I'm submitting applications to grad schools right now: I want to get into a Korean Studies graduate program, and some of the admissions people might be visiting this blog to see if the blog really is what I say it is...
So from time to time, you'll see this very post on the front page of this blog, in order that any inquisitive readers from the schools where I'm applying can look at some of my more analytical writings.
And if you want to leave a comment under this, and tell them how smrt smart I am, that would be nice, too.
If you are an admissions official from a school where I'm applying, you may look at this "Best of Roboseyo" page to see some of my better, or more interesting posts. There are links to some of my favorite posts on the right sidebar.
Also, here are a few of the more extended pieces I've written. While the writing style is not academic, please consider the content.
Saw a top ten list of "the greatest antiheroes" while rabbit-trailing on the internet today. And I'll let you in on something:
I love anti-heroes. Love love love'em. As you know, an anti-hero is a person who does bad things, but for whatever reason, still has the reader/viewer's sympathy. Think of my current TV obssession: Dexter
(url: http://www.wallpaperez.net/wallpaper/movie/Dexter-Morgan-1574.jpg)
Yeah, he kills people, but he's such an interesting guy!
Now, these days, there are almost TOO many antiheroes - has Vin Diesel ever played anything but anti-heroes? However, I love a likeable bad guy in a film. They're just so interesting to watch. And way more fun than watching perfect, golden boys and girls marching through plots like little, maddening paragons.
Because they always have to make the right choice, they never make any interesting choices.
I don't know exactly where the idea of the Anti-Hero started-- was Odysseus an anti-hero? What about Titus Andronicus? MacBeth definitely was, and his wife even more so. Was it the devil in Paradise Lost? Lord Byron's Childe Harolde? Who knows.
Anyway, this top-ten list of "greatest anti-heroes" was fun to me... it includes Tyler Durden, Cool Hand Luke, Tony Soprano, Han Solo, Malcolm Reynolds from "Firefly" and "The Dude" from The Big Lebowski, and a few from TV shows I never watched.
I'm not sure if Malcolm Reynolds is really an anti-hero, though: my favorite line from the whole Firefly series (yeah, I'm a nerd: but I only watched it once through, OK?) was when he said,
"You don't know me, son, so let me explain this to you once: If I ever kill you, you'll be awake. You'll be facing me, and you'll be armed." I think that puts him on hero turf, not anti-hero. But that's just me.
I was a bit surprised at a few omissions on their list as well. Maybe comic book readers didn't catch wind of this list, because Wolverine was nowhere to be seen.
My own favorite anti-heroes? in no particular order:
Tyler Durden (fight club) Batman (Frank Miller/Dark Knight version, not 1960s version: re-watch that show. He's so durn preachy! Here's a website that's collected all the times Batman lectures Robin in the old TV series) Alex DeLarge (clockwork orange) - at the same time, one of the most evil, but also one of the most charming and attractive villans out there. That Kubrick makes us root for him is enough to establish him as one of the greatest film directors out there. That when Alex delivers the final line of the movie, we go "YES! Wait! NO! Wait... huh?" makes Alex a permanent top-fiver on my antihero list. I can't believe there are anti-hero lists that don't include him: my only explanation is that the person who wrote the list hasn't seen A Clockwork Orange. Dexter Morgan (the TV show Dexter. Season four is my favorite so far.)
Pick a Clint Eastwood Character - other than Million Dollar Baby and Bridges of Madison County, has Clint Eastwood played anything but antiheroes? My personal favorite Eastwood Anti-hero is Bill Munny, in Unforgiven. (his best line: see 2:00 of this clip)
Anyway, show me a great anti-hero, and I'll hear you out. Anti-heroes are great.
Tie it into Korea? How's this: One of Korea's best movies ever, Oldboy, features one of the greatest anti-heroes out there, along with a badass yogi, one of the most greek-tragedy-ish, devastating endings, and one of the most novel ideas for torture, I've ever seen.
