Christmas Lights: Chunggyecheon, City Hall, Lotte and Shinsegye Dept Stores

I went to Gwanghwamun, City Hall, Lotte Department Store, and Shinsegye Department Store, and took some film of the Christmas lights on display there.

Unfortunately, the new video camera stores photos in a format that is incompatible with iPhoto.  Yep. That's what I said.  Good ol' Mr. Steve Jobs has created some of the best video and photo editing, organizing and storing programs out there, that are easy to use and all... and then picked a few arbitrary video and photo formats that won't work with them.

Yeah, I can buy the decoder program... but I'm pretty choked that I have to, especially when it's a flippin' CANON video camera - we're not talking about some obscure company from Whoknowswherezystan.  Get with the stinking program, Mr. Jobs.

Anyway, without photos, but WITH video (already bought THAT converter)...I give you Christmas lights, 2010.

Korea's Sarah Brightman?

Last Christmas, Wifeoseyo and I stopped at a rest stop on our way to Jeollanamdo, and spotted a pair of fellas who Wifeoseyo identified as 1980s popstars, singing in front of a donation bucket, raising money for goodwill.

Yesterday, while walking by the Chunggyecheon in Downtown Seoul, I wandered around and heard somebody playing a Sarah Brightman CD... and then turned around, and saw that it was a lady singing it, right there in front of me.

So I don't know if this lady's one of Korea's professional popera singers or not, but her voice is lovely, and she sings this song effortlessly, and buddy, after stomping around downtown for hours yesterday to take video about the light shows in downtown Seoul... it was a welcome reprieve from the clanging bells.

Listen.  Enjoy.  It was way better live, as it always is.  And if you recognize the voice, or the be-shadowed face, let me know who it is in the comments.




I was also with my buddy in almost the same place (you can hear my voice at the end of the clip) to spot a traditional Korean marching band playing "jingle bells".  A.We.Some.

The Little Drum and Bass Boy

See, the Little Drummer Boy is an annoying song to me, because it's about a drummer and the rhythm section is the most boring in all Christmas music.

So this, linked to me by This Is Me Posting, in the last post, is a real breath of fresh air.

The Youtube Channel is "Songs to Wear Pants To"



The only version I've heard, other than this one, that I've liked, was the version by The Temptations on A Motown Christmas.  The harmonies.  Yeh.

christmas is coming...

say what you want about the song from... the boat movie... Celine Dion got her christmas music right.



Christmas is the time when homesickness cuts deepest, not just for me, but for a lot of expats -- the only way to get across how big a deal Christmas is to North Americans (can't speak for the rest) is to ask your Korean friends to imagine Seollal, Chuseok, and Childrens' Day, all on one day.

Christmas in Korea is different - way different - than back home.  I talk about that here (from last year, responding to Brian in JND's response to Korea's "Christmas of Dumb Hats")

Most of my opinions haven't changed much since last year...

[Some say] we have to respect the ways other cultures observe holidays, and if Korea wants to create a commercial monstrosity with stupid hats, that's their prerogative, and the other side [says], "it's all well and good to be a cultural relativist, but it's still jarring and maybe sad to see Christmas observed in a way that is so distant from the warm family holiday we remember from our childhood" (or even from the Christmas we see in movies like A Christmas Story, It's A Wonderful Life, and Love Actually... which is huge in Korea, maybe partly because it reinforces that Christmas is a couple holiday to Koreans.

What I'll say is this: I was never a big fan of commercial Christmas anywhere...but the fact that Christmas is not only mostly divorced from the old religious roots (didn't see a single nativity scene in two nights of walking around, haven't heard more than a few sacred carols on the Christmas music playlists in Korean shops), but ALSO divorced from the Christmas we remember from back home -- as far and away the number one family holiday of the year -- is jarring, and it sharpens the twinge of homesickness, or the sting of culture shock, for most of the month of December, for many of us. I always miss my family more at Christmas, and my students and Korean friends don't get that unless I ask how they'd feel spending Chuseok away from home, in a place where nobody knows what shikke or songpyun is..."

Now, given that the entire Christmas symbology is here, but it's used differently, maybe it's not accurate to ask my Korean friends to imagine Chuseok alone in a place where nobody knows what shikke or songpyun are... maybe a more accurage analogy is to imaging having Chuseok alone in a place where shikke is used exclusively as a mixer for rum drinks, and songpyeon is made of popcorn balls, which people throw at the boy or girl they like, in a holiday courtship ritual.

In previous Christmases, I've come across really cynical or dismissive of Christmas in Korea... but the fact is, every year I try hard to have some kind of Christmassy experience.  I seek out friends, and festivals, and do sappy things, and hunt after the foods I eat for Christmas in Canada.  This year, it's been particularly poignant, because 1. Wifeoseyo only gets the weekend off - nothing extra - and 2. it's my first Christmas with wifeoseyo, so I DO have family in Korea... (but Christmas will still always be an afterthought to most of them).

but on Saturday we went down to Goseok Terminal (subway lines 3, 6 and 9, if I remember correctly), where there are scads of Christmas decoration shops, and bought some candles, and shiny things, and hanging things, and a cute little tree.  So the house looks like Christmas now.  At least a little.

And we also got some ingredients, and I made my first Gluhwein today, as I experiment with it this week, to try and offer up something good for some friends this weekend.

Initial result: I'm gonna score it a 5/10.  Hopefully I can get this going before friends come over.

I'll post more of the results from my gluhwein experiments over the course of the week.

Later, readers!

Rob

Do You Know who Knows it's Christmas

So I just read about the Band Aid recording of "Do They Know it's Christmas" and watched the video..

it was all recorded in one night, and you're free to your opinion on the song (I'm not wild about it) but...

1. so much feathered hair
2. so many famous singers without stage makeup, in a badly lit studio
3. a fun game of spot the '80s star (looking awful)
4. a fun game of "do you remember who that is?" - exacerbated by the fact many of these singers aren't there intheir usual band costumes, or with their bandmates.

so...
Do They Know it's Christmas?


more of my rantings on Christmas music, with links to the rest of my christmas rantings, here.

and if there were a new "Band Aid" recording, organized by Oprah Winfrey (who else would have the pull to get ANY band involved), who would be in YOUR starting lineup?

Answer in the comments.