Najeon chilgi for techies

One of the wonderful things about watching Korean TV dramas is that you see a lot of beautiful things. Take, for example, those delicately designed jewelry boxes that are as precious as the jewels inside them.

A scene from Feast of the Gods

Or those intricately patterned cabinets that give off a soft sheen.

A scene from Moon That Embraces the Sun

So much so that no matter how handsome and regal King Lee Hwon’s (Kim Soo-Hyun) royal body looks in The Moon That Embraces the Sun, you can’t help but be distracted with OTHER beautiful things.

A scene from Moon That Embraces the Sun: King Lee Hwon

Or maybe that’s just me. I’m too old to be a fangirl, anyway.;-)

But I digress.

These OTHER beautiful things, I learned, are called najeon chilgi. `Najeon” means mother-of-pearl, and “chilgi” refers to lacquerware.

Check out Korean online gift shops and you’ll see najeon chilgi jewelry boxes, hand mirrors, key holders and business card cases. The  abalone shell, from which najeon chilgi is made from, is prized by Koreans for its bright colors and light reflections. This iridescence comes naturally from the inner lining of abalone shell, which contains transparent crystals of calcium carbonate.

A scene from Moon That Embraces the Sun: King's luxurious table

Najeon chilgi makes a fine heirloom of sorts because each piece is strong enough to last for thousands of years, thanks to the lacquer which is resistant to heat, acid and humidity.

Najeon chilgi in Korean dynasties

You know what makes Korean drama viewing more fun? Spotting najeon chilgi in various scenes and guessing which dynasty the najeon chilgi properly belongs to. Geeky, I know. But that’s precisely why I’m Organic Geek.

So here’s what I mentally take note of:

Mother of pearl lacquer ware became popular in Korea during the Goryeo Dynasty (918-1392). The dynasty’s artisans made najeon chilgi one of its major artistic contributions, aside from celadon ceramic ware and metal works. In fashion during the time were mother of pearl designs depicting flowers such as chrysanthemums and peonies, exotic plants such as the arabesque “Tang Plant” pattern, and abstract designs. Designs favored were intricate and overly luxurious, which was characteristic of the era. People from the Goryeo Dynasty surely loved luxury, and made it a point to display their wealth and status by owning objects of desire.

Even the Sung literari in China admired and acquired najeon chilgi from Korea. Historical records show that Seo Geung, an envoy from China during the Sung Dynasty, praised the najeon chilgi and deemed it “valuable enough because it is extremely exquisite and elaborate” in his book An Illustrated Book of Goryeo.

Najeon Chilgi art from the Goryeo Dynasty is distinguished through the techniques it employed in producing their mother of pearl lacquer ware. The first technique consisted of using tiny mother of pearl pieces called ‘threads’ which are inlaid one by one to form the actual design. The second technique consisted of using wires, silver, bronze and brass together with the mother of pearl. The third technique was the use of treated tortoise shell pieces in combination with the mother of pearl.

A scene from Feast of the Gods: Jewelry box

This blatant display of luxuriousness was a huge contrast to the Joseon Dynasty, where najeon chilgi began to adapt the Confucian aesthetics and value of simplicity. Thus, designs began to reflect the austere lifestyle advocated by Confucian teachings, as exemplified by the natural designs prominently seen in Joseon era najeon chilgi—blossoms and bamboo, flowers and birds, animals and plants, human figures and Chinese characters.

So if the design looks lavish, it’s probably from Goryeo. If it’s simple, it’s probably from Joseon.

Korea’s rapid economic development and modernization during the first half of the 20^th century affected the production and popularity of najeon chilgi. The art enjoyed a revival in the 1960s and 1970s when Korea’s economy began to pick up again. But since then, lifestyles have been Westernized and the najeon chilgi is now a thing of the past. Or is it?

A technological twist

Sure, a najeon chilgi jewelry box will make any girl feel like a queen. But the geek in me, I realized, is far happier with this:

A najeon chilgi thumb drive I got as a souvenir from an academic forum.

I like it because it’s pretty and practical, keeping my “jewels”—digital copies of academic journals and drafts of my writings—safe and portable. The stylish design is a definite plus. I find that the Korean alphabet design reflects my geeky pursuits, too.

