it and surprisingly, I felt really comfortable. It was warm and cozy. The satin dress was heavy enough to cover my whole body but was not too heavy to make me feel overwhelmed. I walked toward the middle to find an opening and there I found pencils, notes and flashlights. The artist wanted her audience to write how they felt. I wrote, “I felt comfortable and protected, but how do I get out?”

2. Edie Sedgwick

"When he saw her, Andy sucked in his breath and said

'Oh! She's so bee-you-ti-ful"'

-Lester Persky

"That is unusual, to look like you had just walked out of a fairy tale. She had nothing human about her, just a mystery"

- Ivy Nicholson

I was and I still am a fan of Edie Sedgwick, Andy Warhol’s muse. I first found out about her from the preview of (but I did not see the movie) and from fashion magazines. I started reading about her online and in books. The first time I saw a picture of her, I thought she was so beautiful and attractive. My friend once said that Edie and Audrey Hepburn looked alike because they both were skinny and had huge eyes. But I liked Edie more because she was a rebel. She was unique. From clothing to her life style, everything was so different from other celebrities. She hangout with artists and worked with them. I always thought that she represented the 60’s. She was honest, maybe too honest about her fears and her desires. She wanted to be a star and she knew who to find; Andy Warhol. In a short black and white film, “The Ciao Manhattan Tapes”, Edie was talking about herself. The film was so ironic because Edie was shot so beautifully and gracefully in the film but in her monologue and in her real life, it wasn’t so beautiful. There ware images of her smiling at the camera, singing and dancing at parties wearing big hats throughout the film but the background audio was her talking about how she was taken advantage by her photographer, how she can't stop taking drugs and how she doesn’t ‘give a crap’ about what she is doing in this entertainment and fashion industry. I wonder what made her so crazy. Was it her fame? Or was it the artists and the public that were taking advantage of her? I read it online that she continued shooting for the film while she was hospitalized for anorexia and was getting shock treatments from the mental hospital. I wonder why some of the most beautiful and adored people hated themselves so much. Another example would be Marilyn Monroe. Edie Sedgwick died when she was 28 years old due to drug overdose.

1. 'No' for South Korean President Noh

South Korea started off 2008 with a new president Lee Myung-Bak. It was such a big deal in Korea because the former president did a terrible job running the country and Koreans could not wait to find a new president. The formal president Noh Mu-Hyun was impeached in his second year of service and third year of his term, on live TV interview he said” I can’t do this job anymore! I want to quit!” This made Korean citizens furious. Also, Korea suffered from financial difficulty for the first time after they overcame the IMF crisis in 1996. I always questioned why President Noh was elected in the year of 2002 (in Korea, the presidential term is every 5years). He only graduated from high school, he never took classes on politics and never served as a governmental official. He appeared in the middle of nowhere and suddenly became a super star. I remember that when I was a sophomore in high school everyone in the news were crazy about him. They were saying how he was “one of them” and because he is poor and not educated, that he can understand the people more and would fight for people who are not in power. Wrong!

Photograph of personal significance

Prayer