Lee Chang-dong (born July 4, 1954) is a South Korean movie director, screenwriter and novelist. He won the 2008 Special Director's Prize at the Asian Film Awards and has been nominated for the Golden Lion and Palme d'Or. Lee was South Korea's Minister of Culture and Tourism from 2003 to 2004.
He graduated in 1981 with a degree in Korean Literature from Kyungpook National University in Daegu. After a teaching Korean Language in high school using his major, he established himself as a renowned novelist. Later in his career, to the surprise of many, he turned to movie making.
Lee did not study movie making before starting movie making. He penned two screenplays, Park Kwang-su's "To the Starry Island" in 1993 and "A Single Spark" in 1995. Lee then directed "Green Fish" in 1997.
In 2000, Lee made "Peppermint Candy". It is a story following a single man in reverse chronology through 20 years of South Korean history. All of his movies have received critical acclaim and awards. "Oasis", a story involving a mentally ill man and a woman with cerebral palsy, won the prestigious Director's Award at the 2003 Venice Film Festival.
He is very good at expressing the plain life of ordinary people on the screen. He also maintains popularity even though sometimes he makes stories about serious social problems.
He served as the minister of Culture and Tourism in the South Korean Government from 2003 to 2004.
The Hallé
The Hallé is an orchestra based in Manchester, England. It is the UK's oldest symphony orchestra and the fourth oldest in the world. Since 1996 its home is in the Bridgewater Hall, Manchester.
The orchestra gave its first concert on 30 January 1858. It had been started by Hallé the year before to play at an exhibition. The orchestra gave its concerts in the Free Trade Hall.
One of the most famous conductors the orchestra had was Hans Richter who was music director from 1899 to 1911. During this time the orchestra gave the first performance of "Symphony No. 1" by Sir Edward Elgar.
The orchestra suffered during the economic crisis of the 1930s and when World War II started. At that time it was sharing many of its players with the BBC. There were only 30 players left. A new conductor was appointed in 1943: John Barbirolli. He was the musical director for 27 years. During this time the orchestra rose to international fame.
Kent Nagano was principal conductor of the orchestra from 1992 to 1999. The orchestra moved from the Free Trade Hall to the Bridgewater Hall in 1996. Nagano was criticized for putting on concerts that cost a lot of money, and charging high fees for himself. The orchestra started to be in financial problems and nearly went bankrupt. Then changes were made and the orchestra were more secure financially.
In September 2000, Mark Elder took over as musical director. He has made the orchestra into an excellent orchestra again.
In 2006 a new job of guest conductor was given to Cristian Mandeal. From 2009 the guest conductor will be Markus Stenz. The leader of the orchestra is Lyn Fletcher.
The Hallé also has a choir which was started in 1858 by Sir Charles Hallé. They give about twenty concerts a year. Their conductor is James Burton who also conducts the Hallé Youth Choir. There is a Hallé Youth Orchestra which is conducted by Ewa Strusinska. There is now also a Hallé Children’s Choir, conducted by Shirley Court. The Hallé also have their own CD label since 2008.
Turkish hamster
The Turkish hamster ("Mesocricetus brandti") is a species of hamster closely related to the Syrian hamster. It is used as a laboratory animal in scientific research, but is not widely available on the pet market.
Romanian hamster
The Romanian hamster ("Mesocricetus newtoni") is a species of rodent in the Cricetidae family. It is found in Bulgaria and Romania.
Chinese striped hamster
The Chinese striped hamster ("Cricetulus barabensis"), also known as the striped dwarf hamster, is a species of hamster. It is distributed across northern Asia, from southern Siberia through Mongolia and northeastern China to northern North Korea.Kam dwarf hamster
The Kam dwarf hamster ("Cricetulus kamensis") is a species of rodent in the Cricetidae family. It is found only in China.
Samaritans
The Samaritans are a group of people who live in the Levant. Samaritans believe in the same one God of Judaism, but use only the Torah as text.
There are more than 800 Samaritans. Most of them live in Holon and Nablus.
Archived. https://web.archive.org/web/20080512075303/http://www.jtsa.edu/prebuilt/exhib/scrips/index.shtml
https://archive.is/ApcAY
Indian religions
Indian religions are religions from the Indian subcontinent. Dharma is an idea common to these religions.
The Red Queen
The Red Queen is the name of an evolutionary theory of Leigh Van Valen and, later, a book by Matt Ridley.
The term is taken from the Red Queen's race in Lewis Carroll's "Through the Looking-Glass". The Red Queen said, "It takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place." The Red Queen principle can be stated as follows:
The hypothesis is used to explain two different phenomena: the advantage of sexual reproduction at the level of individuals, and the constant evolutionary arms race between competing species.
The book takes Van Valen's idea, which is about co-evolution, and extends it into a discussion about sexual selection in humans. It argues that few aspects of human nature can be understood apart from sex, since human nature is a product of evolution, and evolution in our case is driven by sexual selection.
Sex is an evolutionary puzzle. In most sexual species, males make up half the population, yet they bear no offspring directly and generally contribute little to the survival of offspring. In birds and mammals that idea seems less true. They often help protect females, and help in some way after the young are born. Therefore these males definitely do help in the survival of their offspring. But sexual reproduction is very common in simpler forms of life, where the males have nothing to do with their offspring.
In human paleolithic populations, males were no doubt vital for hunting and protection. Many bird species rear the young jointly. However, most invertebrate species are not raised by parents at all, with larvae developing amongst the plankton. In addition, males and females in many vertebrate species spend resources to attract and compete for mates. Sexual selection may appear to favor traits that may reduce the fitness of an organism, such as brightly colored plumage in birds of paradise, which makes them more visible to predators. Thus, sexual reproduction appears to be highly inefficient.
The book begins with an evolutionary account of sex itself, defending the theory that sex flourishes, despite its costs, because a mixed heritage confers to each generation a defensive "head start" against parasites and disease. The basic reason for this is the way sexual reproduction increases the genetic variety in a population. This greatly increases the chance of at least some individuals surviving the onslaught of predators, parasites and diseases. This much is common ground amongst evolutionary theorists.
Ridley then argues that human intelligence is largely a result of sexual selection. He argues that human intelligence far outstrips any need for survival (this is not generally agreed). He says our intelligence is like the peacock's tail, a product of sexual selection. Human intelligence, he suggests, is used primarily to attract mates through prodigious displays of wit, charm, inventiveness, and individuality. This view of intelligence is also supported by Geoffrey Miller. The history of ideas on sexual selection and the evolution of sex is discussed by Helena Cronin.
Lembit Oll