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
one expat's life in Korea
Tuesday, April 07, 2009
Monday, April 06, 2009
Roboseyo's nose never fails
Soundtrack time: hit play and start reading.
Mercy, by Duffy.
First: the random basket truck in Insadong. Like.
Next: two years ago, my favorite sandwich place in Korea, called Jenny's Cafe, rocked my world, and guaranteed my third date with Girlfriendoseyo, because we enjoyed it together so much. A few months after that, I brought some friends to Hongdae to eat at Jenny's with them, and my jaw hit the sidewalk when I saw that it was gone. I thought it was gone forever, I was seriously bummed. The bread they had there was so good, and the mushroom salad was just ridiculous, and I thought I'd never have it again. I was bummed enough that I've actually thought about writing a eulogy for it here at Blogoseyo.
But then on Saturday night, wandering around Hongdae with my buddy Evan, we saw a few things.
We saw these posters...for a band, I think.
Here's my handsome buddy Evan. Pay special attention to the shape of his chin.
Evan was mad that nobody ever puts his picture up on their walls or their blogs. So now I have.
How do you like that, Evan?
We'd planned to eat Okonomiyaki, but my favorite place, Noside, was closed for renovation.
So Evan showed my where Flying Chicken was, which looks really good...but then we decided to try the other Okonomiyaki place, where there was a lineup out the door and down the stairs. Screw that! So instead, I said, "Well, let's walk around and see if a place calls out to us." Evan was cool with that, and I know that generally these days, if I follow my nose, it leads me somewhere cool. Well bum-chin wanted to go a block up and turn left, but I said, "Let's head down this side street here." We did, and what did my wondering eyes see, but...
Holy crap! It's Jenny's Cafe, Redux!
So we went in there, and ate. I would have fought Evan if he hadn't agreed to go in with me. Lucky guy.
and there it was. Back in style.
with more seating than before.
the bread was...some of the best bread I've had in Korea. Different kinds, each one a home run.
I was especially fond of the ciabatta and the white rye.
The mushroom salad came out, and it was good enough that I'll remember it two years from now, just like last time.
I had the jenny's spaghettini, which was gentle and well-balanced
Evan never stopped raving about his Feta/olive penne.
Neither of us were that hungry, but we totalled those dishes, in about seven minutes, in dead silence, because brothers and sisters, it was that good. Silly. Ridiculous.
Here's how to find it. Go to the Hongik university main gate, and turn right, and follow the road. When you come to that little corner with the Ska club, where Route 66 used to be, where Rocky Mountain Tavern is now, turn left down that little alley where Halmoni club, Joker Red, and club FF are. Keep going until you come to that big street with cars parked in the middle of it. Across that intersection is a Joe's Sandwich
And an "On the Grill" -- go down the small street between those two shops. You're on the right track.
About 40 meters past, maybe less, theres a corner like this, where you turn left.
You'll pass a few places that look really cool. As hard as it may be, pass them, and Jenny's will be on your right.
That place is "Jenny's Cafe" where they serve entrees. It's great. If you remember, and miss, Jenny's amazing sandwiches, then you have to go to their OTHER location, Jenny's Bread.
For this one, stand facing Hongik University's main gate, and go left, instead. Walk down the right side of the road, around the bend (where their old location used to be). When you pass ssamzie market, take the nest left, and look for a sidestreet on your right.
Jenny's Bread is down here, and they serve sandwiches. If they're even 80% as good as they used to be, it's worth the trip.
Here's how it looks at 10pm.
It's nice.
Here's how to find them:
So go there. Eat good bread. You'll realize how much you missed it, and be sad, but realize that you can eat some now, and be happy.
Roboseyo's nose never fails. It's led me to a number of the best places I've eaten over the last three years. Fortunately, friends have led me to the others.
Dang, my life is good.
Oh yeah. I also took these pictures this weekend.
It was hard to understand the meaning of this sign. This was my guess.
Pukaksan, behind the Blue House and Gwanghwamun was great. I got lots of pictures, but some of them might be giving away locations of defense structures on the ultra-secure area, so some aren't going up here. There is an awesome wall behind the Blue House which surrounds downtown Seoul, which honestly deserves to be top three in Seoul's tourist promotional walks and things to do in Seoul, but is de-emphasized. Great views, an amazing look at Korea's history (it's a 600 year old wall), as well as Korea's modern history (ultra-secure, especially given the 1968 attack on the blue-house where the North Korean commandoes ran up this mountain to hide during their assault).
On the way to the entrance to Bukak Mountain
On the way down to Daehangno.
Air quality on Pukaksan was poor.
