North Korean film Pulgasari: Kim Jong-Il's Godzilla

Bum Economy Got You Down? SNSD, Kim Yu-na and Samsung are here to help

All K-Pop reports:
Kim Yuna, SNSD (Girls' Generation in English) have teamed up to cheer up Korea with...the Ha Ha Song. According to All K-pop,

The Ha Ha Ha Campaign is an online cultural encouragement campaign in Korea to spread hope and cheerfulness.

Now, The Ha Ha Song was a pop song that came out a few years ago, which is really fun in the noraebang. Here's the original: I like the ska tinge.


Samsung previously had the ridiculously popular Kim Yuna do it (singing her own vocals, I bet. Crossover, here we come!) and the nearly as popular, dorky DongBangShinKi (I have a story about them) do the Ha Ha Song too, but as of the 14th, the indistinguishable Girls' Generation get the next crack. They also changed the song a bit, and gave it their own style, 'cause Girls' Generation, they wanna have fun.


And indeed, there's even a separate short video for every single member of SNSD. See if THAT helps you tell them apart.


All the Ha Ha's remind me of this:


Update: Found it!
Looks like South isn't the only Korea that knows the importance of laughter (if it is North Korean as advertised):

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

after a while this one reminds me a little of the creepy game-show from Requiem for a Dream.

In other news, Hite Stout has another way for you to release some stress: by pummeling an inflatable beer flute with a wooden stick while some cleavage looks on. As with any situation involving cleavage, the always-classy Chosun Ilbo's photographers were there to document it. HT to Brian

There's a joke to be made here, but I'll leave it for someone else to make.

Speaking of Yuna Kim, if imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, it can also be the lamest.

Roboseyo Media Blitz: The Korea Herald AND Times in one day!

Hello.

Today, I am in two of Korea's English language newspapers.

The Korea Times published my letter to the editor, about that ugly stereotyping letter.

the Korea Herald's Expat Living section is publishing a best-of list I made by compiling the results from my recent "So What Really ARE The Ten Things Foreigners Like About Korea?"

If you're a new reader to this blog, take a look around. I hope you like what you see. I like living in Korea quite a lot, and one way I show it is by learning about Korea and writing about it.

More later, when I have the time to properly update this post.

Looks like James Turnbull was Right: Nudity in Korean Advertising Increases

James, at The Grand Narrative, predicted an increase in racy ads featuring nudity and body parts, due to trends visible during economic downturns.

For example, this one:
While on the subway, I noticed this ad, and realized he was totally right.

Be ready. It's pretty shocking that this would show in a public place...

Gratuitous nudity! Shameless! So many naked people in a single room! What's going on with Korea's public morality?

Can't get it to embed. Follow the link. Hint: it's babies.

Best Cherry Blossom Pictures:Kyunghee University

sitting around outside.
late afternoon sun
layers
Kyunghee's main gate
at HUFS
When there's just too much beauty, too many cherry blossoms, how do you come up with any kind of composition?

Easy: photoshop some people into the foreground

stealing a kiss

white in sunlight
same tree at HUFS



this couple was having way too much fun
i love taking pictures of people taking pictures of other people
one of the better shots from the group
you know I went through about 700 pictures to get these best few











that's all. ate at the spanish place in Paju again today. still the best Sangria I've had, no contest.

More about that later.

PS: Post number 550!

Fake Languages

Here's an interesting one:

This guy lays down the challenge: what does fake English sound like? You know when you used to say "Ching chang chong" in grade school, because you didn't know any better, and thought you were speaking Chinese? Well what do Chinese kids say when they think they're speaking English?

This guy speaks a bunch of gibberish that sounds surprisingly like Chinese and several European languages, and asks Youtubers to respond with the sounds of English, from people who can't speak English.


