Monday, March 30, 2009

Facebook has jumped the shark.


Sad but true.

Delete application
Delete application
block application
block application
block friend
block friend
delete friend
delete application
NO MORE FRAWKING QUIZZES AND NO I DON'T CARE IF A NEW EPISODE OF BEWITCHED CAME OUT!

(image source)

what is jumping the shark?

Weekend Pics, and Go See Klimt in Seoul!

Soundtrack:
Nouvelle Vague (recommendation from a friend): Dancing With Myself- startlingly, a cover of an old Billy Idol punk song.

Anyway, hit play, and start reading. I really like this song.


First: from Andong (yep, the Andong Writeup seems to have been swallowed in the mists of time... if there's a loud enough outcry I might try to revive it, but Joe Zen and Fatman Seoul both did such good jobs writing it up already. . .)

Here is one great picture of me and my bud Juhee, on the train, in some nice light.
Girlfriendoseyo and I found this fantastic little tea room. The raspberry tea tasted like pulling off the road in the Okanagan valley and picking raspberries off a bush somewhere. So good.
the owner had a green thumb, too. Girlfriendoseyo was impressed by the foliage. I was mostly just amazed at the perfectly balanced flavours in the teas.


Walked up and down Namsan this weekend. Flowers (jindalae) were blossoming, which have han, I'm told.

These trees remind me of Dr. Seuss illustrations:

I liked the lines of this step/fence combination.

I saw Gustav Klimt and Youssef Karsh this week. The Seoul National Art Center, by Nambu Bus Terminal, was in fine form.



The two artists were, too. You should go see these shows (find the place) at the Hangaram Art Museum, south of the Han River, but north of Gangnam. You'll know Klimt from these paintings mostly--however, let me remind you that the difference between seeing a JPG of a picture on your computer screen, and seeing the actual thing (especially when it comes to paintings), is kind of like the difference between reading a car's engine specifications in an auto magazine, and being hit by that car on the street.
Judith, above, was there. The Kiss (below) was not: convincing Austria to give up The Kiss and send it overseas would be about the equivalent of asking America to send Abe Lincoln's log cabin on a world tour. National treasure, you know? However, the show was quite impressive (though the nude females were...uh...supercharged with...uh...not for children...energy). A recreation of the Beethoven Frieze was also there, and pretty amazing: basically a visual depiction of the Ninth Symphony, in a way. I learned a bunch about Klimt, and saw some amazing art, and was duly impressed.
Next up, in the same building, no less, was Youssef Karsh, the ridiculously amazing photographer. Here's a game: think of somebody who was really famous between 1930 and 1970. Now think of their most iconic portrait photo. Odds are about 50-65% that photo was taken by Youssef Karsh.

You may recognize some of his work.

responsible not only for this photo:

and this one,but also this one, and a whole host of others.
Plus, he's Canadian. (Karsh, not Winston Churchill)

We got to take these pictures, too.
the queen
and grumposeyo
Gimme back my damn cigar!

Then on Saturday I ate at one of my favorite restaurants in downtown seoul
Where they cook the food on this great squared gas grill that's all loaded with spilled-over deliciousness.

Watching the lady cook is fun. The food is just amazing: the best dwenjang soup I've had by about a mile.



Took this picture while walking around Bukcheondong with Girlfriendoseyo: missed the Walkabout tour that happened on Sunday, but saw some nice stuff anyway.


Most ironic book in the world (right up there with, for a dollar on the discount rack, all the evangelical apocalyptic milennial Christian books about "50 reasons why the world will end in on New Year's Day, 2000AD, and How To Prepare for Christ's Return"): "The Roaring 2000s: Building the Wealth and Lifestyle You Desire in the Greatest Boom in History" spotted by Danielle.

OK folks. that's it for now.

have a good one!



Saturday, March 28, 2009

Roboseyo's K-blog of the Month for March 2009: On My Way to Korea

So there's a dude called Matt Strum, who is
just one American white-guy who loves everything about Korea. . . I’ve never been to Korea, but that just makes me try to learn and understand harder (as Koreans would day, with a heart of passion - 열심).

And he runs this blog called "On My Way To Korea" -- see, he plans to come to Korea, and from here, it seems like he plans to be the most knowledgeable first-year ever to arrive in Korea.

He runs an interesting little blog, where he tries to post every day. The posts are usually short, which makes it easy to peek over and see whats up (unlike certain blogs I love, but don't dare visit unless I have ten minutes free) and Matt's Korean Culture reading list is pretty eclectic: he'll run anything from tips on doing business in Korea, to language mini-lessons or vocab, to whatever movie or music video floated across his radar: it gives the blog a fun "whatever he can get his hands on" feel wherein the song that filled up the Korean radiowaves back in 2002 might show up next to the latest song by Girls' Generation, and sandwiched between a Korean language vocabulary list, an article about negotiating with Koreans, and a brief report on an urban legend making its way through the Korean memeosphere.


Of particular interest is the "Mastering Business in Korea" series, and the studying Korean wiki that he's hosting: you can go sign up yourself, and start posting articles about studying the language.

