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 …