Some interesting responses:
One girl:


One Japanese Kid (my favorite)


Another one:


Another good one.

meanwhile, here is one Korean popstar's hybrid language, called "Hanglish" in the video title. Sounds to me like there's some latino L.A. style slang in there, too. (Warning: some of his non-language really sounds like some real English swears; note also that he's using one of those V-line face massagers during the video intro). Mr. Tyfoon.


Finally, this is what Korean sounds like to a couple of American kids. They're impersonating ajosshis (Korean old men), speaking English with Korean accents, but when they get excited, they swear in non-Korean gibberish. The Korean History Channel. (Language warning)

For your Benefit: a translation

I made comments a while back about the way Korean sportscasters can sometimes go a bit too far in their enthusiasm, and referenced Park TaeHwan's gold medal swim from the Beijing Games.

Well, I'm proud to say, with a friend's help, I've translated the commentary on that video, so that you, my dear readers, can see what they were saying all along. A few of my translations might not be entirely accurate, but I think I got the drift across.

Picture of the Day, and Possibly the Week

Here's another contender: the ricetard snack was sure a good one,



but inspecting my follower's list, I discovered Korea, Books and Calories, and on her blog, Okibum had posted this outrageous, uproarious picture of a t-shirt.

My weiner has a heart on for you. Yep. That's right.
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Seriously, I want to have the job of the person who comes up with wacky English T-shirt slogans. I'd even try to market them in North America. I think they'd catch on.

Cripes, I get so TIRED of this.

Korea Times published this opinion piece by Jessica Kim today.

It bothered me. For the usual reasons. Mostly for calling prospective English teachers losers, failures, and stupid.

Here is the letter I sent to her and to the editor of The Korea Times.

Dear Editor

While Jessica Kim's article, "Korea's English Pandemic" raised some valid questions about Korea's obsession with English, I was extremely disappointed both by Jessica's crass generalizations about the character and intelligence of English teachers coming to Korea, and moreover by The Korea Times' willingness to print such material.

The problems she raises are valid: yes, Korea's obsession with English education is expensive for families and stressful for children. However, recruiters for Korean companies trying to expand their global reach would probably take issue with Ms. Kim's assertion that Korea’s English obsession is pointless.

There is also nothing wrong with Ms. Kim being proud of her country's language: she mentions how Korea has a national holiday to celebrate Hangul, but why, in the same sentence, does she need to start making insinuations about the kinds of people who ask about coming to Korea to teach?

Does Ms. Kim know these people well enough to accurately judge their probable SAT scores, or is she guessing wildly about their intelligence? How did she judge that they had no life goals? Is she so sure that their only qualification to teach English is their white skin? Does she even know how many of them are asking about teaching in Korea out of a serious desire to come overseas, and how many are simply exploring possible options, the way desperate people do during a financial crisis, when they feel their options diminishing? And how dare she call these people miserable failures in their own lives, unless she knows their entire life stories?

Finally, as a long-term professional English instructor in Korea, who works hard to improve both my craft as a teacher, and my students' true English capability, I deeply resent Ms. Kim's insinuations that my white looks are my only important qualification to teach English in Korea. By ignoring the fact there are a lot of excellent Native English instructors in Korea, Ms. Kim sounds just as ignorant as the people approaching her, who think white skin is enough to get a teaching job in Korea.

I also resent Ms. Kim’s trotting out the old, ugly stereotype of the “unqualified English teacher," using a broad brush to paint an entire group of people. The English instructors in Korea range from experienced and supremely qualified career educators, to backpackers looking to pay for the next leg of their Asian tour. However, those recruiting teachers are responsible for which teachers come to Korea, and in recruiting, the old saying, “You get what you pay for” applies, for better and for worse.

Finally, I am dismayed that The Korea Times prints articles like this, which ply in stereotypes and lazy thinking, which does not even offer a solution to the problem it presents, though it does take time to slur the reputation of many hard working, enthusiastic and passionate teachers. Such careless media coverage denies native English teachers the respect they deserve for their work, and sometimes makes teaching English in Korea seem like a thankless job. It would be easier for the qualified, committed teachers in Korea to continue investing their talents in Korean society if it seemed to appreciate our hard work.

