I'm in the Korea Herald twice this week: on Wednesday, talking about 2S2, the expat get-together. You can come, too - at 2pm in the Twosome Place coffee shop next to exit 1 of Anguk subway station, near Insadong.
Dress warmly because we're going to be outdoors, watching the Snowboarding competition/festival in Gwanghwamun Plaza. You can also check out the 2S2 blog, or see what else I've written about it at Roboseyo. I've had interest from a few people about starting new 2S2 pockets in other areas, so if you're thinking about it, too, please drop me a line.
Next: also in the Herald, I put in a plug for the Korean International Salsa Social - KISS in today's Herald. You can read about it here. It's a good time to get involved in the community: they're having a party tomorrow in Itaewon!
Finally, and here's the biggie:
Hats off to Dann Gaymer, Ben Wagner, Andrea Vandom, et al, for appearing on CBC Radio, probably Canada's most respectable news organization - "BBC of Canada" if you will -- sometimes called the Canadian news mecca. They're on there talking about Anti-English Spectrum's targeting of English teachers, and the visa requirements, and all that jazz. I just listened to the feature, and it's quite well done, and each of them explain themselves well.
You can check it out here. This is great, and a big step up from the somewhat sloppy report that was in the Canadian National Post earlier this week.
Good work, all... and a special nod must also go to Matt from Popular Gusts, who wasn't interviewed, but whose work publishing and spreading news about Anti-English Spectrum has been, in my opinion, pivotal in building the momentum that is now leading to this kind of coverage in the international media. The next question is how much international embarrassment is required before decision-makers start getting stuff done -- the tree isn't just falling in the forest anymore, thanks. But for now: Cheers all around! I owe each of you a beer or a latte, next time we meet.
one expat's life in Korea
Friday, December 11, 2009
Wednesday, December 09, 2009
Three Cheers For Ajumma!
Ajumma, the most irrepressible sector of Korean society, is finally, finally refusing to be repressed in North Korea.
Ajummas, the ones who were at the vanguard of forming the black market of goods for sale which saved the lives of many North Koreans when the state, and Kim Jong-Il's porky evilness failed to provide food for most people, are now leading the defiant movement against Kim Jong-il's vicious plan to deprive as many of his people as possible of the money they'd earned on that black market, just as winter approached.
It seems that Kim Jong-il would rather rule a country of 3 million docile people willing to accept being hand-fed, than a country of 15 million people who can fend for themselves. The difference between those numbers? Let'em starve this winter.
Read more about the ajummovement here.
Kim Jong-il man is the most evil thing I can imagine. Anybody who doesn't recognize that just doesn't get it.
Frankly, Afghanistan nothing: Kim Jong-il's actions in North Korea are, in my opinion, the greatest repudiation of Ban Ki-moon and the UN's effectiveness is how complacent they have been about the systematic starvation of North Korea's people, and the egregious ways he's been slowly robbing his people of any dignity they might have had.
I hope they rise, and I hope they get him. East-Asia'll be a mess for a while in the aftermath, but I can't believe how Kim Jong-il keep manages to top himself, evil-wise.
Ajummas, the ones who were at the vanguard of forming the black market of goods for sale which saved the lives of many North Koreans when the state, and Kim Jong-Il's porky evilness failed to provide food for most people, are now leading the defiant movement against Kim Jong-il's vicious plan to deprive as many of his people as possible of the money they'd earned on that black market, just as winter approached.
It seems that Kim Jong-il would rather rule a country of 3 million docile people willing to accept being hand-fed, than a country of 15 million people who can fend for themselves. The difference between those numbers? Let'em starve this winter.
Read more about the ajummovement here.
Kim Jong-il man is the most evil thing I can imagine. Anybody who doesn't recognize that just doesn't get it.
Frankly, Afghanistan nothing: Kim Jong-il's actions in North Korea are, in my opinion, the greatest repudiation of Ban Ki-moon and the UN's effectiveness is how complacent they have been about the systematic starvation of North Korea's people, and the egregious ways he's been slowly robbing his people of any dignity they might have had.
I hope they rise, and I hope they get him. East-Asia'll be a mess for a while in the aftermath, but I can't believe how Kim Jong-il keep manages to top himself, evil-wise.
2S2 on Saturday December 12: Dress Warmly
Dress warmly on Saturday, dear readers. 2S2 is meeting, as usual, at 2pm, on the Second Saturday of the month, in the usual place: at the Twosome Place to the right of exit 1, Anguk Station.
From there, we're going to head down to Gwanghwamun Plaza, where there's this wild, crazy, awesome Snowboarding competition and festival all weekend, and we'll take part in the festivities. Come join us! But dress warmly. It's December, and the festival's outdoors.
So what is 2S2? Well, now it has a blog and a facebook group... nothing exists anymore unless it has a blog and a facebook group, does it?
You can read more about what it is, and what we're trying to accomplish, here, or here.
From there, we're going to head down to Gwanghwamun Plaza, where there's this wild, crazy, awesome Snowboarding competition and festival all weekend, and we'll take part in the festivities. Come join us! But dress warmly. It's December, and the festival's outdoors.
So what is 2S2? Well, now it has a blog and a facebook group... nothing exists anymore unless it has a blog and a facebook group, does it?
You can read more about what it is, and what we're trying to accomplish, here, or here.
Tuesday, December 08, 2009
Wolfhound-inspired: more on Wolves
Dear readers:
Now that Wolfhound Pub has redeemed itself, now that I'm as full as a coffee mug with Wolf-love, it seems a good time to share a little more about wolves... and then tell you about the new occupant of my dog-house.
First: on the wolf-love side: gotta tell you, now that I've seen pretty much every great, good, and even OK Zombie movie, the pool-ball scene in "Zombie Strippers" made it pretty clear to me that I'd hit the bottom of the barrel, as Zombie films go. (Don't worry. I didn't watch the whole thing. The whole "Give-you-a-lap-dance-then-eat-you" thing was just too many levels of exploitation at once, and it was witless and charmless and really twelve kinds of not fun and not cool -- couldn't even enjoy it in the "so bad it's good" way: it was just "so bad it's, um, really bad") So I thought I'd try out another monster movie genre: Vampires were too obvious, what with the film industry's Robert Pattinson-based Twigasm, so I checked out a few wolfmannish movies.
