I know it’s on the horizon now. It was brought up in the context of a goodbye party for my co-worker and friend Gwen, who will be leaving for the States soon. If it’s not at her party, it’s still bound to happen eventually — me and the profs I work with will eventually end up in a noraebang (a karaoke room). I don’t think they have songs by Cam’Ron at these places: [kml_flashembed movie=”http://www.youtube.com/v/qbzYXQpdUfU” width=”425″ height=”344″ allowfullscreen=”true” fvars=”fs=1″ /] … so I suppose I’ll have to settle for a good old standby from my teenaged headbanger days: [kml_flashembed movie=”http://www.youtube.com/v/IYRC4H64EFk” …
Month: May 2009
I Want to See You in Jakarta
If you’d told me in 1999 that a decade hence someone would be hugging me in an Indian restaurant in a suburb of Seoul, and then saying that sentence to me, “Please try… I want to see you in Jakarta…” I’d have laughed in your face and said, “What?!?” Well, ona good day I would have laughed. Isn’t life just wonderfully bizarre? And so it goes… another ex-student of mine (since turned friend) ventures out into the world, and I dare to nurture some small but bright nugget of faith in her ability to change it in some small but …
On Roh’s Death, Steve Reich, and the Tao of Imagining Sisyphus Happy
I’ve been saddened by what happened recently in regard to ex-President Roh’s suicide. Not the suicide itself, or all of the political wrangling related to it.I’m saddened because I fear suicides will worsen here, for the next while. Korea has a serious suicide problem. It’s the number one killer of people in their twenties, as many blogs are eager to state. It’s the kind of thing many people think about in their youth, of course. But suicide is tragically common here, and in recent days a number of people have talked about it with me. Korean people, I mean. Young …
In Jeju
That’s a touristy island in South Korea. So I’m not responding to comments much for a reasons. Having fun, even if it is raining like nobody’s business. Should clear up tomorrow, and in the meantime, I got some necessary work done. Two stories down, a few more to go. If I’m slow replying to emails, you know why. Feel free to call me if you like.
마력
Okay, universe. I got the message, loud and clear. I believe in magic again. Also, in Jpop. I was telling someone how my experience of Japanese pop culture media is something like what I’d expect a group of alien children might make if they were trying to fake their way through American pop culture production.Which, no, is not to call the Japanese children. It’s just that there’s a funny kind of sweetness, even innocence, in some of it that really surprises me. And which I find refreshing, as in this example (though sorry for the audio problems): [kml_flashembed movie=”http://www.youtube.com/v/-WHkiaXE4ao” width=”425″ …