But until I have time to write up the trip, here's something to tide you over.
At The Hub Of Sparkle, Stafford mentioned the new Korean 50 000 won note coming out soon in Korea, and asked for readers to contribute humourous suggestions for what could be on the 50000 banknote.
Here is my own contribution. Why not this.
or maybe this However, I have it on good authority that, never ones to be left behind, North Korea has responded to the bank of Korea's change in currency with a 50 000 won note of their own.
See, if I started writing about music, it'd take over the blog pretty easily... but Melissa inspired me, with her "25 Musical Facts About Me," to add my final word to that silly 25 Facts About You thing that's going around on Facebook... (and meanwhile, Joy always mentions that she and I ought to talk about music sometime)...
but not before I say this:
Listen, you goofballs (and I know it's the same people...plus a few of your younger counterparts). Remember seven years ago, when your friends staged an intervention, and told you to stop sending E-MAIL forwards to all of them, all the time? And how some of them threatened to cut ties with you entirely...
SENDING FACEBOOK NOTES AND ZOMBIE BITES IS EXACTLY THE SAME THING.
The difference between forwarding "Timmy the Brain Tumor" e-mails in 1997 and tagging people in facebook notes which require them to do something and tag others, or sending them zombie bites, vampire bites, pirate bites, or WHATEVER, is equal to the difference between taking a piece of crap and wrapping it in a PLASTIC box, and wrapping the same piece of crap in a CARDBOARD box. It's just as annoying, and I'm just as not going to do it.
Here they are: in No Particular Order Tom Waits - Hold On Radiohead - Thinking About You Propellorheads - History Repeating Magnetic Fields - Busby Berkeley Dreams Jens Lekman - Your Beat Kicks Back Like Death The Polyphonic Spree - It's The Sun The Arcade Fire - Neighbourhood #1 - Tunnels Andrew Bird - Fake Palindromes Neko Case - I Wish I Was the Moon Tonight Tegan and Sara - Call it Off Buddy Rich (and his band) - The Beat Goes On The Mountain Goats - This Year String Quartet plays Radiohead - Motion Picture Soundtrack White Stripes - I'm Slowly Turning Into You Yeasayer - Red Cave Jens Lekman - People Who Hate People Do, Make, Say, Think - Frederica Lucas - With the Lid Off Antony & The Johnsons - Bird Gerhl Angela McCluskey - Famous Blue Raincoat Nina Simone - Suzanne Blind Melon - Soup Wolf Parade - I'll Believe in Anything Feist - Mushaboom Stan Rogers - Barrett's Privateers
Most of these were dependent on their availability on Youtube, and there are a hundred other songs I love which I could substitute in for any one of these, but those are twenty five songs that make me glee.
Well, better toss one of these up before the month expires.
I'm going to Andong this weekend, and I'm preparing for that, while slogging through my two hardest workdays of the week (Turds day and Fried day suck for me).
However, I'll drop in a quick recommendation for the K-blog of the month before I go, and I'm pleased that this might actually be a very little-known one.
See, I was thinking about giving it to Eat Your Kimchi, seeing as they took home a handful of Golden Klog Awards...but they already got lots of attention from me earlier this month, during Golden Klog Voting and such. They have a blog, a wildly popular youtube channel (maybe that's where all their votes came from: over 500 subscribers on Youtube), a podcast, and have been putting out some really top-notch stuff.
Instead, I lay before you, someone you probably HAVEN'T heard of, because it's a very new blog (almost too new to even have appeared on the golden Klogs), but has been putting some really funny stuff out: Ladies and Gentlemen, Dongchim
Now, Dongchim, any teacher of children knows, is when a kid (hopefully a kid: grown-ups who give dongchim are best avoided) makes a little two-handed gun shape with their two index fingers, sneaks up behind you, and tries to ram those fingers right up your bung. Like this.
Apparently, Dongchim is an important enough part of Korean culture to make a statue of it.
But Dongchim the blog is more than just a pair of intrusive digits: it's a comedy site that's putting out some clever material so far.
My favorite so far is the report of Buddhists frustrated on their path to enlightenment flocking to Korean convenience chain store "Buy The Way" in order to purchase what they could not find through mediation and renunciation. "Desperate Buddhists Flock to Local Convenience Stores".
The site's only about two months old, so it won't take you long to go through the archives. I, for one, am glad to see new comedy blogs coming out on the K-blogosphere: as great as they are, one can only go through the Yangpa and the other Yangpa and the really old Yangpa's archives so often before wishing for new material. Fortunately Party Pooper still updates.
The other satiric K-blog I like these days is Dokdo Is Ours, but he/she/they have also had enough promotion from the golden Klogs, that it's Dongchim's turn.