Basically: 1. wolfman is the red-headed stepchild of iconic movie monsters: surprisingly few really good movies, and even the "good" ones were surprisingly weak
2. this is partially explained by the nature of lycanfolk: only turning into a wolf for three nights a month makes it hard to build dramatic tension into a powerful climax -- either the beginning of the movie's all long and slow, just for a single riveting (hopefully) scene once the moon finally rolls around (cf: An American Werewolf in London), or the whole story happens in a very short timeframe, which can make for great action, but not much character development.
3. The tawdriness of the "man in a wolf suit" effects and costuming of most of these werewolf movies. Especially after the gleeful gore of even 1980s zombie movies, the wolfman effects left me in the cold, for the most part. Wolf costumes, people in wolf suits, just aren't graceful or impressive-looking enough to catch my attention. So here's the rundown of my brief flirtation with werewolf movies, before I decided "Hey. It's December. Let's get christmassy and watch feel-good movies instead."
Saw: Dog Soldiers - excellent British take on Wolfman. Man in suit monsters were the weak point - lame silhouettes - but whenever the wolves WEREN'T onscreen, great action sequences, good setup (British special forces vs. werewolves), etc..
Ginger Snaps - top 3, more psychological than action-based, especially with the subtext of the sisterhood theme, along with the coming of age confusion. Werewolfism becomes an interesting stand-in for teen anxieties about menstruation.
Blood & Chocolate - possibly the best one of the lot, the two leads were strong, and the movie's best strength was actually using wolves for the transformations. Had a tone and mysical feeling the others lacked, and created a real feeling of a wolf pack that was intriguing.
An American Werewolf in London: weak sauce. Especially the early '80s effects, which were not sophisticated enough for my CG-spoiled eye, but not primitive enough (see '60s movies) to be fun in a campy way. A lot of lists had this as one of the top werewolf films, which is a big part of why I didn't get deeper into the genre.
Still need to see: Heard good things about The Howling, and Wolf, starring Jack Nicholson. Jack could read the phonebook and still be compelling and watchable, so I'll at least give it a try. That may be it for my foray into werewolf films, unless somebody tells me about another I really need to see. Warning: any mention of Underworld or Van Helsing will lead to a complete loss of credibility. And if I need to mention ditto for Twilight, why am I even talking to you?
For the record: the best movies I saw during the zombie kick:
Transcends the Genre: Army of Darkness
1. Lucio Fulci's Zombie (1979) (Straight up zombie terror)
2. Zombieland (witty, genre-savvy and self-referential - the best postmodern zombie film)
3. Night of the Living Dead (the original)
4. Dawn of the Dead (original)
5. Cemetery Man (a zombie art film starring Rupert Everett. I kid you not)
6. 28 Days Later (if it qualifies as a Zombie film; purists say it doesn't)
7. Dead Snow (best climactic zombie-slaying action sequence outside of Zombieland. Plus: Nazi Zombies!)
8. Shawn of the Dead (Zombieland's pacing was better; less action than Shawn)
9. Dawn of the Dead (the remake: running zombies don't do it for me as much as for others)
10. Day of the Dead (go Bub!)
hurt to leave out: "Evil" - a fun Greek zombie film, and "Dead Alive" - the Transformers 2 of Zombie films - so over-the-top goes it over, folds back on itself, and goes back over again, as if Zombie films were a splatter contest. Plus: the lawnmower scene, and the most unkillable zombies in the whole genre) The other top contender in the splatter contest: Planet Terror
And: Campy good: Flight of the Living Dead
Campy bad: all the Return of the Living Dead movies.
Now that Wolfhound Pub has redeemed itself, now that I'm as full as a coffee mug with Wolf-love, it seems a good time to share a little more about wolves... and then tell you about the new occupant of my dog-house.
First: on the wolf-love side: gotta tell you, now that I've seen pretty much every great, good, and even OK Zombie movie, the pool-ball scene in "Zombie Strippers" made it pretty clear to me that I'd hit the bottom of the barrel, as Zombie films go. (Don't worry. I didn't watch the whole thing. The whole "Give-you-a-lap-dance-then-eat-you" thing was just too many levels of exploitation at once, and it was witless and charmless and really twelve kinds of not fun and not cool -- couldn't even enjoy it in the "so bad it's good" way: it was just "so bad it's, um, really bad") So I thought I'd try out another monster movie genre: Vampires were too obvious, what with the film industry's Robert Pattinson-based Twigasm, so I checked out a few wolfmannish movies.
Basically: 1. wolfman is the red-headed stepchild of iconic movie monsters: surprisingly few really good movies, and even the "good" ones were surprisingly weak
2. this is partially explained by the nature of lycanfolk: only turning into a wolf for three nights a month makes it hard to build dramatic tension into a powerful climax -- either the beginning of the movie's all long and slow, just for a single riveting (hopefully) scene once the moon finally rolls around (cf: An American Werewolf in London), or the whole story happens in a very short timeframe, which can make for great action, but not much character development.
3. The tawdriness of the "man in a wolf suit" effects and costuming of most of these werewolf movies. Especially after the gleeful gore of even 1980s zombie movies, the wolfman effects left me in the cold, for the most part. Wolf costumes, people in wolf suits, just aren't graceful or impressive-looking enough to catch my attention. So here's the rundown of my brief flirtation with werewolf movies, before I decided "Hey. It's December. Let's get christmassy and watch feel-good movies instead."
Saw: Dog Soldiers - excellent British take on Wolfman. Man in suit monsters were the weak point - lame silhouettes - but whenever the wolves WEREN'T onscreen, great action sequences, good setup (British special forces vs. werewolves), etc..
