Anyone curious about what Korea looked like a century ago might wish to look through this post by the Marmot before stopping in and checking out these photos. Marmot translates a lot, providing context. It’s fascinating and coming in handy for me, as I plod on trying to get this ghost story to smell, feel, and taste more like old, old Korea… in parts, anyway. Marmot’s posting it is a great, wonderful thing.
Month: November 2004
Chuck Mangione, Live
Where else but in South Korea can you see Chuck Mangione play to a pretty crowded house in a big performance venue (about the size of the usual orchestral symphony house in a smallish city)? Where else will people (not many, but even some) stand up and attempt to mount a standing ovation after Chuck plays the song “Feels So Good”? Only, only, only in South Korea. I’m so glad I talked Lime into coming. I wasn’t crazy about Chuck before, nor am I now, though I may try get my hands on some albums to give him another listen. But man, …
The Quiet American
For anyone who’s read Graham Greene before, what I’m going to say should come as no surprise at all, but what a writer! I’ve just finished my first trip into his world, via Jeonju University library’s copy of The Quiet American. I saw the movie last year at the Jeonju International Film Festival, I believe it was, and what a movie that was. I imagined that perhaps it had even outstripped the original book, when I saw it, for all the depth of character and the depth of political and cultural texture. But the book is even more powerful than …
Russell Hoban’s Mr Rinyo-Clacton’s Offer
I just finished the novel about two minutes ago. Not gonna go too deep into this except to say that this author Russell Hoban, who wrote this book I just finished, Mr Rinyo-Clacton’s Offer, is a far different man from the person who wrote the mind-blowing SF novel Riddley Walker. That’s not to speak ill of the fellow and his work, because both novels are absolutely excellent. It’s just that they are such very different works. Riddley Walker, which I haven’t read in a couple of years (and which, I believe it was Adam, kindly sent me from Texas, and …
Korean Culture, Old and New: Starcraft Pansori
One of the things I talked about last night with Sang Joon was Seoul. He was telling me about his experiences there, and I was asking about what the cultural scene is like, trying to see how valid my own views are. He said the area around Hong Ik University is really different from anywhere else, and described all kinds of things he’d experienced while living there for a few months. One of the most interesting things he described was one day seeing a pair of women in kisaeng outfits (the Korean form of the geisha, a kisaeng is), dancing …