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Friday, July 29, 2011

Death Bell (Gosa) 2008

As I have previously examined with Whispering Corridors (1998), the schoolgirl ghost horror film is a prevalent and perhaps necessary form of Korean horror which contrary to the typical depiction of young woman in the horror genre, presents a vehicle for the representation of Sonyeo, that is to say the ‘sensitivity’ of young girls. What we expect from schoolgirls in horror films, in Hollywood and also in Japan (where the schoolgirl look is a particularly exportable fetish), is precociousness and promiscuity. K-horror dabbles in sexuality but often in more oblique ways, like Memento Mori (1999), which explores the ghostly ramifications of homosexual relationship between two teenage girls and the social alienation that precedes it.

Schoolgirl horror
Not two minutes into Death Bell there is a close-up shot of a young girl’s white panties as her period quickly stains them with blood. Despite all the horrific imagery that follows in the film, this is probably the most shocking of all. Upon viewing this my initial thought was that this film would be more sexual than it’s predecessors and may explore new ground. But ultimately, aside from the high concept generic mash-up of ghostly horror, murder mystery, and torture porn, Death Bell does follow the same beaten path as the Whispering Corridors series and others have before.

The plot is simple, an elite high school class of 20 pupils are tormented by a vicious Saw-like killer who poses them questions and riddles, which if left unanswered or not solved in a timely manner, will result in the gory death of one of their classmates. After a while it becomes evident that the reason behind this carnage stems from the unsolved death of a girl in the school two years prior. During it’s brief and well-paced 85 minute running time, there is no need for much more plot than this and besides the expository first act and denouement the film contents itself with moving on from one horrific set piece to the next.

Lee Beom-su as Teacher Kim
This may sound like a snub but director Yoon Hong-seun, who was also the writer, exhibits a deft handling of the fairly straightforward proceedings. The film is a potent cocktail of memorable horror staples and is edited in a breathless, visceral, and exuberant style which does it many favors. It may be fair to say that the brief and flighty nature of the film allows it to succeed in glossing over a few mistakes or low points that occur here and there although the strong production values and good performances, especially Lee Beom-su (Mr. Gam’s Victory; Au Revoir UFO, both 2004) as the affable and friendly teacher Chang-wook, make up for this.

The film touches on a couple of themes including Korea’s obsession with good academic results but it does not serve as a comprehensive commentary on the state of affairs for education in the nation. The climax inevitably evokes a lot of history and by employing some decidedly Korean melodramatics it reminds us of Korea’s considerable historical trauma without directly referencing it.

Death by washing machine
I would recommend Death Bell to any fan of horror or any general enthusiast of Korean cinema as I believe it has the ability to please both with it’s confident production style and, if not necessarily memorable, its colorful take on the generic territories it occupies. Although some have dubbed this as torture porn (a sub-genre which I despise) I think this film has a little more in common with Battle Royale (2000), although it is nowhere near as original.

Reviews and features on Korean film appear regularly on Modern Korean Cinema.  For film news, external reviews, and box office analysis, take a look at the Korean Box Office UpdateKorean Cinema News and the Weekly Review Round-up, which appear weekly on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings (GMT+1).

To keep up with the best in Korean film you can sign up to our RSS Feed, like us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter.

Thursday, July 28, 2011

Memories of Murder: Part VIII - Conclusion

“The recovery of the self remains as the objective in these films, but … the subjectivity reconstituted or denied in the end is the man’s alone" this may be true of the films of Park Kwang-su and Jang Sung-woo in the late 1980s and early 1990s but Memories does not abide by this strict dictum. In the end Det. Park is left where he started and while he has moved on, clearly nothing has been resolved and the past is as confusing as ever. More importantly, since we know nothing of his personal trauma beyond the work-related serial killings investigation, it would be inaccurate to say that his position at the end of the film’s narrative is a conclusion to his character’s progression. For the film is scarcely about the individual, he is only a symbolic vessel, a metaphorical amalgamation of the post-traumatic masculine id of South Korean males. His experience during the narrative is not his life story; it is a window into a frail national psychology circa 1986. Unlike Peppermint Candy (1999), for example, the bulk of the film (everything expect for the coda) happens in too short of a timeframe and showcases too few personal interactions and relationships to be a comprehensive portrait of one man, it is about a time and a place. Det. Park is our guide to the past and through him we must experience the nation’s subjective conscious. Characters like Park "provided an unconscious sense of urgency through their inability to articulate and their ineffectuality that metaphorically was symptomatic of the terror and trauma ushered by the military regimes“. They continue to do so in the new millennium in films like Memories.

"The l980s was the decade of post-trauma - one that anxiously awaited the replacement of a father-figure of South Korea and the implementation of a social structure alternative to capitalist relations, both of which would not materialize.”

An unsecured crime scene
Memories, made in 2003, unfolds in this period of post-trauma as a means of recuperation. Like other national cinemas, according to Teshome Gabriel “the past is necessary for the understanding of the present, and serves as a strategy for the future". South Korean cinema is not a third world cinema by any means. However, its turbulent past has created somewhat similar anxieties for filmmakers to elucidate upon. The past is the primary point of contention in a large proportion of contemporary South Korean cinema. Most films ignore the past and focus on an idealized present but many cannot let go of a past so traumatic that it can’t help but shape the ever-changing present and by extension their narratives.

Trying to save the evidence
There is an early scene in Memories which showcases the confusion of a society within a very difficult moment of collective trauma. It is a virtuoso two minute steadicam shot that is minutely choreographed and perfectly executed, furthermore it includes a wealth of information. We stand by Park's side, who is smoking a cigarette in a field as he is shouting instructions and giving out to officers for not having roped the area off. The music from the previous scene has trailed off at this point. Another officer calls him over to the dirt road where he shows Park evidence, some footprints. Park circles the area with a stick and enquires as to the whereabouts of the forensics team. He heads back down to the field still shouting questions and instructions; he also refers to the crime scene as "total chaos". We then see a number of cars parked by the main road and notice officers and civilians freely roaming the crime scene. A new character, the chief inspector of police, makes his grand entrance by falling down from the road onto the field, immediately undermining his presence. Park notices him and utters "Jesus, look at him" under his breath. At this point, a number of little children run by him into the field and he shouts at them to leave. Now we move to the centre of the field and we see the victim, dressed in red and dead on the ground. A number of people have gathered around her, including children. The inspectors start to give out about the presence of reporters. They share some brief words before Park hears a tractor behind them. He turns his head and sees that it is heading straight for the footprints. He calls out to it to stop and then starts jogging over to it but the driver never hears him and destroys the evidence. Park discards his cigarette in frustration and is then informed of the arrival of the forensics team, Park curses them as he makes his way to that side of the field only to see them slide down as well. Park calls them "sliding fools". The chief inspector is back in shot and seems somewhat bewildered, he turns around and as he is more or less facing the camera says "What’s going on?" and this is the end of the shot/scene.

"What's going on?"
In this scene, we are given much evidence to condemn the procedural skills of the investigators. Nothing seems to be done right and no protocol is being followed, it is slightly humorous to witness the bumbling efforts of these detectives but the muted colors and the grotesque sight of the corpse severely offset this notion. It is telling to see that no one is listening to these supposed figures of authority because to them all they stand for is subjugation to a hated dictatorship and way of life. They are not attacked since they are not mean-spirited and do not impose hardships on the civilians, they are simply ignored. The scene also underscores the uneasy relation between police and the media. We know beforehand that this is a small town and that these were the first serial killings in South Korea, so it can be fair to state that they had simply never dealt with this type of situation before. This is evident throughout the film, as everyone seems to get a little better at their job as the case wears on but at the same time we are also predisposed with the knowledge that they will never accomplish their mission.

A black hole, symbolic of a shadowy past or uncertain future?
The climactic scene, which is set in 1986, shows Detective Suh, after having seen the dead body of the little girl that he had grown to know over the narrative, drag the prime suspect to the train tracks by a tunnel and mercilessly beat him. Having never seen him use violence before, this heavy outburst is all the more shocking. He has become a desperate man and is at his wits end. As he beats him, there is a shot of the tunnel that eerily moves zooms in. It is very ominous and represents the end of the narrative, a big black hole. Det. Park comes down waiving the document whose content is expected to inculpate the suspect, but this turns out to be inconclusive. This drives Suh over the edge and he is about to shoot the suspect but Park stops him and then stares into the would-be killer’s eyes, desperately trying to figure him out but finds nothing and lets him go. A train comes and separates them and once it has past the suspect is already escaping through the tunnel. Suh runs down and shoots and Park stops him again. They both look down the tunnel and see the man lying on the ground, seemingly dead. But than he gets up and runs into the dark, he is a confusing enigma. The truth is lost forever. It is an extremely dramatic scene which shows us how these male characters have hit the end and may not recuperate any male subjectivity. Suh, as the supporting character has a neater arc where he does change, a little for the worse. Systems he trusted in have collapsed around him and have left him empty. Whereas Park, as the more emblematic character of a generation, hasn’t really changed throughout the narrative but after what he has seen through his eyes (as they are constantly in close-up throughout the film), the trauma has built up so much that he is forced to move on, as we see in the coda.

Searching for answers in vain
After a few shots which briefly establish his family life and line of work, Park stops off at the field which was the site of the first murder. It is a beautiful, sunny day and he slowly walks over to the ditch where the narrative began. He crouches down and peers into it much the same way as he did at the beginning of the film and after a while, a young girl asks what he is looking for, he says nothing and than she mentions that a man had recently done the same thing and had stated that he had "done something here long ago". At first, Park is panicky and quickly his Detective instincts kick in. He asks the girl questions about the man, her answers are less than concrete and after looking around for a while with his darting eyes, Park looks directly into the camera, lost and bereft of answers, and it is here that the film ends.