Ginger Snaps - top 3, more psychological than action-based, especially with the subtext of the sisterhood theme, along with the coming of age confusion. Werewolfism becomes an interesting stand-in for teen anxieties about menstruation.
Blood & Chocolate - possibly the best one of the lot, the two leads were strong, and the movie's best strength was actually using wolves for the transformations. Had a tone and mysical feeling the others lacked, and created a real feeling of a wolf pack that was intriguing.
An American Werewolf in London: weak sauce. Especially the early '80s effects, which were not sophisticated enough for my CG-spoiled eye, but not primitive enough (see '60s movies) to be fun in a campy way. A lot of lists had this as one of the top werewolf films, which is a big part of why I didn't get deeper into the genre.
Still need to see: Heard good things about The Howling, and Wolf, starring Jack Nicholson. Jack could read the phonebook and still be compelling and watchable, so I'll at least give it a try. That may be it for my foray into werewolf films, unless somebody tells me about another I really need to see. Warning: any mention of Underworld or Van Helsing will lead to a complete loss of credibility. And if I need to mention ditto for Twilight, why am I even talking to you?
For the record: the best movies I saw during the zombie kick:
Transcends the Genre: Army of Darkness
1. Lucio Fulci's Zombie (1979) (Straight up zombie terror)
2. Zombieland (witty, genre-savvy and self-referential - the best postmodern zombie film)
3. Night of the Living Dead (the original)
4. Dawn of the Dead (original)
5. Cemetery Man (a zombie art film starring Rupert Everett. I kid you not)
6. 28 Days Later (if it qualifies as a Zombie film; purists say it doesn't)
7. Dead Snow (best climactic zombie-slaying action sequence outside of Zombieland. Plus: Nazi Zombies!)
8. Shawn of the Dead (Zombieland's pacing was better; less action than Shawn)
9. Dawn of the Dead (the remake: running zombies don't do it for me as much as for others)
10. Day of the Dead (go Bub!)
hurt to leave out: "Evil" - a fun Greek zombie film, and "Dead Alive" - the Transformers 2 of Zombie films - so over-the-top goes it over, folds back on itself, and goes back over again, as if Zombie films were a splatter contest. Plus: the lawnmower scene, and the most unkillable zombies in the whole genre) The other top contender in the splatter contest: Planet Terror
And: Campy good: Flight of the Living Dead
Campy bad: all the Return of the Living Dead movies.
Monday, December 07, 2009
I Love the Wolfhound Forever
A while ago I had a gripe about the Wolfhound Pub in Itaewon - I even wrote a letter to them on my blog (see here) -- here was my gripe, to sum up:
So, in response, I shall keep my promise to love them forever.
Dear readers, let me tell you about The Wolfhound Pub: (btw: this is a completely unpaid, message; I have not, and do not plan to benefit from writing this financially or in any other way; I'm writing this of my own volition and everything)
When I hanker for Fish'n'Chips, there's really only one place to go in Seoul:
Wolfhound Pub, which not only serves what are the best fish'n'chips I've had in Seoul, but which serves them up two for one on Tuesdays. In case you're a shark.
Seoul Eats just published their menu: go look.
Zenkimchi and Seoul Eats have gushed on about their burgers already, so I'm going to tell you about my own favorites:
1. the Irish Stew, which is nice
2. even more so: the beef and mushroom pie, which I like so much that I want to write it in all caps. Or at least italics.
It's a beef and mushroom stew with a flaky pastry over the top, which almost bursts with hot air when you poke it with a fork, and then deflates slowly into the stew.
Here's how it looks from the outside
and here's how it looks once you poke through that lovely pastry:
and ooh, dear readers, it is so good.
Here's the toad in the hole
The breakfast is good, and looking better these days, when a few of the former standout western breakfasts Really Muffed Theirs. So get on over there for your hangover brunch, or your British pub food, folks. The irish stew, the shepherd's pie, the fish'n'chips, are all among the better British Isles/UK-ish food you can find, they have Guinness and Alley Kat and Kilkenny on tap, so you can kick back with some good eats, and have a full cup of coffee while you're at it. And remember: Wolfhound cares what you think.*
:) *especially if you google bomb them, sez the cynic in me
But seriously, Wolfhound: thanks for listening. Congratulations on the new renovations, and good luck in the future. If you're asking, Girlfriendoseyo would be more easily convinced to come and have your great food if the first of your two floors were non-smoking. But still: good music, great food, thanks for being there, Wolfhound.
Another story that'll make you like Wolfhound: they had these popular wedge fries they served, but last winter, potato stocks were low quality. Rather than serve up inferior potato wedges, Wolfhound put up signs saying, "Until potato shipments improve in size and quality, we're taking potato wedges off the menu, because we'd rather not serve anything, than dish up rubbish 'taters to paying customers." Gotta respect that, yah? Yah.
-Roboseyo
Dear Wolfhound: Please either...I ended off the letter with this:
1. serve your coffee in a smaller mug, so that I don't feel ripped off by getting a coffee mug that's 40% full
2. fill your flurbing coffee mugs to the top, or at least near the top
3. charge less than three thousand won for four mouthfuls of coffee, when down the street, Rocky Mountain Tavern gives free coffee refills with all their breakfasts, and Starbucks gives nearly a PINT of coffee for a tiny bit more than the price of your tiny coffee puddle.
it wouldn't take much to fix this problem. Just do it, and I'll love you forever.Well, dear readers, I just got an e-mail from Wolfhound, and I hope they don't mind if I share it with you:
So, in response, I shall keep my promise to love them forever.
Dear readers, let me tell you about The Wolfhound Pub: (btw: this is a completely unpaid, message; I have not, and do not plan to benefit from writing this financially or in any other way; I'm writing this of my own volition and everything)
When I hanker for Fish'n'Chips, there's really only one place to go in Seoul:
Wolfhound Pub, which not only serves what are the best fish'n'chips I've had in Seoul, but which serves them up two for one on Tuesdays. In case you're a shark.
Seoul Eats just published their menu: go look.
