A Daily Dose of Culture: Archive

Dec 31, 2011481 notes

Play

Dec 30, 201112 notes

#Cpop #Wang Leehom #Leehom #Taiwan #需要人陪

Dec 29, 201130,452 notes

Dec 28, 2011155,506 notes

English as the Signifier of Power

Yes, the fact that English is a symbol of choice, liberty, desire, but threat at the same time is very relevant to how English is perceived and used in East Asia pop culture also.

Think of the times when you think “Why did they add that English phrase into the Korean song? It doesn’t matter/make any sense/make any grammatical sense…etc”

It is the mere presence of English WORDS in a Korean song that matters. It connects the song to the modernness, Westernness and classiness among all songs. Especially when the group releases an English song, that’s the ultimate “win” for the group, as it has gone Globalized. (think of Wonder Girls, Miss A and now SNSD).

futurejournalismproject:

As English takes over the world, it’s splintering and changing — and soon, we may not recognize it at all — Salon.

Salon excerpts “The Language Wars: A History of Proper English,” a new book by Heny Hitchens:

We excerpt Salon:

In places where English is used as a second language, its users often perceive it as free from the limitations of their native languages. They associate it with power and social status, and see it as a supple and sensuous medium for self-expression. It symbolizes choice and liberty. But while many of those who do not have a grasp of the language aspire to learn it, there are many others who perceive it as an instrument of oppression, associated not only with imperialism but also with the predations of capitalism and Christianity. (It is mainly thanks to Lenin’s 1917 pamphlet about imperialism and capitalism that the two words have come to be pretty much synonymous.) The Australian scholar Alastair Pennycook neatly sums up English’s paradoxical status as ‘a language of threat, desire, destruction and opportunity’. Its spread can be seen as a homogenizing (some would say, Americanizing) force, eroding the integrity of other cultures. Yet it is striking that the language is appropriated locally in quite distinct ways. Some times it is used against the very powers and ideologies it is alleged to represent. Listening to Somali or Indonesian rappers, for instance, it seems sloppy to say that the use of English in their lyrics is a craven homage to the commercial and cultural might of America.

Dec 27, 20111,335 notes

#English #Kpop

Dec 26, 20111,134 notes

#movie #crazy little thing called love

Dec 25, 201115,597 notes

Dec 25, 20113,296 notes

Dec 24, 201190,487 notes

Dec 24, 201124 notes

Things that hurt...

dailydoseofmex3:

Being unsure of how someone feels about you.

Feeling like they are mad at you.

Being misunderstood by people you care about.

Being judged by people you care about.

Feeling like you lost something that was never yours.

Feeling like you’re doing too much.

Thinking you aren’t doing enough.

Not knowing if you should say something.

Worried about what they’ll think if you do say it.

Feeling like you care more than they do.