Back at the scene of the crime, back on the road
Aside from being a visual bookend to the film, this scene does effectively adumbrate the journey, or lack thereof, that Park has undergone. After having extricated himself from the force he comes back to the scene of the crime, seemingly just like the criminal, and although presented with this new information he still lacks the knowledge of how to process it and thus he looks directly at us, the only moment that the fourth wall is broken in the film, as if he is pleading us to help him find his path. "The subjects in Korean painting never seem to avoid eye contact with the viewer. On the contrary, it seems that they accept their role of represented subject, and an audience must accept their role of viewer. This is true also of cinema”, one could side with this interpretation with regards to the final shot, as the intertextuality of the film anchors this as a South Korean film as opposed to just a genre film. By the end of his trajectory, Park is unable to recuperate his subjectivity on his own. It takes very little for the historical trauma he experienced to overwhelm him again and he is incapable of knowing what to do about it. This is why he must end in the narrative exactly where he started because he cannot find his own path, he cannot go anywhere and he has no real destination. While his journey in the narrative has been entirely cyclical, in the end, through his frustrations and failings, we the spectators have gone on an incredible and complex journey with him which has enabled us to delve deep into the repercussions of an immense collective national trauma. We begin and end on a road and like so many characters of the Korean New Wave before him, Park finds himself on it, constantly in search of a home which has been destroyed.

Park looks directly into the camera
Therefore, the film offers up the conclusion that there is no easy way to deal with the serious psychological trauma which has stemmed from countless historical atrocities that South Korean males have suffered in the 20th century. Many people cannot simply forget about these traumatic events and their lives and behavior are heavily informed by this scarred history. However, it is also not simply ignored, with dozens of films released every year that deal with these intense psychological and sociological issues. The fact that these demons are being faced in such a direct fashion is proof that as a nation South Korea is ready to move on from their traumatic history and clearly have successfully been pulling away from it in recent times. In terms of the future of South Korean cinema, it remains to be seen how these historical events will be dealt with by subsequent generations that may not have been personally scarred by these events. Although since social problems are so keenly addressed in contemporary South Korean cinema, it is difficult to imagine that these modes of filmmaking will be forgotten or cast off any time soon.

Monday, July 25, 2011

Korean Cinema News (07/18-07/24, 2011)

Lots of news this week including some interviews with directors Jang Hoon and Lee Joon-ik, casting news, festival items, and english-language home market release announcements.

After recently blasting past the 7 million viewer mark, Sunny is set to reappear in cinemas with a special director's cut on the 28th. It will feature 10 minutes of additional footage and will screen in roughly 30 theaters around the country. (, July 24, 2011)

A number of sports film are set to hit Korean screens throughout the remainder of the year, including Fight, Pacemaker, Champ, Korea, and The Perfect Game. (Joong Ang Daily, July 18, 2011)

Popular Korean actress Bae Doona, of Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (2002) and The Host (2006) fame, has been cast in the hotly anticipated adaptation of Cloud Atlas. (, July 18, 2011)

After recently acquiring a Vietnamese exhibition chain, CJ has also inherited the company's legal troubles as many companies sued it for allegedly setting minimum prices and other conditions. (The Hollywood Reporter, July 19, 2011)

Eros International, the Indian film producer and exhibitor, is planning to release Endhiran in South Korea on 50 screens. (Media Mughals, July 19, 2011)

Moon Si-hyun, one of Kim Ki-duk's former assistant directors, has just revealed her debut film at PiFan. The film, Sins of Fathers deals with broken families and the disillusioned middle class. (The Hollywood Reporter, July 20, 2011)

The world's first QR Code Film Festival will make content available online and accessible through the use of QR codes, a new form of digital bar codes that can be scanned by smartphones. (PC Advisor, July 21, 2011)

The Korean Film Council (KOFIC) recently suggested a contract for cinemas and distributors that aims to ensure a minimum screening period for films and alter the proportion of profit shares. It is not a recommendation and sanctions will not be imposed. (The Korea Times, July 21, 2011)

Kwak Kyung-taek (Friend, 2001; Typhoon, 2005) cast Kwon Sang-woo in a new melodrama which is due to hit screens in September. Kwak is normally known for action films but admits a soft side for melodrama which he wishes to explore in his new film Painted. (The Korea Times, July 21, 2011)

Korea has been selected as the guest country for the Guanajuato International Film Festival in Mexico, which will be held July 22 – 31. A whopping 76 Korea films will be on display, including retrospectives on Bong Joon-ho and Kim Dong-won. (, July 21, 2011)

Hong Sang-soo's recent Cannes entry The Day He Arrives is set to open the 5th Cinema Digital Seoul Film Festival. The festival will screen 98 films from 32 countries. (, July 21, 2011)

Elizabeth Shim reflects on the Sea of Revenge spotlight at the recent New York Asian Film Festival. In particular she discusses closing night film The Yellow Sea. (Korean Culture Service NY, July 21, 2011)

Terracotta, a great distributor for Asian films in the UK, is launching a new sub-label that will focus exclusively on horror. Terror-cotta will release the Korean Death Bell (2008) as its first title. (Twitch, July 22, 2011)

Winners were announced for the 15th Pucheon International Fantastic Film Festival and included: Best Film for Rubber, Best Korean Independent Film and Best Asian Genre Film for Bloody Fight in Iron-Rock Valley, and Best Director for Na Hong-jin. (Twitch, July 22, 2011)

Kim Jee-won's revered A Bittersweet Life  (2005) will be coming to Blu-ray on August 30th, courtesy of Korean distributor Content Zone. This English-subbed version has faced numerous problems before finally seeing the light of day. (Twitch, July 22, 2011)

Recently it is no longer marquee names that are attracting audiences in South Korea. Ensemble films and relatively low-budget have been competitive in securing a large share of the market. (The Hankyoreh, July 23, 2011)

After movies, TV, and pop, comics may be the next hook in the Korean Wave. Various comic book source materials have been made into films and TV shows and with the support of festivals and trade associations they seem to be on the rise again. (Arirang, July 23, 2011)

Closer Look at The Front Line
The Joon Ang Daily provides more info on new War drama The Front Line and interviews its director Jang Hoon. (Joong Ang Daily, July 22, 2011)

Conversation with Lee Joon-ik
Lee Joon-ik discusses his retirement, his latest film Battlefield Heroes, and planting trees in the desert in Mongolia. (Twitch, July 22, 2011)

A pair of new trailers this week including one for the director's cut of the enormously popular Sunny.

Harry Potter held its lead in a crowded marketplace and has now accumulated close to 3 million admissions. Meanwhile The Front Line (550,000) and Quick (430,000) opened strongly even if they were unable to unseat the bespectacled wizard, look to them to perform strongly in coming weeks. Sunny is dying down after reaching the 7 million mark but still added 70,000 viewers this weekend to its tally. (, July 24, 2011)

Korean Cinema News is a weekly feature which provides wide-ranging news coverage on Korean cinema, including but not limited to: features; festival news; interviews; industry news; trailers; posters; and box office. It appears every Wednesday morning (GMT+1) on Modern Korean Cinema. For other weekly features, take a look at the Korean Box Office Update and the Weekly Review Round-upReviews and features on Korean film also appear regularly on the site.

To keep up with the best in Korean film you can sign up to our RSS Feed, like us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter.

Sunday, July 24, 2011

Korean Cinema News (07/11-07/17, 2011)

A good amount of news this week, including updates on American films tied to Korea, blockbusters opening locally, film festivals, and a great article from Tom Giammarco. Interview, trailers, and box office at the bottom.

Josh Brolin First Name Linked to Spike Lee's Oldboy
After being confirmed last week, Spike Lee's rendition of Oldboy (2003) is rumored to star Josh Brolin. (, July 12, 2011)

Quick Opens in Korea
Motorcycle summer blockbuster Quick opens this weekend in South Korea and will most likely provide cheap, forgettable thrills. (The Korea Times, July 12, 2011)

The Last Stand on Track at Lionsgate
The Last Stand is now a confirmed project at Lionsgate pictures, they will have domestic and international distribution rights. The pic will aslo be produced by Lorenzo di Bonaventura through Bonaventura Pictures. (Business of Cinema, July 13, 2011)

Indian Women's Film Festival Spotlights Korean Cinema
The 4th Samsung Women's International Film Festival which takes place in Chennai, India, from 15-21 July, will feature a section film by acclaimed artist Park Chan-ok. (The Hollywood Reporter, July 13, 2011)

What May Be Borne Out of a Clash Between Kim Jee-woon and Arnie
Korean helmer Kim Jee-woon and returning action star Arnold Schwarzenegger are set to work together on The Last Stand. Given their strong personalities and divergent backgrounds, what will each bring to the project? (indieWIRE, July 13, 2011)

Sector 7 Will Showcase Korean 3D
The filmmakers of the upcoming blockbuster Sector 7 are hoping that the film will showcase Korea's nascent 3D capabilities and believe it should be able to compete on the same level as Hollywood films. (The Korea Herald, July 13, 2011)

City Hunters Star Meets with Hollywood Producer
American film producer Terence Chang flew to Korea to meet with Lee Min-ho, star of the top-rated City Hunters K-Drama. (soompi, July 13, 2011)

Jang Hoon Returns With The Front Line
Jang Hoon's third feature, after Rough Cut (2008) and Secret Reunion (2010), is a big-budget with an A-list cast. More than anything The Front Line showcases the brutality and depravity of war. (The Korea Times, July 14, 2011)

Cats in Korean Horror
Tom Giammarco examines the history of ghostly cats in Korean cinema. Armed with his encyclopedic knowledge of Classic Korean film he runs through a series of films from the 60s, 70s, and 80s.(, July 14, 2011)

Secret Expose Being Shot in North Korea
An undercover team of journalists are smuggling out footage of everyday life in North Korea. They have been trained and are being lead by a Japanese reporter. (Radio Australia, July 15, 2011)

Dubbing Takes Over With Rise of 3D Films
Korean viewers, who normally watch American films with subtitles are taking a different tack with 3D films as many of these are now being dubbed. (Joong Ang Daily, July 15, 2011)

Korean Films on Display at Dallas Asian Film Festival
The Asian Film Festival of Dallas got underway and will showcase a number of Korean films, including: Bedevilled, Cyrano Agency, Dance Town, Enemy at the Dead End, and Midnight FM. (, July 15, 2011)

PiFan Gets Underway
The 15th Puchon (Bucheon) International Fantastic Film Festival (PiFan) got off to a good start as 2000 people attended the opening ceremony. Many shows have sold out in advance and their is great selection of Korea and foreign films on display. (The Korea Times, July 17, 2011)

Korean Wave Stars in Movies
A comprehensive list of Hallyu idols from K-Pop or K-Dramas who have crossed over into movie roles. (soompi, July 17, 2011)

Kim Jae-hwan Talks About New Documentary
Documentarian Kim Jae-hwan discusses his new documentary The True-taste Show, he believes that documentary that draw their focus on the media will be more prevalent in the future. (, July 12, 2011)

A pair of new trailers, including one for one of Korea's most successful and long-running franchises.