Zenkimchi and Seoul Eats have gushed on about their burgers already, so I'm going to tell you about my own favorites:
1. the Irish Stew, which is nice
2. even more so: the beef and mushroom pie, which I like so much that I want to write it in all caps. Or at least italics.
It's a beef and mushroom stew with a flaky pastry over the top, which almost bursts with hot air when you poke it with a fork, and then deflates slowly into the stew.
Here's how it looks from the outside
and here's how it looks once you poke through that lovely pastry:
and ooh, dear readers, it is so good.
Here's the toad in the hole
The breakfast is good, and looking better these days, when a few of the former standout western breakfasts Really Muffed Theirs. So get on over there for your hangover brunch, or your British pub food, folks. The irish stew, the shepherd's pie, the fish'n'chips, are all among the better British Isles/UK-ish food you can find, they have Guinness and Alley Kat and Kilkenny on tap, so you can kick back with some good eats, and have a full cup of coffee while you're at it. And remember: Wolfhound cares what you think.*
:) *especially if you google bomb them, sez the cynic in me
But seriously, Wolfhound: thanks for listening. Congratulations on the new renovations, and good luck in the future. If you're asking, Girlfriendoseyo would be more easily convinced to come and have your great food if the first of your two floors were non-smoking. But still: good music, great food, thanks for being there, Wolfhound.
Another story that'll make you like Wolfhound: they had these popular wedge fries they served, but last winter, potato stocks were low quality. Rather than serve up inferior potato wedges, Wolfhound put up signs saying, "Until potato shipments improve in size and quality, we're taking potato wedges off the menu, because we'd rather not serve anything, than dish up rubbish 'taters to paying customers." Gotta respect that, yah? Yah.
-Roboseyo
Saturday, December 05, 2009
Judge Not, Lest Ye...
So today, I was on the subway, and after boarding, I waited for the doors to close. As they were closing, I glanced at the sliding doors one spot over from the ones I'd entered, just in time to see a surprisingly ajumma-ish shape take a full swan-dive onto the subway floor as the doors closed on her legs.
The first thing that went through my head, I'm not proud to say, is "How typically ajumma. She was probably running to catch the train and got caught. Or maybe she was so focused on the empty seat where she planned to throw her handbag, that she didn't notice the doors closing on her." This ungenerous thought, along with the usual "slow down for a car crash" impulse led me to crane my neck a little to see a bit more of the lady causing the commotion.
It was an older Korean lady, but as she got up, she was hunched so far down in her wine-colored coat, that I realized she was a lot older than that robo-ajumma who occupies the stereotype in my mind. Not only that, but her shamble belied a fair bit of pain in one of her legs, and the speed at which she moved toward a seat that someone courteously offered her (yay Korea!) made me realize that, even without a hurt leg, she wouldn't have been able to do that ajumma-sprint I'd imagined had led her to getting stuck in the door.
She got stuck in the door because she was old. And she moved slowly. And I realized how quickly I'd judged her.
It gets really easy to judge people on the other side of a language barrier. Really, really easy. And yeah, sometimes we foreigners catch the short end of that stick... I won't venture to say how often either side catches the long or short end, but I'll definitely say that if we want to have any foot to stand on at all, when we complain about discrimination and judgement and getting hairy eyeballs and all that stuff, let's make sure we're not alienating the Koreans around us at the same time, by treating them as less than human, simply because we can't understand them.
I still remember the growing awkward, and then hostile, feeling on a subway car, when I was riding with a girl who spent a whole 25 minute trip slagging Korea viciously in her "outdoor voice," when I looked around and realized that several people on the car understood every word she said.
Don't let's be that kind of foreigner, hey? Especially at Christmas, I guess.
Ask The Expat has a similarly-themed post in which he coins the term KDS, or Korean Derangement Syndrome. Worth the read.
Chris in SK also makes the point with a photo.
The first thing that went through my head, I'm not proud to say, is "How typically ajumma. She was probably running to catch the train and got caught. Or maybe she was so focused on the empty seat where she planned to throw her handbag, that she didn't notice the doors closing on her." This ungenerous thought, along with the usual "slow down for a car crash" impulse led me to crane my neck a little to see a bit more of the lady causing the commotion.
It was an older Korean lady, but as she got up, she was hunched so far down in her wine-colored coat, that I realized she was a lot older than that robo-ajumma who occupies the stereotype in my mind. Not only that, but her shamble belied a fair bit of pain in one of her legs, and the speed at which she moved toward a seat that someone courteously offered her (yay Korea!) made me realize that, even without a hurt leg, she wouldn't have been able to do that ajumma-sprint I'd imagined had led her to getting stuck in the door.
She got stuck in the door because she was old. And she moved slowly. And I realized how quickly I'd judged her.
It gets really easy to judge people on the other side of a language barrier. Really, really easy. And yeah, sometimes we foreigners catch the short end of that stick... I won't venture to say how often either side catches the long or short end, but I'll definitely say that if we want to have any foot to stand on at all, when we complain about discrimination and judgement and getting hairy eyeballs and all that stuff, let's make sure we're not alienating the Koreans around us at the same time, by treating them as less than human, simply because we can't understand them.
I still remember the growing awkward, and then hostile, feeling on a subway car, when I was riding with a girl who spent a whole 25 minute trip slagging Korea viciously in her "outdoor voice," when I looked around and realized that several people on the car understood every word she said.
Don't let's be that kind of foreigner, hey? Especially at Christmas, I guess.
Ask The Expat has a similarly-themed post in which he coins the term KDS, or Korean Derangement Syndrome. Worth the read.
Chris in SK also makes the point with a photo.
Friday, December 04, 2009
Hub of Sparkle Down: Event Listings for the Weekend
Tiny Tim wishes you a merry Christmas.Hub of Sparkle's down, infected by a nasty virus. So I'll put up a few event postings here: I'm on a bunch of facebook Korea group mailing lists, and I'd like to share a few of them: Christmas is coming and it's time to look at some of what's going on out and about.
