Books, blog and other blather

Category: Random Stuff (Page 4 of 7)

Truth is stranger than science-fiction

I was reading a random collection of old science fiction stories recently, when I came across “The Fate of the Poseidonia,” a short story by Clare Winger Harris. It was third-prize in a 1927 issue of Amazing Stories.

But what I found most amazing about the story was this little blurb that accompanied it.

In case you cannot read that, it says “as a rule, women do not make good scientifiction writers, because their education and general tendencies on scientific matters are usually limited.” Nice.

Okay, maybe not “amazing” — it is no surprise how brazen gender discrimination was in the past. But I still found it pretty funny.

Also: “scientifiction.” Heh.

Here’s an image of the whole page:

I like how magazines would just publish someone’s home address back in the day. But the NSA snooping is somehow going to get us…

A More Complete (But Still Very Incomplete) List of Differences Between Korea and Spain

Difference Who’s Better
Movie theaters Korea – cheaper, bigger, nicer
Shopping Korea – most things open Sunday, convenience stores open 24 hours/day
Customer service Korea – much much faster and more helpful
Korean food Korea (duh)
Spanish food Spain (also duh)
Wine Spain – cheaper, nicer
Beer tie – both terrible
Weather Spain – sunnier, less hot, less humid
Traffic Spain – also bad, just Seoul has much more of it
Subways Korea – can use phone, cleaner, fewer pickpockets
Buses Spain – smoother
Fast food blerg. Hoping not to have an opinion for some time
Television tie – both terrible
Beaches Spain (duh)
English ability Who cares? Study the local language more, you uncouth foreigner
But what about tourists and people without the time to learn the local language? Fine … Tie, I guess.
Geopolitical danger Tie – Barcelona is apparently a big al-Qaeda hub. South Korea has the North. But neither worry me much.
Geopolitical danger Tie – Barcelona is apparently a big al-Qaeda hub. South Korea has the North. But neither worry me much.
Access to North Korean websites Spain – all things NK remain blocked in South Korea, even North Korean news’s handy new Facebook page. It was nice being able to read anything I wanted about the North without going through the hassle of elaborate workarounds (and someone I was able to read it all without turning communist)

There’s plenty more to talk/whine about, I’m sure, but that’s a list of what has occurred to me after being back four days.

Korea Changes, and Changes You

Well, I’m back in Korea again. Living here for the first time in four years (although I did visit a couple of times while I was in Europe). It is good to be back, trying to find my bearings again. Trying not to stick Spanish words randomly into my sentences. Trying not to gag when I see the price of a glass of wine or an espresso (although smiling happily when I see the price of Korean food and soju).

At the same time, Simon and Martina over at Eat Your Kimchi have just celebrated their fifth anniversary in Korea, with a post about how Korea has changed them. It is a good post, but what I find really fascinating are the comments below (I have them organized by most popular). It is full of people who have written little testimonials about why they are into K-pop and Korean culture, despite living far from Korea and having few direct connections to the country. There is a 25-year-old Kindergarten teacher (in Sweden, I think), a 48-year-old mother in Utah, some guy living in Poland, a 17-year-old in the Caribbean who wants to study in Japan.

Of course, Eat Your Kimchi is about a lot more than K-pop. But I think their audience speaks a lot to the international audience for K-pop. It’s not that K-pop or Korean culture is “taking over” the world. But world culture is fragmenting more and more, offering people ever more options of what they can listen to and how they can define themselves.

Back in the 1980s, each year there would be a “biggest music group in the world”, a group (or two) that would dominate radio, that everyone wanted to see in a huge stadium concert, that would be on MTV (or Much) 24-hours/day. That kind of singular domination doesn’t really exist anymore. Most of the stadium touring groups are oldie acts, that old people will go see, even if mostly out of habit. The biggest concerts now are the huge summer festivals, with dozens of acts on the bill, usually in a wide range of genres.

K-pop and Korean culture has become one more option in the buffet of world culture. And for now, it is a very popular part of the buffet — which is good because that means the restaurant keeps replacing it quickly, keeping it fresher than the boring food no one likes and that simmers for hours growing stale. (Er, I think I’ve overextended that metaphor).