Harry Potter Draws in the Crowds

The last Harry Potter opened big and has so far scored 1.7 million viewers. A huge figure but not as impressive as the recent record-breaking Transformers, which held well with over 600,000 admissions and is very close to the 7 million mark. Sunny is also a fraction behind that mark as it continues to do well with nearly 200,000 more spectators. The Cat played well in its sophomore frame and Quick and The Front Line sold a good number of preview tickets in advance of their full release this coming week. (, July 17, 2011)

Korean Cinema News is a weekly feature which provides wide-ranging news coverage on Korean cinema, including but not limited to: features; festival news; interviews; industry news; trailers; posters; and box office. It appears every Wednesday morning (GMT+1) on Modern Korean Cinema. For other weekly features, take a look at the Korean Box Office Update and the Weekly Review Round-upReviews and features on Korean film also appear regularly on the site.

To keep up with the best in Korean film you can sign up to our RSS Feed, like us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter.

Thursday, July 14, 2011

Villain and Widow (I-cheung-eui Ak-dang) 2010

Once again I’ve come head to head with a genre-bending Korean film and as usual I feel it necessary to comment on this fact. Villain and Widow is Son Jae-gon’s third feature, after The Man Who Saw Too Much (2000) and My Scary Girl (2006) and it is, as others before me have noted, perfectly uncategorizable. Being so used to the schizophrenic generic tendencies of South Korea cinema, this one actually seemed a little different. What I mean by that is that while it embodies many genres it doesn’t veer aggressively between them as is the norm. Instead it is a film which dares you to pigeonhole it, knowing full well you will come up empty-handed. Films like Save the Green Planet (2003) and The Host (2006) are both criticized and lauded for jumping with both feet from one genre to another as each new scene unfolds. I personally love that fresh style of filmmaking and find it invigorating and exciting, if done well. I suppose it could only last so long as the local film industry developed.

Han Suk-kyu and Kim Hye-soo
Villain and Widow is a film that seems to have taken the next step. Dare I say it, it transcends genre. Korean cinema understands genre and plays with it (and abuses it) with the utmost skill and it seems to me that Son is so acutely aware of the various tropes on offer that he has managed to mix and match them as he pleases but in doing so he has made something that doesn’t necessarily draw attention to itself. The previously mentioned films are nearly Brechtian in their blithe disregard for generic consistency and that can take you out of the experience if you resist it. In this film Son has managed to weave together elements from across the board to create a balanced narrative. I am very curious to see whether subsequent films will manage the same feat.

Han Suk-kyu plays Chang-in, a thief who is trying to get his hands on a valuable Chinese teacup that is somewhere in widower Yeon-joo (Kim Hye Soo)’s house, unbeknownst to her and her ex-child model daughter. The widower is dealing with depression, the child is an emotional wreck who is bullied in school, and the thief is up against a powerful, violent, and immature corporate heir. All the while there is the constant forward momentum as he tries to uncover the teacup not to mention some kind of relationship developing between the two leads.

Chang-in keeps getting stuck in the basement
If that sounds like a lot, it is. Throw in a young cop with his sights set on Yeon-joo, a nosy old neighbour, and Chang-in’s older partner in crime, and you’re left with too many strands, a number of which ultimately fall through the cracks. Despite this, the narrative is very easy to follow and Son quite skillfully guides us through this convoluted comedy/thriller/drama/etc. The film takes many unexpected turns as the situation becomes increasingly more complicated and it is full of inventive set pieces, not least a successfully protracted gag in which Chang-in keeps getting stuck in the basement. The film is never less than clever but it can be a little much at times although it also feels slight. It sounds like a contradiction in terms but I think it comes down to a lack of urgency in the narrative (save for the crime element) and the considerable depth of the plot.

The characters are well-rounded and quite unique. While Han is perfectly cast as the slimy and debonair burglar, it is Kim who steals the show as the fragile and complicated Yeon-joo. Her daughter is also well portrayed by Ji Woo and is quite an interesting character, having been a successful child model/actress she is now on the verge of becoming a teenager and is already all washed-up. She is considered ugly and wants plastic surgery, which is something that gets a lot of press in the country. It is a little distressing to see this young girl who already seems so damaged, not to mention the death of her father and the bizarre behavior of her mother.

Ji Woo as the daughter
I didn’t love Villain and Widow but I did enjoy it as it reminded me of films like The Ladykillers (1955) in the way that it managed to incorporate dark subject matter in what plays out like a mild-mannered comedy. I look forward to Son’s next film and I hope that he, as well as other Korean filmmakers, can successfully build on this evolution of hybrid filmmaking and provide us with some well-made and balanced offerings.

Reviews and features on Korean film appear regularly on Modern Korean Cinema.  For film news, external reviews, and box office analysis, take a look at the Korean Box Office UpdateKorean Cinema News and the Weekly Review Round-up, which appear weekly on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings (GMT+1).

To keep up with the best in Korean film you can sign up to our RSS Feed, like us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter.

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Korean Cinema News (07/04-07/10, 2011)

A lot of box office news this week as well as some festival news. Now that I'm back from holiday the Korean Cinema News updates will return to a regular cycle.

Numerous indie films are doing well at the box office while supposedly hot 3D movies losing traction. The Journals of Musan, with its troves of awards, and others are performing strongly at home and abroad. (The Hankyoreh, July 4, 2011)

Korea's 2008 oscar entry Crossing, which depicts a family's struggles in the border region of the North, is a big hot among movie fans in North Korea. (Daily NK, July 5, 2011)

After passing through many hands, the remake of Oldboy (2003) is set to be made by acclaimed director Spike Lee. Mark Protosevich is writing and the film is getting ready for production at Mandate. (Twitch Film, July 5, 2011)

Upcoming blockbuster Sector 7 will be Korea's first 3D IMAX film, it is set for release on August 4. (MarketWatch, July 7, 2011)

Na Hong-jin's sophomore feature The Yellow Sea has been selected for the 44th Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival. (, July 7, 2011)

New trends seem to be affecting the Korean box office as rookie directors and independent films are generating more revenue while vehicles with supposedly reliable box office draws are disappointing at the charts. (The Chosun Ilbo, July 8, 2011)

While overall revenue was down 2.3%. Korean films upped their market share to 48% and saw their revenue rise by 9.9% in the first two quarters in 2011. Given that the back half of the year is packed with promising films this bodes well for the industry. (KOFIC, June 8, 2011)

Megastar Media Company, Vietnam's largest exhibition company, has been purchased by CJ Entertainment for $73.6 million. CJ is aggressively expanding to foreign markets with 7 screens already operational in China as well as one in the US. (Screen Daily, July 8, 2011)

Fantasia is to feature a Korean spotlight section that will feature five films: Bleak Night, Haunters, Hello Ghost, Invasion of Alien Bikini, and Petty Romance. (, July 8, 2011)

Hopes are high for Leafie, A Hen Into the Wild, as it courts foreign buyers and may bring about a renaissance for Korean animation. (, July 8, 2011)

Hong Sang-soo's next film will feature none other than the revered French actress Isabelle Huppert, who had previously expressed an interest in collaborating with the acclaimed filmmaker. (, July 10, 2011)

4D theaters are enticing viewers in Korea with fog, water, shaking seats, and smells. A multiplex with this technology is expected to be built in New York and could take off in Europe if successful. (, July 10, 2011)

An esteemed figure in Korea, Darcy Paquet is well known to anybody with a serious interest in Korean film. In this Korea Herald profile, his contributions to the expansion of Korean cinema are lauded. (The Korea Herald, July 11, 2011)

A piece on actor Cha Seung-won, who has been very busy of late, on his process for creating characters and his day to day routines. (, July 10, 2011)

Lots of english subbed trailers this week, including for some highly anticipated summer blockbusters.

My Heart Beats (Eng Subs)

Quick (Eng Subs)

Sector 7 (Eng Subs)

Transformers 3 pulled in another 1,670,000 million viewers this weekend to come within a hair's breath of the 6 million mark. Sunny grew again to 270,000 while The Cat had a strong opening with 300,000. Poongsan also grew while White dipped slightly, both are performing well. (, July 10, 2011)

Korean Cinema News is a weekly feature which provides wide-ranging news coverage on Korean cinema, including but not limited to: features; festival news; interviews; industry news; trailers; posters; and box office. It appears every Wednesday morning (GMT+1) on Modern Korean Cinema. For other weekly features, take a look at the Korean Box Office Update and the Weekly Review Round-upReviews and features on Korean film also appear regularly on the site.

To keep up with the best in Korean film you can sign up to our RSS Feed, like us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter.

Korean Cinema News (06/27-07/03, 2011)

Not picking up too much news as I'm off on holiday but a few items concerning the NYAFF (which I attended), including a great, and also a little sad, interview with co-founder Grady Hendrix.