Tuna Attack (blog here) is a new underground 'zine. On the 5th (Saturday) there's a debut party. You can go. Entry, 13,000W 9:30 @ Bowie Club, Hongdae. More info at the blog. Map here.
Seoul Style is also having a debut partay, including a fashion gala put on by feetmanseoul.
You can win tickets to a concert, courtesy of 10 Magazine, by voting for your favorite Korean movie here. (survey here)
Next, and this is one I encourage all of you to attend: tomorrow there's a World AIDS Day fundraiser/celebration in Hongdae. The event is called Rubber Seoul, and for a 10 000 won cover, you can get into a bunch of clubs, and buy t-shirts, and do all kinds of other things that will help people living with HIV/AIDS. The whole shebang starts at 8:30 at Jane's Groove, and from there, have a blast!
If you want to receive updates on stuff like this, Uber Rad Life...Korea is a Facebook group you should join: there's tons of stuff there for anyone who's looking to bolster their fun quotient in Korea. Uber Rad Life wants you to know about Tokyo Underground, too. If you like DJs, it's for you.
More from my facebook inbox:
Animal Rescue Korea is having a food and accessory drive on December 11th: more info here.
The other, more frightening Tiny Tim ALSO wishes you a merry Christmas.
(who is the scary Tiny Tim?)
Monday, November 30, 2009
A word on Greg Dolezal, ATEK President, and Death Threats
I've talked with Greg Dolezal, ATEK's first elected President, at length a few times on the phone. A lot has already been said about him and the threat made against his life on the Anti-English Spectrum comment boards, so I'll direct you to read about it there... but I just wanted to say, I want to put in a word in support of Mr. Dolezal. He's always been on the up and up, every time I've talked with him; he seems to have his head on straight and a good view of what's important and what can slide, and I'm grateful that he's stepped forward to lead ATEK in this formative year. I think he's a good man for the job, and I wish him the best.
Read about his death threat here
and here and here. And here's a report on it submitted to CNN by Stephannie White. I support him going after this guy, just to say, "We won't be pushed around," and "No, saying 'I was just kidding' is not an acceptable escape from responsibility for being a racist asshat"
Greg's part of a movement toward an expat community that's more integrated and connected, and I approve of that. Another person who's working on that is Shannon, from the Seoul Global Center, who was just featured on The Seoul Podcast, and came to my latest 2S2 meetup.
Read about his death threat here
and here and here. And here's a report on it submitted to CNN by Stephannie White. I support him going after this guy, just to say, "We won't be pushed around," and "No, saying 'I was just kidding' is not an acceptable escape from responsibility for being a racist asshat"
Greg's part of a movement toward an expat community that's more integrated and connected, and I approve of that. Another person who's working on that is Shannon, from the Seoul Global Center, who was just featured on The Seoul Podcast, and came to my latest 2S2 meetup.
Saturday, November 28, 2009
Deo Geu-rae-ee-tuh Get-chu-bee Project and KoreanGov
OK. So over on Twitter, there's this great tweeter called koreangov, who writes hilarious 140 character send-ups of Korean promotions and news. S/He was also the first person I know of who mentioned the ifriendly website that caught so much flack a couple weeks ago. It's like Dokdo Is Ours, but more condensed.
Now, Koreangov has started a blog as well, where you can enjoy his style of satire, stretched out into longer passages. I particularly enjoyed the "new driving test" post. The blog has had a good start so far, and has the advantage of an already-built-in audience.
Moreover, my hat is off to Koreangov's amazing skill at writing English as if it were a Korean trying to write English. We've exchanged a few e-mails, and I can assure you it's a ruse, and s/he writes English perfectly fluently, but s/he is just hilarious.
It reminds me of this book I once randomly picked up:
It's a hilariously ridiculous book that obviously never passed through the hands of a single native speaker on its torturous journey from being written, obviously, in Korean first, and then translated into English with the help of a Korean-English dictionary and a grammar class. But only one or two grammar classes.
Go ahead and read it: it's right exactly on the line between clumsy, hilarious, frustrating, and sad.
Here are some examples of the train-wrecky text:
So why am I writing about this?
Because old favorite comedy blog Dokdo Is Ours just rolled out a really funny idea: The Great Gatsby Project, where contributors can take a page out of the NORMAL book "The Great Gatsby" and translate it into "This was obviously written first in Korean, and then translated into English, and never edited or read by a Native speaker at any point in the process" It's called Deo Geureat Kechupi Ploject.
I think this is a great idea which might have hilarious results, and I might contribute a few pages for fun. If any of you have regular proofreading, editing, or writing marking duties, this might be a fun way to blow off some of that frustration. So go check out the project proposal, and the new blog DIO started for the project, and maybe claim a page or two for your own.
Now, Koreangov has started a blog as well, where you can enjoy his style of satire, stretched out into longer passages. I particularly enjoyed the "new driving test" post. The blog has had a good start so far, and has the advantage of an already-built-in audience.
Moreover, my hat is off to Koreangov's amazing skill at writing English as if it were a Korean trying to write English. We've exchanged a few e-mails, and I can assure you it's a ruse, and s/he writes English perfectly fluently, but s/he is just hilarious.
It reminds me of this book I once randomly picked up:
It's a hilariously ridiculous book that obviously never passed through the hands of a single native speaker on its torturous journey from being written, obviously, in Korean first, and then translated into English with the help of a Korean-English dictionary and a grammar class. But only one or two grammar classes.
Go ahead and read it: it's right exactly on the line between clumsy, hilarious, frustrating, and sad.
Here are some examples of the train-wrecky text:
So why am I writing about this?
Because old favorite comedy blog Dokdo Is Ours just rolled out a really funny idea: The Great Gatsby Project, where contributors can take a page out of the NORMAL book "The Great Gatsby" and translate it into "This was obviously written first in Korean, and then translated into English, and never edited or read by a Native speaker at any point in the process" It's called Deo Geureat Kechupi Ploject.
I think this is a great idea which might have hilarious results, and I might contribute a few pages for fun. If any of you have regular proofreading, editing, or writing marking duties, this might be a fun way to blow off some of that frustration. So go check out the project proposal, and the new blog DIO started for the project, and maybe claim a page or two for your own.
