Month: October 2010

Coming Soon: Gwacheon International SF Film Festival!

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This entry is part 40 of 72 in the series SF in South Korea

So I should have posted about this before, but there’s an SF Film Festival on soon. It’s starting in a few days (28 October) and runs until 7 November, down at the National Science Museum in Gwacheon, South Korea. There’s a twitter account that’s announcing events and so on, but unless you read Korean, it won’t mean much to you. Much better to head over to the website. It’s a chance to see all kinds of SF films on the big screen, from 2001: A Space Odyssey (and the sequel) to an all-night Back to the Future trilogy marathon this …

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To the Guy Who Presented Before Me at the Conference Yesterday

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The thing about your presentation is that, well, it depressed me. It depressed me mainly because nobody seemed to realize it was a salesman’s pitch, peppered with little bits of personal experience. No, I don’t believe you actually made that gorgeous powerpoint. No, I don’t believe you’re a serious academic. No, I didn’t hear one revolutionary idea about teaching in your talk. I heard lots of interesting things, and indeed, the technology you’re trying to sell probably has some use. But it was obvious from the outset that you were out to sell something. As soon as you posed your …

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Islamophobia in Korea, and the Story of Tablo

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Those of us who have lived in Korea know that regardless of what most people think here–for I think a lot of Koreans, especially younger ones, are relatively open-minded by comparison–the bigots and morons get pretty loud, and they don’t seem to get challenged on it. (Maybe that’s normal in the USA or other places: I’m not sure. It sure wasn’t so normal in the part of Canada in which I grew up. We had bigots, of course, and there was a degree of ignorance about race, multiculturalism, and difference; my best friend in high school had experiences of going …

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Mosquito Change?

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By the way, the fact that there are still mosquitos flying around is what it is, but I’m wondering: has anyone noticed how different the mosquitoes of October are looking? They’re paler, and they have more prominent striping on their abdomens. I’m wondering if this is just a feature of Korean mosquitoes I never noticed before, or whether they’re young mosquitoes (though they’re kinda big, really), or perhaps this is some other species that’s spread North. And, of course, should the latter be the case, I’m curious about the different pathogenic profile of this new type of mosquito. Not to …

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Momo: What Really Fresh-Roasted Coffee Tastes Like

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If you haven’t had it, and want to know the bitterness-free, rich, gorgeous taste of actually fresh-roasted coffee, there are probably a few places in Seoul to pick up some beans roasted recently. The place I know is called Momo, and it’s a coffee shop (not a Himalayan dumpling shop, much as I may long for one of those) near Shindorim station. The beans aren’t cheap, but they’re also good, so I’d say it’s worth it. To get to Momo (or it might be called Momo’s, I can’t quite recall) go out the front of the Technomart building. Turn right …

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