Beautiful and functional at the same time, lending the centuries old art of najeon chilgi a technological twist is a very fitting transformation for today’s modern girl. And because Korea has mastered the art of najeon chilgi and high technology, I sure hope to see more najeon chilgi gadgets in the future–cellphones, laptops, tablet computers, digital cameras….

References:

http://www.antiquealive.com/masters/Mother_of_Pearl/lacquerware.html

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/art/2011/04/148_49637.html

http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/elac/hd_elac.htm

http://koreanartscrafts.wordpress.com/2011/04/10/asian-arts-and-crafts-korean-mother-of-pearl-inlaid-lacquer-ware/

http://asiaenglish.visitkorea.or.kr/ena/SH/whatToBuy/whatToBuy.jsp?action=item&cid=996000

A mobile phone, slowly dying, is lovely

Photo by Me.

First, it stopped registering and saving phone numbers in the Calls menu. Weeks later, it was the screen turning all white, and then flickering on and off. But removing the batteries for some time before putting it back on did the trick. For now. Clearly, my phone is showing signs of age and is about to say sayonara to me.

I’ve had this since 2007. Back then, I liked it for it’s 3G capability and it’s price–just around PHP10,000.

Since then, many other phones came out in the market with bells and whistles like touchscreens, wi-fi capability, built-in social networking apps, high quality cameras, and a lot more. But I refused to ditch my phone just yet, simply because it was still serviceable. It still made calls and texts–basic things I do everyday on my phone. So there was no need to buy a new one right away.

But now, my phone, while still useful, is slowly dying. And I deem it a lovely thing. This means I can now officially start the search for a new phone. I gotta be prepared. It’s just a matter of time before it conks out, after all.

Off the top of my head, these are my dream features (aside from calls and texts, of course):

1. Wi-fi capability

2. MP3 (for my language study)

3. Video and still camera (for my travels and for impromptu shots)

4. High built-in memory capacity (to store everything)

5. Double SIM

6. Solar powered batteries

7. Kindle-like capabilities (I can dream, can’t I?)

LG’s Cookie Pop phone is solar-powered

Photo from here: http://www.shufflegazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/GD510-LG-Cookie-POP-Colour-2.jpg

LG Cookie Pop might be of interest to those looking for a green phone. Aside from being an affordable touchscreen phone (priced at Php 9,990) equipped with a 3-megapixel camera and social networking functions, it also showcases a host of green features, foremost of which is its solar cell powered battery cover. With this, users can utilize the sun’s energy to charge their phones in the absence of a normal charger. This, of course, also saves on electricity, which is a good thing since our collectively energy consumption is the number one cause of greenhouse gas emissions, according to a National Geographic documentary I watched before.

Other green features of the LG Cookie Pop phone are:

* It does not contain any polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and is made free of BFR (brominated flame retardants) and CFR (chlorinated flame retardants) almost up to 99.9 percent

* When using the accompanying charger (not the solar powered battery cover), the phone beeps when fully charged to signal to the owner that it’s time to unplug it, thus saving energy

* It is equipped with Eco-tree and Eco-calculator which tracks how users have reduced carbon emissions by charging through the solar cell battery

* The packaging is made from recycled paper and uses soy ink for printing

There are other phones in the Cookie range, such as the LG Cookie Wi-fi and the LG Cookie Ultima, but these don’t have a solar cell battery. I wonder why, since a solar cell battery is a good thing. Any answers, LG?

PEMSEA Visit

This giant globe at the PEMSEA lobby teaches you about the East Asian seas.

Last week, my fellow graduate school student Jessica and I visited PEMSEA, or Partnerships in Environmental Management for the Seas of East Asia, for our project for our Development Communication class. We interviewed Ms. Anna Rita Cano on PEMSEA’s communication strategies and programs. We’re supposed to analyze and assess its strengths and weaknesses, after which we’re supposed to give our recommendations. I know a half-day visit isn’t enough to give a comprehensive picture of an organization, or even to critique it, but we will do our best.

