Christmas Movie Specials
It was the second to last meeting for the semester. During the entire meeting, all ideas for articles were dark and gloomy. To brighten up the mood, it was suggested to use a whole page of the newspaper to do a Christmas movie specials, introducing three movies that represent Christmas. The article didn’t come into fruition for obvious reasons. However, let The Postch Times shortly introduce them.
These movies were selected from the ‘The 50 Best Christmas Movies of All Time’ list given by Rotten Tomatoes. The first movie is ‘The Nightmare Before Christmas’, a movie following the misadventure of Jack Skellington, wo gets a new lease on life by visiting Christmastown. The second movie is ‘Arthur Christmas’, a family movie about Santa’s youngest son trying to deliver a present to the forgotten girl. The final movie is ‘Die Hard’, an action-packed movie following the John McClane, trying to save fugitives held by terrorists.
This idea was not accepted because of timeliness. The closest publication date to Christmas is No. 125, this issue. Also, the editor asserted this topic was too light to cover a whole page.
The Smallest Raptor’s Footprint Fossil
When dinosaur is brought up in a conversation, the general public usually think of those gigantic creatures several times the size of humans. But they must not forget the existence of tiny dinosaurs. Indeed, recently a footprint of a raptor that is approximately the size of a sparrow was discovered in Jinju, South Korea. The footprint is approximately one centimeter in length and 0.4 centimeters in width, bringing the once- unknown smallest kind of raptor into the open. This kind of raptor is named Dromaeosauriformipes rarus and the research data regarding it was published in the Scientific Reports on Nov. 15. Before the discovery of Dromaeosauriformipes rarus, the smallest raptor was known as Micro Raptor with the body size of a raven and foot length of 2.5 centimeters. The newly discovered raptor is conjectured to be smaller, but whether the owner of this footprint is a fully mature raptor is unknown, bringing uncertainty.
Unfortunately, this topic did not have a chance to be published on The Postech Times. It seemed difficult for this sole idea to take on the fixed amount of article.
On the Disappearing Korean Public Bath
The idea for this article first came in to mind after reading an article from the Economist named “Tokyo’s once ubiquitous public baths are fighting to survive.” In the 1960s, 40 percent of Japanese homes did not have baths, so they used public baths every day. But nowadays Tokyo has fewer than 600 public baths. So, the Japanese bath industry is making various attempts to get out of the recession. As readers may know, Korea also have public baths. Similar to Japan, Korean homes also lacked bathrooms but now most Korean housing have baths. So, I became curious about the status of public baths in Korea, and I wanted to investigate and write an article about it. I also thought about introducing the Korean dry sauna (Jjim-jil-bang) and write about its current status. It could have been a readable article not only Korean students but also to foreign exchange students, since it is related to Korean culture. I regularly proposed the idea in meetings.
However, the idea has been always rejected and could not become printed. The article being censored by the editor, there were some feedbacks on the validity of relationship between Korean public bath and university newspaper.
Apple AirPod and other Wireless Bluetooth Earbuds
The idea of an article that introduces the difference between Apple’s AirPod and other wireless Bluetooth earbuds originated due to one reporter’s wish to purchase an AirPod. The purpose of this article was to compare Apple’s AirPod with other Wireless Bluetooth earbuds of other digital device companies in various features that a consumer usually considers when purchasing a digital audio device. Perhaps, the reporter wanted some guidance in deciding whether to buy an AirPod. However, the article was rejected by The Postech Times and the comparison was never made.
But to commemorate the birth of such idea, The Postech Times has prepared a simple tech spec review of Apple’s AirPod. Apple’s expensive set of ear buds (approximately 159 USD) is famous to be light and comfortable- about 4 grams each side. It has a significant battery life that lasts up to more than 24 hours when accompanied with the charging case. AirPod is also equipped with intricate optic and motion detecting sensors that can sense whether it is being used or not. Despite the fact that it is 1.59 inches long, AirPod uses a beamforming mike that can support great voice even though far away from the mouth. With all these magnificent features, AirPod still is praised for its rich and high-quality audio. Even though AirPod possess such seductive features, due to its inconvenience that it is easily lost and the high price, many hesitate to make purchase.
Being worried about the article having color of advertisement on certain products while conveying information, it could not be published.
Mukbang – Another Unique Trend in Korea
Mukbang is either a live online broadcast where the host (or BJ in Korean terminology) eats foods while communicating with the viewers or a TV programme where food is the main theme. Mukbang was initiated in 2009 where a BJ of Afreeca TV, a Korean streaming channel, broadcasted himself eating food. In 2010, actor Ha Jung-woo, starring the film ‘The Yellow Sea’, inaugurated Mukbang throughout the Korean broadcasting media as the scene of his gobbling up dried seaweed and a hot dog went viral.
Since then, there have been many TV programmes based on food, either cooking or eating. For example, eating programmes including ‘Tasty Guys’, ‘Gourmet Road’, and ‘Tasty road’ introduced delicious restaurants and featured celebrities devouring themselves into the food, exciting the taste buds of the viewers. Cooking programmes include ‘Please Take Care of My Refrigerator’ where chefs compete with ingredients provided from celebrities’ fridges only, and ‘Mr. Baek, the Homemade Food Master’ where the cook teaches other celebrities how to cook homemade food easily. Furthermore, the number of broadcast BJs has increased too, showing that Mukbang is a viral trend in Korea.
For the reason why Mukbang became a trend in Korea is estimated to be due to the increase in number of one-person households, since they tend to have difficulties in cooking and eating proper meals and so satisfy their appetite-related needs through Mukbangs. The trial to connect Mukbangs with the preference to salty and sweet food did not work out well enough to report, either.
Postechian’s Food: Ramen
During the test period, we can easily see people substituting meals with instant noodles. Instant noodle is popular with Postechian who cannot afford to eat properly in their busy daily lives. When a reporter worked at a late-night snack cafeteria, most of the orders were instant noodles.
Korea consumes 76 ramen per person, which is overwhelmingly higher compared to other countries. However, Research has shown that eating ramen more than three times a week increases the risk of cardiovascular metabolic disease than eating it once a month, which has led to the need for consideration of this food culture. Postechian were also unable to be free from these problems, so The Postech Times felt the need to investigate the food culture of the POSTECH and raise awareness of the student society.
However, as the direction of the article deal with not only ramen, but to the food culture of the whole Postechian, it needed survey and took some time to write the article. Furthermore, the reporter who came up with this idea went to the army. So far, the subject remains.
