Weekend Pics, and Go See Klimt in Seoul!

Soundtrack:
Nouvelle Vague (recommendation from a friend): Dancing With Myself- startlingly, a cover of an old Billy Idol punk song.

Anyway, hit play, and start reading. I really like this song.


First: from Andong (yep, the Andong Writeup seems to have been swallowed in the mists of time... if there's a loud enough outcry I might try to revive it, but Joe Zen and Fatman Seoul both did such good jobs writing it up already. . .)

Here is one great picture of me and my bud Juhee, on the train, in some nice light.
Girlfriendoseyo and I found this fantastic little tea room. The raspberry tea tasted like pulling off the road in the Okanagan valley and picking raspberries off a bush somewhere. So good.
the owner had a green thumb, too. Girlfriendoseyo was impressed by the foliage. I was mostly just amazed at the perfectly balanced flavours in the teas.


Walked up and down Namsan this weekend. Flowers (jindalae) were blossoming, which have han, I'm told.

These trees remind me of Dr. Seuss illustrations:

I liked the lines of this step/fence combination.

I saw Gustav Klimt and Youssef Karsh this week. The Seoul National Art Center, by Nambu Bus Terminal, was in fine form.



The two artists were, too. You should go see these shows (find the place) at the Hangaram Art Museum, south of the Han River, but north of Gangnam. You'll know Klimt from these paintings mostly--however, let me remind you that the difference between seeing a JPG of a picture on your computer screen, and seeing the actual thing (especially when it comes to paintings), is kind of like the difference between reading a car's engine specifications in an auto magazine, and being hit by that car on the street.
Judith, above, was there. The Kiss (below) was not: convincing Austria to give up The Kiss and send it overseas would be about the equivalent of asking America to send Abe Lincoln's log cabin on a world tour. National treasure, you know? However, the show was quite impressive (though the nude females were...uh...supercharged with...uh...not for children...energy). A recreation of the Beethoven Frieze was also there, and pretty amazing: basically a visual depiction of the Ninth Symphony, in a way. I learned a bunch about Klimt, and saw some amazing art, and was duly impressed.
Next up, in the same building, no less, was Youssef Karsh, the ridiculously amazing photographer. Here's a game: think of somebody who was really famous between 1930 and 1970. Now think of their most iconic portrait photo. Odds are about 50-65% that photo was taken by Youssef Karsh.

You may recognize some of his work.

responsible not only for this photo:

and this one,but also this one, and a whole host of others.
Plus, he's Canadian. (Karsh, not Winston Churchill)

We got to take these pictures, too.
the queen
and grumposeyo
Gimme back my damn cigar!

Then on Saturday I ate at one of my favorite restaurants in downtown seoul
Where they cook the food on this great squared gas grill that's all loaded with spilled-over deliciousness.

Watching the lady cook is fun. The food is just amazing: the best dwenjang soup I've had by about a mile.



Took this picture while walking around Bukcheondong with Girlfriendoseyo: missed the Walkabout tour that happened on Sunday, but saw some nice stuff anyway.


Most ironic book in the world (right up there with, for a dollar on the discount rack, all the evangelical apocalyptic milennial Christian books about "50 reasons why the world will end in on New Year's Day, 2000AD, and How To Prepare for Christ's Return"): "The Roaring 2000s: Building the Wealth and Lifestyle You Desire in the Greatest Boom in History" spotted by Danielle.

OK folks. that's it for now.

have a good one!