Director Ryoo Seung-wan, whose current film The Unjust is impressing viewers around the world, will host a masterclass on action film staging and choreography. (Twitch, June 27, 2011)

The Journals of Musan as added yet another award to its pedigree as it picked up the Grand Prize at the 47th Pesaro Film Festival. (Yonhap News Agency, June 29, 2011)

Famed UK designer Giles Deacon, known for his prints, has teamed up with LG, the Korean electronics manufacturer, to create a pair of designer 3D glasses which are available now on a limited basis. (HDTVtest, June 29, 2011)

5 Films To Watch Out for in Second Half of 2011
Davdi Teszar of The Korea Blog picks 5 Korean films to watch out for in the back half of 2011: My Way, The Front Line, Sector 7, Only You, and La Quotidienne. (The Korea Blog, June 30, 2011)

Kim Hee-jeon has been named international sales executive responsible for the US and Europe by CJ E&M. (Film Business Asia, July 1, 2011)

The New York Asian Film Festival kicked off on the 1st and will feature a slew of Asian films, including 12 Korean titles, and numerous guests until it comes to a close on the 14th. (, July 1, 2011)

The Many Projects of Producer/Director Yun Je-gyun
A discussion with the producer of the upcoming Sector 7 and director of Haeundae (2008) of the many projects he has going at the moment. (The Dong-a Ilbo, June 28, 2011)

Conversation with NYAFF Co-Founder Grady Hendrix
A great interview with one of the co-founders of the NYAFF in which he discusses the origins of the festival and how hard it is to keep it going. (Cinespect, June 28, 2011)

Just one this week and due to the amount of unsubbed trailers, I will instead mark those that have them in future.

Transformers 3 Dominates
Transformers 3 broke a lot of records this weekend as it raked in 3 million admissions by the end of Sunday. Sunny still going strong as it breaks the 6 million mark with 200,000 new admissions. Both Poongsan and White are showing a little staying power as they post decent numbers. (, July 3, 2011)

Korean Cinema News is a weekly feature which provides wide-ranging news coverage on Korean cinema, including but not limited to: features; festival news; interviews; industry news; trailers; posters; and box office. It appears every Wednesday morning (GMT+1) on Modern Korean Cinema. For other weekly features, take a look at the Korean Box Office Update and the Weekly Review Round-upReviews and features on Korean film also appear regularly on the site.

To keep up with the best in Korean film you can sign up to our RSS Feed, like us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter.

Friday, July 8, 2011

Battlefield Heroes (평양성, Pyeongyangseong) 2011

The Villagers

Lee Jun-ik has somewhat hastily proclaimed that he has retired from the director’s chair following the poor performance of his latest film Battlefield Heroes. He has made seven films and by far the one he is most famous for is The King and the Clown (2005), a gay period comedy drama that came out of nowhere to become the highest grossing film in the peninsula’s history up until that point with over 12 million admissions. After that kind of success it must be hard to follow it up, especially since a director like Lee is not known for making high-falutin blockbusters that you would typically expect to score big at the box office, he is known for making high concept comedies and in no film market at any time in history has that been a recipe for surefire success. In each of the three years that followed The King and the Clown, Lee kept busy and released a film: Radio Star (2006), The Happy Life (2007), and Sunny (2008). Each of the aforementioned were solid midlevel players but none cracked their year’s top 10. Then in 2010 he released Blades of Blood, which has been somewhat popular overseas but a significant commercial failure at home.

This year he's back with Battlefield Heroes which once again has not been met with the breakout success that had been hoped for and following its decent performance (it was by no means a flop) he has publicly declared that he is hanging his hat, this is after having previously said he would do so were his next film not a big hit. This seems to me a little rash and I worry that a big-budget war comedy was a reckless film to gamble on, but we shall see. I recently caught up with respected film critic Chris Bourne at the NYAFF and he believes that Lee will make a return after another brief hiatus, I am inclined to agree and I certainly hope he will.

As for the film itself, also known as Pyongyang Castle, it is a big-budget war comedy set in the 600s and the plot consists of the Silla kingdom and Chinese Tang dynasty banding together to overthrow the Goguryeo kingdom by laying siege to their castle. Silla’s strategist is worried that Tang will conquer them also after winning the battle and so conspires with Goguryeo in various twists and turns. The story is somewhat straightforward and yet it is also convoluted and a bit contrived, although the fact of the matter is that it is all a stage for the bawdy comedy to play out on.

The Rice Bowl

The cast has many recognizable faces (if you’re well-versed in Korean cinema) and a number of great cameos including one from the great Hwang Jeong-min. The problem with reviewing a film like Battlefield Heroes for Western audiences, is that I feel a lot may be lost in translation. While I enjoyed it, I know there must be a number of things that I missed which is a shame but the film still has a much to offer. The comedy is often low-brow and when it is verbal it can be very quickfire, which means it can be a little difficult to follow with subtitles. My favorite parts of the film featured the villagers who were ‘drafted’ into the Silla camp and their antics. There is a funny scene where they all appear at the Goguryeo gate in a big rice pot, a play on the Trojan Horse, and pop out comically trying to persuade them to surrender for some stores of rice. The scene gets even more ridiculous when it breaks into a karaoke song, this didn’t bother me too much but I imagine it may be too silly for some.

Battlefield Heroes features a number of well-choreographed fight scenes and the action is very convincing, much more so than you would expect for a comedy. This does lead to a slight identity crisis on the part of the film as it juggles comedy, action, and melodrama but it never veers too far out of control and remains firmly a comedy. Ultimately the film was a little slight for me and I wouldn’t recommend it to casual viewers of Korean cinema. It didn’t leave me with much to go away with and was at times forgettable, but it was worth watching and I really hope to see more from Lee in the future.

Large-scale war scenes played for laughs

Reviews and features on Korean film appear regularly on Modern Korean Cinema.  For film news, external reviews, and box office analysis, take a look at the Korean Box Office UpdateKorean Cinema News and the Weekly Review Round-up, which appear weekly on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings (GMT+1).

To keep up with the best in Korean film you can sign up to our RSS Feed, like us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter.

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Haunters (Cho-neung-ryeok-ja) 2010

Science fiction is a genre that hasn’t gotten too much play in South Korean cinema, outside of monster movies (The Host, 2006), and disaster films (Tidal Wave, 2009) there are perhaps only half a dozen films that could be categorized as science fiction. One, 2009: Lost Memories (2002), is set in the near future but in an alternate universe where Japan sided with the allies in World War II and kept it’s prewar colonies, which include Korea. The only other prominent example and certainly the one that is best known to Western audiences is the delirious, deranged, and brilliant Save the Green Planet (2003), while not a strict sci-fi, as it is equal parts horror, detective thriller, social commentary, romance, and comedy, it plays with the tropes of sci-fi in a remarkably clever fashion. Another genre that has not been seen often in Korea in superhero film, granted this is an American specialty and is a relatively recent branch of cinema. Examples in Korea include Descendants of Hong Gil-dong (2009), Jeon Woo-chi: The Taoist Wizard (2009), and A Man Who Was Superman (2007). Woochi was a remarkably successful action-comedy about a chosun-era wizard who ends up in modern day fighting creatures from the past, on the other hand Superman is a comedy drama that has a big emotional punch and features all the Superman imagery while featuring a protagonist who doesn’t actually have any powers it acts as a a superhero film as only a South Korean film could. Comic book movies however, are quite popular in Korea and include the immensely popular Oldboy (2003) and even different styles of film such as the recent romantic comedy Petty Romance (2010).

Reminiscent of 'Cinema du Look'
Haunters is all of the above and more, it is a clever sci-fi, an off-kilter superhero film, a stylish comic book movie, and an intermittently effective horror. The story is relatively simple, it starts with a dark, brooding, and malevolent prologue that shows us a child in a broken home who has the ability to control minds and does so to horrifying effect. In present day we are introduced to Gyoo-nam, a young man working in a salvage yard with his two foreign friends, after an unfortunate accident he must find new work and does so at Utopia, an oddly-named pawnshop run by Jeong-sik (played by the brilliant Byeon Hee-bong) and his daughter. Meanwhile the child from the opening, Cho-in, is now grown-up and uses his powers to live a quiet, but luxurious life. One day he robs Utopia, while everyone, including Gyoo-nam’s friends, are there. Suddenly he notices something, Gyoo-nam is immune to his power and then all hell breaks loose. The film then focuses on Gyoo-nam as he pursues Cho-in in a series of explosive set pieces.

The Last Supper
It’s a fun story if somewhat thin and features a seemingly bottomless amount of plotholes and inconsistencies but with two engaging leads, strong supporting characters, and a terrific mise-en-scene, it can excused most of its errors. As I watched it I was reminded a lot of the Cinema du Look of the 80s and 90s in French cinema, a set of fiercely contemporary, visceral, aesthetic, and post-modernist works that came from young directors such as Luc Besson, Jean-Jacques Beinex, and Leo Carax. These films favored style over substance and spectacle over narrative, equipped with visual flair they featured young, alienated characters who symbolized the marginalized youth Francois Mitterand’s France. I feel that Haunters emulates this brief movement of cinema (there were only 7 films) and as a result could probably be excused its flagrant disregard for logic as it seeks to win us over with style. One scene in the film that reminded me of the Cinema du Look was early on at the salvage yard where all the multi-cultural workers sit down for lunch in a Last Supper tableau and when asked by the lunch lady who has produced their lunch ticket, it is the Jesus stand-in who gets up. It is an odd scene that doesn’t add to the narrative but is a stylish visual reference that is in line with the aforementioned French film movement. Most of the film is also played out in seedy backwater Seoul locations, and most often at night, this mimics the Cinema du Look’s propensity for shooting in the Paris Metro in an effort to symbolize an alternative society.

