Roboseyo

Sunday, December 07, 2008

It's getting to be that time of season.

Here's a cheerful little christmas video for you.

(and here are my real thoughts about what you just watched:)

Snowed this morning in Seoul.

Here are more thoughts about Christmas music, especially ... dum da da dum!

My dream Christmas Playlist!

Thursday, December 04, 2008

Photo Dump

More of the cool light show at the Jens Lekman concert.

Ahh hongdae. How I love you, and not just your one, but your FOUR ho bars.

Odd, vaguely dirty sign of the day.

Obviously they pulled up the sidewalk blocks, and then put them back down in the wrong spots, creating this funny, exploding zebra effect where there used to be parking lines.

Problem with living in the city: when you KNOW there's a gorgeous sunset going on somewhere, but the buildings are just blocking it all up anyway, so the best you get is a gorgeous cloud's edge and some lovely light on the side of a building, and a monster-tease.

This empty house, on the edge of a construction site, probably slated for destruction, and hollowed right out, had a really melancholy feel. I had to set the lens and exposure time on maximum, and hold the camera perfectly still for eight seconds (harder than it sounds) to get this clear picture: it was actually dark as a mushroom farm out there. Meanwhile, I had the most melancholy song on my entire MP3 player buzzing in my ears, just to make the whole thing a little sadder again.

My humidifier looked nice in the morning sunlight.

From the Hire a Proofreader, Nimrod! files:

that's all for now.

-roboseyo

Jens Lekman Continues to Make Me Happy

Two topics I intentionally shy away from blogging about are music and food, because if I DO start talking about them, I'll cease to talk about anything else.

But, inspired by Jens Lekman's concert on Saturday night, I downloaded a bunch more Jens, and man, he makes me happy. The torrent included a whole whack of rare stuff and eps, which is fun, because it means I can go through it all, and my new, super-big computer hard drive (350 gigs is more than I can even imagine needing, unless I decide to download the entire AFI top 100 films or something silly like that), along with an 80 gig IPod, means I can load up on stuff, where I used to have to delete things in order to avoid topping out my old laptop. And it's fun having music on your Ipod that isn't all already familiar to you: there's the potential something will surprise you.

Plus, when walking around town, it helps to have entire albums, or even several entire albums, from an artist, instead of just the one song you like, because the after hearing a single song, you have to go find another album you want to hear, so it's GOOD to have more by your artists, instead of just keeping the best two or three songs.

Now, I don't have a lot of musical training, other than a semester of voice lessons, two semesters of choir in university, and a lot of hours in the shower annoying my brother, I couldn't really tell you which musicians are using the most interesting time signatures or harmonic intervals: I respond to music primarily emotionally, kind of like a more nuanced Beavis and Butthead: "This sucks. This is cool."

So, while I respond to poetry and lyrical excellence (strangely enough, in the laced rhymes and rhythms of an Eminem song as much as in a poem/song by Leonard Cohen), I couldn't care much less about Steve Vai's technical skill as he shreds on his guitar, unless those 64th and 128th notes have an emotional impact that creates a feeling in me.

So, all that said, Jens might not be the best singer or musician, and I don't really care...but I know that, walking around at night alone, I have felt EXACTLY the way this song sounds.

(I've set it to some of my favorite roboseyo photography moments).

Enjoy it.

Recently,

Elvis Costello: Imperial Bedroom

Flaming Lips: At War With the Mystics

Polyphonic Spree: The Beginning Stages Of...

Mugison: Mugiboogie

Camper Van Beethoven: Key Lime Pie

David Byrne: Grown Backwards (especially his duet with Rufus Wainwright, Au Fond du Temple Saint)

are some of the albums/releases that have been bringing me much joy since I revisited them, or gave them another try.

(Yes, David Byrne, from The Talking Heads, founder of "The David Byrne School of Dancing" [where you dance as weirdly as you can] features on that list. Give it a try.)

Here's david, weird dancing in what might be his most famous song.

Wednesday, December 03, 2008

More from Korea's Favorite International Journalist

Joo Hee Cho, known for smearing English teachers on ABC News with the kind of junk that's usually reserved for the local media (profile here), is back, with this hard-hitting report on road safety in Korea.

(warning: innocuous puff piece ahead)

Good to know when she isn't bandying about stereotyped retreads (read her article, "English Teachers Bring Drugs to Korea"), Ms. Cho is asking the tough questions about Korea's domestic issues as well.

ht to Rate My Hogwan

I'm trying to think of a way to link the story above to this next one without being rude...but I got nothing.

What a headline, though:

Survey: Korean Men World's Most Selfish In Bed

naw. not gonna say it. too easy.

Monday, December 01, 2008

Where's Kim Jong-Il?

Kim Jong-Il lives! Kim Jong-Il is alive and well! I have photo evidence! I have documentary proof! (My favourite new internet meme.)

OK. Here's the deal.

Kim Jong-Il sightings have been popping up ever since reports about his deteriorating health made headlines in August. This is funny to me, because I actually used to teach him back in my Kindergarten Teaching days.