Then, later, cherry blossoms at night.
Mercy, by Duffy.
First: the random basket truck in Insadong. Like.
Next: two years ago, my favorite sandwich place in Korea, called Jenny's Cafe, rocked my world, and guaranteed my third date with Girlfriendoseyo, because we enjoyed it together so much. A few months after that, I brought some friends to Hongdae to eat at Jenny's with them, and my jaw hit the sidewalk when I saw that it was gone. I thought it was gone forever, I was seriously bummed. The bread they had there was so good, and the mushroom salad was just ridiculous, and I thought I'd never have it again. I was bummed enough that I've actually thought about writing a eulogy for it here at Blogoseyo.
But then on Saturday night, wandering around Hongdae with my buddy Evan, we saw a few things.
We saw these posters...for a band, I think.
Here's my handsome buddy Evan. Pay special attention to the shape of his chin.
Evan was mad that nobody ever puts his picture up on their walls or their blogs. So now I have.How do you like that, Evan?
We'd planned to eat Okonomiyaki, but my favorite place, Noside, was closed for renovation.
So Evan showed my where Flying Chicken was, which looks really good...but then we decided to try the other Okonomiyaki place, where there was a lineup out the door and down the stairs. Screw that! So instead, I said, "Well, let's walk around and see if a place calls out to us." Evan was cool with that, and I know that generally these days, if I follow my nose, it leads me somewhere cool. Well bum-chin wanted to go a block up and turn left, but I said, "Let's head down this side street here." We did, and what did my wondering eyes see, but...
Holy crap! It's Jenny's Cafe, Redux!
So we went in there, and ate. I would have fought Evan if he hadn't agreed to go in with me. Lucky guy.
and there it was. Back in style.
with more seating than before.
the bread was...some of the best bread I've had in Korea. Different kinds, each one a home run.
I was especially fond of the ciabatta and the white rye.The mushroom salad came out, and it was good enough that I'll remember it two years from now, just like last time.
I had the jenny's spaghettini, which was gentle and well-balanced
Evan never stopped raving about his Feta/olive penne.
Neither of us were that hungry, but we totalled those dishes, in about seven minutes, in dead silence, because brothers and sisters, it was that good. Silly. Ridiculous.
Here's how to find it. Go to the Hongik university main gate, and turn right, and follow the road. When you come to that little corner with the Ska club, where Route 66 used to be, where Rocky Mountain Tavern is now, turn left down that little alley where Halmoni club, Joker Red, and club FF are. Keep going until you come to that big street with cars parked in the middle of it. Across that intersection is a Joe's Sandwich
And an "On the Grill" -- go down the small street between those two shops. You're on the right track.
About 40 meters past, maybe less, theres a corner like this, where you turn left.
You'll pass a few places that look really cool. As hard as it may be, pass them, and Jenny's will be on your right.
That place is "Jenny's Cafe" where they serve entrees. It's great. If you remember, and miss, Jenny's amazing sandwiches, then you have to go to their OTHER location, Jenny's Bread.For this one, stand facing Hongik University's main gate, and go left, instead. Walk down the right side of the road, around the bend (where their old location used to be). When you pass ssamzie market, take the nest left, and look for a sidestreet on your right.
Jenny's Bread is down here, and they serve sandwiches. If they're even 80% as good as they used to be, it's worth the trip.
Here's how it looks at 10pm.
It's nice.
Here's how to find them:
So go there. Eat good bread. You'll realize how much you missed it, and be sad, but realize that you can eat some now, and be happy.Roboseyo's nose never fails. It's led me to a number of the best places I've eaten over the last three years. Fortunately, friends have led me to the others.
Dang, my life is good.
Oh yeah. I also took these pictures this weekend.
It was hard to understand the meaning of this sign. This was my guess.
Pukaksan, behind the Blue House and Gwanghwamun was great. I got lots of pictures, but some of them might be giving away locations of defense structures on the ultra-secure area, so some aren't going up here. There is an awesome wall behind the Blue House which surrounds downtown Seoul, which honestly deserves to be top three in Seoul's tourist promotional walks and things to do in Seoul, but is de-emphasized. Great views, an amazing look at Korea's history (it's a 600 year old wall), as well as Korea's modern history (ultra-secure, especially given the 1968 attack on the blue-house where the North Korean commandoes ran up this mountain to hide during their assault).
On the way to the entrance to Bukak Mountain
On the way down to Daehangno.
Air quality on Pukaksan was poor.
Then, later, cherry blossoms at night.