(for those who care: here's her original piece)

Korea's English Pandemic

By Jessica Kim

``I don't have a job here, but it's okay because my fallback plan is to teach English in Korea,'' they all say, the so-called native speakers.

Everyone in Korea, regardless of age, gender or job, has a massive collective fever. It's almost like the influenza pandemic of 1918.

Sure, it doesn't shoot up the death toll, but if you are a Korean parent, it does shoot up your kid's monthly English lesson fees, and if you are ``that" kid yourself, then it shoots up your stress gauge. This peninsula, at least the southern half of it, is drowning in a large-scale English craze.

Recently, a lot of people have been calling me and emailing me, to the point where I just had to shut down my phone. Some even identify themselves as a friend of a friend of a friend of mine. That's a long social chain.

These random ``friends" who don't have a job or got fired recently have been trying to get in touch with me to ask me about teaching English in Korea. They all say in unison, as if it comes from the Holy Bible, ``I heard all you need is the 'white looks' and you are good to go." I have heard this millions of times already, but every time I hear it I can't help myself from cringing with every single muscle in my forehead. I may need Botox soon even though I'm only in my early 20s.

So why is Korea, the nation that even created a national day to celebrate the beauty and the history of the Korean language, seen as the place to go for those ``native speakers" who have no life goals? The aim of trying to learn English is healthy for the mind and soul ― it's for personal development. However, the situation here is to the point where it's almost an obsession, not to mention an embarrassing one.

Do we really want these ``white-looking" people to just stroll into Korea, who probably scored less than 500 out of 800 on their verbal portion of their SATs or don't even know what they SATs are, to be hailed as kings by Korean parents? This leads to my point: Korean parents need to change their attitudes.

It is the Korean parents' crazy obsession with English that drives up the cram school fees; it is their obsession that creates such trouble for the government's education branch to rationally allocate their already-strained budget; and, finally, it is their obsession that leads Korea to be looked-down-upon as a Plan B by those ``native English speakers" who miserably fail in their own lives. The parents with such wrong attitudes are to be blamed for the pandemic.

Sadly, I do not have a solution and my intention was only to point out my observation of today's society. I do not know if anyone will ever have a solution. Is it even possible?

This mad English fever seems inexorable; it is how it is now, how it will be next year and the year after that. Someone needs to set an alarm clock to wake up the parents who have overdosed on their English fever.

We all need to realize that this English craze is not only pointless, but it burdens the students and their families. It ships Korea's money offshore and it pressures Korean educators to seek unqualified people who only possess the ``white looks." It leads to many indirect social problems that we have in Korea right now.

Rise and shine, it's time to wake up.

The writer is a student majoring in accounting at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Va. She can be reached at jkimqwerty@gmail.com.

OK, Yeah, they carry michael breen's column, and their friday "Events" page can't be beat in the English dailies in Korea, but CRIPES! Does the Korea Times HAVE to publish every single opinion any old whoever sends in, so long as it mentions English teachers? Seriously? Is this like their way of letting their readers (who are mostly Koreans practicing English anyway) get some vicarious, passive-aggressive revenge on their English teachers, by reading smears on their English teachers in their paper, in order to feel better about the fact they still can't speak English to a foreigner with confidence? (Bitter much, Roboseyo? I'll feel better in the morning. You should've seen the pictures I took today!)

Must-Read Analysis on North Korean Rocket Launch

Hub of Sparkle is down right now, for reasons unexplained, so I'll link it here.

Ask A Korean! has translated the best analysis I've seen so far on the North Korean Rocket Launch.

Other Must-Read North Korean related material:

How to Disarm Kim Jong-il without Bombing Him: From One Free Korea

and, because no mention of Kim Jong-il should be made without some scorn and derision: a bit of mockery -jong-il