Well, this is pretty cool. It looks like I get about 1000 visitors a month to my website. Of course, judging by the search results and the comments, I think most of the stable group of readers is somewhat small, but clever, mind… and a lot of people get here by some weird, dumbass searches. Still, I am pleased with this kind of traffic. Wonder how to increase it still more? Hmm.
Author: gordsellar
Dear John Wendel…
I was looking at the keywords recently used that brought people to my website, and I found something that made me laugh out loud. I’d call you right now but your phone is probably still screwed, so I’m posting it and hoping you see it. I don’t know, and can’t know, who searched for this, but someone was looking on the internet with the following search words: Last 20 Searchengine Queries Unique Visitors 28 Feb, Sat, 04:07:45 Google: gord 28 Feb, Sat, 12:05:06 MSN Search: Art & Photos from Song of Solomon 28 Feb, Sat, 12:09:11 Yahoo: water gay sex …
Well, Now That The Hobbits Have Conquered Cinema
… let’s just hope everyone has the sense to send them off to a nice, comfy retirement… in other words, let’s hope Hollywood has the sense not to do with the movie what was done with the books! I know that may sound like blasphemy to some, but the incredible and fabulous success of the books also spawned loads and loads of trash literature, fantasy novels simply retreading the paces of Tolkien, but less brilliantly, with less honesty and beauty and intelligence… to the point where, if you wanna publish fantasy and it’s not at least a trilogy, I’ve heard, …
Ever Wonder About Your Body Hair’s Shortness?
No, really. Ever wonder why the hair on your head can grow long, while all your other hair, wherever it is, never grows long like that? I was sitting here, relaxed, with my shirt open, working on the last little things I need to write so I can set aside my novel draft, and I looked down at my chest and noticed my hair looks thicker now. I realized that’s a function of having lost weight… same hair, less surface area, right? Kind of weird but nice. And suddenly I was overwhelmed with a feeling of gratitude to nature that …
Thai Chicken Curry
Yeah, I got some fresh basil and dried lemongrass up in Seoul, and I made some, had Myoung over for dinner last night. It was a good talk and I think a good dinner too. But it’s even better the next day, as with most curries (I find). When it sits at night the flavours blend more deeply and it’s wonderful. Ahhhhhhh. That’s today’s lunch. Woo hoo.
Tim Lilburn
There’s one more teacher I forgot to mention in the last Friday Five answer, who had a big influence on me, and that was Tim Lilburn. He’s a Canadian poet with whom I had the priviledge of studying, as well as just an all-around cool guy. He’s very together, frightfully smart and dauntingly well-read. And his poetry is, to me, somehow deeply fragile and absolutely beautiful. Sometimes I long to read his book To The River again, but alas I don’t have my copy here. Tim was always a respectful, generous teacher. He was, in a sense that really does …
The Show
We played that benefit concert tonight. In general, things went very well. When we accompanied HongJae in his “performance art” piece, the music sounded really cool; while I noodled on Nepali flute and make my Tibetan singing bowl sing, Myoung and Thai played percussion(Thai on his Uzbek drum and some Nepali cymbals of Myoung’s, and Myoung Jae on his Janggu drum), John Wendel played my tanpura (and did an excellent job on it, making it far more interesting than anything I would have done on the thing), and a fellow named Tae Sang played the guitar. Our band’s playing was, …
Teachers Who Have Availed Me Much
This week Sir Adam of Lipscomb asked: Going through some old papers my parents brought from their house last week, I found several notes to my parents from teachers I’d had growing up. I got to thinking about the legions of teachers I had for the first 21 years of my life, and wondered: Who were the 5 that had the greatest impact on me as a ppererson, for good or ill? Because of the places I grew up, and my education experience, I find that I had many more horrible teachers than good ones. But there were some who …
Ridiculous
Yes, I am home from my work meeting and the many ridiculous things discussed there are sinking in slowly. I will only recount one moment of the discussion, and it should encapsulate a lot of what I think needs to be addressed in the educational (and for that matter the political) arena in Korea if development is to go any farther in those areas… for it is certainly stalled, if not backsliding, at present. Our University is opening an English cafe, a program that even the University’s very President is actually eager about. The Administration is trying to find a …
Another Foreigner in Korea
I like the way this William Beckerson guy tells his stories, I like the art on his site too. It’s worth a look-see. And he’s an alumnus of the Korean hagwon experience, no less.