At this point, Matt's still just using his blog to study and get to know Korea before he arrives; I hope he keeps working on his site, and look forward to seeing what happens to the blog once he arrives.

Go check him out!

Friday, March 27, 2009

Who's a Kid? I'm a Kid.

Where the Wild Things Are, the movie.

I love this book so much I even own it in Korean.



Nice use of The Arcade Fire, too.

Yeah, I'm geeking out.

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Name Lists

Students choosing names don't interest me. Skip me to the next post, about freedom of speech: a much more interesting topic.

Brian linked a list of English names his colleague has been using to help students choose a name.

Brian rightfully points out that many names on the list are dumb.

Here's that list...with convenient Korean translations of the names. And a lot of dumb names.

Here are some lists I made, back when I taught Kindergarten, and got tired having every darn parent name their kid Sam or Sally, or having kids choose their own names, and having classes go like this:

Me: Red Ranger! Sit down. Sam one: how many bears were there?
Sam one: Three bears.
Me: Tiger! What was the girl's name?
Tiger: Goldilocks.
Me: Sam two! Leave Batman alone! Sarah three! What did she do first?
Sarah two: Teacher, Red Ranger took Cinderella's pencil.
Me: What's the answer, Sarah two?
Cinderella: Teacher I am the new name and my name now new name Goldilocks.
Pikachu: Goldilocks is a stupid name.
WisdomSong: I agree.


List one: overused boys names.
Try to avoid choosing these names for boys: they are either too common, so they will be easy to forget, or much, much less common in English than in ESL classrooms.
Alex
Andy
Brian
David
Eric
Harry
Jack
Jake
Jim/Jimmy
Joe/Joey
John
Kevin
Michael
Ryan
Sam
Tom
Tony



Try to avoid choosing these names for your girls: they are either too common, and will be easy forget, or much, much less common in English than in ESL classrooms.
Amy
Angie
Annie
Emily
Jane
Jennifer
Jenny
Jessie
Jina
Julia
Julie
Lisa
Mary
Meg
Sally
Sarah
Sunny

If your son's Korean name is Jae-kyun, go ahead and choose the name "Jake", and if your daughter's Korean name is Soo-jin, choose the name "Susan," because similar sounds make a name feel more natural to a student. Otherwise, avoid them.

Here are some names from the top 100 most common names lists, either in England or North America, which are not overused by ESL students, and are also pretty easy for Koreans to say and spell.

Names that are fine both for boys and girls:
Addison, Alexis, Ashton, Avery, Bailey, Cameron, Campbell, Carson, Casey, Dakota, Devon, Harley, Hayden, Jaden, Jamie, Jessie, Logan, Morgan, Parker, Payton, Phoenix, Quinn, Reese, Riley, Shea, Taylor, Teagan, Tyler

Names that are good for girls:
Alexa
Alexandra
Alexis
Allison
Alyssa
Amanda
Amber
Amelia
Andrea
Angelina
Anna
Ariana
Ashley
Audrey
Autumn
Ava
Avery
Bailey
Bethany
Brianna
Brooke
Caroline
Chelsea
Chloe
Claire
Daisy
Destiny
Diana
Eleanor
Elisabeth/Lisa/Beth
Ella
Emma
Erin
Evelyn
Faith
Gabriella
Gabrielle
Gemma
Grace
Haley
Hannah
Helen/Helena
Isabel
Jada
Jasmine
Jessica
Jocelyn
Jody
Jordan
Kaitlyn
Katelyn/Kate
Katherine
Kayla
Kaylee
Kimberly/Kim
Kylie
Lauren
Leah
Leslie
Lilian
Lily
Lydia
Mackenzie
Madeline
Madison
Makayla
Maria
Marissa
Maya
Megan
Melanie/Mel
Melissa
Mia
Michelle
Molly
Morgan
Natalie
Nicole
Paige
Phoebe
Rachel
Rebecca
Rosie
Ruby
Samantha
Savannah
Sierra
Sofia
Sophia
Sophie
Stephanie
Sydney
Taylor
Trinity
Vanessa
Victoria
Zoe


Names that are good for boys:
Aaron
Adam
Adrian
Aidan
Alexander (Alex)
Andrew/Drew
Archie
Ashton
Austin
Benjamin/Ben
Blake
Bradley/Brad
Brandon
Caleb
Callum
Cameron
Carter
Chad
Charles
Chase
Chris
Christian/Chris
Cody
Cole
Colin
Connor
Daniel
Devin
Dylan
Ethan
Evan
Ewan
Gavin
Harrison
Hayden
Hunter
Ian
Isaac
Isaiah
Jackson
Jacob
James
Jason
Jayden
Jeremiah
Jesse
Joel
Jonathan
Jordan
Joseph
Joshua/Josh
Justin
Kieran
Kyle
Landon
Liam
Logan
Lucas
Luke
Mason
Mitchell/Mitch
Nathan
Nathaniel
Nicholas
Noah
Owen
Patrick/Pat
Richard/Rich/Rick
Robert/Rob/Bert
Ross
Ryan
Samuel
Sean
Sebastian
Seth
Steven/Steve
Thomas
Timothy/Tim
Todd
Tyler
William/Will/Bill
Zachary/Zach