A Brand New Life is a 2009 French-South Korean film directed by Ounie Lecomte.
The film is set in Seoul in 1975, and is about a girl who is left in an all-girls’ Catholic orphanage by her father, and her struggle to adjust to her new lot in life. The film is loosely based on Lecomte’s own life experience.
South Korea is taking over!:
I’ve driven on I-95 between Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. quite frequently through the years, and during my drive yesterday, I noticed what seemed like tons of Hyundai’s and Kia’s on the road. Mostly new models, too.
After some quick research, I wasn’t imagining things - the two automakers have over 10% of the U.S. market share for the first time ever. Increased demand has pushed sales up 21% from a year ago, and over 100,000 new vehicles were sold last month.
What’s behind their recent success? Surely not the Kia rat-themed commercials, right? It’s probably due to a number of factors including …
- Competitive pricing
- Dynamic designs
- Good warranty
- Increased reliability
- Cars made in the USA!
Lots working in their favor. The more amazing fact about their market share, in my opinion? Hyundai is less than 1,000 cars behind once-mighty Toyota. The ascent of Hyundai/Kia and decline of Toyota has been amazing to watch.
cat cafe advertisement in myeongdong, seoul, south korea
lol
Seoul #15 prescan by Thomas Birke on Flickr.
My Korean bucket list:
With four weekends left, I outline briefly the few things I have left to do in the ROK.
I think I’ve got the bungee jumping scheduled for this Sunday, the rest is up in the air.
I took to running my first year in Korea. I was motivated by a multitude of reasons, the obvious one being exercise. Over the past few seasons, I’ve come to love something I previously hated. The exercise is nice, but it’s not what gets me in my shoes and on the streets everyday. I’ve grown to love running in this country because it’s a completely different way to experience, see, smell and hear this place. I like to run in the early mornings or after dark to see the Korean neighborhoods in my city by a different light. I prefer to run in areas not designated for running. There are a number of parks nearby with running tracks, but I opt to run along the creeks and through the back alleys. When time permits, I try to get lost. This adds adventure and a sense of exploration to my daily routine. I’ve discovered and seen so much on these runs. Here are just a few pictures I snapped in the early morning hour of today’s run:
