Thursday, February 25, 2010

Volunteer... or attend. Wild Women's Performing Arts Festival

Just got this message on facebook.
Here's a bit of info about the Wild Women's Performing Arts Festival from the facebook event page (click the link to visit that facebook event page):

The Wild Women's Performing Arts Festival is a very unique forum for women performers to join together and raise awareness about gender issues in Korea and around the world. Through aural and visual performances from female poets, musicians, storytellers and dancers, the event addresses the issue of gender equality in a way that Korean and English speakers alike can benefit from.
You should go!

Let the Ballot-box Stuffing Begin!

Ten Magazine has a survey asking people to vote for their favorite blogs. I've been nominated. I don't know if the winner wins anything except bragging rights... however, in the absence of the Golden Klogs (they might yet appear... might, if Hub of Sparkle goes back online and I can access it again with my computer), I strongly encourage all my readers to follow the link, and vote for Popular Gusts. I did.

Ahh Sports Nationalism


First off: I hate NBC. Not for any other reason but this: they don't like to share. Due to the clutchy grabby way they protect their content (any clip from any NBC show gets pulled from YouTube, etc.), the NBC Olympics page will only play in the USA, so I can't even see it on their (advertising heavy, showing an extremely limited selection of their programs) durn website.
What sucks the most is that two of the greatest online clip-generating bits of TV programming out there -- Olympic coverage, and Saturday Night Live, are both owned by NBC, so the only way I can see Kim Yuna's Olympic performance is on TV, and the only way I can see "the more cowbell skit" is by downloading it illegally. So here's me biting my digital thumb at NBC.
(source: the DiCaprio Romeo and Juilet)


I haven't been able to watch Kim Yuna's amazing skate with Korean announcers yet... so I can't report whether they absolutely lose their shit the way they did for Park Tae-hwan.




Anybody got a link?

On the bright side, I deleted the time-waster that caused this February to be one of my lightest posting months in a long, long time.

Look forward to more Roboseyo soon.

Rob

What am I supposed to do with this?

Teaching is good these days. I'm coaching my discussion class students in ways to ask the kinds of questions that lead to more interesting conversations, and it's been quite rewarding so far.

Sometimes I ask my students to e-mail their homework to me, but today I got an e-mail from a student listing all the obligations filling up his free time... "But I'm doing my homework for you so you won't be angry, even though I'm tired." Then he included the assignment, and closed with, "I'm so tired I can't see straight. I guess life isn't always a bed of roses"

Now, because of some aspects of my upbringing, I'm very very sensitive to even a hint of a guilt-trip being lain, and frankly, the only way to demotivate me to do something faster is whining... but was this guy trying to make me feel guilty for giving him homework?

Never had that before. At least not from my adult students.

Friday, February 19, 2010

Bliss-out.

been feeling pissy and sick and blue lately, readers. new semester got me down, I guess. wedding planning's happening, that's good; students are good; been gathering materials for my discussion classes into something coherent and valuable for myself, and for my whole department. All these things are satisfying.

but I'm feeling pissy and blue. I've tried to write posts for Roboseyo, but every time they turn into gripe-fests, and I hate them.

So here's a happy song.
I hope it makes you happy.

One thing I hope will turn things around for next week: Do Make Say Think is playing in Seoul on Sunday. You should go. If you like this kind of music.

That's all for now.