What preoccupied me and Jessica while waiting for Ms. Cano were the magazines at the lobby, as well as the giant globe detailing the water currents around East Asia’s waters. Switching the lights on and off and looking at the lines and arrows where water is supposed to be was a learning experience in itself.

Earth Hour Video 2010

Sharing!

Water footprint

I’ve heard of carbon footprint before, but today is the first time I’ve heard of water footprint.

According Dr. Fabian M. Dayrit, Chemistry professor and dean of the School of Science and Engineering at the Ateneo de Manila University (Philippines), in his essay Managing Water for a Sustainable Future water footprint is “the total volume of freshwater that is needed directly to produce certain goods or services, in terms of water consumption and pollution.”

I suppose then, that just as we must be mindful of our human activities that release carbon dioxide gases into the atmosphere, we must also be conscious of our day-to-day water footprint.

Dr. Dayrit illustrated water footprint thus: Imagine 1 kilogram of beef. That amount of meat actually has, according to him, a water footprint of 16,000 liters of water. Thus, eating beef will increase a beef-eater’s water footprint, whereas a vegetarian diet will have a smaller water footprint.

I suppose then, too, that aside from Buddhism’s peace-with-animate-beings lesson, another case for turning vegetarian would be to lessen one’s water footprint.

Dr. Dayrit’s article, by the way, can also be found at the book Agenda for Hope.

An “Aha! Moment” in Communication while in my Environment, Culture and Society class

I am a M.A. Communication student interested in environmental issues. Yesterday, while my teacher was telling us how most Western societies treat the environment as an entity to be conquered and used (totally the opposite from the East, where Buddhism was born), I began thinking of how my English Literature classes in high school and college spoke of conflict in terms of Man vs. Man, Man vs.  Society, Man vs. Self, Man vs. Machine and (gasp!) Man vs. Nature.

We see this Man vs. Nature conflict frequently in Hollywood movies, the most recent of which is “2012“. I think it is interesting not just how Westerners regard nature as an adversary, but how this idea and culture is spread in light of globalization. How much impact do Hollywood movies have in other cultures, especially those in Eastern, developing countries? And what kinds of impact do these movies have?

Ah, that is research that excites me. I. Will. Investigate. I guess, if no other compelling issue catches my interest, that someone now has a topic for her individual paper in class! LOL! =)

Seven green cellphones

I found this great article about seven green cellphones that are made from recycled materials and are solar-powered. Although my phone isn’t broken yet, I would consider getting a green phone when the need arises.

I once saw this news feature on CNN (or was it BBC?) that detailed how the tech gadgets we throw away accumulates and pollutes the environment. For one, the hardware isn’t biodegradable. And then there’s the battery leakage issue. If you just dump all those used cellphone batteries on some landfill, those nasty chemicals would seep through the soil, and somehow end up on the fruits and veggies you’re eating. If we do the Math, that means…possible cancer and other diseases. Yikes!

These green phones should be made available in the Philippines. Another social enterprise idea, anyone? =)

I did it after all!

It turns out I was part of Blog Action Day after all! Woo-hoo! =)

That’s because Ditzy Mitzie somehow forgot about that little thing called timezones. So when I lamented yesterday that it’s already October 16 on my side of the world, it was just October 15 where the Blog Action Day peeps were! Coolness. =)

This morning when I checked my mail, I found this (I’m posting an excerpt only)  from Robin Beck, lead organizer of Blog Action Day 2009:

“Hey bloggers,

You did it!

Yesterday you and bloggers in 155 countries across six continents wrote about a single issue that impacts us all, and turned Blog Action Day 2009 into one of the largest social change events ever held on the web.

Your participation helped change the conversation and showed the power of the web to connect people across the world who despite their varied backgrounds have one shared desire: to make a difference. According to blogpulse, we increased the number of posts about climate change on a given day by 500%, and CNN wrote a great article covering the excitement and diversity of today’s event across the web and around the world.”

Happiness. =)

Robin then moved on to say that the full recap of yesterday’s Action can be found here.

He also reminded us Bloggers that there are still “ongoing opportunities for involvement” especially at the upcoming International Day of Climate Action on October 24. “And we hope you’ll stay with us,” he said.

Okiedokie. I’m there! =)