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
General Safety Bulletin and call for help
If a bunch of people invite you to take a ride in a limousine, don't get in. Even if they offer you candy.
Seriously, though, sometimes they don't offer candy: sometimes four guys force you into their car and try to rape you. And then word spreads on facebook, and bloggers send out requests asking if anybody who might have been witness to the incident, in Itaewon at 3:30 AM, or who has some info about it, could get in touch and help us track down the kinds of creeps and scuzzmuffins who would do something disgusting like that.
More at this facebook page. If anybody knows more about this, there's contact info on the page.
Seriously, though, sometimes they don't offer candy: sometimes four guys force you into their car and try to rape you. And then word spreads on facebook, and bloggers send out requests asking if anybody who might have been witness to the incident, in Itaewon at 3:30 AM, or who has some info about it, could get in touch and help us track down the kinds of creeps and scuzzmuffins who would do something disgusting like that.
More at this facebook page. If anybody knows more about this, there's contact info on the page.
Been forgetting to take my camera
OK, first: As Good As It Gets is playing while I'm writing this, and I'd forgotten what a charming film it is. My new favorite part of Jack Nicholson movies is the part where other actors impersonate Jack Nicholson's character, because of course, everyone in Hollywood knows how to do Jack (pun intended). They did it in A Few Good Men, they do it in this movie. Anybody know another movie where somebody does their Jack Nicholson? All I want to see is a movie where somebody does their Al Pacino, or their Robert Deniro. You know there are dozens of spot-on Pacinos and Deniros in Hollywood, just waiting to make it on screen.
Anyway, I've been forgetting to take my camera out when I go meet my friends and stuff, but I'm generally having a good time. Found some nice spiced wine near Gyungbokgung, went back to my favorite tea place by Anguk, 2S2 was a success, and at my buddy Evan's birthday party, I ate so much brazilian steak that I was full for two days.
Here are some pictures from that day.
It was my buddy Evan's birthday party. Here's him and his buddy Jonathan making pirate faces (my idea... I should totally be a portrait photographer)
I'm gonna be sad when nobody remembers Zoolander, and Magnum.
And my friend Kelly NameChangedForPrivacy was also there: she looks good in a hat, but then, I haven't yet met a woman who doesn't look hot in a fedora, and a newsboy cap. I'd almost say every woman should own one of each, but then it would be less special.
she wouldn't do magnum for me.
I like hanging out with Kelly and Evan, because even though they met randomly in Korea, I'm buds with both of them. Even more unusual is this connection: both Evan's mother and Kelly's mother were best friends to my mother, at different times in my mom's life. That's cool.
I also had a spaghetti party, and my friend came: she used to be a coworker, and she's a nice lady. She's also a funny one, because she's a very pretty lady, yet whatever the opposite of photogenic is, she's it: in photos, she rarely more than 45% as pretty as she is in real life, but in this photo, she's all the way up to 70%, and I'm proud of that, so I'll take it.
things have changed from the "no gays in Korea" days.
Honestly, I think there are some memes involved in the ways bloggers and expats perceive Korean culture, that need to be retired. One of them is the "no gays in Korea" thing -- it gets passed around a lot, but fact is, it's been about four years since I've heard somebody tell me there are no gays in Korea, and I think that it's time to let that one die.
Another one is the one blood myth: maybe among the older generation it's sticking around a bit, but I think that the myth that ALL Koreans are pure-blood obsessed is losing its iron grip. I'm not ready to say it should be retired, because genealogy and blood heritage does still sometimes play a role in how some people think about the world, but I think it needs to be destabilized, and taken as a possibility rather than a given. So yeah, let's take the blood myth a little more on a case-by-case basis, rather than as if it were across the board. That monolithic FrankenKorean that gets stitched together from stories passed around, and examples of extreme cases, and ridiculous news stories illustrating further extreme cases, ought to be reexamined from time to time, in order to make sure we're not being just as flip and dismissive in our view of that diverse culture on the other side of the language barrier, as the worst of them are of us.
back to photos:
this cute couple was stuck in the crosswalk by insadong.
I got this picture shopping for halloween gifts... now I'm not sure if this is some celebrity...
maybe OJ?
or if the costume shop just wanted me to be able to dress as a spook for Hallowe'en. (Yes, I know that's an offensive word. The mask offended me.)
anybody here can read the Japanese? Leave a translation in the comments. I'm interested to know what it says.
They also had a sweet Barack Obama mask, but it was 40 000 won - a bit too much for me to pick it up. The ears were appropriately ginormous.
More later, dear readers.
Anyway, I've been forgetting to take my camera out when I go meet my friends and stuff, but I'm generally having a good time. Found some nice spiced wine near Gyungbokgung, went back to my favorite tea place by Anguk, 2S2 was a success, and at my buddy Evan's birthday party, I ate so much brazilian steak that I was full for two days.
Here are some pictures from that day.
It was my buddy Evan's birthday party. Here's him and his buddy Jonathan making pirate faces (my idea... I should totally be a portrait photographer)
I'm gonna be sad when nobody remembers Zoolander, and Magnum.
And my friend Kelly NameChangedForPrivacy was also there: she looks good in a hat, but then, I haven't yet met a woman who doesn't look hot in a fedora, and a newsboy cap. I'd almost say every woman should own one of each, but then it would be less special.
she wouldn't do magnum for me.
I like hanging out with Kelly and Evan, because even though they met randomly in Korea, I'm buds with both of them. Even more unusual is this connection: both Evan's mother and Kelly's mother were best friends to my mother, at different times in my mom's life. That's cool.
I also had a spaghetti party, and my friend came: she used to be a coworker, and she's a nice lady. She's also a funny one, because she's a very pretty lady, yet whatever the opposite of photogenic is, she's it: in photos, she rarely more than 45% as pretty as she is in real life, but in this photo, she's all the way up to 70%, and I'm proud of that, so I'll take it.
things have changed from the "no gays in Korea" days.