Plus, the hallway fight scene, which regularly gets listed on "manliest fight scenes ever" and is sometimes the only non-hollywood, or non-English film on the list, because it's just so dang epic.
skip to about a minute into this clip: it's all done in one take, and in case you doubted that our man Oh Dae-su was the baddest of badasses, yes, he fights the second half of the henchmen with a knife sticking out of his back.
Other Korean movies with pretty sweet anti-heroes? Pretty much everything else by Park Chan-wook, along with Oldboy - "Sympathy for Lady Vengance" and "Thirst" come to mind. I'm pretty sure "The Good, The Bad and the Weird" has a good one. No doubt the "gangster" genre is full of them, but I don't know that genre of Korean film very well.
And in case you disagree with me that anti-heroes are more fun than heroes...
"A Case of You" by Joni Mitchell: the line "I could drink a case of you, and still be on my feet" is one of the greatest lines in a pop/rock song ever. And other lyrics get quoted in the comments.
I always encourage my students not to ask the question "What's your least favorite thing about Korea" or "What's the worst thing about Korea?" when they first meet a new foreigner: do they really want to get the conversation off on such a negative note? And what if the answer to that question is something honest, or savage, rather than just another sideways compliment, the way it's often expected to be answered?
My "safe" answer to that question, for a long time, has been "The language barrier" -- it prompts a "fair enough" kind of reaction, and it shifts the onus from Koreans to "fix" something (for example, if I said "corruption") to me, who should really be studying the language harder.
Not long ago, my answer to that question changed: there's a new "worst thing about Korea" in town, and this is it.
People go home.
On facebook today, I discovered that it was Evan's birthday. Evan's one of my boys. Honestly, he's one of my favorite human beings. He's smart, but humble, he has a faith that is strong but realistic, that gives space for others to be who they are, without sending his own moral compass aswing. He was a loyal friend to me for about three years in Korea, and he was one of the few of my friends who'd call me instead of waiting for me to call them. And he always had something good to say, something on his mind, worth talking about.
Evan (on the left)
We never ran out of conversation once.
Kelly was another really nice lady: I knew her when we were both WAAAAAY younger, back when I lived in southern Ontario, and she was one of the first Canadian friends of mine whom Wifeoseyo met. Wifeoseyo was absolutely smitten with Kelly's warmth, down-to-earthiness, and sense of fun. Kelly's another one who never ran out of conversation: she always had a story or a joke, and while she was ready to laugh at a good one-liner, she was just as ready to shoot down a lame one.
When Kelly decided to go back to Canada to get her teaching career in Canada rolling, well, it was a sad day for me and Wifeoseyo. We got together and went to see the Rodin exhibit at the Seoul Art Museum by Deoksu Palace, ate the best Kongguksu I've ever eaten, and sent her off to church.
And last December, my best friend during my time in Korea, Matt, left as well.
This is the guy who not only pulled my fat out of the fire, but taught me how to recognize when my fat was in the fire, and how to avoid getting my fat in the fire for future reference. He backed me up across South China, in some skeezy streets of Yokohoma, and in a few shady situations here in Seoul, too. He and I shared some experiences that make great stories - stories of the type where people almost die - and also some stories that aren't dramatic at all, but involve things like grief, and heartbreak, and loyalty, and betrayal, and restoration. The kinds of stories that bond a friendship for life.
And that's Matt. He's my brother until I die.
Oh yeah... things got silly too.
And he left Korea, too.
Now I'm glad he's moving on to something bigger and better. I'm glad he's living out the life plan he'd formulated in his head. I'm glad he's busy loving the heck out of his fantastic wife (who happens to be another of my favorite people)... but that little, selfish, self-pitying part of me wishes he was still doing those things in Korea, you know?
So you know, life in Korea is good: it's a beautiful country with a bottomless well of things to enjoy, there's so much to learn about this place I barely know where to begin, and wifeoseyo is a stalwart, a wonderful support whom I love more and more...
people go home, though, and it's OK to stop for a bit, and remember them, and say "yeah. Those were good times."