Standout supporting cast
While the film always looks great, if a little dark at times, it does begin to spin its wheels a little as Gyoo-nam always goes after Cho-in, who is clearly a superior opponent, without any plan. Since this blind and frankly stupid bravery leads to the death of a lot of innocent people, it is difficult to root for our hero at times. He is a simpleton who has a good heart but seemingly little brains. Haunters features good performances from its leads (Ko-soo and Kang Dong-won of Woochi and Secret Reunion) as well as its supporting characters, especially from Abu Dod and Enes Kaya who play Gyoo-nam's Ghanaian and Turkish friends. The film is Kim Min-suk's debut work and exhibits a lot of promise for good things to come, perhaps next time he will focus a little more on the narrative. Previously he collaborated with Kim Jee-woon on the script for The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (2008), a delightful action romp which also suffers from some loose plotting. Haunters will infuriate a lot of viewers due to its inconsistencies but if you can look past the plotting there is a solid Korean multi-genre film to be enjoyed.

Reviews and features on Korean film appear regularly on Modern Korean Cinema.  For film news, external reviews, and box office analysis, take a look at the Korean Box Office UpdateKorean Cinema News and the Weekly Review Round-up, which appear weekly on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings (GMT+1).

To keep up with the best in Korean film you can sign up to our RSS Feed, like us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter.


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Monday, September 26, 2022

The Mystery of Alan Norman McBride Blitz

The Mystery of Alan Norman McBride
Sarah Fader
Publication date: November 30th 2018
Genres: Mystery, Young Adult

Pam and Emily are two sisters who live on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Emily is a born investigator and is notorious for eavesdropping on conversations she hears on the streets of New York City. One Saturday, the sisters happen to overhear two gangsters planning the murder of millionaire Alan Norman McBride. They decide it is their duty to warn McBride and stop the murderers in their tracks!

Goodreads / Amazon

Mr. McBride let out a chuckle which soon erupted into an outright guffaw. He must have laughed for over five minutes, just sitting there laughing with the iguana in his lap and Waffles and Taffy by his side.

“Murder me?” he exclaimed. “Murder me? Where ever did you get that idea?” Mr. McBride finished laughing and let out a lengthy sigh.

Emily unzipped her backpack and took out her large notebook. “Look! It’s all written down right here – the whole conversation.”

Mr. McBride took the notebook and read it to himself. “Are you trying to pull something here?” Mr. McBride furrowed his brow and looked suspiciously at the girls.

“No, Mr. McBride. It’s all true!” Lauren insisted.

“It is, hmmm?”

He thought about this for a while. While he was deep in thought, Waffles the dog jumped up and licked his face. Suddenly, Mr. McBride jumped straight up out of his chair, startling the girls.

“A-ha! They must want my papers!” He exclaimed, pointing his finger in the air.

The girls looked confused. “Papers?”

“Yes. They are extremely important to me. They contain the most valuable information I possess.”

Lauren stood up. “What kind of information?”

“You know…papers…important…infor…” He stopped short and stared out his window. “What in God’s name is that?”

Parked outside was a long black limousine with the word “Cleaners” written in white paint on the windows.

Emily looked at Pam and Pam looked at Lauren. It was Big Al and Dino. They were early!

The two men got out of the car dressed in identical white jumpsuits.

“It’s them!” Pam exclaimed. “Big Al and Dino. They’re coming for you, Mr. McBride.”

Author Bio:

Sarah Fader is the CEO and Founder of Eliezer Tristan Publishing Company, where she is dedicated to sharing the words of authors who endure and survive trauma and mental illness. She is also the CEO and Founder of Stigma Fighters, a non-profit organization that encourages individuals with mental illness to share their personal stories. She has been featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, Quartz, Psychology Today, The Huffington Post, HuffPost Live, and Good Day New York.

Sarah is a native New Yorker who enjoys naps, talking to strangers, and caring for her two small humans and two average-sized cats. Like six million other Americans, Sarah lives with Bipolar type II, OCD ADHD, and PTSD. Through Stigma Fighters, Sarah hopes to change the world, one mental health stigma at a time.

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The Three Kings New Release Blitz

  Title :  Three Kings Author :  Freydis Moon Publisher :   NineStar Press Release Date : 11/22/2022 Heat Level : 3 - Some Sex Pairing ...

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This post is going to be a bit of journey. Let me begin by saying, Hi. I’m Ilana and I have struggled with eczema my whole life. I had it when I was younger and then it came back when I was in my 20s, after college. I would get dry patches on my legs. It always went away and then came back in a new place the following year. One year it was in the crease of my elbows, another year it was on the backs of my thighs and the worst place it ever appeared was underneath my eyes. That has been reccurring and particularly scary to treat since the skin is so thin. Since I’ve had kids, my eczema has been a pretty constant feature on my hands. This is tough because they are always exposed to the air and out in the open to itch.

Whenever I have a bad flare up, I go to my dermatologist who prescribes a steroid cream, but that’s not something you are supposed to use long term. Ten days max. So. It usually works on the flare up but then it’s just a matter of time before another eczema patch rears its ugly head. I’ve never found a non-prescription cream that helps keep my eczema in check between flare-ups. And I’ve noticed that as soon as my skin starts to resolve itself and look normal, that’s when the itching starts, which can make the whole thing flare all over again.

Sometimes it feels like the right thing to dry it out and sometimes it feels like the right thing to moisturize it. But if I over moisturize, that can make the whole thing even worse. It’s like a skin crawling feeling and everything gets bumpy below the surface.

Most recently, I had a really bad flare up on my left hand. It was so bad that the nail on my ring finger got all these weird ridges because of whatever was happening to the skin underneath. I had to stop wearing my wedding rings. The worst part was on the palm of my hand which just wouldn’t go away no matter what I did, even the prescription cream that usually works didn’t help. That’s when a company called Gladskin reached out to me about a new eczema product that had been doing well in Europe and was just entering the US market.

Gladskin says that most people with eczema have an imbalance of good and bad bacteria living on the skin. Gladskin is a mild lotion (even safe for babies over three months old) that contains a unique protein which moisturizes while it restores balance to the skin microbiome. This means, you can use it on your skin before, during and after an eczema flare, as many times a day as you want. If a microbiome imbalance isn’t your issue, the product still works as a safe, effective moisturizer because it is hypoallergenic, and fragrance, alcohol and preservative free.

Of course, I would try anything at that point and told them to send me the cream. The day I got the product, my hand looked like this:

Yes, I know. It’s pretty nasty. I would never show anybody this normally, except you need to see what I’m dealing with so that I can properly explain what happened next.

Gladskin says most eczema sufferers will notice a change in a few days and should experience the full effect after 3 weeks. Right away, when I squeezed the product, it made a fizzling sound as it exited the bottle, indicating to me that there was no contaminated air in the tube. I liked the feeling of the cream on my hands and noticed that while it was a little greasy after application, I did not get the same suffocating feeling that I do with many over the counter moisturizers.

The very next day, my hand looked like this:

Miracle right? I was floored!

But it wasn’t completely cured yet. My biggest issues always occur right at the moment when it’s almost healed. That’s when the itching starts. Once I itch (it’s so hard not to!!!), the eczema comes back with a vengeance.

So,  this story is not over.

On the third day, we went away skiing for five days. My eczema always acts up when I go skiing, which I have always attributed to being out in extreme weather conditions. I was hopeful that the Gladskin would keep my eczema at bay, but it started to act up again on my left hand. When I got back from the trip, I told the people at Gladskin that their product had really worked a miracle over night, but then sadly, because I went skiing, I had a flare up again and I wanted to test it out for a bit longer before writing my final review. They agreed and said they wanted to send me their new formula that they were launching in the states which included the addition of .02% colloidal oatmeal. The oatmeal has been proven to relieve the itchiness that I was experiencing when my patches started to heal.

What I didn’t know at the time, but I know now, is that I am part of a very small percentage of eczema sufferers who has an oatmeal sensitivity. More on that in a moment.

The following day, my hand looked like this:

That morning, I went to my dermatologist who put me back on steroid creams for the next ten days to clear up the flare ups. Then I got on the phone with the Gladskin people to ask them about the difference in the two products. Why did the first product works so well and the second product wreak so much havoc? Gladskin told me that the only difference between the two products is the colloidal oatmeal, which has been proven by the FDA to soothe eczema itchiness, but also happens to be an irritant for a very small percentage of the eczema sufferers.

Suddenly, everything made sense. I am part of that small percentage of eczema sufferers who is allergic or sensitive to oatmeal! And almost every over the counter product marketed to eczema sufferers contains oatmeal. This explains why the oatmeal baths my mom gave me never worked on my eczema when I was younger. This explains why giving my kids baths and applying moisturizer on them afterwards always made my eczema flare up— we use body wash and lotions for eczema prone skin on the kids that all contain oatmeal. Come to think of it— this is probably why my hands have been my main area of eczema flare ups since I had children. It also explains why my eczema always acts up when I go skiing. It’s not the weather. It’s the fact that we eat oatmeal every morning and granola bars on the slopes. Also, right after our ski trip, Mike had brought in an oat-based cereal to my office and I had been eating it for lunch everyday. So the day that my eczema went crazy, I had eaten two bowls of oat flakes, a granola bar and a yogurt parfait. And then on top of that, I had applied colloidal oatmeal directly to my hand!

Life mystery solved!

I still had my miracle cream. I just couldn’t use the version with oatmeal. You see, Gladskin knows eczema sufferers so well that they sell both an oatmeal and a non-oatmeal version of their cream on their site. So, after we figured out my problem, they sent me two bottles of their non-oatmeal lotion and I’ve been using it ever since.

I have also removed oats from my diet and removed all oatmeal based eczema lotions and body washes from our house. Gladskin told me that wool and metals are common eczema irritants as well, so I have stopped wearing those for now too.

Look at my hand today!

I could seriously not be happier. I have Gladskin to thank— both for their non-oatmeal over the counter cream and their wealth of knowledge. My skin is still eczema prone and I’m sure I will flare up again (and notice more things that irritate it), but now I am armed with a tool I can use consistently to keep it in check.

If you have eczema prone skin, I highly recommend checking out Gladskin. If you suspect you have an oatmeal sensitivity, I suggest trying their oatmeal free version!