Anyhow, Korean things are doing very well now, and I think they are going to continue for some time to come. But as you can see from Simon and Martina and most of their followers, these fans are not usually singular obsessives, caring only about Korea. Korea is one part of a nutritious, cultural breakfast. And, imho, that’s pretty cool.

As for how Korea has changed me. Well, I’ve been in Korea, off and on, since I was 25. Somehow I have fallen into a career that largely involves Korea things — writing about Korea in one form or another. So of course Korea is a big part of my life. I know some people out there have read my book on Korean culture, which makes me feel very lucky.

Seriously, just the thought that people paid money to read my thoughts on a subject is pretty overwhelming. When you are in a newspaper or magazine, you know they are paying for the whole package, and your article is one small part. But a book? That’s all on you, and if they hate it, you just wasted their time and their money. So, anyone out there who read the book, thanks so much.

And, as I have hinted before, there are more books on the way. I think there will be two coming out later this year … I just hope you will continue to find them interesting and useful.

How about you all? Has Korea changed you? Or have you seen Korea change?

Can’t Win for Losing — Econ Edition

Paul Krugman’s latest column, “The 1 Percent Solution,” is a very good one, as usual, but it also gets at a deeper issue that has been bothering me for some time — why is it that austerity ideas are so deeply rooted in the elites, despite such a lack of evidence for their effectiveness? Krugman gets into the class aspects of the divide, arguing that the 1% are simply arguing for policies that are good for the 1%. Not terribly surprising, I guess.

But it is an argument that brings up a couple of related points, imho. The first is demographic. While there is a big divide between haves and have-nots, it is a line that changes with age — as people get older, they tend to get richer, and they tend to become net creditors instead of debtors. The 1% beliefs are not just about entitlements and austerity, they also are very creditor-friendly, preferring deflation over inflation, for example. Which in part explains the difference in how age groups support different policies.

The other bigger issue that I’ve heard economists bring up is the Cold War. Basically, the argument is, back in the days of the Cold War, when there was this big, left-wing enemy out there, the monied elites in the West saw it was in their interest not to let inequality grow too much. The peasants had alternatives, so you couldn’t let them get fired up and storm the Bastille. A stable, happy system was good for all.

But today, now that communism is over as a viable danger, the 1% (or 0.1% or so) are free to push for their own interests without fear of blowback. And so they have pushed, quite successfully. Is it a coincidence that the rise of the financial industry and inequality matches with the downfall of communism? Maybe economic systems need common enemies to keep them in balance.

With the continued problems gripping Europe, you can see people growing more desperate for a solution. Most people are pretty centrist politically, but when the center refuses to provide answers, people will look for alternatives. Certainly Spain is exhibit A for a political system that is completely unable to reform itself or provide answers for its citizens. Without things in Europe getting better, I worry who might try filling that void in the future.

Escaping North Korea, on The Daily Show

Mike Kim, author of ESCAPING NORTH KOREA, was on Jon Stewart’s The Daily Show on Wednesday. You can check out the interview below.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c
Mike Kim
thedailyshow.com
Daily Show
Full Episodes
Political Humor Jason Jones in Iran

It makes me wonder how North Koreans learn Calculus using dead Americans…

There was also a short but interesting article on Mike Kim in the Japan Times.

Korean History, Live and Online (and some random food notes)

For some research I was doing recently, I ran across the most amazing resource online — a huge collection of photos and videos about Korea, dating from the 1950s to the present. Some are old news stories, others are government propaganda videos, and others are, well, I have no idea.

I’m talking about E-History website, run by KTV (Korea Policy Broadcasting?). For the video section especially, you can spend countless hours, just skipping around and browsing. Sadly, the site is only in Korean, but it is pretty easy to navigate, even for beginners.

There are 11 categories running down the left side, for politics, economics, military, society, eduction, culture and more. Below those categories, the site is also organized by decade. And because all the videos have been indexed and described, the search engine works surprising well.

