Author: m.lucena

Watching your mother put on her night cream as a child is a fond memory many have. Skin care has always been an old woman who desires to be young forever thing, and, even as a teenager with countless pimples, it just doesn’t seem like a thing for a young age. At most, cleaning your face with a soap bar will do.

However, with massive internet access and worldwide reach there is a new skin care culture growing among the younger population. In the past years Korean skin care  has taken over the internet, gaining the attention of huge fashion magazines like Vogue, Cosmopolitan and People Style, and it has taken the Western world by surprise.

“I had seen K-beauty popping up around the internet for the past couple of years but didn’t pay too much attention to it,” commented Reddit user GlycosidicBond, who is part of the ‘Asian Beauty’ community on the popular forums website, Reddit, “Ended up buying Son and Park beauty water and immediately noticed redness in my skin going down. I hadn’t looked at my skin and ever been so impressed. And down the rabbit hole I fell.”

Korean beauty is a part of what is known as the Hallyu Wave (한류) which is the name given to the phenomenon of Korean entertainment spreading throughout the world. Along with skin care, Korean makeup, music, and TV dramas are all part of the wave, and are all connected.

“With Kpop,” said user Luna_182, who was one of many whom were influenced by Kpop, “I knew about Korean makeup, that made me look for cushions on YouTube and I found Meejmuse’s channel, and with her I totally got into Korean Skincare.”

There is some essential differences between Korean routines, and “Western” routines: the steps and the ingredients.

Korean skin care routines often have 5 or more steps, depending on the individual. There is minimalists routines, that use only two cleansing steps and a hidrating step, or full blown routines that can have two cleansing steps, exfoliation, serums, acids and essenses, as well as several hidration steps.

Ingredient wise Korean products are well known for using what we might think as strange and unconventional ingredients, such as snail slime, animal fat, placenta, and fermented plants. It all can be very intimidating for someone new, but there is plenty of forums and communities in the internet to help someone start their journey.

The ‘Asian Beauty’ community of Reddit has over 80,000 subscribers, and posts ranging from product recommendations, makeup swatches and skin care progress pictures. Reddit is not the only source of information for this trend, however, the well-known blogs Snow White and the Asian Pear and Fifty Shades of Snail are both hallmarks for anyone starting to get into Korean skin care.

Both blogs are run by one administrator respectively who started posting to keep track of their own skin care routine and new products they tried, “The purpose of my blog is to provide in-depth reviews with proven ingredients of scientific merit or interest, compelling or intriguing ingredients, guides to acquiring products, primarily from Asia with a focus on Korea, Japan, and Taiwan,” explains the owner of ‘Snow White and the Asian Pear’.

Both blogs function essentially the same: on them users can find product reviews, guides on how to start a Korean-based skin care routine, and what products might work for a certain skin type.

The popularity of the blogs has become such that an online skin care store called Holy Snails dedicated a serum to the owner of Fifty Shades of Snail called Shark Sauce.

Although originating from South Korea and much of the community is based on the internet, there is more ways than just the internet to get Korean skin care products: in New York City’s Koreatown famous brands, such as Tony Moly, Nature Republic, and The Face Shop, are opening their doors to the Western public.

The trend has become such that not only are Korean originated brands are opening: Besfren Beauty is a New York based Korean skin care and makeup store with location in both Flushing and Koreatown.

The first location opened in Flushing in 2012, and three years later the next location, in Koreatown (315 5^th Avenue), opened next to the Besfren Café, where customers can buy ginseng based skin care products, as well as Korean pastries, and coffee.

(The images are not uploading because of large files, here is a link to the photographs: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1YdoVI2kE3Db5Eosy0CiQNQk8D1qv-cGgYjy3MtRvMrw/edit?usp=sharing)

The aisles of Besfren Beauty are covered by face masks, makeup cushions, serums and other skin care and makeup products. Although most the products are Korean, there is also some Japanese shampoos and conditioners.

The 5^th Avenue location is close enough to the Empire State Building, so many tourists pass by with curiosity. One of the workers there says although many non-Asian tourists pass by, it’s mainly young Americans, both Korean and of other ethnicities, that tend to buy products. Face masks, she tells me, are the most popular.

With growing popularity overtaking the internet, Korean skin care seems to have nothing but bright days ahead of itself. The Reddit community only grows bigger and more and more physical stores are popping up around the city and around the country.

The scaring image of a house wife in a bath robe with a green goo on her face remains in our memory as a cheap comedic scene for many of our favorite TV shows. Not much is thought of the green goo, its only purpose to make the audience laugh at the ridiculousness of the character.

However, in the past years a new kind of skin care  has taken over the internet, gaining the attention of huge fashion magazines like Vogue, Cosmopolitan and People Style. Korean skin care has taken the Western world by surprise.

“I had seen K-beauty popping up around the internet for the past couple of years but didn’t pay too much attention to it,” commented Reddit user GlycosidicBond, who is part of the ‘Asian Beauty’ community on the forums, “Ended up buying Son and Park beauty water and immediately noticed redness in my skin going down. I hadn’t looked at my skin and ever been so impressed. And down the rabbit hole I fell.”

