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” …
Category: REVIEWS
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 …
Seoul International Book Fair 2009, and Mike’s Visit
So my friend Mike was in town this weekend, and after he arrived (and I arrived at CoEx Mall pathetically late), our first stop (after food) was the Seoul International Book Fair. From the website, I thought it might be a little more trade/professional than it was, but we had a good time wandering, chatting with people occasionally, and checking out some of the art and books that were on display. I got some posters by a photographer named Choi Young Jin — stupid me, I should have gotten him to sign them — and Mike had a good chat …
Conchords Again, This Time Korea-Relevant
Seriously: New Zealander singing Korean Karaoke, out of nowhere, on this TV show I’ve just torn through. Strangely brilliant in the episode, since it is, as I said, out of nowhere: https://youtube.com/watch?v=EzusqpeMdf8 (For comparison, most of the videos are like this:) I love this show so much.
Hiromi & FOTC
Music of the day, suddenly accessible as I reordered tags and crap on my iPod. It really sucks that everything is so dependent on tagging and so on — my cheaper-but-non-haptic MP3 Player is at least bright enough to pay attention to folder structures. Anyway, listen up: [kml_flashembed movie=”http://www.youtube.com/v/ggL_2hk9DyI” width=”425″ height=”344″ allowfullscreen=”true” fvars=”fs=1″ /] It’s a bit, I don’t know… I don’t have a word for what I’m thinking. I used to life very “out” music, stuff that was atonal, free, wild; this music isn’t like that. But it’s really damned good for what it is, just the same, and …
Shouldn’t Have Had That Coffee…
I decided this evening, after cleaning up my home relatively well and getting some othert stuff done, that I would go out and write. Ended up at Starbucks over at Bucheon Station, because it’s by the cinema and I wanted to see the Wolverine film. (I did. It was pretty good, though even if it is an origins story, I’m afraid it’s a film with no ending. And I wanted a satisfying ending.) Anyway, I got some productive writing and editing on the WIP (Work in Progress) done, though I’m not going to go into it except to say I’m …
Unacceptable, Amazon
UPDATE (LATER THAT DAY): Amazon claims it was a “glitch.” Dubiousness abounds. See the comments section of this post for more. ORIGINAL POST: Twitter is aflame today, where it’s still Easter Day over in North America. For my part, I ran across the news on Tobias Buckell’s feed. Right, Amazon, do you want to know why everyone is offended by what’s been done? It’s because intelligent people — which are presumably a big part of your customer base, seeing as you’re selling books — can’t stand to be protected for their own good.1. They abhor it, they find it arrogant …
Black Hole Jazz
I’m not referring to any jazz/SF thing at the moment — though I like that title, maybe it could work in another context — but rather to Brad Mehldau Trio’s rendition of Black Hole Sun on their album Brad Mehldau Trio Live. I don’t know why I’m amazed it can be done: plenty of old jazz standards were cheesy Broadway showtunes. Still, I guess the shocker is that someone, post-Wynton Marsalis jazz-fascism-era, is actually daring to do it, and doing it well. The following aren’t the album version, as far as I can tell, but they give you some idea: …
Korea Society Talk on Robo Taekwon V
Plenty of SF readers who come through here aren’t necessarily interested in Korean history and culture in general, so it’s unlikely they’d be listeners to the Korea Society Podcast. However, for those who have an interest in global SF and pop culture, there’s a podcast you might want to check out over there. It’s a recording of a talk given way back in February 2008 by Aaron Han Joon Magnan-Park, a prof at Notre Dame. The talk is titled “Our Toys, Our Selves: Robot Taekwon V and South Korean Identity.” (That’s a direct link to the MP3, so if you …
Happy Birthday to G
Yes, March 4th was my birthday. I’m posting on the 5th, but only barely. I had no classes, but I hiked the mountain and the most entertaining moment was running into a crazy Christian lady who segued so suddenly to “Do you believe in Jesus? Believe in Jesus so you can go to Heaven!” than I was confused — I thought she was talking about art, as the Korean word for art sounds similar to how Koreans say the name “Jesus.” She thought I didn’t know who Jesus was, and immediately pantomimed the scouring, crown of thorns, and crucifixion. Finally, …