Roboseyo on the Seoul Podcast

So, I was on the Seoul Podcast last month, and today, in their own separate "It's In the Bag" Mailbag section, co-hosts Jennifer and Stafford have broken down the letter I wrote about Jessica Kim's article.

The post is here.

The podcast is here.

The read-up of my article is here. (It's short)

And until next time, I've decided what I'm going to do about how I feel about The Korea Times' attempt at the "Worst Week Of Journalism Ever" award from last week. It involves more than just myself, and in fact I'd like to get as many bloggers and other public-forum posters involved as possible, but I'll explain what I mean soon.

So if you're also pissed about the articles they printed last week, stay tuned and I'll explain what I mean as soon as I don't have a class to prepare for.

peace out
Roboseyo

SparkleDown III and the Lantern Festival

OK.

Soundtrack: Love Love Love by Mountain Goats: this song always comes to my mind when it rains.

So Sparkledown III started off by Anguk Station, at a tea room which most of us liked quite a bit: the tea tasted good, and the lady kept bringing free stuff by. Cool.

We decided to move on when the music went from the nice classical stuff to the nice Korean traditional stuff...and then to the compositions on instruments that could best be described as piercing, and don't easily slide into the background, along with vocalists making grunts and moans that ALSO don't easily slide into the background.

It was raining, but we walked up to a Panini place I like (I'll write it up some other time), and we had a nice time there before strolling over to Jogye Temple to see the lanterns, and collecting a couple more people.Then it was to an "India Style" wine/lounge place near what was once Piano Street (the piano keys have all been dug up... I don't know what's going on there, but it sure is dirty right now.)

Anyway, some of the people in these pictures are online personalities, and some aren't, so you might recognize a few faces. The conversation all afternoon was really pleasant, and then in the evening it got a little goofy from time to time, but I think it's safe to say a good time was had by all. We moved on to a favorite bar of mine, and bumped into a coworker of mine, and more laughs were laughed.
And that was Saturday. Thanks to everyone who came out: I appreciated seeing you, and to those who didn't come, you missed out.

Then: Buddha's birthday and the Lantern Festival in Jongno.

But first a picture of Lotte Department Store: I like silhouettes.

Then: the street festival was a proper street festival: it was colder than other years have been, but the turnout was good. The air was clear and the light was somehow balmy, and the rain held off until a few flecks in the evening.

There was calligraphy

Free Hugs (this guy really liked his)
and my buddy Charles, the high school pal who's responsible for me coming to Korea in the first place (far left) -- you can thank him in the comments


There was a yoga demonstration that probably led to about 300 men signing up for classes. And after tea and dinner at a Japanese Restaurant in Myeongdong, I pulled out my tripod and took low-light pictures that actually had still frames instead of "he can't quite hold the camera steady" blurs.
played with the light intake to get these different takes on the same place
The lamps at Chunggyecheon (I actually took this picture another day... same stuff, though)


More from tonight:


And the Buddha's Birthday parade snaked from Dongdaemun to Jogyesa, as usual. There were tons of floats, including some that seemed like weird fits for a Buddha's Birthday celebration (a pig on a motorbike with a flame thrower? That brings ME closer to the Buddha Mind, why do you ask?)

And the cartoon Buddha (who reminds me of the Buddy Jesus)



This lady had a high powered fan to keep her gown flowing. She was like a ballerina in a snow-globe.
And the real reason I took my tripod: pictures of Tapgol Park at dark.
I love this park on Buddha's Birthday.



Ya shoulda been there, readers.

Buddha's Birthday Lantern Festival

Hey there. Today's the Buddha's Birthday Lantern Festival in Jonggak.

If you live anywhere, ANYWHERE near Seoul, get your butt down to Jonggak (near Gwanghwamun) and check out the street festival. Build a Buddhist lantern, hang out with the peoples, take pictures, and all that cool stuff.

Seriously, the Lantern Festival is the best day of the year in Seoul, and casts Korea in about the most positive light you'lee ever see it. If you don't believe me, here's my glow-in-the-dark happy post from attending two years ago.

Even more: check out the parade in the evening, from Dongdaemun all the way down to Jogyesa Temple (basically the Westminster Abbey of Korean Buddhism), and after dark, poke your head into Tapgol Park, strung up with lanterns: one of the prettiest sights I've seen in Korea, and nice enough I'm actually bringing my tripod downtown to get better pictures of it this year.

Gaah! (Plus: Backhanded Compliment of the Day)

There's been so much bad writing this week about Korea and expats (mostly thanks to the Korea times) that I haven't had anything to write here, because if I touch on any of the articles that have been written, I'll go into a blithering rant. The worst two of the lot were published yesterday, one of which was an obvious prank, and one of which was by a columnist I've mentioned before, and who now deserves to be tuned out and ignored entirely.

I'm formulating a response that might involve trying to get all my readers to flood The Korea Times with either protest letters, or prank letters...but I haven't decided which yet.

I once wrote that The Korea Herald is crap...but they got nothin' on the times.

Instead, to feel better, read the next post, and come out and have tea with me.

Hang out with Roboseyo at Sparkledown the Third, this Saturday.

Hey there.

It's short notice, but if you have any free time this Saturday afternoon, it being the weekend before Buddha's birthday, and me being out of town that weekend, it's a good time to hang around Jongno, which is strung up with lanterns all over the place!

On Saturday afternoon, at 3PM, I'm going to be at a nice little traditional tea house near Changdeok Palace, with whichever friends come out, and you're welcome to join me. I really like this tea room, and after some sipping and chatting, I'm going to take a stroll around Bukcheon Hanok village, have dinner somewhere in Samchungdong (depending on the size of the group) strolling over to Jogye Temple (which will be gorgeous with glowing lamps by evening), and down to the lanterns hanging around Cheonggyecheon.

You are welcome to come along for as much or as little of that as you like, and I'd love to see you. So how do you get there?

Go to Anguk Station (line 3), and come out exit 2.

src="http://www.koreasparkle.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/dscn5001.jpg"

don't trip on the old lady: I almost did.

when you come out of exit 2, you'll have a view something like this. Go straight, and look on your right. It's less than a five minute walk, and if you reach the three-way stoplight, you've gone too far.

There's a little place with plants in the window that looks like this, called "인...in Tea Drink Culture" (whatever that means) with a nice lady running it.You'll know you're in the right place if the raspberry tea tastes exactly like fresh raspberries.

Let me know if you're coming (you can reach me at roboseyo[at]gmail[dot]com or by searching Roboseyo on facebook), or just show up.

Take it easy, folks, and hope to see you there.