Korean beauty is a part of what is known as the Hallyu Wave (한류) which is the name given to the phenomenon of Korean entertainment spreading throughout the world. Along with skin care, Korean makeup, music, and TV dramas are all part of the wave, and are all connected.

“With Kpop,” said user Luna_182, who was one of many whom were influenced by Kpop, “I knew about Korean makeup, that made me look for cushions on YouTube and I found Meejmuse’s channel, and with her I totally got into Korean Skincare.”

Although originating from Korea, there is more ways than just the internet to get Korean skin care products: in New York City’s Koreatown famous brands, such as Tony Moly, Nature Republic, and The Face Shop, are opening their doors to the Western public.

The trend has become such that not only are Korean originated brands are opening up: Besfren Beauty is a New York based Korean skin care and makeup store with location in both Flushing and Koreatown.

<continue on about the store, add quote about the usual costumers (are they Korean?), and include small gallery)

There is a skin care and makeup store in Korea Town in Manhattan named Besfren Beauty that has opened about a year ago. They actually have a store right next to it that sells coffee and ginger based products called Besfren Cafe. I wanted to do a type of feature in this because I found out they do not have any locations in Korea, from what I understood, only in New York. I am in the process of confirming this 100%.

Korean skin care is becoming a huge thing among beauty lovers. Although skin care in general goes hand in hand with makeup, a lot of famous youtubers are trying out Korean products specifically, some even stick to a strictly Korean product routine. I personally am a big fan of Korean skin care, but there is a huge reddit community under /asianbeauty that I want to ask about how they go into this kind of skin care.

I had a short talk with the workers at both the coffee shop and the makeup store but did not get an official interview, I plan on calling them, asking basic questions and something more indebt.

I initially wanted this to be a photo gallery but it will be too difficult because they don’t do trials or makeovers so I am going to do a written piece with a mini photography gallery.

As the lights in the venue dimmed the screams from the fans only became louder. The stage was lit only enough to see the seven situates that the thousands of fans that had gathered at the Prudential Center recognized as the Bangtan Boys, better known as BTS.

As the curtains raised and the seven men were revealed the fans only scream louder, cheering them on as they began to sing the first of almost 30 songs.

The fans had been waiting for hours, and they were not going to stop cheering for the next two hours that the concert lasted.

BTS is a Korean pop group (K-pop) in a world of many others, but their international fan base is thought to be one of the biggest in the industry. Thousands of fans from across the country and even outside, showed up to support the group for their Western leg of their world tour, selling approximately 60,000 tickets, according to BigHit Entertaininment, BTS’ managing company.

In Newark, NJ some of the fans had been waiting at the venue since the early morning, even setting up tents and staying overnight to make sure to be as close to the stage as possible.

“Their talent is unreal” said Rachel Spetz, 21, who had been waiting on the venue line since 8 AM, “Performing that choreography with said song every time it’s performed. To me it’s amazing, they need athleticism, they need coordination, they need to strengthen their lungs, it’s just everything.” Spetz has been a fan of kpop for six years, and of BTS since their debut in 2013.

As with all other kpop groups BTS do not only sing, they also dance and interact with fans. Outside the stage kpop idols also attend talk shows, act in soap operas, attend fan meetings, and keep up with their music careers.

While most kpop groups’ popularity thrives mainly in South Korea, BTS has reached international charts with their last two releases ‘Wings’ and ‘You Never Walk Alone’, which made it to rank 61 and 26 respectively in the Billboard 200 chart.  They’ve had two world tours which included the United States, both of which have sold out in under a day.

“BTS is not turning into mainstream music in America,” commented Rei Tran, 22, who went to New Jersey from California to attend the concert “They have their own style. Which is really choreographed.”

In the next two weeks BTS will finish their world tour in America and take a break before completing their tour completely  in Asia and spreading the next generation of kpop across the world.

The song “Gangnam Style” completely took the American audience by surprised when it became extremely popular in 2012. Shortly after its release it was played on popular radio stations and ranked as the most watched music video on Youtube of all time. Now, 5 years later, the video has accumulated over 2 billion views, and keeps rising every day.

Most people would think of the song as a one hit wonder, since then no Korean artist has made it to the mainstream popularity that PSY obtained, however, ever since “Gangnam Style” became popular, the Korean pop industry has only boomed and expanded to include the far Western hemisphere into their fan base.

Some Korean pop (K-pop) music groups are ranking up the top charts all around the world, including Billboard and Itunes in the United States. This is the case of Bangtan Boys, better known as BTS, whose albums ‘Wings’ and ‘You Never Walk Alone’ made it to rank 61 and 26 respectively on the Billboard 200 chart.

In March, BTS came to the United States to finish the Western leg of their world tour, which began on February 18^th in South Korea. Per the groups agency, BigHit Entertainment, the group sold about 60,000 tickets, and sold out all their shows.

