Post 700

(from someone at the marmot's hole comment board)

Yesterday, I got back from Kyoto for Chusok vacation, and it was great, other than an allergic reaction. I got a shoulder bag I like, that doesn't make Girlfriendoseyo cringe when I show up for a date lugging it around (I'm addicted to my books, see), but I'll write about that more, later.

I made it to 700 posts here at Roboseyo (if you include the odd unpublished draft that Blogger counts on my dashboard). That also amounts to 300 years of my surrogate sister Antaya's blog, or about ten weeks of Brian in Jeollanam-do.

It's been an interesting ride... blogging has been fun and it's led to some worthwhile connections. As time's gone by, the Korea blog community has gotten livelier and more interesting, as well as more connected: about a year ago, I decided that if I was going to put as much time into blogging as I had, I could only justify it if it helped me enrich my actual life -- one where I meet real people and do actual stuff with them, rather than just coming up with the silliest or smartest comment I can on a comment board, and getting my jollies when somebody at The Marmot's Hole says "I agree with Roboseyo".

Meanwhile, some other stuff has happened that's put blogging into perspective a bit... among the other things I've learned, part of it is that blogging needs to be held in its place in relation to other things, and last spring, while the ATEK stuff was important, it also showed me how far blogging can go, and where talking on the internet has its limitation -- another example of this would be Kushibo's call to take Anti-English Spectrum to task, not just online in English, but in Korean, and better yet, in the Korean legal system. Another case of this would be a friendship which I neglected last spring, while working on the ATEK stuff, and the Anti-English stuff, and with Ben Wagner on some stuff, which now needs to be made right. That sucks. And I still don't write home enough. Which is more of a problem now that the Blog is less personal than it was back in, say, 2007, when nobody read it.

See, the numbers can be an addiction. The hit counts, that stuff -- it gets to be a bit much: those hits are some kind of approval, from a bunch of strangers, which in its own way, is purer than the approval of friends who know you, who already have a vested reason for visiting the blog... but then, none of those 300 hits a day ever bought me lunch, or let me talk about losing my mom, or cleaned my apartment when I was sick, or lent me a book for my discussion class...

so I took the stat counters off Roboseyo a few Saturdays ago, because I don't want Roboseyo to be about hits anymore. I'll still talk about similar topics, because I care about them, or because they entertain me or give me joy, and because I love telling stories. Love it. And I enjoy the comment conversations, too -- they're great, especially when somebody tells me I'm wrong, and we get to argue about it. I actually don't mind being told I'm wrong, given how sloppily I often research stuff. If you want scholarship, this ain't the place.

I do funny and awesome videos, though.
I've mentioned before that I love mash-ups. Here's a mash-up of the 25 top songs of 2008, by DJ Earworm.


And, because it's a Korea blog, this one isn't quite as awesome as the previous one, but it's still pretty cool, and if you've listened to a lot of K-pop, it's really fun: the same idea, but with 2008's top K-pop songs, instead.

Korean Language Schools in Jinju and...

So, Seoul National University SAYS it wants to be more international, if by "international" you mean "ranked higher on the Newsweek World's top 100 universities" list...

but isn't willing to put its money where its mouth is. Another case of "I want it to look like I'm doing it, and I want my status on international rankings to reflect it... but I don't actually want to change what I'm doing." More at The Korea Times. Time for a little name and shame?

Next: I got this e-mail today. Wonder if anybody'd be able to answer this cat's question:

...I am a Humanities undergrad student specializing in Korean culture in Toronto, Canada...
Maybe you could post my question up on your blog?

Basically, I would like to know if you know of any Korean language schools in Jinju?
I am interested in pursuing a graduate degree in Korea, and I posses only a very basic level of Korean language skills.
Even if there are language schools in Seoul/Busan/other cities, I would love to know.
If you have any information regarding this, any and all help would be greatly appreciated!

To start, here's the Galbijim wiki about online learning resources...
(here)

next... what are the formal, physical-building schools people can attend?

One sad and one weird...

Looks like (or at least, one can wish) the "I was drunk" defense is losing traction in Korean courts and, more importantly, in the court of public opinion (because the law will, eventually, follow the ethos of the people). This guy did such horrible things to a little girl, that I don't even want to type them out, or I'll have to wash my hands for ten minutes, but netizens are FURIOUS that he only got 12 years. I'm pretty sure this isn't the first time Korean netizens (whom you can hate for other reasons, at other times, but occasionally get things right) have decided "I was drunk. I had a hard life" is no longer enough to qualify for clemency.

in other news, it'd be interesting to study the relationship between netizen and public opinion in Korea, compared with other countries, as well as to compare the level of reporting on netizen "gusts of popular opinion" with the level other countries' media report on netizen opinion shifts.

In less ghastly (or at least, ghastly in a funny way) news: the band HAM (yes, that's right. Ham). Has an uplifting song for you about putting away your sorrows... but instead of forgetting your sorrows by going "DOOOOWNTOOOOWN" as Petula Clark advised, they suggest you should do the "Tee-Tee Dance" (which sound an awful lot like the "Titty Dance"), from the emoticon T.T, which is supposed to look like a pair of crying eyes.

It's a cute, uplifting song with an uninspired video, and the band (which is new) has added a new item to the list of items you can put on your K-pop video bingo list: "Shaking the video camera as a substitute for dancing ability" which goes along with "strobelight as a substitute for dancing ability" on the list of fudgeing effects.

Watch for the asian poses in the last third of the video.

