Kim Jong Il

Kim Jong Il is dead. I suppose, since this is ostensibly a movie blog, I could write about his life as a movie fan. I didn't know it until now, but he actually started as a movie director, making films about his father's heroism.

You have a certain image of North Korea, and there are occasionally things which tell you that it's bad there, but which still throw you off.

There was a report that South Korean soap operas are popular there. People share VHS tapes of them. Police catch them at it by turning off the power in a neighborhood and then conducting a house to house search. That way, people can't eject them from their VCRs and hide them.

It came as a surprise that they have VCRs. And how did these tapes get into circulation?

I don't know how much better or worse Kim Jung Un will be, but hopefully things will improve.