Honestly, I think there are some memes involved in the ways bloggers and expats perceive Korean culture, that need to be retired. One of them is the "no gays in Korea" thing -- it gets passed around a lot, but fact is, it's been about four years since I've heard somebody tell me there are no gays in Korea, and I think that it's time to let that one die.
Another one is the one blood myth: maybe among the older generation it's sticking around a bit, but I think that the myth that ALL Koreans are pure-blood obsessed is losing its iron grip. I'm not ready to say it should be retired, because genealogy and blood heritage does still sometimes play a role in how some people think about the world, but I think it needs to be destabilized, and taken as a possibility rather than a given. So yeah, let's take the blood myth a little more on a case-by-case basis, rather than as if it were across the board. That monolithic FrankenKorean that gets stitched together from stories passed around, and examples of extreme cases, and ridiculous news stories illustrating further extreme cases, ought to be reexamined from time to time, in order to make sure we're not being just as flip and dismissive in our view of that diverse culture on the other side of the language barrier, as the worst of them are of us.
back to photos:
this cute couple was stuck in the crosswalk by insadong.
I got this picture shopping for halloween gifts... now I'm not sure if this is some celebrity...
maybe OJ?
or if the costume shop just wanted me to be able to dress as a spook for Hallowe'en. (Yes, I know that's an offensive word. The mask offended me.)
anybody here can read the Japanese? Leave a translation in the comments. I'm interested to know what it says.
They also had a sweet Barack Obama mask, but it was 40 000 won - a bit too much for me to pick it up. The ears were appropriately ginormous.
More later, dear readers.
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Rubber Seoul and World AIDS Day
OK, everybody. World AIDS day is coming up, and my buddy, Tom Rainey-Smith contacted me, and wanted me to pass on word about an event called Rubber Seoul in Hongdae.
On December 5th, an event will be held to raise money to support AIDS, as well as to encourage people to practice safe sex. According to the press release, this is especially important in Korea because over here, 99% of new HIV/AIDS cases are transmitted sexually. The event will give you access to Janes Groove, FF, and DGBD, and all the bands playing in each of those places, all for just 10 000 won, plus you get a souvenir made by AIDS-affected South African women to take home.
Last year was a monster event, with 12 million won raised, which figures into... um... a whole lot of South African women's lives. This year, to top that, we'll need your help. If you blog, tell your blog pals about this one: it's a durn good cause and deserves a boost. Check out their facebook page or the Rubber Seoul blog for more info.
Saturday, November 21, 2009
The Holiday Season Has Officially Begun: Flash Mob Magic
Sweet Elf flash mob in New York City. Bonus points for using moves from Beyonce's "All the Single Ladies" (which still won't allow embedding)... and I'm pretty sure I spotted a few actual little people.
Friday, November 20, 2009
Stay Classy, Korea Times Comment Board
The Korea Times continues to embarrass itself by allowing this level of dialogue on the comment board. Source.
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Memo to Korea:
(source)Add a fifth slice to the pie: "I live in Korea" Korea's internet follies have been well and extensively documented. The latest train wreck was ifriendly, a miscalculation so badly botched the Korean Government might just want to give up, take its toys, go home, and start its OWN internet. But I just wanted to throw that graphic into the mix.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Kim Yu-na tops herself again. (김연아)
Girlfriendoseyo says Kim Yuna is now only competing with herself, and I agree. As she gears up for the winter olympics, she set yet another world record in her short skate, and was nearly twenty points ahead of the second place-winner in the short skate.
Here's one clip of her performance:
And here's another.
Here's one clip of her performance:
And here's another.
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Chosun Ilbo Has it in for Career Women
Yet another condescending article lacking in sources, dealing in stereotypes about Korean women in the workplace. Now I'm not sure if this is the Chosun Ilbo Korean as well as the Chosun English (pretty embarrassing if this is the premium content that they've chosen to translate, in putting their best foot forward for the international English speaking audience), but whatever the case, articles like this sure won't help Korea shake off its reputation for being a rigidly uber-patriarchal society.
A while ago it was that "alpha women" have no life skills - Girlfriendoseyo (who is a professional herself, and manages her life quite well, thanks) and I had an interesting conversation about it.
Now it turns out nobody wants to work as a subordinate to a female, (if by nobody you mean 64% said they preferred working for males, when we don't know what questions, or how they were asked) because of some generalizations that sound to me like gender stereotypes, along with results of a survey that includes no information whatsoever on how the statistics were gathered, or how the questions were asked.
I'm sure other bloggers could give this article a much better read, but the fact remains, articles like this are are a drop in the bucket, and nothing more than symptomatic, of a society that keeps plummeting towards the bottom of the world gender gap rankings... with a millstone (that's the opposite of rising with a bullet, I guess). 92nd in 2006 (embarrassing enough for a country with a top 15 economy), and a startling 115th in 2009. 18th from the bottom. For a bit of perspective on that, many of the countries ranked lower than Korea are countries where female genital mutilation is still practiced.
For shame, Korea. For shame, Chosun Ilbo.
A while ago it was that "alpha women" have no life skills - Girlfriendoseyo (who is a professional herself, and manages her life quite well, thanks) and I had an interesting conversation about it.
Now it turns out nobody wants to work as a subordinate to a female, (if by nobody you mean 64% said they preferred working for males, when we don't know what questions, or how they were asked) because of some generalizations that sound to me like gender stereotypes, along with results of a survey that includes no information whatsoever on how the statistics were gathered, or how the questions were asked.
I'm sure other bloggers could give this article a much better read, but the fact remains, articles like this are are a drop in the bucket, and nothing more than symptomatic, of a society that keeps plummeting towards the bottom of the world gender gap rankings... with a millstone (that's the opposite of rising with a bullet, I guess). 92nd in 2006 (embarrassing enough for a country with a top 15 economy), and a startling 115th in 2009. 18th from the bottom. For a bit of perspective on that, many of the countries ranked lower than Korea are countries where female genital mutilation is still practiced.