Coolest Video I've Posted This Year
K. So there's this thing called flash mobs, where a group of people plan some goofy prank in a public place, and then drop it on an unsuspecting public. Frankly, they're awesome: imagine having a flash mob interrupt your commonplace routine.
It started with universities, and a few guerilla videos from a group called Improv Everywhere,
Including food court musical.
the first really famous one was the New York Central Station freeze.
another one I liked was worshiping the purdue engineering fountain
This awesome game show prank in Japan made me smile.
A very clever "where's Waldo" flash mob in San Francisco
But the coolest thing I've ever seen, flash-mob-wise, has got to be this one.
Think about the preparation this would have taken, look at the numbers, and watch as it keeps topping itself.
Un. real.
Antwerp, Central Station.
Just watch it.
(HT Robin, on Facebook)
It started with universities, and a few guerilla videos from a group called Improv Everywhere,
Including food court musical.
the first really famous one was the New York Central Station freeze.
another one I liked was worshiping the purdue engineering fountain
This awesome game show prank in Japan made me smile.
A very clever "where's Waldo" flash mob in San Francisco
But the coolest thing I've ever seen, flash-mob-wise, has got to be this one.
Think about the preparation this would have taken, look at the numbers, and watch as it keeps topping itself.
Un. real.
Antwerp, Central Station.
Just watch it.
(HT Robin, on Facebook)
Saturday, April 04, 2009
Requestoseyo: Female K-Bloggers
See, as I look at the sidebar here at Roboseyo, I notice that the female bloggers listed are a tiny minority. On several of the comment boards of well-known K-blogs, as well, feminine voices very rarely assert themselves, and it is with great sadness that I acknowledge that the great-idea-too-bad-this-happened Naked In The Sauna is now largely defunct.
With Amanda Takes Off, Lao Ocean Girl, and Expat Jane repatriating...
who ARE the female K-bloggers you like to read, my dear readers?
I'm already a regular reader of Foreign/er Joy, Expatriate Games, Annalog, both the male and female halves of Eat Your Kimchi, Chubbo Chubbington, A Long Time Ago When The Tiger Smoked a Cigarette..., and the also largely defunct Gomushin Girl, but that's only seven out of the fifty on my RSS feed, so it stands to reason (given the approximate 50/50 percentage of males to females in the world) that I must be missing some.
Now, not because I write this blog to pick up girls or anything: with girlfriendoseyo I'm covered on that front...but I'm worried that I might be letting down any guys who might be reading my blog to pick up girls. (We had an interesting talk in my conversation class about What's the best way to meet your soulmate, and reading strangers' blogs was third on the list, you know.) K. In all seriousness, though, I DO feel like I'm letting down any female readers who didn't give up on me completely with that last lame joke, in providing a place where they can find out about, and hopefully connect with, other female K-bloggers, and see that side of things here.
Fill me in, readers! Who else should I be reading?
With Amanda Takes Off, Lao Ocean Girl, and Expat Jane repatriating...
who ARE the female K-bloggers you like to read, my dear readers?
I'm already a regular reader of Foreign/er Joy, Expatriate Games, Annalog, both the male and female halves of Eat Your Kimchi, Chubbo Chubbington, A Long Time Ago When The Tiger Smoked a Cigarette..., and the also largely defunct Gomushin Girl, but that's only seven out of the fifty on my RSS feed, so it stands to reason (given the approximate 50/50 percentage of males to females in the world) that I must be missing some.
Now, not because I write this blog to pick up girls or anything: with girlfriendoseyo I'm covered on that front...but I'm worried that I might be letting down any guys who might be reading my blog to pick up girls. (We had an interesting talk in my conversation class about What's the best way to meet your soulmate, and reading strangers' blogs was third on the list, you know.) K. In all seriousness, though, I DO feel like I'm letting down any female readers who didn't give up on me completely with that last lame joke, in providing a place where they can find out about, and hopefully connect with, other female K-bloggers, and see that side of things here.
Fill me in, readers! Who else should I be reading?
And... A couple of reminders:
Why not to hand in your article late after the native speaking proofreader has gone home. Flag-waving aside (see the second half), what horrible writing.
Why TO do prewriting (I'm teaching that right now) and planning before you write, and why to ALWAYS have a thesis before you start writing. Choi Yong-hearn, Korea's Dokdo poet, writing an editorial where it seems like somebody said "You have a Ph.D. Just write whatever and we'll print it." And he did.
Why TO do prewriting (I'm teaching that right now) and planning before you write, and why to ALWAYS have a thesis before you start writing. Choi Yong-hearn, Korea's Dokdo poet, writing an editorial where it seems like somebody said "You have a Ph.D. Just write whatever and we'll print it." And he did.
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