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Welcome back to Money Mindset with Gull Khan.

In today’s episode we’re talking about your “why”.

Why do you want to become wealthy? Why do you want to have wealth? Why do you want success?

Let’s find out why!

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Register to my Five Day Millionaire Mindset Makeover Workshop here: www.moneymindsetmakeoverworkshop.com

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Olivia Munn offers up sneak peek of first post-baby photo shoot and it is red hot

olivia munn attends event in 2019
Olivia attends the 2019 Baby2Baby Gala Presented By Paul Mitchell at 3Labs. Pic credit: ©

After taking time out of work for her new role as a mother, Olivia Munn is dipping her toe back into the industry.

The 42-year-old actress looked incredible as she shared a sneak preview of a new photoshoot she participated in.

Olivia, who welcomed son Malcolm last November with her partner, actor and comedian John Mulaney, wowed in pink fishnet tights as she posed with her leg in the air.

Clutching her hands to her face, she wore a coral-colored jumper dress as she lay on a bed featuring an earth-toned headboard.

Olivia also added pink, pointed stilettos to the bright outfit to complete the look.

“Just had my first photoshoot after baby,” she told her fans on the Instagram slide. “Such a fun day.”

Olivia posed with her leg in the air. Pic credit: @oliviamunn/Instagram

Olivia Munn gets real about being a parent

It looks like Olivia is a natural when it comes to motherhood.

However, the Iron Man 2 star has been real with her 2.8 million Instagram followers about navigating being a parent with John, who she was revealed to be dating in May last year.

In one funny video she shared on the platform, the star actress kept it real by discussing her post-baby hair regrowth.

“And another thing no one told me happens when you get pregnant,” she wrote alongside a video of her zooming in on her middle parting. “So much hair loss that when it grows back you look like a rooster.”

Olivia also used her Instagram to engage with friends who she hasn’t been in touch with for a long time — because she is in a “teething tunnel nightmare” with little Malcolm.

“This will also serve as a group text to anyone I haven’t texted back. Will get back to you in however long it takes for this tooth to come out,” she joked wearily.

Olivia Munn reveals her workout routine

While she has previously admitted to loathing workouts, Olivia is in amazing shape.

So rather than slogging it out in the gym daily, the star opts to chop and change up her routine.

“I do martial arts a lot, and so I have a routine that I can do that’s different every single day. It takes me only about 30 or 45 minutes,” she explained in a previous interview.

And while many choose crash diets to look great on the beach, Olivia uses one very simple (and free!) technique.

“It’s super simple, but it’s just drinking so much water,” she told Us Weekly. “The more water you drink, it just speeds up your metabolism, helps flush everything out.”

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Fee Schedule 2022-23

The State of South Carolina and the U.S. Government generally do not fund school for children younger than age 5. MSC charges instructional fees for students who have not reached the age of 5 by August 31 of the school year that begins in July. An annual contract is required and fees are pro-rated for students starting after the first day of school.


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MontgomeryRecruiter Since 2001
the smart solution for Montgomery jobs

Credit Bureau Reporting Furnishing Lead

Company: Flagship Credit Acceptance
Location: Montgomery
Posted on: November 24, 2022

Job Description:

The Credit Bureau Operations Furnishing Lead supports the credit reporting/monitoring of auto loan information to the nationwide consumer reporting agencies (CRA). This role will support Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) compliance, and in addition to the monitoring, engage in project management of updates impacting credit reporting. This position is also responsible for issue tracking, managing through a backlog of current gaps and/or control breakages and ensuring proper closure of issues.
Provides direct oversight and controls to ensure compliance with regulatory issues related to credit reporting for the Company.
Monitoring Metro2 data furnishing format from SHAW platform

Testing of file layout to ensure the desired reporting

Responsible for data clean up as required compiling data into Metro2
Monitoring, testing, and executing monthly quality reviews during the initial months of reporting
Identifying areas for improvement with leadership and consultation with 3rd party provider
Building and maintaining good relationships with multiple operating groups, including Collections, Credit, Fraud, Customer Delivery, Technology, Customer Experience, Legal etc.
Documenting processes of the multiple operating groups and how those processes will impact reporting
Reviewing processes and output that drive reporting, recognizing the drivers, testing their effectiveness and recommending change when they are not effective
Other related duties as assigned
Required: High School Diploma or Equivalent
Preferred: Bachelor's degree in Finance or equivalent work-related experience
Required: Five or more years of credit bureau reporting experience in a bank or financial institution, direct experience interfacing with credit reporting agencies.
Preferred: Minimum 5 years of experience performing business analysis and/or process design and analysis
Working knowledge of the auto finance industry, Metro2 Reporting and Consumer Data Industry Association (CDIA) regulations and industry compliance.
Advanced knowledge and understanding of e-Oscar dispute processing.
Excellent organizational and time management skills, with the ability to multi-task, maintain accuracy, and meet deadlines in a fast-paced, high-volume environment.
Strong written and verbal communication skills with an ability to effectively interact with all levels within the organization and the ability to create and summarize detailed written reports.
Strong interpersonal, listening and interviewing skills with the ability to confront and address sensitive topics while maintaining a high degree of professionalism, confidentiality, diplomacy, and tact.

Strong analytical, decision making and problem-solving skills.

Self-starter possessing the ability to work independently while supporting a team environment.
Demonstrate sound business judgment in applying proper policies, procedures and guidelines.
Strong attention to detail and high concern for data accuracy with the ability to objectively identify, assess, resolve, and mitigate risk.
Fluent with Microsoft Office suite of products
If you're interested in partnering with a certified Great Place to Work company that encourages you to be your best #FlagshipCareers, visit www.FlagshipCredit.com/Careers for a complete list of career opportunities and information on our company.

Keywords: Flagship Credit Acceptance, Montgomery , Credit Bureau Reporting Furnishing Lead, Advertising , Montgomery, Alabama

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Mora Garden

Create an outdoor oasis with MORA GARDEN

News – All products in the collection MORA GARDEN has a new knob that turn on and off the water flow. An update that gives the product a more industrial and rustic look.

Decorate for outdoor life

Nothing quite beats al fresco dining. And this kind of dining is an absolute pleasure when you’ve got the Mora experience outside at your fingertips. Attractive designs and exceptional quality. Available in both black and steel grey.

Complement the outdoor kitchen with a handcrafted wall-mounted rail.

The outdoor shower that adds a personal touch to the garden

A refreshing shower on hot summer days or a handy tap to fill your watering can. As well as being versatile, the Mora Garden outdoor shower makes for a beautiful garden feature. The wall-mounted outdoor shower is available in both black and steel grey.

If you want to move around the shower in the garden or take it to the summer cottage, there is a practical foot to buy as an accessory.

Now it's time to decorate the outdoor bathroom in the cottage with style

Our latest news. A handcrafted basin tap made of interconnected pipe sections, to match the unique style of our outdoor showers. As well as wall-mounted paper roll holders with space for one or two rolls.

Behind the design

MORA GARDEN collection are developed in close collaboration with the local Mora designer Johan Lindberg, who can create products that attract the eye. Johan designs interior made from water pipes in 99 percent recycled steel.

- The MORA GARDEN collection is a combination of form, function and quality. Once you’ve brought these pipes into your home, you start wanting more, and I saw a gap in the market for industrial garden furniture. Mora Garden has a distinctive style with naked pipe sections that create a raw, industrial feel, says Johan Lindberg about his design of the collection.

Create an outdoor oasis with MORA GARDEN


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We all have something to be thankful for. Unfortunately, life has the habit of getting us down but if we can remember to stop and count our blessings we could be so much happier! Think on all the wonderful things the Lord has done for you instead of dwelling on what isn’t good in your life. God is so good to us.

Prayer: Thank you, Lord, for giving your life for us. I pray that we would be a positive light to people around us. Amen.

Devotion by Melinda Keays

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Mistakes with Selling Cars
Buying and Selling Cars

6 Common Mistakes with Selling Cars and How to Avoid Them

The used car industry is worth over $150 billion. That’s a lot of money tied up in pre-loved beauties and neglected old rustbuckets. It seems like you can’t walk down a street in America without walking past an old auto with a scribbled ‘For Sale’ sign in the window.

So why do some people face such a struggle to sell their old cars?

Because, at the end of the day, the potential mistakes with selling cars are myriad. Whether selling cars online or in person, novice sellers always end up making basic mistakes that cost them time and money.

Here are our 6 most common mistakes and how to avoid them.

1. Sloppy Pricing

Nothing drives away potential car buyers like a price that’s too high, and nothing sparks more remorse in sellers than a price they set too low.

So how do you make sure everyone walks away happy? By using a pricing guide to set a fair car price. By looking up your car in a pricing guide and setting a fair price, you’ll get buyers quickly without sacrificing profit.

2. Bad Photos

How many times have you been on eBay and lost interest in an item because the seller’s photos were so awful? The same applies to cars. People want to know what they’re buying and they want to feel like they aren’t wasting their time. By making sure your car pics are comprehensive and high-res when selling cards online, you’ll get loads of customers.

3. Being Unresponsive

Pretty simple, this one. If someone messages you with a question about your car, answer it!

People don’t like to be kept waiting.

4. Incomplete Paperwork

Buying a car is a pretty bureaucratic process, with lots of paperwork for selling cars. No one wants to go through the rigamarole of getting all the relevant paperwork for their new second-hand car, so make sure you have it all on hand to give over when you make the sale.

5. Payment Options

Some people want to pay cash, some want to make a bank transfer. Heck, some might have been reading Byte Federal and want to pay in Ethereum. Whatever they prefer, the key thing is to let people pay you however they’d prefer to.

6. Dirt

This one’s a heartbreaker. You could have a car that’s almost brand new, but if you haven’t cleaned it, you can say bye bye to huge chunks of your potential customer base. No one wants a dirty car, so don’t try to sell them one!