Anyway, Brian and a few other people pointed out this video yesterday, and I'm not sure if I was disappointed or relieved that "Do the Titty Dance" didn't mean something a bit more like this:


(or this)

...or maybe this

Now that Dan Gray has been put in his place... a celebration. bliss-out by proxy

Yes, we can move on, now that Dan Gray is a heap of shame and dirty clothes, and I'd like to point out to you a blog(ger) of which(whom) I am a fan: after running another blog for a while, and bumping into awkwardnesses when her adult students found it, and started reading it, she moved to a new address and has continued posting all kinds of excellent music.

Here is her bliss-out post, of music in which (or maybe by which) light is victorious over darkness.

67 Reasons Dan Gray Sucks

So Dan Gray has decided I'm his nemesis.

So it's time for me to let you all know the real Dan Gray, because really, the K-blogosphere has been entirely too bland since Metropolitician and Baeksu had their last falling out, and I'd like to make a case for why you should all be on MY side when it's time to March on Dan's twee little cupcake-eating apartment with pitchforks and torches.

His favorite Star Trek captain was Jonathan Archer.

This scene was based on Dan Gray's love life.

He eats mild salsa sauce.

He thinks Eddie Murphy's best movie was "Pluto Nash"... followed by the The Nutty Professor series.

His mom stood him up for the prom.

He can't decide whether Creed or Nickelback is the new U2.

KGB vodka coolers are too bitter for him.

He got drunk just from reading that last sentence.

He still says "Yeah, baby," like Austin Powers.

He identifies movies by the name of the lead actor or actress, and a short line from the soundtrack's theme song: "Hey. Let's watch Leonardo DiCaprio -- MYYYY HYEART WILLLLLL..."

Here's his idea of a comeback:























wait for it.

























"I hate you, Roboseyo."

When he eats cookies, he says "I'm a keebler elf!" and sings an elvin song.

After watching The Matrix ten years ago, he said to me the other day, "Hey, you know, what if WE'RE in the Matrix, right now? That'd be weird, wouldn't it?"

He still ends sentences with "not!"

He claims his collection of Morphin' Power Rangers Action Ficures is going to be worth something someday, and that's the only reason he still keeps them.

And plays with them.

He sits down when he pees.

On the bathroom floor.

He still does a Borat impression. But he always pooped in a plastic bag.

He calls Maxim instant "Real coffee."

He cried at the end of D-Wars.

When he had to start dressing more formally because he became an adult, his mom made a youtube video to show him how to attach his tie. It was a clip-on.

He looked up all his former classmates on Facebook, and sends them each a vampire bite a week.

He plagiarizes lines from The Search For The Holy Grail to insult me... but picks the wrong ones. "Hey Roboseyo: 'Help! Help! I'm being oppressed!' Hey! Hey Roboseyo! 'Three shall be the number thou shalt count' haha!"

He thinks Scary Movie 3 was better than Ferris Bueller's Day Off.

Because his criteria for good movies is frequency of shots of hot women running in slow motion.

So he also thinks Transformers 2 was better than The Dark Knight.

He double-dips.

He once bathed in hand-sanitizer, and figures that'll keep him safe from Swine Flu until he dies.

He sings "My Way" at the Noraebang. Over and over.

He thinks Boyz II Men's ballads are subtle.

He gets shocked every time characters in Korean dramas get cancer.

He calls it "the google" and says "Why don't you do the google to it?" instead of "Why don't you google it" if somebody asks about something he doesnt' know.

Which means he says it a lot.

He can't eat the kimchi.

He thinks Stephen Colbert is serious.

He also thinks Dokdo Is Ours is serious.

He still hasn't found his mouse's right button.

When he sings, he tries to sound like Shakira.

And he does.

He wears pants with pleated fronts.

Old men wear pants with pleated fronts.

Also Dan.

He's worried that the elephant in Seoul Grand Park that threw a rock at the lady's head will get fair representation in court.

He thinks Ben Wagner is a fairy tale character.

He doesn't understand that words in acronyms stand for something.

He spent a year trying to lick his own elbows. He thought yoga would help.

His idea of yoga is sitting at the back of a Buddhist temple and shouting questions at the monks in charge of proceedings.

His feet got tired walking around, so he asked me to carry him.

Sometimes he wears his pants inside-out so that it's easier for him to access his pockets.

He still throws ice-cubes to show that he likes a girl.

His best pick-up line is "uhhhh, uhhhhh. Uhhhh. So.... woman...." and then runs away.

He doesn't get knock knock jokes. He goes to the nearest door.

He thought The Ugly Duckling was Mother Goose's kid.

When he plays rock scissor paper, he always chooses the fourth option: duck and cover.

He forwarded me the Numa Numa video. Last week.

His belly-button is 15 centimeters deep, and he stores skittles in there.

When you argue with him, he tells you the number of facebook friends he has to show you that he's right.

If you point out that his shoes are on the wrong feet, he says it makes him feel cool and kind of squishy that way.

When you scratch his ear, he pees.

If you ask him, "Do you live in North Korea or South Korea?" he has to think about it. Every time.

He thinks Jem and the Holograms was the band of the '80s.

He doesn't know Dokdo.

He says things like, "I'm going to go work on friendships with my facebook peeps... because I, unlike you, HAVE A LIFE!"

He still can't read Hangeul, and thinks Sejong is a brand of soju.

When he's charging his phone battery, he stands perfectly still and tries to "help it charge" with his mind-power.

He thinks Jeollanam-do is an elaborate hoax masterminded by Brian.

He thinks shouting animal noises at high volume is Japanese.

And in case you doubt any of these claims, here is a video clip that will put your doubts to rest.

OK, Dan. Your move.