• Archive for December, 2005

    You know you’re a successful DJ when…

    by  • December 31, 2005 • PERSONAL • 0 Comments

    You know you’re a successful DJ when nightclubs you’re not booked for put you down as a headliner on their New Year’s Eve party advertisements. This has happened to one of my oldest friends this year. I just got the clarification mail and was deeply entertained. Happy New Year, everyone! 새해 복 많? 받으세요!

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    Pullman on Teaching

    by  • December 30, 2005 • teaching in Korea • 1 Comment

    Award-winning author Philip Pullman used to be a teacher, I discovered in this interview. And he said something very interesting about classroom dynamics: It took him a while to work out how to tame a class. ‘You mustn’t try to be the most popular. That’s not your role. The way to control a class...

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    Good-Bye TOIEC?

    by  • December 30, 2005 • ASIDES, KOREA, teaching in Korea • 7 Comments

    That’s what Jodi’s reporting. And I say, good riddance. It’s not just that TOIEC doesn’t test real ability; it’s also that TOEIC sidetracks people from trying to learn to understand English, into memorizing ridiculous obscure grammar points and, worse, memorizing methodologies designed to maximize correct answers on TOEIC tests through absolutely inane grammatical analysis...

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    As The Year Begins To End

    by  • December 30, 2005 • PERSONAL • 1 Comment

    I sit down alone with myself and think over the things I should have done, the things I have done, the things I wish I hadn’t done, the things I want to do. I do this around this time every year, a cup of coffee in one hand, a pencil for doodling in the...

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    Two Letters I Can’t Write

    by  • December 29, 2005 • PERSONAL • 4 Comments

    Dear Psycho Who Lives Upstairs in Apartment 601, Please stop yelling at the woman you live with. You sound mentally ill, and it’s obviously not changing her mind anyway. Seriously, sometimes in the hall I hear your voice and without pause a straitjacket comes to mind. Please stop stomping around. It’s really, really annoying...

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    Baritone Insanity

    by  • December 29, 2005 • ASIDES, MUSIC • 0 Comments

    I’ve decided I simply must get all of the Hamiet Bluiett Baritone Nation albums. This page has some audio samples that finally convinced me that I need CDs in which the majority of the band is playing baritone saxes. (More samples of another Baritone Nation CD here.) This is some heavy stuff. I like...

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    Y-Line Adam, Mitochondrial Eve?

    by  • December 28, 2005 • ASIDES • 0 Comments

    For those who’ve read Greg Egan‘s marvellous short story “Mitochondrial Eve”, I’ve got an old news report for you! Check this out: it seems that studies apparently show a high level of correlation between patrilineal surnames and patrilineal Y-chromosomes, meaning that at least in Britain, marital infidelity resulting in illegitemate conceptions may have been...

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