Maybe some long-term expats start to hunker down, and only hang out with other long-termers, because we get tired of the comers-and-goers. Maybe that's what it boils down to... I hope that I never completely detach from the newcomers, I hope that I never become one of those smirking snarkburgers who makes fun of Johnny two-month and his "You know, I've noticed that Koreans are very competitive! Especially in school!"... but then, every time another friend goes home, it gets a little harder to invest in then next Johnny two-month that comes along, lest he also leave after twelve.
Is this the sound of an expat turning into a lifer? Maybe. Maybe this is why many of the lifers I know mostly roll with Koreans, and the occasional other lifer.
I'm trying not to let that happen: one of my favorite poems in the world is Rainer Maria Rilke's "Be ahead of all parting, as if it were already behind you" -- and I think it's fine, well and good, to have some friends who come and go, as long as you can spot and lock onto the ones who are friends for life...
but it's still sad when someone goes.
Evan: happy birthday.
Kelly: we miss you.
Matt: brother, you'll always have a home wherever I am.
There's a lot happening because of the G20. I haven't been down to COEX, but my favorite iteration of the G20 so far is this one:
The cute older folks holding up signs are cute...
but I LOVED the stuffed creatures:
Finally, I don't know what this guy's deal was, but I'm sure glad he drove by while I had my camera out.
In other news: ATEK sent out an e-mail recently:
Recently, some of you have received messages from your countries’ embassies regarding the approaching G20 Seoul Summit (November 11-12). These bulletins have cautioned that often, G20 meetings are accompanied by demonstrations, and extra police security, in different parts of the city. Previous G20 Summits have been met with demonstrations in their host cities, including outbreaks of violence.
To begin with, in Seoul, please be prepared for restrictions on pedestrian and driving traffic around the COEX complex around the time of the summit, from November 11-12, and before and after. Also, prepare for transportation delays if you live or work in that area.
Also, at the last major demonstrations in Seoul, the 2008 U.S. Beef/FTA protests, an English teacher was injured during a demonstration, not for provoking the police, but for being in the wrong place at the wrong time, during an outbreak of violence. ATEK would like to alert English teachers in Seoul to use common sense in the COEX area, where the conference will be held, as well as around City Hall and downtown Seoul. Please exercise caution and around large gatherings, or areas of increased police presence.
ATEK has sent communications to the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency expressing our confidence that police officers will do their utmost to ensure the safety of English teachers caught up in protest sites, whether out of curiosity or intent to demonstrate.
However, we would also like to inform ATEK’s non-Korean members of parts 2 and 3 of Article 17 in The Immigration Control Act (see source here) which states,
(2) No foreigner sojourning in the Republic of Korea shall engage in any political activity with the exception of cases as provided by this Act or other statutes[1]
(3) If a foreigner sojourning in the Republic of Korea is engaged in any political activity, the Minister of Justice may order him in writing to suspend such activity or may take other necessary measures.
Please exercise prudence in the type and level of involvement you choose, if you attend demonstrations. Do this for your own physical safety, and also because the Immigration Control Act indicates the possibility of consequences for political action: this could put your working visa in jeopardy. Please make informed decisions about participating in demonstrations, and be aware of the situation at demonstrations, even if you are only there out of curiosity, to observe or take pictures.
For more information about your rights, and how to act during an assembly or demonstration, the NGO (Non-Governmental Organization) MINBYUN, or “Lawyers for a Democratic Society,” has published two document, titled the “G20 Summit Manuals for Foreign Activists,” and "Demonstrating the G20 in Seoul this November?" which provides information about Korean laws and codes regarding assemblies and demonstrations. If you plan on attending demonstrations, either for observation or participation, we recommend looking through these two documents. First point: do not participate in violence.
If you are not a Korean, please also consider registering with your embassy, to be updated on important news or alerts concerning citizens of your country.
Following are some embassy websites (if your embassy is not listed below, you will likely find it here:
