Friday, January 23, 2009

Really Really Cool Website Of The Day

Go.  Play.  Enjoy.


Must have Java.

Doucheburns Goes Downtown

For more of your Doucheburns amusement, before I cut them off for my trip to Vietnam this seollal...

Here's the transition from "grizzly travel beard" to "doucheburns," for your edification.


and here's a short slideshow of doucheburns touching some of the bases in downtown Seoul.
Forgot to get a picture of Doucheburns in the Vietnamese embassy. My bad. I had lunch with Fatmanseoul, and hopefully those pictures will pop up soon: when they do, I'll post them here as well.

Enjoy!


Happy new year, and see you again soon.

Coming next week: the big, big Korea Blog Golden Klog awards survey: vote for your favorites.

Nominations are still open at The Hub Of Sparkle, but move fast: the window's closing, and this survey's already looking to be a whopper.

Bye for now.

Roboseyo

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Doucheburns...The People Have Spoken



More later. I have to go downtown and pick up my Vietnam visa looking like this.

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Two Things I Like and One Thing I Don't Like

Thing I like one:

These birds, feeding on the rice a dude scattered for them, near the Anguk end of Insadong, and scattering whenever something startled them.



Thing I like two:

These fiber-optic Christmas lights, in Myeongdong, Seoul. I'm bummed that the usual Christmas Lights were not up over Chunggyecheon Stream this year (Girlfriendoseyo said they were cancelled due to the bad economy... I say boo! I didn't notice myself, because I was on vacation in China. [sucka])

Previous years, absent this year:

(Image from Seoulman)

Lights I like, from Myeongdong this year.


Thing I like two point five:
Also: an impressive Christmas Tree I saw in Beijing, where I traveled. (Yeah!)
In front of a Lotte Department Store, on Wangfujing Street (hope I spelled that right).



Finally, something I DON'T like.

I'm looking around Seoul for a really good Spanish paella rice, and as I have learned, when one goes to a Spanish restaurant, one really ought to order the Sangria.

Twenty minutes after the pitcher of Sangria arrived for our party of four, we were left with this.



Rather than rant for two hundred words about it, all I'm gonna say is, I'm not paying for ice, nimrods. I can make that at home.

And that goes to every single place serving me cold drinks, too, all the way from the fancy schmancy Spanish place in Itaewon, to the Starbucks down the street, to the fast-food butt-burger. I want drink, not ice, and that watery no-longer-tastes-like-the-drink-I-ordered spuzz in the bottom of the cup twenty minutes after the drink is served? It might just convince me never to patronize your place again. thanks for listening.


roboseyo out

Roboseyo's Cool Website of the Day

time lapse map of the spread of various world religions.

Tooting cool.

Go here.

Monday, January 19, 2009

The Five Best Pictures I Took During My China Trip

As you know, I was in China for four weeks, just now. I don't want to bore you all to tears with miles of text about my China trip, or reams and reams of pictures... but I want to share some of it. The best stuff, you know.

So here are the five best pictures I took during my trip. And ooh, brother, it's been hard getting it down to five.

Enjoy.

(In no particular order, some of the pictures I think are interesting:)

Out the window of the all-night train from Shenzen to Guilain: the lit inside caught a reflection on the window, as a dark tree flashed by. I believe Matt actually took this picture, but it was on MY camera.
Trees in mist in the Longji Rice Terraces in Longsheng.
The Hong Kong Skyline, always a work in progress. From a walkway near Central Station.

A boat on Erhai Lake, near Dali City, Yunnan Province, South China

A skating couple at dusk in what I believe is Qian Hai Lake, Beijing, China.


And finally, you know Korea's left a permanent mark on you, and who you are, when you're on the Great Wall Of China, and you look around in awe at the mountain ridges and the amazing vistas, stunned by one of humanity's great engineering achievements, and you think, "Hey! I'm ought to commemorate this with a selca!" (Selca is an abbreviation for "self camera" -- picture of myself, taken by myself, a recently coined Konglish catchphrase.)

Don't forget: it's not too late to nominate blogs for the K-Blog Awards at The Hub Of Sparkle. Since I posted it, it would be a bit disingenuous to nominate myself in the various categories, but if YOU, my lovely readers, like my blog (hint hint) YOU are WELCOME (hint hint) to nominate my blog for various categories, as you see fit. (hint hint)

After all: what's the fun of the internet if you can't stuff ballot boxes from time to time.
The categories for the Klog Awards (or the Golden Kimchis) are...

  1. Best Overall Korea Blog, 2008golden-kimchi
  2. Most Thought Provoking Korea Blog, 2008
  3. Most Current and Timely Korea Blog, 2008
  4. Most Helpful Blog to Expats in Korea, 2008
  5. Funniest Korea Blog, 2008
  6. Happiest Blogger, 2008
  7. Angriest Blogger, 2008
  8. Best Pop Culture Blog, 2008
  9. Best Culture Blog in General, 2008
  10. Best Food Blog, 2008
  11. Best Korea Photography Blog, 2008
  12. Craziest Comment Board in a Korea Blog, 2008
  13. Most Interesting Comment Board in a Korea Blog, 2008
  14. Best New Korea Blog, 2008
  15. Up and Comer - Blogger To Watch in 2009
  16. Best Post or Series by a K-Blogger, 2008
  17. Korea Blog Most Completely Taken Over by Obama’s Run To The Presidency, 2008

Sunday, January 18, 2009

HAHAHAHAHA - Tribute to that Stupid Catchy Song, and Beardoseyo

OK. still looking for nominations for the best blogs of 2008. Seriously. I don't want to be the only one with input here, 'cause, you know, that'd be lame.


Until then: while traveling in China, I didn't shave, because I hate shaving, and my hair's dark enough that I need to shave every morning while I'm working, or I look awful.

This is what it looks like after four weeks without shaving...


After the initial neck-beard trim, which would have sent Girlfriendoseyo running, screaming from my presence, it looked like this.


Now, before I shave it off entirely, I'm offering you, the readers of Roboseyo, some input:

For one day, I will do my remaining facial hair in whatever way my lovely readers choose, on the sidebar poll:

Do you want to see Roboseyo with:

1. Mutton Chops


2. a Pornstar 'stache


3. A goatee


4. Doucheburns


5. Laser Beard


and finally...

For all the songs that get stuck in our heads...


Go to the sidebar. Vote.

Saturday, January 17, 2009

The Best Blogs of 2008

Over at the Hub of Sparkle, I've started a huge survey of what you think are the best Korea blogs of 2008.

Take a look, and add your nominations on the comment board either there, or at the Hub of Sparkle Facebook page. If you're a K-blogger, tell your readers about it, so that they can get over there, stuffing the ballot box on your behalf: after all, it's the internet!

I'm closing comments on this post, so that you put all your comments at the Hub of Sparkle's site, or Facebook discussion group.

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Dealing with Racism

From Foreigner Joy, here's a good look at how to deal with racism in everyday life, and how people respond wrongly when they encounter it.