moderatelyremarkable

I have to disagree. This was the same opinion people used to have about countries in Eastern Europe, before the fall of communism.

I would bet serious amounts of money that almost no one in North Korea believes their country to be a paradise that is surrounded by enemies or that other countries see NK as a role model; I also doubt that people are really proud of what their country is now. This is just the official propaganda that (almost) no one believes (apart from corrupt officials who have the power).

I've lived unde a former communist regime. Food rationing and shortages, no travelling aborad (or severly restricted), lack of basic human rights, bullshit propaganda press and arts (yes - all movies, literature, etc is just bullshit comunist proapaganda, could you live with that?), constant terror from the secret police, information blackout, backwards technology, widespread corruption, uniformity and conformity, absurd laws: these are the norm in communism.

No one is proud of that. I believe that 99% of North Koreans would gladly give all of this up in a heartbeat. Look what happend in Eastern Europe, and NK is way worse than what EE had.

Obivously people will laugh and children will play. You get used to the circumstances and carry on, because, fuck, what else can you do?

For some reason people from the West think of communist regimes (former or current) that it's not that bad and that part of the population is OK with that. Well, I will tell you: it's very, vey bad. You just don't see that as a foreigner visiting the country, because all you see is engineered to look decent.

EDIT: wow, this really took off! Let me know if you have any questions about life under harsh communism, Romanian-style. There are some great stories between being allowed to drive on alternate weekends only, having to register computer printers with the police, electricity cuts, only 4 hours of TV programming per day on the country's single propaganda-filled channel, convenience stores that were filled with food only for official visits by the President (after which the food was removed), forced participation in mass propaganda events, the once-in-a-blue-moon made-in-China chocolate that was as rare as gold, the everpresent Vietnamese shrimp crackers and whatnot.

Absolutely agree, flew Emirates from Dubai to Singapore and back - best flights of my life (and I've had a few). The thing is that I'm not particularly fond of flying, but somehow those two flights were really enjoyable.

this was a fucking awesome movie, congrats

This is awesome. I'll be going from Europe to Florida to view the launch on December 4, can't wait! Do you happen to know if it could be seen from KSC? I'd like to get as close as possible.

I'm fascinated by the theory that one of the last Neanderthal communities supposedly survived in Gorham's cave in Gibraltar until as recently as 24,000 years ago. Do you have an opinion on that? Do you think that isolated communities could have survived even longer?