Here is a sampling of some interesting videos related to movies and culture:
Old movie theaters from 1957.
Television starts in Korea in 1956, thanks to RCA.
More about Korea’s first TV station HLKZ, from 1956.
AFKN from 1959.
Opening of KBS headquarters in 1976.
Some movie awards from 1959. Includes clips of Yu Hyun-mok (the famous director) and Choi Eun-hee (the great actress and wife of the late Shin Sang-ok).
The first Best Korean Movie Awards in 1962. With awards going to Shin Sang-ok (for Romantic Papa) and Kim Ki-young (for The Housemaid) and Choi Eun-hee.
– The first Grand Bell Movie Awards, a few months later in 1962.
Grand Bell Movie Awards from 1990. Features Kang Su-yeon winning an award, lots of really bad hair and shoulder pads.
A report on Shin Sang-ok and Choi Eun-hee in North Korea from 1984 (with plenty of Bukgoe comments throughout).
– Sadly I could not find much interesting about old rock music. Did find this 1963 video about singer Lee Chun-hee.

And just some random stuff I liked:
– A golf tournament from 1954.
Namdaemun devastated by a fire in 1954 (wow, deja vu).
– Yonsei’s Severance Hospital back in 1962.
Yonsei University’s 80th anniversary.
– Korean boxer Yu Jae-du beating Koichi Wajima for the WBA Light Middleweight Champion belt in 1975 (Yuh Jae-doo?).
– A video from 1970 talking about Korea’s next five-year plan and how Korea would develop in the future.
– The opening of the Yanghwa bridge connecting Mapo and Yeongdeungpo in 1965.
– The opening of the Seoul Sanga Apartments in Chungmuro in 1967.
Namsan Wayne Apartments being destroyed in 1994
Don’t leave your nasty gum around, from 1990.
Miss Korea 1957. Includes the swimsuit competition.

Okay, you get the idea. I could do this for days, but those selections should get you started. What a great website.

UPDATE: Given how popular Kim Yuna is these days, I thought people might want to check out these skating videos:
Skating in 1955. Around 1 minute in, we get some figure skating, too. They could be the ancestors of Kim Yuna (metaphorically, that is).
Rhee Sungman taking in some skating on the Han River in 1958 (including some more figure skating).
1959, more speed skating and figure skating (and the figure skaters are getting a little better). (Oh, love the spelling of “sports” in this one. 스포오쯔… never seen that before).
– Ice fishing and ice hockey from 1961 on this one.
Skating at Gyeongbok Palace in 1963.
Skating at the Dongdaemun Ice Rink, which I never knew existed, in 1964.
Ice Carnival at the Dongdaemun rink in 1964. Including a talented little 6-year-old, Yoon Hyo-jin (who went on to finish 17th at the 1976 Olympics in Innsbruck).

* * *

A couple of random restaurant notes. Seems like every time I turn around, new Indian restaurants are popping up all over the place. I talked about Manokamana before (which now seems to be doing very well, as I can never get a seat there).

But if you cannot get a seat at Manokamana, there is another option just down the street — Amma. Amma is just as good as Manokamana, if not better (I think the portions are bigger), and it is dead quiet. The furniture is a little odd (like out of a 1995 Korean dabang, but don’t let that throw you). It is right behind the Hyundai Department Store. Map here. Totally worth checking out.

If you are looking for more of a Western bar experience, a new place just opened up in Shinchon that I also recommend called Beer O’Clock. Beer O’Clock has a good selection of beers (including Alley Cat Pale Ale), your basic bar food (which I have not tried yet, but looks good), and a great ambiance. It is on the second floor, with floor-to-ceiling windows that all open up, making almost every seat in the place a window seat.

I have not been there on a weekend yet, so maybe the vibe changes then. Hopefully not, but I do not know. But for a quite, comfortable mid-week place, Beer O’Clock was really good. Easily the best Western bar in Shinchon. Map.

* * *

UPDATE: Random note. As I write this post, my blog is the 10th most popular in the world under the Google search “distressed bondage.” Sometimes I do not understand the Internet at all.

Dancing on the DMZ

I just noticed that Matthew Harding, the dancing world traveler of Where the Hell Is Matt? fame, has a third video out, documenting yet another global jig.

And in this video, Korea gets not one, but two segments — on the DMZ at about 1:45 and in front of Namdaemun at 2:45 (or is it Dongdaemun?).

As always, a fun and enviable video. I like watching all of Matt’s videos, if only to shame myself into seeing more of this big world.

