Whew! Well, I’ve just about finished the finishing touches on a story I’ve been on-and-off working for a long time, my Sado Seja story…. which wasn’t originally a ghost story. Actually, I have heard a few people claim that there were ghostly happenings at Changdeokgung, and even Lady Hyegyong mentions palace ghosts — some poor woman who was executed for necromancy against the queen a generation or two back, for example, was thought to have left an evil spiritual residue behind — but strictly speaking, I’ve never encountered the story of Sado Seja as a “ghost story.” And yet Sado’s …
Month: July 2008
Lost, Season 4
Charles: don’t read this. Anyone else who hates spoilers, be warned! The rest? Read on, if you’re interested in opinions. That’s all I’ve got anyway, but since Stephanie was so eager to see my comments, here they are.
빠삐코 + 놈놈놈 = 빠삐놈 (And an Update on the Starcraft Pansori, with Video)
Note: I’ve made a (substantial) couple of edits and additions to this post since it first went up. Those resulting from comments — changes — are clearly marked as updates, but those that are additions of information or observation aren’t, since it reduces readability to have a bunch of EDIT marks throughout. Anyway, apologies to anyone who suddenly notices a bunch of context that wasn’t there before! Here’s a very odd video that I’d like to briefly unpack for y’all, as an example of very neat, strange, and utterly Korean cross-fertilization of pop culture that goes on here, and especially …
Madness at the Ministry of Bukkake: A Proposal for a New Mockery-Based Dokdo Strategy
For those of you not in Korea, you’ve probably never heard of Dokdo. Wikipedia has the scoop for you, and it’s pretty well balanced, but the bottom line is, Dokdo is a pair of rocks in the middle of the body of water that separates Korea from Japan. Dokdo is the subject of an ongoing territorial dispute with Japan. The issue flares up every so often, like a case of gout, and like gout, dominates life here for a while. Recently, the Japanese department of education announced that in new Japanese textbook guidelines, Dokdo is going to be described as …
Almost as Entertaining as a Bollywood Film
Which is high praise coming from me. I’m sure nobody will be shocked to know I have the soundtrack to Om Shanti Om in my headphones as I write this. When my aging finally process reverses and I slide back into a world before a gut and bad ankles and having to make a living and all the rest of the stuff that keeps me busy, I think I want to (un-) grow up be Shahrukh Khan. You know, I’m not saying the man is immature, it’s just: wouldn’t it be just the best fun to dance seductively with Aishwarya …
NCC-1492 and The Good Ship Daehan
This is part three in a series. You may wish to read the above links. If you don’t: Part 1 discussed reasons why so many expatriates complain about Korea. Part 2 seemed to rush off onto a tangent mostly focused on Iksan, a small city where I lived for a couple of years when I first arrived in Korea, and the unevenness of its development. I ended discussing a landfill crisis there, and describing how young locals were all dressed in their usual stunning finery, promenading serenely past barricades of trash bags blocking the sidewalk. Then, with promises to return …
PiFan Book Fair: SF/Fantasy/Horror/Thriller novels and Magazines… in Korean!
Well, I was told I could pick up my tickets at the ticket booth today, but of course, I couldn’t. Somehow, though, I ended up at City Hall and noticed a huge display of books and magazines near the ticket booth. It turned out to be the biggest collection of Korean SF, thriller, suspense, and horror novels I’ve ever seen. I had already picked up some of the books, but I still managed to grab the following titles (in translation) for Lime: I, Robot by Isaac Asimov 2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke (in hardback) Odd John by …
Clueless in Academe: How Schooling Obscures the Life of the Mind by Gerald Graff
This is, basically, an excellent book. Make a gift of it to those you know who are decision makers in departments. Read it if you want to help make things better for your students. More for those who want details, as well as my reflections on a few of the things I learned reading it, but for most of you who are teaching in departments (in Korea) where students actually have enough English to learn, you know, academic stuff, or for those teaching in the mother tongue of their students: trust me! Order it! Go! Now! University EFL teachers in …
Montreal Fever Dreams, and More Recent Weirdnesses
This oldish post at Acephalous reminded me of some of my more unusual dreams in years past. (And, SEK, if you’re reading this, the dream you reminded me of most was the Malatesta one, later on in this post.) I really do sometimes wish that I was more capable of remembering dreams, or maybe I just wish I had better sleep schedule so I would wake naturally and remember my dreams more often. When I do recall them, these days, it’s very unusual. But I have a few good ones I remember… Perhaps the weirdest dreams I’ve ever had were …
The Iri Yeok Explosion, and the Iksan Landfill Crisis
As you can see from the links above, this is the second in a pair of posts responding to the question posed by Roboseyo and The Korean. If you haven’t read part 1, go check it out before reading this. If you’re not inclined to check it out, here’s the nutshell: To complain is human. I Whinge, Thefore I Am. To complain online is even more common. We’d be reading whining blogs from 1380 is blogs had then existed. Expats probably complain a lot because of a few specific reasons: Many expats are English teachers, a relatively stressful (and in …