The modern concept of K-pop is composed by girl and boy groups made of anywhere from 3 to 17 individuals whom are trained in singing, rapping and dancing and are assigned certain roles within their groups. The first group to follow this concept debuted in 1996 under the name H.O.T (High Five of Teenagers), composed by five young men and managed by SM Entertainment, one of the biggest entertainment companies in South Korea. The group became extremely popular with their new combinations of dancing, rapping and singing among young Korean girls but disbanded before it could make an impact on the West.

 

The Hallyu Wave(한류) is the name that was given to the increase global popularity in South Korean entertainment culture in the West. Although hard to trace exact groups that boosted the music’s popularity, famous singers and actors like Shinhwa, BoA, Big Bang, Girl’s Generation, Super Junior and TVXQ in the early and mid-2000s are some of the most internationally famous groups that helped the industry grow to what it is now.

One of the topics that the spokesman talked about in the press conference on Monday was the case of the two missing researchers who went missing in DR Congo about two weeks ago. The UN launched an investigation and, the day that we went to the press release their bodieshad been found but were not confirmed to be the two missing experts. It was latter confirmed that they were in fact Michael Sharp and Zaida Catalan.

It seems that the two researchers had gone into a central area of the Congo to investigate the fighting between the army and the rebels there. This kind of strategy had been done before by both of the researchers, Sharp being the one with more experience in the area and the investigation. However, it seems that the reason for their death is the fact that their jobs did consist on finding criminal and reporting them to the UN.

The New York Times made a kind of obituary and news piece of the finding of their bodies. The Al Jazeera piece is more like hard news and explains a little about previous conflict in the area, and then Bloomberg seems to have just used an algorhythm to make a very short very to the fact news piece.

In general I did not think that the spokesperson said anything newsworthy to quote, in fact, I would actually mention the fact that he didn’t comment on some questions or just restated what he had previously said. I was suprised at how good he was at avoiding questions.

Park Geun-Hye was South Korea’s first female President whom many people had great hopes for because of that reason. However, last year it was found out she had been taking bribes from big companies like Samsung and letting her best friend, Choi Soon-Il, have high government clerance and use company money that was given to the President to benefit her own benefit.

She was finaly impeached last week by the federal court, and the heir of Samsung was arrested, showing the people that coorporations that make such a big part of the country’s economy are no longer safe from justice as they have been in past scandals.

I wanted to do a kind of timeline that would take the whole scandal and explain it beginning to end. I want it to be for someone who has never heard of it, or has very little knowledge of it. Initially I wanted to gear this towards the youth that might want a connection to their country but find it too hard to follow newspapers and often get lost in the many articles there is of the scandals. However, I think I want to do a simple timeline, written, but with graphics obviously.

My main source who is a well educated man who grew up in Korea and studied in Europe reccently emailed me back telling me he finished his phD so he’ll be my main source for opinions and explanations of what happened and what the attitude of the people has been throughout the scandal. I’m also hoping to talk to a student or someone younger to get that Korean-American view as opposed to a more educaed Korean view.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jt0KNWPIMkw&feature=youtu.be

Should be avaliale when it is done processing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1QCciJ6yTo&feature=youtu.be

This is the roughtests of drafts ever made. I haven’t used Premiere before so it took me a while to learn and I made a very small clip. There’s not much to judge.

I plan on doing voice overs, raising the volume of the clip overall, adding better transitions, and if I have time adding subtitles. Since I was able to learn how to use the basic tools by making this tool it shouldn’t take me as long as it took me with this one.

I’ll be using this information :https://nces.ed.gov/surveys/pisa/pisa2012/pisa2012highlights_6a_1.asp

http://www.oecd.org/pisa/data/

http://www.compareyourcountry.org/pisa/country/kor

 

South Korea is known as one of the countries with the greatest educations in the world: In the 2015 Programme for International Student Assesment South Korean students scored more than average in Science, Mathmematics, and Reading. All over the world the South Korean education system is praised, however, not many more that this is also the country with one of the highest suicide rates in the world. According to WHO 41.7 people out of 100,000 committed suicide in South Korea in 2015, making it the highest rate within developed countries (the USA had 19.4 for every 100,000) coming from 28.7 in 2013 according to  OECD, and is one of the highests in the world. In 2015 suicide among people from the age of 10-30 was the number one reason of death.

I found this to be shocking, but also found it to be a sign that grinding students to get good test scores doesn’t always turn out as expected. In Korea the average student goes to school from 8am to 4 pm, and later has to go to an afterschool academy known as a hagwon (학원) to fortify their studies. By the time they get home it is 9pm and they have to go to sleep in order to repeat the process.

Should the States follow the same steps as its ally and implement cram schools? Lately schools like Kumon have been showing up and American students are joining the cram school culture, should this be the norm or should cram school be banned?

There was been a connection made between the preassure that students receive to succeed and the high sucide rates, but I would like to explore how immigrant parents experienced their school lives versus how their children are experiencing their school life,and how they value  academic success, and would like to speak to international students in American universities about their experiences in Korean high schools and their transactions to the American education system and find somoene how has had a close one commit or attempt suicide. I have contacted one of my sources who was educated in Korea, but later moved on to a British university who I can most likely interview about the different systems.