For shame, Korea. For shame, Chosun Ilbo.
Thursday, November 12, 2009
2S2 on Saturday
That's right, dear readers. Clear your calendars and get ready to come out on Saturday.
Come to Anguk Station Seoul, exit 1, and turn right when you come out of the station. Almost right there, you'll see the Twosome Place coffee shop. You can come and hang out with us in the first chapter of 2S2. If you have a deck of cards, or even better, a set of Gostop cards, bring it: one thing we're going to do is try and figure out how to play that classic Korean card game, Gostop.
For more about 2S2, here's the 2S2 manifesto I wrote last month, edited a bit for brevity:
Be in touch.
Come to Anguk Station Seoul, exit 1, and turn right when you come out of the station. Almost right there, you'll see the Twosome Place coffee shop. You can come and hang out with us in the first chapter of 2S2. If you have a deck of cards, or even better, a set of Gostop cards, bring it: one thing we're going to do is try and figure out how to play that classic Korean card game, Gostop.
For more about 2S2, here's the 2S2 manifesto I wrote last month, edited a bit for brevity:
You know how everybody knows that the fourth Friday of every month is club night in Hongdae? You don't have to check local listings -- you just have to show up, and people begin to plan part of their weekends around it, because they know it's gonna happen -- every fourth Friday, like clockwork, it's there.See you on Saturday! And if you're thinking about starting a pocket, DO! It's only one Saturday a month, and who knows how much good it could do for the community, once this thing gets rolling.
It occured to me that expats ought to be planning out things other than "get blitzed and dance like mad night" in a similar way, in order to establish a more integrated network of expats here in Korea, in order to provide opportunities for socializing with people other than coworkers (nothing against them, but still), at other places than the neighborhood bar (nothing against it either, but still...). It's time for us to take all the online connections we have, and get them into real life!
It's called 2S2 -- it's symmetrical, it's memorable, hopefully somebody with some graphic design skill will make it into a simple, recognizable logo sometime, and it contains the information you need.
2S2 stands for "Second Saturdays at 2" or every second Saturday at 2pm. This 2S2 would be a regular get-together where people can meet, network, and then from there, head out and participate in other activities.
It's my dream that 2S2 grow to become a decentralized get-together with numerous agreed-upon meetup locations where expats can meet all over Seoul and Korea, in order to build and strengthen connections, and in order to provide a context in which expats in Korea can help each other learn about Korea and integrate better with their host-country, as well as to provide a gathering of people ready to participate in a tangible community, and give something back to Korea. At this point, the people scapegoating foreigners and English teachers are well-mobilized and well-organized, but we English teachers and expats aren't doing a whole lot to provide a different image of ourselves than the dirty, unqualified, etcetera. Once it gains steam, 2S2 meetings could be an opportunity to get expats out in the community, picking up trash, volunteering at different places, taking part in cultural events, and who knows what else -- really, the imaginations of the organizers is the limit, and anybody can pick up the ball, and become the organizer of a chapter. Including you.
Here's the best thing about it: all it takes is a couple of people to organize a 2S2 Pocket. Basically, we already have the main info: 2S2 means every Second Saturday of the month, at 2pm. From there, all an organizer needs to do is send me a message and say "Hey. I'm going to start a 2S2 pocket at ___" and name a location. I'll publish the location, here, at The Hub of Sparkle, and if somebody has the web skills, we might even put it up on its own website, at some other easy to find location.
Well-known, or at least easy-to-find locations are probably best; I'd suggest coffee shops rather than bars, because part of the purpose of forming a more tangible community is to break OUT of the stereotype of English teachers in Korea to extend frat/sorority life. From there, it's just a matter of showing up at that spot, every second Saturday at 2, and to meet whoever else is looking to connect, and to have an activity ready to go for whoever does show up. Hopefully, we'll start hearing from people with information like "Hey. I know an orphanage in this area where they'd love to have volunteers..." "I know a church that runs a Saturday soup kitchen..." or, for that matter, "why don't we all bring our used books to the meetup and pass them around?" and who knows what other ideas people might have, so that we can start reaching out to the community, and also connecting with each other.
Bring your friends: it's an open invitation. Pick a different location every month if you're just attending -- but if you're an organizer, once you've named a location, be there every second Saturday, or find someone to fill the post in your absence, so that it's consistent. And that's it.
Like Club Night, it would take some time, I imagine, for the grassroots meetups to gain steam, and membership, but the nice thing about this is that it's decentralized, which means that each group can take ownership of their own pocket, and decide what their 2S2 Pocket is about, and how they're going to run things, and what kinds of activities they're going to do. If you want to open a pocket, I'm asking you to be patient, and be committed, during the beginning stages, when things never look very impressive. Maybe it's just you and your three coworkers for the first four months... well, OK. But this is something that could eventually build up to something a lot bigger, and meaningful for a lot of people, so, yeah, encourage people you meet to join, and stick with it, eh?
So I'm naming a location for the first, pilot 2S2 Pocket: The second floor of Twosome Place, at the top of Insa-dong street. If you want to find it, go to Anguk Station, exit 1, and turn right when you come out of the gate. Twosome Place will be on your right, just before the big intersection. Go there, and look for me, tomorrow at 2pm.
If you're thinking about starting your own pocket, send me an e-mail at roboseyo at gmail dot com, ask me any questions I haven't already answered here, and I'll spread word about it. Seoul's a big city, so I'd be happy if pockets opened in other areas, like Kangnam, Bucheon, Ilsan, or Bundang, but I'd especially love it if 2S2 pockets started up in the other major cities of Korea: anybody willing to start one in Daegu? In Busan? in Daejeon? in Gwangju? let's get our network properly networked, rather than just being isolated packets of foreigners who don't much know that each-other are doing.
This is not an exclusive effort -- the invitation's open to anyone, so bring your Korean, Brazilian, or Martian friend if you want, and let's try to get the expat community in Korea amounting to more than the sum of its parts, instead of significantly less, as it stands right now.
Be in touch.
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