SHIT LYNN TWISS READS
3,453 pounds of potatoes. 7,685 pounds of rice. That’s 11,138 pounds of food altogether. By giving up just 3 hours of normal work time this holiday season, 20 volunteers from Opus Creative and Opus Interactive were able to package up that much food at the Oregon Food Bank, thus preparing the equivalent of 8,567 meals for distribution. Factored in with volunteers from other groups who were there that afternoon, that works out to 268 meals made possible per volunteer.
That’s a lot of impact for just one afternoon out of the office, a result that more than makes up for all the extra effort everyone put in to ensure that no deadlines were missed. Food Bank statistics show that 1 in 5 Oregonians rely on their services, and they predict the number may only get higher given current economic indicators – that’s 20% and likely to increase. “Considering that the unemployment rate is around 5%,” observed Opus designer Joel Ehly, “that’s a staggering amount of working poor families that need help.”
The Oregon Food Bank relies heavily on volunteer and donation support from the community. Volunteers at both its Portland and Hillsboro locations contributed more than 70,700 hours last year, the equivalent of 34 full-time employees. And, for every $1 contributed, the Food Bank can collect and distribute 5 pounds of food to those in need.
For more information, please visit http://www.oregonfoodbank.org/
2008.01.03: Top news stories of
2007 Since these days I haven't been able to keep up with the
old news pages or newsletter, I thought I would take this chance to look back at
the top news stories of 2007 (from my perspective, at least). It's been an
eventful year, as always!
#1. Crisis, Crisis, Crisis. The never-ending news story this year has been the recent troubles of Korean film companies. Admissions are going down, exports are crashing, the cost of making movies continues to rise, and audiences seem to be re-kindling their interest in Hollywood films. It's still too early to tell where all of this is going, and part of it may just be a case of overly inflated expectations, but certainly the mood this year has been grim.
#2. Jeon Do-yeon wins Best Actress at Cannes for her role in Secret
Sunshine. Korea's highest profile acting award since Kang Su-yeon won
in Venice in 1987 for Surrogate Woman couldn't have happened to a more
deserving person. Here's hoping that her next film, a low budget art film by Lee
Yoon-ki, boosts her growing international profile.
#3. The uproar over D-War. Korea had a taste of its own culture wars in August, when Shim Hyung-rae's mega-budget monster D-War hit the screens. Independent director Leesong Hee-il ridiculed the film and the hype surrounding it, comparing it to 1970's-era excitement over the export of toasters to the U.S. Furious fanboys responded with a massive, homophobic-tinged attack on his blog. Critics sparred on TV talk shows, viewer rating boards on the internet turned into angry battlegrounds, and Shim himself publicly sulked about how nobody in the Korean film industry respected him. Even I got called some rather choice names on the internet after I slammed it on Cine21's critics board, though nobody ended up attacking this site. All this over an infantile and rather incompetent monster flick that ultimately bombed in U.S. theaters... was it really worth it?
#4. Korean actors go international. The Korean Wave seems
to be fading in many respects, but a string of top Korean stars were cast in
international projects in 2007. Jun Ji-hyun (aka Gianna Jun) will take the lead
in Blood: The Last Vampire. Actor/singer Rain will take a small role in
Speed Racer. Jang Dong-gun stars in Laundry Warrior, which is
being shot in New Zealand. Song Hye-gyo will headline a small New York-set U.S.
independent film. Lee Byung-heon will get a small role opposite Josh Hartnett in
I Come With the Rain. Jang Hyuk took an English-speaking role in a
Singapore film. And there continues to be interest in other actors as well. In
the coming year, we'll get to actually see all of these films, and find out if
they're any good...
#5. Telecoms companies move into the film industry. In terms of business news, one of the biggest new trends is the newly active role being taken by Korea's biggest telecoms companies. SK Telecom will launch its own film division in 2008. KTH is funding expansion by its subsidiary, Sidus FNH, into distribution. Both companies will also likely become active in IPTV (internet protocol TV), which many hope will become an important future source of revenue for local films. Is this the start of a new era?
#6. US-Korea FTA deal concluded (but not ratified). This free trade deal, which still may not happen if either legislature rejects it, will have a greater effect on the TV industry than on the film industry. Nonetheless, one clause of the treaty "locks in" the recent reduction of the Screen Quota, and there will also be an extention of copyright from 50 to 70 years -- which will affect classic films.
#7. First film labor deal concluded. Lower ranking Korean
crewmembers have struggled through with miniscule pay and virtually no benefits
or insurance for years, while actors and other top talent have seen their
salaries skyrocket in recent years. This labor deal is intended to improve
things for people on the lower rungs, though unfortunately the timing is not
great -- it came into effect just as the industry was embarking on a widespread
effort to lower budgets. Only a few films have complied with the new labor rules
so far, but in time it may become the new industry standard.
#8. IndieSpace opens. Seoul and other major cities have a number of arthouse theaters, but the newly-opened IndieSpace is the first theater devoted entirely to Korean low-budget independent films. Each film that debuts at the theater will play for two weeks, and through this venue we should be able to watch a lot of films that weren't available before. Great news!
#9. Megabox sold to foreign investors. Megabox ranks as
Korea's third or fourth biggest theater chain, and this year it was sold to a
consortium of investors headed by an Australian bank. There may be less to this
than meets the eye, as Megabox's sister company Showbox has signed a long term
deal to continue operating the company. But personally, I wish all of the big
theater chains would be sold off. It's not healthy or fair to have the biggest
distributors owning and operating so many movie theaters across Korea.
#10. CHIFFS holds a successful first edition. There is certainly no shortage of film festivals in Korea -- a recent Film 2.0 article says there are more than 40 of them registered with KOFIC -- but the successful launch of the Chungmuro International Film Festival in Seoul (CHIFFS) was good news. Unlike most festivals, CHIFFS features almost no new films, and instead places its focus on great movies of the past. There were large numbers of old Korean films screened, as well as Hollywood classics, Asian musicals, director retrospectives, and more. Also, though some other festivals have troubled to attract viewers, CHIFFS had close to 70% of its seats filled. I'm looking forward to the second edition, scheduled for the end of August.
For the past month, its been that of year when sweets creep across the office. I can resist most, but today I watched a co-worker plop a fancy piece of chocolate in her mouth, chew, and smile. Without asking, I knew exactly why. She had eaten a Mama See’s one-of-kind-mocha-soft-center. And, now, pathetically, I am wishing I got to that piece first (and to the Bordeaux piece that someone else scored). If only I had seen that signature white box earlier.