Crazy Hair and Weird Glasses Guy is Dead

[miles]

This guy.

Actual information: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/19/world/asia/kim-jong-il-is-dead.html

[Doc]

It would be nice to think this could mean some progress happens to all the poor bastards suffering over there but I don't really believe that. Good night, crazy man.

[greenkoolayd]

i heard he was flown to heaven in a chariot pulled by giant, majestic, golden eagles.

[Nabubrush]

I have always loved the hole in one comment.

[CortJstr]

So half the internet seems to think he's actually been dead for a year and they're just now admitting it. The other half seems to think he's still alive and they're waiting a bit to reveal that so they can claim he was resurrected.

[Victoria Waterfield]

So half the internet seems to think he's actually been dead for a year and they're just now admitting it. The other half seems to think he's still alive and they're waiting a bit to reveal that so they can claim he was resurrected.

That math can't be right, because at least a third of the Internet thinks that Lil' Kim died.

[jaydub]

[giveth]

[pmcd9]

I was watching this video of footage of Mass demonstrations in North Korea set to the music of Party Rock Anthem and it gave me weird thoughts.

Everyone hates the repressive regime in Korea, myself included, but that's the reality we are living in.  Given that reality is it okay to acknowledge that some of the stuff in that video is bad ass.  I would love to be in the audience to watch 1000 kids tumbling in unison or to see wave after wave of goose stepping soldiers.  An American analogy would be the fact that I hate slavery, but I love the folk music, that it inspired.  It's the roots of the tree that basically all western pop music has grown from.

Beyond that, It made me think about how a lot of the "shit my ___ says" crowd likes to harp on how things were much simpler back in the 50s.  Well there you go old farts, you wanna live in a society with a unified culture just pack your bags for North Korea.  Ain't gonna find a society more unified than that.  Seriously though, I would hate to live in a society with so little opportunity for independent thought.  It would kill me, or more likely they would kill me, but there must be some comfort in knowing that everyone is thinking the same thing you are.  Kinda like being a Mormon, maybe. 

Anyway, am I crazy for seeing the glass half full here? 

[smick]

Given that reality is it okay to acknowledge that some of the stuff in that video is bad ass.

In the scenes with the kids tumbling: Watch it again keeping in mind the giant pictures behind them are people holding up colored cards.  

I read a travelogue once about a guy who traveled to North Korea.   He explained how those festivals are set up.  It is really amazing.

Here we go: http://laughingsquid.com/massive-human-billboard-mosaics-of-the-north-korean-arirang-festival/

[pmcd9]

In the scenes with the kids tumbling: Watch it again keeping in mind the giant pictures behind them are people holding up colored cards.

Yes, yes I noticed that.  It's pretty damn cool.