I'm in the Korea Herald today: if you are finding my blog for the first time, because you read the article there, welcome! Take a look around if you like. On the right sidebar, you will see a guide to some of my most popular posts, and some of the posts I'm proudest to show off.
If you can't get your hands on a paper copy of The Korea Herald, you can follow this link (I hope), or read the article I wrote, reprinted here.
Be a Nate instead of a nothing
Obviously, expats would function better and enjoy their time in Korea more if they lived in a community: all humans do. The hard part is knowing where to find it. Even in densely populated Korean cities, it can be difficult for expats to get connected, and along with the language, culture and schedule barriers preventing networks from forming, there is another impediment to community which is completely surmountable: the initiative block.
My friend Evan is new in Korea: we knew each other back in Canada, and here in Korea we once had an interesting conversation. Evan's church has a couple of English services each Sunday, which attract a couple hundred people. There were a handful of people Evan had met there, either during or after church. These people had enough interest in each other that it would be nice, Evan reflected, if they could meet in other contexts than just the usual chatting semi-circle, with the possibility of an after-service coffee shop meet and greet.
In a completely different context, during my second year in Korea, I lived in a suburb of Seoul where there was a foreigner bar - a bar that had been unofficially designated the place where foreigners from the district met on Friday or Saturday nights. At that bar, it was surprising how often the same faces showed up: we knew each other by name, and had good times together over drinks; sometimes we even got each other's phone numbers and such.
However, the only activity we ever did together was trade shots. While the conversations had over a brew or a cocktail can be interesting, drinking buddy gets to be a pretty one-dimensional relationship after a while. Yet, to our detriment, nobody ever collected those phone numbers, sent out a bulletin, and suggested a hike or a brunch, instead of the same old drinking.
Drinking buddies we remained, and nothing more. When somebody left Korea, they weren't much missed, and when somebody new arrived, we weren't much excited: The beer buzz probably mattered more to most of us after a week of tiring teaching.
Nice as they might have been, I am no longer in touch with any of the people I met at that bar.
For Evan's case, things turned out better. A guy named Nate gathered the phone numbers of all the people he'd met after church, set a time and place, and invited them to meet during the week. The group is now scheduling regular meetings in a couple of locations, and moreover, building and deepening friendships. Though anyone could have done the same, everyone is glad Nate picked up the ball.
The great thing is, it doesn't take much to be a Nate instead of a nothing. Most people are interested in improving their support systems and friendships. All it takes to be a Nate is to gather those phone numbers or e-mail addresses, and set a time and place. Starting a Facebook group is easier still. All involved will be on the way toward a viable community, and a better experience of Korea.
Sure, it's a bit scary to make those first calls, but the possible benefits far outweigh the risks of losing a little face. There is nothing stopping any expat in Korea from being a Nate, instead of waiting for one to come along. Setting a time and place isn't that hard, and everyone will remember, and thank, the one who finally got the ball rolling. That person could be you!
If you know about, or are a member of a community where expats meet, connect, or support each other, drop me a line at roboseyo@gmail.com with the word "community" in the subject line. Tell me when and where you meet, and why you think I should feature your group.
To contact Rob, e-mail roboseyo@gmail.com or go to roboseyo.blogspot.com - Ed.
2009.02.25
Thanks to Matt, the expat living editor, for giving me the chance to hold forth in the print media, and thanks to everyone reading: I've never met many of you, but I bet you're swell.
TV On The Radio has so far not let me down once. That's pretty unprecedented, as I have a pretty high bar to clear, when it comes to bands I really, really like.
The album of theirs I heard, "Return to Cookie Mountain" was superduper cool, with a handful of tracks that approached bliss-out territory. While the album was extremely strong, song-for-song, none of them quite made The Leap into bliss-out territory. However, they sing with authority, with charisma, and with depth.
Their new album is called "Dear Science," which was just as good, maybe even better.
This song is the last track: of all places, I love albums that put a strong track last on the playlist -- give you something serious to walk away with. Too many albums are front-loaded, putting all the best songs on the beginning of the album, counting on short attention spans not to notice the suckiness at the end, but then a roboseyo who DOES listen to the end doesn't want to listen to it again. I like albums that give quality content right through. Radiohead has a few really really good last tracks on their albums: especially Kid-A, Amnesiac, and Hail To The Thief. Dear Science, is one of the strongest albums I've heard, top to bottom, in a long time. Here's another song I really like from that album. The rhythmic complexity and shifts in pace and force make the film a really interesting dynamic experience.
Shout Me Out: my second favorite song on the album. If I put a third one on, I'll have to post the whole album, though. It's just that solid.
Here's a super-cool video of one of their coolest earlier songs, performed live, a capella ('cept with bass), with hand clapping beatboxing. I've posted it here before.