Avoid These Mistakes When Selling Cars

And those are our 6 most common and avoidable mistakes when selling cars. They may seem like no-brainers, but you’d be amazed by the number of people out there that have been scuppered in their attempts to sell on a vehicle by one, two, three, or all of these issues.

So don’t make these mistakes!

Liked this article? Check out our site for more!


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bmw repair
DIY Auto Repair

6 Tips for Finding a Professional BMW Repair Mechanic

Need to find the best BMW repair mechanic?

For your beloved BMW, you won’t want just any mechanic. The wrong mechanic can do more harm than good when working on your car.

There are plenty of great BMW repair mechanics out there, though – it’s just a matter of knowing what to look for.

Do you know how to find a professional mechanic who can do the work you need?

If not, don’t worry. We’ve put together this guide to help you find the best mechanic for the job. Keep reading to learn more!

About BMW Repair

Before looking for the best mechanic, it’s helpful to know a few things about what makes BMW repairs unique.

These are great cars that are known for their reliability. However, of course, every car will need maintenance done, and can have bigger issues come up at some point. It’s important to know the common issues to look out for before calling your mechanic.

Here are a few of the top reasons you may need to call a mechanic for BMW repair.

1. Window Regulator Issues

Certain BMW models are prone to issues with the window regulators.

Regulator clips can get broken, and you’ll need a professional to replace them. When the regulator isn’t working right, you’ll have windows that move slowly, or not at all.

2. Electronic Issues

Another common BMW problem is with the electronics. Electronics regulate many different things in your car, such as windshield wipers. When the electronic system malfunctions, you’ll need to call a mechanic.

3. Door Lock Problems

This can be another electronic issue. The biggest door lock problem for BMW owners is remotely locking and unlocking your doors.

4. Cracked Wheels

Some BMWs are known for having alloy wheels that are prone to cracking. This is something you’ll want to have a mechanic look at right away. If the problem goes unaddressed, you could end up with punctured tires.

5. Engine Maintenance

Some parts of the BMW engine may need to be replaced more often than you’d think. Those parts can include the clutch, injectors, and ignition module.

Finding a Great BMW Repair Mechanic

Whether you’re experiencing one of these common problems, or something else entirely, it’s important to find the right mechanic for the job.

Here are the steps you should follow to find a BMW car repair specialist you can trust.

1. Read the Reviews

Although you shouldn’t trust everything you see online, the reviews of a local mechanic or repair shop can be a great help in your decision-making process.

The best and most experienced repair shops often have an online presence where they can interact with their customers. Although it’s hard for anyone to avoid a few bad reviews, the overall tone of customer satisfaction should give you an idea of whether or not their repair work is good.

Although online reviews may not be the single thing you base your final decision on, they can definitely help steer you in the right direction.

2. Try the Better Business Bureau

Many companies, including car repair shops, file with the Better Business Bureau (BBB).

Unless you live in an extremely rural area, the BBB should have a list of mechanics in your area. Those shops will be graded on a scale of A to F, which can help give you an idea of which places to try and which to avoid.

3. Ask for Recommendations

One of the best ways to learn about a business is through word of mouth.

If you have friends or family members who also drive BMWs, ask them where they go for repairs. Even if they drive a different kind of car, you might still get some good tips on repair shops to look into.

You can also ask for recommendations through your social media. Chances are good that a friend, or a friend of a friend, will have some advice that can help you.

If you have a local BMW car club chapter, that can be another great resource. Attend a meeting or connect with some members online. They’re sure to have ideas on where the best BMW repair shops will be.

4. Visit the Shop in Person

Once you have an idea of where the good mechanics are, try an in-person visit to get a feel for how that shop does business.

Even if you don’t stop to talk to anyone there, simply driving or walking by can give you some helpful information. How many cars are there at the moment? If you go back a couple weeks later, are the same cars still being worked on?

A high turnover rate is a good sign: this means the mechanics there work quickly and are still bringing in more customers.

You should also pay attention to whether or not the shop appears clean and uncluttered. A great repair shop should take pride in keeping up appearances. Avoid shops with the same cars every week, a trash-filled lot, or sparse customers.

5. Try Minor Maintenance First

Before your car has a major issue, it will probably need some kind of small maintenance work done, like an oil change.

Take your BMW to a new shop for minor work first. This will give you an idea of how they work, and how much they charge. If you’re not happy with the small things, you definitely won’t want to go back to that same shop for something major.

On the other hand, if you love the way that mechanic handles the minor things, you’ll know exactly where to go when you need something bigger done on your BMW.

6. Have a Conversation

If you still have questions or concerns, your best bet is simply to have a conversation with a mechanic you’re considering.

You can learn a lot just from how they address your concerns and questions. A good mechanic will be open, friendly, and able to offer answers or to find information about anything they don’t know right away.

Need BMW Repair?

All cars need maintenance and repair work sometimes.

With the tips above, you’ll be able to find the best mechanic for whatever your BMW needs.

Want to learn more about BMW repairs? Check out our list of repair manuals here.


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  • This is an image of 245852 Javier Bardem Photograph & Poster

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Superconductors – Materials and Applications

The book presents the current status of superconductor science and technology.

Materials and Applications
Eds. Inamuddin, Tariq Altalhi, Vikas Gupta, Mohammad Luqman
Materials Research Foundations Vol. 132
Publication Date 2022, 266 Pages
Print ISBN 978-1-64490-210-3  (release date November 2022)
ePDF ISBN 978-1-64490-211-0
DOI: 10.21741/9781644902110

The book presents the current status of superconductor science and technology. It focuses on the design, properties and applications of superconductor materials. The superconductor categories covered include type-I, type-II, bulk, hard, soft, oxide, fermions, organic, iron, Lanthanide-based superconductors, high temperature superconductors and superconducting metamaterials.

Superconductors, Large-Scale Applications, Bulk Superconductors, Soft Superconductors, Oxide Superconductors, Lanthanide-based Superconductors, High Temperature Superconductors, Superconducting Metamaterials, Medical Applications, Magnetic Imaging Resonance Applications

Table of Contents

Basic Concepts and Properties of Superconductors
Shoomaila Latif, Muhammad Husnain, M. Hassan Siddique, Muhammad Imran

Properties and Types of Superconductors
M.S. Hasan and S.S. Ali

Fundamentals and Properties of Superconductors
M. Rizwan, A. Ayub, S. Fatima, I. Ilyas, A. Usman, A. Shoukat

Superconductors for Large-Scale Applications
Subhojit Bose, Sarit Chakraborty, Biplab Roy and Pinku Chandra Nath

Lanthanide-based Superconductor and its Applications
Godlisten N. Shao

Type I Superconductors: Materials and Applications
Prashant Hitaishi, Rohit Verma, Parul Khurana and Sheenam Thatai

Bulk Superconductors: Materials and Applications
Prashant Hitaishi, Rohit Verma, Parul Khurana and Sheenam Thatai

Soft Superconductors: Materials and Applications
M. Bugdayci, S. Yesiltepe

Oxide Superconductors
Srijita Basumallick

High Temperature Superconductors: Materials and Applications
M.S. Hasan and S.S. Ali

Superconducting Metamaterials and their Applications
M. Rizwan, A. Usman, M. Zainab, A. Ayub, B. Tehreem

Superconductors for Medical Applications
S.S. Ali and M. Zulqarnain

Superconductors for Magnetic Imaging Resonance Applications
Ali Raza and S.S. Ali

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About the Editors

Dr. Inamuddin is working as Assistant Professor at the Department of Applied Chemistry, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, India. He obtained Master of Science degree in Organic Chemistry from Chaudhary Charan Singh (CCS) University, Meerut, India, in 2002. He received his Master of Philosophy and Doctor of Philosophy degrees in Applied Chemistry from Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), India, in 2004 and 2007, respectively. He has extensive research experience in multidisciplinary fields of Analytical Chemistry, Materials Chemistry, and Electrochemistry and, more specifically, Renewable Energy and Environment. He has worked on different research projects as project fellow and senior research fellow funded by University Grants Commission (UGC), Government of India, and Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Government of India. He has received Fast Track Young Scientist Award from the Department of Science and Technology, India, to work in the area of bending actuators and artificial muscles. He has also received the Sir Syed Young Researcher of the Year Award 2020 from Aligarh Muslim University. He has completed four major research projects sanctioned by University Grant Commission, Department of Science and Technology, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, and Council of Science and Technology, India. He has published 205 research articles in international journals of repute and nineteen book chapters in knowledge-based book editions published by renowned international publishers. He has published 155 edited books with Springer (U.K.), Elsevier, Nova Science Publishers, Inc. (U.S.A.), CRC Press Taylor & Francis Asia Pacific, Trans Tech Publications Ltd. (Switzerland), IntechOpen Limited (U.K.), Wiley-Scrivener, (U.S.A.) and Materials Research Forum LLC (U.S.A). He is a member of various journals’ editorial boards. He is also serving as Associate Editor for journals (Environmental Chemistry Letter, Applied Water Science and Euro-Mediterranean Journal for Environmental Integration, Springer-Nature), Frontiers Section Editor (Current Analytical Chemistry, Bentham Science Publishers), Editorial Board Member (Scientific Reports-Nature), Editor (Eurasian Journal of Analytical Chemistry), and Review Editor (Frontiers in Chemistry, Frontiers, U.K.). He is also guest-editing various special thematic special issues to the journals of Elsevier, Bentham Science Publishers, and John Wiley & Sons, Inc. He has attended as well as chaired sessions in various international and national conferences. He has worked as a Postdoctoral Fellow, leading a research team at the Creative Research Initiative Center for Bio-Artificial Muscle, Hanyang University, South Korea, in the field of renewable energy, especially biofuel cells. He has also worked as a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Center of Research Excellence in Renewable Energy, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Saudi Arabia, in the field of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells and computational fluid dynamics of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells. He is a life member of the Journal of the Indian Chemical Society. His research interest includes ion exchange materials, a sensor for heavy metal ions, biofuel cells, supercapacitors and bending actuators.