Or you can go here.

Random Notes – Vol 3, No. 4

  • An interesting little story on Mongolian hiphop in the UB Post. Unfortunately, it does not mention many bands (just Tartar and Har Sarnai, who have been around forever). But interesting to hear that hiphop continues to spread its influence.

    The first time I went to Mongolia, back in the 1990s, the live bands were mostly rock. But each time I go back to Ulaanbaatar, it seems like there is more and more hiphop. I can still remember sitting beside my van once, in the middle of nowhere Mongolia, as this family on horseback rode by; the teenage kid in the family takes one look at me and reflexively said “Yo, gee!” and made a bunch of hiphop-esque sounds.

  • I’m sure you have heard by now, but the Wonder Girls have been named by Virgin Media as one of the top up-and-coming girl groups to watch. Kind of neat that they are getting noticed abroad. The cynic in me will try to overlook the difference between “groups to watch” and “groups to listen to.”
  • Congratulations to Sangsang Madang, the arts space in Hongdae that is run by the Korea Tobacco & Ginseng. Until Sept. 7, Sangsang is holding the Sangsang Festa, featuring outdoor concerts, art exhibitions, movies and more.
  • What the heck? I just went to the Sangsang Madang website and found a post for a free Hongdae tour for foreigners. The tour is Sept. 28 at 1:30 and goes to 5pm. Tour will be lead by the singer for Band the Mu:n (never heard then, although I have heard of them, I think). Tour is limited to 20 people, and you need to apply by Sept. 15.
  • Copyrights and Wrongs and Rants

    It has been a rather copyrighty couple of weeks for me, with the Korea Copyright Forum, the Seoul Digital Forum and the International Publishers Association Congress in Seoul and the USTR keeping Korea on its IP watchlist (sorry but I am too tired and lazy to link to all of those).

    And throughout those “fun” events, a common message coming out of them was the need for governments to enforce copyright protections. Sometimes the message was nuanced and interesting (eg, Ted Cohen); sometimes it was the usual heavy-handed “arrest-them-all” rant (eg, Sumner Redstone).

    (And once it was “Piracy is good,” when will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas spoke at the Seoul Digital Forum. Luckily, it was the day after Redstone’s rant, or else the ancient billionaire might have had a stroke).

    While I do agree that there needs to be some respect for copyrights, listening to all of that corporate self-righteousness got me thinking, what are the corporations’ responsibilities for respecting copyrights?

    Korea has shown pretty clearly that people are more than willing to spend money on music and other digital entertainment, as long as that entertainment is convenient, reliable and reasonably priced.

    They spent money even when the competition is “free.” Because free really is not free at all. You hope the music file you are downloading works, but it might not. Or it might have a virus or some other nasty bit of code in it. And figuring how to make the bittorrent or emule or whatever work is not much fun. The “free” options are a pain in the butt, and that is a real cost, just like money.

    Despite all the whining about Korea’s piracy problems, last year Koreans spent over $300 million on online and mobile music. Combined with $80 million in CD sales and you have a number pretty consistent with music sales for the past 10 years. (Sure the music labels complain that they are not getting their fare share, but the important point is that consumers are still spending as much money as ever).

    Cory Doctorow, Radiohead, NIN and plenty of others have shown that making your stuff available on the Internet does not hurt their value. If anything, availability and accessibility enhances value.

    My main point is, what responsibility do the various entertainment companies (big and small) around the world have to make sure their content is available? In Korea, it is pitiful how few movies and TV shows are available here, whether on DVD or online. Even programs that I know have been subtitled in Korean.

    How can companies expect customers to respect their copyrights when they do not provide access to their copyrighted contents?

    In the Internet age, people anywhere in the world have the ability to find, download and watch/listen to just about anything (as long as the Internet connection is good enough). The whole idea that you can divide up the world into pieces and control when each area gets access to something is so antiquated and backward.

    Until the media companies start making a serious effort to make their contents available to me here in Korea (and to people in general around the world), I am not going to lose much sleep about them losing money to “piracy.”

    « Older posts Newer posts »

    © 2024 Mark James Russell

    Theme by Anders NorenUp ↑