With everything else going on this month, we’ve been late in putting this out there, but perhaps it can help you when you’re back at Borders on the 26th looking to trade in that book of cute kitten pictures that your Aunt Marge got you for some inexplicable reason.

Movies
North Korea: A Day In The Life

Filmed in 2004, this documentary made the film festival rounds in ‘05, but was only released on DVD in October of this year. Dutch filmmaker Pieter Fleury presents a North Korean family progressing through an ‘average’ day without narration or any particular storyline. In the extra features he states that his inspiration was to humanize a people that he believes are often demonized in the western media. Whatever his motives, the film certainly doesn’t present the regime or the country in a particularly good light. We are not spared the multiple power outages that bring an already inefficient factory to a standstill or the signs of an omnipresent state apparatus - both in terms of propaganda and surveillance. The scene in the primary school is particularly heart-wrenching, as what would normally be a group of rambunctious toddlers are shoved into plastic seats and fed Kim Family mythology from a tape recorder.

A State of Mind

Filmed and released about a year earlier than “A Day in the Life”, this British documentary follows two girls during their arduous training for one of the astounding mass games thrown for the emperor/Dear Leader. I first caught it, oddly enough, on the in-flight entertainment of a British Airways flight and was immediately captivated. Like the family in Fleury’s documentary, the Pyongyang government is obviously showcasing some model families here, but to those who would call this pro-Kim propaganda all I can say is - wait for the ending.

Books

Aquariums of Pyongyang by Kang Chol-hwan

A must read for anyone concerned about human rights in North Korea. The Korea Liberator can fill you in on the book and Kang Chol-hwan’s ongoing efforts to bring attention to Kim Jong-Il’s gulags .

Pyongyang: A Journey in North Korea by Guy Delisle

A glimpse inside the burgeoning North Korean animation industry. I’m hoping this will be under my tree on Monday…

Welcome to Pyongyang by Charlie Crane

From Amazon: “Sixty-five stunning large-format photographs, taken by Charlie Crane during three visits to Pyongyang, are presented in the manner of a North Korean guide-each accompanied by a real North Korean guide’s commentary. Pyongyang and its people are presented on their own kitsch terms, while the reader can see beyond the cliches of the “official” line.”

Music

Rock around the juche tree with these selections:

• Radio Pyongyang: Commie Funk and Agit Pop from the Hermit Kingdom

• If you can find one, pick up a CD from North Korean refugees turned teeny bopper band Tallae
• The motivation behind “Lullabies from the Axis of Evil” might curl the toes of some readers here, and it only contains one North Korean selection (”Stars are Rising”). Maybe you can find that track on iTunes..

Miscellaneous

Drink your morning nok-cha from this mug emblazoned with the likeness of the last working hydroelectric dam in North Korea.
Throw your dog a bone - or better yet, throw him this Kim Jong Il chew toy. Don’t have a dog? Chew on it yourself!