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[ana(효정)]

<Topic> Happiest country in the world

Denmark is the happiest country in the world, according to the latest World Values Survey published by the United States National Science Foundation. The annual study surveyed people in 97 countries to discover who is happiest.

The survey asked people two simple questions about their happiness and their level of satisfaction with life. Puerto Rico and Colombia completed the top three happiest nations. Zimbabwe was found to be the least happy, with Russia and Iraq also in the bottom 10.

The study was directed by University of Michigan professor Ronald Inglehart. He says that unlike other studies, which have focused on economic factors, his research has found that financial prosperity is not the only reason for happiness. "Our research indicates prosperity is linked with happiness. It does contribute," he says, "but it is not the most important factor.

"Personal freedom is even more important, and it's freedom in all kinds of ways. Political freedom, like with democracy and freedom of choice."

The world is becoming a happier place overall, according to the survey, which has been conducted since 1981. Dr Inglehart says that gender equality is also an indicator of happiness, as is rising social tolerance. He says that both of these things have risen dramatically in recent years.

The world's wealthiest nation, the United States, was found to be the world's 16th happiest country, behind Switzerland, Canada and Sweden. The study also found that the countries at the bottom of the list all struggle with widespread poverty or authoritarian governments. Zimbabwe, which is gripped by hyperinflation, and has recently seen a controversial presidential election marred by violence, was found to be the least happy nation amongst the countries covered by the survey.

QUESTIONS:

n                     What makes you unhappy? What’s the most miserable you’ve been?

n                     Are you tolerant of your friends when they are down? Do you still want to spend as much time with them as normal or do you avoid them?

n                     What are the three most important things for you to be happy?

n                     Do you think some nations are happier than others? Are the people in your country generally very happy?

n                     Do you agree with the idea that the world is becoming a happier place? Or do you think the opposite?

n                     What do you think of the idea of a government Happiness Minister who is responsible for the happiness of the population? Do you think the government in general cares about the happiness of people?

n                     Do you agree with these opinions on happiness?

1. Money makes you happy.
2. The older you become, the happier you are.
3. You can take lessons on how to be happy.
4. Men are happier than women.
5. Married people are happier than single people.
6. People in warmer climates are happier than people in colder climates.
7. It’s hard to be happy in today’s world.

<Topic> Love with Staying Power    by siron

 An element always in short supply around pop music is emotional realism as salve, rather than as shock or cudgel or propaganda. Crazy love often makes a good three-minute single. Patient love often doesn’t.

There was a time, though, in the mid-1970s, when some male and female songwriters in black pop figured out how to make healthy, mutual respect in a relationship — not pedestal-building or demonizing — seem fantastically attractive. Nick Ashford, who died on Monday at the age of 70, was one of the best at that.

His partnership with Valerie Simpson started in 1964, and they married 10 years later. They both came from gospel backgrounds; he was the lyricist, she the composer. As songwriting professionals they pumped out material for Motown until the mid-’70s, when they started their own act in earnest. And their early songs, like “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough,” for Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell, did some pedestal-building of a sort, but they moved toward something like an obsession with the idea of realness and trustworthiness, of gallant romantic promises that could be sustained and fulfilled.

They wrote “Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing” for Gaye and Terrell; their first album together in 1973 was called “Gimme Something Real”; and their later work reinforced the same romantic ideals: “I’ll Be There for You,” “Love It Away,” “Found a Cure,” “Real Love.” They were into the secular ecstasies of stability, the healing erotics of ethical love.

Mr. Ashford, long-limbed and long-maned, a flamboyant slow-motion performer who could make his lids heavy at will, originally moved from Michigan to New York as a dancer. He was the dramatic energy of their stage show, and the couple stayed ’70s resplendent to the end. Their soft-focus album covers, leopard-print clothes and sustained earnest-fabulous pose could be easy to mock; live, they’d high-five each other and entwine themselves in a tangle of contentment.

But once they’d lured you with upscale fantasy, they’d make a point of talking and singing about difficulties in relationships, seeming to savor the challenges. Mr. Ashford wrote songs for man and woman to sing together, and one of his great achievements as a lyricist was the quiet-storm classic “Is It Still Good to Ya,” about a married couple edging into a difficult conversation about intimacy. “I don’t know if I ought to bring it up/ Seems like such a funny thing to talk about/ Don’t know if it’s right to do.”

And possibly an even greater challenge was “I’m Every Woman” — which the couple wrote for Chaka Khan— one of the better pop lyrics outside of musical theater written by a man from a woman’s perspective.

1.     What do you think about Love with Staying Power?

2.     How about being couple in same company or field?? What is the pro & cons.??

3.     Have you ever felt sorry about an entertainer’s death with potential power before he shouts it out to the world?  Who?

4.     Can you pick up best of best song in POP & K POP?? what kind of point it touched your mind?

[상퐈]

수고~

[siron.영일]

아나~ 수고가 많소~~ 사진은 같이 안딸려 왔넹~~ ㅋㅋ 뭐 필요 없겠지..

[Teddy(斗熙)]

아나 잘해쓰~ 장가간다는 형이 있어서 축하해주고 참석~ ㅎㅎ

[sujiQ]

Thanks for nice topics! ^^

[Gina(진아)]

매번 고마워^0^ 러뷰^^/

[Joe(조형섭)]

오랜만에 갈라고!~~~~ 토픽 멋지네...

[Bryan(김광현)]

오랜만, 저도 참석합니다. ^^

[Kate (채선영)]

kate&jun go go!!