Tariq Altalhi, PhD, is working as Associate Professor in the Department of Chemistry at Taif University, Saudi Arabia. He received his doctorate degree from University of Adelaide, Australia in the year 2014 with Dean’s Commendation for Doctoral Thesis Excellence. He has worked as head of Chemistry Department at Taif university and Vice Dean of Science college. In 2015, one of his works was nominated for Green Tech awards from Germany, Europe’s largest environmental and business prize, amongst top 10 entries. He has co-edited various scientific books. His group is involved in fundamental multidisciplinary research in nanomaterial synthesis and engineering, characterization, and their application in molecular separation, desalination, membrane systems, drug delivery, and biosensing. In addition, he has established key contacts with major industries in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Dr. Vikas Gupta, is a Professor and Dean, Faculty of Science at Motherhood University, Roorkee, Uttrakhand, India. He has published several research papers of national and international repute. He has contributed immensely in advanced areas of chemistry like polymer science, environmental chemistry and chromatography. His contribution to modern areas of chemistry is well recognized and widely cited. He has contributed as an investigator in an Armament Research Board of DRDO project at the College of Engineering and Technology, Moradabad. He has wide experience in teaching undergraduate and postgraduate students of science and engineering. Dr. Gupta is a lifetime member of the Indian Science Congress. He has supervised several under his guidance. He has organized DRDO-sponsored National Conference as well as various webinars in the field of science.

Dr. Mohammad Luqman has 12+ years of post-PhD experience in Teaching, Research, and Administration. Currently, he is serving as an Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering in Taibah University, Saudi Arabia. Before joining here, he served as an Assistant Professor in College of Applied Science at A’Sharqiyah University, Oman, and in College of Engineering at King Saud University, Saudi Arabia. He served as a Research Engineer in SAMSUNG Cheil Industries, South Korea. Moreover, he served as a post-doctoral fellow at Artificial Muscle Research Center, Konkuk University, South Korea, in the field of Ionic Polymer Metal Composites for the development of Artificial Muscles, Robotic Actuators and Dynamic Sensors. He earned his PhD degree in the field of Ionomers (Ion-containing Polymers), from Chosun University, South Korea. He successfully served as an Editor to three books, published by world renowned publishers. He published numerous high-quality papers, and book chapters. He is serving as an Editor and editorial/review board members to many International SCI and Non-SCI journals. He has attracted a few important research grants from industry and academia. His research interests include but not limited to Development of Ionomer/Polyelectrolyte/non-ionic Polymer Nanocomposites/Blends for Smart and Industrial/Engineering Applications.


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Mr. Solar® MobilePower 255 Watt Mobile, RV, & Marine Solar Power System Kit

(No reviews yet) Write a Review
78.00 LBS
Contact for price and availability - 888-680-2427 or
Frequently bought together:

RV & Marine Kits from Mr. Solar® are a great way to keep your mobile batteries charged on the go without having to run your engine.

We are currently featuring the Value Line S-Series 80W Panel for the panel on the kit.

This kit includes a Morningstar SS-20L-12 SunSaver charge controller.

Kits also include three RV flush mounts, an output cable, two intermodule cables and a fused battery cable.

We can also design a custom system tailored to your needs. To contact a sales representative, please email us at, or call 888-680-2427 during normal business hours.

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Warranty Information

Please see product spec sheets for warranty information.
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NMOSD Your Way Podcast

To help people and caregivers navigate an NMOSD diagnosis, MS Australia and Alexion Pharmaceuticals partnered with people with NMOSD and healthcare specialists to produce the NMOSD Your Way Podcast, which features a series of episodes on managing some of the day-to-day aspects of this condition.

The NMOSD Your Way Podcast series features NMOSD patient ambassador Debbie Leticq, alongside healthcare professionals including neurologist Dr Lesley-Ann Hall, Specialist Nurse and Research Fellow Dr Therese Burke, and psychologist Dr Sally Shaw, who all share some deeply personal experiences about this rare, auto-immune condition.

Their candid conversations shine a light on the day-to-day reality of living with NMOSD, provide some insights and advice to those who may find themselves either newly diagnosed or learning to live with NMOSD.

Host – Debbie Leticq

When Debbie was diagnosed with NMOSD over 10 years ago, there was little information about the condition available, and no patient support group to turn to for help. She was fortunate to find a community on Facebook and connected to some passionate and committed specialists who helped her find her way to her new normal. Debbie is a driving force in the NMOSD community, organising the first NMOSD patient symposium in 2017 and connecting with others living with this rare, neuroimmune condition. Despite her condition, Debbie is a born adventurer, recording the podcast from her caravan whilst on a road trip to visit many of her NMOSD connections across Australia, before returning home to become a grandmother!

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Survey Says ...

Are political polls flawed, or does the public expect too much of them?

By: Christopher Borick  Wednesday, November 2, 2022 09:53 AM

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Perspective is a feature of Muhlenberg Magazine. This article originally ran in the Fall 2022 issue.

In the 2016 presidential election, polling famously underrepresented the vote of Donald Trump. However, the polling errors that year weren’t that far outside those of previous elections. For example, in 2012, the polling averages had Barack Obama winning nationally by about a point. He ended up winning by about four points. No one seemed to care about the difference because Obama was leading in the polls and he ultimately won reelection. In the Muhlenberg College Institute of Public Opinion (MCIPO) final poll in 2016, Trump was trailing in Pennsylvania by four points, but he won by less than one point. In both of these cases the polls were off by similar margins, but in 2016, the MCIPO estimate was on the wrong side of the winner and loser line. A similar disparity between polls and results was seen in other states Trump narrowly won, like Wisconsin and Michigan. That raised the possibility that the polling had encountered a systematic problem, and thus pollsters sought to identify the issue and offer remedies.

One change MCIPO and other pollsters made after 2016 was how data is weighted. Pollsters almost always weight the data because random sampling does not usually lead to a sample that matches the voting population parameters. For example, the voting population is usually around 51 or 52 percent female, so if a sample ends up with only 47 percent female respondents, a pollster would weight the sample so the results would align with the population. MCIPO has traditionally weighted for things like gender identification, racial identification and party registration.

Historically, educational attainment didn’t have the same impact on voter choices that factors such as gender and race did. That situation has shifted dramatically since 2016. Now, people with college degrees are increasingly voting Democratic and people without college degrees, particularly white individuals, are increasingly voting Republican. If MCIPO’s 2016 polls had been weighted by education, they would have been more accurate by about two points.

So, MCIPO began weighting for education in the 2018 midterms, and those polls were more accurate. However, in 2020, we again saw similar polling errors that undervalued Trump’s support, from MCIPO and many other pollsters. An array of survey methodologists have studied the 2020 outcomes deeply to see what the issue was, and there is no conclusive finding.

In “2020 Pre-Election Polling: An Evaluation of the 2020 General Election Polls,” the American Association for Public Opinion Research shared possible explanations for the polling errors. “If the voters most supportive of Trump were least likely to participate in polls then the polling error may be explained as follows: Self-identified Republicans who choose to respond to polls are more likely to support Democrats and those who choose not to respond to polls are more likely to support Republicans,” the article says. “Unfortunately, this hypothesis cannot be directly evaluated without knowing how nonresponders voted.”

MCIPO did not change its weighting for the 2022 midterm elections, which had yet to take place when this article was written, to try to account for potential nonresponse. Attempting to weight for such “nonresponse bias” is guesswork, and the institute’s models were fairly accurate in the last midterm election. Even if MCIPO produces a methodologically sound poll, its estimates could be a few percentage points off the final results, because that is how sampling works. If you flip a coin 100 times, the most likely outcome is that you would get 50 heads and 50 tails, which captures the reality of a two-sided coin. But sometimes you’ll get, say, 55 heads and 45 tails, not because of a methodological failing (e.g. flawed coin flipping) but instead because of simple sampling error. To expect a poll, or even poll aggregates, to mirror election outcomes is placing far too lofty expectations on the methods being employed. If polls show a candidate ahead by three or four points in a race, don’t be shocked if that candidate loses narrowly. Methodological limitations and even modest last-minute changes in voter sentiment could lead to such outcomes.

With increasing challenges facing public opinion researchers, the MCIPO is entering its third decade of operations with important choices ahead. In the Spring 2023 semester, the MCIPO will move into the new building on campus, the Fahy Commons. There, students and I are going to be thinking about what’s next: online platforms that we can design and administer. Polling has changed significantly since I began directing polls in the 1990s. Back then, telephone polls were completely landline. Phone numbers were tagged to the state the phone was in, and response rates were relatively high. Today, there’s a very fragmented communication scene that complicates sampling, and getting individuals to agree to participate in a poll has never been harder.

Certainly web-based polling options will be a major part of the MCIPO’s future, but the transition is not a simple one. The problem with some online polls — those where participants are recruited via email — is that they may not capture a representative sample. There is no comprehensive directory for email addresses that is equivalent to a universe of phone numbers or mailing addresses that serve as the frames for sampling. A potential way around this is called online probability-based surveying. People complete surveys online, but they’re recruited through probability means (by mail or phone).

That’s my vision for where the institute is headed: Once we get to our new facility, we’re going to fully engage in building our online probability panel for Pennsylvania, and maybe a more specialized one for the Lehigh Valley. These investments will position the MCIPO to continue its mission of providing students with opportunities to engage in high quality public opinion research and to produce polls that accurately reflect the attitudes, beliefs and behaviors of the populations we seek to better understand.

Christopher Borick is a professor of political science and the director of the Muhlenberg College Institute of Public Opinion.


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Gütermann Sew-All 744 Jewel Green - 100m

$2.50 CAD

Only 6 pieces in stock!

Gütermann Sew-all Polyester Thread is a high quality all purpose thread suitable for most fabrics and designed to handle all types of seams and stitches - from hand sewing to machine stitching.

Colour: #744 Jewel Green
Content: 100% Polyester
Length: 100m

Country of Origin: Germany

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